Ah… Internships. All of DC runs on the nefarious slave-practice of the unpaid internship. It sucks. Personally, I’ve never done it. I’ve always taken paid work, but being a grad from a local school, I have plenty of pie-eyed friends whose idealism for public policy, civics and government work ended up in DC working for free.

Don’t get me wrong, I lived in ‘intern housing’ myself. I took a language class in DC one summer through my university and when I wasn’t in school, I was working at Express on Pennsylvania Ave, across from the now infamous “Client 9 hotel”, The Mayflower. If my cousin and his best friend, who was my boyfriend, didn’t subsidize my living with food, drinks and entertainment, and my folks weren’t covering my rent, I would have been screwed financially. Heck, I still was since my parents didn’t cover tuition that summer in an attempt to financially blackmail me to come home that summer. Can you say ‘credit card tuition payment’? But I digress.

My own experience for housing was a DC insider secret. I lived at a George Washington University fraternity house with a girl with green hair and a lot of tattoos. It was relatively cheap. I spent about $250 a month for 3 months back in the 1990’s. Of course, it was originally $300 a month, but they refunded a little money because they didn’t have a working kitchen all summer due to renovations. The link above is for a GW (Say ‘G-Dub”) housing website. It looks like a much more formal program than before. But the housing looks much nicer too. I think I heard about it through word of mouth originally.

GW also has dormitory housing for interns. But I find it to be ridiculously expensive. It’s got all kinds of requirements and rules, but a friend of mine used it about 5 years ago and the rooms were decent quality for sight-unseen housing. She was from Texas and it was the most convenient way of getting reliable housing without knowing anything about DC.

Try also the off-campus housing offices, or summer housing offices of other major universities in the area like:
Georgetown (No metro, but a shuttle bus to metro)
American (Red line metro)
Catholic (Red line metro)
Howard (Green/Yello line metro)
George Mason (Commuter school, in Northern VA)
U DC (Commuter school)
Marymount (Orange line metro, in Northern VA)
Gallaudet (Red line metro, deaf community. Might not be an option if you can’t deal with deaf roommates.)

Now, for more creative options:
Craigslist sublets - I think these are expensive, but they are more flexible than the dorms and you can live nearly anywhere in the city. This is probably the most popular way of finding housing if you are from out of town, but try the regular roommate search section as well. If you are willing to pay slightly more than they are asking to compensate for the second search they need to do after you leave, it could work out well for both of you since they can take longer to find the perfect roommate and still have rent coming in.

Ask your family and friends for help - You might be able to live for free in the spare room of someone you know. Of course this could mean that you need a car if you aren’t near public transport. Because traffic in DC sucks and gas is slightly more exspensive than in other east coast cities, that might negate any fun or savings you might have with this option. (Gas is exspensive here because a lot of people are exspensing it to their companies/contractors. But certainly cheaper than in California.)

Call your internship and ask for help - I admit I am now going to give you the most unusual arrangement that I know of. Usually places that have interns keep some resources on hand to give their interns so that housing isn’t a deal breaker. If those resources don’t work out, you could try doing what one of my friends did. She lived with someone from the office. I think she lived for free in a spare bedroom. In exchange my friend was a house/baby sitter for her hosts. The host family had two kids, one was about 12 and the other about 5. There was a maid/cook who came in daily, but wasn’t really a babysitter or au pair. The family left for a month on a European style vacation (diplomatic corps types so they had way more vacation than us Americans) and she had the house to herself for a month. Of course, my friend had to suffer with a metro that was really far away and had no car, but she commuted in the morning with the mom and was allowed to use the car while the family was away. My friend walked a lot that summer.

Later this arrangement worked out for her as she lived there an additional summer or two even when she wasn’t working with the mom at the original internship office. She got great recommendations for future jobs and strong friendships. I know this is really unusual, but be open to a creative solution like this. It could have serious upsides.

Try your local alumni club - Many people have done the intern track and are sympathetic. You might find a local alum who is willing to host you just because you go to their alma mater.

The thing is to broaden your reach here and be clear about what you can or cannot afford. Budgeting is crucial when you’re unpaid or on a stupidly small stipend. Most interns work during the day, and again at night/weekends as waitstaff or retail.

Be safe and vet your hosts/roommates. Get your own phone if you don’t already have a cell phone. Living in a group housing situation in DC can be a lot of fun. I met a lot of really nice kids at the house in GW and later when I lived in Georgetown as a working adult. You want to stay on their good side and in contact if you eventually need a security clearance. (One of my old G’town roommates is a drinking buddy and reference.) My friend in the weird housing situation lived in Georgetown another year in a sublet and those roommates were at her wedding. So it can be a rewarding experience. (Trust me though, yes, it can be crappy, as in having no kitchen. There are downsides, just be aware of them.)

Some other advice:
Do not ignore the cost of food and transport when making your budget. Again, THE METRO IS NOT CHEAP. Let me put it in terms that college kids can understand.

One round trip during rush hour = Cost of one beer

Food is also very expensive here due to the dining tax of 9+%. DC’s tax base is driven by consumption taxes like the dining tax, so keep that in mind if you want to dine out. It is not cheap.

Bring a bicycle if you can. It makes for cheap transport and entertainment. The metro is expensive here. Plus you can ride all over town on the C&O Canal, the Tidal Basin and Rock Creek Park for fun.

One great thing though is that there is a plethora of free entertainment all summer long on the Mall. There are summer film festivals that are screened for free. (Try Screen on the Green) Smithsonian’s folk life festival, the 4th of July, free Kennedy Center concerts, etc.

ps- This post was inspired by a reader at Madame X’s blog.

What’s the most expensive present you ever received from or bought for someone not your parents? What about from/for your significant other?

Sometimes I’m surprised when people say they bought their boyfriend or girlfriend a video game console or cellphone. I honestly cannot imagine spending $300-400 on a single gift for anyone. Well, ok, I can. My parents, but I think of that as a totally different league of gifting since they spent truckloads of money raising me and paying for my education. I cannot repay them enough for their 30+ years of slaving in their businesses, but that’s another blog post.

One time, I spent about $300 on a wedding present, but that’s because I was following the rule of spending as much on registry presents as was being spent for each person. The bride had the courtesy to allow me to bring a date, so I estimated and doubled what she spent for each guest. I’ve never spent that much again, short of flying myself to a destination wedding, but a slightly different scenario there.

I got a set of books once from a crazy ex-boyfriend of mine. The boxed set was about $200, but I know he spent about $150 and I was decidedly uncomfortable about the gift for two reasons, 1. It was one of the most expensive things I’d ever received in my life. 2. He was engaged to someone else. (That’s always weird. Like how does a guy justify spending $150 on a set of very esoteric geek books for an ex-girlfriend to his financee? Beyond me what the hell he was thinking.)

I think I spent $200 on yarn once for a gift I was making for one of my best friends. It was a beautiful Italian merino wool scarf in navy and crimson to keep him warm while he was doing his PhD in Boston. He tells me he still wears it and it’s been at least 10 years since I gave it to him. I think he’s lost it by now, but I don’t really want to know if he did.

I am unlimited in my gift giving, meaning I like to buy lots of gifts. But I have to restrain myself. Each single gift might be only be $50 or less. I truly cannot remember the last time I bought something for someone that was more than $100 unless it was a wedding or baby shower present.

So tell me, do you buy expensive gifts for other people, or do you also have a de facto limit as well?

p.s. This post was inspired by a friend’s smartphone. Her boyfriend gave it to her for Christmas. I was a bit shocked. If my significant other is spending that kind of money on me, we’d have to have a talk about what I was receiving. As it is, I know my boyfriend bought my last present on eBay for $20, but that Les Halles dinner was expensive. Somehow food doesn’t count in my mind.

Despite all my homages to meat on this blog, I really really really like tofu. Being Korean, I’m not scared of tofu. I love it. I love hot, I love it cold, I love it fried, boiled, squished into dumplings, deep-fried and now, I like it frozen.

Since my boyfriend likes to eat vegetarian, I’ve been making more tofu for him and for myself. I’m a bit of a treehugger so adding more soy to my diet is ok by me. The thing is, I almost wrote ’substituting tofu for meat’ in that sentence, but I am a firm believer that substituting tofu for meat is a BAD IDEA. The reason I think it’s a bad idea is that frankly, tofu will never be meat. I don’t pretend that tofu is meat. Tofu is tofu and it has merits of its own. It will never be steak, but I don’t want it to be steak and that doesn’t bother me like it does other carnivores. Maybe it’s because I grew up with an awesome arsenal of Korean tofu dishes, a lot of which also have meat. (Mabo-dofu anyone?) Or that I don’t try to fool myself that it’s akin to actual meat. (Though there are some highly processed soy products that are pretty yummy, fake chicken patties especially. Heck, what’s a Chicken McNugget?)

Being single, I usually cannot use an entire package of tofu very quickly. Even if I make an entree with leftovers, an entire package of fresh tofu (well, as fresh as the organic tofu from the western market is). I end up with half a block of the stuff that I never get around to eating. Heck, even when cooking for two, I try to make enough for us to eat and that still leaves a decent block left over.

Boyfriend bought a tofu cookbook at the DC Farmer’s Market recently. (It’s the wholesale market district, not Eastern Market yuppieville, which is fine, but let’s get real about who shops where.) The cookbook is a Japanese-cuisine cookbook, ironically sold by Koreans, but I digress. We flipped through it to get some recipe ideas and learn to cook better, but the stunning revelation in it is a lesson in freezing tofu and what to do with a frozen chunk. Boyfriend’s vegetarian/vegan friends say freezing tofu makes it firmer and meatier in texture. Having never done this before, I tried it out with the last block. Basically, I wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap, pushing out as much air as possible and tossed it into the freezer.

That was 3 weeks ago.

I eyed the beige colored block of frozen tofu for many days, uncertain of what to do with it. I read somewhere in the recipe book that frozen tofu is excellent for simmering. Perfect. I had an idea! I bought some shiro miso (lit ‘white miso’) at the supermarket and some scallions. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any dashi powder (sardine/fish stock powder), but I’ll get some next time. It turned out ok without it.

I had some leftover squash I diced into small cubes, and started boiling in a 1qt saucepot. Then I thawed out the frozen tofu in warm water, pulling off the plastic wrap. I tossed the entire block into the boiling water and waited about 10 minutes. I should have waited longer since the block was still frozen in the very center. But either way, I fished it out of the water, and drained it. I put it on the cutting board and cut it into cubes and tossed back into the pot. I brough the water back up to a boil, added some chopped garlic and a big spoonful of miso. I let the miso dissolve into the water and then took it off the heat. I sprinkled some minced scallions and served. Quite tasty and pretty hearty since the cubes were kind of big. Boyfriend said he really liked it and would like to try deep frying frozen tofu to see if will come out like some other tofu dishes he’s had.

Usually I make miso soup with silken tofu, but this was a really nice hearty miso soup. I needed some super thin sliced white onion, seaweed (kombe seaweed), dashi, maybe a little few tiny anchovies/sardines or dried fish to make it really yummy. Maybe even a little shitake mushroom too.

Ah. Jersey City. It’s come quite a long way since 9/11 and all those downtown Manhattan firms have moved across the river. My friend’s lovely event was held at the Liberty House at Liberty State Park. There was a gorgeous moonlit view of Manhattan and at the edge, the Statue of Liberty. Beautiful, just like the wedding.

My friend is Indian and she sent me a sari to wear for her wedding, so my wedding attire was all set. A lot of the non-Indian women at the wedding were wearing them. It was actually pretty awesome to see all the styles and colors. It’s actually a pretty flattering outfit for most body types, from the skinny cousins to the chubby matrons, everyone looked great.

I have yet to send a wedding present to my friend, but I will probably send one shortly. I didn’t have time to think about it. That lack of time also contributed to my expensive hotel room. The bride and groom picked the Courtyard Marriott on the waterfront, so not the poshest of hotels, but certainly not the cheapest either. Had I booked the room reservation when I was supposed to do it, I would have saved $20 a night. However, because I was really sick last week (and still suffering from a lingering cough), I called the hotel Friday night and said there was no way I was going to arrive and to change my booking to Saturday night only. They said no problem. With valet parking, I spent $205.00 on the hotel.

Tolls were probably about $40-50, but I’m not sure since I use EZ-Pass now. It’s a bit of a mystery to me. This includes my trip to Jersey City from DC, then a side trip to Philadelphia on the PA Turnpike to visit my parents on Easter Sunday. Gas was about $80, and I came home with a tank that’s about 3/4ths full. I still hate paying someone else to pump my gas since I obligated to tip the attendant, so I skipped buying it in Jersey for cheap, and pumped it in Delaware twice at my favorite rest stop, i.e. usually the cheapest off the interstate. I figured for a 10-gallon fill up, if I tip the attendant $2, then I’ve added 20 cents to the price per gallon, thus negating any savings for buying it cheap in Jersey.

Since I left on Saturday morning early, after a good night’s rest, I skipped breakfast and had a big lunch when I got to the hotel. I dashed to Cosi across the street since the hotel’s weekend brunch service closes at 1pm, right after I checked in. BOO! But for my money, I got a veggie sandwich, tomato soup and some extra bread for the soup. Total was about $12, but the bread was saved for a snack in the car on my way out. I also bought a snack of chips and a drink at the hotel, very late at night after the wedding for about $4. Annoying, but very necessary since my stomach was growling and there were no alternatives around.

I tipped the maid $5 for putting up with my mess.

Because I was the only one at my wedding table who actually wanted the centerpiece, I took it to my folks for Easter. They were really happy to have some flowers for the house as the centerpiece was quite large and red, a very lucky color. It fit perfectly on my mother’s little table in the front hallway.

I took my folks out to lunch for Easter/my dad’s birthday. Total damage there was $57. The service was terrible so I didn’t tip them extravagantly.

I’m trying to think of what else I spent that day on this trip, but honestly, there was nothing. I had a snack and some bottled water in the car on the way from NJ to Philly.

Total damage for the weekend was $403. Only the hotel room and EZ Pass charges went on my credit card, everything else was paid with my debit card or cash in my pocket. Now I just have to send a gift to the happy bride and groom.

And I hate it even more when my posts get eaten by the system.

I just realized that Monday is payday for me. I get paid on the last day of the month this month.

Sux0rs.

I don’t mind getting paid after Wednesday, but getting my check on Monday or Tuesdays stinks. I pay myself an allowance on Fridays so I can frugalize during the work week if I over spent on the weekend. If I pay myself early in the week, it sucks to frugalize on the weekend if I spent too much during the week. My mental spending plan runs from Friday to Thursday.

I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way.

Who else prefers to be paid later in the week? Does it effect how you spend?

I wish I had more to say right now. There seems like there should be a lot but there isn’t.

1. I’ve been sick as a dog and working from home. Sleep is good. It’s put my wedding trip into jeopardy though. I’m afraid I won’t be able to drive to Jersey tonight. That would be traumatic as I have been waiting for this wedding for 11 years.

2. I decided that I really want to be able to go home to my apartment. I had a discussion with my boyfriend and neither one of us is ready to move in with the other permanently. I gave my friend a deadline of May 1st, not to be mean, but to motivate her in finding her own place. I suppose part of the reason was because of #1 above. I was really sick this week and I really wanted to be at my own home. Dorothy was right. There is no place like home.

3. In preparation for the drive to Jersey, I took the car in for an oil change and a brake job. I noticed something funny when I was stepping on the brake, but paid it no mind. Boyfriend likes to tinker around with his car and pointed out same funny sound to me, making me step on the brake in various ways to test it out. I am still waiting to pick up the car from the dealer and find out what the damage is going to cost. There is also a CV joint that is slowly leaking as well. I was told about it before, but held off on it till the calendar year changed. I vow to drive this car till it dies, but will it nickel and dime me to death in repairs first?

In measuring and deciding what to do about all these things, I am holding on still to a lot of cash for now. Cash hoarding seems like the best thing for the next 3 months as I have to attend 3 weddings.

My apologies. I’ve been fighting a cold for the last few days. Luckily, I’m in training so I can still work through the illness. I love being a knowledge-worker disconnected from the physical state of my being. *cough* I get a lot done.

While I was writing my March net worth outlook post and writing about my friend in need, I realized that since I am single, I can make a lot of financial decisions myself. I realize that’s an obvious statement, but if I were married, there’s no way I could offer up my apartment and a wad of cash on the spot. I’d have to consult my spouse first.

As it was, I did have to consult my boyfriend about moving in for a few days and it caused me a lot of personal stress. He was super busy and there didn’t seem a good way to approach the subject. He doesn’t mind though, but I’m lucky that he’s nice like that. What if he wasn’t ready for me to be a 24/7 presence? In that case, I wouldn’t have been able to offer my friend my apartment. I’d have to tell her to get a hotel for a few days till my pay day and then loan her the money right away. Honestly, as I consider it, that is what I would have done. Sometimes I wish I had a 2 bedroom condo instead of a studio.

What about you marrieds out there? What if one of your friends, who is not known to your spouse, said they needed a place to live for 2 weeks and borrow about a thousand dollars? What would you do? Is this one of those relationship finances conversations that couples have? This might seem like a contrived ‘what if’ scenario, but I’m in my middle 30’s and all those early marriages are either having kids or falling apart now. It’s not as crazy as it sounds. I can think of at least two people I know who suddenly moved out when they knew their relationships were over and the logistics weren’t easy.

My Medical FSA check came and I am trying to turn the money around in my checking accounts. Once it goes through, I will have bumped my net worth back up by almost $5K,

I am also holding on to a lot of cash at the moment and probably through April too. For various and sundry reasons, I may have to loan a friend some money. I know many people don’t believe in making loans to their friends. I’m not one of them. I just pick and choose to whom I loan it, just like a bank does.

My friend, the possible recipient, recently landed a new job and it’s been going very well for her. But she needs to borrow the money since before the landing the job, she was unemployed and burned through her savings during that time. (Hey, isn’t that what it’s for?) Having worked with her and idly chit-chatted about many topics, I know she’s very careful with her money and quite good at saving. Borrowing money from me is a question of short-term need vs having the time to save. There are reasons and situations in our lives where the former is necessary, and I’ll be damned if I watch her get an auto title loan or some other crap like that. And please don’t speculate about her situation. I am the one who offered to loan her money. She didn’t ask me for it.

At this time, she hasn’t decided yet what her best course of action is, and neither have I. She’s living in my apartment till the end of the month and then she’ll figure it out from there. Time is all she really needs now. Day after day, week after week, another pay check means more savings she can build back up and then she won’t have to borrow anything from me. I can offer her a rent-free place to live and that’s the best for now. (Otherwise she’d be paying double rent, which is not tenable, possible yes, but crippling.)

Ultimately, this means that I’m holding off on replacing my laptop for about another month till I know what kind of cash I have to spare. Every month my company sends a list of refurbished laptops for sale. There is usually a decent model available for $350-$400. Since I’m holding on to at least twice that amount for my friend to borrow, hoarding the cash for a month or two will not hurt me too much. If she doesn’t need it, then I can go buy a replacement computer right away!

I’m no saint here. My apartment is a god-awful mess. She knows it too. I did a little clean up so she could have a drawer and some closet space to herself. Moved my stuff off the bathroom counter and let her use the internet connection. She’s sacrificing a TV since I don’t have one and the company of her cats, since I’m allergic.

Basically there are times in your life when you have to ask yourself what is the right thing? For me, being able to give her a place to go is the right thing to do. And if I want to reclaim my space, I can loan her the money so she can go find another apartment. I’m not in a hurry at the moment, but she’s aware that my sense of urgency may change over time. But I think it’s best for her to stay focused on herself so she can think clearly to make a good decision.

P.S. If you are wondering, patient boyfriend is letting me stay at his house for now. Since I’m going away for a few days this weekend, I won’t be there 24/7 to get on his nerves.

Most of my knitter friends are not young hipsters who rock out. They’re mostly moms with kids who are edging towards college admissions and retirement. One of them has had breast cancer on and off the last few years. She’s doing her third round of chemo now. It’s spread to her bones. I’m really worried about her.

I bring this up now because one of my favorite under the radar blogs disclosed her breast cancer diagnosis at the end of 2007, but I’m only just catching up on it now. I’m totally freaked out since she’s way way cool and I can only aspire. At any rate, I hope both of these women get better soon.

A third very dear friend of mine is having weird breast issues. Strange discharges and lumps, but nothing cancerous. So far, it’s all benign. But she’s way too young. (Under 35 for pete’s sake!)

Get involved with your money, your feet, or your mouse-click:
Sponsor someone who’s doing a Breast Cancer Walk.
Do a Breast Cancer Walk. (The Walk links are different. The second one I suggest you do, is actually a 2-day walk vs a 3-day one.)
Go to the Breast Cancer Site and click the button.
Encourage NIH funding of cancer research. (All kinds please.)
Support the American Cancer Society. (Jump-A-Thon anyone?)
Knit a Chemo Cap and donate to a hospital.
Make a some meals and spend some time with a friend who has cancer. (Chemo makes you very tired.)

For entertainment: A woman dyed her dog pink to promote cancer awareness and was fined for it. Awesome! Free press for the cause! How’s that for awareness raising?

Finally, if you are a woman, do your monthly exams. Early detection can save your life. Yes, that means you have to check all the way into your armpits and your under neck lymph nodes too.

(I’m actually thinking about doing the 5K run in DC in June because I’m getting so damned fat.)

I’m dating myself by revealing that I remember the days protesting for divestiture from South Africa because of apartheid. It was a big deal to get our school’s endowment fund to divest in line with its religious principles and values. It seems like a very small act to divest in Sudan because I don’t have a lot of money, but I feel it’s a small way I can exert myself politically with my economic choices.

Penny Nickel posted a great resource for checking to see if your mutual fund or stock does business in Sudan. I checked my mutual funds there last week, so far nothing appears there, but I believe that the new Asia-Pacific fund I picked up in my new company’s 401k plan might invest in PetroChina, which buys Sudanese oil. I’ll have to watch for that.

There is only one caveat though. I believe the lookup service uses publicly available prospectus records to pull the top 10 investments of each mutual fund. At best, it’s one calendar quarter behind on what the fund currently holds, and it is contingent upon having a large enough equity stake to make it into the top 10. For an extremely bloated fund, you may not see anything truly useful. For instance, Fidelity Magellan Fund has $39 billion dollars invested in 264 companies. The top 10 make up 28.4%. That’s $11 billion dollars! That still leaves $27 billion unaccounted for in 254 companies. So know the limit of doing this. It doesn’t stop me from checking my current investments, but I might decline a new investment if I see it on the list.

N.B. I do not have money in the Fidelity Magellan Fund. I just picked it because I know it’s a really large one I could look up easily.