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!

This 'Drop Your Pant's Here' sign is really cute!

Lately, my plate has been full of responsibilities. On top of working full time, helping my husband with his projects, and school part-time, I still have to keep the laundry under control and the bathrooms fairly clean. My husband has been wonderful picking up a few of my usual chores. For instance, he has been throwing laundry in when he sees the basket overflowing. Of course, he sometimes forgets the laundry is in the washer or dryer, then we have to deal with ironing or redrying, but it’s better this way than not at all. He also has been making sure I eat a nutritious meal. When I come home on my one late day, he has dinner waiting for me at the dinner table.

But, I still need to get everything accomplished in a timely manner. How do I do it? I multi-task like crazy! I wake up one hour earlier than normal so that I can squeeze in some time for me, meaning time to write this post and comment on some of my favorite blogs. If I didn’t use this time wisely, I’d never have any ‘me’ time, and that would make me cranky. At school, over my breaks, I try to plan and organize the classroom so that I can leave right away at the end of the day. That might mean planning for the week ahead, entering test scores on the computer, preparing an art or writing project, or grading tests.

When I come home, I quickly make sure no one is looking for me, meaning a client that needs something. I check my email and respond to those that only need a few-word reply. I ask my husband, while throwing in a load of laundry, if he needs my help before I spend an hour or two reading for class. If my help is needed, then I allot an hour to a client project, leaving me an additional hour to read or write a paper. Before walking to the bedroom to read, I might water my potted plants on the back patio. Luckily, they are drought-tolerant and only need watering a couple of times a week. Purchasing low maintenance items make life a lot easier.

Since eating doesn’t take much time, I chow down a meal between books so that I have the energy to continue studying. One day during the work week I make sure I spend 30 minutes to an hour completing any papers I have due that Friday. On the weekends, I schedule one half-day to completing longer research papers.  Before my one weekend work-day begins, I can usually clean both bathrooms, minus the shower, and have another chore completed, and the bathrooms in decent condition. Usually setting aside 3 to 4 hours will suffice and I can accomplish enough so that I can spend some quality time with my husband on the second weekend day. As the evening is approaching, I can complete any laundry I forgot about or spend time with my husband, who has lately been neglected.

My one weekend day off, I indulge myself with sleeping in. My husband and I might decide to go to breakfast, a favorite local place that only charges $10 – $12 for the both of us. Living frugally the majority of the week, we feel we can splurge on this one meal. We establish our grocery or shopping list and take a portion of this day to shop. In the early evening, with the weather still warm, we might decide to grill out on the patio. Since I am usually caught up on school work, I don’t feel stressed or guilty that I can take one day off to enjoy the day. Multi-tasking makes my one guilt-free day possible.