How Things Change!

If there is one thing certain in life, it's change. This month started out incredibly good -- but that changed quickly and dramatically. I guess I should provide some background first, so you understand more about my family and thus, more about these changes.

Mike is retired military. When we met, we were both earning nominal wages and had quite a bit of debt. In fact, a few years after we married, I was working for a radio station that was having financial problems and then went bankrupt. At that point, we went to a credit counseling company who, instead of telling us all would be well, let us know that we were too far gone for them to help us and that we should probably file for bankruptcy ourselves. Instead, we tightened our belts and I got a new job. At this point in our lives, my husband and I would make bi-weekly trips to the plasma center, spending 30-45 minutes hooked up to a machine that took our blood, spun out the plasma, and returned the red blood cells. For this, we would get $15 to $20 cash each time -- which was our grocery money. I still have scars on the interiors of both elbows that remind me of this hard time.

Things got better as my husband progressed up the ranks and as we paid off our debt. We now have great credit -- but still too much debt for my peace of mind. And now that my husband is working for a company in the private sector instead of the government, (and a start up company to boot), I've always worried about "what if."

Well, the "what if" happened this month. I was eating breakfast and watching the morning news one payday, when the anchor reported on a breaking news story. My Mike's company had an early morning meeting with some employees and informed them that no employees would be paid that day, as they had run out of money. I called Mike, who had not yet made it to work and had no idea what was going on. After almost a day of waiting for word, he called to let me know that the company was searching for more financing/investments -- at least enough to make payroll. The company had been having problems in the past, so we knew this was a possibility, but the cold reality of no pay was a shock. Mike did get his pay about a week late, but we figured it was just a matter of time before it happened again -- so he also started looking for another job. Unfortunately, the highly specialized job he did in the military (which happened to transition so well to his new private sector job) is not in high demand anywhere in the country -- so, it looked as if he would have to start out at an entry level if he changed jobs.

We decided to live as if Mike had already lost his job, only keeping in the checking account what he would receive if on unemployment and transferring the rest to savings and towards our credit card debt. We figured this way, should the worst happen, we would have a bit more in savings, less debt, and we already would have adjusted to the lower pay. I crunched the numbers and with his military retirement pay and disability pay, plus what I earn from my job and freelance work (as well as any unemployment he might receive), we should be able to pay all of the basic bills and not be in danger of loosing the house. Life would not be as entertaining and carefree as it had been -- but as a gal who looked for bargains even when we had extra money, I felt confident that we could live comfortably, if not luxuriously.

During this uncertain time, our cat, Biscuit became ill and what at first seemed like a bad case of constipation soon revealed itself to be a more serious intestinal problem. Seems like Biscuit had eaten a three-foot section of thread, which had tangled up his intestines and was threatening his life. We were faced with a choice of spending money on pet surgery that we should be saving because of my husband's job uncertainty, or putting Biscuit to sleep without trying to save his life. My adult daughter Cherron, who is currently living with us, urged us to at least try to save Biscuit and offered to pay for half of the surgery. So we went ahead. Unfortunately, our efforts were in vain. While Biscuit came through the surgery, his intestines were too badly damaged and repair efforts failed a few days later -- so he had to be euthanized at that time. I found it ironic that the vet charged us over $100 to put our pet out of his pain, after already collecting nearly $1000 for the previous vet visits and failed surgery attempts. Biscuit's passing was really hard on all of us. We really loved that cat and I miss him every day.

A few days later, Mike let me know that his company had declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I was grateful that they at least let the employees know about it before hand. Of course, it happened the day before payday -- so we were uncertain about what that would mean financially. It seems as if it is not all bad news. The company will continue to operate and apparently got a cash infusion from a potential buyer to tide the company over until an official sell can take place at the end of January (after the court has entertained other offers). So, it appears as if (knock wood) his job is safe until then and his pay should continue until that time. Once the new owners take over, we have no idea what cost savings measures they might take and if my husband's job may be eliminated -- so we will continue living as if Mike is already unemployed and hope for the best.

I continue with my coupon clipping and my sweepstaking (if not as many mail in entries as before -- postage is expensive!) We were able to use most of the $1000 Best Buy gift certificate we won in conjunction with Black Friday sales to get Christmas taken care of. The house is now decorated for Christmas (almost all decorations purchased from Target at a 75-90% discount after the season ended last year). It looks beautiful and gives me a sense of peace and contentment, even after our difficult and stressful month. I can't wait to have my family around me (my daughter and her new husband will be joining us at Christmas this year). We'll face the New Year and its uncertainties with our chins up and our strength derived from the love we share.