Dawn's Evolution

I just had the weirdest, scariest weekend ever. My week or the last few weeks have been a bit stressful with work and school exams coming up, but I am trying to maintain a bit of positivity through it all.

I do have some good news though. As of this month I have reached my tuition goal!
Yep, it's at 100%. I am so happy with it.
I also have a small buffer or emergency fund saved up that I will be fattening.

Right now I am realigning my goals to add on some fun/play time. It's been a while since I have done anything just for fun and I have yet to set foot outside my country.
I plan on traveling, either spending a week abroad or spending a weekend outside the city just having fun.
I'm setting up a budget, I'm hoping to vacation in either September or October. I have to start my internship in November and want/have to be well rested by that time.
At this point my budget is not air tight, most of the amounts are guesses and I will be spending the next month ironing out the needed details.

What do I need:

• To renew my passport. I have been a procrastinator, this is bad as it could take me a few months to get this in order.
  
• Ticket costs of ~$400.
• Play money of ~ $300.
• No hotel cash needed as I have friends and family there who can and want to take me in.

I plan on staying a week, packing lightly and spending as much time outside as possible.
I'm being intentionally vague as to where I am going, but there will be further details when it is all set in stone.

My presentation was last night.
I had been dreading it for too long, I put of studying and refused to touch it until I absolutely had to.
I was one of the last students to speak, so I could enjoy watching the other students screw up, have blackouts and get roasted by the Teacher and the representatives from the companies.
So yeah, I was plenty scared and overwhelmed when it was my turn to get up in front of the class.
My hands were shaking, my knees were shaking, I stood in front of the class with my notes, clicked on my slides and it all went black.

I don't know how I did it, but I did it.
I spoke eloquently, said all I needed to say and for the first time ever I actually spoke loudly enough for the entire class to hear me.
When I was finished I let out a sigh of relief, called up the next speaker, clicked away my slide and took my seat.
I'd survived it, but the worst was yet to come.
To say the teacher and representative roasted us in front of the class would be a vast understatement.
He attacked us full force, she attacked us full force and then a few classmates decided to join the roasting.
And the worst part was, that I had seen it coming. Yep.

See my team consisted of 4 people. Before me there were 2 speakers, one did the introductions and spoke about the company history, the other spoke about current state of the company. Which is where it all went down hill.
See this speaker works at the company that we analyzed, so instead of speaking about our report he just spoke about how he saw the company as an employee there.

Which he gave far too much information and some of it went against what stood in our report. Which is what prompted the roasting.

I am angry at him, but even angrier at myself.
I was a part of it all and I let it happen.
Next time will be better.

I started a new job a few months ago.
I mulled it over quite a bit because, while I was unhappy with the management, I was pretty comfortable at my old job.
The pay was good, the work was light, I knew what was expected of me and they were allready impressed with my work.
I was comfortable.

And then I got this offer.
It was something new., bigger responsibility, better pay and a new challenge.
My old boss wasn't so happy with me leaving, but he could not offer me the same pay and he was a bastard, so I left.
My last day was on a Friday and I started at the new job on Monday.
Yep, no rest for me.

The first month on the new job was all about getting to know the new people, getting to know my new responsibilities and stressing about the change in my already comfortable routine.
Having a new boss and new coworkers meant I had to learn new work habits. I had to learn what this boss expected of me.
My old boss was a bit of a dictator and everything had to go through him. You had no freedom and no room to be creative. The new boss likes go getters, people that get things done on their own.
Call up clients, stay in contact and just keep him updated.
So it was a switch for me.

As the new girl I am still trying to find my place in all of this. I now have a better idea of what is expected of me and what my coworkers are like.
I now know their work culture a bit better now.
I know who I can turn to and for what.
I know who I have to hound to get stuff done.

It's fun, it's a new challenge, I'm scared out of my mind and it's my step forward.
I love this because I no longer feel like I am standing still, like I was in my last job. I am learning new skills and challenging my self to be better.
I was scared out of my mind to take this step, but I am happy I did.
It keeps me moving forward.

So here's to new challenges and growth,

I have presentations and exams coming up this month and yet I am not focused.
Instead I am youtubing, sleeping, reading fiction or watching dvd's. I really need to pick up my books and get ready but I'm not.
I'm avoiding touching my coursework like it's infected with some horrible disease. Even this blog post is a manner of avoidance.

Why am I like?
Why do I feel the need to avoid the work I am supposed to be doing in favor of doing nothing. At this point I have been spending more hours just staring at the walls of my bedroom than doing actual school work.
I'd rather sit bored out of my mind than touch my school work.
Even when I know I need to do it if I want my credits for this semester.
Even though I know I need the credits for this semester.
Even though I know that I probably won't be getting a "do-over" for this.

Where does this self-destruction come from?
Where does this need for avoidance come from?
Where does this need to flee come from?
Simply put, how did I get so lazy? When did I get so lazy?
And most importantly how do I snap out of it?

Do you guys ever get days like this?

Earlier this month I payed of my laptop, woohoo!
When I made my last payment I received some money back that I then transferred to my tuition account.

With a monetary gift I received from a friend, I fed my tuition account some more and am happy to say that I now have 30% of my tuition saved up.

Yep, I did not blog for a month and that's all the news I have for ya!

Part of the Carnival of personal finance
I had the rudest awakening this weekend.
Nothing is certain, I could lose my job just as easily as everyone else.
I always felt like I was on the outside looking in, not really feeling the crisis, just waiting for it to blow over.
And then I woke up.
The crisis is here and it affects me as well.
So I am making my emergence fund my priority and pushing paying back my debt back a bit.
I can do this because I don't have to pay interest on my debt.
I'm not sure how much my E-fund needs but I will be feeding it cash every month from now on and not set a limit.

For February I put 500 in savings and 500 in the E-fund.
For March I will put 900 in my school account and 300 in my E-fund account.
I don't have any more books to buy so I expect it to be a frugal month for me. The only thing that could set me back would be my sisters birthday, I have a set amount that I am willing to spend on her gift and am now on the lookout for that special something.

At the end of the month I will placing all my extra cash into my extra account, the one I keep forgetting to feed even though I absolutely have to.

That is the plan for now.
If I lose my job now I am in deep trouble, loosing my job would mean no more school tuition, books or anything. My schoolfund is way too small right now.
But my E-fund will be my priority, while I plan on continuing my set saving plan for my tuition.

Entered in the 164th Festival of Frugality
I broke my foot in December, December 31st to be exact. Yep I rang in the New Year with a painfully swollen foot. I got a fiberglass a few days later and suffered the teasing of my classmates, family members and coworkers, who thought the way I walked was ultra funny. Yep, I need new friends, humpf!

And of course when they heard how exactly I had broken my foot, I never heard the end of it.
I really need new friends, any offers?

Well with my foot in a cast and in pain I was forced to spend 4+ weeks off my feet. I went to work in my car, sat in my office all day, got home and sat or lay on my bed all day.
This meant: no shopping! Yep I was on an unexpected and hated shopping strike!
So, no visiting the city, no new clothes, no new shoes and no getting pampered. Yep very, very boring.

But also very frugal. I saved a whole lot of money in those four weeks.
It was nice staying well within my set budget, and made me fully aware of my addiction too (window) shopping.
But those 4 weeks were frustrating because I felt so trapped, I could not go where I wanted to, walk freely and when I had my cravings for sweets (which I often do) I could not go out and buy them.
So I was on a forced and unnecessary diet as well.

What did I spend money on?
Well if you must know (hehe) : my mobile phone (I needed minutes so I could whine to my friends about my pain), getting my crutches (hate them, they hurt my arms), occasional food and some small miscellaneous stuff that I needed.

All in all this experience taught me that I NEED to at least window shop to keep from going crazy(or crazier).
What about you, how long could you last on a shopping strike?

Personal Finance
Carnival of Personal Development
Festival of frugality

THE HOME PURCHASE PLAN (from Dimple's)

The home I want:

Price: $0 -> $80,000

Down payment: $20,000

Ideal Monthly Mortgage (including taxes, PMI, HOA, & hazard): $1000 (max)

Location: close to the city(preferably a gated community)

Bedrooms: 3

Bathrooms: 1+1/2

Square footage: ?

Year Built: New (custom)

NEEDS/WANTS:

* Quiet neighborhood
* Quick access to major highways
* Close to where I work
* Nice neighborhood
* Gated community
* Hardwood flooring