Thursday, June 29, 2006

Waitressing

Well, the interview at Olive Garden went well, but I don't think I'll take the job if they call again. Honestly - it's just too much thinking for a second job.

Their training is intense - 40 hours, watching videos mainly. BOR-ING. 5 tests - including one on wines, one on mixed and frou frou drinks, one on the menu - all must be passed with 90% or higher in order to take tables. 4 full shifts of following a trainer (no tips). 4 full shifts of a trainer following you (no tips). 2 weeks of limited tables (2 table sections). Then, permanently no more than a 3 table section (WHAT?).

When I worked at the Chancery, on the busiest Fri and Sat nights, we had 4 table sections, growing larger as the night went on and people were cut. I have no clue how they make any money at OG - 3 table sections suck. Yeah, "When you're here, you're family", but I have needs to meet.

So...driving home, I thought about how icky that was, and I observed that knot in my stomach, and I realized...

I'm in control.

I don't have to take this job. It's not like we wont' eat if I don't. It's just to pay off some bills and get some money to go to Vegas. That's all.

So...I won't.

That's power. I'm not used to it. It's freakin' awesome.

Yes, I want to pay down our bills. Yes, I want to save up to go to Vegas so we can pay cash. Yes, I want a larger EF. But not at the cost of my sanity. Not to become a slave to someone else.

I know some would disagree - it's only for a summer, after all. But hey...we're making ends meet. I'll find something else.

And if not, we'll be just fine.

Power, baby. It rocks.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Auctioning

I'm so creative in my titles... ;)

I have an interview with Olive Garden this afternoon. Hopefully, it will turn into a part time income for the summer. The nice part is that I have all the power - if it sucks, I'll just leave. We don't NEEEEEEED the money - it would be nice to meet some goals.

I started going through the stuff we bought at auction on Sunday. I was able to go through three boxes last night (had to mow the lawn), but nothing listed on ebay. Which ended up being a good thing, because a week from yesterday is a holiday, and nothing sells good on a holiday.

One of the boxes I got for a buck is about 150-200 little cookbooks - kind of like the kind you see at the checkout at the grocery store, "400 ways to cook Spam", but from the 1920's - 1950's. I figured I might get something out of them. As I was looking on ebay, though, a lot were selling in small lots of 10 or so - for $10 - $15. We might make our $55 back (we spent $75 there but bought a few things for ourselves) with just this box!

So - I'm trying to decide how to post them. I figure I have three options: (A) go by food types - a listing for meat recipes, desserts, etc. (B) go by years, a listing for the 1920's, 1930's, etc. There are some terrific ones from WWII years - "cook with your victory garden" and what not. Or (C) a combination - 10 booklets from 1920 - 1945 or something like that.

Dh is interested in doing the auction/ebay thing. Especially with this "win" we got at the auction on Sunday - a car full of stuff to sell for $55 + a cart for his workshop + a really nice occasional table for me + a couple other things for us ($20 altogether, give or take a little bit). If we could keep $50 set aside for auctioning, he could hit auctions on the days when we couldnt' go together, and buy up some stuff to try. There's the chance, of course, that we'll get stuff that won't sell...which would probably go in a rummage pile to have another sale next spring. Ugh. But hey - we usually do really well ($600 at the last one!), so maybe this would be worth it.

And dh is interested in it, which is good. We could repay ourselves that $50 as things sell, and he/we could go out and get more. That $50 investment could really help us build up the EF and pay off bills.

All I have to do is grit my teeth and release control of ebay...I am such a control freak...

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Jobs, Part II

Dh called the temp agency and the forklift job required heavy lifting. He's so disappointed. :(

Olive Garden interview is tomorrow at 3pm.

Goals for today:

~Get my ebay table back in business (we took it out of the basement to use at the rummage sale at the beginning of the month)

~Go through at least two boxes of stuff from the auction (that's sitting in the garage) to see what we have and triage for ebay.

~List at least two things on ebay tonight. I have a handful of things already photographed and ready to go.

~Talk dh into working on my computer in the basement. He's been saying for months that he wants to make it faster, add things in, etc (our home is a veritable Frankenstein's lab of computer parts) so I can post on ebay better. Maybe a little push is in order.


Sounds good.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Jobs

I've been trying to get a second job over the summer (that I'd even be willing to keep once school started up in the fall again, if it was the right connection), but they see "teacher" in the application and I never get a call back. It's like they figure, "oh, she's a teacher, why would she want to waitress?"...hello...if I didn't want to waitress, why would I fill out an application...?

Anyway - I got a call from Olive Garden yesterday - a Sunday, no less. Wasn't expecting that. I have an interview with them on Wednesday. And from past experience, once you get an interview, you're offered the job in serving, unless schedules don't mix. So hopefully I'll be starting with them soon. Pluses - nicely priced meals, bar tab increases your meal tab. Minuses - I have to handle money (no cashier), bar means I have to offer drinks and start to remember all those drink combinations again. I've done them both before (those minuses), but they suck.

Also, we saw in the paper that a temp agency was hiring forklift drivers. Dh is going to call them today. He is disabled and can't walk, lift or stand for long periods of time, but if it's JUST forklift, he could sit and it shouldnt' bother him too much. That would make him feel so good - to be able to bring home a paycheck.

We also went to an auction yesterday and got a lot of stuff to sell on ebay. We spent $75 but got a car load full of stuff, plus more that dh had to come with the truck to pick up. We got a box of old children's books (1940's - 1960's) that should pay for that $75 alone once we get them on ebay. Plus boxes of other stuff - old toys, books, ceramics, collectibles, christmas stuff. I'm excited.

This extra income is going towards a few things. My idea is that we divide it. Everything we make gets divided into at least three categories, possibly four. (1) get savings up to $1000 a la Dave Ramsey so that if we have an emergency we don't have to use the cc to fix it. (2) pay off cc's. (3) save up money for our 10th anniversary trip to Vegas next spring break (hoping for $1000 - I think we can have fun with that. $1500 would be amazing!). Possibly (4) - our computer needs work. Dh has built our computer for as long as we've been together, and right now our NEWEST part is about 2-3 years old. In other words, a dinosaur. Dh would love to rebuild it. $1500 minimum.

So...we have to decide. I'm okay with a four-way split - divide all paychecks, tips & ebay sales into fourths pretty evenly and put into those four categories. But then again, many (including Dave Ramsey, who we are following to a certain point) says that it's better mentally to focus on one thing, finish it, then move on. But then...we might not get all that we need.

I'm unsure. I know that if I get this waitressing job and dh gets the forklift job, that we could zip off that $1000 baby EF within a few weeks. Would that be better than dividing into fourths?

And I know - paying off the cc's is more important than Vegas...but dh and I haven't been on a vacation in at least 5 years, and it's our 10th anniversary next summer. We can go to Vegas relatively cheap. It's a goal.

With the extra jobs, the summer school paycheck would go to fixing the bathroom (mildew & leaking pipes) and the curriculum paycheck ($600) would go to xmas and visiting dh's family in KY in August.

Ideas? Opinions?

I need to find some friends on here. :) I like the feedback.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Credit

Have you ever looked at creditboards.com ? It's amazing what some people do. I go there to read, but rarely post (this is completely normal for me, I never think that I have anything good to add into the conversation). People normally post their FICO scores (which we haven't checked in years, no need to, really, we're not looking for more credit), but there's a guy who posts all of his cc's and limits. I mean, I'm really happy for this guy that he can control credit, but who needs 13 credit cards with a CL of $35,000? Is this good for his credit rating - to have that much open?

I soooo don't understand that. But then again, I can't be trusted with open credit. I see it as a giant green light - our "second" credit card we got last summer is a great example of that. We got a $3000 limit after we bought the fridge, used it to go to KY for dh's mother's funeral (flew down) and then whhoooooooop! All of a sudden we owe $3400 on it (got a limit increase).

They also hate Dave Ramsey there - bringing up his name is kind of like asking to be shot in the head. Since DR advocates NO credit, ever (which I don't necessarily agree with - cars, homes, student loans, etc), he's seen as a goon. They call him a snake-oil salesman. But I like his ideas - common sense, but they help to keep me on track.

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Speaking of which - the money. Well, we made $600 at the rummage sale, and paid off most of the fridge, plus updated the emergency fund back to $500. We bought a new printer (ours was deader than dead) and we had to get a new air conditioner, which went on the bigger cc.

Our minimum payments have gone up. The "small" cc is at $98, the BECC (Big Evil Credit Card) is at $250.

I've tried to get a summer waitressing job, but they see that I'm a teacher and wonder what in the world I'm doing looking for a serving job. That sucks. I'm going to call around this afternoon and if nothing comes up, I'm considering going with a temp agency. Brainless work, but at least they'll get me in somewhere. I'm teaching summer school, but we're done by 12:30 and I could work evenings. I also heard from another teacher here that Pier 1 is hiring. Maybe I'll go there...but I'd be so tempted to buy stuff. It's dangerous.

I found something online that I'm going to show to dh. It's at-home work answering phone calls, etc. Maybe he'd be interested - he could set hours.

I also have stuff to put on ebay, and I need to update some business stuff. I have some new ideas, and I need to get the word out. http://www.sew-enchanting.com :)

One way or another, though, we need to get these bills paid down. It worries me, how easily we fell back into having huge cc payments. Obviously, I'm no good at that. I think it would be much better just to not have them around. We're still paying off on the cc the cash advance that we took out to get the new roof on the house when we bought it - 4 years ago! ugh! I want it gone!

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Rummage sale

Amazingly, we made just under $600 at the rummage sale last weekend. I was just exhausted!

$200 went towards getting us up to date. We overspent - again.

$100 to my teaching license renewal.

$200 towards the fridge - we owe just under $200 on it now.

$100 back into savings. Not as much as I'd like, but a little bit.

Not bad. Tomorrow, I'm going summer job hunting. School is out, summer school doesnt' start for a week, and we need some cash to pop off some of these bills!

Rummage sale

Amazingly, we made just under $600 at the rummage sale last weekend. I was just exhausted!

$200 went towards getting us up to date. We overspent - again.

$100 to my teaching license renewal.

$200 towards the fridge - we owe just under $200 on it now.

$100 back into savings. Not as much as I'd like, but a little bit.

Not bad. Tomorrow, I'm going summer job hunting. School is out, summer school doesnt' start for a week, and we need some cash to pop off some of these bills!

Rummage sale

Amazingly, we made just under $600 at the rummage sale last weekend. I was just exhausted!

$200 went towards getting us up to date. We overspent - again.

$100 to my teaching license renewal.

$200 towards the fridge - we owe just under $200 on it now.

$100 back into savings. Not as much as I'd like, but a little bit.

Not bad. Tomorrow, I'm going summer job hunting. School is out, summer school doesnt' start for a week, and we need some cash to pop off some of these bills!