I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.
Wow, so I just woke up and checked my bank account, as I do every other Saturday, to see the amount of my direct deposit. I was especially interested to see this one because it’s the first from my new job.
I knew it would be extremely low. I took a week off, then I took another day off because Jay got sick and had to go to the doctor. I think I had four days of billing, and none of them were great because it was the first week of school. I knew these things.
But I wasn’t prepared to see a direct deposit for only $333.81.
I don’t have my pay stub yet, so I can’t see everything that happened. I know the cost of my benefits doubled, so a big chunk came out pretax. I also changed my tax withholding since I didn’t know how this would go for the first few months. But DAMN.
So I just drained 1/3 of the emergency fund I’ve spent 9 months building to transfer $700 to my checking account. (The funny thing about that is $70 is going right back into savings on Monday. Plus $200 to my Roth.) And like I said, I knew this was going to happen; I just wasn’t as mentally prepared as I thought.
I know my next check will be better. But I also know there were things I could have done better or differently. I have the opportunity to make a lot of money but I have to stay disciplined and make sure I bill. I need a minimum of 5 hours a day of billing. Period. And I can easily get that much at school if I make some adjustments to my schedule. I’ve noticed I’m bad about thinking, Well, I have three appointments in the clinic today. If they all show up, I can get away with only billing two hours at school. This isn’t like a salaried job where I can just screw around and still get paid.
I feel like I shouldn’t be freaking out like this. After all, at least I had the money to make up for my crappy paycheck. I can pay all my bills and continue saving (though that seems weird when I’m borrowing from savings). It will be okay.
But I still can’t shake the feeling that I’m going to throw up.
So I guess that means you probably won't have to worry about spending too much shopping today.
You're behind the times, dude - I went shopping yesterday. And for the record, that came out of my blogging account specifically because I was worried about this paycheck.
I think I just did the digital version of wearing crocks.
That made me LOL. A lot.
As someone who used to be responsible for payroll, I understand the shock. Our attitude regarding payroll is always different from reality. Reality sucks! Hopefully on Monday when you see your stub it will make sense. Good luck.
Hang in there. At least you had some savings to fall back on. I just had to check this out due to the title.
I get my first paycheck for the new year next Friday. They've cut our pay and changed the contributions for various benefits. So I have no idea what the net effect will be. Once I do know, I'm stuck with it for the year though. I wish it could be as nice as just working more hours.
Here's hoping your next check is more satisfying.
Hopefully the changes won't affect your pay too much - I totally feel your pain. Not knowing is the worst part!
I think the best thing to take away from this is that this situation didn't lead to anything worse happening, mainly because you had an emergency fund, and you were prepared for it!
That sucks! Hope it all gets straightened out soon!