Someone left a comment about my 12-hour shift work. He/she said it’s inhuman. LOL. It’s true. I agree.
I know I have been complaining (and I am not gonna stop) about my job. I work as a, what the industry called, power trader. I trade power (electricity). Just like Enron only that my company does not do all the bad stuff. I don’t think I make bad money. I earn a base salary of $63,750/year and I get a one-time bonus of 30% of my salary (I get full benefits, perks, etc etc). My job does have long hours (12-hour shift) but this is a common practise in this industry. We get a lot of time off though. In 5 weeks rotation, if you condensed it together, I work 7 days, 7 nights (12-hour shift) and 5 days of normal working hours (7-4 Mon-Fri).A total of 19 working days. The other 16 days are time off. I can take 2-weeks off each rotation. I have to admit, it is not easy but it’s manageable. And the work itself is not that complicated. If I can do it, anyone else can do it. Easy.
I am pooped out.
Work sucks. I hate working 12-hour shift.
I bought Spanish flan at nearby mexican restaurant on the way home today. My husband is working tonight.
Tired.
Ok. Well nothing exciting happened. Back to work on days. Tomorrow is my last 3 days of the week then I come in Friday – Sunday evening. I am rotating with new guys for the next 5 weeks and then I don’t know what my new schedule is. Can’t you tell I have “brilliant” boss? Yes that is a sarcasm.
I have to get up at 4.30 tomorrow morning so I need to go to bed like right now. No time to watch American Idol tonight. I am too sleepy. I will watch the elimination night tomorrow evening though. I am rooting for David Archeleta (not sure if this is the right spelling but oh well you know what I mean). I hope he wins anyway.
Been thinking about cutting my hair to donate to Locks of Love. I do this once every 1.5 – 2 years. Last time I cut my hair and it was SHORT!!!! But I was happy knowing that some kid would get to wear my long locks.
Oh ya. Not sure if I mentioned this before but my mom is going to send me $3000 to help me fix the kitchen. Hell yeah. That is sweet. I am looking forward to it. My husband and I have actually looked at various places to get ideas of what we want to do in the kitchen.
I am going to the antique shop this Thursday (I am off that day). I have spotted an old wood cabinet ($195) that would go perfectly in the bathroom and also a table ($75) that is big enough for my craftroom. I’ve spotted several dressers I like but can’t decide on one yet. I need to get side tables as well but still no luck. Perhaps I could go next week between Mon – Wed since I will be off.
Payday is this Friday. Wooohoo. Need to pay off the AC ($200), mortgage ($1290), and car ($378)… I think. The stupid car is costing me too much. Jeep Grand Cherokee. I will never have another car payment after I pay off this car. I want to pay my car with cash next time.
Ok time to sleep.
Bad news and good news.
Bad news: my car (1995 Ford Mustang) died in the middle of the road yesterday morning. That stupid old clunker just died. Just like that. It was before 7AM and the street was not that busy so that was good. But then I saw the firefighter truck coming toward the direction of my car. I thought, ah crap. I just held my hands up in the air and I yelled: my car just died on me. Then right after that, the car behind me honked at me. Sigh. I tried so hard to restart the car. Then I decided to call my husband–who was asleep btw. Then when I was on the phone with him, the stupid car started again. I drove it to the side of the road to check if it was ok. Since I had to be at work I took the chance to ride it to work–I mean it was like 5 minutes away from home so not like long drive or anything. And the car made it to the parking garage. And back home in the afternoon. Not sure what happened there. It was the weirdest thing I swear.
I wish I had money to get me another car but I am trying to save my money for something else right now. There is no money budgeted to buy a car for the moment. I don’t even plan on buying one until next year or two years from now. I have to save the money first. When I get to $10K saved for the car then I will buy a used one. I looked online for some cheap cars but there wasn’t such cheap cars out there. Sigh. Oh yah. I don’t ever want to make another car payment ever again. My next car will be bought cash. Or worst case scenario, if I have to finance my car, I want it to be paid off in under 12 months.
Good news: my mom is sending me $3000 to help fix the kitchen. Wooohooo. I told her she can send the money anytime. So I expect the money to be in my account sometime next week.
Earlier today, I transferred some money to our saving accounts. I sent $5000 to our emigrant direct account so that makes the total balance to $5300. And then I sent $1500 to our other saving account–this makes the balance to $2000. So now we have a total saving of $7300. I will send the remainder to the saving accounts some time next week after we sort out our bills, etc. Next week is payday ($1650 from me, $800 from my husband’s full time job and I think about $200 – 300 from my husband’s part time job). Woohoo. I think we only need to pay for the mortgage ($1290), last AC payment ($110), and car ($400).
Expenses today:
- Peanut’s vet visit $158
- Dining room vintage chest/hutch $100, blue crock $8.50
- 2 pillows $14
- Lunch $20
- Ollie Koala (with my little sister) $25
- Gas $50
- Lottery tickets $2
My husband and I were looking to buy a pair of side tables for our master bedroom but we couldn’t find one.
Tomorrow, we’re taking my husband’s grandma to the beach in the afternoon. It should be a nice treat for all of us. We could go to the ice cream parlor to round up our visit. Should be nice tomorrow.
Bonus has been deposited to account!!!!! YESSSSSS. I received a total of $10,443. Before tax amount is a little over 15 grand. So you see how uncle sam is probably happy right now getting 30% of my bonus after I worked my butts off. Anyways. I am still thankful for the amount of money that I am receiving. It is a lot of money and I should save it.
Another news. Kinda weird. My boss asked to have a chat with me today. I thought, oh crap I am in trouble.
He started the conversation by saying stuff about my progress. And how people in my position should have thick skin and all. And then he went on telling me about the goals that I am suppose to meet by the end of the year. Pretty much he told me that I shouldn’t really worry too too much about it. He said he’d understand where I came from–no experience in doing what I am doing right now. I told him how I have been trying to make some money for the company and I haven’t been so successful. I also pointed out to him the fact that I have only been doing the job for a little more than a month but I have done more money-making attempts than most older traders in the company. He acknowledged that fact. Anyways. I tried my best to show him that I know I am new but I am trying my best to show my value to the company even though I am not 100% happy with the way I get compensated right now. I hope–and this is only a hope or maybe a wish!-that my boss would raise my salary in the middle of the year. Even if it’s just a $200/month increase. That would have given me something to look forward to. It would have made me feel more appreciated. It would have made me wanting to do my job more. Now I feel like I am doing something that does not give me any financial reward. It gives me little motivation. Most people would think I make up excuses but whatever. This is how I feel.
I don’t know why my boss did what he did today–talking to me. But a small pressure was relieved. I now have more confidence in myself. I know I can do the job. I am not stupid.
Yes there are days when I am just freaking stressed out about everything and how I dread coming to work. How I hate the fact that I do not make more money doing the job that only adds stressfulness in my life. I hate those facts. I just hate them.
There is a hope inside of me that I know I will be able to do this if everyone is just nice to me and if people keep on believing me. Sometimes all I need is just a little encouragement. I know I have been so hard on myself. I am stressing out about work too much. I hate the fact that I do not like my job. It kills me. I want to like my job.
Finally the freaking email was sent out earlier today to notify everyone that bonus will be deposited in our account this Friday. The payout rate is actually 1.42. So my bonus would be: $56,000 x 1.42 x .195 = $15,506.40 – tax.
Not bad. The whole thing is going straight to the emergency fund saving account.
My husband is working so much. But I understand. We need the money to pay down our CCs. My husband will probably gets a 2-3 months break (meaning not working 2 jobs every single day and night) and then he will start working more when football season starts in early September.
I miss him so much right now. I distracted myself by cooking foods for my husband tonight. I made him 2 diffent kinds of potato dishes, sweet pulled chicken, and I cut up some fruits for his lunch dessert tomorrow. I prepared everything and set them aside in the refrigerator. I ate some potatoes for dinner tonight. It was so good. I had salad with eggs earlier. Tomorrow, I will be making chicken fried rice for my husband and for me, I will be making roasted garlic shrimp with roasted veggies. I am sure my husband would like some too. I have 2 mangoes left that I plan to share with my husband for dinner tomorrow night. I made my husband a big container of beef stew last night. He had it for lunch and dinner tonight. He said it was good.
I received Kraft magazine in the mail today. There are lots of easy recipes I would like to try.
Work was boring today. Everyone complained about work. What is wrong with my work place? It’s like NO ONE is happy being there. We haven’t received our bonus yet as of today. My company has 2 offices. One in the East coast and the other is on the West coast. Found out today the west coast people keep on quiting. They have really, really high turnover. So… the management is holding up our bonus. Because they want to make sure everyone stays where they are before bonuses are given out. Oh come on. Give me a break. Give the East coast people their bonuses how about that? I have been freaking waiting for this bonus to be deposited into my bank account. Yeah. Another reminder why no one stays at my work!!!!!!!!!!!! I am just so stressed out with everything sometimes. Too much politics at the office. Everything is predetermined already. Who’s moving where. Sigh. My department is shitty. I hate it there. I freaking hate it there. Sometimes I like it but most of the times I DO NOT. And do not ask me why I stay where I am. I am reevaluating things right now!!!! I will know when my time comes to move to another position, I will do so. As quickly as possible.
Right now, I just want to take everything one day at a time. I do not want to get stressed out. Take a deep breath……..
Ok sometimes I just want to scream!!!!!!
My younger sister is getting married next year!!!!
My mom is probably coming to visit the same year.
My family is going to ask me to come visit ..that same year also.
My mom is probably going to send me money. I hinted *wink*wink* a $5000 would be nice.
All these news translate to: better start saving more from now!!! I want to give something to my sister as a wedding present. I’ll budget $1000. I’ll ask if she’d rather get cash or paid vacation.
I have told my husband that we might have to fly out of the country next year to visit my home country for my sister;s wedding and visit my families. We’re so excited. A lot is going to happen next year. I am very, very excited. My sister’s wedding… a trip to visit my families I haven’t seen in 8+ years… our plan on starting a baby… new kitchen… house will be done a lot more… more money saved… my mom’s possible visit… SO HAPPY!!!!!!!! I am just so happy. Many good things will come our way. Oh yeah… and the possibility that I will apply for a new position at work!!! yay yay yay…. I am just so happy and excited.
This payday we’re able to save $450 for our Emergency saving. So now, we have $700 in one saving account and $360 in Emigrant Direct online account. We now actually have more than $1000 in saving!!!!!!!!! So excited.
Bonus from work didn’t come in last Friday. Bummer. I was really expecting that. I should be getting about 10 – 11 grand take-home. We need to pay the IRS for the tax we owe ( I think about 800 dollars) and the rest will go straight to our emergency saving accounts like we have planned before. Gosh I really hope that I get my bonus sometime next week. I have one CC that is due on the 22nd for a min payment of $197. Dang it. Do I need to have my money from saving account transfered back to my account? Damn. I will ask my husband and see maybe he could transfer $100 to my account.
I wanted to reorganize the closets to accomodate all of our clothes. I went to Lowe’s last night to write down on prices. And it wasn’t that bad. I will see if we can do this next week or in 2 weeks (next payday). We also need to have the kitchen fixed. This is a big project. We might need to spend between $2000 – 3000 (this to include fee to call someone to do the plumbing stuff). I looked at some cabinets last night at Lowe’s and they’re not so bad. Today my husband and I went to Contractor’s Best and prices were reasonable. So this year we definitely need to fix the kitchen. It might not be my dream kitchen but it’ll be A LOT better than what we have now I am sure.
My husband has been working so much. This payday he’s supposed to have close to $2500 in his account but one of the places where he works at messed up the payroll thingie so he is missing close to $400 of his paycheck–this will be deposited in 2 weeks I think. In a way I think it is kinda good. Because we’d have extra money next time around.
My husband told me that his boss was asking him about his plan 5 years from now –career wise. I think his boss wanted to know if he was interested in applying his job in the future–as the CFO. And in short my husband responded by saying yes. Also, his boss told him that he’d give him a raise. Hopefully soon. I hope he gets like $500 extra a month (take-home). That would be super nice. Right now, I bring home $3300 and he brings home $1700 + 1000 (part-time). This is actually more than what we need for all the expenses (except CC payments). My paychecks alone are sufficient to cover monthly expenses. And his paychecks would be good to use toward CC payments. This is what we are working on right now.
Oh I am so tired. I have to pick up my husband from work soon. He is working until 1AM tonight from his part time job. I love my husband. He has so much dedication. I hope we are able to pay off our debts as soon as possible so that we can enjoy our life back. And money!!!!!!!!
Before I bought a house with my husband in downtown, I dreamed of having this cozy house in the middle of a lush green land. With a pond nearby surrounded by old oak trees. White fence all around. I’d spend my Spring and Summer afternoons watching my dogs running around–free and happy. Maybe I’d let my cats play outside too. I’d have a small organic garden. Greens and tomatoes. Adirondack chairs surrounding the pond. Pound cakes and cooled sweet tea on a warm Summer afternoon. Sweet melodies on the radio. Vintage apron. Oh maybe I’d spend some time laying on a hammock under the oak tree when the weather is warm and nice. Blue sky. Close my eyes. Listen to the quiteness of the world by my side. Simple life.
I must have been a farmer’s wife in my previous life.
