Right Direction

So we've settled into life here in a new town, with new jobs, and a new mindset....so now it is on to putting our lives heading in the right direction.

Money has always been tight and a bit of an issue during our marriage....so let's start at the beginning...

September 2008 - August 2009 we get married in September of 08 :) - we both bring debt to our marriage in the form of student loans from undergrad and credit cards.  My husband was working retail and I was a full time grad student. (going to school an hour away from where we lived). His salary was generally enough to cover our living expenses - I had a monthly stipend (from my assistantship) which was able to cover my gas & car payments and student loans covered tuition and books. So we did ok...we did accrue some credit card debt due to paying for our wedding and some of those items that are involved with setting up a home together (dishes, bedding, etc etc)

September 2009-December 2009 - Hubby is still working his retail gig and covering most of our living expenses. My assistantship runs out, which means no more monthly stipend. Instead I'm working a part time gig in one of the library's on campus getting about 15 hrs a week - along with taking my full load of courses, a couple extra for my certification. This means I took out even more in student loans to cover tuition (both at my university for my grad classes and at a local community college for those couple extra random ones I needed), books, gas, and car payments. Money gets really tight some months and the credit card gets used more than it should.

January 2010-September 2010 - Hubby is working the retail gig but a whole lot of issues arise with leadership and economic stress and whatnot - so he is demoted. This results in a $4 an hour pay cut. Thankfully he at least still has a job & insurance. So he goes and gets another part-time retail job - so my poor husband is working roughly 40 hrs a week at retail gig #1 and anywhere from 15-20 hrs a week at retail gig #2 - and is still bringing in less than before. I by this point am not working at all from January - April...I have to take a 40 hr a week unpaid internship in order to finish my degree. My student loans still cover my car & gas & tuition....but we are barely able to pay our bills and have nothing left to purchase food, gas, etc...so we use the credit cards so we can survive. My internship is done in the middle of April and I start working part time for the same organization the next week (i completed my internship Friday and started working for the Monday). But this was at a community center so I was getting ~10 hours a week teaching fitness classes & swim lessons. This didn't really help our financial situation at all. I graduate in May. I have been applying and looking for a full time job since March. In May I add another partime job working as a therapist for children who have autism. I work my way up to working about 20 hrs a week with this job, on top of my hours (which now average 7 per week due to kids dropping swim lessons for the summer) at the community center. This helps out my poor hubby - but it still isn't enough. We are still using the credit cards to pay for things (and cringe when doing so).

That brings us to September 2010 - I finally get a full time job offer!!! I start in October - so I put in my 2 weeks at my jobs so that I have enough time to pack etc before I start. This job offer is in a town 2.5 hours away....this means a big move. I will be making more than my husband and I have made jointly prior to this which is a benefit.  A move we have absolutely no $$$ to pay for. We have to break our lease, rent a truck, get a new apartment (with deposit), Oh and we will go over a month without a paycheck (I will not get paid until the end of october - I start oct 1 and we only get paid once a  month and the with the hubby having to transfer to a new retail location leaves him with 2 weeks of no pay due to the move & new start date). By this point we have maxed out 2 cards, and the 3rd does not have enough to cover all these new expenses. We get a loan from family to help carry us through this move and first couple months. And of course after the move there are a million unexpected expenses that come up which equals credit card use.

I finally have a good full time job, my husband transferred to another retail location so he could keep his full time job - sadly it is an hour away which means we spend a lot in gas. But it is full time and as long as he is full time with this company they provide tuition reimbursement - so he started back at school in January to finish his B.S. :)  We are in a good place, with a stable life (at the moment) so....

...that brings us to today....we're tired of the $$$ situation we have been in and gotten ourselves into. I was raised to avoid debt and that debt is bad so it is particularly hard for me. We're sick to our stomach's with the debt we are in. 2 car loans, 3 credit cards maxed, 2 loans from family members, 3 student loans (our respective undergrad loans and my grad school loan)... it is too much. And we are done. Credit cards are gone - they are cut up/locked up/put away.

We are making it a priority to get debt free. We figure at our current rate if we stick to a budget (and no crazy huge unexpected expenses come up) and try to keep expenses at a minimum, we can pay off the credit cards, cars, and family debt within 3 years. (maybe faster if my hubby gets a better job after graduating next May!). We really want to buy a house and start a family - but we dont' think that is the wisest thing to do while we are in so much debt. We hope want all (or at least most!) of this debt to be gone before we do that. Then it will be on to paying off the student loans and mortgage! I dream of being debt free so that we can save for our children's future (college is only going to get more expensive) and for our future - to be able to not just survive but live well and experience life well with our families. Once we are totally debt free from everything - I want save enough to take a special celebration trip!

So this is the start of the right direction.....


I'm desperately HOPEFUL for this change in our life....