I'm still working retail at the same place and the man person still has his business. It's grown quite a bit and although its a one man operation it pays the bills and then some. We left the envelope system behind some time ago but still have an emergency fund and some extra money saved. However, we still don't have any investments. Honestly, we don't know where or how to start and are afraid of making the wrong move so we've done nothing in that regard. Well, we did do something....
A Primerica rep visited with us last night and hopefully we'll have our financial needs analysis before too long. I've read good and bad about Primerica and although neither of us wants to be a rep/advisor/whatever they're called, their products might be good for us. I think we can do most of it on our own but again, we simply don't know where or how to start.
We need to change that but inertia seems to have us in its clutches. And I think we saved more and just felt better about money when we used the envelope system. Its simply too easy to overspend when we don't use it and we need to give serious consideration to going back to it. We've talked about it and agreed that we should do it but haven't actually done it.
We still don't have health insurance. DH had a heart procedure done recently and we got the bill last week. $47,000! Yep, $47,000 and that's just for the hospital. We haven't received the physician's bill yet. I haven't a clue what we're going to do about this new expense but we'll come up with something. I've already started putting pennies in a jar for it. Ha!
DH got a small life insurance policy on himself. It's only $15,000 but its a start and better than nothing. We're looking into larger policies but with his health history the premiums are outrageous. No insurance on me yet but that's coming soon, I think.
Last week I got a call to clean a house someone had bought and I earned some extra moolah. The job took a little longer than I'd expected but I did it on a day off the regular job and I made about $25 an hour which beats the $8 and 40 some odd cents an hour I make at my regular job. I really do need to concentrate on growing the house cleaning business. I don't know that I could do that only but two cleaning jobs a month would give me an extra $200 to $300 and that's nothing to sneeze at. Every little bit helps...
I'm still working on 2010 goals. I have a few cemented in my mind but most are still up in the air. I'll post about those when they're a little clearer.
In the meantime, have a wonderful Thanksgiving and don't overeat. Oh heck, go ahead and overeat. But get to the gym tomorrow! 
The last eighteen months in a nutshell & Happy Thanksgiving!
November 26th, 2009 at 03:29 pm
November 26th, 2009 at 04:41 pm 1259253699
November 26th, 2009 at 04:55 pm 1259254547
Sorry to hear of your husband's health problems. You might want to look into Term Life Insurance.
Please - Be VERY careful w/Primerica.
You can get the same types of investments for yourself w/o including them into the financial equation.
Please keep posting! Your fun presence when you are here is palpable! Twas' like a fun neon lightbulb went off when you went away.
November 26th, 2009 at 04:57 pm 1259254642
November 26th, 2009 at 08:46 pm 1259268388
November 27th, 2009 at 02:40 am 1259289622
I am very happy you are back, too.
November 27th, 2009 at 08:28 am 1259310486
Thriftorama, thanks and its good to be back!
November 28th, 2009 at 04:35 am 1259382919