As of midnight, October 1, the United States Government shut down. My twitter feed and to a lesser extent my Facebook feed was talking about nothing else. 
Well, actually, let me revise that. My Milspouse friends were talking almost nothing else. I find that my milspouse friends are some of the most politically aware friends that I have. Most other people seemed clueless that it was going to happen. I wonder, are they unconcerned because it doesn’t affect them or their loved ones or maybe they don’t know anyone who is affected?
Well, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Poe, and I’m married to The Man and we have one adorable little girl, Munchkin. I’m a Stay-At-Home-Mom by choice, because we want one of us to be the one taking care of our little girl. The Man works full time as a DOD civilian. This is a good job, with decent pay and good benefits. The Man enjoys his job which is more than we can say for his last year in the Navy. This means that we have one income. It’s enough to cover our expenses and we live within our means. We’re doing our best to pay off our debt.
The government shutting down means The Man doesn’t go to work because they don’t have any money to pay him with. So we have no paycheck. No paycheck equals no income and no way to pay our bills, our mortgage, buy gas for the cars, buy FOOD! We have a little savings but we recently had to use some of it and haven’t gotten to replace it all yet. So this no paycheck thing is going to be hard. Very hard. Companies want the money we owe them, and rightly so. I hate paying things late but it’s hard when you have no choice.
Actually, I have to take part of that previous paragraph back. The Man went into work on Tuesday like he was supposed to, to take part in the orderly shutdown of the government. When he got there he was surprised to find out that his shop is considered exempt, meaning that they have been deemed essential. Essential to what? The current mission of the US Navy. So he gets to continue to go to work and he won’t get paid until a deal is reached and there is money again. So the good news is that he should get paid retroactively and the bad news is like everyone else, we have no paycheck coming in at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that we should get money eventually, that he’s still earning leave and that our health insurance is still in place. (Even though it will be going up $1200 next year. So much for Obamacare, right?!?!?) It’s just scary to not know how you’re going to buy food and pay your bills.
We’re not the only ones affected. There are thousands of people in the US that are feeling the impact of the shut down. I wonder, are those in Congress so far removed that they don’t realize that this is going to affect many of the people in their districts? I don’t want to get into politics and I blame both parties and both houses of Congress as well as the President. I’m praying that it doesn’t long but honestly, I’m not too hopefully. We’ll be ok for a little while but if this drags on, we will be in a difficult position. Even with the promise of pay eventually, we’ll still have late fees that will cost us extra. My heart hurts for those that have no promise of pay while they aren’t working. How are they going to meet their obligations and pay for necessities like food? This is hurting a lot of people and the slowly recovering economy isn’t going to take to kindly to it either.
So, do you have any recipes for Rice & Beans that you’d care to share with me? I think I might need them!
Are you being affected by the Shutdown? How?
The shut-down is messing us up over here... sure, we're getting pay, but it's affecting our move, can't go to the commissary, and other reasons too!
ReplyDeleteIt's so frustrating! I hope you'll still get to move on time!
ReplyDeletePraying that this shutdown ends soon, it's not right.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your blog, but never commented.
ReplyDeleteMy husband, too is a DoD employee. He's been here for 6 years, after getting out of AD in 2006. When furloughs were announced in February/March of this year, we made cuts. We cut our cable, dropped our cell phone bill, paid our car off with our tax return, paid our CC of entirely and a few other things. We prepared and had a small emergency fun set up. Well, furloughs just stopped in August and we were just getting back on our feet, putting money into savings, and we had a family emergency. This ate into the savings and BAM, this happened. In the back of my head, I knew, but we honestly weren't as prepared, as when we got 4 months notice. All pay for him has been frozen. UTA was cancelled, and all of the alerts he pulls will not be paid until the freeze is lifted. This means we have one more pay check coming to us (and it will be smaller) and then who knows. It frustrates me to no end, that Congress will continue to get paid, while they can't agree, but we will be coming up with creative ways to make our food budget stretch and to eat leftovers.
The thing that really bothers me, is they are considered "non essential." So if they are non essential, why have them hold that position in the first place?? All DoD employees are essential, making sure the military, government contractors and air reserve technicians do their jobs and keep our country safe. There are no non essential employees when it comes to the safety of our country. Every single party and our president is to blame. I can't just point a finger at one political party or our president. It was a group effort. I pray that this problem is resolved quickly, that all DoD employees get retroactive pay, and that government officials realize what they are doing to us.
This is the first time I've read your blog. I hope things work out for you and your family quickly! This shut down is hurting a lot of people & it's just not right. I feel for your family & all the other that are directly affected by this!
ReplyDeletePraying for you guys and everyone else!
ReplyDeleteWe can't pay bills for sure. I'm late on almost all of them right now and of course the companies don't care, they just want what is rightfully theirs. I know once the freeze is over and we get out bonus installment, we're paying off a few cards and I can FINALLY buy the kids some shoes that fit properly and Cara some pants because she has maybe 3 pair that fit...if I'm lucky... I counted on that bonus to get us through this since it was promised...yet it didn't go through.
If you want to make some rice and beans as a side, I've got some steak in the freezer, we can make a decent meal for our families :)