by Cindi Clarke

Created on: January 22, 2009   Last Updated: February 01, 2011

January 2009 ~ There I was again, in the midst of a financial "reawakening." As if my last divorce wasn't enough to cause me to rethink some of my financial decisions, the upheaval in the economy had really tightened my purse strings. I had to stop watching my IRAs & 401(k)s because it was too depressing.

Losing $20,000 overnight might be just another "spin of the wheel" to some Las Vegas big spender, but to me... it was my future retirement plans going down the drain. I was almost 47 with dreams to retire when I was 55 for a career doing something I loved. Instead I'll be stuck at an unfulfilling job for another 25 years before I can retire and claim my "maximum" Social Security benefits.

I'd thought about finding another job that made me happier. But I was fortunate to have the job I did, even if it was a dead end.  So I learned to do a little constructive financial planning instead.

Gone were the days of eating out with friends two or three nights a week. I treated myself once or twice a month if it was a special occasion.  Dinner and a movie out? Now dinner and a movie in.

Gas prices curbed some of my activities. I ran errands on the way home from work during the week and avoided driving out on the weekends. It made the weekends boring, but my house wasn't that clean since before I moved in!

My house was a little cooler that winter than it was the year before because I kept the thermostat down, and found that I really liked the sweater I couldn't live without that I bought three years ago and never wore. I ran full loads of laundry once a week and not just those few items that I really had to wear because they made me look thinner.

Speaking of thinner, my new eating habits brought about some desirable affects. The markets were down, but so were the numbers on the scale when I stopped buying all that snack food to eat during the day.

January 2011 ~ Now I'm almost 49.  That dead-end job laid me off the day after I wrote the original article.  I was out of work for three months before getting picked up by another company, paying me 45% less than what I had been making.  If I thought my budget was tight back then, it became even tighter after that. 

The first call I made when I was able to compose myself after losing my job was to the mortgage company to try to work out some arrangements.  Unfortunately, they didn't want to negotiate, & didn't want to participate in any

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