Steady as She Goes

We, Sparky and I, are feeling better today.

We both got paid today! I had to pay the phone bill which was $18.00 and get a few groceries before I went to work so the children could eat while I was gone.

I have made a list of things we need and things that would be nice to buy.

Need: anti freeze/coolant for both cars.

Steel toed shoes for Sparky for work.

Hair cuts for two family members who look pretty scruffy.

Would be nice: shoe inserts for me because my feet ache at work.

Child needs night clothes because old ones don't fit.

So tonight I write out a plan of money coming in and what it will be spent on. Then it gets a look over by Sparky changes might be made depending on what he says.

I keep telling myself I have to make the money behave!

Yikes

Three steps forward, two steps back...

Recently my car that we bought with part of our income tax return money started making a squeaky grinding sound.

I took it to our trusted mechanic and it was the front brakes. The driver side calipers were not set right and wore faster that the left side.

I called my husband and 286.00 later I am driving safely again...

Then the front suspension started to act up. Hard to turn, clunky ect.
I asked the mechanic about it. They put it up on the rack and gave me a written estimate of over $550.00.

I am not driving right now. My husband can barrow his mothers car to go to work and I can drive his for my part time jobs and getting our oldest child to her community college classes 40 miles away.

What really has me upset is the car repairs is/going to wipe out our emergency savings account.

I keep telling myself that is what the account was for...

Surviving IV

Do Not Grow Weary or Lose Heart…
I tried very hard to be steady and see God’s Providence in all things. I asked for prayer many times and I was comforted often. After my daughter was hit and recovered I went into a depression that lasted for 10 months. This was not my first bout with depression, but depression had not occurred in my life since 1998, after the birth of my 5th child. I kept telling myself it would pass. I told myself I had been through a lot and it would take the wind out of even the strongest person. I made myself get out of bed and take care of my responsibilities the best I could manage. I would recount all the kindness shown to us over the past 5 years. People opened their homes to us, gave us money for food, and we have even been given old cars so my husband could get to work. I refused to be bitter.

I have homeschooled all my children for eleven years at this writing. Homeschooling -the routine and having a daily purpose has been very beneficial through all the upheaval and moving.


Bible Verses
Psa 17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

Psa 37:27 Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.

Psa 37:37 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.

Psa 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

Pro 23:23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

Hab 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and [there shall be] no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Summer 2005
We are facing a very difficult summer. My husband’s long awaited raise came through. He is still with the same company from when we moved here in 2003. The company has had layoffs and fired many people in the last two years. He has had several bosses come and then leave. When he finally got his raise he was told he deserved more, but the company could not do it right now. It was a twenty-five cent an hour increases.

I began working part-time 10 months ago. It was very difficult to decide and we were very limited because we only had one car. I did find a flexible position. It was a brand new company and all positions were part-time. The employer said people could not survive on the wage, but if you were looking for some extra cash it would work. I just nodded my head and smiled. I show up on time and work my hardest while I am there.

Between the both of us our total income after taxes is $1840.00.

I try to be teachable and listen to recommendations that people make to us. Some often repeated recommendations are:

My husband should get a better paying job or one closer to home so we do not pay so much in gas. On the surface this is not a bad idea. But he leaves from work at 8:00a and gets home at 6:45p. As veterans of looking for work while being employed full time I can tell you it is very difficult. My husband has a half hour lunch to go to an interview. Most interviewers run a few minutes late. My husband would be late arriving back to work. The expense of the extra gas we can not afford. He could take vacation time off, but most interviews are with in a day or two of the phone call and my husband’s company requires a written request well ahead of the time being taken off. He could suddenly call in sick, but my husband has never believed in doing this to any company he has worked for and does not want to start now.

People who do not know us well have suggested that we sell some things in our home or sale a car. These also are very good ideas for people in need of cash. We could sale our 1991 van that was given to us. We might be able to get $600.00 for it. It was given to us because the family was moving out of state and it ran too poorly to drive the distance.

The van has needed the on-board computer replaced for some time now. It also has transmission problems. If we sold it that would leave us with the car my husband drives to work. It is a 1994 and seats five. It was recently given to us, which increased our auto insurance. We do not expect the van to last another year. This will be the car that makes sure my husband can get to work. The van is nice because we can attend church together. I drive the van as little as possible to save on gas. I go to work and to the store and library once a week. Before the recent car was given to us, I drove my husband to work, 45 minutes one way. I then drove home and taught the children and then I went to work. After work, I drove to his work and sat in his parking lot until 6:45p to save gas. Then we drove 45 min. home. My husband and I were talking about me quitting my job just before we were given the car because we figured after the gas (and stress), I was only making $80.00 a month.

Selling Things
I have sold many things on eBay and Craigslist.org. I am out of anything of value that could be sold. I have had garage sales before. People want nice stuff cheap. I have nothing “nice” left. The few outgrown clothes and shoes I have are being saved for other siblings to wear. Sometimes people give me things to sell. I have to factor in not only the eBay fees but also packaging and shipping costs and gas driving to the post office.

Our Current Monthly Budget
$50.00 Tithe
$990.00 Rent (utilities and internet included)
$78.00 Auto Insurance for two cars
$155.00 Gas (rising prices and .18 tax on the gallon -ouch)
$20.00 Phone
$10.00 Home School Legal Defense Fund
$30.00 Target Store Card (bal. $140.00)
$507.00 Food ($126.75 a week)
$1840.00 Total

The Children
My children have very few clothes. What they do have they must keep nice for the next child down to wear. Because we only go to church and the library we manage. It is difficult when shoes or under things are out grown and we can not buy more.

I have a daughter who lost her new eyeglasses. The insurance told me another pair would not be covered until 2006. If we ever get any extra money it will go to new eyeglasses.

I tell the children often to be very careful not to hurt themselves. There is no money for the Kaiser $20.00 co-pay. They will bill you, and the service charge added is $13.50.

The children get a gift for Christmas and birthdays from the Grandma’s and one aunt and uncle. They know that we would love to give them a gift if we could. In the Bay Area our old church adopted us for Christmas one year. This past year two families heard about us and gave us gifts at Christmas time. The children were over whelmed and very thankful.

We have all learned to use things very gently and not waste anything. If it gets broke or lost it will be hard to replace.

I only use our Target Store charge card for emergencies – like food. Not birthday gifts, not clothes. I make the payment plus any recent charge before the due date. The interest charge was recently raised as it was with all charge cards in May 2005. Because of my low balance it did not affect us.

We have learned to check the oil and water in our cars every two weeks. We drive carefully and don’t ride the breaks. We carry basic insurance. The money it costs now can save us expensive trouble with the law.

My goal each day is to not incur any sort of debt. To my horror recently a book from the library was watered damaged and I must replace it.

Food Banks
Food bank set-up varies widely from city to city. Some only allow people from the food banks zip code. Some churches run food banks, but most are run by the county.

In our city you can not get a box of food from the food bank and collect food stamps. You can make an appointment with the caseworker and she will write a slip to take to the food bank if the worker thinks you are really in need of food. Not all cities are like this. Some of the food is out of code. You also need to take in account the gas needed to drive there. Church food pantries rarely have out of code food.

Churches have had problems with people taking advantage of them. Most churches, after a through intake process will give assistance one time only. People with addiction or domestic violence problems are usually referred to Social Services.

Menu for the Week
Breakfast Lunch Dinner
Monday bagels mac and cheese taco ring
Tuesday pancakes rice soup beef soft tacos
Wednesday egg burrito cup of soup spaghetti
Thursday muffins(c.chip) rice o roni crock pot roast
Friday french bread corn dogs nacho tacos
Saturday cereal sandwiches grilled cheese
Sunday egg burrito leftovers hot dogs/hamburgers
My husband lunch is the following: 1 sandwich w/lettuce, hard-boiled egg, two kinds of fruit, 1 pudding, small amount of tortilla chips.

Excellent books to read:
Dave Ramsey (everything)
More for Your Money – James L. Paris
How To Get Out of Debt and Stay Out – Jerrold Mundis
The Richest Man in Babylon (a classic) – George S. Clason
The Ultimate Lifestyle – Tim Timmons
Minding Your Own Business – Raymond and Dorothy Moore
On the internet: www.crown.org

Our Food Bill
This is our weekly shopping list. I do not recommend trying to feed a family of 7 on $125.00. It is just awful. My husband medical needs make it even more difficult. I shop at Super Wal-Mart.

1 pkg. 30 small tortilla 1 pkg. frozen bagels
1 pkg. (12) frozen hamburgers 1 pkg. hot dogs
1 pkg. hamburger buns 1 pkg. hamburger buns
4 lbs. chicken 3 lbs. hamburger
1 box of eggs (5dz.) 1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 bag of salad 1lg. can cream chicken soup
1 lg. can cream mushroom soup 2 bg. Chopped bacon
2 box. Rice o Roni 5 cup of soup
2 cans of tuna 2 box mac and cheese
1 box of crackers 1 box of snack pudding
1 loaf of french bread 2 margarine
1 box of jiffy mix 1 pkg. of choc. Chips
2 cans of tuna 1 box of corn dogs
1 pkg. spaghetti noodles 3 apples
3 bananas 1 pkg. lunch meat
½ lb grapes 1 bg. rice
½ gallon of milk 1 pkg. Scotts’ toilet paper
6 loaves of bread 1 pkg. cream cheese
1 box cheerios 1 roast
3 potatoes 1 box onion soup
Once a month- taco seasoning jelly peanut butter pancake syrup
mustard ketchup block mild cheese miracle whip
lg bag of tortilla chips cooking oil shampoo shaving cream
2 bars of soap toothpaste razors deodorant laundry soap
kitchen sink soap dishwasher soap
If any extra money – light bulbs vacuum cleaner bags

A FINALE WORD
*Educate yourself about money and credit

*Social Service Agencies are set-up to help battered women and families with drug or alcohol addiction. Churches are better equipped to help families not dealing with these problems, but they do not have programs in place because Social Services Agencies help families in need.

*Guard your credit and good name. Honor your debts. Better yet, do not go into debt. When hard times hit (and they will) you will struggle, but come out of it with your credit and good name intact.

*Be careful with your fake Visa debit card. Automatic deductions will be taken out of your account weather there is money to cover the debit or not. The bank will charge you a NSF fee on top of the debit.

*Save for a rainy day. Even if its $20.00 a month, save it.

*Do not develop an attitude that you deserve a nice car or an iPod. Learn to save up for it. Set money aside for things. Get over the “instant” lifestyle and do not use credit cards for these things.

*Count the cost of purchases. How much will the upkeep be? Can you live with out it? If not, do your research. Shop smart.

*There is no such thing as get rich quick. You work hard and you get paid. Spend carefully and save.

*Take in account when Mom is looking for work the wear and tear on the car, gas used, wardrobe needed, and meals eaten out because Mom is too tired to cook and child care costs. Parents are not replaceable.

Surviving III

After speaking to so many families I have begun to see common treads between families that have faired well and families that have been sunk by the Bay Area economy.

*Men who were “white collar” or in software developing/IT employees have had a very difficult time finding work. I know of one father who found work at Costco and the other found work at Home Depo. Both these men sold their homes and left the area with their families.

*Men who were blue collar and service oriented faired better. One Dad began using his current, but unused truck drivers’ licensee. Another Dad was self-employed as a handyman. My husband found regular work through temp agencies. Some money is better than no money.

*I know of another family – they were out of work for over a year. They were very frugal and wise. They lived on savings, cut back all non-essential expenses and paid every bill on time. Because of their excellent credit history they were able to move to a less expensive rental. They had a small family. There was another layoff from the new job. They did not have time to build up savings. They moved out of the Bay Area but work was not easy to find. They used their credit cards carefully and borrowed money from family to survive.

They are now both employed; Dad works nights and takes care of the children during the day while Mom is at work. They used their income tax return to pay off the family members who they borrowed money from.

*One of the places we lived we rented from a dear single man. He lost his job at Sun Microsystems. He was out of work 2 years. He paid the mortgage by renting out rooms. We rented 2 rooms. Three children were in one room, husband, me and two children in the other. There was a nice young married couple down the hall we shared the bathroom with.

Moving
From 2000-2003 we moved 7 times. On September 11, 2001 our world was changed forever because of an act of terror on United States soil.

In October 2001, after my husband being ill for many months, but because we were consumed with finding a place to live, he downed played his symptoms, ended up in the hospital and was diagnosed with diabetes.

In February 2002 husband’s company closed after the investors pulled out. At first he concentrated on finding another job while collecting unemployment, but no one was hiring. My husband found steady work (although low paying) at a temp agency. Most companies were now using temp agencies for workers. The temp agency screened people, performed drug testing before hiring the employee and the companies did not have to pay out benefits to temp workers.

My husband’s cardiologist was very kind to us when we had no health insurance. He gave us “samples” of the needed diabetes medication. My husband did everything the doctor prescribed the five months he saw the doctor. He arrived to every appointment on time. His doctor told us he was pleased with the effort. His doctor allowed us to call anytime with questions or to request more samples when needed.

April 2002 I totaled our Astro Van in San Jose. I did not get a ticket, and I was the only one hurt. The insurance paid off the loan and paid for the damages to the other vehicles. In January 2002 we had been given a used insurance-salvaged car by friends. It only seated 5, but was now my husband’s transportation to jobs.

From November 2002 - May 2003 my marriage was in serious trouble. Through lots of talking and apologizing we got things resolved. Our church in May had a very good marriage seminar that was helpful too.

September 2003 we moved to N. Ca for cheaper rent and availabe work. At the time we decided to move notices and people started coming to the door of the home we were renting. The owner had not paid the mortgage in many months and the home was in foreclosure we found out. We shared the home with some college students and another family. The rent was low, utilities were included and a deposit was not required. The living situation was ok while we were there. The other family was friends who were in similar circumstances. They all moved out by April/May and we had the home to ourselves. The owner stopped coming around so we sent postal money orders for rent to his address.

The week we moved the PG&E and water were to be shut off for non-payment. We had notice ahead of time and we tried to reach the owner, but the phone mail was always full and not accepting messages.

My husband let the temp agency know we would be moving. He had a very good relationship with the agency. They knew they could always depend on him to do well on the jobs they sent him to. The agency had offices in the N. Ca. They had a job waiting for my husband when we moved, if he wanted it. It was low paying, but the company would hire my husband after 3 months if they liked him (and he was hired and we have health insurance!)
Later that month our 4th child was hit on our street by a van while riding her bike. Thank God it was not serious and she had a quick recovery.

Lose Your Money In Three Easy Generations

I found this link over at Consumerism Commentary


A topic near to our heart because we want to change our family tree and have a different life for our children and children's children.

Vanishing Wealth

Breaking NEWS

I interrrupt this saga I wrote a while back to announce I may have a 2nd part time job. I am so excited. I should begin training next Wed. the 29th. This money will go a long way for us to pay off Target, up our food budget, spend a little more on the children for school books and clothes and the rest in savings every month. I love craigslist.org!

Surviving II

“If you want to succeed at the highest level, you must learn to manage your life by sacrificing present pleasure for future benefits.”
Dr. Guy Wolfkill

How Did We Get In This Mess?
2002
I have had to do a lot of pondering and retracing to figure out all the bad choices that were made and how they affect us today. This has been painful but good. Now we know what not to do in the future. I am sure there are many people that probably already know these things – bless their hearts. If they ever suffer financial setbacks, they will fair better that we did.

The bottom line of our difficulties is two fold. 1. Lack of income and no savings. 2. Going into debt and not paying bills on time. There are several reasons for this. In 1987 when I was expecting my 1st child Silicone Valley went through a major shift in technology. My husbands company Memorex had layoffs and my husband was included. This was just the beginning of many years of layoffs and re-hires in the course of our marriage. The new technology – a shinny disk called a CD. The new technology just kept coming and coming. It seemed like there was some new marvel every 6 months and the Silicone Valley while producing it, could barely keep up with itself.

Because of the hiring needs in Silicone Valley, my husband usually did not apply for unemployment because there was a waiting time before you could apply for unemployment. He was able to work temp. jobs until he was hired with in a month or two at a new job. Each new job was a bit more money. We were still struggling, but there was a raise each year for the jobs that did not layoff. We had more children and just bounced along…until our 3rd child was born in the month of our 7th wedding anniversary.

My Mother and Father had tried to tell me several times in the early years of our marriage to save money in case of a “rainy day”. But any spare cash (or credit) we had went to purchase “stuff” we “needed”.

Our 3rd child was born with health problems and was hospitalized five times the first two years. She went on to have several surgeries by the time she seven. While we had Kaiser health insurance, we still had to pay our co-payment for each visit – sometimes five visits in seven days. When she was hospitalized, Dad would come home to be with the other children while we were at the hospital.

He would use up his vacation time quickly and then would loose pay. I can not even begin to tell you the enormous amount of stress our dear child’s poor health caused as well as financial trouble. Then after 2 years my husband was fired from his job. This was the only time he had ever been fired. This unemployment time was much longer than we had ever experienced before. In 1993 my husband eventually found a job and we slowly tried to get back on our feet. We ended up finally filing for bankruptcy.

In 1995 we had our 4th child, I had emergency gall bladder surgery and we went into debt getting a used station wagon.

In 1998 we had our last child. My husband had been steadily employed since 1993 but his company moved twice and then the parent company sold his company and then the company was sold twice more. He was offered a layoff package in October 1999 and we took it. During this time we had another used station wagon we were making payments on. Leading up to the layoff package my husband was looking for another job. The morale at his job with all the new owners – it seemed yearly, was pretty low. He would look for work, try to arrange the interview for his lunch hour, change into his suit in the car, go to the interview, sometimes he would have a second interview, but never got another job. This went on for five months. In November my husband applied at a start-up company.

From 1993-1999 our budget and payments on our bills were a mess. We were always late making payments and living from paycheck to paycheck. We were a family of 7 and my husband made about 29,000.00 a year. I did many different things part-time to bring in money. It was not easy homeschooling 3 (of the 5) children at that time and often only having 1 car. We would go to the local food bank as needed.

In the fall of 1999 we made the decision of buying a 1997 Astro Van. It was large and reliable. Reliable cars were a big problem for us. The payments were high because of our bad credit. Our station wagon was in need of $1,000.00 of repair work.

December 1999 my husband got the job in Mountain View at the start-up company he applied for in November. His first day on the job would be right after Christmas. He would be making more than he ever had before, but we had two car payments totaling almost $700.00. Our rent also had been recently raised in the home we lived in for 10 years. We knew many people who had left the Bay Area in 1999 because they had their rents raised and or were asked to leave their rentals because the home was being sold. When they looked for a new rental the competition was brutal and perfect credit was a must.

In April of 2000 we too were given notice that the owners family wanted to move in. We were now paying $930.00 a month in rent. We were given a generous 3 months to move. We had bad credit, 5 children and people wanted a deposit and first and last months rent. AND there were people who could pay it – but not us. Property management agencies would rent us no less than a three-bedroom apartment or home at $1200.00 or more a month.

Everyone we knew was keeping and eye out for rentals for us. Because my husband worked in Mt. View we looked on the other side of the Bay Area too. It was hopeless. We even looked into motel rooms. 2 people to a room only. After 40 days of looking, “We gave it to God” and had an estate sale. People asked me who died? I told them it was a death of a lifestyle.

We packed up what was left, and “Waited on the Lord”. We still had another 40 days left. I contacted our church for advice. We were not the first family facing this in our church. Going to Social Services was recommended. I started going to all the Social Service Agencies. Because my husband worked in Mt. View, I could go to those agencies also for services. Bottom line - we could move into a shelter for 3-6 months. Our children would be enrolled in public school and then go to day care after. My husband and I would have mandatory urine testing for drugs and his payroll would be turned over and held for us. I would receive job training. They could not guarantee housing after our shelter stay was up. My husband said NO WAY! to this option.

A dear family that I had known years ago heard what we were going through and contacted us. This family was putting their home on the market and moving out of state, but they could rent to us their camping trailer for 3 months. It was hooked up to the house so we would have electricity. It also had propane so we could use the air conditioner. The garage was converted into a playroom and we could have full use of it.