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MQAAord · 07-01-2004, 03:15 PM

When Bill and I first met, we were both on new-hire pay at Eagle. For him it was about $16.75 an hour, for me it was $10.74. Basically, dirt.

He was living at home with his parents to save money, I was running a crash pad, dividing my time between there and my family farm in Wisconsin. So we had no money between either of us. We spent a lot of nights at my old apartment watching movies and eating cheap frozen pizzas, or 'playing house' at his parents house when they were out of town.....

As the years went by and he left Eagle for TWA, going from 727 engineer to DC-9s to international on the 757/767, and then finally to Delta, things slowly improved. I finally made the jump to AA, and we were D.I.N.K.S. sitting pretty (though with a little bit of credit card debt) when we finally got married. Then I got furloughed again, and Alex came along........we're doing well, but no matter how much you make, you could always use more! Things always come up, be it the car finally falling apart, or needing to replace bathroom fixtures.

The one thing I've learned is that money isn't the end-all-be-all. You can live quite well on a little! If you're willing to not eat out all the time, shop at Aldi's, buy your clothes at Marshall's instead of Nordstrom! We were panicked when we got thinking about all the stuff we'd have to buy for the baby, but when friends & relatives who'd already had kids found out we were expecting, we got SO much in hand-me-downs we hardly had to buy anything! We got a carseat, swing, crib, TONS of clothes & toys, we were so lucky to have so many people who 'donated to the cause'! Some of it had been handed down to them, and they were just passing it along, but babies use stuff for such a small amount of time, it is still in great condition when the child doesn't use it anymore. It just makes sense to give it to someone else who can get more life out of it!

So I know it's tough right now, you're at one of the hardest stages of life & the pilot career. Pinch every penny, and know that it won't last forever!

07-01-2004, 03:15 PM	#5 (permalink)
MQAAord Jetgirls Ol' School Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: A Happy Place Posts: 668 Recipes: Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: money issues and ranting When Bill and I first met, we were both on new-hire pay at Eagle. For him it was about $16.75 an hour, for me it was $10.74. Basically, dirt. He was living at home with his parents to save money, I was running a crash pad, dividing my time between there and my family farm in Wisconsin. So we had no money between either of us. We spent a lot of nights at my old apartment watching movies and eating cheap frozen pizzas, or 'playing house' at his parents house when they were out of town..... As the years went by and he left Eagle for TWA, going from 727 engineer to DC-9s to international on the 757/767, and then finally to Delta, things slowly improved. I finally made the jump to AA, and we were D.I.N.K.S. sitting pretty (though with a little bit of credit card debt) when we finally got married. Then I got furloughed again, and Alex came along........we're doing well, but no matter how much you make, you could always use more! Things always come up, be it the car finally falling apart, or needing to replace bathroom fixtures. The one thing I've learned is that money isn't the end-all-be-all. You can live quite well on a little! If you're willing to not eat out all the time, shop at Aldi's, buy your clothes at Marshall's instead of Nordstrom! We were panicked when we got thinking about all the stuff we'd have to buy for the baby, but when friends & relatives who'd already had kids found out we were expecting, we got SO much in hand-me-downs we hardly had to buy anything! We got a carseat, swing, crib, TONS of clothes & toys, we were so lucky to have so many people who 'donated to the cause'! Some of it had been handed down to them, and they were just passing it along, but babies use stuff for such a small amount of time, it is still in great condition when the child doesn't use it anymore. It just makes sense to give it to someone else who can get more life out of it! So I know it's tough right now, you're at one of the hardest stages of life & the pilot career. Pinch every penny, and know that it won't last forever!