I Want a Dog for Christmas Charlie Brown

OK- I already have a dog, but playing on the radio right now is Vince Guaradli (he wrote the Charlie Brown themes) and last night on TV was I Want a Dog for Christmas Charlie Brown. I am a bit Bah Humbug about the Holidays, but I love Charlie Brown! Just could not resist the post!

Present Update

Since my last post on presents, I've made my list and gone over it more than twice. I made the decision that those folks who are getting gifts from me will get one of three things:

1) A toiletries basket with a gift card to either a Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks gift card.

2) A little Starbucks gift pack (coffee, travel mug) and a Starbucks gift card.

3) Some sort of bottle of wine or liquor tastefully wrapped with a small chocolate treat.

The exceptions to the above are my friend James and my wonderful neighbors two kids. Since James does not cook (and spends more eating out in one month than most folks do in five) I have spent about $25 on various food items-packets of side dishes, a small hickory farms gift basket, some chocolates, jellies and jams, crackers. Thank you Aldi,Target, and the grocery store for allowing me to do this well in my budget.

The neighbors two kids will get a gift card for either Borders or for gas. Not a ton of money, but a little bit. The neighbors have been good to me, and a small gift for the kids (both teen aged girls who now drive) is in order.

I'll go gift card shopping on Friday and right now, this is a huge load off my mind. Not meaing to sound like the Grinch or Ebenzer Scrooge, but I just can't get into the Holiday frame of mind while going Bankrupt.

The Second Job Hunt Continues

One of my goals this month was to find a second part time job and or find a way to earn additional income (both earmarked for the new to me car fund).

As I have said before, I live in a section of my state that is not overabundant in evening work and I'm just that much too far from the larger towns/small cities that would enable me to work in a store in the mall or something like that. My local stores tend to close at 5 or 6 PM, just when I would be gearing up to do some night time hours.

Needless to say, it's a challenge and I have to think creatively to get around this.

What I have done so far.

1) I have told most everyone I know that I am looking for some part time work, evenings or weekends. I am trying to find something that will at least use some of my skills.

2) I've been searching the local paper and any and every bulletin board in the area for any kind of a lead.

3) I have a potential lead to work in an animal related field on weekends, but that would not start until late winter and I need to find something sooner. It would be two to three weekends a month and would give me the perfect amount of extra money I need for the car fund. But it is POTENTIAL and not definite.

4) I run into the problem of businesses saying I am overqualified for a lot of the positions. Which in reality, I am, most jobs don't require a post secondary school education, which I have, even with dumbing down my resume and my past work experience. Heck, I just want a part time job to supplement my income. At times I feel penalized for spending all those years getting a Masters Degree (for a field I no longer work in-can you say major burn out at age 36 and now still trying to figure out my next career path).

5) I have been toying with the idea of re-activating my real estate license. I took and passed the test for a real estate salesperson a few years ago, had a Broker who would hold my license, but he went into semi-retirement soon afterwards and my license is in limbo. Still active, but in limbo. You can't hang your shingle out as an independant agent unless you are a Broker. Salespeople need to work for a Broker. The downside to this is the real estate market is very soft, supposedly gets dead quiet in the early winter (like now) and while I think I have some transferrable skills that would work in Real Estate, I know I don't have a lot of other skills that are needed to be successful. The upside is the money, selling a house can net anywhere from $2,000 to $50,000 in commission depending on sale price of house, commission split, etc.

I'm thinking about re-activating and transferring my license to an active broker, but I need to find out what expectations they would have. Lots of the local brokers don't need or want part-time agents, especially part time inexperienced agents. At this point I'm just feeling out a few folks to see if it would be a good investment of my time (and money).

And the job hunt goes on......

Already New Credit Card Offers

I don't even have the official from the Court discharge papers. What was in my mail box this am? A pre-approved credit card offer for "those who have challenged credit". With an APR of 16%. I did not read all the fine print, there's gotta be a catch. This was not a secured credit card I shook my head and put the offer in the shredder.

Honestly, my credit at this point is more than challenged. AND my discharge is not official yet. AND I'm getting credit card offers in the mail.

Prior to my couple years of really bad fiscal decisions and bankruptcy I had decent credit. I had figured that between the bad fiscal decisions being on my record and the bankruptcy, it was going to be next to dammed impossible to get credit. I plan on getting a secured credit card in the upcoming months, when I am ready to cross that bridge. Yet the offers are coming in and it's not even "official". Heck for all these folks know, I could be one of those multiple bankruptcy repeaters!

Christmas Presents~It's OK to Give Contact Lens Solution!

I’ve been reading various posts about what folks are buying as Christmas presents. Lots of homemade items (cookies, cakes, sweets, knitted wear, scrapbooks, coco mixes), lots of planning for special gifts (I Pods, TV’s) and the usual selection of candles, fragrance, clothes, DVDS, CDs, Etc.

I’ve misplaced the link, but one PF blogger is getting a relative contact lens solution as a present. At first glance, this might seem odd, but when you think about it, it’s not. I use contact lens solution on a daily basis, it does not go bad, so why not give someone a couple bottles as part of their present? My ExBF and I used to pack our stockings with what some folks would consider the mundane items of life, toothpaste, moisturizer, toothbrushes, bar soap, emery boards, etc. Each item was nicely wrapped in festive paper (scraps from the previous years gifts). I have a friend who lives in the UK and each year for Christmas I get a bottle of Lemon Scented Fairy Liquid, a box of PG Tips Tea, and a tin of Cadbury Drinking Chocolate. Cost to her, about 10 USD, priceless to me. I can’t get these items easily in the States and I love the smell of Fairy Liquid.

Personally, I can’t bake well enough to give food items away, I’m not creative enough to knit or sew, I don’t draw or paint, I'd forget that I offered someone a coupon for a service (babysitting, lawn mowing, etc) and if one of my relatives will be happy with toiletries, I’m all for it. I don’t need a lot of “things” in my life, what I need are big ticket items and no one in my circle will be buying me a flat screen HDTV this Christmas, nor do I expect them to. Nor do I really enjoy sweets (and that includes Christmas cookies) to have more than one small tin. I’ve put on my “present list” items I would like to have, most of which are less than $8 each.

I’d be happy with a couple new good quality screwdrivers for my tool box ($3-4 each). I’d be happy with a nice bottle of real balsamic vinegar (not the wine vinegar stuff with caramel coloring)$6 for a small bottle at my local organic grocer, a new paring knife would be helpful ($5), as would a new set of kitchen towels ($3.99). Since I tossed all the various open jars of condiments from my fridge a couple months ago, I know a visit to Pearl River Mart and $15 will give me hours of cooking happiness and about 5 jars of sauces and spices, a three pack of Chocolate Cover Altoids would make me very happy and satisfy my occasional sweet tooth, the list goes on.

So folks, proudly wrap up those bottle of contact lens solution and happy holidays!

No Spend Day #2

8 More to go, but the streak was broken today, I bought a soda at lunchtime.!

No Spend Day #1

Sunday was my first no spend any money day-easy enough to do when I was home in bed most of the day feeling sick. I never even got out of my PJ's........

9 more to go.