Where we stand financially
Well, we're still living with my parents. There's an up to our downs; a friend of ours (married couple; she performed our wedding three years ago) wants to rent their house to us. Thing is, they need a couple of months to find another place. I offered to help out by finding some possibilities for them.
I'm still looking for work. Four interviews with four staffing services and two interviews with two companies. I did have a job for about 24 hours but had to turn it down. It was too far of a drive (just under an hour), and not paying what I need to get bills paid, gas for the car and childcare.
Speaking of, I haven't been able to make a car payment since August 27 and I can't ask for a deferment unless: the payment is at least one day late and I'm working (since it's my loan). The loan payment per month is $310.25; I've been doing half payments every two weeks of $155.13; I changed this amount to an even $156 but I had to stop that today. With Patrick's current income, we can't do it right now.
My mother-in-law's car insurance lapsed and because she's no longer in California, they wouldn't renew it for her. I had to add her to our policy, which increased to $220 from $77 per month. She has an at-fault accident on her driving record from April 2007 (which, in our opinion, isn't even her fault; thank you, CA law).
Even once I find work, there's childcare. The place I want to take Bella to has a $90 registration fee and then it's $220/week for five full days. I can take her in for a free day to see how she likes it, but I'd want to take her back again and again once I find work.
So far, we're at $1,410.25; this doesn't include gas or groceries. Gas here at a cheap station is roughly $3.54/gallon. I have a 15 gallon tank. I spent $32.50 to fill it from roughly half a tank. For a full tank, it looks to be about $65 bucks. If driven carefully, this can be filled every two weeks. So, 65 x 2 is $130. This brings the monthly total to $1.540.25.
I know we can go to King Soopers (grocery store) and spend about $200 every two weeks to keep us fed. Going there twice a month is about $400. Once I get my inactive reserve ID card, I can go to Buckley Air Force Base and use the commissary for groceries and things. I can probably spend about $150 every two weeks there on groceries; this brings the new grocery total to $300 every month. For posterity, I'll say monthly grocery bill is the higher; $400. New monthly amount is $1,940.25; builds up fast.
Patrick's getting $10.50/hour, which is a few dollars above minimum wage. Thing is, he's not full time; only the managers at the portrait studio are full time. If anything, he'll have roughly 35 hours every week. I need at least what I was making with my last job ($14.40 by the time I left) to make any kind of decent income. I'd like $16/hour, but I will settle for $14.50-$15/hour.
My mother-in-law is still looking for work as well. She had an interview as a receptionist, but they told her she wasn't what they were looking for (read: she's over-qualified and/or too old). She'd to retail or bank, but she'd have to stand. She has MS and is unable to stand for long periods of time.
My mother has been a great help, spending money on food for us and clothes for Bella. Thanks to "Mimi" Bella should be good on clothes for awhile. If we're lucky, we won't have to buy her any clothes for another six months!!
My "dad" might as well be a zombie. He doesn't say hi back to Bella when she says hi to him. He seems to see her more as an annoyance than anything else. He doesn't like kids but obviously favors my sister's son. The room Bella's sleeping in was his computer room. He has pictures of Bella, my nephew and two girls from his son. I counted up the pictures shortly after we got here; he has maybe two or three of his son's daughters. He has TWICE as many pictures of my nephew than my daughter. If he's going to play favorites, at least let me know.. or just take the pictures down. He also still sees me as the 21 year old who still isn't capable of doing anything right; this was me before I joined the Navy in 2002. Summer 2002, I let a friend drive my car (with me in it) so that she could get her license. I'd let another friend do this and he did just fine. She put my car into an inactive fire hydrant. I found out when the police showed up that her permit was EXPIRED. To save my own ass with the insurance, I told them I was driving. I called "dad" about it and he ripped me a new asshole. Twelve hours later, he was laid off from his job; budget cuts, I think. He's still sore about that. The friend owes my mother $3,500 for damages to the car; it was totaled and it cost more to fix it than to pay it off.
So, that's it in a nutshell.
I'm still looking for work. Four interviews with four staffing services and two interviews with two companies. I did have a job for about 24 hours but had to turn it down. It was too far of a drive (just under an hour), and not paying what I need to get bills paid, gas for the car and childcare.
Speaking of, I haven't been able to make a car payment since August 27 and I can't ask for a deferment unless: the payment is at least one day late and I'm working (since it's my loan). The loan payment per month is $310.25; I've been doing half payments every two weeks of $155.13; I changed this amount to an even $156 but I had to stop that today. With Patrick's current income, we can't do it right now.
My mother-in-law's car insurance lapsed and because she's no longer in California, they wouldn't renew it for her. I had to add her to our policy, which increased to $220 from $77 per month. She has an at-fault accident on her driving record from April 2007 (which, in our opinion, isn't even her fault; thank you, CA law).
Even once I find work, there's childcare. The place I want to take Bella to has a $90 registration fee and then it's $220/week for five full days. I can take her in for a free day to see how she likes it, but I'd want to take her back again and again once I find work.
So far, we're at $1,410.25; this doesn't include gas or groceries. Gas here at a cheap station is roughly $3.54/gallon. I have a 15 gallon tank. I spent $32.50 to fill it from roughly half a tank. For a full tank, it looks to be about $65 bucks. If driven carefully, this can be filled every two weeks. So, 65 x 2 is $130. This brings the monthly total to $1.540.25.
I know we can go to King Soopers (grocery store) and spend about $200 every two weeks to keep us fed. Going there twice a month is about $400. Once I get my inactive reserve ID card, I can go to Buckley Air Force Base and use the commissary for groceries and things. I can probably spend about $150 every two weeks there on groceries; this brings the new grocery total to $300 every month. For posterity, I'll say monthly grocery bill is the higher; $400. New monthly amount is $1,940.25; builds up fast.
Patrick's getting $10.50/hour, which is a few dollars above minimum wage. Thing is, he's not full time; only the managers at the portrait studio are full time. If anything, he'll have roughly 35 hours every week. I need at least what I was making with my last job ($14.40 by the time I left) to make any kind of decent income. I'd like $16/hour, but I will settle for $14.50-$15/hour.
My mother-in-law is still looking for work as well. She had an interview as a receptionist, but they told her she wasn't what they were looking for (read: she's over-qualified and/or too old). She'd to retail or bank, but she'd have to stand. She has MS and is unable to stand for long periods of time.
My mother has been a great help, spending money on food for us and clothes for Bella. Thanks to "Mimi" Bella should be good on clothes for awhile. If we're lucky, we won't have to buy her any clothes for another six months!!
My "dad" might as well be a zombie. He doesn't say hi back to Bella when she says hi to him. He seems to see her more as an annoyance than anything else. He doesn't like kids but obviously favors my sister's son. The room Bella's sleeping in was his computer room. He has pictures of Bella, my nephew and two girls from his son. I counted up the pictures shortly after we got here; he has maybe two or three of his son's daughters. He has TWICE as many pictures of my nephew than my daughter. If he's going to play favorites, at least let me know.. or just take the pictures down. He also still sees me as the 21 year old who still isn't capable of doing anything right; this was me before I joined the Navy in 2002. Summer 2002, I let a friend drive my car (with me in it) so that she could get her license. I'd let another friend do this and he did just fine. She put my car into an inactive fire hydrant. I found out when the police showed up that her permit was EXPIRED. To save my own ass with the insurance, I told them I was driving. I called "dad" about it and he ripped me a new asshole. Twelve hours later, he was laid off from his job; budget cuts, I think. He's still sore about that. The friend owes my mother $3,500 for damages to the car; it was totaled and it cost more to fix it than to pay it off.
So, that's it in a nutshell.
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