Update

Let me give an update on my debt, since my last post.

I am almost out of credit card debt now, I have 8,000 left over and then I will be free from them. I got a lot of them to cancel my debt in the Fall so now I have bad credit but I am almost out of cc debt completely.

Eager Beaver!

Uggh I wish I had signed up to take the appraiser courses a bit sooner because I am so eager to be able to get out there and make more money right away! I have got to pay down my debt so I can afford things that I haven't been able to in years such as getting my hair cut regularly and a new article of clothing more often than once every 6 months! I am sick of feeling ratty and poor! 'Oh we ain't got a barrel of money, maybe we're ragged and funny' I wish I knew where that song lyric was from.

Right now I am just trying to set in stone who my mentor(s) will be for after the classes. I don't have anything definitive yet.

I am a little nervous because I am going to have to layout some money for setting up a home office to do the appraisals. I will need a Windows computer and a door for a desk, and some other officey type things.

I have been typing for my appraiser friend and learning the business so I guess thats all I can do for now. Sigh!

Credit Cards Crept into Wallet again!

Tonite when I go to a family members for dinner and to help them with some paperwork they need doing (which relates to appraising so helping me in numerous ways), I am actually handing over my credit cards to a third party. I don't want them in my possession anymore! I just got my weekly "allowance" I give myself according to my budget so I have no excuses.

Also from now on when I type for my family member they are going to pay me by making a payment directly towards one of my credit cards, that way I won't have to just be self-disciplined about having money in my wallet!

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right? Its a shame I have no self-discipline at all and need to take these measures but I am just trying to make my situation better.

More Classes and Education

I signed up for my Appraiser courses today. I also shadowed my appraiser 'friend' on one of her appraisals. She knows someone else who might be willing to sponsor me, so now I have three potential supervisors! Yay! I will be rolling in it soon enough. I can't help but envision the things I will buy once my debt is paid off. Bad idea, I know, cause then there will be culinary school and a new car that needs buying. But let me just indulge myself with what I would buy:
- a massage chair
- mani's and pedi's every week
- my hair done every 6 weeks
- new clothes that fit nice and aren't faded
- a new sofa for my living room
- a kitchen table

I am not materialistic, really I am not. I haven't bought a new article of clothing for myself in years! The only thing I can remember buying, the entire year, were 2 shirts at Target, one shirt for my Christmas party, and a pair of gym shoes. Not that horrible, right?

So anyway, I also had my substitute teaching interview today and that went great also. My interviewer was sooo nice and encouraging about trying different careers out in life. I loved her. I am going to try being a teacher's aide next week! Woo hoo I am going to be trying so many different things!

High Cell Phone Bills

Well I just received one of those $130 phone bills from Verizon. Seriously, I have paid them so, so much over the years. What is wrong with me. Why do I do everything to excess? Can I take a crash course on self-discipline somewhere? Maybe that way I won't buy a cell phone game or new ring tones anymore. Plus you know, I think I used some of that for directions to job interviews and stuff so thats not that bad now that I think about it. You have to pay like $3.00 to use their Verizon Navigation System and once in a while I will need to use it for something. Maybe when I am an appraiser I should subscribe to it actually so I can find my way places. Or learn to use a map hardy-har!

This bill was also high because I went over my 400 minutes by 100. Sigh. I just hope cell phones don't cause cancer. There should have been a cell phone rep in the movie "Thank You For Smoking".

I can't wait to take these classes though. I am gonna sign up for them tomorrow, I am also shadowing my appraiser person that I know on an appraisal appointment tomorrow so that will be a learning experience. I hope I can find some people who will let me be their apprentice! I already have one part-time offer so thats great. They will probably only be able to throw me a few once in a while, though, which is still very much appreciated!

I also have an interview scheduled for 9 am tomorrow morning to become a substitute teacher. This was something I was thinking about doing in the Fall but they finally got my papers from the state that I submitted in November! I am not sure if I want to do that anymore but it is worth going to the interview I suppose, I don't want to burn my bridges.

Appraising Houses

I have decided I am going to start the process of becoming an Appraiser. It won't take too long to at least become an Apprentice and it will really help with my financial situation. The reason I picked Real Estate appraising of all things is because my mother has been an appraiser for the past 10 years. I see what she does and it doesn't seem so bad. You just take some pictures and find comps and it does take a while for the paperwork but the pay is good. It was also recently named one of the Top 10 Jobs on Forbes or Fortune or somewhere. Also I will have loads of flexibility, so that is great. So hopefully I will find someone who will let me be their Apprentice and I start the classes in March. Actually I have to call the school today at lunch to see about the next class schedule. It shouldn't be so bad, actually I never mentioned this but I have an inactive Real Estate license so that may help.

Great Career Ideas!

Well I have known I am due for a new job venture very soon as I have been getting impatient with the progress in paying my debt down. While I will still focus on smaller internet ventures, I have been thinking of taking on a 2nd job. I went out to lunch with my mother the other day, who has a really good financial situation lets just say (I am definetly one of those kids who grew up accustomed to a certain lifestyle and this is partly what led me to having a lot of debt). Anyway she knew of someone who does title work in Texas. Apparently you can make tons of money by doing title and mineral searches for the Big Oil companies. It is not a stable field but it is very highly paying while it lasts! Also you have to do a lot of drudge work of going to municipal courts and looking up records from many generations ago, to find out who has title to other aspects of the land besides just the dirt on top. Like oil rights and mineral and well rights. I spoke with a woman who does this currently and she really likes her job. She warned there are a lot of upfront costs that you will only get reimbursed for later, like hotel fees when you are traveling around Texas for these records. I decided this is not for me because I am not in the position to pay a lot of upfront costs like that, nor am I to pick up and leave to Texas. I wouldn't have posted it here if I had decided to pursue it because the jobs are not plentiful right now, it is a down period for the oil companies apparently. I did think about it for a while though.

I am not going to include any links about this type of job because I was given inside information by a friend of the family and I do not want to disrespect her by giving any more information than I already have. Maybe someone can find this info on this blog, and do more legwork for themselves. If you do, good luck and please post back your findings!