Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Angry

I’m not handling the news of a new roof very well. Forget that – I’m mad. Mad at Murphy, mad at the situation and mad at the world. Have ever been like that when you’re just fed up with not just the situation but everyone you come into contact with?

Part of this massive pity-party-for-one is lack of sleep. I’m wide awake at 3:30 am trying to figure out how to keep the snowball going. The idea of not being able to pay down our debt has affected me more than I ever thought it would in a million years. I’ve been faced with the idea of not having a child and a quacked out father but I think this latest Murphy incident has taken me from sad to driving the bitter bus.

I feel very much like this guy….



I have got to get out of this funk.

PS. This clip is from 1976. Its ironic how everything he says applies to today.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Murphy Visits Again

We found out today that the roof was not damaged due to hail but merely old. Total estimate to fix it, you may ask? The tune of $5,500; a amount that we do not exactly have available at the moment and clearly a problem even with our emergency fund. Can you hear the screeching halt of our speeding debt snowball?

Murphy…I am so over you

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A little bit before 2 pm

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When I sat down earlier to work on today’s post, I had mentally planned to tell you about how our city was preparing for Hurricane Irene, how we are working on a back-up plan in case the storm decides to grace our front door and a story of how my husband is a Hugo survivor.

Then a little bit before 2 pm rolled around and everything changed.

My co-workers and I had just wrapped up the “what do we do when this hurricane hits” conversation when an unexpected earthquake hit. We’re many miles (states even) away from the epicenter but our area was still affect.

After texting loved ones here and in D.C. to make sure they were okay, I jumped on Facebook (which I think almost everyone did on the East Coast), I saw this post on a friend’s page.

“Thanks earthquake for reminding me to "live for today, for yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come"... Lilly Pulitzer Charm Bracelet and Murfee Scarf from the end of summer sale = PURCHASED! :)”

My friend is correct, we should live for today but not if it means throwing our money away. I do wonder how many people’s lives in Washington, D.C. will change either spiritually or financially because of what occurred today.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Rain

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We had a massive rain storm over the weekend that flooded our bathroom. It was the type of storm that rained hard and didn’t let up for two hours. Mr. M is now in the process of finding a roofer and contacting the insurance company to fix whatever is wrong with the roof.

Reason 156 of why it is important to have an emergency fund during this debt free journey. My fingers are crossed that the cost of every thing stays within that emergency fund amount.

Friday, August 19, 2011

My Summer Theme Song



I know...it has nothing to do with money...but I think it's awesome.

@Jeff - I think Blogger is having some major issues lately. That's what happens to me all the time including today when I tried to answer your comment on my own blog! So odd.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Comments

For the last week, Blogger and I have had a love/hate relationship when it comes to commenting on other blogs. I’ll type a comment and try to post and for some reason I keep getting denied. Has anyone else had this happen before? It’s rather annoying.

So, if I could comment, this is what I would like to say to you all today:

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Out of My Window
Hugs. The flooded basement has to be very frustrating but you're a great mother and I'm sure will use this experience as a teachable moment for this young man. Also – I totally agree with the other comments and you should charge more for the dress.

Mission: Debt Free
If I lived near this girl, I would bring her some chicken soup due to all of her sickness and ER mess. I can’t believe your husband got written up when he left work to be with you in the ER. What has this country come to?

My Journey to Eliminate Debt
You’re advice of being prepared is spot on when it comes to lay-offs. I don’t think employers stop to think how it will affect their current workforce when they see their work family kicked to the curb. The fact that they all received raises makes the situation even worse.

Destination: Planet Debt Free
Thank you for being such a cheerleader especially in your weekly, “Can I get a U-rah!!!” posts. I really appreciate it!

Also, THANK YOU for all of your kind and supportive comments as the support from the blog sphere has been very nice.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

House Parties

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Let’s talk about house parties for a second shall we? In the last few months, I've seen more invites to a jewelry, home goods or clothing house parties hosted by my friends or friends of friends. Of course these parties are for things that I simply don’t need (nor can afford) but even if I decline, people still send me invites. I realize that it’s not me that they care about attending but more it’s my checkbook that they want to see walking in through the front door.

I get it – we’re all trying to make a little bit of money. Truly, I can applaud their efforts to earn extra income but I still feel a little leery of using my friends to gilt trip them into giving me money. My work out buddy, let’s call her Pam, told me once that she feel obligated to attend these parties even if there is nothing to buy.

At what point do you tap your friends out of every dime they have?



Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Baby Dreams

With all of the work changes, our baby dreams have been placed on a temporary hold at least on my end. I still want a child but I realize that our family has been handed a huge blessing in the last few weeks so I enjoying the moments of gratefulness...if that makes sense.

Our next doctor's appointment is in October to see how Mr. M is doing on medication. I'm hopeful that they'll tell us that we're candidates for IUI or having a baby the good ol' fashion way.  If not, then we'll move to IVF or adoption. Thankfully, God has provided this job for me with a little extra pay so we could possibly afford those medical costs.


My mother told me last week that all of this will fall into place and with the new job we will have what we want which is a child of our own.  No matter the path, I just want us to be financially ready for it as much as we can be through that journey.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Running in the Rain

This past weekend was the last available weekend that Mr. M has until December (due to all of the college sports that he's covering) so we headed to the mountains for a day of hiking and picnic lunch.


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It was spur of the moment since we decided to get in the car on Saturday morning and head that way which makes me enjoy the day even more. No over planning just going with the flow of the day which I find to be a nice change of pace.  We found a great National State Park that allowed us to access it for free and we enjoyed our sandwiches by a great waterfall.  After lunch, we hit the trails, taking the one that lead to the top of the mountain. For honestly sake - we are not hikers.  We walk but we're not experts by any means. So as we got closer to the top of the mountain and was hit by hail storm, I had to laugh while I was running (literally) down the mountain for cover. We were completely drenched but seriously having the best time and it cost us pennies.

Some could have looked at the storm as a hindrance - something that they felt ruined a perfectly good Saturday. From my point of view, I thought it enhanced it. Yes, we would of climbed to the top of the mountain, enjoyed the scenery and then walked back down but I don't think we'd have such a great story to remember. I guess it's one of those "turn lemons into lemonade" type of moments.

Friday, August 12, 2011

The Pitch.

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Hi Blogger World! Sorry for the absence – it’s been another emotional roller coaster week at the M household. So here’s the update…

Last Friday – I received the offer that the company agreed to MATCH my salary request that I made during my first interview. It was surreal. The next hurdle was for the company to win the pitch and they planned to present on Thursday (yesterday) and could I join them.

The Weekend – Mr. M and I discuss the actual possibility of me leaving my government job and crossing over to for-profit land. Things are really different in for-profit land…like decent coffee; paper for copiers and oh…more money. We had a good deal of soul searching to make sure I wasn’t doing this for the money since we are on track to be credit card debt free by 2012. All of this was via the phone since Mr. M was out of town which gave me a good deal of time to think (a.k.a. drive myself crazy) during Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully, I had a wedding to work so I wasn’t over thinking it to much.

PS. Met my parents for lunch on Sunday after church. Just they and I and we have nice but little strained lunch. I gave them the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace kit and they’re starting class later this month. If you could add them to your prayer list, I would be grateful as I miss my old-fun-loving parents and hopefully the DRFP class will help them get back on track.

Monday – Mr. M was still concerned about insurance due to the baby drama which is totally understandable. The perks of working for the government is the benefits package…or it was since our Governor’s working aggressively to get rid of that too but I digress. So I called my sorority sister (let’s call her E) and asked her if she could tell me if the company’s insurance plan would cover us if one day we would want to start a family. It did and before we hung up, E says:

“You know you could talk to Jay (my potential new boss) as she adopted two years ago and had a son six month later. With two young children she knows a great deal about families and insurance.”

Okay – E has NO clue about the issues/living hell that Mr. M and I have gone through this summer. For her to say that was to me a massive sign in lights that I need to frankly stop thinking, sign the agreement and take the job.

I sit down with my current boss to tell her that I was being interviewed for a possible position. Now, before you throw tomatoes at me for lying – hear me out. If the company did not win the offer then my job offer is off the table. So why lose earning some type of income if things don’t work out. Also, I didn’t want her to be completely blindsided by the whole experience if they did win the offer and I had to start like next week.
Tuesday – I decide to ask off for Thursday so I could join the presentation team when they did the pitch. It dawned on me that if I was there, maybe I could help make this job actually happen. So I took the risk and asked for the time off and thankfully, my kind boss gave it to me.

Thursday – Pitch day. I am up at 4:45 am because I can’t sleep and filled with that nervous anticipation/excitement feeling. Join the team at 9:30 am that morning for practice at a local hotel and two hours later it is show time.

Not going to lie – I was in my element. Half way through the process, I thought now this is why I chose this as my degree as an undergraduate. Also, they made me feel intelligent, needed and important. It wasn’t until after the pitch and at lunch that I realized how low my morale was at my current place of employment.

Thursday afternoon, 4:50 pm – Since I had the day off, I decided to be lazy and watch Monty Python’s Holy Grail because…well I could. Jay calls me to tell me that we WON the pitch and I start December 1st!

Here’s to FINALLY something POSITIVE happening this summer.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Giant Snowflake

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I was looking over our budget from last month and we had a GIANT snowflake this past month on CC #1 to the tune of $1,350. We are attacking this debt snowball and it feels great.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

I Got A Job Offer!

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I got a job offer!

I can't believe I just typed that but I just received a call offering me a job to join a national firm! When you ask for God's help, great things can happen.

The only thing left to discuss with this company is salary, which if you remember, was way more than I was receiving at my current position. However, they're considering working things around to see if they could MAKE IT WORK. Oh. my. word. To have an bump of any amount after four years without a raise (even a cost of living adjustment) would be amazing.

She even mentioned that one day I could work in the Public Affairs department. That would be a dream since I actually do enjoy working for the government and with the community but I am having a hard time seeing any future growth for me here.

Just say a little prayer that this works out money wise and that this is a wise decision for our family.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Does Your Financial Past Define You?

Originally when I was asked this question, my response was instantly no – of course your past doesn’t define you. Who would say such baloney?

Then after a few minutes, I realized that in a sense that was not true as your financial past does indeed define you as it shapes who you become. If you had not had your financial wake-up call, would you be as frugal as you are now? Or were you as responsible now with your money as you were six months ago? I don’t think so. Our financial past is now to me a jumping off point of what we want to be.

Take for instance, one of my favorite movie characters – Scarlet O’Hara. If you have never seen the movie (It’s four hours long) this scene is at the end of the Part I. I personally relate to her speech. I may not “cheat or kill” but I will make sure that my family survives our debt snowball trip and that we will indeed get through our own personal financial crisis.