Study group? :(

It makes me so mad when people ask me to join a study group and don't show up. I already did not want to come, but I'm the only one with a book so I agreed. Why is no one here? Woooooooosaaaaahhhhh!

3 Days until Conference

I'm so excited to get out of town and head to Orlando. Even though it is a work based conference, we will be done at 5pm, so I will have plenty of time to have some fun. I know that I should be planning to visit all types of places, but I think I'm going to use this time to chill out. I want to do the things I wanted to do all summer, such as focus on writing quality posts for my blogs, reading, and exercise. Working and going to school this summer has really put a wrench in my plans. If my co-workers want to go out while we are there, I'll tag along, but as far as going out, I'm not sure. I may start looking at some attractions in Orlando so I can go out at least one day. As for the rest of the time, I just want to get as much rest as I can. I don't want to come home needing a vacation from a vacation like I usually do.

But what types of things should I look for to do? I don't want to do the big touristy things, such as theme parks. I don't want to go out to night clubs either, since I'll be alone (my co-workers are much older and I'm sure they don't do night clubs). I wouldn't mind visiting something like a jazz bar with poetry or a nice park. I would even be fine with going to the mall to see if I can find some great deals and get in a good workout while shopping. If I go to the mall, I have to have some type of plan in motion first, so I won't go crazy!

I'll probably be better off reading and playing the Sims 3.

Tracking and Budgeting - A New Approach

The other day I came across this post by Budgets are Sexy regarding budgeting. I really liked how one of his readers set up a financial snapshot using Word. It's plain and simple, and does not require daily tracking of expenses. So for the month of July, I'm going to enter all of my regular expenses into iCal and create my snapshot at the end of the month. I want to use my paystubs as well to track what I am spending on insurance and retirement. I'm not sure if I pay for insurance during the summer, but they have been taking it out so far. This will give me a good idea of what my bare minimum is and where I should cut back if necessary. He also writes about budgeting with an Excel spreadsheet and it's pretty good too. It tracks net worth, savings, credit card debt, and expenses.

There are many other ways to budget as well. Fabulously Broke has created an Excel budget that I used often when I first started this blog. She gives details about it here. No Credit Needed demonstrates how to budget using only cash and envelopes. There are also online sites that you can use, such as Mint, Quicken, PearBudget, You Need a Budget, and Mvelopes. If all else fails, there is the never fail pencil and paper method, which I always use in addition to whichever electronic version I'm using at the time.

So for now, I'll continue to use pencil and paper and the other method using my iCal and Word. I used to rely on Mint, but I'll have to post about that later, as I've grown frustrated with them. I've tried almost all of the methods above and the main thing is to take the time and find out what works for you and meets your needs.

Unexpected Summer Happenings

As I completed my first year teaching, I had plans on relaxing all summer. You know, sitting around doing nothing...well not really. I wanted to work on my writing and blog a lot more. I also wanted to spend time concentrating on school (one more year of grad school left!). Tuesday the chair of my department at work called me in to work for a summer school program. The job is very easy. All I do is sit at a desk all day and tell the students to get off of myspace. That's it. It's so boring, but it does pay $25 an hour. By working 9 hours a day for three weeks, I'm able to rack up a nice piece of change. This money would make for a great savings cushion, but I recently purchased a MacBook (soooooo worth it) and this money will be used to pay off that purchase.

After this assignment is done, I'll be attending a conference in Orlando, FL which is paid for by my job. The conference is a week long and I pick up my plane tickets and money this week. Once I get back, I have to teach a week long course for students that have to retake their state standardized exam and I also have to proctor the exam the week after that. Once I'm done with that I'll have a week to myself, which I plan to travel to Jacksonville and Maryland to visit friends. After that vacation week, it is back to work for school in-service. So this summer is ending up to be very busy for me! I definitely did not plan on this, but I am glad all this happened becuase I got a chance to purchase something I've been wanting for a while and then it keeps me busy.

I do feel that I have gotten off track with a lot of things. I'm not as structured as I used to be. I've been spending more and most of the time is on silly unnecessary things. I feel like I need to get back to survival mode, like I was when I first started this blog. Then, I was dead broke, working minimum wage depressed because I couldn't find a job with my degree, and I was frustrated with the process of correcting my credit report. I was making plans to get out of my situation and I feel now I've gotten comfortable, which I shouldn't be.

31 tasks by May 31st: review

This challenge was a huge fail for me. I am glad to have accomplished some things, especially adding an Electric Orange checking account from ING. I was only able to save $150 due to car repairs and purchasing textbooks. I also bought a 32 in. flatscreen TV this month. My bf has moved in with me and having a 13 in. TV was not working out, so we went to Wal-Mart and purchased one. Nothing else is new, just going along, so glad to have completed my first year of teaching. I hope you all are doing well!