This Week's Update

I'm sorry for being MIA the last week. I haven't had much to talk about, really. Every day, probably 8+ hours a day, I have been working on my resume and searching for jobs. This weekend was full of church activities and my brother's track meet. I haven't had much time for a break.

We also are continuing on the house. Met with the builder, and we plan to close May 31. Drywall should be getting finished up this week...

Sometimes, looking for jobs can be mind numbing, so I take 4-5 breaks throughout the day to do something productive. Since we are moving at the end of May, I have been working on boxing things up. I have also been working on going through things to sell/give to Goodwill. I've acquired a lot of crap throughout the years, and I'd rather not move it...

I have an interview Wednesday afternoon with a place here in Noblesville. It sounds like it would be perfect, so if you could all keep me in your prayers - that would be wonderful. I had an interview set up in Muncie, but that fell through. Everything happens for a reason.

God is good.

Here We Go Again . .

Yesterday was my birthday.

I also lost my job yesterday.

There was a lot of panic and running around yesterday. I was trying to figure out what was going to happen since I would no longer be receiving paychecks. Since I am the breadwinner, it puts our whole family at risk. We also risk losing our house. I was let go because there wasn't enough work for me. It's not my fault - they just didn't have enough to keep me busy. I was happy we had about $1500+ in savings - so rent would be covered for at least a few months. Thank you, Dave Ramsey!

This morning, I woke up to find a low balance in our checking/savings account. Work took out $1400 because I was -80 something vacation hours. Ugh - thank you mandatory Christmas break. We had $300 left in our account.

Come to find out, when I was hired, I signed a paper saying when I left I would either be given the positive balance back, or have to pay the difference. This triggered a pretty bad panic attack, so I went and ran.

I ran 2.5 miles and spent about 40 minutes outside. It was nice - and really cleared my head.

After my shower, I stayed calm and tried to figure out where all of our extra money was. We had $2500 in our health savings account and are able to transfer that over to our checking account. Some of this needs to be used on prescriptions for this month as well as the crown for my tooth...but that's great! I also checked my wallet for birthday money - $340. We should be okay for rent for a few months..and also have enough to close on our house.

We aren't willing to give up our house just yet. We haven't signed the official mortgage agreement, and we haven't even locked in the interest rate yet. We aren't saying "no" to the house until we are absolutely sure it isn't affordable.

My old company is offering a week's pay..which is better than nothing. I also applied for unemployment, and hopefully that will be coming sooner rather than later.

Prayers would be much appreciated throughout the next few weeks.

House Progress & FPU Update

We haven't seen our house in about a week, so I'm sure it has even more done on it! We have walls!!! Well, sort of.

This is me, way too excited about our "walls".

Taken from inside the garage.

Here's the front.

Down the hallway.

Part of the living room, dining room, and kitchen.

Our front door! Sort of..

The front again.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Now for our Financial Peace University update - We bought life insurance (on top of what my employer provides)! Woo! It should not have taken us this long to get it, but we finally did and that's all that matters. Also, our last credit card is getting paid off this weekend! Woo!!!! We're well on our way to being debt free!

1) Credit Cards ($1,200)

2) Jon's Car Loan ($5,000)

3) Student Loans ($96,000)

4) Mortgage ($140,00)

Budgeting is hard.

No joke.

As most of you know, my I have been doing the envelope system since January (so 3 full months now). I cracked this week...sort of.

My birthday is next week, so apparently I think it is an excuse to eat out every day for lunch and spend money on new running shoes and clothes. I dug into savings this week and spend about $200 on running equipment. I'm giving it back when I get paid this weekend, but that's besides the point.

I haven't went clothes shopping since before Christmas, and it has been killing me. It was an addiction, and I never realized it. Since I have gained weight and half of my clothes *barely* fit, it's been even harder. I feel awful in everything I try on. I change outfits at least twice before heading out the door each morning. I feel ugly and just plain awful. I tried finding clothes at Goodwill, but...unusually, nothing fit me right and I hated everything I tried on. I think a part of it is me being SO frustrated with myself. I'm at my highest weight I've ever been. I can't believe a year ago, I was at my goal of 135 pounds. I wish I could just love myself for who I am...

I'm hoping running will help me lose the weight, and gain some self-worth back. I also signed up for a women's soccer league that starts up April 11.

Just like any lifestyle change, you will mess up. No one is perfect. I messed up this past week. I should have saved for a few months before going out to buy shoes and running clothes. We had the extra money in savings, so it's okay....but it's really not okay. Savings is for our emergency fund and house fund.

What do they always say? Practice makes perfect? I'm not too sure about that. I'll just keep praying and let God steer me in the right direction.