Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Day After Valentine's Day

Hello family & friends!

I apologize that it's been so long since I've written last.  Things have been busy at work and our home computer has been out of commission because the A/C Adapter thingie was, as the Best Buy Geek Squad guy said, "Broken."

So now that work is slowing down a little and our home computer is working, you'll probably see me posting a little more often.  Hopefully, you'll enjoy it!  If not, you'll just ignore my Tweets & FB posts for my blog and go on with your day.

So far, I pretty much hate 2011.  We have had our beloved Cavalier totalled, Mike was "temporarily" brought down to only 20 hours at work on January 3rd (only to be laid off four weeks later), there is a hold on my Flexible Spending Account, we're in collections for some late utilities (on top of all our other collections accounts) and on Sunday, Anna had two seizures.

I'm tired.  I feel as though every time we try to take a step forward something happens in life and brings us 3 steps back!  It's very frustrating and stressful and it's so hard.

So I've decided to take a look at our 5 year plan and re-evaluate.

Last May, we started our "5 Year Plan".  It looked something like this:
  • pull credit reports & contact all creditors (every year)
  • begin making regular payments for our debt/collections accounts (in 1st year)
  • get organized (in 1st year) & stay organized (every year)
  • get a full-time job (both of us) that we can grow with into a career
  • keep expenses to a minimum (ie:  Netflix & internet without cable; minimize eating out)
  • establish a savings account
  • regularly deposit money into said savings account
  • build savings account to cover 6 months of expenses
  • buy a new car - reliable & sensible (requirements:  not red, power door locks & windows, 4 doors)
  • stay in one location for 3-5 years
  • build stable employment history
  • grow in faith
  • grow in our marriage
  • eat healthier
  • be more active
  • spend more time with the dogs
  • move out to San Francisco (5 years)
  • take time for mini-vacations
Here's where we're at:
  • we have a new car
  • we have established a savings account
  • we have been regularly depositing money into the savings account
  • we pulled our credit reports last year & contacted all creditors
  • we have made regular payments (except last month) to the creditors
  • we both have had full-time jobs (& Mike now has a new one)
  • we've both passed 1 year marks with the companies we work(ed) for
  • I have been attempting to make it to church
  • we have worked on our marriage & are continuing to
  • I am attempting to eat healthier - it's portion sizes that are my big problem
  • we have been successful with limiting our expenses
  • we have spent more time with the dogs but I'm not quite where I'd like to be
Doing this has helped me to realize that we've actually accomplished a lot, despite our struggles.  I hope that when you're feeling down about life that you can take a step back and look at the things you have done and accomplished.

What do you think?


Creative Commons License
I Just Want to Be Ok by Sarah A. Manning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

4 comments:

FarmerLenny said...

I think it's a good thing to evaluate your goals and where you are with them. I'm sorry 2011 has been so hard for you guys. I pray that you will succeed in getting through your list.

RegencyKnitter said...

Those are some pretty big goals! Congrats on your progress.

As an aside, I have a Starbuck's gift card burning a hole in my pocket. Want to go out for coffee sometime soon?

Sarah said...

Abby, I would LOVE to meet you for coffee. Would you like to go after church on 02/27/11?

RegencyKnitter said...

Sarah, Sunday the 27th sounds good. I put it in my calendar. Looking forward to it! Abby