I am struggling right now. With money, with life, just struggling.
My credit is terrible. With the foreclosure of last year and some medical bills, I have a lot of "dings" on my credit. I decided to try to clean it all up. This means I am literally barely breaking even. I have had to cancel plans and hermit in our apartment just because I have zero money to spare. It's good, it's really good, that I am finally taking all of this seriously. I HATE DEBT. Several years ago, I decided to never have a credit card again. This makes emergency situations be a cash only kind of deal. Sometimes this is fine, sometimes not so much. Man-pants and I are going to Aruba in March, so I am trying to save for that. Passports are expensive, blah blah blah. I'm broke. I can pay all of my household expenses with half of one of my two paychecks a month. So, I shouldn't be broke, right? STUDENT LOANS. I have $42k in them. They literally want an entire paycheck a month in payment.
Blah, Blah, Blah. Whine, Whine, Whine. The moral of the story is that man-pants and I have decided to move into an apartment a few doors down that is a 2 bedroom, much nicer and a little cheaper a month. We are spending the winter banking money so this vacation doesn't break us. September is the month where we officially combine bills and I can start actually having money again. It will be a breath of fresh air, where in everything goes into savings so I can have the vacation of my life in Aruba.
I also have come to a realization that two chefs cannot survive together. There just isn't any money, health insurance, blah blah blah. If I ever want to make a life for myself, I can't continue in this line of work. I don't plan to leave soon. I don't plan to, actually, leave at all. I just want to be the on the other side of things. I am actively pursuing a job working for the food vendors that sell me food. To get back into some sort of a corporate chef. Whether I am doing test kitchens, sales, whatever. Both of us can't work for locally owned businesses and ever be more than living in 400 sq ft apartments and counting pennies.
I love what I do. It's time to find a way to survive while still loving what I do.
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1 comment:
I think it's awesome that you're taking charge of your debt & your finances. It will be such a relief when you have crawled back out of that hole! Debt is honestly why Charlie and I moved in together about 8 years ago - we saved over $1k/month by combining bills, and it allowed us to pay off vehicles and save for a house. So worth it! I hope you have similar success with it.
Also, FWIW, we have no employer health insurance here either. Barely anyone in our county has it, so lots of ppl are either on Medicaid or have insurance through the exchange (like us). For a family of 4, our ins premium was around $950, but with APTCs (Advance Premium Tax Credits) it's around $400/month. Maybe look into it during open enrollment at the end of the year?
I'm glad you love what you do - there is so much value in that. I hope you find a way to make it more manageable financially at the same time too!
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