Literally Bored Out of My Mind Right Now

That's right. I'm at work, but have finished all of the (interesting) projects I can do on my own by now.

The Education Regret:
I feel totally shitty about my job situation right now. Two days ago I literally spent half the day wishing I had gone to school to be a nurse. They are always in demand, they get paid pretty well, and men think nurses are hot. Enough said. Not that I make all of my decisions based on what men will think. >_>

I just feel like I wasted $26,000 dollars on an education that is only going to be useful for theatre, event planning, and office work. Right now, two of those things, the more interesting ones, are not available to me and that sucks ass. I think I am developing Post-Collegiate Depression.

I told Rick that if we move to Europe and we, as European citizens, are able to attend college for free, I am going to go back to school for nursing, or something along those lines. I feel like that would be really useful.

Making the Most of It:

I don't really regret coming to Casper. It doesn't have the employment opportunities I wish it did, but that's ok.

Rick has been doing pretty well with his job. He has saved up about $12,000. That is 8.3% of our goal. He's on a roll and I think he's planning to celebrate once we hit $20,000.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to pay off my $26,000 in loans. I don't feel productive at all. I'm a little jealous of Rick's saving efforts. I threatened to take his money to pay off my loans and he got a little upset, hee hee.

I am going to try and make $800 payments every month with the goal of paying off this huge debt within the next three years. It's going to be rough.

Cutting expenses:

In order to afford those $800/month payments, Rick and I are cutting some expenses.

• Cell Phones
• We are giving up our smart phones and going back to basic ones. I loved having the smart phone for school, but now I just don't use the extra features, so it doesn't make sense.
• Savings: $70/month
• One vehicle
• While I would love, love, love to have my own car, we just can't afford one right now.
• My hours are 9am to 4:30pm. Rick has altered his hours to, generally, 9:30am to 6:30pm so that he can take me to work. I then have to take the bus from my work to his work so he can take me back home. It kind of sucks because I get really cold waiting for the bus, or really tempted waiting for him in the mall, but it saves us at least $150 a month. Seeing as I paid $136 a month for insurance on the Kia Rio I had, not including gas costs, that really does save us a lot of money.
• The bus is only $1 a day. That's pretty cheap. I wish they had a better bus system though. It comes once an hour. :(
• I also get to borrow my boss's van when she is out of town and I don't have to pay for gas, so that's helpful sometimes!
• Allowance
• Rick and I have decided to give ourselves a spending allowance each week. This is mostly because I went on a little post-school spending spree the second week I got back. I spent more than I thought I did. :(
• We each get $50 a week to spend on what we like, including food and extra items.
• I like coffee shop coffee. I guess that's my treat. ^_^
• Fast Food
• Rick and I have enacted a fast food embargo again. It's just too damn convenient to pull into a fast food place, pay $15 for shitty food and then be hungry again an hour later. Also, our tummies don't like us very much after that.
• I have been buying about $40-$50 worth of groceries each week, which is nice so that we have food in our little mini fridge. This week we are going to focus on actually eating breakfast before leaving for work in the mornings, haha. :)

On a different note:
I am reading bumfuzzle.com, which is a blog about a couple who decided to cruise the world in their little catamaran. I'm insanely jealous of the things they've done. I'm still in their first year, which so far is mainly the Bahamas, but I can't wait to read more!