PTO Woes

I'm just at work right now and overheard two people talking about their "Paid Time Off" Days and how they had sooo many saved up right now. It immediately caught my attention because I am sooo deficit in my PTO. We get 10 holidays off a year, plus 20 days (i.e. 4 weeks) of PTO a year. No sick days though. This seems like a tons of days you would think. Turns out I apparently love taking vacations like crazy because I am currently -26.96 hours in the whole (you can take up to 40 hours in advance and just earn it back every pay cycle).

So, I was just brainstorming on why in the world I am so in debt on my PTO while others seem to have in abundance. Here is what I remember from the last few years...

2008

• Began in the positive
• Two weddings in June over the course of two weeks (Kara Jean's in Utah, Todd's in So Cal)
• Family wedding in August (Ashley and Dave)
• One of my best friend's weddings in September (Jenn and Ryan)
• A few days off for Thanksgiving and Christmas, including forced time off over New Years, but it turned out ridiculously happy because that's when we got engaged)

2009

• Family wedding in January (Kev and Rachael - and actually I didn't have to take any time off for this, but still... just so you get an idea of how busy we were with weddings!!)
• Family wedding in February (Heidi and Seth)
• April: Mark's graduation, our wedding, and our honeymoon!!!
• 6 days required forced time off during the fall
• And lots of days off for Christmas again with forced time off and taking time to see both families!

Okay, so once I actually listed it out, it doesn't sound so bad. I just was so aghast to hear people talking aobut their excess PTO. I just wish I wasn't so in the hole...