Debt Support Group Introductions
After a couple years, back here again
I used to post under gheather...someof you who have been around awhile might remember me.
I'm Heather, 35 years old. We are a family of 5, soon to be 6. We had had huge debt when I first joined this board, because my 12 yo has autism and we moved several times to access the best therapy for her. And moving out of state caused us to incur other debt, as we made frequent trips back home to visit my parents who were ill. I lost my mom in 2004, and my dad in 2006. Terrible times. Financially, in 2008, things turned around for us a little bit, as I had inherited some money and paid off all our debt. 2009 brought the birth of our now 2 year old son, and my husband losing the job he held with the bank for nearly a decade...with the acquisition of WAMU, Chase moved his job to Texas. We chose to move back to Ohio.
It took 8 months for my husband to find a job, and the job paid 2/3 of what he was making before. My job would not transfer. Good thing we had some savings, it was the only thing that kept us afloat. I was diagnosed with severe depression. We went from making close to $70,000 a year to under $30,000!
We took advantage of the down market this past fall, and bought a small (1300 sq ft) 3 bedroom ranch...our mortgage/insurance/taxes is less than our rent was previously. I am currently 19 weeks pregnant with our fourth (and last) child. Our kids are 15, 12, 2, and then there will be this little one. I work a part time job, and attend school full time. When we moved back to Ohio, I knew I would finish school. I have incurred about 16,000 in student loans, but I graduate this spring. I will most likely take a year off and then go on to grad school. I am looking forward to having a real career before I am 40. My husband and I have never out our kids in child care (wouldn't riask it, as we felt our daughter was pretty vulnerable when she was younger and nonverbal), so we have always worked opposite shifts. My goal is that when I finish grad school (I am looking into counseling, education, and social work programs), that he will stay home with the kiddos and I will work full time. But now with the little ones being young, I am home most of the time.
Our biggest dilemma right now is that we are not making enough money to cover everything. Our debts are credit card debt (about 12K) and my student loans. Some of my student loans have been to help cover living expenses. We will probably get a pretty big incometax refund this year..haven't filed. I have about $4000 in stocks I can sell if I need to just to get us through. I am hoping I don't have to, and once the baby is here safe and sound, that I will be able to find a job that pays a little better and is more reliable with hours. (Sometimes my job schedules me 15 hours per week, sometimes 4, sometimes none! Frustrating)
So I need to get us through to the fall. I don't really have bunch of bad money habits, but can get nickeled and dimed when life gets stressful, and it becomes easier to order a pizza then cook dinner.
So my first challenge is to get through until March 9 with the $280 I have in cash for groceries and whatever else (except gas for the cars)
It will be good for me to come here for accountability. ANd to keep myself positive...I do have a tendency to sabotage things when I am in too much of a funk. (Think I racked up $6,000 in debt in the short few months after my mom was diagnosed with cancer and my daughter was diagnosed with autism. The rational part of my brain shuts off when I am overly emotional.) I am off my antidepressants with my pregnancy, so I am very cognizant of the effect that can have on my mood, in general.
anyhow, I hope to make some progressthis year. thanks ladies, for reading my novella.
After a couple years, back here again
I used to post under gheather...someof you who have been around awhile might remember me.
I'm Heather, 35 years old. We are a family of 5, soon to be 6. We had had huge debt when I first joined this board, because my 12 yo has autism and we moved several times to access the best therapy for her. And moving out of state caused us to incur other debt, as we made frequent trips back home to visit my parents who were ill. I lost my mom in 2004, and my dad in 2006. Terrible times. Financially, in 2008, things turned around for us a little bit, as I had inherited some money and paid off all our debt. 2009 brought the birth of our now 2 year old son, and my husband losing the job he held with the bank for nearly a decade...with the acquisition of WAMU, Chase moved his job to Texas. We chose to move back to Ohio.
It took 8 months for my husband to find a job, and the job paid 2/3 of what he was making before. My job would not transfer. Good thing we had some savings, it was the only thing that kept us afloat. I was diagnosed with severe depression. We went from making close to $70,000 a year to under $30,000!
We took advantage of the down market this past fall, and bought a small (1300 sq ft) 3 bedroom ranch...our mortgage/insurance/taxes is less than our rent was previously. I am currently 19 weeks pregnant with our fourth (and last) child. Our kids are 15, 12, 2, and then there will be this little one. I work a part time job, and attend school full time. When we moved back to Ohio, I knew I would finish school. I have incurred about 16,000 in student loans, but I graduate this spring. I will most likely take a year off and then go on to grad school. I am looking forward to having a real career before I am 40. My husband and I have never out our kids in child care (wouldn't riask it, as we felt our daughter was pretty vulnerable when she was younger and nonverbal), so we have always worked opposite shifts. My goal is that when I finish grad school (I am looking into counseling, education, and social work programs), that he will stay home with the kiddos and I will work full time. But now with the little ones being young, I am home most of the time.
Our biggest dilemma right now is that we are not making enough money to cover everything. Our debts are credit card debt (about 12K) and my student loans. Some of my student loans have been to help cover living expenses. We will probably get a pretty big incometax refund this year..haven't filed. I have about $4000 in stocks I can sell if I need to just to get us through. I am hoping I don't have to, and once the baby is here safe and sound, that I will be able to find a job that pays a little better and is more reliable with hours. (Sometimes my job schedules me 15 hours per week, sometimes 4, sometimes none! Frustrating)
So I need to get us through to the fall. I don't really have bunch of bad money habits, but can get nickeled and dimed when life gets stressful, and it becomes easier to order a pizza then cook dinner.
So my first challenge is to get through until March 9 with the $280 I have in cash for groceries and whatever else (except gas for the cars)
It will be good for me to come here for accountability. ANd to keep myself positive...I do have a tendency to sabotage things when I am in too much of a funk. (Think I racked up $6,000 in debt in the short few months after my mom was diagnosed with cancer and my daughter was diagnosed with autism. The rational part of my brain shuts off when I am overly emotional.) I am off my antidepressants with my pregnancy, so I am very cognizant of the effect that can have on my mood, in general.
anyhow, I hope to make some progressthis year. thanks ladies, for reading my novella.
Hmmm we have lots of similarities. I too have a 15 year old and 12 year old(in two weeks). I am also 19 weeks pregnant(2nd marriage, just got married in June 2011). However I do not have a 2 year old and I work full time. Is your due date the middle of July? Mine is the 15th!
You have a lot on your plate. I too wonder if we will have enough to make ends meet when the baby comes as I own my own business and will not get maternity funding of any sort, plus I will still have to manage my store and not take any pay. I hope to work mostly from home but cannot pick up shifts anywhere. I am not sure it would work to work in the evenings or on weekends with my husbands work schedule. We will be winging it for the first 6 months for sure to see how things settle out. I have done a budget and it will be tight if not a touch behind for awhile just living off his salary, I hope to have a small cushion going into things in July(but I dont' know if that will happen with all that we have to buy still9I have about half the things we need for baby) and doing a few small renovations to make room for baby). I think I will stop working in June at some point. I am not sure when I will go back to work full time or part time.
I dont' think we will get anything back from taxes so save your money and make ends meet or for emergencies. If we do it will just be added to savings to bulk up or pay for cash the rest of the baby things and renos. Gosh I hope we dont' have to pay! We will have a $13,200 truck payment(Yikes!) and a mortgage as debt in July when the baby arrives. We have been planning this baby for a long time and just recently got rid of my husband's $38,000 student loan and our car is paid off in June(lucky I know!)
It sounds like you have a lot planned out and things will work out just fine. A better more reliable job will help and when you go back to work when you are done school things will be easier. Good luck and take care of you and baby first!
Karen
Thanks, Cindylee,
I think it will be good for me to be backhere. My dh and I don't really talk about money...every time we do, we both end up totally stressed. I sometimes wish he would handle the finances, but that really wouldn't be any better, as he doesnotpay attention to details (such as due dates.) My hope is that through my education, I can feel more secure in the long term.
Hi, Karen,
Thanks for your encouragement. My due date is July 18th! I can tell you from experience, having a little one in the house again has brought so much happiness, but it is a challenge at times, as well, having kids so far apart. Hard to find activiities that will keep everyone happy. My husband and I debated for a long time whether we would have more kids after our daughter's diagnosis, and then the age gap got to be so much that we both decided we would have two more...or none. And so here we are.
I was in the situation you are in two years ago when I had my son..I worked full time, and knew that I wouldn't be going back to ft work after he was born. I have one kid at the high school, and one at the middle school...lots of running around and sometimes it is hard to keep track of everybody's schedule. It would be very hard to work a first shift job with so much going on!!
As tight as things are right now, I know that finishing school is going to make a big difference for us in the long run, so the sacrifices that have been made over the past couple of years, and the added expenses will be worth it...eventually.
Hey, congrats on your pregnancy and your recent marriage! How are your kids feeling about getting a new sibling? My oldest one takes it rough, unfortunately.
Good luck with everything : )
Heather
