When Jay re-enlisted almost a month ago we knew he would be getting a bonus for doing so. His job is one of the few in the navy that gets a re-enlistment bonus and we have taken that as a huge blessing in our lives to have it. Well they do the bonus in two phases: phase 1 is you get 1/2 up front (after taxes) and then phase 2 is every Oct for the remaining terms of your new contract (6 years for us) you get a part of the last half of the bonus. Well last weekend we got to enjoy one of the MANY Navy screw ups and it has taken all week to get it even partially fixed. I had gone to check our finances out, since I'm the one who keeps track of all of that for us, and verify that my written numbers were the same as the bank ones. Well I got quite the shock when I accessed our account. A huge sum of money was there. But it didn't make any sense to us. Then on Tuesday Jay went to talk to personel on the ship and began the massive headache of dealing with people who screw up other's lives. Personel didn't read his re-enlistment paperwork correctly and only gave us 1/4 of what we should have gotten then procceded to argue with Jay, who was holding the re-enlistment paperwork in his hand, that he was wrong.
After finally getting to someone of a higher rank to listen to him they put in an emergency request for that remaining portion. Fast forward to last night. Since it was pay day yesterday I did bills last night after the kids were in bed. Its a great way to pass the time when Jay is gone (which he has been for the last few days). Well I went to access our account to get going on creating the budget and there was the entire 1/2 of his bonus (after taxes) as well as his pay check. It was like Christmas for me and not for the reasons most would think of. The reason I was so excited to see that bonus there was because that bonus is how we just became 95% debt free.
We joined the Navy for two reasons, 1- because Jay couldn't get a decent paying job in Ut (and this was 4 years ago before the economy tanked) and was working 2 jobs to not even make ends meet, 2- because we were in so much debt it was the only option we saw for us to get stability in our lives. Well the last 4 years of being in the navy have been literally living pay check to pay check because of the amount of credit card debt we had. This bonus, just the 1st half of it, became such a huge blessing to us because we knew we could wiipe out most of our debt. Sure enough what little debt we have left we will wipe out with the first hit of the remaining 1/2 of his bonus this Oct. So by Oct. of this year we will be debt free and only be making car payments, which will be paid off with our tax return next year. It is truly an amazing feeling to be debt free. Our time of living pay check to pay check is finally over.
