Maybe?
I just got offered a part-time seasonal position at Northern Reflections. It's not trendy, or cool. But it seems like a pleasant place to work, which is what I really need as a second job. I have the opportunity to be working in two locations, because I technically was hired for one, which has some evening hours, which works best with my availability, but the manager who hired me is actually going to be at another store, that's just opening this week and says she wants me to work for her. So I might get experience in both stores. Which would add a nice element of variation to it.
We'll see how it works out. Maybe I can play it out into an actual part-time job. She did say in the interview that was a possibility. That would probably be nice. We'll see.
Right now, I'm just excited that I have a little bit less stress, knowing that I'll have even a tiny bit more money coming in for a couple of months.
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
and repeat...
Another interview for another part-time job this afternoon. *shrug* Kind of torn now. Don't know which one I'd prefer. Which, since I haven't been offered either is kind of a moot point, I realize, but I hope that something comes out of one of these. That would be nice. A little less stress in the form of budget ease would be lovely. Especially coming up to Christmas.
Beyond that nothing is happening. Life is dull. And that's mostly because of the budget stress.
I do get to go see Nick Carter on Thursday. That's exciting. But also stressful, because I still owe my friend for the ticket. And I have to pay for gas to get there. *sigh* It all comes down to that, doesn't it?
Beyond that nothing is happening. Life is dull. And that's mostly because of the budget stress.
I do get to go see Nick Carter on Thursday. That's exciting. But also stressful, because I still owe my friend for the ticket. And I have to pay for gas to get there. *sigh* It all comes down to that, doesn't it?
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
My strange addiction
Okay, so it's not really that strange. I am addicted to shoes. I love them. I love how high heels look, how cute they are, all the fun colours they come in. But, for the most part, I don't really want to wear them. I would really just live in my Skechers.
This is really how my brain works. I want to own the pretty shoes, I want to possess them, I want to make them mine but I don't really want to wear them anywhere, because they're never as comfortable as my Skechers. Any of my Skechers actually, since I own multiple styles of them.
I own a decent number of heels too. All different brands, different colours, different styles. But I still look at them and love them and want to wear them. And then I go for flats.
I'm just not willing to choose style over comfort.
The reason for this rant? My newest acquisitions (Damn Payless and their BOGO events.)
I actually went in to replace the pair that I'd been wearing all day, because they were sorely in need of replacement. So it's all my own fault. (And that damn BOGO.) One positive is that I did have enough willpower to stop at 2 pairs. I seriously fell in love with about 8 different styles.
I really like the black patents. They're the pair that works as the replacement. They're simple, but the patent makes them a little more fun. And it makes them look less like just plain black shoes. Besides, who doesn't love black patent shoes?!? Am I right?
The other ones, well, I just like them. They're fun. And not quite black. They're really a dark gun metal-like grey. So different.
The other weird part is that these are "skinny" heels. I'm usually firmly against skinny heels. Obviously, they're not stilettos, but they are definitely thinner and taller than I would normally buy. But I was completely comfortable in them. The heels anyway, the shoes will take a little working in, but I tried them on at the end of the day after wearing heels all day, so they should be perfectly fine.
So yey. Pretty new shoes for me. To go with the pretty new pants I bought yesterday.
Ya, sticking to that budget really well, aren't I?
In my defense, I needed pants to replace the ones that I can no longer wear, and needed shoes to replace the ones that were broken. Both the pants and the shoes that were replaced have already been disposed of.
This is really how my brain works. I want to own the pretty shoes, I want to possess them, I want to make them mine but I don't really want to wear them anywhere, because they're never as comfortable as my Skechers. Any of my Skechers actually, since I own multiple styles of them.
I own a decent number of heels too. All different brands, different colours, different styles. But I still look at them and love them and want to wear them. And then I go for flats.
I'm just not willing to choose style over comfort.
The reason for this rant? My newest acquisitions (Damn Payless and their BOGO events.)
I actually went in to replace the pair that I'd been wearing all day, because they were sorely in need of replacement. So it's all my own fault. (And that damn BOGO.) One positive is that I did have enough willpower to stop at 2 pairs. I seriously fell in love with about 8 different styles.
I really like the black patents. They're the pair that works as the replacement. They're simple, but the patent makes them a little more fun. And it makes them look less like just plain black shoes. Besides, who doesn't love black patent shoes?!? Am I right?
The other ones, well, I just like them. They're fun. And not quite black. They're really a dark gun metal-like grey. So different.
The other weird part is that these are "skinny" heels. I'm usually firmly against skinny heels. Obviously, they're not stilettos, but they are definitely thinner and taller than I would normally buy. But I was completely comfortable in them. The heels anyway, the shoes will take a little working in, but I tried them on at the end of the day after wearing heels all day, so they should be perfectly fine.
So yey. Pretty new shoes for me. To go with the pretty new pants I bought yesterday.
Ya, sticking to that budget really well, aren't I?
In my defense, I needed pants to replace the ones that I can no longer wear, and needed shoes to replace the ones that were broken. Both the pants and the shoes that were replaced have already been disposed of.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Wow...
Okay, so I'm obviously being a slacker with this blog lately. Mostly because there's not a whole lot to say.
Financially, things are basically the same. I have to be really careful with everything I spend. I do have amazing friends, who are making things easier by figuring out plans for me. Like the friend who has decided that she's going to come to my other friend's wedding in Vegas, because she knows a travel agent and we'll maybe get a better deal, and well for me, if I'm splitting a hotel room that makes it cheaper. So amazing!!
I also have amazing parents. I lost my Ipod Touch just over a week ago, and was kind of depressed about it. I have no idea where it got lost; I swore it was in my purse and then it wasn't and it's just gone. But my parents replaced it. I didn't ask them to. In fact, I said I didn't want them to because I already owe them a lot, but they did and I very much appreciate it, because I was feeling very lost without it. It's amazing how attached we get to our technology.
Otherwise there's really nothing going on. NKOTBSB released a single this week. It's pretty awesome. So I'm looking forward to the tour even more now. And another friend pre-ordered the album for me, for my birthday, so that's exciting.
On the job front, there's nothing new. I'm still struggling to control my frustrations, and the changes that it makes in my personality are not pleasing, but for now, it's a paycheck and I just have to suck it up. Everyone isn't always happy. I just have to deal with that. I should be grateful I have a job. I know. But that's precisely all it is. A job. There is nothing else it can be. As everyone tells me, the next best thing will come. And I know that. Everything happens for a reason. I'll survive. Hardship makes you stronger, right? It'll make me more appreciative in the future.
Right now, I'm just being grateful for my friends and my family and my books that allow to escape on a regular basis.
Financially, things are basically the same. I have to be really careful with everything I spend. I do have amazing friends, who are making things easier by figuring out plans for me. Like the friend who has decided that she's going to come to my other friend's wedding in Vegas, because she knows a travel agent and we'll maybe get a better deal, and well for me, if I'm splitting a hotel room that makes it cheaper. So amazing!!
I also have amazing parents. I lost my Ipod Touch just over a week ago, and was kind of depressed about it. I have no idea where it got lost; I swore it was in my purse and then it wasn't and it's just gone. But my parents replaced it. I didn't ask them to. In fact, I said I didn't want them to because I already owe them a lot, but they did and I very much appreciate it, because I was feeling very lost without it. It's amazing how attached we get to our technology.
Otherwise there's really nothing going on. NKOTBSB released a single this week. It's pretty awesome. So I'm looking forward to the tour even more now. And another friend pre-ordered the album for me, for my birthday, so that's exciting.
On the job front, there's nothing new. I'm still struggling to control my frustrations, and the changes that it makes in my personality are not pleasing, but for now, it's a paycheck and I just have to suck it up. Everyone isn't always happy. I just have to deal with that. I should be grateful I have a job. I know. But that's precisely all it is. A job. There is nothing else it can be. As everyone tells me, the next best thing will come. And I know that. Everything happens for a reason. I'll survive. Hardship makes you stronger, right? It'll make me more appreciative in the future.
Right now, I'm just being grateful for my friends and my family and my books that allow to escape on a regular basis.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
life
I'm not sure what I'm posting today. No major events in my life, which is not unusual, though is getting highly redundant. Or repetitive. My language skills are off today.
I did manage to consolidate the greater majority of my debt. This is good. One payment instead of 3 is nice. It relieves a lot of stress. And helps with the goal of budgeting. Though now I'm on a tighter budget because I no longer have any credit products. But it's nice to think that I can live actually on the money that I'm bringing in, instead of putting it on a card. Which is stupid, because even when I had the cards I could have done that. I just wasn't forced to the way that I am now.
So, my forms of entertainment, now that I'm living on a major budget, are: reading the books I already own, watching the cable that I already pay for, using the internet that I already pay for, exercising using the DVDs and equipment that I already own, and cleaning. These are all things that relate to my resolutions, so this is good. Everything comes together sometimes.
Now, if only I could work out what I'm doing with the rest of my life, instead of being bitter and angry where I am, everything would be great! ; P
I did manage to consolidate the greater majority of my debt. This is good. One payment instead of 3 is nice. It relieves a lot of stress. And helps with the goal of budgeting. Though now I'm on a tighter budget because I no longer have any credit products. But it's nice to think that I can live actually on the money that I'm bringing in, instead of putting it on a card. Which is stupid, because even when I had the cards I could have done that. I just wasn't forced to the way that I am now.
So, my forms of entertainment, now that I'm living on a major budget, are: reading the books I already own, watching the cable that I already pay for, using the internet that I already pay for, exercising using the DVDs and equipment that I already own, and cleaning. These are all things that relate to my resolutions, so this is good. Everything comes together sometimes.
Now, if only I could work out what I'm doing with the rest of my life, instead of being bitter and angry where I am, everything would be great! ; P
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Sometimes it does pay to answer telemarketing calls!
Let me preface the actual story by saying that I have online billing with Rogers Cable for my internet/home phone/cable. They're supposed to send me email notifications when the bill is ready to view. I haven't gotten a notification for this month's bill, and the bill is actually due next week. So I filled in one of those "contact us" notification forms on the Rogers website. Didn't really think anything of it. Until....
I'm sitting at home last night (only about 3 hours after I filled in the form, mind you) when the phone rings, and I can see that it's some random 888 number, so it's going to be telemarketing of some kind. I debated not answering, because more often than not these calls are from Rogers trying to make me change my wireless to them. But I caved and I answered the phone. The woman on the other end says, very politely, and in completely flawless English, something about Rogers valuing their customers and how they're checking to see that people have no concerns, complaints or similar. And I thought, huh, that's interesting and decided to tell her that yes, I did have one issue, and told her about not receiving the notifications. She started to ask me to wait a few days to see if it came, but when I told her the bill was actually due this week, she checked further, and said yes, I should have received it by now, and that they'd be glad to do something to make up for that inconvenience. She made a note in my file that I hadn't been receiving the notifications, and then asked me how I was enjoying The Movie Network. I thought, well, that's an odd question, but I told her that I liked it a lot, and that I had often thought of getting rid of it, but that's always when some new bunch of movies that I wanted to see would show up. I just wished there was a more economical way to have The Movie Network.
Now, this is where the interesting part is: The next thing she says to me is, "Well, how would you like The Movie Network free for 12 months." I was kind of surprised. I figured when she started that sentence that she was going to say 1 month. But no, she clearly said 12. And this is all just because I didn't get an email notification about my bill. I said that would be fabulous! The only catch is that I have to keep my cable for 12 months. That's not really a catch for me, because the only thing I would switch to would be Bell satellite, and I can't have it here in my building.
So, ultimately, just because I didn't get the email notification about my bill, I am now saving almost $240 over the next year with Rogers.
And THAT is why it sometimes pays to answer telemarketing calls.
I'm sitting at home last night (only about 3 hours after I filled in the form, mind you) when the phone rings, and I can see that it's some random 888 number, so it's going to be telemarketing of some kind. I debated not answering, because more often than not these calls are from Rogers trying to make me change my wireless to them. But I caved and I answered the phone. The woman on the other end says, very politely, and in completely flawless English, something about Rogers valuing their customers and how they're checking to see that people have no concerns, complaints or similar. And I thought, huh, that's interesting and decided to tell her that yes, I did have one issue, and told her about not receiving the notifications. She started to ask me to wait a few days to see if it came, but when I told her the bill was actually due this week, she checked further, and said yes, I should have received it by now, and that they'd be glad to do something to make up for that inconvenience. She made a note in my file that I hadn't been receiving the notifications, and then asked me how I was enjoying The Movie Network. I thought, well, that's an odd question, but I told her that I liked it a lot, and that I had often thought of getting rid of it, but that's always when some new bunch of movies that I wanted to see would show up. I just wished there was a more economical way to have The Movie Network.
Now, this is where the interesting part is: The next thing she says to me is, "Well, how would you like The Movie Network free for 12 months." I was kind of surprised. I figured when she started that sentence that she was going to say 1 month. But no, she clearly said 12. And this is all just because I didn't get an email notification about my bill. I said that would be fabulous! The only catch is that I have to keep my cable for 12 months. That's not really a catch for me, because the only thing I would switch to would be Bell satellite, and I can't have it here in my building.
So, ultimately, just because I didn't get the email notification about my bill, I am now saving almost $240 over the next year with Rogers.
And THAT is why it sometimes pays to answer telemarketing calls.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
New Year Resolutions
I was asked yesterday what goals I had for the new year. What you need to understand, before I answer this question is that I am usually strongly against making resolutions, because I just figure that I'll break them anyway, and any changes I make in my life should be things I change because I want to change them, not because I promise myself that I need to. So my rote answer is that I resolve not to make any resolutions.
This year though, I'm going to change that. I need something to motivate me to actually make those changes that I have internally promised myself for the past few months. And so, with that in mind, I am going to list the things that I want to accomplish in 2011.
1) I want to lose 30-40 pounds. This one I actually want to achieve in the first 6 months of the year, but it also involves creating better eating habits for myself, and then maintaining that weight loss, so it is a full year promise. When I started the process to lose last time, I started a blog here: http://waistfulthoughts.blogspot.com/ I'll be attempting to keep up with that again, as well as staying here.
2) I want to better budget my money. I need to teach myself that buying things will not make me feel better about my job when I'm stressed. This actually might go hand in hand with the one above. I can substitute exercise for shopping. Some of this budgeted money needs to go into a savings account so that I can afford to go to Vegas for my friend's wedding. The rest of it needs to go into paying down debt.
3) I want to continue to read. A lot. The past two years I've had 3 months where I've had nothing but time, so that I've set a good reading pace. I won't have that in 2011, so I want to promise myself that I will still keep the pace. Perhaps I'll read on the weekend instead of automatically turning on the television and watching brainless shows. I don't know yet. But I know that I've currently got a pace of at least 30 books/year. (You can watch my progress as I keep track at my bookshelf on Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/limada/shelf )
4) I want to go through some of the "stuff" that I've collected through my various phases and sell some of it, and just get rid of other things. I have to much stuff, and watching Hoarders has made me realize that I do not need it all. Plus, I don't have enough storage for it all. So, out it goes. I'm already working on this because my mom has a VCR that connects to the computer, so that you can create digital files from your VHS. I've been working on that for the past two days. Once they're on the computer, I will pitch the VHS. (Actually, I'll probably give it to Value Village, but I will no longer own it, which is the point.)
5) I think I want to learn to sew. I'll probably have to get my mother involved in this one. But it would be a good skill to have. And so, it's a goal.
6) I want to teach myself to cook more creatively. I'm a boring cook, and because of that, I don't like to do it. So I need to actually use the recipe books that I have, and find ways to make creative meals for a single person. This also fits with the first goal, because if I cook better for myself, then it will be easier to keep track of what I'm eating and therefore easier to lose the weight.
I think 6 is a good number of goals. None of them are impossible. In fact, all of them are things that I really should be doing anyway. But having them written out is a good thing. I have an ongoing goal of always trying to write. But as it's ongoing, and because this blog is actually part of the goal, I'll leave it off this list.
I always have other goals that I'd like to achieve in a year. Finding a new job, for example. But since it's not something that's completely in my control, I'm not including it, either. Or random things that come up along the way, that should fall in this category, but weren't visible when the year changed. I'll take those into account as I go, but if I can look back to this list on December 28, 2011 and mentally add check marks to these, then I'll feel as if I had a successful year.
This year though, I'm going to change that. I need something to motivate me to actually make those changes that I have internally promised myself for the past few months. And so, with that in mind, I am going to list the things that I want to accomplish in 2011.
1) I want to lose 30-40 pounds. This one I actually want to achieve in the first 6 months of the year, but it also involves creating better eating habits for myself, and then maintaining that weight loss, so it is a full year promise. When I started the process to lose last time, I started a blog here: http://waistfulthoughts.blogspot.com/ I'll be attempting to keep up with that again, as well as staying here.
2) I want to better budget my money. I need to teach myself that buying things will not make me feel better about my job when I'm stressed. This actually might go hand in hand with the one above. I can substitute exercise for shopping. Some of this budgeted money needs to go into a savings account so that I can afford to go to Vegas for my friend's wedding. The rest of it needs to go into paying down debt.
3) I want to continue to read. A lot. The past two years I've had 3 months where I've had nothing but time, so that I've set a good reading pace. I won't have that in 2011, so I want to promise myself that I will still keep the pace. Perhaps I'll read on the weekend instead of automatically turning on the television and watching brainless shows. I don't know yet. But I know that I've currently got a pace of at least 30 books/year. (You can watch my progress as I keep track at my bookshelf on Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/limada/shelf )
4) I want to go through some of the "stuff" that I've collected through my various phases and sell some of it, and just get rid of other things. I have to much stuff, and watching Hoarders has made me realize that I do not need it all. Plus, I don't have enough storage for it all. So, out it goes. I'm already working on this because my mom has a VCR that connects to the computer, so that you can create digital files from your VHS. I've been working on that for the past two days. Once they're on the computer, I will pitch the VHS. (Actually, I'll probably give it to Value Village, but I will no longer own it, which is the point.)
5) I think I want to learn to sew. I'll probably have to get my mother involved in this one. But it would be a good skill to have. And so, it's a goal.
6) I want to teach myself to cook more creatively. I'm a boring cook, and because of that, I don't like to do it. So I need to actually use the recipe books that I have, and find ways to make creative meals for a single person. This also fits with the first goal, because if I cook better for myself, then it will be easier to keep track of what I'm eating and therefore easier to lose the weight.
I think 6 is a good number of goals. None of them are impossible. In fact, all of them are things that I really should be doing anyway. But having them written out is a good thing. I have an ongoing goal of always trying to write. But as it's ongoing, and because this blog is actually part of the goal, I'll leave it off this list.
I always have other goals that I'd like to achieve in a year. Finding a new job, for example. But since it's not something that's completely in my control, I'm not including it, either. Or random things that come up along the way, that should fall in this category, but weren't visible when the year changed. I'll take those into account as I go, but if I can look back to this list on December 28, 2011 and mentally add check marks to these, then I'll feel as if I had a successful year.
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