Weekly Spending (Sept 1 – Sept 7)

Sunday, September 1
$0.00 – YAY

Monday, September 2
$0.00 – YAY

Tuesday, September 3
$0.00 – YAY

Wednesday, September 4
$0.00 – YAY

Thursday, September 5
$0.00 – YAY

Friday, September 6
$0.00 – YAY

Saturday, September 7
$0.00 – Kohl’s Gift Card
$37.40 – Gas
$1.48 – Icee
$0.00 – Macy’s Gift Card

Weekly Total = $38.88
Extra Cash = $0.85
Total Transactions = 2

This was a very good week. I did not have to spend any money except for gas for my car. Well and an Icee – that’s definitely a need :p Anyway, I had a $50 gift card to Macy’s and a $50 gift card to Kohl’s back from our wedding party and I decided it was time to spend them . I went and bought Mr. CrazyRichLife four t-shirts at Kohl’s and a top for me and I ended up making $0.85. I don’t know if the cashier was supposed to but instead of giving me my gift card back with $0.85, she gave me the change instead so YAY! Then I headed over to Macy’s and after nearly two hours I was majorly depressed. That store is so expensive. I could not find a single item worth buying. i looked in women’s clothes, sleepwear, shoes, lingerie and men’s clothes and nothing. I went to their home department and ended up with an iron and a popcorn maker. We  needed an iron anyway so that kind of worked out. The popcorn maker was really cute and we love popcorn. Plus, it’s healthier. We don’t have to add butter or oil or anything. You just add the kernels and wait for them to pop, it’s delicious.

How was your week?

New Job!

If you read last week’s post then you know I was very conflicted in switching jobs. With my current job, I work full time and make a pretty good amount of money, not great but enough to support my husband and I as he goes to school. I’ve never really been happy with this job. I’ve been with them for almost 3 years and I’ve been looking for a new one ever since. I know, kind of sad. Well when you have bills to pay, you do what you gotta do. Then I stopped looking. I kind of gave up on finding a job that was at least close to my current pay and that would take me. Then just last week, I was offered a job. For starters, they really want me so that alone got me excited and even though they originally offered me part time with a bit less pay, I was willing to make a move if it meant being happier. Life is just way too short and I am way too young to be this miserable. So I decided to apply and go for some interviews. After it was all said and done, they came out with the offer of full time, with benefits, tuition assistance, vacation time and they matched what I am currently making. (Victory Dance) I’ve been wanting to leave this company for a while and now I finally can.

With this new job, I will be interacting with customers and assisting them with technical issues (something that intrigues me deeply) I’ll also have a lot more room for growth and more flexibility in my schedule which is amazing. I should be able to do some morning classes to finish school and still get my full hours. This is just a dream come true for me. I know the grass isn’t always greener on the other side but hey I can hope right?

The hardest thing was giving my two weeks notice at my current job. My current boss is super scary and confrontational and when I went to his office to put in my two weeks I was practically having an anxiety attack. I was not confident at all and my voice was shaky, it was just really bad. Then he offered to work with me and give me more flexibility and I just wanted to scream, “No, No, No! Not in a million years. There’s not enough money in the world that would make me stay here. I hate it here and I’m about to kill someone.” As you can imagine, I did NOT say any of that. I just told him that I had already signed with them and that I was a bit burned out here and that it’s time for me to move one. Of course, he then goes to say how I have such great potential. Uh, you couldn’t have said that to me 2 years ago. I’ve ben working my ass off and have never gotten a simple thank you and now you say I have so much potential. Um yeah F*** you! Don’t worry I didn’t say any of that either. Oh well, I am just so excited to learn and grow and move forward with this new company. I really hope that it goes well and that I fit in well into their program. I start in a couple of weeks. Wish me luck ya’ll.

P.S. Drug tests are horrible and I can’t pee under pressure.

Weekly Spending (Aug 25-Aug 31)

Sunday, August 25
$0.00 – YAY

Monday, August 26
$12.00 – Bracelet for my mom

Tuesday, August 27
$0.00 – YAY

Wednesday, August 28
$0.00 – YAY

Thursday, August 29
$2.85 – Dairy Queen

Friday, August 30
$136.50 – Publix
$360.00 – Ultrasound

Saturday, August 31
$12.38 – CVS Pharmacy

Weekly Total = $523.73
Extra Cash = $20.00 (Mystery Shops)
Total Transactions = 5

This week was not bad. I had my ultrasound on Friday but other than that it was fine. The $360 is not correct but that’s what is out of my account this week so we’ll count it in. Once they fix it (it’s supposed to be less because I canceled one of the procedures) then we’ll add it as a refund. I just want to say – I AM SO GLAD I HAVE AN EMERGENCY FUND. It’s really saved me this past month. I’ve had a ton of doctor’s visits and meds and without insurance, those can get kind of pricey. Our emergency fund really came through this month. Now we just have to worry about replenishing it. On that note…I got a new job. YAY! (picture confetti and balloons and me popping some champagne) I’m just so happy. I was conflicted because I was worried about making less and working fewer hours but it all worked out. Come back later this week to read more about it.

Money or Happiness?

I hate my job. I’m sure you’ve heard or said that at least once in your life before. It’s not the job itself, but really more of the management and the overall morale of the place. I feel like I should be in the movie Horrible Bosses. You know what I mean, the place that just makes you want to cry every morning, the place that you kind of wish would burn down or flood just so that you wouldn’t have to go into work. Well that’s my situation as of lately. I’ve been at my current job for 2 years, 8 months and 18 days. That’s not a long time in the grand scheme of things, but for a 21 year old – that’s a lifetime.  They are just so demanding and they love to micromanage, but the biggest problem of all is that they treat me like the 18 year old innocent, naive girl they hired in 2011.

For starters, I’ve been here longer than most of the employees we currently have. Most people have come and gone but I’ve stuck through, in sickness and in health; for better or for worse. I’ve grown greatly in the company and I’ve worked in almost every department available. Sales, accounting, collections, marketing…you name it and I’ve done it. Besides working various positions over the last 2+ years, I honestly think that I’ve succeeded in every position and opportunity I was offered here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m perfect, but I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job. I also work harder and longer than most people here. I’m almost always the first one in and almost always the last one to leave. I take work home with me when necessary, I work weekends if they need it, etc… Plus when everyone else is chit chatting, surfing the internet and twirling their thumbs, I’m at my desk doing a million and one things. It just does not seem fair.

Another big issue is the way they make me feel so undervalued and under appreciated. I’ve worked my a** off trying to always give 110% and everyone else is getting raises and making more. I know it’s not the only reason, but I do feel like my age is a big part of that. Yes, I know I’m young but is that reason to treat me like a child?

They take advantage of me. This is not as bad lately cause I’ve started standing up for myself a bit more, but short of me wiping their a**, I’ve done it all. “hey can you bring me some paper clips?” or “can you restock the bathrooms with toilet paper and paper towel?” and “can you go get this out of my car for me?” I mean, come on. I’m not your personal secretary here.

Well enough nagging right? The real reason for this post is not so I can whine about my job. The real reason is that I’ve been offered another job. I haven’t gotten all the details yet but I might be making less and working fewer hours to start off. Now to my question, is it better to make more and be completely unhappy or should I pursue this opportunity even if it means making less? I know being happy is important but so is eating and having a bed and saving. This is just such a tough decision for me. I’ve always moved forward and worked hard to take steps forward with my finances. I’m not saying that I’ll live under a bridge if I take this other job since Mr. CrazyRichLife also works, but it would mean less savings for us. At the same time, I’d have a bigger chance to grow in this new place and I’d be way less stressed, plus I’d have more time for myself which might be just what I need right now.

I just don’t know. What would you do?

P.S. Sorry for all the ranting.

Weekly Spending (Aug 18 – Aug 24)

Sunday, August 18
$0.00 – YAY

Monday, August 19
$171.69 – Sprint

Tuesday, August 20
$10.00 – El Patio Mexican (Lunch)
$109.50 – Doctor’s
$1.58 – McDonald’s
$32.37 – Publix

Wednesday, August 21
$0.00 – YAY

Thursday, August 22
$0.00 – YAY

Friday, August 23
$0.00 – YAY

Saturday, August 24
$15.89 – Ross
$7.14 – Avon
$3.49 – Amazon Kindle (The One Week Budget by the Budgetnista)

Weekly Total = $351.66
Extra Cash = $0
Total Transactions = 8

Another week of Doctor’s Appointments, urgh. I had a UTI, then a kidney infection and now who knows. I’ve gone through medications and all these tests(which all came back negative by the way) and they still don’t know why I’m in pain and discomfort. It’s just so frustrating. They’ve scheduled me for an ultrasound to see what’s going on so we’ll see how that goes.

I did buy a book this week. The One Week Budget by Ms. Tiffany Aliche aka The Budgetnista. I have not started this book yet but I am very much looking forward to it and hope to learn a lot. I’ll let you guys know how it goes.

Weekly Spending (Aug 11 – Aug 17)

Sunday, August 11
$45.00 – Sam’s Club Membership Renewal

Monday, August 12
$29.38 – Avon

Tuesday, August 13
$259.00 – Doctor’s Appointment
$46.37 – CVS Medicine
$19.47 – Amazon

Wednesday, August 14
$0.00 – YAY

Thursday, August 15
$40.32 – Gas (Jeez gas has gotten expensive)
$1.58 – Ice cream cone (I really needed something sweet)
$84.78 – Office Depot (Office chair + Shelf)

Friday, August 16
$0.00 – YAY

Saturday, August 17
$25.00 – Groupon (Two Passes for Unlimited Fun at FunWorks)
$21.19 – JC Penney (Khakis)
$21.20 – Splitz (Bowling for 2)

Weekly Total = $593.29
Extra Cash = $0.00
Total Transactions = 8

Not off to a great start this month, last week I had to go to the doctor and get some medicine and this week I had to go back and get more medicine.  I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was in a lot of pain and discomfort. I went to the doctor and they didn’t see much but they gave me medicine for a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection), well a week went by and I was feeling worse so I tried to go back this past Tuesday but my physician couldn’t see me till next week and there was no one else so I had to go to a walk in clinic which is where the $259 comes in.  My infection had gotten worse because I’m one of the lucky few who are immune to the medication. Yay (sarcasm) Well it also had spread to my kidneys so that’s fun. They gave me some tests and some more meds and I’m feeling a bit better. Not 100% but definitely better. Urgh sickness.

You realize how desperate you get once you’ve been in pain for two weeks or more. Man, I was willing to do anything. I ate raw garlic, took cold showers, drank weird teas, made some strange juices with my juicer. My mom is super into natural remedies so she was telling me to do all these things. They definitely helped. Garlic is like magical and my mom always gave it to us for everything – colds, fevers, bug bites, you name it. I’m sure the medicine helped as well but I was on it for 3 days and not much improvement, then I ate two cloves of garlic and voila, I saw a lot of improvement. So if you ever feel anything coming or if you’re already sick, try some raw garlic. It’s good if you cook it with your food as well but for best results just munch on some raw garlic and you’ll be feeling better in no time.

We also made a couple of additions to our guest bed/home office. We really needed a desk chair, we’ve been using one of our dining room chairs so I decided to get one. We got Mr. CrazyRichLife’s books in the mail yesterday (he’s doing some online classes) and with them we got a coupon for Office Depot – $10 off. Well I decided to go and get us a chair. I also wanted some sort of side table/shelf we could use to put supplies on as well as our printer so that we could leave the desk empty for work and school. So I get there and choose a chair and it’s the only one left so they let me take the one that’s on the floor. It was originally $79.99, and it was on sale for $59.99, but they gave it to us for $49.99 since it was the floor model so YAY. and the book shelf was only $39.99. So that’s $90 and with the $10 off we’re down to $80 plus tax.

Our fun bowling date!

On Saturday we took a nap (something we never do) and so we were bored Saturday night. Normally we keep ourselves busy all day and we’re ready to get to bed around 10PM on weekends. Well due to our nap, we were not ready for be and decided to go out instead. We headed over to the bowling alley and lucky for us, they were having all you can bowl from 10PM till close – 2AM – for just $10 per person. That included shoes and an open lane. We had a lot of fun, it was nice to get out of the house and enjoy ourselves a bit since I’ve been feeling so crummy.

How was your week? Hopefully better than mine.

Weekly Spending (Aug 4 – Aug 10)

Sunday, August 4
$0.00 – YAY

Monday, August 5
$72.37 – Publix
$15.95 – CVS

Tuesday, August 6
$26.32 – Publix
$5.00 – Haile Village Bistro
$63 – Doctor’s Appointment

Wednesday, August 7
$159.80 – Amazon (3 Picture Frames, 2 HDMI chords, Cascade Bucket and Ultramix Organic Dog Food)

Thursday, August 8
$6.88 – CVS (Feminine Products)
$69.85 – HSN.com (Juicer for my mom)
$12.32 – Publix

Friday, August 9
$7.95 – Subway

Saturday, August 10
$0.00 – YAY

Weekly Total = $439.44
Extra Cash = $17 (MysteryShop)
Total Transactions = 10

So this week I had an unexpected expense (my doctors appointment) Luckily it wasn’t too bad, I honestly thought it would be more so I’m happy. I had been feeling some abdominal pain off and on for about a week and decided to go to the doctor to make sure everything was ok. (side note: guys have it way too easy, they don’t have a doctor al up in their business poking and prodding at them, just saying) Anyway, they gave me a full lady exam and turns out that they are still not sure what’s going on with me. They gave me meds for an infection but and told me to take it and see how I feel. I have some signs and symptoms of an infection, but not enough for them to be sure. Hoping and praying it’s nothing serious. I also bought some other items for the house. We’ve had this three pictures rolled up in a tube for over a year and have never found frames for them. We looked for a while and couldn’t find anything so we gave up and now that we moved into the new place, we were reminded of them so I decided to look for frames again. We found some we liked and I went ahead and bought a couple more items we needed. We’re trying to buy better food for our dog Dylan. He eats so little as is, so it’s not like we’ll go broke from buying him better food. He deserves something good, right? As for the juicer, it’s my mom’s birthday next month and she’s been talking about a juicer ever since I did my juice cleanse so we decided it was time she got one. I normally never shop on HSN but a friend told me about this juicer they had as their deal of the day; 50% off, you can’t go wrong with that. We got it for a good price plus we don’t have to look for a present for my mom.

How was your week? Any unexpected “emergencies”?

Goodbye Crappy Apartment, Hello NEW One

We are done moving. Yay. I’ve never been so happy. Moving is hard and we hate it but we just couldn’t stay at our older place. Along with the awful living situation, loud neighbors, and crappy management, we just really wanted to get away from downtown. Too many rowdy college kids coming home drunk at 3AM and being noisy. We just couldn’t take it anymore. Although, the poor management (and I say that lightly cause poor doesn’t even begin to describe them) was the real reason why we left.

I’ve never had such a bad experience. They were rude, careless and down right mean. To start off, the apartment was disgusting when we moved in, we didn’t have running water in the kitchen and everything was falling apart. After numerous phone calls and drop bys to the office, I sent them a nice little letter telling them that they had 5 days to give us water or their rent was going to go into an escrow account. They were there less than 24 hours later, apologizing their asses off. The manager had the audacity of saying that he wished we hadn’t gone to such measures and if he had just known, it would have been taken care of. Oh excuse me that your employees are so incompetent that the 10 times we called and the 10 visits we made to the office were not enough. What an idiot. Well that got fixed quickly. This was only September and our lease was until the end of July so I was feeling pretty crummy knowing that we still had 10 months there. The year was awful and made us hate them even more. I’m just proud of myself for not losing it and burning down the building, that to me was an accomplishment. Anyway out with the old (crummy, gross, idiot filled apartment) and in with the new.

We’ve only been there a couple of weeks but we already love it. It’s quiet, no rowdy college kids, the neighbors are super friendly, we have a porch, ah a porch! The office and maintenance staff are also great and above all the apartment is all renovated with new carpets, new paint, new tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms, new appliances and overall all amazing. Not to mention that we now have a dishwasher, a washer and dryer, a garbage disposal and a microwave. The rooms are also bigger, by a lot. The guest room is twice the size of the old one with the twice the closet space. Our room is bigger as well as more closet space. We also have two bathrooms now and an actual dining room. The best part though is the kitchen. Our last kitchen was hallway, literally. You opened the front door and there was a tiny hallway that was also our kitchen.  Counters against one wall, stove and fridge across against the other wall. To give you an idea of how small it was, we couldn’t’ open the fridge door all the way because it hit the counters.

But it’s over. We are done with our crappy apartment and we LOVE our new one. It’s bigger and just all around better and we couldn’t be happier.

What’s the worst apartment you’ve ever lived in?

Weekly Spending (July 28 – Aug 3)

Sunday, July 28
$0.00 – YAY

Monday, July 29
$70.00 – Gators Dockside (Dinner for 3)

Tuesday, July 30
$38.00 – Camp Marlin (Daycare for our dog Dylan)
$2.07 – Starbucks (Coffee for Father-in-Law)
$27.34 – Piesanos (Dinner for moving crew aka family)
$19.85 – Publix (Beer for moving crew)

Wednesday, July 31
$71.28 – Publix

Thursday, August 1
$2.33 – Haile Village Bistro (Bagel)
$15.55 – Publix (Lunch and Snacks for the house)

Friday, August 2
$0.00 – YAY

Saturday, August 3
$246.94 – Bed Bath & Beyond
$25.54 – Sweetbay Supermarket

Weekly Total = $518.90
Extra Cash = 23.48 (Refund from Amazon)
Total Transactions = 10

We had some extra expenses this week. Since we were moving, we either had everything already packed, or we just didn’t have anything to eat so we ate out a bit. We had lunch out on Monday as well but Mr. CrazyRichLife’s dad paid for that. He also paid for our U-Haul so that was really nice. Along with financial help, his parents were super amazing with helping us move. They drove 5 hours to spend all day helping us take furniture and boxes up and down the stairs and clean and organize our new home. They are so amazing and we are so thankful because we could not do it alone. Side note: I’ve been experience some abdominal pain lately and the day before our move it got really bad, like curled up in bed crying kind of pain. I thought it was temporary but sure enough, Tuesday morning I’m still in pain and can’t lift anything. I picked up my laptop and it hurt me. So having his parents here was a need. They were planning on coming anyway but we’re even more thankful because I could barely do anything on Tuesday. Anyway, the move went great. We got everything in the apartment and everything put in place. They spend the night with us Tuesday and spent all day organizing on Wednesday, which was nice again because I had to go back to work. On Saturday we went back to BB&B and cleaned up our registry. We had received a 20% off our entire order coupon so we took advantage of it. Got some curtains, kitchen trashcan, a welcome mat, a bed skirt, and a few other items for the house.

How was your week? Everything you hoped?

Save when Using the Bathroom

We always read about how important it is to save water, you know? Go green and stuff. Take shorter showers, don’t leave the sink running when you brush your teeth, flush once a day, well just kidding about that one, you should always flush. Nobody wants to see that in your toilet. Anyway,  even though saving water is very important, that is not the only way to save when you’re in the bathroom.

Liquid Products

It’s very easy to get carried away with your shampoo, body wash or even your face wash. I am guilty of doing this. I squirt a handful of shampoo in my hand, probably 2 to 3 times the amount I actually need to clean my hair. Then I squeeze a long stream of body wash into my loofa thinking that the more soap I use the cleaner I’ll be, right? WRONG. I’m not saying that you should not clean yourself properly to just save a few buck, I’m saying that you can use the correct amount when it comes you your liquids in the bathroom. A little bit of shampoo goes along way when you start rubbing it your hair. A dab of body wash will clean you just as well as half the bottle and a pea size drop of face wash will get the job done without being wasteful.

Toothpaste

This kind of goes along with the liquid products, you don’t need to fill the entire brush with toothpaste, a small dab of it will usually do more than enough. Your tube will last you twice as long and your pearly whites will still look amazing.

Toilet Paper

We’ve all seen the commercial of the Charmin Toilet Paper bears dancing and using half a roll of toilet paper to wipe their little fluffy bear booties. You know the song. “Charming Ultra, Less is More.” Well that applies for most toilet paper. My husband is guilty of this one. I’d put a new role in the bathroom and next thing I know, half of it would be gone. And I buy good toilet paper so it’s not like you need a 10 foot long piece to wipe yourself. Use less toilet paper. Just do it.  Even with the brandless toile paper, you can use less. Again, don’t be gross and still wipe yourself properly, but rethink how much you are using at a time.