Money | Oh so Ang!

Archive for the ‘Money’ Category

When did I turn into a woman?

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

Two things to know. 1) I became unemployed in late April of this year. 2) I was so not a make-up, nail polish, handbags, jewelry kind of girl.

Being unemployed, I’m looking for ways to be employed, at least somewhat. As miserable as I was at my last job, I know I wanted to try something where I am in control. I decide when to work, what to do, how often. I was a cog in a machine before, and I wanted nothing more than to experiment and try something else.

I have always been a tomboy. Not the sporty type, just the “I don’t give a shit about girly stuff” tomboy. My idea of getting dolled up was putting on mascara and maybe (for a big event) some lip gloss. I hadn’t worn nail polish in about 10 years. The only jewelry I had were bracelets, mostly the beaded unisex style.

I think since getting involved with my boyfriend over the past several months (that’s right, man, I’m blaming you!), I have turned into a woman who likes girly/womanly shit now.

Also, as I was pondering what the fuck I’m going to do next now that I have no job, I saw a commercial on freaking TV. About selling Avon/mark. products. Watching it, I thought, this… might be something I’d have some fun doing! It’s completely out of my usual character. This is a time for some change though, try something new, take some control.

Avon calling!

So now, laugh of all laughs, I am an Avon lady!

To be honest, my previous thoughts of Avon was that it was for grandmas and other older women. Like, 40+ at least. But, shockingly, they have tons of great stuff that I want. I had absolutely no idea. It’s definitely not your grandma’s Avon anymore.

I have to share a few of my favorite things. Things that you would be insane not to adore. Srsly.

Sunscreen with insect repellent! Genius!

Sunscreen plus insect repellent?! Fucking genius! I want a million bottles.

Butler bag

The compartmentalized butler bag. I love cute bags, but mine have, like, one big compartment, and a little zip pocket. Which means all my stuff is a jumbled mess, impossible to find anything quickly. As soon as I saw this in a catalog, I knew that it must be mine. It may have even been the first thing I ordered. All the compartments are amazing. All my shit fits in my bag neatly, and I can find it! It looks sexy, and it’s roomy enough to toss a light hoodie or sweater into!

mark Hook-ups

As far as make-up goes, I’m still a bit of a minimalist, though I am experimenting more. The mark brand hook-up is the best. It’s 2 products, one on either side of a little connector. I have a lip gloss and a mascara on mine. Keep it in my purse, always ready to doll up or touch up. I think the gloss and mascara are perfect on this thing, because they’re just the right size to be all used up by the time you should be throwing gloss or mascara away (germs, ew!).

There are tons more things, of course, but I had to share these.

As for profits, I’m not making much of anything yet, but I’m not frustrated. I wanted to spend the first couple of months trying things out, seeing what I can recommend to customers. I got a bunch of samples of things to try (and give away). I’m having fun! When I start school in the fall, I’m hoping I’ll have more opportunities to share this stuff with others.

If this stuff looks great to you, be sure to shop my own store: avongorgeo.us Just hit “Shop Now”.

Besides doing Avon, I am still doing freelance web design work, selling a few things on eBay. Keep trying to move forward. I’m a trillion times happier now than I was at that job, so I want to keep this happiness and excitement up. Keep my eyes on the prize of a BFA in Graphic Design (btw – I was accepted!!!), make a little money to stay afloat.

And have new cute things!

Tags: avon, handbag, hook-ups, insect repellent, jewelry, lip gloss, make-up, mark, mascara, nail polish, self-employment, sunscreen, women
Posted in Fashion, Money, Work | 3 Comments »

Self-Employed!

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

My (now former) place of employment finally did me a solid favor: they fired my ass!

A graphical representation of my feelings.

I suppose I shouldn’t go into too much detail. In a nutshell: they’d been putting me under an insane amount of stress for a couple years now. Last week my employer went out of her way to make sure I felt worthless, and that was the final straw. I called a meeting with the owners. Let them know I was very unhappy working for them, laid out all the problems I had. Asked that they let me work my web design position remotely, or let me go. The following day they sent me an email saying they were letting me go.

You’d think I’d be angry about being fired. Or freaked out about not having my main source of income. In all honesty (at this point at least!) I feel relieved. I feel free! When working there, every day I’d wake up miserable and dreading the day. That kind of thing wears on you after awhile, and I know I was no longer myself in the rest of my life. I felt trapped. I had sought out a new job off and on for a long time, with no luck.

I am still planning to go back to school in the fall, try to finish out a Bachelor’s Degree. Right now I’m trying to focus on my freelance work to hold me over and continue to hone my skills. If a good employer comes along and expresses an interest in hiring me, I’m all for it. I’ve wanted to be a “location-independent” web designer for a long time, so now that I have the time and dedication to put into it, we shall see what happens!

Tags: anxiety, assholes, depression, fired, freelancing, job, self-employment, stress, unemployment, web design, Work
Posted in Justice, Money, Work | 5 Comments »

Tea partiers are whiny bitches.

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

I was going to talk more about this, but I lost steam. Basically, the Tea Partiers’ (I still like “tea-baggers” better!) plight is moot. They have excess while there are way more people who have not enough. Therefore, I will have no sympathy for the tea partiers, because there are people more deserving of my sympathy, my support, and my attention.

This is all I have to say, and then I am done: Call the fucking waaaambulance. And go volunteer at a soup kitchen.

This is for you, tea partiers.

Tags: greed, Politics, tea party
Posted in Money, Politics | 1 Comment »

College is a rip-off.

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

College, university, whatever you want to call it. After realizing I am at a bit of a dead-end in my life, I have decided to return to college in the Fall of 2010 (if things go as planned). There are many reasons I stopped at just an Associate’s degree a few years ago. The primary reason being a lack of interest. I was making decent money employed as a web designer, I had learned most of my skills on my own or from peers, for free. College seemed pointless to continue.

One of my biggest peeves about higher education is the higher price tag. For me to go to uni this fall, tuition alone will be $11,000+. For one year. Then add on the absurd price of books (yay half.com!), overpriced food if I forget to bring any with me to the campus, plus any other fees (I’ll be in the art department, I don’t doubt there will be plenty of extras I’ll need to purchase).

Yep, a homeless man is richer than you are.

Add to the cost, all the silly hoops you have to jump through and pointless, useless classes you have to take to meet the requirements for a degree. The justification of all these extra pointless classes that have nothing to do with your goal is to “make a more well-rounded student” of you. I think that’s a pile of bullshit right there. The more classes they require you to take, the more fees and tuition they can milk out of you.

But all that money must surely be going toward getting excellent professors! I have my doubts there. College administrators drive the fanciest cars in the lots, and live very well. Is my money going toward my own advancement in life, or theirs? I think more of it is going toward theirs.

Unless you come from the kind of family where mommy and daddy could actually afford to pay cash for your college education (where the fuck do these people come from?!), you’ll be incredibly deep in debt from day 1 until fucking retirement age.

I was hoping to avoid the crushing weight of student loan debt, but alas. I think you can pretty much guarantee your résumé or job applications are trashed if you don’t have “Bachelor’s Degree” at the very least listed. It doesn’t matter what your skills and experience are in the real world. Unless you have that degree. I’d say it’s incredibly rare that an employer will look past the lack of degree and just focus on your portfolio and what you can do for them. It happens, but not often enough.

I hate that what you can do isn’t as important as something as expensive and useless (remember those pointless classes?) as a big degree. I think it’s another magnifying glass on the elitism out there. Employers will say a Bachelor’s degree shows you can put your mind toward something and accomplish it. What I’ve seen, they’re just blowing smoke up your ass. It shows you’re a part of their club.

I’m certainly not trying to knock education and learning. For fuck’s sake, learn all you can, fill your brain to the brim. With the internet, you have tons of information available to you for free. I’m just wagging my middle finger at the goddamn colleges and universities that cost an arm and a leg and don’t focus as much on truly learning as they claim to.

Tags: bachelor's degree, Education, elitism, Money, resume, rip-off, tuition, university
Posted in Education, Money | 9 Comments »