Posts tagged Work
April 12, 2009
· Filed under Life, Money, Work · Tagged Life, Money, Work
I hope everyone who celebrates Easter has a happy one!
I lost track of my spending during March, so there won’t be a March spending report. I have started keeping track again for April. There’s been another type of cutback in my department at work. Any of the representatives in my area that work after 7pm get a pay differential. Nights are started to get slower, so in order to cut more costs, the company has decided to have less people working at night. So those who will no longer work at night, will no longer get the pay differential. It’s 10% – 15% of our base pay. Which equates to about $2,750 – $4,800 loss. I don’t think I can really afford it. We’ve already had a 2% paycut. I could end up lossing 12% – 17% of my pay. Yikes!! But at least I still have a job, for now.
December 15, 2008
· Filed under Family, Life, Money, Work · Tagged Family, Life, Money, Work
Lately I’ve had this feeling of being off-balance. I don’t know what to do about it. I think it stems mostly from work. I recently switched my schedule and instead of working 12:30pm – 9:00pm, I’m there 10:45am – 7:30pm. It’s been difficult for me to adjust. I’ve been late to the office most of the week. Also, we’ve finally had some lay-offs at work. Approximately 550 people are being let go between now and the end of the year. Thank heavens I wasn’t one of them, but it could have easily been me. I’ve only been with the company for a little over a year and a half. It’s scary. And to make matters worse, I had an upsetting conversation with my aunt about going back to school. She basically wants me to quit my job and go back to being an even more financially un-sound college student. Is she out of her ever-lovin mind?!?!?! With the way the economy is, I need to hold onto my job for as long as I can. I enjoy my job, I like my co-workers, and I love my company. What’s wrong with that? I make decent money. I will actually gross approximately $5,000 more than she will, not that I’m trying to throw that in anyone’s face. But geez!! I know she wants me to do better and be better than what I am, but she wants it for all the wrong reasons.
I did have bigger dreams at one time, but things change. Just because I can’t go back to school right now, doesn’t mean I never will. Maybe I will go back and get into Pharmacy school. Who knows? Right now, I think if I did, I go back to get my financial management degree.
November 26, 2008
· Filed under Medical, Money, Tax Deductions, Volunteering, Work · Tagged Medical, Money, Tax Deductions, Volunteering, Work
On Monday, Nov 24, the IRS announced that the mileage rates would change for 2009. They are as follows:
Business – 55 cents per mile
Medical or Moving Purposes – 24 cents per mile
Service of Charitable Organizations – 14 cents per mile
I almost completely forgot about this tax deduction!! My company is big on volunteering for charities and other organizations. They give us volunteer hours to use throughout the year. I used mine during the summer to help sandbag at the city levee during the “Floods of 2008″ here in the midwest. I’m going to need mapquest to see how far I drove. I’ve also had several trips to numerous doctors’ offices and the emergency room several times this year. I will need to mapquest those miles as well. I’ve also had a few business meetings where I’ve had to drive to a location away from work.
November 18, 2008
· Filed under Family, Life, Work · Tagged Family, Hospital, Life, Work
Satuday:
Saturday I found myself in the Emergency Room with my mother for 5 hours. It seemed to be a very very busy day for the local ER. My mother recently had a Tracheostomey and as I was cleaing it, I smelled an odd odor eminating from in her throat. It smelled like infection. So my mother called her main doctor’s on-call nurse & they suggested we go to the ER. We sat there for 5 hours so the ER doc could tell us that she has general respiratory infection and to give her a prescription for antibotics. We could have gone to convienent care for all this and it would have only take maybe an hour at most. Ugh.
Then it was off to run some errands for my parents’ business. Another two hours down the drain. Finally I got home around 7:00 pm, checked my email and then spent the rest of the night watching TV. What a waste of a day.
Sunday:
Sunday was better in a few respects. I didn’t spend the day in the ER, but I did spend 5 hours or so working for my dad. We were very busy. There was a lot of work to get done, and then I had another errand to take care of. Sometimes being the responsible daughter sort of sucks. Why are my siblings never held to the same accountability as I am? Because I’m the “good one,” the “responsible one,” and I feel bad if I say no. Ugh.
October 6, 2008
· Filed under Life, Money, Work · Tagged Life, Money, Work
With the market still in turmoil, call volume at work has contintued to increase on a day-to-day basis. Today there has been an average of at least 70 – 100 calls holding at a time. Things are crazy here! Last week I ended up with a half hour of overtime. This week it looks like I could end up with a lot more. So far today I will be getting 2.7 hours of overtime. Tomorrow looks to be just as promising for overtime. I don’t mind working overtime. The money is excellent. It’s just that talking on the phone for long periods at a time tend to make my throat dry & sore. And after this weekend, I may already be getting sick. I may end up with larengitis before the end of the week. The good thing is though with overtime being offered at my full-time job, I can soon end my part-time job. I told my manager at the convience store that my last weekend will be November 1st – 2nd. But I did tell him that once tax season is over next year, that I may be able to come back & work weekends again, if I don’t move or something like that. Who knows. A lot can change in 7 months. At least a month from now I’ll be able to get my weekends back!
PS – The money that I get from overtime will be going to pay off my credit card faster. So everyone should hope for me that there’s lots of overtime offered up until March 2009.
September 18, 2008
· Filed under Coupons, Food, Freebies, Investments, Work · Tagged Coupons, Economy, Food, Freebies, Investments, Work
I’m sorry that I have not been as dedicated to my blog as i should be. As some of you know, I work for a financial company & thanks to all the craziness in the market, we have been extremely busy. We’ve been swamped every day this week with calls from panic-filled customers. Sometimes I hardly have time to get away from my desk, let alone get to check my email or post a blog. It’s absolute madness. I, for one, am not freaking out. I’m still very young & I know that my retirement investments are in it for the long-term. I haven’t even looked at my 401k account balance in over a month. I know it’s going to be bad & I know that it probably won’t get better any time soon. But I’m not changing a single thing; all of my investments will remain the same.
Hopefully, the economy will straighten out sooner than later. I’m hoping that once the election is over, some of the panic will subside & things will settle down. I know that whoever the next President is, is not the deciding factor of how the economy will turn out. It’s not about who goes into office, it’s more about the election being over & which party goes in, that will hopefully settle things down. I’m not much for politics & I have no intention of getting into them on here.
So now, on to the freebies…. (Tuesday 9/16/08 mail)
- Fiber One Granola Bar & Fiber One Cereal with coupons
- Gain’s new scent on a card with a $1.00 off coupon
Nothing super special, but the granola bar was really good. I will be trying the cereal for breakfast tomorrow.
September 12, 2008
· Filed under Clothing, Life, Money, Shopping, Work · Tagged Accessories, Clothing, Life, Money, Shopping, Weddings, Work
Blogging has started to become a little difficult for me. I don’t lead a very exciting life so there’s not much for me to post about. However, at times it makes me feel more accomplished when I write things down. There have been a lot of set backs this month when it comes to paying off my debt. All I’ve been doing lately is spending money. Grrr…
First, my manager’s Step-Mother passed away this week & so everyone in my office decided to pitch in a few dollars to buy a gift for her family. I donated $5.00.
Second, my parents’ friends’ daughter is getting married this weekend. I’m not much for dressing up so my mom decided it would be good for me to buy a new dress. I bought a plain black dress with white trim. It’s practical, comfortable & I can wear it to any occasion; weddings, birthdays, funerals. etc. That cost me $40.00. Then I had to buy some nylons because I never wear nylons. That cost me another $20.00.
Then I needed new dress shoes to go with my dress. Again I bought some practical & comfortable not-too-high black high heels. Since they were under $20.00, mom made me get a second pair of not-too-high black high heels, but in a different style. Both of these pairs I can wear to work, along with the dress. The second pair of shoes cost me a little over $20.00. That’s ok though because since I can wear all this stuff to work as “professional attire,” I’m going to write them off my taxes as a work expense. The outfit will also come in handy again next month for another wedding I have to attend. My mom also convinced me that I needed new earrings to go with my dress. Those I didn’t pay for though. Let me just say being a girl is tough work!! I’m not much for the whole dressing up thing & I’d rather not wear a dress. I’m more comfortable in pants.
The worst thing is not just the spending money, in order to be at the wedding I had to take the day off of from my part-time job to be there. So there’s a loss of funds from missing work. Ugh!
August 25, 2008
· Filed under Life, Money, Work · Tagged Life, Lottery, Money, Work
It’s Monday. Lately Monday has become my “favorite” day of the week. The reason being that Monday means going back to my regular job & not working at my weekend job. I know I’ve probably complained a lot about this part-time job. I think the reason I dislike my weekend job so much is because it means I don’t get a day off. Working 7 days a week is definitely not fun. I don’t know how some people do it. I know I need the extra money, but I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to keep working there. So many little things at the convience store annoy me.
I see the same people every day. Sometimes 3 -5 times in one day! They buy the same exact thing. There’s nothing new about it. Yesterday I saw the same guy 3 times. Two of the times he came in to get coffee & the third time he exchanged a propane tank. There’s a couple that always comes in & they both get coffee refills. I saw them 3 times as well. There’s an older guy that comes in & every day he wastes his money on pull-tabs & lottery tickets. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I buy a lottery ticket, but I definitely don’t spend all my money on pull-tabs & scratch tickets. What’s fun about that? There are plenty of other ways I could think to spend my money. Why doesn’t he save it? Go on vacation instead of coming into the convience store every day? Another guy comes in on Saturday & Sunday always buys an 18 pk of Busch Light, a pk of Marlboro Lights & Marlboro Menthol Lights. Why don’t people buy in bulk? If he knows he’s going to be drinking over the weekend & he knows that he & his wife always smoke cigarettes, then why doesn’t me save some time & money by buying a larger pk of beer & a carton of both kinds of cigarettes?
Maybe it’s just me, but it makes sense to buy larger quantities at once rather then making several smaller trips. I hate to multiple trips if I don’t need to. I live about 2 blocks from another convience store & I can’t even remember the last time I was there. I guess I’m more of a homebody. As soon as I get done with work, I like to go home & stay home. I apologize if anyone finds offense in this blog, it’s not my intention. I suppose I just don’t understand how some people think at times.
August 19, 2008
· Filed under Food, Gift Card, Life, Money, Salary, Shopping, Work · Tagged Food, Gift Card, Life, Money, Recycling, Salary, Shopping, Work
As the title reads, today is the first no-spend day I’ve had in awhile. It’s about darn time! I always end up spending money (usually way too much) when I’m with family or friends. Peer pressure is not a friend of mine! This is why sometimes I’m glad I have a part-time job. As long as I’m working 7 days a week it’s makes it more difficult for me to go out & spend. Once I’m done working all I really want to do is go home, watch TV, or lay down. Although, working at a convience store has it’s downfalls too. I LOVE food. Not sure if I’ve mentioned that before, but I do! And of course, convience stores have lots of junk food. Plus, I work mornings there & I’m not a morning person so I usually end up buying something to eat for breakfast.
I only plan on keeping my part-time job until the end of October at the very latest. Once November comes & it gets closer to the end of the year & the beginning of the new year, that’s when things kick into overdrive at my full-time job. Last year there were plenty of opportunities to work overtime & that should sustain me through the winter. Plus, I’d rather not drive 7 days a week in the winter time. MidWest winters are not good ones by any means. They’ve been getting progressively worse the last few years & the less I’m actually on the road, the better. Plus, it makes more sense to work overtime at the full-time job that pays higher then to keep a part-time job that pays less.
I’m still waiting on my rebates from recycling my cell phone & laptop. They say it takes 4-8 weeks to send the gift cards. They estimate I’ll receive the cell phone rebate in the 2nd week of Sept. The laptop rebate isn’t supposed to show up until the middle of October. Patience is something I’ve never been very good at.
One last thought – Everyone please pray that I get the new position I posted for at work. It pays quite a bit more than what I make now.
August 16, 2008
· Filed under Career, Gym, Life, Money, Pets, Work · Tagged Books, Family, Gym, Life, Money, Movies, Pets, TV, Work
Today is the first day off I’ve had since the Fourth of July weekend. I’ve worked everything single day since then. Wow! I work a lot. Sometimes it seems never-ending. I know I work way too much. Eventually I’m going to burn out & probably lose my mind. That’s why I applied for 2 other jobs within my company. Both of them pay more than my current position. Both are in another city approximately 2 & 1/2 hours from home, which means I’d be moving. And that means I wouldn’t have to work at the convience store anymore. Yay! I’d rather work 5-day weeks only. 7 days a week is exhausting.
Anyway to start my day off, I got up & went to a cardio gym class with my mom. It was a great class. Wore me out, but I know I worked hard & burned lots of calories! Then we went to visit my sister at work. She’s in retail & hates it. Her company doesn’t really care about their employees. I told her she needs to find a new job. After our visit, mom & I headed back home. I’ve been home ever since. I wanted to go to Barnes & Noble, but I knew that if I went I’d end up buying several books. I love books. I really want to buy the Twilight books so when I watch the movie in December, I’ll know the storyline behind it. I saw the trailer again for Twilight. It looks so good. Another thing I’m looking forward to is the new series TruBlood that will be airing on HBO in September. I love vampire stories. Can you tell?
It’s just so very nice to have a little time to myself. For about 3 hours, I was home all alone. Just me & my dogs. It’s days like this that make me realize how much I’m glad I’m not dating anyone. I work too much & when I’m not working, I’d rather be alone to relax. I think I’m going to finish the book I’m currently reading, maybe go on a bike ride, & then watch the Notebook on TV tonight. A nice quiet night at home is just what I need. So far today I haven’t spent any money. Go me!
