Debt $ense

The director of my company site issued an open call for ideas for 2007 - new products, ways to better sell existing products, and improvements to existing products. The deadline’s tomorrow, and apparently as of yesterday, I was the only one to suggest anything substantive. He’s asked me to present my ideas to the site directors (him, plus each department head) during one of their regular meetings next week. And I’ve gotten rumblings from an inside source that he’s looking for a way to move me into a larger role in the organization. (Yes, that would come with a pay increase.)

Lots of things are in flux, and he isn’t the final say, but right now it’s looking like I could be in much better financial shape by this time next year - even after replacing my car. While a bit of that would go toward loosening up my budget - $80 every two weeks for everything that’s not a monthly bill is cutting it pretty close to the bone - most of it would help with CC repayment (if that hasn’t been accomplished) and then be put into savings once the debt’s gone.

I won’t know anything for sure any time soon, but I could get a better picture by mid-October.

I posted once before about karma, and events today have me musing over it again.

First, there’s a book out I want to read - to the point of being willing to buy it - by Linda Hirshman about women and working. It’s getting lots of attention, both good and bad, and the blog entries she did while guest blogging for TAPPED a few months back intrigued me. Last week I happened to mention to a co-worker that I read a few feminist blogs (we were discussing another subject all together). Today she brought me printouts of Hirshman’s posts from TAPPED and said she had bought the book. She’s letting me borrow it when she’s done. That’s some money saved.

The bigger issue is one I can’t say much about - I don’t want to tempt fate - but if things pan out, I’ll be in better shape income-wise because of some things I’ve been working on, and it will happen sooner than I hoped for. And from the sounds of it, if it doesn’t pan out now, I’m still in better shape for future opportunities than I thought.

Sorry for the brief hiatus - things got a bit crazy around here. Posting also will be light this weekend because I’m taking a few days off to help a friend with some home repair/DIY projects.

In PF news, my CC balance is temporarily up because of some annual/quarterly charges I put on there to avoid possible cash-flow issues with my debit card. All will be resolved in a couple weeks, at which point I’ll be under $7,000 for the first time in a couple years. (Yay!)

Meanwhile, I’m looking for creative ways to find extra money to get the balance down as soon as possible. I need to stop procrastinating and actually get some decluttering done so I can convert as much of it into cash as possible. I also need to get card samples done so I can pitch the idea of a class to parks and rec. Procrastination has definitely been an issue the last few weeks, and I need to break the habit.

I finally took some time today to work on one of my extra income plans. I took various components in different papers and designed four basic holiday cards. I’m going to assemble one of each in the next few days, then pitch city and county parks and rec departments on teaching a fall class on the topic. Based on past experience, one class should net me between $50 and $250 depending on the number of students. If I can score two classes, that should take care of two months’ extra payments, possibly more.

My other plan, editing and proofing college papers, is waiting for me to design the flyer and distribute it on campus. I started last week, but haven’t had time at work to finish it. I don’t know if I will this week, but should on the weekend - it’s my turn to work. I’m not sure what kind of income to expect from that, especially for a summer session.

My third plan relates to the first one, and that’s selling Christmas cards I make. I’m hoping the classes will help with word of mouth. I’m not sure how crazy I want to go with this, for several reasons, so that’s why it’s third.

Using the theory that making more income is a better way to build wealth than just reducing expenses, I’ve been contemplating ways to position myself at work so that as we grow, I’m a top candidate for promotion.

Today’s discussion with my boss gave me more to chew on, as well as reassuring me that I’ve done things right so far. I’ve got a couple of additional things in mind, one of which I’ll have to do some subtle lobbying for. The others are things that I’ll be doing anyway, and I just need to go the extra step on them to really make them shine.

One thing I already started doing is turning in quarterly portfolios to my boss like the people we supervise have to. (It’s never been a requirement for me - my boss said if I do, her boss might remember she’s supposed to.) That gives me a reminder of what I’m supposed to be doing so I never slip too far in any one area. It also serves as a reminder for her of what I’ve done and gives her something to refer back to come review time.

I can’t really discuss the other pieces on my list because they relate to things we’re talking internally about that aren’t ready for public disclosure. Suffice to say they’re doable and important to my company, so there’s a high probability of success that will make a good impression.

OK, the suspense is over. I got my review, and it was good. The raise is about where I expected, so my financial projections are going to be pretty accurate. The best part was getting a sense of what I need to do to move to a new position, as well as a sense from my supervisor that while there isn’t a position that exists now, that could change in the next year and I’m in good shape to move to such a position. No promises - too much is in the hands of suits at a higher level - but some definite possibilities.
All in all, one of the best reviews I’ve had in my career.

I still haven’t had my review, which means I don’t know what my raise is, which means I’m stuck in hold on some financial planning. Grrrr. If it isn’t tomorrow, my boss is going to get chewed out, so I should finally find out. I know it can’t be too bad of a review - I’ve heard too many good things from the department head and site leader - so I can’t imagine she’s putting it off because it’s going to be a difficult conversation. Who knows?

At any rate, I hope to be posting tomorrow (well, later today) about my raise and how it affects my plans. We’ll see …

I still don’t know what my paycheck will look like come July 1. *sigh* But I have taken some time in the last few days to update my financial projections and figure out how close I am to hitting my end-of-year target for paying off my debt.

Right now, with the changes I mentioned yesterday, plus an extra payment in September because of the “extra” paycheck, I will have it paid off by late January. Adding an extra $50 a month means I can get it paid by early January. Increasing that extra payment to $75 brings it to the first few days of January. An extra $100 a month gets me to the end of December.

Short of an unexpected promotion, that $100 extra payment each month is a necessity. Even if I got twice the raise I did last year, there just isn’t enough extra to increase the weekly payments by more than $5 or $8. Which is not to say it wouldn’t add up - that’s $65-$100 over the course of 26 weeks. But that’s not enough.

I have a few things in the works for June that should get me the extra payment, so that’s one down. And I think I can come up with about $40 a month fairly easily from one source. If I can save another $15 from each paycheck, that gets me to $70. So I need to find ways to make $30-$60 a month on average.

I haven’t gone to Parks and Rec yet about fall programs. School ends this week and the pools just opened, so I figure I’ll wait a week or two until they’re not so swamped. I also still need to sit down and figure out which card designs I want to show them.

I did start designing the flyer for editing/proofing papers, and I plan to get that done and distributed around campus by mid-week next week. I don’t think I’ll get much from that this summer, but I’m hoping to get enough business to work out kinks so I can expand to the state university just north of here for the fall.

Also on my list is checking out the secondhand shop that just opened up the block to see what they buy and how they pay. I have some decent furniture I can get rid of that way that I either don’t like or don’t use. Most of my clothes for consignment are going to be fall/winter, so that will help with the later months.

Starting in June, my weekly payments are increasing $32 ($20 for withholding, $12 for dropping broadband). That takes me up over $700 a month in payments - a nice round number. I’m hoping to hit $800 a month in July after my raise kicks in, but I won’t know for sure until my review next week.

If I just keep making the new weekly payments - no extras, no increase with my raise - my CC will get paid off by mid-March. That’s better than my original date - the end of August next year - but still a few months shy of what I’d like.

Still, I’ve increased my weekly payments by almost $50 in two months. If you’d told me I could do that, I would have laughed. And yet I haven’t really missed many of the things I’ve cut in the name of debt reduction.

The raise is the one last major change I can make in the weekly payment this year, barring an unusual lifestyle change. Now I need to focus on finding new income streams, either for ongoing income or one-time chunks (like a yard sale).

The paper-editing is one I need to move on. If I can design a flyer this weekend, I can start posting it on campus next week or the week after for summer session students.

I’m also going to try a slightly different take on the card-making option and see if the city parks and rec department would be interested in me teaching classes in the fall. That would let me make some money from teaching, plus build word-of-mouth about the cards and hopefully sell some that way. The county offers similar classes and they have so many I assume they must be popular. I could teach them how to make one card with maybe one or two variations, and give them the supply list if they want to replicate the card at home to make more than one. I’ll have to e-mail the person in charge of the classes Tuesday and see if that’s an option. That means spending part of the weekend designing and making cards in case they want to see some.

My goal is to be able to make one extra payment each month equal to my weekly payments, but that means finding another $50 a week, on average. Let’s see if I’m up to the challenge.

The bad news is they’re not using my entry in the design contest. The good news is it’s because of lack of time (which my boss said is his fault); he liked the idea very much and wants to use it next year. So I might not be getting the entire $50, but I’ll get at least $25 of it.

Also, this is something way outside my usual skills at work, so it’s a good thing in terms of showcasing my usefulness in other areas. That should help long-term on increasing my income.

I also checked my printer today and it is part of the class action, so I’ll be sending that paperwork off this week to get my $25 from there.

All in all, not a bad week for extra income.