With the impending 5 1/2 percent pay cut, my budget is stretched. Very stretched. I am now running deficits, and my best estimate is that my savings and lines of credit will run out in about six months. Compounding the problem is that my lovely ex-wife refuses to live up the financial agreement she agreed to when we got divorced, so I have been forced to cover those expenses as well as my own. With the salary I had prior to the first 3.1 percent cut due to the furlough days we were forced to take in July 2009, I could cover it. Since the furlough days, I can’t. Now I really can’t.
The harsh reality is that by the time I rehire my attorney, redo the agreements based on my lowered salary, and get some enforcement of the agreement, it will be at least a year before I will see any of the monies that my ex is supposed to pay. While those monies would close my personal budget deficits, given that I can cover the deficits for six months, and I won’t realistically see any funds for a year, I have a real problem.
Given my current financial bind, I was pleasantly surprised when Number 2 handed me her tips on Saturday and told me that I should use it to pay for school lunches, which cost me upwards of $60 a week. What really bites is that even with my reduced salary of $58000 I am still considered rich by Oklahoma standards and do not qualify for reduced lunches, even with my 11 person household.
I know there are many times that Number 2 frustrates me because she does her own thing and is rarely home with the family. Nonetheless, it was a very nice gesture, and very helpful, too. Every little bit helps. I just wish that my ex can get over her pettiness and live up to her obligations.
I am really proud of No 2. That was a very unselfish act.