miclason's Personal Finance Blog

no particular reason....today, for example, I don't feel I've accomplished anything (although I've done a lot of things, but they just seem so irrelevant...)

((sigh))

...there's a circus in town, and Ale wanted to go. I first told her I didn't think we could make it ($$), but then got an unexpected translation job, so I decided to surprise her...I didn't tell her until it was actually time to go there...I got us some tickets that while not the most expensive ones, were also not the cheapest ones (mainly because children were $10 no matter where they sat, so the difference would be only in my ticket's price), and took out $30 for "spending money".... I'm happy to report we spent "only" $20!! ...
The part that really made it all worthwhile was Ale's essay (I always look over the work she has done in school)...
"There once was a little girl who wanted to go to the circus, but her mom said no. But then, one day,they went to Tihany (the name of the circus), and it was a wonderful day".

So, it was a spendy day, by our standards, but if she feels it was important enough to write about it at school...

That's my current monthly average...I need to go higher if I am to make my "steps to freedom" work according to plan...

Particularly because the car is making THAT noise.... from previous cars I learned to detect what it is...have no idea what the name is in English, but the last time they fixed that it cost about $200 (on the previous car, 2 year ago!) ...so, next translation payday, Little Boom Boom goes to the workshop! ((sigh)) Oh, well, it'll be paid in cash!

Hmmm....cellphone company #1 is offering $0.01/minute calls for up to 5 "frequent" numbers...If I switched, I could put the office cellphones on that plan (4) and add sis....If I did decide to go with a contract ::shudder::, they have them starting at $5/month...then calls to office cellphones would be free (since I would be contracting it through the office's acct exec, and would be in the embas sy's plan)...then I could add sis and niece on the $0.01 thing...I'd still have 3 slots....best friend? would have to find out if she uses that company, but definetely a possibility...

hmmmmm....I guess I have until next Tuesday to decide (sales exec comes every Tuesday)

Luckily, I'm not the one standing in the rain right now!

Nephew. Yep, the one at the rehab center. He went to the psychiatric hospital for check up (he's bipolar) and apparently said something that made the doctor afraid he might be suicidal, so they admitted him for a psych evaluation (about 15 days)...Apparently, there's more to it than just the ADHD/bipolar/drug use damage ...he's being seen by the chief doctor there, because his case has the other doctors "stumped"...never good to have your doctor say that!...
Since it's a national hospital, sis will only have to pay $20 per month (regardless of whether he has to stay for treatment or if he's released for outpatient follow up)...but today they called her because, it being a national hospital, there are some medicines that they just don't have in stock ....so, sis asked me to call around and quote the medicine...the cheapest drugstore I found has them for $85 for a pack of 28...I sure hope he only has to take 1 pill/day!...
Oh, and while sis was at the psych hospital in an interview with the doctor, which took about 4 hours, her (company) car was burglarized....they stole the cd player console (she had the faceplate, according to company policy), and while doing that, they damaged the air conditioning, as well...which you really can't live without in rainy season if you do a lot of driving, as cars tend to get foggy in our kind of weather...((sigh))...they also took her cd collection (since she spends most of her time in the car, she kept it there, as opposed to at home)...Oh, and they also took $70 worth of merchandise she had (she's selling beauty products to supplement her income)...at least, those were just some orders she had to deliver ....if she had had the whole lot with her it would have been closer to $500!
Oh, and there's still no answer on her salary increase from the company. She asked for it in May, when they asked her to take over her former colleague's accounts, and they promised her they'd give her an answer before the end of July (as she says, if the answer is No, at least have the decency to say it!)...

So, it doesn't really impact me directly, but it does, in a way...

the rural "basic basket" has increased by 30%...ouch!
I think my family is doing fine because we have managed to maitain our grocery shopping at $80-$100/week...we could go lower if we were willing to eat only rice and beans...but, again...what about the people that were ALREADY eating just rice and beans?...What about the family of 6 that eats only 2x day, and that shares 4 eggs between all 6?...what are THEY going to do??
There was an article on the paper about this family, specifically, that there were 2 baby twins so malnourished they were taken by an org that takes in kids under 2 and "cures" them of malnourishment, then gives the kids back to the families...and how these twins had been out of the org for less a year and were already malnourished again!...no surprise, really!...and that the mother was afraid to bring them back to the org for fear of having the authorities take away the children...

The Dress...the typical volcaneña dress I bought for Ale last year was "lost"...I arrived early enough to still catch Nanny at home (sis hadn't arrived home yet), and I had her look in all the weird places in which she generally stores things that are not in use...sure enough, there was the dress, which was bought just a bit larger than needed to be last year, so that it could still be used THIS year! HA! ...now, I do need new shoes to go with it! (last year's fit just barely, and hurt Ale when she walks...and, this year, they're DANCING!)...so, off to the handicrafts market I go (next weekend)
I'll take pictures of her in it and post them!

Well, things aren't going as planned, in that I haven't been able to make the payments I had estimated/ save as much as I wanted...(car maintenance, medical bills)..but I still think it's doable -it's only been 2 months!...and at least I got both the house fund account and the "tax" account set up...so that is progress...Also, what I did was more of an average, so that, in the end, things might still work out...(I can use a larger portion of the Xmas bonus for this, for example)...if all else fails, I'll aim to be debt free by:
Xmas of the year I turn 40 (so, December instead of July 09), or, worst case scenario: before Ale turns 10! - so, June 2010!!)

The dream is alive!!!

or, should I say, Niece and MY car??
...for clarification, I mean...
back when she finished highschool, I was paying transportation from school to home for Ale... since Niece was going to start going to the university and this posed a logistical difficulty for her and my sis (classes at Uni NOT being built around parents' workschedules!), I decided (nobody asked) that it was a great win-win-win-win (me, sis, niece, and even Ale) if I left the car at home after dropping Ale off at school, so that Niece could go to her classes, provided she choose her schedules in such a way that she could always (or at least 98% of the time!) go pick up Ale between 2:45 and 3:15pm...Also, I was to be given a copy of the schedule so I knew which days she had classes after 5pm, so I would know the car wouldn't be available on those days, and so I could plan my needs around it...Well, Niece has since stopped going to the university (no, she didn't finish, but sis had warned her she would only pay for 1 year uni, and sis' sleazy ex-hub had promised to take care of it all, and now, of course, he's not paying...that's a whole separate entry!)...

Guess what? while most days I DON'T use the car anyway, it's already happened 3 times that when I need the car after work, it's not there...and Niece just "forgot" to tell me...well, #1 she's not going to classes, #2 she's not working - or REALLY looking for a job, #3 If it's a matter where she needs the car and I have it, she DOES find a way to call and let me know....how come she cannot call and ASK if she can use the car past 5?...#4 since she's not studying or working, why can't she plan her activities for, say between 9am and 2pm? Oh, that's right, that would interfere with her sleep schedule...

I was sooo mad yesterday, I just asked her for the keys and told her to forget about the car....I'm asking for permission at work to go pick up Ale for the next 2 weeks. After that, I'll see whether it isn't more financially sound to actually re-hire transportation (sis does give her some gas money, but let's remember there's more to keeping a car "drivable" than just gas!...and those bills are "all mine"!...)

Yes, there's more to it than just the car issue...but, no, I don't see why I have to make sacrifices to accomodate her way of life or her schedule...

Every new transaction I have signed up for, I've asked them to include in my netbanking profile...

the loan, the "house" programmed account, the "taxes" account...you see, this way, I could just pay the loan online and/or make transfers from my checking account into the house and tax account and, even, if the circumstances so merited, transfer money from my "taxes" account into the checking account...

Did they do it? No.

I then asked our acct exec here at work to do that for me. She took all the paperwork with her....nothing.

I called their call center (which they call "solution center")...the guy was very friendly, took all the info, I could hear him typing...then he said the accounts would appear in my profile in 24 hours...that was 2 weeks ago...still nothing...

I will call them again today, but, if that doesn't work, I'll have to GO to the bank on Saturday. (And I HATE going to the bank on Saturdays...they only work half a day, and because most people's schedules don't allow them to take care of banking matters during the week - normal business hours> 8-5, Banking hours> 9-4!!!...it's ALWAYS packed!)

Here's the Santa Ana or Ilamatepec...it's the highest in El Salvador, at 2,382 m (~7,814 feet)It's last eruption was in 2005!! GULP! ...you can see the Izalco in the background...


The Izalco, which is probably what most people think about when they think about a volcano. It's the youngest in the country- only 200 years old. ...it used to be called El Faro del Pacifico, or lighthouse of the Pacific, because the ships could see it from the ocean at night (it must have been beautiful!) ...It's last eruption was in 1966 .."inexplicable" they say, one day it just stopped...I have my own theory, of course! LOL! - you see, they built a hotel on a mountain across from it, so tourists could come and stay there and watch...the volcano "inexplicably" stopped erupting about 2 weeks before the official opening... I guess he didn't want people making money off him! LOL!



So you get an idea what the country looks like:

There are 25 in El Salvador, so here are some of the most "famous" ones! LOL!

This picture was taken by a friend at the place where I used to take Ale for swim lessons...in the back, the San Salvador volcano (Quetzaltepec)

Here's another view of that volcano, with the city around it.

This one is the Chaparrastique or San Miguel Volcano.

They are both considered active volcanos!

It has been very rainy lately, and it was sooooo cloudy this morning, you could not see the volcano!...I just had to point that out to Ale...
I was translating a program on volcanos in El Salvador....I must say, I didn't quite like it, it made it seem like my country is so barren...LOL!..it probably is...we are one of the most deforested countries in Latin America...

They showed a waterfall and a piece of forest, but, since they were focusing mostly on the waterfall, it looked "rocky"...so....


Oh, well, it's part of the package for August (programs to be aired in Sept, and $$$ to be paid end of Sept/beginning of Oct)....I'm behind this time. I should have delivered the last script yesterday night, or, at the latest, today, but I still got 3 scripts to go!...

well, that is it for today...I have to take advantage of Labor Day (we are off at the Embassy, naturally, but, Ale is at school, niece is asleep and sis will soon be leaving for work, which means I have the whole morning to try to catch up with translations...but, since you know what they say about all work and no play, I called a friend and we will go to the movies around noon, so we are out just in time to go pick up Ale from school!)

...yes, I'm going...I don't NEED a new book, but I do desperately WANT one...it might be that I don't find one I like, or that I'm not willing to pay as much (happened last time, I found a book I WANT, WANT, WANT...part 8 of a series, but it was $23...er, no. I'll wait for it to come out in paperback.)

I received my cheque for reimbursement of medical expenses...it's for $133.64...that solves my bank loan payment problem....the medical expenses went in my cc and I don't have to pay THAT until the 14th...by which time I will have not only my next salary payment, but for sure the translation money, as well!
woo-hoo!
I love it when things work out!

While my finances are in much better condition, I still haven't gotten to the point where I can afford to live solely off my salary OR the translations...I need BOTH...(at least I'm not trying to decide WHICH debt gets paid and which one doesn't anymore!)...so, yeah, I need to pay the new loan ($209) and Ale's school ($155) and the rent ($175) and there's only $180 in my account right now...I NEED that translation $$$$...hopefully, it'll come before the end of the week (that would be SOOOO great!)...if not, I'll just have to move some money from my "taxes" saving account to the checking account to pay for the loan and the rent, and pay Ale's school (due on the 10th) with my next salary payment (9/5)...Everything else is covered...

ok, last Friday I was working on 2 files. One I sent via email and the other one (a translation for someone in my office) was not finished, so I just filed it in my computer....
Now I cannot find any of them!!!! No problem with the one I emailed, I just have to retrieve it from the sent items box...but, the other one I cannot find! I've looked everywhere!!! I even used the SEARCH function for a name included in the file that was so strange that it HAD to show up, not even then....

ok, the Nat Geo gig is great, and is producing good steady $$$, but they are cheap (average $0.03 cents/word, as opposed to the usual $0.05!)....so, yesterday I had the opportunity to do another job for another customer (which was easy, too, since there were about 8 files- very short- and a lot of the terms repeated! yay!)...so, add $160 more! (to the $1,500 pre-tax I'll get for this month's scripts, payable at the end of Sept- beginning of Oct!) Woo-hoo!!
I was starting to worry because my more lucrative clients hadn't sent me anything in about a month (business is down a bit...)Not too worried, though, because I have more than enough work with the other stuff and, if I am getting paid $100/script and if the trend is to get 10 to 15 scripts per month.... well, you see where I'm going!

The books the school ordered from the US back in May have to pay about $2K in taxes, something that has never happened before (1. they are books. Books are now tax exempt. Or were, at least until the beginning of this year. 2. They are for a school, again, that should make them tax exempt, or at least tax deferred- don't aske me to describe the way our VAT operates, it's really strange, or so I'm told!)...Anyway, the school is trying to solve the problem and, in the meantime, children should bring their old textbooks....oops, I don't know if Ale still has them in one piece (she refuses to throw them away, but she likes to cut out pictures and stuff!)

Yesterday was nuts!...since we are nearing the end of the fiscal year in the US (our fiscal year is the same as our calendar year in ES, 01/01 - 12/31 of each year), well, we've had to look at our budget and decide what we WILL use, to return what we won't need. Of course, that means that whatever we SAID will be spent HAS TO BE SPENT...well, not really, but it makes us look really bad if we have no idea of what our needs will be for the next 1.5 month, don't you think?...mostly, what we have, apart from recurrent expenses (rent, payroll, utilities, gas for the car, etc), are renewals of contracts, which are NOT done automatically, so now I have to dig out all our contracts from last year to request renewal from Procurement...
And, today, I was out all morning and now I have to play catch up!

I submitted a medical expense claim to the insurance company today, for a total of $251...we'll see how much (if any!) I get back... I think the deductible is $74/year, but not really sure...this is for 2 neurologist visits / tests/ medicines, so it's really not bad!

Yep. She needs new ones...she outgrew most of the stuff...
she is down to 1 skort, 1 shirt, 1 t-shirt and 1 pair of pants...

I already bought the material to have 1 skort made...and I gave her $25 today, which I hope will cover 1 shirt, 1 t-shirt and 1 pair of paints...if not, I told her to get the shirts and I'll give her the money for the pants later on (PE classes on Fridays and Tuesdays, only, so...)

LOL! my landlady is crazy, or too naive...or else she thinks I am...
A little over a month ago she brought a new contract to our house (technically, we need an amendment to the old contract we have - "renewable automatically if none of the parties gives written notice to the other of their intention to terminate the contract"- because of the increase in rent.... What's wrong with that?
#1- she brought me a NEW contract, not an ammendment/extension
#2- the contract states I have to pay her 1 month deposit at new rent rate (no, I gave her a month's deposit when we signed the old one. I will gladly pay the difference for the new rent rate if she wants to, but I will NOT give her ANOTHER full month's rent...)
#3- As far as I know, lease contracts include reponsibilities for both lessor and lesee...this ones included MY responsibilities, but very conveniently left out hers!....

I read the contract and called her and told her so. She didn't do anything. Today she went to my house to collect the docs and was upset that they were not signed. I repeated to her what was wrong with it and the reasons I will not sign.
She tells me:
A. "you should have told me before!" (I DID, she just chose to ignore me!)
B. "I have already paid the lawyer for drafting the papers, but I really hadn't read them" (hmmm, that's really not intelligent at all, besides, It's not MY fault! - and, personally, my lawyer would skin me alive if I ever accepted a document from her without reading it!...cannot tell you what she'd do to me if I signed something without reading it, or without actually agreeing to it)
C. "It's not really binding, you know, you've rented the house for so long and we've always had a good relationship, you know we would never really enforce it"...(excuse me, last I checked a SIGNED contract IS binding!)

She took the documents, and was not too happy about it, but I hope she realizes she cannot try to pull this sort of thing on me! ugh!

The battery is not charging right...or else it's discharging too fast...it's lasting less than 2 days...I miss my Nokia cellphone...it could "live" 5 days with one charge....back when I used about 200 minutes per month! (LOTS more than what I use now!)....

I asked at cellphone company #1 what their cheapest Nokia was, with a chip that wasn't sealed into the phone for prepaid plans.... they don't have any...Nokia phones are only sold with plans...nope, not going to happen...I will not sign up for 18 months ...

sis was silly enough to do that for niece and, guess what!...she dropped her water glass on top of the new cell phone 2 days after they got it!!!...Now she doesn't have a cellphone, and sis is still tied paying for 18 months!!!

So....I will go on line and find out which phones they DO have for prepaid plans, to see which one I like (as we say here, it has to have the 3 b's: bueno, bonito y barato - good, nice and cheap!)

I still have some time...

In February, Ale needed new shoes for school. I bought her a size 2 pair, which were a bit large for her at the time, and, since they were having a 2X1, I bought a size 3 pair for the new school year (starting next week)...sis said I was exagerating and that I would probably have to save the size 3 shoes for the FOLLOWING year (Aug 09)...turns out, I was right! Those size 3 shoes are the perfect size right now (which means I will probably hit the 2X1 sale in Sept/Oct for a size 4 and size 5! LOL!)...oh, yes, those size 3 shoes also fit my sis! LOL!

Well, we are on Holiday (today is our last day, though, so tomorrow we start work again...except Ale, who starts a new school year on Tuesday )...we've had a couple strong earthquakes (strong enough to wake me up at night: one was 5.4 and the other one 5.1 - Richter scale)...nothing too bad, no damages, but enough to be scary (not scary enough to get up and get out of the house, though, as the first one was at around 1am and the other one at around 3am)
I took 4 days "off" (meaning I DID have work to do- translations- but I chose not to work for those 4 days: Fri-Mon...my brain needs a rest! LOL!)

Didn't do much, but we have spent some $$$$...went to the movies, bought pizza for 6 people...went to the Children's museum...stuff like that... other than that, just enjoyed the luxury of getting up at around 10 am!!!! (I'm a night person, I REALLY don't do mornings...I'm fully convinced my brain isn't really operational until 9am!)

I'm so mad!...I forgot my USB at the office...the USB where I had the ONLY copy of the file I was translating...well, the only UPDATED copy...I found a copy I sent myself yesterday morning (translated up to page 8/29!!!...yesterday night I translated up to 23/29!!!)...((sigh))...so, I watched the video and input the time codes, and translated the pages I KNEW I was missing...I could be done already, do you realize? Instead, I have to piece the puzzle together tomorrow (time codes and new translation into the old file...)... it may not sound like much, but, trust me, it's more complicated than it sounds (If I mess up the time codes/dialogue correlation, I mess everyone else's preparation! aaargh!!) All I had to to was remember to put it into my bag...you'd think I could handle THAT, wouldn't you??

Oh, well, what's done is done!...I'm off to bed now...I already sent myself the file, so that I can have a back up and not just the one in the computer...what makes me madder is I'm usually very good at doing that...emailing myself files so I have updated copies available no matter what....

(it CAN be done, it CAN be done!)
I've only got 1 more translation to go...after that, I'll be FREE to enjoy my nights (8pm -11pm)...I will be able to catch up on my knitting (I'm -or was!- knitting a blanket for Ale, for Xmas... and now I'm way behind!)....or read....or watch TV (although, I DO have it on and watch a bit while I translate...don't ask me why, I work faster that way!...yeah, I know how that sounds!)...or, do NOTHING...

The only problem is...I'm having a "laziness attack"...I really don't want to work on it...and, I COULD delay it for the weekend, but....we have the national holidays (in honor of the Patron Saint) coming up next Mon-Wed...and, wouldn't it be great to be FREE before Friday, so that I could REALLY enjoy the holidays...no work at the office, no work at home??

((sigh)) SI se puede, SI se puede!

Well, I just paid $390 for preventive maintenance in my car...well, no, not entirely, I could SMELL something...there was some sort of oil leak, it turns out...caught right on time, too, before it could do any real damage...
I had them change all the belts, too...
Oh, and they had to work on the brakes, too..
and did a couple other things, which I don't know how to say in English. LOL!...

I showed niece the bill. She almost fell off her chair...I told her: See why I'm constantly telling you there's more to having a car and driving your friends around than gas money?? (I have a list of friends of hers that I have asked her NOT to give rides back home, unless extremely necessary, because they live too far away!...mean, I know!...and, I'm sure she's done it anyway, but I figure at least she's not doing it on a daily basis!)....

At least, now I know they (niece and Ale, and yes, even all the others) are safer when driving/riding THAT car!

Remember I was buying notebooks and school supplies waaaay in advance? ...I'm now almost finished with all the purchases (need 6 pencils and 1 English-English Dictionary....Ale's "got lost from her back pack"...)...I also finished labeling most of her stuff (need to label 24 pencils- yuech!) and I bound all her notebooks in plastic cover last night (now I "only" need to bind the books, which we have not received yet...Oh, and she needs a couple new containers for her lunch box...

so, my shopping list is>

6 pencils
1 English/ English dictionary
2 small food containers

YAY!...I still haven't added the last things I bought, so I still don't know how much I really spent...

Oooops, forgot the uniforms!...some pieces are in bad shape, and others have been outgrown...but, I'll get these during the first week of school!