It has been a while since my last post. Quite a lot has happened since then.

First, I sold some things on ebay and made about $160 on it all.

I left the house I was renting and moved in with my parents.

My hours at my current job have dropped. A LOT.

I need a new plan. Here's what I'm thinking.

I need to get my license first (obviously). Then, I need a better job. All I need is a job where I net $300 a week which is really doable. If I can do that, I'll be able to pay all of my bills and still have some fun money leftover AS WELL AS about $100 to put into my savings account every month. I'll also be doing some selling on ebay and I think I can safely net $250 a month from that. I need to stay in my parent's house at least until November because that is when my lease ends. I plan on saving as much money as I can. Once I get a better job, I'm going to look at houses. If I can find a house in the price range that I want, I will buy it. It will probably need some work. Soooo I will be staying with my parents and using the money I saved up to fix the house while I'm living with my parents to save some money. Once everything is fixed, I will move into the house.

I think all of this is doable and I'm soooo excited! What do you guys think about my savings though? My bills (sans entertainment money) come out to $970 a month. I know you're supposed to have 6 months worth of savings in your account but I'd like to stay at right around $5000. If I don't go under that amount, I'd feel comfortable. I'm going to need some money for a down payment (I'm thinking about $5000 even though I might qualify for that program that pays the down payment for you... anyone know what I'm talking about?), maybe a couple thousand for closing costs, and a few thousand for fixing up the house as well as a few pieces of furniture I'm going to need (which will be right around $1000). I think I'll have enough to cover it all and I still won't go under the $5000 amount. Do you think putting $350 away a month into savings is too little?

So yesterday I get home after running some errands. My roommate's parents are there. They want to talk. LOOOOONG story short, they can't find replacements for me and my sister so we have to continue to pay rent until November. We are beyond pissed. There was lots of yelling involved. The worst part for my roommate is that he just lost 2 friends. And he doesn't have many to begin with. My sister and I are going to look at the lease and see how long we have to pay the rent until we are charged a late fee. My roommate is in charge of the bills and my sister and I are going to pay him our share of the bills as late as we can. Give him some anxiety. That'll piss him off.

I wonder if he thinks we're going to end things on good terms. Well, I have a few tricks up my sleeves. My sister and I are going to continue to find people to replace us. Only problem is my roommate is not going to be happy with anyone we pick because he's spiteful. I'm going to continue to move out. I've packed a good majority of my things. The future roomie and I are going to fill out our applications today and hopefully turn them in with our holding and application fees tomorrow. From there, we wait to see if our application is accepted. This will take at least 5 days. I don't see why we wouldn't be accepted. After that, we rent a moving truck, pack our stuff, and leave. Can't wait to get out of this mess!

I had soooo much fun yesterday! We got up at 6:30 and were on the road by 7:45. We met with a couple of other friends and then headed to Disney. Although I had a lot of fun, I don't think it's worth the price of the ticket. We waited in line for far too long and it was unbearably hot outside. I'm burnt on my shoulders, back, and my nose. We were at Animal Kingdom until 6ish then went back to my sister's hotel room to freshen up. From there, we went to dinner at the House of Blues. Pretty expensive if you ask me. Then we went shopping at Downtown Disney and headed back home. We got home at 12 o'clock and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Breakdown of what I spent:
$5 for gas
$84.14 for Animal Kingdom ticket
$5.32 for lunch (I got the kid's meal... keeping it cheap lol)
$13.68 for dinner

Total spent was right around $108. I budgeted $10 so I'm happy.

The landlord for the house I'm currently in had to come by today to fix the stove. As I mentioned before, I'm dogsitting and dogs aren't allowed in the house. Soooo I had to take her for a walk while they fixed the stove. I've had too much sun the past couple of days lol!

I think I'm going to stick to selling some of my stuff on Craigslist. I don't know what the heck is going on with ebay lately but it's a mess! I'll sell my remaining Xboxes, my broken Blackberry, my broken PSP, my Wii, and my rock band instruments on Craigslist. I'll sell my books, movies and video games on half.com. Everything else I will donate.

I work today 3:30-9:30. I really want another job. Not another as in 2 jobs. Another as in a new position or a new job entirely. I know I'd be so much happier. My future roommate got a call back from a place she applied to. If she gets that job, we'll be moving sooner than June 1st. Can't wait!

Yesterday was an easy day. I didn't have to work until 5 so I just hung out around the house. Then I worked 5-9:30. Found out that my assistant store manager is leaving today. Hopefully her replacement is someone nice.

Then I went with the future roomie to get a movie. We have those Blockbuster Kiosks where the movies are $1 per day. I rented one the other day and I got it for free using a code. Yay for free entertainment! We watched Paranormal Activity. Kinda weird and I actually was scared watching it. I love horror movies!

Today I work 3:30-10:30. And tomorrow I go to Disney for the day! Yay!!

Wow. What a hectic day I had yesterday.

First, I began my week of dogsitting. She's a really great dog and I see no worries for the rest of the week. The muscles in my body are just killing me so I can't really play with her all that much. I feel like an old lady. :/

THEN I get a message from my future roomie. She got kicked out of her parent's house. She wants to get a place with me ASAP. I tell her to come over. We talk and figure out her money situation. She needs to get another job to cover some of her bills. And she needs her own car insurance and cell phone plan because her dad was charging her way too much. So she got on her own insurance with Geico. MUUUUCH cheaper rate. We then went to 2 places to see if they were hiring. She'll be getting a phone call within the next couple of days from both places so that's really great news.

We then went to her house to gather some of her things and print out the temporary car insurance card. The current plan is she is going to stay here for a week until we figure everything out. Once I feel secure with how things are going, I might be leaving this house a little early to get an apartment with her. I'm excited but nervous at the same time!

ANNNNND I got an offer on one of my Xboxes on ebay. It's $45 lower than I wanted but at this point, I really don't care. I just want it out of my house. So that's the current update. I'll let you guys know how things go.

Ugh. So I came across a couple of problems yesterday. And I'm just irritated today.

First, the person who bought my broken Xbox wants a refund because it wasn't broken the way he expected it to be. Grrrr!!!

Second, my future roomie has been hinting a lot lately that she wants to move back to Alabama. I can't depend on her for anything!! Looks like I'm going to have to find someone else.

I picked up a shift today and Thursday so I went from 15 hours to around 26. Yay! I'm going to talk to my boss about an idea I have. We changed the hours of a certain position we have and it's messing things up. So I have an idea about how to fix it. Doubt he'll listen but I'm going to try anyway.

So I'm a little frustrated right now. Ebay is giving me headaches. And I don't know where I'll be living in a couple of months. Yay.

I looooove going on vacation!! I have 3 planned so far for this year. I'm going on Saturday to Animal Kingdom for the day. I'm going to a concert in June in Jacksonville and staying for a couple of days. In October, I'm planning on going on a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas!!

And next year, I'm going on a 2 week cruise to Europe!! So excited! I really want to buy a camera to take pictures but I already have one. The problem with my camera is that it eats through batteries like crazy. Even the camera specific batteries and the rechargeable batteries don't work that long on my camera. I'm going to have to do some research...

Started thinking more about staying in this house. I think I'm leaning towards no. I'd like to leave in June, get my stuff together, and get my roommate's stuff together, and then move out.

I only worked 4 hours yesterday but felt like crying the entire time. I really don't like my job. The good thing is that they are creating some positions and one of my managers said he wants to get rid of a stock clerk so I want to stay a little longer to see if they have any opportunities for me. We'll see. I work 5:30-10:30 tonight and then I'm off the next two days. AND I have to dogsit my friend's dog for a week. Exciting lol. She's making me food though so I can't complain. Ok that's the current update. Toodles!

I was off again yesterday. In the morning I went grocery shopping with my roommate. I spent $2.08 and saved $23+ using coupons and sales. Here's what I bought:

2 John Frieda Conditioners (I have a lot of shampoo, just not a lot of conditioner)
4 Chow Mein Noodle Bowls (LOVE these and they're so easy to make... I don't care if their unhealthy lol)
2 boxes of Pop Tarts (for breakfast)
1 box of CapriSun

Then I went grocery shopping with my older sister. We spent a couple of hours going from store to store. I love going shopping with her . Then we went back to her house where she went swimming and I sat by the pool, reading a book.

From there, we went to my mom's house to pick her up for dinner. My sister was going to pay for my mom's dinner for her mother's day gift. We ended up going to Chili's. With tip, I spent $10.80. I HATE spending money but I was hungry and it was a special occassion.

I came home and my roommate wanted to talk to me. Long story short, he asked me if I'd consider staying in the house we're at now if we kick out my other roommate. This other roommate has always been the problem from the beginning. I can't STAND him. It's ackward when we're both home and when he tries to talk to me, I cringe. He asked if my future roommate would just want to move in with us. Now, we sat down and did some math and it would cost right around the same amount to stay here as it would if we rented the apartment I wanted. I definitely have some thinking to do...

So I had today off. Woohoo! It was a fun-filled day with a little bit of spending.

First of all, I mentioned yesterday that I went out to lunch with some friends. I actually ate at home so I didn't spend any money. I also mentioned that I had work 4-8:30 but I was asked to stay until 10 and I didn't take my half hour break so I actually gained 2 hours.

Today, I went out to lunch with my mom and sister. My mom paid. We went to Panera. I could eat there everyday, I swear. Then we went to buy my mom her mother's day gift. She really wanted a (expensive) bottle of perfume so my sister and I split the cost and I ended up paying $40. We also went to several other stores but I didn't spend anything at the other stores. AND my mom bought me a cute pair of flip flops!

As for ebay, I finally sold one of my Xboxes last night. It was a broken one so I profited about $17 on it but at least it's something and it's one less thing I need to get rid of.

I'm also off tomorrow so the plan is to go grocery shopping with my older sister in the morning (I may or may not buy a few things) and then out with my older sister and mom for lunch. I have been spending more money this week going out to eat than I have spent this whole year (although that's not saying much)! I'm going to try to eat at home or if I do order something, it's going to be cheap. Ugh. I hate spending money!

I've also been asking my coworkers if they want to give up their shifts next week. My goal is to get at least 26 hours a week. I was only scheduled 15 (grrr) so I need 11 more to get to 26. Doubt that will happen but I will try.

I talked to my store manager yesterday. He basically told me what I thought he would-that I need to talk to the manager that does my schedule. At this point, I really don't care anymore. He told me that they are changing the way some positions are going to be. I'm going to stick it out for a little while longer and then see if I can eventually get something more permanent.

I have 3 Xboxes listed on ebay. None of them have sold yet. Grrr!! According to the message boards on ebay, the new changes at the end of March have meant less sales for a lot of people. This is not good.

I decided to stick with Verizon and I signed a 2 year contract (and got a brand new phone for free!). I could go with Boost but I would have to buy a new phone and it would only be like $5 cheaper per month. Not to mention that Boost's service isn't all that great.

Mother's Day is coming up!! I'm not sure if I should take my mom out for lunch or just buy her some flowers and a card. The flowers and card thing would be cheaper but I'm sure she'd appreciate the lunch thing much more. I'm going to see her later so I'll ask if she has any plans on Saturday.

I'm going out to lunch with a couple of friends today. Then I work 4-8:30. And I'm off the next 2 days!

Oh and I forgot! I'm going to Orlando on May 15th for the day. A few friends and I are probably going to go to Animal Kingdom. I've never been there before. Can't wait! The ticket is around $80 and I have to pay a few bucks for gas and lunch and dinner. Hopefully I won't spend too much. I'm aiming for around $100.

Sooo I was content with how things were going. I was getting my hours, I had an idea of how to make extra money on ebay. All was well. Until last night when the schedule was posted at my job. I had changed my availability so that I would be off on Wednesdays and Saturdays so that I could plan things on these days. I had a bad feeling that this would also mean less hours for me. HOWEVER, I usually get 2 days off a week and I just figured my manager would make it so that Wednesdays and Saturdays would be my days off and I'd still work the other 5 days. Wrong. Got my schedule. Not only did I have Wednesday and Saturday off, but I also had Tuesday and Thursday off. 15 hours. Ergh.

So I have a new plan. This is my last time trying. I'm going to talk to either the assistant store manager or the store manager today. I'm going to ask for longer shifts over 3 or 4 days rather than 5. I'm not asking for more hours. I'm just asking for the amount of hours I usually get (usually around 25) over a period of 3 days rather than 5. We'll see what they say. If they don't give me a good answer, I'm going to have to find another job. I've been at this job for close to 3 years. It would really stink if I had to leave.

I hung out with my future roommate yesterday. We babysat my coworker's kids. It was easy but I probably would not do it on a regular basis. 9 hours of "work" with no pay is sort of sucky. Anyway, we went over her expenses and it was right around $1250. Way too high for my liking. I want to be able to know that I can depend on her to give me the rent money on time. We put in a couple of applications last night at some restaurants because we like the idea of getting tips. Right now our goal is to get her a full time job in Tampa working in a medical office. My older sister told me about the position and asked if I wanted to do it but it's too far for my liking. Then, if she gets this job, she can go to school a couple of days a week and her medical insurance bill goes away (don't know why... that's what she said though). And then she can work at a parttime job on the weekends. I'm hoping things work out. I told her I wouldn't move out until I felt I was in a good position and she was in a good position as well.

I'm hoping today goes well at work. Crossing my fingers.

So I talked to 2 of my managers today. Basically, they told me that they don't have extra hours to give me. I figured. I changed my availability so that I'm off on Saturdays and Wednesdays. I'd like to get it so that I'm off Saturdays, Sundays, and Wednesdays but I need to make sure I can get my hours first. I don't want to give up on my job because I get paid better than I would if I worked at another retail job. There's something I've been thinking about. Instead of relying on my managers to give me more hours, I can always count on my coworkers. Just today my shift was 12-7:30 and I had 3 people asking me to stay a couple of hours to cover their shifts. Almost everyday you get even one person who wants to go home early. My current roommate used to be scheduled 25 or so hours a week and he'd end up with almost 35 every week because of call outs and such. I don't like the idea of depending on others for my hours but it just might work. Starting next week I'm going to test it out to see how many extra hours I get per week just from call outs and covering shifts for a couple of hours for my coworkers.

If things don't work out, I'm probably just going to end up getting a second job. I'm planning still on applying at at least 2 places next to where my apartment will be.

As for ebay, I filed a nonpaying buyer claim today and I've been getting more views and questions on my other item. I'm hoping to make some extra money this month. And I'm going to have to start making a spreadsheet to record all my income and expenses so I can see where my money goes.

I have a heck of a lot to do before I can even think about getting a new place. I'm trying to do things slowly so that I don't get frustrated. But I am. I'm incredibly frustrated. And it's only the beginning.

I'm having trouble getting hours at work. I've been getting 21-27 hours a week the past few months. According to my calculations, I need 27 hours a week to pay my bills. I've talked to a few of my managers and I was basically told that there are no hours to give out. So what the heck do I do? Do I just get a second job?

I had plans of talking to 2 different managers today about other positions. One wasn't there and the other was in a bad mood. You know what I need? I need a job where I know I can get my hours. When I first started working at this place, I was getting 32 hours a week. And that was guaranteed. I had a job where I worked 3-close 5 days a week. I got that job because no one else wanted to do it. Eventually, I got sick of it and I realized that I was starting to become miserable everytime I walked into work. I switched positions and I was happy again. Only thing is that my hours are not stable. I need stability! My plan is to try (yet again) to talk to my managers tomorrow about getting more hours. If I'm told that they have no positions for me, I'm going to get a second job. Hate to do it but I have to. Grrr!!!

So yesterday I worked 12-4:30. Really easy shift. Roommate brought me to work and I had mentioned that I'd pay him but he never asked about it so I'm going to keep my mouth shut lol. I had every intention of talking to my manager about getting more hours but it was way too busy so I couldn't get off of my register.

However, I did talk to another manager last night. After work, I came home and ate dinner. Then I went out with my future roommate. We went to another grocery store where she used to work to see if they were hiring. Talked to the assistant store manager and she said to come back on Sunday to talk to the store manager. Then, we went to my store and I talked to my assistant grocery manager about bcoming a stock clerk. He told me to talk to his boss so I'm planning on talking to him today. I'm going to ask him if he has enough hours to schedule me 2 days a week. If not, I'm going to talk to my other manager about demoting myself to a bagger so I can do something we call "jobs". Jobs is like janitorial work. But it's super easy and no one bothers you. A coworker does it 2 days a week where she comes in at 2:30, bags for a few hours, and then does jobs. And she closes. If I could do that 4 days a week, I'd get my hours and I'd be extremely happy.

We then went to Walgreens where my roommate filled out an application. She is planning on either getting 3 jobs or getting 2 jobs and going to school. She likes being busy like that. I, on the other hand, would rather play then work all the time lol. I'm trying to help her out with jobs because I know she has more bills than I do. We're going to have to sit down to figure out her bills and everything. And I told her I would not move into the apartments until we both figured things out. I like stability.

After that, we were both hungry and ate at Steak N Shake. Spent $7 there. I hate spending money but I haven't done it in a while so I figured I'd treat myself. I also bought my mom a coffee cake for $5 because she's my main ride to work and sometimes I feel bad about it. I also pay for her gas sometimes. Well, that's it for now. Adios!