I’ve just finished my first week of delivering fliers. Next week will be tricky when I add two more routes!

The fliers I deliver are the bi-weekly coupons, local information, and other material that folks wait for to plan their weekly shopping. So, except for the odd barking dog and lots of wind, this is a pleasant gig. Quite a few people meet me at the door, eager to get started on their coupon clipping. This afternoon was particularly nice; I waited and waited for the temperature to rise above zero and ended up doing my route on a pleasantly warm and sunny late afternoon with no wind. As I did my laps around the neighbourhoods drinking in the rare sunshine I had to keep reminding myself “I’m getting paid for this!”

The next flier runs start on Tuesday and job hunting is pretty much pointless on weekends, so I’m taking tomorrow off and going on another road trip with Jody. We may even leave the solar system…

The Lethbridge Herald pays by direct deposit, so I had to go to the bank this morning to get a deposit form filled out. This is new to me; in Quebec and BC the employers provide the forms or you can just give a void cheque. I then needed to go to the newspaper office, the post office, and Walmart.

The post office is right across from the bank. And the newspaper is a block away! Lethbridge has voracious parking metres, so it was nice to be able to park once and top up the metre as needed. Walmart is out of the way from home, though.

Jody had the bright idea of giving me last year’s phone book to keep in the car and it came in handy when it was time to go to the newspaper office: my GPS did not recognize “Lethbridge Herald.” I was able to find the address in the phone book, enter it in the GPS, and learn that I needed to get back out of the car and walk. 🙂

There were two reasons for going to the newspaper office; dropping off the deposit form and to clarify my routes for this week since I had a ton of flyers left over yesterday. Good thing I did because the circulation manager had goofed so I missed one yesterday. No big deal, I have two days to do both routes, so I’ll head out shortly and do the route this afternoon.

The three routes yesterday took an hour each and I was very grateful to have a little grocery buggy to lug with me. The routes are smartly laid out so you can do a circuit. I’d park the car at the beginning/end of the circuit, load the buggy to the brim, and add one bundle to my very cute canvas newspaper carrier’s bag (complete with orange safety tape; much nice than yellow! 😀 ). So, I never had to carry so much as to give me shoulder pain and I never had to double back to the car to get more flyers. I need to do all four again tomorrow and I think it will go faster now that I have a better idea of the most efficient way of doing the routes.

Between all the walking and stair climbing, this job is going to be an excellent workout and just the motivation I’ve been needing to get more exercise. It’s going to be quite the time commitment since next week I’ll move from four to six routes, but it’s not like I have much else to do! I think the circulation manager was very pleased that I was so eager to pick up that many routes, much less start right away since someone quit without notice!

Jody let me know that for some unfathomable reason, Lethbridge grocery stores offer a 15% discount on the first Tuesday of the month. I was due for a good stock up, so she and I headed out to Save-On this afternoon.

My first pass through the store just about made me sick with sticker shock after two months in the US! But that passed and I was able to recognize deals and began to fill my cart the way I do before heading north. I had budgeted a couple hundred bucks for a really big pantry and freezer fill, so I didn’t do my usual tally of my cart as I shopped. So you can imagine that I was thrilled that after applying the discount I get with my Save-On card and the 15%, I got out of there with a bill of $108!

After, Jody took me down to the Lethbridge Herald office and got me signed up with a couple of flyer routes! It’s paid exercise that I can do on my schedule on set days and while not a living wage will most definitely help my bottom line. I start right now! My car trunk is filled with flyers and I’ll be heading off to make deliveries soon as I print off a map. I would never have thought to apply for something like that and I’m glad Jody suggested it!

As soon as I knew I had a place to stay in Lethbridge through to the fall (and that I loved the location!), I was quite motivated to focus my job search here rather than expanding my radius to the entirety of southern Alberta. I’m still leaving all doors open, but I am very encouraged by the number of job ads daily that I can apply for here. In the last few weeks, I’ve been able to apply for more jobs that I’m perfectly suited for in terms of both qualifications and the length of of the contract than I saw in my four months in the Vancouver area!

Just a few months ago, I thought I would never again want a ‘real’ job, but that was before I went to the States. Now, I just want a real job that pays more than just a living wage so I can sock away as much as I can for next winter!

I have an interview lined up with a placement agency on the 15th, but I’ve never had any luck with those sorts of places, so I keep on sending out resumes. I’m averaging three a day, so something good is bound to pan out. In fact, the ads I’m seeing are making me so confident I’ll find something I love that I’m being picky. I might change my tune by the end of the month, but I have the luxury of a couple of weeks to be choosy so I’m not going to grab the first thing I’m offered if it’s not appealing.