By way of introduction...

[Tess B]

hello, i'm a fairly new member here and am having a blast reading about and taking in such a vast collective wealth of knowledge. everybody should reach around and pat themselves on the back RIGHT NOW.

figured i should buck up and share a bit more about what's going on in my life and where we are with it all. so here goes....i welcome input and realize that can take many forms.

OH and i have been together a little over 8 years now. i had just left my 2nd husband after 7 years of "planning" as it was my goal that neither of us be financial destitute because i had come to the realization that i just didn't belong there anymore. i left him the house, all the furnishings and contents, save what i could cram in a couple pick up loads and started anew.

for a few years the OH and i got kinda caught up in some "stupid stuff" and then woke up and agreed it was time to start acting like grown ups. well one thing kinda led to another and next thing you know, we're buying a house! 0 down even. in fact when all was said and done the mortgage company sent us a check!?

now we're homeowners. older home on a small private lake, very cool, very woodsy, the house is a bit funky in design and walking down the drive to the front door it looks for all intents and purposes like a single wide......it's not tho. all the lots are longer than wider and all tip down to the lake. they stock trout each year and OH could NOT be happier.

when both of us are working full time, we manage the mortgage and all the associated costs quite well - we do have CC debt and i have had a paydown plan in place for years (just not as honed as DR's methods) and we have 2 cars, loans on both. we are not frivolous or extravagant folks, by choice we never eat out and the last time we had pizza delivered we were so bummed as they had changed recipes or something and it was awful so now we don't even do that. we pack our own lunches. i haven't seen the inside of a movie theatre since we first started dating. the only "trips" we've gone on have been the semi-regular treks back to wisconsin to see his family. his dad passed away a few years ago and we did have to pay thru the nose to get Hank on a flight to go to the memorial, but that's just not a time to fuss about cost.

last october 2009 OH's entire crew was put on layoff due to the economy and slowdown in construction. this came with very little warning. suddenly his income is cut in half! eek. so we started belt tightening and cutting costs and i was amazed that we didn't just go under. in fact i got to thinking, well dang, if we can survive on LESS where in the heck was the MORE going???

that was a bit of a wake up call. that even not being stupid about money is a far cry from being SMART about it. hank got back to work this last Jan, but it's been hit and miss all year. he's averaged maybe one full week's pay per month, the rest is part time or unemployment. AND as his old claim expired they say, when they did the calcs for his latest quarter worked they CUT his weekly benefits by $130!!! saying he didnt' work as much. to which he replied NO SH** - had he stayed unemployed the entire time he'd be eligible for extensions and his weekly amount would have remained the same. whatever.

so thru all this i think i've kept us moving in the right direction. we aren't behind on any bills at the moment, we were able to refi the mortgage after the first year and that's at 5%. both car loans are thru my credit union so i was able to refi those to bring our monthly expenses down. i currently carry 2 years of loans for my daughter's education (her dad and i agreed to pick up the tab for every other year...when he passed away from cancer his estate was able to pay one year off, and my daughter now carries the other, and today i'm not willing to burden her further. she's 27, fully self supporting, asks for nothing and i'm just holding up my end of the bargain to her dad) which i have back on forebearance - seems i just start paying on them again for a few months and then have to put them on hold.

right now it's hard to budget cuz i never know what he'll be bringing in, so are we in survive/make do/stay current mode or are we in do that AND pay down debt mode. as i don't know from week to week i dare not go crazy with the cash outflow. at one point we were starting pay extra on the mortgage and one of the cars and at least for the moment that has been halted.

now, while i tell myself i'm doing ok with what i have to work with, i KNOW there is room for improvement. i KNOW i need to recalibrate a bit, be open minded enough to change my thinking and welcome new ideas. Hank, the OH, he is very much on board altho i was starting to drive him nuts last nite going on about how we can now put not only food scraps but food soiled paper in the yard waste bin and they collect each week now and we might be able to go down a size on our big rolling garbage bin and save $$ on the trash bill! of course it was Monday Night Football and he was a bit distracted. LOL

so that's that......thanks to any who got this far!

~tess

[frugalfranny]

Welcome aboard.........it is a learning process and am sure you will get the hang of it and do well.

[Darlene]

How about a part time job delivering those pizzas? Any little extra you can bring in will help ease the bind you are feeling while waiting for things to get back to "normal".

[Tess B]

i've been thinking about maybe something on the weekends - a friend of mine just started doing some demo jobs - Juice Lady at the grocery store handing out samples - i'd be the world's worst pizza deliverer, i'm geographically impaired and have lousy night vision....i'm not sure blind and lost make for a good skill set!!!