I am so mad.
I drove home only to find out my favorite house on my block was SOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was supposed to be my future house!!!!! I wanted that house so bad. I prayed to God all the time. Sigh. I am so bummed.
I decided to change some things around on my blog. I added several measuring tools for my financial goals and changed the theme. As you can see on the side bar on the right hand side, I have added financial categories I’d like to achieve and eliminate: emergency fund, regular saving, house renovation fund, baby fund, retirement saving, and CC debts to eliminate. I could have lumped everything together into one or maybe 2 categories if I wanted to–emergency saving and other savings (baby saving, home improvement, vacation, etc).
The amount of money we save as of today is not much yet but I am hoping as we go along, we’ll be able to increase it. I tend to always spend my money so saving can be a challenge for me I have to admit. My husband is a frugal person and I am thankful for that. He hardly spend his money on anything. He gives me a big chunk of his pay to me to help pay the bills and to save. I realized I can’t spend money like there is no tomorrow. I realized that we have to start saving for the future since no one knows what the future brings. With the economy the way it is right now, money is getting harder to get.
I am so glad my husband will start his part-time job soon (in October). He should be able to bring in extra $400 – 600 a month from this part-time job. I plan on sending all those to our saving accounts. I know we have some CC debts, and call me crazy, but I would feel better if we have a big chunk of savings sitting in the bank right now. Some people might say our priorities are wrong but I want to have that peace of mind knowing that we have a sizeable emergency fund in case we need it. I’ve heard of many horror stories where families didn’t have any savings at all and they struggled to go on with their life. I don’t want that. I want to make sure my husband and I have savings in the bank. Especially I am living here by myself–no immediate families around– so I am forced to be as independent as possible. Should anything happen to me , I don’t want my husband to struggle either. I want him to have that financial peace of mind.
We plan on paying off our CC debts of course. If things going the way they are going right now, we should be able to pay off our debts by the end of 2009. If the economy was better, ok I am not shifting blames here, I would probably chose to pay debts aggressively rather than to send most of money sitting at the bank. But with the bad economy, I think it would be smart for us to have as much savings as possible. As long as we have our jobs, we’d be able to pay our CC debts. But if we lose our jobs and have no savings, well… that would spell troubles all around. Not a situation I want to be in.
I have to admit that there are times when I feel like what I do is nothing but to spend money. Then I regret it. Then I tell myself, there’ll be tomorrow to make it up. This is bad. It becomes a circle. This is why I get in debts. I do not want to be a spender. I want to be a saver and it is so damn hard sometimes. I guess if we were all savers, then malls wouldn’t exist. And the economy would collapse. I think we need another round of economic stimulus checks distribution. LOL. I can’t even remember what we did with ours–the one we received few months back. Initially, we had planned to save it. But then I think something came up and we had to use it.
Right now, I am dying to see our Emergency fund to grow to $5000. We use Emigrant Direct to save for this purpose. We also have one saving account with local credit union that we just started yesterday and we only have $195 in this account as of today. After we pay our bills, I’ll try to see if I can increase our new saving account to $500. Then, as soon as we hit the $5000 mark on our EF, I’ll pad our regular saving account to $1000. It’ll be a slow process but we’ll try our best. I am thinking with my husband’s part-time job, this shouldn’t be hard to achieve. Hopefully by the end of the year, we’ll be able to increase our EF to $5000 and our regular saving to $1000. If we can have more that’s good of course.
Ok. I think that’s all for now. My husband is watching his college team’s football team playing on TV. It’s half time now. I am hungry so I will fix myself something to eat soon.
Well, I didn’t make my husband pasta with meat sauce tonight. I made him snow peas and ground beef stir-fry. I served it with hot rice. I made several lunches/dinners tonight. I made meat patties, Shrimp salad, eggplant in garlic sauce, and I also boiled shrimp and eggs (to make Vietnamesse spring rolls). Tomorrow, I am going to make Chicken wings, Chicken tacos, Chicken fajitas, and Chicken parmesan for my husband. As for me, I am going to make tofu and veggie stir-fry and soy crumble and veggie in oyster sauce. I might want to make Tuna melt too.
I am on diet right now, so I am trying to eat very, very light. The meals I make should last me for more than a week. My husband can be picky sometimes but I should be able to make him all the meals for the week tomorrow that way I don’t have to cook on weeknights.
Tomorrow morning after church I am going grocery to get some fruits. I should have enough veggies to last for a week. I’ll pack everything for the week tomorrow so we can just do grab-and-go for work lunches.
We have a week supply of yogurt and cottage cheese. I also have some soymilk in the fridge as well as regular milk. I am lactose intollerant so can’t really drink milk but I am fine with cheese, icre cream, or cream cheese, etc, just not milk.
Need to pick up a couple bags of cat foods and dog foods tomorrow. We’d need cat litter as well.
There is a toilet paper sale at one of the local grocery stores. $4.99 for Scott tissues. I am going to grab 2 packs (I think it has 12 per pack). Should last us till the end of the year. We still have enough paper towels I think (we go through a lot of this with so many animals in the house).
Fresh salmon is on sale!!! $5.99/lb. Might get a pound or two of that.
I am trying to serve my husband one or two meatless dinners in a week. I wonder if he’ll like the idea. I know that I have been reducing his meat portions. It’s fine if he still wants to eat meats but I think it should be reduced. People in America eat too much meats. Seems like they eat that for every single meal. I feel a lot healthier since I stopped eating beef, pork, lamb, and chicken. I still eat seafoods–occasionally. I eat lots of veggies, tofu, and fruits.
Ok. Time to go to bed.
(Monday)
Labor day!!!!!
Well. We didn’t do anything special for Labor day this year. My husband had to work today. I had a day off. So that kinda stinks.I went to see a movie with my little sister. We watched Walle. It was good I suppose. We had lunch at Burger King before going to the movie. And after the movie we got some milk shakes from Steak and Shake. All and all, it was fun.
I did laundry this morning. So tiring.
I cooked dinner in the evening. I made myself some soy-crumble stir fry with snow peas. I fried one egg. I ate them with steamed rice. It was good. Simple and filling. I am having the same thing for my lunch tomorrow. Lunch. Work. Uggh. I hate going to work at my office sometimes. Oh well. I guess I have to earn money somehow.
I made my husband ground beef stir fry with snow peas. He ate it with steam rice. He said it was good. I didn’t really taste it so I went with my gut when seasoning it. I also made my husband little burgers to eat with salads. I seasoned them so I hope they taste pretty tasty. If not, my husband can always drizzle some hot sauce on them.
I am tired. It is almost 9.30 and I want to sleep soon. My husband is watching Prison Break. It’s the season premiere I think. He is a big fan of the TV show.
Tomorrow will be Tuesday already. We’ll only have 4 working days this week. Woohoo. And the weather men said Hurricane Hanna is coming our way so I am hoping we get some days off. I am so lazy this year I don’t know why. I have so much in my mind I guess. I don’t know. I am going to bed now.
Yesterday before I went to work, my husband took me out to an early dinner and ice cream dessert followed. It was nice of him. We had some fish dinner and he took me to my favorite ice cream shop in town (it’s a mom and pop ice cream parlor). I really enjoyed it. I didn’t see my husband much last week. And I won’t be able to see him for 3 days and 2 nights this week since he has to go to St.Petersburg from Wednesday through Friday for work-related event he has to attend. I am going to miss him so much. But next week I have a whole week off and I will see him every single day!!!!!!! Yay. Tonight I am going to cook him something special. Tomorrow night too. I’ve got it all planned already.
I know it sounds silly but sometimes, little things like that make me happy. Being with my husband. Spending time with my dogs. Just being at home with them makes me happy. It makes my soul leaps in joy and pure happiness.
I was talking to my coworkers at work last night about some of our coworkers who have been looking very unhappy working at our office. Since the new boss arrived, things changed so much in so little time. It’s not a good kind of change. It’s bad. We’re going downhill. A lot of people feel so pressured and pressed. It’s just not a happy place to work anymore. It does not do good to our sanity at all. I am feeling the pressures. I am new in my current position (been doing it for 7 months only). I always fake a smile when I am at work. And trust me, doing that for 12 hours a day is NOT easy. It’s stupid. Sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself. I am hurting nobody but myself. Deep inside, I feel miserable at work. I want to quit. I want to run away from that place. I hate my work. I used to like it. The new boss does not want to listen to anybody’s suggestions. He does not care. He will throw you under the bus if that makes him look better in front of his boss. I don’t know what I am going to do to be honest. I don’t feel like staying there anymore.
Sometimes I feel so lucky that my husband has a full time job. Most of the people at my department are males and they are the breadwinner of their families. So it can be hard for most of them to quit their job. If I really want to, I can quit my job and if I find a part time job somewhere, we’d still make it. But to most of these people at my work, there is no option like that. They cannot quit. If they quit, their family won’t have anything to eat. It sucks. I pray and I beg to God so that the situation will get better in our office/department. I don’t know. God can work some kind of miracle. I know He can. He will help all of us in need.
And if things get really really really bad, I can always call my mom and borrow money from her. She is always there for me. I love my mom.
It is almost 6.30AM Monday morning. My husband will be up in a little bit. I plan to go to church today at 12 to attend Novena Mass. I have lots to pray to God. I know God hears our prayers and he listens and he answers each and every prayer we have.
Uggghh. My job drives me crazy. The other day someone asked me why I applied for another position. I wanted to tell him that I hate this job SO much I’d take any other jobs in a heartbeat but instead I chose a more diplomatic answer. You never know who you can trust at work. I try not to spill any beans I have. I apply for whatever job I want. None of their business. I want to get another job that offers a regular schedule (and a nicer boss). I want to be able to see my husband every single evening and weekend. I want to hug him when I am sleeping at night. I want to spend weekends with him. I want to go out with friends on weekend or any Monday nights or whatever. I want my family time back. My current job is so stupid. I feel stupid for doing it. I don’t know why. I am not happy and it won’t make anyone else happy. I try to be happy and I think I put on a quite darn good show at work concealing my real feeling of my job. I fucking hate my job. I hate it so much I’d do anything in the world to win the lottery so I don’t have to go back to my office ever again.
I want that balance between work and family again. I want my sanity and health back. I don’t want to go to work feeling all presured and stressed out even before I begin the day.
*Sigh*
I need to go to bed.
After 6 months hiding my regret for taking a supposedly higher-level job without taking a single raise, I decided to apply for a different position at work. A position with more flexible work hours. Something regular. A Monday to Friday job. Unlike what I am doing now.
I’ve had enough.
I still cannot believe I actually agreed to take the job without any pay raise. I have to do more harder works and no extra compensation. For months I tried to convince myself. But instead, I feel like I have been lying to myself. Who am I kidding. I am not happy. I refuse to live my life like this. I don’t want to do the thing I do not enjoy.
I’ve been having headaches for the last 2 days just thinking about this.
This time, I feel so right about applying for the other position.
I emailed home to tell the story of my car.
Mom called the next morning to tell me she is transfering $15,000 into my account. She asked me to get another car that is more reliable and NOT Ford.
I am thinking of getting an Audi or a BMW. I’d like a Mercedes but they cost more I think. My husband does not care about cars so he doesn’t care what I am getting. Although he is pushing me toward a Honda or Toyota. Why does everyone think a Honda or a Toyota is cheaper than a BMW? Have you checked car prices lately? a 2006 Honda Accord costs exactly, if not more, than a 2006 BMW. Yet everyone thinks a BMW costs more than a Honda.
When I told the story about my car to everyone at work, they said to me: oh get a Honda Civic or Accord. I said yeah that’s a good choice. I drove a Honda Accord when I was in college. It was a nice car. Very, very reliable. Don’t think I ever had a serious problem with it. Well, of course my parents bought the car brand new so that would make a huge difference I guess than buying a used one.
My dad owned a brand new 3 series BMW a while back. He loved it. I tried to convince him to give me the car he said no. He bought me an Accord instead. My family loves Honda. They can afford any car they want but they always opt to buying a Honda. My mom said she just bought a CRV not long ago. I am not too crazy about Honda CRV. It’s nice but I don’t want one right now.
My heart is set on a European-made car right now. My husband is probably going to think I am crazy. And everyone else too.
Husband and I went to Carmax yesterday early evening to see cars. And I kept on telling him I want a BMW and he thought I was kidding. Yes of course, this was before my mom called me this morning. And now I don’t think he thinks I am joking anymore when I said I wanted a BMW.
Life is short. Aahhh might as well splurge a little.
My mom is the absolute best. I love her SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much. She is the most generous person I’ve ever known in my whole life. I have never met anyone as generous as my mom. Everytime I asked her help with money, she’d send it right away. She is so wealthy and I AM NOT!!!!!!!!! Drives me crazy sometimes. But it does give me a peace of mind sometimes, I admit it. I know that if anything goes wrong, there is my mom that I can count on. This makes me sound so not independent doesn’t it? I love my mom.
My mom does not know about this blog but you know what mom, I want to tell the world that I love you so very, very much. You are the best thing God ever created in my life. We might live far away from one another but I hold you dear in my heart. I love you Mom.
Someone quit today.
It’s surprising but pretty predictable.
I got my work schedule for the rest of the year. I have to work Christmas eve and night. I get extra money though which totaled to around $350.
I am drawing blank in my mind right now. Blah.
I am off for a week starting tomorrow.
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.
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!!!!!!
