Our savings were looking mighty well around December, and well, things happened. We had a death in the family, we got sick and missed some work, and last week we had major car troubles. None of these things that happened are ever planned, so it helped when we had money saved up for them. The problem now is, we have just hit under 2k in savings…so quickly.
Usually, if there are minor car troubles, my husband will work on them. If they are more involved, our mechanic friend will handle it. However, my husband had a feeling there was a major issue and since we had an extended warranty, we decided to get it checked out at the dealer. Long story short-we ended up paying almost $700…and that is after the warranty. Otherwise, the costs would have been in the thousands. We really thought long and hard on just picking up the car and getting the parts and everything ourselves, but by the time we averaged all the prices and labor costs–it was cheaper to get it done by the dealer. Our friend is a friend but doesn’t work for free–and we do not expect him to. We decided it would be cheaper to let the warranty cover it’s part and we will cover the rest.
So my Civic is out of the shop–again. With even more newer parts on it. Geese, that car is almost brand new if you go by everything that has been replaced on it. Word to the wise–if you ever get in a car accident in a new car–stick to your guns. These insurance companies will try to repair it and give it back to you to save money. I know the car wasn’t right and I refused to take it back. Of course, it was only by the advice of an attorney that I ended up back with the car. I did not want the car back-it should have been totaled. Look at all the problems I have with it.
Anyway…
Now it is February (where the heck did January go?) and it is time to get really budget-minded. I need to get that savings back up quickly. Who knows when another emergency might happen. Before, if emergencies would happen–credit cards were our crutch. Not anymore. So it is off to work I go. My goal:
$5k in savings by March …oops, had to edit that one. I meant May. May is much more realistic. 
Can I do it? Yeah, I think I can
Tags: savings
I waited all weekend to call Experian and when I got the chance to yesterday–all I did was deal with an automated machine that after 50 million prompts would tell me that no agent can help me because the office is closed. Hello, I was calling after 8am all the way to 9am and got the same recording. Their hours are 8am-5pm. I could not deal with it any longer. I was already late for work, my little one was sick and we ran into major car issues (more on that later). So yeah, “Monday, Monday” was playing in my head.
I would have loved to call from work but I have a boss that sits right on top of me..all day. So basically, I make no personal calls all day–and I don’t have a lunch break to do it either. Yeah, it’s legal…don’t even make me go there. So I am home because the little one that decided to go to school sick yesterday–so she wouldn’t fall behind, is flat-out sicker than ever. My husband is overloaded and can’t stay home. So I am here and I needed to be. Great time to catch up on my other work, be here for my little girl, and get someone on the phone at Experian.
I remember talk about sites that will tell you how to get a “live” person on the phone at some of these big companies. Wow-What a lifesaver. I found a number and directions for Experian. I am posting a link here and let me tell you…I was on and off the phone in less than 13 minutes! For them, that was awesome. As I was on hold, I was reading horror stories and I was nervous. Experian did alright. I am still pissed I had to wait all weekend, but I think I got to the bottom of it.
Basically after giving my basic info to the first rep(that was very nice by the way) that helped me, she recognized right away there was a problem. She then transferred me to “that department”. My next rep was nice too and she was helpful. My main concern was if creditors were going to start hounding me for this other person with the same name. She could not offer any answers about that but assured me they will handle my “credit reporting issues”.
She also seen there was a mix-up and I was getting questioned on what names and addresses were mine. I was then told my file is obviously mixed up with someone else and that there is another “special” department that will go through everything and clear it up. I will then receive an updated copy of my credit report when it is all straightened out.
So now, it is a waiting game. I am sure there will be the few legit discrepancies, but I am not touching anything until they are done with what they are doing. As far as the 4 disputes I initiated, I can only hope Experian intercepts them so the creditors do not get them. I don’t want to deal with relentless creditors and collection agencies again. Luckily, my credit report info shows my PO Box and Cell #. If they start, well then I guess it will be finally time to get a new phone number.
I’ll update here with the outcome.
I wanted to update my credit report situation. Well, Equifax had a few errors that I am going to dispute online. TransUnion, Believe it or not, was actually the credit reporting agency with the least amount of errors. I did a quick dispute of the 4 minor problems I found:
- The CRV showing a balance and repo-this was included in my bankruptcy
- The CIVIC is showing that it was included in my bankruptcy
- Mohawk GE showing charged off but it was included in bankruptcy
- City Furniture-same thing
Not bad for TransUnion. Now Experian, well pulling my credit file on a Friday night was not a smart idea. Experian nearly gave me a heart attack and I literally could not sleep at all Friday or last night. I have been on edge all weekend. Put it this way, my Experian report included almost 50 pages of charge offs, collection accounts, thousands in hospital bills, inquiries, multiple bankruptcies–apparently that are not even mine. I started disputing them until I realized there was a serious problem.
At first I thought identity theft but then I looked at the age of some of these accounts and it was during my bankruptcy period. All of that would have came up when I filed. Also, the other 2 credit reporting agencies were showing the correct accounts–they just were not reporting correctly. So I felt a little better.
When I got to the final pages of the credit report, I found something really alarming. I found my name, address, and other correct personal info like my phone number and husband’s name. What also showed up was personal information of other women–with the same first name as me! It also showed their DOB, last 4 of their social security numbers, their employer info. It goes on and on. Not only did that bother me–it is just disturbing on so many levels!
For one, the same way I am seeing their info–they are probably seeing mine. What also bothers me is the fact that after trying to research this, I see this is somewhat common but not so common where I could actually figure out what to do. It sounds like my credit file may have been mixed or split? Not sure really and not sure if it will be a hassle to fix. Experian, well they are closed on weekends so all I had was their 24/7 automated Fraud hot-line to get aggravated with.
What has me the most concerned is: now that I started disputing items that I thought were not mine, did I open up a can of worms? Because technically these are “someone’s” bills and creditors and collection agencies are going to be looking for their money. Once you open a dispute, the credit report agency contacts the creditor to verify information and may update your info with them. Great. Does this mean they are going to start hounding me for accounts that are not mine? This is what has me worried!
I just went through this whole debt nightmare and do not want to relive this crap all over again. So I am hoping I am just reading more into this than what I should. Gosh I hope so. My weekend has been screwed. I was feeling really good until all of this. I backed my work up because I could not concentrate. I did get to do my Disney Give a Day Get a Day volunteer work yesterday. That helped me get my mind off things for a while. But, as soon as I got home I was back to researching this stuff.
I can not wait until Experian opens tomorrow. I am calling before I go into work because I can’t sit and think about this all day. It will drive me crazy. I will update here with the outcome–if there is one.
Tags: credit reporting, credit reports, disputing credit report, Equifax, Experian, TransUnion
I have decided that I am going to take up the whole “cleaning up my credit” thing on my own. I am not going to consult our bankruptcy attorney or anything. I don’t think there is a need to. I have done a lot of research on cleaning up your credit after bankruptcy and I think, no as a matter of fact, I KNOW I can do it on my own.
I don’t have time to do it today because I have a HUGE deadline to meet for a writing client I have. I am so loving the fact that I can write on a subject I love. However, I have been writing about the same thing for a few hours now and I need to take a few minutes away from writing so I don’t start to sound too repetitious! lol
I got my FICO Score from myfico.com and just paid for my Equifax score. I didn’t pay for them all because I am not interested in all my credit scores right now. I also think Equifax is the leader, and to me their score is what I am going by–it let’s me know where I stand. When you get yourFICO score, you also get a copy of your Equifax credit report.
I then plan to get my free annual copy of my credit report from the other two credit reporting companies…Experian and TransUnion. Remember, you are entitled to one free credit report a year so if you haven’t checked yours…why not? It’s FREE! If you want your score though, you will have to pay for it. I have included the actual link to the “REAL” free annual credit report site–not one that will scam you! If you do decide to “google” free annual credit report on your own, make sure you get the official site, not one that will try to get your info and charge you for your reports.
Once I get my 2 other credit reports, I will compare all three and start doing my disputes. I am sure if Equifax is off, the others are wayyy off. I am pretty sure there will be some inaccuracies on both. I will dispute everything that is not correct and see just how “good” my credit can get after all the credit report cleaning up I am gonna do.
Tags: cleaning up credit, credit reports, credit scores, disputing credit report, improving credit after bankruptcy, improving credit score
Last January, my husband and I were told our credit scores were in the 400’s–478 to be exact. 1 year later, how do we measure up? Well, not so bad. First off, let me say that after owing so much and losing pretty much everything–the last thing I want to do is apply for credit or anything like that. I truly believe that the better your credit is, the more credit you get, and the more trouble you get into. The purpose of getting our score and credit report is for 2 reasons:
- To make sure everything since the BK is being reported accurately which I found out is not–not at all.
- Curiosity. In the past, we both loved seeing our high credit scores and were proud of our on-time payments and good credit history. Obviously, we let that all go down the drain once we we let that first credit card payment be late. After all that we have been through, we no longer care about credit scores or credit reports, but we were interested in knowing if what they say is true–after we file BK, our scores would jump. Did they? Well…
My score is 644 and my husbands is 631. OK, not great credit scores BUT not too shabby. Our scores would be a lot higher if things were reporting correctly. I want to take the time to go through it and post here because I think it can be useful information to anyone who is curious about how filing bankruptcy will affect their credit. The problem is–I am confused as heck on how to handle “cleaning up” our credit reports after filing bankruptcy. I am going to research more before I start disputing anything and may have to contact our BK lawyer to see what he says. Here’s why:
My husbands credit report:
- The bankruptcy is only showing up under hubby’s name only as a public record–not mine. Almost all of his creditors show up as ” Included in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy” Some of them are still showing 120 days past due.
- The car that we have as a joint account-the Civic that we kept is showing up as “Included in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy”–closed account and they are not reporting anymore for him. We want it to report–one purpose of keeping the car was so that he can re-establish his credit.
My credit report:
- The bankruptcy is not showing up under my name. In fact, all of my accounts show either charged off, transferred, sold, or have some kind of negative mark on them . Some are still showing 120+ days past due. So one of the negatives for me per FICO is that I am currently delinquent with some accounts–about 11k. Huh?
- The repo’d car is showing up as a revolving credit line that still has a balance owed. They did put “voluntary repossession” on the notes but never cleared the balance. It should read “included in Chapter 7 BK” . However, the Civic is showing up under my name as an active revolving credit line-and they are reporting that I am paying on it(which that is good).
- My house that I did a short sale on shows as–I don’t even understand how they are reporting it. The notes say “Paid for less than full balance”–closed or paid account/zero balance. Then it shows repossession/foreclosure.
It seems my credit report is just all screwed up. My husband and I both have an inquiry on there from 6/09 that we are still trying to figure out. It is a bank but neither of us has applied for anything. I have a call into our leasing office to see if they ran our credit when we transferred apartments in June. That is the only thing I can think of. However, the inquiry clearly states a name of a bank that neither one of us does business with…hmm? That one I will be following up on.
Everything else…well, I am just not sure what to do yet. Usually when I see things wrong, I just dispute them. However, I am not sure why my BK is not showing up. Is it because we are married and it only shows up under my husband? Also, we never got reaffirmation paperwork to keep the Civic and they do not bill us, but they report my payments to the credit bureaus.
If all this sounds confusing…it is. I have loads of questions and I am not sure where to direct them. Looks like I got some work cut out for me to get our credit reports all cleaned up. I’ll keep my progress updated here of course, whenever there are any changes.
If I don’t care about credit or credit scores, why proceed with all of this? Honestly, because it is all such BS this whole credit reporting system. I busted my ass for years to pay on time, every month to keep my “good credit” and high credit score. I filed for BK for over what…$100k less than a year ago and my score is almost up to where it was when I was the “perfect” credit card holder. It sickens me actually. Geese, my score would probably be even higher if things were reporting correctly.
Another reason is, this whole world seems to be going by credit these days. If you want to get insurance or even cable TV, they want to pull your credit. I want to make sure everything is right on there.
My last reason, so I can share my experiences here with you. Some people care about their credit and I get it. I use to. Maybe my ramblings here about it give someone else a sense of direction…
I’ll post more when I have updates. 
Tags: Bankruptcy, credit reporting, credit score
I am a huge Disney fan and last year when I knew this opportunity would be coming in 2010–I jumped all over it. Naturally, I signed up but had to wait like everyone else until the program officially started. Before I promoted it here, I wanted to make sure there was no “fine print”. Nope, I got the email today and it looks great!
I know times are tough for many and a trip to Disneyland or Disney World may sound far-fetched, but thanks to this program–it is not. In fact, up to 8 people in your family can sign up for a volunteer opportunity and score a free ticket to either park. It looks really simple actually.
It looks like the email went out today when we were not home and by the time I logged in to get a volunteer opportunity for us to do as a family, they were all taken. We had few options because my daughter is under 10. However, there were a ton of volunteer opportunities for older kids and adults–we were just trying to do it all at once as a family.
I have always been interested in volunteering so getting this kind of information is great. I want my kids to get more involved in things that are actually important in life–not movies or video games…you know what I mean. If we get free Disney tickets for doing so–great. If not, volunteering is a great way to give back and help others who are going through rough times.
Here is the link if anyone is interested:
Tags: Free Disney Tickets, Volunteering
I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Years Eve. I welcomed in 2010 with open arms. 2009 did not start off so well since we were still in debt up to our eyeballs. It did not end so well either with the death of one of our closest family members. But you know what? We declared bankruptcy and we are pretty much debt free. All we owe is the car and I am working hard to pay that sucker off. The debt is gone, and our family member though gone, is in a much better place. So I know she would want us to move on.
These past few weeks, I got very ill–which would explain my lack of posting. Needless to say, I was sick all last week and enjoyed Christmas in bed and New Years Eve and Day working to catch up on all the money lost while I was sick. Because I was uninsured, I did not seek medical help. We are not really sure what I had, but I passed it along to my husband rather quickly, so he too was out of work for a while too while sick.
A few things happened while we were sick:
- I definitely took the health insurance for myself!
- I realized missing a couple days of work–non-paid is not going to financially cripple us since we have savings.
- I aggressively looked for private health insurance for hubby that we could afford and found a few plans through our state. Now we are in the process of narrowing down our choices.
So while we used some of our savings to catch up, I worked hard to replenish it-fast! Luckily for me, I have opportunities that I didn’t have a year ago to make more money. Isn’t it something? It is sort of like when you are unemployed–you can’t find work. But when you have a job, there are so many opportunities available to you.
As a matter of fact, I just accepted a small writing gig that allows me to write about something I enjoy writing about–debt settlement and bankruptcy. It is small but it wont feel like work at all.
We did blow our budget in December because of unforeseen circumstances, but I guess that is part of life and things will come up that we don’t always plan for–or don’t want to plan for…like death and sickness. As long as we don’t put it on credit-we are good.
Promise I will be posting more now that things have gotten back to somewhat normal…whatever normal is.
I mentioned earlier that it is open enrollment time at work for our health and life insurance. First I wrestled with the idea about even getting insurance coverage through my work because I felt like if I took the insurance, that was an incentive to get me to stay. But, as my husband pointed out–it doesn’t look like I am going anywhere anytime soon. I am not ready to give up a job that pays me on time and correctly–even though I can’t stand it 99.9% of the time. At least I have a job and that is more than what many people have right now. So while I have it, I might as well take advantage of what I can get, while I can…huh? My side jobs I am keeping and could eventually become my full-time income, but I don’t feel too comfortable yet going 100% on my own. Not in this economy.
First off, due to the death in the family and seeing what costs were involved–life insurance was my first priority. I upped mine, got hubby and the kids life insurance too. It is gonna cost only a few dollars a month for peace of mind. You never know. You just never know. I felt such a relief getting it. I thought about how wonderful it would be if my husband and girls were taken care of if I passed away. Not like I was happy about the thought of death…you know what I mean.
My next challenge is the health insurance. My husband and I right now seem to be in a HUGE disagreement about it. The cheapest plan that would have both of us covered would be about $6200 a year premium with a decent deductible and copays. He says it is way too much. Me, I worry about everything and just one ER trip can land us in debt again. However, paying that much for insurance is crazy–especially for what they consider a mid-grade HMO.
If I get the policy on my own, (my kids already have their own policy-that one was easy!), it would only cost about $35 a week. Which is affordable, but leaves hubby uninsured. He is healthy and I obviously have some sort of issues (woman problems). He says it is better to have one of us insured than none of us. I don’t know. I really need to think this one out.
Now that we are on the subject of health, I mentioned months ago about a cough my husband had gotten. Well, knock-on-wood it is gone. Turns out there was a mold problem at the temporary job he had. He found this out when he left. So once he left, no more exposure to it. He is healthier than ever-besides the excess weight we both have-but that is a whole other story!
Well, I am off to making some decisions. I sure do hope I make the right one.
Tags: Health insurance, Life insurance
I don’t really know how to start off this post, but I think the title pretty much sums up what I am going to talk about. Our relative that fought so hard for life, lost her battle a few days ago. When she started taking a turn for the worst, funeral arrangements had to be made. My husband was one of the closest to her and while we knew the day might come, let’s just say it hasn’t been easy.
What hit us all the most was that all of this should have been done–planned and paid for years ago. She was already getting up there in age, but nobody wanted to even talk about death or funerals or any of that stuff. Luckily, her plot was paid for by one her kids when her husband died years ago. However, everything else was not. We found out that buying the plot years ago saved the family thousands of dollars now. However, prices on everything else seemed to have skyrocketed. Trying to bury someone when everyone is having financial difficulties is not easy. If you have not looked into funeral costs–do it now! My husband and I were thinking to ourselves “how the heck does someone without any family or money get buried?”.
All of our savings would not have even covered half of her very simple funeral, but my husband and I would have given whatever we could to make sure she had a proper burial. Right away though, her sons stepped up and paid for it all…no matter what financial burden it was going to put them in. If they didn’t pay for it, I can’t even begin to wonder how the funeral would be paid for. ***Her final request was not to be cremated.*** Can you believe that many of these funeral homes allow payment plans while the person is alive, but not when they are gone? Even then, after reading over all the fine print–it seemed to me that you are actually paying more when you prepay–like a credit card kind of. I guess that is where credit comes in. I know if I had my $13,500 Chase card, the funeral would have been covered. But then again, if I had, I don’t know…15k in the bank in savings it would have covered it too. How many people though nowadays have that kind of money saved up? Seriously.
The funeral went on and she is in a much better place now. It’s hard on the family, and will be for a while. It definitely got us thinking more and more about life and death. When she died, she had nothing to leave…no life insurance, no house to sell, no estate for any family to fight over…nothing. I only wish we could have planned for her burial beforehand because we could have concentrated more on celebrating her life, rather than worrying about how we were going to pay for her burial.
Sorry for the somber post guys, I guess what I am really trying to get at here is that we are all going to die…eventually. I touched on the life insurance subject before but even I didn’t stick with it. Currently I have life insurance for myself through my work in the total of $80k. It’s not that bad, but it isn’t great either. My funeral alone would eat up a good portion. And seeing I am the sole provider in the house right now, my husband would be screwed. But, if my husband dies, I am in even more trouble because I don’t have enough to bury him. And his money helps pay many of our bills, I would be lost.
Earlier this month, I got all my renewal paperwork for my life insurance. I am considering upping my policy or looking elsewhere for a family plan. God forbid something happen to one of the kids too. Yeah, we don’t want to talk about it or think about it until it happens, but it could. I have a lot of work to do on this stuff. But I know I can’t procrastinate any longer. This experience opened my eyes and I see things in a whole new perspective.
I took a week off of work for all of this but go back tomorrow. I have a lot of soul searching to do..a lot. If you read my last post about redeeming the time, you will see what I am talking about. I am not so sure I want to keep living every day unfocused, unhappy, negative, defeated. This family member would always ask why I didn’t come visit her more often, and my husband would tell her that I was always working. And she would shrug it off and say that I worked too much. I do feel guilty about it now. In the past few months I have been trying to lessen my hours at my day job, do more writing at home that I love, and try to spend more time with family I have pushed away for so long. Because in the end, they are the ones that will be there–not my job.
So the point of my rambling here, is to start planning for things like this. Inquire about funeral costs, start thinking about your final arrangements. Try to get life insurance if you can. The day will come–I know we all want it later rather than sooner, but we have no control over it. When it is our time, it is our time.
Tags: funeral, Life insurance
About a week ago, I watched a Joel Osteen broadcast that I have been thinking about ever since. I do not consider myself religous, but I do enjoy listening to him speak. There are very few “famous” people that get my attention, but when Dave Ramsey or Joel Osteen speak, I listen. The particular message that got my attention was about “Redeeming the Time” .
There are 86,400 seconds in each day. Once the day is over, there is no way to get the time back. If you are like me, you have probably wasted much of your time worrying about bills, debt, and other non-important things in life. If you think about it, time is valuable. You can always make more money, but you can never get back time. I never thought about time like this.
I hope you will watch this and enjoy it like I did. It will make you look at life a whole lot different. It did for me anyway. So now that you know that time is much more valuable than money, what will you do with your day today?
Tags: joel osteen, motivation
These past few weeks have been a whirlwind. While my husband, my girls and I are OK, we have had a few extended family members that have not been doing so well. Illnesses seemed to have struck a few family members during this holiday season. While most of them are doing better so far, the oldest one is battling pneumonia. It has been a tough battle, but she is a tough woman. I have no doubts she will be OK.
Through all this, I have been working non-stop again. I have actually been asked to come in on my days off these past few weeks and I have not been too thrilled with it. It is the holiday season, and I am not going to be a grinch, but I think I may need to emphasize the 4 day thing again to my boss. Going in on my days off has backed up my writing jobs and I just made the deadline for an order. I definitely don’t want to screw up my writing gig–because eventually I want it to be my full-time source of income.
As far as our budget and income, we have been doing well this week. I went to Super Target and bought all of our Thanksgiving dinner and meals for the week for $40. Yup, that’s 40 bucks! Did I mention I got a 22 pound Turkey too? How did I do it? Coupons, and a Target gift card that I got as a reward from a survey company. I was very pleased with that shopping trip.
Black Friday came and I did not buy one thing. In fact, I was quite disturbed watching our local news on Black Friday. You know, in one breath everyone is talking about how bad everything is and how even the food banks in the area are hurting. Then, in the next they show mile-long lines around Best Buy and Brandsmart. As they are interviewing people, most were talking about how rough they had it this year and how standing in line to save a couple hundred bucks on a Plasma TV is worth it. HUH? If you are laid off and worried about paying your bills, getting a deal on a plasma TV is the LAST thing you need to worry about. I just cringed watching that newscast.
I am all for getting good deals and saving money, but spending money on video games, plasma TV’s, and other high-end stuff when you should be worried about paying your mortgage and putting food on your table just baffles me. I just don’t get it. When I was broke and had all that debt, the last thing I wanted to do was spend money on stuff like that. If you have the money, and bills are paid—have at it! But, most people that were in those lines knew darn well they should not have been there.
I will be buying my kids a few small things for Christmas, but nothing expensive or extravagant. As for my husband and I, we are trying to save. Every year we talk about how we want to see snow since here in South Fla, all we see is sun. So if we can save a little this month, we can take a drive and see some snow next month. It will be the first time the kids have ever seen it. It will be nice and a budget-friendly trip. All we would really need to pay for is gas and maybe a night at a hotel. I will start looking into that later on this month though.
Well, until next post. Oh–and anybody that reads this, try not to spend if you don’t have it this holiday season. Spend time with the ones you love, it means so much more than material things.
Tags: Black Friday, budgeting
It is hard to believe that the holidays are almost here. This year has flown by! I went to Target the day after Halloween and my gosh-the Christmas decorations were everywhere. Where did Thanksgiving go?
As the holidays approach, I am making sure we continue to stick to our budget and hold off on our spending. I am not gonna lie–it is hard. I still have no desire to buy big-ticket items or apply for any credit whatsoever, but I am really having a hard time sticking to a budget. I found it was easier to do when I was completely broke! I had no money to spend so I didn’t have to worry about spending it!
I was doing very well coupon clipping and saving money, but then I just started slacking. I still buy my papers and get my coupons but I don’t stick to a list or budget so it is useless. It is so easy to slip out of a budget. By us doing so, we have put zero towards savings this month–even with all the extra work I have been doing! That frustrates me!
So it is time to buckle down and not spend anymore. The holidays will not cost much this year. I decided to volunteer and work Thanksgiving again this year for overtime. We will have a simple dinner at home when I get off. And Christmas–it will be light this year.
Why is budgeting so hard? Sticking to one is not as easy as I thought it would be!
A down economy? If you were in Disney World this weekend, you would never know it. The place was packed and people were spending like there was no tomorrow! Yeah, great for the economy, or Disney for that matter–but I hope people were not whipping out the credit cards and getting into debt while there.
As for us, we enjoyed spending time together, but honestly, I am glad it is over. It was just too packed to be enjoyable. We go to these events to bypass the crowds, not get caught up in them. Apparently other families who are watching their budget are realizing this is a cheaper way to enjoy Disney too. It was just too darn crowded and hot! I never thought I would say this, but I am so done with theme parks for a while!
I will admit though that the hotel I was so nervous about staying in, turned out to be thee best! Wow, my frugality totally paid off on that one! Word to anyone who wants to stay at a nice hotel for cheap– check their prices online at the actual hotel website, but also check the discount travel sites. I used Hotels.com and I was very impressed. I got an awesome deal and will use them again–that’s for sure.
As far as our budget, we spent a little more than I thought. Actually we went over budget because of food. We ended up eating at Disney World and since we forgot to bring our bottled waters, we ended up buying lots to drink there. It was so hot and this was at night too. We also ended up having breakfast at the hotel which I never do. First of all, I have never stayed in such a nice hotel (and for cheap!). We smelled the food as we were checking out and we had to eat–we were starved! lol Of course, when they don’t put prices on menus, you know it has gotta be expensive. So I remember my husband asking “how much could pancakes really be?” Ha! You know, it wasn’t that bad but I am use to the “$5.99 are you outta your mind” deals at Denny’s or McDonalds Drive-Thru.
I did enjoy this breakfast a lot-even though it was about $15 each for us to eat-yeah each. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t so anxious to get the bill to see just how much these pancakes were gonna cost! For some, this may not be much, but for me it was a budget buster. It was awesome food though and we were full all day.
When we returned, we picked up our dog from the Vet. Her costs were actually a lot less than what we budgeted for thanks to a coupon that the girl who works there offered us. I thought that was pretty nice.
Now we are back to our normal schedule and things are good. I plan on really busting my tail the next month and a half to work and contribute more to savings. I am not feeling too bad about the little extra we spent. We rarely go out of town anymore. It has been a year since our last trip. We only got to go for a whole day but it was wonderful to spend time with the family. The way I look at it is–we don’t spend money on habits most people have like: drinking, smoking, and eating out, which are HUGE budget busters. We work our tails off… why not splurge every once in a while on a family day?
I am on a weird schedule at work which may explain why I will be posting more frequently this week. I volunteered to cover a shift for someone who went on vacation this week and part of next week. My husband wasn’t too happy since it requires me to come home in the wee-hours of the night. I love it. I have no traffic, no bosses to deal with, and get a lot of “dead” time. This shift is awesome, but not great for those with families. I am missing out on dinnertime, homework, and listening to my husband yell at the TV while he is watching the World Series. Actually doesn’t sound too bad to me.
So, since I am off this Saturday, we decided to go to Orlando and the family will be trick-or-treating with Mickey Mouse again this year. I really like the fact that Halloween fell on the weekend. We get to go on a weekend and not worry about missing school or work. Gosh, I think it has been over a year since the last time we went out of town. My golly it has been over a year! I just looked up my old blog post from last year when we went. Yeah, I know, I keep track of these things well, don’t I? lol Time flies I tell ya. Besides budget restraints, we have animals. Traveling with animals is not easy, not with ours anyway. My dog does not bark, she howls and she howls quite loudly! Even though there are hotels that allow animals, we don’t do them unless we have to…like the one time we did with Hurricane Wilma. Oh gosh, it did not go well. So since our dog is due for her shots, she will stay at our vets office overnight. The other animals are going to grandmas.
This trip will definitely not be a budget buster. As much as I love my Disney Resorts, I could not find a good deal this month on them. I did find a brand new hotel that was very reasonable. I always get nervous when we stay somewhere I am not familiar with, but we will see. I also booked the room using my rewards points account so I not only saved money, I earned points towards a gift card for Christmas too. We are taking our non-gas-guzzling Honda for the drive and will be packing our own food for the day. The only thing we really had to pay for were the tickets, which were a little high for a frugal person like me, but still cheaper than going to Disney World on a normal day. We paid for the hotel and the tickets with money I earned for a writing project that I did for a private client a few weeks ago. So we did not need to touch our savings.
What’s really nice is we are going knowing that everything is all paid for. No credit card bill will be coming next month for it. I know, it is only a day trip but I am so happy to be going somewhere for a day.
Tags: budget, budget busters, Disney, Halloween, Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party
Sorry for the lack of posting. Things have been hectic in our house. Our youngest had gotten the flu and was home sick for a while. Luckily the rest of us seemed to have dodged the worst of it…for now anyway. I did end up taking a few more days off of work to take care of my daughter while she was home sick… and I was glad I did. I am never the parent to take time off or deal with any of the kids when they are sick–my husband usually does because his schedule is much more flexible. With everything going on at work, I honestly did not care what they said or did and I had zero guilt for taking the time off. Not anymore, no way.
So, I did decide to go back to work. It was definitely not an easy decision and one I did not take lightly. The economy did have a lot to do with my decision–a lot to do with it. Although I am freelancing now part-time and earning money steadily, I am scared to take the leap to do it full-time. I see all these people out of jobs and hear horror stories in my own family and I am scared. Granted, my job is no guarantee–working for someone else is never a guarantee. I could get fired, laid off, company could close down—who knows? But, I know the status of my position right now and I am pretty comfortable that I will have a steady check–at least for a little while.
I was not happy going back to work. As a matter of fact, my first day back was horrible and I hated it. I kept trying to be positive but I was miserable. It was noticeable. Then I got mad at myself for being so miserable. I kept telling myself how lucky I was to have a paycheck. Some people don’t. But no matter what I did, I was unhappy. Finally I broke down and had a talk with my boss. I kept it short and sweet. Basically I offered to give up a day and work 4 days a week. It would put me just under 40 hours which is fine with me. The company saves money and I save my sanity! With that…I got my day off.
Yes, I am losing money per paycheck, but I freelance all day on my day off. No commute, I spend more time with my family, and honestly it is really helping me out. Now when I am at work for the 4 days, I have so much work to keep me busy, nothing really bothers me. I don’t have time to get bothered. For now anyway…
If I did not do it this way, I would have cracked. I would have quit. So right now I have the best of both worlds: I freelance and get a steady paycheck. It is my way to test out the waters. If I continue to do well writing, I will eventually leave my job permanently. For now though, I am taking my money I earn freelancing and putting it in savings. Gosh, I never thought I would have money in savings.
So now that the little one is all better and things are getting back to normal here–I will be posting more frequently. Luckily on the financial front we are doing a lot better than we were this time last year. That is always a good thing.
I seen this story on GMA the other day and thought it was wonderful news! I did not want to post the video here until I read more about it though. Yup, it is official and many banks are changing the way they charge over-the-limit fees now. This is great news and has been a long time coming. I know a year ago when I had a bunch of over-the-limit fees and bounced checks-this would have really helped me out. This should of happened a long time ago in my honest opinion.
If your bank is not making changes, maybe it’s time to look for a new bank. While I totally and 100% agree that you should not write checks if you don’t have the funds, things happen beyond our control. Besides, I don’t think it is right how they process checks-putting the larger check through first and bounce the 5 little ones after. I know some of us have had that happen…
Watch the video for yourself here…
Tags: banks, overdraft fees
So my week in review-did I accomplish everything I set out to do? Yes, and no. Monday went well and I wrote…a lot. My little one came home sick from school later that afternoon-and by nightfall-I was sick! She got well the next day-me, I have been sick ALL WEEK. I thought it was just a 24 hour thing-nope. I tried to work but noticed I wasn’t doing too good of a job so I stopped. What a week to get sick-I guess it was good that I was home.
I talked to my boss yesterday-my nice one. We have always gotten along great and I don’t have any problems with her-except when I am kept in the dark about important things-like uh, like losing my job! So basically it seems the daughter has no desire to do my job or whatever. They created another job there for her. So I am safe-for now. Shouldn’t I be happy about that? Well, I really am not. You know why? Because after facing the possibility of losing my job and seeing how disposable I am- I’m not feeling too good about the whole deal.
After speaking to several people about my situation this past week-I was kind of bothered that most of them could not believe I was not begging to keep my job! Since so many of them have been laid off, out of work-whatever, I guess I could see their point. So taking what I do just for a “steady” paycheck is something I should want to fight for? In the past I would’ve probably answered yes to that question-but not now.
The only really good advice I got about all this was from the comments I got here, from other people who have been in debt like me, and my husband and daughters. Of course, these are the same people that have been there with me through it all…the good-the bad-the ugly.
This has me torn. I agreed to go back to work Monday, but I just don’t know. I wish, I wish, I wish that I did not get sick this week so I could have brought home the same pay-if not more, to prove to myself that I can do it at home. I also wish I could get over my fear of…change. I think in the back of my mind I am a little scared of failing and if I fail-we could end up right back where we were-in debt and struggling.
I got some decisions to make before Monday. For now though, I am off to burn the midnight oil and meet some deadlines!
Well y’all, I sit speechless as I write this. It is almost midnight here, yet my mind is racing. My emotions are…well, I don’t know yet. I could write a book on here but my husband keeps telling me to get to bed so I don’t sleep late tomorrow-on my first day off…yeah my first day off… on a Wednesday. How is this?
I am really tired, and as I started to type this, I took a look over at my “tweets”-which I hardly ever do. Wow, this came at the right time.
Be confident in your dream. Act like it’s a done deal. Plan like it’s already happened. Be confident God will finish what He started. Ph 1:6
As you know, I am no religious person. I do enjoy listening to Joel Osteen and subscribe to his updates. I always seem to get sent a message at all the right times. Those messages always seem to make me feel confident and better about what is going on in my life at the time.
I am off for at least one week as my replacement, gets trained in. Yup, you read it right. I have not been officially told this, but I know it. I have been with the company for…gosh last month made 10 years. I know how they work-I know how they operate. You will remember, I have a good boss and I have the not-so-nice boss. For years, this man has hated me, but his wife and I get along great. She is my boss, but they are family. And as much as he hated to admit it, I did do a great job and I have kept the business flowing and moral up, when everyone was feeling down.
So after college was over, their daughter was left unable to find a job. I would hear talks about the budget and how we can’t afford another person, blah, blah, blah. So I inquired about it- so that I know what is going on. She is a great kid and why not work there-it is her family’s company. I asked my nice boss (her mother) about it and even gave scenarios about how we could fit her in even if it meant tweaking my schedule around. Let’s face it, she is a young girl and enjoys hers weekends and nights off. I was told, nope. I am not going anywhere and she will not be changing any schedule around-her daughter will not be coming in-and if she does she will be working on the field….no worries.That was Friday.
Monday I come into the office to find the daughter sitting there ready to work-pretty much doing my job. My prick boss paid no mind to me and just gave me a very cold shoulder— and everything that went on in the office, I was now not to be involved in. Wow, a flashback to high school days. You know, you’re not “in” with the crowd kind of childish crap. So as I sat there, silent for 9 hours, doing absolutely nothing-my mind was just going a hundred miles a minute. I became the ultimate clock watcher. Boy, time could not go by any slower.
I wanted to leave so bad-I kept thinking of excuses to make up, just to get out of there. I wish I had a job that we could leave for lunch break because I would have gotten up so fast and never came back-but I didn’t. I also just happened to get dropped off too, and hubby was far away. Anyway, I made it through the day, emotionally drained when I got home, I went right to bed. My husband told me to just relax and call out sick the next day. What is that going to solve? That wont solve anything. What they are ultimately doing is having me train this girl in-and once she learns the ropes, see ya. You know, she is a nice girl really, this is not her fault. Her father just wants her to keep the family legacy going and her mother can’t just be open and honest with someone who has busted her tail there for her for 10 years.
It’s OK.
So yesterday I did go to work, but I asked for my last weeks vacation—starting today. Why not take paid time off before I lose it? I am not stupid-I am not losing that vacation time I worked hard for. My boss (the nice one) knew right away that I was upset but told me no problem. We sat in silence all day. She emailed me later to say she was “Sorry about everything”. Yeah, OK.
I spent most of the afternoon cleaning out my desk and cleaning out my work email, just in case I do not make it back. My coworkers are a little shocked. I am not. Actually if this happened last year or anytime before, I would be hysterical and crying. I wont be now. What have I always said? After I file BK, I will leave. I filed in March but the fears of not finding another job in this economy scared me to death. I did however, start freelance writing around the time I started this blog. Nothing major, just articles here and there for extra money. Over the weekend I threw together a new resume and writing sample and applied to a company that I did not think I had a chance in hell with—and guess what? I got in!
I am no professional writer, but I love it. Geese, this post is already almost 900 words long and still going. To actually make money doing it-would be awesome. I am not gonna lie, I am still scared, nervous, and wondering what the future holds. But just as I got accepted to this job, out of the blue someone just emailed me some freelance work! I wrote an article for someone (a subject I love!) and he loved it and wants me to do more work for him on a project. I have never had this luck-NEVER! Reading that email made me feel awesome! I have had no time to cry about what is going on or feel upset or hurt or anything. I am grateful that through all this financial turmoil I have been through, I learned to never have all my eggs in one basket. Luckily I had this what seemed to be a part-time extra money gig-turn out to be possibly my lifelong dream. If it works out, life will be sweet.
So I will let my bosses enjoy working with their daughter, I am not officially out of that job-not yet anyways. Their daughter will either work out-or not. I will let them figure it out. I may get an email asking me when I am coming back to work or telling me not to come back to work. Either way, it was a HUGE wake-up call and a “time to get off your ass” moment for me. As it should be for everyone-always be on your toes and don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Never depend on someone else to feed you. Jobs will come and go-I don’t care what you do or where you work. I was there-10 years! Always have a back-up plan and always live within your means. If this would have happened to me when we had 2 car payments, debt, a mortgage-oh gosh! I feel comfortable that it is happening now.
In the meantime, I am off. I will start working from home in about an hour or so. I am going to post frequently here to update on my progress. I am so eager to know if I could really make a living at this. At least I am getting the opportunity to try it out while I am on my paid vacation time.
You know what is really cool though? I got to take my daughter to school today and I will be home to pick her up! I love that. It doesn’t happen too often.
As you can see, I have written a lot. I didn’t finish this post last night but carried it on to this morning. OK, enough rambling. I gotta work with this gorgeous view of the lake behind me and my pooch at my feet. Today feels like it is going to be a good day.
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Tags: back-up plan, job security, layoff, Writer
After going over my account and trying to figure out where the money went, I realized a few things I had not factored into my budget.
- School clothes, uniforms and school supplies.
- Fast food-yeah not good!
- Morning coffee-kicked the energy drink habit but found myself in the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru every day.
- Car expenses-we needed new brakes and minor car parts for both cars. At least we installed them ourselves saving some money.
- OK, one last tiny little splurge-a few Starbucks Pumpkin Lattes. Their seasonal and only around for a few months.
- My husbands lottery habit-I am seeing at least $20 a week going to that.
- Looked over our water bill, and found some overcharges-of over $30 this month and last month.
I know now where the money is going and I know why. I can’t justify $10 a day on coffee for me and my husband. It is ironic, that is what everyone tells you to drop when you are budgeting and I somehow did the opposite. I have been drinking energy drinks for years and thought I’d never stop. These specialty coffee drinks I like are a heck of a lot more expensive than my Red Bull!
Solution: I bought some coffee at Target on Clearance for $3.50, some flavored creamer and took the old coffee maker out of the box. We will start making our own coffee tomorrow. I will not deprive though, maybe for Thanksgiving and Christmas I’ll get a nice Pumpkin Spice Latte for a treat. No Starbucks every day though-do I think I am rich or something? I know it is expensive! I tell you, being addicted to coffee(caffeine) is probably more expensive than a drug habit!
No more fast food! My girls don’t need it and we sure as heck don’t need it. Besides, we started our official diet last Monday…more on that next post.
Car expenses should be done with…
School clothes are bought for the year.
Husbands lottery habit…I am working on it. He is not budging. I am getting the “I don’t smoke-I don’t drink” speech-he enjoys playing his lottery. We will come to some kind of compromise.
Called the water company and seen apartment management about the water bill-they are doing an investigation. Something is not right with that water bill.
If you don’t keep track of what you spend, little things here and there add up. So if buy coffee 5 times a week, that is $50 bucks a week-$200 a month. Add that to my husbands lottery numbers he plays every week—$20 x’s 4 weeks=’s $80 a month-$280 bucks spent on…what? Gosh, math hurts my head-no more math for the day…lol
So there are my changes so far. They may seem little but these slip ups can turn into bigger ones if I let them. And I will not!
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Tags: budget busters
I obviously know what can happen when you don’t stick to a budget. But for some reason, I just can’t stick to one. No, I don’t buy extravagant things, in fact-I have become somewhat of a “cheapo” since by whole debt fiasco. So where am I going wrong?
So I am sitting here on my balcony on a nice Saturday afternoon, a nice windy afternoon I may add, and I am going through my bills and figuring out where the heck our money goes to every week. Yes, I have savings and I hate to sound greedy, but I should have more. I am doing more freelance work now and our expenses are lower, so where is that extra money going?
I really need to keep track of every penny we spend. Before, when we were in debt up to our eyeballs and my husband had no work, I budgeted every penny. It seems I get comfortable with money when we have it-even though I bust my tail to get it. I am clipping coupons and only buy what is needed on sale-so what’s going on?
I need to track our spending and see where the loopholes are in our budget. Obviously they are there.
Tags: budget
School has started and the whacked out schedule has begun-which would explain my lack of posting…lol.
Everything is going well on the home front and money is going into savings every week. I have been working and having my husband home at night has been nice. We finally just started using the 2001 Toyota yesterday. It has been forever since we have gotten time to work on that car! So far so good though, it is running smooth. (knock on wood) A few little tweaks will be needed here and there with the car but nothing major.I thought it would be worse and I didn’t want to drive too far just in case, but it drove great. I mean the car sat for years-I am surprised how great it is running so far. Gosh, I can’t get over getting that car. It is awesome.
I have been busy trying to get more money into savings that I am up late nights working part-time from home. Yes, I finally got something. Actually it is nothing permanent, more like freelancing. I write content. Yup, I get paid to do what I love! I am a beginner so I do not make much-not much at all, but I will not complain because I still make a little extra money doing it. It is funny though, when you actually enjoy what you are doing, it doesn’t feel like work at all.I would love to do this full time!
Although I love to write, I never thought I had what it takes to make money at it. Lord knows I got the gift of gab—ya see it here on my posts. I found content writing while niche blogging. Sad to say, I suck at promoting niche blogs, but I sure do love writing content. So I turned my love for that into my niche…:) So if anyone needs content-keep me in mind. (hint, hint)
I would love to have 10k in savings by December. That would be wonderful. Mentally, having money in savings is great. For one, I have no credit so if any emergency comes up, I wont be whipping out a Visa or Mastercard. I will need to pay cash. It is nice to know it will be there.
Went to the eye doc yesterday too, my eye is a little better, but not good enough. No contacts for me for at least another month. I see the doc in 1 month and if my eye is not clear-we gotta go the prescription route. But, I am going to take care of my eye and take my flaxseed oil. We’ll see what happens. I found an eye doc I love and he works with me and no health insurance. I wish they all were all like that.
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Tags: Mastercard, Money, Niche blogging, Personal finance, Visa
I read this article yesterday on MSN Money and was happy to read that these changes were really going to be happening. Of course, none of this really applies to me because I don’t have any credit and don’t plan on getting any credit; but for those who have it, these changes may just help you out.
There are many changes that are going on in the credit industry, and if you use credit-you need to keep updated on this stuff.
It appears that some credit card companies are not too happy about these changes and are cutting rates, lowering credit lines, and who knows what else.
Interesting article-try to read it when you have a few moments.
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Tags: Credit, Credit card, Financial Services, Money Management, Personal finance
The eye doc went well yesterday and it was not as expensive as I thought it would be. Yup, the little one definitely needed glasses. We were listening to her reading her eye chart and thinking-how the heck has she been able to see all this time? Yeah, it was that bad. Our kids have never needed glasses before so it was kind of an emotional thing for us. It is something she is going to have to get use to and I am sure she will.
Me, I may finally be getting some relief with my eye problems too. Hallelujah! As you know, I like to try to self diagnose myself online when I have medical problems. I know-not the best thing to do but when you are uninsured-you do what you gotta do. Anyway, I thought maybe I had some kind of blockage in my eyelid that may have been causing my eye to get dry and eventually causing infections, etc. Without me saying anything, the doctor took a look and BAM-he tells me I have some blockage.
So naturally, here goes the question…do you have any type of insurance? Because the prescription for this is going to be expensive. Nope, doc I am uninsured. So we are doing some at-home therapy that consists of over-the-counter eye drops, eyelid scrubbing and massages before we go the prescription route. He also told me to start taking some flaxseed oil. I thought that was pretty cool of him to help me out that way without just pushing a very expensive prescription on me! I see him in 2 weeks and we will take it from there. If I need the prescription, I’ll have to get it. My eye pain makes me one miserable chickee some days.
Naturally, I could not get my contact exam because of this. I was just so freakin happy that he may have found the problem. Even though I do have the issue the other eye doc talked about ( very mild case of keratoconus), that is not going to cause my eye pain. Besides, I haven’t worn my contacts in months so that can’t be the problem.
So when all was said and done yesterday, my daughter got a nice little pair of glasses, lenses and all for $124.00. Our eye exams were $54 each and we’ll see what’s next with my eyes in 2 weeks.
I felt comfortable getting my daughter fitted and all for her first pair so I bought them at the store. For me though, I manage with anything. I did get a prescription for new glasses and plan on shopping online for those. I found 2 places that look really promising and have had great reviews:
and
I have never ordered glasses online but with their prices so cheap-I am going to give it a shot. I can’t really say how good they are yet because I haven’t tried them. I will definitely let ya know. As far as contacts though, I gotta wait until I go back to the eye doc and see what my options are.
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- Cover of Sicko (Special Edition)
This weekend here in South Fla is definitely going to be a wet one. I woke up to wind and rain and it is so dark outside that you would never know that it is 9:15 am. They say we may get a hurricane next week-great. It’s coming just when the kids are suppose to go back to school–just like last year. We’ll have to wait and see.
A little update on the financial front-we surpassed 5k in savings . Yes, I have savings! lol My husbands last weekend working overnights was suppose to be last weekend but he was asked to help out one more weekend; so tonight is officially his last night. He’s a nice guy when it comes to that kind of stuff…
The little one started complaining about her eyesight a few weeks ago so today I am taking her to get her eyes checked. I have been shopping around eye exam prices, and the cheapest I found was Target Optical (inside Target). Eye exams are not cheap and if she needs glasses, well, it is time to dip into the savings.
My eye started bother me again this week, right after my tooth pain went away (go figure), so maybe after talking to the doctor about my daughter, I may have him take a peak. I think I need a second opinion. I have been so cheap lately. I have been out of contacts for months and have been wearing my glasses that I dropped and stepped on during the move—yeah, I know. My husband worked overnight last night but he insists on waking up and going to this eye doctor appointment with us. He has a feeling we will be spending some money-me too.
Me personally, will get whatever my daughter needs. She is young and never wore glasses and needs them soon for school. Me, I will get my prescription and shop it around. Although I have never done it, I have read tons of good reviews about buying glasses and contacts online for 1/3 of the price or more. I think I am going to give it a shot.
I am gonna have to shell out some money for our eyes and it looks like even though my tooth is feeling better, I am gonna have to pay to go see a dentist. I have been looking up my symptoms and it looks like I may have a gum infection-who knows. The pain went away after I used my little home therapy-constantly rinsing with Listerine! The only thing is, I have been waking up the last few mornings with blood in my gum’s in between my front teeth.Yeah, it’s gross.
I am one of those people who just doesn’t do dentist visits! I can’t not do anything about it either-I sure as heck don’t want my front teeth falling out! Maybe it is something simple-either way it is going to cost. Who likes to spend their savings on medical costs? I don’t. But if I gotta do it, I gotta do it.
All my little medical issues are probably minor but just imagine, I have a little money saved up to handle them. If they turn out to be something big-I would be screwed-there goes my savings and possibly more. Getting sick with no health insurance is a HUGE problem. I think about it a lot. I have not even begun to talk about my female issues that have not been addressed in years-that is always in the back of my mind.
We have a problem here in the US and we gotta figure something out. We need to do something with this health insurance system-it sucks right now.
I am no political person and I side with nobody. All I can say is-watch the movie Sicko. Talk to friends overseas or anyone who has universal health care in other countries. Actually-ask anyone that doesn’t live in the US how they deal with it when they get sick. It will open your eyes.
I have family in other countries (military) and one of my sisters fell and twisted her ankle in Germany. She was in and out of the hospital within minutes. Not a military hospital either. They did not focus on what health insurance she had or her ability to pay-they treated her right away. And they treated her well.
When I talk to people that don’t live here about my health problems-I tell them how easily it can be for an American to lose it all-just because they got sick. Access to preventative care would eliminate a lot of crap going on right now.
I do believe that diet and exercise can help, but having access to a doctor can help you deal with minor things now that can turn into major medical conditions later. Just my 2 cents…
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Tags: Health care, Health insurance, Insurance, medical bills
I feel like every time I update here, I have a million and one things to say. This update should be better than my last…and no I still have not found my life balance yet! I am working on it but it looks like things are gonna be changing around my household soon…and for the better!
I have been so busy lately and fighting a bad toothache in the process. What sucks is, it is my front tooth and gee whiz I hope there is nothing major wrong with that one! I am giving it a few days and if it doesn’t get better than it is off to the dentist…without dental insurance of course…OUCH!
My husband put in his notice last week (yay) and he will be off of overnights as of Tuesday. I could not be more thrilled. We were gonna try to hold off on him quitting there until we had more money saved up and his work picked up a little more. Well, he had an incident at his office around 2am the other night that changed our plans. This is the second one in the past few months where the police, helicopters, K9’s…the whole 9 yards were involved. In this line of work, it is not uncommon;especially where his office is located (in a very shady area with a very high crime rate). I don’t need this kind of stuff anymore in our lives-especially not for a few bucks an hour job!
So after having a talk with him about the safety of this place and going over our bills, we both agreed he just needs to quit. Besides, his department is on the chopping block soon anyway. It is only a matter of time before he gets fired. So it seems there is no better time to quit than now. We can’t say this job was a total waste. We got ahead with it and got money up to pay off our bankruptcy lawyer by him having it. For that I am grateful, but it is time to move on.
The day he planned on putting in his 2 week notice, he was also suppose to get a paycheck. Well, nobody got paid because the company did not have enough money to make payroll…again. So he gave the office manager his notice and there was no surprise at all. He didn’t even care. That just showed my husband they were planning to “can” him anyway.
Were we nervous about him quitting? Heck yeah, but it is amazing that when you have very little bills and live within your means, you find that it is easier to get by. We could easily get by on just my income and if an emergency hit-we have savings now. It is a wonderful feeling!
That next morning after he put in his notice, I woke up to an email with an abundance of work for my husband! The work he loves! More work than he has had in a long time. Was this a sign or what? Not only was he asked to work in other surrounding areas but he was told that work is picking up significantly in our area so he will busy for a while.
So there ya have it-one door closes and another one opens!
What pisses me off the most about this job he has been doing at nights or any job for that matter is this…
I think a lot of companies(not all!) are using this “blame the economy” line too much. For instance, the economy is bad and the business is not doing well, but the owners of my husband’s company are on a 2-3 week luxury vacation while they can’t even make payroll! That is BS! I get pissed because many people he works with there do live check to check because their spouses were laid off, their hours were cut—you know what millions of Americans are going through.
It is not only happening at my husband’s company either. I read about and see a lot of other companies doing this. It is not right. And again, I am not saying all companies do this. I have seen too many small companies get screwed by this recession and a lot of friends and family get laid off in the process. It does suck and I think a lot of companies that really aren’t “in the red” are just taking advantage of the whole situation.
Well,enough of my rambling for the day. I am off for a date with some Aleve’s. My tooth is killing me.
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Tags: living within your means, Recession, Work
