underemployment_bsannerThus far in my underemployment, I have become both shockingly lazy, and strangely productive–all at once.  I get things done, but I rarely leave my chair or my apartment, and I’ve managed to watch nearly two whole seasons of Gilmore Girls while earning a little bit of cash.

Typical day consists of:

8am- get out of bed, make coffee, brush teeth, start drinking coffee.  While reading blogs, playing scrabble, and doing the tasks of the day, I answer SMS text messages through a company called kgb.com.  I get $.10 per answer that I provide, so in the two hours of this work that I do per day, I usually make about $5 (I try to convince myself that it’s kind of like being a reference librarian).  Intermittently, I do searches through a site called Swagbucks, which gets me points that can later be redeemed for giftcards, check emails from inboxdollars, which pays me 2 cents for each email of theirs that I click on, and complete surveys through Lightspeed, which nets me more points redeemable for giftcards (I’ve saving up for a cat fountain for Watson).

11am- If my kgbing is not particularly busy, I get bored and sign out, then read for pleasure for about an hour, if it is busy, I keep working.

12pm- Get on the treadmill and run/walk for about an hour to an hour and a half.

2pm- Just out of shower, prepare sensible lunch to enjoy while reading for pleasure. Then wash dishes from lunch. Yesterday, I had a tuna quesadilla (1 can tuna, seasoned with salt and pepper, and olive oil, inserted into 1 large flour tortilla, sliced monterey jack cheese, and a dash of chipotle tabasco sauce) with pasta and bean soup.  Since I’m only eating food that I have in the house because I’m moving in less than a week, I’ve gotten a bit creative.  I actually wanted a tuna melt sandwich, but am down to two pieces of bread.  I had a quesadilla instead, which was delightful, and will use the last two pieces of bread for a fried-egg sandwich tomorrow.  Since I bought both the tuna and soup on sale $10/10, and the tortillas cost about $1.50 for a pack of 14, my lunch cost about $2 and I have leftovers.

3pm- Read for pleasure and internet.

4pm- Since I am moving soon, I must pack.  I reward myself for this by watching the Gilmore Girls while I do it.  I’m also trying to clean up as I pack so it doesn’t get all frantic at the zero hour.

7pm-Dinner, usually something leftover, from the freezer, or boxed pasta.

After dinner: watch movie with Gentleman Caller, read, if any articles need to be edited (freelance magazine editing job)- do that, laundry, play with Watson, see friends, check kgb to see if it’s busy and I can make a few extra dollars, look for/apply for jobs, plan free or nearly free adventures, lather, rinse, repeat.

That’s just a loose schedule, a rough outline, if you will. Basically, my philosophy has become make a little money each day and spend as little as possible, and thankfully, I’m pretty good at entertaining myself.  I have no problem using my savings to pay rent, that’s what it’s there for, but I should be able to earn enough to pay for everything else I need, or maybe I don’t need it.  It’s weird because I still feel busy, though I’m really not.  I think I’m either less good at being busy than I used to be, or else, the tasks I’m busy with aren’t nearly as motivating as other things I might be doing.

It is what it is.

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