You shouldn’t buy a house if…
If you were reading my blog many months ago, you may have caught this post about how my then boyfriend bought a house. I thought it was an absolute terribly idea for him to do, and so did his brother (a finance professional). However he did it anyway. So I wanted to put together a list of signs that you shouldn’t buy a house:
1) You have credit card debt
If you have credit card debt, you shouldn’t be buying a house. Get your cards (literally!) in order and then you can start to think about buying a house. For instance, my ex wanted to use his $8,000 tax rebate from buying his house to pay off his credit card. He should have put this money into his principle, into his house savings fund, ect – however, he shouldn’t have bought the house with $8,000 worth of credit card debt anyway!
2) You just want to feel grown up
You shouldn’t buy a house just because you think you’re old enough and it is “about time” you do SOMETHING to prove you’re an adult. Just because you’re old enough doesn’t mean that buying a house is a financially smart decision for you. If you really want some added responsibility – get a cat! It should also go without saying that just because “everyone else is” – isn’t a good enough reason. Do we need to have a talk about peer pressure here?
3) You don’t have 20% down
If you haven’t saved enough money to have 20% down, then you aren’t ready to buy a house. Get your 20% down and then get a house. You’ll save yourself a butt-load of money by not having to get mortgage protection insurance.
4) You can’t pay the 20% down without using your E-fund
If you’re counting on your E-fund as part of your 20% down, STEP AWAY FROM THE HOUSE. You’ll need that E-fund in case you loose your job, the water heater breaks, ect, ect, ect. That 20% down you’re saving should be APART from your E-fund.
5) You don’t have a sufficient E-fund
If your E-fund is not sufficient, you shouldn’t be buying the house. It should be fully funded up to the level that is appropriate for your family. For me, this would mean that I would need a $10,000 E-fund IN ADDITION to my down payment. Being without an E-fund for the sake of owning a home is NO EXCUSE.
6) You don’t understand how much more a house costs than a mortgage
I’m not sure if there is a general rule of thumb about this, but I’ve always believed that you should save 20% of what you pay to your mortgage into a “House Emergency Fund” – this way if the water heater breaks or you need to re-do the roof, you have a fund to pull from. So if your mortgage payment is $1,000/month, you should IN ADDITION be putting $200/month into a house savings account with a goal of 10% of the home’s value in that account.
7) You plan on moving within 10 years
Sure, some people will say 5 years or 7 years, but lets me honest, to be sure you can get enough equity in your home so that you’re not underwater in your home loan during the next recession you should know that you’ll stay at your current location for the next decade. I don’t plan on buying myself a house until I get tenure – it will be my tenure present to myself – and tenure will be insurance that I won’t be leaving any time soon!
8 ) You can’t afford it
There is a huge difference between what you can afford and what you can get a loan for. Just because you get approved for a $200k loan doesn’t mean you can afford a $200k house payment. And just because you can SQUEEZE it into your budget doesn’t mean that it makes financial sense to strap yourself to a loan payment that stretches your budget too far. Don’t spend more on your mortgage than you comfortably can afford if you were to lose 40% of your salary – this way you can live on 60% of your salary and put 40% into savings and investments.
9) You can’t afford the 15-year mortgage
Now, there is a camp that claims that it is better to get a 30-year mortgage because the money that you’re not putting into the mortgage can be put into mutual funds or stocks or other high interest funds. That is all fine and dandy if you choose this route. HOWEVER, for it to make financial sense you have to be putting the difference between the 15yr mortgage and the 30 year mortgage into investments. If you are getting the 30-year because you can’t afford the 15-year there is a problem here. You need a smaller loan or a less expense house.
10) You think you’re “throwing” your money away in rent
If you believe that you don’t know enough about money yet to buy a house. Renting is not “throwing away” your money. You get a roof over your head, a living place with free maintenance, and the chance to save money before you purchase a home. If you still think that renting is just throwing away money please read the post I wrote here about paying for a house in full while renting.
11) You can’t afford to furnish your new house
As Carrie… On The Cheap reminded me, you need to have money to furnish your house. Her and Lloyd are saving up $15k to furnish their house. You don’t want to get into credit card debt because you bought a house! That’s no good for anyone! Thanks for the great suggestion Carrie!
Did I leave anything out? Are there other signs that you shouldn’t be buying a house right now?
Christmas Plans
I moved to the Midwest 2 years ago in January from San Diego. And since that time I’ve never been home for Christmas or Thanksgiving. I did manage to get back to see my Grandma last year about three weeks before Thanksgiving and we celebrated an early Thanksgiving (she does not live in San Diego).
This year I’ve been really down about spending the holiday time by myself. For some reason I just really miss my family. And perhaps that is because I didn’t see my Grandma this year for Thanksgiving (the first time in 10 years that tradition has been broken). And perhaps because I don’t have a boyfriend to spend the holidays with. Last year I spent it with Cpt Baseball and we had a lovely holiday together. Or maybe just because I used to spend every Sunday morning with my dad in graduate school, and now I haven’t seen him for two years!
I talked with my dad this evening and he really wants me to come out. And I really want to come out. I found a flight for $241 round trip. My dad said he’d pay for at least half of the ticket, and all of it if he closes another deal. (He made his first deal in the last year this week! I’m so happy for him. And we had a long conversation about what he has been doing to make ends meet, I’ll tell you guys about this in a separate post!)
Of course, I’ll also have to pay to board Jack during the holiday (around $220) and pay for transportation to the airport or parking at the airport ($50 for airport shuttle or $70 for airport parking). It will still end up being a pretty penny. But I think that family, at least some of the time, has to come before finances.
I’ll pay the boarding fee for Jack. So all told I’ll probably spend about $400 to go see my dad. With my dad possibly giving me back $100 of this.
Sure, it is financially irresponsible for me to have a post about trying to get out of debt in a year and then spending $400 for Christmas.
I’ve decided that I’m not worrying about presents this year beyond what I already have bought. So I’ll finish my step-dad’s quilt and send that to him. I’ll finish the towels for my relatives that I have supplies for. But the others I was going to get little things for are just going to get a nice handwritten card. It is all I can really do right now. I know that they won’t care that much, and would love to have a hand written note.
Also, my dad and I have agreed that me coming out will be our presents to each other. So his portion of my plane ticket will be his present to me and my portion of my plane ticket will be my present to him. I still have the gifts that I got him in Europe and the book he wants that I got with my Swagbucks. My sister’s birthday gift arrived in the mail today, and she will love it. For her Christmas gift I still don’t know what to get her. I have her souvenir from Europe. But her “main” gift will probably end up being a firefly necklace from Amazon that I pay for with my Swagbucks. It isn’t much, but it is really all I can do this year. (My dad is buying her a black friday Laptop!)
I have $155 left in my Christmas fund. I have $150 in my “Fun Fund” – with more to come as finals approaches in two weeks. I’ll also be getting 3 paychecks in December from my teaching job – so one of them will be “extra” cash for me – to the tune of $226. So I have $531 to pay for everything without dipping into my E-fund, using my credit card or using my everyday “spending money”.
I know I said that I couldn’t go anywhere until I was out of debt, but I think that family and people need to come first. If it takes me an extra month to get out of debt because I visit my dad, my sister, my aunt and my cousins (and their kids) for Christmas – I’m okay with that. I have been so disconnected from everyone since I moved here, I need to reconnect.
In the order of priorities (and keeping in mind what I might regret on my death bed), family trumps debt – especially if I can pay to visit my family without going into more debt and without touching my E-fund.
Debt Free in 2010?
I’ve been planning around with the CNN debt calculator, and it turns out that if I were to raise my monthly contributions to my debt by $200/month I’d be able to have no credit card debt by January 2011 (December 31st, 2010 to be exact).
The idea of being debt free in a year sounds incredible. Certainly it would be a great way to start 2011 with no debt. Now, I don’t know if I’d be able to put an extra $200 towards my debt every month. But here is what I think I’ll be able to pull off in the next 13 months:
December 2009: $1,060 (normal $1000 payment + $2/day towards debt)
January 2010-April 2010: $1,512 (normal $1000 payment + $2/day + $452 from extra class I’ll be teaching)
May 2010-August 2010: $500 (won’t be teaching classes most likely, so will have to make a reduced summer budget to account for $500 less money/month)
September 2010-December 2010: $1060 (assuming I’ll be teaching 1 class, hard to predict this far in advance)
Using the pay scheme above here is how much I’ll have remaining at each point:
December 2009: $12,978
April 2010: $7,790
August 2010: $6,400
December 2010: $2,511
If however I was able to get myself a class in EITHER in the summer or a second class next fall, I will be able to pay off my credit card no problem in 2010. OR if I was able to bump up my contributions each month by $140 (+the $2/day) – I’ll get the card paid off by the beginning of 2011. Absolutely incredible.
So, if I don’t want to count on the “chance” of getting a class in the summer or an extra class in the fall, what can I do to get the extra $140/month?
Well, I could cut my contributions to my emergency fund. Or at least lower it. If I were to reduce my contributions to my E-fund to $25/month rather than $100, I could put an extra $75 on my credit card. And if the E-fund dips below $1000, I could go back up to $100/month.
If I were to just add that extra $75/month to the payment plan I have listed above I could end December 2010 with a balance of only $533 on my credit card. I have to figure out if the debt repayment is better than the E-fund.
It is pretty exciting to think that I could be debt free in 2010. I’ll need to spend some time thinking about what is better: no debt or a $2400 E-fund at the end of 2010.
Spending Confessions
I alluded in my Anti-procrastination Day 2 post that I had spent more money that I normally do during Anti-procrastination weekend. And it is true. However… I need to come clean with you all.
Here is the total damage of this weekend:
Starting balance: $175.47
- CVS to get listerine (to clean scuba gear, got in on sale for $4.00 + $1 CVS buck back), also bought a Dr. Pepper (had 50cent off coupon) - $5.36
- Petco – cat food and litter liners – $30.47
- Goodwill – 2 cute jackets – $11.57
- Papa John’s – lunch and dinner Saturday, lunch on Sunday – $15.63
- Qdoba – dinner Sunday with Mr Cousin – $17.29 (I bought since I owed him dinner)
- Petsmart - unnecessary purchase of dog toys for Jack – $21.38
- Starbucks – tasting the Eggnog Chai Latter I had been “procrastinating” on getting (can we smell justification here?) – $3.99
- Joann Fabrics – quilting material and other non-essential crafting supplies – $40.38
Total after the weekend of Anti-Procrastination: $29.40
After some buyers remorse – last night I returned one of Jack’s dog toys (well, exchanged it for cat litter) and I returned all of the craft supplies aside from the fabric for the quilt and one skein of yarn I got on sale to finish a baby blanket for a shower I’m going to December 5th. I got around $16 from Joann’s and broke even at Petsmart for the exchange of 1 dog toy for 27lbs of litter.
I’m just ASHAMED of how easy it was to fall back into my old spending habits when I stopped focusing on it for one weekend. I didn’t NEED the Dr. Pepper at CVS – I just went for the listerine. Nor did I need the latte at Starbucks, nor the two dog toys for Jack or most of what I purchased at Joann’s. I’m just… ashamed… but at least I could take some of it back…
My Perfect Day
I know I am WEEKS behind in doing this since Frugal Dreamer posted about it. But mainly because I spent a lot of time thinking about what that “perfect day” would actually look like. So here is “roughly” how it goes on a weekday some 5-ish years from now:
1. What time do you wake up, and how are you feeling as you greet the day?
I wake up around 7am. I’m a little groggy from being up all night with some indigestion from the pregnancy, but otherwise I’m pretty happy. I have a meeting at 8:30, so I get get first shower before my husband does. I’m not sure what he does, but he loves his job.
2. Where are you? If you’re at home, what does it look like?
I wake up at home. In our beautiful bedroom in our 1-bedroom apartment. We’ve been saving up for a few years to get our own home. The bedroom is dark and cosy with chocolate wood and warm pictures on the wall, but the rest of the apartment light and airy.
3. Who is with you?
Me, my “getting larger every day” belly, and my husband
4. What kind of work are you doing? (if you have no idea what kind of work you’ll be doing or want to be doing, list the qualities you want to find in the work you do and the kind of work environment you want.)
I’m an Assistant Professor at a nearby University. I have my own lab with a post-doc and 4 graduate students. I have group meeting at 8:30am. My graduate student is presenting an idea that I had recently come up with and shows some really exciting results that validate the method that I’ve created. I’m very exciting about this and immediately after the meeting go to my office to start writing both a grant on the results and start to formulate the paper which I hope will get into the Journal of American Chemical Society. It is a fantastic day of research.
5. As you head out to face the day, how do you look? What are you wearing?
I’m wearing some pregnancy pants and a cute jacket that I got at a local consignment shop. They’re name brand, but I managed to get them for 80% off. Pretty stoked about that.
6. How do you get to work?
I drive my fuel efficient vehicle that I paid cash for.
7. When you’re done with work, how will you spend you spare time and with whom? What activities do you enjoy?
Every night we take an hour walk with the dog. He loves it and so do we.
8. What is your evening like?
We go out once a week to a cultural event – like a play or a musical or the opera or a movie. Typically for the matinee since it is slightly cheaper and less crowded. We have game night once a week. And during the evenings we take turns cooking dinner and then relax from the stresses of the day. Sometimes our dinner conversation gets so intense (in a good way) that we end up sitting at the dinner table until near bed time because we’re just enjoying the conversation so much. A few times a week I retreat to my craft room and do that for a few hours while he plays some video games (or whatever it is that he enjoys to do on his own). This particular evening we’re discussing where we’d like to go on our baby-moon vacation in two months. I’m thinking Brazil and he’s thinking Thailand. It is a very heated discussion and in the end we decide that it would probably be best to go a big city in case there are any complications with the pregnancy while we’re there.
9. When you go to bed that night, how are you feeling after spending the day doing exactly what you love?
I go to bed sleeping in his nook and loving it. I’m so happy that my research is going well. I enjoyed planning our vacation. I look forward to the events up the upcoming days. It was a pretty fantastic day all around.
10. What are you most grateful for and what are you looking forward to as you go to sleep?
I’m thankful for a job that fulfills and satisfies me. A husband who loves and understands me. The family that we’re creating together and the experience that we’ve shared and will be sharing together.
…Now if only such a perfect day could become a reality!
Anti-Procrastination Day 2
While I did get quite a bit of stuff done yesterday, I’m sure the list won’t seem as substantial as yesterday because a lot of it included things that took hours to do. So here is what I got accomplished yesterday:
- Finished picked up my closet. All the filing on Saturday left it a bit of a mess. You know, that messy that things get while you’re in the middle of making it neater? Anyway, I picked up everything from the floor, hung up my scuba gear, and organized all of my suitcases and bags.
- Hung things up. I hung up three items on the wall that I’ve been meaning to put up since I moved into this apartment. This didn’t take long but felt so good to finally get them hung up.
- Cleaned up my book shelves. While this may seem like a simple task, it was not. I had tons of crap piled on top of them. And they needed to be dusted. At the end of the day the shelves were cleaned up and dusted and the tops were organized very simply. One just has my stereo system on top now and the other has 3 pictures (two of which I framed yesterday) and two chemistry-relevant stuffed animals that I would hate if Jack got his way with them.
- Did my laundry. Not just the stuff that I like to wear, I did ALL of it. I’m one of those people whose laundry basket is always half full with items that I just don’t know what to do with. I DID SOMETHING with them! I washed them all, took those that needed to go to dry cleaning to dry cleaning. And now I have a completely empty basket. I even hung everything up. I didn’t get to cleaning my sheets. I’ll have to do that this week.
- Finished my crochet scarf. I finished the scarf I was working on yesterday. After felting it, it looks GORGEOUS! I decided right then and there that I should felt every scarf that I make because it makes them look fantastic.
- Worked on my step-dad’s quilt. This quilt will probably take another two weekends to finish, but I made significant progress on it. All I had done before was the top of the quilt. I laid it out and decided what to do with the back since one of the fabrics that I used isn’t made anymore. Once I figured that out I went to Joann’s and bought 2 yards of fabric to complete the back. I then spent the rest of the day cutting fabric, sewing, and pressing – while watching Sex and the City. I got the back about 80% done – which is fantastic considering it was 0% done when I started. It is looking really good and don’t worry, I’ll post pictures of it when I complete it. =)
I also realized when I was getting stuff together for the quilt that I had some Thankgiving and Christmas towels that I had bought years ago after the holidays on sale for making crocheted hanging towels with. My grandma had requested these a few years back. I bought enough of these towels some years ago to have enough to make 4 sets. So I’ll be sending these out to my grandma and three uncles for their holiday gifts. I did buy some yarn to make them (~$5) and I’ll need to get some buttons for them. Now I’ll only have to make 4 dozen cookies! Also, they were selling holiday tins at Joann’s for 50% off. But I’m debating getting holiday tins for $3 each or just mailing the cookies in tupperware with a bow on it so at least the container is reusable.
Overall, I’d say that my Anti-Procrastination Weekend was exceptionally successful!
I got so much done that I had been meaning to do. Also, if kept me from being “lonely” my first weekend without Mr. Cousin around. (Being busy is the key to not feeling lonely, for sure!) It also really helped de-stress me from a particularly painful Friday at work. It was such a bad day that I was up till 4am on Friday night STEAMING over the events. Keeping busy was the only thing I could do on Saturday to prevent me from calling up some of my labmates and just yelling at them. So I’m VERY glad to have had a plan for the weekend.
Strangely, my anti-procrastination made me want to spend money that I hadn’t want to spend before. For instance, I realized that I really want a small, plastic set of drawers for my closet to put my extra electronic stuff in to. Right now it is all in a cardboard box. Which functionally works, but astetically is not very pretty. I also spent money on dry cleaning and pant alterations – which I wouldn’t have paid for otherwise. In addition, I now really want to get my car detailed, which will cost me at least $100. I also ended up spending money on craft items I normally wouldn’t have bought, since I was procrastinating on doing them.
Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps it is the money issue that has kept me procrastinating on doing these things? I’ve wanted to save money, so I’ve simply put off doing things that I know I will have to spent money on in order to complete? It is a theory, but I doubt that fully covers all of the things I’ve been procrastinating on!
At the end of the weekend, though I have accomplished a lot, I still have more things that I want to do:
- Buy a vacuum – I just have two broken ones right now. However, Mr Cousin has loaned me his for the time being. (Don’t worry, how things went with the “exchange of stuff” will be a subject for a later post)
- Clean off my patio – leaves have collected and I need to winterize my patio-garden
- Clean my fan and cobwebs around the apartment
- Finish the Harry Potter scarf I started two years ago
- Finish my step-dad’s quilt
- Start my sister’s pillow and pillows to match my step-dad’s quilt
- Take my bike out for a ride before the weather gets too cold
- Go for a hike in the nearby national forest with Jack (will probably do this Thanksgiving Day, it is sort of a tradition with Jack and I)
- Reorganize my bills – either in 3-ring binders or digitally via FB’s paperless method
Perhaps the weekend after Thanksgiving will have to be another anti-procrastination weekend!
Anyway, I have appreciated all of your supportive comments. They really motivated me to keep on plugging away. I can definitely see an anti-procrastination weekend happening every month. It was invigorating and I felt very accomplished.
How To Get An Adjunct Position At A Community College
Well-heeled asked me to post some tips and information on teaching at a Community College. I’ve taught at 4 different Colleges or Universities as an adjunct faculty. Three in southern California and one here in the midwest. So here is the general information that I have for you. I’m not an expert by any means, this is just information I’ve picked up along the way.
1) What exactly is an adjunct?
An adjunct faculty member is someone who is hired under contract by the College to teach a specific class. You don’t get benefits, retirement or anything else like you would from a normal full time job – however, it is quite possible that as an adjunct you could end up teaching “full time” – i.e. 12-15 units a semester if you wanted.
Each college is different and for some they may offer Adjunct benefits who teach a certain number of classes or have adjuncted for a certain period of time the option to buy into benefits, however, since I have only taught adjunct as a side-gig I don’t have any experience with these types of plans.
Since Community Colleges have fairly small budgets they only work because of Adjunct faculty. Generally there may be only 1 permanent faculty member per major – or sometimes only 1 permanent faculty member per discipline (ie science and math – or for all of English and Foreign languages). So community colleges NEED adjunct faculty in order to be able to offer classes to their students. Many people will become “permanent” adjunct, in that every semester they teach the same class at the same time and have been doing so for many, many years.
2) How much does an adjunct position pay?
Well, the short answer is “it depends”. =)
The long answer is that it depends on your education and how long you’ve worked at that particular school – there are typically pay scales for Masters vs PhD level instructors – also there are pay-scales based on how many classes you’ve taught as an adjunct.
I’ve been paid between $33-40/hour for each hour I’ve been in class OR I’ve been paid $1000-1200 per credit hour of class I teach. So for a 3 unit class you could expect to make between $2,200-$3,500 per semester. The lower end is what I’m getting in the mid-west, the higher end what I got paid in San Diego.
You don’t get paid for prep time – which can be substantial if it is the first time you’ve taught the class. You don’t get paid to grade. You don’t (usually) get paid to hold office hours. You don’t get paid to answer student emails. While these things may be expected of you, you’ll only get paid for the time you’re physically in class. So while you may be getting $35/hour – you may spend 2 hours outside of class getting done everything you need for 1 hour of class – so in the end you may only be “earning” $10-15/hour for each hour you spend on the class.
3. How do I get an adjunct position?
This is probably the hardest question to answer. The main thing to remember is that if you’re at a Community College they may not have a full-time faculty member in the area that you’re looking to teach. For instance, at the college I’m at now there is one full time faculty member who is in charge of Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, and Mathematics. He is listed as a chemist, so if you’re looking to teach an Algebra class it may not be obvious on the College’s website that he is the person to contact. If it is obvious who the full-time faculty member in the department is (there is likely only one), then you should email them about a position.
If it isn’t obvious who to contact here are some hints:
- Find the current schedule of classes for the College. Look at the classes that are being taught and who the instructors are. Do a Google search for the faculty members that are listed. I was able to exclude a lot of the faculty members listed by seeing that they had full time positions somewhere. I was able to identify the full time faculty member this way because I saw that he was the only one who had other responsibilities at the college – like being on advisory boards and things of that nature.
- If you still can’t figure it out, email one of the instructors who is teaching a class similar to what you want to be teaching and ask them who you should contact. Most likely they were hired by whomever is going to hire you.
- If those two routes fail you can email Human Resources at the college. They will definitely know who you should contact. Or you could just skip 1 and 2 and just do this.
Other hints:
- Make sure that people know you are looking for a position. I was able to get my first adjunct position because I let someone that I work with know I wanted to teach an adjunct class before I finished my Ph.D. They previously had taught as an adjunct and when he got an email from one of the local colleges looking for an adjunct, he forwarded it to me because he knew I was looking.
- Email the chair at the right time. This is critically important. The schedule for the next semester is usually put together 8-10 weeks before-hand. You should let the chair know that you are looking for a position when they are putting together the schedule so they can include you. For instance, NOW is the perfect time to email about a position for Spring. This may seem obvious, but most people look for positions at the beginning of semesters or the end, when the schedule is already full and the chair won’t be worrying about next semester for a good month and a half. By that point your email will be forgotten about.
- Include a CV – EVERY time you email. I had to email the chair of the college I’m working out over the course of 3 different semesters before I finally got a position. Each time I emailed him I included my CV (a detailed resume) – so that he didn’t forget who I was.
- Always be polite. Don’t demand a teaching position. My emails usually go something like this: “Dear XXX, My name is XXX XXXXX. I currently work full time as a post-doctoral scientist at XXXXX XXXXX. I’m interested in doing some part time adjunct teaching at XXXX Community College and was hoping that you would consider me for a position. I have a (insert your highest degree here) in XXXXX from XXX University. I’ve taught previously at XXXX and XXX teaching This Class and That Class. I really enjoyed teaching these classes and hope that there would be a class that would be available for me to teach next semester. I’ve attached my CV for your perusal and if necessary I can provide you with references who would be able to comment on my teaching skills. I look forward to hearing from you soon, SS4BC” (Obviously I fill in the details) – If I’m not sure they are the correct person I will also add an intro paragraph explaining that I couldn’t fine who to email, so I hope they are who I am seeking, but if not if they will direct me towards the correct person.
Any other questions that I forgot to mention?
Anti-Procrastination Day 1
Since it is after my “quitting time” rule of 10p (though I technically didn’t stop my anti-procrastinating activities until 11pm) I decided that I was fine to get back on the internet and give an update on how things are going.
Here is what I got accomplished today:
- Went running. Jack and I both had a nice run together – he’s starting to get better at running with me – but perhaps that is because I don’t go that far? I’m going to test him on a slightly longer run tomorrow morning and find out.
- Cleaned up the kitchen, emptied the dishwasher, filled it again, emptied it again (I had been procrastinating on both doing my dishes and cooking for the past 2 or so weeks, it was not a pretty site!)
- Cleaned out the trash in my car – even the trunk and the side pockets where papers build up! I need to get the interior detailed. I went to one car wash place to get a quote, but they didn’t do as extensive of a detailing as I want. Yes, I know that I can do this myself for cheaper, but quite honestly the state of my floors are disgusting. I would rather get it to a clean point and self-maintain afterwards. I’ll use my “fund money” to pay for this.
- Cleaned the shower, bathroom sink, and bathroom mirror. Both in dire need – for the shower this was the first time in 2009 I had thoroughly cleaned it… yes, I’m not the neatest of people – have we figured that out yet?
- Organized all of my mail from the past two years. I had two huge piles of mail in the bedroom and in the closet starting from the first month I moved to the midwest (January 2008) – I finally got it organized into file folders. Now I just need to get a shredder to destroy some of my previous bills. I’ve decided that the best way for me to organize my bills may not be file folders, but instead 3-ring binders with tab separators. I’ll give this some more thought before the next wave of bills comes. Also, going through this reaffirmed that I need a landing strip for mail that need attention within the next 30 days.
- Dropped a pair of pants I bought in August 2008 off at a tailor’s to get hemmed. I’ve only worn them once with ridiculous heels (and still they were too long). The pants are super cute and make my butt look really great – but I never got around to getting them altered – until today! They’ll be ready to pick up next week.
- Dropped off my clothes from September’s closet purge to Goodwill. (Note, in the first picture in that post of my full closet you can just make out the huge pile of papers that I had to file underneath my shirts – and that was HALF of the pile – with the other half stacked up on my bookshelf in my bedroom) Also managed to pick up an Express jacket and an Ann Taylor jacket that are both super cute and were EXACTLY what I was planning on buying for myself next weekend during the sales for $11. I feel so thrifty I’m thinking I may never shop in a real store again after seeing all the great stuff at the Goodwill. There were also some Ann Taylor pants that I really liked in my size – but I don’t need any more dress up pants right now – so I forgo the extra $3.99 expense.
- Dropped off my recycling. No real explanation needed here right?
- Cleaned up my scuba gear. I was REALLY nervous about this. My gear had been in my trunk since June 2008. I had fear that there would be mold or something else like that. To my pleasant surprise, while there was mold in my trunk because of a leaking seal on the trunk door (another reason I want professional detailing) – none of my gear had mold on it – only one of the two zippers to my dive bag wouldn’t open, which isn’t a huge deal. The gear did stink though. I soaked it all in water and listerine (alcohol kills any bacteria and makes it smell minty fresh!) for about two hours and it has been hanging up to dry ever since. It should be done by tomorrow morning and I’ll put the gear in its proper location then. I’m hoping to be able to use the gear in January when I’m back in Southern California. I’ll be in Ventura 7 days at a conference, so I’m hoping that one of the afternoons I’ll be able to make it out to the Channel Islands for some diving.
- Worked on a crocheted scarf. I had started this last November when I was dating Cpt. Baseball. I hadn’t touched it since about March. I’m about 10 rows from being finished. It is a wool scarf, so I’m planning on felting it. I’m debating giving this away as a Christmas present. Don’t tell Okturn Delmoniq, but I’m thinking about sending it to him.
- Cleaned up the cat litter box. Also bought my kitties new food and some new litter liners. However, I forgot to buy new litter and used the last of it today, so I’ll have to pick some up within the week.
Whew… it was a busy day! In addition to all that above I also went to work for about 20 minutes. However, it made me so livid that I almost had a nervous breakdown right then and there. That is a subject for another post though.
Tomorrow I plan on finishing up some of the cleaning and organizational stuff in my apartment in the morning and then working on my craft projects that I’ve been putting off in the afternoon. Hopefully that will make it be a less hectic and more relaxing Sunday. Also, Mr. Cousin is coming over tomorrow for the end-of-relationship stuff exchange. That should be… interesting…
Okay fine, I give up…
Weekend Gear-Up Edition
This weekend will be my Anti-procrastination weekend. I’m kind of excited about it (and a little afraid, to be honest!).
As a reminder here are my rules:
- I have to wake up before 10am
- I am only allowed to work ONLY on the items that I’ve been procrastinating on
- I can take a 1hr break for lunch and dinner and to take the dog to the dog park for his exercise
- I can go to bed when all items are completed or at 10pm, whichever comes first
I do have to go to work tomorrow for about an hour, so I’ll do that. I will tutor my clients if they ask for tutoring, but I doubt they’ll want to before the Thanksgiving break. So those are my EXCEPTIONS to my rules.
Here are approved things for me to do this weekend that I have been procrastinating on:
- Clean the bathroom
- Clean my car
- Write a few of my old friends from home via snail mail
- Call my dad and grandma
- Finish my step-dad’s Christmas present (quilt)
- Start my sister’s Christmas present (pillows)
- Go to a sampler spinning class at the college
- Clean my scuba gear
- Get my pants from The Limited that I bought last year hemmed
- Drop off clothes at thrift shop
- Drop off items for dry cleaning
- Finish backing up my DVDs as well as do a general computer back-up
Since I’m prone to slacking when I have internet available I’m turning off my router for the weekend. So if you see me posting, you should be telling me to knock it off and get back to work!
In other monetary news, I again made my goal of $600 in extra income for the month. In fact, I’m current at $732 for the month with 10 days to go (last month I ended up with $711 at the end of the month – I’m thinking I should raise my monthly goal!). This money includes money made teaching on the side at the community college in town, tutoring online, tutoring in real life, filling out surveys, and any extra ways I can make money. I don’t count money that I’ve made unless it is in my hands. Thus the “check being in the mail” doesn’t count until it is deposited in my bank account.
