I paid $660 to have hot water. I am thankful. I am a little pissed about how ghetto the operators were to me. After I took my dishes to my grandmother's to do them, I told her that I almost felt sorry for making fun of my ex-sister-in-law for trading sexual favors to get her utilities turned back on. Almost.

Lights and gas paid. Water and phone are next. Maybe a credit card will get paid next month.

I guess that's where an emergency fund comes from. I only have $25 in mine and my man's transmission in his work truck went out Friday. Now he is driving the gas guzzler loaded down with hundreds of pounds of tools. No extra spending!

Last night was good for me. I found 28 cents and I earned $56 (before taxes). So, I guess I have something to put into the bank now. I also scored a bottle of Jose' that I will be using tonight at work. I am not working, so it will be good. Can't party too much though. Saturday is an all day festival show. Yeah!

I returned a car part that was purchased but not needed. That was $42.
I worked from 6:30 to about 10:30 and made $25.
I did not buy any cigarettes or alcohol today, which is awesome for me since I am feeling down.

I contacted my cable company and they told me that in order to get service without buying a box for digital signal, my bill will be raising on September 11th from $33 to $45. "You get more channels." Don't you get that I am trying to go cheap? I guess I will see when those digital boxes are less and get a coupon for reimbursement or something. We can live with Fox and public television but with nothing even I will go crazy.

I tried to call my college today and it was a weird conversation. They changed the name of my school, which is cool, but I asked to talk to some really well known people in the office and the girl answering the phone did not know who I was talking about. So after asking if the dean was the same, she explained that there was an entire staff meeting and she was filling in. I asked her if there was a list of people's extensions so that I could leave a voicemail and she was looking at the list and no one I mentioned was on it.
Weird. I will call again tomorrow and get the down low on what I need to do to start up again this September 29th. Before you jump my case about needing work worse, I can't afford to start paying my student loans, which are about $10,000.00. I have only two months until my six month grace period is over. Really, it is over in August, but I will be registered by then. I forgot that I found two pennies on the ground today.

GO ME!!!

Paying off cards to get the credit card companies to stop calling me 20 times a day hardly seems worth it. I am now $200 lighter and my life seems bleak. Rent is paid, but we still have no hot water. The cable company is going to shut us off and repo our box. I don't know how much longer I can take this. My children have started school and their supplies and textbook fees really strapped me. At least I don't have to pay the $50 a week for Kindergarten this year.

$658 for gas due
$117 for cable due
$132 for phone due
$156 for lights due
$50 for one credit card due
$40 for another credit card due
$101 for yet another credit card due
$60 for my major credit card due
$18 for my last credit card due

My head is above water for now, but it won't be soon. My kids keep me going. My job lets me hang on. My sanity is still in check. Without those things, you would never hear from me again.

What is the name of my blog? You must first help yourself, which I have been doing, by doing a minimum of 20 hours of job searching every week. That is time I could be working and earning money, but my job isn't the best about giving hours. It isn't their fault. I will continue to look, since I am to be starting school again this fall.

Wish me luck!

Work and more work are planned for this weekend. We are sitting at home with the kids and watching TV. Lunch will come out of the freezer and dinner is on Dad. I hope that it doesn't rain on me at work tonight. It is raining now, so that is why we aren't going anywhere. Also, I work 25 miles away so I am saving our gas. Next week is back to school night and school starts that next Monday. Time flew so fast. We have most of our supplies ready to go. I hope that we have a good year this year.

These next two weeks are going to be outrageous with things that need to be done. I have already started on the laundry from our trip, but other than that I have to schedule my son's eye surgery, we have a family meeting with the school counselor, a lot of bills are due, and work is hounding me to come in early this week. Tomorrow I have to sign up the boys for school and finish getting their school supplies together. What else needs to be on my plate right now. I am starting school in the fall too. I had a six month break and I am ready to go back, get into the grove, and graduate. Hopefully with my degrees I can talk my boss into that raise I've deserved for over a year. I could also talk him into some working while the kids are at school sort of thing. I did that for a while, but he wanted me to do physical work instead of paperwork. I really hated getting dressed in my fancy office clothes to dust and clean on my hands and knees. I had no problem doing the laundry of the company, but really, scrubbing the table legs in a dress didn't work for me and I told him. Since I am deaf on the phone, I wasn't the best message taker for lunch time either.
I am going to be looking for a new job. Wish me luck.

Well, my lease is up in October. I really want to leave this dump, but it's cheap and has a great school for my little n's. Without finding a full time job that pays at least min. wage, I can't afford to go anywhere. I say at least minimum because I could be a waitress and make a few bucks. That won't be enough.
Right now rent is cheap for the good area I'm in, but I think my family needs more. I know that we should be happy for what we have, but my 6-y-o told me that our house is too small to get away from his brother. Two bedrooms, living room, kitchen and bath. That is a really tiny place when you write it down. I guess I'm not counting everything. There's a small bathroom, smaller laundry room, and a hallway connecting the four major rooms. I found a place with three bedrooms, fenced in backyard, attached garage, with new windows and insulation. $560 to $875 is quite a jump. DH won't let us move because he is the only one really working. My job is a joke. I work one week and not for two. Since I get paid bi-weekly, it sort of doesn't pay at all. I have to drive 45 miles to get 6 or 7 hours in and then drive home at 1 in the morning, and for what? To get a paycheck for $100 twice a month? Yes. At least I have that. I have to remind myself to be thankful for what I have. Maybe I'll find a cute small house for the same amount of money in November. I'm sure that my landlord will be flexible with me. I am their best tennant.
I am happy we have a house and aren't living off our parents.

I went to the dollar store and spent $21. When did they raise prices from $1 to $5? I can't believe that. I did save an awful lot of money on my cell phone though, so I guess it evens out.

Have I even thought about how much gas would cost to drive south this weekend. We are taking a non-gas guzzler, so that is a plus. But I have been to worried about having fun and budgeting that and forgot about gas. Food is good, clothes are owned, and we are ready to go. I hope that we only have to fill up twice. Once on the way there, and once on the way back.

While starting my list for what to buy, don't I first need to write what I need to take first. I have a lot of the stuff that we are taking down with us, but I am worried about camping outside with two young ones and a high maintenance man. I don't need towels. I don't need swim suits or trunks. I don't need I don't need any toys to keep the kids occupied. I really only need food, and I don't want to buy that until I get there. I will take some, but milk and eggs and things don't need to travel since we aren't in the boonies.


I have already spent $85 on this trip. An air mattress and new swim shoes cost me. Sleeping shorts for the men and I still need to buy a small bottle of laundry soap. Grocery shopping is going to cost me the most, because we really don't have the money to eat at restaurants. I can't wait to start our FAMILY VACATION!!!

Three weeks ago, while my Other Half was at work, someone came out of the office and told him to take one of their old desks to the dumpster. It was nice, really nice. After asking the boss permission to take it home, since trash is still the property of the company, he called home and I cleared a spot out in the living room for the new item. 6 feet of space in here is amazing, so it took me a while to do.


Later that day, after waiting 4 hours, my man came home upset. He said that someone else gave the desk away so some bystander. He asked permission and was mad that it was given away to someone who didn't need it. He overheard him mention about taking it to a furniture store and selling it to them. I told him that it was okay and that we have a desk that is working just fine. I bought a small corner desk to fit with our other furniture. Since then we have gotten rid of our other couch and a hutch cabinet. We have more room.

Today, I have gotten a call that a much nicer desk out of a much higher ranking office was given to him and promised to be saved for him and him alone. Now, I am about to make more room in here, remove everything from this desk and give it to my boys in their room for homework.

Good things come to those who wait. Don't complain while you wait, or you won't receive.