The Plan

So I woke up this morning and checked my bank account. It was easy to identify and separate purchases made out of want rather than need. As I suspected, these purchases include eating/drinking out (fast food on the way to a show, beer at the show, etc.) and shopping (goodwill and ross mostly but i guess even thrifty shopping adds up).

But I want to be able to donate more than this. My goal is to save/raise at least $300 in 28 days. This way I can give at least $100 to each of the charities I chose (Alzheimer's Association, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and the HRC).

My only problem was that I don't make a ton of money in the first place, so I was worried I wouldn't be able to get to my goal. I started asking myself, what are other ways I can use my time, resources, and skills to come up with enough money? And here you have it, the finalized layout of my GULP experiment:

I am giving up...
1. fast food and eating out (goodbye taco bell bean burrito! i will miss you!)
2. drinking alcohol (widmer sales might plummet)
3. shopping for clothes/accessories/shoes, etc. (i have about 35 pairs of shoes to hold me over)
4. random spending...unless it's a hospital, grocery store or gas station- if it has a cash register i will not spend money there...this includes online shopping (hopefully there are no awesome Groupons i have to pass up!)
5. my favorite words...i am going to make a swear jar for myself. every time i have a potty mouth, i will put .25 in it. (this one scares me- and i need your help- call me out if you catch me! Shiiiiiittttt. Sorry, just had to get it out of my system.)
6. my time...Sunday Jan 31st through Friday February 5th, I will attend a different open mic throughout San Diego and tell the audiences about this project. Any tips I receive will go toward my charities. (let me know which ones you think i should go to...it helps to know the host so they don't think i'm trying any funny business!)
7. my regular gig...for my hosting gig downtown at Bare Back Grill on Tuesday February 9th, I will set out a tip jar and anything donated will go toward my charities. I will also donate the money I make from hosting this day's show.

Finally, I also thought about not going to local music shows with a cover charge and donating what I would have spent at the door to my charities. But I decided against this as a strict rule because I know (at least I hope) my cover charge will make it to the local artist, who I never want to stop supporting. That said, I will still try to get on the list at shows and if I do, I'll donate what I would have spent at the door. Ya dig?

Okay. So there it is. I'm looking at it now thinking, oh God oh God oh God. But I know I can do it, especially with your support. Ready set go starting tomorrow morning. Don't worry, I'll try not to go on a bender tonight! (Although I will be checking out MC Flow and Rob Deez in North Park tonight, so I hope to see you there!) Thanks for reading.