“You are beginning to damage my calm.”

It’s been a rollercoaster past the past few years.  Lost everything, rebuild, hit speed bumps & potholes, run in the fast lane for miles, get super speeder ticket.  To catch you up since I suck at blogging when things are going good, things have been moving relatively well.

In 2013, I embarked on the path to owning a home again.  I had several obstacles that I knew of – bankruptcy & no down payment, but that was not going to stop me.  My credit score has hovering near 700.  Living large.  I got pre-approved for a loan (forgot the original amount) & went house hunting.  So in a matter of 3 months from the start, found a house, finalized the deal, and now I am a homeowner again.

The boost to the bottom line has been awesome.  My mortgage was $200 more a month than rent, but the tax advantages outweighed the costs.  Between the property taxes & the mortgage interest, I have reduced my overall effective federal tax rate from 19% to 15% & similar reduction in my effective state tax.

Life is good.

Or was.  I am entering a new phase apparently.  Couple weeks ago – I got the news I am a part of my company’s downsizing.  Long story short, we lost a major client that accounts for a major part of our revenue.  The company I work for was also bought in 2012.  While this hiccup is bad, the net impact to our local office is less than 7% of revenue at the end of the day.  The new owners are using this as an excuse to purge a number of the old timers.  I apparently am one of those people.

Good news is that I will get severance.  Bad news is I have no idea how much.  This is making my normal planning self unable to determine what the game plan is other than get my job search going & reduce expenses.  My resume is up to date now.  Satellite package has been cut to bare bones, and I investigating being a cord cutter.  Calling everyone’s favorite cable internet provider to discuss deals.  Trying to figure out the oldest kid’s college tuition situation.  I’ll admit I am overwhelmed trying to get my bearings on this.

Over the next few weeks, I will be scrambling, and I will bring you along for the ride.  Should be fun.  Right???