Does that really say POSITIVE?!!!

I haven't written in a week or so and saying I was otherwise engaged would be an understatement. Last weekend I found out I'm PREGNANT!! S and I are absolutely ecstatic and although I'm ready emotionally and physically, financially is another story based on my current net worth. That being said, S and I both have good jobs now and I'm sure by the time the baby comes, we'll be in much better shape.

I'm about 6 weeks in right now and although we're only telling our immediate family and a few close friends, I decided to include the news in my blog since this is anonymous and because it will have such an impact on my personal finance goals.

Yes, I did just start my new job on Monday (oops, haha) but I'm not going to fess up until it's more or less obvious. Right now I'm feeling great except that I am HUNGRY all the time! We definitely need to increase our food budget.

On the financial front, I started my new job last Monday and will be submitting my payroll forms this coming Monday. I'm not sure when my first pay cheque will be issued but since I haven't had a real one in over two months, I'm really looking forward to that. I'm anticipating that it should be roughly $1,750.00 for two weeks. Plus my non-profit contract came through and they've hired me to work 8 hours/week at $25/hour so that another $400 every two weeks to add to my gross.

I was suprised the non-profit agreed to the $25/hour price point since I was expecting to come to an agreement at $20/hour. But, they didn't negotiate and just offered me what I asked for which is great luck. This will add another $10k to my income over the year putting me around the $70k give or take some mat leave!

Oh, You Must See These

THANKS SO MUCH to the following amazing 5 PF blogs that have referred the most traffic to Reality Cheque!

Saving 4 Later

Carrie on the Cheap

Shaking the Moneytree

The Asian Pear

Beachgirl's Budget Blog

Definitely check them out for multiple priceless quips, tips, stories and PF gems :)

G to the IZZLE!!!

I just had an epiphany. I had put it into the universe that I wanted to make between $65 - $70k and I didn't think I made it because I agreed to a $60k salary in my full time job. BUT. I didn't consider what I'll be making on contract for the not-for-profit! If I'm netting $2,025.34 every two weeks then that is the equivalent to $68,000!!!

Yes, I'm working 1.2 jobs instead of 1 but that's ok because I was originally planning on volunteering for the .2 part anyway!

Woot, woot! GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Counting My Pennies

It may be a little too early to be doing this since I haven't even started my job yet but I'm trying to calculate how much $$$ I'm going to be bringing in between my new job at $60k and the part-time (approx 6 hours/week) not-for-profit job.

I asked for $25/hour on the not-for-profit job but even if they come in at $20, I'd be ok with that since my original plan was to volunteer anyway. I have a meeting tomorrow to finalize that.

So, being conservative at $20/hour, I'm looking at grossing an additional $240 every two weeks. Since this is a contract position, I can write off expenses and so I don't think I'll end up paying any tax on that income.

My regular full-time job which starts Monday should see me grossing $2,500 every two weeks. Less the 3% I'm deducting for RRSP matching and less taxes, I should be netting $1,785.35.

$1,785.35 + $240 = $2025.34 every two weeks (assuming 24 pay periods)

Not too shabby!!!

On the expense side of things, my work has agreed to pay for my personal blackberry and my husband has agreed to pay the rent (for the time being) and so my only real expenses are going to be,

*Utilities

*Internet service at home

*MS society donation

*Groceries

*Bank charges

*Paying off my debts

If I'm netting $4,050.70 each month, I should be able to take some serious bites out of my debt in no time.

I said it before and I'll say it again... I can't wait to start getting paid!!!!!!!!!

EMPLOYED! in the City

I had my final negotiation with my new company yesterday and although it didn't go perfectly, it did go very well. So well in fact that I signed the offer and am thrilled to say I have a job!

The 'not-so-perfect' part was that they couldn't move on my base salary. So I'm set at 60k for now but they did offer me 3% RRSP matching ($1,800), the ability to expense my personal blackberry ($1,000) plus an additional week vacation over their first offer (4 weeks!!). There will also be an opportunity for me to establish a bonus system after my first six months. That was their response to my request for more $$ and I think it sounds like a win-win.

So hoooooraaaaaayyyyyy!!!!!! I CANNOT WAIT to get my first pay cheque and get back into Visa payoff mode.

Thanks so much for all your comments and support on my last entry. I'm sure glad I took your advice and didn't settle for the first offer! :)

Am I Being Greedy?

I got an initial offer on the job I was interviewing for last week. I asked for a salary range of $65 - $70k, and they came back with $60k plus 3% RRSP matching and 3 weeks vacation.

I was only making $50k at my last job (although I didn't tell them that) and it is a REALLY amazing position. Still, I'm a little disappointed at $60 because I really feel like I'm worth $65. What to do, what to do....

On Monday I have another meeting with the Director and I really want to sign off on this contract so I can get started on these projects. For some reason when I'm working on behalf of a company, I'm a pretty savvy negotiator but when it come to negotiating for myself, I don't feel overly confident. That's pretty frustrating. Time to snap out of it and be friendly yet fierce! I just really don't want to miss out on this opportunity.. but I don't think I will.

I'm going to ask for $63k with 4 weeks vacation and see what they say. Butterflies....

I'm So Excited!! I Need A Valium!

This morning I was leaving an interview when it dawned on me - why do I enjoy job hunting so friggin much? The Thrill Of The Chase. And I've almost caught something exceptional!

It was my second interview at this organization and today I met with one of the directors and the chairman of the board. The three of us are so thrilled about this new project they are considering hiring me to manage that we begin talking about it and an hour goes by before I can snap my fingers. I didn't realize that we only had an hour but the when the time came, the chairman thanked me and went to the meeting and the director said she would meet them in that boardroom in a few minutes. Once he left, she basically told me that she thinks that I am the right fit for this position and although she had to speak to the chairman, I can expect a formal written offer tomorrow. YAHOO!!

When I left that meeting and I was floating. I knew Edmonton was going to be good to us!

When they asked me what my salary expectations were, I told them that I was in the $65 - $70k range, so hopefully they come back with at least $65! Come on baby!!!

Cross your fingers for me please!

Bored w/ Your Jeans Like I Was?

After going through part of my closet yesterday, I decided to try revamping an old pair of jeans by aging a hole into them - à la Megan Fox at left. I'm not so much into some ripped jeans being worn that look like they were attacked by Freddy, but I do like an aged look and a hole or two is stylish if done correctly.




Tools:

- one pair of old jeans
- one grater
- one pair of scissors

Bascially I just started grating mid-thigh and gradually all the blue fabric came out in fuzz until I was left with a worn white area. Then I stretched it out with my hands and clipped a few threads to open up the hole and show a little skin. The final step was throwing them into the washing machine and once dry, I decided to try folding an ankle cuff like Megan's. I have to say, BIG IMPROVEMENT! I love them but feel like somehow I cheated my no spend day since I ended it with a "new" pair of jeans (even though I didn't spend a dime).

Settling into September

This morning the clouds are hovering in the sky and it looks like it's trying to decide whether or not it's going to rain. After weeks of beautiful summer sunshine, Autumn seems to finally be blowing in.

This is a cozy time of year that makes me crave a warm sweater, scarves and a mug of mushroom soup. It's also time to re-evaluate my wardrobe and see what's going to stay in my closet, be packed away for next summer or be donated to charity. This year, I'm reviewing with an extra watchful eye because I'm on a budget and I can't spend much money on new pieces.

Does anyone ever use About.com? It seems to have an answer for everything... I was on there this morning doing research for a separate subject but came across an article called '10 Ways to Revamp your Clothes for Fall'. Perfect! I thought... better to revamp then repurchase. After reading the article, I don't know if I'm quite crafty enough to sew new life into my old clothes but if I don't get a full time job soon, maybe I'll start experimenting.

Tuesday = no spend day today!

No Spend Days

Unfortunately I fell off the wagon with my no spend days over the past few months. I was doing so good too!

Anyway, I had to revise my 2009 goal from 80 no spend days to 50.

My plan to accomplish this is to return to my no spend Tuesdays & Thursdays for the rest of the year. There are enough of them left to achieve my goal and I'm hoping to throw in a few extra no spend days in there to surpass it.

New Job #1 - Part Time

Part of my thinking when we moved to Edmonton was that when we arrived, I could re-institute a reasonable work/life balance. S and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary over the summer and we'd both been working non-stop, a la T-dot. It was hard to believe that a year had passed already.

When we moved here, I started looking for a job and on the 'life' side of things, I wanted to do a little karmic investing by giving back to the Earth. In Toronto I had spent some time coordinating with colleagues that operate an environmental charitable organization and as luck would have it, they have recently been approved to start a branch here in Edmonton. I'm extremely passionate about the initiatives and they've asked me to help them get it up and running. It will be one day per week which could work out perfectly as I'm still looking for a f/t job. I've asked for $25/hour plus expenses on a contract basis but that rate hasn't been finalized yet. If it was a regular job, I would have asked for a higher hourly rate but since I'm thrilled to help out the organization, this seems reasonable. Originally I was just planning on doing some volunteering but this is a more serious role.

S has been working crazy hours since we arrived (poor angel), so even if I was working full time, I'd still have plenty of time to build this organization. I'm super excited!!

Job Hunting Safari

I had my first interview yesterday!!!

Job hunting seems to be one of those 'love it or hate it' kind of activities and for some reason, I love it. Whenever I revamp my resume, I feel like I'm moving on to a new chapter, and it's a good opportunity to reflect on what I enjoyed and despised about past jobs. It also seems to be the time that I get the biggest raises... why is that? The largest raise I've ever had from a current employer was $4k/year but whenever I change jobs I seem to be able to negotiate a higher rate of return. My last salary increase between companies was $7k.

In my last position I was making $50k and in my new one, I'm aiming for the $65k range. Even though 30% may seem like a big jump, I felt pretty underpaid in my last position given the amount of work and the fact that it had a certain level of prestige. I'm hoping to leverage that prestige into a more appropriate salary range. Besides, if I don't try, it's definitely not going to happen so I might as well give it a shot!

The interview yesterday went well and I am beyond excited about the prospective position!! (well, trying not to get too excited but can't help it) My correspondence with this company actually started when I was back in Toronto. S & I had decided that we were definitely moving to Edmonton so I started to scan the job sites for something interesting here. I found a position I thought would be great and submitted my application. After a few days I hadn't heard anything and never received one of those "yes, we got your resume" emails so I called. I was transferred to the Director of Operations and we corresponded briefly which included me sending him my resume direct. Unfortunately, at that time they were already quite deep in the process (already going into third round interviews) and I never heard back.

So, when I got settled in Edmonton, I sent the Director a quick note and asked if we could keep in touch via LinkedIn. He agreed and said that he still had my resume and if anything came up that he thought might be a fit, he'd 'ping' me. Low and behold, one week later I had an e-intro from him to the Director of Development and she asked me to meet for coffee.

The coffee date was yesterday and I think things went really well. She took the copy of the CV I brought with me and said that she'd like to show it to a few people who's opinions she respects. At the end of the meeting, she said that she would be in touch early next week (probably Wed because of the long weekend) with some next steps.

From the sounds of it, the position would be more or less a dream job and would definitely be a step forward career-wise. The best part is she said that rather than having to write an official job description, post a posting, review resumes and go through interviews, it would be so great if this worked out and we could develop the position organically. Happy Days!!! Arms, fingers, legs, toes, tongues (jk!) crossed.

We didn't speak about salary expectations yet but I'm really hoping it's in the range I'm looking for.

A New Appreciation for EI

Whenever I'd get a regular pay cheque, a nominal amount was deducted off the top for Employment Insurance (EI). I never really thought much about it and just accepted it as part of the tax I have to pay for living in Canada. The only time it ever crossed my mind was when I maxed out my EI contribution for the year and they stopped deducting, at which point I'd think "yahoo" an extra $20 (or whatever it is) into my account instead of the governments.

As of this morning, when EI depositted $802.00 into my account, I have a whole new appreciation. It turns out that since I was "forced" to quit my job and move because my spouse had to relocate for work, I am eligible to receive EI. In Toronto, I was making $50k annually which works out to the maximum weekly benefit of $447 less $46 for income tax - $401.00 every week. They were a week behind in processing my claim so that's why I got $802.00 this morning.

I'm hoping not to be on EI for that long though. It's not that I'm adverse to using the system (I do pay into it afterall) but I'm starting to get bored! Last week I applied for four jobs and there's one in particular that I'm pretty excited about. The managing director of that position doesn't return from vacation until next Monday. So, next Monday I'm going to go in and submit a paper copy of my application along with some letters of reference.

Now that I know that I have a regular stream of income - $401 per week until I find a job - I feel comfortable getting my budget reset. S is going to pay our rent & groceries and I'll be responsible for the following monthly expenses:

*elecricity

*internet

*my mobile

*MS society donation

*paying off Visa #2

*making minimum payment on my LOC

*national student loan payment

This should give me some flexibility to pay off my Visa at a quicker pace. Today I put down $206.92 plus $150 from my line of credit bringing my balance down to $5,350.00. I can't wait to be back at $4,900.00 which is where I was before I fell off the wagon.

Current bank account balance: $889.24