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!

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.

Big Gulp - hold the sugar, Sugar

There's no point in delaying this any further since the worst person to be dishonest with is yourself! I need to get a new handle on where I stand financially. As I'm writing this the Edmonton wind is whipping through our open windows and feels pretty ominous.

Current Income: $0 - unemployed!

Current Liabilities
1) Visa #2 - $5,805.58
2) LOC - $6,940.02
3) Student Loan - $6,189.70

Total debt - $18,935.30 ........drat.

Since I last calculated my total debt on May 23, 2009 I've increased from $18,239.98 by $695.32 to $18,935.30. To be honest, that's not as bad as I thought it was going to be but when you consider all the funds that I should have been applying to my debt during that time period, it's pretty bad. My goal of paying off Visa #2 by the end of September is definitley out the window.

Current bank account balance: $235.30
Final expense cheque pending - approx $300.00 (supposedly in the mail)

So basically my plan of action is to spend as little as possible and find a job. I should mention that S has a good job so it's not like I'm going to be out on the street or anything. Still, I really want to pay off my debt on my own before we totally integrate our finances.

Allie in the NEW City

What an unbelievable few months. Since my last post, my world has up and done an unexpected 180 degree turn. Allie in the "city" is no longer a Toronto girl but an EDMONTON one... heehaw! Although Edmonton seems like a bit of a small town compared to T.O., there are over 1.1 million people living in the Edmonton metro area so it is still a city which means I don't have to change my URL!

My last few months in a nutshell....

My job in T.O. was project-based and the huge project I'd been working on all year was coming to actualization in mid-June. During my Toronto tenure, this time of year was easily my busiest and most exciting. It was also all-consuming and totally threw off all the great routines I'd gotten myself and S into. Thankfully, all the hard work paid off and the project was a big success!!

Come July... I'm doing wrap-up at work and generally trying to get my personal life back on track. S and I had been talking broadly about how this summer brought with it the two year guideline that we'd set in place for our time in Toronto. Although we both enjoyed the city and had lots of great friends, we both felt that the workaholic daily grind which TO is famous for was aging us. We're both laid back west coasters at heart.

Then as if the universe opened up and smiled S was offered a great new position here in Edmonton. They flew us both out so I could check out the city and S could meet with the exec's and within 3 weeks we'd both quit our jobs in Toronto and moved into our new home in Edmonton. I can't say that I've EVER thought of myself as an Edmonton girl but now that we're here, I really like it so far. There are tons of festivals and it's definitely a more relaxed vibe.

Financially speaking, I am now jobless. Committing all time and energy into my T.O. project also came at a price as I'm sad to say that I'm pretty much back to where I started in terms of debt. It's interesting that once I got out of the routine of checking my finances daily, I really didn't know where I stood financially. I think it was that lack of knowledge that led me back down this path. If I was looking at something, I would generally tend to assume I could afford it even if that wasn't the case. I also purchased 3 plane tickets in that time frame which didn't help either. I haven't figured out exactly where I stand financially yet but now that we're settled, getting myself back on track financially will become one of my top priorities.

West Coast Girl Livin' in An East Coast World

Can you believe it? I got home from work tonight at 8:00pm. I'm exhausted!! The meeting yesterday with the moody head of my company, did not go so well. He completely laid into my boss and guess what?! Today it's coming down the pipe. I'm working my sweet ass off but in these "times" there's no extra cash for anyone additonal and I guess he thinks that applying more pressure will get things finished quicker. Ha! Let me just say that our #1 competitor has a staff of 30+ and we have one person working fulltime plus whatever time a few exec's can spare and 1 part time person. My boss keeps asking me if the p/t person who gets paid peanuts is worthwhile. I'm thinking yes, my sanity is worth more than peanuts thank you because I would surely lose it if I lost her.

Anyway, I'm certainly getting the career experience I was hoping for when I came. And on the upside, I still have a job! When we move back to the west coast, hopefully this will translate to a sick job right down by Kits beach or out near UBC would be lovely too. And please west coast job gods, let me get off at 3:30pm like I used to as well.

I have really surprised myself this week. Get this, I haven't spent a penny since Sunday. It's so strange! By bringing my lunch to work, it really makes not spending possible since that's mainly where I spend money during the week. Evenings usually consist of gym if I can, dinner, hug S, read, dream. Last night instead of the usual, we went to a cool show and I heard live an instument I can honestly say I haven't heard before - the thumb piano. But I digress...

Back to cash.

I have submitted my massage receipt as well as the old ones I found from last summer. Instead of waiting for an expense cheque, I ran my expenses through petty cash and actually added $145 to my bank account. Somehow I've managed to keep over $550 dollars in my bank account and since tomorrow is payday Friday, that will all get transfered to my highest interest debt (Visa #1).

Here's something shocking - I'm on track to pay off my $1,936.44 Visa bill by Monday ALREADY. Here's how - I transfered $750 from my lower interest line of credit. I kept $550 in my account this pay period through no spend days, etc, which will go on the card. Finally, I consolidated my monthly debt payments into one large one (less the minimum payments on my other debts) and will be applying another $636.44 to the card on pay day Friday tomorrow. Then, that's it! Free from the ugly interest demons of Visa #1. Those rates are criminal, how do they get away with it?!

I've got to remember to transfer the credit card on my iTunes account from Visa #1 to Visa #2. V1 will soon be dead to me :) YES!!!!!