Not really free, but I've been picking up shifts at the restaurant left and right. At this point, my theory is that if I'm alive & awake, I might as well be working. I only have 13 days left anyway.

I picked up a 4 hour closing shift last night that brought in a solid $150, and I picked another one up for tonight. I can't believe other servers are giving these away. I've already made $50 on the lunch shift, so if I can break $200 for the day I'll call it a success.

The best part is I've spent 0 money today and yesterday. I'm trying to teach myself to think in terms of averages, not windfalls, and not allowing a good night here and there to justify a spending spree.

[Edit: In other news, I only made $70 at dinner. Cool.]

Key facts:

1) I'm 23.
2) I have barely $5,000 to my name, and I'm $30,000 in debt from undergrad.
3) I don't have a frugal bone in my body.
4) I'm about to move to NYC.

My biggest challenge (and greatest fear) is that I don't know how to downsize my lifestyle. I'm not a rich kid by any means, but I'm single, in a town with a low cost-of-living, with a waitressing job that keeps a steady flow of cash coming in. I don't buy generic; I eat organic; I wear designer. Thus far, I've been able to do this while socking away $500/month. Not bad, service industry job - not bad.

I could support these habits in the southwest indefinitely, but in New York my rent/utilities/food costs/EVERYTHING are going to double, even triple. I know I'm going to have to learn to live modestly and like it, too.

In college, the only way I could lose weight was by tracking every calorie and noting the times I made the right choice - apple over brownie, oatmeal over donut, etc. I just needed to visual reminder that I possessed self-control after all.

So that's what I'm going to do here. I'm going to jot down the little decisions along the way, in hopes that frugal will eventually become the new normal. I know my saving strategies are kind of lame, in comparison to many of you. Buying $5 drugstore bronzer instead of my favorite $40 department store brand was a big deal for me, when a lot of people would forgo bronzer altogether (I say: "NEVER!"). I'm not going to defend it. I need baby steps.