Finally

I'm just about as excited as can be! I've been a temp now for 18 months and for the last 6 they've been talking about hiring me on as a regular employee. It almost seemed like it wasn't going to happen. Then two weeks ago my job was posted on the company's employment Web site. This was a big step. I wanted to tell everyone, but I figured I should wait till I was actually hired. You never know till it's official. My boss wasn't planning on hiring anyone else, but what if a really impressive resume came by.

Yesterday my boss came by and told me that if all went according to plan then I'd be given an offer letter today. Well, you'd think I'd be excited, right? I was, but I was also worried. My boss had said something a month ago to make me believe that I wouldn't be getting paid anymore. At the time when he said I about wanted to kill him because last December he said it would be $2 more an hour and I had been planning on that since. But I decided to hold on and see what the offer was. Maybe I misinterpreted. Plus, one of my mentors has recommended me read these books that talk about thoughts and how you can make things happen by what you think about. So I kept my thoughts on what I wanted to be paid, which was $4 more an hour (so twice as much as what he told me he'd be paying). I thought about what I'd do with that much money, how things would change, how I would save some of it, etc.

Well, I was at work working on some stuff, and my phone rings. I look at the caller ID and it's my boss. I pick it up and he asks if I can come into his office. I figured he was going to give me the offer letter. Immediately butterflies in my stomach started fluttering and I said a quick prayer asking God to help me know what I should say if he gives me a lower pay than what I wanted. Then I got up and walked to his office (feeling quite sick, I might add). I sat down and he closed the door. He had the paperwork in his hand and starting talking about what he will expect of me now that I'm an employee (assuming I accept the offer, of course). He sat down rolled over to where I was sitting. I could see the offer on the top page. Finally, I was able to relax. Not only was it $2 more an hour, but it was actually $3.38 more an hour (so quite close to the amount I had been thinking of). I could hardly keep from smiling, but I didn't want him to think I was too excited--he might wonder if he were offering me too much.

He talked to me a little more about what the offer entailed including benefits and what forms I needed to fill out. I had to go home and get my social security card because they needed to enter my information today. Apparently my official start date was last Monday, and to get me into the payroll system, they needed to get my paperwork today. So I went home to pick it up. I figured I'd fill out the papers at home so i could be sure there wasn't anything else I needed. By then it was time for my husband to be walking home from class, so I drove by and picked him up. Then I handed him the offer letter and said, "I want you to read this." When he got to the salary he turned to me smiling. "Wow." "I know," I replied. "Great, huh? More than what we expected." I dropped him off at home and then headed back to work. I handed in the paperwork to HR and so now it's official. I have a salaried job that pays much better than anything else I've gotten and has great benefits. Yay! It's so exciting! Now I'm going to go plan a new budget, which will include a cell phone for each of us.

Financial Stress Relieved

Well, my financial stress has been relieved. My credit card's payment was due today and on Friday we received the loan check in the mail. We went to the bank and put it in there and made the credit card payment online. The credit card is paid off (with no interest), and we are no longer scrambling for money (not that we could not use more, of course, just that we're not dying anymore). Yeah!

Financial Stress

I hate it when you have unexpected expenses. Especially when they equal $1000 . . .

I just realized a couple weeks ago that we were not getting a Pell Grant this year. I guess I figured we would still get something, now that I'm working full time, but apparently the government thinks $20,000/year is WAY too much to get ANYTHING. So we absolutely got no money this year for school from the government. Well, at least Aaron got a half-tuition scholarship, so that helps.

So when I realized this I applied for a Stafford Loan to pay the rest. I called the Financial Aid office and they told me to fill out a form and they would notify us in 3-5 business days. So we wait 5 business days and then give them a call (we had to call because for reasons I don't want to get in to, we don't have access to our mail box, so I didn't know if they notified us by mail). I'm thinking that we'll call, see if we get approved and then have the money to pay tuition. Well, when we called yesterday we found out there was a whole bunch of other stuff we needed to do to get the loan approved, let alone get the money (that they didn't bother to inform us about when we first called). On top of that, UVSC adds over $200 in "Student Fees". Why this is not included in the tuition, or what it's for, is beyond me. It bugs, though, because the half-tuition scholarship doesn't pay for half of the student fee and so we owe almost $1000 to UVSC by today.

I hate money stress!