My two cats cost us an extra $2000 to have them. It's refundable like a security deposit though, so I'm hoping the landlords feel nice when we move...

$15 worth of joy? The cat will have that paid off in about 2 minutes of bug chasing, or playing with a toy mouse, or purring on your lap...

Ha, I know! The real trick is that my husband has to provide like 20 times the amount of joy to make up *his* part of the rent. What are the chances? Don't think I'll be sharing that thought with J......

We are moved. For the frugal folk, I used the cheapest moving company and did call directly after getting the shrug at the local level, and got the 25% discount I was counting on. That said, living in 'the middle of nowhere' did create some serious anxiety when I had a large moving truck but no tow dolly. Yes, we did get one finally and yes, we were hooking up the car at 10 pm by flashlight. And yes, we did choose a record breaking high temp day to move in!! Hello, Arizona.

But. We moved in on Friday, I got a call on Tuesday for an interview, did that on Thursday, and..... got a message just before 5pm on Friday that they want to offer me a job. Seriously???? I won't believe it until I am sitting in the office signing paperwork. But holy cow. This may all just work out.

Good for you Wende. Hope it all works out for you.

That sounds great! Congratulations. I hope the new job is as great as you hope it is.

I am silently freaking out. After 2 years. I have a job where they will pay me some money to sit in a chair and type. I start Monday. Moving is insanely expensive. And I find myself justifying all kinds of expenses that I would have scoffed at before. Must reel myself in by reading Tightwad gazette. But, I am so insanely excited to have a job again - I start Monday. J will be house husband again, and I am also silently freaking out that he needs to find the elusive job too.

Congratulations! I hope things go well for his job search as well.

Caught up on the thread. Congrats on the new job! How did it go? How is unpacking going?

Be careful what you wish for. I started the new job and discovered "would you be willing to work some overtime" translates to a 50 to 70 hour workweek near as I can tell. Gulp. Even with no training, my supervisor encouraged me to come in on Saturday (how stupid is that??). I grudgingly did, and can see the future clearly. It is a rough transition from not working at all to working 11 hours today - and my coworkers *were still there when I left*. That is me this next month. Go Team. Maybe I'll get more excited when a paycheck hits the bank account. Right??? :crickets:

So part of me is cheering for finding employment so soon. Part is so, so sad at the loss of home/personal time. Part is cheering for more income! Health insurance! But 12 hrs/6days?? Holy cow, it has been so so long since I had "extra" money to plan for. Will it be worth it??

We're still struggling with this downsizing crap. My kitchen is too small. My closets are too small. And too full. It's annoying. Also annoying to get used to apartment living again. I try to focus on 'we have enough' and 'look at our budget! our expenses are so low!'. Right now I'm focusing on the young gentlemen that live above us that are apparently working on their drum skillz. Should I go out and shake my cane at them?? LOL.

I used to have a job similar to this. The VP & other top management I reported to were workaholics who had no kids & as long as the money kept flowing, their wives didn't care what they did so they worked literally day & night. 365 days a year. We use to get emails from them on Christmas day. It was absurd.

I used to get asked this question and my standard answer was that I understood that there were crunch times where everyone would have to work some OT. But if it was persistent and basically viewed as the status quo, this would indicate chronic understaffing and poor resource management. I also pointed out that I do consulting and that too much OT would actually cost me money, not provide additional income to me This probably cost me some job offers. I've worked my share of 60-70 hour weeks but I've never let it become a way of life.

Note though that this attitude is only applicable to established companies. The rules regarding start-ups are a bit different.

The new job sounds pretty terrible! Maybe you should start looking for something else (if you have the energy after an 11 hour workday)?

Considering how quickly you were hired and the crazy hours, this company probably has tons of turnover. I'd try to discretely find out where people are going to work when they quit...that might get you started on figuring out which similar companies in your area might have better working conditions.

Well Wende did you get your first paycheck? Was it worth it? Hang in there a job in this economy is better than no job at all. How is J's job search going?



I completely agree. Perhaps time to see if there any other options out there.



As far as the apartment goes... Maybe it's time to downsize the wardrobes. Goodwill and thrift stores are a good place for donations.

As far as the neighbors what are your apartment complex rules for noise? Most apartments don't allow noise after 10:30pm or 11pm. Talk to them about it. If this doesn't fix things you can report to the management your dissatisfaction as I'm sure there are other neighbors who don't appreciate the drum skillz. If all else fails you can always call the cops

Six weeks out on the new job and still working 55 hours a week. I am still not happy with my lack of free time, but am more than a little giddy every 2 weeks on payday. Overtime is allowing me to put cash back into savings to replace our moving expenses. Which is comforting with J still looking for work. My health benefits are in place now too, which is also a huge relief. And there is a speck of hope on the horizon - the company is now working frantically on automating the data entry part of what I do, which should save time and my poor typing fingers. And my Saturdays.

My tiny apartment is still annoying, but we have added some plants to the patio and it's looking more homey. My closets are still bursting. Clothes are not the issue, I wish they were! It's the other household stuff. I'll keep working on it. We'll have to decide by the end of September whether to extend the lease or not. If J lands a job, we might move. If not, we won't.

We have been without TV for 3 months now. I'm still trying to decide how to tackle this one. I don't miss it much, but wish I could catch the news occasionally. I completely missed the olympics and am now missing football. But I don't miss the bill. I also need to break down and find a cell plan that will work better. Pay-as-you-go isn't working now that we don't have a land line. Drat. Another bill.

The quest continues to find the happy medium financially.