Guest Post: When Should You Quit Your Job?

Folks, here is my first ever guest post! I'm excited about the article Heather wrote since I am thinking about quitting my job. I am planning on exploring my career options when I get back from vacation - including exploring the options at my current place of employment so this was a very timely article for me

It crosses your mind every morning as you lay in your bed right after your alarm wakes you up: I hate my job. This is not a good sign. Considering you spend about half of your waking hours each week at your job, it’s imperative that you don’t hate showing up each day. At some point you have to consider your quality of life. This is important. If you’re coming home after another day at your personal hell then the chances are pretty good that you’re going to bring home that negativity. If this is happening then not only are you ruining your life then you’re doing the same for your family. Here are five reasons you’ll know it’s time to quit:

1. You despise your co-workers. Refer back to the point that you’re spending half of your waking hours at your job. With this under consideration, if you can’t stand your co-workers then this is going to lead to dissatisfaction with your job even if you enjoy your work. Ask yourself if you are always complaining to your friends and family about your co-workers and if you are then you have to find a new job.
2. You’re a clock watcher. If you’re looking at the clock every ten minutes to calculate how much time is left in the day then it’s a pretty fair guess that this isn’t the place you should be toiling away.
3. You’re not being respected. If you’re the Rodney Dangerfield of the office then it’s time to move on. You work hard and this should be recognized. It’s not that you’re looking for a plaque or pat a on the back every time you do your job, but it’s human nature to want to receive some recognition every now and again.
4. You’re not being challenged. There are obviously times when you want to flake off all day and that’s normal. But, if you’re showing up each day and not using your brain then this is a cycle you have to snap. Either speak to your superiors about expanding your role or take your skills somewhere they can be better utilized.
5. You’re mentally exhausted every day. If you come home and can’t muster the mental energy to be a productive member of your family then it’s time to move on. You work to provide for yourself and your family and if you come home and can’t enjoy the fruits of your labors then you’re not working for the right reasons.

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who writes on the subject of Chase Reward Programs. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

Going on Vacation .. .

I'm going on vacation so expect sporadic posts from me for the next 4 weeks. Yup, that's right, I'll be gone for 4 whole weeks! While I'm not sure if I'm going to reveal where I'm going, let's just say that it's international. While I should have planned better and set up some posts for while I'm gone, I didn't get around to doing that! I do have my first ever guest post coming up, so stay tuned for that and let me know if anyone out there wants to guest post for me.

I'm super excited about my vacation, leaving for the airport in 40 minutes!

My Husband Was Upset That I Bargained at a Retail Store

Background
C has a fairly expensive watch ($300) that he needed repaired. The battery had gone out and the strap needed to be replaced. The watch was one of the few nice gifts I had given to C. I got it for him during our first or second year of dating. We have now been together for about 6 years - 3 years of dating and 3 years of marriage.

The watch hadn't been operational for about a year and a half since the strap broke. It was very hard to find a replacement strap. We ended up buying a replacement strap about 4 months ago when we were on vacation in NYC when we went to the retail store of the watch manufacturer. The store in NYC was the only retail store the watch manufacturer has anywhere. Unfortunately since we were on vacation, we didn't get a chance to actually get the strap replaced at the store since the watch was a home. The replacement strap was pretty pricey. We can't remember exactly how much it cost. I think it was about $50 while C thinks it was about $100. I'm not sure when the battery broke.

Bargaining at the Store
Last night we went to this fancy watch store since we know that they do repairs. We had went there before to see if they could repair C's watch, but they would need to order the strap which we didn't want them to do. We ask the serviceman how much it costs to replace the strap and get the battery replaced. The battery was $21.70 and the installation of the band was $15, so the total was going to be about $37.

Both my husband and I were hesitating, so I asked the watch serviceman if he could do it for $30 total. He first said that he didn't set the prices, then I frowned. He then said that he would go and check. While the serviceman was gone C told me that he didn't like bargaining for services that he would rather pay the extra $7 since he thinks people don't do as good of a job with a service when you don't pay as much. I completely disagreed since I thought it was pretty clear cut what he was going to do. Well the serviceman came back and told us that he could do it for $30!

It probably took an extra 2 minutes to save $7. Upon examining his returned watch, there was a minor scratch on the face that C didn't remember seeing. C thinks that the serviceman might have scratched the watch. I told C that I thought it was probably already there. Since we hadn't examined the watch before bringing it in, we couldn't be sure. I just don't think someone at a fancy watch store would purposely or accidentally scratch a watch. Since most of the watches in the store are $1000+, I know that those guys have a lot of experience dealing with nice watches.

I have realized the C and I have very different ideas when it comes to spending money. I always knew that we had different philosophies, but I couldn't believe that he disagreed with bargaining in this case. I think he is just uncomfortable with asking people to give him special treatment, whereas I am a big believer in asking for what you want. We agreed to disagree in this case, but I will definitely try bargaining in the future.

Getting Ready For A Long Vacation

My husband and I are getting ready to go on a long vacation. I'm going to try to write as many posts as I can before I go on vacation and schedule the postings while I'm gone. Incidentally, if you would like to guest post for me, please email me at calgirlfinance at gmail.

So in anticipation of our long vacation here are some things to do to prepare:

3 months - 1 year in advance
1. Ask for time off from your jobs, especially if it's a long vacation
2. Determine itinerary
3. Begin saving for your trip
4. Book airline tickets. If booking tickets using miles, try to do this as far in advance as possible
5. Book accommodations. This can be hotels, home rentals, etc.
6. Start doing online research of what you want to do once you're at your destination (optional)

1 month in advance
1. Put travel books on hold at the library
2. Review immunizations, schedule appointment if appropriate
3. Review vacation money management (in our case, this led us to apply for a Capital One credit card since Capital One refunds foreign transaction fees)
4. Figure out reading material and obtain books/magazines from library, friends, or bookstore
5. Ensure you have everything you need to bring on the trip, especially if it's not something you typically use, for example a swimsuit that fits. You might want to create a packing list at this time
6. Remind your boss that you're taking time off
7. Review your itinerary to ensure you've booked everything
8. Consider borrowing needed items from friends or family (we're borrowing a suitcase and a travel guide)
8. Purchase anything you need for your trip (in my case, I'm buying my husband and I journals so we can document our once in a lifetime vacation). Try to do this in advance so you can take advantage of free shipping from stores like Amazon
9. Check out travel books from library
10. Stop buying so much perishable foods

1 week in advance
1. Decide if you're going to check in luggage and carry it with you
2. Create a packing list (if you didn't do it earlier)
3. Do laundry to ensure everything you want to bring with you is clean
4. Finish off your perishable foods and try to empty out your refrigerator. You don't want your food to go bad while you're gone, especially if there's a power outage
5. Make copy of items in wallet and passport and leave with a trusted family member. Also bring a copy of your passport, but keep it somewhere separate from your passport. If traveling with a spouse, bring different credit cards so if someone losses their wallet, you still have some cards that can be used.
6. Print copy of itinerary and hotel reservations
7. Pack, consider bringing extra duffel bag for souvenirs
8. Consider airport transportation
9. Review travel books, if you're only going to certain cities, you can make copies of the cities you're going to and return the guidebooks or leave them at home. Then you can throw away the info on the cities you've visited

Night before
1. Check in
2. Review packed items against your list to ensure you have everything you'll need
3. Decide what time you need to get to airport
4. Set alarm to awaken you with plenty of time to get to airport

Day Of
1. Turn down water heater
2. Go to airport, check in, board plane
3. Relax and enjoy your vacation!

Is there anything you would add that I missed? Please let me know so I can be sure to do it before our trip!

Overtime Can Make A Big Difference

Wow, I can't believe how much overtime some city employees earn in San Francisco! I saw this article earlier today in SFGate. Check out the chart near the bottom that shows the amount of overtime the top overtime earners are getting. I would love to be getting as much overtime as these guys! Can you believe, some people make only $39K base salary, but get $89K in overtime pay? If you live on just your base salary, you could be saving so much money! But since this is San Francisco, it would be pretty hard for anyone to live in San Francisco and manage to a base salary of $39K if they have a family. If they're single and willing to share housing, it can be done.

Becoming Entrepreneurial

How does one become entrepreneurial? I think I'm the anti-entrepreneur right now. I do really well in school. I'm not that creative. I like to follow rules.

I think being an entrepreneur is about seeing unmet needs and finding a way to meet those needs. I have a few ideas of different businesses I would like to start or different websites I want to create. But my problem is that I need someone to bounce ideas off of and someone to help me come up with concrete steps to refine my ideas and put them in practice. I also know almost nothing about website design, despite the fact that I create my first web page 14 years ago. I often talk about wanting to be a entrepreneur with my husband and I think it's starting to rub off!

Today he sent me this link about Farecast with the note " Honestly, I feel like developing a new website and selling it off is not totally out of our reach..." While I'm not sure any of my ideas would be close to being as successful as Farecast, I think we could definitely follow this model profiled in the NY Times.

My Husband Doesn't See How Inflation is Affecting Our Finances

In our marriage, I am the primary manager of our finances. We each manage our own retirement accounts. I want us to review this together to see if we have the right combined asset allocation, but we haven't gotten around to it. I am kind of a lazy money manager. I manage our day to day finances. Most of our spending is via credit card, which is paid off every month. I also manage our savings accounts for our emergency fund and house payment fund.

Since I manage most of these things independently, my husband doesn't see how inflation is affecting us. I admit that it hasn't affected us that much since we live way below our means. But the increased cost of gas and food has affected our ability to save as much money as I would like for our house down payment. In fact, I think our down payment savings are fairly stagnant for the year, despite the fact that my husband and I both got pretty decent raises from last year. A big part of that is probably due to our upcoming vacation! Once we get back from vacation, expense tracking is going to start for at least another month!