Give and Take

I am sure you all remember that Colby and I are getting out of debt. This task has been slowed dramatically the past year. A number of things have caused the slowing. Saving for maternity leave last year (like Dave Ramsey suggests). Then while on maternity leave we spent $8000 in home/car repairs (yes you read right $8000. I didn't fall on the zero button on accident). The day before Callie was born our furnace/heat pump went out. It turns out that because we are the only house in our subdivision with a heat pump the builder didn't know how to install one correctly. Thus, 5 years later we have to get a whole new system. Yippee! Then the super crazy wind storms this spring means that we had to get roofing repairs. Not to feel out done, Colby's Jeep decided that it needed a new transmission. ARGH!!!! I am sad to report that we had to take out a small loan to help cover the Jeep, everything else, we used our Emergency fund for. This is a double edged sword, WE PAID CASH for MOST of our Murphy's Law issues. However we had to get a small loan, and lost out on the money we were looking forward to slamming onto our debt.  Since then, we have had a hard time geting that snowball moving. I went back to work to find out that the free flowing extra shifts had become very hard to get. I also am now very frustrated that I have to spend so much time away from my family, that I am not very motivated to actually work extra.

Time for change!!! I decided enough is enough, I am now on a committee that I am doing a project for, this gets me hours. I am going to work hard to get at least 1 extra shift a month, and I have to get several more trauma hours in (also money). Only downside is that in order to do this, I need a babysitter that can swing by for a couple of hours. Enter www.care.com where we looked for a local person to help us out.  My mom does when she has time, but sometimes she can't. It was nice to screen people and find the perfect match.  We found Mandy, a local girl who is going to college to be a teacher and only needs a few hours a month! Perfect match! I am cheap, I 'm not going to lie, but I am fine paying someone in order to bring more money in. I see it as give and take. I've gotta give money in order to get some more : ) I forsee this bringing in enough money to make a difference.  I am too determined to get out of debt to quit, so doing this is just one more thing to make it happen.  We are too close to the finish line to stop now.