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Home > Archive: January, 2010

Archive for January, 2010

Christmas, Debt, Checking Accounts, Phone Interviews, Taxes, SHEW!

January 5th, 2010 at 05:33 pm

Well, it's been a while!

We were doing so well on the daily spending tracking, until our internet was down for a few days. It really shouldn't have been that hard to keep track of it on paper, but what can I say... we're millenials. Wink

Anyway, we made it through Christmas and only charged one thing on a CC, and that was only because I didn't have a debit card with me at the time. We did pay that amount back off of the credit card though.

Overall, I feel like we kept things under control, although we still definitely spent more than we had to.

I am SO ready for this new year financially. 2009 was wonderful, but I always knew we had to pay for a wedding & honeymoon that was not kind to the wallet. Now that we are happily married and settled back into our home state, things are going pretty smoothly.

I updated our debt & investments numbers as of the end of December. Nothing tremendous, although our investments took a bigger jump than I expected. Total debt was down just $37. But, that does not include one payment that I normally do before month-end. DH has 2 of his paychecks that he has not deposited yet, so I can't pay it until this week. It should mean that we have a decent jump for end-of-January numbers though! Either way, at least it's a MINUS $37, not a PLUS $37!

Our savings/investments were up $662.03, due in part to $200 of Christmas money that we transferred to our savings account and DH's 401k increasing by $150. The rest were piddly increases in my IRA & stock accounts, and an okay in bump in my 401k.

If you add together the decrease in debt (although small) and the increase in savings, we have almost a net $700 improvement over the end of November. Not bad for us.

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Speaking of 401k's, I have started to wonder whether my company is going to start matching contributions again this year. I had my 3% matched the first year I was with them, then they stopped in the spring because we had been affected by the down economy like everyone else. I wasn't happy, but I understand if it's just for a year. Hopefully they will bring it back sometime? Frown

Other than that, things are going well with my job. I still feel kind of paranoid sometimes, just because there have been quite a few people in and out of my position in the past few years. I'm okay with being "out", as long as it's because of a promotion! My boss's boss has mentioned a position that will be opening up within the next year, and seems to be hinting that I should be ready for it. A few weeks ago though, I learned that one of my counterparts is being relocated back to the area, and while I don't think he would get the job over me, it definitely makes for more competition. So, I've just been trying to think every day, "what do I need to learn or do today to make myself a better candidate?". I think it's almost scarier when you feel like things are going right, because it seems like your luck has to end sometime! Blah!

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DH has been applying for other jobs. He is not completely unhappy where he is, and I keep telling him, it's a stable job with pay for overtime and benefits. To his credit though, his boss is a complete idiot about 80% of the time, and doesn't seem to appreciate responsible, hard-working employees.

DH has always been given glowing recommendations from any job he's ever had, and especially compared to the goons he works with, is above and beyond a good employee at his current place. He gets discouraged because one of the "goons" gets away with EVERYTHING (he is 21, has a baby of his own, and his MOM still calls into work for him... really?), while DH does everything right, is early to work every day, scores the highest on all the tests, and gets treated the same or worse than the goon. It pains me to see him so willing and able to put in extra effort and make a future with something, when unfortunately he has a dumb boss who doesn't see or doesn't care what is going on.

ANYWAY! He got an email back about a management training position he had applied for. It's a mid-sized retail commpany, which is what he has always worked before his current job. He had his initial talk to the guy last night, and learned that it would pay $11/hour ($1 more than he makes now) for the six month program. They have roughly 20 stores opening in our area in the next year, and if he does well he would get placed in one of those.

The conversation was pretty short, but he has a phone interview scheduled for tomorrow evening. He is super nervous, which makes me nervous for him. We have talked about all the things he needs to ask, what he needs to tell them, etc.

Sounds like a good opportunity, but who knows? With us just starting out, and trying to save and pay down debt as much as possible, I am so scared of him losing a decent job. But, I also understand that he is trying to think about the future and not just the "now", which is what I've always carped on him about. I should be proud that he's making efforts to move forward and improve his earning potential. It truly would be such a blessing if he could get a steady day job, earning enough that he could go back to school in the evenings and weekends and get his degree.

I don't think he'd want to stay with this company forever, but if it worked out it would give him management experience he doesn't have now, and that would be pretty good if he could finish up at least his Associate's degree in the process. Then he would be applying for jobs with a whole new set of qualifications than what he has now.

Shew, that's a lot of thinking and worrying and being nervous! I guess we will just take it one step at a time and make decisions as we go. The next step is his phone interview tomorrow night. Wish him luck!

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The only other financial things we have going on are trying to switch from one checking account to another, trying to get my last name changed on the new account and DH added to it, trying to set up direct deposit & order checks for both of us, and figuring out what to do about taxes this year.

I have changed my name with the social security office and have my new card, my insurance is changed to my new name, and my driver's license will be as soon as I get my driving record from our previous state to give to them.

But, I haven't changed my W-4 forms at work yet, so I wonder if that will affect us filing jointly? Since my social is under my new last name but my W-2 will be issued to my maiden name? Geesh, why is it so hard to do these things!!!