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Friday, July 13, 2007

now i can say it

So the big, bad thing that I couldn't talk about before is now officially on safe-to-say territory. This week, Don was forced to resign from his job. As of today, he is no longer working for his previous employer -- or for anybody, actually.

It's a mixed blessing. He was pretty unhappy at that job, and he absolutely hated the commute (no sympathy from me, though -- remember my two-hour-each-way commute that he used to insist wasn't so bad? Karma!). We have enough money in the "F Fund" -- and tangent here: this is something everyone should have. You should have a separate savings account that is totally untouchable, one that has enough money in it to approximately equal one person in the household's salary for a period of time, usually between three and six months. It's so, so crucial. Ours is called the "F Fund" -- for when all you can say is "Oh, f---!" (We also keep separate savings accounts for a Christmas budget, a repair fund, and our regular savings. Eventually we'll have a vacation fund in there too, but for now that money just gets sucked into the house.)

Anyway. We have enough money in the F Fund to keep us the way we've been going (paying double to the home equity loan, putting about four hundred dollars a month into savings, etc.) for two months, and for four months if we cut out the extra payments and things. So Don has the rest of the summer to look for a new job, hopefully one that's more to his liking (he's hoping for something in the finance industry, since that's what he wants to do) and that's closer to home. He'll be able to spend some time working on the house while he's job hunting, which is a bonus.

It was pretty stressful during the week, while we were talking the whole thing over and struggling with the decision, and then while I was waiting for Don to finish agonizing over the possibility of having to do new things (he's not a huge fan of drastic changes, so he dithered for a while). But there was really only one option to take, and now that it's done we're really looking forward to moving on to more positive things.

Deep breaths. Here comes life.

6 comments:

Broadsheet said...

I have an opening for a Sr. Financial Analyst if you need more info - contact me.

Anna said...

I keep my fingers crossed for Don for finding a new job very soon - and one that makes him happy!

Best wishes from Germany
Anna

danielle said...

Well, I'm a big cliched believer now that sometimes what seems like the worst is really just a great big hill to climb over and then you see the other side is so much better.

So, I hope the new job Don finds rocks and he fixes your whole house up in the meantime. :)

Anonymous said...

keeping my fingers crossed that the right job pops up soon and you can keep the f fund fairly in tact. In the meantime, enjoy the break and just rejuvenating.

Summer said...

This is what savings are for! You will get through this!

Anonymous said...

Wow, you guys seem really financially responsible and its great you were prepared enough for something like this. I'm sure something great will come of it!