A Better Place

Things have changed a lot since January.

Eric & I are now comfortably living back in Michigan... away from the stress that was killing me slowly before we moved out here. He had a job with the school making 400$ a week.. and I've had on and off work all summer. We had to pay my loans all summer of course.. which was hard, but doable.

Now, we are both attending school again. Eric is getting a Masters degree & I am getting prerequisites for a Masters to start in the Spring. I am also pregnant! So, we're excited to be able to give a great life to this child while still teaching them the fundamentals of integrity and hard work. We're looking at getting a house soon, either renting or owning... we'll see. But, life is better and we are happy. I've gotten rid of most of the negative things in my life and now I'm back to just loving life.

The car didn't start this morning...

.. and since I had to work today.. they called in another bather and I have the day off.

This is both a good and a bad thing... good because now I get the day to go through our shit, keep looking up jobs, keep looking up housing, and I didn't have to do that horrible work load of dogs today. Bad because I'm out $40 for work today.

Eric got on another handwashing study.. so that will be another $100 for the month.

We're thinking of making a trip to mom's to drop off Riley (our dog in need of adoption) and a few boxes of things... but it all depends on the weather.

Not much to say.. just trying to get by...

The talk

So, today I decided to give "the talk" to dad.

First, you have to realize.. I am very BAD at telling off dad. Since, he always twists things around to his reality.

Today I asked him about bills, and he said.. well if you give me $325 this month (the same as before), I should be able to pay all the bills except for aligning my truck. And with the study money ($100) I should be able to do that too. And it will leave me flat broke.

I told him that we need to be able to save up money and that the $325 isn't working for us, as it is half of what I make in a month. And that we will be leaving either this month or next. He just kind of shrugged that off and said well you need to start saving money.

I told him that the $325 isn't the only amount we're paying, we're also paying our 2 Credit card bills and a phone bill which all together end up leaving me about $100 for the rest of the month, which isn't enough to save up for moving. He was like, well the only place I see we can cut back on is food. (Note: we're getting food from the food bank, Eric and I only spend about $20 a week on food....)

UGHHH...

I need out.. and soon.. but I don't know a good place to go or work or anything.... Eric has an interview at Tech sometime this month or next and we need to be able to get him out there.. or already be there... I'm losing my mind here....

Savings : will be at 365 or 390 when Eric gets his money for the handwashing study...

.... :( Caught in a whirlpool

The Situation

So... to start the New Year off... I have pledged to fix and get rid of all the negative aspects of my life.

Here's the predicament that I am caught in:
(((In May, Eric and I graduated college and we were not sure where we were going to go or what to do. We believed Eric would be able to find a job quickly. (In MI) Our apartment's lease was going to end at the end of May. My father said we could come live with him in MT to help us get on our feet. So we moved out to MT with a load of graduation money in our pockets with high hopes. After we got here, dad quit his job and wasn't looking for a new one.. none of us had jobs, but we had a good amount of money, so Eric and I weren't worried at that point. Then, one month came where dad didn't have enough money for rent, so we gave him some money to get us through the month and we didn't think it would be a common thing, because he was doing some partial gigs to hopefully get him consistent money. Then, the next month, he was good for rent.. We were buying food for the whole house, which was really making out money dwindle. After sometime in July.. we ran out of money, so after months of looking for jobs, I found a landscaping job on craigslist... which Eric and I did... and eventually dad joined us. So dad had some money, but he decided we should pay half of his rent every month ($250)... The job ended in August... then in September I got a job at PetSmart... suddenly... dad wants half of his bills and we've been having to pay him ($325) . So for all of the month for rent we've given him.. I've calculated it to be around $2000. Plus all the money for food.. probably another $1000... and coutning. Dad has been a complete dick to me and Eric for about the past 4 months.... Dad still doesn't have a job and hasn't really been looking for one.... My job only pays about $200/wk ... Eric hasn't been able to find a job, but he has an interview for a real job sometime this month or next with a company in MN and if he can't get it.. he wants to go back to grad school. I want to go back to college in MI either way. I miss MI. )))

So... here are my ambitions to accomplish before March:

1. Save up enough moving money. (At least $1000)
2. Find a place near my college to live in that allows pets.
3. Find a job there.
4. Stop paying dad rent.
5. Consolidate/get rid of things for an easier move.
6. Find a home for Riley/take him to mom.
7. Reduce our Credit Card debt.
8. Get Eric to his interview.
9. Get the van set up for moving.

and on a slightly unrelated note...
10. Become more active.

So far, not much luck with #2,3,4,6,7,8, or 9.
For #1, I started saving up money before Xmas.. so far we have $260.
#5 is going well, we've gone through several boxes and hopefully have reduced the ones we've gone through by about 1/3.
#10 had a good start yesterday, we took Serj to the dog park and got in some excercize for all of us.