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Oct 5, 2014    |       26 comments

Advice from friends (YOU!!!)

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I hesitate to even write this post because I don’t want this to come across as me speaking badly about an employer. I LOVE both of my contract-based positions (teaching for “University A” and doing research for “University B”), but I just don’t know how to handle a situation I’m currently in and would love to open it up to you for advice. The sooner the better because we usually communicate on Monday mornings…..

In a nutshell (and I’m purposely being a little vague about things to try to protect identities, etc.), here’s what’s happened….

I was expecting a paycheck from my research job (“University B”) at the end of September. Only….it never came.

I emailed a couple of times about it and eventually got a reply that I would get paid in the late October or early November time frame.

I was shocked. I have NEVER had my payment so delayed. Generally I get paid once per month, about a month after the work was done (e.g., the paycheck I was expecting at the end of September was for work completed in August).

I replied to the email and said that, given the unexpected delay in receiving pay (2.5-3 months after work has been completed), I do not feel comfortable continuing to work with them right now. I made it clear that I would love to continue working with them in the future, but since this was a complete surprise (SHOCK!) to me (I had received no warning about delayed pay), it seems in my best interest to stop working until compensation is received. Right?? RIGHT??? I mean, you don’t just do work for someone who isn’t paying you, right?????

Several hours later, an email went out to all the contractors (not just me) explaining why there is this delay in pay. Here’s where I’m going to be vague because I don’t want to give details about the circumstances, but I’ll say that after there was a detailed explanation I totally understand the delay in pay. I feel that their primary error was in not notifying us IN ADVANCE of the situation (rather than waiting until after-the-fact to explain the payment problem).

So, yeah. I took last week off and didn’t complete any work for them. Generally on Mondays I let them know how much work I would like to complete for the week. So what do I do now? Would you continue working for University B, knowing that pay will be delayed several months (but that you will, in fact, get paid – there is nothing shady in terms of them trying not to pay). Or would you wait another week, two, or three?

Just so you know, the majority of my income comes from my teaching job (University A), but I do make a few hundred a week from my research job, so even though its a minority of our income, its still a decent-sized chunk of money on a monthly basis.

I just don’t know what to do??? I don’t want to keep working when compensation is coming so far behind the work completion, but I do have confidence that the pay is coming down the pipeline.

What would you do?

Oct 3, 2014    |       13 comments

Knowledge versus Behavior

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When I was an undergraduate, I remember taking a workshop on conservation education. Basically, the purpose was to teach people about conservation of natural resources: its importance, how to practice it, and how to spread it to others. One thing I remember learning in the workshop was in regard to recycling. Research has shown that you can teach people all about the impact that recycling can make and, after education, these people will express that they highly value recycling. BUT, if you actually observe these people, do their recycling habits (or lack thereof) actually change?

The answer is NO….usually.

Basically, studies have found that unless recycling is made EASY, that most people will continue to simply trash things. If, however, there is a recycling bin placed directly next to a trash bin, then they will indeed opt to recycle. But if the recycling bin is across campus they won’t make the effort to recycle their bottled water or old newspaper. They’ll simply chuck it in the trash. It’s easier.

I give this little anecdote to demonstrate that changing someone’s knowledge (by teaching them something new) does NOT equate to a change in behavior. The behavior is harder to modify. It has to be made easy.

Unfortunately, I have succumbed to the knowledge versus behavior problem this past month. Since starting blogging, I have learned quite a bit about my spending habits. I have worked diligently to change them. For the most part I have succeeded. But in the month of September??? Not so much.

I’ve already told you all about how I went way over budget with our grocery purchases. Why is this?

Well, I leaned back on grocery shopping like the crutch it’s always been. I have historically used grocery shopping as an easy “outing” with the girls. I feel like I’m being productive by buying things that we “need” and, at the same time, I’m getting the girls out of the house for a bit and using the time to serve as a distraction or you could even call it entertainment. I prefer to go to parks and have been making more park trips in the mornings, but its still dreadfully hot in the afternoons here in Tucson and the afternoons drag on and on and on.

The problem, of course, is that this means we end up buying all types of things that we don’t really need or things we could make do without. Then we wind up at the end of the month and I realize our grocery budget is beyond shot – it’s been blown out of the water!

So this broken record is probably getting a little old at this point, but something’s gotta change. I’ll brace myself for your groans and eye-rolls but here I go…..

…I’m going back to the envelope system.

Oh, the envelope system. My much loathed system of paying for goods.

Here’s what I’m going to change for the month of October: instead of actual paper envelopes for all my different spending categories, I’m going to focus solely on groceries and eating out. My other categories, including entertainment ($20 budgeted), personal maintenance ($30 budgeted), and other ($150 budgeted) have not been as big of a problem – I’ve never gone over in entertainment or personal maintenance since I started blogging!! And in the past it made me feel uncomfortable to carry so much cash. BUT, my wallet actually has 2 separate money tabs. I’m going to designate one as being for groceries and the other for eating out. This way I won’t be carrying paper envelopes, I’ll always have my money with me (instead of accidentally leaving an envelope at home), and I’ll be limiting my cash-on-hand to only 2 categories instead of 5.

Oh yes, this is happening. A modified envelope system is back! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Pssst:  I’m spending the weekend hanging with my family who is in town visiting! I’ll be back Monday with a full budget update from the month of September.

PS: Thanks to the reader whom, in my old money envelope posts, had given me this idea by saying that she simply used a regular wallet and labeled the tabs for different categories.

 

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