Blogging Away Debt Blogging Away Debt follows real people on their journey to debt freedom — with tips on the debt snowball, budgeting, cutting expenses, and staying motivated.

by Tricia

A few people have commented asking why we don’t move to find better jobs. I’ve tried quite a few times writing the story of why we don’t move. It’s a long story, and I start balling every time I try to write it. It’s one of those weak spots for me.

It’s a weak spot because I do love the area where we live. I don’t necessarily like the current town we live in, but I love the area as a whole. I fought pretty hard to be able to live here, and packing up would be like we were admitting defeat…like we failed at making it work. We overcame so many obstacles. Great, there go the tears again…gotta get off this particular topic.

Anyways…lately, some talk has occured about moving. My husband is currently looking at jobs around the state and beyond. Perhaps come summer we will make the leap and move away. I suppose if my husband can’t find a job here by then, it’s time to move on.

I learned of a neat website not too long ago. I decided to give it a whirl to perhaps find somewhere in the US that would fit the ideal place that I would like to live. It’s called Find Your Spot. You go through a series of questions and then you are given a list of the best areas for you to live.

Wouldn’t you know it. My number one match is right where I am living now. I was a bit surprised my area was even an option on the site. But I’m not so surprised it was my number one match.

A few of the other matches on the list were interesting as well. Both of them are in Michigan and both are places we had discussed as possible places to relocate. It’s hard, though, because we prefer the rural life and there are often few jobs in rural areas. There is the option of living in the city, but I did it for 6 months and it was the toughest period of my life.

Right now we are in limbo. My husband had an interview for a job and if he were to get it we could be almost doubling our income and we can stay where we are now. It’s a matter of waiting to see if anything comes of it.

The waiting game is nervewracking, to say the least!

by Tricia

I used to be so organized. Every utility company had their own separate file in a filing cabinet and they were even organized with the newest bills towards the front. Not anymore. I lost count how many “tornadoes” went through my house and scattered my papers all over the place.

There’s some in a box in the kitchen. There’s some on a desk in my husband’s office. There’s some in my bedroom. There’s some in my home office. The one room where I know there isn’t any paperwork is the basement because I cleaned that out beyond recognition when we prepared for our garage sales.

It’s no wonder that I cannot find the one piece of paperwork that I am needing right now. That one piece of paper has the ability to get us some money and get a hunk of junk out of our garage. It’s the title to the old non-running truck that is parked in our garage. That’s the truck we purchased with a credit card cash advance check two years ago, so it’s one of those constant reminders of our past indiscretions with credit card spending.

I want that truck gone like you wouldn’t believe. With recently ridding our lives of the unnecessary stuff, it is the last huge piece to get rid of. Today while in the garage, I looked at that truck and the flat rear tire gave it a sort of tilt that made it look like it’s smirking at me. It knows that I have no idea where the title went.

I’ve searched every pile I can think of. I even pulled out the box in the kitchen that holds 2006 items that I gave up on filing and just piled them all in a box. I found other things of interest (like paperwork for a credit card we have to cancel), but I didn’t find the title.

The funny thing is that my husband and I both remember where it used to be. It was in one of those letter holders we had on the wall. Not so funny is that the letter holder is gone and I have no idea what happened to the title. Wow, that letter holder has been gone for at least a year now and we both looked for the title there. It’s amazing sometimes what your mind does and doesn’t remember.

I’m hoping that by writing this down right before I go to bed, my subconscious mind will think about that title through the night and when I wake up I will know where to look to find it. I sure hope the garbage didn’t eat it 😛