I need help with my score

[Anonymous]

I am getting soooo ready for my rant-

Seems like a perfect thread for the preveiw-

Today I had an employee refuse the $2 per hour raise I was giving her-  "she would lose her benefits"

IMO- I make OK $, my DW has not "HAD" to having a paying job in 15 years (her work as a SAHM has been way too valuable to put a $ amount on) She is also the PTSA president.  The US economy and the cost of living gets closer everyday to FORCE her back into the waht I call "Two Job mom" -

The whole ecconomy needs to give up on this 2 income household requirement - Groceries and everything else are too expensive-

(to be continued)

[haulingthescoreup]

Oh, don't get me started! I am so grateful that my husband's traveling job made it impractical for me to work "outside the home" for a long time. Someone needs to be there, running the show, keeping people glued together, and so forth.

There's a hell of a lot more to being a successful human being than laying claim to a cube. It's very saddening to me that one's value as a human being these days is measured so much by earned income. We even see it here when posters apologize for having to use HHI, as if not dragging in a paycheck makes them less of a real person.

[Anonymous]

Sorry HTSU

I might need to move this to my blog- 

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haulingthescoreup wrote:
Oh, don't get me started! I am so grateful that my husband's traveling job made it impractical for me to work "outside the home" for a long time. Someone needs to be there, running the show, keeping people glued together, and so forth.

There's a hell of a lot more to being a successful human being than laying claim to a cube. It's very saddening to me that one's value as a human being these days is measured so much by earned income. We even see it here when posters apologize for having to use HHI, as if not dragging in a paycheck makes them less of a real person.

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[haulingthescoreup]

Okey-dokey. grrrr

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your honest feedback. My husband has a great job where he gets a lot of overtime sometimes and I am a stay at home mom with a small business - can't say name but lets say - I sale kitchen tools in peoples homes for a large company out of Chicago. Anyway - I have been thinking of getting another job, but then it comes to the day care issue for a 3 year old - you are just working to pay for daycare - not worth it! I'm still looking, but not much in my area that pays enough unless I go back full time.

[haulingthescoreup]

To quote Ben Franklin, a penny saved is a penny earned. If you suddenly found yourself in an episode of "24", and irritated-looking men with automatic weapons were at your front door, what could you and your husband and kids give up? The drive-through on the way to work or school? Nickleodeon? The Speed Channel? HBO? 2 degrees on the thermostat? Steaks on the grill? (instead of burgers) Gymnastics?

I'm not trying to be facetious, and I know you've already been cutting corners, but sometimes it's hard to get a sense for how immediate and crucial financial crises are. Is your husband reading this thread? Is everybody on board with your situation? Sometimes people just give up in advance, thinking that it's just too hard, or impossible, to ever make a change.

A household is an economic unit, a business just like any other. If the partners aren't all on board, it's tough to make any significant changes. But when everyone gets plugged in, and starts thinking, yeah, I could do without that for 6 months, it's astonishing the changes that you can make! Good luck --hope you can find a path.

[Anonymous]

Post of the day!!!

A household is an economic unit, a business just like any other. If the partners aren't all on board, it's tough to make any significant changes. But when everyone gets plugged in, and starts thinking, yeah, I could do without that for 6 months, it's astonishing the changes that you can make! Good luck --hope you can find a path.

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haulingthescoreup wrote:
To quote Ben Franklin, a penny saved is a penny earned. If you suddenly found yourself in an episode of "24", and irritated-looking men with automatic weapons were at your front door, what could you and your husband and kids give up? The drive-through on the way to work or school? Nickleodeon? The Speed Channel? HBO? 2 degrees on the thermostat? Steaks on the grill? (instead of burgers) Gymnastics?

I'm not trying to be facetious, and I know you've already been cutting corners, but sometimes it's hard to get a sense for how immediate and crucial financial crises are. Is your husband reading this thread? Is everybody on board with your situation? Sometimes people just give up in advance, thinking that it's just too hard, or impossible, to ever make a change.

A household is an economic unit, a business just like any other. If the partners aren't all on board, it's tough to make any significant changes. But when everyone gets plugged in, and starts thinking, yeah, I could do without that for 6 months, it's astonishing the changes that you can make! Good luck --hope you can find a path.

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[Anonymous]

yes - we ( my husband and I) are all on board - I don't think anybody wanted to upset anybody else on this - sorry this got so out of control. I was just looking for advice on how to up my score - should I keep my cards closed or re-open them to allow that positive amount that is available. And just so you know we are actively cutting back on a lot of things that we don't "Have to Have"!

[haulingthescoreup]

Sorry if I got carried away! I read a lot of posts where one person "gets it", and the other won't get involved. Good luck!

[maxq]

my first suggestion is, slow down.... take a deep breath.... ok, now, i can relate to part of this because i had to do this once in my life and that is messing with my 401k....i am a gov employee and my 401 was my life savings...my credit cards were killing me....i knew that if i took my money out of my 401 that i could pay off some credit and have some room to breathe...but i didn't want the tax implications...so i just took a loan out against my 401...now when your talking 3 or 4 percent on that loan vs. the 15%, 20% or whatever your credit cards are then it's a no brainer....taking the loan gave me the flexibility to repay my 401 and gave me some freedom and room to breathe... your situation is a little different in that you are not working and your 401 is just sitting there...my question is this, is there any way to just take a loan against your 401 and repay it? you would be surprised at the low rate and little payments you could manage on that loan as opposed to the huge fees on credit cards. that would be my suggestion is to do the loan as opposed to just taking it all out and dealing with the tax implications. also, i would stay away from a 2nd mtg. i have no experience in the mtg area but seeing a couple friends of mine do it i don't think you want to do that either. a part time job probably would work to bring in a little more income to pay those other cards down. on the cards i would not close any. instead cut them up! if it's that tempting then cut them up and once your ready to start using a very small uti of 1 or 2 cards then call the cc company and order a new card. that way the temptation won't be there for a few months until you can get things under control. just a few suggestions and not sure if they can help. your situation may not be able to do those things but at least consider them. finally, hang in there! you guys will get through this tough time! stay focused!