Money Diary - Aug-20th

Hurried to a meeting at 9.00 and grabbed some breakfast on the way - money spent - $4.04

Grabbed some lunch at the cafeteria for $3.84 - tried something new today, it turned out to be a good meal and good price.

Came home early, @ 5 and went grocery shopping with hubby -money spent - $65

On our way back to the car, he and I discussed about how much we can save if we went to the local farmers market for veggies, though HEB has good stuff, its bit pricier, I usually spend around $25 dollars for my 2 weeks worth of vegetables. HEB is definetly the choice for meat though, fresh meat at an affordable price plus it comes from local vendors unlike other chains.

Hubby's fav dish Lamb curry is cooking on the stove right now.....

Total money spent today - $73 ..oouch....

Money Diary - Aug -19th

Breakfast at work- $ 3.46

Lunch - $4.24

Total Spent - $7.70

Reached home to my b'day gifts, hubby ordered 212 and light blue from Amazon. Love'em, another suprising gift - Kitchen Confidential from Anothony Bourdain, my fav- host on TV - He Rocks..!!!!!!

Money Dairy - Aug 18th

I felt like my day was cut short by 3 hours or something. The whole day passed by in a hurry.

Got to work at 8 this morning, completed some work before my mgr got to work and hurried down to get my usual breakfast for $3.07 before the cafeteria closed.

Hurried down to the conference room for a 5 hour meeting which turned out to be more like 7, got to gym at 5.30 pm, played basket ball for 10 mins before I had my fore scrathed by another players sharp finger nail, I get paranoid when its nails and stuff..left the court and worked out for sometime and got home at 7.30 , cooked, had dinner with hubby and now I am getting ready to pick up the book he gifted me..Stop Pissing meOff(LOL), but its for the work place though...

Total money spent today - $3.07

Money Diary - Aug 17th

Got up this morning to a nice cup of tea , got ready and left to work.

Got a muffin sandwhich with egg whites and coffee for $3.07

Transfered $3500 to my ING savings account. I had subscribed for ESPP at work and was able to stack away $4300.

Came home for lunch -money spent - $0

Hubby paid $600 towards our land mortagage.

Went to see my Sis after work and reached home at 7.00pm and cooked , had dinner with hubby -money spent -$0

Its my birthday today, got a nice Godiva chocolate collection from my cousin, waiting for the perfumes my hubby ordered for me..

June -Round Up

This has been an awesome month financially for two reasons. First, being that I was able to get my CC balance under 5000 dollars and Second, for being able to save $3600. I subscribed for ESPP (Employee stock purchase plan) at work and it had an automatic payroll deduction even before I saw the money. It was hard initially to cover all the expenses but as time passed by I was able to manage and was able to save another 150 on top of that after all bills are paid. ESPP for first part of the year ends today but I did not opt myself out of the plan which means that I would be able to save another 3000 dollars by the end of December and make a cool 15% profit since employees are given a discount on the existing market price (of course we need to pay the capital gains tax).

Seeing my CC balance under 5000 dollars makes me feel good because the number makes me feel more comfortable. I will do my best to save every dollar that I can to pay this off quickly. Ideally I would like to have it knocked out by the end of August but it would be a long shot. Nevertheless, I am happy as long as I can knock it out 3months before my India Trip.

Apart from the finances, I made a business proposal to one of good friend who lives in the same city as I do. She was looking to open up her own beauty salon but she is short on cash. I told her that I can invest 5000 dollars and asked her to think about it. Even though I do not have the skill set that is required to run a spa, I definitely do have some business experience coming from a business family myself. I will know something about it in the next few weeks and once I hear a yes from her, I will move forward. This would help me make some extra income and I can use my weekends to learn a new skill and find innovative ways to take the business to the next level.


Overall, has been a good month at work, home and financially.

How I got myself in and out of an embarassing situation at work

This morning I have gotten into a worst situation I could ever get into at work. It all started with a call from my senior manager,let’s call him C for now, this morning while I had my immediate manager at my desk. I had asked C couple of days ago if he would have time to sit with me and discuss about another position with a different application we have within our group. Though the first instinct told me that I have to let my immediate manager know about my interest in this position, I kind of ignored it telling myself that its just going to be an informational session with C” , not like a real interview or anything. I even asked around people in my office on what the best approach would be and “them all” told me talk to C first. Again, for the 100th time in my life I went with what others told me instead of using my best judgment. Fast forwarding to this morning – C asked me if I had spoken to my immediate manager already, by this time, I can feel blood gushing to my ears(which happens to me when I am nervous, or in an awkward situation) and my heart pounding in my chest as my immediate manager was right next to me. I told C that I haven’t yet and he told me in a very casual voice to talk him and to express to him that I am interested in this other position within my group. By the time I hung up the phone , my immediate manager could already guess what was going on and asked with a corny sense of humor – “So when are you planning to tell me about this” , I was so embarrassed to look at his face. I apologized to him and told that I was not in this kind of situation before and I did not what the best approach would be in such a situation and that I was curious to know what the position was all about before I even started thinking about seriously pursuing it.

He said that it was okay and gave me good feedback on what kind of approach to take when in a situation like this. He mentioned one thing about how he thought that both of us had open communication and this incident made him think twice about the kind of professional relationship we shared. I apologized to him again and I told him that I was really sorry and did not mean to offend him in any way. He got over it and told me forget about it and put this behind us.

So for all you new Yuppies’ out there. Lessons to take away from my experiences are:

1.Think it through before you approach anyone above your manager in your organizational hierarchy.

2.Take only expert opinion. Don’t ask around anyone you see, because these folks don’t mean harm but they will advise you based on their life experiences.

3.Look at the situation based on the kind of relationship you have with your manager.

4.Take expert opinion but let the final decision be yours.

5.The first instinct is always...always always right when you are stuck in these kinds of situations.

Wall Street employee's humbling experience.

I was reading an article on WSJ and it ran jitters through my spine. The article was about a Wall Street employee who lost everything due to the market meltdown. This person, who was once earning more than 200, 000 dollars a year, now earns 25,000 dollars and works as an escort to seat hotel guests. It’s hard for me to comprehend how people can go through or cope up with such transitions in lifestyles. Reading through the article, I felt like this person was making good financial choices like having an emergency fund, a saving account etc but in spite of all that his family could not escape the wrath of a failing economy. While I work hard and hope that I never get myself into those situations, it’s often too easy to forget the life lessons. Give it a read; it might make you more committed to your financial goals. Hey, the wise always learn from “Other people’s mistakes”.