Good and Bad (surviving!)

It’s been a rough week or two, and it probably will be a rough month.  I woke up the other day in tears, and ended another day in tears.  I usually would be concerned about that, but one of them was just needing a good cry (see FB’s post for explanation if you are male).

All of it is short term stress due to slight over scheduling and still adjusting to my job.  It will all be over in a month or so, and that will be HEAVEN.

Here are some good things:

• Performance reviews are coming up soon, and I just got some great customer feedback that should get passed to my manager.
• By January, I should firmly understand my role and where I fit in on my team, and be ready to be a real superstar.  Yes, it really can take 6 months to become competent (at least in my industry)!
• By the end of December, you will have to call me Master!  If all goes as planned, I’ll have my M.S. degree completed!
• Running with my coworkers was a success, and once I’m ready to dedicate to it, I could start training for SOMETHING.  My coworker qualified for Boston — she’s hard core!
• Going home for Christmas!  Can’t wait!  (I think we’re just going to a friend’s for a Thanksgiving potluck.)

Not so good things:

• I can NOT stop “needing” new clothes.  And my almost brand new awesome black work pants got a small tear within 2 weeks.  I’m devastated!  (But plan to attempt a repair.)
• My raise was 3%, and I raised my 401k 3%.  My paycheck went down $10!  Thanks, California, for stealing an interest free loan from me!
• Canceled the Vegas trip.  I just can’t handle it right now.
• My dad probably will be laid off within a few weeks. My dad was laid off yesterday.  He’s been working 6-7 days a week 10/hr days for quite some time, so I would expect they’ll be (relatively) fine.  But still.
• You know that M.S. degree?  It is KILLING me to actually get it.  So.  Much.  Work.

I expect my sudden “need” for certain clothing items is a combination of actually needing cardigans and such for work and finally having room in the budget for it… and plain old retail therapy.  On one hand, my eye is on the budget and I’m trying not to go crazy.  On the other hand, I don’t have the energy to fight it, and if it lasts another month, so be it.  But once I finish school, no excuses!

To Do… LATER!

Everyone has To Do lists, but have you heard of “Not-To-Do” lists?  There are a bunch of things I keep thinking I should do, but that definitely can and should wait!

I don’t know about you, but whenever I am supposed to start studying, I have this urge to start cleaning instead!  There are a lot of little projects I want and need to take care of eventually, so I’ll add them to my “Not To Do” list so I don’t forget about them.

Not To Do List (or, To Do… LATER!)

• Organize closets and dressers
• Get a few things to cheer up my office at work
• Go shopping
• Plan honeymoon
• Oh and all those wedding details.  April is coming FAST!
• Get passport application taken care of
• Figure out a long term fitness routine (join a gym?  Or what?)
• Update blogroll and other little blog maintenance (there are so many great blogs I’ve been reading since my last update.  I do intend to add you, but I don’t need to do it today!)
• Fuss with my 2010 budget and savings goals

To Do List (before Christmas)

• Keep working out at least a couple times a week
• Improve meal planning through weekend batch cooking (so I don’t survive on cereal or junk)
• Get Christmas shopping done
• I think I need an oil change soon?
• Finish my Master’s project
• Finish my project for my other class (no final exam!)
• Keep pushing at work to gain more responsibilities
• Be nice to T

It’s begining to look a lot like Christmas

Not true.  I still haven’t accepted the reality of Christmas season with palm trees, sans snow.   Maybe by next year?

I budget a flat $100 monthly for gifts throughout the year.  Some months it is spent on birthday/wedding/whatever presents, but other months it just grows.  By the end of this month, my gift fund will have $590, which is roughly what I need.

• T:  $150+
• Mom:  $50
• Dad:  $50
• Sister 1:  $50
• Sister 2:  $50
• Sister 1’s BF:  $25
• Brother in Law:  $25
• Niece:  $25
• Nephew:  $25
• Grandma and Grandpa:  $25
• T’s family:  $50

Total:   $525

Of course, I usually go a little over my budgeted amount based on what I find for gifts.  I spend the most on T.  We go pretty small on gifts throughout the year, but at Christmas we spend a bit more.  Once I get through the holidays and my sisters’ early January birthdays, I might remove a small amount from the gift fund.  It seems like there is more than needed in it.

My other spending this holiday seasons should be pretty minor.  I already bought my plane ticket home, and I expect I’ll go out and get together with some old friends, but this will be offset by little to no food/gas costs for that week.

New Years Eve will likely be low key this year, but we’ll see.  I’m flying in that day, and if nothing amazing is going on, we’ll probably stay in or go out for a nice dinner.  If something awesome comes up, we’ll go out.  But I’m not going to chase plans.  If it is anything like last year, I’ll be jet lagged and tired!

Raise, Fitness, Clothes, WEEKEND!

Raise:  I mentioned (on Twitter) I got a promotion (basically just a title change) and a small raise (~3% — my manager claims this is normal for mid year adjustments.  It seemed low to me).  I want to talk more about career ambitions soon (my manager mentioned another promotion in a year or two — I’m gunning for one).   Budget-wise I (at least temporarily) raised my 401k contributions by 2% and am waiting to see what my take home is.  I’m expecting to shuttle the additional budget towards my long-neglected car fund.  I am now at 17% 401k, but I probably should back off a little and focus more on cash goals.

Fitness: Bootcamp is over.   The truth is, I skipped out today (Friday).  I’ve been beat/stressed/exhausted and need to get to work early.   Finishing at 7 am, then getting ready, then commuting was just making me too late.  I need to figure out how to keep these results on my own.  I’m much stronger than I have been in a really long time, but I just can’t stomach the $200/month to stay in bootcamp.

Clothes:   In November, I’m budgeting for a new winter coat ($86) and some new black work pants ($64) for a total of $150.  Even though neither of those things are on my plan.  Even though I really need a brown cardigan.  You may have guessed by my precise dollar amounts I already purchased these two items (yeah, in October) due to the 40%  off BR coupons good on Wednesdays in October.

I, uh, also bought two button down shirts, but I think I’m going to return them because:

• I don’t love the short sleeve one (but I do like it!)
• For the long sleeve one, a “Tall” size would probably fit better anyway.  I have a long torso.
• It isn’t in the budget or the plan.  That’s about another $65 in clothes!
• The reason I own so few button-ups is because I find them unflattering.

It has been a long time since I regretted a purchase within a day or two of buying it.  Usually I only regret it months later when I discover it didn’t fit into my life the way I’d hoped.

Weekend:  OMG, Friday finally!  I have an exam this weekend, a Halloween party, and really, I should just lock myself in my apartment and actually do school work so I can graduate this quarter.  But all I feel like doing is collapsing!   Anyway, it is 7 and  need to head out the door NOW!

Birthday Weekend!

My weekend was great, but extremely unproductive, considering how much work I have.

T and I had a small birthday party at our apartment Saturday, and spent most of Friday night cleaning and shopping for it.  We probably spent $150 on snacks, alcohol, cake and other supplies, but ended up with 3 more bottles of wine than we started with, and quite a bit of snacks and alcohol left.  And a lot more cake than two people should eat by themselves.  And lots of beer left (I made T buy decent stuff because I figured there would be leftovers).  We definitely won’t be needing any alcohol for a long time!

I knew hosting a party was going to cost about that much.   We didn’t say BYOB, but most people did anyway.  Our neighborhood is pretty quiet, so we wrapped things up around 10:30 and most people joined us for a night out to the bars/clubs nearby.  I think we still annoyed the neighbors a bit, but we warned them, said we’d get everyone out early, and we don’t plan to make it a regular thing.

The other exciting event was a trapeze class on the Santa Monica Pier!  It was my parent’s birthday gift to me and T, and it was really fun.  It was quite expensive for what it is ($60/class!), but something I’d been wanting to do ever since I saw it on Sex in The City and found out there was one in town.  It’s actually a pretty good ab workout, and it was pretty exciting to fly through the air next to the ocean.  Loved it!

I’m going to pay for all the slacking off I did this week.

nytregsuckme

Catch-up

Last month was fun, but after being out of town a few weekends in a row, I’m waaaaaay behind on life.  I want to get a lot done this weekend to feel caught up again.

1. Email wedding invitation person about colors
2. Email T’s mom about other stuff
3. Reply to old mentor person’s email
4. 2 loads of laundry + bedding
5. make grocery list
6. grocery shopping
7. Reallocate October budget (more for travel and gifts?)
8. Watch lectures 2 &3
9. Read mandatory readings
10. Put together binder/notebook for school stuff
11. Go to bank
12. Clean bathroom/kitchen (with T)
13. Tidy up the rest of the apartment (with T)
14. Wash car
15. Return items to Target, Jcrew, BR (mostly gifts)
16. Update wedding website with addresses and hotels
17. batch cook some lunch stuff
18. buy and mail thank you notes for friends & parents
19. Catch up on my blog and blogs I read
20. Go for a run?

I’m not sure if I’ll get that all done this weekend, considering we have a fun plan for Sunday that could wind up eating into much of the productive hours of the day.  But at least I have it written down!

Are you a flake?

I’m not a flaky person.  If I say I’m going to do something, I do it, and I do it promptly.  If  have a 7 appointment, I’m there at 6:50, and I sit in my car and wait for an acceptable time to go in (depending on what it is for).  I have to force myself to show up “fashionably late” for parties, and I never can be quite fashionable enough.

If I make plans, I don’t cancel them or ignore them.  If I owe you money, I’ll pay you back.  I’ll be on time (nearly always) and I can commit to something months in advance and stay true to my word.  I pay my fair share (tax and tip included!) when we are splitting the tab with a group in restaurants.  I’ll give you good directions if you ask for them.  I’ll return your phone calls and answer your emails.  If you write on my FB wall I’ll (usually, when appropriate) respond.  [Just got a message from a friend I tried to get a hold of months ago for something for work!]

I just don’t understand flakiness.  Things don’t slip my mind, and I think about how my choices and actions affect my friends, acquaintances, and coworkers.  I have a full and busy life, but I’m organized about it and I’m reliable.

Even my dentist office is flaky! I called them in July to schedule an appointment and they (pretended that they???) took my insurance info, and then they told me they’d call me at their earliest convenience. (???)  Never heard from them.  I called them again, and they didn’t have my insurance info anymore, and the receptionist wouldn’t even give me an appointment.  “I’m not the regular receptionist, I’ll have the dentist call you.”  What?  I just want my teeth cleaned!   I specifically gave them a daytime number, yet he called my cell  (that I don’t have at work) at 10 a.m. a few days later.  !!!!!

T’s not flaky either.  He was supposed to meet this (flaky) person outside our apartment to sell my bike, and exchanged a bunch of texts. “can i do it tomorrow?” “ok, 10 minutes” …. 20 minutes later… “stuck in traffic.” 15 minutes later….  “ok, i’m getting gas, 10 minutes” 20 minutes later… Finally, he’s here!  (Without the cash, so he needed to find an ATM.) 

T, bless his heart, took the bike out back and was riding up and down the alley for at least 30 minutes, then another 15+ while they went to the ATM.  He refused to accompany me to the grocery store because “that guy is coming and he said he was leaving now”.  Of course, he didn’t have to be out in the alley waiting.  But he was.  Because he is not a flake.

[Confession: I am sort of a flake if it involves mailing something at the post office.  Gifts and stuff.  But my parents are too, so it is hereditary.  I hate going to the post office.  BUT if you order something from me on Amazon, I will send it the next day.  Because that is the rules, and I'm not that flaky.]

Are you are flake?  If so, can you explain to me why?

To Do this weekend

This weekend shouldn’t be too intense, but I’m in the final week or two of my summer class, so I need to fight the urge to completely slack off.

I said I wouldn’t be doing these every week (and I’m not!) but somehow it seems more meaningful when I post it in my blog opposed to just for myself.

Happy Weekend everyone!

Friday

• Grocery Store (only if we want to eat dinner)
• Do 1-3  HW problems

Saturday

• Return clothes that didn’t work out
• Go for run (why is it so muggy out right now?)
• Watch lecture
• Go on daytime date with T (there is somewhere he’s been wanting to go forever)POSTPONED again
  
• Finish HW (should just have a few problems left)

Sunday

• Batch cook lunch stuff for the week
• 1-2 loads of laundry
• wash car (it got hit by bird doo doo this week!)
• Watch Lecture (if there are more?) No more!
• Start reviewing for exam
• Bike ride!
• Finalize plans for next month (wine tasting trip)

Savings advice from a coworker

I went to lunch with a coworker on my new project last week ($8 for sandwiches and fries).  He’s about 10-15 years ahead of me in life, and among other things, he was giving me advice on when to buy a house.  (Is it just me or do home owners always want the rest of us to join them ASAP?)

We talked about how my apartment is rent-controlled, which makes buying a home a harder sell for strictly financial reasons.  He said something like I shouldn’t get sucked into paying so little rent, then had some advice.

“Here’s what I did when I decided I wanted to buy a house.  I started ‘paying the mortgage’ before I had it.  I figured my mortgage would be $3k, and my rent was $1k, so I started putting away $2k a month.  Not right away, I started with $500 and increased it until I was at the right amount.”

Two things went through my mind:

1)  hahahah, do you know who you are talking to?!?  I am 100% aware of how to save money, and if there is a savings trick, I’ve probably already heard (read) about it.  Not that it is not a valid trick, but… there are only a few savings tricks I like.  Personally, I’d just start a “house fund” and save up as much as I could.

2)  Tax deductions or whatever, I still don’t know if the rent vs buy calculation will come out in favor of paying $2k more a month in mortgage.  There are a lot of details missing, but the market in L.A. is still SO high.  I’ll do the math when my life is ready for it.

I verbally agreed with him (why not?), but said it really wasn’t a consideration because we couldn’t afford it right now (probably not 100% true — we could make something work, but we’d be very very  house condo poor) and we weren’t sure our plans beyond the next couple years.

Buying will be on my radar, eventually.  T still has two years left of school, and then we should have a more clear picture of where we will be for awhile.  For now, the only way to convince me that renting is not a good idea is to remind me how we can’t have a dog. 

To Do Sunday

I’ve been overwhelmed all week, but I have a lot to get done this weekend.  And Friday and Saturday are already over!  (However, we did all of our laundry yesterday, which is nice)

• Homework that is due tomorrow
• Watch 1 lecture
• Prepare tuition forms for mailing
• Go for a run
• Get gas
• Wash car
• Photocopy receipt from eye doctor so I can get HSA and rebate for contacts
• Run to store and get a few groceries
• Go leave comments on all the blog post I’ve starred over the past week (intending to return and comment)
• Make couscous salad for lunches
• Email photographer re:  engagement photos
• Purchase notebook for work
• Relax on beach

Hmm, it doesn’t sound like too much, which is good.  But the homework will take a few hours.  I’m SO tired of this class, but I just have to hang in there.  I’m almost done!   I think I’ll start with that, just to get it over with.