Frugal chicos journal - ERE in The Basque Country

[Frugalchicos]

I just quit today. Everything as planned, last day is 8/9, and I will have a week vacation when the baby is born at the end of July.

I feel great and very relieved I got that out off my chest. The end is close

[Jason]

Congrats.

FYI - its typically expressed as "off my chest." Unless its like a Sigourney Weaver in "Alien" type of thing.

[Frugalchicos]

Thanks and thanks for the grammar lesson

[Ego]

That's great! Congratulations!

How did they take it? You two have so many wonderful things happening in your lives. I though maybe they'd suggest you work remotely from Basque-landia as well.

[Frugalchicos]

Thanks Ego!

He took it as expected. No expression whatsoever, cold face, just worried about me fucking up his third vacation of the year that it is around late August. My boss never congratulated me for the decision and the move.

Working remotely in this company is like talking about traveling to the Moon. They are very reticent to anything that has to do with technology or means a change. Eg: they decided to have computers in the office about 8 years ago (not everyone was given access to internet though ). They still print every incoming and out-coming email because they don’t trust in computers and want to have everything on paper....so yeah, working remotely is not even an option in their minds. Besides, I can’t wait to get out of that narrow minded company .

I bet I will find something that suits me back home.

[Frugalchicos]

So....finally shit hit the fan... today my boss got dramatic, very personal and irrational AF.

As I mentioned previously, I gave my 7 week notice last week on 6/25 with my last day being 8/9. Please, note the 7 WEEK notice because I will get back to that later.

Long story short, my boss interviewed a guy through a referral I gave him and wants him to start asap. He informed me my last day will be this upcoming Friday instead of 8/9 . I informed him I will file unemployment for the month that I was supposed to be working and he got crazy... When I mean crazy, I mean irrational and making it very, very personal. Basically telling me that I betrayed him, that the 7 week notice is ridiculously short and that he can't believe how bad I'm treating him when he did so much for me (Idk where the fuck he lives, but in my world, you pay me for working and it is a mutual agreement).

Basically, I had to put him in his place and remind him that I don't owe anything to anybody. It was just so nonsense and I was about to tell him to fuck off when I saw there was no return ( I only spat on his car when I went out for a short walk after lunch).

Anyways, I only have two more days of work and the only reason I am staying these two days is because I am really hoping to get the unemployment for this month . He still owes me this week salary and 3 accrued vacation days. I can really see him attempting to not paying me the vacation days. He better do it unless he wants me to punch his POS face or/and pour water over his computer when he leaves early (as usual).

Glad I am finally getting out of that depressing, nonsense place (I can't even explain myself how the fuck I got there and stayed there for 4 years !!). It is time to heal, enjoy time with the parents, my soon to be born daughter and train like freakin nuts to eliminate all this aggression and stress built up over time.

Cheers everyone!

[Ego]

Careful. No need to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Send him a nice timestamped email explaining how greatful you are for all he did for you and how much you enjoyed working for him these past four years. List specific things that he believes he did for you. Then, in a short one-sentence paragraph let him know how sad you were when you learned that you would only be needed to work until July X when you provided notice for an August 9 departure, but tell him you understand his desire to get the new person in as soon as possible. Then go on for a long paragraph about how much you want the transition to go well and how you will gladly be available by phone or email to make that happen. List some specifics on things you did to make the transition as smooth as possible. Created a list of x and a troubleshooting sheet for y. You might link a few of these to the email.

He may be less than civil. So be it. I would imagine that your goal at this point is not to win (read some of your recent posts, you have already have won at life), your goal now is to not do or say anything to mess that up.

[Frugalchicos]

Thanks Ego,

I will follow your advise and send him the email on Friday. I think it is a great idea

[Frugalchicos]

Time for our monthly update:

JUNE INCOME – $10,283.66
Chico’s Salary – $4,333.81
Chica’s Salary – $5,764.64
eBay Sales – $185.21

JUNE EXPENSES – $4,054.49
Rent: $1,400 (includes $1,250 for rent + $150 for parking)
Car Insurance: $62.17
Gas (Car): $157.26
Groceries: $469.54
Cellphones: $21.74 (note: Chica’s work pays her cellphone bill, this is just Chico’s phone plan with Lycamobile)
Internet: $74.23
Electricity: $42.86
Chico’s Gym: $29.99
Misc./Entertainment: $775.29 (includes birthday gifts ($100 in our birthday gifts - $105, our blog frugalchicos.com renewal - $140, CC membership fee - $95, Wedding gift - $100)
My parents retirement trip to Miami - $1,021.41 – includes airfare and hotel for 3 people, 4 nights (we decided to invite them to a trip to Miami for everything they did for us)

We saved 60.57% of our take home salary. This doesn’t include any 401K contributions or retirement plans.

CURRENT ASSETS: $405,060.23 ($22,274.23 increase from last month)
Cash savings: $148,393
Investments: $184,362.75
Chico’s Retirement: $13,218.15
Chica’s 401K: $59,086.33

[Frugalchicos]

Achievements:
- I told FU to my boss giving a 7 week notice for 8/9 being the last day. He decided to speed up the process and bitter it up being my last day on Friday 7/5. I filed for unemployment for the remaining 7 weeks (I count that as a win )
- Did I say I don't have to go back to the cave tomorrow or anymore at all???
- We are back to going to Aldi and spent $100 less than last month.
- We have done a great job at going to friends' houses for dinners and gatherings, saving some money vs going to restaurants, etc.
- This has been our last meeting before mini chica is born. Only two weeks to see her little face.

Goals:
- We need to keep doing a better job at not staring at our phones like idiots before going to bed.
- I have 12 weeks to train for the half marathon. I cooked today a ton of healthy food. Now that I have more time, I will take the training and nutrition much more seriously.
- I am also going to do a fitness challenge, I will try to gain about 10lbs of muscle in the next 3 months.
- The long hair and beard are doing pretty good. I stopped shaving my neck and will let it go wild (only shaving the upper cheeks)
- We have two potential buyers for the car. The goal is selling it by the end of this month.

All in all, I am very happy with how things have gone and I am very excited to enjoy the summer in Chicago. My parents are coming in 4 days and they will stay with us for 6 weeks to help us with the baby .

This is the cave I will never see again:

[classical_Liberal]

You're done!? Congrats!!!!

[sky]

Welcome to the other side.

[Frugalchicos]

@ Classical Liberal
Yup, at least for all 2019... I will get the return emigrant help for up to 18 months in Spain. I will probably seriously start looking for a job after Christmas.

@Sky
Thanks man, I will soak it in slowly and enjoy the time off

[ItsALongStory]

Congrats! Are you guys leaving mid august or not until the fall? Why not collect unemployment through your final day on US Soil? Surely you've paid plenty of taxes over the years so collecting 2-4 more months of unemployment isn't unethical.

[Frugalchicos]

@ItsALongStory

Oh boy, I have no problem with getting unemployment for years if I could...However, since I gave my notice for 8/9, I assume I will get paid until that date (I will have a hearing and I better be honest with how the facts actually happened)

[Frugalchicos]

23 days of fun-employment. Days go by pretty quickly. The daily routine has been pretty much as follows: breakfast with the family (bowl of fruit and a toast of baguette with olive oil) work out or running, beach or long walks and waiting for little chica to come. She is 7 days delayed and we can't wait to hold her and see her little face.Also, Friday was Chica's last day of work until November! It is great that she will have almost a month to adjust to The Basque Country and help setting up the new place before she starts working again.

Tomorrow I have the interview with the unemployment office to determine if I get paid for the 5 weeks that I could have continued working. I can't wait to get it done and move on with this chapter of my life.

I am still trying to sell some crap on eBay. So far, I have been successful selling some clothes and stuff I had laying around that I never used. I am also waiting for little chica to be here and sell the car... thinking about it, I might just put it on sale the weekend of 8/9 since Chica will be induced on Tuesday if she doesn't deliver earlier.

To be honest, I didn't have a lot of time to think about anything. I just enjoy my time and lay around doing anything, or work out or go for long runs. Not much of a thinker this days. I feel I already thought about all the moving stuff and so on during these last couple of years. I guess it is time to lay back and enjoy the time off a little bit.

[mooretrees]

Good luck and I hope for a safe birth and healthy little chica! I've enjoyed your journal and can't wait to read about your return home.

[Frugalchicos]

@mooretrees

thanks!! Little chica was born on Wednesday. She was 7lbs and 9oz and 21". She is a perfect bundle of cuteness. She is back at home, eating pooping and sleeping. Quite a busy agenda.

On another note, I got approved for the unemployment benefits.I already got paid for the first period. I am just not sure until when I will receive them... It seems that potentially until the end of the year?

Here we have a couple of pics of little chica being cute.

[Seppia]

AWWWWWWWWWW
She’s so cute! Congrats to the three of you!

This must be so fulfilling.
Hugs and kisses your way from DW and I

[Jason]

Congratulations.

My first thought was not only is that a cute baby, but that's a tall baby. So I googled "average height of newborn" and it said the average length (lying down) is 19-20 but the range is 18-22 so she is skewing towards the tall side.