A Good Problem To Have

I just got a job offer from this small company I interviewed at. While I’m really happy they made me an offer, I’ve had so many doubts along this journey – doubts whether or not I’m ready to leave my company yet, whether this is the right company for me, where I want my career to go, etc. Mainly, I feel like I still have opportunities to grow here and I’m not ready to move on just yet. However, I figured if they made me a really strong offer, it might sway my decision.

They ended up offering me just 2% more than what I make now. However, the other perks were really nice – they offered equity in the company (which I had to do some research about). Once I realized that equity isn’t really a guaranteed thing though, I really wanted a higher base salary. They didn’t seem to be willing to budge on that so I decided that it wasn’t the right place for me. I just have too much going on here to be ready to make that jump.

They want to talk to me tonight to explain more about the company and the offer. I’m trying to keep an open mind about it but it’s hard because I felt I already made a decision. I’ll still talk to them as they were all really great people and I loved meeting them – but I’m not really sure what to do at this point.

All I know is I feel damn lucky to have a great job right now as well as another offer on the table. This is one of those times when you think, “This is a good problem to have.”

Any opinions about having equity in a small company? Does it make having a lateral salary worth it?

My Google Dilemma

I got an email from a Google recruiter a few weeks ago, telling me that she saw my information and would like to have a conversation with me. Of course, I said that was fine and, in typical Google fashion, finally got a call from her last night. We talked for a bit and she explained the interview process (which I’m familiar with) , asked me if I’m actively looking right now, etc etc.

The thing is, I’m not actively looking. I’ve thought about seeing what else is out there but it wouldn’t be for at least another month. On the other hand, the whole Google process takes about a month to a month and half. So here I am trying to decide whether or not go continue the process.

Of course, my first thought is, well I might as well try. Doesn’t hurt to try and besides, it’s Google. Right? But here’s the problem – I’m horrible at technical interviews. And that’s pretty much all Google’s interview process is.

I know I’m a good developer. Give me a problem and a whiteboard and I can figure out multiple solutions and the best way to program them. I love brainstorming with others and I can also put my head down and just code 8 hours straight if needed. But get me on the phone and ask me to explain merge sort or program a linked list and I freeze up. Ask me in an interview to write code on a whiteboard reversing the numbers in a string and I can’t remember the syntax of a function. It’s pretty bad. I was like this in school too. Give me programming assignments to complete and I’m fine. Give me a test and it’s not a pretty sight.

Google’s interview process is basically a 45 minute technical phone interview and then a full day of on-site technical interviews. Basically, my worst nightmare. Of course, I would love the chance to see how Google works and the products they work on. But I know that this is not my strength and so I know I’ll really have to study up for this interview. Which takes a lot of dedication – and I’m not sure I have that right now since I wasn’t really actively looking to leave this job.

Another part of me also thinks, if miracles happen and I get through the interviews and Google actually makes me an offer, chances are I’d take it. Why would I pass up a chance to work with them, especially after having to go through the interview process? And I think I’d probably stay with them a long time. I’m not sure I want to settle with a company just yet – I want to try out different companies right now, see the different ways people work, how projects are managed and learn as much as I can. I can see myself settling down with Google and I’m not sure I’m ready for that.

But I’ve never been one to pass up opportunities/interviews. So this is where my dilemma happens: Do I take the time to study hard and interview with them? Or do I hold off for now and interview with them at a later time when I’m more certain I want to work there?

Fitness Finances

I’ve been working out a lot recently and really enjoying it. Unfortunately, there comes a lot of unforeseen expenses that comes with a new hobby (like working out). For me, that expense is mainly the variety of classes I’ve been enjoying:

LA Fitness – $20/month. This is my main gym membership and I use it now for the weights more than the classes. However, I’ve started taking bootcamp and yoga classes so I’m definitely using that feature as well.

LA Fitness, personal trainer – $120/month. I’ll be losing this expense after February. You can read about my experiences here.

Zumba class – $35/10 classes (or ~$14/month). My favorite instructor teacher Zumba at a private studio so I followed her from LA Fitness to there. Classes are once a week so it works out to only about $14/month. Totally worth it.

Spin class – $35/5 classes. This was a Groupon offer, again with my Zumba instructor so I bought it. I have only 1 class left and then I have to decide what to do. I’m loving it though but if I buy a 10 class package, it’s $125. I’m not sure I want to spend that – it works out to about $30/month (classes once a week).

If I decide to keep up with the spin class, once I’m done with the personal trainer, I’ll be paying about $64/month for all the fitness things I love. I know LA Fitness offers Zumba and Spin classes but I go for the instructor – she’s amazing and inspires me to keep working hard. For that reason, I think it’s worth the extra money.

What fitness finances do you have?

Personal Training: My Reflections

Almost a year ago, I wrote about my experiences signing up with a personal trainer at LA Fitness. Was it worth it? Well, as much as I hate answers like this…it depends.

I can tell you that I’m very happy that $120 is not going to be charged anymore on my credit card this month. On the other hand, I’m thinking of getting a housekeeper now that I have the extra money each month – which is ironic given that I gave up a house cleaning service to get a personal trainer. Priorities change in a year, I suppose.

On the other hand, I loved every personal training session we had. Here’s a confession though – we didn’t use them very often. I had signed us up for 4 per month and we still have about 35 sessions left. Whoops. Luckily, I had asked at the beginning and they said the sessions won’t expire so we can keep using them even after I stop paying monthly. Because of this, I’d say that it was worth getting.

I learned a lot from our trainer and I’m looking forward to continue learning from him. I don’t regret buying it because it’s something I’ve always wanted but I wouldn’t buy it a second time. The one thing I would change is that I would talk to places outside of the gym for a personal trainer – Yelp would be a great place to start and look up the competition.

Have you ever had a personal trainer? Did you think it was worth it?

Ironic Financial Blog

I haven’t been around for awhile now (obviously) and I ended up letting the domain hosting for this expire. When I went to go look at it, I just felt a pang – I’m not ready to let this blog go yet. So I renewed it.

And then I realized that I just spent a little over $100 to revive a financial blog that I haven’t been keeping up with for a few months. How ironic does that sound? So I’ve decided that since I’m putting real money into this, I better stick around. I’ll be keeping this casual since that’s the kind of blogging I really do best – if you’re still reading this, thanks for sticking around! I’ve been keeping up with the other blogs and I look forward to getting involved in the community again.

How Much Does A Vegas Bachelorette Party Cost

One of the questions that I wondered about when planning this was what exactly does a Vegas Bachelorette Party Cost? Now that our party is over, I can tell you that it’s important to realize that you can plan a Vegas Bachelorette Party without having to spend a lot of money. This is our breakdown of costs for Friday night – Sunday:

  • Airport shuttle for 4 of the girls: $32
  • Drinks/Snack for the hotel room: $50
  • Gift for the bachelorette (“bedroom” things): $150
  • 2 hotel rooms at the Palazzo (includes tips, resort fees and a little rounding up just to make the total an even number): $950
  • Limo to the Strip club- $40 (the limo is free but we tipped $20 each way)
  • Lap dance for the bachelorette at the Strip club – $20
  • Drinks at the Strip club – $120 (one round for 8 girls)
  • Encore Beach – food – $40
  • Encore Beach – drinks – $46 (this was the first round, after that, guys offered their cabana drinks to us)
  • Dinner (Grand Lux @ Palazzo) – $145
  • Marquee – cab from Palazzo to Cosmo – $60 (for 2 cabs, round trip)
  • Marquee – drinks – $105

Total weekend: $1758

Split between 7 girls (not including the bachelorette): $250 / person

I believe we did a great job in keeping our costs low because a weekend in Vegas can definitely run you much more than $250 a person. We had plenty of things to do to fill our time there without breaking the bank. I don’t think anyone actually felt like we were trying to be frugal about anything – it still felt like we splurged on the whole weekend.

Things that we almost did that would have significantly raised our costs:

  • Getting bottle service at either (or both) Encore Beach and Marquee
  • Taking a limo to Marquee instead of a taxi (limo would have been about $80 each way or $160 total instead of $60 total)
  • Saw Thunder From Down Under (about $60/ticket =  extra $480)
  • Went to a fancy lunch on Sunday instead of random pizza place (we almost with to Bouchon but went to Grimaldi’s instead) – would have been about $30/person or $240.
  • Went to a spa – on average, a spa treatment in Vegas would have been about $150 so this would have been an extra $1200

If we had done all of these things, our costs per person would have increased to almost $500 each. By deciding we didn’t need all of these extra things, we were able to cut our costs in half – without feeling like we were missing out! None of the “extras” I listed above are things that I wish we had done.

Remember, it’s definitely possible that Vegas Bachelorette Party costs can be kept low. It’s Vegas after all, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to have a great time – especially when you’re going with a group of girls!

10 Things To Know When Planning a Las Vegas Bachelorette Party

When my friend asked her to be her maid of honor, I knew that this would also include throwing her a Bachelorette party. When I asked her what she had in mind, she told me Las Vegas. I then spent the next couple of months trying to figure out how to throw the best Bachelorette party ever in Vegas. And while it might not have been the most epic party ever thrown, all the girls had a great time last weekend and that’s what matters. Here are the top 10 things I learned while planning this Las Vegas Bachelorette Party:

1) If you are getting two rooms, connecting suites make the party so much better. At first, I was afraid that I’d have two rooms and we would be segregated into two groups but I managed to talk my way into connecting suites. If you have to, slip the front desk clerk a <a href=http://www.frontdesktip.com/faq>$20 sandwich</a>. A lot of the time, the girls at a bachelorette party don’t know each other so having connecting suites gives everyone the chance to talk more.

2) Plan some Bachelorette themed ice breaker games. If all the girls know each other, then there’s no need for this but I’m going to assume that there’s at least a couple who haven’t met the rest of the group. This means that it may be awkward at first – and planning some ice breaker games (especially ones that involve alcohol) can really help at the beginning.

3) Find out how much the girls in the group drink before getting bottle service, figuring out how much alcohol to bring, etc. I didn’t even think about this and was hustling trying to get us a good deal on bottle service. I finally decided to pass on the bottle service – and I’m so glad I did because it turned out that most girls in my group wouldn’t have more than one drink. Also, I way overpacked on alcohol and ended up having to bring a lot home.

You definitely should bring something – I found that Malibu Coconut Rum and pineapple juice is the most popular drink that even girls who don’t drink will have. Having some in your room will help get the party started earlier, and of course, you have to pre-party before you go out to the clubs.

Also, bottle service is not a necessity. I thought about doing it at both the nightclub and the dayclub (we went to Encore Beach) and decided on neither – which was the right decision. Guys at both places were willing to share their cabanas/daybeds as well as their alcohol. Keep in mind you’re a group of girls – and probably looking hot in Vegas! Guys are very friendly. :)

4) The best time to show up to a nightclub is before 11pm – and a dayclub around 11am. Some clubs may not be popping until later but we went to Marquee, and that place was already packed by 10pm. If you show up at 11 or later, be prepared to wait in a long line – unless you got bottle service. Same with the dayclub; show up before 12pm and you’ll be able to get a good spot along the pool edge instead of just having to hang out in the middle or by some planters. Keep in mind that dayclubs don’t have re-entry but they do offer food so either wake up earlier to eat (didn’t happen with us because everyone was too busy getting dressed) or just buy food there.

5) Get on the guestlist. Even though it seems that virtually everyone is offering guestlist services these days, it still helps put you in the shorter line. Yes, you may still have to wait. But at least you won’t have to wait as long as the people not on a guestlist. If you need to find a guestlist, just Google it or ask around on Twitter. There are plenty of promoters around.

6) If you want to watch a show, check out the times and make sure it fits your schedule – and buy tickets in advance. We were planning on going to watch Thunder From Down Under and I slacked on buying tickets – until they were almost sold out. It turned out not to be a bad thing though because the show times were only 9 PM and 11 PM and we only had one night – the night we wanted to go clubbing. Neither of those times would have worked out since we wanted to get to the club before 11 PM so we ended up skipping the show.

7) If you want something “out of the ordinary” to do, check out a strip club. We ended up going to Treasures (our other choice was Sapphire) and all the girls had a lot of fun. They provide free limo transportation (which of course you should tip) and free entry – and no minimum drinks. Guys may end up spending a lot of money but we just bought one round of drinks for everyone ($120 for 8 girls) and a lapdance for the bachelorette ($20). I’d recommend Treasures or Sapphire – don’t go to some other seedy strip club.

8 ) Pay for everything up front and then split with the girls later. This just made the whole thing so much easier – I paid for the hotel, drinks, dinner, etc and on the last day, calculated everything and split it. It’s so much less stress than trying to split every bill and make the bachelorette feel like it’s all about the money.

9) Girls take a long time to get ready so plan accordingly. I thought I gave us plenty of time – but it turned out that we still ran late. With 8 girls, it took us about 2 hours to get ready for each event (in the morning for the dayclub, at night for dinner/nightclub, etc). And of course, we had to take group pictures before we could leave. All of this means make your dinner reservations with that in mind.

10) After 2 days of partying, everyone will be exhausted. Make the last day a recovery day – either an easy day of gambling or plan a small spa trip. We went on Friday night and after Friday night and Saturday all day and night partying, everyone was completely drained on Sunday. I’m really glad I didn’t plan anything for that day other than some gambling.

The most important thing is to remember that all of this is for the bachelorette! The best thing about my group was that all the girls never complained – even when they were about to pass out from exhaustion. Whatever the bachelorette wanted to do is what we did and we all had an amazing time. No matter how stressful planning a Vegas Bachelorette Party may seem, don’t worry too much! It’s Vegas after all – fun is guaranteed!

Have you ever planned or attended a Las Vegas Bachelorette Party? Share stories and tips below!

Part 2: How Much Does A Vegas Bachelorette Party Cost is coming soon – complete with a breakdown of all of our costs!

The Next Two Months

I’ve been so busy with work and, well, life over the last few months and it’s not looking like things are going to change anytime soon. The next couple of months are going to be busy ones, not just for me but also for my wallet. Here’s my schedule – with the financial details:

This weekend: It’s my last “free” weekend for awhile! I need to do a few things to prepare for a wedding I’m in though. I need to get my dress altered as well as buy the underthings and the shoes. I’m thinking this will cost me about $100. I also need to buy things for the bachelorette party – that will probably run me another $100.

8/24-26: It’s a Vegas bachelorette party for the aforementioned wedding. I’m the maid of honor so I’ve been planning this thing for awhile now. The hotel rooms are already paid for and I’m looking forward to all the girls paying me back for this. This should net me about $700 back since I paid upfront.

However, with all the stuff we’re planning on doing, I think my budget for this weekend will be about $300.

8/30-9/2: I’m off to Colardo! G and I are going to go visit some friends over there – and these are actually friend we met online so here’s hoping they don’t turn into axe murderers. Considering how well we know them, I’m not worried about this so I’m just planning on having a fun trip! The flights are already paid for ($230 for each of us) and we’re staying with them so we don’t have to pay for a hotel. My budget for this trip: $300 since I’m not sure what we’re doing yet.

9/7-9/9: This weekend has just a couple things so far. Friday will be a coworker’s birthday party which means I need to buy a gift (around $20) and Saturday is a baby shower so that’s another gift (maybe $40 for that). Then Sunday, I think we might be doing an all day hike which I want to buy water shoes for ($20) and miscellaneous snacks and stuff (another $20?). Overall, even if I spend $100 this weekend, it’s one of my cheaper ones.

9/14-9/16: I’m going back to Vegas! This time it’s for a joint bachelor/bachelorette/wedding. Might sound strange but I’m friends with both people in this couple – Saturday, we’re separating into the guys and girls so we can take the girl on a great bachelorette party and then Sunday, they’re getting married in Vegas. We decided to fly out there Friday night and then drive back with a friend on Sunday (flight cost: $77) and the girls actually get a free hotel room so the savings there is nice. However, the party + wedding gift, I’m budgeting around $200 for this.

9/21-9/23: Time for that first wedding I mentioned! It’s in Monterey which I’ve heard is a beautiful (and expensive) wedding. Hotel rooms haven’t been paid for but it was about $250/night for 2 nights – split between 4 people so about $125 for my portion. Then there will anything I need to do for the wedding – nails, hair, all of that – but I’m hoping this won’t be too excessive. Including the hotel room, I’m thinking maybe $250 for this weekend.

9/28 – 9/30: Finally a “free” weekend! This weekend will be spent celebrating my roommate’s birthday (gift + dinner: $60) and playing a game that I’m looking forward to (need to buy it for about $40). Kind of sad when I think $100 is a cheap weekend.

10/6: It’s my birthday! I want to go to a bar near my house with all my friends to celebrate but I’m thinking that I won’t have to spend money so…cheap weekend for me!

The next two weekends are actually plan-less which is pretty crazy, given everything I just talked about. I’ll be spending money though preparing for our…

10/27: Halloween party! We’ve done this twice so far (2009 and 2011) and it’s so much fun. However, we do end up spending a lot of money on this – I’m thinking this year, we’ll spend about $300 on decorations, costumes and food.

This means that over the next two months, I’ve budgeted about $1750 as extra expenses.

Even though I’m looking forward to all of these plans, that’s kind of a depressing number to think about. However, I wouldn’t change any of it. I’m excited about all the events coming up!

A Weekend Of Lost Money

This weekend somehow became one incredibly expensive weekend. Here is the damage:

Friday night – went out for a girls’ night out. Dinner and drinks ran me about $80.
Saturday – bought a new BBQ grill. Goodbye $200. We’re planning on having a pool party on Saturday so we had to buy some supplies for it. Spent $50 at Target. Had to buy some cat supplies too so spent $65 at Petsmart. Went to Home Depot and bought more household stuff for another $65.
Saturday night – Went to dinner with my sister for her birthday. Gave her $150 for her birthday plus dinner for $110.
Sunday – finally didn’t spend any money!

This weekend ended up costing me about $720. I know it was an unusual weekend, both with a big purchase (that we had planned on getting) and my sister’s birthday but it’s still more than I like to spend, especially when I didn’t really budget for it. I’ve been way more relaxed with budgeting which means purchases like these happen “unexpectedly”.

My next big expense is Saturday because we’re throwing that pool party – I still need to buy all the food. I plan to hit Costco and stock up on hot dogs and everything because there will be about 30 people there. I have to say, I love having parties but I really do hate the expenses behind them. I usually do it potluck style so I don’t have to buy that much but this time I decided to change it up…and now I forget why I did that.

Do you throw parties often? How do you deal with the expenses?

My Mistake

Ok guys, I know I’ve gone AWOL and I’ll be honest, I needed a small break from blogging for real life. And then today I paid my credit card bill and I realized that somewhere during this time, I messed up.

Yeah. My bill for last month was $1770. Now, I know not all of this is bad – I had to reserve some hotel rooms for my friend’s bachelorette party and I’ll get reimbursed for that by the other girls later. But the fact that I didn’t save up the money in advance to pay for this – and still spent about another $1000 – something went wrong.

I know I did a lot more shopping than I usually do. I bought clothes, shoes and ate out a lot. And I’m still trying to resist more shopping because I just found this coat and I can’t get it off of my mind:

I posted about it on Facebook and everyone told me just to get it. “Why not?” They asked.

Why not? Because it’s $205 after shipping. For a coat. That I don’t need.

On a side note, I think I started losing interest in this blog because I tried to make it more of a personal finance advice blog – and it turns out that’s not my strengths. I’m going to keep this what it started as – my own blog about my personal finance experiences.

I’m back. :)