First job out of college (part 7)

In early 2011, we were pretty overburdened and my boss decided it was a good idea to hire some temporary help. My boss hired three temporary employees from the Department of Labor. Two of the employees were on the job for only six weeks but the third employee was brought on full time for the rest of the contract.

Around March of 2011, I started become proficient at my job and things started to settle into a routine. I’d make sure to print out all the invoices and documents at the beginning of each month when the volunteers sent them in. It was my goal to get as many of those invoices into a check batch as soon as possible. We started to create larger batches to make the process more efficient. At one point, I created a spreadsheet that had all my active members and I would check off which members sent me an invoice and received a payment for the month. Towards the end of the month, I’d call or send an email to volunteers who hadn’t sent me an invoice for the month. If something was incorrect about the invoice, I made sure to promptly call the volunteer back to inform them of the mistake. Probably the most useful thing I did was save the spreadsheets that recorded each of the checks that went out in a check run. Calls regarding if payments were sent were incredibly common so if I kept the spreadsheets, I wouldn’t have to go pull the physical file and check to see the records. On the spreadsheet, I also included the service term expiration date. If the volunteer was getting close to the expiration date, I could check if they were going to enroll in the program again and remind them to send me a new application so their payments wouldn’t get delayed. I do remember a few months where the process was so efficient and things ran so smoothly that we actually finished most of our work by the 15th of the month and we had some time to relax.

That being said, I did work with a good bunch of people. Upper management would occasionally bring us breakfast sandwiches and they took us out to dinner a few times. During March of 2011, one of the co workers encouraged everyone to fill out a bracket for March Madness and we had a few tvs set up around the office to watch basketball while we worked.

By the end of June 2011, I had saved up about $15,000 total. I was still keeping to spending $550 per month but I had a few months where I went as high as $650. My insurance dropped down from $220 monthly to $170 monthly. I spend more than $130 to $150 a month on gas because I was convinced that always buying premium gas was better for my car. I still spent more than $100 on fast food because I enjoyed those sliders too much. Every so often, I’d go out to dinner with some friends and spend $20. I had a prepaid phone and rarely called anyone. The phone only cost about $100 a year for service. For entertainment, I spent some money on DVDs and video games. Life was very routine and  I was content. I didn’t feel an urge to find a different job. I was still saving more than $1000 a month. I was just coasting. I would have stayed with the job for another 40 years if it had lasted that long. However, sometimes opportunities just kind of look for you and they might not always be welcome.

January 2011

I took the average of November and December 2010 and used $550 as the target amount for my average month. I spent a total of $550.86. $222.75 was spent on auto insurance which was debited around the 18th of each month. This ACH debit was necessary to get a small discount on insurance. I spent $101 on gas by filling up four times. I always used cash for buying gas because I didn’t feel comfortable using my debit card. I started buying more fast food as I spent $81.20 on five or six visits. Coffee, hashbrowns, and biscuits are a special reward for myself on weekend mornings. I started buying some groceries as I spent $31.49 on various food. I also spent $47.38 on dumbbell weights so I could start working out again. After leaving college in May 2010, I was lifting weights at a local church which had a small weight room open to the public. That room was shut off to the public in late 2010. I spent $33 at a burger joint after meeting some friends at church there. While it is no major item, I started buying flavored mints and I’d consume them when I was driving. A pack of several mints cost $1.04.

February 2011

For February 2011, I spent a total of $559.22.

I finally got a reduction in my insurance rates so I only spent $167 on my auto insurance. I spent $154.79 on workout equipment. I purchased an olympic bar and weights so I could start doing real bench presses again. I spent $85 on gas by filling up a total of three times. I spent $68.32 on 8 visits to fast food joints. A few times during the month, I would buy a 22 ounce beer from the gas station for about $2.50 each. I wanted to try various brands at least once.

March 2011

For March 2011, I spent a total of $540.12. My auto insurance premium was $166.40. During this month, I started spending money on premium gas because I thought I could get better gas mileage. I spent $176 after filling up my tank 6 times. I spent $55.65 on 7 visits to fast food joints. I spent $23.92 on various groceries throughout the month. During this month, I also spent $23.35 on products related to oil changes (quarts of oil and oil filters). I believed I could save money on oil changes if I did them myself so I asked my dad to show me how to change my own oil. I bought beer a total of five times this month.

April 2011

For April 2011, I spent a total of $636.96. I was close to going over $100 over my target spending amount and I was feeling uncomfortable towards the last week of the month. My auto insurance premium was $166.40. I spent $141 on gas by filling up 6 times. For this month, I didn’t bother packing my lunch as often so I started spending a lot more money on fast food. I spent a total of $134.19 on 17 visits to fast food places. A good reason that I went was so that I could take a full hour off of work. Typically, if I ate in the office, I would finish my lunch within 8 minutes and then go right back to working. To make the day go by faster, I would drive over to the local restaurant. I usually ordered 5 sliders, chili cheese fries, and a medium soda. I spent $42.52 on various groceries for this month. I went to eat with my friends twice this month. The first place was a pizza joint with my two best friends. I spent $28 dollars. The second time, I went to a cheeseburger joint close to the city and spent $29. My bills were only slightly over $20 but I usually threw in an extra $5 for a tip. The last major item I bought was 240 minutes for my prepaid phone. I spent $39.99 for those minutes.

May 2011

For May 2011, I spent a total of $636.76. Again, I went almost $100 over my target spending amount and I felt uncomfortable the last week of the month. My insurance premium was $166.40. I spent $182 on gas by filling up 6 times. I filled up more than once a week because I always paid by cash when purchasing gas. Because of this, I had to estimate how much money it would take to fill up my tank and I only filled up my tank when I got close to ¼ of a tank. I spent $77 on 10 visits to fast food restaurants. I spent $41.90 on some free weights so I could do arm curls. I also spent $45.10 on going to two different restaurants.

June 2011

For June 2011, I spent a total of $584.25. I was glad that my expenses did not exceed $600 for another month. I spent $166.40 on my auto insurance. I spent $135 on gas by filling up 5 times. I spent $90.74 on fast food on 9 different visits. During one of these visits, I actually bought lunch for four people in my office. We spent at least an hour trying to resolve a difference of $.32 before we could print checks. The error was on my side so I bought my colleagues lunch to dispel any ill will. I spent $54.86 on eating meals with some friends. I got some pizza and beer with my two best friends as we did for the last few months. We called this man night. I also took a girl out for a semi blind date. Since it was the first time I ever took a girl out, I took her to a unique restaurant where you could watch planes take off and land while you eat. The bill came out to be more than $60 or so but she actually offered to pay for part of the bill. I spent $40.95 on some more work out equipment. I bought ankle weights so that I could make pullups tougher. I also bought some free weights.