Rough Week

Whew, I am really glad the week is over. I work for Citi and as you probably heard in the news, they were laying off 17,000 people and relocating 9,000. I felt like since I am in TN (low pay) area with a high productivity that I would be ok. However I had several "head between my knees" moments as people all around be started to get fired. But Citi really had a nice severance package for the ones being let go, they just didn't say screw you, you are fired. They got 2 months of pay to job hunt, 2 weeks per year of employment in paychecks after that and a bonus based on years worked there. So say you worked there 10 years. You get 8 weeks paid to job hunt. 20 weeks of paychecks still coming bi-montly. You also get a lump sum at the end of it all for 8 weeks of pay. So 36 weeks of pay when there are a lot of companies that wouldn't of given that.

So anyway, all of this has really got me thinking about finances and money. I use to run on a bare bones budget because I was in school again. I loosened up a bit (see trip counters to the right lol) but it's still not too bad. I think I'm going back to bare bones until the kiddo is here. This is my "I'm poor" budget:
$75 power
$25 water
$50 cable/internet (internet is $40, boy does that burn me up!)
$60 gas
$17 car insurance
$22 house insurance
$52 property taxes
$8 life insurance premium
$60 food (no cokes, no processed food, pack my lunch)
$30 eating out (3-4 inexpensive meals with friends)
$35 entertainment (blockbuster account & 2 free popcorn night movies)
$15 clothes (one inexpensive new item a month, I have a ton of clothes)
$25 indoor cats (food & litter)
$25 outdoor cats (food)
So $499 if the world ends. Not a lot of fun, no trips, no trinkets or playpretties. But survival. What is your bare bones budget?

And to add to the stress of the week, my poor baby Laney was hit by a car Thursday night :( I can't handle all my kittens dying on me like this. She was such a good kitten and didn't want to go outside (I always felt really bad about that). People second guess themselves all the time, if I hadn't gone out with my friends to celebrate still having jobs I would of been home and it wouldn't of happened. She was still warm when I found her :(

I am calling the city on Monday to find out how I can get a speed bump. People fly around my curve, the speed limit is 20 MPH. If they put a bump on each end of my property line (my lot is odd shaped, very large in the front because of the curve) that would make people go the speed limit. There is a church across the street and they have kids there all the time. MY kid is going to be here all the time. So I'm officially a woman on a mission...I feel bad for anyone that tries to cross me.