Tire Tracks

I've been making tracks all over the surrounding areas, doing in-person follow-ups on job leads. I never understood the value of this until this week. My Father-in-law offered this counsel to me and it has really paid off.

Our mortgage company is restructuring our payments over the next several months. This gives us another month to plan, secure more income and make this thing happen.

I've made bad decisions in the past, but if there's something I've definitely learned in my life, DO NOT ignore calls or letters from people collecting a debt. I know, sometimes it's hard to deal with it, but you have to do it. Luckily, Sheria and I knew this and we communicated with our mortgage company promptly. Our prompt, clear communication has bought us valuable time and opened the window of opportunity wider for us to make this happen. If you are in debt and you have lenders contacting you, absolutely do not ignore them. It will heave a world of hurt on your head later if you do. If you are prompt, polite and articulate about your situation, I've found they will nearly always make some arrangement with you. The catch is, you have to uphold your end. You have to make good on the arrangement.

Here's a major problem in society today. I think a growing number of people are realizing the death trap of debt. However, many people are not doing what it takes to get out of it. Sure, they'll go and look for another job. But what kind of job? It's tough for someone to be in a job they've always loved and then work weekends on a job they hate. It may seem beneath them. But the reality of it all is this. You sacrificed your inegrity, your financial stability and your name to get yourself here. Now it's time to sacrifice a little comfort to get out.
That means you can't go to the drive thru as many times as you'd like when you're hungry. It means you may need to deliver pizzas or work awkward hours for a while until things get better. I have come to terms with this. I hoped for other things to come through for me that I waited for. There's a time for that, but not when you're in debt. Actions have consequences. I am owning up to mine now. If I don't want my boys to be raised by a sitter 3-5 days a week, I should've taken action before now to prevent this from happening...cut spending, save more, stay away from loans and interest, etc.
Unfortunately, I was pushover about a lot of these things. Now we pay the price for it.

God has been good to us. We're in trouble, but things could've been much, much worse. I know there are people out there who have lost their house, others who have been forced to declare bankruptcy. I want to avoid much much worse. I want to get out of this altogether, and we will, whatever it takes.

I have some promising leads on many part time jobs. Well-paying full time jobs are much more scarce than they used to be in this economy unless you have more advanced education...and even still, it's hard to land one. I've pretty much determined that in order to make this work, unless by the grace of God I can land that ideal eight to five somewhere, I will need to have multiple sources of part time income.

Here's what I have now that is certain.

Part-time on-call on-demand IT/Networking gig. Income, unknown as of yet.
Part-time ministry-mentoring job in my Dad's ministry. Income, $300 a month.
Part-time musician job, playing guitar and gigging on the weekends. Income, around $400 a month.

Here are part-time jobs that I am following up on heavily, of which I currently stand a good chance of landing. Both of these also have chances for advancement.

Part-time Murphy USA cashier. Income, about $800 a month.
Part-time Staples Tech Associate. Income, about $750 a month + possible incentive/sales pay.

Here are other jobs of which I have received positive remarks but no interviews/intent to hire as of yet. Income is still uncertain. Number of hours offered is also unknown.

Pizza Hut delivery or team member
Woodforest Bank customer service rep.
Radio Shack Sales Associate

Actually, I do have an interview with Radio Shack tomorrow at 2:00 pm, but I have not received any intent to hire just yet.

Other places I've applied:

CVS Pharmacy, 2 locations. Currently not hiring(contrary to what their website says).
Play 'N Trade, Applications only, no positions currently available.
Car-Mart Albertville, position already filled.
Railroad Bazaar Music, taking apps only, no positions currently available.
Sanmina-SCI(2 different apps). They are call-back only.
Phoenix Huntsville, position already filled.
McDonald's Team Member, follow-up tomorrow.
Huntsville Utilities, Collections Dept.
Pizza Hut Arab, Follow-up saturday.

Keep in mind, I only need to make about $15,000 a year for us to get things straight. I can already exceed this amount if I can get one part time job, when you consider the other smaller forms of income that I'll have in addition. Staples appears to offer the best pay so I have really been working to stay on top of it, but there are other hooks in the pond too. I have other leads that I have to keep available to me...nothing is certain yet and I need certain more than anything. If I can get two part time jobs, getting out of debt is going to move a lot faster, much faster actually.

Tomorrow I'll dig those tire tracks deeper.