miclason's Personal Finance Blog

1st price vs shop around

notebook (blank, no lines, 200 pages)
$0.60 vs $0.50

plastic placemat
$1.25 vs 3X $0.99

toothbrush & toothpaste **she has to stay until 3pm and has lunch there**
$3.00 vs $1.94 (buy a children's toothpaste, get the toothbrush free package)

Wetwipes
$1.80/ 80 wipes vs $1.00/ 100 wipes

So far, so good! I've lowered the estimate from $38 to $36!...I've also decided to calculate what it would cost to buy everything retail (based on the prices we gave the parents back in January, which were average market prices...just to see the difference!)

just for the fun of it (and to see how much I'll be saving) I plugged in the numbers of the COST (at cost, wholesale prices) of buying everything on the list... some of the stuff we don't have (those 9 items) I really don't know how much they would be, so I just guessed at normal retail supermarket prices and, the list would be about $38!!...I estimate I will end up paying less than $15 for the items that I DO need to get, but,we'll see...

This will also help me estimate how much I will spend next year (taking into account materials for Preparatoria are usually more expensive than those for 1st grade!)

I'll keep you posted, this is an interesting exercise!

I finally have the school supply list!
Out of 35 items, I need to find 11! (and they are not expensive/difficult to find, either!)
I need a construction (cover) paper and a luster paper booklet...I'm drowing in plies of it, so I'll just have it cut down to Legal size and use fasteners (of which I ALSO have tons!) to make the booklets...that will leave me with a total of 9 items to get...of which at least 4 are Dollar store items! -- woo-hoo!!
I'll post total paid for all these once I have the stuff!

yesterday I had the bad luck of finding an ad for car stereos...they had a nice CD player for $109...and an even nicer stereo/CD player --Pioneer for $119...

and my precious Trollmobile doesn't have a stereo....it was SOOOO tempting...and, the ad was from the dept store to which I have a card....(which is currently at $0 balance!!)...

This is pure WANT...

I had to make myself think of my "newly acquired debt" and of Ale's bed to make myself stop consider it...

And I had other --more URGENT things to do -- so I couldn't go get mine! ...and they don't have a fax, so they cannot fax it to me...(and, once they told me they don't have a fax, I didn't dare ask if they could e-mail it!)...
That's ok, they are open from 8am through 4pm tomorrow...I'll go at noon, during my lunch hour (it's about 5 minutes away!)...But, I would have LOVED to start working on it today...

Sis and I like to have plan B, whenever possible...at least to know what our options are if something doesn't go as expected...
She was telling me a couple of days ago how some people at her office tease her about being "negative" or pessimistic because of that (now, she CAN be negative, I won't deny that, but, to me, that is more when she focuses on what cannot be done or fixed, not when she thinks about alternative solutions should the primary course of action fail...)

I like to have a Plan B in case things don't work out...sometimes it's very difficult to find alternative plans...sometimes it's very easy...needless to say, Plan B is never "as good as" Plan A...that's the whole idea...Plan B is more like 'damage control' than anything else...

How about you? Do you have a Plan B?

I realized yesterday night (we both had to work late due travel arrangements for different people) that the thing with the other admin and I is a difference in attitude....she had a quarrel with people from travel earlier that day and so, no matter how desperately she kept asking for help, there was none to be had...(can't say I blame them, she called them inept in an email!)...while I, too think they leave MUCH to be desired, whenever I need their help I practically beg for answers...when I sent the email explaining the problem and the reason for the urgency, they called me and told me how to solve it (temporary solution, we still need to fix the problem, but, hey, the person can/will travel on Friday, which is what we needed...we then have 1 week to keep working on a permanent solution!)...and, these people have never seen me, so, no, it can't be the looks!

--in her defense, she works a lot more with them, so that means they have a lot more opportunities to stress HER out!

I got paid a portion of my services. Since this is additional income, I'll add it to my challenge for July: $200

and, trying to curb my compulsive eating/spending...Whenever I feel mad or depressed, I tend to either spend or eat compulsively...which really isn't helpful at all!...with all this thing with my nephew, yesterday I was feeling like buying something...after all, if I have to pay for this debts anyway...but, then I fought the impulse and, told myself: DON'T be stupid! Adding to the debt yourself doesn't help, quite the contrary!...so, I'm trying to look at the brighter side of things, so as to bring my feelings to a level where I don't feel like overeating/overspending...
1. I have some money owed to me for services (should be about $1,500 in total...asuming I get at least half of that, then things will be ok and at least I won't be short this month--although, this money was supposed to go towards cc, but..trying to stay positive here!..at least it would prevent additional hardship!)
2. I have a steady job/steady income
3. I did have some $$$ saved up for Ale's tuition...I won't be able to pay the 2 months in advance like I wanted, but, I shouldn't have a problem paying for the month of August

Breathe in, breathe out...breathe in, breathe out...

Ok, gotta go to the phone company now to pay the $300! -- I think I can stomach the mall now!, but, just to be safe, I'm not bringing any extra $$$, nor my debit card!

It went just as I expected...he's acting as if he were the offended party!...at one point, he was slouching in his chair and my cousin said: sit up straight...his answer: I can't help it, I'm sleepy! ((said with an attitude,not in a nice way!))...
When I left she was in her car, and he was standing next to the passenger side of it, with his door open, but visibly arguing with her!...I imagine he was scolding her for putting him through all that!...I hope he says something stupid enough to make her mad enough to react!!...In the meantime, I have to cough up $300 today and $100/month for the next 7 months...at least they didn't include any interest on the money!
...OH, and I made it VERY clear that HE DOES owe me interest...same interest as the highest card and, until HE repays me, and even 3 years after the day he finally does, I have EVERY right to remind him 24 times a day --if I want to-- that he made those phone calls on MY line and damaged MY credit!

**********************
Latest update: what he did was get out of the car and get lost for a couple of hours...he just returned home...of course, my cousin was already worried...(which I imagine was his intended purpose!) ...some days I feel like punching him...but others I just feel like slapping her into her senses!

I also printed a spreadsheet with all my fixed and variable expenses -- including debt repayment-- for my nephew...I'm going to put this in front of him and let him "decide" what I should stop paying/cut to pay for HIS calls...then I'm going to ask him to explain to me WHY he thinks it's fair that I do that in order to pay for phone calls I didn't make! (obviously, the answer is going to be a great big "I'm the wounded party here" silence, but...)

I'm chocking with anger right now!

today is "supermarket day"...wish me luck staying at or below $70!!!

**************************
woo-hoo-hoo!!! $63.10!!!

Ok, since the DETAILED results are just too embarrassing, I'll just confess to this:

the only categories where I was at or below budget were:
CAR
SCHOOL
CELL PHONE

That leaves me overbudget in
GROCERIES (ALMOST made it!)
ENTERTAINMENT (the trip killed me!!)
LUNCH (no excuse, I just didn't pack enough lunches this month!)
CLOTHES (again, no real excuse, just: the deals at Ross were too good to pass up!)
EVENTS (Ale's b-day distorted this one...my b-day is in July, so we'll see how this goes!)
OTHER (no excuses, just plain stupidity!)

so, for June, the result is 3/9

Hopefully, on 060801, the news to report will be better!

((remember this covers variable expenses only))

The Trollmobile and I are still in our honeymoon phase --which means it hasn't given me any problems! :: knock on wood ::
I have to change the oil and do a preventive maintenance...I'll do this at the end of the month, because we have national holidays during the first week of August, a lot of people travel outside the city and, workshops tend to have specials for oil changes and free inspections for brakes (they don't charge you unless something needs to be replaced) and stuff like that...

As far as gas goes, the car performs exactly as I predicted...not as economic as my old car (that would have been impossible, the engine on this one is 1500, the one I had was an 800!, and, this one has a/c...which I don't use all the time, but, still!)...also, taking into account the difference in gas prices from the time I had the old car (Feb 2006) to the prices now, I'm below budget for gas expenses! woo-hoo!

AND, on Thursday I actually parallel parked it with only 3 motions!!! (hey, it's MUCH bigger than my old one!)

This is one of the pictures of our scavenger hunt in Vegas (actually, is the one that started that "who cares if it doesn't get us points" string that actually won us the "special mention" --mind you, the 2 guys in wigs are 2 of our managers! --I don't make much $$$, but, as you can imagine, I DO have lots of fun with these people!

I swear, it is just TOO hot!...I was hoping to make this a no-spend day, because Ale and I have plans to go to the movies tomorrow morning --matinee is cheaper!(to see Cars, which just started last week, or Over the Hedge, which started on Friday), and then in the afternoon to the Children's Museum (gotta use up all those tickets!)...but, it's already 4:00pm and the sun is as fierce as if it were high noon!!...I might cave in and go get some ice cream with Ale...just to be in the air conditioning (few people can really afford it here, most of us have fans only...and, believe me, right now, the fan is NOT enough!...I wish I had a bathtub, so I could fill it with ice water and stay in there all afternoon! --of course, I'd have to fight sister for it, as she, too, is melting!-- the electricity bill is going to be horrible this month!...oh! and the government has announced an increase in the cost of electricity starting Jul 1st!)

::think cool thoughts:: ::snow:: :: penguins:: :: pool:: ::waterfalls:: ::ice cream::

for the loan that my boss gave me...he never gave me an amount, but we had spoken of $75-$100, for 12-18 months...but, he said he'd have to make an excel spreadsheet to track it...he never got back to me, so I deposited $75 in his account (I have the numbers for all their accounts, as I gave them to payroll/accounting for deposits of salaries and reimbursements)...I didn't want to risk applying that money to something else and then being left without money to pay HIM!

Well, last year I was trying to sell the apartment, drowining in debt and worrying about my sister's illness...on top of that, my niece had just been returned from the US by her aunt and her dad...by the way: that promise he made to my sis to pay my niece's tuition?? ...guess what?? ...yep, he has faaaaar too many expenses to help with that (you gotta understand, the membership to the country club, tennis lessons for himself and the new Mitsubishi Nativa ARE expensive! --CREEP!)...There were also BIG problems with the old car!

This year my economic situation is not desperate (despite the "new" debt thanks to my nephew/cousin!), sis is just pending her last (we hope!) MRI, niece is at school and getting satisfactorily good grades (honor roll student she's not, but, at least she's not failing any subjects this last trimester!), the new car and I are still in our honeymoon phase (it has to go for an oil change at the end of the month)...and Ale is going to a "real" school in August!

Things are definetely looking up!

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

Earned in June: $32.50

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*
Total ytd for 2006 (net):$1,301.85

TARGET: $4,000

$2,698.15/ 6 months to go!

* was expecting some $$ owed to me for services, but, apparently, they'd be paid until tomorrow...so that will go into my July challenge (If they pay, I'm starting to have my doubts!)

I need to confront my cousin ref the phone bill...I mean, she knows, and she knows I'm mad...but, I want to tell her that I'm particularly upset about the way she has handled the whole thing...and, no, I'm not talking about her parenting (or lack thereof!)...I'm talking about HER... she told me the other day that she had gone and paid the internet/cable service so it would be reconnected (was disconnected for 1 day!) because "not because of D., but because of me, because cable is my only enterntainment and I don't feel it's fair to give even THAT up"...
well, I guess she hasn't figured that, so that SHE can have her enterntainment, MY DAUGHTER AND I are going to have to cut ours to be able to pay for her son's bill...at least, I'm hoping that this is because she's CLUELESS, because if she realizes this and still justifies reconnecting her cable, that means she's just as inconsiderate as her son...

I also want to tell her that I DO expect her to pay me, and, since this will have to come out of my cc payments (I'd have to make minimum payments only on the cc to be able to apply the rest towards this debt for 6-8 months), that I expect her to pay for the interest...at the same rate I have on the cc...

Also, I want to make it clear that, if she runs into any more financial trouble (and she will!), I am willing to offer moral support, but nothing more...

I'm really not confrontational, so I know this is going to be difficult...

On top of that, I haven't decided whether I should do this as part of a meeting that I want to have with her and her son (God, grant me the restraint to NOT kill him!) or as a separate meeting -- she really doesn't need anybody else making that child feel like SHE's not in control...but, then again, the situation between them is such, that...does it really matter? She has no control, he truly is Master in that house (yes, capital M)...

any ideas are welcome!

Well, the interview is mainly to test your level of "entrepreneurship"...so I really don't know how I did!...since I'm not the most aggressive person in this world, I KNOW I didn't get the highest scores possible, plus, I have got a lot to lose (job security at a very solid company) in their eyes...we'll see...they'll call next week to let me know whether I have been accepted into the next level or not!

If not, at least I tried!

Well, I have to go to the lawyer's to try to keep them from docking my pay over the phone bill (which effectively means I will be paying MORE than if they were docking my pay, but, at least my record won't show that they had to resort to this! -- plus the people at payroll in the company don't have to see it!) AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHH
I just called my cousin and told her she IS coming with me and her son IS coming with us, as well....I know there won't be any consequences for him and I know he couldn't care less about my pay (in fact, I think he might even feel some sort of satisfaction that the B*tch is having trouble! -- I'm sure that's how his pampered mind perceives me!), but, I want him to at least have to FACE the lawyer and own up to what he did, and see that there ARE consequences...won't do much good because the consequences don't affect HIM, so he won't care, but...AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHH!

I've taken out goal #3, as it was achieved last month! 3 more to go!!!




1. keep better track of my spending- Ouch!...I’ve been good all this month, in that I HAVE tracked even the tiniest of expenses –YAY, me!...but, of course, this has uncovered a horror story…the result is that I have split all my expenses into several categories and have started tracking them separately …hope to be able to report improvement in actually meeting the budget! This is an on-going goal, so I will keep reporting on it!

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: $7.6K (refinanced) loan, $2.9K car loan, $1K personal loan, $1.4K cc's ...a work in progress...another one that won’t get taken off the list!Add the $1K of the phone call to the list! I just know my cousin won't pay for it!

5. Help Ale find a way to earn those $3 she's missing to open her account with HER OWN money...same as last month…!
...but now there is another loose tooth!

She also submitted an idea for the contest, and she went for her interview today and, was accepted into the program on the spot! This is great news!
Woo-hoo!

My cousin has started trying to contact small bilingual schools to see if they might be interested in us having a school supply sale, since they are just now starting to give out their school supply lists to parents!!...so far, 2 have shown some interest...we'll see how we do...this would be a great relief for her and, would go towards my $20 challenge!!

These pictures were taken two weekends ago, while Ale was having her swim lessons by one of our new managers

Ale at a break

With San Salvador volcano in the background! (everyone falls in love with that volcano! --guy almost had a heart attack when he saw it from this perspective, he lives on the other side of it!)

They called me!!!...I have my interview on Friday at 10:00am!!....I have to go there and explain my idea!!

Ok, now I have to go to my boss and ask for permission to go!

LOL! one of the managers was asking me to finish some travel arrangements for some visitors today, so he could put together all the info I have been sending him, and so I told him not to worry and that I had even consolidated the info by traveler already so all he would have to do was forward it...he got so excited, he just bent down and kissed me on the cheek! (no, that's not sexual harrasment here, plus, it WAS totally innocent, plus he has a girlfriend that works at our office..it was just a spontaneous gesture!)...I'm guessing it's just that I took the time to put this together in one user-friendly format, just one email per passenger, which saves HIM time, and allows him to look better in front of these potential customers...(it took a while for us, even involving our VP, to get the authorization for them to fly business, space confirmed, as there was a mix-up with the authorization levels in the system...after several emails back and forth, it finally got resolved!)...but, see, that's the thing...the other admin would have done the same thing...she probably wouldn't have consolidated ALL the info in just one email...but, compared to the rest, that's really minor!...he would have been grateful (he's one of our nicest managers, and always makes a point to show he's grateful for the work we do for him), but I don't think this would have been his reaction if it had been her!

2.92 gallons @$3.42
Must admit I cheated by only buying $10 worth of gas, just enough to get me to Saturday so the full tank will be registered as July's expenses...

my nephew D (cousin's son) has, as you may already have guessed no regard whatsoever for other people's property/well-being... (this is the one that stole --my cousin says "took without permission"--his mom's car and crashed it, the one that racked up the $1,000 phone bill, the one that keeps hounding my cousin to pay the internet bill because he wants to go on line and chat --and my cousin makes this a 1st priority because at least it keeps him in the house!!)...well, since my OTHER nephew, R (sis' son, who is in rehab) has been home for 3 weeks, due he was recovering from surgery, I haven't worried about D. using the internet or the phone at my place (having "been there, done that", R. is now much more conscious of these things!)...well, R left yesterday to go back into the rehab center (the Doctor said his recovery period is over and can now resume his normal duties at the center)...so, I KNEW there would be trouble today... I gave our nanny specific orders that D. was NOT to use the computer or the phone, or drink our sodas while we are not home...sure enough, he came in today and, without even asking, just sat himself down to the computer...what happened next is a little murky, because there are 2 different versions: the nanny's (which strikes me as more trustworthy) and my cousin's (who claims she was here at the time... she DOES admit he didn't bother asking anybody if he could use the computer...I figure the nanny is too lowly a person to ask and, Ale being only 6 is inconsequential in his mind!)...the nanny says he DID use the computer despite her telling him not to...my cousin (his MOM) says he immediately stopped using it when the nanny told him to...In any case, I already talked to her and, I intend to talk to him, too, anyway...it is not the $$$, as the line is dedicated and so there are no additional charges...although we COULD talk about additional charges for the electricity...it's the PRINCIPLE of the matter...I, for one, believe my cousin should have STOPPED paying for the internet the minute the $1,000 phone bill arrived and started applying those $50/month towards repayment...her view of it is: 1.that would have angered him and he would have screamed at her (he's 16!)...2. the internet keeps him inside the house...3. she has to pay anyway because she has a contract, so not paying would only mean late fees for her!... hmmmmm...so, it is preferrable for her to let ME hanging than deal with her son!!...well, SHE may take that view, but I certainly do not, and I feel he needs a lesson in PRIVATE PROPERTY...the computer belongs to my niece, but, my sister and I pay for the internet service, so it's OUR service and I don't want HIM using it...how about THAT??... I also don't want him anywhere NEAR my phone!...which my cousin is now using to make her business calls (and supposed to give us her share of usage, but, since she hasn't had any income for the last 2 months, has only paid for 1 month...and then, not really for HER whole share!, just for part of it!!)...I get really mad, but, I try to be understanding (with her, I can be, but NOT with him!)...she does need help to get on her feet...she did help me a lot (both monetarily and emotionally) when I lost my job and, she's always willing to help (drive us around, accompany us to Dr's appointments or hospitals during crises, take care of Ale if I don't have a nanny) and, that is stuff that I really appreciate and don't put a price tag on...so, she can help with that sort of thing and we can help with $$$, despite all our difficulties, so I'm willing to do it and not be too picky about her phone bills (it's not like they're exhorbitant, either), but, I am NOT willing to let her son abuse the relationship between our families and, I have told her on several occasions just WHY I'm not in agreement with her approach to the problems with him...so, at least in MY house, he has to obey the rules!! I wish I could PUNCH HIM!!! ARRRRRGHHHHH!...I swear, if he ever disrespects my nanny again like that by disobeying her orders, I'm going to send a letter to the neighborhood administration requesting that security be notified that he is NOT to be allowed into the neighborhood....