gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 11, 2016 16:23:44 GMT -5
Oh how I wish I could stop buying napkins and PT. But my kids are pigs and we are home all day and the messes they create.....I will either be doing laundry 10 times/day or clogging our pipes with all the stuff that I need to clean. Kleenex did not exist where I am from and my Dad used TONS of handkerchiefs. My mom washed them weekly, by boiling them in hot water and baking soda. Same for diapers and towels and other "paper" products. I just looked at our 2016 numbers - I spent $153 on paper towels. I don't know if I would have saved a lot of money using cloth and doing 10x more laundry.... If you want to explore the option, I use 7"x7" two sided flannel squares. I have a hanging wet bag on my oven door they go in. Anytime I do a load of laundry, I throw them in. They are so small that it doesn't add any laundry to my routine. You can either make them yourself or find them on etsy. These things clean up spills, fingers and noses so much better than paper towels and they are much smaller and simpler than a normal dinner napkin. Plus, when we're outside, they don't fly away in the wind. I keep a stack of them on my kitchen table, kitchen counter, by the doors and in the car. Convenience is everything.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 11, 2016 12:30:31 GMT -5
I do a lot of DIY, more for the environment than cost saving although it does save money: make my own laundry detergent from borax, washing soda and soap, made my own cloth diapers, made my own cloth wipes and napkins, make my own trashless lunches, grow my own vegetables, make household cleaners out of vinegar and baking soda. I haven't bought napkins or paper towels in over 5 years. Cloth ones are so much more practical. With the exception of food and toiletries, I buy nearly everything else second-hand. I grew up poor and know all about brushing teeth with baking soda, lol. I'm not poor anymore and buy normal tooth paste for the extra minty feeling, but I can appreciate its effectiveness.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 9, 2016 17:09:08 GMT -5
I had a job interview Wednesday with a hiring manager. It went exceptionally well. I was concise, confident and ensured it stayed a dialogue. The situational challenge questions were all easy for me. We even went over the hour allotted. At the end, she said she would have 3 of her direct reports who have a "knack" for selecting top talent panel interview me. They scheduled it right away for Thursday even though 2 were out of office. That one went just okay. One dialed in from the road, another dialed in from a hospital and the third dialed in from home. I did the best I could with it, but they were pretty distracted. Now I just got a 30-minute follow-up meeting scheduled with the hiring manager for next Friday and I'm convinced it's a bad sign. A whole week is a long time! A week is NOT a long time!!! My current manager just called randomly to tell me he heard about my interviews and "without revealing too much, I knocked it out the park." So, maybe I'm still in the running. Fingers crossed!
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 9, 2016 13:10:23 GMT -5
the second job called me back and we had a nice conversation. The HR person said based on my resume he's thinking the hiring manager would want me to come in for an interview and that I'd hear back from him in a couple of days. That was Wednesday. And I still haven't heard back from the first place following the phone interview. Hopefully I'll hear something Monday. Good luck! This interviewing/job hunting process is stressful!
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 9, 2016 13:09:02 GMT -5
I had a job interview Wednesday with a hiring manager. It went exceptionally well. I was concise, confident and ensured it stayed a dialogue. The situational challenge questions were all easy for me. We even went over the hour allotted. At the end, she said she would have 3 of her direct reports who have a "knack" for selecting top talent panel interview me. They scheduled it right away for Thursday even though 2 were out of office. That one went just okay. One dialed in from the road, another dialed in from a hospital and the third dialed in from home. I did the best I could with it, but they were pretty distracted. Now I just got a 30-minute follow-up meeting scheduled with the hiring manager for next Friday and I'm convinced it's a bad sign. A whole week is a long time!
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 3, 2016 10:20:34 GMT -5
I bet the company party I went to last night easily cost $25K, probably more like $50K. It was in one of the ritziest hotel in the city- their 2 largest ballrooms for 5 hours, catered a ton of food, dessert bar, no limit on cocktails, wine, or beer, casino games, photo booths, cigars and probably 500 people. My estimate is best guest based on what I think a wedding reception like that would cost.
No charge.
I really can't believe people are willing to "donate" that kind of money to a work function.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 2, 2016 11:11:40 GMT -5
That's nuts. Our big holiday shindig stopped 12 years ago when they tried to charge people $30/ticket. Less than 100 people including dates went and there are 2000 employees in my city. Nobody wanted to pay to go to a work party, especially in 2004 when companies were actually making money. There were no more big holiday work parties after that (nobody goes, why throw them...but nobody went because it wasn't free). Now our individual departments do an in-office pot luck or something really casual, if they do anything at all. Fine with me.
My husband's company still has a very nice holiday party. They rent a hotel ball room, dj, some random theme, cocktails, wine and heavy appetizers. I'd estimate there are usually about 500 people, including guests. I suspect the company spends quite a bit on it and people love it.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 2, 2016 10:03:32 GMT -5
I found it, can't wait to give it a try, but first I need a tree... and some presents... and it to be after 10pm on Christmas eve! Once you have everyting in place, a decorated tree, presents wrapped but hidden, and before 10 pp.m., tell the kids you have set a camera up in the room to take pictures when motion is detected in the room. Put the camera out and facing the tree (for example). In the morning, and with the kids maybe present, pretend to hook up the camera to the computer to either view the picture on the computer screen or to maybe have a printer (if you have one) print out the picture without seeing what photo is in the camera first. Such a great idea, I'm definitely doing it! Hopefully one of these apps works right on my phone!
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 2, 2016 10:02:24 GMT -5
I have two unrelated stories about this. The first is a woman who is the mother of a kid who went to school with my DD. She has a fairly uncommon name but apparently someone with the same name had a bunch of warrants out for her arrest. Well it turns out the real criminal doesn't seem to have a real fixed address. Does everyone see where this is going? She got actually hauled into jail the first two times. Only the first time actually had her in for any length of time but she was not philosophical about how mistakes happen and people were just doing their job trust me! She had never lived anywhere near the real person. she was a different race and age. It really shouldn't have been that hard to realize they didn't have the right person. The worst part is probably that at any time she knows someone could knock on her door to arrest her again and she never made the mistakes that are causing it. The second is I was in a car that was stopped and for some reason the cop looked at me in passenger seat and asked if he could see my ID. I said no. He looked totally confused and said I had to show it to him. I answered truthfully and said no I really don't but it doesn't actually matter because I didn't have it on me. He did just move on but it is chilling to think about. This really pisses me off. Police should never ask for ID if there is no law violated or suspicious activity. If you're a passenger minding your own business, you're not even required to have ID on you. I'm glad he didn't detain you.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 2, 2016 6:51:45 GMT -5
It takes time for a boss in a new positions for a new branch to figure out how things can work efficiently and it hasn't even been a year. She doesn't want to see things slip, so she's doing a lot herself. You have to stop asking what you can do to "help" and specifically ask for the task. Could I do the xyz budget analysis report this week, for example. If you can stop being vague and starting being specific with how you can "help," you will likely get the assignment. If you don't know how to do the task, specifically say, "can I work with Bob to get that report done?"
If you need to know more tasks, ask her what she's working on it. If there is something that sounds like you could take off her plate, ask for that specific assignment.
Good luck! And just remember, this time next year will likely be 100% better.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 1, 2016 20:32:36 GMT -5
I found it, can't wait to give it a try, but first I need a tree... and some presents... and it to be after 10pm on Christmas eve!
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 1, 2016 20:19:02 GMT -5
I'm on the fence on this one. My kids are little, they will have the Santa experience. Because I think there is some value in teaching kids how to give, I will take them shopping and buy whatever they pick out for their dad, grandparents, teachers and each other. Because I don't want to become that mom who never has anything to open on Christmas, I will tell my husband that he needs to take them to get something for me- and I will give him some ideas for token gifts that I need/want. But, really I would be fine if it was just about the kids at Christmas. I gave up on giving anything to my parents for Christmas a long time ago. They have everything they need and buy whatever they want all year long. They've told me repeatedly over the years to stop buying them anything. You mention your kids are little. Have you seen the app, Instant Santa? You can upload a picture of your Christmas tree and its familiar (to the kids' surroundings) and then add a picture of Santa to the picture. Christmas morning, you can show the picture of Santa putting gifts under or by the tree and Santa was in your home. I am using my tablet at this moment so I cannot add a link to their website or to Google Store where you can download it (for free I believe). No I haven't heard of that, thanks for the tip. I will definitely check it out!
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Dec 1, 2016 16:08:35 GMT -5
I'm on the fence on this one. My kids are little, they will have the Santa experience. Because I think there is some value in teaching kids how to give, I will take them shopping and buy whatever they pick out for their dad, grandparents, teachers and each other.
Because I don't want to become that mom who never has anything to open on Christmas, I will tell my husband that he needs to take them to get something for me- and I will give him some ideas for token gifts that I need/want. But, really I would be fine if it was just about the kids at Christmas.
I gave up on giving anything to my parents for Christmas a long time ago. They have everything they need and buy whatever they want all year long. They've told me repeatedly over the years to stop buying them anything.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 30, 2016 21:05:31 GMT -5
Again...that comes down to wanting to stay home with the baby. There is no physical reason a woman can't work after a few weeks post-partum. She might not want to (I didn't want to) but she physically can. You went on about no sleep, hormones, etc. Somehow Americans power through it. I guess we are just a tougher breed You also have more child poverty and more women on welfare. Have fun being a "tougher breed." Not to mention a President Elect who sends out reams of pugnacious tweets over every perceived slight. Tougher breed, indeed! We Americans are our own worse enemy. Pop that baby out, hand that tiny baby over to daycare and get back to work or quit and stay home. There is very little appetite for progress.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 30, 2016 21:01:43 GMT -5
I agree, but that's the other part of maternity leave. The basic recovery part is what I think should be covered. The other part should be covered out of personal savings, etc. I believe 4-6 weeks is plenty to recover from a vaginal birth. Like Miss T said, you are usually up and walking fine within a week or two. Heck, I was crawling up the stairs by Day 3 or 4 because I had to. That's not the same thing as saying I could have stood up for 7 hours to teach. Some jobs lend themselves to sitting, but teaching isn't one of them if you do it right. But I could have done it after a month. I could have driven a car after a month, but the doctor wouldn't let you. Can you imagine? I think if we could separate the medical from the bonding aspect, society would do better. The medical should be routinely provided through short-term disability insurance or whatever. Even Miss Tequila could arrange coverage for 4-6 weeks. The maternity/paternity part would be a perk like tuition reimbursement or extra PTO. Except for some fields, it wouldn't have to be all or nothing. Letting women come back half-time for the next six weeks at full pay would serve both the mother's needs and the company's. A lot of work can be done at home, and the stuff that can't could be done in the half-time part in the office. The real problem is that we aren't thinking outside the box. It really isn't all or nothing once you get past the basic recovery part. This is actually pretty close to how my company does their 16 week parental leave benefit. The first 6 weeks are STD and after that it's bonding time. Salary is paid by insurance in both instances. I assume for men and employees who adopt a child or baby, all 16 weeks are bonding time.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 29, 2016 20:20:32 GMT -5
The in-laws didn't pay for it. We did. The gift was exactly what a gift is. We couldn't count on it, and a lot of years we didn't get it. That was particularly true after I started working there to help pay for tuition. I was actually opposed to it because I am a proponent of public school in most cases. However, my ex insisted on it, and we struggled to pay for it. I think the in-laws recognized the struggle so hence the "gift" some years. Other years they hired my ex to do work for them . . . either on the farm or later in the antique shop. My point was that our gift came earmarked. The plan to give snowflake leave so that you could pursue a hobby if you weren't having a baby or use it for maternity leave it you were seemed unfair when it came with the caveat "Too bad if you already used it but need it for maternity" but no such caveat "Too bad if you already used it but need it for some health issue." Having a baby is a health issue. Like I said, I am fine with the employee paying for STD insurance. Ditto, the man in case he needs six weeks off to fight cancer or get over a heart attack. Sure, one can be "planned" more or less. But nothing prevents anyone from saving in case they have to be off from work for a health reason. It just seems disingenuous when women are the only gender who can bear children to insist that they also bear the financial responsibility of the time-off while giving similar time-off if needed for health issues that impact men. I won't be having prostate problems, I imagine. But if they cut a check for $5k to the school to pay for tuition, didn't that free up $5k that you would have had to pay? The kids were going there anyway because your ex insisted. Would it have been any different if they cut the check to you and not the school? Parents really can't win when it comes to gift giving. My sister doesn't have any kids and I have 3. My parents have been known to buy us both the same gifts valued around $1000. If it were cash, I could put it toward my outrageous daycare bill. Regardless, whatever they do I appreciate. My MIL observed how challenging life is right now for the both us working full-time with a baby, 2 year old and 4 year old and wanted to pay for monthly cleaning service, she ball-parked $1500. I thought that was really sweet and sounded great at the time, but if she had to give all 5 of her kids an equivalent gift, Christmas would cost her $7500. So, I doubt it will happen. We'll probably get some jars of pickled beets and artichokes and over-sized sweaters from Costco. I've been trying to subtly kill adult gift giving for years now, but don't want to be the Grinch who ruined Christmas.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 29, 2016 16:44:36 GMT -5
Good for you for getting a lawyer. I didn't think anything of my similar ticket in VA. But, when I showed up to court without a lawyer, the judge threw me in jail, fined me $500 and suspended my license for 6 months. I was just trying to keep from getting run off the interstate by the big rigs on a very congested 2-lane interstate and wasn't driving recklessly at all! I'd get the license now. Good luck!
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 29, 2016 16:24:18 GMT -5
I work for a super awesome company with a very progressive policy. 16 weeks 100% paid parental leave policy. If you are an employee and you have a biological or adopted baby/child- you qualify, regardless of whether you are male or female. They also have pretty decent adult dependent care and child care reimbursement/back-up care programs. I haven't had any medical issues to know first-hand how other issues are accommodated, but I'm sure there is something in the FMLA and insurance policy. I know there is an employee relief fund, which I voluntarily donate via payroll deduction. There are plenty of other benefits as well- tuition reimbursement, low carbon vehicle reimbursement program, solar power reimbursement, adoption support, legal services, commuter reimbursement, etc. I have never heard of anyone complaining about any of our benefits, whether they use them or somebody else uses them. It's a great company and people aren't nasty about somebody needing to be out, which really doesn't happen very often. I've used 3 maternity leaves at this point, but never touched the tuition reimbursement. My co-worker hasn't used parental leave, but got his BA, MA and PHD- time for classes and tuition fully reimbursed over a 20 year period. Nobody ends up with an extra heavy workload, at least not in my nearly 16 year experience. Maybe we're more forward thinking.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 27, 2016 10:28:55 GMT -5
I've been at the same company 15 years. When I started, you could enroll in the 401(k) immediately, but they didn't match up to 5% until a year. My only lost year is the first year, because I wasn't making much money and didn't enroll until they started matching. 6% of my salary would have been about $1300. Oh well. My only misfortune was not finding a higher paying job out of college so that my match and my contributions during those early years was more substantial. Oh well again.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 27, 2016 9:01:20 GMT -5
I'm sorry you lost your job. That stinks. I agree with the others. Start hustling and plan on having a job or an income immediately. This looks too much like long-term unemployment planning.
When was your last day? It's awesome that you're getting interviews. Somebody once told me that once you're at the interview stage, you're only competing with 3-5 other people, so you just have to be better than them. As a hiring manager, I know I've only ever interviewed 3-5 people and picked the best one from those 5. Interviewing is time-consuming and managers have full-time jobs.
Good luck!
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 25, 2016 11:02:35 GMT -5
I moved mine to tomorrow! I'm officially Gayle from "Company is Coming!" youtube videos. There can be NO SIGN OF LIVING IN THIS HOUSE!!!
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 24, 2016 13:05:26 GMT -5
I was swindled by dishonest mechanics a couple of times when I was younger. I always thought it would be a profitable business plan if a woman put together a chain of women-run shops around the country and branded themselves as shops women could trust.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 23, 2016 20:20:13 GMT -5
Ok the last two thanksgiving I have been invited to my friend Deena's. They make this awful thing...celery and something creamy ( cream cheese/sour cream?) mixed with nuts and cherrys. It's this pinkish stuff in a celery. JFTR I like green bean casserole. Stuffed celery: About 10 washed, trimmed celery stalks 2-8 oz packages of "Philly" cream cheese Small jar maraschino cherries,chopped (juice aside) 8 oz can pitted black olives,chopped (about) 1 cup shelled walnuts,chopped Directions: Soften cream cheese at room temperature. Combine all ingredients with a fork, adding small amount of sugary liquid from maraschino cherries till mixture is light pink. Put into celery stalks with butter knife. Garnish plate with more olives and plain celery. So awful, but guaranteed not to fill you up before dinner.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 23, 2016 18:29:25 GMT -5
That awful orange gelatin salad w/ cottage cheese is something my inlaws make, but none of their grown kids will eat it either. It was pushed on me until I insisted I don't eat coconut. I still was forced to try it, because it's so good! It is not. But, I get it, it's not Thanksgiving without something fluorescent and fluffy looking on your plate.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 23, 2016 11:19:36 GMT -5
That's it. I'm lifting the ban on no cool whip, marshmallows, soup cans, cheese whiz, pillsbury, sour cream, cream cheese and half & half. If having fattening, unhealthy food for Thanksgiving is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 22, 2016 17:21:56 GMT -5
Cherries don't go on Watergate salad. You don't use a can of fruit cocktail with cherries for your version? I actually only knew this as pistachio pudding salad as a kid until somebody told me its real name- again in my 20's. Seriously, discovering how to make some of these childhood "family" recipes was like the episode of Friend's when Monica realized she was trying to replicate the nestle's tollhouse cookie recipe.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 22, 2016 16:28:12 GMT -5
Cool Whip, pistachio Jell-O pudding, mini marsh mellows and pineapple. There was some debate between my MIL and myself as to whether or not adding maraschino cherries instead of pineapple allows it to continue to be called watergate salad. I am not a fan of it but my dad, brother, DH and the kids love it. interesting. I'm not sure I would ever voluntarily try that. It's on a lot of salad bars in the south. The pudding mix changes the color of the cool whip to green and the fruit cocktail and marshmallows makes it fluffy. Some people put coconut in it, but I hate coconut. It's an easy recipe that can be made in 2 minutes. It's served cold and looks like this:
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 22, 2016 14:27:57 GMT -5
I'm almost afraid to ask, but what is "Watergate salad"...? Cool Whip, pistachio Jell-O pudding, mini marsh mellows and pineapple. There was some debate between my MIL and myself as to whether or not adding maraschino cherries instead of pineapple allows it to continue to be called watergate salad. I am not a fan of it but my dad, brother, DH and the kids love it. Indeed, cool whip ranks right up there with campbells cream of anything to the food snobs. Common folk like me, loves it though! And if anybody mentions HFCS or hydrogenated oils...lalalalala...I don't hear you.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 22, 2016 10:35:50 GMT -5
My mom used to make beef stroganoff when I was a kid. She died when I was young and when I was in my early 20's I kept trying to make different beef stroganoff recipes, but could never get it quite right. I finally figured out in my mid-20's that it was hamburger helper beef strognaff. lol. Yeah, we were poor and that was one our fancier dinners.
I'm cooking dinner for Thanksgiving and I know how to make all the traditional green bean casseroles, broccoli casseroles, Watergate salad, macaroni and cheese, cream corn, and cranberry sauce (from a can!) but I'd would be too embarrassed to serve it to them. So I'll skip these traditional dishes and serve "real" food.
Also, when you guys say "make from scratch" are you literally making the noodles from flour, eggs and water? I've done that once or twice, and I'd much rather open a bag.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Nov 18, 2016 10:31:29 GMT -5
Parenthood is amazing.
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