Getting In Gear For The Oscars: The Last 3 Movies I’ve Watched

So the Oscars are coming up and I’m in the midst of watching all of the Oscar nominees before the event. Hehe, hence the 2 last movies. The movie “127 Hours” is nominated in 6 categories including Actor In A Leading Role and Best Picture. While “The King’s Speech” is nominated in 12 categories including Directing and Best Picture.

As for the actual Oscars evening I’m still not completely sure where I’ll be watching it, but both my colleagues at work (we’re in the film industry, remember ;) and a few of my nearest friends (also in the film industry ;) are both planning to arrange something where we can watch the event together. So it’ll either be at my work or at my friend’s place that I’ll be watching the Oscars this year. I’m excited! ;)

 

THE LAST 3 MOVIES I’VE WATCHED

1. DAS WEISSE BAND (Dir.: Michael Haneke)

 

2. 127 HOURS (Dir.: Danny Boyle)

 

3. THE KING’S SPEECH (Dir.: Tom Hooper)

I’d write a review of each film but I really don’t have the time right now, hence the short “quick-and-dirty” post. But I’ll definitely keep you all updated on my Oscars movie progress. And if I were to quickly say which ones I think were best then I’d definitely give 127 HOURS the top spot, followed by DAS WEISSE BAND and lastly THE KING’S SPEECH. Bye again, I’m heading off. :)

Earning Money on Fiverr

Fiverr is a website where people can buy and sell tasks (‘gigs’) for $5. To learn more about Fiverr, I  recommend reading this entertaining review by The Wall Street Journal since it gives a pretty good description of the site.

I recently signed up for Fiverr in my humble attempts to earn some extra money, and I absolutely love the site and the site’s concept. I’m offering 2 gigs there - and just recently I got my first buyer.  Being a total newbie however I totally overshot on my gig, meaning that I offered to do something for $5 ($4 actually, because the site takes a percentage) that took me 7 (yes, you heard me, 7!#"?!) days to do. Well, in all fairness it was 7 evenings and not full-days, but still, that must’ve been the worst paying job I’ve ever done, lol :)

So I think I’m going to have to edit my gigs and offer a bit less for my $4. Because the amount of time it took me to complete that one gig was ridiculous. I’ve learnt my lesson. There’s an amount of work I’m willing to do for peanuts, and this went well beyond that. I felt like I could’ve spent that time waaaay better. But just to clarify things, it really isn’t the website’s fault at all, it’s completely my own fault because I was the one who made the offer and set the rules. I’ve become wiser since then and will change my gigs so that it reflects more realistically what I’m willing to do for $4.

 

But still, I’m happy for the money earned. :)

My Ex-Boyfriend’s Toothbrush Laying Around – Throw It Away Or Re-Use It? (Hahaha, yes, I’m that frugal)

So yesterday I found my ex-boyfriend’s toothbrush laying around in the cabinet in my bathroom. My first inclination was naturally to throw it away, since I didn’t want it lying around my apartment reminding me of him. However, then I realized that, hey, maybe I could keep this as a spare and use it myself when I need a new toothbrush. Then I would save money. Because I know that it was brand-new when he brought it over. So it’s still got some mileage in it. Hahaha :)

What do you think? :) Am I being too frugal on this one? :)

It’s Time To Read My Electric Meter Again

Well, it’s that time of the year again. The time to read my electric meter and send in the results to the electricity company.

I always feel like I’ve used too much. But in actuality, I use well below the average amount of electricity that a household my size (1 person, 50m²) uses during one year. (If you’re wondering how I know this, then it’s because my electric company has charts and graphs on their webpage that the costumer can compare one’s electricity usage with. I’m a blend between a geek and a frugalista in that I actually spend a good amount of time comparing myself to those charts and graphs of average electricity usage. Geez, I should really get off the internet more :p ) 

I also think I used a bit less electricity this last year (2010) compared to the year before (2009) because this past year I’ve had a 9-5 job, so I’m only home in the evenings, whilst in 2009 I was home ALL THE TIME - 24 HOURS A DAY because I was writing my university thesis. So obviously, I would have had to have used less electricity this last year (2010) because I’m simply out of the apartment 8 HOURS A DAY. There’s got to be a cut in the electricity bill there.

But you never know, the price of electricity has increased during this past year (it does so every year at the moment!), so what I’ve saved in actual electricity usage, will probably be eaten up by the price increase. We’ll see. You’ll probably hear all about it because I’ll most likely be publishing a post about my electricity bill, when it arrives.

But here’s hoping that it’s a little less than last year. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. :)

LOVE WHAT YOU DO

I saw this over at at Money Management Made Easy and since it totally encompasses my view on work and loving one’s work I decided to share it here. Enjoy!

When your vocation becomes your vacation,
you'll never work another day in your life.

No one can succeed in any endeavor that they don't like.
If you don't love what you're doing, then don't do it.

Your chances of success are directly proportional
to the degree of pleasure you derive from what you do.

Do something that you have a deep personal interest in.
Do something you'd enjoy spending twelve to fifteen hours a day
working at, and the rest of the time thinking about.

Don't set compensation as your goal.
Find work you like and the compensation will follow.

Work is not your punishment.
It's your reward, your strength and your pleasure.

Real success is achieved when you like what you do.
Work is love made visible.

I love this saying! :) However, I don’t quite agree with the line “If you don't love what you're doing, then don't do it” because obviously, most of us need to eat. ;) And sometimes we don’t have a choice as to as whether we get to do our dream job or not (right away), but we should at least strive for it. Apart from that line, I absolutely love this mantra! It embodies my whole view of work.

While others are talking about the “4-Hour Work Week” and the whole “Work Smarter Not Harder” thing, then here I am a little workaholic advocating the “Do What You Love, And Love What You Do, And You’ll Never Work A Day In Your Life” point of view. Heck, if I didn’t believe this view of work, then I would’ve chosen a different professional industry to work in. ;)

Blog Reboot: The Money Blog Revisited – A New Direction

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post named RE-BRANDING: Transitioning Your Blog When You’ve Come To A Different Place In Your Life, my blog is going through a period of change – mainly, because I myself am going through a period of change. SO the previous post addressed the whole issue of the blog going through a transitioning. Now is the time for the actual blog REBOOT.

 

Photo credit: changing lanes

THE CHANGE OF DIRECTION FROM SAVING TO EARNING

This is going to be the biggest change to the blog, as I have now shifted my focus in my real life from saving money to earning money. As you can see from the URL of this blog, my focus was savings. I began this blog in college/university and so the main focus back then was to save, save, save so that I could have as little a loan (student loan and family loan) as possible. But now that I’m out and in the work force, this is the time to start earning and to start paying back my loans.

So EARNING more has become extremely important to me in my real life, and you’ll therefore see me blogging about job applications and the like, because I’m dead set on finding a higher-paying job at the moment, and hence EARNING more. My mental focus shift from saving to earning will reflect now in this blog also. I will naturally still focus on saving, but you will definitely see a shift in weight towards blog posts about earning. That’s going to be the new order of business around here.