Update

Hallelujah!  I just sent the October payment to be paid!  I don't know where we were going to get the money to pay the mortgage had we not cashed out my small 401(k).  I know that some of you are not keen on doing this (believe me, I'm NOT either) but we just felt like we had no choice.  I'm okay with the decision since it gets us caught up on the mortgage.

I did sign up for my current job's 401(k) plan.  I'm only having them deduct 4% at this point until we pay some of our debts off. 

Payroll deductions should start next week.  

I had a horrible experience with Citicards this weekend.  I don't have munch time to into detail now but will try and post about it tomorrow or in the next couple of days.

Oh, and I finally installed Quicken to my laptop.  Now, it's just a matter of populating it!  

Cashing out my 401(k)

I really don't want to do this but I feel as if I have no choice.  Since it's been about a month since I was terminated from my old job and unemployment has finally paid me... we are running out of money.  I don't get paid until this Thursday and it's only for 1 week of pay.  I'm panicking a bit...I just checked my 401(k) account and I lost $1500 in the past 2 days alone.  I am losing faith in our system and after a lot of thought, I'm going to request a hardship withdrawal from my previous job.  There's not much in there but it's enough to pay our mortgage, and get caught up a bit. 

Finally, unemployment comes through!

It's not much, but I was filing my weekly claim for last week and the unemployment department finally processed my claim.  They sent a check for $487 and I should (I don't trust the government to do the right thing!) be getting another check for just a little under that amount since I worked on Friday.  That should help me get our mortgage paid by the end of the month!  

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. 

Short Term Goals

I'm becoming very stressed out about not having a paycheck for another few weeks.  The only way I can deal with this type of stress is to come up with a plan of action.  

In the next month, I would like to accomplish the following:

1. Pay our mortgage by the end of the month.
2. Work as much as possible in order to bring in extra income.
3. Get current on our bills with extra money from #2.
4. Take time to relax and not worry about money.
5. Clean my office.

Unemployment Woes

Since losing my job earlier this month, I have been filing my unemployment claims.  The State of Washington thinks that I should get $541 a week based on my last 4 quarters of work.  However, because I was terminated it's going to take them up to 4-6 weeks to process my claim.  Which means I will be receiving my first check from my new job before I even receive a decision from the State of Washington.  That's great!  (insert sarcasm here)  I'm so glad that a portion of every paycheck I have ever earned went to a "benefit" that I'm NOT enjoying.  LOVE IT!

I am thankful that I start my new job shortly.  However in the meantime my husband's paycheck is the only money that is coming in right now. We are behind on 2 credit cards and I hate being late.  I called our mortgage company to let them know that we will not be making our October payment on time and asked if they have a deferment program where we can just tack on one month to the end of the term.  Their answer was a resounding no.  We will have to find a way to send in our October payment by the end of October + come up with November as well.  I'm extremely frustrated with my last employer + unemployment.  I keep thinking to myself - what were to happen to us if I didn't job lined up? My family and I would be completely screwed.  Totally and completely screwed.  I get goose bumps knowing that our living paycheck to paycheck could make us homeless because that's what would happen if I didn't have a job and couldn't help my DH pay our mortgage.  We'd be completely screwed.  

One good thing did happen, Citicards, who holds are current largest balance of $14,002.00 is going to lower our interest rate from a staggering rate of 28.99% down to a fixed 9.99%.  That's news to shout out about.  Now, if I can just manage to get the State of Washington on board, I'd be happy as a clam.