Hey y’all….as I already mentioned, I’ll no longer be updating this blog.
You can now find me at:
theirhealthandwealth.com
Please bear with me for a bit…it still looks pretty rough, but i have started posting on there regularly, and I hope to be giving it a facelift quite soon. Thanks for reading!
Hope to see you there!
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Greetings. It’s been a while, no? While it’s probably too late for holiday recaps (mine were great, hope yours were too), I have a few new year posts that I’ll be putting up.
But not here.
In 2012, I challenged myself to stick with a blog for the year through. Though December was a wash (thanks, finals), I am content to say that i’ve made it.
But “destination declutter” was also a year-long goal, rather than a life journey, at least for me. So we’re going with a new name for the new year. I’m still putting the finishing touches on the site and I’ll put a link to it up here once it’s ready. Look for that in the next few days!
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In the last 48 hours I have…..
-started my morning with a freezing shower and found that our unit has hot water issues
-shredded my favorite/only pair of “real” jeans.
-had water spilled on my computer, which ruined the motherboard and did damage to the hard drive (notice the passive voice there. IT WAS NOT MY DOING
-recovered a majority of my notes for the semester exams
-sent out SOS messages to a few classmates/study partners to try and get said missing notes
-aged 10 years
So, apologies for the radio silence while I 1) wait to hear back on whether my computer can be repaired ($750) or whether I need to purchase a new one, 2) figure out what else besides those favorite jeans I should wear during finals and 3) make ranty calls to my management company about the fact that it is now winter and the hot water heater going is much more serious this time of year.
Willthisweekjustendnowplease.
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This is part 3 of a series I have been writing about our debts as a couple. This will be my last post on the topic, at least for a long while, because this sums up pretty nicely our current state and where we’ll be for the next several months.
Today- we’re doing okay. We are staying afloat, but we realize that our situation is pretty tenuous. One unexpected big expense- need for a new car, some big medical bill, the need for an emergency trip to L’s hometown, would nearly ruin us. And, by ruin, I mean that it would mean being late on some of our bills. Christmas is going to be a stretch this year – a bout of unemployment in the late summer/early fall is the main reason for this.
Early in 2013, we hope to make some real progress on credit card debt. And once that progress gets going, I think we will both be able to breathe easier. This is our first financial goal for the year.
An emergency fund is not high on my priority list right now. (Does that make me a bad PF-wannabe blogger? Ask me if I care.) The reason for this is that we are always only a few months away from a student loan disbursement. And as much as I don’t want to take out extra money, I know that I could with relative ease.
A car emergency fund IS high on my priority list right now. As a (wealthy) kid, I realized that my parents never kept their cars over 100,000 miles. While that might have been foolish on their part, I can’t shake the stigma that cars over 100,000 miles are way less reliable and cost far more in repairs. So, a car repair fund it is. I’m not ready to think about replacing the car yet. Please, can we not go there for a little while longer?
L’s school loans are medium high on the priority list right now. They’re above an emergency fund and below credit cards- and probably below the car fund, too. My tax return (whatever it turns out to be) will go on my credit cards, and L will probably split his between his cards and his school loans.
I need to make some money in 2013, but I’m not putting this at too high of a priority. School is getting closer and closer to finishing, and I’m shifting my priority to finding a post-graduation job. I seriously can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like to have a double income. Assuming no raise for L before I graduate, it’s extremely likely that we will be at least doubling our income (if not more) when I start working.
In 2013, I plan to budget and track every cent of our budget that I can. There, I finally said it out loud. While I think that our budget is reasonable for our means, I do wonder if we are overlooking areas that we could tweak.
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As you read this, I am off with my family celebrating Thanksgiving with my crazy relatives and all of the usual fixings- turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, corn pudding, etc. Our holidays have taken on a bittersweet element this year, as we’re all very aware that each holiday could be our last with my grandfather.
Today I’m thankful for so many things, but most pressing on my mind is how thankful I am for my grandpa. He is the strongest and most honorable man I know. From hopscotch as a kid to making as many of my middle and high school sporting events as possible, to being one of the only relatives that visited me when I was living halfway across the country, he is truly one of my best friends. He’s the last family member of his generation still living and is really the glue that keeps our family together. Growing up abject poverty during the Depression and burying an infant child are just two examples from a life that was far from easy. But you would never know it to talk with him. I’m thankful for the man he is, the lessons he has taught me, and the time that I have been blessed to have with him.
On a lighter note, I am also very thankful for a catered meal today. We all decided it would be less stressful and hectic if we picked up restaurant food rather than cooking at grandpa’s. So that’s what we did. No 3am starts to our turkey (seriously), no middle of the night grocery store trips, and no risk of me ruining whatever dish I was in charge of preparing.
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I’m in the throws of a really crazy few weeks at school, and this one is especially bad because it is so short. (First world problem- we have a wine and cheese event with faculty tonight that is stressing me out…)
But, here are a few things that have been happening around here. More on (most) of these later:
-I have completed all of my readings for every class except the one that has the crazy prof who hasn’t even finished the syllabus.
-As of this moment, two of my classes are completely finished. I have another that will finish meeting next week, and then our exam is later in December. For the classes that have already ended, we are done with everything work-wise. (No exams!!)
-L and I were pre-approved for a housing program for low-income professionals. Much more on this later…to buy or not to buy?
-Adoption news: We will be attending (via webinar) the intro classes early next year. Adoption is expensive, yo! Also, we are far younger (like, 15 years younger) than the average age of waiting couples at this agency. I’m actually not sure whether they’ll want us to move slowly, too.
-I’m still looking for a job/internship for the spring and not having much luck.
-Class registration is this week; if I get all of the classes I want, I have a really wonky schedule. Oh well.
-Graduation date TBA, but it’s looking like it will be SOONER than expected!!
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