I'm proud to say that on Saturday I took my laptop with me and worked on my presentation to the Minister of Tourism...all it needs is some music..now I need to work on my cover letter, too!...once that is ready, I'll burn a CD and drop it by the Ministry...my deadline is next Tuesday!...I will work on the music today and tomorrow (first find something appropriate, then put it in)...
wish me luck!

well, so far I've made 2 contacts (out of "required" 4)...this weekend I'm planning to tune up my presentation for the Minister of Tourism and, the plan is to drop it off at the Ministry no later than Wednesday next week!...
This year, actively seeking translations for the E-Spiral will be my $20 challenge...wish me luck!

That was my share of our earnings for the Xmas + School supply sales...

Allocated as follows:

staying on track with my proposed plan and re-working the numbers:
cc == $295.00 (to be paid tomorrow)
Ale's bed == $116 (PAID $108.53/ PENDING $8)
Ale's school == $137 (PAID)
Ale's transportation from school == $30 (PAID)
personal loan == $69.63 (PAID)
Infamous phone bill == $303.15 (PAID)

car maintenance (tires,brakes and shockabsorbers)== pending, depending on cousin's payment (wish me luck!)

Which basically means I'm "broke" again...but, Ale has a new bed and I have $597.37 less debt...and I'm up-to-date with all payments...I can DEFINETELY live with that!

Now, I need to re-focus my "outside of work" energies into the translation business!!

1. keep better track of my spending- managed to stay within budget this month (barely!)...we still have to buy the stuff for New Year's Eve, but, I still have $79 "left over" for that...


4. continue to lower my overall debt - I started Jan 05 with ~$17K (out of which ~$4K were for a loan and the rest -~$13K!-pure cc debt) and, am starting Jan 06 with $~11K (with ~$8K for a loan and ~$3K in cc debt)... expect to be able to end Dec '06 with ~$7K, which I expect to be purely for the loan... to come partly from the English classes/$20 challenge. ...current situation is: $12.9K total: ~$7.9K (refinanced) loan, ~$2.6K car loan, ~$609 personal loan, $1.3K other personal loan… Phone bill is $200...$600 on a cc for toy/school supply sale expenses (pending full payment in Jan)…

...I am the "administrator" for our expat houses...that means I deal with landlords/landladies and process all payments...homeowners are supposed to bring me their receipts/invoices for processing...there's this one house that has the landlady from hell...she's very disorganized, doesn't want to pay for repairs, is late in paying security fees (eventhough we pay it every month as part of the rent!)...it is just easier for me to type/print her invoices and just ask her to come and sign them every 3 or 4 months than it is to explain to her every month that her payment hasn't been processed because she hasn't brought the invoices!...well, today she came to sign the first invoices for 2007...she gave a Xmas gift: a cheque for $30!...I didn't even look at the cheque, she said it was: "a little something", so I just thanked her and pocketed it...I certainly didn't expect ANYthing...much less $30!...I'm off to the bank to cash it...then off to yet ANOTHER bank (across the street) to put it towards a cc!...this one definetely goes towards the $20 challenge, because it was so unexpected!

***************
DONE!

managed to collect $100 more! woo-hoo!

just typing it so I don't forget to add it! $100 for admin services from JULY!!!...

Total for November
Challenge statistics:
to discount from challenge this month:
$0

Earned in September: $250.00

net for January: $12.15
net for February: $318.40
net for March:$380.00
net for April: $222.00
net for May:$336.86
Net for June: $32.50
Net for July: $210.00
Net for August: $835
Net for September: $430.00
Net for October: $434.00
Net for November: $250.00
Total ytd for 2006 (net):$3,460.95

TARGET: $4,000

$539.05/ 1 month to go!...it's looking tough!...still, I really didn't expect to be able to make more than $2,000!

got paid $50 today...this is still paying for admin services for July!

got paid $40 on Sunday and another $40 yesterday...

I just received a request for a 27-page translation from HR!!!...that's $364.50 after taxes!!!...wooo-hooo!!! (of course, they take about a month to pay, but....still!!)

$20 collected for admin services...

woo-hoo! collected another $100!!...

forgot to add up the $20 challenge for October

Total for October
Challenge statistics:
to discount from challenge this month:
-$6 (taxes)

Earned in September: $440.00

net for January: $12.15
net for February: $318.40
net for March:$380.00
net for April: $222.00
net for May:$336.86
Net for June: $32.50
Net for July: $210.00
Net for August: $835
Net for September: $430.00
Net for October: $434.00
Total ytd for 2006 (net):$3,210.95

TARGET: $4,000

$789.05/ 2 months to go!

...yesterday, when I gave my keys to one of the managers so he could take my car home (I took theirs, so I could leave straight from home at 6:30 am this morning for the police inspection!), my car had a bit less than 1/4 tank...today at lunch, when I moved my car out of the manager's spot, it had a full tank!...now, my car doesn't do that (fill up magically, that is!)so, that means the manager filled the tank yesterday!...that was really nice of him! (especially since his house is about half-way from our office to my house, so it's not like his taking it would have meant higher consumption!)...

woo-hoo!...that should last about 15 days (or, 8, if you take into account our planned "Termos del Rio" excursion with Ale!)...hmmmm, should I put $20 (about what it would have taken to fill the tank) into my $20 challenge??

this doesn't go in the $20 challenge because this is a REIMBURSEMENT of expenses for the toy venture (this is coming out of the 50% advance payment, with this we buy the toys and reimburse expenses, the complementary 50% comprises money to finish paying our suppliers for the toys and to distribute between us -- THAT will go into the $20 challenge!)...

I write it down here so I don't forget to add it to my spreadsheet on Monday!...$80...did not go towards debt, though..it went to groceries, fixing Ale's schoolbag and paying for swim lessons...

I just got paid $100 for some admin services (from July!)...I'm still owed $500 more for July, plus Aug and Sept!...slowly but steadily collecting this money!...right now, it goes into the bank account (to pay the overdraft!)...

I know, I shouldn't even be using it, but, just think, a year ago I was using the overdraft AND paying up to 47% interest on cc's!...next year, by this time, I shouldn't even be using the overdraft anymore (I have 2 more debts that will be eliminated in August 2007, and the total monthly payments for those is $104...)

forgot to add this, I finally got paid for my translations, so that's $54 for my October challenge...yay!

This time, it DID go to Ale's school...together with $47 more I had in my account...

Next crisis, please!

Oh, yeah, I have to pay $165 towards debt and $157.50 for late rent...plus the $157.50 of this month's rent...

The money for toys should start coming in by the end of next week...

In the meantime...I'm off to juggle numbers and see what I can do with what I've got!

Got paid another $100! woo-hoo!...
sadly, this will not go towards debt, but rather into Ale's school...foolish spending + unexpected expenses (going to the all-inclusive place + changing the lock to our main entrance!) really took a toll! ...oh, well, the "old me" would have charged it! (or, even worse, taken a cash advance from the cc to pay for the school! )

Total for September
Challenge statistics:
to discount from challenge this month:
-$20.00

Earned in September: $450.00

net for January: $12.15
net for February: $318.40
net for March:$380.00
net for April: $222.00
net for May:$336.86
Net for June: $32.50
Net for July: $210.00
Net for August: $835
Net for September: $430.00
Total ytd for 2006 (net):$2,776.95

TARGET: $4,000

$1,223.05/ 3 months to go!

unfortunately, it'll take $60 to pay for the new lock installed in our house (weird stuff has been going on!)

I got paid $100... I went out of the city this weekend and paid $10 for gas, and $2 for beverages at the gas station...upon my return we ordered a pizza and I paid $8.99....today I gave Ale her $2...but, I only got $57.01 in my purse...meaning $20 are "missing"!...My nephew hasn't had any access to my bag (nobody really has...except at the hotel where we stayed on Saturday, since we were at the pool all day!...)...hmmmm, will have to check my room tonight to see if the bill turns up....(it was all $20's originally, and, I DO have all the "change": 2 X $1, 1X $5 and 1X $10, so I'm missing a $20 bill!)...weird, weird...

much-needed money coming in! $100 more for my $20 challenge...

Have separated $20 for our long weekend and, the rest has to go towards debt!

Made my first payment for boss #2 for the 5% loan...yay!

Some day, I'll REALLY be debt-free!

$100 collected on 060909
$100 collected on 060912

This goes to my $20 challenge for Sept.

Total for August
Challenge statistics:
to discount from challenge this month:
-$0.00

Earned in July: $835.00

net for January: $12.15
net for February: $318.40
net for March:$380.00
net for April: $222.00
net for May:$336.86
Net for June: $32.50
Net for July: $210.00
Net for August: $835
Total ytd for 2006 (net):$2,346.95

TARGET: $4,000

$1,653.15/ 4 months to go!

collected another $200 for services! yay!...this one goes with August!!

another $250 collected to be added to my $20 challenge for August....
pending $1,450....

$120 more paid for services - delayed payment....to be added to my $20 challenge for August...