April is Get a Fucking Job Month.
Finances finances finances.
Seven months and still unemployed. I'm receiving $1376/month from EI for the time being, which is keeping me from dipping into my $7000 stash of savings - only barely.
I'm paying $300 a month towards my student loan - of which about a hundred goes to cover interest payments. $2.96 per day! But each month my daily interest goes down by three cents. Slow, slow progress. I still owe $19,617.
Recently I contacted the U of A to find out about my pension money that I accrued while working there. I have $12,000 that I'm transferring into an RRSP. I considered withdrawing it - at a 20% tax rate - to help pay off my loan. But I like having something - ANYTHING set aside for retirement, something I can contribute to later when I have income again.
Basically I am sitting in a space where my debt almost exactly equals my assets. I have around $0 net worth. But hey, it could be worse.
Last week I volunteered at GLOBE 2014 - a huge environmental business conference. I was hoping to do some networking - and I did - but again mostly with unemployed people. There are so many jobless people in my field it is ridiculous. It was a good experience though, and managed to stoke my fire a little bit. I plan to write a blog entry about it sometime this week. So April is GET A FUCKING JOB month. At this point, I am willing to take a job that is not in my field under the following conditions:
1. It will provide me with transferable skills
2. It is in Vancouver, or somewhere I might want to live for a summer
3. It is temporary
4. It pays more than I get from EI - i.e. more than minimum wage
There's a few job fairs coming up in the next week, all in the tourism/hospitality industry. Since one of my biggest interests is ecotourism and sustainable tourism, it wouldn't hurt to get my foot in the door in that industry, even as a lowly wage-slave. Also temping. I'm probably going to try temping, though I have my doubts that will go anywhere.
I'm still seeing the engineer. He is definitely not my usual type. But in some ways, that is a good thing. His ex has been causing trouble, but unlike Rhys, he seems to be dealing with his problems in a mature and level headed way. I like that.
Seven months and still unemployed. I'm receiving $1376/month from EI for the time being, which is keeping me from dipping into my $7000 stash of savings - only barely.
I'm paying $300 a month towards my student loan - of which about a hundred goes to cover interest payments. $2.96 per day! But each month my daily interest goes down by three cents. Slow, slow progress. I still owe $19,617.
Recently I contacted the U of A to find out about my pension money that I accrued while working there. I have $12,000 that I'm transferring into an RRSP. I considered withdrawing it - at a 20% tax rate - to help pay off my loan. But I like having something - ANYTHING set aside for retirement, something I can contribute to later when I have income again.
Basically I am sitting in a space where my debt almost exactly equals my assets. I have around $0 net worth. But hey, it could be worse.
Last week I volunteered at GLOBE 2014 - a huge environmental business conference. I was hoping to do some networking - and I did - but again mostly with unemployed people. There are so many jobless people in my field it is ridiculous. It was a good experience though, and managed to stoke my fire a little bit. I plan to write a blog entry about it sometime this week. So April is GET A FUCKING JOB month. At this point, I am willing to take a job that is not in my field under the following conditions:
1. It will provide me with transferable skills
2. It is in Vancouver, or somewhere I might want to live for a summer
3. It is temporary
4. It pays more than I get from EI - i.e. more than minimum wage
There's a few job fairs coming up in the next week, all in the tourism/hospitality industry. Since one of my biggest interests is ecotourism and sustainable tourism, it wouldn't hurt to get my foot in the door in that industry, even as a lowly wage-slave. Also temping. I'm probably going to try temping, though I have my doubts that will go anywhere.
I'm still seeing the engineer. He is definitely not my usual type. But in some ways, that is a good thing. His ex has been causing trouble, but unlike Rhys, he seems to be dealing with his problems in a mature and level headed way. I like that.