I'm Still Here

I haven't blogged in 22 days! :( Sorry!  Life has been a little busy lately, but I'm here to give you some updates.

Remember how I went for a huge exam in March? Well I PASSED! I was honestly never so scared in my life to open a piece of mail, but I took a deep breath and ripped it open and there it was.. "we are please to inform you...." blah blah blah. SO HAPPY. This means that I will get back the $900 it cost me to do it, which feels like found money. This also means that I have completed all the requirements to become a licensed pharmacy technician in the province of Ontario! All that's left is some boring paperwork to apply for my license.

This also happened to coincide with me getting a $2 raise at work. Oddly enough it had nothing to do with me passing the exam but instead was the result of my accumulation of hours.

I'm still hunting for an apartment which is coming along quite slowly...the good thing is that since I still live at home I don't really have a deadline, although I would like to be out by summers end. I did look at one so far which was supposed to be a basement "apartment" but was really just a basement...with a fridge. lol. Not what I had in mind! I am planning to go see another one hopefully this weekend that looks very promising. I have emailed back and forth with the homeowner a few times, but they were going out of the country and wont be back until this weekend.

For the Victoria Day weekend I ended up going out partying two nights in a row, which I never do! On the Saturday I actually went to a party with an old friend I haven't seen in awhile. It was out in the country and we camped out in her tent. I haven't slept in a tent since I was a kid! So that was interesting. Then on the Sunday I just hung out with a bunch of coworkers at a bonfire at one guys house. It was really fun and they are a great group of people. This past weekend I went to a stag and doe for a guy from work. I went with 3 other girls from work and had a blast! Some of the girls I hadn't really hung out with before so it was cool to get to know them more. We had lots of drinks and some of them won prizes (not me though) and afterwards we went to the bar. It was really fun and hopefully the 4 of us will do it again sometime soon!

This morning I went to the eye doctors. I was kinda worried that my eyes had gotten much worse but he said I have really healthy eyes and my script only needed to change very slightly. I can't wait to get new glasses as I have had these ones for about 3 years now and need a change! They are also pretty heavy and I want something lighter. I also plan to get prescription sunglasses which I have never had before. Usually I either: 1. wear sunglasses and don't see as well or 2. Just wear normal glasses and get blinded by the light. So I can't wait!

So that's what's been happening with me lately...just working a lot, trying to save for moving out ( up to $3276 now) and watching Criminal Minds on DVD (on season 6).

Second job is great for savings! :)

Sorry for not posting for awhile guys! Sometimes I get in a bit of a rut and don't know what to post about. Either that or I have a lot of idea's all jumbled up in my mind and I can't seem to sort them out!

I may have mentioned before that a former co-worker of mine opened up his own pharmacy and offered me a job. So I have been working there as well as my normal job. My main job gives me about 25-30 hours a week and then I work at this place about 12 hours a week. Between these two I have been working 6 days a week lately and at least one of those days is a split day where I'm at one job in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

Although it can get tiring, I do it because I do enjoy it. This new job is a completely different type of environment from my main job so I enjoy the variety of the two, because each place is a break from the other.

The upside to this, of course, is the extra money! Recently I made a decision to save every penny of that income from the second job. So far this has been put into my travel fund. Since starting at this new job around September I have put about $866 into my travel fund. I am now at $2000.00 !!!! This makes me incredibly happy as $2000 was my goal for going to Portugal, something that I have been dreaming of since I was a teenager. Speaking of which, I have now been at my current job for over one year so I get two weeks vacation. So my dream of going to Portugal is looking to become a reality :)

So not much is new other than I have just been working a lot and doing my online course, which is super boring!! The first few weeks were pretty heavy in terms of reading and workload, but it has lightened up a little. But I think the last few weeks are again going to be quite heavy, not to mention studying for the final exam. Speaking of exams, I had a Jurisprudence exam a few weeks ago which I am waiting to get the results of. I really hope I passed. I am a little concerned because I felt like some questions were trick questions. :(

Putting two blogs into one?

Sorry that I have not been blogging much lately! I have to admit, I have been a little lazy. I have been contemplating using only one blog instead of two. Right now I have this blog, for personal finance issues, and another for more personal life issues and beauty/fashion related stuff. Sometimes when I get an idea of something to blog about, I am not sure which blog to put it on, because some topics could go on either blog. So I am thinking about only using this blog (this is the one I use the most anyway). I think I will be easier to have everything in one place.

I am getting a little worried lately because I know my hours are going to get cut at work. I think this is going to happen within the next 2-3 weeks. I am not sure exactly what is going to happen, I just know that they are cutting hours because of the state of the economy. Basically through the week there is 3 shifts each day, and they are all 8 hour shifts. From what I hear they are going to take one of those shifts and shorten it. Since I am the newest person I am afraid it's going to be me always working the short shift. Right now I am just trying not to worry too much until it actually happens. The main thing I am worried about is that if my hours are cut too much I won't be considered full time and then I would lose my benefits. I really don't want this to happen, I've never had benefits before! LOL

This is giving me a little more motivation to make my blog better so I can hopefully get a few more opportunities with payperpost and other various sites like that to hopefully make a few extra bucks.

Paycheck mistake

A recent mistake on my paycheck got me thinking about how often mistakes are made. I do not diligently record every minute i work or anything but I have a rough idea in my head of what my paycheck should look like, and on the last one, there was a mistake!

Here's the mistake. I recently got a raise. The raise came in the middle of a pay period. So on the next paycheck after the raise, some of the hours were at my old wage, and some of the hours were at my new wage, which is totally correct.

But, on the next paycheck after that, there was still a breakdown of hours between my old wage and new wage, when it really should have been all at my new wage. This is the first time I have ever had a big mistake on my paycheck and I was a little taken aback by it.

It really wasn't a big deal, they only owed me about $40.00 or so and I talked to the administrator and it was fixed. It just got me thinking - how many people get jipped out of money because they don't notice mistakes on their paycheck? How many people actually write down when they work late, come in early, don't take lunch etc to make sure it is reflected in their pay? Has anything like this ever happened to you??

I'm Getting Benefits!!

Good news people!

I was informed at work the other day that since I am now considered full time I will be getting benefits!!!! I'm so excited. I have never had benefits before! I really feel like an adult now. I only have one prescription that costs me $13.74 per month but hey you never know when you will need more so it will be nice to have. Plus I will be able to go to the dentist which I haven't done since high school..won't really be looking forward to that but it's something that needs to be done!
Well I just wanted to share my good news with everyone!! Hope everyone is having a great day!