One of my long term goals in life has always been to live debt free.
My parents raised me to be a good steward of my money and after a lot of hard work, working almost full time while student teaching, and putting my teaching career on hold for a few years while I had a baby and created a financial foundation for my family (alliteration BONUS points!), I was able to make that a reality.
At age 25, my student loans were paid off and the only piece of debt my family had was the mortgage on our house. No hospital bills. No credit cards. No retainers.
Then, the divorce happened. I credit my ability to stay afloat amidst the sea of lawyer's fees and doctor's bills in small part to the nest egg that was burned through at mach speed; I credit a slightly bigger part to my painstakingly shiny credit score, and the biggest part to my parents' financial support. As someone to whom financial independence is right up there with oxygen and a well-rounded diet, this last part was a particularly hard pill to swallow.
Fast forward two years from my divorce; my mom is retired now and she gave me a speech last month on how they can "no longer help you the way we were helping you before."
Let's be clear on one point, friends. I did not, at any time, ask for money from my family. Ever. They gave it to me and I was not in a position to say no (even though I did try giving it back a few times with no success).
Anyway, the moral of my story is, that I did need their help for a little while. However, this is the part that brings me happiness:
I don't need it anymore.
Summer is coming and the following things happened to me:
1) I got a substantial tax refund which I used to pay off almost all of my credit card debt
2) I refinanced my house and will save over $100/month on that payment
3) I will be working a summer job that will get rid of my very last bit of debt in the first paycheck.
That's the good news. Of course, knowing me, there has to be a balance. The bad news is, that my ex has apparently not been working. He had a work injury and is purposely vague about everything we talk about so I don't know if he has a job lined up, if he is going to go back to work for his old employer, or if he simply is just going to let it ride and hope that someone will pay him for no reason at all.
The whopping $85 I get in child support every month usually pays for gas and groceries for me, since I'm used to eking out on a pretty limited budget, but if I lose that little bit of extra money, things can turn south.
This causes some concern for me because I was reading today's grocery ads and discovered the following; produce is "on sale"-yay! - apricots are only $2.99 a pound. If you want to know how fast my children can eat through one pound of apricots, congratulations. In the time it took you to read that, all 4 theoretical apricots are gone and in their place is a sticky mess of juicy fingers and cheeks. Don't ask me where the pits are, I don't know and probably never will. I could also get 6 mini cucumbers for $2.50. I bet they are adorable.
I also discovered that steak is only $4.99 a pound. ONLY. $4.99. A POUND. WHAT A GREAT DEAL.
But don't worry. I could get a steak and 4 pounds of apricots, and 6 mini cucumbers for $20. Or I could feed my family all week with a giant bag of Totino's Pizza Rolls, 4 six packs of pop, and three cans of Spaghetti-o's for the same price.
Hey! I think I just stumbled upon the source of the obesity epidemic.
I'm sure I had a point at the beginning of this post, but it's been lost. Thanks for reading.
My parents raised me to be a good steward of my money and after a lot of hard work, working almost full time while student teaching, and putting my teaching career on hold for a few years while I had a baby and created a financial foundation for my family (alliteration BONUS points!), I was able to make that a reality.
At age 25, my student loans were paid off and the only piece of debt my family had was the mortgage on our house. No hospital bills. No credit cards. No retainers.
Then, the divorce happened. I credit my ability to stay afloat amidst the sea of lawyer's fees and doctor's bills in small part to the nest egg that was burned through at mach speed; I credit a slightly bigger part to my painstakingly shiny credit score, and the biggest part to my parents' financial support. As someone to whom financial independence is right up there with oxygen and a well-rounded diet, this last part was a particularly hard pill to swallow.
Fast forward two years from my divorce; my mom is retired now and she gave me a speech last month on how they can "no longer help you the way we were helping you before."
Let's be clear on one point, friends. I did not, at any time, ask for money from my family. Ever. They gave it to me and I was not in a position to say no (even though I did try giving it back a few times with no success).
Anyway, the moral of my story is, that I did need their help for a little while. However, this is the part that brings me happiness:
I don't need it anymore.
Summer is coming and the following things happened to me:
1) I got a substantial tax refund which I used to pay off almost all of my credit card debt
2) I refinanced my house and will save over $100/month on that payment
3) I will be working a summer job that will get rid of my very last bit of debt in the first paycheck.
That's the good news. Of course, knowing me, there has to be a balance. The bad news is, that my ex has apparently not been working. He had a work injury and is purposely vague about everything we talk about so I don't know if he has a job lined up, if he is going to go back to work for his old employer, or if he simply is just going to let it ride and hope that someone will pay him for no reason at all.
The whopping $85 I get in child support every month usually pays for gas and groceries for me, since I'm used to eking out on a pretty limited budget, but if I lose that little bit of extra money, things can turn south.
This causes some concern for me because I was reading today's grocery ads and discovered the following; produce is "on sale"-yay! - apricots are only $2.99 a pound. If you want to know how fast my children can eat through one pound of apricots, congratulations. In the time it took you to read that, all 4 theoretical apricots are gone and in their place is a sticky mess of juicy fingers and cheeks. Don't ask me where the pits are, I don't know and probably never will. I could also get 6 mini cucumbers for $2.50. I bet they are adorable.
I also discovered that steak is only $4.99 a pound. ONLY. $4.99. A POUND. WHAT A GREAT DEAL.
But don't worry. I could get a steak and 4 pounds of apricots, and 6 mini cucumbers for $20. Or I could feed my family all week with a giant bag of Totino's Pizza Rolls, 4 six packs of pop, and three cans of Spaghetti-o's for the same price.
Hey! I think I just stumbled upon the source of the obesity epidemic.
I'm sure I had a point at the beginning of this post, but it's been lost. Thanks for reading.
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