The Good -
I am married and have twin 16 year-old daughters.
19 months after being laid off from a job of 12+ years, I went back to work on August 14, 2006. I survived during this time on a combination of unemployment (6 months), working very part time as an independent contractor for Interscholastic Trading Company ("Interschola"), a start-up company selling surplus inventory for school districts on eBay and by selling items myself on eBay. I survived, but barely. My income went from @$7000/month to $1000-1500/month. To put it mildly, our credit rating plummeted as we juggled and weaved.
We have entered into a "catch-up" plan with Wells Fargo, paying an additional $450/month which will have our mortgage caught up and back to normal in April 2007. We also have a "catch-up" agreement with our Visa card.
I make $75,000 per year plus overtime. This is a slow time of year, but I try to get in 6-10 hours OT per pay period (every 2 weeks). Recently, it's been more like 3-5 hours. I have excellent benefits, including full medical, dental and vision insurance for the entire family.
Our DTI is fairly decent, 13%, and we are making a final $477 car payment 12/1/2006, which will make it even better.
My current job is with the 4th largest law firm in the US as a Technical Specialist working out of the Global Services Office in Los Angeles supporting 20+ offices world-wide. I was with my previous employer 12+ years in a similar position and I expect to stay here at least as long. The layoff came a result of a departmental "coup" in the home New York office which pushed my previous boss of 12 years out the door and moved on to the rest of us who had been with the firm for several years. My income is a bit less then what I was making previously as a lot has happened in the past 2 years in the industry and I am having to play catch-up. That's fine and I know I will be back to my past level within the year. The important thing is - I'm working and getting paid again!!!
The Bad -
One of my customers that I sold on eBay for is a major, local electrical contractor. I sold 30 sets of "string lights", these are heavy duty, portable strings of lights typically used on construction sites. These were brand new, never used lights that sell for @$250 each. I sold them to a person in North Carolina who claimed to be a pastor who needed them for his church. Against my better judgment, I let him talk me into shipping the lights COD. He told me that a friend worked for Overnight Express, a division of UPS and that he had agreed to have Overnight pickup the cost of shipping as a donation. Well, a month later, my client, the contractor, received an invoice from Overnight for $1084! He was not happy.
At first the guy in North Carolina was very sympathetic, assuring me he would take care of it and that I should make sure I did not pay Overnight anything. I have not been able to get hold of him for 2 months now and my contractor has run out of patience, quite understandably. I have to pay him as soon as possible.
Proceeds of loan:
$1084.00 to electrical contractor
$2250.00 Wells Fargo to catch up mortgage
Expenses:
- Mortgage - $1238 (after paying "catch-up" amount)
- Phone - $25.00
- Utilities - $200.00
- Auto - will be paid off 12/1/06
- Auto Ins. - $130.00
- Food - $600.00
- Internet - $40.00 (need high speed for work)
- Cable - $50.00
- Credit Cards: $200.00
- Line of Credit - $300.00
- Clothing, school, tennis lessons - $200.00
- Total Expenses - $3395.00
- Total Income - $4700.00 (does not include any OT)
Thanks you all for your consideration.
John
