Thursday, May 22, 2014

Down and Up

All of 2013 I was working for the US company at half the number of hours I used to work. This meant I was slowly sliding back into debt, but still managing to pay for most of it even as I was accumulating more and more once again. At one poing in November 2013 I asked for a loan from CitiBank in this country. They approved and I was able to roll in most of my credit card debt into it. In January 2014 I was told by the US company that I was no longer needed on a permanent basis. They would only give me a small retainer to watch over things when the main IT guy would go on vacation or leave. Things quickly went bad since then. I stopped paying my debt, specially my new debt. Calls started comming in and thru bonuses, and small gigs I was able to keep things from moving to legal actions but still being called almost every day. I was working hard at my main job on a new project since June 2013 with the expectation of a raise, although the amount was never disclosed. So far things have not materialized on that end. I tried here and there to get gigs and additional income but none of it was in the range of the levels I needed to come back to normality. I basically need about $2500 monthly to cover the needs not covered by my main job's income. I have a long term gig that could provide almost half of that monthtly but only in about a year or so after completing programming of a brand new cellphone repair shop app. Out of the blue on May 2 the IT guy at the US company calls me and tells me he is going to give his two week notice and that I should start preparing to take over while the company gets a new IT guy. This is great news for me but not as much as it seems it's a temporary thing. In a conference call with the President/owner and the Project Manager and the IT guy I'm told I will take most of the things the IT guy did, while they looked for a replacement. I would report to the project manager meanwhile. I took over from the IT guy on may 10. A few days later I was told by the project manager that they would not look for a replacement for the IT guy. I would take over permanently over his tasks and more so when they would move their equipment offsite, as local IT guy would have the same access as I do from here. So for now I'm cautiously optimistic that I will be able to get back on track with my debts. I slid back in some debt so I'm almost starting over again. I have no choice but to push on. One more positive note is that my daughter is finishing high school and requesting scholarship at a local college. This would free up around $400 a month from her school tuition. Even if she doesn't get the scholarship there are far more financing options for her in college than in school. I hope at least for a 50% scholarship. This would allow me to pay for the school tuition for my other daughter with my June and Christmas bonus rather than just putting my credit card for it and paying some part later as I do now. That is all for now. I'm tired but sleeping much better now than since January.