"No money or credit, plus my job stinks." 6 MONTH UPDATE

[Erik Mogan]

Hi, everybody!  Six months ago I asked for advice on how to fix my life, and I've returned with an update.  Since I posted last, I have

• Had a lot of conversations with different real estate investors to figure out the path I wanna take in REI.
• Come up with a semi-competent business plan laying out my financial and real estate goals in the next 5 years.
• Switched jobs, so now I'm making a bout $2,000 more annually, but working 26 fewer hours a week.
• Paid down about $2,000 in debt and seen my credit score jump (on average across all 3 bureaus) 54 points.
• Kept my second job but negotiated a $.50/hour pay increase.
• We haven't kicked out my wife's aunt, but she now brings in a little money by babysitting some neighbor kids. (We're still waiting on her disability which, in the state of Kentucky, does take a long time to get approved.)
• Moved, so I'm paying $400 less a month in rent
• Lost 37 pounds (that's not real estate related, I'm just very proud of it).
• My wife found a job she loves so a lot of the stress I was experiencing from that has dropped off.

My biggest accomplishment thus far is that I've reached out to a hard money lender in my area (that a couple of RE investors in Lexington pointed me towards), and I'll be meeting with him in the next couple of weeks to discuss using his services for my first deal.  If anyone has any advice on that, I'd love to hear it.

Thank you so much to everyone at Bigger Pockets who gave me advice and encouragement on the previous post and in private messages!  I look forward to continuing my education on here. :-D