YAY!

I think I might be getting the hang of my post divorce, post nursing school life.

(This is NOT a challenge to the universe to throw a monkey wrench the size of Texas into my life now.  Just saying.)

It just seems like everything up until about now has been me running around putting out fires.  I couldn't get ahead of the craziness to do any preventative fire ditch digging or spraying flame retardant, it was all I could do to keep everything from falling down in ashes. Or going up in smoke?  I'm getting lost in my own metaphors.

I've mentioned before that my finances are finally looking sorta normal.  It's so much easier to balance a household budget with a decent influx of income.  Who knew, right?  It also means I can finally buy some long needed things without having a nervous breakdown.  I still haven't bought much yet though because having a savings account with more than $100 in it is pretty sweet.

Long story short, not spending much on piddly needed things yet but I did put down a deposit for a rental beach condo in South Carolina for the kids' spring break.  YAY!  I've been kicking around some travel ideas for awhile and with all the crappy snow here in Indiana, I want out.  And so do the kids.  I figured heck, I have money, I have vacation days, the kids will be off school and not running in a million directions to camps or grandparent's houses like they do in the summer, so let's go somewhere for spring break!  YAY!  This is almost like a normal thing that families do.  It's so exciting!  YAY!

Besides our crappy towels can hold out for another few months.  The mini-blinds have been fine as window treatments for the last year, we can be curtain-less for awhile longer.  If it's not broke, don't replace it.  I've always said I'd rather travel than "have stuff" so it's time to put my money where my mouth is.  We're going to the beach!  YAY!

New Year

Subtitled: And a Snow Day

I might do a monthly wrap up of the past year later but at the moment, I don't want to.  2013 had some HUGE (like "OMG T-Rex GINORMOUS!") ups and downs and I'm finally finding my footing emotionally this last week and I don't necessarily want to revisit last year yet.  Denial, not just a river in Africa…  Also?  Run-on sentences, the way I live my life.

Anyway things are looking up.  Even with a foot of snow on the ground (because that would be looking down…), but more on that in a minute.  I'm loving my new job so much that I'm almost to the Irish "I'm related to the Murphy's,  what's going to go wrong now?" looking over my shoulder.  I have a savings account.  I have a retirement plan.  I have renters, health, and life insurance.  These all are a big weight off my shoulders.  I don't want to get all political (in social class sort of way) but now that I've tasted a bit of "being poor" for the last few years, I can see why moderately wealthy to rich people don't understand the stresses of the poor.  The stupid little shit that the rich don't even think about in their daily lives are gigantic problems for those without money.  And it's so insanely stressful, it's not funny.  I will never take any of this for granted ever again.

Back to the snow, the kids were already scheduled to be off school today so the fact that there are 12 inches of snow on the ground and a windchill of -30F doesn't really matter to them.  But all this craziness means that Homeland Security (not particularly a fan but whatever) has placed travel advisories on us and the state of Indiana is pretty much just closed.  At least central to northern Indiana is.  Which for me just means my "non essential" clinic is closed and I "have" to stay home.  Darn…  *shrugs*  Even though I love my job (see above), I don't really want to go out in this mess.

Happy New Year, Happy Snow Day, and keep warm.

Quote of the Day: "A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water." -Carl Reiner

Money for Gen X

My poor little generation is so ignored...

Anyways doing some online research (yay, Google!) and found some good links to keep around.

Financial Planning for Generation X and Generation Y

Why Gen X is in trouble and what they can do about it

My Gen X financial advice to my kids

My outlook on it at the moment?  I have my Roth IRA started, I have the beginnings of my emergency fund in a .85% interest earning online savings account (it should be up to the goal amount in a few months), and yeah where do I go from here?  My kids are almost too old to really benefit from a 529 college savings account at this point but I still might consider opening those.  Or go with my current plan of we'll just muddle through their college expenses the best we can with scholarships, grants, loans, and savings.

Interest rates on savings accounts, treasury notes, bonds, and CD's suck at the moment.  I need to read more and determine my long term financial goals before I start jumping into the stock market. And I hate nickel and dime fees for someone else investing my money.  (Apparently I'm not alone, see above articles, it's a Gen X thing)   I'd like to buy a second vehicle (in cash, I'm saving now) soon so I don't want to tie up that money in something long term but it seems stupid to have over $5000 sitting around earning nothing while I determine what I want to buy.  But I figure I have a few months to learn about short term investment options while I'm earning the money I plan to save and invest.

You know, I might actually get the hang on this money thing after all...

Being an Adult dorkiness

So with my new job, I now have these fancy awesome benefits like health insurance, a retirement plan, and get this, money!  I'm like "wow! It's so much fun being a grown-up finally!"

No, seriously, I am super excited about being able to afford renter's insurance and life insurance again (both purchased already).  I've really enjoyed researching the best online savings accounts for my emergency fund and best no fee Roth IRA's.  This is so cool!

And also, I feel better about being able to buy Christmas gifts for the kids this year.  I know they say money can't buy happiness but it can buy peace of mind. And with all the craziness of this year, my new job has lifted a huge weight off my shoulders.  Maybe being an adult isn't so bad after all.