Sometimes I say I’m going to do something, like put aside 10% of every check I receive. Yet doing it is another issue; sometimes I get so busy I forget to transfer the amount I had planned and then it doesn’t end up in the “savings” pile. There are so many subtle ways to completely contradict yourself, and in the end completely sabotage your future. Let me count a few: (Oh, and let me also add that the last two days I’ve been inspired by a couple things I’ve heard and witnessed first hand.)

• Buying a house, then wanting to dump it a few years later – You buy a house with the idea that it’s your dream home. After a few years, you realize you don’t like it anymore and want to move. However, you can’t because the market stinks. What ever made you think you loved that home to being with?
• Saving a portion of your income, only to realize you haven’t saved a dime- I had made a goal for myself: save at least 10% of my income this year. How’s my progress? Crappy.
• Hear a parent say, “He’s never done this before.” – Yeah, right lady. Just today he decided to throw a major tantrum and run in the opposite direction? Why don’t I believe you? P.S. If you continue to bribe him into an action you want to see, what do you think you’ll have to bribe him with when he’s 14?
• I’m going to set aside plenty of time for X activity, then rush to meet the deadline. – I map out my schedule and portion out the hours of my day. Then, as the week marches on, I realize I had many more commitments that time allowed. I’m completely screwed.

So what is a solution to sticking to your guns, so to speak; doing the things you actually set out to do? Probably the most important action is making sure what you say you’re going to do is possible. For instance, for me, I know that my income fluctuates throughout the year, maybe budgeting 10% monthly isn’t feasible. Instead, I need to look at the year as a whole.

What about that house your stuck in? Unfortunately, for most people they have two choices: stick it out and wait, OR sell it for possibly less than they bought it for. Of course there are other options, such as short sales, but this usually means the balance is due to the bank over a period of time.

As for overhearing parents use idol threats and bribery, there’s nothing much I can personally do on that end. But if the parent thought for a moment about their child’s future and how they child might perceive the world, “I will only do this if you give me that,” they might think twice about how to handle discipline. My example I’m using might sound trivial, like it’s no big deal, but idol threat after idol threat means big trouble in the future for both parent and child.

Time is something I can either manage wisely, or mismanage and then flies away without a care for my deadlines. My solution is beginning projects much earlier than originally planned. If I intended to begin a project on Monday, I might need to adjust that time frame and tell myself to begin it on Saturday or Sunday to get ahead of schedule. My work week would progress much smoother if most of my planned projects were completed by Sunday night or Monday at the latest.

This post is mostly to allow me to vent my frustrations of the week, but in a more positive fashion. I should have a smoother schedule next week, given that I follow my own advice.

Do you find yourself harried during certain times of the year? Does everything people say or do frustrate you during that time? Have you recently found yourself saying something, then doing the exact opposite?

Why are others always late!?

I have this awful habit of being on time, all the time. Even when I think I’m running late, I end up at my destination ON TIME. Yet, the person I’m meeting is usually NEVER on time. I rush to my destination, whether it’s the library for a tutoring session or Starbucks to meet a girlfriend for coffee, and I get there right on time (or even a few minutes early). Then, I wait….and I wait. For some reason unknown to me, no one can be where they say they’re going to be on time. Many minutes of my day are wasted waiting. Now I’m not one to really waste time; I might whip out my phone and quickly glance at the news headlines, or I might outline the next article I’m going to write in my head. Yet, as the saying goes, time is money. Lately, I’ve been realizing I’m missing out on making money by having to wait a good 10-15 minutes (this especially applies to my tutoring sessions!)

An obvious solution to this problem would be to become one with the ever-tardy masses. However, I just can’t bring myself to be late. The moment I feel that I’m running the slightest bit late, I begin to panic and hurry, even if I know the other person will be tardy and I’ll be left again waiting on them. There also seems to be a variation in how tardy a person is;

• There’s the few minutes late person (this person I can usually quickly forgive)
• The 10-15 minutes late person (these people really irk me!)
• And then there’s the half-hour late people which I have to call and make sure we’re still meeting (these people are just plain rude!)

Perhaps an alternate solution would be to give the known tardy person a separate time to meet, say a 15-minute head start. That way if they are running late (which is a normal habit for them), they won’t know it because I’ll meet them at a time 15-minutes later than agreed. But then is that just me running late?

There may be no perfect solution for the ever tardy folks who just can’t get their acts together. I may have more say with my tutoring clients, by charging them for those additional minutes. People all of a sudden can make it on time as soon as money is involved. But how do I charge a friend who’s running late? Perhaps I’ll forever be a punctual person who must wait…and wait.

Are you part of the tardy masses? Or are you one of the punctual people who is forever irritated with the tardy folks?

Now, some shout-out’s to those who have been driving traffic to my site this week (Thank you, thank you!):

• Saving Cents with Sense
• WiseBread
• Ultimate Money Blog
• Funny About Money
• Money Reasons
• Financial Samurai
• Credit Card Chaser

A Lazy Day

I’m one of the lucky gal’s who gets today off. As a substitute teacher, I  pretty much get every national holiday off, a week for spring break, three weeks of winter vacation, and a full 12-week summer vacation. Not bad, considering of those 180 working days I’m home by 3pm. Of course, I don’t get paid on my days off, but that’s a whole other story. So, today I’m spending my day relaxing in the warm California sun. Oh, yeah! Our temp’s have zoomed back up to 77 degrees, making me realize why I pay so much for living in sunny Southern California; the weather!

This weekend I not only helped my husband with a client project, finished 3 school projects, but also had the luxury of spending Sunday and most of today doing absolutely nothing. My favorite thing to do, out side of bike riding (I got to do this as well this weekend). I’ve decided that I can shrug off the guilt of doing nothing because I accomplished plenty on my three days off. But, that brings me to making the most of a 3-day weekend without the guilt. It all boils down to time management:

• Saturday: Since my husband manages his own business, he often has to catch up on projects on the weekends.  I helped him for a few hours. Results: completed one project, got paid.
• Sunday AM: Skype meeting with my brother who is starting his own business. Not only is he 12 hours ahead of me time wise, he also has different work days, Sunday being one of them. Results: finalized his logo, he should pay soon. (He’s my bro, so I can’t harass him too much!) Since I had to wake up early for the meeting, I had enough time to finish 2 school projects. Results: Two down, one more to go.
• Sunday PM: Had time to throw in a couple of loads of laundry while my husband cleaned the car and bikes (my Valentine’s Day gift, I think). Went to a friend’s for an early B-B-Q via a bike ride. Wrapped up the evening with a movie at home and a beer. Results: My do nothing time! Minus the laundry, of course.
• Monday AM: Sleep in! Finished the final school project. Will hop on my bike later today and head out for my 2-hour class. Results: I finished everything without being pressed for time and stressed out.

Since today is a holiday for many people, I intend to catch up on some pleasurable reading and not worry about the remainder of the week’s impending work.

How are you spending your 3-day weekend? Did you get to do something romantic or plan a weekend get-away? Are you one of the lucky people who get’s every national holiday off?

It never fails, I take a few days off and I fall WAY behind! The work that was brushed off during my 3-day excursion to Arizona will most likely take me a full week to make up. This is a down fall of owning your own business or working for yourself: Work is in a stand still mode and NO PAID VACATION!

My extended family can’t really understand this, and feel a little irked that my husband and I can’t spend more time with them when we visit. They have full time jobs at companies that offer up to 4-weeks off of vacation time a year. For example, my husband’s sister has been working for a grocery company for 15 years. She gets at least 4-weeks paid vacation a year (if not more) and doesn’t worry about the missed worked when she isn’t in the office. Someone else will pick up the slack for her, or it can wait until she returns. Not that what she does isn’t important, it’s just that in a corporate setting, there is usually another person who functions in the same capacity and can handle the few weeks when she is on vacation.

Working for yourself means that it’s just you and perhaps your spouse, that handle all the client questions, concerns, new projects, etc. Even a hired employee really can’t make up for the time spent away, the client needs answers and decisions made. All you can do is hope your clients are understanding and are waiting for you when you return. Even if that means being bombarded with multiple projects and short deadlines.

Working for yourself also means that when you do finally take some time off, it’s time UNPAID. Your clients aren’t paying you to take a vacation. They pay you to finish their projects. If we do decide to take a few days off, we have to make sure we aren’t committing financial suicide: No Pay + Paying for a vacation or short trip =  less funds in the bank. In an ideal world when we have a break in work, we’d have copious amounts of cash floating around, enough for us to take a vacation. But this isn’t an ideal world. Usually, when times are slow, we stress out hoping to make all our bills for the month. Then, when times are hectic and the money is flowing, we don’t have time to take a break. Such a conundrum!

At the beginning of the year, I revised my budget based on our Quickbooks reports. Hopefully that budget will help us put extra money away during the good times to prepare for the slow ones. Eventually, if we can continue building our business, someday we’ll be able to take a stress-free vacation!

I’ve been looking forward to the rain, really I have. I’m tired of looking at brown mountains and dried out lawns. The much needed rain will green everything up for a bit. However, since we are a town that barely receives our annual 15 inches, this week will be a trying week. Meteorologists are predicting up to 8 inches in a week, that’s more than half our annual rain fall amount.

Most cities across the nation handle much more harrowing weather, like snow, sleet, and ice. There are plenty of people who drive in much worse conditions than just a steady rain fall. Yet our normally arid city slowly comes to a halt with a few inches of that wet matter. For instance, yesterday while driving around town running some errands, every other major stop light was out. At one intersection, our trusty LA Fire Department was putting out a small fire a top a telephone pole….not so nice. Many major roads and intersections were flooded, not because we’ve received our full 8 inches, but because our run-off drains are clogged with leaves and, unfortunately, trash.

Considering our city is one of the most car-dependent, you’d think that our tax dollars could be spent filling pot holes. Not the case, with water filling in the holes, many go undetected, causing havoc to an unsuspecting driver’s automobile. So, with the promise of lots of rain this week which may help us get out of our drought, comes a commuting head ache for many on the road. Drive safely LA!