This month was an amazing turnaround from last month's bleed-out, and honestly come by, I swear!

I've been working my tail off, and it paid off. The positive cashflow was nearly equal parts reimbursements, delayed invoices and missing unemployment checks showing up, freelance income, and day job income.

Cashflow in the month of April opened like a nasty joke with a negative balance of 7668.50, and closed with only a negative balance of less than $600. 

I can't really expect such dramatic progress month to month from here on out, of course, but I have to breathe a small sigh of relief that I've made up a lot of ground since the car.  I now only owe $1730 on that debt.  Soon as that's out of the way, I can make up ground on all the other savings targets set up for the rest of this year. Exciting!

Now, I'm just happy it's Friday, it's payday and I can get some *rest*.  Purely thrilled!

Have you ever rushed to the store with a soon-to-expire coupon because you didn't want to "lose" the $15 (off $30 purchase)?  Or gone shopping online to take advantage of the stackable coupon codes expiring in a couple days? Specifically, have you spent money because you could "save" money instead of saving on a necessary purchase?

Guilty and guilty.

It's a habitual behavior, I've noticed.  If you're ignoring all coupons, it's easy to keep on ignoring even the juicy ones.  But once you open the floodgates and start matching coupons to sales to cashback sites, it's on.

Of late, I had to purchase some work clothes because of the Bekins debacle which is the only time I've shopped without even considering price. That meant my Bargain Antennae (powered by guilt!) went up, which has cost even more.

My clothes went astray just after I'd already ordered a replacement for the "good" jeans that I detroyed; I went for trouser jeans which are even more elusive than regular jeans.  Supply and demand totally kicked my butt: trouser jeans that fit never make it to the sale rack.

After resolving to suck it up and jump on the fattest coupons I could spot, I was too eager and bought the first pair at only 30% off with free shipping ($69). When a 40% off regular priced merch came up, I couldn't say no.  I knew it was only a matter of time before I broke the new jeans.  With free shipping: $59.

*Note: I actually wore them to work once.  For a half day, as we had an offsite that included 5 hours of walking for which my knees demand tennis shoes.

At least I won't buy jeans for more than 3 years as the average life span of my jeans are 2 to 8 years. 

Last night, another sale was on and there were two work-worthy tops in the right size, so I spent another $52.

Luckily I had some forethought. Knowing that I was tempted, I'd redeemed CC points for gift cards so all but $11 of the above purchases totaling $180 was not cash out of pocket. Regardless, that's a lot of money spent just because there were sales and/or coupons. It's not that I won't use them - I've cycled through three pairs of pants and 5 shirts over the past 12 days - but it's definitely a slippery road where buying because of a "bargain" becomes a reflex.

One of the oddest things about starting this new job is taking on a supervisory role, officially performing the duties I was unofficially in charge of in previous jobs, and going to a salaried position. I've never been salaried before and this is a dangerous thing.

I run with workaholics.  I always have. This particular set seems to avoid imposing their schedules on me, but when your peers or people you report to are diligently at their desks before and after you arrive .... well, I don't know about you, but that gives me a touch of indigestion and I feel compelled to at least match their time in the office. That seems silly but most especially in the first six months, I think it's crucial to do your best work and oftentimes, it has to be made evident via face time while you're just learning the ropes.

The difference between starting this job and any other job in the last ten years is that while I want and expect to excel, I'm not willing to let the job take over my life. So rather than automatically resigning myself to mimicking their behavior, I'm on the lookout for ways to become extremely efficient and good at my job without having to log 14 hour days. As it is, I've naturally worked until almost 6:30 every night even on days where I've arrived before 8 am.

Part of that is the settling-in process: I have meetings back to back all day and very little time to do actual work. But every single meeting produces more reading, more meetings and more follow-up I've got to do. I expect that a third of the meetings will go away, but that's only a few extra hours in a day.

The real boss has finally been in the office this week, so that'll be part of the settling in process as well.

Does anyone else have problems balancing work-life-expectations?

My friend asked me if I was going to buy a token something for myself when I got my first paycheck. Suggestions abounded. They sounded awfully nice but nothing really blazed up my desire. Well, a netbook, but that's no kind of a "little" treat running between $400-500.

It's just stuff. I just spent two weeks organizing, cleaning, and weeding out stuff with still more of it to do.

Besides that? I have a job. I'm facing down huge challenges and I'm getting paid to do what I wanted to learn how to do. I have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of at least a few people. 

What object is necessary to "symbolize" my intrinsic satisfaction? By its very nature, my "accomplishment" suffices. What need do I have of obtaining an object as a reward for doing a job? [That's what payday is for!]

I'm not above enjoying goodies like the new clothes that were necessary, and I sure don't mind having the pocket money to have a meal out once in a while. But a reward simply for having a job? The truth is, I don't need any rewards for doing my job. A job is a contract wherein I ply my trade and the employee pays me a fair wage for that. I'm ok with that.

This is probably the most important detail in the whole process of budget-making: how do I ensure that I have saved a substantial amount by the end of the year, even on an incredibly tight budget? 

Step One was establishing my bottom-line expenses. I know that they will increase but for now, I need to know the precise minimum I *must* have.
Step Two was establishing my savings wish list.  This is what I want and mean to have.  On a meta-level, I know that I have a priority list and can switch priorities as necessary.
*Investing in a 401(k) will be automatic and basically invisible.
Step Three was re-establishing my time commitments. I rely on alternate income to make up the difference between the regular income and the goals and that requires careful time management so that I don't drop the ball on either side.
Step Four was setting up tracking spreadsheets for the income generated so I stay abreast of the tax implications of freelance work.
Step Five is pulling it all together: as income is earned after the month of April, a set amount will go towards the expense fund and the rest will go to savings.  All alternate income goes toward the savings goals as well.

Providing for my family
Rebuilding my portfolio of savings and investments
Making time to enjoy my new life

Expenses: A very conservative $2,800 per month  

Savings: I aim to average $400-500 per month on freelancing = $4950-5850/this year. That takes care of my debt to self which is the same as 50% of my Emergency Fund rebuild goal.  I would then take the rest and stash it in the insurance and maintenance funds.

It's a little disappointing to see the numbers are so low, but any other windfall gigs aren't included in that total. It's ok, this is a work in progress.

And we now know that I have to budget in extra money for further medical treatment and therapies for my mom (to be determined) as well as to move them. Look forward to Budgeting, Redux!

It's meant to be my supremely lazy Sunday by which the following are banned from my list of Things To Do: no cooking, cleaning, laundry or other chores. 

Instead, SO kindly scribed the following stress-free suggestions for consideration:
- Buy a cardigan for the office; these bones would greatly appreciate extra warmth, p'rhaps a parka? 
- Go out for brunch; there are a few folks about the area I coulda shoulda called up
- Massage; medical necessity, actually
- Reconnoiter the local garage sales on Craigslist
- Check out the Martin and Osa sales online
- Use the BOGO coupon at Jamba Juice

It's a cute idea, but right now my idea of destressing actually includes: not spending money, not leaving the apartment, and catching up on work.  Taking out all the housework is splendid though I will pay for it later. 

It seems nonsensical, but hear me out. At least one-third of my stress is powered up by the knowledge that I have a million things to do and bills to pay. The balancing act of living frugally and earning "enough" is precarious and altogether draining.  As it is, just not pre-cooking for the week would have me in knots if I weren't at least well ahead of the game on one freelance project after logging hours yesterday evening.

Thanks in no small part to rising early (another abnormality when I've got any choice about it), today has been both semi-productive yet restful.  There's a banana nut cake with extra walnuts cooling on the stove, some leftover Indian food warming in the oven, and not an unmanageable amount of work slated for today.

I haven't watched any TV yet (Serenity! Battlestar Galactica! Dr. Who! White Collar! Bones!) this weekend, but if I wrap up at least another project by mid-afternoon, I could still squeeze in a geekfest.  After I defrost the chicken, that is.  A girl has got to eat something, sometime this week.

Bonus Question: should I trek out for this week's coupons and a few bags of Trader Joe's pretzels for work? I need carbs to get through the day. 

This is one of the less awesome Saturdays because frankly, this week bit.  My homemade chicken soup (above) would really hit the spot.  Unfortunately, it didn't survive past the cook night. It was that good :) It was a very simple soup made with homemade stock, a little salt and pepper and fresh veggies. 

It's been a rough week - I'm dragging after an 8-9 hour day, and by Friday I'm drained to the dregs.  I was concerned about getting back into the groove of a working schedule, and thus far my concerns were merited.  This is the first weekend I'm deliberately not cooking for a week and cleaning because I have got to get some rest.  And I'm taking advantage of the extended Spa Week deal at a local spa - maybe a hot stone massage will alleviate some of this pain.  Luckily, the FSA is set up so that should defray the cost. 

Family's got me on the ropes, as usual. Mom was released last night, but Dad's considering pursuing some alternative treatments which means I need to come up with another $500 a month to pay for it.  I don't mind the cost, it's just going to be rough getting even more creative.


Simple in France recounts the long term effects of her no-shopping-ban. I think it lines up well with my theory that shopping is habitual and conforms with Newton's laws of physics: shopping set in motion tends to stay in motion; not shopping tends to stay in not shopping mode.  Something like that.

Frugal Scholar's had a taste of blog anxiety to go with her broccoli soup; I'm certainly not immune to her feelings: "And, of course, I am somewhat paralyzed by the desire to write a killer post." I try to make my peace with the fact that readers who actually like me when they happen upon me, not just on a good post day, will be the ones who stay and converse. 

Funny About Money's hit the wardrobe motherlode. 

I'm intrigued by Crystal's list of what she and her husband don't skimp on; I'm curious what my list would look like.

Miss M has some good news on the raise front.

Well-Heeled chooses to stay put because her landlords are mindreaders and feed her to keep her as a tenant. At least that's my theory.

Another pair of pants are in the mending pile.  Because, apparently, I can never start a new job without breaking my pants some way in the first week.

Years ago.....
[First week of work.] Thank goodness for scrubs covering the relevant anatomy, I tore out the seat of my jeans, kneeling.

Next job......
[First week of work.] Tore out the seat of my jeans, picking up a pen. Tied a sweatshirt around my waist. Not too high school or anything.

Same as above job....
[Four year work.] Tore the knee out of my jeans chasing after the puppy. And the seat of my jeans.

This job.....
[Second day of work.] Ripped the hem out of the right pant leg.

I guess it's an improvement that my tuchus wasn't threatening to hang out this time, eh?  And I can probably repair the hem instead of having to buy a new pair of pants.  I think.

These goals are beyond stretch goals since my disposable income doesn't actually cover saving an average of $2900/month from the end of July through year-end.  That's fine, I prefer to set high goals and find ways to meet most of them than settle. Some of these are overlapping from the previous post so they'll look familiar, or they might have been expanded. Until my benefits and paychecks settle out, which they will by the end of May, these goals will remain soft.


ROTH IRA:  Haven't made a contribution in years. Let's fix that by April 2011.
[Need: $4,000] 

Ever since landing the job I've been on fire to write up a new budget and set my savings goals for the year.  With a new set of demands on my income, I had no idea how much I'd be able to save but I'm bound and determined to work it out.

In a nutshell, the graph shows these items:
$2700/mo - allocated for all household expenses (my parents + mine) [SPEND]
$668.75/mo ($2675 total) - Debt to self to be repaid by July [SAVE]
$200/mo ($2000 total) - total amount needed to pay next 6-month auto policy and the monthly savings amount to pay annual insurances. This estimate might be a little on the high side but I need to replenish my insurance fund. [SAVE to SPEND]
$150/mo ($600 total) - travel fund minimum by July [SAVE to SPEND]
 
Those monthly totals are more than my salary alone can provide, so it's good to know how much more I need to earn through freelancing.  It's stressful seeing a shortfall, but better to know than not!  To be honest, none of that's actual debt either, what I'm really planning are my short-term savings goals above.

On the heels of one issue comes another: Mom's in the hospital with pneumonia. 

Dad tells me not to worry too much.  What's too much?  Because it's entirely possible I'm already there. 

It just seems better.

Days gone by, I liked BART just fine because it does the job but in comparison to Caltrain it's kind of grubby and a kick in the wallet.

Caltrain's cheaper for my purposes because they offer a variety of ticket options. Daily or round trips are most costly; the 8-trip and monthly passes bring the daily round trip cost down by 75 cents or $2, respectively.  BART has no such options. BART offers a piddling discount off the total price when you buy "high-value" tickets which are just cash-value tickets. The cost of the trips remain the same.

I've paid $5 for a one-day round trip ticket, or $17 for an 8-trip pass, that gets me to walking distance of my destination on Caltrain.  I would pay $3.25 each way on BART and have to take a bus at both ends for about $2 each trip.

Sadly, while I still haven't decided about driving into the city for the longer commute in a few months, my only transit option will soon be BART because Caltrain doesn't go my way.

I miss having (the illusion of) a functional family.

My sibling brought home a puppy because he thought he could emotionally manipulate me into letting him keep it when I got back.  You know, the sibling with the other dog we have to feed half the time because he can't afford to.  After a few days of romping, the dog gets sick and surprise, she has parvo!  I think we know what that means by now.

After two days of sick puppy, he tries to get my dad to call me to help him. And then he calls me himself because my dad won't do it. 

His own dog isn't vaccinated against parvo! And my dog is old enough that though she's always been vaccinated, she could be susceptible if it's truly virulent. There's no way of knowing. I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him. He's an idiot. Now that poor sick puppy has been all over my house shedding parvovirus and he wants me to tell him what to do. And she's in *really* bad shape.

To recap:  he brings home a puppy he is incapable to caring for, like a child, and runs to me to fix it after he's screwed up.

I just wanted to scream.

I did rip his head off. He and his little friends decided to bring her home, so it's their responsibility. It broke my heart to say it, but I made it clear that if they can't (he can't) afford to take proper care of her knowing that there's no guarantee she'll recover, then the only humane thing to do is to put her down because she's just going to keep getting worse. I think one of them is willing to take financial responsibility whether or not she's really able to afford it so I hope for the best for the pup. 

This won't be the last time this happens. Obviously the threat of my coming home isn't enough and I can't keep dealing with this idiocy cropping up because I'm not there, so I've got to start making plans to bring my dog up here with me, and finding a good small place for my parents to live.  It's not going to be easy, it will be expensive, but it has to be done. 

I find myself thinking about Versus Matches this morning. As in, "who would win between" or "which is better"?  Also about my feels-broken shoulder (it's not) and how that's gonna derail some of my super Saturday plans.


Cookery
Extra marinate the BBQ pork [Done!] and cook it this afternoon (+4 hours of marinate time, 1 hr to cook)
Make chicken stock (30 mins prep, 4-6 hours of simmering)
Defrost and bake chicken thighs for next week's dinners
Prepare ingredients for hot pot dinner (not sure it's worth the clean-up after, not with this shoulder)

Cleanery
2 loads of laundry

Workery
Freelance gig (3 hours)
Off the cuff writing (1+ hour)

Budgetary
Bekins coughed up a refund check, to be deposited.
UI still owes me a check for the remaining weeks of March, resend claim form. [Done!]

It only took, oh, 15 years and 7 months to get myself back into gaming.  Not only could I not justify the cost of a new game system, I then couldn't bring myself to spend money on games.

Thanks to generous early adopter friends, I have an awesome new-to-me Nintendo DS, and San Diego mom gave me games for Christmas. But it turns out that my latest pasttime, being a PF blogger, has ruined me for gaming.

Y'see, the game I'm playing is Ninjatown which is a hilariously cute game based on Shawnimals.  It's a simple tower defense game: you versus a bunch of baddies. The Goal: don't let them cross the bridge/eat the bridge/otherwise touch the bridge. Defense is accomplished by spending Ninja Cookies to buy and build Ninja Huts which each contain two defenders of varying strengths and skills who deploy to fight the invading hordes.


Spending 
You start every level with a set number of cookies.  You have to spend them to build your defenses.  As you play through the level, each enemy is worth another 5 or so cookies, and as you earn them you should be spending them to build more, upgrade more, and generally make your defenses more awesome.  My first dozen rounds I kept dying because I wanted to save my cookies, not spend them!


No Saving 
You can't save your cookies from level to level, either! They all have to be spent within that level to win because it mocks you mercilessly if you lose.  And you get graded, on top of the mockery, so not only do you get scored on how many cookies you earned, you're judged by how well you used those cookies but not how many cookies you saved!  What kind of lesson is that to be teaching kids these days???

Depreciation/resale
You can actually sell your huts and towers if you want to ...... at a loss. Which is, in this economy, totally true to life, but it also means that I refuse to sell anything, ever.  Even if I placed it poorly, even if my shoulder spazzed out and put it completely in the wrong place and it's totally ruined my strategy, I refuse to sell it at a loss. Because in real life, I'm a buy and hold investor. If I bought real estate as an investment, I would expect to be in it for the long term and get a renter in there to defray costs, etc.  Selling at a loss would be my last resort. In a ten minute game, you don't have time to buy and hold or reach the last resort.

Clearly I have trouble with suspending disbelief to immerse myself in video games, but at least that means I bring one important skill to the table: TENACITY. I don't care how many times I get the "You seem to be having trouble defending this area [snerk], would you like to play in Easy Mode [snicker]?"

NO. I will not wuss out and play Easy Mode. I'm defending Ninjatown in Regular Mode because there IS no Easy Mode in real life!

As a supervisor one of the responsibilities I've got on my plate is approving the staff timesheets. When I was a non-exempt (hourly) employee, I was always on a biweekly system which meant you were paid the week following the pay period closing date. If your work week ended on Friday the ninth, that's when your pay period ended. Your timesheets were due the next day, and you were paid the following week.

My employees are turning in timesheets in the middle of their pay period.  For example, they submit on the 8th for days 1st-15th. As hourly workers, how does that make sense? If they're out sick or have to take some time off unexpectedly during the latter half of that pay period and the timesheets are already signed, approved and submitted for processing, then you can't very well charge their sick or vacation time appropriately, can you?

As far as I can recall, California labor law is extremely strict about accurate reporting and timesheets so I'm a little surprised that this is the payroll method used.

Does anyone have experience with the twice monthly method? Am I missing something here?

Oh, the excitement of having benefits again!!  I'm already a forms + applications geek, but it's been 9 long months since I had the privilege of drawing a paycheck from whence benefits sprang.

Health
There are about 15 different plans administered by 4 different health care providers.  I took the path of least resistance and re-upped with Kaiser for now because I've heard good things (via Carrie Actually) and it was the cheapest premium with the most coverage.  I've never had a problem staying in-network and I hope the healthcare providers in this area are good enough that trend continues.

Dental
I'll go with the ubiquitous provider here, and this coverage is 100%.  I'll only have a minimal deductible, and the usual $1500 annual benefits max.

Vision
Surprisingly, they've got vision covered. I haven't had a chance to evaluate the plan closely but my vision needs tend to be simple.  Thanks to a long-term treatment, I have to have an eye exam every year which I should get anyway.  Also, covered 100%.

Life Insurance
The usual 2x salary benefit is covered, and I opted for an additional $200k which will cost me $9/month. I can now cancel my outside coverage that costs quite a bit more per month ($50).


Short term/Long Term Disability
Covered 100%.

Flexible Spending Account 
I opted in. Of course!

Commuter Benefits
Also opting in though I've never used it before. You can use it for both parking and transit.  Even though I have the car, I'm going to take public transit when I can.  Wageworks is sassing me, though, so it'll probably take until next month to become effective. 

I discovered that the San Francisco public library has 27 branches. 2-7!!  And you can go to any branch, request books from any other branch, and return books to any branch.  

I died.

I can even walk to at least one of them so on my "lunch break" I skipped food to get myself a card and started requesting books like a madwoman.

Two Terry Pratchett paperbacks came home with me immediately, and I have three pending requests for management books promoted by Harvard Business Review.  If they're good, depending on the focus and subject matter, I plan to share them with my direct reports who are management material. 

Has anyone ever been so excited about discovering the library over the age of five??

I could be typing this on the netbook at work on my lunch break instead of frantically tapping on the iPhone on my ride home.  My hands are cramped enough already. 

More importantly, I can easily carry the netbook to and from work for note-keeping purposes and keep confidential information on my employees secure.  The 1-subject spiral bound that I'm using to take notes during every meeting is just not going to cut it because I have to keep taking it home with me and it's positively NOT secure when I'm at work.  I can't very well put a diary lock on it, now can I? 

There's a touch of concern that it'll just look uppity carrying a netbook around the office, but frankly? To save myself the time and pain of typing up post-meeting summary translation of my hand-scribbled notes and to be able to secure all employee related files on a flash drive that I can easily pop into my purse?  Call me MS. Uppity!

In all seriousness, a netbook's not in the budget. I don't even have a new saving plan set up - I'm still waiting on my first paycheck to straighten out my budgeting. But I surely would love to make some room for it.

[small part of me pipes up: "You've already spent thousands already, what's another two hundred dollars?"  *smack!!* "Cuz shut up, that's what!"]

The Skylight's not to be released until later this summer, and there's no way it'll be affordable -- 'tis a Lenovo, after all.  But a girl can dream, can't she?

The sun's not shining, but I woke up naturally without a struggle at seven this morning, and had an hour to accustom myself to the odd sensation of painless early rising.  That's pretty fantastic.  I was really worried about adjusting to long workdays again because of my weird spates of fatigue. I make it through longer days but am pretty beat at night

Today's my "sixth workday" - it's time to do everything I didn't manage to work on during the week.

1. Log at least 3 hours on the freelance gig.
2. Write ~ 4000 words. (of which, at least some should be to help out Funny About Money)
3. Transcribe notes from work and organize them so I'll be ready to start a new week on Monday.
4. Take my new employee training courses, plus the one assigned to my staffer.


Counting today's planned meals, I've very proud to say that I've only eaten out once this week.  It was a little rice curry and sashimi meal (just a few pieces) to celebrate surviving my first full week intact.

I'm working on the dinner menu for next week, starting with some salmon tonight and roasted chicken tomorrow (which becomes at least two meals, chicken stock and delicious chicken soup).  I'm avoiding red meats for now because they're both expensive and less healthy, but am casting about for some good crockpot and ground turkey recipes.  Not necessarily in conjunction, but I'm ok with that.

My gleanings aren't as robust as usual, but I've been lucky to squeeze in a post or two, reading on my commute.

The NY Times continues coverage on the Pope's earlier dealings with abusive priests. This whole thing just infuriates me.  How can you look at such an egregious transgression and just say "let's wait [years!] to conclude this decision"!?  If I were Catholic, the sense of betrayal would be overwhelming.

Mrs. Micah 'fessed up to a pretty big mistake that's totally understandable and I'm proud of how she rallied after realizing what'd happened.

She also shared this most hilarious site specifically for designers but totally applicable to anyone who has ever dealt with clients: Clients From Hell

Me in Millions wondered why you would throw down a frugality gauntlet. In this case, it was Life as a Purse's challenge to herself.

MoneyMateKate had a turbulent experience traveling without her credit card. I'm totally paranoid about carrying much cash so I couldn't do it unless I'd already phased the cards out of my life.

Brian of My Next Buck started a new job just before I did, and was feeling guilty about overtime. I don't think he should since it was clearly part of their expectations, but I settled my demons on that front a long time ago.  He is asking a question that's relevant to me now, though (with a gender switch):  Do the Clothes Make the Man or the Man make the Clothes? My office culture's dress code is completely schizo: from the top (jeans and tshirts) to the bottom (wildly creative or semi-conservative) so I've opted to go for businessy.  It's just easier to wear nice trousers, flats, and a button down shirt that fits well. 

Having a good weekend, all?

In a lot of ways, my motivation for being responsible is because I don’t ever want to look back and wish I’d tried one thing or started another. In my mind’s eye, five or ten years from now I’m going to have certain wishes and expectations for my life that Present Me has to start to fulfill right now in order for it to come to fruition later.


There are very few inspirations in life that spring full-form from my imagination and bear fruit immediately. Sometimes I just want a McDonald's apple pie and that's just a short walk and a dollar away.  Other times, I want cute homemade pies and that's a whole week of buying ingredients, finding the perfect pots, and settling down to business for a whole day.

I equate life processes with construction: you cannot have a house without a foundation; you cannot have double paned glass in your bay window seat if you never built walls. In the same way, you can’t own a home without having first secured a steady income, saved for a down payment, or managed your bills so that a mortgage would fit comfortably among your other financial obligations.

The same goes for having a family. I don’t have a mental picture of who my family “should” be (which means I fail as an Asian parent already) or what we’ll be doing, but I do know that I want us to all be healthy, hearty and whole. That means I have to have built solid relationships, platonic or romantic, to be a stable person with a spouse with whom I can be happy.

People-watching, and listening to colleagues blow off steam, has revealed that while the most unstable individuals certainly had relationships, they were flighty, nervous, insecure and altogether miserable. Sure, they weren’t miserable alone, but that just meant two people (and all their friends around them) were brought down to the same level.

I can’t control other people, but I can make wiser choices and not torture a potential spouse with unfounded accusations and neuroses that spring from previous choices.

And if I want to retire someday, it'd be a much cushier retirement if I had enough socked away 40 years from now to fund all my retirement schemes. 


Even though my feet are firmly planted on the ground (and heights make me nervous so they’ll stay there), my head can be in the clouds, dreaming up the destination I’d love to arrive at some day, and mapping out the roads I might take to get there.

I won’t lie, sometimes Future Me is a demanding jerk and Present Me hates her for that.

[1. Ph.D.? Are you serious? How the H*&^%^ do I make that happen while working my way up a ladder to make 6 figures??
2. Really? Make your own wedding dress and learn to speak 4 different languages? Bite me.]

But sometimes Future Me has great ideas and Present Me can’t wait to get started.

I've started meal planning for lunches and dinners through the week with the goal of not eating out more than twice a week (if that). Expensed and catered meals don't count, but I don't plan on having too many of those.
So far, I'm scheduled to cook every other day and plan to make enough to package up lunch servings for either the next day or day after. That way I cut cook times in half, and don't have to scramble for the next round of meals. As long as I don't miss a cook day, the rolling menu should work pretty well.

Crockpot meals should be good for freezing ahead, too. 

Breakfasts are simple. A couple eggs with green onions or a bit of oatmeal with a handful of walnuts is the most I can handle that early in the morning. Fruit is packed for a mid-morning snack, and so does a bar of some sort. (I LOVE Lemon Zest LunaBars.)

Roasted chicken (yields 2-4 meals depending on the size of the chicken) -- I modified this recipe, dropping the ginger, and using olive oil for the basting.
Balsamic chicken (yields 2-3 servings) -- Modified this recipe by using much less balsamic vinegar.
And lemon garlic chicken -- this recipe with maybe a few less lemons.

By cooking at home, I should be bringing meal costs down to around $5 or less, including a veggie and carb side.  I like brown rice best, but breads, pastas and quinoa are welcome additions to my plate.

To counter my tales of woe and angst fomented by Bekins and their "services" this week, I'd like to take a moment to praise a company for responsiveness.

I hate checking luggage: my poor suitcase gets so abused!  But it can't be helped on some trips and on one such, the pull tabs on the zippers had been snapped right off. The zipper itself worked but it's become a dexterity challenge pushing the little zipper nubbin along the track.  I intended to do something about it, but stored my suitcase after a trip and forgot about it until the move.

I tied ribbons where the tabs had once been, and that worked as a temporary measure but only roughly so - the zipper track would become warped if I insisted on using a MacGyvered method too long. 

In cases like these, I'm glad to be a bit OCD about tags, because I still have the original tags with the warranty/lifetime guarantee/contact information in the side pocket.  I sent off an emailed query to Victorinox Swiss Army's customer query department about what I could do to solve the problem.  I received an email from customer service asking for the model/style number, responded to that email, and received a confirmation of a shipped order for new pull tabs, no charge, within 24 hours. Those pull tabs were delivered to my door without another word.

Bravo, Victorinox. Under no obligation, and without even being asked, to replace parts that were broken in the normal course of wear and tear with such rapidity is worthy of acknowledgment.  Most companies would see such a little thing and stonewall the customer. Instead, you've cemented the value of your lifetime guarantee by providing good service as a matter of course. 

*Now I just have to figure out how to attach them.

I'd like to share some posts I enjoyed last week ...

Darwin asked if your raise sucked this year, and was more than a little surprised by the answers.

Kevin from Out of Your Rut guest posted an interesting take on career management and who's the boss at Fiscal Geek's site.

Both Red and Unavocis posted on a subject near and dear to my heart: animals and animal shelters.  Red reproduced the Craiglist posting that started our conversation (excerpt below); Unavocis also responded:

I think our society needs a huge "wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will. First off, all of you people who have ever surrendered a pet to a shelter or humane society should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would stop flagging the ads on craigslist and help these animals find homes. That puppy you just bought will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. Just so you know there's a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it’s dumped at? Purebred or not! About 25% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into a shelter are purebred dogs.
......Odds are your pet won't get adopted, and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed, and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.

This week's Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Mighty Bargain Hunter's.

My post on Where I Come From was included in Bucksome's edition of the Carnival of Money Stories.

Jeff Rose's article on Get Free Money: Treasure Hunting was a fun read, while VH's hassles with checks gone missing was at least a little harrowing.

Well, Bekins failed again!

Pretty spectacularly, too.  They got so far as to get my shipment to the Bay Area Monday night, and contracted with another company to deliver on Tuesday.  Except 3rd party company called me on Tuesday saying they were NOT delivering that day, they were delivering Wednesday. And oh, btw?  700 pounds of stuff was going to be dropped curbside, they would not bring anything inside. 

No. No, and no.

Bekins got another call from me with this information, the dispatcher went off to do his thing supposedly, and came back two hours later saying it was resolved. 3rd party would deliver on Wednesday by noon and would bring everything indoors as per our contract.

I asked him to take the shipment back and deliver it with his crews- he absolutely insisted that he had a backup crew to deliver in case the 3rd party failed to come through but he was SURE they would.  Does anyone else doubt his word?  And his faith?

Wednesday at noon heralded a weak sun and no rain for which I was immensely grateful because I spent the next twenty minutes being told that the driver was going to drop a huge pallet of my stuff on the ground and leave because they were a freight company, not a moving company.  My dispatcher put me on hold four times, while the delivery guy was impatiently stomping about telling me, "I can't do what they promised! I get ten minutes per drop and that's it!"

His boss contacted him, telling him to drop my goods next to the elevator and leave.  Just leave. OR leave with my stuff and let Bekins deal with the delivery.

I was livid.

There was no way that guy was leaving with my stuff, but there was no way I was physically forcing him to stay.  I was very very polite to him, explaining that at my size, there wasn't any chance I'd be able to bring my stuff upstairs alone.  I also told him that I didn't hold him responsible for any of the mess, that I expected Bekins to fix it and pleaded with him to give me a few minutes to make something happen at their end.

The Bekins dispatcher had the nerve to tell me he could have a crew over to move the rest of my stuff inside my home by 3 pm, leaving me with a pile of goods in a public area, unattended!

Finally, I had the delivery guy break down the pallet and bring it the elevator, as far as his boss would allow, and was on the phone the rest of the time trying to get someone to do their jobs.

By the time he got all the stuff carted over to the elevator I still didn't have a solution.

He looked at me, said, "My day's shot. Where's your apartment?  Don't tell anyone, I'm just goin to take this up for you."

And he did.

At that point, the Bekins guy called me saying that he was "so embarrassed" to ask me to do this, but was there any way I could get someone else to help move my stuff upstairs? He just couldn't get anyone there right away.  Furious, I just told him that I'd figure it out and, for the first time in the entire ordeal, stated that I was completely dissatisfied with everything that had happened since pick-up, and this was the worst service I'd ever experienced.

He sputtered.  Considering he caused this entire mess, taking it upon himself to delay the shipment for two days for no good reason (which he'd stated up front on Monday), he entirely deserved that shot.  And was nearly apoplectic telling me that he understood I was through with them but they weren't through with me, that he was seeking a resolution because they were absolutely embarrassed and were going to seek compensation for me.

Uh huh. 

I have my letter, edited to add the Wednesday festivities, ready to go out by registered mail with a copy emailed to the Better Business Bureau if I don't hear that a check is in the mail on Tuesday.  More than six hundred dollars and all three days of my time before starting a new job was wasted dealing with Bekins in Southern California.  Not one of their shining moments.

I was having a distinctly teenager moment on the way home from a fantastically fun screening of The Last Unicorn with Peter S. Beagle in attendance.  Not just the goofy giddiness that comes of seeing an iconic figure, hearing him speak (he's funny), sitting two rows behind him.  Cravings are what I'm after -- cravings for donuts.

A'course, in my advanced years, I only wanted one donut, not the dozen and odd that would have been inhaled ten years ago.

My companion remembered a donut chain that was open until midnight, we had plenty of time.  Pulling up in front of the darkened shop, I started to resign myself to going without.  My companion popped out of the car to check anyway, "what's the worst that can happen?  They can just say no."

Well, no, the worst that can happen is the guy can respond to your "can I get two glazed donuts, please?" with a stuffed box (that won't close) of a full dozen glazed and sugary heart attacks and a sack of mini glazed doughy chunks.  All for free.


Why is that bad, you ask?  How can you say no? But then, what are we going to do with all of these donuts??

If they don't go stale by then, I'll gladly take them in to work on Monday, but glazed donuts don't store well when crowded so now we've got to separate them.  Like an army of pastries.

Well-Heeled asked for more money, and got $2,000 more than she was originally offered.  Congratulations on the new job!!

Airam of Out of Money Experience was allowed to buy non-returnable sale item boots on a 2-day trial and return them if they didn't work out for her.

Dogfood Provider of 2DogCasa negotiated her yogurt discount before payday. 

Whoo!  Reacclimating to the early morning and long day thing has been ... well, rough!

I'm very glad that I started late in the week because the amount of work, meetings, and gaping void of leadership that had to be addressed.  My boss isn't even here for part of this month so I've really been operating from a bit of a blind spot, but I'm proud to have smoothly handled three slightly sticky HR problems, taken the staff out for a lunch and rotated so that I had alone time with each of them, and pulled them into an impromptu Q&A session that seemed to release the tension I'd observed over the past two days.

Apparently, they hadn't been explicitly informed that I was their new boss and supervisor.

Yeah.

That definitely was tension I was feeling in between my meetings.


The absence of the boss during this time will actually work for me as I clearly demonstrate my intention and ability to manage and support them within the organization so that they feel their contributions are not just expected, but their voices are heard and teach them how to speak up in a professional manner.

Meantime, I'm going to work on a weekly menu so that I bring my lunch everyday, and eat dinner in at least 5 times a week; eating out around the workplace seems to run between $10-15 which is way too much for a single daily meal.  Simple and healthy recipes are always appreciated!

Time to face the music ..... 


Most notably, I've dropped out of the six-figure club in a big way. 
1.  The car: $8250.  I don't count it in the asset column because it's a depreciating possession. True, I could actually sell it for more than I bought it for (verified by the fact that another car buying friend's market research) but I don't intend to turn around and sell it and have to buy yet another vehicle.  I have the cash, but for the sake of full disclosure, I'm including the upcoming insurance in this total because I pay for the full term in advance. 

2.   Moving expenses: around $2000.  Again, I included all the currently due and upcoming charges on my credit card now.  No creating a false sense of security for me, thank you.  Never mind that they're reimbursable, until the money is in my account it doesn't count.

3.  I have multiple outstanding invoices for around $1500. Again, I don't count those as cash in pocket until it's actually in my pocket.

I've made a few changes in my accounts 
Since the Tax account was cleaned out for the car, I've changed it to Pin Money for now. Essentially, miscellaneous.

Moving Money might permanently change to School Money, but we'll see if I can get any financial aid when I restart classes again. I'm taking a quarter off to concentrate on work.  That money might be donated to insurance and maintenance.

I've been ignoring losses and gains in the TradeKing account but there's no good reason to - after all, I track the gains and losses in the retirement accounts. 

Cash flow looks like blood flow
My transaction log shows that I've spent about $11,000 this month against an income of $2,700.  No debt (except to myself) was created so that was all saved money rushing out the door.  Painful.

Finally .... 
I could really use a paycheck by the time I've paid off the credit cards.  They don't come due this month, I've just got them tallied in because the charges are posted to the account; the cushion will hold a little longer.  By the time charges are due, I'll have a couple checks under my belt.  And then we'll see how the new dual-household/single income budget works.  ("DHSI" as the new acronymic moniker? Not cute at all.)