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Post-BK13 Life Update 2023

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  • Carmella
    replied
    Barbisi It's only 1 yr for us, this month marks a year post BK13! Funny how quickly the first year after goes compared to the first year during!

    You are doing the smart thing not running up debt and saving money. That's what we are working on as well.

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  • Barbisi
    replied
    Thanks Carmella !
    We haven't really started packing up yet, but we are weeding out stuff to donate , recycle and dispose of.
    A couple of months ago, we donated an old desk from Zombie13's childhood (yep, that's how old it was, LOL!) but kept the wooden chair because it is very useful to have around and it is still in great shape, and the loveseat recliner we used during the whole of our bk13 years. Frankly, it wasn't hardly fit to sit in, but they took it anyway, and it cost us nothing. (We have other furniture and some odds and ends that we are currently planning to ditch before the next move.)
    So much of our furniture and appliances date from before we filed, meaning we've had to replace many pieces since our relocation.
    The TV and Blu-ray player (both purchased in 2014) are still going strong but will probably need a replacement sometime soon. The beauty of living a debt-free life (except for the single monthly car payment on my Toyota) is we can buy a nice new TV/ BR player with cash or use one of our CCs (and pay it off immediately and rack up cash-back points), just as we did with our treadmill, 3 power couch and new desks.
    For us, it is more important to have cash in the bank and not to be chained to an overpriced mortgage in an area we may not want to stay long-term because of crime, homelessness, high COL and horrific traffic.
    We haven't forgotten those years of financial strife and understand the job situation is a precarious one - if Zombie were to be laid off even for one year, we could end up back in BK13 if all the cards went against us. So, securing a better position must come first, then the move.
    Wow, a wedding when it seems only yesterday that you, your daughter and her then-boyfriend now fiance, were involved in that awful Halloween crash.
    Congratulations you guys on turning a big corner of 2(?) years.
    Best of luck to your daughter on her job search and to you and your hubby on your long-overdue home updates.

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  • Carmella
    replied
    Barbisi and Zombie13 I was wondering how the two of you were doing. I'm sorry that Zombie13 was ill, but it's great he's on the mend. Jobs can be crazy. I am still with mine, although it's partly looking up as I have a new boss. The old one was fired and I have come to learn she was doing many many things wrong. I knew there were issues, but I had no idea the extent of it. But the job still isn't something I am crazy about doing and I haven't cracked down on trying to get a non-clinical job, not working directly with patients.

    My daughter was put on unpaid furlough and has been interviewing so I know it's quite a process I imagine it would be similar for Zombie13. Try to network on Linked In and get actually get some interviews and then 2nd and 3rd interviews. My daughter has put in full time hours for several weeks learning about different companies and researching the leadership, etc and interviewing, updating the portfolio, picking up freelance work, etc.

    Whatever the craziness it's not as bad as where we have been with BK13. And don't go buying a house until you are ready and until you find what you actually want. Rent and save money! We live in a lower cost area, well current house prices are inflated, but we have been settled here over 20 yrs and aside from $7,000 or so on the HELOC that's all we have left before it's ours and then we will dump money into the upgrades we have put off since post BK we have done minimal mostly the garage, but there's things that need fixing probably can't even be called an upgrade LOL!

    We would have that HELOC paid off, but my daughter went from a simple wedding to having a more traditional wedding which won't be over the top crazy crazy expensive, but it's still expensive so instead of dumping money into the HELOC we are saving money to contribute to the wedding. Fiance's parents are also contributing, that young man has the best stepfather. I just love men who are so wonderful to kids who have deadbeat biological sperm donors! Anyway it's always something, always some sort of financial expenses, but we have our second chance to live in better financial health.

    It sounds like you are getting your plans in order. The month to month lease would make me crazy and want to just move ASAP, but I know it's definitely easier said than done. I would start packing things I don't need out LOL!

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  • Barbisi
    started a topic Post-BK13 Life Update 2023

    Post-BK13 Life Update 2023

    As we segue into June and Summer, we are faced with very different challenges and obstacles than we encountered when we first arrived in Washington a little more than a year ago.
    While we are cozily ensconced in our current location, dilemmas are starting to rear their ambivalent heads.
    1. Although the new terms of the rental lease are not fully explained and set, we will be beginning a month-to-month lease August 1, meaning we should be prepared to move possibly at any time, even before late - December or early January when the BK13 should have been expunged from all our credit reports.
    2. My husband is not at all secure at his company because the surge support tasks he has been assigned to since February when he rolled off the program that he was originally hired in Colorado to do, is ending sometime in June.
    3. Zombie13 contracted Covid-19 at work in early February and has suffered from different degrees of respiratory issues since, including pneumonia, sinusitis and bronchitis as well as seasonal allergies that we believe were brought on by non-ending work related stress. Luckily, since his initial diagnosis, he has been able to work exclusively from home.
    He has had an ambivalent relationship with this company from the beginning and he is not at all adverse to leaving what is clearly a toxic work environment for somewhere better. In many ways, this workplace is similar to the notorious R. to which he was tethered for 15 miserable years.
    Zombie does have tentative upcoming "placement" interviews but he is hardly enthusiastic and is aware he must start looking outside to other better aerospace brands for a more welcoming fit with even more lucrative pay if we are to remain in this area.
    We are both set on moving North (i.e., Issaquah, Sammamish, Bellevue, etc.) where all the gyms, pilates/barre studios, eateries, shopping centers, movie theatres, sports medicine clinics and doctor offices are that we frequent most every day. On average we are in the car 90 minutes -2 hours a day. Without this Renton job, there would simply be no reason to have to live this far South.
    Leaving Washington altogether is also a consideration, although we would like to travel more here before moving away.
    Buying a house here is simply an absurd aberration since the average mortgage is above $6,000 a month and we like having disposable income and extra money in the bank.
    Of course, we haven't forgotten our bitter experience with two Colorado homes both bought and sold, the first directly leading to BK13 and the second to our current state of financial security after five years in purgatory.
    So, we have much to ponder and figure out in a relatively short span of time.

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