Finance Gets Personal

Things have been soooooo slow at work lately. There are days when I don’t have ANYTHING to do except entertain myself at my desk.

The Internet is my main source of entertainment, and unfortunately, CNN, MSN, TMZ and my favorite blogs don’t always update every five minutes (horrors!).

That leaves me way too much time for shopping online.

I’ve found a lot of great bargains from deal sites like dealnews.com and slickdeals.net, but with my upcoming anniversary and outstanding speeding ticket, I seriously need to lay off the bargain shopping. I try to do other things like plan my weekly grocery trips, create a family calendar, schedule veternarian appointments, etc., but I am running out of ideas of things to do while I’m at work with nothing to work on.

At least you can look forward to more frequent blog posts!

This week, my husband started telecommuting two days per week.

It’s really great since his work is about 25 miles away and his car gets less than 20 miles per gallon. And, I figure he’ll also be spending less on dress clothes (since he will only have to dress up two days per week - Friday is casual day) and lunches out.

I’m not sure how the arrangement came about, but it’s something one of his company’s directors got approval for his entire group to do.

If you’re feeling the pinch of rising gas prices, you might want to consider talking to your employer about it.

Nearly 10 years after getting my first credit card as a freshman in college, I’ve paid off my last balance.

Although I had my Citibank card locked in at 2.99% for life, it is still a great feeling to be done with it!

Last night we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate. Now, it’s on to the student loans!

In other news, I got a 8% raise today (yea!)

Photo Credit: Buffalo Wild Wings by Keegan Jones, used under Creative Commons licensing

Thanks, Money Saving Mom, for passing on this great Father’s Day deal:

If you buy $100 worth of Dockers men’s clothing or accessories (before taxes/discounts) from Sears between now and Sunday, you can mail it in for a $75 Shell gas card. This would be a perfect way to get your Father’s Day shopping done, get some needed dress clothes for the men in your life and save on gas! Click here for details.

On Thursday night, I decided to put some extra effort into getting to work on time.

What does that have to do with finances, you ask?

Everything! Being chronically late can cost mucho dinero in terms of lost raises/promotions, missed appointment fees and the like.

So how did Operation Get Out of Bed go?

It was a mild success, and has potential.

On Friday morning, I was supposed to get up at 7:00, but hit snooze until 7:30. I remember hitting snooze, which is an improvement, and also got up about half an hour earlier than normal (also an improvement). I didn’t hear my cell phone alarm, which was supposed to go off every five minutes starting at 7:15. I also didn’t smell the coffee, because the bedroom door was closed. But I read the paper, ate my waffles, and it was quite enjoyable! I was 10 minutes late for work, which is a major improvement and about standard in my office.

This morning, I made sure the door was open when I went to bed, and made sure my cell phone alarm worked. But I didn’t need the cell phone alarm because I got up the first time my bedside alarm went off! Having the light on a timer at 6:30 is really helpful in waking me up. However, I was still 10 minutes late, so I need to work on figuring out what time I have to leave by to get to work on time.

I must say, getting to work (sorta) on time really makes my whole day go better. And I also understand why people drink coffee now - I’m so awake!

I’ve mentioned before that I have a problem with being chronically late.

I’m not sure exactly what’s causing me to be late almost every day, but I do know one thing: I hit the snooze button in my sleep.

Like this morning, when my alarm clock was set for 7 a.m. I remember waking up at 6:00 a.m. and thinking, “It’s not time to get up yet.” Then, I think I remember hearing the alarm at 7:00 and pushing snooze. The next time I wake up, it’s 8:24, and the alarm clock is still showing that it is in “snooze” mode (which means it should have been going off every 10 minutes or so).

I’m not really sure how to resolve this, but I need to. I’ve always heard advice about putting the alarm clock across the room or down the hall, but that doesn’t work for me because I run to turn it off and get back in bed. So, I have an experiment for tonight:

I programmed our coffee pot to start making coffee at 6:45 a.m. Although I don’t usually drink coffee, I’m hoping the smell/chance of fire will get me out of bed.

I bought a programmable timer for my bedside lamp at Target for $10. I’m going to set it to turn on at 6:30 a.m. I’m hoping this will simulate sunlight and help me get up.

I’m going to set the alarm clock on my cell phone too, just in case.

We get the newspaper on weekends, so I’ll wear something decent to bed tonight that I can go out and get the paper in the morning and read it over breakfast.

I bought frozen strawberry waffles and syrup to eat for breakfast, since I usually just eat a cereal bar in my car on the way to work.

If I’m on time tomorrow, I’m going to reward myself with a glass of wine during intermission of the play we’re going to that night.

Here goes nothing…

Photo Credit: Maker of the day - Matty Sallin, Bacon-cooking alarm clock by pt, used under Creative Commons licensing