money...it's a gas...grab that cash with both hands...

i guess that first line should really be money! it's FOR gas. that will be the extent of my commentary on the current gas prices. i watched the VP debate with the husband and my intern-mate of like-minded political persuasion. if i could be said to have a political persuasion. and that will be the extent of my commentary on the political landscape. i might abstain from voting this year (taking stick, stirring family pot).

i worked from 8am-5:30 on friday and 10am-4:30 on saturday at one of the local clinics. i made $630 for that work. it was the easiest work i have done since graduating. allergies (flea, food, seasonal) and vaccines. ok, it wasn't all that...i did have an 11 year old boxer with ginormous lymph nodes (probable lymphoma, waiting on diagnostics), a 17 year old kitty with a ginormous mass in the area of the thryoid and a heart murmur (hello thyroid carcinoma), and an ACTUAL emergency show up on saturday (cat in respiratory distress with likely pulmonary metastases - although not sure where the primary cancer was located). i figured euthanasia would be a rare(r) occurrence in GP work, but i did 3 in 2 days. a bit surprising. all in all - a different experience (save the euthanasias, which were rather similar). the technicians were different - very, very helpful, very respectful, and i didn't feel like a stupid intern - which was nice (and a new feeling).
and i have almost $650 lining my pocket. ok, not lining my pocket, but lining our bank account momentarily until we apply it to the credit card. i'm really excited because we'll have the credit card paid off early (this month) - and then we can start saving for a house.

our current financial plan is to have 2 funds - one for general savings and one for a house. the really nice thing about our marriage is that we live fairly simply. i've said it before, and i'll say it again: we don't own expensive stuff we can't afford (cars, etc), we don't take pricey vacations, and other than frequent eating out, we do pretty well with money. now that i'm the primary breadwinner (i can't believe that is finally the case!) - and we both have an income, things are looking much better. i try not to think about the massive debt i accumulated to get my DVM (and jim his phD). there was no other way. and once we take care of this small credit card debt ($600 left to go - $400 of which i will make in 10 days working another 8 hours at a different day practice) - our only debt will be school loans. woohoo.

now for the real discussion-- school debt. making plans, i realize - is fairly useless. something always interferes with your plans. and maybe i'm just being incredibly naive in thinking that we can keep our cost of living low -BUT...i think that if i want to stay in my current position post internship (and that's a BIG if), i can (i was told this by the hospital administrator a couple of days ago). i would probably make around $80k starting out. if we were to stay here, with the low cost of living and our fairly minimal needs - AND not start having kids until i was about 33-34, then we could maybe pay the loans off in 3.5 years. those are all huge IFs, i realize - and i doubt that all of them will be realized. but my discipline with money has improved immensely - the more i realize how important it is, the more i realize how being in debt adds enormous stress to your life and the lives of others ... the more committed i become to getting rid of those debts.

on the other hand, i don't want to delay having a life in the interest of paying off debt. i want to have children. i want to have a house. i want to move forward with an adult life.

so...my conclusions? i have none. but i'm optimistic.