Digging Out From Our Mess

Sunday Night Chit-Chat - January 29, 2012

2012-01-29T19:08:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my world!!!!

Carla is having her Sunday Night Chit Chat....I have really come to look forward to this!!! Here is what is going on at the Mysti casa.....

Reading? Nothing. I just haven't been able to get into anything lately.

Watching? Family Game Night. Sort of. It is on and Bossy is watching it, and I can see the TV from where I am. But once the kids go to bed, I will probably watch some stuff on DVR....House, The Good Wife.

Listening to? The water pipes. I am waiting for Sassy to finish her shower so I can start a load of laundry.

Cooking/Baking? I made penne with vodka sauce for dinner. I may make some cinnamon bread for the kids for breakfast.

Happy you accomplished this week? I re-found my Microsoft Office disk (I found it, and lost it again!).

Looking forward to next week? Getting my new cell phone.

Thankful for today? That MAYBE in 2.5 weeks (weekend of Feb 17)....I will have 4 WHOLE days to myself!!! But since that is technically in the future and not today....I will also say I am thankful I have new printer cartridges so I can print again.

That is it from my end of the world......

GBU - January 28, 2012

2012-01-29T07:37:00.000-05:00

The Good:

Retirement loan is GONE!
Got paid for AdSense.
Discovered that there is a coin counting machine at a particular bank branch, which is free for customers of the bank (which I am...I just don't typically go to that branch).

The Bad:

Overbudget on Food and Gas this week.
Still waiting on a few tax things.

The Ugly:

Forgot to budget for upstart of new cell phone plan (new phone, paying for two months for that first billing cycle).

You know the deal....what are your GBUs this week?????

Look out house, here I come!

2012-01-28T07:35:00.000-05:00

Some people just naturally draw other to them. And alas, Carla is one of them. Seriously, she is a very cool chick. So I decided to jump on the bandwagon and join the February Challenge for decluttering!

Part of the challenge is to show you the pictures of the projects (no problem) and update you all on the progress (which I will do on Mondays).

I am looking forward to this!!!

Take that!

2012-01-26T08:51:00.000-05:00

Our retirement loan is gone!!!!!! YIPPEE!!! We shaved one full year off of the loan and it is paid in full!!

We made a bulk payment of $345 that posted too late to change the debit amount from G-man's check. So they took out the "full" payment of $105. So in reality, the loan has an over payment of about $15 (it is $14.XX because of interest, so not entirely sure of the exact amount yet). We spoke to the representative who said that the overpayment will be refunded to us by check.

Not a big deal. We will get it back, and it isn't a massive overpayment that will make a difference one way or another.

We are going to feel like we are rich....since both the retirement loan and the car loan have been coming out since November, things have been tight. Now we will have $210 more in our check (minus taxes), which was designed to cover the cost of the car. I can already feel a small shift for the positive!!!

In late March we will take out another loan to wipe out the CC debt (at 1.5%!!!). The new debate is if we should take out an extra $1000 to get a new mattress. It is a difference of $10 a month. It isn't about the money per se. For me it is about the principle. We have a few months to decide.

But look at that.....a plan actually WORKED. We put $115 per paycheck aside to accelerate the repayment of the retirement loan, and it is now gone!! One more paycheck worth will go into our savings, and then we will resume saving for Camp. We are totally on track!

Random Financial Things From This Week

2012-01-25T07:58:00.000-05:00

First off....thanks for all the love yesterday. I am doing much better today.

Second, I have noticed a bunch of things this week, and instead of a huge post, I wanted to just make some notes and brief comments.

Late Fees. I haven't seen one of those in a very long time. I flipped out when I saw one on CC2. But then I scrolled down further and saw it had already been reversed. I paid the bill on the due date, which was a weekend. Apparently their automated system charged the late fee because the payment wasn't posted by the due date. But since I did pay it before the deadline, they reversed it. Scared me for a minute.

G-man and the Grocery Store. OMG. I swear, he has no idea how to buy everything you need in one trip. The past several weeks, there will be 2 to 3 trips to the store, by him, on the same day. I don't count picking up prescriptions since those have to be paid for at the pharmacy. He realizes he forgot something (usually something major) and has to go back. Talk about a waste of time, gas, and money.

I suck at budgeting outside the norm. Sassy was invited to a birthday party. I need a gift for a baby shower. Do I have a budget for these types of items? Nope. Need to start another account for these random things. I budget for Christmas, tax bills, birthdays in our family. Other people....apparently they didn't make the cut in my scattered head.

I am "addicted" to getting gas points. One of the local grocery stores offers $1.00 off per gallon of gas when you fill a new prescription, and $0.50 off when you refill 5. In addition, they offer $0.10 off for every $50 of groceries you buy. How sad that I was "excited" yesterday at the eye doctor that I have a mild infection and needed drops. And my first thought was ....ooooohhhh......$1 off gas, plus I have 2 scripts to fill, which brings me to 4/5 I need for another $0.50 off!!! Additionally, I have $0.50 off per gallon at another store for my next fill up (probably sometime over the weekend).

The things that run through my head.....*sigh.*

Good thing I am super busy today

2012-01-24T08:47:00.000-05:00

Today is my wedding anniversary. Please....no Happy Anniversary. We (more ME) decided not to acknowledge it. We aren't at that point emotionally. Wounds of the past year run deep. Add in that this is a super emotionally loaded day for me, and I will be honest with ya.....what I really want to do is go buy stuff to make me happy....even though I know that 5 minutes later I will not be happy anymore.

All rolled into the emotion of today.....

Wedding Anniversary - 14 years today
It was the due date for my twin girls who died (they were due on our 10th wedding anniversary)
My "surprise" baby, that I miscarried was conceived (sorry...TMI) on the aforementioned 10th wedding anniversary.

All of this is weighing heavily on me. I started getting upset last night, and was so off my game.....I just went to bed. It is strange this morning....G-man and I have talked all morning, blah blah blah. Part of me wonders if he forgot since we already decided that we aren't acknowledging it....out of sight, out of mind?

My day consists of 2 doctor appointments, work, shopping for PTA, and bookfair planning meeting tonight. It is full to the brim with responsibility and no time to think about "stuff." If I didn't have all of that....I would probably perseverate on everything....do on-line window shopping and eventually convince myself that for everything I have been through....I deserve something!!!

But don't worry.....I won't. Promise. Knowing that I am making progress on our debt (we are down $1,200 since the first of the year, not including the $500+ we have paid on the retirement loan this month) is enough to keep me from back-sliding.

OK, you twisted my arm

2012-01-23T07:46:00.000-05:00

Kim asked to see pictures from the dance. My poor arm couldn't take the beating, so ok.....you get a pic.

The dance was "Winter Wonderland" so white lights and snowflakes were abundant. I worked the photo table (they had a professional photographer who is a parent at the school we partnered with; she volunteered her time, and sold really inexpensive packages that we will split the profit 50/50). So I got to see all the girls!!

The dads (or granddad, or uncle....it was "significant male" so girls who may not have a Dad who is active in their life could still feel like they could attend) were all dressed up too. It was wonderful to see them get into the spirit of it. Matching ties or shirts. Very cool.

Daddy and Sassy went to dinner before the dance, and all sorts of people came up to her and told her how beautiful she looked and to have a nice time. That made her smile. They had a great time at the dance, and I got a picture of the two of them dancing to "My Girl," which made my heart melt. Sassy said her feet hurt from the "high heels." ( click here to see her "high heels" ) I told her to get used to it....all women go through it! After dancing the night away, they went out for dessert. Sassy came home, floating on a cloud. And Daddy was pretty happy too. Here ya go...my NINE year old debutante!

Sassy just home from getting her hair done

Checking herself out in the mirror

Ready to go!

Sunday Night Chit-Chat - January 22, 2012

2012-01-22T20:04:00.001-05:00

I haven't really been checking my peeps out for the past few days! I am playing catch up tonight with banking, blogging, e-mails.....ARGH!!!!! But wanted to join Carla's Sunday Night Chit Chat!!

What are you…

Reading? Not much right now. I started Interview With A Vampire, and got busy. Need to try again.

Watching? Um...as it is 8pm, and no more Kid TV for the night (per our family rule), I have to go find something to watch that is kid-appropriate, but makes Mommy happy. Not sure yet! I am still on the computer!!

Listening to? Right now, Dora the Explorer, until I change the channel!

Cooking/Baking? Nothing today. We had leftover Jambalaya for dinner, which I cooked yesterday.

Happy you accomplished this week? Survived Mom's visit.

Looking forward to next week? The retirement loan will be paid off!!!!

Thankful for today? My mom had a nice trip. Sassy was just beautiful at her dance, and it was nice that Mom got to enjoy it too.

pant pant pant

2012-01-20T07:47:00.000-05:00

I don't think I have sat down all week!

Mom arrived safely (and for the record...this is MY mom, not my MIL).

My house is marginally clean.

I have had 3 PTA meetings this week.

And today's schedule:

7:15am - Work
11am - meeting at school regarding Bossy
12:00 - prep dinner
1:00 - pick up flowers for dance tonight
2:00 - Attend assembly at school
3:15 - pick up Sassy at school to take her to get her hair done
4:00 - Finish getting Sassy ready
5:00 - head over to dance to work the photography station, and I am on the clean-up committee

9:00 - collapse at home.

Still hanging in there!

2012-01-18T07:50:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the comments yesterday. Overall, the day could have certainly been worse, so I will just count my blessings that it only reached 5 of 10 on the suckiness scale. There is potential carryover to today (work stuff....ANOTHER PTA meeting). But I will just deal.

We did have to call the police last night, but not for the reason expected!! After the meeting, a few of us were talking outside. One mom is having a rough time of it, and she just needed a few minutes to vent. Well, this weird truck pulled into the parking lot, and kept revving his engine. He kept stopping infront of my car and another person's car. He would leave, and come back. It started to scare us. We couldn't even walk to our car because he was right infront of it!

So we called the police, and as we were describing the car, the police seemed to know who we were talking about. By the time I got home (maybe 3 minutes later?) I could hear sirens in the distance.

Anyway....it is payday! YIPPEE!! My check is a little small due to missed work, holiday days that the office was closed, etc. But it is something. I am hoping to update my side bar tonight. A few CC payments, the car payment.....all good. Some interest.....bad. But the overall effect will be a decrease.

It will be a nasty grocery shopping today, as we are out of most everything.

After Mom leaves, we will really start to figure out what to do about the cell phones. Upon surface investigation....there might not be much we can do.....or I should say that G-man is WILLING to do. I was pushing MetroPCS, but the coverage in our area is poor. He won't do a pre-pay phone. So we will have to discuss.

Meanwhile, I just need to get through Mom's visit, and then back to the grind.

It is going to be one of THOSE days

2012-01-17T08:06:00.000-05:00

It just isn't a good sign when you have only been out of bed for 45 minutes, and you are already over and done with your day.

We got a little bit of snow last night, mixed with rain....that froze. So school is delayed 90 minutes. The phone rang at 5:22am to announce this. Then the cell phone rang at 5:24am to make sure we knew.

The kids are going to have to go with G-man to the dentist and he will drive them to school. See...he has a 9am dentist appt. I have a 10am appointment elsewhere. School starts at 10:35am this morning. While this scenario isn't ideal, it is the best we can do since our lovely offspring will NOT be getting on a bus at 8:40am and 8:55am.

Bossy's feeding pump has decided that it wants to stop every 1-3 minutes. It thinks it is clogged. It isn't. The bag isn't laying right. And the tubing is cold and less than pliable. So every 3 (hold on...it just beeped at me again) minutes I am having to adjust it and fix it. This is getting really old. (hang on it is beeping AGAIN)

My boss is going to be all annoyed today. He wasn't happy about my missing work on Friday (although I did a few things from home). I already know that my desk is going to be a mess, as another person who was out sick for several days was in the office on Friday, and no doubt dumped a ton of stuff on my desk....which I wasn't there to receive and deal with.

Tonight is PTA...and for reasons I can't get into....it is going to be BAD. Like, we have already been told that if we need to call the police, to go ahead and do it. There are several levels of nasty going on....and it is going to make for a very long, very complicated meeting. And as Secretary, I am going to have write it all down, and Heaven forbid I make a mistake.....I will get jumped on next meeting.

Mom is arriving in T minus 2 days and 6 hours. I am not ready.

Someone send me some good Ju-Ju today. I need it.

I am so behind with you guys!

2012-01-16T08:03:00.000-05:00

My mom is coming to visit on Thursday, so all of my time has been spent cleaning and preparing for her visit.

I wish I could just change the sheets on the bed and call it a day. But I can't. I have parents who like to comment....on everything. "Oh sweetie, don't worry that you didn't XYZ...I know you are just too busy for those types of things." So I scrub and wash, dust and vacuum, reorganize and declutter. I wash the wood floors with vinegar, on my hands and knees. I wash all the curtains.

Now granted, all of these things need to get done at some point. But having to do it all at once....it can get overwhelming.

So, I am sorry I haven't commented on blogs or if you are going through some major thing and I don't know about it. I am so behind on my reading....but I also feel behind at home. All I do is chase my tail.

Hoping to spend some time catching up with you guys soon.

GBU - January 15, 2012

2012-01-15T08:31:00.001-05:00

The Good:

Realized that the retirement loan is almost done!
Both G-man and I have "found" money through the state (old paychecks from our part time jobs TEN years ago!!!)

The Bad:

Gas prices have jumped and it stinks!
My house looks like a tornado went through it.
Missed a day of work because of poor planning.

The Ugly:

Overspent on food this week
Didn't budget well for Sassy's upcoming Father/Daughter dance (budgeted for the dress and shoes...but hair has taken on a life of its own!)

You know the deal....what are your GBUs this week?????

Joining the 10 lbs Challenge

2012-01-12T08:45:00.001-05:00

I joined the 10-pound Challenge hosted by Newlyweds on a Budget. Lose 10 pounds in 12 weeks, win $$$. Are you in?

Erika over at Newlyweds on a Budget is hosting an awesome contest! Go check out the details!

I purposely did not put losing weight on my 2012 goal list, simply because I wanted to do it for me, and not for a goal. I didn't want to say "lose 20 lbs" and then if I lost 10....feel bad. So anything has to be better than where I am now!

We have a wedding to go to in May, and I would love to be on my way to looking great. I love that this will mentally jumpstart me....plus, it does go with my goal to win a giveaway!!

My plan....go back to Weight Watchers plan for eating. I have all the tools from when I did it before. I understand the program. I just need to do it. And hopefully, once I start to see some results, it will snowball from there. As for exercise....that is a problem, but in Biggest Loser enthusiasm for the season...No excuses!

So go on over an check it all out.

If I may direct your attention....

2012-01-11T08:02:00.001-05:00

To the bottom of the Keeping Tabs on the Benjamins side bar, on the ~~right~~ left side of your screen (you really would think I would know my right from my left by now). Scroll down to the bottom of it. See where it says Retirement Loan? Notice anything?

That is right. Only $88 left until that bad boy is paid off!!!!! G-man gets paid on January 23 again, and then it is DONE.

It was a $10,000 loan, originated in February 2008, for 5 years. We used it to replace the roof and paint the house, along with a few other minor things. We will have paid it off in 4 years, PLUS, it is a few weeks earlier than anticipated!!! Yay us!!

I have put $115 aside each paycheck since our Christmas fund was fully funded towards this. It has been TIGHT, as we also started paying my car loan in December. But we have managed, and along with the bi-weekly amount of $105 that goes towards it (automatically deducted from G-man's paycheck)....we are down to one last payment.

We are seriously considering taking out a $35,000 loan from the retirement account and wiping out the credit cards. The rate has now dropped to 1.50%, and if we do a 3 year loan....we would still be paying almost $150 less per month. We are leaning toward a 4 year loan, just to give us some breathing room, and pay extra on it as we can...to try and knock it out in 3.5 yrs. (more on this to come) We have to wait 60 days from the payoff date of the current loan before we can do anything, so this won't happen until late March/early April.

My math must have been off, because I thought we would pay this off in early February. The $115 that I ear-marked for the retirement loan for those 2 paychecks will be split between the EF and our general savings account. After that, the $115 will now be directed towards savings for Camp for the kids (which will be fully funded by the end of May). Once Camp is funded, the $115 will go to the Christmas account, which will be fully funded by November, which will leave us the remainder of the year towards our $500 goal for something for US.

But I am just happy dancing that we managed to pay it off early, and with the car payment!!

The retirement loan was never part of the debt total. Best that I can tell, at the start of the blog, we owed about $7,000 on it. If you add that to the original debt number, our "new" number would have been over $83,000. So in that sense, we have made progress.

You have no idea how that $88 is killing me! But I need to let the plan just do its thing. Less than 2 weeks and it is over.

I may have spoke too soon

2012-01-10T06:00:00.001-05:00

So the other day I told you about our new contract at work. Boss and I really hadn't talked much about what that will mean for me. Yesterday, there was sort of a segue, so I took the opportunity to say "let me know when you are ready to talk."

He sort of looked at me weird, with the "what would we have to talk about?" look. That is never a good sign.

He just said that in the next 12 months, it will probably mean more evaluations (which I knew), and that he may take some of my work away and outsource it to leave me time to process other things. In other words, he has no plans on increasing my hours. Additionally, he is leaving me the photocopies and filing. If that happens, I will be nothing more than an office grunt.

My feelings were terribly hurt. I left it at "I can work more hours, so let me know when you are ready to talk." But I don't foresee that happening.

Part of my job (that required alot of time and understanding) was taken away over a year ago because of a State decision. The company that was hired as the outsource has done a lousy job, and our overall numbers went down. Not my problem...but it does show that I was doing a better job than the outsourced company.

He is basically telling me that while our company will be growing, I won't. I have been there 4 years, and I know the paperwork better than anyone. I am reliable, timely, and do anything and everything. I organize and clean out. I follow behind everyone and fix all their errors (which my boss has instructed me to do). And I am going to get reduced to a glorified copy girl. This also means that he probably doesn't have any plans on giving me a raise....as a glorified copy girl wouldn't make any more than what I am now (and as he has already told me in the past....I am paid more than most companies pay for "my position" which doesn't have a title or anything official. Actually when people come into the office, IF he introduces me, it is "and Mysti helps out.")

I love the people I work with. I love the flexibility I have. But I do so much more than what I am given credit for. I hear him on the phone pointing out all the things that I brought to his attention, and taking them as his own. I am not going to just sit back and be reduced to nothing.

So, I think it is time for me to step up my looking for a new position. I know there will be alot of guilt on my part for leaving (and I won't leave until I have another job). I will feel like I am leaving him in a lurch. But then MAYBE he will realize all that I do.

I am just sad. Sad that I helped him grow his company for 4 years, and that all of the accolades of our company are in part to my work....yet, all he sees me as is a grunt. I have spoken to him in the past about this, and he brushes me off.

No more. If he really is looking at the bottom line, let him hire some High School Grad to make photo copies. He can pay them half of what he pays me. Let him find out what it is to really have just a grunt.

Fifteen Dollars

2012-01-09T07:55:00.002-05:00

Ok, technically....$14.25. Any guesses to what that is? No, it isn't a pony. Or what we spend on coffee. Or any other frivolous spending. It is what we spend on buying school lunches PER WEEK. Say what???? I know! I was as surprised as you were!

The kids have the lunch calendar, and on Sunday night they write which days they would like to buy lunch (which is $2.25) and on the other days they bring a packed lunch and buy milk ($0.50). In an average week, they each will buy lunch 2-3 times. On a rare occasion, Bossy will buy 4. Sassy is much more picky, and can usually be counted on to buy on Friday (Pizza day), but is inconsistent how many times she buys. She really is more of a PB&J girl.

Typically I would write a check out for lunch tickets for the kids each week (we have to buy tickets for the week). Because writing ONE check confuses them, I would write two checks. Usually one check is $7.75 (3 hot lunch, 2 milk), and the other varies. I never really thought about it much. Maybe because each check was small. Maybe because it was just routine. But I just did it each week.

One of my goals this year is to use less checks. So I took out $20 last week when I deposited my paycheck, and we broke it into small bills. This morning I put the cash in each child's lunch money envelope, and the remainder in a third envelope to roll over to next week. And I only had $5 left!!!! WHAT??!!!!

This was an eye-opener to me. We have never limited how many times the kids buy lunch because 1) for K, 1st, and 2nd, it was only Sassy who bought lunch, 2) we are working on oral eating with Bossy, so if he wanted to buy lunch and would EAT it, we were all for it, and 3) it was easier for us in terms on having to prepare lunch for them.

If we limit them to 2 hot lunch a week (plus 3 milk), that is $6.00 a week per child. Forty weeks of school....so we are up to $240 for the year, per child.....or $480 for both. Almost $500 just for lunch! And that is if we limit them!!!! If you use the $14.25 we spent this week....we are up to $570.

Holy cow!!!! Granted, if you add up the ingredients for home-packed lunch (sandwich for her, turkey for him; chips; fruit; other snack item for "snack") I am not sure how much we are spending on that. I am pretty sure it is less than what we are spending on buying lunch.

I am a little torn, mostly because of Bossy. I want him to EAT. So I would rather not limit his buying. Sassy buys less than him, but I would hate to limit her even further just to to balance out his purchases.

Anyone else ever sat down and figure this stuff out??? How much are school lunches by you? Suggestions for me??

ETA: We have been paying this all along, so I am not worried about cutting it back. It was more of a surprise when I actually looked at the numbers. And I was curious if we were typical. And in case you were wondering, no....we don't qualify for reduced lunch.

GBU - January 8, 2012

2012-01-08T09:06:00.000-05:00

First GBU of 2012!!!

The Good:

Was able to pick up enough grocery staples for the week to get us by and still get the extra gas points at the grocery store, and stay on budget!
Actually had a zero-balanced budget, until G-man messed it up (see below)

The Bad:

G-man messed up my zero-balanced budget for the week by purchasing beer and technically putting us into overdraft (it didn't actually go into overdraft because we have a few things that haven't cleared)
It is taking me forever to put away the Christmas decorations!

The Ugly:

Need to pay extra on the oil bill to make up where I paid a little under the budget amount.

You know the deal....what are your GBUs this week?????

Time to Stock Up!

2012-01-06T08:49:00.000-05:00

Like alot of people, if something you use alot of goes on sale, you stock up. My problem is that this week the stores have decided to have a ton of stuff we use on sale!!

While we get paid on Monday, and technically will have money, we will have MORE money later in the month. I am going to have to put off paying a few things (not late, just later than planned) to free up the cash for the groceries.

(and on an unrelated note, G-man will have 16 hrs of OT coming up, which means I get to update his progress bar AND put the OT money in the newly formed OT account! No spending it until the end of the quarter, and it will go towards debt.)

I will make my list, and go in with a plan. As much as I hate paying a few things later in the month, it is necessary. I am not just going to put groceries on a CC because things didn't go the way I wanted in the grocery cycle!

Another possible Gamechanger

2012-01-05T08:01:00.000-05:00

My last "gamechanger" post was in regards to G-man's part time job. Well, that seems to have settled down. His hours will be a little less in the coming month (typical for this time of year) and then back to normal. Mini crisis seems to be averted.

But.....we had some big news around my office yesterday, and this could lead to some fairly major changes.

We won a 5 year contract that we applied for in December! That isn't really a big surprise in itself. The surprise is some of the terms are larger than initially anticipated!

Without going into all the details that only I would really understand...the bottom line is that the company is slated to grow almost 2.5 TIMES its current size over the next 2 years! This will mean more staff, more paperwork...LOTS more paperwork.

While the nuts and bolts of my job probably won't change, the VOLUME will. Where I might process 20 reports a month now...it could go to 50! And that is only one piece of my job.

Bossman and I haven't talked about ANYTHING yet. Obviously, my hours are going to have to change....possibly going to full time. That would also mean child care for the kids, so that will have to factor in. At my current rate...I would have to work 6 more hours a week just to pay for child care for EITHER before or after school. If it is both (before and after), we are now up to 12 hrs.

What I am hoping for is earlier hours (and put the kids in before school care), a rate increase of at least 5% (ok...I really want 10%...but that probably won't happen), and about 35 hrs a week.

More income is good. Couple that with a few other things....and we may have some potential to REALLY knock this debt out of the park!!!!!

No putting the cart before the horse.....until this is a done deal, it is just speculation and fun Excel spread sheets. But knowing my boss....his wheels are turning, and a discussion isn't too far off. Yesterday I just let him enjoy the news....all I said was "we are going to need a bigger copier."

(Our copier is almost dead, and is way too small for the volume we do, so this isn't a surprise, and it has already been discussed. :) )

The PayDay Cha-Cha

2012-01-04T07:59:00.001-05:00

I swear....the past 2 weeks since payday have been the longest in history! I have no idea why, it just seemed like payday was never going to get here.

I had to keep reminding myself that today is only the 4th. I "feel" like I am behind, but in reality this is only the first paycheck of the month!!! G-man has 2 paychecks from the office, and he gets paid weekly from his part time job (which by the way, is also today!).

I looked at all the due dates on the bills, and a few things will get paid today. The rest have later due dates, and will come from future paychecks. I am just so anxious to PAY something!!! Then I get to update my totals and see a little progress!!!! CHA CHA CHA!! (DONE!!)

Since I get paid by paper check, I have to wait until this afternoon to do anything (after I deposit my check! And no, I don't have a direct deposit option). Included in my banking transactions today will be:

Redepositing the money we got from selling the netbooks, and putting that in the "cat" fund (DONE!!)
Taking out $25 towards EF (DONE!!)
Taking out money for lunch money for the kids for next week (DONE..but forgot to have them break the $20. Will do that on Friday)
Getting a new checkbook register! (oops...I knew I forgot something)

Who would have thought banking would be so much fun and productive!

Three days In and.....

2012-01-03T09:28:00.000-05:00

The financial debate escalates. We haven't even had a paycheck in the New Year (it is tomorrow) and it is starting. The item up for debate? Our mattress.

image from Photobucket

G-man woke up in a FOUL mood. He was stomping around, throwing things in the sink and onto the counter. Yelling at the kids for nothing. Childish would be an understatement. And this isn't the first time this has happened.

I pulled him into the other room to talk, and he was pissy with me. He was TIRED, and his back HURT. OK, so I have been hearing this for YEARS. He blamed our mattress. So we switched out the mattress we were using for the one that used to be in the guest bedroom (which had minimal usage on it). And that quieted the matter for a bit. And then it started up again. We bought a topper. And it quieted again. But not for long.

If you don't count the minimal use that the mattress had before we switched them out, this mattress is about 3-4 years old. It wasn't super high quality when we bought it, but it wasn't super cheap either. I would say it was around a 6.5/10.

I have refused to get a new mattress for a few reasons:

The expense
We totally disagree on what to look for in a mattress
And....until our marriage was better....a new mattress stood for more commitment than I was willing to give

Now he is "blaming" me for being tired and such. Because I refuse to get a new mattress. He says "it is fine," yet I am the one that has to listen to all of this jazz. This morning I said....Fine. We will get a new mattress...but you have to figure out where the money will come from because it isn't going to be a credit card, and it isn't going to come from our regular budget. And he pouted.

Yes, he pouted.

We have $500 built into the budget for something...but we are a long way off from saving that. I am not going to dip into EF. I am not going to scrape together all the extra stuff from various places.

What would you do?

Not now...but maybe in a few months??

2012-01-02T12:57:00.001-05:00

One of the biggest hurdles we had with our credit cards has been the interest rates. At one point, we were paying 19.24% on a large balance card!! We did a Lending Club loan and a few other things, and worked around it.

As it stands right now the interest rates are:

CC2 - 11.99%
CC3 - 14.24% (but the current balance was a balance transfer offer of 1.99% through January '13)
CC4 - 9.24% (but over half of the current balance is at 5.99% from a balance transfer offer)
Lending Club - 7.88%

I would really like to get as much of this revolving credit down to as low of an interest rate as possible. The place that has the lowest rate....our retirement account. Once the current loan is paid off, we can dip into it again in 60 days. The rate? 1.75%. Of course any money we would withdraw would not be earning interest for our retirement. We would have to be sure that the overall benefit would be worth it.

The reason we are considering this is that G-man isn't even eligible to retire for 19 more years. Once the debt is paid off completely, we plan on aggressively saving for retirement. And if we can get the debt paid off within 4 more years, that would still give us 15 years to really save and invest.

I have kicked around a few thoughts.

We can take out $6500 for a 24 month term and pay off Lending Club. If we increase the minimum payment so that it is paid off at the same time Lending Club would have been paid off....it is a net savings of roughly $40 a month for 17 months, or a total savings of $680. That $40 savings would go towards another CC.
We can take $10,000 out over 3 years, which would be $130 a paycheck, and pretty much wipe out CC2 for the same amount we are paying per month now.

Another idea we had was another Lending Club loan. More interest, but doesn't effect our retirement.

We aren't going to do anything now...it would be April the earliest that we would do ANYTHING. We have to wait for 2012 to settle....wait for the current retirement loan to be paid off for at least 60 days.....so nothing anytime soon. I just really want to find the right avenue to make progress!!

We do well with the "set it and forget it" stuff. We set up payment plans, and just let them do their thing. Lending Club has been fabulous for that. We got the loan....we put money aside each paycheck...and once a month they debit our account. Once the January payment posts, we will be almost half way paid off!

G-man's car was the same way. We had money direct deposited into the account, and it was debited once a month.

I am trying to do the same thing with the rest of our debt. Just trying to get it to the lowest interest rate possible! Any thoughts???? Right now we have $1105 in the budget that is designated for CC payments (minimums + $150 extra). This is JUST for the CC and current Lending Club loan. Not the car, student loans, or medical.

What is in YOUR stars???

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

Not everyone is into Astrology, or Numerology, or any of those other "future" telling sciences. I do not follow them closely, nor do I make decisions based on them. But I have found out in my life that when I look back on things, events tend to have unfolded as predicted by the stars. I once went to a psychic, and the session was taped (audio....cassette.....remember those???) I found the tape YEARS later, and listened to it, and ALOT of what she said had come true.

So Yahoo! has posted an overview of the 2012 Horoscope for those who would like some insight. I am a Taurus, and per the prediction...this should be a pretty good year. Here are some of the highlights (but if you are a Taurus and want the full skinny....go check it out!)

With lucky Jupiter continuing to bless your stars, you can definitely expect to have the Midas touch in 2012, Taurus.
The first six months of the year are part of an ongoing personal renovation project before generous Jupiter leaves your stars.
On the contrary - as soon as Jupiter moves into Gemini in June, your luck continues to build while grounding you in positive energy. The second half of the year will bring you great financial prosperity and opportunities to expand your talents.
Money and finance take center stage for most of the year as you experience several gains and losses. The key to your sanity will be to ride the wave of unpredictability and, in the end, trust that you'll still come out ahead. Pay special attention to your finances around the major eclipse points in May, June and December. Watch for new money-making opportunities around your birthday. It's just in time, because you may very well need to pad your piggy bank for some unexpected expenditures in June and July.

How does your year look???

Happy 2012!!!

2012-01-01T09:57:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had an enjoyable New Year's Eve. We stayed in, watched a movie and part of The Big Bang Theory marathon that was on. We were in bed around 11:30pm. A friend called my cell phone at 1am (I didn't hear it, but G-man did). He wasn't too happy about being woke up.

The weather today....bright and sunny. Hoping that is a good omen.

We found out today that there will be no cost of living increase at G-man's job. This is the second year in a row. Nothing we can do about that one. Luckily, our medical insurance stayed the same (within a dollar or two). I was hoping MAYBE to put the COLA into retirement, but since it is a non-issue....onward and upward.

My day will be spent picking up around here, working on my new blog header....maybe inputing some of the tax deduction stuff I have in prep for taxes in a few weeks. Nothing major. My mom is coming to visit in a few weeks for a long weekend, so I have 18 days to get my house in order before her visit. While she says she isn't coming to inspect the house, comments will be made.

Enjoy the first day of 2012!!!!

Digging Out From Our Mess

Sunday Night Chit-Chat - January 29, 2012

GBU - January 28, 2012

Look out house, here I come!

Take that!

Random Financial Things From This Week

Good thing I am super busy today

OK, you twisted my arm

Sunday Night Chit-Chat - January 22, 2012

*pant pant pant*

Still hanging in there!

It is going to be one of THOSE days

I am so behind with you guys!

GBU - January 15, 2012

Joining the 10 lbs Challenge

If I may direct your attention....

I may have spoke too soon

Fifteen Dollars

GBU - January 8, 2012

Time to Stock Up!

Another possible Gamechanger

The PayDay Cha-Cha

Three days In and.....

Not now...but maybe in a few months??

What is in YOUR stars???

Happy 2012!!!

pant pant pant