[acox68]

We have a 5-year plan to move from Michigan to Portland, Oregon. Within that time frame, we want to pay off all of our credit cards, pay the house down so we can sell it (we are currently upside down), send DH to law school (3 years), finish up my bachelors degree, and then (if it's offered), take an early buyout retirement from my job. My goal is then to move out to Portland with DH (hubby will have a job by then) and get another job for the 2nd half of my career.

To help with this goal, I have been thinking of ways I can make $ on the weekends when DH goes off to law school. I really need to pull in a few extra bucks because I'm not going on to my masters degree and my monthly student loan payments will be due in June, 2012. Any additional $ will be used to pay the mortgage and cc bills off. It will be good for me to have something to do in the evenings and on weekends....I'm used to studying for school and I'll want to stay busy.

:brainy:

So, I've been looking into becoming a part time virtual human resources assistant on weekends and in the evenings. I could write job descriptions, FMLA and other policies, employee handbooks, training pieces on FMLA, harassment, etc. I'm going to do some further research on this and see what it would take to set up my own service business. I know there are some e-books out there on the subject, too, but I don't want to spend too much $ on books right now. I will see what I can find at the library first before spending the $.

Well, there it is in black and white....time to get busy!!!

Thank you for reading,
Andrea

 

[arnie]

Hello. Sounds like a great plan!
I am doing a three year plan actually to move back to NC and am entering year two in January. I have been working on paying off debt so I can also not be upside down in my house.
I have knocked out about 35,000 in debt in the last year and that keeps me motivated.
Now I have a bunch of projects to get the house ready to sell in about a year.

 

[Russ]

best of luck to you!

 

[HappyMama]

A good financial plan or map of your dreams and goals is the perfect way to start. Best wishes on your endeavors.

 

[acox68]

Thank you for the well-wishes everyone.....

You know, until we could see moving out of state "in sight" (just recently) we never had a concrete plan for our finances. Sad but true. We were very foolish with our money in the past and now we are paying for it considerably.

Our biggest downfall was helping everyone around us with their financial woes and being too generous with gifts, entertainment, etc. Now that we need our own help and to look after ourselves, the money just isn't there.

We will do this though and we've both been very disciplined. We have about $30,000 in cc bills to pay off and then we are about $60,000 upside down on the house. We're using every bit of extra money to pay these things off. Once I retire, I'll have access to my 457b monies (deferred compensation) that we can use to put a down payment on a new house in Portland and sell our house in Michigan. We already have a potential buyer and we are hoping the economy turns around by then.

It's a matter of keeping frugality in mind and staying focused. I know we can do this!

Andrea