More of the Experiment

Day 3, Saturday the 30.

No shopping today, nothing spent. 0.19 from yesterday, plus the 3 from today leave 3.19 for tomorrow. No shopping happens on Sunday here, so that'll be another 3EUR and will have monday starting with 9.19. Lots of cash there.

To be sure people know how I'm surviving, all food today came from the family. That's free, so it's perfectly valid. I expect tomorrow's food to come the same way. Soon, the majority of my food will not be free.

The 3EUR Experiment

I had a strange notion hit me recently, and like most strange notions, I felt compelled to at least explore the possibilities of it.

This notion was born of the practical considerations of my living expenses. The apartment I am in has me thinking about food, possessions and usage of space. Given the limited space available to me, both for furniture and for food and, quite frankly, everything else, I need to make sure I'm maximizing this limited resource.

Since space for food storage is so limited, I am going to be practically forced to buy groceries on a daily or near daily schedule. Anything bought needs to be eaten relatively quickly, since there is hardly any place to keep it.

That line of thought has led me to consider that I could easily overspend on food, simply by buying things that are unnecessary or expensive. While I do not have a fixed food budget, I feel that implementing one is probably the best way to help minimize my total monthly costs.

So, I began thinking about budgets. I started thinking about spending per month. Then, spending per week. Eventually I came to ask myself: How little per day could I spend and still survive comfortably?

After some thinking, the number that came to mind was 3 Euros. And thus, the 3EUR Experiment was born.

An experiment like this in Canada, at the same dollar value (about $5), would be difficult. Potentially possible, but hard. But in Germany, the basic staple foods seem to be far cheaper. I think it is possible.

I've laid out a few ground rules for myself.

1. The experiment applies only towards my food and household budget. This includes any consumable item (any item expected to last less than 1 month with daily usage) . It does not include things like my water and power bill. It also does not include school or travel expenses. It does include any evenings out or fast food.

2. I'm free to take advantage of the generosity of others, as well as any free items I can find.

3. I am limited to 3EUR per day, and any unspent money will carry over to the next day.

I kicked off the experiment on Thursday the 27th. Of course, by the time I started it, I already had some consumable items (both purchased and found) for the apartment. In the interests of being fair, here's what I already had on hand:

1L orange juice

400g extra hot chili powder

100g sharp paprika

2x125g bar soap

500mL shampoo

125mL toothpaste

1 razor with 2 replacement blades

250g strawberry cake snacks

3 rolls toilet paper

part of a bottle of hand soap

750mL chili oil

On Thursday, I started with 3EUR. My purchases included:

1L milk 0.50

2 bananas 0.36

1Kg sugar 0.65

500g raw rolled oats 0.35

200g cottage cheese 0.49

For a total of 2.35, leaving 0.65 for tomorrow.

Since it was the first day, I was looking to get enough stuff in the house to be able to handle breakfast for the next day at the least. As well, I wanted to start setting up some staple foods that would last me for a while. Thus, the sugar and the oats. The milk should also last me a couple of days. With any luck, I'll be able to build on this, and get some more cooking staples together.

On Friday, I started with 3.65EUR. Purchases were:

1L sunflower oil 1.49

300g cottage cheese 0.89

loaf of bread 0.49

500g cream cheese 0.59

Total of 3.46, leaving 0.19 for Saturday.

With luck, I can save up some cash over the weekend, so I can make a few of the more expensive purchases on Monday.

I still have to pick up more cooking staples, like salt and pepper, and other basic spices. But those should be relatively cheap.

Book 3: Moving Pictures

I borrowed 3 books from the library last time I went there. Animal Farm, Maurice, der Kater, and Moving Pictures.

I started and finished Moving Pictures today. Same length, if not more than Maurice, but in English. Clearly, my reading speed is far greater in English.

Like most Terry Pratchett books, I enjoyed it quite a bit. A fun read, with interesting social commentary mixed in amongst the humour.

I tore through this book in about 5 hours of total reading time. If you like Discworld, then this book will be enjoyable to you.

I found I could identify most, but not all of the movie spoofing happening. Which is good, considering how poorly I do at that most of the time. It helps when the movies being spoofed are the older movies. Things I have probably seen spoofed before.

Still, enjoyable read. Quite nice overall.

Book 2: Maurice, der Kater

Book 2 is the first all German book I've managed to read this year. You may be pointing to Harry Potter as being in all German, and it is, but I started that way back last year. This book was started this year. This month, even.

I think I'm getting a bit faster. And I'm understanding it pretty well, but I am doing a lot of in-place translation still. Gotta work on that. And the only way is simply to read more.

The book was pretty good. Terry Pratchett is a writer I enjoy. I do feel that I lost a bit on the jokes due to translation, but most of them held up. When I think about the book, a lot of it is in English in my head. That's because I translated it as I went. But there are some things which still stick out in German. Which I will take as a good sign.

Overall, the book was good. Even if it wasn't quite as involved with the Discworld I know.

I must also say that I'm quite happy that he didn't go with the tried cliche of the two main characters falling in love with each other. At least, not in the head-over-heels kind of way.

Overall, a good book. Recommended, even in English.

Cooking

One of the Big, Fun, Scary items this year is learning how to cook. Now, I can already do some cooking and baking. But, it's mostly the same few simple things. Spaghetti (or variations of pasta, done the same way). Stir-fry, pizza, and I can fry pretty much any meat you hand me.

But I fail on a number of other areas. Like, things that aren't fried. Things that aren't a simple spaghetti. I want to learn to cook better. Which, to me, means I want to learn to cook more, and different things. I want to be able to do fish, steak, and so forth.

I don't need to cook things that are super-fancy, but I wouldn't mind being about to do some fancy things.

I do want to learn to do some healthier options for myself, and by extension, for others when I cook for them.

Apartment again

Right. Been mulling the apartment for a couple days. Move in comes soon. Looking forward to that. Going to probably start with the basics. Keep things simple, you know?

Bed, dishes, required items for food and toiletries. That kind of simple. Even with keys in hand, I expect a full move-in to take me at least a week. I just don't have the ability to move furniture on my own, or it wouldn't be nearly as long.

I've been thinking about decor. And I've more or less come to the conclusion that I can't afford decor. No money for that sort of frippery. As it is, I'll be needing cash just to keep the basics running, like food and bus fare. Beyond that, anything else would simply be an unneeded expense. Doesn't mean I can manufacture a few things for myself. Just means that I have to really think my way through any purchase.

I have been good enough to hold off on picking up any kind of furniture for the place. Until I know how much space I have, there's no sense in putting down any cash on anything "new."

Apartment stuff

So, I've been preparing for the apartment. I made a list. That's pretty normal planning for me. Make a list. Then I can figure out what needs doing, and what's done.

I've got basic furniture for the place. Bed, a small closet, a dresser, chair (or two), and a table (probably). I could use a desk lamp at least. Maybe a floor lamp.

I figure I will need some extra pillows (lots of them), and also some additional blankets. I have a small comforter and can probably take a few of the smaller pillows with me.

I've got a set of speakers and an amp to power them. I'll need to locate a 1/8 to 1/4 male-to-male plug, so I can hook the laptop to the amp. A bit more junk-build than the system I used in Canada, but serviceable.

I may even be able to take on the record player, but I don't know if that's spare or not.

The other week, I picked up some folding boxes to help me organize things, and I'll likely need a few more things to allow me to get the rest organized as well.

My kitchen consists of a sink, some cupboards, and 2 heating elements on the stove. No oven. So, I've acquired a new toaster oven. This, I figure will allow me to do some light baking things, though not much.

Early this week, I made and finished my rag rug for the kitchen floor. I hope it will help.

Today I picked up some tableware. Dishes, cups, bowls, plates, that sort of thing. Utensils too. With a few essential purchases from the Penny outside the apartment (toilet roll, soap, etc) I could move in and live a sparse life.

I expect to stay pretty sparse overall, but I will be adding on things until I can live reasonably comfortably as well.

So far, I've resisted the urge to pick up furniture. There's lots I could do with, but space in the apartment is very limited. I honestly don't have room for much that can't serve a couple purposes. As it is, I am feeling like any furniture I do get will have to be carefully considered in terms of space and placement in the apartment.

Still, I do have a couple of things I'd really like to have. A table. A desk. A plant of some sort. Maybe an end table or something where I could keep a small fish? The space I have is small, and I need to really carefully consider what is going to go in there.

Craft 4: Rag rug

Like the last post said, I was struck with an idea. Sometimes, I follow through on those ideas. This year, one of my goals is to follow through more (at least, you can read the list of goals that way). So, I went out on Monday and bought three cheap bolts of scrap fabric. A total of 6EUR.

I made sure to get stuff that felt good on the hands, since I knew I'd be using my feet on it a bunch. I rendered it into strips, sewed the strips, and then braided all the strips into a big thread. Crocheted the thing with my fingers, and it looks and feels great. I'm really happy with it.

Those of you keeping count might wonder what happened to Craft 1 and Craft 3? Well, I am numbering the crafts by when they are started, and not when they are finished. Craft 3 is a long piece of work, and I expect to need several hours this week to get it half-finished. It'll likely be done in about 2 weeks, but I hope it won't be quite that long.

Craft 1 is also going pretty slowly, as I've run out of thread. Must go by the shops and pick up some more.

An idea for a craft

So, I had an idea for a craft today. A rag rug.

I did a bit of research on it, and generally they were made pretty much any way that people wanted, so I feel that my idea is probably sound.

The plan I have is pretty straightforward, but labour intensive. Here's the idea:

1. purchase 3 bolts of scrap fabric. I'm looking for cheap and light. I'm also hoping to find bolts with a minimum length of 1 meter.

2. render all three bolts into half inch strips.

3. sew all the strips from the bolts together to make a single, long strip of fabric. Repeat this for each of the bolts.

4. roll the strips into fabric balls.

5. stitch the ends of the three fabric strips together.

6. braid the three strips into one very long braid.

7. use the braid as if it were a very big piece of string or yarn to crochet a squared mat.

That's the plan. The efforts come from all of the cutting, sewing, braiding and crocheting work. It's basically four small crafts in one. With luck, the result will be something unique and interesting, and hopefully warm on the feet.

If I get a chance, I'll be looking for scrap fabric tomorrow.

Advantages of living alone

One advantage that struck me today about the prospect of having my own apartment, is that I will be the only person in charge of the food there. Groceries in any form will be entirely based on what I choose to purchase.

This is a good thing.

I have moved before, and at each move there's been some ability to set what food goes into the house. But it has never really been my own choices before (except Ohio). There's always been other people to consider.

In Ohio, I had full choice as well, and that worked fine for the first week or so, after which I no longer cooked and bought nothing as food aside from drinks and ice cream. So, bad on me there.

This time, I am hoping to stick to a much healthier food selection. I will have some drawbacks with certain kinds of food preparation, as I will not have an oven. Hopefully I can get a toaster oven or something similar to do any kind of baking/broiling.

I am considering living a less meat-centered diet. This would probably be a good thing for me, as meat is generally more expensive than vegetables and fruit.

Craft 2

Just finished a crochet hat. A variation on the basic 5-fold hat design done in the round. Done up as a beret, rather than as a regular helmet hat. Added a bit of flair on the bottom, just because I could. Wasn't sure who would end up with it, but it looks like B likes it, so it is hers.

Next project in mind is probably a scarf. I have a rough design in mind for it, though I may start on some leggings next. Had their design in mind for longer.

Apartment hunting

Living now in Germany requires that I register a residence. Where I am currently won't allow me to register. So I need an apartment. The prospect of hunting out an apartment is pretty daunting to me, since the Germans have a lot of rules about how things get done.

I searched out a number of cheaper student residences, but a lot of those are WG (Wohngemeinschafft), which means shared accommodations. While I'm sure I could deal with a shared accommodation, I really would rather not have to share with strangers. It would probably be good for communication and social life, but it also carries the penalties of having to deal with other people.

I searched out a couple of places, and went in today to see one. Tiny. Best I could say for it. I'm mentally comparing it to the place I had in Ohio. That too was a temporary living space, and consisted of a single room, with an attached bathroom. I paid about $600 per month for the privilege of living there.

The space I looked at (and will rent) is smaller. The bathroom is small, but serviceable, and the apartment as a whole takes up no more room than the bedroom I have now. Still, I need a location to use as an address for official correspondance, and also for other official business. Plus, an area away from the distractions of family will do me good when it comes to studies.

Given the size of the space, a TV is out of the question. I simply do not have room for such a thing. Assuming I can locate some internet connection, I should be fine for entertainment. If not, I may need to start figuring out ways to entertain myself that don't involve a computer.

Book 0: Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen

This is a book I have read before. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (alternately titled "and the Sorceror's Stone in the USA). This was the German translation.

I have been reading this book for a long time. A very long time. I picked the book up last summer, and have been making slow progress through it since then. It has been my book that I read on the train here in Germany.

In English, I can read pretty quickly. In German, my reading pace is considerably slower. As a quick comparison the internet tells me that animal farm has a bit under 31,000 words. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone comes in at just under 77,000 (the English edition).

I read Animal Farm in 1.5 hours (that's 344 words per minute).

And I read the English version of Harry Potter in about 2.5 hours.

The German version has taken me months. Admittedly, this is in tiny bursts of 20 minutes at a time. Still, tonight I managed to devote about 1.5 hours of time to reading the last 35 pages of the book. That's a pace that is a third to a quarter that of my English reading rate. Surprisingly, that's lots faster than it was just a few months ago. I'd have been lucky to do even 10 pages in the same amount of time.

I don't have much of a review of the book here. It's Harry Potter. If you accept that magic is possible, and all that goes with it, then the book is a reasonable read, with several major flaws in logic along the way.

If you haven't read the book, then spoilers follow.

The first major complaint I have is with the sport of Quidditch. Not the field, nor the flying, nor even the many balls. My issue is with the scoring. 10 points per quaffle goal is fine. It would be the same as saying that each goal is only 1 point, however, since it's part of the game I agree with. My major disagreement is with the scoring for the snitch. 150 points? For a single ball? Yes, I get that it is supposed to be very difficult to manage. And I get that it is also the signal for the game to end. But to me, the point swing possible with that ball is too great. It means that the only way for the non-snitch-catching team to win, is to be ahead by 16 regular goals.

Given the way the game is otherwise described, I'm hard pressed to imagine a situation where this is possible, short of one team being dead, except for the Snatcher. A more reasonable scoring of say, 15, or 25 points would make the game far more balanced. As it is, the game could, in theory, be won 150 to 0. Which seems like a rather large point spread.

My other complaint has to do with the structuring of the pacing of the book. Yes, the books events happen over the full course of the regular school year. But, they don't need to. There's no reason for Quirrell to wait until the end of the year. He had every bit as much opportunity to take action at the start of the year as he did later in the year. Especially considering the possible use of the Avada Kedavra to get past Fluffy (unless such a curse would be ineffective on something his size).

As well, given the events of later books, it seems to me like Dumbledore is doing things rather stupidly towards the end. When he's called away to London, he decides to go by broomstick. A method of travel he never uses again. Thereafter, in all the books, he travels by some method of instant teleportation. Disapparation, Port Key, or Flue. There's just no need for him to fly anywhere by broom. And even less reason for him not to be able to instantly return to just outside the grounds of the school (or as the final book shows us, to be able to Disapparate directly onto the school grounds - a perk of being headmaster).

Broom flying seems to be a strictly novice way to get around. Especially given the magical ability of the old man.

Anyway, the complaints with the book I can overlook (except for Quidditch, which just irks me). I like the book, I like the setting, I like the characters (at least until hormone-stupid syndrome strikes them). I will probably pick up the next book in the series in German and see how long it takes me to chew through the longer text of that volume.

Book 1: Animal Farm

Amongst the varied goals of Big, Fun, Scary 2011 is to read more. I feel that a read a reasonable amount, but I could certainly read more. Especially in German. Thus, I have set a rather lofty goal to read 100 books this year. I am only counting something as a book if it has more pages of text than illustration, so manga, comics and other such works will not count. I still expect to read a good number of those.

The first book I'm managed to read cover to cover this year is Animal Farm, by George Orwell. The last time I read this book was in high school, as an assignment. The copy I read is English, borrowed from the local library.

I can say that the main reason I borrowed the book is so that I could finally have something to write about for the reading portion of BFS. The book is short. So short that I read the entire thing in under 90 minutes, including a brief break.

I've found that people either love or hate George Orwell. Most of that has to do with whether they discovered him on their own or were forced to read something of his as part of their schooling. Personally, I find him to be a decent writer, but also a bit heavy handed. His use of metaphor in all of the writings I've read of him come back around to the topics of war, imperialism and the oppression of the idiot masses. These are things I can understand, but don't relate to completely. I suppose that makes the book somewhat less meaningful for me, but I'm not bothered by that fact.

The book is, more or less, as I remember. Brief, with an initially large cast of characters that basically dwindles down to rather few characters in short order. The story loses almost all sense of dialogue during the middle portion, and becomes little more than a retelling of history of an emerging oppressive regime than anything else.

There are clear allegories to real-world politics, and had I been alive at the time when the book was being written, I might be able to place country labels on the various farms and individuals in the book. It holds up to some scrutiny today, which suggests that nothing has really changed in politics.

Overall, a very quick read, and classic Orwell. I prefer 1984 over Animal Farm. Both books cover pretty much the same topic, but from a slightly different viewpoint, and with a more relateable character in 1984.

Craft 0 and Craft 1

Crafting is one of the Big, Fun, Scary activities for this year.

Craft 0 is the project I was last working on before the new year. I had hoped to finish it before the first, but that got held up by other things in life. So, when it is finished, it will count as Craft 0. It is a crocheted pair of arm warmers for my oldest daughter. Right now, the craft sits at about 85% completed. I expect that it needs around 3 or 4 more hours of effort before it is done - possibly more since the yarn and needle combination has been more difficult than expected.

Craft 1 is a sewn skirt, being put together by me, for B. The skirt is entirely my design, with inspiration from a lot of places. It's a five-panel skirt, with a waistline piece on top. While I've technically been sewing for more than 20 years, I have to say that I really don't have much experience with it. So, I'm trying to keep things simple. At least as simple as designing a piece of clothing, laying out the design and then sewing it into something wearable can be.

Craft 1 is about 85% complete as well, but needs some heavy modification to make it wearable. While I had done some calculation to make it fit, it seems to have grown somewhat in the making. I do tend to put in a lot of excess when I sew. That's something I'll have to work on. The current need is to put a zipper into it. I had bought a zipper for it when I had originally made it, but it has gone missing. I will need to find a new one, and then sew it in. That means undoing a bunch of work on the skirt, but that's the price I pay for doing things the hard way.