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, sophisticated 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 surprise 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 surprised, 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 surprised 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 occurred 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 adapter, 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 adapter. 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 adapter. I printed out a copy of the IPL to keep for my reference, and yes, it clearly shows that the adapter 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, any tips 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!