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Woman goes 24 hours without spending any money. So proud she writes an article.

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MCX

Banned
Dani said:
She spends $30 a day on taxis to work when her office is just a 20 minute walk from where lives? What the fuck is wrong with her? :lol
Maybe she can afford it? Not everyone is a penny pincher.
 
I like how food that she bought previously somehow counts as free for that day. It's almost as if she doesn't grasp the concept of money.
 
Luckily, I have a short commute to work; it takes approximately 20 minutes to walk to the LearnVest offices. With beautiful weather and a fun challenge underway, I gladly stepped outside and enjoyed the 20 minutes to myself before the hectic day began. En route, I make the decision to start walking more. If I left 10 minutes earlier, I could walk to destination and avoid the $5 to $10 spent on a taxicab ride. Within 20 minutes, I arrived at the office and I hadn't spent a single penny.

Does she live in a city without public transportation?

edit: New York :lol
 

mAcOdIn

Member
Ok, I'm laughing like everyone else, but I'm sure she wasn't trying to insinuate that eating something bought another day, or that your electricity or water is free. I'm sure that she's actually not an idiot but was trying to make an article, in line with her business, about how you could go without spending money and, unfortunately, used herself as an example in an attempt to make it fun. I don't think she truly felt it was some great accomplishment or anything but I think she was trying to reach people with her writing style to make it seem more in reach for people. Like I said, she's a bad example to a lot of us because of how much she makes, but there's plenty of people in all income brackets that buy fast food and drinks every meal and wonder how they're going to pay their bills at the end of the week.

That said, I also wouldn't make fun of her too much, if I could spend 80 bucks a day to make my life easier, I sure as fuck would.
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
People in the strata of society that woman exists in truly do live in another universe.

She sounds absurd, but you have to bear her context in mind: such people live in an environment that is basically designed to deliver non-stop conveniences around every corner with the swipe of a credit card. The busybusy powerpoint lifestyle doesn't encourage doing anything "manually", including making your own bowl of cereal in the morning.

What she does for a living is what helps give it away.

Analogy: I have an acquaintance who works at a high paying administrative position. It's an extremely busy job. He does have time to do things for himself, but it's not so much a matter of absolute time as attention span - his daily schedule is crammed with mental distractions related to his executive job and all the little things that go along with it, such as politics, massaging egos, business relationships, etc.

Compared to my house, his looks like nobody lives there. Never makes his own food, unless he's hosting a party. Never makes his own coffee, or cereal in the morning. Fridge is empty. He's so caught up in /thinking/ about work, living for it, he just goes out the door each day and robotically buys coffee, breakfast, lunch, drinks, dinner on the way home, etc.
 

Kusagari

Member
jamesinclair said:
Forget a bus. On a bike, it would take 8-10 minutes.

(Buses in NYC move on average at 4mph, a bike does around 12)

Well I assumed even if she's too lazy to move her legs that taking a taxi still makes no sense when there's a bus.
 
Best comment from HuffPo:
It seems that you're missing the real criticism here. You went for a single day without buying restaurant food or taking a cab, and you think this somehow qualifies you to advise other people on saving money? That's just an astonishingly patronizing attitude. Do you honestly believe that somehow people who need to cut back on their expenses haven't thought of such dead simple, obvious things as making their own coffee and not taking cabs everywhere? Do you honestly believe it's common for people to spend money as mindlessly as you do? Do you really think other people are THAT stupid? Or just poor people?

It's great that you did this for yourself, and that you perhaps learned some lessons from it. But realize that what is a revelation to you is old news to 99% of functioning adults, and it's a little rankling to see you lecturing people on a topic that you know virtually nothing about.
 

koam

Member
I forgot my wallet at home once, does that count?

Edit: I just realized that I didn't spend any money today :lol
 

Dead Man

Member
RustyNails said:
Best comment from HuffPo:
Nails it. The thing that is ridiculous is not that she does spend that money on things she wants, it's that she is so proud of not doing it, and acts like it is exceptional and means she can lecture people on how to save money.
 

Tarazet

Member
It's amazing how out of touch some people are. The only thing that's remarkable about the article is how little she accomplished compared to what is possible. She needs to read this for some perspective.
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
My favorite bit is how she feels surprised she can go through a day "energized" without massive coffe ingestion.

What the fuck do americans think is what gives the body energy to keep going, coffe beans? No wonder you guys have nutrition problems all around the country.

It made me remember a documentary where some teenagers at school commented about the meal they picked out of the options the school gave them and said "fried potatoes are vegetables, so they are healthy".
 

ToxicAdam

Member
As bad as this article is, it's not no different than what you would find in Cosmo or any other woman's magazine on the newstands today. That's her target demo for her website.
 

norinrad

Member
If i ever run into a woman like this and God forbid marry her, i would give GAF a call to come over and kill me
 

ronito

Member
MaxSteel said:
not if you're the CEO of a company, well off, and your time is valuable
20 minutes. 20 MINUTES. Even Jack Welch would walk to work for 20 minutes. God, what is it about people that think that CEOs are the new ubermensch.

They can't be bothered to walk. They're a CEO! Their time is valuable!
 

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I once went two months without spending money. It's called being broke as fuck. Where do I collect my medal?

And for the last few weeks I've been saving money for going to Japan so I've spent nothing at all on the weekdays. Not even on food (I get a free meal at work but whatever.)
 

Jex

Member
MaxSteel said:
not if you're the CEO of a company, well off, and your time is valuable

Watch out! If she misses those twenty minutes her company will fall apart!
 

neptunes

Member
Earned a well paying job right after graduation?

I'd be willing to guess this woman has never experienced any form of hardship in her life
 

ronito

Member
neptunes said:
Earned a well paying job right after graduation?

I'd be willing to guess this woman has never experienced any form of hardship in her life
Did you not read the article? It's a miracle she survived the poor thing. And luckily her company survived her giving away that extra time too. Hopefully she doesn't do this often otherwise the whole company will come apart.
 

Striker

Member
BobLoblaw said:
:lol I go like 3 days a week without spending money. The days that I do spend money it's for something like lunch, gas, groceries, or bills.
Same here. Even if I made more money right now, I rather save than spend it on need-less items.
 
Actually, you know what. Last page, I was ripping on her for the $30 a day taxi expense for a 1 mile commute when she could walk, bike or use public transit.

But thats not THAAAAAT bad. She could have done a LOT worse.

She could own + drive a car every day.

($20 a day in ownership (payment +insurance) + $20 a day in Manhattan parking + $10 a day apartment parking + gas).
 

Plywood

NeoGAF's smiling token!
Red Scarlet said:
Oh man that's rough, oh wait I haven't had my own money from a job since last May.
:lol, :(

Jobless GAF unite! We don't spend money cause we don't have it!

:(
 

DanteFox

Member
All in all, I was energized and motivated by my frugal living yesterday. I recognize that this experiment is unsustainable for a long period of time but I learned that if I just pay a little bit more attention to my daily expenses and put in a little effort, I could eliminate unnecessary, basic expenses from my daily routine. I woke up this morning feeling "cleansed," invigorated and ready to approach the day with an expense conscious mindset.

wow. just wow.

If only she knew what a good portion of the population goes through EVERY DAY just to get by. I'm sure it'd rock her little sheltered, upper-class world.
 
I go probably 1 or 2 days a week without spending money. I mean, technically I drive my car to work and the food I bring is food I payed for at some point earlier in the month but if I don't go out after work than it's not hard.
 

ToxicAdam

Member
neptunes said:
Earned a well paying job right after graduation?

I'd be willing to guess this woman has never experienced any form of hardship in her life


Well, she left that job and had to go startup her own company. Poor thing only raised 4.5 million in VC at the age of the 26. :(
 

hitsugi

Member
idahoblue said:
No. It's retarded.

gonna have to agree with this guy and just apply this sentence to everything related to the fascination surrounding someone's ability to go a day without spending money.
 
Taking a Taxi for a 20 minute walk? Thats crazy. And packing a lunch and making her own breakfast was such an alien concept?

How the other half live, eh?
 

Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
If this chick is hot, I'm going to hate-fuck her.

What a bitch.
 
Dacvak said:
If this chick is hot, I'm going to hate-fuck her.

What a bitch.
Alexa-Von-Tobel.jpg


She's a Harvard graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, romance languages & literature, with Magna cum laude plus thesis on "Bhutan's development".

And she landed a job as an Analyst at a trading group right out of school. Yeah. So remember kiddies, your Psychology degree is not a waste. You can always end up as a big shot analyst at a financial firm.
 
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