Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Some ideas need

Some ideas that are floated need this Wonder Woman response:




















Yeah, there was an allegedly-budget-cutting idea floated here late yesterday afternoon, I got the e-mail about it this morning, and that was pretty much my response. (Except with less fabulous haircut and tiara).

I dunno. I think there are some folks here in Full Panic Mode and that's bad, because I can't tell if it's just someone panicking, if it's someone being totally disingenuous and trying to get the faculty and staff to give stuff up under the guise of "retrenchment," or if it really is time to panic.

I admit, I looked at the Chronicle job ads this morning. There's one at a SLAC in Wisconsin but it's not exactly the kind of research I do so I have no idea if I'd have a shot at the job, and also, I DO NOT WANT to leave here, not if I don't have to.

I'm also a little unhappy after learning that the 45% increase in our "water" bill is actually a 45% increase in water, sewer, AND trash pick up - meaning my minimum bill (what I usually am billed, I don't use that much water as I rarely water my lawn and am careful otherwise) will go up about $30 in a month. And my health insurance costs are going up $70 a month.....so that's $100 I have to find now in the budget, for not-fun things. (And of course the price of food steadily marches upward....)

So, what am I going to do? Scale back on "fun" spending (buying yarn, etc.) and perhaps cut back a little on my charitable giving. I HATE doing that second and I feel like I'm being a bad person for considering it, but....I don't know. I don't want to cut back on contributions to my retirement fund as I might wind up needing it earlier than I originally anticipated. (And I don't want to wind up having to accept charity some day because I gave so much earlier on). I can't cut back much on food; I don't eat at restaurants more than once or twice a month and I rarely eat meat, and I consider buying fresh fruit and vegetables an investment in my health rather than a frippery. Probably cheaper Christmas gifts this year and I will be asking my parents for stuff like new shoes rather than "fun" things. Ugh.

I had dropped back to getting a Graze box monthly (a lot of the things I can't really eat, because hard food), so I cancelled it altogether today. That's $6 a month. (And wow, do they try to guilt people into staying. I wanted a place to say "I broke a tooth once and now am afraid to eat nuts, and also, I need to save every penny I can")

One place I'm going to cut back is scholarship giving at the various institutions I attended. It's sad but it is a place I can cut out without feeling quite as much guilt.

So yeah,  I'm not happy about this proposal of "Do some more work for no more pay" especially because I fear that if we agree to THIS, then something else down the line that is more-work-for-no-more-pay will be added. And on, and on. (And there have been no pay increases, not even the "experience bump" we normally get).

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