Well, here I am, the new kid. :-)
Hello everyone.
It has been a crazy year, and now that things are starting to settle down, hubby and I are recovering. This is my attempt to organize my thoughts, get on track, and hopefully retain some well needed advice from time to time in this crazy world of couponing, mortgages, and budgets.
We bought a house back in MO, then about a year later hubby got a promotion that would involve a move. A move 17 hours away!! So we packed up and headed south. In the meantime, we were planning a wedding and gearing up for the holiday season (which tends to be quite an expense for us. With 3 birthdays, 3 holidays, and 1 anniversery in a 6 week time frame, its a bit stressful on the wallet).
The move happened in October of last year, the holidays were well...the holidays, and the wedding came and went (all that planning and it came and went so fast!). Then came the damage assesment. We came out with CC debt (shocker! lol), a mortgage (at least it was just one mortgage, for a 3 month period we were paying 2 mortgages waiting for our house to sell. Then prayers were answered and his company took it into there inventory), student loans (hubbys), 2 car loans (I begged my husband to get a reliable car...he was still driving his first car and it kept breaking down), and everyday/monthly exspenses.
We have made quite a bit of progress over the past 6 months though. We have paid off half of our credit card debt, and built our savings back up.
Our savings took a pretty big blow last year. Not only with wedding and moving expenses (theres always something you didn't plan for) but a storm came through and damaged our garage door on the house in MO and we had to replace it (1K gone). Then our little puppy (1 lb pomeranian at the time) broke 2 legs!! That was a BIG expense, about 1-1500 we didn't expect to spend. But luckly she didn't need surgery, just cast. It was totally worth it, she is happy, healthy and full 5 lbs!! Luckly in the recent months we have been able to build our savings back up to normal, including a holiday fund! :-)
...Then came the bad news. The company I work for (a property management firm) is not going to be resigning the contract this year. Our company also does not have any other property in the immediate area, the closest being 3 hours away. What does this mean for me? This means that in 4 weeks, I will be out of a job. I found out about 2 months ago, so I've had time to digest it and get over it. I talk with hubby quite a bit, and we discussed the budget. I will be taking this oppurtunity to go back to school (spring of 2009) and finish my degree.
In the meantime I will be looking for a part time job that fits into our schedule (this in itself could be a pretty big challenge).
All in all I think we'll be fine. I hope no one is reading this in hopes of finding never ending advice on budgeting, finances, etc. Truth be told (I know, as if it wasn't obvious before :-)) I'm new to this "game" and I'm learning, so any (well intentioned lol) advice is always appreciated!
The New Kid
September 3rd, 2008 at 04:49 pm
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Loans, as much as I'd love to pay cash for college, I just don't have it.
If things go as planned (lets hope huh?) then my car will be paid off by time I graduate. So at least I'll be trading one loan payment for another instead of taking on a extra loan payment.