Productive Weekend

Hubby has been working all the over time he can get, but the "conditions" at the new warehouse are not safe at all, and the new company does not want to hear about it - they just want the job done. Moral is not good - the way the new "rep" from the new company treats and talks to the guys is very demoralizing. A few have quit due to the verbal abuse so far. Hubby is sticking it out for at least another month - to try to make as much money as possible. He worked at the new warehouse location all weekend 9 hours on Saturday and 8.5 hours on Sunday and is now back at the "old" warehouse as of Monday, as they are wrapping things up there.

I worked on some decluttering of the basement, on the weekend, and sent 4 more boxes to Goodwill and threw out a bunch more stuff. So progress is being made in that department.

I also did the usual cleaning around the house and did some Christmas shopping. My parents and brother and sister-in-law will each get $25 gift cards, my 3 nieces will get $20 each and for hubby, he will just be getting Christmas Stocking Stuff this year. I'm trying to convince my parents to come for Christmas, but my Mom doesn't like going anywhere in the snow - so this could be a hard sell, as they would have an 8 hour drive to get here - in the snow. They did invite us to their house, but this year, with Hubby's work up in the air, we are just sticking close to home.

Sunday night, we did splurge, and get a medium pizza from Pizza Hut - it came to $18.89 with coupon. It was enough for 2 meals each for both of us, for Sunday night supper and Monday night supper. The only reason we splurged, is because I had $20 from gift money, from ages ago, still in my wallet.

I was also able to use (2) Gas Coupons for $20 each from Shell - both redeemed from Airmiles to put gas in my SUV, so now the tank is full.

Christmas is my favorite time of year, so I'm really looking forward to putting up the Christmas tree and decorations at the end of November. I love sitting in the dark with all the Christmas lights on, it's such a peaceful feeling for me and since we are trying not to keep our heat on much, we'll keep the fire going in our fireplace as much as possible. I've requested some Christmas CD's from the library, so we will be all set.

When to dip into the Emergecy Fund?

When is an emergency, really an emergency? I'm talking about when is it justifiable to use money inside of an Emergency Fund. I feel so darn guilty even thinking of having to use it in the New Year that I guess that's a good thing, at least I don't dip into it mindlessly - but still, when is it okay to do so? I know this will vary from person to person based on different situations, but what have been your experiences? I'm afraid that once we touch ours, we will never be able to rebuild it. I think this is why I really want to get our Line of Credit paid down as much as possible. It's not been a priority for us, because we keep current with our payments on it, the interest rate is really low and it's life and disability insured. By paying down the Line of Credit faster than we had previously expected, we will then free up extra money through the monthly budget. We still have a ways to go in paying it off, but the balance owing is decreasing, and that is always a good thing, because come the New Year and depending on hubby's work situation, we might not be able to throw extra onto it, so it's best to do whatever we can now.

Hubby has been able to get some overtime hours on Tuesday and Wednesday and hoping for some more tonight, as the merge between the 2 warehouses are now taking place. The new company is allowing over time for the next 2 weeks only. We are taking advantage of this, to make as much money as possible, so that we can bank the money.

Pity Party...

It just seems like I am spinning our wheels and not getting anywhere. All our costs are going up and I'm stressing on where we will be able to find the money. I do want to move away from the snow and unstable weather, I want to find a different line of work and I want hubby to just quit his job, where the new owners treat him and the other workers like they are sh*t. I'm just not in a good frame of mind right now. We probably won't move, I'll probably have to stay at my job - because lets face it - I've been there for almost 12 years and for right now it's secure, but most importantly it allows me to bring home a paycheque but I'm still going to hold out hope, that hubby finds another job. My pity party is happening right now and could very well last until the New Year. To top this off, I'm sure I've gained 20 lbs at least. I have to get a grip, I just can't seem to stop stressing about the money.

I know I will snap out of it. I need to be strong and just persevere - and I know I will, but for today and maybe a few tomorrows I'm going to allow my self to have a pity party. After all the bills have been paid, we had $3.40 left over from our paycheques, so I sent it towards our LOC (Line of Credit) this morning. it's not much, but it's something, and in a small way it did make me feel a little better to see that balance come down a little.

I will try to focus on some positive things in our life right now - "try" being the operative word.