by Hope
Here we go again. My full time client exercised the 6 week cancellation clause in our contract last month. So my full time income ends the week before Christmas. Of course, he cancelled just before the paid holiday break I had negotiated.
My income was cut by a fourth this month. Therefore, my progress slows again. And the insecurity that always comes when these things happen over runs my mental health.
Here are the debt numbers as of this month. (Last month’s update is here.) Still progress but not where I wanted to be:
Debt Description | October, 2023 Total | Interest Rate | Minimum Payment | Current Total | Payoff Date (Est) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CC - Frontier | $3,857 | 29.99% | $130 | $2,295 | Jan, 2025 |
Dad - New Furnace | $2,600 | 0% | $0 | $2,600 | |
CC - USAA | $5,000 | 19.15% | $135 | $3,750 | |
CC - Sam's Club | $591 | Jan, 2025 | |||
Student Loans | $22,121 | 2.875% | deferrment | $22,895 | deferred til May, 2025 |
CC - Apple** | $500 | Paid off every month | $0 | ||
CC - AMEX | $894 | 29.24% | $0 | $0 | Mar, 2024 - Closed |
CC - Sams | $1,106 | 29.99% | $0 | $0 | April, 2024 |
Personal Loan #1 | $2,500 | 0% | $0 | $0 | July, 2024 |
Personal Loan #2 | $2,500 | 0% | $0 | $0 | August, 2024 |
Total | $44,206 | $265 | $32,131 |
New Debt
The Sam’s Club credit card has officially made a return, and here’s why. During my recent drive to Texas, it became painfully clear that I couldn’t put off getting new glasses any longer. Earlier this year, my daughters and I all had our eye exams, but I decided to hold off on purchasing new glasses to save money. That decision caught up with me—the drive was miserable.
As soon as I arrived in Texas, I headed straight to Sam’s Club and ordered two new pairs of glasses: one pair of progressive lenses for everyday use and another single-vision pair for computer work. For the first time, I decided to add transition lenses to my everyday glasses. I’d spent much of the drive wearing my old sunglasses, which are a couple of prescriptions outdated, so this seemed like a good compromise instead of buying a third pair. Fingers crossed the transition lenses work out!
Using my Sam’s credit/Plus membership, I was able to get 40% off the second pair of glasses. And no, I could not make do with a single pair, my eyes are that bad.
Work for 2025
A week after he cancelled our contract. We jumped on the phone and he explained that he’s wanting to re-organize his business and focus on partnering with firms, taking a piece of the profit versus just contract work. I get it. But man!
We went on to negotiate returning to a part time role for at least the first quarter of the year as he figures out how he wants to proceed. Took some pressure off, but man, I’m feeling all sorts of insecure again. I will have 11 days off at the end of this month to go heads down on formulating a plan. And then return to part time work with this company in January.
On the flip side, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks, standing up my consulting firm again, reaching out to old clients, and applying for contract work via Upwork. As I write this, I am preparing to meet with a potential new client here in Texas.
What I’m grateful for…it’s just me. Just me I have to be responsible for, feed, house. (Yes, I know I’m still helping Princess but overall, it’s just me.) That takes a lot of the pressure off.
I’ll keep you posted.
Hope is a resourceful and solutions-driven business manager who has spent nearly two decades helping clients streamline their operations and grow their businesses through project management, digital marketing, and tech expertise. Recently transitioning from her role as a single mom of five foster/adoptive children to an empty nester, Hope is navigating the emotional and practical challenges of redefining her life while maintaining her determination to regain financial control and eliminate debt.
Living in a cozy small town in northeast Georgia with her three dogs, Hope cherishes the serenity of the mountains over the bustle of the beach. Though her kids are now finding their footing in the world—pursuing education, careers, and independence—she remains deeply committed to supporting them in this next chapter, even as she faces the bittersweet tug of letting go.
Since joining the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015, Hope has candidly shared her journey of financial ups and downs. Now, with a renewed focus and a clear path ahead, she’s ready to tackle her finances with the same passion and perseverance that she’s brought to her life and career. Through her writing, she continues to inspire others to confront their own financial challenges and strive for a brighter future.
Hope I’m sorry, you need a job in a office that is stable.
I have had that…I loved it, the team, the work. And then change in management and they want their own team.
I’ve not stopped looking, well with this full time contract I did.
But for the end of 2022 and all through 2023, I was diligent about applying.
But what about noncontract work? Benefits and salary and reliable income.
I’ve always applied for all work. Contract work is just alot easier to get.
I am sorry to hear you lost your job. What is your new budget with this decrease in income?
There was a post several months ago discussing glasses. Did you look into any of the cheap online places commenters told you about? You would have paid a lot less than $591 for two pairs. What is the amount in your emergency fund and why didn’t you use part of it to pay for glasses instead of taking on new debt at 30% interest? Have you signed up for health insurance yet? Your decisions are reactive instead of proactive. Your life will always be in chaos unless you make a solid plan and stick to it.
I think it would be good for you to have a full time job with benefits working for someone else. It would give you a steady paycheck and insurance, which you desperately need. You don’t want to stay in your tiny town anyway, you could be looking and applying all over the country.
Nov debt 30,891
Dec debt 32,131
Debt addition 1240
And the kids are grown and flown, so she can’t use them as a reason to NOT work a traditional job with traditional hours, as she’s done in the past.
Unfortunately, she’s never able to keep a job long, so I don’t see that changing until she does the internal work to figure out why that is, and change her behavior.
Actually, many of my clients have been with me 10+ years.
I don’t think you can say I’ve not kept jobs long…unless you are referring to my corporate jobs over the last 20 years which lasted 1 year and 2 years.
But the bulk of my clients stay, they just aren’t full time income. So projects do come and go, as expected as a contract worker.
I did look at several online glass providers. I think because my prescription is so “high” – I’m not sure of the correct term for really bad eyesight there, but the prices weren’t the $7 per pair, etc. And having seen how my daughter’s glasses held up, it just wasn’t worth it to me.
I’ve begun the health insurance perusal.
I spent the end of 2022 and all of last year applying for traditional jobs, the market is just tough with so many layoffs esp in the tech fields where I am a specialist. I am competing with overseas talent which is much more affordable and talent laid off from the big name companies. (And I suck at networking, I am not a warm and fuzzy people person, that has definitely hurt me quite a bit. I recognize it, but struggle with overcoming it.)
Yes, my mother has been getting her expensive trifocals online for like $40 for years. My night driving glasses were $350 when I got prescription from the doctor but when I took that same prescription online, I was able to find the exact same quality for $40-$50. Buying glasses in a store (if you need to save money) is absolutely insane at this point. The only reason to do it is because you want a designer option. You can literally try the glasses on digitally these days and it’s accurate.
I am definitely not a designer girl. My frames were $59 each.
Hope, this is devastating news. I’m so sorry to hear that you’re going back into a financially uncertain period in your life. I hope you can take time over the holidays to grieve, breathe, regroup, and then carefully think about your next steps.
Were there any concerns that your employer had about your performance or attendance that led to their decision to terminate the contract after only 77 days? Are they going to give you a good reference for future contract roles?
Based on your post, it sounds you bought a single-vision pair of eyeglasses suitable for computer work only after receiving notice that your contract was being terminated. Do you think that you were underperforming or less productive than you could have been if you had an up-to-date prescription back in August? Was your eyesight good enough to catch minor mistakes/typos in the work you submitted?
This is not the first time that you’ve been surprised that a contract role has been terminated / not renewed. You were blindsided by the same-day termination of a contract back in 2018. You expected the role you were in from July 2022 – February 2023 to become permanent. You said in August that this was going to be a long term relationship, then received notice it was ending in November. It seems really unlikely that all of these were simply business decisions that had nothing to do with you.
It doesn’t sound like the people you work for feel like they’re getting their money’s worth from you at your current rates, and because you aren’t an employee they can simply terminate the contract instead of going through any performance improvement process. I would ask your employer to be blunt and entirely honest with you, as it’s your best bet at improving your next working relationships.
If you do decide to sell your house and then relocate to Texas, it may be time to consider applying for a steady in-office position where you would get some on-the-job coaching rather than focusing entirely on freelancing and independent contract work. I hope things get easier for you soon. I am keeping my fingers crossed that you really do have an emergency fund this time and can pay for a couple months of living expenses beginning next week.
The commenters really are rooting for you.
For the love of everything, please make sure Princess is able to secure funding to cover her last semester of college. There’s no harm in taking a student loan to cover living expenses and then repay it back after she starts her full time job.
She does not want an eviction on her record. Background checks could result in pulled offers that will haunt her for years.
Already paid her tuition and housing. She’s covered
That was my first thought too.
(Eviction would not show up for her, her housing is in my name as she could not qualify without substantial income. But agree, definitely not jeopardizing her last semester of college or housing. Kids are always first on my mind.)
I sincerely hope you didn’t prepay Princess housing. She should get a student loan ASAP to cover the $750/month that you were going to contribute now that you can’t afford to do that (not that you really could before). Student loan interest rates are way less than the 30% interest on your credit cards.
Hope, this is another area in your life where I see a repeating pattern. I’m thinking of this job, your job with the local accountant, and your previous corporate role. You find a job situation that your enjoy and that brings some measure of stability to your life, but then it comes to an abrupt end after a short period of time. I know you know that it takes a lot of work to find a good job! That’s another reason why I suggest you pursue therapy. It can help you identify the root cause of these repeating patterns, such as red flags you should be looking for in your job search to avoid employers who will rip the rug out from underneath you. This could save you a lot of heartache in your next job search. Good luck!
You need to take your health care search more seriously. Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to blindness. The inflammation and damage sugar causes to vessels is real. You should be having a doctor check your A1c and an eye doctor looking at your eyes annually even if you are controlling your blood sugar. You also need to consider how losing your eyesight could potentially impact your ability to work Hope. I don’t want to be a downer but it is time to get serious and start thinking as if you are an older person who should be undergoing ANNUAL doctor visits. Anyways you have gone through this before. You just need to make a budget not a forecast.
Second this hardcore! Without visiting a doctor you cannot know whether your diabetes is truly under control!
Why don’t you try not using credit cards at all. Not for a single thing. Go get cash at the bank or use your debit card for every single item you buy for a few months. If you cant afford to pay in cash that day, you simply cant afford it. Remove your cards from paying anything automated and pay in cash or check. And I agree with an above poster, you are continually reactive and not proactive. The minute you have money you are looking for ways to spend it. That is not sustainable as your track record shows. Please do not sell your home, it is your only asset and you cannot be trusted to not fritter the money away. Once you debt is actually ALL gone, then you can consider that.
It’s strange that it took a month on a debt blog to write a post about losing your income. You also answer every question except those relating to finances (your emergency fund, the mortgage increase, etc). There are people who have been following you since the very beginning with helpful insight and the most basic questions aren’t answered. Just wonder if you’re really even open to accepting help or feedback.
Is there a reason your debt has increased for the USAA card again? I know you say you put your car insurance on it, but were you also not able to pay that in full?
Oh here we go again. Your employer would not have gone through the trouble of bringing you on full time, only to exercise an out clause less than three months later, without some reason. I call BS on whatever word salad you put up there.
My guess, plain and simple, is that you got them to agree on more hours, which meant more expectations, but delivered the same or less as you were giving them when you were part time.
It’s always way too easy to find an excuse, any excuse will do, to take your foot off the gas. Haven’t you realized yet that you simply can’t do that?
Sorry, but this sounds like yet another situation where consequences come up and find you.
Don’t complain this time that you can’t get ahead. You can. You just choose not to, over and over again.
Sorry to hear you lost your job so quickly! I hope you do a budget and figure out that Princess should take out student loans for the $750 you are contributing to her housing right now. Those loans would be a much much lower interest rate than your credit cards and you could always pay them off for her sometime in the future if/when you get a good job again.
That is true. I’ve just been so focused on getting her through school with no debt. But certainly if it comes down to it, this would make financial sense.
Thankfully, I have a couple of months to figure it out.
Don’t wait! Your debt already went up in the last month and you’re paying 30 percent interest on that. Princess should apply for a student loan ASAP. Who know how long you will be hunting for full time work again. Don’t spend your emergency fund or put thing on credit cards due to supporting princess when you can’t afford to do so! A small student is really not that big a deal and you can always pay it off for her in the future if/when her income goes up. Also she might need to apply ahead of the semester and it might take time to get approved.
Hang in there Hope. Be smart with how you allocate and spend down your savings. I’ve always been one on here to give advice that may come off as critical. But I think some people are being quite a bit harsh in their comments. There is no reason to kick someone while they are down. Maybe there are just some things to reflect on once you have been able to set up a new plan. Losing income suddenly is never easy no matter how much you prepared for it.
Be kind to yourself. If you do sell the house, do not fritter it away or put too much money into improvements ahead of time. Lock it up in an account that is difficult to access.