miclason's Personal Finance Blog

well, I have the amazing amount of $2 in my account...to last until payday (which is this Friday), BUT...cousin owes me $11 and sis owes me $60 (I paid that money to Nanny, sis still hasn't given me her share of the expenses for this month!)...they're both supposed to pay me today ...but, that means I have $73????...I could faint!...oh, wait, no, that will cover the payment on 1 cc...(due on the 15th, though...)

Oh, wow, this is a first!!

and, could you believe it? they didn't accept the payment because she didn't have her id card with her...this has never happened before...she will go again today...and bring her id with her, but, I already told her, next time she should ask to speak to a supervisor (because, she's made payments there before, both for me and sis, and they never required an id, plus, she says the cashier was rather pedantic)

True, it hasn't been easy. True, I really wish I hadn't put myself in this situation....but, you know, my financial problems helped me take a good look at my priorities and, I can now say, this (crisis) would have happened sooner or later (most probably later, when I wouldn't have had as much room to "maneuver" so to speak!)...

Also, the crisis hit while Ale was very young and, thus, still didn't have that sense of entitlement she might have had if we had continued to live "the good life" on credit! ...being aware of money from a young age will be benefitial for her...most of her classmates don't have a clue! (after all, they're only 7!)...but, Ale at least has an idea of the value of money and, she knows getting into debt is a bad idea....

I have learned that you CAN have fun without spending much...as a matter of fact, you can even have fun -GASP- for free!...

I also learned that your true friends won't leave you just because you can't "keep up", but will try to schedule more cheap/free activities into their lives so you can participate!...

So....eventhough some parts of THIS ride have been awful, at least it has been worthwhile!

And, no, I'm by no means "out of the hole" yet, but, I can look back and see the progress I make and, I can look forward and see the end of it all!...

And, who knows, maybe I'll have gained enough sense to NOT fall into the trap again!

well, we have our first orders and, there are a couple of new customers, too...they still haven't placed their order, but they seem truly interested...we'll see if it works out!

We need to contact the school to see about the new supplies list, too, so we will be ready to start working on THAT as soon as the Xmas season for toys is over (which should be about Dec 5-10)

There's the usual stack of bills, and no additional income in sight...ah, how I long for November, when I will have: 1. An additional payperiod, 2.The year-end bonus, 3.The payments for all those translations!...The promise of November makes me think of 2008 with optimism!...

while I do hope to get more translations in October, I don't think I'll be as active as last month (I hope I'm wrong, though!)....so, we'll see how this month unfolds!

Well, September is gone and October is here already!...

El Salvador celebrates Children's Day on Oct 1st...so, for all of us who are kids at heart: HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!

Yeah, it's tomorrow, but we are celebrating today!...I bought Ale 1 present (got a plush bear for free!) and yesterday I took her to the mall, because she's a member of the Club Prensita (this is a children's insert in our local newspaper, which is published 2 times a week)...by showing her card at the newspaper stand at the Children's carnival, we got free tickets to the Fairly Odd Parents show (next week)... each ticket costs $10, and, since her membership was free...of course, the idea was to lure you to the mall, but, we just enjoyed the freebies and then left....Not that the weekend wasn't spendy anyway...Nanny's daughter was hit by a car (luckily, she only had bruises, not even a broken bone!), but, still, I thought it was only fair to give Nanny the week off so she could take care of her daughter...she takes such good care of us when WE are home sick, that it just seemed the right thing to do...so, on Friday we had to buy fast food...$8..OUCH!...this wasn't planned, but niece was supposed to pick Ale up and take her home for lunch, then drop her off at the daycare...but sis and niece went to the eye doctor yesterday and they didn't make it on time, so I had to rush out of the office to go pick up Ale, feed her and then drop her off at the daycare...and I only have 1 hour for lunch!...I was still 15 minutes late!...Oh! and I got a call during lunch that an urgent document had arrived for processing at work!...nearly chocked on my hamburger!!...Oh, and we went to the children's theater festival...we saw The Sand Boy...it was really nice...that was another $6...AND we went to church for a musical...total for that was about $7 (that includes the pupusas which Ale ate, and I still cannot believe that she ate them only 2 hours after having dinner!...she's eating like a termite lately! -which is a nice change from her near-anorexic eating habits, where she will eat if you put the food in front of her, but will totally forget if you don't!...I guess we are in for a MAJOR growth spurt this time!)

Got paid $100 from one of the earlier translations yesterday...I will go make a payment to the cc tomorrow...

or thereabouts...English text tends to be shorter...

I'm getting there!

This is the total (after taxes) that I have pending from my translations...
Of this, $490.70 are from the "special package" which I had set aside as the would-be Disney money...so $1,783.59 would go towards debt...I'm tempted to make it $1,750 or even $1,700 and using the other money ($33 or $83) on some other stuff...I still don't know...I guess it will depend on the overall situation when I actually GET the money!

(or, at least, you SHOULD know) if, when speaking about replacing a phone burnt by a power surge, you say: I know I could get a cheap phone, but, I NEED one with caller ID because of my creditors...

We were having this conversation about a terrible thunderstorm we had a few days ago and,cousin mentions she needs a new phone because hers got "fried" during the storm... sis and I said we NEED a wireless phone (in addition to our "normal" phone downstairs) so that we do not have to rush downstairs whenever there's a call (one of this days, someone's going to fall down the stairs trying to get to the phone!...that'd definetely be more costly than the $20-$22 wireless phone!)...still, we have that as "a plan" at the moment....

then cousin says: Oh, I know I could buy a regular phone for $5-$7, but, I NEED one with caller ID, so I know not to pick up when it's creditors calling...

sis and I just looked at each other...

It's that time of the year!...the International Children's Theater Festival (FITI) opens this Friday...Woo-hoo!...
I've identified 5 shows we could attend...
the opening piece will be The Sand Boy...the story of a sand boy in love with a mermaid...
Ale's pretty excited, too!

more translations!!! woo-hoo!!!
keep them coming!!!

Those tickers that we all love so much...I was introduced to them by Divajen!...

just making sure SHE gets the credit!

(they are very helpful and, so cute!)...

notice mine aren't moving?....well, I HAVE been making payments, but, since the calculation was done on pending balances, I have to wait until I get the statements with the new balances to update!... I know I won't see much progress (if any!) until mid-October or November, when 1. most of my translation payments will be due and 2. I get my year-end bonus at work (about $1,000 this year!)...oh, yes, we'll DEFINETELY see some progress then!

I spent $37 stocking up on spices, toilet paper, powdered milk, detergent and other things...it's ok, I won't have to spend as much the next 2 or 3 months!...

Funny thing: they had saffron, at $0.25 for a package that normally costs about $2.50...so, I decided to make a paella...

I bought some shrimp, some clams and some Spanish chorizo....it all cost me about $5, and I'll add some leftover chicken....guess WHAT I forgot??...THE RICE!!!...how do you make paella without rice? ...well, you really can't!...the good thing is I still had 1lb in my cupboard...the bad thing is I don't think that'll be enough!... I'll see if the little corner store is open tomorrow morning....I really don't want to go all the way back to the grocery store for a bag of rice!...

well, one of our toy customers is having a special sale (open only to employees and suppliers!)...so, I bought spices...pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, basil, oregano, cinammon powder, vanilla extract, and other stuff... I really stocked up!...some of this stuff sells for $3.00 each, and I got it at $0.25-$0.50 each!...yay!...we are also stocking up on toilet paper, detergent and tooth paste today!...
they do this sort of thing about once or twice a year...we like to take advantage of it!

This is a "small" one...a contract...should bring in about $30-$40

We already got a pre-order for about $2,250....they are still making their final-final list of children, so the number may go up or down (they give toys to the employee's children 0-12, so if a child turns 13, s/he exits the list...newborns are added and, of course, if employees have left/been hired, there's changes in the numbers....)
We should be getting the final list on Tuesday, at the latest!

well, our office does...and guess who's been charged with the shopping!!

...they already gave me a list!
2 printers
1 "office set" (desk, return, chair + filing cabinet)
1 conference room
4-6 chairs....

think that's going to do it??...we'll see!..
problem is,I'm used to getting top value for my $$$$, so I may end up spending a lot less!!
(I'd love to have this be a problem in my personal finances...having surplus $$$, that is!)

sooo, today I get to go to someone's house to help them translate a PowerPoint presentation for some high-ranking govt officials...
We'll see how much this earns me in the end...but, right now, I want as much as possible to put towards debt...(and, I need to work on being patient, because I'm not seeing any $$$ until mid-Oct/early Nov!!)...all this could be my Xmas present to myself!!
...who knows, there might even be enough for Ale's bike!

that's what the new passport will cost (up from $9.71)...so, that's not TOO bad... I thought they might go to $20 (at least!) from all that they were saying...we'll see, as they have submitted the proposal for the increase before the Legislative Assembly, so now it has to be ratified....if mine were about to expire, I could get a new one for $9.71...but, they have issued this new regulation, that your passport has to be renewed on the month that it expires (December, in this case) ....and I doubt it'll take them so long to ratify...though, who knows!...the Legislative Assembly is not known for being fast at that!

Notice that I've been saying my old wardrobe is in shambles and I will soon need to replace some items??...guess what! a colleague's wife said to me a while ago she had some clothes she no longer uses and would I be offended if she offered them to me...and, yesterday, she brought me a bagful of clothes...and they ALL fit!...so, now I have a new pair of jeans, a new skirt and 7 new shirts...both dressy and "weekend" ...
and all the items were "so me" ...and free!...

Took a warm bath and slept for about 2 hours in the afternoon....from all the typos I've made in just these 3 rows (which I already corrected) I can see I busted MORE than 3 brain cells!...I think I need more rest, so...BYE!


zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I hope they were ones I didn't use much! LOL!...28,198 words in 4 days (and only about 3-4 hours per day! on 2 of those days!!) ...$1,014.66 (after taxes)

I've just landed this translation job that could bring around $1,000....I haven't been given a deadline, but they said preferably this week...I may not be ablo to do it alone, mind you, so that $1,000 might be split, but, still....
ok, back to my dictionaries and glossaries! (I want to make sure I have all I need!)...I'll be using my lunch hour and, also, will leave at 5:00:00pm!...oh, and since Independence Day is Saturday 15, we will get the afternoon off on Friday (guess who'll be working like crazy?!)...
I have a high-interest cc with $2,600 on it...
wish me luck!

Of course, Ale is all for saving right now (with the Disney trip on her sights!), but I explained to her paying down debt comes first...

so, here's our conversation:

A: so, first we pay debts.
MI: yes.
A: then we travel, no, then we make sure you don't go into debt again...Mom, we should just shred the credit card, that way you can't use it!

(LOL! I wish, but, local norm dictates you HAVE to bring an intact cc to be able to close a cc account. Otherwise, they make you wait for new plastic --AND CHARGE YOU FOR IT, so I'm taking good care of my cc, but it's "grounded" and cannot leave the house!)

I've been doing "happy numbers" - which is what cousin and I call it when we make numbers based on the best-possible scenario (which is, of course, the worst way to prepare for anything!)...and, if I managed to make an average of $400/month with translations, I might actually be able to be debt-free by mid-2009
.... oooooohhhhhh!!!

Dreaming is free!

of course, it'll be at least 30-45 days before I actually GET the money, but...

They were very happy with the job (the end customer), and said they'd probably have some more next week...(this was a new customer for the people that sub-contracted me, so that means THEY're happy, too!--of course, if they hadn't been impressed by the first translation I did for them, they would never have trusted me with a new customer!)

YAWN...I'm going to bed!

LOL!...it's 11:07pm...I sent my last work of the day at 11:04...4 minutes after my self-set cut-off time!...woo-hoo!...only 12 pages to go and, from what I've seen, I can have them ready before noon.

I then have to work on some other stuff, but that is not as urgent...I might even stay with Ale at a friend's b-day party tomorrow (was thinking of just dropping her off if I was still swamped!..now I'm thinking it would be a nice nap!LOL!)...

speaking of which...I gota go ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ now!

Will update total wordcount for the weekend tomorrow!

I went to bed late, and got up early-ish (ok, so 7:30 instead of 8!--it's SATURDAY!)...managed to translate most of the day --minus a 1 hour break to rest/bake some honey bread...yum! Just like grandma's! And I didn't want Ale to feel TOO neglected!...
I'm almost done (in every sense!)...I'm going to go watch TV to soothe my brain a bit...
I still have stuff to translate, but, I will work/send that tomorrow before noon! (they need to have the docs tomorrow at the latest, so they can put them all together --they gave us half and the other half they gave to another translator!--make them look like there was only 1 single source, print it, bind it and present it to some VIP's before a mid-morning meeting on Monday, so....)

Good thing it deals with stuff that I know (and I mean KNOW, as in: this was "our business" 2 jobs back!)

$127!!!... ~$114 after taxes...for 2 hours worth of translations!!...woo-hoo!!

woo-hoo!...I haven`t seen it yet...it´s supposed to be a big one!...If it really is as much as they say it is, I will take Ale either to the Museum for an art lesson ($1) or to the LIon´s club for swimming ($2)-weather permitting...because that gives her something nice to do (as opposed to watching me peck in the computer!) for 2 hours....and I can take my laptop and work while I wait for her! ...

Whatever $$$ I get paid for this one will go towards debt!