Circling the Drain

In 2007, I had hit rock bottom. My finances were in a huge upheaval, my marriage was already on the rocks and I was trying to deal with a newborn. As a result, my credit suffered severely, my marriage ended in 2008, and I became a single mom; still fraught with financial strife, but on the mend.

In July of this year, I started a "new" job. I put new in quotation marks because it was a lateral move within the government. Same position, different agency. It should have been my easiest transfer with the government since I started in 2008. For some reason, everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong. The agency I left apparently didn't notify the Department of Budget and Management that I was transferring to a new agency. So instead of holding onto my information until the new agency could get my paperwork, they deleted me and I missed a paycheck. Then I was notified that my benefits could not be deducted correctly because I didn't receive a paycheck.

I had a huge fight with one of the workers in benefits over getting the paperwork to pay back the state for my benefits. We didn't ever agree on the repayment amount, but I got the paperwork and took it to the benefits office with my check. Yesterday I received a new notice from DBM, again requesting me to repay the benefits. I hand-delivered the documents and the check to DBM. I have no idea what they did with my check, but now I'm irritated. So, I guess I will be calling them on Monday.

And then, to add insult to injury, I got a new credit card in order to take advantage of a free balance transfer offered. I did a balance transfer from my main credit card to this new card to start paying it down. For some inexplicable reason, the new credit card canceled the transfer after it had already cleared, and I was charged a bunch of fees, pushing my old card over the limit. This is something I will be able to take care of before the next billing cycle ends, so it shouldn't be a major issue and I should be able to keep it from being reported to the credit agencies, but I'm very irritated.

It was one thing when my financial issues were from my own doing, but this has been one huge problem after another and none of it has been my fault. I know this is a period of transition and I will be fine within a few months, but this has been a nightmare. I feel like I'm back in the beginning and I'm struggling again. At least this time I have a full time job making decent money and my finances should be settling down now that my daughter is back in school. Summer daycare is very expensive, and I'm very glad that summer is over!

I'm hoping by October, my finances will settle down and I can start getting ahead again.