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Aug 18, 2014    |      1 comment

Pay Cuts….Again

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I thought it was about time for an update on my employment situation.

As a brief reminder, I work predominantly for 2 separate universities. I do online teaching for University A and research for University B. (For more detailed information, see these posts where I have written more in depth about my employment situation: first employment post, employment update post)

Anyway, I reported recently that University B was changing their payment structure. Instead of paying hourly, they decided to pay per project completion. This translated to a bit of a pay cut for me (given the number of hours worked per project, and averaging out the new flat rate). An update to this is that I’ve been able to recoup some of the loss of income….by working more. Isn’t this the way life works? Lol. So far my monthly income from University B is holding steady, but that’s simply because I’m completing more projects each month. I have figured out a way to try to streamline the process so it hasn’t taken me quite as many hours per project as it did before, but overall it still averages out to less per hour than what I was previously making. At least the net take-home pay is the same.

So what about University A? I’ve been pretty open and honest about how much I love working with University A. They have been an absolute dream to work with and I really feel so, truly fortunate to have the relationship that we have. Much of this is due to the fact that my boss is actually an old graduate school colleague of mine. This person is an incredible boss and I am so proud of how well she has climbed the academic ladder at such a young age and has really blossomed in her position. All this being said, sometimes things don’t go as expected with online courses. One of these dilemmas is low course enrollment. I was expecting that this Fall semester I’d be getting to teach a third class, effectively raising my pay by 33% (I’ve previously been teaching 2 classes per semester/summer session)!!! But I just received the unfortunate email that enrollment was too low to justify continuing with the third course and it would have to be cancelled. So back to only two classes. Also, the pay structure is hugely different between Summer and Fall semesters. In the summer I received my pay in two separate lump sums, so they were relatively large payments. I mentioned that this meant I would not be receiving a paycheck in August because the dispersements were in June and July (even though the classes extended until mid-August). The Fall payments are dispersed in four equal payments (September through December), so even though the pay per class is the same, the classes are more spaced out and the pay is, similarly, spaced out. So its going to look like my pay has really declined over the next few months simply due to the schedule of payments (and having one less class than I’d expected).

So our summer heyday of awesome pay may be coming to a close. I don’t think this is going to drastically change our overall income (since I only give you guys the combined figure of my income + husband’s income), but instead of consistently breaking the $10,000 mark, we may be coming in closer to the $8,000ish range. Only time will tell. Husband has been busy working out-of-control hours so his pay may make-up for some of my lower paychecks.

Anywho, just wanted to give an update on the employment situation.

Also, for any curious – I still haven’t heard anything about the job I recently interviewed for. This past Monday I sent an email to follow-up (basically, “I just wanted to see if/when hiring decisions would be made”). I heard back immediately (less than 5 minutes) that decisions would be made that week. Well…the week is over and still no word. I’m really pretty bummed, particularly since the job sounded like such a great fit and the interview had been so great! I’m assuming this means I’m on the “B-list.” Like, they made an offer to the first round draft pick and are keeping me on the sidelines in case that person turns it down, so they will then offer it to me. Does this make sense? Anyway, I’ll keep you posted on that but I don’t think its a great sign that I still haven’t heard anything yet. Booo!!!!

Hope you have a great Monday!

 

Aug 15, 2014    |       61 comments

Never Financing Furniture Again!

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Remember when I came to you with my nitty gritty debt details post. I admitted that we had financed a bed last summer to the tune of $2500. Insanity. I know.

And yet the urge has struck again. No worries, we didn’t rush off and finance new furniture (we will NEVER finance furniture again!!!). But if we weren’t up to our eyeballs in debt right now, buying furniture would be on the top of the list! Specifically….a dining room table.

For those readers who have been around since my first post (hi!! *waves*), you may recall this little tidbit about us. Remember, my husband and I are originally from Austin, TX but had been living in Florida for two years so I could get my Master’s degree (this is also where we accumulated the majority of our $150,000 debt). When we moved from Florida to Arizona we left just about everything behind. The honest truth is we were too broke to even pay for the U-Haul (estimated costs were around $5,000), so we just left everything behind that couldn’t fit in our trusty Kia Spectra.

When we got to Arizona we spent about $2,000 refurnishing an apartment, mostly with stuff from Goodwill, Big Lots, craigslist, and the like. Our kitchen table, for example, was a floor model at Big Lots so we got it for a steal – maybe $75 if I remember correctly? But it’s a tall barstool style table that is only meant for two people. We’re now a family of four.

At first with the babies it wasn’t a big deal because they were in high chairs. When they outgrew those, we transitioned our high chairs into a kids’ sized table and chairs (we had bought this set from Target < NOT a referral link, just an FYI in case you’re interested because I’ve found that a lot of people have no idea that convertible high chairs exist). This worked fine for awhile, but now the girls are growing and becoming less satisfied with the scenario. Every night at dinner is a battle because they want to sit with us, which translates to sitting on our laps since we can’t accommodate them at the table.

This is certainly a want versus needs thing. Obviously a new table is, in our situation, considered a “luxury” item and not a necessity. But it hasn’t stopped me from longing for one. A quick online browse told me that even “modest” tables are in the $2,000ish range.

So we’ll continue to make do with our 2-person kitchen table + baby table combo. A new table is definitely not in our immediate plans. But I’d be lying if I said my wheels weren’t spinning to try to figure out how to fit a used one into our budget (maybe save money from our regular budget for a few months and find a used one cheap at a moving sale or on craigslist??).

Be honest – is it ridiculous that I’m even considering buying a new (or new-to-us/used) kitchen table? Does anyone have experience scoring awesome deals on a used table and chairs? How much did you spend and where was it from? IF (big “if”) we even get one, I’d like to stay in the $200 or less range. Is this still too much? Should I just learn to make do with what we have and put this out of my mind for now??? But we’ll still be paying off debt for years to come, so eventually (before our debt is all gone) we HAVE to buy a table that will accommodate our family, right? Am I just making excuses now? UGH!!! NO GOOD OPTIONS – SOMEONE GIVE ME A TABLE FOR FREE!!!! : )

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