If you’re like me, you don’t carry around cash. Any spare change I find or accumulate in my wallet from the sporadic cash purchase immediately goes into this cute cow bank we bought in Salzburg, Austria on our honeymoon. Our paychecks are automatically deposited into our checking account, and we use credit cards almost exclusively for spending (and pay them off each month before the grace period is up). Actual cash is a foreign object to me. This is fine most of the time, but it does have its inconveniences such as splitting bills at restaurants, parking garages that don’t accept credit cards, merchants with minimum credit card amounts, and pools for money at work (baby showers, wedding showers, etc.).

Though it may not be as popular or as widely used as cash, there are several other options that people like myself can use in order to exchange money between family and friends that may just save a trip or two to the ATM—a place I do not enjoy going to—or save me from having to collect personal information like bank account numbers and bank routing numbers in order to do a traditional bank account transfer. These choices include sending money by text message, over email, and even through social media.

• PayPal: This is a very secure way to transfer money if you and the recipient both have PayPal accounts (free to sign up). You will need the person’s PayPal account email or mobile number. When you click “send money” and fill out the recipient’s information, choose the tab that says “Personal”, and the transfer will be free. Reasons to send personal payments include Gift, Payment Owed, Cash Advance, Living Expenses, and Other. PayPal also allows you to write in a note for the transfer, so you can keep a record of the reason for sending money. PayPal offers a free App.
• PopMoney: This service works with your bank account to allow you to send money by email and/or text for free. The recipient opens the email/text message and there are directions for how to get the money into their bank account. If their bank does not work with PopMoney, then they will need to visit PopMoney.com and input their bank account information. This eliminates the need for them to give you their bank account information all together, just like PayPal.  Here is a link to the free PopMoney App.
• Send Money App: This is a way to transfer money between people via Facebook. This App is brand new, and is being offered through a partnership of PayPal and Facebook. The transfer is free, but PayPal’s regular limits and international fees still apply.
• Dwolla: Launched nationally on December 1, 2009, this service allows the transfer of money for a small fee. It costs nothing to send a transaction, but to receive a transaction is $0.25 (you may want to send the extra $0.25 to offset the recipient’s cost). An issue with this service is the recipient must have a Dwolla account in order to receive the funds. If they do not, you will pay the fee. Also, there is no option to pay via credit card or debit card; it is based on bank accounts only. When you sign up for an account, you can upload all of your Facebook and Twitter contacts and then actually send them money through social media. Here is a link to the free Dwolla App.

An example in my own life of where one of these services could have come in handy was last Christmas when my brother, sister and I split the cost of a larger present for our mother. Another example is when my friend found a deal for me and purchased it (with my okay) and then I needed to pay them back afterwards. For future transactions like these in my own life, I might just try PopMoney next time.

Have you tried any of the options above, or do you head to the ATM/Bank? Do you normally carry around cash?

It started in late September during the final load of “my-mom’s-coming-to-visit-better-get-things-clean-including-rugs” laundry. I put the last load of wash in and headed into the shower. When I came out I was met with a pile of drenched, semi-cleaned rugs and an inch of water on the laundry room floor. By rerunning the load I immediately saw what was happening: as water went into the basin it immediately filtered out onto the floor.

Over the weekend I called a washer repairman. After describing to them the issue they theorized that it was a bad water pump and estimated that the cost of fixing the washer would be $150. This was the washer and dryer set that the previous owners had left us (thank you!), and they had lasted us two years while we recovered financially from a down payment on our home, a few renovations, and paying off all of our non-mortgage debt. While repairing would be the cheapest option, these machines are definitely older and we thought it was not best to sink money into them.

This led us to somewhere I had not been since my post-college, first apartment days: the Laundromat. Back in 2005 I had this great routine that really optimized my time on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. I would put two loads of wash in simultaneously, read a magazine, then as soon as I switched them over to the dryer I would go directly next door and grocery shop. By the time I was finished at the grocery store my loads were dry. I folded them, lugged everything out to the car and called it a day. How nice and simple! Now our routine is different though. Over the last month and a half Paul and I have rotated turns at the Laundromat, typically on Sunday afternoons. I’ve had a lot of time to think in the Laundromat, and thought I would share these thoughts with you from the perspective of an outsider (i.e. previous owner of a washing machine).

Laundromat Economics

First off, Laundromats seem to be one of the great equalizers as far as time is concerned. I saw both single people with their over-the-shoulder laundry sack as well as large families with several filled trash cans rolling behind them both get their laundry done within the same time frame because of being able to simultaneously use 1-5 (or more) machines. Aside from getting bogged down during the folding phase, this seems to be quite a time saver for large families.

However, in my opinion the costs of using a Laundromat are substantial. Here is how this Laundromat’s costs broke down:

• Largest Washer: 14 quarters, or $3.50
• Triple Loaders: 10 quarters, or $2.50
• Regular Loads (a bit smaller than our washer at home): 4 quarters, or $1.00
• Dryer: 1 quarter for 8 minutes

In my old Laundromat days, I used to pay $3.50 per week (I remember trying to think of how to save money on this cost even back then!). For us to do our two loads per week as well as to dry them it averaged us $10.00—this is an average because it depended on the type of machine that was available. It would have been extremely cheaper to use the $1 machine that is roughly the size of ours at home (it is smaller, but I was okay with cramming); however, there were only six of these machines and they were constantly in use (for obvious reasons). We eventually minimized the $10.00 per week to around $5-$7 by just washing the clothes at the Laundromat and then using our dryer at home.

Another high cost is forgetting your soap, which at $8.00 for XXX ounces, is a hot commodity here. We forgot the soap one time and after I saw the price (and gasped!) I drove the one mile home to pick up my own.

Losing Money, Literally

I think they are running some sort of scheme with their machines as there are many without signs of “Out of Order” that will eat your change and the manager—the only person who would have a key to the coin box for the machine—is conveniently never around. Every single week, without fail, I lost money inside of a machine. And every week, without fail, I was denied a refund. Sometimes it was user error, like when I got to watch $2.50 swooshing around in an empty triple front loader because I put the money in first and the machine locked up and did its business. Regardless, I thought it was poor customer service on their part to put us out about $5.50. Fortunately for us there was a learning curve and by last week I only test-drove 1 quarter before realizing I was at a machine that would not work.

New Washer/Dryer, or Laundromat?

Over the entire month I estimate that we spent $30 on our laundry. If we had not used our own dryer, that would have been approximately $40, or $480 for the year. There is water and electricity (or gas) use for running a washer and a dryer as well, but it appears that you could purchase a new set and be paid back within two years (if you do two loads a week), or sooner if you have a larger family. For example, some of the families at the Laundromat were using 5 washers at once; at five loads of laundry per week (estimated at $80+ per month), their investment would be paid off in less than a year. Every year afterwards would be a nice return on the investment. And of course it is always much more convenient to own your own set. Before the washer broke down, I had a great routine of laundry on Friday mornings (I work a compressed Monday-Thursday schedule). It was almost a mental obstacle to figure out when to go to the Laundromat, pack everything up, and to actually do it.

In the end, we decided unanimously to purchase a new or new-used washer and dryer (the dryer is not going to last more than a year as sometimes I have to repeat half the time to get our clothes dry). To our local money-eating Laundromat, it’s been real. Sorry, but you’ve lost yourself another customer to the home washing machine.

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DIY Laundry Room Renovation Results

Ever since I boarded a plane for the first time as a sixteen year old foreign exchange student headed to Burgos, Spain I have been in love with flying. Perhaps it is because there is nothing else to do once you board the cabin but to sleep, read, write, or relax. I get to turn my cell phone off for several hours, power down the laptop, and since I always choose the window seat I need only look to my left or right for one of the most splendid, majestic views in the world.

My flight to Spain was about 12 years ago, and since then, airlines have severely cut back on in-flight services. While you can still find the occasional blanket and pillow (though the H1N1 virus nixed many of those), flight-brand magazine, soda and a small packet of peanuts, finding anything else is going to cost you money.  Continental is the most recent airline to drop even the complimentary token snack with beverage, something American and US Airways have already cut (to be honest I usually do not eat the peanuts and/or cardboard-like crackers).

I fly several times a year, and have never once purchased anything from inside of an airplane. I’ll pack a granola bar, purchase a slice of pizza, or raid the convenience-type store snack aisle at the airport, but I avoid purchasing food and drinks inside of the airplane at all costs. Because of this, I thought it would be interesting to see how much it would actually cost for me to purchase drinks and food onboard, and also what quality and quantity of food I could purchase for $5.

The chart below is based on flying economy class on a domestic flight (typically including Hawaii and Caribbean). My research shows that most airlines (excluding Southwest) offer an array of expensive and ‘inexpensive’ food offerings (remember you are thousands of feet in the air), and that American Airlines and Continental/United offer more expensive options than others. Wine and cocktails are most expensive on Delta, American Airlines, and Continental, while AirTran even charges for water, milk and premium juices (these are offered as complimentary on other airlines).

In order to compare the airline pricing further, I decided to see which airline would give me the most value for my $5 (please note that the products listed below are only offered on certain flights and at certain times of the day). What I found is that I certainly will not get full from any of the airline’s menus if I only want to spend $5. Also, for $5 there are very few healthy snack options (other than nuts, cheese, and dried fruit).

Do you purchase in-flight food and drinks?

Part of the Yakezie Carnival: Goals Edition.

Much of personal finance is really quite simple. Earn money. Spend less than you earn. Save the extra. However, mastering these seemingly easy concepts is difficult for many people. You know you should set a budget, but it seems so complicated and limiting that you never quite sit down to do it. You have a budget, but this month there are extraneous costs (i.e., health, new outfit, opportunity, fill in the blank) that have you once again breaking your budget barriers. Now that you have all of this money left at the end of the month (earmarked for savings), why not buy just one more thing you’ve had your eyes on?

Well, here is another very simple concept that many of you may struggle with, but is truly the secret to most frugal purchases: patience. Turns out, patience is not only a virtue, but a cost-saver as well.  Anytime you add speed, convenience, or instantaneous gratification to a purchase, from houses down to toothpaste, you add cost. This works several ways, and we’ll discuss each separately.

The first way that patience pays off is by not “needing” things right away. If you can take most of the urgency out of the equation, you can wait for sales and gift-receiving opportunities to get them at a discount. For example, I “need” a new digital camera. I am fortunate because Paul has one that I have been borrowing, which allows me to take most of the urgency out of my need. Now I can afford to wait until either a great sale comes up that I can combine with a coupon in order to receive a great discount on the camera, or for my birthday/Christmas to ask for this gift if someone is looking for something specific to purchase for me (don’t worry, this isn’t a plea!).

Secondly, if you do not need something urgently, then you have the chance to save up money for it. This will save you interest charges and a possible headache down the road by not going into debt for a purchase. Sometimes while waiting and saving, you may even find that you lose interest or do not need the product afterall, thus saving you from making an unnecessary purchase all together.

Finally, many products offer the same end result, but at varying speeds. For instance, while wrinkles are inevitable for everyone (and if you don’t believe this, than perhaps you have been deluded by wrinkle-free cream commercials), there are ways to mitigate them. You can diligently and consistently take care of your skin your entire life by cleaning, moisturizing, wearing sunscreen or a hat in the sunshine, and eating a diet rich in antioxidants. Technically, this would be the long method, and the least expensive. At the other end of the spectrum would be having plastic surgery to remove wrinkles or costly botox treatments. This would be the fastest, and therefore most expensive, method. To further illustrate this concept, take a look at the chart below for a comparison of costs between products that all have the same end result, but offer it at varying speeds.

As you can see, having patience can save you money in every consumer sector. While it seems like an incredibly simple concept, learning to have patience may take some time (that’s right; learning patience may take some patience!). Try it out on your next gotta-have purchase that you can practically do without, and see how much money you can save.

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Commodity prices, such as gold and steel, are on the rise. Unfortunately I do not own any of these commodities. What other commodity value is on the rise that I do own? My trash.

            Well, not trash exactly. But recyclable trash. It’s like Houston opened up a scrap metal shop with roadside service. I need only put all of my magazines, newspapers, cardboard boxes (broken down), windowed junk envelopes, plastics 1-5 and 7, glass, etc. into the same bin, and then once every other week a big truck comes, weighs how much I’ve contributed, scans my barcode, and then I am credited with rewards points through RecycleBank. Rewards include coupons, goods, and gift cards (Home Depot, Wal-Mart, etc.), which are currently 2500 points for a $10 denomination.

            How much weight in trash does that equal? I am not sure yet…but according to a letter we received from the City of Houston, we could earn from between $20-$45 per month in gifts!

            Let me back up a moment. For years, I have been sorting through my trash, rinsing out empty salsa glass jars, nicely reminding guests/roommates/boyfriends/fiancée that there is a recycling bin not two feet from the actual trash can, and then sometimes driving this trash several miles across town to deposit it where I know someone can make good use of it. The fact that a company is now going to pick up my trash, in front of my house, without me having to even sort it, and then pay me for it, is about the best thing sin triple and double coupon days.  

            This has no doubt set my mind to wander over how I can increase the throughput of Houston’s recyclable goods through our recycling bin. Perhaps on Thursday mornings, I can recycle-bin dive and add to my collection. I could volunteer to empty the recycling bins at work, but instead take them home and hoard them until that glorious recycling day comes upon us once more. Idling around the waiting rooms of doctors to scoop up all of those out-of-date magazines could now be very lucrative (with the binding, they must weigh over two pounds each—especially O Oprah and vogue!), or maybe I can just put a new ‘Donate Your Trash’ button on my blog (oh the potential!). We could even start to eat spaghetti and meatballs each night so that I would be forced to purchase glass bottles of sauce (glass weighing more than plastic). In fact I spoke with one of my coworkers, a frugalite like me, and she suggested we start offering our own form of curbside pickup in neighborhoods that do not have the city’s service.

 Nah. I won’t go to these extremes, but I am very motivated to increase our throughput of trash in the green bin versus the black bin (or the money-making bin versus the death-by-landfill bin). Perhaps I will gladly accept all of my friends’ old magazines though, and the next time someone has a baby shower coming up, I will take a collection for a group gift…a trash collection, of course.

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I was watching a show on Saturday night, ‘Til Debt Do us Part’, and was utterly shocked that one couple (no kids) had managed to spend over thirteen hundred dollars in one month on just eating. How could any couple manage to do that? If Paul and I ate to satiate our wildest gastronomical dreams for the entire month of April, we could probably only manage to stuff $600 into our stomachs.

                Aside from eating out a lot, I think that this couple also eats a lot of added value convenience foods from the grocery store. This means that the manufacturer adds some sort of convenience to your prepping of the food, and then uses this ‘added value’ to justify charging more money. In many cases the product costs more to manufacture, so it is understandable that the cost goes up…but my question is why are people choosing to eat these products and spend the extra money? This is not to mention the horrible ingredients people are putting into their bodies (don’t believe me? Just look on the ingredient labels of some of these foods).

                I am not talking about the convenience products that can be a no-brainer for some parents—such as frozen vegetables, individual-sized yogurts, or even string cheese—all of which you can find with non-scary ingredients and at a reasonable price. What I am talking about, and what also helped to inspire this article, are things like Philadelphia’s cheesecake filling in a tub (see below). Why not make your own cheesecake? This will not only save you money by purchasing closer-to-raw ingredients, but probably a stomachache for you and your family as well.

                I conducted some market research of my own to compare prices of making the product yourself versus purchasing it (if you are one of the associates at the store that followed me around while I took notes and periodically photographed products, rest assured I do not work for a competitor or a market research company, but just for myself! I left after I saw a police guard coming my way), and here is what I found.

                One of the worst offenders in my book is the tub of pre-made cheesecake filling that you literally purchase for $4.00, splat into a $2.19 pre-made graham cracker crust, and viola—you have cheesecake, or at least something white and creamy in a crust!! I’ll do the math if you haven’t all ready; you are essentially paying $6.19 for a fabricated cake that takes you 5 seconds to prepare, but probably tastes like that as well.

Cost if You Made Homemade

Philadelphia Cream Cheese: $1.19

Kroger Brand 8 oz. Sour Cream: $1.00

Imperial Sugar (4 lbs.): $1.69

7 oz. Heavy Whipping Cream: $1.19

Home Made Graham Cracker Crust: $0.50

Approximate Total Cost: $3.94

Added Value Convenience Cost: $2.25

Oscar Meyer Lunchables, which include turkey, kraft cheese, crackers, Kool-aid tropical punch singles, nilla wafers, and a small water: $2.99

Cost if You Made Homemade

Oscar Meyer Turkey (1 lb.): $3.69

Kraft Cheese (8 oz.): $2.49

Nabisco Ritz Crackers (16 oz.): $2.99

Nilla Wafers (12 oz.): $3.49

Kool-Aid Tropical Punch Singles (12): $2.50

Water: Free

Approximate Cost to Assemble Identical Lunch on Your Own: $0.94

Added Value Convenience Cost of Assembling: $2.05

Healthy Choice Mixers, Baked Ziti: $3.59

Cost if You Made Homemade

Approximate Cost of Spaghetti/Pasta leftovers: $0.50

Added Value Convenience Cost of Putting Into One Dish for You to Microwave and Eat From: $3.09

Ready Made Tuna Salad Kit (includes can of tuna salad, crackers): $1.33

Cost if You Made Homemade

Can of Tuna: $0.73

Nabisco Ritz Crackers (16 oz.): $2.99

Heinz Relish (9 oz.):  $1.69

Kraft’s Mayonnaise (32 oz.): $1.99

Approximate Cost of Making Tuna Salad with Crackers: $0.66

Added Value Convenience Cost of Mixing Tuna Ingredients Together: $0.67

Quaker Oatmeal Express: $1.39

Cost if You Made Homemade (in this case, purchased a box of Oatmeal Packets)

Quaker Oatmeal Box (10 packets): $3.40

Approximate Cost of Making Self One Packet of Oatmeal: $0.34

Added Value Convenience Cost of Putting Oatmeal in Single Serve Microwave Cup: $1.05

Smucker’s PB&J Uncrustables (4 sandwiches): $2.89

Cost if You Made Homemade

JIF Peanut Butter (18 oz.): $2.25

Welch’s Grape Jelly (18 oz.): $1.44

Loaf of Bread: $2.00

Approximate cost to Assemble PB&J Sandwich: $0.30

Added Value Convenience Cost of Assembling Sandwich and cutting out Crust (where Nutrients are): $2.59

                Perhaps these prices do not strike you as extraordinary, because by themselves they are not. But what if you multiply your eating habits out for a month or a year? Let’s say you have one child, and typically purchase a lunchables kit for them for school five days out of the week. By not assembling this same type of food yourself, you are costing yourself $23.50 extra per month, or $282 per year. For PB&J sandwiches, if you purchase the uncrustables, not only is your child losing out on important nutrients found in the crust of breads (although I know it is difficult to get some children to eat the crust), but you are costing yourself $51.80 per month, or $621.60 extra per year! I realize you are most likely not feeding your children the same foods each day, but you get the point.

Make sure you understand the financial implications of these types of foods, and then decide for yourself if the cost is worth the convenience.

For those of you who have never had a wedding, let me explain the mindset that I am in. Our wedding is less than two weeks away, and while all of the large details are taken cared of, there are about 30 smaller details still left. These details include anything from tux pickup, marriage license, nail salon and hairstylist appointments, packing for our honeymoon and for the wedding (being held in another state), making sure our bills are all automatic so that they will be paid for the month of April, finding a cat-sitter, final RSVP number to our location, etc., etc., etc.  Did I mention that I have about a hundred articles I wish to write, a full-time job that has been quite demanding lately, a garden to weed and a home to clean? Of course I am not alone in all of these tasks, but the work is a bit overwhelming.

So when faced with expenditures that will only add convenience to my life at this particular moment, I have had to ask myself this question: how much is my sanity worth to me? Lately, my sanity is worth a lot.

I have been diligent in saving as much money as possible on our wedding, and have even kept a notebook of each expense, what it would have cost, and what it actually cost after my frugal efforts, such as using discounts/coupons/etc. Thus far my direct savings for asking for a discount, using a gift card from my credit card rewards, shopping around, or using coupons is $1,838.65. I am quite proud of that number!

However, I am no longer in diligent-saver mode. I am in save-my-sanity mode, which means that I am making spur-of-the-moment purchase decisions based upon an entirely new set of criteria: how can I fulfill a purchase that I need in as little time as possible, and with as much satisfaction as possible. The results are twofold: an increase in our spending—which I had all ready figured would occur in the weeks leading up to our wedding—and not having to run around like chickens with our heads cut off. If this were my overall strategy for spending money, then I think we’d be in big trouble. But for right now—it’s working out quite well.

Of course, I haven’t given up frugality entirely (I would never choose to do that!). In fact, just last weekend I snagged a roll of aluminum foil for $0.23, we saved a total of $60 on our groceries by using coupons paired with sales, and Paul purchased and installed a toilet repair kit for a toilet that we thought we would have to replace.

As my coworker likes to periodically remind me (you know, after watching me clip coupons over lunch, or learning after giving my fiancée and I a microwave for our wedding shower gift that we had not owned one for the last two years): we earn money and should spend it once in awhile. Convenience happens to be one of the luxuries money can buy, and we are taking advantage of that right now.

I’d love to hear stories about when you’ve had to just cast frugality to the side and spend!

In no particular order, here is a list of what I deem to be the 7 deadly purchase sins that will surely keep money out of your pocket.

1. Ideal Self Purchases:  Do you ever purchase things because the type of person whom you ideally want to be, or the person who you see yourself as, would use such items? For example, I purchase a lot of tea. In my mind I can see myself enjoying cups and cups of hot tea in handmade pottery mugs all day long, curled up with a book. In reality, I drink hot tea only a couple of times per month. Most of the money I spend on tea is wasted because ideally it is what I would like to do, but in reality I know that I will not.
2. Self Improvement Purchases as a Way to Self Improve: I love self improvement. Whether you want to lose weight, get yourself financially fit, be more independent, live in the present moment—these are all admirable aspirations and qualities to have. But when you purchase exercise equipment as a first step in your self improvement regimen, or umpteen number of self help books thinking that you have begun your journey, you are wasting your money.  The key to self improvement is in the first word of the phrase: “Self”. Want to lose weight? Start by looking at your diet, your exercise, emotional cravings, etc. Want to become financially fit? Analyze your bank statement and figure out where your money is going, then sit down and write some goals. Of course having equipment to help you exercise and books to seek guidance from is important, but purchasing self improvement products without actually putting in the effort is wasted money. Start with your Self.
3. Status Symbol Purchases: Enough has been written on this category. Basically, when you are making a purchase, ask yourself why you are purchasing that product. If you have visions of suddenly becoming cool, of others wanting to be like you, of attracting a mate, etc., then ask yourself if you really should be making that purchase. This is especially true if you cannot afford it.
4. Guilt Purchases: Have you ever bought a gift for someone because you felt bad for the way that you behaved, or because you have not spent enough time with that person and so you are trying to make it up to them by purchasing something? Don’t make the purchase, make the amends instead.
5. Laziness Purchases: Some examples of these purchases could include purchasing convenience foods because you don’t make the time to cook as often as you should (my favorite being cheesecake filling in a container that came out a few years ago, where you literally just put the cheesecake filling into a pre-made graham cracker crust, and viola! Almost like homemade), buying new instead of repairing for simple repairs, not taking care of personal belongings and thus having to replace them every season (like a rusted grill you could have wheeled into the garage), etc. Are there any areas in your life where you throw money at out of convenience? Once again, not all of these purchases are bad, but if you make a consistent habit of doing them, they will drain your bank account.
6. Because-it’s-Cheap Purchases: I am a sucker for a great sale, and I love to buy bulk. But sometimes, buying an item because it is cheap does not make financial sense. In my own life some examples include a bulk package of Dove deodorants I bought after graduating college; out of the 7 extra large sticks, only three of them I could use before they expired (of course, that didn’t stop me from using the others…). Another example is when I find a pair of pants that are insanely cheap, and even though they don’t fit me in a slight way (making them not my number one choice when I open my dresser each morning), I purchase them because they are so cheap. Cheap and bulk products are only helpful if you will actually make use of them.
7. Obligatory Purchases: This category can include many things, such as Christmas presents for all of your family, office presents for other coworkers, expensive gifts for the boss, picking up the restaurant or bar tab for a group of friends, etc. Once again, these are all nice things, but not if you do not have the money.

All things considered—we were living in a foreign country that we only marginally spoke the language of and it was past midnight—we should have taken a taxi after missing the last train home from a late night in Tokyo. But with the promise of a $50 bill looming over our heads, the dark night sky suddenly lit up with alternative possibilities.

I had been studying abroad in Japan for nearly two months and knew darn well that my pre-paid rail pass was only good before 11:45 pm, the ominous time when the train system abruptly shut down. Fortunately, I was not alone that night; a girl in my group who I had previously never spoken with was also stranded. Freckled with a pair of dark glasses framing two weary but harmless eyes, she looked about as lost as I did.

“Listen, I know this may sound crazy, but I think we are only 4 or 5 miles from our apartments. If we just follow the train tracks home, we should be able to save ourselves about $50.” I completely agreed with Melinda, secretly in awe of her money-saving scheme. There was only one obstacle in our way: the two inch heels on my feet.

“That sounds great to me, except that my heels all ready feel like they’ve been split in two from these shoes.” Melinda looked down at my feet and then lined her foot up against the side of mine.

“Looks like you are about my size, maybe a tad bit smaller. How about we switch shoes?” I eagerly accepted her pair of comfortable, albeit worn-out sneakers that felt like a piece of heaven on my feet.

To memorialize the moment when two almost-strangers were about to commence on an adventure, we took a photo. Then, we started walking.

After We Exchange Shoes

Now, train tracks are fairly easy to keep in sight—the area of the tracks are cleared of trees, and there are always lots of wires dangling overhead of them. So even if the street did not exactly unfold beside it, we figured we’d be able to keep it in our view. But something else distracted us, something neither one of us could have foreseen: friendly conversation.

We spoke about the boyfriends we had left behind and our Japanese economics professor who scribbled uselessly on the chalkboard and seemed to know hardly anything about the economy. At one point the rain started to come down heavy and solid. Armed with an umbrella because we were in the middle of the rainy season, we simply laughed while rain and time rolled off our backs. By the time we figured out that we had completely lost the railroad tracks, a friendship had been born.

Losing the tracks had sobered our light-heartedness up pretty quickly.  Over the next hill we could see a plume of light shining that turned out to be a 7-eleven. Despite the store being open, the language barrier stood in our way. Down the street we found a cab, and relief swept over us as we knew we could simply say “Gotanda” and the driver would know exactly where to take us. Besides, we had at least saved half of that $50 bill by walking. After settling in the back of the cab and telling the man where to go, he abruptly opened up the passenger doors with a touch of a button and motioned for us to get out. Gotanda was merely a block away and we were wasting this man’s time.

Money often equals convenience, and it sure could have saved us a headache that night. But there is another price you pay with convenience. I could have handed over that $50 and made it home safe and snug by 1:00am. But instead, I walked away with a lifelong friendship anchored by a story. What a bargain.