Yes, it's quite a jump from one to fourteen, but with good reason.
In two weeks, major leaps of faith were made, patience wore thin, and a flu bug took us both down like a huge heavy rock.
I believe I had mentioned that I had sought advice on one of the multitudinous debt reduction sites, and if not, the overall response to my post was move to a lower cost of living area. After much hemming and hawing, and unfortunately some more (and hopefully last) borrowing of funds, that is exactly what we aim to do. One day ahead of schedule, we will be driving down to the Raleigh area of North Carolina to a shared house rental and starting Monday will be embarking on an interview intensive week that hopefully will yield employment before the week's end, even if it means yet another minimum wage job for the time being.
The main reason behind this is that we can clearly see that short of a miracle call, things are not going to be that much financially better just because we move to a place that's $400 less a month, especially when it increases my hubby's commute to 46 minutes longer each way. Instead, we're now moving to a place that is just over $400 a month, and also includes utilities, which means we'll be saving more than $1500 a month from what we paid for the place we're about to leave. Yes, the numbers are right, and no, we weren't living in a place beyond what basic living and still being connected by phone and web costs. It's just that darned expensive here, and that darned inexpensive there. So even if only one of us finds a minimum wage type job right away (hopefully full time), bills will be paid and there will still be money left over.
I know that some folks might shirk at the idea of shared living, but it's only a month to month because we had a devil of a time renting a place out of state that we would hope to call home. There were too many risks involved, and the week we were hoping to go down to do interviews and look at places was the week the flu hit. And when you have a fever one degree shy of what requires a hospital visit, you don't travel 9 hours by car. So we were lucky to find the share which will allow us more time to gain both employment and more permanent living arrangements. From what we've been told by folks from the area as well as seen for ourselves, once we move to a house of our own, we might be spending about $6-700 a month for COL (cost of living) expenses, which is still a little more than a third of what we had to here.
Other things we did in the meantime was continue to use freecycle to try to narrow down what we would take with us, which has had some successes, some not so successes, as well as have a list of jobs we will be applying for as soon as we get there, and making sure that we have something to live off of just in case it takes more than a week or two to secure something.
The truck is now parked outside, we're packing it up, and we will be leaving on Saturday instead of Sunday to give ourselves a day to breathe and, if necessary, stash some things in storage that there may not be room for at our shared house before hitting the interview week.
It's going to be chaos for the next few days. But at least we now have a much better plan in motion to seriously move for the best reasons.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
sixteen days--day one
Today was rough.
The good news is that the first thing I posted on my local freecycle has already been picked up and taken home by someone who is very happy to have it.
Strangely enough, apparently one of the folks I called on Craig's List about selling off some of our dupe comics passed my number along and I got a phone call today from a comics wholesaler who basically wanted what I have for less than a song. Now I know the economy is in the toilet, I know most of what I'm trying to move is from the glut era, and that the market is flooded right now because everyone is trying to make a buck anywhere they can, but I'd be insane to hand over the comics to this person at the price they were offering. The main reason I haven't been trying to sell the comics right now is because I know the market is flooded. So why am I going to let a smooth talking opportunistic SOB who doesn't give a darn about the comics other than their resale value when he ships them overseas in bulk have them? A small amount of fast cash would be nice, but I'd much rather enjoy the process of dealing with actual readers who really want the comics I have and don't need. For the price he was offering, I'd sleep a hell of a lot better donating the lot to a reading program rather than selling to him. The worst part is he tried to inquire as to my personal collection. I guess he's been dealing with a lot of desperate folks for him to feel cocky enough to toe the line there when I already made it quite clear that I was only looking to move dupes. I know my feelings towards him are uppity, but I have a hard time with people who deal in any form of human accomplishment that only see dollar signs when they look at it, instead of at least having some respect for the effort behind the endeavor.
We're still a bit in limbo about the move, because I'm still waiting to hear back from one of the folk we're hoping to rent from. She keeps telling me everything's fine and she just hasn't had time for our next meeting, but I'll feel a lot more confident when I have the signed lease in my hand.
One interesting thing that happened is that I had written in to a debt reduction forum, to seek advice while recounting our situation to see if there was anything I was missing out on that I should be starting to do. In the replies, the most common response was to move away from coastal areas because of the cost of living expenses. On one hand, I completely see the logic in this, but on the other hand, when I've made it clear that we're in a hand to mouth situation financially, how on Earth are we supposed to be able to make the leap? It's one thing to move to an area relatively close to where one currently is, it's a completely different story to research, check out and then move to a completely different area--especially when you know no one from said area you are moving to. (And from actual experience, even knowing people from the area sometimes doesn't help much if at all.) It's something I'm still turning over in my head, because they did have some great suggestions overall and I don't disagree with the notion, but I'm still reaching to find the way to do such a thing.
I didn't manage to pack anything today, although I do have a few more things I'm ready to freecycle. Hopefully tomorrow, we'll be giving away two desks which would be a huge help in the process.
Tomorrow we're supposed to have other possible tenants looking at our place, so I'll be doing some dishes tonight and trying to tidy a bit. Hopefully this won't turn into another reschedule. I'll also call around to try to find an animal shelter that will take the bedding and towels I've set aside that I know some shelters take so I can get them where they need to be as well.
The good news is that the first thing I posted on my local freecycle has already been picked up and taken home by someone who is very happy to have it.
Strangely enough, apparently one of the folks I called on Craig's List about selling off some of our dupe comics passed my number along and I got a phone call today from a comics wholesaler who basically wanted what I have for less than a song. Now I know the economy is in the toilet, I know most of what I'm trying to move is from the glut era, and that the market is flooded right now because everyone is trying to make a buck anywhere they can, but I'd be insane to hand over the comics to this person at the price they were offering. The main reason I haven't been trying to sell the comics right now is because I know the market is flooded. So why am I going to let a smooth talking opportunistic SOB who doesn't give a darn about the comics other than their resale value when he ships them overseas in bulk have them? A small amount of fast cash would be nice, but I'd much rather enjoy the process of dealing with actual readers who really want the comics I have and don't need. For the price he was offering, I'd sleep a hell of a lot better donating the lot to a reading program rather than selling to him. The worst part is he tried to inquire as to my personal collection. I guess he's been dealing with a lot of desperate folks for him to feel cocky enough to toe the line there when I already made it quite clear that I was only looking to move dupes. I know my feelings towards him are uppity, but I have a hard time with people who deal in any form of human accomplishment that only see dollar signs when they look at it, instead of at least having some respect for the effort behind the endeavor.
We're still a bit in limbo about the move, because I'm still waiting to hear back from one of the folk we're hoping to rent from. She keeps telling me everything's fine and she just hasn't had time for our next meeting, but I'll feel a lot more confident when I have the signed lease in my hand.
One interesting thing that happened is that I had written in to a debt reduction forum, to seek advice while recounting our situation to see if there was anything I was missing out on that I should be starting to do. In the replies, the most common response was to move away from coastal areas because of the cost of living expenses. On one hand, I completely see the logic in this, but on the other hand, when I've made it clear that we're in a hand to mouth situation financially, how on Earth are we supposed to be able to make the leap? It's one thing to move to an area relatively close to where one currently is, it's a completely different story to research, check out and then move to a completely different area--especially when you know no one from said area you are moving to. (And from actual experience, even knowing people from the area sometimes doesn't help much if at all.) It's something I'm still turning over in my head, because they did have some great suggestions overall and I don't disagree with the notion, but I'm still reaching to find the way to do such a thing.
I didn't manage to pack anything today, although I do have a few more things I'm ready to freecycle. Hopefully tomorrow, we'll be giving away two desks which would be a huge help in the process.
Tomorrow we're supposed to have other possible tenants looking at our place, so I'll be doing some dishes tonight and trying to tidy a bit. Hopefully this won't turn into another reschedule. I'll also call around to try to find an animal shelter that will take the bedding and towels I've set aside that I know some shelters take so I can get them where they need to be as well.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
sixteen days--day zero
A lot has happened in what feels like a very short span out of my entire life.
Once again, we are moving. This is mostly due to economic reasons, given how little work I've been finding of late, so I'm not exactly contributing much to the household funds. The fact that a certain client still owes me thirty grand and has shown no sign of ponying up isn't helping either.
Starting tomorrow, I have sixteen days to try to whittle down our belongings, since the new place we'll be moving to is smaller. And, as usual, even though we have gottten rid of a lot of stuff before we came here, new things seemed to made it through our door since then, and we won't have room for it. Since we're not the types to adore cluttered living spaces (well, not too cluttered), and we don't buy into the massive movement that is self-storage here in America, we've got to weed out what's not needed before then, because it's the logical thing to do. At this point in time, logic does help with all the murky gray areas floating around.
I already jumped the gun a bit using freecycle tonight. I posted the first largish furniture item that just can't come with us. Sure, we'd love to try to sell some of the stuff we're getting rid of, but I tried that last time, when no one was admitting yet that this country was in a recession, and it didn't go so well, despite the fact that what we were trying to sell wasn't junk in any sense of the word, nor was it priced with high expectations of profit. So this time, there are a few things I'm still going to try to sell first, but everything else is first getting posted to my local freecycle list, and if it doesn't move by a week's time, I'll be listing it on the free area of Craig's List as well. I'm doing this because there's nothing wrong with what we're getting rid of, and I hate filling landfills with useful things.
I'll lose some time tomorrow in the effort because the landlord will be showing this place, so I have to somehow make a place that is in the midst of packing not look like a tornado hit it. But the rest of the time I have available, I'll be spending working towards my goal.
We're getting a 16 foot POD to put our stuff in, and we only have our wee Insight as well for moving. Since we don't have a time overlap of one place to the other, that means either we're going to have to find a staging ground for some things (even if I whittle down what we plan on, I still don't think what needs to will all fit in the 16 foot POD), or we'll have to let go of more than we care to. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, so hopefully we'll find a place we can stash some things in between to save on money, because we really don't want to rent a van or whatever for the awkward period of February 28th-March 1st. Money is really tight right now, and with all the things that always crop up near moving time, we just don't want to lay out any more than we know we're going to end up paying for when everything's done.
So wish me luck! I'll be trying to blog each night to talk about what I've managed to do or not do. I don't know if it will make for the most exciting reading, but maybe someone somewhere will find the recant of my experience useful.
Once again, we are moving. This is mostly due to economic reasons, given how little work I've been finding of late, so I'm not exactly contributing much to the household funds. The fact that a certain client still owes me thirty grand and has shown no sign of ponying up isn't helping either.
Starting tomorrow, I have sixteen days to try to whittle down our belongings, since the new place we'll be moving to is smaller. And, as usual, even though we have gottten rid of a lot of stuff before we came here, new things seemed to made it through our door since then, and we won't have room for it. Since we're not the types to adore cluttered living spaces (well, not too cluttered), and we don't buy into the massive movement that is self-storage here in America, we've got to weed out what's not needed before then, because it's the logical thing to do. At this point in time, logic does help with all the murky gray areas floating around.
I already jumped the gun a bit using freecycle tonight. I posted the first largish furniture item that just can't come with us. Sure, we'd love to try to sell some of the stuff we're getting rid of, but I tried that last time, when no one was admitting yet that this country was in a recession, and it didn't go so well, despite the fact that what we were trying to sell wasn't junk in any sense of the word, nor was it priced with high expectations of profit. So this time, there are a few things I'm still going to try to sell first, but everything else is first getting posted to my local freecycle list, and if it doesn't move by a week's time, I'll be listing it on the free area of Craig's List as well. I'm doing this because there's nothing wrong with what we're getting rid of, and I hate filling landfills with useful things.
I'll lose some time tomorrow in the effort because the landlord will be showing this place, so I have to somehow make a place that is in the midst of packing not look like a tornado hit it. But the rest of the time I have available, I'll be spending working towards my goal.
We're getting a 16 foot POD to put our stuff in, and we only have our wee Insight as well for moving. Since we don't have a time overlap of one place to the other, that means either we're going to have to find a staging ground for some things (even if I whittle down what we plan on, I still don't think what needs to will all fit in the 16 foot POD), or we'll have to let go of more than we care to. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, so hopefully we'll find a place we can stash some things in between to save on money, because we really don't want to rent a van or whatever for the awkward period of February 28th-March 1st. Money is really tight right now, and with all the things that always crop up near moving time, we just don't want to lay out any more than we know we're going to end up paying for when everything's done.
So wish me luck! I'll be trying to blog each night to talk about what I've managed to do or not do. I don't know if it will make for the most exciting reading, but maybe someone somewhere will find the recant of my experience useful.
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