Why I stayed so long at my last job Part II

I just realized that I wrote this post months ago and never posted it. Better late than never I guess.

After staying at my job for 1 year and waiting for the perfect opportunity for another year I decided enough was enough.

Nothing was happening for me so I started to apply for any and everything. If I met the qualifications I applied. But now I was dealing with a post-merger company. The company was bought didn't have a lot of turn-over in their positions but they adapted to our culture really fast. Since most of them had been in their positions for years, they were considered better candidates. There was also the "we already know who we're hiring, but we have to post the job anyway" syndrome. It was bad.

I had to fight for another 2 years before I got the job that I have now. Out of all of the jobs that I applied for, I only had about 5 interviews. One job I lost to a friend, on a side note I'll never tell anyone else about the interview to give them a leg up on me again. Another job they wanted someone who would stay long term and they could tell that I would move on. The other jobs just went with better candidates. It was an extremely frustrating process.

Now I'm in a good place with a job that I think has a lot of potential for growth and that makes me very happy.

I'm bummed about no vacation this year

I thought I was getting my hands on some money from let's just say an unusual source. Anyway, it turns out that I am not getting that money. That was going to accelerate my debt payments as well as pay for a vacation. It wasn't a huge amount but it would have been a little chunk of change.

Unfortunately the money isn't coming. On the plus side, I didn't incorporate that money into my budget so it's not like I can really miss something that I never had. Still it would have been nice to go back on vacation.

There's always next year!

I finally switched my cell phone plan

I called one day last week and talked to a really great rep on the phone. He explained the features of the plan that I have now and the ones compared to the plan that I signed up for. It's basically the same except I don't get a free phone. I can pay a down payment and be billed the price of a phone monthly. The phone would be at or very near full cost, no discount. Or I can do what I had planned and just get a phone from eBay.

The best part is that I got my new bill today and it included my corporate discount. I also save almost $55 dollars in the process. I can save that money, buy myself a new phone every two years and buy my niece a new phone once per year. Even buying 3 phones every 2 years, I'll still save a few hundred bucks over the course of a 2 year contract. Yeah I did have to get another contract, but I'll have the phone for that long anyway so it works out.

Now I just need to get my niece off of my plan and I'll really start saving.

I'm still crunching the cell phone plan numbers

I still haven't made the switch to a new cell phone plan. The main reason is that I don't have the money right now for a new phone. Not a brand new phone but a used or refurbished phone off of Ebay. Of course my niece needs a phone too so I'm looking at over $500. I plan on postponing this for at least another month.

It looks like my corporate discount and my AAA discount are both a no-go. I was told that because the plan is so heavily discounted, they don't take additional discounts off. This is really hit or miss and probably just depends on who you talk to once you make the switch.

Hopefully by next month I will be all switched over and saving money.

I want to switch my cell phone plan

My plan is over $150 per month. I have 2 phones because I pay for my niece to have a phone. We both have unlimited everything although our data gets throttled because we go over 2G of data per month. I barely go over 2G but my niece uses over 5G per month.

Now I want to switch to a value plan where you pay for the service but there is no subside for phones. Either you can pay full price for a phone from the company or bring your own phone. The problem is that they don't want to let me get the cheapest plan because of the data. I'm also getting the runaround on whether or not I get to keep my corporate discount.

I'll have to crunch the numbers before I commit and change anything.

My 2013 Resolutions

First let me say that this is posted across all of my blogs so if you're following my blogs (especially my blogger blogs), you'll see the same exact posting.
My goals are :

• Increase my liquid savings by $2,500-3,000.
• Add 1 $250 CD bringing me to 6 CD's. After I get my liquid account to $3,000 all additional savings will go into the cd's.
• Add $300 to my stock account.
• Save up at least half of the amount for my bedroom suite. With 24 months same as cash I'll be able to pay it over time.
• Close on my house no later than July. It should be sooner but I could push it back a few months.
• Lose 1 pants size. Sure why not! It never happens but whatever. 
• Save $1,000 for moving expenses and trips home. I have to go home at least 3 times this year including getting my stuff out of storage.

Nice and short. Hopefully I'll meet most of them.

This year is coming to a close

I didn't get all of my resolutions fulfilled this year and since we're at the end of the year I know I won't. However there are some things that I'm going to get done.

I will save money in my investment account. I sent a lump sum of money earlier in the year however I didn't send my monthly amounts. I've just been spending that money on dumb stuff instead of investing it. I want to do a better job of that next year.

I also want to save a lot more cash next year. Whenever something happens, I like having a few extra bucks in my checking or savings account that I can spend without any repercussions. Most of my cash is tied up in cd's which works for me. That way I can't fritter it away on odds and ends. I'll add to my cd's next year and also add to my liquid cash accounts.

I'll probably write up one set of resolutions and post them across all of my blogs.

Dealing with effects of today's economy

I recently read an article about a company that was laying off a significant number of workers. As part of their settlement package, they would be offered almost a 12 months of pay.

That seems like a lot but in this economy they would still be on the edge. Especially since jobs are so hard to come by. Sometimes that means making drastic changes to ones lifestyle. That's where a company that specializes in debt relief comes in. And you have a variety of options including debt consolidation, debt settlement, a consumer proposal and finally, as a last option, bankruptcy.

Before you chose do anything and possibly make things worse, you should contact a Certified Debt Specialist like Shelia Cockburn Esq. With a law degree from Fordham University, Ms. Cochburn has over 8 years dealing with litigation and prosecution matters in the areas of debt collections, business transactions and intellectual property. She is licensed to practice law in both the U.S. and Canada.

While Cockburn & Associate, LLP is Debt Settlement for Canadians company, they use principals that anyone could use. Check out their blog and read the articles and help yourself get out of debt.

Why I stayed so long at my last job Part I

A lot of my friends ask why I stayed so long at my last job if I didn't like it. It wasn't for lack of trying to leave either.

When I first started my last job the requirement was 6 months before you could leave for a new job. In my 3rd or 4th month they changed it to 1 year. Instead of fighting to get out, which I should have done, I decided to tough it out for the full year.

After the year was up, I only posted for jobs that I really wanted. I wasn't competing against a lot of people but some of them had much more experience than I did. So it was a tough road but I wasn't discouraged. After 6 months or so I had only applied for 4 or 5 jobs.

To be continued.....

I'm settling in nicely at my new job

Whenever you go to a new job there is a learning curve. My curve seemed steep because what I'm doing is new but it wasn't that steep at all now that I think about it.

I don't want to make it seem like I'm totally okay just yet but I have to say that I'm settling in quite nicely. The new area is pretty quiet but it's also pretty loose. There are some people that stay to themselves and some that love to talk to anyone that will listen which is right up my alley.

All in all I like it and I can see my staying for a while. That is in stark contrast to my last job where I didn't like it from the first week.