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Archive for March, 2006

It's been awhile

March 30th, 2006 at 02:40 pm

I haven't been on here for awhile. I have been checking my favorite blog (Princess Perky)and the site however. I haven't blogged because nothing is new, we have colds, the case study still isn't finished and we are still broke. I did figure out how much we owe in medical bills but it is a depressing number (a large depressing number) Oh well at least there is no interest and they all are taking payments. Actually on a plus note 2 of the Doctors offices will be paid off this month. That only leaves three and the back taxes my X stuck me with to pay monthly (and the vehicles of course) My goal (not sure it is realistic but am trying) is to have everything paid off by the end of 2007 so we can look at going into the mission field. Pittsburgh is in less than 3 weeks (17 days to be exact) and I can hardly wait to hug the rest of my kids, grandkids, and meet the newest arrival. I am looking forward to seeing my sister and brother and their family also.

W-4

March 23rd, 2006 at 02:44 pm

We changed our deductable on DH W4 and it did raise our paycheck a bit. He is hoping for a raise so we didn't get too carried away with how high we went. We have a deduction that carries over from last year so we know we will be able to at least break even wit the IRS next year. I think we will be able to pay the bills and still eat this pay period. I am so looking forward to cheaper gas bills and paying off the medical bills so there is some money in the budget. We didn't go on the yearly pay plan with the heat bill because we thought we would be moving before summer. Now we arent' but it isn't cost effective to go on until next winter whihc we expect to be ouw last winter here so we don't want to go on it then either. I need to add up all the medical bills and see exactly how much we owe and how long it will take to clear them. After our trip to Pittsburgh we will be making double car payments which will help also. There are 11 months left on the car I plan on paying it off before our trip to Washington DC.

And so it continues

March 23rd, 2006 at 02:37 pm

OK, I never said it couldn't get worse!! Now my DH and DS2 have colds (I'm in denial about my health condition regarding colds!!) My DS2 is complaining his "nose is leaking" It's really cute but he is also whining ALOT. Oh well. Tomorrow we are going to see Veggie Tales live! It is a 2 hour drive so I hope everyone is up to it. The tickets weere a splurge but he really is a big big fan so they are worth it. I'm still being successful at finding weight. I want to walk some off but it is too cold for them to go out with colds in fact it snowed last night. Is is Spring somewhere? When we moved here we were told that if we didn't like the weather just wait a day and it would change. I didn't realize they meant it would get worse.

Whining, Don't bother to read!

March 20th, 2006 at 05:06 pm

I'm tired of being cold (it is warming up outside so why am I colder than I have been all winter?)
I'm tired of being hungry (trying to lose weight and it keeps finding me)
I'm tired fo being broke (CC bills gone, almost paid off my DH medical bills from accident in Nov. 2004 and now I have my medical bills form Jan 2006, plus two cars)
OK, my DS2 was up for severla hours last night, which means I was so I apologize for whining to anyone who didn't read the warning title on this post!

still nothing new

March 19th, 2006 at 02:01 pm

I haven't blogged for awhile since nothing is new. My DH is going to Orlando for a conference at the end of May. My MIL offered to pay part of the cost for DS2 and I to join him but I think we will pass. Our share would be close to 1000.00 which takes away form our pay off program. Granted at least we aren't thinking of using credit cards but still I don't want to take the money we could use for three extra car payments. We also hope to have a bigger family by then so it would be academic. We are going to Pittsburgh in April right after Easter with 10 percent of our income tax money. My project for this week is to find accomodations with a room we can have a reunion in. The kicker is it has to take dogs as our pet sitter is out of town that week.

IT'S HERE IT'S HERE IT'S HERE IT'S HERE ...

March 11th, 2006 at 01:56 pm

The IRS came through! The tax refund hit the account yesterday and the CC bills are paid in full!! We also put money away for the trip to DC and the trip to PGH. All we have left are two vehicles (lots of interest) and the medical bills (no interest). I am afraid we will be adding a couple when we go to the dentist (my mouth has hurt for weeks now) but will cross that bridge when we come to it. I even remembered to hang laundry yesterday! Next project is to pay off the newer vehicle. We only save 175 if we pay off the car and it will be paid off in December anyway so we want to hit the van hard with cash. I am going to try double payments and see if we can swing it.

Awesome SIL!

March 9th, 2006 at 02:53 pm

My son in law is awesome!! He tried to instant message me on my birthday! Instant messaging in any form lasts about a week on this old computer and then it blows it up for two weeks so I gave up trying after my DS got back from Iraq. When he couldn't get me he tried this forum but I wasn't on yet then he left a message after I finally got on. I am sooo blessed to have a SIL that is thoughtful. Thanks DD for marrying the right one! Today I try paying bills online! for free!!! no more postage for bills!

Thank you

March 8th, 2006 at 06:07 pm

To all who wrote me a Happy Birthday message, Thank you. It was a neat day until my DH got sick. He stayed home from school today he was so sick. DS2 is thoroughly enjoying his recovery. He's feeling better after sleeping until 1030. Tomorrow is payday and I will be paying bills online for the first time! It is free through my bank and there is no expiration on the free thing. I like it since I was buying a book of stamps every payday! My MIL sent me a check for my birthday this year for the first time, now to figure out where it should go...

50

March 7th, 2006 at 09:47 pm

I did it! I turned 50 today. My DGS (one of them) sang to me on the phone, my husband took me to pizza buffet for lunch and showed up with 12 red roses, my DDIL called and so did my eldest sister. All in all a great day and there are still cards and packages to open tonight! The lady at the restaurant told me I don't look 50 and I said that is because a 2 year old calls me Mommy! I refuse to think about my weight or my finances until tomorrow (although I did check to see if the IRS came through yet, they didn't)

slowing down

March 6th, 2006 at 02:12 pm

My ebay sales are about over. Just one more person needs to pay me. I found a couple other things to sell last night when I was putting things away. The half sales have been nil for a week so I don't expect much more there. I think I will put th eothers in a garage sale. (Half didn't recognize them as listable and ebay charges to list) I need to clean out the file cabinet and a couple cupboards. Again if I knew how many or what gender/age child we were getting I'd know what to put away for our first garage sale. The IRS refund is due next week. We plan on paying double payments on our van as that is the most interest we pay. The car will be paid off in 11 months but paying it off early saves only about 175.00 so we're concentrating on the van. Depending on the number of kids we adopt we may need to consider a larger vehicle and would want to pay cash for it or at least not have any other payments at the time.

Good News to come

March 6th, 2006 at 02:06 pm

Got on the IRS check your refund page today and they say ours will be here by next Tuesday. Hurray!!! We have been pretty good about not spending money although my DH did bring home a pizza last night. Only 6 dollars. He had gone out to shovel our Pastors driveway because he is in Russia and his wife can't do it. During Lent we don't eat any meat so an occasional pizza saves our sanity! No I'm not saying vegetarians are insane, I'm just not used to cooking that way and we eat alot of eggs and mac n cheese! The hardest part for us is waiting. We have rearranged the house so that DS2's toys are in the living room because we didn't want to wait until his sibling(s) arrive to do it. He likes it that wasy but now we don't know what to do next. If we knew how many or what gender it would help. Ah well, the Lord knows and we'll wait on him.

Days later.....

March 3rd, 2006 at 08:49 pm

Our state tax money came in, only took 5 days and one was a weekend day! WOW. I paid off two fo the credit cards with it. Only three more to go. We put 10% aside for our trip over Easter too. If we haven't had an addition to the family by then we are going to visit some extended family in Pennsylvania.

Changes

March 1st, 2006 at 06:53 pm

I am reading the Total Money Makeover and have decided to make some changes. I am going to stop saving for a down payment on a house. That money from what I am selling and what i already have is going to go onto a bill right now. I will keep DS2 college going though. He says we should pay off the medical bills even if there is no interest but I think we will make a payment on them and pay off the high interest stuff first. DH has agreed that we will limit how often we go out to eat to once a pay period unless one of us wants to foot the bill on our allowances. I will continue to have a sharebuilder account but it is funded out of my allowance. I am going to keep the account my down payment money was in but I will add to it only out of my allowance. We are also committed to being more careful to stay in the budget. He refuses to let me get a job (even at night while he is home with DS2) and I don't think health wise he should get a second one so that leaves us with one income. He is looking ofr another job which will raise the income and cut down on travel expenses to see grandchildren.) I am going to keep selling anything I can and look at making some crafts to seel at a show in the summer. Christmas gifts for his family will be homemade as are birthday presents. Our children and grandchildren are the only ones we are buying for. We had a visit from a caseworker yesterday and there is a chance we will be adopting a sibling group instead of a single child (WOW HURRAY!!!!) that means we need to sell the car (first we need to pay it off) and save for an inexpensive large van. So Now the challenge for us is pay off CC (with income tax money), pay off car, pay off medical bills, pay off van. Then we can think about saving for a house. Hope the IRS money comes soon!