Future plans
The last 24 hours we went from one plan to another.
1) getting associates degree here, then moving to Warrensburg to finish a bachelor's degree, all the while renting
to
2) let's buy a house and stay here, and commute to Trenton, finish the associates, then commute to St. Joseph and finish the bachelors. We can start an investment NOW, let down our roots, and maintain some stability, all the while staying in town with a low cost-of-living and family nearby.
to
3) buying a house now isn't wise. Let's keeping renting and work our butts off to get rid of our debt (school loans) and get ourselves in the black again before we even think about buying a house. Once we eliminate debt, let's concentrate on building up our saving account.
We are going with #3. Stephen and I went through our finances to figure how much we can pay each month on our loans, and how much we can save.
Stephen brings home about $3,000/month. Of this $1,700 has to be reserved for our bills--this is including the minimum payment of our loans, groceries, and non-grocery items. That leaves 1300/month for savings and loan payment. We've decided to take out our tithe, pay our bills, leave enough in our checking acct to "make it" until payday, and put the rest in savings. From our savings account, we'll figure on a monthly basis how much "extra" we can pay on our loans. We want to work up our savings account to eventually have enough money to live on for 3 months--$5,100. Loan payment will take priority over savings until we pay off the loans.
In the meantime, Stephen is going to continue will Alltel, and be on the look out for promotion opportunities within the company. We will stay here in Chillicothe, renting, until his job requires us to move. I am going to babysit through the summer, maybe take a class. In the fall, we are thinking tentatively I can go to school T, Th, have my school-age boys everyday after school, and be available to have my babies M, W, F. I am staying on the lookout for another job, preferably in the evenings, like custodial work. I don't want to get caught up in retail or food service...but if I can find a little side job to make the extra money that would be cool.
I am definately getting my associates degree, since we plan to finance this out of our own pockets. However, I have reservations at this time about pursuing a bachelor's degree...will the debt we procure be worth it? We will have our previous school debt paid off in less than a decade. I do not have a good feeling at all about going back to school and adding onto this debt...it will just be pushing our future further and further away. How frustrating would it be to pay off our previous debt, be in the black, only to add ANOTHER debt to the mix. "Is it worth it?" will be the question we'll ask ourselves when the time comes to think about this. Maybe we will decide it is worth it. Maybe not.
Since we are trying our darndest to knock this debt out of the way, we'd prefer to stay childless, at least for right now. Of course, Stephen and I would be overjoyed to find out we're pregnant. I guess we are letting life take its course. Since I gained my weight back from my "little go at it" in March, my system is messed up again. I know I am not ovulating. I am ok with this. I know that I'll need to lose weight if we ever decide we want to "try". I guess my weight is our b.c. ...has been for our three years of marriage. Interesting how that works.
1) getting associates degree here, then moving to Warrensburg to finish a bachelor's degree, all the while renting
to
2) let's buy a house and stay here, and commute to Trenton, finish the associates, then commute to St. Joseph and finish the bachelors. We can start an investment NOW, let down our roots, and maintain some stability, all the while staying in town with a low cost-of-living and family nearby.
to
3) buying a house now isn't wise. Let's keeping renting and work our butts off to get rid of our debt (school loans) and get ourselves in the black again before we even think about buying a house. Once we eliminate debt, let's concentrate on building up our saving account.
We are going with #3. Stephen and I went through our finances to figure how much we can pay each month on our loans, and how much we can save.
Stephen brings home about $3,000/month. Of this $1,700 has to be reserved for our bills--this is including the minimum payment of our loans, groceries, and non-grocery items. That leaves 1300/month for savings and loan payment. We've decided to take out our tithe, pay our bills, leave enough in our checking acct to "make it" until payday, and put the rest in savings. From our savings account, we'll figure on a monthly basis how much "extra" we can pay on our loans. We want to work up our savings account to eventually have enough money to live on for 3 months--$5,100. Loan payment will take priority over savings until we pay off the loans.
In the meantime, Stephen is going to continue will Alltel, and be on the look out for promotion opportunities within the company. We will stay here in Chillicothe, renting, until his job requires us to move. I am going to babysit through the summer, maybe take a class. In the fall, we are thinking tentatively I can go to school T, Th, have my school-age boys everyday after school, and be available to have my babies M, W, F. I am staying on the lookout for another job, preferably in the evenings, like custodial work. I don't want to get caught up in retail or food service...but if I can find a little side job to make the extra money that would be cool.
I am definately getting my associates degree, since we plan to finance this out of our own pockets. However, I have reservations at this time about pursuing a bachelor's degree...will the debt we procure be worth it? We will have our previous school debt paid off in less than a decade. I do not have a good feeling at all about going back to school and adding onto this debt...it will just be pushing our future further and further away. How frustrating would it be to pay off our previous debt, be in the black, only to add ANOTHER debt to the mix. "Is it worth it?" will be the question we'll ask ourselves when the time comes to think about this. Maybe we will decide it is worth it. Maybe not.
Since we are trying our darndest to knock this debt out of the way, we'd prefer to stay childless, at least for right now. Of course, Stephen and I would be overjoyed to find out we're pregnant. I guess we are letting life take its course. Since I gained my weight back from my "little go at it" in March, my system is messed up again. I know I am not ovulating. I am ok with this. I know that I'll need to lose weight if we ever decide we want to "try". I guess my weight is our b.c. ...has been for our three years of marriage. Interesting how that works.