Ok so the last post was all about how we've made our decision to move and now you're probably going to be thinking I am being wishy-washy here but I am struggling with this decision.
I love my job at the hair salon here and I know that we NEED to move because Chris is the bread winner of the family and this job for him up there pays way more than he could ever make here plus it's a stable position and with my hair services, I could always offer them practically anywhere! But it's so hard.
This salon I work at, I love it. There is NO DRAMA which is hard to find in a hair salon with women working together lol. I have built a pretty good clientele since starting there last November and I just know I'm going to miss it there. But then there's that chance of finding another salon where I love it just as much and building an even better clientele. I've already thought of some advertising I could do to get people to come to me when I move there (since I'm new and don't know anyone there I figure if I offer great special deals for their first visit and do a good job they'll come back), but I'm still scared to death.
It's not so much about the kids anymore. That sounds bad lol and I don't mean it that way because I do worry about them and adjusting and everything but they are ready to go. They seriously ask me everyday "How many more days till we move?" I still worry about them and being away from their friends and family here but I also know they still have a few friends from that area that they e-mail back and forth with and they are great kids that tend to make new friends easily. The being away from family is going to be hard but I'm hoping that things will be like they were before and my parents will come and visit often like they used to and we'll still come here often too. After all it's only 3 hours away from home.
A part of me is ready to move on knowing that this would be a good move for us and put us in a better situation but the other part of me is scared to death and worried about it being the wrong decision. I have been praying and praying about this for the past few weeks and I keep going back to writing out that check for the rental house and making it a done deal to move!
Alot of people on the TMMO chat say I'm just scared to tell my parents and Chris says that too. That is probably a big part of it and I know it's something I have to deal with. They are away this weekend, due back today so I'll see what kind of mood they are in and then see if I can bring myself to tell them.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Sunday, October 7, 2007
We have made a decision...
Ok so for you Dave Ramsey lovers ... I called DR himself on September 24, 2007 and asked him about our situation with needing to move up north and the kids not wanting to. He offered some great advice, you can listen to it on the Dave Ramsey downloadable shows it was in the 2nd hour around 22:40 on the mark. He's a great guy! He really made sense out of it and told me that the kids didn't make the decision, we had to make that decision and if we were making the decision for the right reasons then we should do it. He stated that if we were only going for the money then we would probably already be gone, which is true, and that we needed to pray about it and talk about it to make that decision and that the kids would adjust. Which is the same thing all my buddies in Total Money Makeover chat room had to say as well!
So we went this past Friday and looked at a rental house there and we love it! It's reasonably priced and in a great location and the kids loved it too! They are all excited about moving now, yeah I fretted for months over this and now they keep saying "When are we moving there". LOL KIDS!!!!
So we are listing lots more stuff for sale since we can't take alot of this with us because of the space and we figure what a better time to declutter. We're working hard to come up with the money we need to pay by November 1st. Thats when the house is available and the lady that owns it is super sweet, she's willing to wait until then for us to pay her what we need to and hold it for us. She liked us and we liked her so it all worked out. She had some people lined up to see it next week but has told them it's been rented!! We're all excited about this so pray for us that we will be able to come up with the money we need by then and still stick to the budget. We'd been trying to save up for a house while doing the budget and haven't had much time to save much money so we don't have a whole lot to go towards it right now. I really hope that we get the money we need by then though!
Thank you all for your prayers and concerns with this and I will keep you posted.
Oh and I havent' told my parents yet, I know they'll be against it at first but they'll come around and right now I have to do what's right for my family!!
So watch out DEBT here we come to wipe you away!!!!!!!!!!!!
So we went this past Friday and looked at a rental house there and we love it! It's reasonably priced and in a great location and the kids loved it too! They are all excited about moving now, yeah I fretted for months over this and now they keep saying "When are we moving there". LOL KIDS!!!!
So we are listing lots more stuff for sale since we can't take alot of this with us because of the space and we figure what a better time to declutter. We're working hard to come up with the money we need to pay by November 1st. Thats when the house is available and the lady that owns it is super sweet, she's willing to wait until then for us to pay her what we need to and hold it for us. She liked us and we liked her so it all worked out. She had some people lined up to see it next week but has told them it's been rented!! We're all excited about this so pray for us that we will be able to come up with the money we need by then and still stick to the budget. We'd been trying to save up for a house while doing the budget and haven't had much time to save much money so we don't have a whole lot to go towards it right now. I really hope that we get the money we need by then though!
Thank you all for your prayers and concerns with this and I will keep you posted.
Oh and I havent' told my parents yet, I know they'll be against it at first but they'll come around and right now I have to do what's right for my family!!
So watch out DEBT here we come to wipe you away!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Debating on a big move in our lives...
So we've been trying to work the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover plan since November of 2006 and as you can see in my posts... Murphy just will not leave us alone and we can't get any traction. We have our house listed up for sale, still after 6 months of having it listed with only a couple of showings and my new realtor that we've had for the past few months is really trying to push it because he knows and understands our situation. We are currently looking into doing a deed in leiu of foreclosure because of our situation.
Chris got laid off his job and they pretty much said it was permanent. They never told him it was but said "If you can find another job you'd better take it cuz we won't have anything until next year" OH great another strike!! So he's been out every day this week looking for work and has some leads, but here's the deal....
He used to work in a laborer's union up north (by Chicago IL) made good money and had great benefits, we lived up there in Manteno Illinois at one point for almost a year. I loved it there and so did he, we were doing good. Now my kids, they liked it there but wanted to be back home by grandma, grandpa and their daddy (who has since joined the military). So we packed up and moved back here, lived in my parents old house for a few years until we bought this house last year. Chris has had a very hard time finding stable work around here. It's hard for everyone here right now. This last job he had was the best one yet, made good money for this area and had some good benefits, been there for almost 2 years. Anyway now that he's laid off, we're wondering what we should do. He can't find a decent enough paying job around here to pay all of our bills and dig ourselves out of debt, and he has an opportunity to go back to work up north where he would be making really good money again with good benefits.
Based on what his income would be up there and what our average place to rent would be up there we would have about $1300.00 a month left over from our budgeted items to throw towards our debt ... meaning we could be out of debt in NO TIME!
Now here's the kicker ... I know money isn't EVERYTHING but obviously in our case it's worth a lot right now to get us where we need to be for EVERYONE not just me ... I try to teach my kids that money isn't and shouldn't be TOP priority but is important and there's such a fine line there. See, my kids don't want to move back to Manteno, they want to stay here. I have twin girls that are 11 and they're in the 5th grade so they have their friends and they have been through sooo much in the last 5 years that I'm so afraid of making the wrong decision. I KNOW that if we move there it would be better in the long run for financial and stability reasons but I'm worried about them and how it will affect them. I keep thinking they'll grow up to resent me for pulling them away from "home".
So I'm praying that God will help us through this and give us the guidance we need.
Chris got laid off his job and they pretty much said it was permanent. They never told him it was but said "If you can find another job you'd better take it cuz we won't have anything until next year" OH great another strike!! So he's been out every day this week looking for work and has some leads, but here's the deal....
He used to work in a laborer's union up north (by Chicago IL) made good money and had great benefits, we lived up there in Manteno Illinois at one point for almost a year. I loved it there and so did he, we were doing good. Now my kids, they liked it there but wanted to be back home by grandma, grandpa and their daddy (who has since joined the military). So we packed up and moved back here, lived in my parents old house for a few years until we bought this house last year. Chris has had a very hard time finding stable work around here. It's hard for everyone here right now. This last job he had was the best one yet, made good money for this area and had some good benefits, been there for almost 2 years. Anyway now that he's laid off, we're wondering what we should do. He can't find a decent enough paying job around here to pay all of our bills and dig ourselves out of debt, and he has an opportunity to go back to work up north where he would be making really good money again with good benefits.
Based on what his income would be up there and what our average place to rent would be up there we would have about $1300.00 a month left over from our budgeted items to throw towards our debt ... meaning we could be out of debt in NO TIME!
Now here's the kicker ... I know money isn't EVERYTHING but obviously in our case it's worth a lot right now to get us where we need to be for EVERYONE not just me ... I try to teach my kids that money isn't and shouldn't be TOP priority but is important and there's such a fine line there. See, my kids don't want to move back to Manteno, they want to stay here. I have twin girls that are 11 and they're in the 5th grade so they have their friends and they have been through sooo much in the last 5 years that I'm so afraid of making the wrong decision. I KNOW that if we move there it would be better in the long run for financial and stability reasons but I'm worried about them and how it will affect them. I keep thinking they'll grow up to resent me for pulling them away from "home".
So I'm praying that God will help us through this and give us the guidance we need.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Short Update
First let me say if you've read any of my pasts posts you'll know that we've been trying to get going on the DR plan since November 06, my DF was reluctant at getting going even though he has never been the spender of either of us he just wasn't too excited about getting on this, or not as excited as I was or needed him to be. Then he FINALLY came around, was looking for part time work and everything and hasn't found anything yet but still was looking. Well 2 weeks ago he got laid off work on a temporary basis and started drawing unemployment, gets his first check this week, plus he helped my brother while he was off do some remodeling and that helped with some extra cash too but then today he gets a call, expecting to go back to work on Monday and nope he was told "We are really slow right now, we've called 5 other people and told them the same thing but if you find other employment you'd better take it because we won't have anything going until next year" (He does construction/concrete work by the way). SO NOW WHAT??? Our house is getting ready to go into foreclosure, the mortgage co is working to see if they can do a remodification of the loan for us right now and we should know something within a few weeks but now with him getting laid off it's not looking good at all!!! Our electric/gas will be getting shut off if we don't get it paid and we have numerous other bills piling up. I am so scared and don't know what to do, I've been crying since he told me about this and don't know where to go what to do or anything. I can't even begin to do a budget right now because I don't know where to start with it. I had the budget all worked out once but well that's not going to happen now. Just wanted to vent. I am seriously so tired of this and thinking maybe this plan isn't meant for everyone. As much as I hate to say that I have to because I know how hard we've tried and we can't get traction!!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Update because Katrina said to ...
Ok so I haven't updated in a while and a TMMO friend of mine insisted that I needed to update, so Katrina here it is (don't kick me off your blogroll lol).
I got all the rooms cleaned in the house and we fired our old realtor and the new came out yesterday so we could sign the contract and get it listed YAYY.
We didnt' get approved for our refinance which is ok with me, currently the mortgage company that it is with is looking to see if they will do a modification on the loan or not can take up to 45 days to decide and in the meantime we're trying our hardest to get out of this house. We are keeping our eyes open to rental properties in the area since in this small town they are hard to come by. I really don't want to have to move my kids out of this school district so we're praying something comes up quickly.
Murphy keeps hitting us though too, Chris' car tire needs to be replaced since the steel belt was showing through it and so I'm hoping to find a good used one to last for a while. My van tires need to be replaced too I'm just hoping that they will last a little longer.
I did get my new online store open http://www.primmypad.com and it's going good so far. I currently have 25 distributors signed up to sell for me and on average am making an extra $70.00 a month right now. Which isn't bad for being a new company.
Things are picking up at the hair salon too, been working a lot more hours which in turn gives me more money to apply towards our debt snowball. I'm hoping to have an update soon on where we're at with the plan. All in all things seem to be going pretty good right now.
The kids started soccer practice this week and we went to the Zoo on Labor Day. Ended up being a really good day that was cheap too. I only took $40.00 cash with us and came home with $6.24 WOOHOO :)
Ok now I'll try to update again soon!
I got all the rooms cleaned in the house and we fired our old realtor and the new came out yesterday so we could sign the contract and get it listed YAYY.
We didnt' get approved for our refinance which is ok with me, currently the mortgage company that it is with is looking to see if they will do a modification on the loan or not can take up to 45 days to decide and in the meantime we're trying our hardest to get out of this house. We are keeping our eyes open to rental properties in the area since in this small town they are hard to come by. I really don't want to have to move my kids out of this school district so we're praying something comes up quickly.
Murphy keeps hitting us though too, Chris' car tire needs to be replaced since the steel belt was showing through it and so I'm hoping to find a good used one to last for a while. My van tires need to be replaced too I'm just hoping that they will last a little longer.
I did get my new online store open http://www.primmypad.com and it's going good so far. I currently have 25 distributors signed up to sell for me and on average am making an extra $70.00 a month right now. Which isn't bad for being a new company.
Things are picking up at the hair salon too, been working a lot more hours which in turn gives me more money to apply towards our debt snowball. I'm hoping to have an update soon on where we're at with the plan. All in all things seem to be going pretty good right now.
The kids started soccer practice this week and we went to the Zoo on Labor Day. Ended up being a really good day that was cheap too. I only took $40.00 cash with us and came home with $6.24 WOOHOO :)
Ok now I'll try to update again soon!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Update since I haven't been around..
Been kinda crazy around here lately. I picked up more hours at the hair salon so that has kept me pretty busy PLUS I just started deep cleaning my house this week room by room. Got both of the kids bedrooms done and finished the big living room tonight. Wiping down walls and all wordwork with murphys oil soap, doing windows and washing curtains YUCK! But it has to be done. And it looks so much better. Now I have another living room, 2 bathrooms, kitchen and our bedroom left. Plan on doing it tomorrow all day hopefully get done!
Ok so I sold one of my web sites this week on Ebay earning over $100.00 YAYYY PLUS I was really busy at the hair salon so my income went from an average of $300.00 a week (after expenses of being self employed) to $400!!! YAYYY.
Chris is working more overtime now but they are talking about cutting back on that so pray that they don't LOL. I don't depend on the overtime in my budget but it sure does help LOL.
We applied with our local bank to refinance our mortgage. I was really expecting a flat NO WAY WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? But I got an email the other day that our online app had been updated so I nervously logged in and it stated it is in still in review and has not been approved yet but it now has a loan number and other information that lead me to believe there was a chance. So I was like Ok it wasn't a no that's a plus. Today I nervously called the bank because I was again afraid of what they would say. She told me that it was in review and that there is a chance they will do it and will let me know next week. SO PRAY HARD FOR THAT!! IF we can get that it will cut our mortgage payment almost in half because of our stupid sub prime mortgage we have now :(
So theres the update. We need lots of prayers this coming week as you can tell!
Ok so I sold one of my web sites this week on Ebay earning over $100.00 YAYYY PLUS I was really busy at the hair salon so my income went from an average of $300.00 a week (after expenses of being self employed) to $400!!! YAYYY.
Chris is working more overtime now but they are talking about cutting back on that so pray that they don't LOL. I don't depend on the overtime in my budget but it sure does help LOL.
We applied with our local bank to refinance our mortgage. I was really expecting a flat NO WAY WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? But I got an email the other day that our online app had been updated so I nervously logged in and it stated it is in still in review and has not been approved yet but it now has a loan number and other information that lead me to believe there was a chance. So I was like Ok it wasn't a no that's a plus. Today I nervously called the bank because I was again afraid of what they would say. She told me that it was in review and that there is a chance they will do it and will let me know next week. SO PRAY HARD FOR THAT!! IF we can get that it will cut our mortgage payment almost in half because of our stupid sub prime mortgage we have now :(
So theres the update. We need lots of prayers this coming week as you can tell!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Are things finally turning around for us?
After trying and trying to get on this budget program I'm feeling like things are finally starting to turn around for us!
I picked up more hours at the hair salon starting this week, before it was really impossible for me to do this but now that my ex is getting the girls when he's supposed to it makes it easier and better for me to do this.
So I started working my night shift again starting tonight. I worked from 3 pm - 7 pm and made $70.00! That's $17.50 an hour so not bad at all.
Plus I currently have $75.00 on the book for tomorrow and plenty of open times for more clients :)
Also Chris has been working lots of overtime now, last week there were 3 days where he went in at 6 am and didnt get home until 9 pm and today he did that again. And the local hardware store called him today for an interview for a part time position there, he goes there tomorrow night so I'll let you know on that.
So hopefully things are starting to take a turn for the better for us and we'll be on our way to financial freedom soon!
I'll keep you posted.
I picked up more hours at the hair salon starting this week, before it was really impossible for me to do this but now that my ex is getting the girls when he's supposed to it makes it easier and better for me to do this.
So I started working my night shift again starting tonight. I worked from 3 pm - 7 pm and made $70.00! That's $17.50 an hour so not bad at all.
Plus I currently have $75.00 on the book for tomorrow and plenty of open times for more clients :)
Also Chris has been working lots of overtime now, last week there were 3 days where he went in at 6 am and didnt get home until 9 pm and today he did that again. And the local hardware store called him today for an interview for a part time position there, he goes there tomorrow night so I'll let you know on that.
So hopefully things are starting to take a turn for the better for us and we'll be on our way to financial freedom soon!
I'll keep you posted.
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