BCHGRL's Personal Finance Blog

This is my first blog ever. My background will help those reading to understand the history and establish a starting point for my future blogs.

I grew up in a family of 4 that survived on an annual salary of ~$40,000. My mom was a stay at home mom, by choice but she is also limited by Chron's disease. After I graduated from high school, I went on to the local community college and then a 4-year. I found that school was relatively easy for me so I loaded up on classes. I earned my Bachelor's degree in 2.5 years. I was the first person in my immediate family to earn a college degree. I spent my first year out of college basically working a string of unenjoyable jobs while looking for my dream job. I made $13,000 that year.

When I was 22, i landed my dream job. I went to work for the federal government. My starting salary was $29.5K, and my salary would double in three years. I thought I was RICH! I managed to live cheaply, I honestly thought that I had found gold. I went to McDonald's every morning to get breakfast. I bought my mom presents like a camcorder and a ring, gifts I had to finance. (If you can't tell, I am absolutely crazy about my parents.) I had no concept of budgeting or saving. I did pay my bills in a timely manner. My parents are not much for saving but they have always had excellent credit from paying their bills on time.

By the time I was 23, I rented an apartment on the beach. I had a new boyfriend, and we ate out every night. I thought life was great, other than I was getting pretty chubby from our lifestyle (150lbs).

When I was 25, I found out that someone had stolen my identity by opening new accounts that I knew nothing about (existing accounts were fine). These accounts had been in existence for over a year and my credit said I had an LA address - I've never even been to LA! The most stressful part of identity theft is that it is up to the victim to clear it up. Also, someone can easily open a fraudulent account in your name over the phone, but you have to get affidavits, police reports, with a zillion copies of proof of identity for you to get it straightened out.

While I am trying to get my credit straightened out, my boyfriend and I move into a water-front condo together. Hurricane Ivan comes through and wreaks havoc on our pretty little condo and our relationship with our landlord.

With some pressure from yours truly, my boyfriend proposes. I lose 30lbs. Things are so bad with a leaky condo and a greedy landlord, she makes the comment over the e-mail "You can leave if you are not happy, I don't want unhappy tenants" We take that as our chance to get out of the lease early, and we go house-hunting.

At this point, investors with no souls are driving up the housing market. Yes, it is a national phenomenon, but it is especially bad in our area since so many are left homeless after Hurricane Ivan. Ivan was a high cat 3 hurricane, not much different than Katrina just less sensationalized by media.

We found a home and made an offer. The offer was accepted. I thought my identity theft was cleared up but low and behold, something came back to haunt us. This became an extremely stressful in obtaining financing since I am the breadwinner. Also, if my score were high enough, we would qualify for a loan with no PMI. At the last minute the nasty identity theft blemish was removed from my credit, and we got a great rate with no PMI. Finally, we close on our home. The previous owners walk away with $92K after owning the place for 2 years and making no improvements.

Finally time for the wedding in Apr 06. I told my parents many years ago that if I were a successful career woman, that I would pay for my wedding. Weddings are so expensive, but if you only do it once, you want to do it right. The wedding was on the beach and we held the reception at a zoo. Fortunately, the weather was gorgeous and we had a great time!

DH and I are married one month and he gets fired for starting a local union. What can I say but we live in the south where there are still a few idiots who think that they can discriminate against union members. We were trying to pay off $14K in cc from the wedding plus my LASIK surgery. DH became employed after 2 months, and the union approved a grant to pay for an attorney to sue his old employers. We paid off the $14K in debt in 6 months, despite DH's situation.

So that brings me to now. . . We were debt free with the exception of our mortgage and my student loan ($7K). We have a healthy savings. I just obtained a 1yr interest free loan for new flooring for our entire home. The current carpet is at the point where it doesn't matter whether I vacuum or clean it otherwise, it is completely worn out.

One dilemma that I am having is my graduate education. Upon my employment with the government, I was told that my career program would fund my masters. Due to my own laziness and the identity theft situation, I did not obtained my masters. The career program ran out of funds two years ago. Until funding becomes available, I will have to fund it. I am torn. Perhaps I should wait and see if funding will become available. However, if I wait too long, I may miss out on promotion opportunities. Without my masters, the only promotion I can get beyond my current position is in title only (no additional pay.)

Also, I have the constant children dilemma. I can't believe I'll be 28 years old this week. Most people my age are parents already. My husband comes from a huge family but he doesn't want kids. I don't know if I'll be a good mother anyways since I spend 11 hours away from home during the weekdays. I don't know if we can afford kids anyways. My practical self can't reach a compromise with my emotional self. When I think about the cost of children over the next 25 years, I just don't see how I can get there from here. To exemplify my dilemma, one day I watched a TLS's Baby Story and started to get that mom stir. After the show was over, I went to the dollar store where a child was screaming and yelling at the top of her lungs. After she left, the clerk said, if think you want kids, look at the toy aisle, that is what your home will look like for 10 years. No thanks!

If you know me from the boards, I'm not one to really follow up and read comments to my posts. Please don't be offended if I do not read or respond to your comments.