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Archive for January, 2017

End of January

February 1st, 2017 at 03:47 am

So it's the end of January and payday.

I pretty much paid as many things as I could this pay date. I'm hoping that tomorrow is a no spend day and that everything paid today can clear so that I can see where my money went. I can say this, I'm pretty sure the bulk of my spending went to eating out 😩
For February I'm hoping that I can stick to my meal plan.

In other news, my boss signs me up, so she says, for a management training course that she's attending as well. Then complains to everyone else that subordinates and managers shouldn't be in the same training. I'm thinking why did you sign me up? Personally I think she was mad because the trainer asked me three times if I was a manager. He seemed perplexed that I wasn't. The woman is crazy.

I'll be posting my end of month spendings tomorrow.

Day 1 Tennis Lesson

January 29th, 2017 at 01:05 am

So today was day one of my tennis lessons, other than being a bit chilly it went great. There were both young and old, as well as those with years experience and those with none. I look forward to learning and advancing my skills.

As far as spending goes I spent $6 at Chick Fil A so I added $6 to my CC debt. I then headed over to the hair care store and spent $51, this included hair care products and a wig. Ugh I hated spending the money but at least I won't need to go to the salon.
The BF put gas in my car so that was good.
Other than that I have nothing else to report.

CC Goal

January 28th, 2017 at 02:16 am

My goal was to pay an extra $200 on the CC by the end of the month, and it looks like I have met that goal. I'll double check on the 31st, there's some pending things. What sucks is that, I'll be hit with interest but if I keep doing what I'm doing, I'll have it down at least by a $1000 by the the d of February.

On a different note, I'm happy that Saving Advice is back up and running, I was a little nervous.

Work

January 27th, 2017 at 02:49 am

As you all know my boss is a little crazy, but she did tell me she thought I was smart and should start taking the lead on things so that others do not get credit for my work and suggestions. The problem is when you do some times she is mad and sometimes she's not, you never know which way the wind is blowing with her.

A few days ago a colleague and I was working, well we still are, on a benefit implementation project. I notice that she completed the test without me. Long story short, she calculated the life insurance wrong. I did a little research and realize that the company has been calculating the life insurance wrong now for sometime, smh. She was out for a few days so I brought to my boss' attention. Mind you I'd ask both of them to supply me their spread sheet used for calculation and the plan documents before the testing. I was told that I would get it and never did. In another meeting following, I asked for the spread sheet and the documents. My boss says to me, somewhat sarcastically, "I've already checked the calculations when I started but if you don't trust me or need me to walk through with you, we can do it later." I say to her well if you're comfortable then we're good. Needless to say the calculation were wrong.

So in our meeting I mention that is unethical to not adjust the rates and move forward, my boss gives me an entire spill on why it's not that it's unethical but it's best to start with the next open enrollment vs now. Keep in mind it's a new plan Year and payroll hasn't processed so this is best time to make the adjustments/corrections. So I say to her, I get it and smile but in the meantime I'm thinking A, you never audited the records when you started a year ago. B, if it had been someone else who made the mistake heads would be rolling. C, your direct report with less experience brought it to your attention. D, it's a huge mistake because life insurance is post tax and taxes are now involved as well as wages and E, you'll never admit your mistake.

All I can do is shake my head.

Rambling Monday

January 24th, 2017 at 01:33 am

Rambling Mondays ugh!
So the boss sent home an employee who was really sick, we all could tell she was not happy to do so. She told the employee that she must use her PTO time, strange thing is this is an exempt employee.

My mother called earlier, and asked me to take care of at few things. I was a little busy and didn't get around to it. So when she called I explained I hadn't taken care of it and she hung up on me. I was furious but I'm just going to pray for her.

As I was leaving the office, it was very windy all I could think about was a joke my dad use to tell me about the wind. I miss him so much.

I forgot to mention that I've finally signed up for tennis lessons. I've always wanted to learn how to play and the high school is offering it for $47. This is for two hours, once a week for 8 weeks. Not bad, most places want $30-45 a hour.

Lastly today is my very first no spend day of the year, so I'm adding $2 to the CC.

That's it in a nutshell πŸ₯œ

Ibotta charges a free 😑

January 22nd, 2017 at 09:41 pm

I've been using Ibotta for quite sometime but when my dad died I sort of stopped with the rebates.

I received an email that due to my account being inactive, I'll be charged a small fee if I didn't unlock a rebate. So I thought this is a perfect time to get back to earning cash anyway I can and attempted to log in. Well long story short I was unable to log in and tried several times. Fast forward and I receive an email and thought, you must log in. Well I did and the cut off date was 1/15. So I was charged the $1.40. It is a minimal amount but it still sucks.
I think I'm going to send them an email.

On a different note, I've been doing good with adding a few extra funds here and there to get the CC down. I'm hoping that by the end of the month I could have paid down at least a $1000, we will see.

I'll take you to lunch...not

January 21st, 2017 at 02:49 am

So I usually pack my lunch because one, I can't afford to eat out every day, two I like my quiet time to read up on a few HR things and Bible study, three it's expensive to eat out.

So my boss comes and says the team is going out to lunch and she'd like to take me out for my birthday. I declined respectfully and explained that I had already plugged in my crockpot lunchbox. She insists and so does other teammates, so I say okay. We get there order, and the waitress comes and ask if the checks are separate. My boss who was taking me out to lunch says yes.

😑 Now I'm annoyed. First you said you wanted to take me out, second I had already packed my lunch and two we spent our lunch wolfing down our food because you're in a hurry, not to mention she didn't eat any of her food and complained the entire time. Ugh
Lunch was $14 but I added $5 for a tip costing me $19. And because I had not budgeted and any time I do this I pay the same amount on my CC. Ugh. $40 I really didn't want to spend and it was rude.
Twice this week I've been bamboolzed and it won't happen again.
Next time I pack my lunch, I'll be eating my lunch.

Busy

January 17th, 2017 at 06:57 pm

Today was a busy day, but at least I feel accomplished. First, I took my car to have my tires rotated. I'm bad when it comes to this. But since I bought tires a few months ago and I'm traveling far for work, it's best that I keep them up. Not to mention I paid the extra $12 per tire for future rotation cost.

Then I took my car to be cleaned. I had a voucher for a car wash that I'd purchase a few months ago and I totally forgot I had it, so I used it. Whew and my car πŸš— sure needed it.

Next I put a load in and took one out. I actually put a load up and not placed it on the chair. I hate putting away clothes.

Then I tackled my desk. What a mess! I finally went through a ton of papers. Though I'm not done, at least I got most of it off my desk

As I'm typing, I think I'll Google the average cost of tire rotation and balance and if there is a difference I'll add it on my CC. Every little bit helps.

Best time for a man to pay his bills

January 17th, 2017 at 12:10 pm

One thing my dad has always said and that was, " A best time for a man to pay his bills is when he has the money." Trust me when I tell you, this is a true statement. You may not have much afterwards but at least your bills are paid.

Got up this morning, said thank you to the Lord for letting me see another day. I forgot it was my birthday, until I got a few texts. So I'm adding being thankful for another birthday to my list.

I'm also thankful because I was able to pay my CC bill as soon as I got it (best time to pay a bill) . I checked my emails and there was a bill from HSBC. I'm really sick of these CC bills. Like Dave Ramsey says, they're like little bugs, flying around nagging you. I can't wait to get the bills down and out of my hair. I can say, I got my BoA CC down by almost $200 this month, this comes from $2-$7 here and there.

So long as I continue to do as my dad says and blog here, I should have most of my debt paid off by December.

Clothing returns

January 16th, 2017 at 01:58 am

If you knew me well, you'd know I love clothes. It's one of my weaknesses. The other day I bought a sweater and I thought, why? You don't need it, so I returned it. Today I bought a pair of pants, for an event tomorrow and I thought, you don't really like them and it's only for one day. So tomorrow I'll be returning.

I've been doing pretty good and not drinking any sodas. For every day I don't have a soda, I pay $2 on the CC, that's $14 a week. If I keep it up, it will be an extra $56 dollars every month.

Today I had brunch with a friend for her birthday. The place she chose, I can't stand. It's too loud, and I'm use to the nice little quaint places for brunch, not this new stuff with music and a DJ. She chooses this spot every year. Anyway, I forgot to budget for it so I spent $38 (including tip) and added an additional $40 to the CC since I had not had this item in my budget.

Tomorrow I'll be entering receipts, I think so far I'm doing pretty good with keeping my spending down.

Dinner with friends

January 10th, 2017 at 02:57 am

When ever my classmate is in town, he always wants us to get together. I really didn't want to go and spend any money but I decided to go, since we hardly see each other.

Needless I was glad I went,it was great seeing everyone. We had great conversations and was able to capture the moment with photos. He also decided to foot the bill and we just left the tip. I thought that was nice.

I decided to take what o saved, about $13 (I had a salad) and $5 in tip, and paid it on the CC. I figured, why not? I would have spent this anyway.

This weekend, I'll update my sidebar. I've been a little busy.

Fort Lauderdale, FL

January 7th, 2017 at 03:17 am

Hi all!

I received a ton of calls today. I actually work in Fort Lauderdale not too far from the airport. We could hear the sirens and noticed the planes ✈️ circling around because they were unable to land.
Then there was an individual who jumped off a bridge on a major highway, what a day.

In the end, I'm safe. Thank God my little 5 year old cousin flew out yesterday vs today. He's traveling by himself with of course an attendant. Scary just scary

No sodas

January 5th, 2017 at 02:46 am

For two days I did not have a soda. I almost caved in yesterday because I was stressed but I didn't. So for that, I paid $4 on the CC. I know some would say $4, but $4 here, $2 there all added up and I was debt free at one point by simply doing this. So I'm back at it.

Also thanks to everyone who has joined the Fitbit challenge. I haven't met my goal of 10k but at least I'm back walking. I did 30 minutes tonight, super proud of myself. I'm adding $2 to my challenge for being active.

All hell is about to break loose

January 4th, 2017 at 10:34 am

So all hell finally broke lose. I received a call from my brother's attorney yesterday, wanting to know what my intentions were regarding my father's property. First of all I thought it was weird given the fact that he represents my brother, who mind you is suing me, and I also have an attorney. He called having me on speaker, so I suspected that my brother was in his office. Needless to say I informed him to contact my attorney. What do I look like speaking with the man hired to sue me? Is this even legal?

Fast forward a hour later and I'm at my mom. My brother pulls up. My first intentions are to leave but I say no this is still your brother if he speaks at least say hello. He speaks, I say hello. I start getting my things together to leave and he starts up. Stating no one is telling him what's going on. Um duh you have council shouldn't he be speaking with you? Anyway he becomes irate, threaten me and leave. All while my mother is there not saying one word. Smh you would think she would say, this is your sister don't threaten her etc. the woman said nothing. Her and my brother are just alike, selfish and greedy. So long as they can get something out of it they won't say a word.

Long story short as PR of my father's estate I have taken possession of the truck, that my brother was told months ago to stop driving because he puts the estate as risk (e.g. Accident). Oh yeah and he parks it in such a way that I cannot come on the property. I'll be reaching out to my attorney to see if there is a way for me to take possession of the house to get it ready for sell. I'm done being nice. My mother is worried that at 57 he will have no where to live but mind you this is the same woman who told me to get the F out of her house because I left laundry in the washing machine, and I had nowhere to go. The same woman who just told my sister to get out, with nowhere to go and to our knowledge no one knows exactly why. The same woman who stop speaking to her other son because he told her you need to tell my oldest brother that he is wrong. And she's worried about a 57 year who goes to work every day has no car payment, no mortgage, no CC payments and have lived rent free for over ten years? Her excuse, he won't have anywhere to put his things. He's a hoarder. Smh

No sodas

January 3rd, 2017 at 03:16 am

Today was a good day, no sodas. I had given them up for some time, but then boom I started again. I decided to pay myself $2 for every time I don't have a soda. I think by doing so it will encourage me to drink more water πŸ’¦

On a different note πŸ“ , I only spent $27 dollars today filling up my car, and a $100 on the cable, my fingers are crossed that tomorrow is a no spend day. I have to figure out how to get this cable bill down. I'm really considering a fire stick.

Lastly, my mom finally did it, she told my sister to get out. I can't figure out for the life of me why she is so hateful. My sister cause no trouble, she goes to work, church and home. My mother is up in age and not doing well. We all have said it, she's going to find herself in that house alone.

Didn't need it anyway

January 2nd, 2017 at 05:49 pm

So over the holidays πŸŽ„πŸ₯‚πŸŽ I purchased jeansπŸ‘– , very expensive jeans using my CCs, racking up debt that I don't need. My mind told me they're on sale so they're not that expensive, never mind that I simply don't need them.

Needless to say, they didn't fit and I needed to exchange them. I was contemplating returning them but I really liked them and opted to do an exchange. So I trucked on to the mall, first to Macy's for my exchange, but they didn't have any in my size so I returned them, $60 back on the CC. Then to Nordstrom and low and behold, they didn't have my size, so another $60 was added back to the CC.

As I was leaving, I ran into an old friend I haven't seen in years. We chatted and she asked if I wanted to meet for lunch. I thought about it, and remembered my meal plan and said no. I'm not in a position to eat out this month. I told her let plan something later on, that way I can budget next month my dining out expense. Proud of myself, think I might add the $20 saved to my challenge.

I'm glad to be back blogging, it keeps me in track.

Email subscription

January 2nd, 2017 at 11:59 am

Finally decided to go through my personal email and unsubscribe to all the junk I receive. I spent an entire day pretty much clearing out emails. From Mypoints to Sweet Tomatoes, I had thousands of emails.

For some reason, when I check my emails via my iPhone and delete a message, they're not being deleted. Ugh this really sucks.
I've decided that twice a week I'll log into my desktop and remove unwanted messages.

Because most of my emails dealt with coupons, I unsubscribed and created a new email address, AmberCoupons, to have all those things sent there. Junk email reminds me of back in the day, junk mail. It's crazy!

Hopefully keeping those emails separate, will bring me some sanity.

Happy New Year πŸ₯‚πŸΎ

January 2nd, 2017 at 03:25 am

Happy New Year everyone! πŸ₯‚πŸΎπŸŽ†

Today was a little busy for me. Went to church, then off to find a belated Christmas gift for my boss, cleaned my car, meal prep and grocery shopping. I really wanted to get my shopping out of the way so that I could have a no spend day tomorrow but I forgot to get gas.

Church was awesome, it's been a while since I've been the first Sunday of the month, let alone the year. Unfortunately, things are tight so I was only able to make a $20 donation.

From there I headed over to Michael's, I wanted a new planner but just couldn't bring myself to spend over $30 on one. I would have had to purchase the binder, that was $20, the calendar another $5, plus other things I wanted like the meal plan, and fitness items. Just not worth it.

I was going to go to Bed Bath and Beyond but decided to head to the Christian bookstore to get a gift for my aunt ($7). While there, they had a lotion/bath set at half price for $10 so I picked this up for my boss. Not bad. Though I hate gift exchanges we had one at the office, the boss was on vacation so I made out like a bandit by waiting. Oh yeah and I found a lovely planner for $10.

From there I ended up buying a sub, ugh. Cost me about $10 with a drink and chips, needless to say because I ate out, I had to also pay $5 on the CC and add $5 to my savings. I figured, if I had the money to eat out I should have the money to pay down debt and save.

Once home, I created a meal plan for the week. From that I went grocery shopping ($64), I'm hoping to stay focus and keep up with my meal planning.

Lastly, I washed my car myself, costing me about $6, saving me another $6 so I'm adding the $6 saved to debt reduction and savings.