Memorial Day

On this day I am thinking of my husband, who is a US Navy Veteran, and is currently deployed to Afghanistan doing work with the military so that hopefully they can bring an end to the war that is happening over there, and to keep those serving there safer.

We don't have Memorial Day in Canada so when I moved down here, it was a real eye opener to the celebrations and honouring of those who have served and those who gave their lives so that the United States can be the free country that it is today.

I work for Navy Federal and being able to help the men and women and their families of those who serve is a nice feeling day after day :)

This week is a short work week for me, I worked yesterday, I am off today (holiday) I work tomorrow, off Wednesday (regular day off) work Thursday Friday. Next week I start my official training for my new position, but my pay raise took effect yesterday (yay!).

This week is also pay week for J and myself. The plan is to pay off 2 or 3 Credit Cards. We have to Pay In Full J's Corporate Credit Card with this paycheck because he hasn't been able to file his expense reports as of yet. Once he does that, it will replace what I have used from his regular pay, which is $435.60.

My goals for PIFs are conservative, so I may in fact actually pay off things earlier than scheduled which is a bonus for us, and means that we may have everything that is scheduled, will be paid off before our September goal.

I hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday, and that you take the time to remember what Memorial Day is really about :)

Pay Raise!

So I arrived at work today and found in my email an offer letter for the position that I was offered last week.

I totally wasn't expecting the offer letter because it normally works that you go to training, you 'graduate', you get out on the floor and then in about 30-45 days you get your pay raise.

I guess, now that I have moved into a more 'management' or 'responsible' position, my raise is effective 05/29! I'm not supposed to go into training until 06/06 :)

The raise isn't bad either. While I'm at the minimum for the GL that I'm at, it's still at $6100/year raise to my salary. That's over $500 more a month!
So happy about that. Even though J is over in Afghanistan and will be paying off most of our debt, it will be nice to be able to contribute to it as well as add to our savings.

So I've decided that I'm going to pay off 3 - 4 CCs next payday.
Pretty sure of the first two that will be paid, not sure of the third or fourth. We do have a couple of 'bills' to pay, including our County property taxes for our cars.

Going to pay the Car and Renters Insurance in full.

There's so much I want to do! It's pretty exciting! I'm not quite used to all of this. Especially having money in our checking accounts knowing that I've paid all of the bills on time.

Also, I had 3 No Spend days this week! Plus 1 last week. So my goal for this month was 10, and I've already had 4. I'm pretty pleased with myself so far.

Well, J is probably going to call me here soon :) Can't wait to hear his voice again.

Happy Happy New Year!

So J has been itching to do something new with his job, and has really wanted to get deployed, for a couple of reasons. #1 he's bored with the task he's been working on for almost 2 years, and #2 if he got deployed he could make a lot of money....A LOT.

So about a month ago he applied for 2 positions within his company that had guaranteed deployment. After waiting and having deployment pulled out from beneath him a few times, he became proactive and went to the deployment itself.

About 2 weeks ago he was contacted by the recruiter about both jobs. One would be in Alexandria, VA (closer to DC...boooo) and the other is in Harrisonburg, VA south of us now and far away from DC.

He interviewed for both, and was pretty much offered positions for both. Only the Harrisonburg, VA job required he pass a Flight Physical. Well, he passed! And has we decided that the job in Harrisonburg would be the one for him. Even though there is more risk in the job (ie: flying!) it's something that he's always wanted to do. It was the original reason he went into the Navy (to follow in his father's footsteps) but it never happened. It's like he's getting a second chance.

The great news about it all is that he'll make a lot of money, so that we will be able to pay off all of the debt we have, and be able to put 20% down for a home.

The bad news...he'll be deployed for 6 months to begin with :(

He's really excited though, it was like Christmas all over for him again. And he's really proud of the fact that he will be able to make us not have to worry about money again, and that we can start looking for a home 2 years early, and to start a family :)

So that is why it will be a Happy Happy New Year!

Christmas Snowflakes!

Yesterday was my day off from my Full Time job, and since I wasn't so burned out from my 40hr week I decided to work for my old job.
Yesterday was fun in that I found out that my boss had hired someone Full Time and hadn't told me (he hired the person back in Sept or Oct!)....plus...did I mention they were FULL TIME???? When I worked for this other person, I had been promised and promised time and time again that I would eventually go full time, which never happened and eventually was put down to 8hours a week.
I even have written proof from my boss that I would be going Full Time by May 2008. HA! I'm about ready to tell this boss that I don't need him anymore and that he can take his crappy job that I barely work anymore and...well I'm too nice to really say what I'm thinking :P

Anyway, so as I wasn't at my regular job yesterday, I missed the email from our President letting us know that we would be receiving a $300 Christmas gift! After bonus taxes it comes out to just over $184. You wouldn't believe how many people were complaining about how little it was. Excuse me???? This is $184 I didn't have yesterday. And I'm sorry, but they didn't have to give this to us.
I really dislike ungrateful people.

This $184 is all going towards paying off one of our CCs. We didn't get any snow like a lot of the eastern states did, but it sure snowed in my checking account! :)

Paydays!

So it's a few days late, but J and I both got our paychecks last week, and more than half of the bills have been paid for the month.

It's very odd for me to only pay minimum payments on them, after paying more than the minimums for such a long time. But only time will tell how this DRP will work! I guess when I start knocking some of the cards off my list it will make more sense and give me a boost to continue with it :)

So Christmas is well on it's way, and I have started with the shopping. Didn't get as much done this weekend as I wanted to as I had to work today (gotta love the jobs that are 24/7 365 days a year!) and I got hit with a cold on Friday, pf which I still feel pretty lousy.

Going to be working my 'other' job tomorrow. It's the job I had before getting this one...if you read back to October 2009 you'll know about 'that' job. Basically, I lend a hand when I can. Plus it will mean about $150 snowflakes to debt in the new year.

Hope the season is treating everyone well, and that the budgets haven't been blown yet :)