It's been more than awhile, but I have a happy excuse for my negligence: employment!
More than I could handle, in fact. For the past 5 months, I've been working as a Home Health Aide. The highs (getting to know fascinating elders & hearing their stories) did outweigh the lows (changing dirty diapers & being disrespected), but I decided it was time to move on & travel. Such is the position I am in today: soaking up free time & a social life but teetering on the brink of financial insecurity.

It's hard to say if this change will inspire me to be more attentive to the blogosphere, but perhaps such these two factors will coincide & leave me loquacious! For now, all I can say is "It's good to be back!" (Just wait until I can't pay my student loans in a few months...then you'll get an earful of complaints...)

This photo I took a few weeks back at the Green Lane Reservoir happily illuminates my mood: content, but at the mercy of the winds of change.

Stupid Mistake

What are you most ashamed of? 

That one is easy for me: stupid mistakes. 

Stupid mistakes like parking in a handicapped spot in a crowded city by accident & getting an astronomical penalty.

You guessed it! That’s what I did this afternoon. I am infuriated with myself. The astronomical fee? $301.

Instead of rattling off the ways I could have better used $301, I’m going to look at this situation constructively. It sucks that I will be wasting three-hundred-and-one dollars, especially because the time my car spent in that spot was exactly 16 minutes ( I had paid for more than that on the meter), especially because I made this trip to the city for those 16 minutes, during which I ran into Reading Terminal Market, ran to the Cookbook Stall, bought an expensive cookbook because I had half-heartedly asked after it one day & the owner made it a point to get in some copies & call me to tell me there was one waiting for me. I justified this special trip & expensive purchase by the fact that I was supporting a very small business (about 20 ft x 10 ft, realistically). But now not only did I spend a lot of gas money, a lot of time sitting in traffic, a lot of extra funds that I didn’t really have on a book that I could have bought on Amazon used for $5, but I also have now spent a whopping sum on a penalty.

Of course I didn’t see the 6”x6” sign hanging on a pole above the sign & if I were appearing in court I would make a case for myself by saying that I live out in the country, where we rely on painting on the ground to tell us if a spot it handicapped. (There was no painting on the ground. I would NEVER had made this mistake if there had been painting.) And while I could go to a hearing in Philadelphia to contest the ticket, I think I’ve added up the implications & stress of such an event (not to mention: taking off of work for a day) and decided that I couldn’t bank on my no-blue-paint-on-the-pavement argument to get me out of there free.

Ok, so first I was angry. Now let’s move on to the constructive side of this. There are going to be things I will do to not let this $301 get in the way of my financial goals (which are already a bit ambitious for a gal with a low-paying job). I will enumerate, more for my own benefit than for yours.

1. Scrimp more: on the way home I opted to get off in Lansdale rather than Quakertown because the toll charges were half. I usually don’t use toll roads but I was pressed for time today & I’m glad I did. That leads me to my next resolution. 
2. Get EZ-Pass: Pennsylvania drivers just saw a toll increase for cash payments, but EZ-Pass fees didn’t go up. It’s high time I get myself one! 
3. Debt Collect: If you already owe me money, I may ask you to get me a check more urgently! 
4. Start an Etsy shop: This is something that requires a bit more time than I have right now, since I don’t really have time to be crafting beyond the gifts that I have in the works for people. But now I will hurry up & finish them so I can build up an inventory of things! 
5.  Prepare lunch at home: With this new job, I often don’t have a lunch break or if I do it’s in my car driving from one client to the next. Obviously fast food would be the easiest option. While I try to avoid this, the long hours are getting to me & I often don’t feel that I have enough energy to think ahead & prepare meals to take along in my tiffin. It’s changing tonight as I resolve to not spend any money on convenience snacks or food. 
6. No buying gifts: Until I have made up this $301, that is. I usually make about 75% of the gifts I give, but I can’t afford to go to any expense with this new bill. 
7.  No shopping: As of last week, I bought enough scrubs to bolster my wardrobe. There is no reason for me to be buying anything for myself since I have too much already. 
8.  Get on those letters of complaint I talked of so long ago: I keep meaning to write them but just never seem to have the time. The reality is that I am too lazy to do so, as they could each take 5 minutes to write. 
9.  Spend less on postage: this is going to be the hardest resolution for me to keep. I have several packages to send in the next month, but I will be seeing what I can do!

Many of these things are doable with a bit more energy than I currently possess. Which means that I’m going to have to work even harder to stay within my narrow means. It requires pre-planning & dedication to saving. In order to garner more respect for myself, I am going to keep track of the savings & earnings that can be dedicated to leveling off this huge bill.

What tips do you have for me? I will welcome any ideas, however ingenious they may be!