KirstenL4W

You’ll notice that I made a change to the layout of my blog. I had to be different. I’ve been searching and searching for different templates, looking for something different and not like millions of other blogs out there. Of course I have my standards - I like clean, elegant, sopisticated designs with colors I like. None of this trend-of-the-moment stuff or the kind of incoherent design that some eleventeen year old puts up. No, I need something much more indicative of the (im)mature woman that I am. However, as many of you may know, changing over to a completely new template requires a bit of work, especially if you have customized the sidebar up the wazoo. I tried a few, previewing them before deciding whether or not to save the edits or clear the edits. Don’t get me wrong, I do like my template, but like I said, I don’t want to be exactly the same as everyone else. (If anyone has any power to tell blogger to add tons more templates, now would be the time.) After hours of playing, researching, and playing some more, I decided on something simple for now - I swapped the sidebar and main posts to the opposite sides. So now it looks a little different, and I didn’t have to spend hours making sure the sidebar and other content transfers.

I also decided to change my profile picture. I love all things having to do with the road, and this collage fits for now. Eventually, I’ll have a not-so-revealing picture of myself, but that may take some time since I don’t really care for pictures of myself.

I also have one more thing I’d like to change - the actual background of my blog. I have what I want on my computer and my Flickr account, but what I don’t get is where to put it in the code on my template. So if anyone knows how to do this, please let me know!

Now I must get myself some dinner and get to bed. I’ve been playing around too long, plus Officer Friend called and we chatted for an hour (he always calls me when he’s at work - he works in Mayberry) so even though the timestamp shows when I started this post, it’s now 10:45pm. If I want to get up on time tomorrow (see previous post) then I’d better get my ass in gear, get some food in my stomach, and get to bed.

Ok, I may not have set any world records, but I have so got to stop oversleeping. I have 2 clocks set up - one next to my bed and one in the bathroom, the second one with the idea that the first thing I do is get up and pee. But lately I’ve been turning off both alarms and resetting the 1st one to a later time, then when that goes off turning it off again until I finally wake up 1/2 hour before I’m due at work, yelling “Shit!” then rush around getting ready in a half asleep stupor, forgetting half the things I’m supposed to do or meant to bring to work. So that’s my next goal - to have a little self-discipline when I get up in the morning. I’m getting a handle on the financial stuff, so now to work on the time stuff.

Yesterday was super busy at the store. Besides a boatload of shipment that we were trying to work, we did double what our sales plan was for the day, and that was with a selection of shoes at 80% off. I picked up an extra half hour just to help clean up because the store was trashed way more than usual (I think it was slob shopping day) plus we have corporate visitors in this week. There was still more that I wanted to get done but Shoe Boss threw me out. I hope she didn’t stay too late, because she’s well known for being there 2 hours after closing.

I also had a nice little suprise at work yesterday. In June we had a sales contest to see who could have the highest percentage of handbag sales. I won! It was effortless, really - I worked Memorial Day weekend when we had a great selection of 80% off handbags, so they sold themselves, really. Then I followed up the month of June with weeknights when I didn’t sell much of anything at all, so my win was all based on those 2 days when I would rather have been unpacking, since, if you remember, I had just moved. Anyhoo, I won $20 and it finally appeared in my locker yesterday. It came in pretty handy too, because I forgot to bring work snacks with me yesterday (yes, I overslept). It will also come in handy today because I never got around to making my salad for the week, therefore I have no lunch today.

So here’s the spending breakdown for yesterday:
$15 - offering at church
$3.60 - lunch
$20 GAINED!
$4.49 - mall snacks (mall food not cheap!)

Today it’s just me and Time-Flying Dudette in the office, since Mad Scientist is on a church mission trip, Colorful Texan is on vacation, and Pretty Lady Dammit has a monster migraine. Fun day today, hopefully I’ll be able to get a nap in.

I went to drop the pile of stuff off at Salvation Navy and decided to look around a bit. I usually don’t have the patience to dig through all the crap that they have, but I decided to look anyway. As I was pawing through the clothing racks, I found it. A pair of khaki pants, my size, in excellent condition, for only $4. I figured that since I had been wanting to buy a pair anyway, and would have spent $20-30 on them new, that this was a pretty good deal. I brought them to the cashier, who rang them up and told me my total. I was a bit suprised, because it wasn’t what the sign said. She said they were - are you ready for this - $1!!!!! One whole dollar! Woot! I am so glad that I picked today of all days to actually look around in there.

Then I headed out to the pharmacy to pick up the drugs. Gotta have drugs. Apparently my insurance company has changed the price for generics, but I never got a notice. Now they cost me $7 each instead of $10, so it’s a monthly total of $14. More savings, yay!

I also did my grocery shopping, so I’m pretty sure that the food I have will last until I go on vacation, so I shouldn’t have to go again for awhile.

So here’s the spending breakdown for today:
$1 - pants
$14 - prescriptions
$5 - more money on my laundry card
25 cents - gallon of water
$27.73 - groceries

So even though I spent money today, I feel pretty good about it because I got a pair of pants I needed for next to nothing, and everything else I bought was stuff I needed. Now I just need to find the motivation to do some cleaning around here. My desk is a mess, my filing pile is growing bigger every day, and I still have a bunch of stuff still straggling around looking like clutter. Oh well. I’m getting to the point where I’m starting to think more about packing for my trip, seriously hoping I don’t forget anything. Last year I forgot my camera. I definitely don’t want to do that again!

First of all, I am never sleeping with the blinds closed again. I didn’t get up until noon today! I need a little light to tell me when to get up.

I spent the first hour or so checking email, forums and of course blogs, then I decided I’d better get down to paying my bills, so here’s a rundown:

Paychecks:
$848.10 from main job
$289.19 commission check that Mad Scientist paid me again on. This is earmarked as vacation money
$190.30 from Job#2

Bills:
$540 rent
$88.89 electric bill. Will work on this one a bit
$106.04 cable/internet bill
$5 for magazine subscription renewal. Great deal, and this is the only one I pay for.
$200 to big credit card. I realized today that the available balance exceeds the amount due for the first time in a long time. Of course, this is partially due to a credit limit increase, but still, it’s a good sign.
$14.88 life insurance payment

I moved the vacation money out of my checking so I don’t see it, and therefore don’t spend it. With yesterday’s gifts costing $32.28, that leaves $256.91 for vacation money. Also, I wrote the checks for the next couple weeks offerings at church, so I don’t forget and spend the money now. But I’ll post that spending on those particular days, since that’s when I actually hand it over.

Also, yesterday I purchased breakfast to the tune of $1.08 (love the dollar menu!) Today I need to grocery shop and run a couple other errands, so I’ll post that spending when I get back. But first, I need to get off the time vacuum (internet) and take a shower so I can do that stuff before it’s too late!

Just a nod to my Dad, since his business is called Salem 66. He also has a ‘66 Corvette Stingray, which is restored, and a ‘66 Mustang, which is still waiting for restoration. He also advertises in the local paper’s holiday songbook, on page 66 of course. So welcome to my 66th post.

I called Bad Part Company this morning. They transferred me to the rep for that particular manufacturer. He put me on hold after I described my problem, then came back on and told me that the particular defect was from 2 years ago, and he’s suprised that I got one of the defective parts. He told me to return it to his attention along with a copy of my invoice and proof of payment, and he’d issue me a refund check. (Since he does not directly work for the company I ordered the part from, he couldn’t refund my credit card.) He did mention that his company no longer deals with Bad Part Company, though he didn’t mention why. I bet I can think of one or two reasons. He also can’t reorder the part to me, so he suggested I order it from a different company. When I told him the name of another company I found online, he said it was a thumbs up. I sent out the bad part to him today, and am eagerly awaiting my refund check. But now that I’ve moved and gotten settled, I am not in immediate need of a cordless drill so I can wait until after my vacation to order the part.

I went to the souvenir shop to pick up a few things for the folks back home. Most people have already gotten a treasure trove of Vegas souvenirs, but when you live in a major tourist destination, you gotta come home bearing gifts. I got a tiny t-shirt for my niece, who will make her grand entrance at Christmas, and t-shirts for my foster brother and sister. I also found a great gift for my aunt, which I will tell you about after I give it to her. I don’t want to spoil the surprise just in case she’s reading this, but this particular thing is great!

Work was busy today. First of all, I just had a hard time getting to sleep last night, and started my day off with only 4 hours of shut-eye. Then, Mad Scientist is getting ready for another week away. This time he’s heading to Mexico to chapherone the church youth group on a mission trip to build a house for a needy family. Of course, Mad Sci being who he is, and me being his ever-efficient assistant, I took care of a lot of the things he was charged with on this trip, plus some personal things associated with it as well. Van rentals, trailer rentals, Mexico insurance for the cars, and of course getting a huge list of things to do to keep the office under control while he’s gone. Oh, and as he’s running out the door he’s giving me a rundown of his schedule going into the first half of August. He leaves tomorrow morning for Mexico, and arrives back in town Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening he hops a plane to Wisconsin for a buddy’s wedding, and is back in town either Sunday night or Monday morning (I forget which, my head was starting to spin at this point). Then, as he’s running out the door sometime after 4:00, he asks me to book a ticket and rental car to Denver for August 13-15 for a team-building cheerleading type group he’s a part of for work. In my haste, I accidentally booked the tickets for August 6-15, and once I realized my mistake quickly called the airline to try to get a refund. Since only about 5 minutes had elapsed, I got a full refund, and the agent helped me with the correct reservation, which, lucky me, was $20 less than my wrong one. Then I got the car booked, double and triple checked my work, and emailed copies of the reservations to Mad Sci. Now don’t forget, I’m on vacation August 10-16, so there will be 2 days that neither Mad Sci nor myself will be in the office, possibly more as his schedule evolves. I’d better make sure the rest of the office has my mom’s home number as well as my cell number.

Tomorrow I’m off, for real, and I already told my boss at Job#2 that I am not available. I’ve got stuff to get done. I’ll also pay bills tomorrow, since I got paid today, so I’ll just give you a spending update then. Right now, I’ve got dishes to do, tv to watch, and dessert to eat.

Am I not meant to have basic power tools in my home? A few years ago, when I was a homeowner, Officer Friend gave me a cordless drill for my birthday. I don’t use it very often, but when I do use it, it comes in very handy. Now, when I was living with roommates, I had this one roommate for about a year who, well, I don’t know how she’d ever make it on her how because she has absolutely no practical knowledge about the real world. Anyhoo, she borrowed my drill a few times. Being the super organized person that I am, it never occured to me that she’d miss a part when she put it away. So after she moved out, I went to use it and the battery died. No big problem, I’ll just charge it. I put the battery in the charger and went to plug it in when I realized that the plug was missing. I don’t get it. How could she possibly miss that? It just got sucked into the vortex known as her bedroom. I did some research on where to order the part, and put off ordering it until I was getting ready to move into my new apartment, when I knew I’d need it.

I ordered this part on May 2, 2006 - plenty of time to have it before my May 26 move. Or so I thought. It was on backorder for about 15-20 days. No big deal, I thought. Well moving day came with no adaptor, so I borrowed a drill from Mad Scientist to do the one thing I absolutely needed a drill for. Then my credit card bill came, and I saw the charge from the parts place. So I called them, and they told me it was due into them on June 26. I told them I was pissed about being charged for it before it had shipped, that no other company I have ever done business with had done that - I always get charged when my order ships, not months before. They assured me I’d have it by the end of June. Well, June came and went, and just this week I was getting out my paperwork, ready to call them and my credit card company, when the part arrived today. Yay! I opened the box with all the excitement of a kid opening that last Christmas present in March. There, below all the puff-packs, was my little adaptor. I took it out of the plastic and - uh-oh - this doesn’t look right. It’s the correct part, but I can’t plug it in. Ok, now I’m really pissed off. Check this out:

I have a raw wire! I can’t plug that into the charger! I checked my manual and the illustrated parts list, and the charger plug is NOT a separate part. It is supposed to come on the adaptor. I printed out a copy of the IPL to keep for my reference, and yes, it clearly shows that the adaptor and charger plug are one part, not two.

Tomorrow I am calling bad parts place and demand that they issue me an RA and a refund, and I’ll order my part through another source. It’s been a year (or more, depending on when Flakey Roommate lost the damn thing) that I’ve been without a drill, and it’s really pissing me off. If I even knew where to find her I’d mention to her how pissed off I am, not that it would help any. Grrrr.

Thanks to Macoosh for this cool link!

In other news, we finally got Dr. Grandma to leave the dark side. She is rejoining our group on August 21, and we can get back to being the complete group we once were. Also, Mad Scientist, being his usual self, paid me again on a commission I earned for the testing. Actually, he paid me way early on it to test our new payroll service, and now that the check came in, he paid me again. So that means it will just go against future earnings, so it might be awhile before I see another commission check on that, since the summer has been super slow, partially due to me not scheduling stuff because of the remodel. But now is a really good time for it, with my vacation in 2 weeks. I can use this so-called extra money for vacation and keep to the plan of using every single Job#2 paycheck for the credit card.

Spending update:
Wednesday - $0
Thursday - $1.97 I got called into work at the store tonite and didn’t have a dinner with me, so I had to stop and grab something. I may not always eat healthy, but at least I eat cheap.
$31 - gas for my car. It should just about last until I go on vacation in 2 weeks.

Pretty Lady Dammit thinks we can get out of our gym memberships without actually moving away. She’s enlisted the help of her man, who lives in LaLa Land, to provide her with an out of state address and to actually fax the required documents in. If it works, I’ll have my Dad help me out with that one.

I’ve been thinking more about money and how it applies to me. I’ve been trying to figure out how I can save more money and put more towards my credit cards. Last week I worked a lot of hours at Job#2 - my usual Sunday, 3 weeknights, and Saturday. I told my boss long ago that I’d like to work 2 nights per week; I’m gonna talk to her tonite about 3 nights. I know I can handle it, though I may have to purchase a new pair of slacks that fit so I can extend the laundry time. Now, I also need to make sure that every penny earned from that job goes to the credit card. Dad is helping me out a bit with that. He called me before Christmas last year and told me to send him the bill and he’ll help me out for awhile (which means until he says stop, which if I know him won’t be until it’s close to being paid off). Dad averages $300/mo, and Job#2 nets me anywhere between $200-350/mo. Canceling my organizing website is also helping, since now absolutely nothing goes on the card.

I do have a couple other credit cards, but I’m not worried about them as much. The balances aren’t as high, and one store card I owe less than $100 on (I think, I need to look it up when I get home). The other one is a Visa with a much lower rate, limit, and balance, so the bigger one takes priority.

I’ve cut my cable bill as low as I can without going beserk. It’s just over $100/mo, but that includes high speed internet, which I must have because I am emailing PowerPoint presentations every week for church. (Ever try to email ppt over dial-up? It’s only for the most patient among us, which I am not, especially when it comes to technology.) Besides, if I went for DSL, the only other acceptable option, I’d have to get a landline telephone, which I currently do not have, so the overall cost would be more than I pay now on the internet portion. Other cable necessities, as far as I am concerned - digital and dvr. I watch a lot of tv, and I’ve mentioned previously that it’s my main source of entertainment. I don’t have any movie channels, and I’m at the bottom tier for digital (I don’t really need all those sports channels!). Plus, since I work the 2nd job, the dvr makes more sense to me.

Phone stuff - I only have a cell phone, 1000 minutes/mo for $39.99. I don’t have free weekends, I dropped that after a review of my plan and realized that even with free minutes, I never went over (ok, actually only went over my minutes twice in 4 years) so I decided to save $20 and drop that. I also don’t have free nights because most people I call are on the east coast, 3 hours ahead of me, and I do most of my talking during the day. So the cell is as low as it’s gonna go, and I just need to be careful with minutes since I went over last month to the tune of $80 higher than usual.

Utilities - I get a water/sewer/trash bill from a company that my apartment complex contracted out to bill this stuff. My individual actions don’t have much effect on this, and it averages $15-20/mo. Not much I can do about this one.

Gas - Don’t have it in my current apartment.

Electric - I know I can get it lower, but with my ancient ac/heating unit that still works, I’m kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place here. Temps get between 105-115 this time of year, so turning it off during the day is not an option. I keep it at around 80, though I should probably try turning it to around 85 for when I’m not home. My fridge is of a newer model (as in white, not harvest gold), but even so, other than closing it there’s not much I can do there. I have compact flourescent in the lights I use most frequently, I rarely use my ceiling fan (I hate the draft), and don’t leave lights or other stuff on all day. I could try shutting my computer down during the day, but I already turn my monitor off when I’m not home and in my experience the computer alone won’t make much difference in the bill. And before you even suggest it, no, I will not unplug everything I own when I’m not home simply because that’s a major PITA and I will quickly get annoyed and stop doing that.

Fixed expenses:
Rent - $540/mo for a 495 sq ft studio apartment in a not so scary part of town that is very close to my office. If you’ve ever done any looking into the cost of living here in Vegas, this is dirt cheap. And before you even mention it, I am NOT going back to the roommate situation, no way, no how.

Car - car payment is $283.36/mo. I’ve though about refinancing it, and even got some quotes, but I either get a slightly higher payment with a slightly lower term, or a slightly lower payment with a longer term. Either way, I decided that it’s just simpler and costs about the same to keep it the way it is.
Car insurance - I currently pay $125/mo, but that will probably go up because that was my before move rate (I’m in a new zip now). Car insurance in Vegas is crazy high, and the only way I could get it lower is to reduce some of the coverage I have. If you’ve every seen how people drive in this city, you’ll know that’s not a good idea. I’ve run the numbers on insurance too, and for the coverage I have, this is the cheapest.
Gas for car - $70/mo. I live 3 miles from work (no, I’m not walking in 100+ temps), so this is about 2 fillups per month. Jealous much?

Other expenses:
Renter’s insurance - $19/mo. See notes about car insurance.
Gym membership - $31/mo. I stupidly signed a 2 year contract last year, and I can’t cancel it unless I move out of town, which is one of my goals.
Counselor - $40/mo. My insurance won’t cover it, so this is 1 visit per month. Plus, she’s 2 doors down from my office, so I can make appointments during my workday and walk over.
Meds - $17/mo, generics, for stomach ailments.
Church - $15/week, so $60-75/mo. Some people have told me this is too much, but I already wish I could afford to give more, so I’m not reducing this.
Life Ins - $15/mo for 20 years, won’t change at all. Another expense I veiw as necessary.

Income - $1700/mo from Job#1 (take home). My boss pays full medical, and we have a good plan. I work as an administrative assistant, and I don’t know if any of you have perused the ads for that kind of job here in town, but most only pay between $8-11/hr. I make the equivilant of $12/hr, plus I manage a contract testing thing that brings us additional revenue which the boss cuts me 10% of. Only thing with this is that other than making myself available for it, I have no control over the scheduling for it, so I have to take what I can get, which is anywhere between $0-400/mo.

Now, shopping habits. Let’s not discuss non-necessity shopping and stick to groceries and other consumables. I like pasta, it’s cheap, and I eat a lot of it. I bring salad to work, and I like really simple salads - iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and cukes. 1 giant bowl of salad feeds me lunch for the week. Lately I’m only buying microwave meals for evenings have to work, both to save money and time, plus it’s slightly healthier than a burger from McFood. I try not to buy too much fresh food otherwise, because in my experience it won’t last and I don’t like to throw food away. Frozen veggies are great because of this - cheap and they last forever, or at least until I get around to eating them. I’m good at the super cheap grocery shopping.

Other consumables - I’m cheap on laundry stuff, Purex is cheap and works for me. No fabric softener, just dryer sheets and since I pay to do laundry I don’t separate stuff, so no bleach necessary. Beauty products - I hardly ever wear makeup and everything else I like to be able to get at War-Mart. I use a shampoo + conditioner mix, cheap mousse, soap, etc. Not sure how much more I can cut down there and still be satisfied with the products I use.

I don’t know what else I can cut back except for discretionary spending, which is what I’ve been documenting. I take advantage of what I can at work (free water, stamps) but we don’t have a laminating machine here, Penny. Anyway, anytips and ideas on how a single gal who works 55+ hours per week would be welcomed.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the spending update:
Yesterday - zero, nada, zip, zilch, nothing! Yay me!
Today - nothing yet but my dad just told me that his next door neighbor died, and I’ve known the family since I was 10 years old so I need to send a card. Will edit later with that.
ETA - Sympathy card, 52 cents. Yay cheap War-Mart cards!

So thanks everyone for the support. Let’s kick some financial butt!

Just another ordinary Sunday here. I didn’t make it to church for the early service. My alarm went off and there was just no way I was gonna get up. So I ended up going in for the 2nd service as usual.

I’ve gotta talk to the apartment management again about the water temperature. First I had no hot water, now I have no warm water. I know what you’re saying - “Turn it down.” Well, I can’t. Someone who designs faucets had the brilliant idea to turn it in one direction for hot and another direction for cold. Let me clarify. Think of the faucet like a clock. 12:00 is off. If I turn it clockwise, 1:00 is super hot and it gets cooler until I get to 6:00, when it should be lukewarm. It won’t go past 6:00, so to get cold water I have to go back to the off position (12:00) then turn it counter-clockwise to get cold water. I haven’t noticed any difference between the varying degrees of cold on this side, and it only goes from 12:00 to 9:00. Now, since they hot water got fixed (a little too well in my opinion), when I have the dial in the 6:00 position, I get hot water, just a bit to hot to be bearable. One of these years I’ll be able to take a comfortable shower in this place.

Anyway, after church I finally dropped off that bag of stuff that was in my trunk at the charity shop. I don’t even remember what was in there, it’s been in my trunk so long. Now I just have to pack up the rest of the stuff here in my apartment and drop that off. Then I grabbed some lunch before heading to Job#2. Yes, I bought lunch. With my Sunday schedule, I don’t have time to go all the way home before work just to eat lunch, and since I’m gone so early in the morning, it’s not practical to bring a lunch with me, especially since it’s so hot outside. So I buy lunch on Sundays - it’s the only day that I give myself permission to do so.

Work was busy. With a small selection of shoes at 80% off, business has been brisk. But, I got to leave a half hour early tonite since it slowed down later in the day, and since I went in yesterday (my day off, don’t forget). More time for blogging! Tomorrow starts another week, and hopefully I’ll get next Saturday off.

Spending for today:
$5.40 for lunch

ETA: $15 offering at church. Thanks, Penrick, for the reminder. I always forget that I’m spending that money; I don’t see it as spending. Also, because I help with the multi-media, I don’t sit with the congregation, I sit in the control room so I have to remember to put my offering in the basket before service starts.

Time to eat a small dinner, do some dishes, and get some stuff ready for the week before plopping down in front of the telly.

If you need a laugh, check this one out. Thanks, AJ, for introducing me to YouTube!

Warning: Some material may not be suitable for all viewers.

More Foamy clips can be seen here.

Yesterday I got out of work early, which was really nice. I was home by 3:30 and basically sat around doing nothing for the rest of the day. I like having that kind of time once in awhile.

Today I got a call at 10am from AJ asking if I could come in to work at the store at all. Just what I need. Miss S keeps calling in sick, and this is the 2nd time I’ve had to work a Saturday because of it. Keep in mind, Saturday is my only day off. But I agreed to go in because a little extra money is nice, plus I like working with AJ. We always find so much stuff to talk about (in between selling shoes), and we had even more to talk about today since she finally got addicted to the virtual crack known as the blogosphere. I’ve linked to her blog on the right. Also, in what little free time she has, AJ likes to make candies. She gave me some for my birthday, and I must say, they are very yummy. Here’s a before picture:

Here’s the after:

I also like that she has different colored swirlies on the candy to identify the flavor, rather than just different patterns, so the different flavors are very easy to identify. Yes, this is a shameless plug for AJ’s Sweet Treats. You can buy them here or by linking to her site on the right.

I need to do laundry today, but it’s too hot right now. I mentioned previously that the laundry room is not air conditioned in any way, so I think I’ll wait until it drops below 100 outside to do laundry. I hate being miserably sweaty. In the meantime, I think I’ll eat dinner, sit around and watch some tv. And one more thing - I did finally hang those pictures, like I told you. Here’s a pic (please disregard the unmade bed):

Here’s my spending update:
Friday - $5 on my laundry card so I can do laundry
Saturday - $2.37 for lunch since I had to go into work before I got a chance to grocery shop today
25 cents for a gallon of water at the watermill
$24.55 for groceries. I didn’t stray too far off my list.

Tomorrow I’ve been asked to do a double header at church, so I’ll be out of the house by 7:30 with any luck. Then I have to work again all afternoon. It never ends, I tell ya.

Since we have a visitor coming to the office tomorrow, my boss wants the place to look top-notch. Our visitor is a manager from another office, and since he’s friends with Mad Scientist he’s been in quite a few times before, but since we just had a remodel done Mad Sci has to do the whole male competition thing. So that means I spent the whole day running around, picking stuff up, putting things away (once I figured out where things would go), dusting, cleaning, moving stuff, crawling under desks to move Time Flying Dudette’s computer, etc. Of course this has to happen on a day that I’m going straight to Job#2 after work, so I’m wearing nice clothes as I’m getting all dusty and sweaty. I wish I had time to go home and take a shower between jobs, but I don’t so I felt so gross while I was at Job#2, and I was just as busy there getting all sweaty (but not dusty).

On the way home tonite I was driving by an office park and noticed something weird on the electronic message board. I am absolutely sure I saw -127C. Nothing in Vegas is that cold, unless there’s a cryolab here somewhere. That threw me for a loop, until I got to the next office park and saw the real temp of 92F.

Here’s the spending summary for the day:
$3.68 - cortisone cream because I’m itchy and don’t have any itch cream at home
$1.08 - Sausage McMuffin with egg because I was starving and didn’t eat breakfast
$2.14 - to laminate my grocery list so it’s reusable. I just check off the things I need, and with a little discipline, I won’t buy things not on the list. Also, I won’t have to keep buying paper to make a list with.
Total today: $6.90. I could have been more prepared and had breakfast at home, or at least remembered to bring something to work. Something I need to work on.

I should have my camera back tomorrow so I’ll have some pics to post this weekend, hopefully!

No, not here in Las Vegas - that won’t happen until October or November. I’m talking about at the office. We finally have a new unit with no-leak ductwork, new registers, intakes and a new zone so I won’t freeze when Colorful Texan is having her hot flashes. Life is grand. The a/c workers were cleaning up when I left today, but I’m sure I’ll have a lot more cleaning to do tomorrow. Joy.

Not much else to write about today (either that or I do have stuff to write about and I can’t decide whether or not I actually want to write). So I’ll just leave you with my spending for the day:

$40 Head-shrinker (next appt in 1 month)
$11.19 water/sewer/trash bill

And, I called the cable company to cancel one of the movie packages, so now my cable bill is as low as it will go without me going beserk, since computer and tv are my main sources of entertainment. So yay me!

…because I forgot my comfy shoes at the office today, so I was on my feet for 3 hours in heels at Job#2. That was a mistake, I should have remembered my shoes, but I was halfway to work from work when I remembered. Going back to get them would have made me late.

Spending today: $10.00 on lunch. See, I was all set to eat, got my lunch out of the fridge when Pretty Lady Dammit came over to me and yelled at me to put it away because we were all going to Macayo’s. The air conditioner people were in making a dusty, noisy mess to replace all our ductwork along with our a/c unit, so not only was it loud and dirty, it was hot in the office. So I went with them and bought myself lunch. The enchilada was much better than a dusty salad and glass of water that can’t stay cold long enough to drink it. I’ll have the dusty salad tomorrow.

In other news, we might be able to lure Dr. Grandma to come back to work for us. I hear she’s really really not happy at the new job, that it’s sucking the life out of her. We are a much more fun bunch, I really don’t understand why she left. Hopefully Mad Scientist has some luck getting her out of the clutches of Red Tape Hospital and back where she belongs, which is with us.

Yeah, I read that book - and the rest of the series (Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic and Sister) and quite enjoyed them. While I don’t consider my spending as out of control as Becky’s is, I definitely identify with the need to shop.

Gretchen posted on her blog about coveting. I covet stuff too, which is why I have 2 jobs. Job#2 is supposed to pay for the things I covet and already bought, but with my move that payment plan has fallen by the wayside. There’s always something - my move, my upcoming vacation, my car registration due in September, the upcoming holidays, blah blah blah. I want stuff, we all want stuff. When I had extra money, instead of saving it I would spend my weekends at the mall or visiting my favorite shops, always buying a bunch of stuff I don’t need. So yeah, I’m a shopaholic. Even now, when I’m bored, I think, “Gee, I haven’t visited that mall in awhile, I think I’ll go browse around.” If I buy something, I feel bad about the money I spent because I know full well it could be spent on something else. If I don’t buy anything, I feel bad because I see other people buying stuff and wish I could too.

Job#2 is retail, which has its good and bad points. Good point - I rarely, if ever, buy anything from my store. We sell shoes, none of which fit me because I have an extremely narrow foot, and we don’t carry narrows. We also sell purses and wallets, but I’m very picky about that stuff so I rarely purchase them (plus, they’re expensive, even with my discount, and I don’t like to spend that much on a purse). Bad point - the store is in a mall, and I always want to shop at the other stores, many of which will give a 10% mall discount.

What do I like to buy? Shoes, if I can find ones I like in my size. I love buying jammies, don’t know why because I don’t always like buying regular clothes. Books, magazines, movies, music. Stuff for my home, even though I have nowhere to put it. The 1 in, 1 out rule is a good one, but it still means I can buy stuff if I get rid of stuff at the same time and doesn’t solve the buying stuff issue.

Now that I have more than 1 reader here, perhaps this will be a good way for some accountability. I’m gonna try my hardest to keep a bit of a journal here on my spending and debt payments. I’ll update tonite on that, since I haven’t spent anything yet today. My basic goals are this:

1. Cut out frivolous spending while maintaining my sanity
2. Pay down debt - Mastercard and Visa
3. Save some money!

I’ll try to put up a daily post or at least include in my posts an update on this. If I don’t, you can all yell at me. I tried to keep a notebook, which lasted all of 10 minutes because there was no one else to answer to. I post on a message board, but again, no one else to really answer to. My parents basically leave me alone as far as the spending goes, because all my bills are paid on time and I don’t ask them for anything (unlike my sister, who depends on Dad’s handouts). So that leaves it to be a personal thing, and I’m asking for a little bit of accountability in this department.

Of course, I still covet stuff, so I’ve linked to my wishlist on Amazon just in case anyone wants to reward my efforts with a present

Ok, here it is, my spending for the day:
$1.66 - cookies (to keep in my desk drawer, so I have chocolate handy to keep me sane. They should last about 2 weeks or so)

Yay, I finally made it through! Of course, the week from hell had to go out with a bang, which was that I had no hot water Friday or Saturday. Friday I didn’t worry too much since I was swimming at Mad Scientist’s house during our company bbq, but by Saturday afternoon I really wanted to cleanse myself. That evening I ended up boiling water so I could take a bath, and decided that if I had to I’d wash my hair in the sink with cold water the next morning. Luckily, late Saturday night the hot water finally came back on. The apartment office told me that the plumber they called Friday never showed up, so they were waiting for a different plumber to come out. They told me that the valve was stuck and our maintenance crew couldn’t fix it, and that my building was not the only one affected. I just hope the problem is fixed for good, because this isn’t the first time since I moved in that I’ve had to go without hot water.

The company BBQ was great. Mad Scientist has a really nice pool and hot tub, and since it’s so warm outside now (temps getting over 110), the water was like bathwater, or as Baby Mad Scientist put it, “Cozy like a blanket.” We got BBQ from a local restaurant, which was excellent, and just got to hang out and relax a bit. Nothing exciting really, just a very relaxing afternoon and evening.

Yesterday I finally got that last box unpacked. I have 4 gallery shelves that can be run in a continuous line, which is how I hung them on the wall above my bed. No picture right now since I forgot my camera at Mad Scientist’s house. Anyway, on the long line of shelf I placed a whole bunch of family photos, and it really looks better than I thought it would. Now I just have a few random decorative pictures that I need to figure out where to hang without making my place look too cluttered. Eventually I’ll get that figured out, but I’m in no hurry. So except for those things, I am unpacked and decorated. I also got plenty of time to watch tv, did a bit of grocery shopping and just got to relax. I still need to take the plastic storage tubs to my storage unit, but I really don’t want to be running around town and doing actual physical work when it’s that hot out. I’ll wait until it’s a bit cooler to bring those boxes there, and do a Goodwill run.

So that’s it, that was the rest of my week and a relaxing Saturday. I worked Job#2 today, it was kinda slow but we did ok. I’m working there 3 nights this week, but only because the boss is on vacation. I do need the money though, so I don’t mind too much.

Till next time…

Oh yeah, it’s one of those weeks. It started Sunday morning with not having any hot water. Again. Actually, no, scratch that. It started Saturday when I was begged by my boss at Job#2 to come in to work on the only day I get off all week. So I worked Saturday, which meant that I didn’t get my usual Saturday errands done, then overslept Sunday and woke up to no hot water so I was totally out of sorts all day. Monday seemed to be going well, I was doing laundry after work and thought I’d have a relaxing night but NO, it was not to be. I was finished my laundry and bringing it back into my apartment when my deadbolt decided to stop working. When it was locked and I was on the outside. I’ve put the details of my frustration on my LiveJournal blog; you can link to it on the right. With only my keys and a pile of clean laundry (no money, purse, ID or anything else that might have been useful), I spent the night at Mad Scientist’s house, then trying to get my apartment management to hurry the fuck up and get me in. All I had to eat was my desk drawer stash, so acual nourishment was lacking yesterday. I finally got in around 3:30. I went back to work even though all I felt like doing was crying and going to bed.

As Mad Scientist was leaving at 5:00 yesterday, he told me that his computer was infected and to finish taking care of it. So I did what I could, which was nothing really in my state of mind, and tried to leave sometime after 6. Tried to leave. Yes, you read that right. See, when I was trying to set the alarm, it wouldn’t set. Apparently there is some sort of motion inside the building, according to the indicator light. A thorough search of the building found no motion, but by my best guess it probably has something to do with the motion detectors that were affected by the recent remodel. An attempt to leave resulted in me actually setting off the alarm, so I waited until the alarm company called, gave them the password to turn the thing off, then went through the issue with them. Their guess was similar to mine, though we do need to get Security Guru out to really look at it. So I set the alarm for the doors and perimeter and left the interior motion detectors off. Gah. At least I could set something.

After the week I’ve been having, and the day I had yesterday, I was actaully able to choose my own meal after foraging for food in my desk drawer all day. So I stopped and got my favorite comfort food - a blue box of mac and cheese, plus a couple pints of ice cream (they were on sale and I had trouble deciding between 2 flavors). It was so nice to go home and just be INSIDE my apartment, with a new lock that actually responds to me turning the key. I fell asleep early and didn’t want to get up this morning.

Today Mad Scientist is still having viral issues on his computer, so I’ve been spending most of the day working on that. As I type this, my tech support guy is in by remote trying to take care of it. He also can’t understand why our anti-virus program didn’t pick this up, since the virus definitions have been out for well over a year, and we supposedly keep everything up to date through the server. I dunno, I gave up, so hopefully he can fix it. The accounting software is on that computer, so it has to be fixed.

I just want this week to be over, when we close early Friday for a company cookout at Mad Scientist’s house and I have Saturday off, for real, with no plans to leave my apartment - except maybe to check the mail.

On a brighter note, my Dad managed to score a few free passes for the T from one of his customers. Normally he would have no use for them, but he remembered that I’m flying into Boston next month and since no one will pick me up there, I’ll have to take the T to a much closer city to be able to see my family, so he’s mailing those to me. That will save me about $15, which is that much money that I don’t have to worry about saving for my vacation now. Yay free tickets!

Once upon a time, not so long ago, I wanted to be a professional organizer. I watched all the tv shows, studied the techniques, bought organizing books, frequented organizing websites, and learned all I could about starting my own business. I even started getting things going - I still have piles of business cards, I got a website (which I just cancelled), and I started the applications for business licensing. But then I realized I needed to take a step back. First of all, business licenses are expensive in this city, and I just didn’t have that much money. I wanted to do everything properly, so having a business on the sly wasn’t an option for me. Also, I realized exactly how much time and effort would have to be put into marketing, and I wasn’t about to quit my day job, so it would have been difficult to do all that after hours. And of course, since money was tight, I realized that I needed to get another job as it was, something that would provide me a steady and immediate income. Since it was to be a second job, it also had to be something I didn’t really have to think at, so I hit the mall. Those who read my blog know that I am still at that Job#2 at the shoestore.

With all the effort I put into working the 2 jobs, my interest in organizing has faded. I don’t watch organizing programs with the zeal that I once did. And I realized that I like the stability and security of working for someone else. As a single woman, trying to strike out on my own is pretty scary, at least as far as self employment goes. And one more thing was eating at me - I know I don’t want to stay in this town forever, so starting a business when I might be moving in a few years just didn’t seem practical. I just don’t want to put down any more roots here.

The option is still there for the future. I just might decide to make a go of it someday. But now is not that time. Now is the time for working hard, paying off my debts, and trying to figure out how to get out of this town before it eats me alive.