I've been thinking a lot about my next job. I'm not considering staying in the same position once I finish grad school. It's insane to even consider it. I wouldn't put out $18,500 to stay in the same position.

In my Organizational Behavior class I have to write a paper that details my Personal Strategic Plan. I'm glad that my professor chose this particular subject for the paper.

I do have some dissatisfaction at my work now. We have administrators that have such little regard for what we do and how we do it. I'm tired of feeling so belittled.

I've actually applied for some jobs at DHH that would give me an immediate 10-14% percent raise, with another 4% raise after 6 months. I would lose me shift differential, but working evenings is not conducive to school right now so that's okay.

I'm nervous about this because I think my mom will question my decision, but at the end of the day I'm the person most qualified to know what's best for me. I'll have to wait and see how much of a commitment a new job will be if I get an offer and weigh the pros and cons. I'm just waiting for the call...

I've had issues with this particular non-profit group that keeps calling. I think they're called Non-Profit services and apparently several groups contract through them. They have been an incredible nuisance. I don't like being called for charitable donations and I don't like what almost feels like harassment from this particular group. When I offer a certain amount they tell me that I can't offer that little and to send more. Are you serious? If you're asking for donations you accept whatever you get. A minimum donation? Whoever heard of such? Their mailings can't possibly cost them more than $10. If so they need to change agencies.

So today the man hung up on me when I asked him to take me off their calling list. Now I don't feel at all guilty about my impressions of this group. They really are hurting whatever causes they are representing.

I will continue supporting Christian Children's Fund and my veterans groups. My passion truly lies with these two groups. I also am beginning to support my local food bank. It's amazing, but for every $1 donated they get $12 worth of food.

So today was orientation. I got off last night after midnight. My dad had called at 8:30 last night saying that he didn't think that I should be driving my car back and forth to New Orleans. So after getting off, I went by my parents' house to get my sister's car. Actually, it's my parents' car, but you know how that is. It was all good though because she has a CD layer unlike my car so I was able to rock out on the drive up. It went by fast, but time-wise was actually about 1.5 hours. I could make it in less time, but I'm not trying to speed. They had an accident on the spillway to boot.

I got there around 7:30 this morning. I think I got maybe 2 hours sleep last night and I'm being generous saying that. I was up before 5am. They have a really nice continental spread for brekfast on class day. Every kid of juice, soda, coffee and tea, plus cereal, oatmeal, pastries galore, yogurts, and a beautiful selection of fresh cut fruits. So anyway I grabbed some fruit and coffee and tried to give myself a jolt for the day.

I'm so excited about the program and my classmates. We had to stand up and tell the class something about ourselves. I get so nervous speaking in front of people. I feel like I forget to breathe. I admire my classmates that speak so easily and I hope that their eloquence and easy conversation rubs off on me.

We had a financial aid meeting after. Oh yeah, and lunch was an awesome hot buffet meal. I can't believe that the program provides such quality in all aspects for the $18.5k fee. It really is reasonable. Anyway, I found new loans offered on my student account online after coming home. I accepted them all. They'll deduct the amounts as they come in. The rate of 6.8% isn't great, but I'd rather continue contributing to my investment accounts and get a tax break there as well as for my student loans.

So it looks like my employer will pay about $3600 and I've already paid my $500 deposit. So that leaves me a $14.4k balance. I know my parents' offered to pay some, but I'd rather have that money at another time. I think was approved for the maximum amount of loans which is something like $20.5k so my balance will be covered.

As well there is an international trip at the conclusion of the program. We'll be going to Grenoble and Paris, France as well as Geneva, Switzerland. It will cost about $3k and a guest can accompany you for $1k. Plane tickets not included. I have to take the international business course on top of my regular load so I'll have to see how I'm handling things before I make a decision. I have a while.

That's a long blog, but I guess I just had a lot to say. I'm really pumped to do this. Getting my master's has been a goal for as long as I remember (like way back when I was in high school and thought that 29 was old) and now it can actually be reality. I hope my enthusiasm doesn't waver too soon. I'm also hoping I can go and get some sleep!

I'm feeling pretty good about the amount of debt that I've paid off this year. Since September 2006 I've paid off more than $9,000 in debt. Next month I'll cut my remaining $6,000 or so debt in half. I worked a lot of overtime to make this happen, but it was worth it. I can't wait until I see that amount down to $0.

These past few weeks I've had some big bills to charge to my Mastercard. I had over $600 from my car repair and about $150 for my dental bill. I hope to be able to put some overtime towards that.

Today I spent over $100 on scrubs. My hospital is now requiring that we wear a certain color so I'm getting ready for that. I said that I would wait to order them in September since the dress code isn't in effect until October, but I decided not to wait. Better to get that off my mind and just focus on grad school. I also need to have my oil changed if they didn't do that at the garage already. I don't think so, but I need to check the invoice.

And in case you're wondering, though I know you're not, my weight went back down. Thank goodness.

I don't know why I never considered that there were sites for blogging about your finances, but imagine my surprise when I search for something else and stumbled upon this. I visit so many financial sites, but this is an entirely new concept for me.

So let me introduce myself. I'm 29 and single. I bought my first home last year. I'm working full-time on the 3-11 shift. I will be attending graduate school on alternate weekends starting in 3 weeks. I have two undergraduate degrees, the second earned while working full-time so I feel a little bit prepared for this.

Graduate school will cost $18.5k. I have paid the $500 deposit which comes off the original amount. Then there are $4.5k payments over the 4 semesters. My employer paid $1k. The remaining $3.5k will come from Stafford loans. Yes, more loans when I was so close to paying off the small loan from my first degree. I incurred no loans the second time around. My mom says she will pay $5k toward my tuition the last 2 semesters.

My immediate goals are to build up my emergency fund, a car fund, and a short-term savings fund, which I will call my Christmas fund. Why I call it that I'm not sure as I will end up using it for more than Christmas.

I got paid today, or actually now it's yesterday. Today's check reflected the $0.72 an hour that all state workers received. Not a huge amount, but $1500 a year, and every little bit counts. I'm going to increase my savings to start funding the aforementioned savings accounts.

Today I went shopping. It's called tax free weekend, but you actually still pay 5% local taxes. I got some school supplies, some groceries, an outfit, and some hand soaps from Bath and Body Works. I haven't shopped like that in quite a while!