Going Pro Bono

By PayDaze

Last night I went to an orientation session with Taproot, the volunteer organization I recently signed up with. They match creative and professional people with worthwhile non-profits in Chicago (and a bunch of other cities) to work on their brands, websites, brochures and more. I figure it'll be a good way for me to do some creative work outside of my company and get involved in the community. Plus, I'll get to meet more wacky Chicagoans and have some funny stories to tell.

From the sounds of it, the workload shouldn't be too bad. The projects should last around 5-6 months, but they say everyone will only work around 5 hours a week. (From home, with phone meetings.)

I'm so excited to get started! The Taproot people I met last night were really passionate and enthusiastic about what they do, and it'll be a pleasant change of pace from the usual corporate communications stuff we do at the office.

If you're interested in volunteering, these positions are most in demand in Chicago:

- web graphic designers (nudge nudge, Billz)
- copywriters (that's me)
- marketing managers
- software / web developers
- print graphic designers

Or if you're not in Chicago, Taproot is also in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Washington D.C. and Seattle. I'll post more about my volunteer projects once I get started!

We're screwed! Cheers!

By MoneyBags

My hubby did our taxes last night. Turns out that our taxes are way higher now that we are married. WTF? Didn't you always think that the taxes would be lower if you got married? Isn't that one of the reasons people use to fight for same-sex marriage?

It turns out that you only get a tax break if one of the people makes way more than the other. If your incomes are relatively similar, then you're kinda screwed, because your combined income bumps you into a higher tax bracket. In fact, there's a name for it. MARRIAGE PENALTY. So negative, right? I don't remember people mentioning any sort of a penalty when we got engaged. "Here's to the new Mr. and Mrs. Moneybags, to a life of love, laughter and...penalty. Cheers!"

Anyhoot, we are going to take the taxes to some sort of professional, although the program they plug everything into is just about the exact same thing as Turbotax. I guess I would rather have a human tell me I'm screwed than a computer.

Not gloating, I promise. Okay, maybe I am! Ha!

Mua-haha!

Thanks to the Chicago Reader, I've won two free tickets to the European Union Film Festival at the Gene Siskel Film Theater.

Oh yeah!

Thanks Chicago Reader!

Pssssst!

By PayDaze

Since I've been the only one who's been posting since February 22, I'm going to quietly self-promote the stuff I'm selling on eBay this week. I think it's okay if I do this because the other two probably aren't looking anyway. So let's gather around as if I'm secretly show you goods out of the back of my truck in a dark, empty alley.

So what am I parting with?

1. Emporio Armani tweed wool jacket. Fully lined. Size 8. Ridiculously cute. Never worn outside. In public. Or in the open air.

I'm not exactly sure why I bought this (for more than a couple hundred dollars -- on sale) other than the fact that I was staying with my aunt in Orange County, we were shopping at South Coast Plaza, and my mum had instructed her to help me pick out some professional work clothes.

I was pressured, I guess, into buying this even though it's not my size because I found it so irresistibly cute. And still do, to be honest. Look at those pockets! Look at the ties! ARRRRR! If only it fit me properly. Sob, sob.

2. Brand new Tod's black leather sandals / mules. Size 37 or US 7. Completely new. So nice. Never been worn outside. Never touched dirt of any kind.

These belonged to my mum and she gave them to me because she's reached the age where she'll only wear supercomfy shoes regardless of how ugly they are, even if they are plastic beige Crocs. I'm serious. The problem is, I'm the kind of girl who wears flats that are Adidas by Stella McCartney. So these really nice, sophisticated leather mules are wasted on me.

They should still find a great home though! They have no scuff marks on the bottoms at all (go to the eBay listing to see photos) and will be so perfect for spring.

3. A.P.C. t-shirt in tomato red. Size small. Made in Japan. New with tag and extra button. So cute it makes me want to cry.

Either you already know about the French brand A.P.C. and you love it to bits, or you didn't know about it until now and your life is about to change. Billz and I are both A.P.C. fans. She has a green jacket she bought from a sample sale in NYC and I have a sweater, jeans and a few summer tops that I ordered from their online sales.

I bought this cap-sleeved t-shirt because it was their last one and well, it's A.P.C. Too bad it's a looser fit than I usually like for my t-shirts, so I'm releasing it to a better home. Forgive me, cute t-shirt!


There's another pair of shoes I have on eBay, but I'm gonna stop the preview here. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought the other shoes because they're so "worky" and I'm not worky at all. Surprise, surprise. I've never ever worn them once.

Click on the links to get to the eBay listings!

I'm a winner! A winner, I say!

By PayDaze

I've been saying lately that I'm ready to win a contest of some kind. Not anything insane like the lottery, but just something cool and exciting. You know, something free. (Cause doing free things make me even more rich than I already am.)

So I've been vigilant about entering competitions online. I entered a JetBlue one, a Southwest Airlines one, various shopping site contests and some competitions to win event tickets. No dice...until today.

Looks like I'm a winner after all! I won a private tour for two to the Gordon Matta Clark exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Thanks Terra Foundation for American Art! Terra Foundation is the organization that's offering those great discount coupons for Chicago museums and walking tours that I posted about here. Scratch that. The tour sucked!

Yay, I love doing cultural things around Chicago. I feel smarter already just thinking about it. And I haven't been to the MCA yet even though there's a Takashi Murakami exhibition I've been wanting to see since I moved here.

The private tour is at 6pm next Tuesday though, so hopefully I'll be able to get over there in time after work. Maybe I'll drag either MoneyBags or Billz with me if my guy is working. I think he is. But I'll check anyway.

Speaking of free events. A few weeks ago, Billz and I went to see a dance group called Garth Fagan Dance at the Harris Theater near Millennium Park. (They were amazing.) I got us free tickets just by signing up for their newsletter. I like to keep an eye out for these kinds of deals and pass the good news on. MoneyBags and her hubby are going later this month I think. And another coworker and her hubby went too. Too bad the promotion is over now cause I wanted badly to take my guy to a dance show. And feel him squirm.

Also this week, MoneyBags and I went to a free advanced screening of the new Gus Van Sant movie, Paranoid Park. We went with her friend who's a cool and connected industry insider. The movie was kinda sucky, but there was a reception after with free food and drinks. Hurrah!

Now back to feeling like a winner...

A story of seafood and sales tax

By PayDaze

I was in Boston this past weekend for three days. I stayed in a cool hotel (Liberty Hotel) with a great friend from highschool. We ate some really awesome seafood. And above all else, we shopped. No Museum of Fine Arts for us...we went straight for Filene's Basement! (I guess it was a museum of sorts. Filene's did start in Boston back in 1881...)

The best surprise was finding out that there's no sales tax for clothing under $175 over there. And for stuff that's over $175, the tax is only 5%. Compare that to Chicago's tax of 10.25% -- the highest sales tax in the entire US! Oh my gosh, we were practically making money as we were spending it.

But I didn't go overboard. I got a dressy top from Club Monaco on sale that I can return if I change my mind. And I got a fancy-ish Theory jacket from Filene's. I love both of them a bit too much so I think I'll keep them both.

At dinner, we also saved money on tax. We had three meals of awesome, awesome seafood. I'd been craving fresh and reasonably priced seafood for months because in Chicago it's mostly frozen stuff and that's pretty stupid. I grew up in Sydney, which is probably one of the best food cities in the world since there's such a great mix of cultures and easy access to fantastic produce. Growing up, I probably ate seafood two or three times a week so imagine the weirdness my digestive system went through last year after months of no seafood, then a sudden gorging of salmon. But that story is for another blog post. No, another genre of blog altogether...

So back to Boston. The food was amazing. And there was no sales tax. Oh, sales tax. How I hate thee. In Australia and Taiwan, all taxes are included. This means the price on the sticker is the price you pay. And the price on the menu is the price you pay. It's bliss. And it makes sense. Why it has to be charged separately over here is beyond me. And why the percentage is different for every state is even farther beyond me.

Oh well. When in Rome. Shrug.

While we're away, go for a walk...

By PayDaze

We're terrible, we know. It's been ages since the last real post. But hopefully this makes up for it. I know I sound like a parent who's been away on a business trip for two weeks, and these treats seem like the equivalent of a present bought from an airport shop...but they're not. Don't you make that face at me!

Anyway, here they are! Print them out, use them and you'll be rich -- both financially and culturally. (Here is where we scoff together the way smug French people do.)

From the Terra Foundation for American Art:

2-for-1 coupons for walking tours with the Architecture Foundation of Chicago

Downtown Deco Tour
Expires Dec. 31, 2008

Sculpture in the Loop Tour
Expires Dec. 31, 2008

2-for-1 coupons for Chicago museums

Museum of Contemporary Art
Expires June 30, 2008

Chicago History Museum
Expires Aug. 3, 2008

We've been busy, but not too busy to pick a random winner!

By PayDaze

Projects launch. Deadlines pass. People stay back at the office. People get sick. Dinner is ordered in. Boyfriends get back into town after vacationing in Paris with their mothers...

That's the gist of what's been happening in our world this past week.

We should be back on track soon. Please bear with us. MoneyBags told me earlier this morning she's got a new post in the works, and trust me, when MoneyBags has something in the works, it's usually spectacular. So come back and be our friend always, okay?

And now for the winner of our February contest...

Congratulations and a $10 gift voucher to Figleaves.com goes to our random winner: Give Me Back My $5!

Thanks to the other blogs that entered:

Brown Eyed Girl and Money
The Frugalista Files
Because You Want to Know
Life & Debt in Chicago
This Writer's Wallet
Piggy Bank Blues
My Money and Politics