Some former clients of mine asked if I could come back and do some work for them next month.  September has been lining up to be a busy month with trips planned and visitors coming, however, two opportunities presented themselves and now I have to choose between going on Saver’s work retreat at the beach or two weeks of work.  Considering I’ve had no weeks of work, it’s not really a hard choice but I did pause and wonder if it was worth buying a $1000 plane ticket in order to make $2500-3000.  Saver gave the decision perspective when she asked if I’d pay $1000 to go on the retreat with her. Yeah, probably not at this point.

My local job hunting effort to find something photography related is not going completely unnoticed (although it feels like it most days). I’ve been contacting publications which I could shoot for as well as photographers who might need assistants. After contacting twelve photographers last week, I actually heard back from one, telling me he’d add me to his assistant list. I also heard from a magazine editor sharing his interest in my work but nothing has materialized from either contact thus far. I’m going to keep knocking on doors here but I’m now brainstorming how I could find more opportunities in or from the US.  Either way I’m learning ‘fun’ realities of being a freelancer.

According to Rescue Time’s statistics I’ve spent over 40 hours on the computer from Monday to Saturday. I was hoping to see how much time I was devoting to self promotion and blogging versus frivolous web surfing but it’s not exactly clear what I’ve been doing, according to the statistics. I thought the software would be more specific about tracking details of websites or applications but it seems to only give me a vague glimpse of my activity.

I’m still learning how to use the Rescue Time features that allow you to tag different categories and list website you’d like it to monitor.  I thought I could just let the program track everything throughout the week and then interpret the results but it seems to take a bit more understanding and setup.

I found another program that might give me a better sense of what I’m doing on the web between blog reading, random Google searches and Facebook chatting.  Time Tracker (free) www.formassembly.com/time-tracker/ It claims to “help you keep track of the time you spend on any task. Use it for time management, to improve the accuracy of your time estimates, or for any other purpose you may find useful.” I’m going to use it this week and see if it can give me a better picture of what exactly I’m doing in those 40 computer hours.

Finally, if I don’t make any progress with the above mentioned programs I could consider another another option.  8 A Week (free) http://8aweek.com/ This company claims the average employee spends over 8 hours per week surfing on the Internet and they want to help you make those hours more productive.

If I don’t make any headway with Time Tracker and Rescue Time I just may take a closer look at 8 A Week and its ability to ration your distractions and help you focus.

I’m going to recommit to this Saver and Spender relationship by changing how I approach my spender ways. I thought this blog was all about money and how to save it or spend it. That’s tough to do considering I haven’t been making any money lately. The last thing the last thing I’ve wanted to do is dwell on it through blogging.

What I think about all the time is…TIME. What am I doing today? How long will it take? How long should I spend doing said task? That took a lot of time to do that! etc, etc, etc. I’m constantly evaluating what I should be doing to find a job or how to be productive.

Money is not something I really have to save or spend lately. The last three months have been rather depressing. It’s hard to think about money at the moment and therefore I’ve found it difficult to write about. What I do have in abundance and could write about though is time. I’m a time spender these days.  Or, currently I feel like a time waster. In order to be more a productive blogger here, I’m going to write about my experience trying to be more self motivated and efficient with my time.

This is roughly how I perceive I spend an average day in the last four months.

9am - wake up and go straight to the computer to check and respond to email.

9:15 to 11:30am - read blogs and news and general exploration of the Internet

11:30 to 1pm - Lunch, TV watching and more surfing the web

1pm to 6pm - Work on personal blog, looking for jobs, sometimes making photographs (although this hasn’t been happening much lately), learning about HTML, Javascript, Google Maps API, etc.

6pm to 7:30pm - Emailing, Watching TV, Facebooking, Instant Messenging, socializing

7:30 to 9pm - Making dinner

9pm on - Watching TV or Wii with Saver

This is not actually how I’d like to spend my day, but it’s a pattern that I’ve developed that has been hard to change. I’d like to get up earlier, make more images, start a multimedia project, do more self promotion, exercise, watch less TV, be consistent about when we eat dinner and stay on top of laundry and tracking expenses.

I’ve come up with a few ideas on how to make this happen.

First, I’m going to start using an time management tracker. Kind of like a budget for time. I’m currently looking for a good online application. (more on this in my next post)

Second, Saver and I are going to be sit down twice a week and figure out if we’re meeting our goals and if not what we should be doing to do so.

Third, I’m going to be blogging about it regularly. Unlike money, self motivation and use of time is something I think about constantly. This is the first time I’ve truely been self employeed/unemployeed and it’s been a wake up call to using time wisely and finding ways to motivate myself.

I’m hoping this new approach to how I spend my time will affect my personal finance woes positively and challenge me to make and spend money prudently.

Eurocheapo - Things to consider when traveling Europe by train
An interesting read after debating the merits of the Eurorail pass this week.

I’ve Paid For This Twice Already - Vacations Deserve Pictures - how to score cheap prints
Coupon links to one cent a print!

Joy of Tech - iPhone cartoon
Did you buy a 3G iPhone today?

Get Rich Slowly - Learn bike maintenance with the Bicycle Tutor

State of the Art - Best photographic story ever
A TED video of Rick Smolan telling an amazing story of how he took six months off, from being a globe trotting photojournalist, and ended up camping on the Korean DMZ, arranging an adoption and escaping a deadly fire. This is also the man responsible for the “A Day in the Life” series of coffee table books.

A few notes on methods. I’m not really sure how to account for different things, so I reserve the right to change. But for now, I am going to continue to convert euros in our savings accounts to dollars based on the exchange rate. We will most likely only live here for a year or so, so it makes sense to keep track of things in dollars. I’m also measuring “paid to net” as net of accrued debt interest. So if we make a payment of $100, but the debt accrues $5 in interest that month, I’m counting that as “paying down $95″.

1) IRS rebate checks ($480.88 for me and $600 for Spender).

2) Proceeds from selling Spender’s half of a sailboat ($1038). This was actually a profit of $38 after 1 year of ownership/use.

3) Insurance check from our movers (899€ = $1417). The stand of Spender’s computer monitor was broken in the move, but the screen and the electronics still work fine. Spender thinks he can fix the leg fairly easily, but the insurance company gave us the entire replacement amount. Side note: whatever any Mac thing costs in the US, it costs the same number amount here, but in euros instead of dollars. Lame.

My IRS check went to my student loans. I’m not being super aggressive at paying them off, because they have an interest rate of 3.25%, but I still like to put windfalls toward them, because it makes me feel like I’m making progress.

Spender’s money is mostly going to student loans, although we are going to use some of the insurance money to buy a couple new games for our wii. He’ll also probably leave some in his US checking account so he’ll be able to pay his minimums the next few months without worrying, but that still leaves over $2,000 to pay off the loans. That’s huge! It’s almost 15% of his balance.

I can’t imagine we’ll have another month like this anytime soon, and it might be harder to focus on debt payments when there isn’t extra money flowing in, but it’s certainly nice to have a big success early to motivate us to continue.

NPR story: Perfecting the art of Frugal Living in NYC

Margot Adler reports on the struggles of living in New York City as an artist.

Free: Walking tours in select European cities

I found a company that offers free walking tours in these cities: London, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. We haven’t tried them out yet but seem like a good way to get to know the city and it’s free.

Strobist: New AlienBees Wireless Triggers

A quick preview of new wireless flash remotes from Paul C. Buff. The Strobist is one of the best places to go to learn how to use off camera light to improve your photos (without spending thousands and thousand of dollars on light gear).

Shoot the Blog: Flickr and the Camera Marketplace

Can’t find the camera you want on Craig’s List or Ebay. Try Flickr?!

And the most ridiculous way I want to spend our money: The Ampbot

Phase 1: Splitting Expenses

When we started dating, I was a student and Spender was in his first staff position as a photographer. Neither of us had a lot of money. Our only “joint” expenses were going out for dinners or dates. I think Spender probably paid more than half, since he was working and I wasn’t, but I’m sure he didn’t pay for everything. The decision of who would pay was never much of an issue, and usually was driven by which of us had cash or which of us was the one deciding what we’d do that night.

Phase 2: Sharing Expenses

After I graduated, Spender was back in school and I was working, but not making very much money. We each still had our own bills and bank accounts, but we started paying a bit more attention to who was paying for what. We took turns at the grocery store and generally tried to make sure our spending balanced out. We had a lot of “Did you pay for X? I’ll pay for Y” conversations. I call it “Sharing Expenses” because the amount we paid was becoming less based on how much each of us used, and more likely to be split down the middle regardless. This is also when our “Shared” expenses started to be more than dates and going out: Groceries, Gas, Travel and even I think even cable.

Phase 3: Sharing Income

A couple years down the road, (and 2 states later, but that’s another post), we were both working and now living together. We opened a joint bank account, and we each contributed the same percentage of our income to the join account, keeping the rest in our personal accounts. I was earning quite a bit more than Spender, so I was contributing 2-3 times his share to our joint account.

It’s even more extreme now. Spender isn’t making any money. (We came to Europe when I decided to accept a transfer within my company). My paycheck (in Euros, thankfully) is deposited into our European bank account from which we pay all of our living expenses. We’re each using US savings accounts for things like paying our student loans or funding our Roth IRAs.

This is also the stage where conflict started arising for us. “She’s a Saver, He’s a Spender” isn’t just a catchy name for our blog. It’s also the biggest source of arguments in our relationship. Once one partner starts carrying more than her “fair share” of expenses, it gets very complicated. On one hand, we were each contributing our agreed upon share and we were supposed to be free to do what we wanted for the rest. On the other hand, I felt that I was making a certain level of sacrifice and in return Spender owed it to me to be responsible with the rest of his finances, including paying down debt and trying to save. Many arguments included something along the lines of “I’m not mad that you’re paying less rent. I’m mad that you’re paying less rent and also going out and buying an iPhone.”

We’re still working this phase out, but I think we’re getting better. We’ll post more about it as we continue to improve, and I hope we’ll eventually move on to:

Phase 4: Merging Finances Completely

The ultimate goal is to function as a single unit. I think we’ll always have a mechanism for us to be able to spend some money individually, but we would also take a more holistic view.

I’ll know that we’ve arrived to this phase when I am psychologically ready to take on Spender’s student loans. We actually both have a similar level of loans, but mine are at 3.25% and Spender’s are between 6-7%. If we were really operating as a single unit, extra money would go into his loans before mine and possibly before my savings/investment accounts. I’m not there yet - I still prioritize my accounts over his. I’m actually interested to see which happens first: my rational mind convinces itself to do the best thing financially (i.e., pay off high interest loans) or my heart deciding it would rather be half of a partnership than hold on to its current independence. Stay tuned.

The good News:

1) We’ve successfully tracked all expenses so far this month. We’ve never actually accomplished that before. The web entry form has been working really well.

2) We’re significantly under budget. One of our biggest budgeted expenses is “travel”, and tomorrow we will spend that on plane tickets to Finland, for a wedding. After that, we’ll be closer to our budgeted amount but I think we’ll still be under. Yay! Now the question is whether or not we decrease our budget next month to put more money in savings and debt payoff….

The not so great news:

3) We’ve spent a lot of money on going out this month. And Spender could barely believe that more than half of it was actually times when he went out without me. After a bit of defensiveness and some attempts at justification, he admitted that he should probably be more careful about spending in those situations. This is exactly the point of having a budget and tracing expenses, so that makes me happy. I’ll be happier next month if the spending really does come down, but I’m not going to get worked up over one category when we’re doing pretty well over all.

To be honest, just the fact that we have a functioning budget on which we can base these discussions is huge progress for us. Maybe this blog really is working some magic on Spender!

Saver and I have been butting heads about where we should be using the money that I made before we moved here. I’d really like to buy some new camera equipment. Treating money as “my” money and “your” money is still kind of second nature but we’re making a conscious effort to make it “our” money and I know it would not be fair to buy expensive camera equipment with out her consensus.

I’ve mostly worked for companies that provide my photographic gear but now that I’ve gone in the freelance direction I feel a need to build up my own equipment. I have many of the essential elements a professional photographer needs but I’d still like to get a second DSLR camera body. I recently sold a couple of my personal items and planned to use that money to buy a Canon 5D, which I’ve had my eye on for quite a while.

Saver, on the other hand, feels differently. As she supports me while I seek avenues to make a living as a freelance photographer in a foreign country, she thinks it would be wiser to put this money into paying off my student loans. I’ve never been very good at paying more than the minimum and she thinks I need to change my habits. Saver believes spending money on another camera body does not make sense if I haven’t made any money since our move and loans and interest are not going away. I agree that I should be putting more money than the minimum toward my loans but I’m not quite sure why all the money should go to the loans when I feel it’s important to buy a second camera body.

Why do I think a 5D is a good purchase right now? 1.) It’s good to have a back-up camera 2.) It has a larger sensor than the Canon 1D mkII I currently own. The 1D mkII was at its best when I was shooting sports and spot news, however, now I find myself making travel and landscape type images where resolution and wide angles are more useful. The 5D offers a higher quality image file and a wider perspective which both seem significant for the work I’m creating now.

I came across this year’s Harvard commencement speech by J.K. Rowling; “The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination.” On this freelance adventure I’ve embarked upon, fear of failure seizes me nearly everyday. Sign me up if there are any kind of benefits. In her frank and steadfast British accent, Rowling reveals from her own lessons of failure that, “Personal happiness lies in knowing that life is no longer a checklist of acquisition or achievement.” So now I wonder if dwelling on things I think I “have to have” is a distraction to achieving my goals. I am not going to pretend that I’m not planning to buy more camera equipment. I’m a photographer and crave new ways of looking at things. Yet this speech was kind of an intervention, allowing me to stop and examine my priorities while “magically” outside of my photographer mindset.

It reminds me of a valuable lesson I learned as a newspaper photographer but hadn’t considered applying it to other uses in living responsibly. Do not underestimate what you can do with a dull assignment. I often saw co-workers complain about covering the check signings and city meetings. At first I thought it was lame to work on the boring stories. But I somehow learned to love returning from these challenges with the unexpected. It didn’t always happen but more often than not, because of the few distractions, I had the time to focus on the situation and create memorable images.

It’s hard to admit but maybe I agree with Saver’s argument, encouraging me to first be aggressive about paying my debt down and when the gear I have is earning income then I can consider purchasing more equipment. It’s like the dull assignment. Despite my longing to use new cameras and lenses for a fresh perspective, more mega pixels and wider angles do not necessarily guarantee success. Responsibility will be my new perspective and hopefully a better bet for prosperity.