Leah’s Cafe

Many people asked me what do I plan to do in IL. We really do not have a concrete plan yet, we would have to see what comes along and take one step at a time. May eventually go for a teacher preparation program to get an IL teaching credential, but will work online and take up a part time temporary job as a start.

Working part time at a temporary job while getting to know the place and adjust to the new environment is the plan.  Since the holiday season is lurking around the corner, guess part time retail jobs and holiday extra helps are not too difficult to find.

It would take a few weeks for me to get the social security numbers (which is required when you apply for jobs). Then would start taking tests for driver license. Public transportation in most of the cities in America are horrible, driving is essential so you can get to work!

Though the economy in America is not the greatest right now, it is fine when you have a job and are not in debt. Our plan is to continue to stay out of debt and save up cash for emergency during a recession like this.  That’s why we would not buy another car on payments though we  may have to work around our schedule.

So many people in America are living paycheck to paycheck and carry a balance on their credit cards. The financial crisis and recession  hit this group of people the hardest, some are going through bankruptcies,  foreclosures, or some have to consolidate debt and change their lifestyles. On the other hand, the sluggish real estate market is the buyer’s haven right now. It’s a great time to pick up a bargain for people who have the cash. We hope to save enough money to buy a house in 2-3 years time!

The big boy does not only collect Star War and Lords of the Rings toy figures, he also collect hot wheels and coins. He recently purchased some proof sets of US Mint Coins and hot wheels off Ebay and emptied his paypal account. That’s typical of a selfish boy who refused to grow up.

He has agreed to help me with the medical bills and pay for the air ticket, now he is broke and won’t be able to purchase the air ticket! Luckily I have transfered a few thousands out of his bank account before he splurged it on toys. A boy should not be trusted with handling money. He “needs” to spend it when he sees money in his bank account!!

We are really grateful that blogging has brought in the bread and butter in the past one year. Not only that, it also pays for the medical expenses of my recent surgery and all the tests for the cancer scare. But, income from writing paid posts is quite unpredictable, it very much depends on the mercy of the granny G. Whenever granny G comes smacking down the blogs a, the blogging income will be greatly affected.

Looks like we got to diverse our income source. Since I am already working in front of the computer all day long, may be I should learn to trade stock options. It shouldn’t be too much a rocket science, as some of our friends started trading right after they attended a seminar and bought the software program that enables them to do different spread and strategies.

Our car insurance is due this month. Though we have decided to sell the car before the move to IL, we still have to renew the car insurance, don’t think we can drive around without an insurance! :-)

We would be happy to to able to sell the old junk for 2-3k! Looking at the second hand car market, we doubt we can get that! Consider we paid 11k for this old junk three years ago, the price has dropped like a bag of rocks, hasn’t it?

When we first started the business, we used the credit cards as revolving cash whenever we experienced cash problem problem. We also carried a balance for a while when we purchased some big items for the business.

Realizing how stupid that was, we paid off the credit card debts. We have also decided a year ago that we don’t need to carry so many credit cards in our pocket books. We got rid of all of them except for one that we considered as one of the Best Credit Cards. We keep this one for emergency use only and pay it off every month. We use mostly cash for grocery shopping and everyday expenses.

This card has subscription free and cash back. It also comes with travel insurance when you purchase your air tickets using the card. We are happy with how things are right now and would never carry a balance on our credit card!