I am a consultant working for a Fortune 500 company in Downtown Houston. I work in the energy industry in downstream oil and gas operations and commodities trading. I provide IT solutions and support to clients, my experience is mainly SAP Sales and Distribution and Oracle databases. I work full time and my yearly salary is around $75,000 per year.
The spouse is a kindergarten teacher with the local school district. She works full time and her pay is around $45,000 a year. She gets 2 weeks off at Christmas, 1 week off for spring break and 8 off weeks during the summer, all paid! Maybe I should consider going in to teaching.
Together we own a house in Northwest Houston; we have a Golden Retriever dog, a 2 year old female. She hangs around the house all day barking at people outside. We are hoping to add a child to our family soon and maybe get another dog later on down the road.
We are trying to pay off most of our debts. We would like to be more responsible with money, cut back on spending and increase savings.
This blog has been a great experience and I hope it inspires others to get out of debt.
HS
Menu Monday
2 hours ago
7 comments:
Wait -- together you make $120,000 a year in (low cost of living) Texas and you were living off credit? Dude, you need to get a budget together. You could save so so much for the future, and still have the money to enjoy life today with a little discipline.
My husband and I live in MA and together made just $70k last year, and yet we managed to:
Pay $16,000 of our own money to my law school
Contribute $8,000 to my husband's retirement and $500 to our Roth IRAs thus far
Build a $9000 savings account for me to bridge us from my summer of studying for the bar to my job next fall.
Contribute $2000 to my husband's masters degree program.
If we had $120,000, we'd have almost $60k after taxes and living expenses to pay down debt and build our savings each year!
Anon! yes I know I am aware of the income but I just can't control it, we are trying and learning... life just happens so fast that it is hard to save and be frugal.
HS
HS
Keep your head up...you are doing great just to be aware that you need to control spending. My husband makes over $300,000 a year and we are paying off debt! Silly, stupid, I know....however, when we were young, like y'all, we also had double income and never really had to worry about money, didn't live by a budget, traveled, ate out. Then came the kids. You are right...you live and learn! Living by a budget allows you to act more responsibly, save, and spend in a self-controlled manner which HUGELY benefits your family. Congratulations to you and your beautiful wife! You will be just fine!! I wish we had learned our financial stupidities at a much younger age, but it's NEVER TOO LATE!!
Hello! I enjoy your blog. Thanks for the about you guys info.
I have to tell you , you were my husband and I several years ago . And if you do not get ahold of your spending you will end up like us. We owned a million dollar a year company . YES A million dollars a year ! Had a nice house , I had a brand new suburban , hubby had a brand new truck . My kids had what ever they wanted, we had credit cards we had what we WANTED , not what we needed. And in a blink of an eye it was GONE . We love everything. We lost the company , the cars, the house and were living in my parents one room garage apartment for a year ! You say things like " I just cant control it " you can , your a grown man, you chose not to ! Try living off $40,000 and trying to send a son to college and raise another son as well ! Im sorry I do not mean to be rude but you need to grow up and stop saying things like " I cant , I know I need to but I NEED " You NEED A house , YOU NEED A job and YOU NEED FOOD, that's ALL you NEED ! The other thing ... You should not close any credit card account you have had for more than a year. it hurts your credit score . Cut the cards up , do not use them but do not close them.
There is a REALLY Good message board called creditboards.com that is really good at helping w/ credit issues and situations. They helped me clean up my credit on my own after Bankruptcy . Again I am not trying to be mean by any means, I am trying to help and some things you are saying really bothered me .
BTW Congrats on the weight loss !
Hi HS, My name is Zohreen, I'm based at CNN LA and I'm compiling a list of personal stories about the debt ceiling for my boss. Would you mind emailing when you have a moment so I can ask you a quick question? My email is Zohreen.Adamjee@cnn.com. Thanks so much!
An interesting blog. I hope things are working for you towards your goals.
Am based in the UK myself and have a blog on debt coming from a different angle than yours, in that i support the movement for banking reform.
My site is evolving and i have now began to include links to organisations that give free help and advice in the UK to people struggling with debt.
The site is called the-debt-curse.com
I have been following some of the news from the USA concerning the occupy Wall Street campaign and can tell you that similar things are now happening in the UK, and a world wide day of action is being planned.
All the best in becoming debt free, I will follow with interest.
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