To be honest, January just plain sucked, no matter how I looked at it and I could not be happier that it is finally OVER! We always seem to struggle through the winter months, December, January and then into February until tax refund time. Yet while the struggle is not so new to us, this year seemed particularly hard and almost seemed like I had challenged the Universe so it was bent on revenge!
I started the beginning of winter with the whole, No Matter What I shall see the beauty in winter...... yeah well that was fine and very beautiful in December.....but then January found me cursing it and the polar vortex. January was just plain unbearable and had me wishing for a life in the Desert somewhere, anywhere really that was warm. It was like the more I tried to see the beauty of winter, the more mother nature brought even colder temps until I caved and began to loathe her! Pipes dripping constantly to prevent freezing, cold air constantly blowing right through the house, cold nights causing restless sleep and just plain irritable moods by everyone closed inside from it being too cold to go anywhere. I seemed to totally lose that sunny positive disposition I usually do pretty good at maintaining and literally just wanted to take a paycheck and run away.......far far away!
I also made the comment to hubby how I would not stress about finances and trust our needs have always been met and would continue to do so. November was a fantastic month and I actually got all our Christmas shopping done in November before Thanksgiving. Well the universe started digging and throwing more and more at us until again I caved and started giving in to anxiety, stress and wanting to just run away.
Hubby's hours got cut, bringing only part time hours for pay checks, since Thanksgiving really. They increased back to full time for the whole of 1 or 2 paychecks but mostly he is only getting around 55 hours on a 2 week pay period! Like minimum wage is not hard enough on full time hours! They have been the worse they ever have been and I chalk that up to the cold keeping people at home so business was really slow over the cold winter months.
Receiving his W-2 showed us he actually made 2,000 LESS than the previous year which meant he only made 13k for the whole year. Add in child support and food stamps and that brought us to a thankful 20k for 4 people.
To top everything off we still had a day or two of frozen pipes to deal with and now a kitchen sink that won't drain ( but not due to it being frozen ironically)
Michigan is also seeing a propane shortage so hiked up the prices, my mom just told me she just got charged 3.95 a gallon , we need a fill up very very soon and will be looking at well, way too much for a 200 gallon minimum order fill up! I already had to get 200 gallons in January but now have to turn around and get more which means a whole extra tank from what I normally order in a year. A whole extra tank and double the expense......LOL yeah that sounds about right. While I usually do not feel poor, I must admit, come January for the first time in a long, long, long time, I felt poor and I felt every struggle and strain of the stress poverty can bring. I am hoping if I can continue feeling better and better, I may be able to turn that around yet and yes I know that true wealth is not always monetary and I am very wealthy and full of abundance in love, family and other areas...it helps to have enough to not have to worry in the winter months. Unfortunately we can not leave Michigan for another 2 years due to visitation/custody laws but it is being planned for!
There has been a lot of other things going on as well too, little things that have added up to getting behind in other utility bills, and just plain going wrong adding to stress and frustration.
But I am thankful to be alive to be able to stress! LOL
Yup it has been a hard year indeed , and my heart truly goes out to those that are far worse than us, because this winter has brought strain and hardship to so many, it makes my heart ache. But I got our taxes done several days ago and should see the benefit of that mid February.
Yes January is OVER Good Riddance and Thank God!
I Truly hope your January was not one of hardship and struggle and was blessed instead!
Now back to my usual sunny self............
I started the beginning of winter with the whole, No Matter What I shall see the beauty in winter...... yeah well that was fine and very beautiful in December.....but then January found me cursing it and the polar vortex. January was just plain unbearable and had me wishing for a life in the Desert somewhere, anywhere really that was warm. It was like the more I tried to see the beauty of winter, the more mother nature brought even colder temps until I caved and began to loathe her! Pipes dripping constantly to prevent freezing, cold air constantly blowing right through the house, cold nights causing restless sleep and just plain irritable moods by everyone closed inside from it being too cold to go anywhere. I seemed to totally lose that sunny positive disposition I usually do pretty good at maintaining and literally just wanted to take a paycheck and run away.......far far away!
I also made the comment to hubby how I would not stress about finances and trust our needs have always been met and would continue to do so. November was a fantastic month and I actually got all our Christmas shopping done in November before Thanksgiving. Well the universe started digging and throwing more and more at us until again I caved and started giving in to anxiety, stress and wanting to just run away.
Hubby's hours got cut, bringing only part time hours for pay checks, since Thanksgiving really. They increased back to full time for the whole of 1 or 2 paychecks but mostly he is only getting around 55 hours on a 2 week pay period! Like minimum wage is not hard enough on full time hours! They have been the worse they ever have been and I chalk that up to the cold keeping people at home so business was really slow over the cold winter months.
Receiving his W-2 showed us he actually made 2,000 LESS than the previous year which meant he only made 13k for the whole year. Add in child support and food stamps and that brought us to a thankful 20k for 4 people.
To top everything off we still had a day or two of frozen pipes to deal with and now a kitchen sink that won't drain ( but not due to it being frozen ironically)
Michigan is also seeing a propane shortage so hiked up the prices, my mom just told me she just got charged 3.95 a gallon , we need a fill up very very soon and will be looking at well, way too much for a 200 gallon minimum order fill up! I already had to get 200 gallons in January but now have to turn around and get more which means a whole extra tank from what I normally order in a year. A whole extra tank and double the expense......LOL yeah that sounds about right. While I usually do not feel poor, I must admit, come January for the first time in a long, long, long time, I felt poor and I felt every struggle and strain of the stress poverty can bring. I am hoping if I can continue feeling better and better, I may be able to turn that around yet and yes I know that true wealth is not always monetary and I am very wealthy and full of abundance in love, family and other areas...it helps to have enough to not have to worry in the winter months. Unfortunately we can not leave Michigan for another 2 years due to visitation/custody laws but it is being planned for!
There has been a lot of other things going on as well too, little things that have added up to getting behind in other utility bills, and just plain going wrong adding to stress and frustration.
But I am thankful to be alive to be able to stress! LOL
Yup it has been a hard year indeed , and my heart truly goes out to those that are far worse than us, because this winter has brought strain and hardship to so many, it makes my heart ache. But I got our taxes done several days ago and should see the benefit of that mid February.
Yes January is OVER Good Riddance and Thank God!
I Truly hope your January was not one of hardship and struggle and was blessed instead!
Now back to my usual sunny self............
Many prayers that things start to get better soon.
ReplyDeleteThank you Patti, it is February now though is it is all good! LOL It just comes with the territory is all :) Thanks for stopping by and the prayers!
DeleteI look forward to every blog entry I am privileged to receive. You have more guts than anyone I know. I love you and I love your wonderful family. I am fortunate to have some extra this month and I choose to share it with you, as I wish others would do. Thank you for reminding me what is really important in life.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice thing to turn my computer on to read and receive! Thank you for such a generous gift and such kind words. It is very appreciated.
DeleteI forget to give back sometimes. I so appreciate your blog and the encouragement you give us. Little gift your way.
ReplyDeleteSheila - Escanaba
Thank you very much for your generosity Sheila, it is well recieved and very kind of you! I hope winter has been good to you, my daughter up near Houghton was very cold up that way this winter! LOL but her apartment warm and toasty :)
Delete