The Cost of Working

  I am finally done working off-site. The month of September was basically wasted by the efforts I put in. That is not factually true, my work did result in the project being completed, but I am feeling the financial hurt of the extra costs incurred right now. I had to spend the money for commuting to and from the alternate worksite and am now waiting for reimbursement on that expense. Even though I just got paid last week, I am already riding on the edge until next payday and will probably have to dip into Savings to make it through. I hate doing this, but it will become necessary before next payday.

    My main goal now is to save whatever I can. I have a bill that is due and I want to have the money set aside from this paycheck, or at least as much of it as possible. Even though the bill itself won't hit until the day after next payday, I prefer to budget for it now rather than have to mess up the next pay cycle and have to start the process all over again. Luckily, this is one of the last bills that I will have to allot money to. The amount will be paid off in December.

    I think that both Hal and I are feeling the after-effects of the move and the purchases that were made as part of that effort. Hal spent more than I did because he wanted the new place to look outstanding, and it does. However, this effort also put him in the hole and I am helping out as best I can for the time being. I only made 1 purchase as part of the move to the new place and am paying that down as quickly as I can. My payment for that will also conclude in December.

    It seems that the job has almost ended up costing me more than I make this last month. I did not count on the extra travel and meal costs that I am making up for right now. Sadly, the company will not reimburse for meals, but as mentioned earlier, I am hoping that the commuting costs will be reimbursed soon.

    I am building up leave time as well thanks to all the work I put in during September. I had not chance to take any days off during the month and at least I will notice a plus in my PTO column as the month ends here. Actually, this is the last 40-hour week I will work for a while due to some upcoming time off. Next week I have Monday off for some medical appointments that I had to postpone from September. The week after that will be Columbus Day, and I am already scheduled to take the Tuesday off after that.

    In the big picture I am doing fine financially. It is just this unexpected set of events that has temporarily upset my plans. The best thing that I can do is to work through this and get back on track as soon as possible.