DH made Chief!!! And he also made it in the top tier, meaning he'll get paid sooner than later (If he was in the bottom tier it could take up to a year to get paid).
We found out he made it & that he got into the top tier and first words out of my mouth were "GREAT! This means we can get out of debt sooner!" Well, that wasn't my ONLY response but my response to him getting paid sooner.
But I also said that because just before I told him "If I told you we could be debt free in 3 years if we sacrificed a bit, would you be on board?" Of course he asked "What would we sacrifice?" but he got on board with me.
We went out to eat to celebrate. He picked Olive Garden, but I paid in cash with the $100. That left $25 left to buy my daughter her birthday present.
This month's budget was tight... especially now because we'll have to spend $1500 on DH's new uniforms for Chief upfront... so that with braces, school stuff for the kids, and tuition. August looks like it will set us back but we are going to do our best to not lose focus.
So after that we went to Target & bought the three kids their school supplies. I allotted $270 out of August's budget for kids school supplies & clothes. School supplies alone was $101, but it came out of the debit card. I did not use the credit card today. That leaves $170 for shoes & clothes. We probably won't buy them a whole new wardrobe for now but we will buy them what they NEED for now.
Now the induction process starts. Approximately 6 weeks and its been said I likely won't see DH much.
Not sure how this will work because I have class on the 4th, 6th, 11th, and a dental appointment on the 22nd. I'm going to ask around and see if friends will help watch the kids... but worst case scenario is I will have to pay $10/hr for someone to watch the kids. During my classes that is easily $30-$40 per class.
Then my dental appointment is going to be 2-3 hours.
Oh well, him making Chief means an extra $300/month and additional money for the housing allowance, etc. It may be a pain now - but it will pay off.
Cost of making Chief - $1500 + $160 for childcare in exchange for an extra $300/mo + extra in housing allowance, etc
Seems worth it to me! =)
For those not affiliated with the Navy, making Chief is HUGE... it only happens once every fiscal year for a few select. You have to take a test to become eligible then submit a package, a board reviews it & after convening & releasing results... there is approximately 6 weeks of an induction period. Someone once told me Congress is in charge of how many people are promoted to Chief and above... that or to demote someone from the ranking of Chief would involve Congress... I don't really know. I guess making Chief is like making tenure at a university or making partner at a firm.
He made it!!!
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You've got a good man there ! :-)
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