Finances

After watching a couple of coworkers struggle to find homes that they both can afford and like in a school district, where my sister teachers BTW, I have been thinking about my own finances. Feeling so trapped by my job leads me to question whether or not I can truly leave my job, EVER.
Although I don't make 6 figures, I am in the higher range of average. Remember, I have been teaching with my district for 19 years.
I can afford my bills each month, but I can't seem to save. I will get a little put away, then something comes up and it's all gone...
Now I have put some away for 2 things.
A kitchen, and Disney.
We have saved for Disney for one year. I am so proud of myself for putting away enough for the tickets and resort, so now I am holding out for the "free dining" that it usually offered in the spring. And as for the kitchen, I have been slowly doing little projects to get the kitchen ready. I had wall and shelving taken down and am in the process of taking down the rest of the cabinets..
We waste so much money on eating out, because quite honestly I HATE going into the kitchen. Everything is old, there are holes in the drywall behind the appliances, and I know we have little mice coming in during the spring..So I would rather have food from somewhere else then here..

Long term I am not too worried. My salary will slowly rise. And therefore I will be locked further in my job. Right now, I am coming to grips with that. I am 43 and have to have 30 years in my county or be 55 to have full retirement. So 11 years. Next year I may consider taking a year off to finally finish my masters. If I do that, I will only do it if I can get a student loan. I would really like to take a half year off. I doubt that is possible. But I would be able to save some and use the load to pay for school..Oh well, that is something I can research later.

On my home, I owe only half of what it is worth. I got a foreclosure. The money from my first house paid for my down payment. I was very wise when I bought my first home. VERY. I bought in an area that had a prison. What I knew was that the prison was closing. Now there is an entire neighborhood, school, high school, art center, and shopping area where that prison was. It was the single best move I could have made. Let me throw out there, that I don't owe ANY money on my adoptions. Both adoptions were financed through a line of credit on that first home. And selling it got me debt free, gave me a down payment on my new house, and set me up for the house I am in now..
I spent several weeks looking at homes on Capitol Hill. Even though I would save many hours on my commute, I just never found anything that wouldn't make me house poor. So that idea, like many of my other ideas, is shelved for now.
When my grandmother passed away, my mother created two college funds for my girls. Those two accounts will be more than enough for the girls when they get to college. Our hope is that there will be enough left over to offer them a nice start once they graduate. My grandmother never wanted the money to be used on my girls. Sadly, she was a little selfish. And that hurt my mother. So my mom's way of getting back at her is to spend her money on my darlings!!

I had a friend who retired with 30 years of teaching. She was 55. She earns 90% of her last year of teaching salary. This sounds too good to NOT pursue. She does have to pay her own health insurance. I have my own retirement account set up solely to pay for my health insurance when I retire. I know that 11 years sounds like a short time, but in 11 years Anna will be a junior in college. Auggie will be a senior in high school. I'd rather be with them now, and go back to work when they are in college.
And about college. Both of my girlz think about college. Both at their young age, have chosen colleges. Anna wants to go to University of Florida. She is a Gator Girl already. Auggie wants to go to NYU. And take me with her.
I know these are just childhood dreams but one day I will get to go back and remind them of what they wanted when they were just little ones. I have picked out where I want them to go. James Madison University. It is a smallish state school about 3 hours away from here.

I know that I will need a new car in the next few years. I got my SUV 8 years ago. And I just can't bear to make a car payment. I already spend over 300.00 month on gas, so I don't want to spend anymore on transportation...But I know that I will..

My worry, is the feeling of being locked in..And Lord knows I don't like feeling that way!