went and found the perfect school shoes for Ale...Hush Puppies brand...marked at $22, but with a 25% discount!)...found the perfect Hush Puppies for me, too! ($15, and my old were already starting to be a point of embarrassment!)...and MY Hush Puppies were eligible for 2X1...so we found ANOTHER pair of school shoes for Ale marked at $8(not Hush Puppies, I know that brand won't last as long, but...)that were also 2X1 eligible- we bought 1 shoe size bigger than she currently wears...so, we left them at the cashiers and went to the cc booth at the same mall, and asked how many points we had ....we had enough for a $15 voucher!!...sooooo....
1 pair Hush Puppies for Ale (for this school year)
1 pair X brand school shoes for Ale (for NEXT school year)
1 pair Hush Puppies for me..

"real" total = 45
minus discounts and promo= $31
minus voucher = $16!!

so, I paid $16 (cash) for 3 pairs of shoes...2 of them Hush Puppies!!!

Aaaaah!...I feel so RICH!!!

total debt is at $10,114.46.... I'm this [] close to getting that total to $10K!!! woo-hoo!!!

I had a couple fast translations today (as in: wording for 2 or more pages was 90% the same!)- woo-hoo!...that went real fast...and I even get paid tonight for 1 of them! woo-hoo! ($53...will go to new school shoes for Ale...hers are starting to come apart...they cost $20...the new ones should last us until end of May - which is the end of the school year- don't have much hope of them still fitting in August!)

Some of the latest translation jobs I got will most probably be paid in April, so I have updated my excel file to divide /4 to get the monthly average....it's still at $1,043!!...

If things continue like this, I will be able to pay off enough debt by May to actually consider the Disney trip before the end of June! ....

I think I can, I think I can....


((that being said, I AM tired...and I'm taking this Sunday - and, hopefully, all next weekend!-off!...we are going to visit my aunt in the mountains -- she retired to her family home, right in the middle of town, in the heart of coffee-growing mountains!))

Great one:
We got paid for the school supplies...I paid off 1 cc!!! woo-hoo!!! highest interest/lowest balance!!!

Small one:
After paying, I went into the grocery store to buy a flea collar for Fiona (her's had "expired" and we found 3 fleas on her the other day! eeeek!)...AND, I came out of there with 1 flea collar...nothing else!!!

woo-hoo!!

with the translations I submitted yesterday, my monthly average for translations is back at $1,001!!!! - that is my main goal for the year, to have at least $1,000 monthly average income from the translations...not all will go into debt...some will be for "reinvestment" (buying stuff I need for translating...like my new glasses - prescription changed!- or specialized dictionaries and funding an account in case my laptop NEEDS to be replaced or serviced)...part will go to savings!!!! .... last month I put $50 into savings!!!...then again, I had to take $20 out to pay for additional gas and groceries...so, it ended up being only $30...but, I figure it's $30 is better than $0!!!

4 files...lists of chemicals and medicines...ugh!...and the files were scanned....and they looked awful (like photocopies of photocopies of a fax!)...but, managed to read it! -- with a little help from a magnifying glass that a friend gave Ale recently as part as an "insect-catching" kit!

woo-hoo!
join the party!!

I was looking at my very first entry and, I was just supposed to jot down the expenses ....

I was looking at other entries for January 2005 and how bleak my financial situation looked back then...

I'm happy to be where I'm at (although, at times I feel I'm not doing enough!)...and I'm very, very grateful for this site, the wonderful advice and the even more wonderful support I get here!

I need to find some dancing music to celebrate!

Another translation arrived yesterday night...$35 worth! (which is good because work is crazy, so I'm beat at the end of the day and 4 pages is as much as I could handle anyway!)

woo-hoo!

I got 2 phone calls yesterday offering me pre-approved financing...one is from Evil CArd...no way, never again!... back in my stupid(er) desperate days I took one of those with them...which I then tried to pay off early....turns out, even if you did pay off early, you were required to pay the full interest as contracted ....so, yeah, thanks but, no thanks!....
the other one was more interesting, as it is a re-fi of my personal loan...I could move some of the higher interest debt into that...we'll see...the only problem might be that I don't know if the Embassy accepts "discount orders" (meaning whether they accept the trouble of discounting the money from your paycheck before giving it to you and paying it directly to the bank)...if they don't, I can't even contemplate it...

but, you know what? even if I don't get it, I don't really need it!...

140 packages....our profit will be $560/2 = $280 for each one of us!!!...

of course, it means working like crazy during the weekend, but....

I include this in the Teaching Ale about $$ category because, as usual, if she helps out, she'll get paid!

I finished the translation yesterday night and sent it...it turned out shorter than I thought, and it will be $144 (tax included)...I'm pretty good at guessing how many words a translation will have when translating from Spanish to English...but, I was off by about 600 words on the English to Spanish....hmmmm, must start paying more attention, so I'll get a "feel" for the right ratio....

woo-hoo! just got sent my first official translation of the year!!...the original is in English... 3,164 words...considering that Spanish tends to use more words, I guess it will be about 3,800 words when done - or $152, whichever you prefer!...let's consider it ~$150!!!

I am re-using some info and all the formulas, but have to work on the conditional formatting to reflect the new amounts budgeted...it's proving to be a lot more work than I thought it would be...the good thing is, even if I don't fix that right away, it shouldn't impact the quality of the actual data!

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!

my friend called (he still owes me $179; we hadn't been paid!...he's got the cheque!...) this will be the last translation $$$ I will receive in 2007....the translations I've made in Dec will be paid in January!...(these $179 go to my department store card!) ...

woo-hoo!

There have been 4 cc statements delivered to our house the past 2 weeks...none of them mine!...I always pick them up and read the consignee name: they're sis'....while I cringe to think of her financial situation (I KNOW how bad it is, we are very open about it) it really feels good to know that I am in my last months (hopefully) of getting cc statements delivered...I have to wait for the $0 balance statement to come in before I can cancel them, though...I think I'll probably keep the one that has the lower interest rate (which, incidentally, has the highest limit) for MEDICAL emergencies...I'll probably give it to my sis for safekeeping (and, no, if I tell her it's for medical emergencies only, she WON'T let me have it for ANYTHING else!)...
Right now, we are still waiting for the latest toy payments to come in, so we can sit down and I can get my investment $$$ back + profit (cousin doesn't invest "real" money, but she's the one that has the 15-day credit with most of the suppliers, and she does most of the actual work - after all, she has the time and this is her main stream of income, while it is only a "side gig" for me!)

I survived the children's party!!!
We arrived at the place where the party would be held at 8:30am, to continue preparing the employee's packages and filling the piniatas and all that...we left at 7:30pm, after having written down the names of the people that didn't get a package (no problem, we had 3 boxes full of packages that peopel hadn't claimed...probably some of those will "match", but it really was too late to go over it again...especially since that is something we don't like doing "on our own", but would rather the company's HR in charge were there!)...so, I asked Ale what she wanted to eat (the HR secretary is new and she had problems with the tickets- we give the tickets to HR 2 weeks in advance of the party, and they are supposed to get them to the employees...again, in individual labeled envelopes!- and we kept getting calls that "so and so's tickets were not included"...we kept telling them Yes, they were...the HR in charge now realizes we were right all along, as the people that brought the food (pupusas) were giving people 2 pupusas per ticket and, they served 1,800 pupusas!!! -and there definetely weren't 900 people there!...AND, we didn't even get to eat (were too busy and, by the time we had time, there were no pupusas left!)..

anyway, Ale picked Mc Donald's...we finally got home at around 8:30pm (had to go get gas, too)

Sunday was a bit less hectic, we went to "visit" the Virgin of Guadalupe at 11, then to the supermarket to buy some stuff for a little celebration with my sister (her b-day was on Saturday) and that lasted 3-4 hours...we even got her a piniata!!! an Elmo piniata...(we call her Elmo because she dies her hair red, and once she picked this really bright red!!!)...and we made her hit it, too, it wasn't just for show!...niece has the pictures, have to ask her to send them to me...it'd be fun to post them! LOL!...

After that niece, Ale and I went to see "The Jungle Book" with the National Dance School....really impressive!...that would merit a separate entry!

ok, update is done, now I need to start WORKING!!!

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!

cousin sent another order yesterday, and we got another one ready to be delivered today...we still have the large order and then another one which the customer said won't be needing until next Tuesday, so that gives us some time....
whew! I finally feel like we can make this! (two days ago I felt overwhelmed and had this awful feeling we were going to let someone down!)

So, the last translations from company 1 were paid...after taxes, $1,025...I used $425 today for the toy business (I should get all my money back, plus profit, by Dec 15th, as we have an agreement with all companies that we get paid when we deliver the toys!)...

Now I only have to survive this week! (I have an awful cold...Ale, too!)...

they want toys in our cheaper range (up to $3), but, they want 600!!...cousin had to rush to put together a "real life" sampler for them and is showing it tomorrow...and I haven't even been able to help her because I caught whatever it was that Ale had and have been sleeping all day today (could not sleep last night due to high fevers...stayed home today all day...except for taking Ale to school and picking her up...) I'm still a little dizzy, but hope to feel better tomorrow!..........

Yep, I always give her a basket with food for Xmas and, this year, one of the supermarkets where we buy toys is having a special promotion...for purchases of $150, for $0.01 you get a basket with food-with about the same products I generally include!!! - our toy purchase will be ~$400, so we more than qualify!...
oh, of course, I WILL have to add the price of a chicken...(I always include a chicken for her Xmas dinner)...but, still, it's a GREAT deal!

since I'm off due Thanksgiving, my work today consists on packing the invitations/food tickets for a customer's children's party!...the tickets are already cut and stapled together in sets, so all I need to do is:
1. look at the list
2. cut out the employee's name
3. paste it on the envelope
4. count the number of people on his/her family group
5. count ticket sets according to # of family members
6. stuff tickets in the proper envelop
7. add one invitation card
8. seal the envelope with tape
9.Once I have all envelops for a particular division/unit- place them in a manila envelope
10.label the manila envelope with the division/unit name
11. seal the manila envelop with tape

other than that, I need to work on my niece's bag, I made a date with a friend for lunch at my house (I'm supposed to pick her up. Nanny made a chicken yesterday that was very good and I asked her to make some rice- which smells wonderful) and a date with another friend to go watch Hairspray again!

No, no turkey here today....but, HAPPY THANKSGIVING to those of you who DO celebrate it today! (whether with or without turkey!)

just finished another translation!....hopefully, this will cover the $$ I spent on Ale's medicines (MY share of it, after I get my reimbursement!) and the new battery for the car!

Remember I said that there was one translation job that I was separating to put towards the Disney fund? Well, I got paid yesterday!!...so, I updated my ticker....

I'm still waiting on $1,000 from one translation job, and about $300 more for other, smaller ones...I'm also pending the proceeds from the toy sales....this will all be put towards debt.

another short translation arrived just before lunch! woo-hoo!...$15.16 after tax!...slow but steady!!!

well, $33 once you take out the taxes!!...woo-hoo! this was a ppt presentation....these are becoming my "specialty"!

....I got 26 pages of transltion from the office...they scared me, because originally the guy that sent them said it was about 100 pages...I guess he was kidding, but, I HAVE seen translations that big, so I thought he was serious!...he really scared me!...as it is, since my boss said I COULD do it IF I had the time and IF I felt like it (because he said it is this guy's responsibility to have the doc translated if he needs it in English, not ours), I have been doing it in my "dead" time at the office and, have already sent along 15 pages....I expect to be finished by Thursday, at the latest... 1. it helps me get more acquainted with what we are doing and 2. it will help my reputation around the office! :P

One of the larger jobs was not paid yet. I spent: $1.30 for traditional candy at the mall (Ale begged and, since she can't eat the colored ones at the moment, I gave in!), I also went to the toy store and, I found a bike that was a bit more expensive, but had 18 rim tires, so it's bigger than the ones I had seen before and, will last her longer. She tried it and she can use it - it does have training wheels!...we can pay it with 25% downpayment and 3 installments without paying interest, so I paid ~$25 also bought the protective gear...I separated $6 for our vegetables tomorrow (change) and, put the remaining $$$ in a safe place, so I don't have it with me today and tomorrow (so I cannot spend it!)...on MOnday I'll deposit it and start working on the payments!...oh, and it seems my car may need a new battery (it refused to start after I dropped cousin off!...luckily her neighbor is a mechanic and he was just arriving at the same time, so he looked at it and, used the jump cables to start my car!)...that could cost me about $60-$75....I have to look on the bright side: while that means less money towards debt, at least I HAVE IT!...if this had happened last year, for example, I would have been in BIG trouble (and would have had to incurr new debt to get it!)...If this had happened before we went to the toy store, I might have backed down on the bike!, but, I'm already committed now (else I lose part of my $$$)...I also have to buy some more medicines for Ale, to finish her treatment...part of that is reimbursable, though, so...no big loss there...
Oh! and the guys from the translation agency warned me that there's "a TON of work coming really soon" and to check whether any of my friends were willing to do translations, as they might have more work than their current pool of translators can handle!..that is sweet news, indeed!!
it was a good day!!!
*****
minor detail I was forgetting! I owe $322 to my friend who helped me with one of the large translations! duh!...I'll go take that out of my stash RIGHT NOW!

I'm getting paid for A LOT of translations today!...woo-hoo!!!...about $2K!!!- that means I have to deposit this on Monday morning and review my payment plan, to see who gets what!! That ticker to the left is going to JUMP forward!!! muaaaaahhhhhaaaaahhhaaaahahahaha!