HI all

All signs are this job is a go.. large company.. 1 week downtown Chicago for training and then onsite in WINFIELD (10-15 minutes from the house).. my gym is on the way there and on the way home. It still allows for school. business casual. I am working with a vendor team onsite at their client which is a much more fun model than the one I just left (at the bank) and much more closely aligned with how I used to work at my large long term client . much more pay... $79/hr

Excited. nervous .. WOw

I talked to my accountant and w the tax laws and the rental income and the fact that the contractor firm
does not pay benefits. it makes sense for me to go 1099 vs w2 so I am goign to do that. He even thinks I will save at least $10k a year doing that. AND they don't offer a 401k either so I will set up a solo 401k and contribute the max to that and then the company can pay in 25% of my total comp. If I work there through year end that is over $40k thousand this year to the 401k!

I will research solo 401k companies.. and my accountant may have thoughts.

Losing weight finally!!! and gettign in shape .. feels great..

I gained 9 lbs between July-Dec last year likely due to the 2 flat nightmare but I am toning up and going to lose that

So still hoping to finish my 5 year goal strong (5 year goals ends 6/30/18) and then this entire year strong in terms of saving as much as I can

I am SO EXCITED that maybe I have a high paying fun job that still allows me flexibility to work out, go to school and have a life.

Fingers crossed it goes well.

My start date will be either Wed/Thurs or Friday next week. Still pending drug test and background check (I should have no issues)

Rachael

Hi all

Quick job update here..

First of all I am still struggling.. my mood is going up and down.. I am realizing how much of my self worth or mood is tied up with earning money and having something to do.. good to realize this now. Even though I have money saved I feel 'restricted' and anxious and less happy not having a regular source of income.

For those who are saying 'what about the rentals!!"

I do have rentals but this month is the first month I will be able to track them without loans etc.. (except for the 2 flat) so I do not feel totally secure in them.. actually I am feeling insecure in general and stressed lately.

I DID set up to meet w the property manager tomorrow to discuss things. get clarity. refine some stuff.. but all and all property management is going well

k. JOB STUFF.

I was OFFERED A JOB (already!!??) seems too good to be true as it sortof hits all my criteria..or seems too. I am hesitant as I am anxious about being let down and scared about returning to work and having it 'not work out again'

Job is a contract job (which I want).. pays NINE DOLLARS more than my last job (which ended in 3 weeks) which will make my total increase over my last long term job $19/hr.. $38000 a year increase at 40 hours a week.

Crazy

Work is local.I would be working for a large well known company (#2 on best places to work) for THEIR end client who they are doing a migration for..location is Winfield (10 minutes) or Elk Grove Village (30 minutes)..I find out location next week.. those are the locations of the two datacenters.. business casual and working on a vendor team. The large vendor is flying in 2 full time people each week to be primary. My role is to be part of the local team working w the vendors and help with the discovery and planning process.. working with the application owners, users, tech people etc..

I start with a week of training on the vendors proprietary delivery and migration process AND (wait for it). since the full time people are flying in each week. they are only onsite Mon-Thurs so I get to follow the same schedule and work at home Fridays!!

Initial contract is short.. end of August but that is because they only sign milestone based contracts.. first client milestone is end of August. total project is expect to be a year or more.

The vendor sold this contract without ramping up staff so they need people to start asap. I have already filled out background checks forms and will do my drug test shortly.

Fingers crossed I get the job and fingers crossed it goes past end of August (again recruiter and vendor said it will unless something drastic happens that the client or vendor do not like me or the client cancels the contract.. unlikely)and fingers crossed it is the location they say and the work is what they say.. nervous!!

even if it only goes til August maybe I can get back to my old company then (the work at home one that I worked at for the past 6 years) or somethign else. having this name on my resume will be very good and experience.

I should have start date today or tomorrow.. and something in writing to sign shortly thereafter.

I have an unemployment comp interview in 45 minutes. my application was flagged due to going to school and they could not pull up the 3 week employer payroll in their system. I have proof of both.

Rachael

Update

I got approx $96k from Dad. $26,600 of that in an inheritor IRA.

Today I
1. paid off the 2 flat 'fix up debt', $23,700
2. paid off student loan of $9k
3. put $2000 more in the rental emergency fund
4. put $13500 more in the rental tax fund to 'catch up'
5. set aside $2000 for me (to be determined)

I have $23,500 left in a taxable account just sitting at this point. I will wait to figure out how much of that to invest until I get a clearer idea of my job search

The inheritor IRA will stay. that is invested in the Fidelity Total Stock fund.

Will decide on selling the 2 flat in the next few weeks

HI all

I am tracking my job search goals and progress. I DO NOT want to dip into Dad's money or my savings.

I have $3500 coming Friday. Unemployment is $458 per week..first check unemployment check.. 2 weeks??

I am still clarifying goals and my routine.
For now I want a senior program or project manager in the Western burbs or remote (not going downtown or NW burbs limits opportunities). I am trying to get a rate of $68/hr. less is ok dependent on circumstances. My last job full time remote was $57/hr

I DO not want to sacrifice working out at the gym or school


So far I have updated my Linked in profile, talked to 4 recruiters, sent some resumes, contacted my old company (before this bank fiasco)and filed for unemployment.

I will update my resume on job boards today, and adjust my settings on linked in and others to draw more calls

Really need to figure out my minimum requirements and what I am not willing to take.. ie it appears I would have a good shot at a job making $68/hr downtown.. but that would involve the train (drive to train, train downtown, cost of train, extra time needed to do all that ) not sure of dress code (formal dress? it is more formal downtown,.. have to buy clothes).. flex hours??. I will find out more but preferring suburbs or remote.

I am figuring I can always take a job short term and then when openings come up at my old company (where I worked for the last 6 years .. just switch back to them.. ) there I can work remote and part onsite. Maybe a thought to avoid the $$ drain and to meet people.. All as long as it does not impact school. gym etc

Need to figure stuff out.

talking to a life coach today.

Hi all

I am going to document my job search and my goals during this time here. I think it will be helpful to me and maybe to others to watch and see

Anyway today I am going to figure out what the plan is.. hopefully talk to where I used to work (already left voice mails. sortof discouraging to leave voice mails. it makes me think 'they are busy with productive jobs' and I am unemployed' anyway!!) and get my resume up to date and posted.

probably figure out some goals and $$

and some 'other stuff' to accomplish during this time.. sortof get my life straightened up.

THANKS To all for your SUPER supportive comments. Crazy situation. Could I have maybe done stuff not to have it blow up so bad.. not sure..I guess not call laura out for the untruths and not get upset.
Regardless. was I happy there?.. No.. and the job is gone. would I have been happy there like it was?. not really. I could have grinned and bared it for a while but would it have shown .. probably.. Laura.. This all happened in 3 days.. vague accusations. some of them i was able to disapprove right there.. then sortof significant escalations. a 1:1 reset set up for yesterday and my submitting info on what I had done at work and info on my performance to the hiring manager and then apparently 1:1 cancelled because Laura said thsi was 'unfixable'

Obviously still in defensive mode..

I will get better.. and I want to do everything in my power to not dip into Dad's money or the savings which means working other jobs outside of my field, short term gigs or doing my own consulting on the side. My net cost to live is $5000 NET/month

Will file for unemployment today

I have a check for $3570 coming Friday and then 3 more hours due to me..after that.

Be creative

Rachael

HI all

Got fired this morning. Contract company came to work, called me from downstairs and asked me to come down and advised Carla had told them it was not going to work out. Carla and I had a 1:1 at 1pm.. never happened. Carla told the contract company she talked to the 'program manager' Laura this morning and after that determined it was not fixable and better to let me go sooner vs later.

I was never told what was not fixable. or what my 'performance issues' were. I wonder if Carla will ever review the work i did not or talk to people.I talked to a few people who were shocked.

In any case. REALLY EMBARASSING.. the guard walks me back to my desk, watches me get my stuff and walks me out.. very bad.

I will contact me old company direct tomorrow.. I am too 'scattered/shellshocked' to contact them today.. I will file for unemployment. hope there is not a dispute and look for a job.

on a HIGH note getting out of the house and working at the office (near by) was fun and showed me how much of a social life I was missing and gave me much more energy. I like that and I will not go back from being as socially isolated as I was..

On a low note.. I am out almost $8000 a month.. not a good time for that. I DO NOT want to eat up Dad's $ that I am to receive or the emergency fund and I want to keep building savings etc.

Being 'let go' impacts my confidence a little bit. not sure what to say to the other company. Not sure what the contract company who got me this job thinks. This was my first gig with them.. will they block unemployment. Find me something else??

with my old company do I say I started the new job and there was a personality conflict?? say I never started??? Ideas welcome. I will contact them tomorrow.

Maybe I am due for a change.. maybe that time is now.. everything happens for a reason. I do not want to rely on the rental stuff.

I DO NOT want to work real far from home. I signed up with Lifetime fitness.. and am doing team trainer sessions 3x a week (started today)...I guess I have different priorities right now and want a job that leaves time for them

I feel with this 'reboot' of going back to work even for a little while I can now maintain a social life even with working at home. whereas before I was just sortof not engaged socially.

JUST TIRED

I am just real tired right now.. sortof shocked.. not much more to say

Things change pretty quick, huh? I get some vague accusations of performance issues and them am fired 4 days later.

Hi all..

Crazy week. CRAZY! as most know I started this new job w a large bank etc etc.. project manager.. I used to be a program manager for a financial services company with this bank as the account. Anyway I now work for a program manager and just manage a 'project'. Work is easy and I can do 3-4 times the work in an 8 hour day and still be ok. I have very little to do and though it will pick up it will not be crazy like my last job when I was in charge.

Anyway I have felt tension brewing between me and the program manager (Laura, also a contractor) for the past 2 weeks.. significant micro managing (everything I do has to go thru here, I must cc her on EVERY email, every meeting, put things in email so she can be cced, no phone calls to others).. she setup an alert on 'Skype" (this work instant messenger system) so she gets notified hte instant my status changes from busy to available to away to out or whatever. I can not even use the washroom without an alert going off. I do not have much to do whereas she is 'swamped' but she spends quite a bit of time talking about how swamped she is and storytelling and drama. I have offered to help her with things several times and have been told the tasks she is doing are "program tasks", and she has to do them. I have offered to take on additional work, lead meetings only to be slammed down for overstepping and 'that is not my responsibility or scope'. I put together a schedule and she said it had to be redone on a certain template and to toss it and then I had to meet with the team for 2 hours to 'redo my work' even though the outcome was the same schedule. She is still reviewing thsi schedule weeks after it was done. Everything has to go through her for review and she becomes the bottleneck. She attends meetings and takes them over or cuts in on me. on and on and on. She visibly checks her watch in front of me when I walk in. Two weeks ago when I worked at home... she said 'Skype' showed me as 'away' a few times and that 'contractors have been fired for abusing work at home privileges' I said I was working and maybe I was on the phone and not touching my keyboard at the moment

Anyway it has made me VERY STRESSED and UNHAPPY.It has impacted my speech due to stress. I feel WATCHED all the time.

I have to wear a headset at work to talk on the phone which I HATE and to make it worse I got issued more like headphones which are soundproof and like stereo sound and give me a headache and make me not sure how loud I am. So for that reason I reserve conference rooms to do meetings so I can just use the speaker and so if a teammember wants to come they can do so. More fun.. team building.

Anyway Wednesday I had a 1:1 w the hiring manager who hired me (at the bank) This resource mgr had a 1:1 w this program manager (Laura) right before me and when I come in the hiring manager says we are revoking your work at home due to performance issues. I was shocked and asked what thsi was about. She said I had not turned in my schedule to Laura. I said I absolutely did and I can grab my laptop to show. I insisted (over HEAVY objection) that she call in Laura and Laura comes in and says 'maybe I missed it with all my unread emails" Laura later finds the schedule submitted on time. I then asked Laura if she had issues with my performance 3 times. I asked 3 times and two times she avoided it and then second she is like ' no but let me review the schedule'. Meanwhle the hiring manager is clearly REALLY pissed I put Laura on the spot. she asked Laura to leave and after Laura left the hiring manager said 'you work for me. I am telling you these concerns I am not going to let you drill Laura'. I said the concerns are from Laura (fyi I only see and talk to this hiring manager every 2 weeks for our 1:1 she has no visibility into my work except thru Laura) and I am not understanding what they are and if they are even there. This is appearing unfair and I am not understanding. The hiring manager then says the 'impression' is you are not keeping up and then asked me if I had completed several things.. all of which I had. I said I gave her time to talk and I was requesting the same.I said I ABSOLUTELY deny any performance issues and think I have the right to understand what performance issues are at issue. No response. And then making up stuff like I am not proactive, waiting around to be told what to do, not 'attentive' to work, not visible etc, not ahead of the project (the project has not started as we are waiting on funding which Laura says is a program task and I am not to help with.. everything else is done)

Meeting was very tense so it ended.
I asked if we could speak again after I had time to reflect.
Manager said no and she was going to contact my consultant company and handle it through them.

I had a work at home day set up for kitchen work today and the Manager said I should just take the day off and I would not be allowed to work at home.

I called my consultant firm and updated them.. they thought this was crazy and wondered if Laura was the issue. They had a preplanned lunch w this bank hiring manager today. I will hear tomorrow how that went. The hiring manager at the bank called the consultant company account manager to complain and sent them an email which they sent to me.. all vague crazy accusations.. I mean not even Laura would say these things they have so little bearing on the truth.

Meanwhile Wednesday I asked 4 times for a 1: 1 with Laura. All day Wed Laura avoided it .. then right before I left she came over trying to be all nicey nicey and said 'it was the hiring manager who revoked work at home not her'.

I came in today for 3 hours (at the suggestion of my consultant company) and again Laura avoided meeting w me and was trying to be all smiles.

I will go in for a full day tomorrow and again try to meet w Laura.

My guess is that Laura did not mean for it to blow up like this and the resource mgr ran with it and I probably got the hiring manager's hackles up with insisting on confronting Laura in front of her to see if it was really true that Laura said there were performance issue(which it sortof appeared there were not or Laura was not willing to admit it??). I DO think Laura must have said something though.

Anyway .. I will ask Laura if she has performance issues and then talk to the resource manager or have Laura do so to rectify this. It really bothers me to have my reputation sullied and this tension.

At this point I have been labeled w false performance issues and denied work at home and am being watched (though that was an issue before)

REALLY bad at work. and I am very angry

My consultant company believes in me and says if not resolved in the next few days they can try to find me something at this bank or somewhere else

I have made inquiries at my old company. I feel my job is at risk

two flat 1st floor rented!

HI all

My plan for the $ from Dad (likely to disburse next week ) is the following

1. add $2k more to the rental emergency fund to bring it up to $20000
2. add $2500 more to the personal emergency fund so I have a $5000 swing fund in my checking account (total of my monthly bills) so I can try going on just the rental income in July for a few months
3. pay off the '2 flat fix up debt ($23700+)
4. do something for Me ( will think on this)
5. put $12.5 towards the real estate tax escrow which will leave me only having to put $3k a month towards taxes for May, June, July, August
5. invest the rest at Vanguard-32300


I get my first full paycheck Friday. wonder what it will turn out to be.

Feels good to get all the above funds etc beefed up and stabilized.

Health insurance goes down over $200 next month as I changed to the plan offered through work

Water/electric down $100 a month
and have a $1000 overpayment for gas (accrued over several months of auto bill) so will not pay gas for prob 9 months.. my monthly was $107 so will divert that to investments via Vanguard

Also auto investing in Vanguard to $150/month in Vanguard and more when able

Once I get Dad's money and pay off the 2 flat fix up debt I will up the vanguard to $2k/month

Trying to stabilize adn tie up loose ends.

Will also pay cash (or 0% credit) for school fromm now on. I currently owe approx $9k accruing at 6% interest in student loans

Market is really down but trying to think of it as the market is on sale

Rachael

Hi all

3 units paid off today. Title transfer this week. WOW! 5 years coming

For those new to my blog, I had set a crazy 5 year plan that I stuck to and I am 2-3 months from finishing it. Wow

Got some one who looks good for the 2 unit. hoping to fill the downstairs shortly and then will work on upstairs.

Rents are exactly as expected and got a 4 year inspection certificate on it.

Busy day with homework

Just sharing. WOW! It is coming together.

I will use what I will get from Dad to payoff the '2 flat fix up debt' by the way and decide the fate of the 2 flat once it is all filled. Getting a 4 year certificate is pretty big..means 4-5 years with no inspections.. and if we get good renters and this property mgmt company seems to do that with MUCH more frequency than the last one I can make some good money on this property.