Budget update

I had to tweak the budget this month because I'm converting from a consultant at work to full-time.

Good news is
- that our insurance is extremely reasonable (includes dental and vision)
- the company pays for short term disability
- the quite nice company match to 401K contributions (after 1 year)
- that the company pays for a decent amount of life insurance
- that even though long term disability is paid by me, but is reasonable
- that the vacation is good, plus the actual days off for holidays give me more time with Lil M!!

The Not so good is the pay cut, of course. So, I had to revise the budget. The loss feels bigger than it probably would because I'm starting 401k contributions again. I know the market took a huge hit this year, but I'm a big believer in saving for retirement. I'm only putting 6% in, to start, but once they contribute that'll automatically double. Plus, they give an automatic 3% on top of that! So, next year, It'll go up to 15% without me doing anything! Woot!

I have to remember this when I look at my monthly income, though. Yikes.

The other good news is that Sis got a small raise where she works. So, that'll help. She's made huge strides since all the crap happened with ex-hubby to get back on her feet. And this is good for her. I still hope she gets her resume together, though, and eventually finds something else. They don't treat her that well there, and have taken advantage of her (mainly in salary).

I'm still working on getting the debt paid down. To date, Sis has one credit card paid off. As of this month, that'll be 2. Sweet! For me, I have paid off 3 credit cards, and have 3 more plus the line of credit to go. I'm still on target to get 2 more paid off by September. Which leaves just 2 big bills left. Sis will take much longer than that... boy, is divorce expensive. (i'm glad she's almost done with all of that, for many reasons... the least of which is money related!!)

Peace.