I need a volunteer

to make sure I keep plugging away at meeting my daily work goals in a timely fashion.

I don't have anyone to be accountable to since my hours are flexible, but I take too much advantage of it and end up shooting myself in the foot because I'm at my desk from 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. when I could get the work done in 6-8 hours.

I have XXX amount of dollars I HAVE to earn every day to cover the bills.

Then I have XXX amount of dollars I need for groceries, gas, and other daily expenses.

Then there's the XXX amount I need to set aside for weekend fun or the occasional medical bill, or to pay down some other bills quicker. That's the one I'm having trouble with the most, then comes the "must have" expenses like food and gas and clothing.

I need someone to kick my butt in gear and make sure I'm not playing on the computer so I get my finances better managed. I'm tired of my emotional state being dictated by my financial state.

I, uh, need to join this club. I started off with a big bang about 2 weeks ago and actually did not go on line for a day and a half. But I still did not get a whole lot of work done.

Fortunately, working with my husband in his business, I don't HAVE to earn a certain amount of money. But my perfectionist concience that hates to be cluttered suffers.

Oh, and being on another time zone doesn't really help much. By the time I go to bed, this place comes alive!

The time zone definitely gets in the way.

I have the enviable position of putting in as much work as I want to get bills paid off. If I wanted to work 24/7 for one week and take week 2 off, I technically could. The doctors who depend on me to do their transcription wouldn't be happy, but numbers wise, it's completely legit. I have to do a minimum of 15,000 lines per pay period according to my contract. It doesn't matter when they get done. Personally, I'm shooting for 16,210 per pay period. I haven't managed to hit it since I set the goal in November/December, and sometimes even come in below 15,000.

Perhaps you could lower your goal just slightly? Imagine your sense of pride and achievement when you hit it. Then you could raise it again.

You know I'll help. Just tell me what you need me to do.

Will do what I can when I have to teach, but I'm sure we can figure something out there.

OK, I'll Yahoo in a little bit. I have a long report I need to get taken care of before it's time to pick up my daughter from school.

Aw man, Wi_fighter! I just saw this! I'm sorry I haven't been working from home in the past month -- you were helpful to me, too, when I was in that boat..

I have a suggestion that has worked for me in the past. First, I set up a budget with all the money I need to pay. This includes all the house payments, utilities, & all the known monthly expenses. Then I add to that all the extras...medical & credit card's. Once I have all the debt amounts scheduled for their monthly payments, I can then plan out the hours of work I need to do each week that allow me to meet those payment amounts.

I find when it is in writing, it makes me much more responsible to meet my goals. I find when it isn't written down, it is much harder to account for my time.

It seems like when I stray away from this method (when I am sick for quite a while), & my husband takes over, he screws it all up because he decides to run things his way & lands us into horrible debt. He doesn't like to be accountable for anything.

It was sad because I had put this accounting method into effect & we ended up out of debt. Then I ended up trying to deal with my anxiety & depression & my husband had to take over. He wasn't willing to realize that we would never be back to the 2 engineer income we were at & continued spending in the same way as when we both were working.....A BIG MISTAKE. Of course, my medical bills are huge over the last 12 years which also didn't help with the debt either.

I am trying hard to get myself back together & in control again after going through the trauma I went through last year, but it is very hard & need his help sometimes, but am usually sorry when I trust him.....tough place to be in when I know what needs to be done & I can't do it or force it to be done.

I know that budgeting really works.....something that really holds me accountable for everything......hope this suggestion might work for you,
Debbie

Debbie, I already have the budget system in place. You're right. It works great. Now I only take out the money from my paycheck that's above and beyond the bills amount, and that's what I have to last until the next paycheck. I only use the checkbook for bills.

I know just how much money I need to earn to cover bills and essentials.

My problem is doing it in a timely fashion instead of stretching my work day out to 12 hours and making 6 hours' worth of money.

Ugh! It's Monday. I'm sleepy. I don't feel like being stuck with COH dictation. I need to produce 1800 lines every day this week. I was barely able to do 1200 every day last week.



Why am I so sluggish and bored with work? I spent another $88 on necessary dog supplies yesterday, and I'm still not done. I still have to get flea and tick protection. I can't afford to not get my butt in gear and pump out loads of work this week. Coffee didn't even help this morning.

I'm not complaining about dog expenses. I'm just frustrated with myself for not being more productive.