I haven't written on this blog in 5 years? Yikes! So sorry. Let me re-introduce myself.

I'm B. I am an American and lived in the Pacific Northwest quite happily with my husband and two kids until 2012 when my husband got a great job offer in Japan. What should we do about our happy life in America? Wish it well and move to Japan of course!

I quit my job; sold off a bunch of stuff; managed the stress of an international move; became a landlord; sold my house because I'm not cut out to be a landlord; and three years from the big overseas move, here we are

There is plenty of time to talk about money, savings and all sorts of stuff, but for now I just want to say hi/konnichiwa! Hajimemashite (its nice to meet you)!

There is a lot of stuff in my house. Way too much stuff. I'm not totally innocent in why we have so much clutter, but I would say atleast 75% of it is my husband's stuff and my son has learned the pack rat way of his daddy with a bedroom filled with more stuff than I can shake a stick at.

My son has custom made orthotics and when he had them made they gave us the molds and told us to hang on to them in a safe place. Unfortunately that safe place ended up being his bedroom. Now that he needs adjustments on his orthotics, we can't find the molds to save our lives. I pulled his room apart and nothing. I starting pulling other closets and places in the house I think they might be and nothing. Now our house is cluttered and it's all over the place instead of being confined to closets and such.

Insurance covered them the first time, but I doubt they will be as open to covering another $450 for them within a 6 month period.

It is so frustrating to know I will likely have to pay out of pocket to replace something I know we have, but I can't find. I've gone through the stages of money grief including denial, fear, anger and am coming to acceptance that I'm going to have to pay out of pocket for this because my son's health is worth it. Thus the cost of clutter

This week has been so crazy. My boss scared me last Monday when he said he wanted to talk to me. I was working from home that day and offered to call him, but he insisted that I need to come see him in his office first thing in the morning. All I could think was, "oh crap, what did I do now?". I had a really mediocre review and my mid year check in prior to that had been pretty bad. I have been waiting to see if he was going to lay me off.

Tuesday morning, I get off the bus and hustle over to his office as fast as I can. In a 5 minute span he gives me a promo, hands me a slip of paper that reflects my new payrate and runs out the door to a training. I'm in shock and manage a feeble thank you. My company started layoffs about a year and I've just been waiting for the other shoe to drop with him. I had been prepping for a month to ask him if I was up for a promotion, was expecting him to say no and then turning in my two-weeks notice shortly after.

Turns out that the pay raise went into effect a couple weeks ago and I already got a paycheck at my new payrate and didn't even notice. Go fig. It's a good thing, but I am still in a state of shock.

My neighbor called me the other day letting me now that she is embarking on a new venture and if I could be a practice customer for her with her and her trainer. I blindly agree, cause she is a great neighbor, it's the least I could do.

Turns out it was financial advising with the eventual selling of insurance, etc. The sell starts with giving people a financial analysis and showing some examples of people's financial situations and how they were able to improve them.

We talked a bit and it turns out my financial situation is better than their examples. Okay - in full disclosure - I have seen a financial advisor last summer and had a good idea on my finances so I didn't do the whole run down with them. But it felt really good that we are on track! They told me how I was not average and ahead of the curve, which I have to say, I enjoyed.

Knowing that my hubby was going to be deploying, we worked hard to get our financial house in order and it's nice to feel like we did a good job!