My First Day

I am still so excited that I am working for the company that I'm working for.  Millions of people apply every single year and somehow I got in!  Today was my first day and it was filled with the usual new employee orientation - benefits overview, who you report to, who your HR Representative is, when you get paid, etc.  The orientation is about 5 hours long and then you report to work.  After my first day, I am just so excited about the position, the company and the growth potential here.  

My benefits include but aren't limited to the following:

1. 100% of my education is paid for, and it does not have to be work related.  The only requirements are that I pass and that it is through an accredited program.  They will pay for my bachelors, masters, phd ... whatever I want and if I can dream it, they'll pay for it!  
2. My health care is paid for 100%. I wouldn't pay a dime for medical for myself, DH or our children.  This is HUGE.  This also includes vision and dental. 
3. Work is now literally 1.5 miles away from my house. No more 2 hour commute each way, no more insane gas prices.
4. My pay increased by $15K.  This will make paying down debt so much easier and faster.  
5. There's an annual bonus that's roughly about 1 month's pay or more depending on how the company performs (e.g. stock prices).

Since I'm already pursuing my bachelors degree, I will no longer have to worry about saving for each quarter's tuition and instead can focus on using that money to pay down debt.  I fully plan on getting into grad school - maybe even pursuing that law degree =)  I am very grateful for this job and the opportunities presented to me. 

This weekend my goal is to try and get a clearer picture of our current financial situation.  I'm going to try and do the following:

1. Get our bills organized and any paperwork filed.  Oneof the key things I've learned in the past about successfully paying down debt is that you MUST BE ORGANIZED.
2. Balance our checkbook.  A very scary thought since I haven't done it in months! 
3. Upload Quicken into our laptop and enter all of our information.