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Archive for August, 2008

That same old song and dance...

August 21st, 2008 at 01:46 am

Well, I'm registered for my classes. The trick now is paying for them. This is not my favorite game, let me tell you. I'm one of the lucky random students being audited for my fafsa, so it's a mess of paperwork before I can even get evaluated for my financial aid. It'll take another 5 weeks. Because of this, I have to sign up for a payment plan, which includes a $30 fee and a $500 deposit. Argh. I'd have the money if I didn't just spend it all on my summer classes...

Soooo. I have until this coming monday to come up with the money, or I'll be slapped with a $50 late fee. Then, I have until next friday to come up with the amount plus the late fee or I get my classes dropped.

Why does it always seem like I'm racing against the clock? Or the calender, as it were.

The good news is that I think I may be able to wing it by monday. Assuming that I make semi-decent money at work in the next couple days. But then again, it is nearing the end of the week, so that may not be a possibility. We have more people on staff at the end of the week, thus more people to split tables between. Let's hope there are a lot of people out there who wanna drink at my restaurant!

In a guilty fuss I'm going to admit that I *gasp!* spent money on clothes in the last week. I was at walmart and saw plain tanks for $4 each, so I bought 2 (mine are getting kind of gross because I wear them like crazy). I was also at the consignment shop picking up the last of the profit my clothes generated (a whole $9) when I spotted a pair of american eagle jeans in my size for only $14.38. I reeeeeeaally needed another pair of jeans. Mine are all full of holes, and it's getting quite ridiculous. Thus, spending the money was well worth it. There you have it. My back to school shopping. $23-ish.

It's been a stressful week, and it seems that it's not going to get any better. I've got quite a bit of pressure on me to make some money. I have tuition and books (to the tune of $200) to cover in the next week. My credit card will be maxed out, and my EF is gone. It's times like these that make me happy that I opted to do school part-time this semester. I want to get some stuff caught up and whittled down. I hope business picks up a bit.

I was hoping to go out this weekend to celebrate the new semester, or at least mourn the last weekend I'll have free. My schedule is going to be quite hectic come next week. Here's how it stands:

Monday: Work 11-6pm. School 6:40-7:55pm.
Tuesday: School 7:45-9:00am. Work 11-6pm.
Wednesday: Work 11-6pm. School 6:40-7:55pm.
Tuesday: School 7:45-9:00am. Work 11-6pm.
Friday: Work 11-6pm.
Saturday: Class 12:00-2:40pm.
Sunday: Sweet sweet relief.

Saturday class wouldn't be so bad except it's 35 minutes away, so it's more like class from 11:15-3:30pm, which pretty much kills my saturdays. Ah well. Guess it's time to put those time managment skills to work.

It's looking like I wont meet all my goals for this month afterall, but I'm hoping I will have my classes all situated before long. That's definitely top priority.

At any rate, enough rambling. I hope everyone is doing well, and good luck to the rest of you students out there. I hope we all have a great semester!

Summer classes PAID OFF!

August 16th, 2008 at 06:26 pm

Finally, the moment of glory has come. My summer classes are all paid off. Thus, I can go into the university and put in a form, pay a fee, and register for my classes. Things are finally coming together.

In other news, BF and I opened that joint checking account today. So we're on our way to having a system down. I'm quite thrilled. I made some stellar money this week at work, so hopefully I'll have a little to contribute to it.

I've been going a little off-budget in the last week or so. All in food and dining out. Always the culprit... However, other than that I've been really good. I just need to cook more. For someone who loves to cook as much as I do you'd think that wouldn't be a problem, but I've been spending too much on food at work again. And everywhere else.

A new week is starting soon, however, so things will get a fresh new start. I'm excited to register for my classes. I feel a bit accomplished that I've almost got everything set. It brings me closer to graduation and a job, so I'm doubly pleased Smile

Good and bad news: BF may not be going to Iraq afterall. Good news is that he likely will not be going (at least not this year). The bad news is that he really wanted to go, so I feel bad in some respect. It would have been great for him financially, and he wanted to experience it. There is opportunity for him to go with his own unit in 2010, however. So things still may end up going down that road. In the mean time, he's got some stuff to think about in terms of what he wants to do with his future and all that.

So anyhoo. I'm going to cut this here. Too much rambling and all. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Update.

August 12th, 2008 at 03:43 pm

Well, it's been a little while. I cant say that there is much news outside of my boss driving me absolutely crazy at work. Last week was quite hellish. I really dont get employers who give no training and expect their new employees to be perfect at their job after only 2 weeks. It's beyond me. But, for this week, I have a job. And my boss has not threatened it yet this week (of course, it is only tuesday. haha). Let's hope he removes whatever object is stuck in his rear-end.

It's getting close to tuition time, and I have almost what I need. BF owes me a bit of money (I paid the security deposit, the stuff we got at IKEA over the weekend, groceries for the last 2 weeks, etc). He only gets paid 2 times a month, and I'd rather it all be in one lump sum. That way I cant spend it.

I'm a little concerned about how tuition will work for the fall, but I'm going to cross that bridge when I come to it. Hopefully I'll be able to get on a payment plan.

Other than that, just settling in the new place, trying not to lose my mind. You know. I made my goal of making $150 in extra income already this month. I made $106 selling books on amazon in the last couple weeks, and I babysat the other day which netted me $60. So perhaps I'll shoot for $200? Smile

I think that's it for now. Everyone have a wonderful day!

Tuesday update.

August 5th, 2008 at 01:38 pm

Well, not that much on the financial front. I made really decent money yesterday, which was great. Ate dinner in last night: zuchinni and shells in chunky marinara. Mmm. BF and I were both terribly tired and ended up going to bed fairly early.

I have a couple of errands to run this morning. I need to go to the bank to make a deposit, then I have to go to the post office to send out the books I sold on amazon.

Then work til 6. Bleh. Work has been going good except my boss has been a raging jerk for the last few days. We need to call in a doctor to surgically remove the stick that's been up his *ahem*. Enough griping, however.

Tonight BF and I are going to mom's for dinner. My little brother is in town (he's been doing basic and training with the Airforce for quite a while now). I'm pretty excited to see him and hang with the fam Smile

Well, I've got to get this day rolling. Everyone have a good one!

Just an ordinary check-in :)

August 3rd, 2008 at 04:30 pm

Well, my fiscal July is over, thus fiscal august is here. I made over $100 last night at work, so the month went out with a bang Smile

I met all of my July goals save one: I only made $108 in additional income, so I didn't hit my $150 mark, but it still wasn't too shabby.

The same goal in August will be very easily obtained, as I have a babysitting gig, an editing gig, and sold 2 books on amazon this week. That alone will bring me up to over $100. It looks like it could be a good month Smile

As for today, it's been somewhat of a lazy day, though I need to start stepping things up. I slept in, but also didn't get home from work until a little after 3am. Bars... bleh. Still, I have to do my grocery shopping, and then BF and I are going to go to the old apartment, get the rest of our stuff out of it, and then clean. Yippie. haha.

Still have yet to tackle that desk... I may just have to do it on my own. We'll see.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone that commented on my last post about how BF and I are working out our finances. It makes me feel a little better about things. And to reply to BA briefly: Yes, it probably is easier to just split the bills and not bother with a joint account, but it's the act of doing it together that I think is going to really strengthen our relationship financially. Considering the rate of divorce and some of the popular rifts (financial problems being one of them), I'd like to make sure we can work together when it comes to money *before* we get married. So I'm thinking of this as a sort of beginning step to marital bliss in the future Smile

Other than that, I have no ground-breaking news. It's going to be a very busy week, but it'll hopefully be a profitable one. I need to really step things up in the next couple weeks so I can be assured that I'll be going to class in the fall.

Wish me luck!

Everyone have a great day, I'm off to grocery shop!

Relationship Financial stuff and August Goals

August 2nd, 2008 at 10:30 pm

Well, BF and I have had the chance to sit down and talk about some things concerning our finances. We've decided to open a joint bank account for our living expenses, and split the bills 30/70, as he makes substantially more than I do. I was really uncomfortable with this at first, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense. Besides, it will fluctuate, and who knows... there may be a time when I make more than he does, and the percentages will change accordingly.

I'm fairly excited to see how things will pan out with the joint expenses. I think it will be a good experience for both of us. I think it will help work more compromise into our relationship (not that we do poorly in that area, but still), and I also think some of my frugal budgeting hooplah will rub off on BF, and do him some good.

We got set up with renter's insurance. It's going to run us about $17/month. Not bad at all. I still need to talk through my life insurance policy with ma and see what my options are, and perhaps cancel my policy for the time being. $321/year really isn't THAT much money, but part of me would rather be investing it. But we'll see...

We're almost set in the new place, but we still need to get the desk organized. That's going to be a big project... ah well, a little at a time, I guess.

I sold 2 books on amazon, totalling about $80. Very nice. It will do wonders for the tuition payment I have to make here in a bit.

I'm not going to write out my total august budget here, but I am going to put down my goals. My fiscal august starts on monday, so here it is:

*Pay off summer classes by the 15th.
*Register for fall.
*Save up at least $100 for Kenya trip in may 09.
*Make at least $150 in additional income.
*Dont touch CC (except for paying off classes).
*Stay under budget.
*Pay off at least $150 on CC.
*No buying: Fast food, clothes, CD's, movies, or books for pleasure.

We'll see how it goes. Alrighty. Time to get ready for work. Everyone have a great day!