My Debt Blog

We have been very busy during the month of October. Not so much regarding paying debt, but just working more this month. I’ve had some major projects going on at my job requiring more of my time. On top of that my wife has been busy beyond busy with her teaching job. She’s finding out first hand that teachers get paid for about 8 hours while having to work 10-12. I told her I understand it’s frustrating because I’m on salary and if I work more, it reduces what I earn per hour since I get paid the same whether I work 40 or 60 hours a week. We’re trying to find the right balance between work and life.

I would love to report the positives of the increased income, however my wife gets paid arrears instead of current like myself. So she will get her first larger check for the first half of the month at the second pay period of the month. The checks she has received so far this month have been sufficient to help get us through and have something left over.

Top priority with our paychecks coming at the end of this month is getting those bills paid. Just like there is an increased cash flow we’ll also have more bills to pay, particularly student loans. I think it’s important to get on top of those student loans so we can at least make the principle balance go down a little at a time. Mine have received payments for over 3 years and the balances have only come down a few grand. Paying down the credit cards is another important thing we should focus on.

We started to consider our holiday spending earlier this year. I think it’s important to set a specific limit on what we’re going to spend. Last year we ran into issues with spending so much money that our credit card balances went up and it was a struggle to pay the car insurance bill. I don’t want that to happen again so we need to have a plan. The biggest question my wife wants to know, what do I want for Christmas?

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I have only made one post so far this month with this one being the second. The blog lately hasn’t been a source of motivation to get out of debt anymore. Some of the comments I get are very useful for me to gain an outside third person perspective on our situation. Thanks for your support and encouragement to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

The money issues and debt has been a stress for me over the summer. I thought we could get on track by paying off a large amount of debt and keep the ball moving forward. My wife went through months of trying to find a teaching job which provided a lot of free time. Now that she has a job, it’s taking up more time she thought she had in a day. I’m getting tired of trying to make sure our finances are on track. We only see each other a few hours in the evening.

I can’t believe the comments that people have made lately. First I was being labeled as some egomaniacal control freak when it came to spending money and paying debt. Then if I don’t try to control anything I’m letting the spending and debt increase. If I let the spending continue and pay off the debt, it’s just enabling a behavior to continue. The comments that bought the farm are those suggesting divorce as some sort of solution.

I don’t have the answers to the problem anymore. Going into debt is simple, you spend money you don’t have. It is much more difficult than I thought it would be to get out of debt. I’m just as much to blame as her for the mess we’re both in. We need to get out of debt but I can’t do it alone anymore.

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We’re in the first full week of October and money is still tight. While the bills that are due earlier in the month are getting paid, there is very little left for other things. Unfortunately we won’t get paid until next week, which is great but it’s still a week away. My wife’s income has been limited from not working for awhile, and then switching jobs, and we’re still waiting on the first paycheck from her new job. She finally got her first and probably last paycheck from the previous job, so that should hold us over to next week.

I’m a bit frustrated at the spending going on with limited income. She was going to buy tickets to a baseball game, and I had to put my foot down that we didn’t have the money. It didn’t go over well but I stood my ground. So instead of going to a game, we went downtown this past weekend. I think way too much money was spent and it just creates more stress for me than enjoyment. I’m not an anti-social person, but I strongly believe the bills should be paid before we have fun. This is a big personality difference between the two of us.

This weekend is going to be dull compared to the previous. I told her we need a plan regarding what should happen with her first big paycheck. She has two store credit cards that need to be paid off at some point. It would be nice to actually catch up on bills so that we’re in front of the next month instead of juggling due dates. If I could I would try to pay every bill as soon as it came in, not the week or a few days before it came due. Staying in front of bills helps avoid any potential problems later.

Sorry my updates have been so few and far between. The workload at my job has picked up big time and I haven’t had much time to blog. My wife is busy managing a classroom of 7th graders and we only have a limited amount of time each evening. What is interesting about this financial crisis is that it only affects you if you let it. I’m happy that the US dollar is going up in value and gas prices are down. I may have lost nearly a quarter of my 401k but time is on my side and it will go back up.

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