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It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog, even though money is at the top of my mind each and every day.  I also need to take some time to update my tickers, they’re sadly out of date as well.

Regardless, here’s an update:

Saving:

Got into a car accident last month forcing us to get a new car.  We’re saving $100 a month on our lease payments.

Continue to work for my appliance friend and the mystery shop company.  Cash in is minimal, but something is better than nothing. +$143.

Spending:

Owe one sister $220ish dollars for concert tickets.  Totally worth it though, the three of us (sisters) are taking our mom to see Tina Turner in concert as her mother’s day gift this year.

Finally bought a new closet system so my clothes are no longer on the closet floor, on the bookshelf, hanging off the closet door, hanging off the end of my bed, trapped under the remnants of my fallen down closet shelf stashed everywhere.  ~$180.

Going forward:

Negotiated a rate of $30 per visit each time I help my appliance friend with his paperwork

Have 3 more mystery shops scheduled for this week at $10 each. +$30

Seriously in need of new clothes. -$300ish

Been stealing the pennies off my husband’s side table at the end of each day.

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Whatever it takes to add to the piggy bank right?

I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to think of (legal) ways to make some extra cash.  Can’t get a night job because the man and I commute to work together to save on us getting a bus pass for him.  And there aren’t any weekend only jobs that I can think of to do.   Doing something from home is my best bet, but what is out there that doesn’t involve telemarketing or door to door sales?

A little more about me and my money situation.

Long story short, I spend more money than I make. Always have, and, I suspect, always will.

I have a student loan, a bank loan, multiple credit cards, and a car I can’t afford.

I got married 7 months ago and we had a great wedding that my mom helped us pay for, but we still spent way beyond our means. On budget, but waaaay beyond our means.

That’s the bad news.

Here’s the part where I tell you it’s not all my fault.

It actually isn’t.

I got laid off ‘packaged’ out of my job 11 months ago. When the ‘package’ ran out and I still couldn’t find a job in my field (overqualified for entry level work, under qualified for what the market was looking for at the time), I went on (un)employment insurance. I quickly discovered that panhandlers make more money than what you get from the government so I lowered my sights, changed my career path, and 4 months ago got a job in a different field that I love, that I’m great at, but that pays way less than what I was making before.

Therein lies the problem. Our bills, everything that we could afford on my old salary, suddenly became unaffordable on my new salary.

So, after cashing in some (not all) of my RRSP’s to keep us afloat for a while, the man and I finally made a hard decision. To save money on rent so that we can use that money to pay bills, pay down our debt, and save money to buy a home of our own, we have moved in with my mom.

Thankfully there is enough space here that it isn’t too cramped, but let me tell you it’s crazyweird staying in my teenage bedroom with my husband. It’s a strange mix of feeling like a kid again, and feeling like I’ve failed as a grownup.

In any case, here I am. Almost broke and hating every second of it. If I can just stay the course and work really hard to get us out of this hole, our lives will be better for it.

That’s the plan anyways. And we all know that life sometimes has other plans for us than the ones we make for ourselves.

So I’ve seen a few of these “get out of debt” blogs around and thought I’d start one for myself.  I feel like I’ve been trying to get out of debt FOREVER and I’m sick of it.

This blog is my way of forcing myself to get out of debt. I figure if I track my lack of progress here it will give me the incentive I need to get my crap together.

Of course I’ve been so busy these past few days, and will continue to be for the next few days, that It will probably be this weekend before I get around to documenting the horror that is my financial situation.

I swear I’m not procrastinating, I’m just in the middle of moving.

In the meantime, I figured I’d take some time to write some posts about how it truly sucks to always feel like I’m…

Flat Broke.