damn man, i'd take that $2500 and leave for a few weeks! haha
at this exact moment, i would stick it in the safe to pay next months bills since my employer can't make up their ind whether i have a job to go back to in march or not. one says yes other says no and dropped some ridiculous reasons that don't even make sense... looks like i just joined the "I'm Screwed" club...
starting to think the american dream is to bust your ass to own a house and a couple cars and then loose it all...
Worked for someone, got hurt, took the opportunity to go back to school, got my degree. Wife and I got married, had a place of our own.
Unfortunately, her sister got a divorce when she was 20, started living the "good" life while my in-laws watched her young son. He grew up with Nana and Papa letting him do anything he wants, with no repercussions for being lazy. My sister-in-law was off traveling, and kept telling my wife "come on, come with me, you'll love it"...
So we went on our first vacation with her about 6 months after we were married, blew a LOT of money in three weeks in California, even tho we stayed with their cousins. I'd had enough, it was a once every 5-6 years thing for me, time to start to save towards our future.
Got my settlement from the injury, bought a house, bought into a construction business, had fairly steady work. Wife saw we had money, and her sister wanted to go on a cruise, so she booked it. It was only 4 days, relatively inexpensive, so I said fine.
Then we had our two kids. Even with having two little ones, she still wanted to vacation with her sister. The 4-day cruises became 5 day, 7 day, 8 day and most recently 10 days. Not that WE could afford it, construction work is ALWAYS feast or famine, but (s)he would talk to her sister and hand her $700 or $1000 bucks for the next cruise, non-refundable. Obviously, trying to keep my wife happy, I'd concede. And be broke for a while afterwards.
Of course, we couldn't just do one every other year or so..... it was EVERY YEAR, and it wasn't just that... our kids are 7 and 9, and they've been to Disney in 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009 and last year. 4-day minimum, this past year was 10 days. And it ain't cheap.
While spending all this money, bills weren't getting paid. I'd bring in $700-$1000 a week, she'd have to spend $400 for dance outfits, $150 a month for clothes for her, have to get the kids McD's or BK because she was "too tired" to clean and cook when she got home... easily $40 a week, if not $50. Bills didn't get paid, fell behind in our mortgage, by the time we were able to do anything about it, it was too late, we lost our home.
THANKFULLY, my mother-in-law said we could move in with her (((NOTE THE SARCASTIC TONE HERE!)))
Went from a 4-bedroom, 3-bath Victorian w/ a 16x44 deck to a 2-family (her sister lives upstairs), we share the downstairs w/ her mom. Had to convert a walk-in pantry to a bedroom for my son, and eliminated the dining room, making that the living room. The old living room, we put doors in the archway, that's now our bedroom. Only have ONE bathroom for 5 of us to share, and it's on the other end of the house - abso-*******-lutely wonderful, since I've been on crutches for 6+ weeks.
I've gotten into wars with my mother-in-law, been told that I'm not a good provider, and I don't treat her well enough, and that her father and her mother never thought I was good enough for her..... She doesn't like the way I treat my kids, I told her she was one to talk, as her son is an alcoholic drug-addict, serving time for the 4th time, and her other daughter is a extremely rude and disrespectful *****. Told her I didn't want my kids being raised the way they were, nor my nephew, they are all too ******* lazy and self-centered to do anything for anyone else unless it's "what are you gonna do for me?". She did sooooo much better than I'm capable of.....
And, since I'm on crutches, I haven't been able to work for 6+ weeks, either, I'm going stir-crazy sitting at home for 4-5 days in a row. Luckily, my best friend has been picking me up to watch football, and getting me drunk.
Needless to say, I've told the wife that when we get our taxes, I'm leaving ASAP, whether she and the kids come is up to her. If she does, no vacations, no dance, no bowling coming before paying the bills. She'll get an allowance to spend on whatever she wants, but that's it. I'll have an equal amount to spend on myself.
Luckily, I busted my ass doing some work for a friend, his father actually bought both our trucks and I worked off the amount. They are paid for, and since mine is a '96 and hers is a '98, we can't be forced to sell them to pay off anything.
Do I sound bitter?
Sorry for the rant, it's been building for a Long, Long time....