New Blog: The Broke Student's Guide

I have to admit something: I've been cheating on my blog with another blog. Ok, non-clever joking aside, I have a new blog. Not that I'm abandoning this one, because the two are totally different and unrelated. But the other one has certaintly been holding my attention lately! It's called The Broke Student's Guide to Stretching Your Dollar. It's aimed at college students, and focuses on all the ways that students can save money and get the most value for what little money they do spend. I focus a lot on getting things for free, earning money doing practically nothing (like paid-to sites) and taking advantage of all your campus has to offer, as well as tips and tricks on the things you do have to purchase whether you like it or not - like textbooks and groceries. Anyway, if any of thats useful to you, please follow! And then link all of your friends to it!

http://brokestudentguide.blogspot.com/

Ways to Make Extra Money at College

I haven't updated much lately - I've been too busy moving into my swanky new one-person apartment at Indiana University for my (first) senior year! It's pretty freaking amazing, but unfortunately I'm finding myself quite broke. My dad has decided he can't spare me any more money than the cost of my books (roughly $400, ouch!) so I've been having to scrape together some pocket change on my own. Luckily, I'm fairly good at that. Aside from my 3 hours a week job at my dorm (literally, I have a 3 hours per week cap on what I can work. That's about $22 a week, tops, but I don't have enough time to get another part time job) I have a variety of ways to scrounge up pocket change. I've already shared a couple on my blog, but here's a refresher course:

1. Earning money online doing paid surveys, clicking on links in emails, and filling out offers (mostly signing up for newsletters and such, yay for spam filters!) If I spend a couple of hours a week doing this I can make about $30 a month. You can read my complete list of proven legit sites here. Right now my favorites are Treasure Trooper, SendEarnings, Inbox Dollars, and MyPoints (email me to get a referal link to the last one, it's invite-only). The last three I earn primarily through their paid emails, where you get about $.05 each for clicking on ad-supported emails. They send maybe 5-10 a day, so it actually adds up really quickly. Clicking through them all is my favorite mindless thing to do while watching TV or on the phone!

2. I have a few other suggestions in this post, explained in greater detail. In short they are donating plasma, selling extra stuff, advertising your skills on craigslist (math tutor? knitting lessons? strong guy available to lift stuff?), or creating a blog or website to sell advertising on or sell goods/services.

The other one I list is paid university studies. I'd like to go into more detail on that one because I've been looking at a lot more of them lately and they are perfect for college students in particular. If you're at a large research school, there is an excellent chance that there are some studies that will pay you to participate. These can be anything from sitting at a computer answering questions for an hour to participating in a group discussion. You can find Indiana University paid experiment at this website. To find some for your own university, just search "[Your College] Paid Psych Experiments" or similar. I also find a lot of them pasted up on flyers around major classroom buildings, especially the psych building, but even in the business school here. They say something like "18-24 YEAR OLD FEMALES, GOOD HEARING, HEAVY DRINKER, SMOKES LESS THAN 5 CIGS A DAY, $10/HR" with some pull-off contact sheets. They are looking for just about every type of person, and don't be afraid of participating in the ones with qualifications like "heavy drinker/drug user" because that's not a ploy for turning you into the police, it's just a qualifier for the study! (I'm assuming that fact, as I do not actually qualify as either a heavy drinker or drug user. But if I did, I would totally be using it to get more money. To support my habits. Or you know, whatever. In my actual case, it's more like a shoe habit).

Other college-specific things I'm doing right now are selling off my old appliances that freshman didn't know they need but now that they're at college they totally need (Like last year's window fan? My new apartment has Air Freaking Conditioning. I'm happy to provide the same luxury of cool air to dorm-dwellers at a fraction of the price of the same appliance at Target!) Also, now is the prime time to sell textbooks on places like Amazon. Students are still enrolling in classes, being accepted on waitlists, and switching into other classes, so textbooks are being purchased like crazy. I bought mine yesterday, and they were probably twice the price than if I'd bought them in the summer! They will also likely pay more for shipping right now. If you don't want to sell on Amazon, use Craigslist or a University supported forum (most colleges have one - Indiana's can be found on OneStart. )

Do you have any good ways to make extra money at college? Please tell me. I am so broke. And my readers probably want to know too! :) Happy earning!

Sometimes I Make Stuff

So remember the shirt my friend was modelling in the last post? Here it is again if you missed it, along with a very special facial expression. .... verrrry special :D Well anyway, this is one of the 3 items that I constructed this semester and incorporated into my final design line. I have yet to post the design line but it's coming soon! In the meantime enjoy this sneak preview! The shirt itself is made of white cotton seersucker and is adapted from a man's button up shirt pattern and has all of the typical accoutrement's of a man's shirt: a placket on the sleeve, interfaced under collar, flat felled seams, you know the usual. I adapted the shirt to be slightly more womanly (my apologies to Richie, its new owner!) by changing the buttons in the front to fasten woman's style instead of man's style (woman's clothing buttons right over left, man's clothing buttons left over right!) I also changed the collar to be rounded instead of pointed, added french cuffes with purple lining, and used the same Egyptian cotton purple lining for the undercollar. If you turn the collar up it's purple too :) I wanted little hints of purple everywhere. The buttons are also purple of course. Then the back yoke has a chevron bias cut for stretch and a little design interest. I incorporated it into my design line twice, once with on the black jacket that I also constructed this semester ... more on that once I upload some pics of it! I will explain every outfit that I designed in future posts.... and you will understand what I'm talking about best if you have ever read the book White Oleander, or seen the movie - both of which are my FAVORITE EVER OMG. SO GOOD. More to come!!

Fashion Design Portfolio in Progress

So as some of you may or may not know already, my major at IU is Fashion Design and Apparel Merchandising. The fashion design certificate at IU is an extremely rigorous 2 year program that is bigger than a minor but smaller than a major. It covers every part of fashion design: Design and Construction studios, Drawing and Portfolio studios, Computer Aided Design, and Field experiences, as well as Theory and History courses. Currently I am in a lab class constructing skirts and pants, and a design class learning the basics of fashion sketches and portfolio pieces. At the end of the semester I will have 2 completed skirts and a pair of pants, as well as over 15 pieces in my portfolio! But I thought I'd share some of my designs that I've made so far.

"Redesigning the Trench Coat" First look: gabardine motorcycle style jacket with leather pants and rubber boots. Second look: gabardine dress with leather boots + vinyl umbrella. Mood page theme was "protection" so there are weather elements and cameo to symbolize the protection that Trench coats provided the army in WWII.

First I'd like to point out that I have never, EVER drawn anything substantial before this year. I've made some pretty awesome abstract illustrations and doodles but never people or clothing. Also, my design class is NOT an art class: we are not given any direct instruction as far as things like proportion or making a sketch look realistic. What we are given as a resource is a huuuuge textbook called 9 Heads which is chock full of croquis (blank human forms), flats (a garment drawn as if it were laid out on the ground to show construction techniques) and working sketches (a drawing of the garment on a human form to show how it looks being worn). We were then told about Mood Pages or Mood Boards which is basically a collage that expresses the theme or inspiration behind the garment you have designed. Then we were told to go forth and create! Each week we have a new assignment to turn in with two looks, flats, working sketches and a mood page. So far we've designed for the US Open, created an outfit based on the Turban Squash, redesigned the Trench Coat, constucted half-scale garments based on the architecture of IU, reconstructed a full-scale "problem garment," and designed looks to fit into the Halston brand. We are given a week to complete each assignment and although the course is only worth one credit (grrr) we all bust our butts in the fashion lab for many, many hours! I will have a complete portfolio of these and more pieces, including my final line (10 looks around a common theme) later on, but I figured I'd show some of what I've been working on.

Designing for the Halston line. Blue china silk scoop neck dress with yellow ultrasuede belt and matching hat.

I really wanted to develop my own style of designing and drawing that would be easily recognizable. I didn't use any of the croquis provided by the 9 Heads book at all, so I basically had to teach myself how to draw people from scratch. I decided early on to reject the standard high fashion model, which is abnormally tall and abnormally thin. I create designs and draw women that are full-figured, even plus sized. My croquis are all very curvy and even the fit model for the skirt I am constructing is curvy. The more I design the more practice I get so I have definitely improved over the course of the semester!

Dress inspired by the Turban Squash. Sweetheart neckline and bubble skirt with oxford shoes.

Half-Scale dress designed by me and 2 other girls based on the McKinney Fountain

My most recent designs are definitely the best but they are still being graded so I haven't gotten a chance to take pictures of them. But here is a slight overview at least!

Caffiene is my god

So I'm taking a quick, jittery break from studying. By the way, if anyone wants to know about marginal propensity to consume or save, real GDP, aggregate demand or supply and/or disposable income, ask me, since I now understand it enough to feel relatively confident about my midterm tomorrow. Does anyone else love caffiene this much? Seriously. Best invention ever. Anyway so I'm officially scheduling in time to work for OmgLia since I'm not getting much done updating at 3am every night... from now on, Friday is OmgLia day. I will wake up early and report to work at the library, and work diligently until I am all caught up! Mostly for my benefit, but also for all those who are curious what tasks go into running a DIY shop from a dorm room, here is my To Do List for the next few Fridays:

1. Update Etsy/website with finished pictures (finished means cropped, resized, background whited out, and any contrast or color adjustments.)

a) Alice in Wonderland Line (preview to the left)
b) New stud earrings
c) Necklaces, earrings and clearance updates (need to move old items to clearance!)
d) Add new photoshoot pics to existing items


2. Advertising

• a) Set advertising budget, contact collected potential advertisers to purchase slots


• b) Write advertising code and page for OmgLia to bring in more advertising revenue


• c) Make new advertisement banner, whore it everywhere

3. Accounting

• a) finish updating 2009/2008 balance sheet using paypal, propay and income statement


• b) Add any values from receipts including post office fees, credit card purchases, etc


• c) Collect data from net income or loss per month


• d) all kinds of data analysis! (this part is only fun if you are a huge excel nerd, which I am!!)

4. Newsletter

• a) Depending on budget, purchase newsletter production company like Vertical Response


• b) Develop template for regular newsletters


• c) Set up a schedule for sending newsletters (Currently it's something like whenever I feel like it, which is not often enough to bring back many customers!)


• d) Create newsletters with original content, coupon codes, pictures, etc that people will actually read, not send to spam box, and perhaps even click on once in a while!

5. Blog

• a) Brainstorm blog posts based on polling various readers about what they want to read about. Create blog posts. Post regularly!


• b) Research ways to get more traffic to my blog (keywords?)


• c) Figure out how the hell to move this blog over to http://blog.omglia.com/ >.<

6. Etc

• a) using new site banner, design new bag toppers, etsy banner, link banners, and business cards.


• b) order more business cards


• c) Depending on budget, purchase Flickr account and upload as much as possible to it.


• d) take pictures of any leftover inventory to upload to site


• d) make more stuff (funny, you'd think this would be a more important one, but honestly with all the rest of the stuff I have to do, creating inventory is really NOT as prioritized as one would assume. They should tell you these things BEFORE you start your own DIY business!)

Anyway. So that's that. Now I shall return to studying. PS, note for all college students reading this: IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN TO YOUR UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, VISIT IT ASAP. I've only recently made studying at the library a habit of mine, and I've noticed SUCH a change in productivity from when I tried to study (unsuccesfully) in my dorm room. Also, the resources of the IU library are absolutely staggering: everything from paid subscriptions to any online article I could ever want to read, to one-handed keyboards in case I break my arm, to printers capable of creating life-size posters, to ... well, books. They even have a cafe downstairs with SUSHI, and 5 floors of studying lounges. AWESOME. I'm making a library kit with all the neccessaries to take with me every day when I stop by here for HOURS. Ok. seriously, back to studying. And also my favorite picture of me from this weekend's photoshoot!

Dorm room pics!

I finally got my dorm tidied up and looking nice heres some pics

The actual color of dorm room is very pinkish, I covered the light with tissue paper to filter it . Also those are candy corn "christmas"lights sent by my mom as a hallowen present!

My bed, with my awesome rolly laptop table!
To see the rest of the pics, click here!

Halloween!

Halloween is just around the corner, and at Indiana University that's a HUGE deal. Aside from your standard drunken debauchery and an unusually high proportion of ridiculously skimpy clothing, Halloween is an awesome holiday to celebrate at college. For example, my dorm is hosting a Halloween Arts and Crafts Party, a Thriller Workshop - side note, fun fact about me: I was on a hip hop dance team in high school and we not only learned Thriller in all of its 13-minute long entirety, but we performed it every weekend for hours at The Baxter Avenue Morgue in Louisville! -- as well as a huge Halloween Dance, a Halloween Charity party for disavantaged kids and an in-dorm Haunted House. WHEW! In summation, my dorm is pretty much the best ever, and I luff it. *luffs dorm*

Anyway, the real question here is, what am I - and what are you - dressing up as this Halloween? By principle I tend to abstain from the obligatory skanky mcskankskank costuming that seems to flood the women's section of costume stores. I tend more towards literal costumes and the previous costumes I have worn were, on the whole, rather strange. Now that I am a fashion design major I feel like I should branch out to something interesting and perhaps a twinge more crafty than usual. My general intuition is to go to the Salvation Army, pick out something ridiculous, and make it into something awesome - but what should I look for? As an inside joke, my friends and I were all going to go as Little Britain characters and I was going to be Emily Howard, but frankly, nobody would get that reference at all (did any of you? yes? maybe? ....nobody?) and some of my friends might be in different states than me for Halloween anyway. So ... that leaves me with pretty much nothing. Help me come up with some ideas, dear readers!

Side note: check out the amazingawesomecrazycool Halloween jewelry at http://www.omglia.com/Halloween

College Countdown: 3 weeks

So I'm returning to college the last week of August and, although I'm trying not to think about the daunting task of packing my apartment up and cramming all of my stuff back into a teeny dorm room (yes, I'm living in a dorm room again! Why? Well, it's convenient, and I don't know how to clean stuff on my own. Also, less space to tidy up) ... I'm really excited to head back to IU! Here are the classes I'm taking next semester:

AMID-F 211 - FASHION DES I: CONCEPTUALIZATN
I assume this means "Fashion Design 1: Conceptualization." This class is for Fashion Design students ONLY. *jumps up and down* I'm so excited! There's a lab AND a lecture. OOOOH. SUPER excited.

ASCS-Q 299 - JOB&INTRN STRAT LIB ART STDNTS
I think this has something to do with finding a job or w/e. Some required bullshit class, I'm sure. At least it only meets 8 weeks.

BUS-M 300 - INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
I think I'll probably do very well in this class. It's only for Apparel Merchandising majors with Business Minors - like me! Business majors don't take it cuz they're special or whatever. *bitter* What? I didn't get in, I can be bitter.

ECON-E 202 - INTRO TO MACROECONOMICS
I managed to scrape by with a B in microeconomics last semester and swore never to draw another stupid graph or do another stupid contrary-to-common-sense-math problem again. Analysis I get; technical mathematical stuff makes me want to strangle small innocent children. Kill me. Kill me now.

ENG-L 204 - INTRODUCTION TO FICTION
Why do I have to take this? I tested out of English. I'm brilliant at English. I'm hoping I can drop this stupid for-credit-only class. I think I'm waitlisted anyway.

HPER-E 133 - FITNESS & JOGGING I
Ever heard of the freshman 15? How about the sophmore 15? Yeah. I'd like my high school body back, please.

SOC-S 100 - INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
I took intro to anthropology my freshman year, but since I transferred schools my credits didn't fill up all the way and now I have to take practically the same class all over again. Oh well, it's only a 100 level so it shouldn't be too difficult. Maybe now that I'm an *upperclassman* I can bribe some freshies into giving me their notes, or something. *evil grin*

and there you have it. Bad news: classes start at 9:30 am Mon-Thurs (though, I've been waking up at 8am all summer for work so it won't be too big of a difference.) Good news: no classes on Fridays. Bad news: boyfriend and I have no idea what to do about the long distance thing, as he's been staying with me for the past 2 months. We're thinking a homeless shelter and/or a camper. No, seriously.

Update from my life

Hello! Wow have I been busy lately! What with all the (ex)boyfriend drama (yeah, we're still broken up, and neither of us are handling it very well) and then the whole leaving for college and making new friends thing, I've hardly had any time for my business! I did manage to create and list a few new things at http://omglia.com including a bunch of rings, and some new Halloween merch like a necklace, a bead/charm lot and a charm bracelet. But more on that later - for now I just want to post pics of my dorm room!! That first pic is my computer area. Yes my TV says RELAX on it, I got that in a swap on Crafster :D And this pic on the right is my bed. And by bed I mean workstation and by workstation I mean where I make jewelry. My sewing machine is tucked away in my closet and my beading supplies are all shelved in that little bookcase there, and all of my packaging materials are in boxes under my bed haha. Anyway that's the update from me, I'll be posting more soon with all my new Halloween products! Until then, please admire this beautiful picture of me. *fans self* Hehe.

Update From My Life

I had my orientation for Indiana University yesterday (I'm transferring in as a sophmore.) I was going to get a business degree, but it would mean cramming in a zillion required classes this year (no, I'm serious, it would be almost impossible. Their business school is very good and very cutthroat.) So my declared major is now Apparel Merchandising! I know, it's not very common, but it's hella useful for my chosen career path, provided that stays the same for the next 2 years or so. Anyway, I'll be minoring in business, so I'll still get tons of nerdy business skills. So I get to take classes in fashion design and accounting. Can we say, perfect?

In other news, I've been secretly working on totally new line of wallets! I've designed them and started to laminate them and cut them out, but haven't sewed any up yet, so I can't show you :( but I will show you this awesome secret preview!

Oooooh. No copyright infringement here, guys, it's all original :)

COMING SOON IN LIA'S LIFE:
1. New hostess job at Olive Garden!
2. Craft fair this weekend! 2 days! Lots of kids! $75 that I must make to break even. Yikes. I'm going to have to do a ton of sewing this weekend so I at least have some more expensive items. I hope some of the people at this fair like hot topic shirts.
3. I have 3976763 consignment orders to go out in the next few weeks. Hopefully I can at least make some money that way, b/c this summer is going SO badly.
Stay tuned!

M.I.A Concert

So last night I attended an M.I.A concert hosted by my college (and free to its students! Yay!) For those who aren't familiar with M.I.A, she's a Sri Lankan rap/hip hop artist whose songs often convey political messages and awareness/activism goodness. They also happen to be super catchy. My favorite songs of hers are "Galang" and "Sunshowers," though her song "Paper Planes" is currently roaming the charts.

Anyway, the concert was great. Tons of girls, and many guys too (I attend an all woman's college, remember?) I escaped the ridiculously crowded lower standing area only for M.I.A to crowdsurf in the EXACT spot where I was standing later on, grrr. I danced my butt off! M.I.A was pretty drunk, and is a terrible dancer, but oh my gosh she is HOT (why yes, I am straight.) At one point she took a "DO ME" sign out of the audience and put it in her pants. Sexy. Hehe. She also had two really cool female rappers/dancers with her.
My only complaint is that the sound effects dude went CRAZY with the "gunshot" button on his laptop. Every five seconds there was a gunshot noise, it was insane. I get it though. M.I.A's father is one of the leaders of the Tamil Tigers, the rebel insurgents currently fighting the government in Sri Lanka (for those who don't know, it's all based over Ethnic/language differences - the Tamils want their own province, and the ethnic majority and the government don't want to give it to them.) Overall though it was a great concert, and kudos to the college for picking someone political, rather than Fall Out Boy who came last year (lame).

The Travesties of Dorm Life

So what this blog is really about is how to run a business from a dorm room. This is something I'd better become an expert at, because I might be in college for a while if I go ahead on getting my business degree (at Indiana University, where I'll be transferring next year!)

I thought I'd show you all my "work space," if you can call it that. It consists of a desk, which my sewing machine shares with my makeup and books, and my bed. Storage space is one of those Target plastic drawer thingies. And my shipping supplies are stuffed into a desk drawer which is too full to close.
If you want to see all the photos of my dorm room "work space," visit my Flickr Account.