Amber's Personal Finance Blog

Great news, today I landed another contract, averaging about $8k a month. Thank God! 

I’ll admit, I was a little nervous with all that is going on; however, today I landed another gig and I’m so thankful. 

I’d interviewed for the role and really hit it off with the hiring manager. She liked myself and another candidate, went to her manager about budgeting for two roles vs one and it was approved. 

You all have no idea how thankful I am. This will be a big help. I’ll be able to pay off my second student loan. 

I’m also thankful because I think with me picking up these gigs, I’ll be able to kick things off with my business. 

I’m so thankful to God for this opportunity, journey that I’m on. 

Well I don’t know where to begin. I’ll keep it short. 

I was so excited for my new contract, and ended up hiring legal to obtain my outstanding payment. 

Long story short, company signed a contract for services (their contract not mine), both parties agreed, the company wanted me in the office, basically full time, as a contractor. This was not apart of my contract/agreement. I actually warned them about hiring contractors to work as an employee. The company was to provide me 30-day notice, I’m okay if they didn’t but pay me for my one month of service at least. They chose not to pay me for the month, now I’m asking for the 10k that’s owed to me, at the advise of my attorney. 

I hate suing people. I probably wouldn’t if I didn’t need the money but right is right and wrong is wrong. Honestly if they’d paid me the $5k even though the contract called for an additional 30- days, I would have been happy. 

Next I’m dealing with a roof debacle, HOA is trying force new roofs that technically they’re required to pay. I can’t get a roofer out her to give me a quote. Found one and he wants close to $9k that I do not want to take out if my savings. I ended up hiring an inspector who stated based on his expertise the roof is not over 20 years old so now I’m fighting with the HOA. 

I received payment from another client, $8600. I took this money, paid my mortgage, HOA and COBRA through December, next payment isn’t until January. 

I charged a few things on my CC, mostly for the business (e.g. insurances, software) so $3k will pay off the card. 

All in all, I haven’t touched any of my savings. 

Some days I just want to cry but I’m still pushing. 

I looked at my checking account and realized I had an extra $1,000 I could pay towards my student loans, so I did so. I'm so thankful that the interest is not accumulating, it's given me the opportunity to actually make a difference. Hopefully I'll have my second one paid off by the end of this month. 

My new balance is $4,960, for this one. My new overall balance is $53,576.29, in two years I've paid off about $30k. 

Whew it’s been awhile but I wanted to check in. 

As you all know, I quit my job, very toxic work environment. After I left most of my team quit.

Well I took a job about two weeks ago, my gut told me not to but fear had me to do it. Everyone was nice but the job itself I just couldn’t do. It was very antiquated and well below my skill set and I struggled. So I resigned. 

The very day I resigned, I landed a job paying $5000 a month as a consultant and the other consulting gig I had want me to clock 40 hours a week even if it means to watch videos at $2000 a week, so that’s $13,000 a month, gross. 

I also landed a content writing gig that pays me in gift cards for every article I write, $80 so I’ve written four so far. I choose Walmart because, I can not only buy groceries but other miscellaneous items as well without spending my own money. 

I’m so excited and thankful, that I thank God daily. This is the most money I’ve ever made and working less and less stress. 

Oops I also potentially have another gig paying about $50 an hour averting 20 hours a week to recruit. Waiting to hear back. 

I spoke with a friend who is an accountant to help me with setting up my business and that I can pay myself  via payroll, deducting my taxes and he will handle all my tax stuff, he’s doing this  for free. He is even giving me space in his office to use as my office for free. 

Oh and all gigs are remote 

God has truly blessed me and it that I’m thankful. 

I have a dilemma and hope you all can help. As you know I left a very toxic work environment, and was recently offered a full time position that is significantly lower, $26.44 per hour, than my previous job. Benefits are not that great. 

I was told that the company is a great place to work, but the salaries are low, as you can see. 

I recently interviewed for and received an offer for a contract job, 8 weeks at $50 per hour working remotely. It’s doing what I love but it’s contract work. I can pretty much complete the task anywhere. Job one, I’ll have to be on the office. 

Here are my options that I’m considering:

• Keep job one at $26.44 per hour and add the contract work, if things get too complicated quit job one and work the contract job at $50 a hour. 
• Rescind my acceptance for job one and stick with job two at $50 a hour, continuing my search for employment. 

At $26.44 per hour in eight weeks, I’d make $8,460, this is job one. At $50 a hour for eight weeks I’d make $16,000. Almost double. The contract work, has the potential to be extended and I’ll be responsible for my own taxes. What’s your thoughts? 

Well I was offered a job. It’s about $5k less than I was making and way less than I wanted. I’m going to try and negotiate an additional $5k or one extra week vacation. 

It’s about 7 miles from my house, so about 15 minutes with traffic, much better than the 1.5-2 hour drive, each way. 

Benefits are okay, much better though than my last job. 

I’ve been looking for a job since January, prior to quitting and nothing. Yes it’s an employee’s market but employers are still slow to offer and very picky. 

Either way I’ll take it and keep looking until something comes along paying me what I’m looking for. 

I am waiting on another employer to make a decision. I submitted my project last week and was told I should hear something by next week, fingers crossed. I gave them the range I wanted, it’s fully remote as well. 

Hi all!

Hope you enjoyed your holiday. 

I wanted to do a quick check in. Last month I quit my job, well gave my resignation and my CEO terminated. It was an extremely toxic environment and I don’t regret it. 

Since quitting I’ve been trying to apply for unemployment with no luck, it has been a challenge getting on the site. Thank God I had money saved. This business of people living off unemployment and don’t want to work is a joke, because I have yet to log in or speak with anyone for over a month. 

I paid my HOA through October and my mortgage through August. I’m thinking about paying September’s mortgage  but holding off to see if I get an offer from a job I interviewed for last week. If nothing by next week I’ll go ahead and pay. 

I have an interview with a different company tomorrow, fingers crossed. 

I picked up another side hustle, about $200 a week, this will cover my basic bills (e.g. lights, water) my other gig will cover the mortgage. So all in all I don’t have to touch my savings. 

Well I decided to leave my toxic job. I’ve never done anything like this but my peace, and health was more important. 

I witnessed a ton of abuse, as well as illegal activities, my blood pressure skyrocketed and I had anxiety as well as insomnia. I really want to report them but but doing so will blackball me. 

Thank God I started paying down this debt,  saving money and refinance my house. Without doing so I would have had to stay in that environment. 

I had a few interviews last week and I’ll be applying to a few more. I have about 8 months worth of expenses save. 

Saw the doctor and now that I’m gone from that place, my pressure decreased and the doctor said she may can take me off. Just waiting on my blood work to come back. 

I’ll be applying for unemployment. I also still have my side hustle so that will pay my mortgage every month. 

Happy Sunday everyone!

As promised I wanted to check in and let you all know how things are going. 

First, my job is very stressful, our CEO needs to retire, but she refuses. She’s done a great job with getting the business where it is but we can’t move forward under her leadership. I’ve submitted about 85 applications in the last 30 days and nothing. For those saying people don’t want to work, I say think again. It took a friend over a year to land a job. This was his first and only offer. 

Next, I managed to get my emergency fund to $14,000. I’ve never had that much money. Though this is a drop in the bucket for some, it’s a lot for others. I’m so proud of myself. My goal is to save about a years worth of my take home pay. 

Moving onto my student loans, I’d slowed down because the HOA is attempting to amend the bylaws to force everyone to change the roofs even if there is no damage. I’ve been praying this does not pass. Any way I started back at it. I got my second loan down to $6500, I’ll be paying another $300-$400 this week. It feels good seeing this go away, even if it is slow. 

My internet has been down since Wednesday, this sucks but I have to finish my taxes, I’ll do that today using my phone’s hotspot. Thank goodness I completed most of it. I just have to add the tax ID of my side hustle and hit send. 

I’m still trucking along with the 52 Week Challenge as well as the $2021 for 2021. I had fell behind a bit but I’m catching up. This money will go towards my student loans. 

I’m still paying an extra $25 a month on my mortgage and adding an extra $25 to my IRA each month. I know Dave says not to do this but I’m older and it gives me a peace of mind. 

Health wise, I’ve been walking more so my blood pressure has been great. Hopefully when I see the doctor I can get off these pills completely. 

That’s it for now

The one day I pop in, as promised, to see how things are going and the site won't let me comment on others posts 🙄🤦🏽‍♀️

Is the sight down? 

In financial news, I've managed to get my second student loan down to about half. I'm so excited 

Hi all!

its been a while, hope all is well. I have a question regarding the stimulus check.  

I help support my mom, so I file her on my taxes as a dependent. She gets social security benefits, retired, Will she get a stimulus check? 

Hi SA family, 

Awhile ago I posted ago contributing to my IRA vs 401(k). Someone shared with me the cons in doing so; however, I can't find the post. 

my company has a 401(k) no match and I thought it would be best to contribute to my IRA instead. Can someone share with me if this is a good idea or not? And why not 

After posting that I paid off my student loan, I was informed that the site was back up and running. So I'm going to try this again. 

I'll post significant milestones here but will continue to update via the Slack channel on progress daily. 

Personal news, I got the COVID vaccine today. I cried while getting it because I was scared. I felt better but after speaking with my neice, a nurse, I was scared again. Outside of a little fatigue and soreness of my arm, I feel good. I'm simply putting it in God's hand.

Outside of the COVID vaccine and paying off my first student loan, I have nothing to report.  

As promised, I am reporting that today I scheduled my final payment on student loan number 1. It feels so good to know that I am finally making some traction. 

I’ll admit, I don’t think I would have had it not been for the COVID-19 and a freeze on interest. If this continues through 2021, I can pay off my second loan in six months and start tackling the third one. 

That’s it for now. I created a Slack channel

https://join.slack.com/t/savingadvice/shared_invite/zt-jk3mscxf-xeM0Rk9Za_8o~dFT_Jw7bQ ) for those who’d like to follow me. 

Hi all,

Hope all is well, and everyone had a great holiday. It's been awhile and so much has happened, positive things for sure. 

I created a new Slack channel and wanted to invite anyone who would like to join me. The link is below. 

https://join.slack.com/t/savingadvice/shared_invite/zt-jk3mscxf-xeM0Rk9Za_8o~dFT_Jw7bQ

Hi everyone,

I’ve decided to leave Saving Advice, I’ve been blogging since 2006. It sadden me that this has come to this but the site is not what it use to be. 

There’s too many problems, the inability to post constantly drive me nuts. 

Periodically I’ll stop by to check in; however, I’m giving up the blog on a regular basis. 

I’m sharing my email address, below if anyone wants to stay in contact. 

AmberSavingAdvice@outlook.com

Lastly, I want to say thank you to everyone who has followed my journey, prayed for me and given me the best advice, you all truly are amazing. 

Amber 

Did we find a new site to use yet?