An Introduction of Sorts
I started this blog with the assumption that the only people who read it would be people who already knew me. But now that I’ve joined the Yakezie Challenge, I figured that maybe I should introduce myself.
Since this is a personal finances blog, lets stick with the things that are most relevant to that.
Demographics:
Mid-30s, married, 2 dogs, homeowner (or mortgage holder, whatever you want to call it), 2 cars- both paid for, living in the greater Seattle
Job:
Healthcare administration. I like my job, but also have a plan about where I want to go next and when (2-3 years from now depending). Salary: $81k/yr
Education:
BA- History
MBA
Both paid for by student loans
Debt:
Mortgage: $210k @6%, a little over 6 years in (30 year term)
Student Loans: 16.2k @3.5%, 11.3k @6.55%, 13.2k @5.55%
Home repair: 3.2k @0%
I am currently the sole earner for our household. My husband was laid off back in 2009. He worked for the Census summer of 2010, but otherwise had 2 interviews in the over 2 years he was out of work and looking for a job. He’s now back in school full time and will graduate with a BA in summer 2012. There’s a chance he’ll go back for a BS, which should take one more year, so be done spring 2013.
We’re paying for his schooling out of pocket right now, but wouldn’t be adverse to subsidized federal student loans (no interest charged while in school, 3.4% 6 months after completing.)
When my husband first lost his job, we went on a 9 month crash budget in order to get our car paid off. It was our single biggest monthly payment outside the mortgage, and we knew we could live on my salary alone (at the time is was under $60k/yr) without that expense. During that 9 months, we lived in fear that unemployment benefits would go away.
Once we go the car paid off, we got everything else other than my student loans and the house paid off. Then we started saving big time. For the last year, all of his UE checks went to make larger payments on the SL debt and toward savings.
We saved enough money to have work done on our basement in order to prevent it from flooding again. (It has flooded at least once every winter since we bought the house.) Even though we could have paid for it all at once, we chose to go with 1 year same as cash financing in order to maintain an emergency fund. We make equal payments every month so the debt will be gone within the 1 year time frame.
With him back in school and paying out of pocket for that, we’re currently just making minimums (or just over minimum) payments on the rest of our debt. I am excited for September, when I will finally owe less on my undergraduate student loans than I borrowed, 11.5 years after I graduated.
It was about 6 months after my husband laid off that I started getting really interested in personal finance, or maybe it was then that my stress levels reached the breaking point. Either way, January 2010 was when I joined a personal finance message board looking for support and new ideas about how to manage our situation.
Life was made immensely easier in July 2010 when I got a promotion. 2 full years after I graduated with my MBA, I finally started my first post MBA job. I now make on my own about as much as my husband and I did combined when we bought our current house.
Still, it feels like we have less money, and not just because we were used to the UE checks. Now, we’re on a budget. Nothing goes on the credit cards that can’t be paid off before interest is due. We each get a monthly allowance for spending cash. We say no to a lot of things that sound like fun because our financial priorities are elsewhere.
We know we can afford the lifestyle we’re living. We save for car repairs and vacations. We use credit card rewards for gift certificates and money off travel.
I wouldn’t say we are financially free, but we have a lot more financial freedom than ever before.
And one more thing to note: while I am financially conservative, I am politically liberal (with a capital L). It comes up occasionally, and I like people to know my biases from the beginning.
