Nitajaye's Personal Finance Blog

I have finally started taking steps to get myself on a budget. LIke i have said before I am one of the world's best procrastinators.

Go on a side trip with me here: I remember when I learned what the word procrastinate meant. I was in 8th grade and Mrs Bennington had us do book reports and we had to put them in a folder on a shelf when we were finished. She had a sign on shelf that said "Do not procrastinate" I asked her what it meant and she said to look it up in the dictionary. I told her I would do it later. She busted up laughing and told me to do it NOW. I didn't think it was that funny, but have never forgetten what it meant.

OK back to the budget. I found some budget sheets that make sence to me and am now just going to record inflow and outflow for the month of May. and then break everything down at the end of the month and set up a sample budget from there. I just wish someone else would do this for me.

Income today was:
$309.00 Unemployment
$4.00 Kohls,overpayment refund
$5.00 Pinecone payment


outgoing expenses
$80.00 Dr. visit payment(he doesn't take the medical card, YIKES)
$2.00 Foot Dr. co-pay ( he does, yeah)
$4.13 Wendy's for lunch

Out going will end up being more later tonight because I have some bills to pay. THank god for two kids and a large income tax return.

I had told you in one of my last blogs that I had accepted a job that was to start on mOnday. Well I have decided not to take it.

I am working with an organization called Career LInk and they are helping me with resumes and cover letters and I just did a moch interview with them, (that was interesting). I told them that I had taken the job and we talked out the pros and cons of starting a job that I really do not want and how it will hinder me being able to do a job search for the place I really want to be. That is State FArm or Country Financial. State FArm has a HR person that they work with and I went to one of her classes on interviewing and I KNOW HER.

Career LInk thinks I have a good shot at getting a job at State Farm and they are hiring at Country and doing interviews next week for a position I qualify for. So I called the other job and told them something came up and I would not be taking the position. I am hoping I did the right thing. I feel some peace about it. I think I am just needing someplace to work to feel total peace.

On the bright side today I cashed a check for $35.00 for helping at my friends in home daycare. and recieved a check for $145.00 for doing some foster care respite a few weeks ago. SWEET

$170.00 total

I did go to Tuesday Morning and bought three things Total was about $30.00.

So actually total in was $140.00.

I'll take it.

Before I get into the job offer I have to share this. MY DD who is 4 just called down the stairs and asked me to come and cover her up. mind you she is capable of doing this herself. I just told her to reach down and pull it up and she said she can't because her leg hurts. i asked why she was using her leg to pull her blanket up and she just called me a meany. She said it with just such a pouty little voice, i just cracked up.

Anyway, ACC Electronix called me today to offer me a job. YYYYEEEEEAAAAHHHH.
It will be in inventory, shipping and recieving. I wanted something different and this is a long way from child care.
They are going to hire me through a temp agency for 3 months and then if they like my work they will hire me themselves. I wanted a higher wage also but am glad to be working at this point.

I had went to a job fair a week or so ago and met the HR person from Country Financial and she was telling me about a job that was going to the outside. I saw the post for it today on their website and e-mailed her and she will pull my application and get it to the hiring manager. I would love to get this job, it is a foot in the door of a big corporation and a great place to work for and retire from.

We will see how it all goes, God is at the wheel and he knows where he is taking me. I just wish I could get a sneak peek at the map.

Sorry about the last post. I wouldn't recommend reading it, it is not very interesting. not that this one will be any better, but at least there is something to read here.

I may have a new job on Monday!!!!!!!!!!!I went in to fill out an application and had an interview with production manager and she called in the inventory manager and I interviewed with her also. It all sounded so positive. I called them today and they will let me know by the end of the week as they have a few more interviews to conduct, but she said my application is on the top of the list.

I will be going from a toddler teacher to working inventory/shipping and receiving. Well, I said i wanted to do some thing different. WoOOHoooo.

I checked the status of my tax refund and it should be deposited on the 20th.

I want to pay some of the credit card debt and put some in my savings account in Florida to replenish the emergency fund. Trying to decide how to allocate it. I really need to sit down figure who I owe and interest rates. Geesh, I really dislike dealing with money issues. I always make the wrong decisions and then procrastinate and dont do anything at all but waste it.

Has anyone found a way to kick yourself in the butt without breaking your leg?

It is 1:30 a.m. here and what am I doing? I am on the computer. How nuts is that.

I agreed to watch 5 of my frieds 6 children yesterday. Plus my 2. It is always an adventure. Usually of a positive note.

It was their dads birthday so I took all, yes I typed all, of them to the Dollar Tree to get presents for him.

They each got to pick one item for him of their choice. They had so much fun and I enjoyed the looks on peoples faces as they realized i was there with 7 children under the age of 9.

Cost $10.00 plus tax (card and Bag included) the look on his face at some of the things they picked out for him, Priceles.

The down note from the day was several toys were broken and someone, MY DS, spilled juice on the computers keyboard.

GGGRRRRRRRR. He knows better to have juice at the computer, let alone get on without asking. Then he didn't tell me he spilled and i found out about it after he was in bed. (which probably saved his life ) so now these keys ( ii7890=) are all sticky and slow to move. any ideas on how to unstick them?

Well I need to get to bed. But have slept from 8:30 till 1:00 so am really not tired. but it will catch up later so good night everyone.

Warning: this might get long.


I have been getting really depressed about not being able to find a job. It is getting close to two months. I know that is not long for some of you, but to me as the sole provider for me and my two young kids it feels like forever.

I had applied for food stamps and was denied. they said i had to much disposable income. !!What!!! I don't really understand



WOOOOOOOHOOOOO. I just got a call from the unempoyment office and they had questions about my resignation, but she said she decided to go ahead a reward me unemployment benefits. Thank you Jesus!
There is still a posibility that my job can object but I do not think they will.

Ok back to before. I need to talk to the case worker again about food stamps. I did though get aproved for the medical card. That is good since some of my meds are expensive.

I went to a job fair yesterday and now have several appointments set up for interviews for next week.

All of this made me fall face down on the floor and have a heart to heart with my God and King. I am now refreshed and ready to continue with the challenge.

I went to Kohls and bought a pair of shoes cause mine are about dead and I had a $20.00 gift card from christmas. I have a $4.00 credit on the charge card so effectively the shoes only cost me .36Cents. The total was 23.64. Yeah me.

Well I'll stop rambling now and work some more on YNAB.

Thanks for listening.

Well i interviewed with Macy's today. IT went ok. Macy's took over the Famous Barr in our area and now they are looking to running the store like all the Macy's do. the positions are all part time and have never been done (when it was Famous Barr) so the lady could not tell me many details.

The job doesn't start until May 6. uggg
I really need to start like tomorrow.

I have a few more places to send resumes to so I need to get busy.

Finally, one of the places i contacted have actually gotten back to me and I go in this afternoon for a job interview.

It is not in the area I want to be in nor is it full time, but at this point it is an interview and the potential for some income. Beggars cannot be choosers.

I will continue to look for a job in the field I want and in the mean time I will be going to the unemployment office for help with my resume an cover letter. They will also help you with mock interviews. This is really cool. You can do as many as you want. SWEET

I let you know how things went

For as many years as i can remember I have called myself the queen of procrastination. Now as it is drawing near to midnight and I still have dishes to do and a kitchen to clean up and easter baskets toget ready I am thinking that I need to get my rear in gear and give this title to someone else.

I know that top part has nothing to do with finances but I needed to vent a bit bear with me. (I don't think that was the right spelling but I feel like a grumpy ole bear right about now)

On a financial note I did get my taxes done today. I am getting over $5600. back. I know that will get many of you in a twitter. I have not been a member here long and what I have learned in that short time is I need to budget better and I need to make some major changes to my tax situation. I learned that I can ask my employer to take earned income credit up to a certian amount and get it in my pay check as opposed to tax refund and I learned about how many exemptions I should take to hopefully get me to break closer to even at tax time. Please be patient with the newbee

Now the big question is what to do with the refund. I am unemployed at this time and have been for almost 2 months. I could take the refund and pay off the credit card and be almost debt free or I could feed me and my children and pay utilities and rent. HUMMMMMMM. ;p

I must admit that I enjoy dumpster diving. I don't actually dive into the dumpsters though. (ick) Today on my way home from picking up DS I noticed an empty box on the dumpster. It was for an office chair. I thought to myself I could really use one of those in the kitchen for my computer. I am using an antiquie cane chair at the moment. I kind of wondered what they did with their old chair.

Well wonder no more. I took a bag of trash out to the dumpster just a few minutes ago and their old office chair was sitting beside the dumpster.It is is great condition. I think they just wanted a chair with arms.

Their old is my new WOOOHOOO!

I have a wonderful friend who came over tonight to help me clean up and purge the crap in my bedroom. She probably made 7 or 8 trips to the dumpster. We also set aside 3 boxes to sell at the community sale and I have 2 boxes of kids clothes to go through to see if they are in good enough shape to take to the consignment store. I know I can get more money at the consignment store than at the sale.

It is really amazing to look at my room. I actually have a floor now.

I also found enough change to fill a zip lock bag. I put it in the change jar and will try to add to the jar weekly.

Still looking for a job, am ready to take what comes for now, can't afford to be picky anymore, have too many bills to pay. I'm even looking a part-time. YUCK>

I have applied for unemployment and the medical card and food stamps. I hate it but I have to think about my two littl'ins. Hopefully somethingwill come up soon.

HI, my name is nitajaye and I am an overspender, non-financially disciplined, disorganized and am one of the queens of procrastination.

PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!

I have been lurking in these blogs and posting every once in a while.

It seems that the YNAB program is fairly popular. Would some of you answer a few questions for me?

1. Do you like this software
2 Is it easy to use (for the computer illiterate person like myself)
3. I have used Quicken for a short time, is YNAB anything like Quicken.
4. Do you like the original version for 19.99 or the pro version for 39.99.
5. Is pro worth the extra 20.00
6. I do not have excel on my computer
7. Do I need to purchase excel
8.What kinds of things does this program do
9. what are your favorites
10. what do you NOT like about it
11. If i purchase it does anyone want to come to my house and enter all the information in it for me
12. Yes I have done some research on it but as soon as I leave the sight I forget about 3/4 of what I have read.

13. I'm getting a headache, should I quit banging my head against the monitor screen.

It's 11:00 and I need to go to bed I will (hopefully) read some of your answers and reviews tomorrow.

Good night all

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Well here is the breakdown on what they fixed on the van.

disc brake pad set
2 disk break, rotor, front
2 sway bar links
sway bar bushings
2 rear shocks
2 front struts

Total $1,177.63

The good thing is that I qualified for a credit card that will be interest free until 2008. That is better than going on my visa at 7.6 %

I can't believe how different the van drives now. It didn't feel bad to me before, but it feels so much more stable (if you know what I mean) now.

I guess in the grand scheme of things it was a small price to pay to guarentee the safety of me and my chillins.


I also broke down and took the kids to taco bell for supper. It is such a thrill for them to eat inside. Oh the joy of simple pleasures.

This weekend I heard some noises coming from the front of the van. OH, great it's time for new brakes. Well the auto place just called and their estimate is about $1,200.

1. Front brakes and roaters
2. Front struts (one is leaking)
3. Alignment and wheel rotation
4. and two other things ( can't recall what they are now that I am typing this)

The owner is giving me several discounts, but wow this still hurts. OUCH!

Well I would rather be safe and have my babies is a save vehicle.

And what is that saying? "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" something like that.

Also so much for lowering the credit card this month.

I guess this all really is frustrating combined with the fact that I haven't found a job yet. How do you pay things off when you have no money coming in. I told my self I would be picky about where I work until the end of the month and then I need to take what I can find that will pay the bills.

OK enough of the pity party, I'll stop complaining now.

I recieved a phone call from the agency where I fostered my children. They wanted me to do respit for two children for 10 days while their foster parents went to Florida. I said yes.


Then found out..........

I cannot use the day care that they usually go to because the foster parents had already advised them that they would be on vacation and would not be using that week. Also there is some rule that says if a foster parent is not working that DCFS will not pay for childcare.

Oh well I guess the job hunt will be real slow this week and next week.

by the way the kids ages are ds age 5 1/2 , dd age 4, boy age 2 and girl age 8 months. Its a good thing I have a van to transport. Did the first run tonight when I got Ds's meds ( thank God for drive up pharmacys) It could be an interesting couple of days. I'll keep you informed.

I just completed my first ever temp job. It was for the Girl Scouts and lasted 3 days. They said I was 'lucky' to get dropped in to this position this week. It was the end of cookie sales, The American Girl Fasion Show, Girl Scouts 195th birthday and the begining of camp registration. All that and I ran the store.

But I survived. I keep hearing Aretha Franklin's "I will survive" in my head.

I have really got to get over this lack of inpulse control right now. It seems that I just want to spend, spend, spend and there is little to no income comming in right now. uggggg.

Well I need to go so I can be productive about something.

Before I disappeared a while back I was trying to decide whether to leave my job or to just stick it out. Well they ended up making the decision for me. Without going into every detail they decided that my service level was not up to par. They use the fact that my depression was cycling and that I had mentioned that I was getting burned out and was going to look for another career field.

Because of this decision they put me on a 30 probation period and said if I did not pull my performance together they would terminate me or because of my 7 years of faithful service they would let me resign effective immediately.

Well at the end of the 30 days needless to say I turned in my resignation. I knew pretty much from the get go that they were not giving me my classroom back. they said they were doing me a favor because they thought I was a "time bomb" ready to go off and they wanted me to go out on top and not by being dismassed because I had abused a child. That really pissed me off. I would walk out of a room before I would touch a child inappropriately. Any way I am digressing.

So now I am in the big job hunt. Trying to get out of childcare and into clerical and reception. But..............no one wants to hire you unless you have experiance and if no one will hire you how do you get experiance. visicious vicious circle.

I have a list of about 10 sites that I check everyday.

You know, I forgot to tell you why I way gone for so long. A week before my job gave me their ultimatium my computer crashed and burned and it took several weeks for a friend to wipe it clean and reinstall everything.

Sorry this was so long. It doesn't take long to type a mini novella

Sorry about the last post, I am seriously computer challenged. Which maked me wonder why I am searching for a job in the clerical field.

A Dr's office had called me on Thursday to set up an interview. Because of all the craziness at work I could not risk checking my cell phone until I had clocked out, so I missed being able to call them back that day. I tried calling them Friday morning and again Friday afternoon, but the lady never called me back. Oh well, maybe I will hear from them on Monday.

Saturday I spent abut $22.00 at Wal-mart for groceries. My pantry and freezer are full of food, but it all has to be cooked in some way. I do not get home until after 5:45 and the kids are starving at that point. They are in bed by 7:45. So there is two hours to get supper ready, eat, get baths done and spend some quality time with my DS and DD.

I really need to make a weekly menu and I am sure that would help since I could have things ready the night before. Do any of you know if it is safe to leave a crock pot on for 11-12 hours. Most recipes I look at say 4-6 or 6-8 hours.

Another question, After you acquire the knowledge you need to get ahead of anything, how do you find the motivation to do it. Procrastination and laziness are big problems in my life. I really need to find something to give me a kick in the pants.

First I want to say thankyou for all the nice commments from everyone. I really appreciate it.

some of you asked if there were specific things I needed to work on and the answer is yes. I'll be the first to admit that I have been lax in some of my duties at my job , but some of their concerns are completely rediculus (sp).

We have yet to have the next supervisory meeting to discuss my rebuttle to there accustaions. But such is the way of daycare. We have had several staff out and we have to have ratios covered before we can have a long meeting. This part is driving me nuts.

I will NOT let them terminate me. It is a matter of principle on my part. I do not believe I deserved this drastic of action. I agree that some consiquence is deserved but not a 30 probation and then termination.

I told them that if I could resign immediatly I would, but I cannot afford to do so. It would not be in the best interest of my children or myself. I did tell them that I would be seeking employment elsewhere affective immediately. They are supportive of this and said they will give me time for interviews as staffing permits.

Soooooooooooo I have been making phone calls and putting in applications like crazy. But I did get a call back for and interview at a Dr's office, clerical assistant. Hopefully something suitable will show up soon. I'll let you know how the inteview goes.

I'm done rambling now. May everyone have a bless day. and thanks again for your support.

In my last entry I said I was probably not going to be able to make this a no spend lunch week. Well today was no spend. There was plenty of food left after lunch so I had a tuna salad sandwich.

I finished the application yesterday and I also wrote a awesome coverletter. (If I do say so myself) I took it to the office today. Hopefully I will hear something soon. I have not heard anything from other resumes that have been turned in. I am not a patient person at this time. I just want out of this job.

I have not been able to sleep at night and come close to having panic attacks when I drive into my works parking lot. I am terrified that if I screw something up I will be terminated on the spot. I cannot afford o be without a job. But I can't afford to let the stress make me sick either. Oh What to do???????

I know it has been several day since I have written here. Soooooo much has happened.

Mainly there has been conflict with my job. Basically put, there has been alligations put against me saying that I am not doing my job satisfactorly. To put everything in a nut shell, I was givin 30 days to improve my job performance. After the 30 days I will have 3 options.

1. positive performance review; continue to work for this agency. (NOT)
2. Negative performance review: My postition will be terminated effective Immediately.
3. Megative performance review:In reverence tomy seven years of employment they will give me the option to resign my position, effective immediately.

I basically told them that if it were possible for me to afford housing and living expensises I would present my two-week notice of resignation immediately, but since this is not possibel. I will actively search for other employment during these 30 days. This Bites.

I have known it was time to move on for a while know. I have prayed about it and I guess this is my conformation.

I blew my not eating out for lunch challenge yesterday. It is hard to find time to fix/heat lunch and eat it when you are on the road picking up and dropping off resumes. I have an hour lunch. I will probably not do real well on this challenge for a while so I will amend it to trying to eat somewhat healthy fast food.

Well time to go to work. I will write more when time allows.

Day number 5 of not paying for lunch and eating what work serves or bringing leftovers from home. Yeah me.

I wonder how many days in a row I can go? Could be interesting to find out.

If I can make it through Friday I will have gone all this "work" week with out spending money on lunch. Wow. I haven't done that in a long time. Now i just need to remember to take the left over Chinese food in the frig with me to work so it doesn't go to waste.
I think I will put a note on the door to remind me.

Be right Back..........



Ok I'm back and note is hanging on door at eye level.

I did take the kids to "old McDonald's for supper. I was running and doing errands and I also had a friends baby with us. So I spent $13. for one adult and 3 kids.

I also made some payments on medical bills. $45. to podiatrist, and $50. to the dentist. Should be able to have those two paid off next month.

I need to contact the hospital where I took DS to the emergency room Christmas night for a sinus infection. He is on the medical card, but for some reason they did not bill the card, but sent me the total bill. The visit which included the ER, exrays and the ER physician was almost over $700.00. What do people do who do not have any insurance do? That is outragious.

Got my Visa bill in the mail today. AAKKK. It just seems to keep increasing. I didn't realize how much I used it at Christmas. I have got to get a handle on this. I need to look for a 0% balance transfer card and apply for it. This card is the last big ticket item. $5,800.

I know what I need to do to get on top of my finances, but have a hard time finding the motivation and drive to do it. I just want to bury my head in the sand and hope that when I come up for air it will have all gone away. I know... dream on sister.

I have been looking for another job for several months now. This job pays the bills and gives me benefits, but I am burnt out in the childcare field.

I put in a application at the Library for a children's librarian and just called to see where they were in the hiring process and they have chosen applicants and are in the interview process. I asked if I had not heard from them then I could assume I was not one of the chosen ones and she said correct. BUMMER>

I immediately got on the puter and pulled up e-bay and was looking at things and then realized that I was just looking to spend money to try to make myself feel better, so I logged off of there and logged on here. Now I do feel better about myself.

I ate lunch again at work. no $$$$ spent.

One of my goals for tonight is to go through all the papers that are piled up in stacks and boxes and weed out what is important and see how many bills have been hidden and are now late. I really hate when my meds no longer work and It is time for a change. I don't notice the depression until I am burried and it takes a bulldozer to dig my way out. I have to stop this because it is probably destroying my credit score. I want to be able to buy a house by 2010.

My goal by the weekend is to have deleted what I have on Quicken that I started in September '05 and to have restarted it with info from Jan '06.

I have also started a Bible Study again. For some reason (Iknow what it is) I am more focused when I am in God's word.

I had almost finished writting a minute ago and hit a wrong key and erased everything I had just typed. Uggg I really dislike when I do that. I am sure there is a way to recover it, but I sure don't know how to do it.

Anyway. What I had written before was that I am going to consider this a no spend day even though I spent $20.00 on a workbook and chapter book for a Bible Study. I consider anything spent on something that keeps me in Gods Word and helps me grow in my christian walk as PRICELESS.

I ate the school lunch today, so no "old McDonalds" as my young DD calls it. Go Me.

Now I am going to clean the kitchen floor. It needed to be swept and mopped anyway, but is in desperate need now since I bumped into the table and knocked a glass on the floor and it shattered into a million pieces.

Gave away several things on Freecycle. The last item on this bunch should be picked up tomorrow. With so much stuff going out the door into the dumpster and Goodwill and Freecycling you would think that I would notice some available space in my house. I must have more crud than I thought I did. It will be nice when I can actually notice a differenc.

I managed to get many errands done and annoy my children all at the same time. My poor babies do not like to run errands with mommy. When I am in go mode I go in and get out quickly. We made 9 stops in less than 2 hours. They had drove me crazy since they woke up because they wanted to do something. After a few stops they were begging to go home. (then once we got home they wanted to do something "special") HElP ME! lol

Anyway i feel good about my accomplishments.

1. Kohls Made payment $30.00
pricing mistake refund +6.48

2. TJ Maxx Took item back +16.22

3. Target Looking for shoes, no luck
0.00

4. Cute as a Button Shoes -3.98

5. Lane Bryant 1st stop store closed yet.
2nd stop paid off card -80.72

6. Big Lotts Returned shirt +9.00
Bought bandaides -1.01

7. Meijers looked for DS shoes , no luck

8. McDonalds Lunch -12.48

TOTALS

Bills payed $110.72
(one credit card gone) whooo hoooo

Money back $32.70

Money spent $17.46


Not a bad day for me, money wise.

Now to get the kids and me back on a positive track.

It is a three day weekend for me and the kids. I look forward to these and I dread them at the same time.

I usually cannot stay home or putz around town without spending money that I do not have to spend freely. I would love to go someplace, but I really don't have the money to go anywhere.

Right now it is Monday morning and I have been going over my spending on Sat and Sun.
Sat. I paid some bills until I ran out of checks. I would have paid by phone but I refuse to pay the 3 to 5.00 processing fee. I do not have on-line checking for reasons that are my own right now.

I also did some grocery shopping and stuck to what was on my list except for one item that cost 2.50. the rest of the day was spent playing with the kids and cleaning the house and purging items. I think I am responsible for filling half the dumpster.
I also put together several bags for free-cycle, I am into sharing the wealth. I couldn't bear the throw everything out. Especially if I know there people who can us it.

Sunday was church and then Nap for the youngest and playing games with the oldest. We then went on a shoe finding mission for my DD. Found a pair on clearance for 6.97. We then went to a friends and shared our Christmas. ( I know it is late)

Today should be a no spend day. Oh I forgot I told my friend I would look for shoes for her little ones, but she will repay me.

Hopefully today goes as planned.