I'm on my way!

Today, I met with Ms. Cole (Family Self Sufficiency Coordinator) and Mrs. Cheney (Homeownership Coordinator) to talk about one of my goals. As part of the Family Self Sufficiency Program with my housing authority, I have to list my goals and possible ways to meet them. My goals have included creating and building emergency funds, savings accounts for myself and my children, and homeownership.

I got my free credit report today before the meeting and saw that credit score went down a bit, since I recently took out a car loan. All in all, I'm doing much better than I was when I was married. My credit took a bit hit during the marriage. When we started out, my ex-husband's credit wasn't so great and mine was barely there. We put bills in my name, but weren't able to maintain them initially. Just a couple of years ago, I managed to pay off all the debts that were in my name. Now, I'm opening accounts and doing my best to keep them current, so that the score will continue to rise.

As far as home ownership goes, I got the chance to show Mrs. Cheney USAA's Home Circle. It's a members only access to several homes available for sale or rent. She told me it was a good resource and suggested that I look in several different places when it's time to do my search for a home. She suggested speaking with different people (realtors, advisors, etc) to learn more about the home-buying process.

So far, I'm doing alright with maintaining good credit standing by continuing to pay my bills on time. Next steps are to take a first time home buyers class and to meet with them again.

I'm also on my way to narrowing down what I would like to get a degree in. I've been thinking about accounting or bookkeeping for some time, and I've also been thinking about perhaps majoring in languages. Today, Mrs. Cheney and Ms. Cole suggested that I major in something that is more career specific (like accounting) and minor (or double major) in something that could complement it (like linguistics). My wheels are definitely turning.

I have to say that I've been pretty worn out lately. Not from lack of sleep or general not feeling well. I've been feeling like nothing is getting accomplished. It's really been wearing me down, as much as I do, as hard as I work sometimes, can't see that I'm making any leeway. My house stills has some piles and some boxes lying around. I seem to do just about the same thing everyday at work....and so on. But today. Today I was able to see that the little things that I've been doing have an effect on the bigger picture. If I get to one pile at a time, eventually, there will be no piles. Even if I clear one box a week, there will come a point of empty boxes. If I continue to pay my bills on time, don't do anything drastic, I will have more opportunities at my fingertips.

Within the next week, I'll be working on balancing everything so that I don't feel overwhelmed, but so I do feel like I'm getting something done...but after today's meeting, I'm really feeling encouraged to keep moving forward. ;)