It has been a hard month. Finding a flat wasn’t easy and it took me more time than I thought. That left with almost no time to try making some money.

In addition, the last two weeks of April I’ve been quite busy trying to plan university lectures and designing my timetable.

As a result my total income for April (still 2 days left) was: 91,60 €. Usabilty tests and correcting Spanish papers have been the income sources.

Thankfully I still have some savings, but I’m running out of savings in May…

My biggest hope at the moment…

The University of Munich has many contacts with companies and getting a part-time job that leaves you time to study isn’t that hard.

I’ll try to look for a job that increases the value of my CV and gives me some money at the same time.

Best regards!
Javier

I usually don’t post this kind of stuff because it’s far away from the topic of this blog. But today’s experience needs to be shared.

My family send me a package from Spain to Germany via FedEx. 2 weeks later the package hasn’t arrived… So I decided to call FedEx Germany,… result:
- I had to wait 10 minutes to be able to talk to a human being
- Apparently the courier was at my front door. But I wasn’t there, so the package wasn’t delivered, but he neither left a notice / letter. So, how the f*** am I supposed to know that the package arrived??
- The person I had on the phone was very very rude.

Summarizing: I wouldn’t use FedEx Europe. I won’t do it.

Regards!
Javier

sorry for the long absence. I’ve been quite busy trying to find a room or apartment. It hasn’t been easy, but I finally got a bargain!

I found something for a lower price that I thought. 308€ all inclusive (bills + internet). In addition, I won’t have to share it. It is a 2-floor Bungalow fully furnished with bathroom and kitchen. It’s quite small (19 square meters), but very well distributed. You can see the exhibition bungalow to make yourself an idea, no need to say I have neighbours and I’m not fully isolated like the one in the picture.

Money needed urgently

I spent longer than I thought in finding a room / apartment and I haven’t spent enough time to find more little jobs to do. I’m running out of savings and I will need to find an income source quickly.
At least my only client (Spanish paper correction) is very satisfied and told me she would need my help later on and promised me to spread the word.
As soon as I settle and my move some staff to my new home, I’ll start taking care of “how to make some money”.

My cost of living

Since I’ll spend less than I thought in rent, I may be able to survive with less money than budgeted. Or maybe I can have a couple more of beers instead

Best regards!
Javier

Next post coming soon!

NEW YORK, Mar 22, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The Board of Directors of Annaly Capital Management, Inc.  (NLY 18.06, -0.54, -2.91%) declared the first quarter 2010 common stock cash dividend of $0.65 per common share. This dividend is payable April 28, 2010 to common shareholders of record on April 1, 2010. The ex-dividend date is March 30, 2010.

Read full story at Marketwatch

Good news! I got my first job order from a German student. She has a Spanish exam and wants me to correct some writings for her. She already paid me for 9 pages (27€) for this week, and we agreed to 9 pages more for next week (27€ more). That makes up the nice amount of 54€ It’s is a pretty nice start.

On the other hand, on Thursday I have the usability test. I’ll get 27,30€ for surfing a given website for an hour.

That means that a week before the start of the project I’ll make 54,30€.

Teaching German to beginners

I had a look and the English speaking community in Munich is pretty big. Most of them don’t speak German at all, but some of them want to learn it. I decided I’m going to look for prospects in this market, since I learned German in my early twenties and I would be able to teach it to another adult.

I contacted with a girl who wanted private lessons and offered her my services, I’m still waiting for her reply. This income source looks very promising.

Best regards,
Javier

The author openly exposes his financial situation and his different ideas to start making money. His wide range of ideas goes from repairing PC’s door by door to sperm donation. Necessity definitely gets the best of us.

I would like to encourage the Con 10 euros author to continue with the project.

In our current financial situation more people with this approach are needed.

Ánimos!

Best regards,
Javier

This quote is quite right! It doesn’t make any sense to start walking if you have no clue where you are going. If we apply this principle to our “Financial Survival Project”, we need to know how much money we need before we worry about how to make it. That’s why I need a Budget.

My Personal Budget

I’ve been doing some research and that’s my final budget (in Euros) for my life in Munich.

• Rent= 350€
• Food= 180€
• Transport= 20€
• Miscellanous= 60€
• +10% = 61€
• TOTAL = 671€

My Personal Budget reviewed

Obviously I will renounce to many “luxuries” by adopting such a strict budget, but I prefer to get use to a tight budget and then relax it if things are going better than expected.

• Rent:Munich is a really expensive city on this regard, so I decided to go for house sharing. I’ll try to get a room all included for a maximum of 350€. By all included I mean, Internet + utility bills. If I can get something cheaper, better, but I want to feel comfortable at home. If I need to cut my budget down rent won’t be the first category I’look into.
• Food: I calculated 6€ a day, 6 times 30 is 180. I think it should be more than fine. In Germany students have access to a special Canteen called “Mensa” where food is good and cheap, you can have a nice meal for 3€. Other than that I’ll be buying raw ingredients and cooking at home.
  Yep, you’re right. I won’t be seen in a restaurant for a long long time,… maybe as a waiter… who knows
• Transport:To get around in the city is not that cheap, that’s why I decided I’ll walk everywhere. It’s healthy and cheap, you just need to plan a bit in advance. I budget 20€ in this category for special occasions, getting late to an exam or getting trapped under 3 meter snow.
  I will try to rent a room near the University and near the city center so I can walk to all places I will need to go.
• Miscellaneous: Shampoo, toothpaste and beer from time to time will fit into this category.
• +10%: Unforeseen costs would fall into this category.

That makes a total of €651.

Personal project start date: 15th April

The actual project will start on the 15th April 2010, until then and until I can start making some money in Munich I will stretch my savings as much as I can (€1400). That will reach to pay the University fee (€600) and to make it until mid May.

Next Step: Where can I sell my skills?

Best regards,
Javier

Where is the money?

A simple and straight question that Greek government is not able, probably not willing, to answer. Greece has been receiving money from its richer European siblings (France, Germany, Uk), tax payers’ money. The idea was to balance the economies within the EU countries, so the rich countries gave money to the poorer members to develop and strength their economies in order to develop a European market.
What has Greece done with this money? Did they invest it to assure the long term? Or did they just burn it thinking this income stream would never end? Did anyone actually control what they were doing?

Obviously nobody was interested on this while things were fine and an economic downturn seemed not possible. The question remained unanswered, but someone should really try to find out the answer to this very important question:
Where is the money?

Why will this time be different?

Looking forwards that is the most important question. In a country with high corruption level and the corresponding black money flowing around, how will this money change the situation. Will actually Greece take some measures to get their inland affairs in order?

That is what is damaging the country the most: the feeling that despite the money, Greece will keep on doing as it has done now. That implies a cultural change and a lot of effort, it won’t happen overnight, but Greece needs to change on this regard. Corruption and black market has to be eradicated. To improve the economic situation a change of mentality is essential.

When will the richer member get tired of the weakest link?

“A drunk man always says he’ll never drink again”. The patience of the richer EU members is reaching its end, you can feel it when they speak in press conference or in TV shows. Their economic situation is neither outstanding and that makes a powerful cocktail.
While their economies had no problems, they didn’t care much how the poorer countries were spending there money. But now that their economies are also struggling they will track the performance of every cent.

Germany has already stated that the countries unable to save and cut their deficit to the 3% GDP EU requirement may be forced to leave the Euro.

Where does Europe end?

That gets us to the last but not least important question. Where does Europe end?
There are many different cultures and ways to see the world within the old continent, this provokes that the way they work, their entrepreneurial mindset, the efficiency and level of education are very different within what we call Europe. No one says, German are better than Greeks, or French better than Spanish. The question is, will all these different countries be able more or less to create an homogeneous market economy for everyone’s profit and satisfaction?

I honestly doubt it. What do you think?

Today is a good day. I received the confirmation letter from LMU – University of Munich that from April on I can start my studies of economics in their University. From April on I’ll be a student again.

This opportunity comes along with a big challenge:
- How to make money to live while studying (3 years long)?

First thing to be said is that I could sell the shares I have right now and live without working and worrying about money for the next 3 years, but that would be a really short-term decision, in 3 years I’m pretty confident that the shares will be worth more and will have paid some nice dividends. So back to the question!

How to make money while being a student?

As a student I won’t have time to take a full-time job, so the idea is to monetize my skills or to do “small business transactions” (don’t worry, nothing illegal).

Some ideas I have in mind:

- correcting and helping German students with Spanish papers: I just posted some ads selling my Spanish skills in the Spanish faculty – initial price 3€ per page.
- mistery shoppers and different tests: I just signed up for a “usability test” next week. They pay 27,30€ for an hour. I just have to sit there and surf the net for an hour. Cool!
- training a football(soccer) team: I will have to wait until beginnings of July for this one, we are in mid-season and to get a team as a newbie in the city would be mission impossible.
- playing football(soccer): In Germany you get paid for playing football, also in the low divisions. I started training with a team and as soon as I fully recover from my ACL operation I’ll start playing. I will also ask if they need some trainer/coach for any team.
- selling what people don’t want: you wouldn’t believe what people give away (furnitures, ovens, kitchens, books, TV’s), I’m being serious people give these things away!! I will check out regularly what people are giving away and sell the stuff that can be sold.

And so far, that’s all! I’ve just had half a day to come up with ideas to financially survive, but I’m sure more ideas will come up and be sure I’ll post them.

Why do I do this?

You may be asking yourself this question. You can find below the reasons:
- because it’s fun, creative and more exciting than working for someone else from 9 to 5.
- to show myself and to prove that the rule “no job, no income” is there to be broken.
- because necessity gets the best out of us.

Best regards and see you soon!
Javier

The differences between northern and southern Europe are huge, and someone may think the big countries may get tired of being part of a Union that slows down their financial growth. I.e. Germany and France, they never needed the help of the other European countries, but some of these countries need them. That appears to be an unfair relation, in which A needs B, but B doesn’t need A.

In the current financial situation we’ll see how long are the big players willing to bet in a “United States of Europe”.