Once You're a Pickle
Once You’re a Pickle
Diane is embarking on some Making Money 201 activities (part-time teaching; real-estate investment ) and so on … full points for trying! We had quite a few discussions off-line (actually by e-mail, so I guess that’s really ‘on-line’) about RE attorneys, accountants, structures and the like … maybe, we can ask Diane to write a post about her experiences in ‘converting’ her old home into a rental (e.g. why, how do the numbers stack up, how did she go about finding agents/accountants/attorneys/etc.)?
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I quit my J.O.B. in October to move to NC to be with my fiance.
A lot of what we’ve been going thru (and are still going thru) can be seen on “Clean House” shown on Style TV (discovered by accident, but well worth the lessons these guys give) – trying to let go of things I don’t need anymore in my future – selling or donating them – and reevaluating how much every thing is worth to me. There is still a lot we could all live without, but for now, we are still moving “down” to one 4-bedroom house (although I have kept my house as an investment).
Is my debt too much still? Yes, coming down some, but I am moving assets around to do that rather than relying on an income.
By July, cash flow will need to increase by at least $2500 per month, plus enough for taxes. In theory I can get another J.O.B., but I want to invest my time in me for this, because I need to do more than that.
July gives me a short-term goal. July is when two of my credit card rates’ low rates go way-up-high. I have choices. One should be paid off two months before then (that’s the plan). I may also be able to move the second debt to another card (for a fee and a rate) and then have enough available cash to extend July out and use the cash for another investment.
Sitting at the beginning of December,
Expenses: What are they? I’ve pared them down a lot, but living with my fiance is giving me a lot of amenities that I am not having to pay for (and had stopped paying for), but we are both trying to watch all the things I’d been watching (lights, water running, spending). We are looking at which vehicle to sell; I may drop my cell phone later this month (it’s no longer on contract, so no fee there).
Here’s what is left: I am paying for: mortgage, student loan, credit card loans, expenses for lines of income I’m working to create (RE, writing, Zumba Instructor Network (ZIN)), my own health requirements, and then there are medical bills for the boys, child support payments for the boys, and now orthodontics for one son and soon the other).
What can I do about them? I’ve challenged my sons needing a nanny at their ages (old enough to babysit), but agree to support their need for orthodontics. I could argue the point, but these are my sons and I won’t. I could drop out of ZIN, but taking Zumba classes in NC would cost more than continuing the membership, so if I only do classes for myself, I’m better off, and if I create classes, I may recoup more than that while basically still doing my own workout (different focus if teaching, but no doubt that I’ll get a workout as well). ZIN stays in for both practical and health reasons.
Insurance costs more in NC. I also am told I’ll be charged tax for the value of my vehicle when I register it here, so good chance that mine will be the one sold. I’ll miss it a lot. The money is also already ear-marked (as the minivan was) for my boys’ eventual need for their own cheap wheels, so I will set aside a certain amount for them, and the rest I can use to invest or pay down debt
Looking ahead to Making Money 201, I am evaluating properties, having enlisted the help of a realtor, and considering the other options I have to have in place. I believe I can find angels, but am looking to find properties that will justify the traditional/conventional lenders who will probably lend the bulk of the money for the property, yet I am open to more creative ways and am looking for those as well.
Savings? I have some, but I am moving it from tax-deferred accounts to paying bills now, so they are going down. A 401k, a traditional IRA with some money in McDonald’s stock, but everything else is in cash, and the 401k will rollover into the IRA soon.
Other considerations – looking at creating other avenues of income. I have a goal of having $3600 more income per month by July. Not a lot with a J.O.B., but doing it all by and for myself (as a foundation to bigger things) is where I want to be doing it. I feel going back to a full-time J.O.B. would be a cop-out.
In the meantime, I may substitute teach. This fulfills me in two ways: I feel like I am giving back to the community – to the students and the teachers as well as to the parents whose kids are going to whichever school district I am helping. I think many business folks should try to put in time substituting at a school because there is a lot of knowledge that can be handed down from someone who’s been there doing that kind of work (or some kind of work other than teaching because most of the students will not become teachers). I don’t expect or want this to be full-time 5-days a week, so I am not thinking it will provide the bulk of my financial needs, only a small part.
I am also going to pursue writing as a career during this time – a full-time job with pay – using and thereby learning internet and marketing online strategies (that’s what the eHow article about “How to Justify Buying a Buggati Veyron” was about – testing an internet marketing theory someone else on eHow had espoused.) There are different ways to go with that, and I need to choose one.
Although writers faced with a blank sheet of paper may be overcome with writer’s block, there is also something to be said about a blank sheet of paper.
Like a young child, a blank sheet of paper still has a myriad of possibilities for what it may become. Once ink is set, the paper has changed. A bolt of fabric is the same way for a quilter. Once cut, it cannot be put back into the form it once had and the myriad choices are reduced. Once you’re a pickle, you can’t go back to being a cucumber.
Now is the time for me to reduce the pathways available to me and begin concentrating on those for which there is time, interest, and ability and which will move me along toward meeting my Life’s Purpose.
Diane I think you will find earning money writing online is not overly difficult – although you don’t necessarily have to do it in the form of a full time job (unless you just meant full time hours). You can freelance and work on contract, which allows you to pick and choose your hours and projects and clients rather than join up with one employer and given the rest of your plans, think you would prefer contracting and selecting your own clients over writing for one employer.