Not so great news...

When I started this blog, I was determined to post both the good and the bad. With my surgery, it was easy to post the bad, because it was just little things like "Oh, I'm really sick" and "Man, part of me wishes I hadn't done this." I've had a few bad things happen over the last few weeks, and I haven't posted. I've been trying to focus on the good. Now that something life-altering has happened, I have been avoiding actually posting about it. I guess I should just get to it.

On Monday, my supervisor pulled me into a room to talk before I went home. It turns out, that they have been overpaying me for the last year and a half. A year and a half ago, I worked the grave shift. I then got my promotion, and they never stopped paying me my 15% differential. I know, I know, I should have realized this somehow. I have direct deposit, so I never see my pay stubs (I can look them up online...but I never really do except to see how much paid time off I've accrued). So, what makes this a life altering thing? I'm losing $500/month that I'm used to getting paid. That's more than half of my mortgage. That's a LOT to lose each month. On top of that, I'm required to pay back over $7,500. Wow. How does that work again?!? Luckily, they're trying to make it as easy as possible. They know that the $500/month is already a lot to lose, so they don't want to deduct it from regular paychecks if they don't have to. So the plan which I agreed to is to let them have my bonuses for the rest of the year (we get them every quarter), and to let them take my pay raise that I will be getting in March. My problem is...even then...it'll take *forever* to pay off, as I know that they don't plan on giving me that much of a raise :-P.

So...what does this all mean? Well according to my calculations (and thanks to credit card debt which I've been diligently paying off since having to use the cards back when I've had operations and no money coming in from work)...I can't afford to keep my condo. What's worse, is that I can't really afford to pay rent anywhere, either. So...it looks like I might be moving back with my parents. I'm not positive that it's come to that yet...but in looking at the numbers (and a few things I have coming up) that's how it appears. I keep talking about how it's just my income that pays for my place...but then I see all of my friends and family who have stay at home moms, and I know that they are living on a single income, also. How do they all do it?? I really don't understand. I see people living in places which I *know* are more expensive than mine. I see people with car payments on top of other expenses (my car is luckily paid off)...and I just don't understand how they live. It's not like I'm working a $11 or $12/hr job, either. I'm making, what I thought, was a decent amount of money (not great of course...but decent). It just doesn't add up at all.

ANYWAY...it's past my bedtime. I just thought that I should get this information out there because a lot of my upcoming decisions are going to be based on all of this. I'd also rather have it out there when/if people start hearing about me moving back home for a while.

I'm really just done with everything at this point. I don't know that I can handle much more.