I was online reading about the unemployed in America and it made me think how very fortunate I am. many of the unemployed have been without work for many months and there really is no light at the end of their tunnel. it made me think about how the shitty economy has impacted my situation and how much worse things could have turned.
In 2006 I had a wild hair up my ass to move from my home in Florida to somewhere up north where seasons actually change. The housing market had been hot for a few years and my mind was swimming with the amount of money i could make from the sell of my home. I had a family friend who happened to be a brand new realtor and we came to a very high price and listed the home.
in the meantime, I found a travel position up north and a house and decided I would purchase the new home because I was sure my Florida home would be snatched up within weeks. They say hindsight is 20-20 and I had no idea how bad things would soon get.
My Florida home was way overpriced and I was way too stubborn and greedy. By the time I started to drop my price (very small increments) the housing bubble in Florida was starting to burst. The home sat and sat and sat. Showings were so infrequent and the ones that did come through were not kind when giving feedback. i learned the hard way what not to do when listing a home.
I had a home i could not sell in Florida and a new home in PA that needed work. I had two mortgages and the expense of upkeep on the Florida home (yard work, repairs, electricity, etc...) . More money was going out than coming in and I mean a lot of money was going out. Fortunately, I made a good chunk of change working as a traveler and I was able to swing all the bills, for a time.
The travel position ended and I was forced to find a real job at a much lower rate. I found a full time position (that I hated) and a part-time teaching gig. between both I again could make the payments. Three months later the job I hated ended badly and with no warning and my teaching assignment was also ending. So I went from two jobs to zero jobs! I got a bit depressed!
It too a few months to get another job and I was paying mortgages with credit card checks. The debt was piling up fast. A new job was found and within a month a job I wanted was at my feet. So, I accepted a director position at one company and kept the other position as a part-time gig (since I was a bit gun shy). Again, the director position was not what I was led to believe. instead of having my own department I was sharing duties with a much less educated woman who had worked for the facility for 23 years - not a good situation. I also discovered this was a facility that routinely fired directors many time per year.
I lasted two months! I did not feel bad because every manager was fired within that two months. the woman i shared the role with begged for a lesser position and to my knowledge is still there. So here I was being let go form two different placed with a few months of one another after never being fired in my entire life! I started to think it was me!
Thankfully, the part time place took me on full time (the pay was even increased) and I did not miss a beat. granted, I hated the job and felt so overqualified. But it was a job and beggars cannot be choosers. I stayed six months before I had the need to travel again - it was a good decision!
Over the next few years I worked in IN, MN, TX and back in PA. I met so many different people and learned how to live my life with less stuff than ever before. i found that if I didn't have something then I really did not need it. As long as I had Internet and cable - I was okay.
Fast forward 3.5 years and the Florida home finally sells! This is after going through 5 realtor's, multiple crazy ass offers and several trips to Florida to make repairs and such. It had been so long on the market and been such a burden that I was numb when the realtor called to give me the news that it finally closed.
All along I could never really take a full time position anywhere because I need the travel money to pay all the bills and over the years I had incurred huge credit card debt. so even though the home sold I remained in huge debt for carrying the home all those years.
The economy worsened and people had a hard time finding work. Along the way I received a mailing from the military and the wacky idea of joining the armed services was planted in my mind. Considering the crappy economy and lessening job prospects the military looked like a golden opportunity to serve my country and have the rare job security. I made the decision and applied and after an 18 month process I was sworn in! Scary and so different than anything i knew before I crossed the blue line (best decision of my life).
Along the way I sold my PA home and decided i would not own another home until I could make long term roots somewhere. I do not see that happening anytime soon. All in all I think I am very fortunate to have job security, be relatively debt free (thanks to the sell of the PA home) and have awesome benefits. It could all have turned in the other direction and the recession could have swallowed me up like so many others.
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