...or, she will, once we work the numbers...

I made her some iced popsicles yesterday...it seems Nanny had attempted this some times before, without success...

The popsicles came out perfect this time!
Ale wants to sell them to the neighborhood children for $1/each (I told her she really can't do that, since the store in our neighborhood has cheaper ones, but promise her we'll work on pricing and then she can start...I also told her she can make "chocobananos" - frozen chocolate-covered bananas)...This conversation took place at lunchtime...

At 3pm, she calls me to work, and wants to know who gets the money...meaning who gets to keep the profits....
she also wants to know where the "original" money will come from ...meaning the money to buy the supplies for the first batch....

I told her I'll loan her the seed money, and she gets to keep the profits, but she can't spend it, because she has to re-invest it...she got a little confused with the concept of profit, so I promised I'll explain to her when I get home...

Even if she doesn't make much, it'll be a good experience!

Thanks for all that responded to my last post...it really was illuminating!

As a result of your answers, I sat down and thought about what I NEED/WANT to do, financially, to really be able to leave this job and start my own translation business; here's the list of what comes to mind, complete with the time frame I've allocated to achieve the goals: (I still need to work on them to see whether they are feasible, though!I also need to figure out the most logical way to set them up - which one to do first, etc., so the exercise is not really over yet!)

Step 1. be debt free! - I have about $8.5K in debt...about $6k is for a personal loan, and the rest is cc debt...Step 1 is to pay that off, so that I have the tremendous amount of money I'm currently using to pay off debt available to build up my financial situation...

timeframe: I want to be debt free before my 40th birthday (next year)...that gives me 12 months! ...I'd need about $800/ month to be able to do this...hmmmm..

what I'm doing about it: my debt level is finally low enough that I can get a loan through the bank that does our payroll without needing a co-debtor...I submitted the paperwork yesterday...I just hope my sketchy financial history in the past 5 years doesn't affect me...

Why did I do this?....well, the new loan would be at 10% annual interest; the current one is 11.5% and the cc is 28.99%! (YES, that's not a typo!)...this would significantly reduce the amount of interest I'd be paying, and would make it easier to actually pay off in 1 year...

Step 2- Taxes! ...more income will mean more taxes...based on estimations, I'd need about $5,000 to pay my taxes next year.

Timeframe, again, would be 1 year (a bit less, actually, since taxes are due April 30!)...I'd need about $555/month to achieve this...

How I'm going to do this: I've already spoken to the bank exec and I'm setting up a savings account next payperiod (July 11) so that I can start saving 1. part of my salary and 2. the corresponding amount whenever I get paid for translations

Step 3- Emergency Fund I currently have about $150 in my EF (that's almost nothing, I know!)...I need to have $5,000...but, for that, I'm giving myself 2 years (24 months)...that would take about $210/mont...

Are you still with me? If I add all this up, I'd need $1,565 AFTER TAX to fund all this...doable? difficult, yes, but not impossible...especially if I put money aggressively into debt repayment, then work on the tax thing and then "catch up" on the EF thing...

Step 4- "tie over" fund ($2,000)...this is not really urgent and could be left for my "last year" here...this would be my "revolving credit" with myself to cover normal expenses in case translation payments are late.

Step 5- house fund - I need at least $10K in here... that should be enough for a downpayment on a small house in a good (read: safe) neighborhood; a 3-bedroom would be nice, so I could leave 1 bedroom as a study...but, really, a 2 bedroom would be more than enough! (I can always set up in my room, in the dinining room or living room!)...this one, as you can see, is already started...it has $30 in it, and $30 will be automatically added on the 28th of each month...I don't plan to make any additional contributions to it until the debt is paid off/money for taxes is complete....If it turns out that not all $5K are needed for taxes, I'll transfer the remaining amount to this account. Once the debt is gone, I'll use part of that money to start increasing contributions to this fund...and once the EF is full, I'd add part of that, too (snowballing, in a way!)

Step 6- Ale's college fund- I still have 9 years, so I'm also counting this as "not urgent" (although, I know those years will pass quickly and I NEED to have at least some money in it...I will start the college fund in August of next year!- after I'm debt free!)

Step 7- health and life insurance- I already have a (very modest) personal life insurance policy, apart from the one given to me by my employer...if I go out on my own, I'll need to increase the amount and I'll need to add disability insurance...Medical insurance: I already know the one I want! It's like a pre-paid plan with one of the best hospitals in the country...If you are hospitalized for an emergency, for whatever reason, insurance covers 100% of it...if you go to emergency care, but are not admitted, you have to pay $11.45...for non-emergency care, insurance pays 80%, as long as you go to their doctors and providers...no problem with that!...they give you a thorough check up at the beginning to determine eligibility, so if they accept you, there are no "pre-existing" conditions!...I would also sign up as an "independent worker" with the social security institute (medical care)...I know I will need $$$ for this, but, again, it's not urgent and I'll look into it about 2 years before my "estimated date of departure - EDD"

Step 8- retirement Currently discounted from my salary are about $400/month...and the employer -by law- pays as much into the fund, too...so I need to think about putting at least $800/month after I leave...

...I've estimated what level of income I need to have to make all this possible...
I'd need to make $13K the first year (July 08 to July 09) to be used exclusively for The Plan...this is definetely feasible!(I know it doesn't add up, that $1,650 X12 i $18,780, not $13,000!...what I mean is $13,000 would come from the translation business)...then I'd need to increase that amount by about $2K every year for the next 3 years...the other advantage of waiting until Dec 2012 is that, if my position is terminated, I'm entitled to full severance payment: 1 monthly salary per year worked! (under Salvadoran law, if I leave, I don't have a right to severance payment...I believe the Embassy does give you something according to your bosses' request...up to 50%, I think- need to look for the latest update to the policy!)

I also need to keep really good track of what I'm doing and where the money is going...and make sure I keep focused on what I really want!

I was commenting on my $1,000 weekend translation, and a friend from work asked me that question...she then answered herself: "oh, because that's not every month!"...
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of leaving my "job" and become an entrepreneur and do the translation thing full time...I mean, I could drop Ale off at school and go back home and work until lunch time, then work for another hour or two then go pick her up...I could take her to dance lessons, stay there and work while she has her class (I have a laptop and a spare battery...and I generally connect to the internet when I finish the translation, just to "clean" it- a.k.a look for words or expressions I don't know/I'm uncertain of or unhappy with, and then to send it after I clean it...)
....the problem, as my friend pointed out, is that I don't get $1,000 translations EVERY month...then again, if I were doing this full time, I'd have more time to promote myself/make more contacts to make sure I DO get $1,000 worth of translations every month...
HOWEVER...at the moment, I NEED about $1,500/month....(to cover living and other expenses PLUS debt repayment plan PLUS savings- however little- PLUS taxes, etc)...once my debt is gone, this would go down significantly (as, currently, about 43% of my income goes towards debt...still an improvement over the 47% that I was allocating last year!)...
My job here is "secure" for 4 more years (the life of the program!)...notice the quotation marks, because, really, NO ONE's job is ever secure, is it?...
anyway...my goal is to be debt free, and then save for the dowpayment for a house (notice how my ticker is now showing the amazing amount of $30? It's a start!...once I finish with the debt, I'll be beefing that up!)...I then want to get my own house (easier to do if you are "employed"...but now banks are starting to also grant loans for "independent" people - to use their own words!)...SO, I guess my strategy would be to get the loan with the bank while I'm still employed here (before sept 2012), THEN make the jump!...does that sound like a plan??

98 pages and about 28,000 words...all I remember is that I'll get $1,014 (or was it $1,016?) after taxes...this money will come in in August, so I already updated my excel spreadsheet...my current monthly average is $956...not bad....but my target is $1,000....still, it's the 1st of the month, so I can still "catch up"!

Well, July will be a 'dry' month...I got paid for all my translations last week (and the $$$ is all gone already!- some spent, some paid)...and the next payments aren't due until AUGUST! ....((GASP!))...AND, I have to renew my drivers license and the car registration...so in July I won't be able to make payments above the minimum payments...I hate it!...((sigh))...at least, I have the $$ for both the minimum payments and the license and registration!...PATIENCE!!!...
oh, but August will be a great month!...I already have $300 worth of translations that are due in August...and I just got a new 96-page job!...of course, that means I should be translating, not blogging!!!...oops! gotta go!

shhhh....don't tell anybody just yet... niece was in an ad for Cellphone company #1, which has MUCH better signal coverage than any of the other ones...the reason I stay with my current cell phone company is that their prepaid card balance doesn't expire ....with other companies, you buy a $2 card, once you load it to your cell phone, you have 5 days to use it, or it expire...$5 cards last 7 days; $10 last 12; $20 last 15 days and the $50 card lasts a month...
with my company, I can use a $2 and, as long as I receive at least 1 incoming call in a 60- day period, it NEVER expires...since I've been trying to CUT on cellphone use (I'm currently spending $2- $5 per month!) this makes a lot more sense than switching to company #1...
HOWEVER...the ad niece made is to announce that company#1 is going to go to "non-expiring" cards, too! woo-hoo!
I get the convenience of a pre-paid cell phone (contracts here are for a fixed amount, starting at $15, you get a "free" phone, but the contract is for 18 months...if the phone is damaged within those 18 months, you have to either buy a new one, or sign an extension of the contract (for ANOTHER 18 months!)...and, since I really don't care about having the "latest and greatest" cell phone, I can buy one of the cheap $10- $15 phones and get both the convenience of the no-expiration card AND the best signal coverage!!! It'll even help me LOWER my cellphone budget, because sis and niece (the people I call the most) AND the people at my office are already on THAT network, so calls will be cheaper thatn they are now, with me calling from company #2 to a company #1 line!
woo-hoo!
(I'll just have to wait until they announce it officially!- oh, and I'll have to carry 2 phones while I make sure everyone on my address book has the new number!)

They called her to tell her they will give her the $23K she needs to consolidate her debts...of course, she's complaining: Oh, I needed 23K three months ago, now it won't cover 100% ...
I know, I know, she's a brat!

Anyway, she is supposed to sign next week and, she has asked me to help her in drafting a plan to get rid of the remaining debt (VERY high interest incurred in these 3 months...probably about $1K in total) and how to try to 1) pay off the new loan as soon as possible and 2) maybe even try to save a bit!

woo-hoo! this is so exciting!

I want $10,000 for downpayment on a house...someday...
I opened a new "future account" when I closed the Disney one...they will be taking $30 out of my salary each month...but I can add as much as I want to/can after that...the will take it directly out of my account (where my payment is deposited) starting next Friday... I'm hoping to see THIS ticker go down as I watch the other one (debt) go DOWN...
wish me luck!

I went to pay Ale's school tuition for June ($137, due June 10th) and also a cc so I can FINALLY close it! ($10...but i have to wait until tomorrow to close it)..then went to get my balance in the cc I used to pay for the car - just to cross check...then I went and printed our photos...we already put Ale's autograph/photo book together...it looks awesome!...I also had to buy some juice boxes and milk boxes for Ale's snacks and lunch at school...it has been a "spendy" day of sorts...but I'm hoping to have a NSD tomorrow!...

oh, and i also had to pay Nanny, because although it was sis' turn to pay her (we alternate every 2 weeks), but she didn't, and Nanny asked me if she could borrow $20 from me...I opted for giving her her full $83, as I know sis will give it to me later...I just don't like the thought of Nanny, who has to get by on so little, being paid late!)

I am still translating...these ones will bring about $100 each, so about $400...that will be enough to cover the additional money we spent and to pay $100 more towards debt ...

I also learned that I "lost" a translation job because they tried to drop it off on Wednesday, but they needed it for Thursday night, and, needless to say, with me ARRIVING Thursday night, they opted to take it to someone else!...oh, well, I really needed my rest yesterday!

I estimated $70 pre-tax on the new translation job, and it actually came out $67.68.
Done and delivered! (well, sent!)

+++++++++++++++++++++
Next week is going to be crazy at the office!...
5/26 we get off due holiday in the US
5/27 they are moving us from our current offices to newer, larger ones one floor down!
5/28 I'd guess we'll be unpacking!
5/29 am- webinar pm- cash award ceremony (from 3pm to 5pm!)
5/30 - I'M OFF TO DISNEY!!!

Oh, and my boss leaves tomorrow for a long weekend, so I'll be packing HIS stuff, too!

I made the payments I wanted to towards debt and, with the reduced airfare (had budgeted $700, turned out to be $435) and the gift from ex-hubby (of paying for Ale's park tickets), this trip has become a reality (almost!)

Now, all that is left is praying for space to be available on all flights so that we can proceed as planned with our "space-available" tickets! (wish us luck!, although, ex-hubby says the flights "look good"- meaning they are not full!)

We are leaving on the 30th, so my goal is to have EVERYTHING ready by the 26th (including luggage!)...

12 days until take off!!! - and I'm guessing we won't get to sleep on the 29th!!

I've been trying to NOT buy soda for lunch for ages...I do well a couple of days and then go back (just so you can imagine how ingrained the soda habit is: my Mom bought our sodas directly from the soda truck...and they gave her the wholesaler price!)...

so, today I decided to face the fact that I lack self discipline: I put $0.30 in my pocket (I needed to buy a tortilla for my lunch, didn't know that they cost $0.05!) to make sure there wasn't enough money for the soda (they are $0.50 each!)...

It worked!!...so, all I have to do is NOT bring any money to the cafeteria!!! - wish me luck!

I'm thinking of putting together a "homework supplies" box...using stuff I already have, but adding some stuff, I was thinking:

1. pencils (Ale tends to lose them!)
2. eraser
3. sharpener
4. colored pencils
5. box of crayons
6. watercolors
7. white glue
8. 2 or 3 brushes
9. old magazines (for cutting up)
10.glitter glue (we do have some leftover from the school supply sale)
11. colored bond paper, letter size
12. white bond paper, legal size (we have about 10 reasms!)
13. yarn in different colors (leftover from knitting projects)
14. ribbon
15. gift wrapping paper (I do have some small scraps left over, too)
16. construction paper (from school supply sales)


Anything else you think would be good?

I managed to get my letters to be able to file my taxes...oh, and while I was there, I ran into someone that, upon hearing what I was doing there, asked: did you also get the letter from the coop?...I hadn't even thought of that! and I made $46.66!- I imagine it was paid towards my loan (fine with me!), but, of course, this would have made my tax information inaccurate!...I'm glad I have all the letters/documents I need now!...
Now I just have to find the time to go to the Ministry and file! (er, no, you can't NOT go!...even if you file via internet you're required to print a copy of the declaration and bring it to the Ministry!- how silly is THAT?)
oh, well....joy of joys!....I'll go play with the numbers a while to see if I can figure our how much I have to pay!

We tried to get our new passports today, but were unable to…the guy did not accept our birth certificates…mine does not have all info on my marriage and divorce (should be annotated on the margin), and both had been folded, so they considered them unacceptable…((sigh))…oh, well, at least they checked the other documents and pronounced them OK…
To celebrate my freedom from CC1, I had told Ale we could get a piece of cake after the passports…so, we went to do that instead…I asked for just one piece of cake and 2 sodas…Ale wasn’t too pleased about 1 piece for both, but, let it go because I let her choose the cake… I don’t know the real name of the cake she ordered, but it might as well have been “Sugar O.D”, or, maybe “Death by Chocolate”…I took 4 bites and OD’d …Ale was able to go for 6 bites before going blhaaaaa on chocolate…there were still at least 3 bites left to that piece of cake!!!...and I said to her: Can you imagine if we had bought 2 pieces?...she said: Waste!

I gave Ale $6 and told her to go pay…she said: how much is it? And I said: I don’t know, we didn’t ask before we bought it…(I knew it couldn’t be more than $3 for the cake!...our total ended up $4.85)…she gave me this look…and she said: “You didn’t ASK??” …((the look was: WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!!!!????))….
Ahhh, there’s hope for us yet!

oh, boy!...I just checked my balance on line... I have a whooping $0.48....which should have to last until next Friday...yeah, right!...the good news is, we are supposed to be getting the money for the first school supply packages on Monday (about $1k for me)...((sigh))

meantime, I have $2.6K in uncollected translation money, too...which should have been paid to me before the 10th of Feb....hopefully at least part of that $$$ will come through this weekend!

Back to work!

2 new customers...a translation for $700 and another one for $63...on top of my normal workload from the translation agency since they are at that 6-week training program again!...oh, boy!

it's scary in a good way!!

I've been busy lately, and, translations over the weekend, yesterday and today will get me $349 come March! woo-hoo!!!- my monthly average is at $986...and rising!!...it will continue to rise until the third week of Feb...from then, I'll have to start counting April (as the payments typically take 30-45 days!)

the cc company sent me ANOTHER letter indicating I'm entitled to a pre-approved "extra-financing" and called me again...hmmm, maybe they think after 1 month I might be more tempted??...well, guess what? NO!...after seeing that I paid $100 this month and that their charges were $155 (interests, fees and insurances only!!!)...well, NO!...usually it's not so bad, but, this month they charged me for the annual membership (which I really can do nothing about, unless I were cancelling the cc today...and you cannot cancel the cc unless you pay it in full ...and then only after you have received a statement showing $0 balance...and only at their most remote branch...oh, joy!)...still, I'll get them yet!...this is the cc that will take the longest to close, but, I've made my numbers and think I have a really good chance of closing the account next year)

if all of a sudden you see just one letter being repeatedly typed here, I'm asleep on the keyboard!...

the customer with the blurry translation sent a new document...legible this time, Thank God!...which included the 6 original pages and 9 more!... medical and chemical terms...o joy!...I ended it at 10:30pm and went downstairs to connect to the internet to "clean" the translation (that is, to check MY translations against Google to see whether the terms actually exist or whether I made them up! ;P ) ...well, at around 11:10 (when I had 3 pages to go!!!!) the internet went down!!!!...aaaaaaaaaargh!...and I HAD to send it in yesterday (they needed it for today, end of day, but, we have visitors from out of town at the office, which means we will all go out to lunch, which means I don't get to work in my lunch hour!)...by the time the internet decided to work again, and by the time I finished reviewing the document, it was already 12:50!!! I finished at about 1:05 am, and went to bed at 1:11...I woke up feeling refreshed, but I look terrible (red eyes, yellowish skin)...I need at least 2 hours nap time...not going to happen! ....I've been keeping awake through coffee and candy...bad, bad MI...
(at least dinner last night was broccoli cream, so it KIND OF compensates!)

oh, and the $80 translation turned into $200!

an insert in the paper had an ad for bookcases on sale...I immediately thought: THAT's what I NEED!...they even had the measurements, so I went home and measured...2 of those would be perfect to fit the small space where Ale has her books and movies in my room...together, both bookcases would have cost me $50... they are not exactly the kind of furniture I like, but they would be convenient...HOWEVER...I could achieve basically the same result (a more organized area) just by switching the current stuff (a TV table that my sister bought and then discarded and one of those tiered thingies for veggies) and buying ANOTHER veggie thingy - they're stackable- which, last I checked, could be gotten for about $11....so, nope, I'm not going to buy MORE furniture to fit the space of a house that isn't even mine! (oh, yes, I have dreams of a house of my own again someday...I don't care if it's smaller than the one we have!, and, the less "stuff" I have specifically bought to fit THIS house, the easier it will be to find stuff to fit THAT house specifically...not to mention once I own a house I'd want REAL wood bookcases!)

ugh! One of my goals was to pay off $5K in debt (not counting interest)...I ALMOST made it! ....$4.7K!...
oh, well, it wasn't that bad...and I'm still pending some payments...but those are already Jan 08!...

I've been checking my old January entries and, this is what I was doing back then....

2005
Getting calls from creditors.
Selling tamales to pay for Ale’s psychologist sessions

2006
School supply sale
Second job teaching English
Canceled 1 cc!

2007
School supply sales
Translations

2008
Resting (we will do a scale-down version of the school supply, so we are not putting as much effort/money into it...don't have any translations, although I hope they pick up the second week of January!)

Life is good!

I decided I needed a change...a BIG one...so, I went to have a haircut...it´s new, it´s modern, it´s medium-lenght, suits my face shape and hair type perfectly....and, it cost me $20!...actually, I paid $19.50 for a wash, haircut, hair treatment and styling...so it´s not expensive...(sis spends $20 just for cut and style)...
Niece came back into my room twice just to tell me how nice the cut was...and she´s a true fashionista, so....
oh, and it´s easy to style, too!! (it will require maintenance, though, but, I was starting to feel so unhappy with the other hair, it´s worth it!)

Ale is sick again....as am I! (and sis, and cousin!- we all catched the same flu bug! ugh!)...another trip to the doctor's office ($30) and another ~$90 in meds...well, I can't complain, I actually had the cash! (well, it should have been paid towards debt, but...it's worth it!-plus, I'll get SOMETHING back from the insurance!)
I hope we all recover before New Year's!!

...I just got told that our quotation for that $1600 translation got accepted...so, they already delivered the materials to my home...that means I have to start TONIGHT! as I only have 15 days to do it...that means we must deliver it no later than Jan 2nd, 4:00pm...
wish me luck!

the school were we usually sell school supplies did not give us permission to sell this year...part of me is relieved...I really don't like it that they force the parents to buy X or Y brand of crayons, colors, etc...and I don't like it that they think THIS makes them a better school...cousin did have the lists already, and she says this year they've gotten even more ridiculous:
1/4 gallon of white paint, to be bought at XYZ hardware store...
1 wooden box with sliding top, to be bought at store #X at Marketplace Y...
1 package of stickers- must be a package of 750 stickers, bought from ABC supermarket...

Hellooo?? both the Ministry of Education and the Center for Consumer Defense prohibit this...why no one has turned them in is beyond them!

So, cousin is bummed, but I'm actually quite happy that we are not going THERE!...we are looking into other schools, though, so it's not like we WON'T be selling school supplies!

The place where the children's party we are organizing is going to be held allowed cousin to drop off the toys today...so she loaded her car and asked a neighbor (that has a van) to help her transport them all (it took 4 trips in total!) and she started sorting!!!...we only have 4 pages of names to go! (about 100 toys out of 500!) ...we have to leave at 7:30am tomorrow...the party starts at 3pm, but we have to set up in the morning and make sure everything-s ready...

One of our first-time customers called: she said the president of the coffee cooperative (who she says is quite snobbish!) was impressed with the toys we supplied!...she also says the people were very happy, as in previous years they have handed out toys that looked cheaper...)She spent the same amount, but the toys we sent her look nicer than the ones from previous years...so, we're guessing they'll come back next year, too!...

Also, on the translation front (no, I haven't finished yet, shame on me!)...
well, there are good news about a potential business venture opportunity there....still don't know much, and, of course, right now it's "top secret"...don't worry, I don't believe in "get rich quick schemes"...it's just an opportunity to have access to more customers...woo-hoo!...will let you know as soon as I know more about it!

ok, so I still have 12 pages of translation to go...
we are done with all the toy wrapping (yay!) and today all we have to do is load the cars to be ready for tomorrow (take the toys to the place where the party will be held, tag and bag there)

Then on Sunday night we load cousin's car for the last delivery on Monday (toys are already wrapped)...

almost done....almost, but not quite!

with the translations I'm doing this week, I already have $800 due for January...that is so wonderful...I don't think there will be much more after this week, but, we'll see...one of my goals for next year is going to be to match my salary through translations...(so, I should be making an average of $1014 per month, after taxes- in translations)...wouldn't that be nice??