January 18, 2007
Operacion Repo!
Seen on the back of a bus yesterday:
Si no puedes pagar, no lo debes comprar!
Ahhh …. truth in any language … !! 🙂
January 15, 2007
Try, try again ….
Ok, I’m a little happier with this template, even though it’s one of Blogger’s very own standard ones. Yes? No?
# – Item Might be FSA Eligible
It’s the beginning of the year and time to start or reinforce good financial habits. Remember to save all your receipts from the doctor’s, pharmacist’s, dentist’s, orthodontist’s, or drugstore with any qualifying purchases to claim your FSA money! Most drugstores like Walgreen’s, Longs, Sav-on, etc. will have a handy dandy marker symbol next to the product that most likely qualifies as an FSA purchase, so pay attention to your receipts!
And those receipts will do you no good if you never send them in or use them to track your claims if you use an FSA debit card, so either submit your claims on a regular basis (I try to do them right away so that I don’t forget, and then file them until I have a receipt for the credited amount), or keep an organized file for your reference.
I saved the old template, just in case ….
but what say thee? I’m not a huge fan of the colors or the font size here, but what do you think of this look?
January 13, 2007
Saturday mornings used to be way better
Ugh, I keep trying to post but either work or this thrice be-durned cold keeps getting worse! So here I am, unable to sleep in on a Saturday morning, which is arguably my most favorite thing to do, because I’ve coughed up one lung and am working on the other. Cough? Check. Headache? Check. Tissues up the nose? Check.
How pleasant.
The other thing keeping me up is this post by Mapgirl about her raise and being lowballed by her company. I can’t shake the feeling that I’m really being underpaid for the work I do. I have two years of experience in the job now, and it’s not just your basic, run of the mill, entry level experience. In two years’ time, I’ve taken over quite a spectrum of responsibilities and supposedly impressed both my bosses no end. But I really feel like my raises haven’t reflected that. Or am I expecting too much?
I came into this job with no real experience at all so I know my salary started out around the bottom. Since then, I’ve received a 6% raise in the first year, and a delayed 12% raise at the end of the second year. Even with my bonus, if I run a basic unpersonalized Salary.com check, I don’t even register on their chart for a basic definition of the position I hold. My actual responsibilities are far greater than listed on the site. I mean, I could understand being on the low end because our company is a non-profit and only has about 9 employees, but seriously, I don’t even come CLOSE to registering at the 10th percentile end of the range!
Maybe it’s time to initiate that conversation. Maybe I need to ask how our salaries are determined and how it would be possible for me to earn at least general market value. The Fairness Patrol in my mind always holds me back because I know we’re working under the double constraints of being a non-profit within the structure of a university that lives and dies by their pay grades, but I often wonder why I keep looking out for the company’s interests before mine? It may seem a futile effort that will just create ill-will on Little Boss’s part, but I hope that if I handle it well … well, I just hope I handle it well. Perhaps I need to take the stress out of it by viewing this as a factfinding mission, first.
I always always hate the necessity of trying to negotiate when I don’t feel like the table is even in the room, but I hate feeling ignorant and possibly gypped just as much!! Hello, rock. Hello, hard place. How are y’all doin?
And I wonder if it would be worth the cost of buying an actual personalized Salary.com report?
January 9, 2007
It’s been a hectic day in the office
and tomorrow will be worse because I’ll be gone most of the day in my first ABCs of Supervision class. Yessss, my little miss bossiness is about to be officially sanctioned!!
For all my griping about Citibank, I noticed that they’ve actually changed one thing I have not yet complained (aloud) about: their inter-institutional transfers were free INto Citi, but they charged to move money OUT. Now? It’s free! The $1000 daily Next Day Transfer limits are still in place, but I can withdraw my money just as fast as I deposit, if I so desire. Finally!
And, I know I keep saying I need to go back to school for my graduate degree in whatever-I-decide, when-I-decide, but I found myself mentally coming up with reasons to cancel this class for the last three days. Tsk tsk! Lazy!
January 8, 2007
Pens & Lip Balm
Good, juicy, fine point gel points with a grip neither too large nor too small. And just about any sort of lip balm that moisturizes. Apart from the usual wallet, cell phone and keys, what must you absolutely have when you leave the house? (In your pocket, all of your purses, and travel bags, etc.?) I realized that I couldn’t scramble for more than a second for any pen or lip balm: they’re on top of my desk, in my left desk drawer, in my workbag in my drawer and in the right hand pocket of my coat hanging behind me. Just call it OCD access.