Posts Tagged money

Part 1 of 3 – Business & Babies

December 8, 2009 at 12:12 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , ,

**I found that I couldn’t combine all topics into one post. Thus the numbering system. Stay tuned.

Bobby is officially no longer a partner of his company. The contract has been signed, the buy-out check as been cashed, and the handshakes have been shook. The word “relief” doesn’t even begin to describe it. I am plumb damn giddy.

The change in him as been amazing, truly. He’s sleeping better. He’s not constantly obsessing about the same situations over and over. And over. He’s buzzing around like a little happy worker bee, cleaning house & doing laundry & cooking dinner, all with an earbud in his ear, trying to work a deal. It’s actually a bit comical — the domestic business Bobby.

The buy-out money pushed our “in the red” date back to March 15th. And because of this, I’M sleeping better. We’re still keeping the whiteboard out, though… the one with a big, red OH-SHIT date circled. Our health insurance is still lapsing as of next week, which is pretty scary to me. The “what if” monsters have lots to say about that — what if we have a wreck? what if we somehow end up in the emergency room with 1000’s of dollars in medical bills? what if I get pregnant & can’t afford the high-risk regimen & lose another baby because we’re uninsured?

And then I tell myself that yeah, all of that would really suck. So let’s worry about it if/when it happens.

Oh, and in case anyone’s keeping up with these things, the November cycle didn’t work. I’m very unpregnant. Still. And you know what? I don’t even care that much. We’ll try again in December. If it doesn’t work in December, though, I’ll probably care. My 32nd birthday is coming & my eggs are rotting.

Good god, I can’t believe I’m almost 32 and still haven’t managed to successfully birth a child. I’m know I’m not alone in bloggy-world, but in my real, everyday life, I feel like the Lone Effing Ranger.

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w00t!

November 21, 2009 at 1:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged ,

Good things:

  • Bobby sold a portion of his equipment, which covers our expenses until January 5th. WOOT!
  • I’m officially starting as an almost-full-time (as in 33.5 hrs per week) employee at the little daycare in 2 wks. WOOT!
  • We keep our house like a meat locker during the winter… our choice, not because of money. Just got a refund from the natural gas company due to them overcharging us with levelized billing — $400 arrived today like a little Christmas present. WOOT!
  • Bobby’s mom wrote us an unsolicited check for 5 months of mortgage payments… she insisted that we cash in and put it in savings for emergencies. We’re not using it and are planning to refund her after Bobby gets a job, but it’s really freakin’ nice to have a safety net. WOOT!

And it’s not money, but still makes me super-excited… if Boston College loses today or if Clemson wins today, Clemson has a shot of being the ACC Champion for the first time since 1991. WOOT!

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November 20, 2009 at 12:10 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged

In response to my money stressing, someone admonished me to “remember what Matthew 6 says about worrying.”

Gee, thanks for the tip. I’ll pass that bible reference on to my mortgage company… I’m sure they won’t have a problem taking that in lieu of payment.

And yes, I’m being a testy smartass. In case you’re wondering.

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cancelling Christmas

November 19, 2009 at 12:49 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , ,

Have to say that I am loving the comments that you folks are leaving… thanks for sharing and letting me know that we’re not the only one in the “oh shit, sell everything, make minimum pymts on your baby for 100 years” boat.

I think that Bobby may have a buyer for some of his video equipment — if it works out, we’ll have Dec covered financially. Which means we won’t be going negative until Jan 5th, when our Jan mortgage pymt drafts. Of course, that’s assuming that we do absolutely NO. THING. for Christmas as far as gifts are concerned. Which sucks. It’s not a big deal with the adults because we kinda quit doing Christmas when Mama left… but for Maggie & Sadie, I really want/NEED to do gifts.

Ugh. This blows.

Oh wait. I’m not worrying about this. I almost forgot.

The ladies at my little job promised to put me at the top of subbing list, and have scheduled me for 4 mornings in the next two weeks. And there’s a little potential morning position opening up in Dec that may work out, which combined with my afternoons in the two-year-old room, would make the job almost full-time. Fingers crossed.

I just noticed how many “if’s” and “maybe’s” there are in the preceding paragraphs. Blarg.

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money (or lack thereof)

November 18, 2009 at 12:00 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

So I haven’t sold my laptop… yet.

Despite the impending doom of Dec 15th, I’m now feeling a lack of care. Well, maybe a lack of freak-out is more accurate. I mean, what are ya gonna do? It sucks, and we’re trying to fix it. Yes, I doubled my happy pills. Heh.

Bobby’s been driving all over the place meeting with people, calling contacts about job openings, and negotiating his exit from the company. There’s a fire under his little Bobby-butt. I like it. And I’ve been talking to my bosses as well — just trying to communicate, letting them know where things stand.

One thing has become apparent in the last few days — that there are people who want to help us. We didn’t ask… they offered. Not with money or charity (which we don’t want), but with suggestions, leads on jobs, & offering support. It’s a nice feeling.

This situation has forced me to really think about my little job. Basically, there are two trains of thought: there’s the financial train, which is to quit and find something that pays more & offers more hours, regardless of what it is. And there’s the non-financial train, which is staying at my little job despite the measly pay because I LIKE IT. I mean, really, how often do you find a job you like?! Not often. For now, I’m sticking with it… I feel a bit selfish putting anything before our finances, but I figure that through the demise of three start-up companies, I’ve earned it. At the risk of sounding like one of the two-year-olds in my class, it’s my turn. Damn it.

Have I thought about going back to manufacturing and/or purchasing? Yes. Does the mere thought make me want to vomit? Every single time I think about it.

We’re still hitting the red on Dec 15th… that hasn’t changed. And we may be losing our health insurance. But ya’ll know what? (Here’s that lack of care again)… As financially irresponsible as it is, we’re still going to try to for another pregnancy this month. It’s completely reckless and rash, but I’m just beyond the point of caring about all the rational, responsible, “adult” reasons that we should wait to have a baby. Screw the reasons.

I’ll bet the lack of health insurance will be the magic ingredient for a healthy pregnancy… the out-of-pocket status will do what nothing else could. And my capricious attitude may be temporary, but screw it. Life sucks ass sometimes. You gotta grab what you can.

And that’s my completely irresponsible and un-Sarah-like thoughts for today.  Ta-dah.

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happy effing holidays.

November 15, 2009 at 8:29 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged ,

Things are literally — and figuratively — falling down around our ears.

Figuratively falling? Bobby’s officially leaving his company. There’s nothing like getting a phone call from your husband that goes like this:

Bobby: Uh, sweetie?
Me: What?
Bobby: So I have some news…
Me: WHAT?!?
Bobby: You know the paycheck that went into our checking acct last week? Yeah, well, that was the last time I’m gonna get paid.

Commence freak-out. I mean, it would be one thing for the *next* paycheck to the be the last one… but the one that’s already disappeared into the void of bills? Great. Super. That’s just fan-fucking-fastic.

And literally falling? I was sitting here a few minutes ago looking at the shambles that is our budget, and a dinner plate-sized piece of our ceiling fell. Like, PLOP, oh look, there’s a piece of our ceiling lying on the floor.

So what am I doing now? Drinking a beer. I mean, hell, what’s the appropriate course of action when a piece of your ceiling is lying on the living room floor & your finances are an abysmal mess? That’s right, there IS no appropriate course of action. So I figured a beer would work just fine.

I’ve done the numbers… with my little piddly-ass paychecks, and the class that Bobby’s teaching at Clem.son, we go into the red on Dec 15th. Go directly into overdraft. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

I’m aware that I’m bordering on tacky by talking about money… this is America and we don’t talk about how much we make or, in this particular case, don’t make. But this is my blog, damn it, and I can be tacky if I want.

So we have a short-term problem — that would be Dec 15th & beyond. And a long-term problem — that would be my husband is currently unemployed & I don’t make enough to feed a family of rats. Skinny rats. And she’s offered, but I don’t, don’t, DON’T want to ask Bobby’s mom to make our mortgage payment. DON’T. As in Do. Not.

Short-term plan: we’re selling shit. Seriously, anything that’s not nailed down is being evaluated for resale. The dogs are cowering in fear, with good reason. Bobby’s sitting at his computer furiously inventorying his gadgets & gizmos. And I’ve got my eye on the guest bedroom furniture… I never really liked that furniture anyway.

I asked Maggie if I could sleep in her big girl bed with her, and she agreed. So hey, I do have a back-up plan if everything goes completely to hell.

Oh wait. Too late.

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share, please?

July 14, 2009 at 11:35 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged

So the universe and I are working through it. We still have issues, but we’re kinda stuck with each other, so we’re making it work. Bobby’s company’s insurance verified that they’ll cover the loss, even if our homeowners doesn’t…  it’s a gigantic relief  (although I’m still thoroughly annoyed with All.State).

If  you don’t mind, could you guys leave a comment telling me who ya’ll have homeowner/auto insurance through & what your experiences have been? I’ve always been with St.ate Farm & now All.State… I wonder if it would be worth looking into some of the other (maybe smaller, more personal?) companies. We’re getting ready to break up with Wach.ovia, too, in favor of a smaller bank… kinda fits into our goal of localizing & scaling back.

I know this post is just plain boring. Sorry. I’ll do better next time.

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the universe hates us

July 13, 2009 at 9:28 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged

Newton’s Law for Bobby & Sarah:

Every good occurrence has (a minimum of) an equal and opposite bad occurrence.

Friday:
Bobby and I closed on our house refi. Payments are lower, interest rate is better, it feels like we’re a step closer to our goal of me staying home with our eventual kids. We come home and talk about our finances, about getting back on the Dave Ramsey debt snowball train, about moving in a positive direction. It feels nice.

Saturday:
Bobby gets up for an early-morning video shoot. Showers, grabs breakfast, & heads out the door, where he discovers that the video equipment he had loaded into the car the night before has been stolen. $10,880 worth of equipment, GONE. Yes, we know he should haven’t have left it in the car. Yes, we know that loading the car the night before to save a few minutes in the morning was a really stupid idea. But we should be able to leave stuff in our own damn car in our own damn driveway. It’s OUR driveway, for fuck’s sake. The car was parked down at the bottom of the drive, less than 5 feet from the living room window. The lights were on, the tv was on, Bobby & I didn’t go to bed until 1:30am, Sue & a friend came in at 2:30am. And yet someone, somehow, still managed to break into our locked car, take the equipment (which was hidden under a little storage cart, by the way), put the cart BACK in the car, and make their getaway.

What the fuck, people.

So now we’re playing the insurance game. Round 1 goes to All.State — Bobby called with the police report case number, and our insurance rep told him that it’s not covered under our homeowners because, as specialized electronic equipment, it should have had it own special policy. Huh. Well, it would have been really, really fan-fucking-tastic if you had mentioned that BEFORE our equipment was stolen, Mr. Insurance Man (who also happens to be family, and who was fully aware that we owned “specialized electronic equipment”). Round 2 will be held today.

Oh, and Bobby made a flier with pictures, serial numbers, etc of the equipment and took them around to all the local pawn shops. Favorite quote of the day? One of the shopowners down in crackville briefly glanced at the flier, shrugged, and said “So if this stuff comes in, whadaya want ME to do about it?”  Um, call the cops?  Do the right f-ing thing?!  Not be a sleazy douchebag?!?  Just a thought.

Dear Universe,
Once, just once, I would really appreciate the cosmic balance tipping in our favor. More than once would be nice, but hey, we’re not picky. I know that you don’t usually intervene in these sorts of matters, but I was thinking that maybe the last two years might have earned us a couple of free passes on “shit happens.”  I don’t necessarily want to pass off my bad luck on to someone else, but I can honestly say that I think our turn should be over. Dear Universe, I know that you’ll make the right decision, but I do so hope that you’ll kindly consider my request.
Thank you for your valuable time.
Sincerely,
Sarah

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good things

July 7, 2009 at 12:02 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , ,

I just had an explosion of good things in the last hour or so… ceeeel-e-brate good times, c’mon!! duh-duh-ta-duh-duh!!

  1. Just got the phone call that our house refinance is going through, and we close on Friday… YIPPEE! This refinance has been pending for months, and I was starting to think that it just might not happen. This is going to lower our mortgage payment by ~$500, which makes our current financial state so, SO much better going forward. Freakin’ YAY.
  2. Spending time with Richard this morning — he’s screamingly cheesy, and half his back-up dancers are overweight (aka “normal-looking”), and everyone is so flippin’ happy. Does a Sarah good.
  3. Keeping Maggie tonight… just got text confirmation from Jennifer. I haven’t laid eyes on Maggie in over two weeks, and haven’t actually spent time with her in almost three… the longest dry spell since she was born. Maggie is a beam of sunshine for me… so incredibly glad that I get to keep her tonight.
  4. The comments you gals have left about my quilt… THANKS. The “you could sell it” comments are too sweet — I don’t know if you’d say that if you could see all the crooked stitches, but your words really made my heart glow. So thank ya’ll!
  5. Using vintage bedsheets in my next quilt… holy lord, what an obvious and fabulous idea that someone else had! I’m heading to thrift stores in a sec to see if I can find some treasures.
  6. A completely random thing that made me laugh this morning, and so I share it with you…  inventive mail delivery at its finest:
    jul7

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Protected: ah, the joy of marriage

June 18, 2009 at 1:25 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

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