Regularly Scheduled Blogging To Return After This Vent

Money problems fucking suck.  More specifically, working your ass off, cutting all corners you can cut, and still living paycheck to paycheck and one disaster away from financial catastrophe suck. Like all government workers, my husband hasn't received a pay raise (not even a cost of living raise) in three years. On top of that, our medical insurance has gone up, our grocery bill has gone up 50% in the past year (and that's with cutting back and going generic on everything we can), and, God knows, gas has gone way up. It is killing our budget. We don't use credit cards, so no debt there. But, because of our fridge disaster earlier this year and the emergency vet bill for Freddy we had to pay off, we are behind on normal bills. If we could just catch it up, we'd have everything covered but trying to find extra to catch up is hard when everything costs so much right now.

My mom is going to be the principal of a new private school next year and she asked me if I was interested in teaching art 1 1/2 days a week. Those 1 1/2 days plus a small gas stipend would be worth $175 a week. On the surface, it sounds like the solution to our problem. But, the school is 70 miles away. Given the shitty gas mileage my aging van gets, it would take a full tank of gas to make those two round trips each week reducing take home to approximately $100...and that's not even accounting for the wear and tear on my van. The schedule is doable but just barely when you factor in school schedules for my 3 kids but it would totally blow up in my face if anyone was running late one morning. Damn it, why can't her school be her in town? The sad fact of the matter is that I've been out of the work force for 12 years and, with the levels of unemployment, it makes it incredibly hard to find any type of job that would work around the kids' school schedule (and that is a MUST because child care is scary expensive around here). And, honestly, I'm a bit worried about me not being 100% available with Marty re-entering school after the hellacious time he had before.

The other option is for Vic to find a third shift part time job. Remember, he works nights and, since he works 12 hour shifts, he works 7 nights every two weeks. Vic says he is willing but this scares me. His diabetes is just getting under control and the thought of him over working himself scares me to death.

Of course, Vic and his two (bio)siblings inherited a piece of property in Puerto Rico. If it selss, whatever money they get will be split three ways and, because of Puerto Rican inheritance laws, it will be TAX FREE. But, of course, thanks to the fucked up economy recession depression we are in, nothing is moving in the real estate market down there.

Honestly y'all, it frustrates the hell out of me that we scrimp and save and still have these issues. I know others have it a lot worse. Vic has a job, we have insurance, we have a roof over our heads...I just wish we didn't have to struggle to pay for the essentials. If you mad it this far, thanks for listening to my rant and thanks for letting me get it off my chest. And, if any of you come across a spare million bucks, did I tell you about the hole in my pocket and the money that fell out?