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never seems to work

August 24th, 2011 at 10:52 pm

I have been trying to get ahead but life keeps getting in the way (both ours and other peoples). My DH doesn't want me to get a job and I can see that I really wouldn't make that big a difference on bills doing it at minimum wage. However I am going to try the home party plan. If I can take one evening a month and do a party I can hopefully make a few hundred a month. I will save it and then put it on the bills as I get enough to pay one off. That way we will have an emergency fund or a moving fund and can hopefully pay off some credit cards.

ON track

October 27th, 2010 at 08:04 pm

Writing things down seemed to help me get back on track. I have written down (roughly) how much we owe (big number) But this month (November) will be the second month in a row I have paid off one credit card. Next month a third will add to the paid off list. The last 3 will take alot longer! I am debating if I want to consider a 5 year consolidation loan or just do this myself. I think it would be better for our credit if I do it myself. It means some sacrifices I don't want to make (not traveling to see kids for awhile) but we have to get going on debt. My DH has applied for a transfer and there is no way we can afford to move if I don't get this cleared up without racking up more debt on a card. If this goes as planned I will have only 2 cards to pay off in 6 months (May 2011) I am going to try to find ways of saving money to build up the saving while we do this. I am paying an extra 500 a month on the credit card "du jour" every month to accomplish this and minimum on the big one and a 100 on the other (s). It would be easier if we didn't have to take short weekend trips every month (hotels and gas eat it up) However we'll make it. I just worry if this house doesn't sell (needs alot of work) when and if the transfer comes thru. I'm trusting the Lord to work things out on that. If he provides the transfer (which in the long run would save a mint) then he'll figure out the house thing.

Back Again

October 4th, 2010 at 10:16 pm

Somehow I never seem to be real consistent with this blog. Lack of consistency is the story of my life!! i have been feeling guilty lately for all the time I don't spend cleaning. We recently had the chance to host an evangelist and chose to take him out. Well that isn't the only reason, being vegetarians we rarely invite people over to eat. There is no way I am going to invite someone over right now for anything. With DH still in recovery mode I just can't seem to get inspired to clean like I should. Not inspired to lose the weight like I should either. I am inspired to save tho! I am trying a method of paying off one credit card while making a bit above minimum on the others. As they get paid off I will add what I was paying to the next one. Should get us out of debt except for the house and car in a couple years. In the meantime I am trying to plan a trip across Route 66 and a couple visits to see grandkids and our great grandkid. Doctor's bills are slowly getting paid as well. As that goes away we have a bit more breathing room in our budget which makes it easier to stick with the credit pay back program.
I have always said that I want to move (and I do) because it is a 2 day drive to see family. i have lately been realizing how blessed we are to have a job where DH boss is understanding of his medical needs and where the mortgage isn't astronomical. I think I will start enjoying this house as much as I am sad to be so very far away from the kids.

Credit Card

March 26th, 2010 at 07:08 pm

We did end up getting the credit card, I will pay 200 a month with no interest for a year and it will be paid off. Decided that made more sense than letting a card with interest continue to hold a balance. This way we can pay stuff off faster and pay less interest. Right now we look to be debt free (except for the mortgage) in the next 3 years. I hope I never get into debt again!! Actually this isn't as bad as all that. We are probably holding less debt than most people especially if you consider that most of it is the car.

spent alot

March 23rd, 2010 at 06:09 pm

It could be worse however!! I checked with a friend who does construction for a living and he said he wouldn't tear out all the cabinets and reinstall them for the pice I was quoted so I am happy there. I walked around Menards for hours the other day, picking out my kitchen. I bought:
dishwasher 289.00
Sink 178.00
Cabinets 1309.15
Countertop 138.77
wall panels 135.20
backsplash 161.82
outside door 149.00
storm door 144.00
door frame 10.99
adhesive 45.36
knobs 66.40
screws .28
seam tape 23.97
light fixture 39.98
door know 47.92
paint 15.97
rollers 8.03
for a total with labor (2500) of 5364.84
i will also have to pay for the plumbing materials to attach the dishwasher and the materials to install 2 more electrical circuits. Now to start moving stuff so I can paint (ceiling) before the work starts. The counter was the only thing not in stock and should take 3 weeks to come in. Should be an interesting April!! I also bought a mini wrecking bar (under 3.00) so my 6 year old can help take stuff out.

Credit

March 18th, 2010 at 03:58 pm

We are considering getting a credit card for the remodeling stuff because the deal is no interest for a year. I do have the discipline to pay it off in a year and that way I can pay off one of our other credit cards completely (which would reduce the number we carry a balance on to 1. We have one for auto payments and one for use that gets paid off every month as well) i get upset with us because of the balance on one of the credit cards plus the balance still on the van but really we are doing ok. If we ignore the credit card with the biggest balance and pay 600 a month we will have it paid off in 3 years. I did use it for DH birthday present but then I promptly cut a check for the amount to make up for it. We are only in month one of ignoring it,35 to go!! The car is going slowly but in three years I may add some of what I have been paying that credit card and pay it off faster. The rest will go onto the house payment. As the years go by I hope to have it all remodeled by the time the 35 months are up. The kitchen is the biggest. Next we will do small jobs like the living room ceiling or the painting. I have some outside work to do too. Someone offered to move the brush in the back yard for 40 dollars but I think I can do it and then put the 40 into the emergency fund. Our emergency fund took a hit when the part of the tree blew down and we had to have the rest removed. It isn't even a month right now but we do add to it every month automatically.

Garage sale finds

May 18th, 2009 at 04:53 pm

We did really well at the garage sale this last Saturday. We found a wagon sans handle for free that we can jury rig a handle for the kids to enjoy. We bought 2 doors for $5 each and now there is a door on my bedroom and will soon be one on our upstairs bathroom. i have had those doors measured and looked at by professionals. They are a special size (read that old house) and cost a mint. All DH had to do was saw off a small pice at the bottom of each door. At the same place I bought jeans for DS2 2 pr for 75 cents and a dresser for him for $5.00. By now th ecar was pretty full but that didn't stop us. I got a set of pictorial history books of the US for 3.00 that DS2 loves, and the kids bought a couple toys for themselves with allowances. DH got some toy cars for geocaching (10 or so for $1) that are in great shape. I got a copy of a frames Biblical ABC for DD2 for $1.00. DS2 has one that his aunt gave him that cost her quite a bit more.
All in all a great day of finds. To top it off we made one more stop where I found the item of my dreams. A working spinning wheel for $75.00. I got it for $60.00. It is something I have always wanted and sells for quite a bit more. Now to learn to spin!

garage sale

May 14th, 2009 at 05:25 pm

This Saturday is the annual community garage sale and I can hardly wait. I feel like I've been having a chronic case of cabin fever for weeks. I am planning to be very careful tho since I would really like to pay off everything we owe with the exception of the house and car. The thought of paying them off right now is overwhelming. I hope to pay off the credit bill and then we'll see about the car. I have been pretty good this month about putting money on the bill from Florida. It will be finished next month without a problem. Then we will owe 2 cards. Plus the one I use for incidental purchases. Wish I had a paypal card to use for that since I have money in my account.

Garage Sale find

May 2nd, 2009 at 07:18 pm

We are a Karate family. In order to practice we have been considering a piece of equipment that costs around 200. We keep putting it off because of the price. Today we found one at a garage sale for only 20 dollars. We are thrilled! We got a couple other cool deals too, but didn't over spend. Two weeks to the community wide one we love. I hope to pick up a bike for DD2 there. I got a check for some ebay stuff and promptly sent the money to the credit card. I am being good! I knew the check was coming so I didn't worry about spending a few extra hundred when we were there. My plan is to pay it off this month or at latest next month. Our next trip East is just to pick up kids and bring them home. When we return them we will be taking the "scenic route" and that will cost a little more but not too much. We will be able to pay cash. So by the end of summer we will have only the "big " credit card bill. As soon as it is paid I plan on paying more on the car. I am a bit worried since they are talking about making the employees take vacation every month (like a week) till the end of the year and that means without pay for us. It will cut our income by 25% after August when we run out of vacation and may mean we have to cancel out trip East. The good news is that if they cut the practice out then we will have learned to live on less.

i need to pay off some bills.

May 2nd, 2009 at 01:59 am

I am trying to do cash only to get in the habit and then cut the amount we spend. My DH has a good job but we have lots of bills. I want to pay off the credit cards and then go to the car. The emergency fund needs a boost too. So discouraging. Wish we could move closer to the kids in the East. Ah well time will tell. We got bad news today. No bonus. We were hoping to pay down the major credit card bill with that. So we will pay off the small ones first and then get to the others. At least our last trip East was planned enough so that we didn't get any further in debt. I need to start writing down what (or how much) I spend and how I conserve funds and save so that I can encourage myself. Maybe I'll start a blog!

Saving

March 14th, 2009 at 09:15 pm

I at one time had several "investment" accounts. Seems they were more like a round file!! I had several loans on prosper. Out of the 6 I had 2 are paid, one is paying, one defaulted, and two are in collections. I guess I pick poorly. The kicker is the ones who defaulted were the ones with great credit ratings. I had a sharebuilder account for the last 4 years. I lost alot of money there as well. I am reduced to a Ing checking (and college funds and an EF) and an Emmigrant savings. Ah well, live and learn I guess. I also have a thriving Kiva account with several loans that I keep reinvesting. i make another Kiva loan every month.

Spoiled

March 6th, 2009 at 10:12 pm

I am proud of my 5 year old. He told me today that I am spoiling him. We went to the store and I bought each of them a $5.00 surprise (without being asked of course). I also got them shoes (10 each) and him a coat for next winter for 7.00. Shoes and a coat seem a bit of a necessity so don't think that would count as spoiling. I was proud that they asked if they had enough money in their accounts for the things and when I said no never said another word about them. They didn't even know we were stopping for milkshakes on the way home when he told me I was really spoiling him. That made me feel good. He wasn't complaining and never does, when he doesn't get to buy stuff. He just says he will save his allowance. His sister (age 4)is picking up on that and learning to ask less. I felt a bit spoiled myslef cause they stood quietly and let me pick out a new purse and wallet (the old one was falling apart) without complaining or even squirming.

IRS Refund!!

March 6th, 2009 at 02:30 pm

What a nice surprise to wake up to! Our IRS refund came in. Promptly put 4K on the credit card bill. I hope to get all credit cards paid off by the end of the year. I got a bill for a card in my name for the yearly fee and I am tempted to cancel it rather than pay it. I haven't used it in years. Have it as an emergency. If something happened to DH I need credit in my name till everything is cleared. I do have another one but both are low balance cards. I'll talk it over with DH when he has more time. For now I am excited that the one card has a balance I can pay off this year if I am careful.

WI taxes are here!

February 26th, 2009 at 02:39 pm

Hurray!! I looked at the bank balance and the tax money is there!! The state tax money anyway. The majority of the money goes to credit card. We promised the kids we'd get them a game for the Wii when the tax check came in. DS2 want Tales of Desperaux and DD2 wants the Build a Bear game. Not sure what that one is but it should at least build hand eye coordination. Can't wait for Federal so I can knock the credit card down to size!

Taxes done

February 20th, 2009 at 02:01 pm

They are done and sent!! I am so relieved! We are getting half the big credit card bill back! It will go straight on it as soon as it come in, which should be in 2 to 3 weeks. I was expecting the one amount but the state also owes us over a thousand. Our finances will be much better by April. I am saving for the trip I am taking then so it will be paid for too. The best part was paying for the tax work right there instead of charging it. The worst part was how much they charge. I need to think about taking a tax course and doing taxes at night or something! We couldn't even itemize and our bill was over 200 and that was with a coupon.

Tax Day

February 19th, 2009 at 06:53 pm

At least at our house it is. Today we do our taxes. We have a 6 PM appointment to have them done. Then we have to decide how much we will need to have withheld over the course of this year. I will miss having the adoption deduction!

On another note I have been reading a book about a woman with 18 children and one DIL. She and her husband use no credit. I want to reach that point. No not the 18 children although if they were all as nice as hers I'd have to consider it! The no credit state. I have sold a lot of stuff on ebay (actually I had it sold for me, seems to go better that way) and I still have more to go. I want to strip us to the bear bones and see where we are then. If I could figure out a way of making money on online I would but so far no go. So back to saving everything I can. Seems hopeless sometimes to think of getting out of owing on a car and on a house. Guess I should be content if I can get that far. One step at a time. For now I want to get to the point where we only owe one credit card and the car and house. Then we'll work on reducing the credit card debt while still visiting the grandkids East.

tax time at last

February 16th, 2009 at 06:14 pm

Tax time is Thursday for us. WE should get back everything we gave them plus a bit for child credit.

Unfortunately it wont cover our credit card bills. Ah well at least the bills arent getting any bigger.

will wipe out about a third of it
which is better than nothing. I will cut us down to no cards since I now have an ing account that has a debit card I can use for online purchases! and never use the card again unless there is an emergency!

good month

January 23rd, 2009 at 08:50 pm

We made it through the month without adding t the credit card debt. If I had to buy online I used the card with a low balance that we pay off every month. We are trying to find out if we have to get naturalization papers for our daughter before we can file for a social security card for her or not. Would be nice to be able to claim her this year! Actually it is imperative that we do. I do not want to owe money to the IRS. Have to pay property taxes too.

Wow

January 19th, 2009 at 01:39 am

One of the items sold for twice what I paid for it!! I like that.

We had good news. DIL doesn't have a tumor after all so I don't have to fly down to take care of her. i am glad she is all right but I would have loved seeing all my kids and grandkids.

sales

January 14th, 2009 at 12:12 am

I am selling some stuff on ebay. Actually a friend is doing it for me cause I may have to drive south at any given day to help with my DIL's household while she undergoes treatment. Today I went through the playroom and rearranged quite a bit of stuff. I have a large pile of things to sell. Not sure if I will do it or give them to her to sell. She takes 20% but then I don't have to worry about being here when they close. Some of it isn't worth ebaying so I will save it for this summer's garage sale. What this has done is make some room in the playroom for the kids desks. They don't use them for schoolwork which is why I bought them so they may as well go to the playroom. Then I can have some space in the dining room. I need to find some bookshelf space somewhere. The books are outgrowing their area. I put some toys up in DS2's room cause he is old enough to trust up there most of the time. I am paring down the number of toys around here. My toys too. I am giving up stamping and going to sell off most of my stock. Probably ebay that too.
The money is going to go for credit card payments. I plan on eliminating them form our use this year. I will still need to occasionally use one online but that one gets paid in full every month.

We're back!

December 25th, 2008 at 02:30 pm

We are home from our few days away. Did anyone miss us? Don't answer that ok? Anyway when I made the reservations and DH took the time off we were told we could swim till 9 the day we arrive (Sunday) and from 9 to 12 and 4 to 9 on Monday and till 3 Tuesday the day we check out. They also have a cool game room where I planned on letting the kids waste a couple bucks each. Well when we got there we were told they aren't open (waterpark) on Tuesday till 4. That pretty much blew that day for us and I called the manager and politely (even nicely) explained that that misinformation messed up our plans. i told him I doubted there was something that could be done but I wasn't happy. He offered to do something for us but wasn't sure what. I suggested dinner at their very nice restaurant if they could figure out what to feed us and my husband said if that was too hard then a free day pass for a later time. He gave us the dinner, 5 free day passes and each child got $4 dollars worth of tokens for the game room. I was amazed. I was also quite grateful. Needless to say we'll be back there every year we live here. Made for a fun trip that didn't cost as much as we thought it would.

ok That didn't work!

December 21st, 2008 at 03:08 pm

Had to change back to my old number of minutes for another 20 bucks a month. Seems that I only get one free number to call if I go down to 500 minutes. In order to only use 500 minutes a month I need at least 6 free numbers so I upped to the 900 plan that gives me 10 mumbers free. Everyone I call is out of state. My DD uses the same service so she is free but my DIL doesn't and I actually talk to her more since my DD and I can IM on gmail. Ah well at least I don't have the extra 25 dollar charge for tethering anymore. That saves some.
WE are going away for the first couple days of Hanukkah. There is an indoor water park near us that the kids love. It is a log cabin "theme" and really fun for them. I am so looking forward to cuddling and playing with my two. Of course we are taking schoolwork so we don't get out of practice on that! Since I cancelled the tethering I won't be able to get online either although for what we are paying a night, they should give us wireless service but sometimes DH's computer won't work with that.

Spent money

December 19th, 2008 at 08:22 pm

Sometimes you have to spend money to make money! My cell phone keeps going on the fritz so I changed phones. In the process I decided to down grade my account. I went from 900 minutes to 500 minutes (I rarely use more and now can be careful)and I cancelled the tether. If my DH needs it again we can add it for 30 a month so can't see spending that when we weren't using it. I probably dropped our bill by half.

Bad news at work

December 17th, 2008 at 04:19 am

Hubby's work not mine. He was told no raises in 2009 and very little bonus. Some folks won't get any. he makes good money and it is our own fault we are in debt but we were hoping for the bonus and raise to get us out of it. Oh well, we can conserve more I'm sure. I have been doing a bit of saving, not much with the holidays but a bit and I can do a bit more. I want an emergency fund that is healthy. Then I want to pay off debt. I am actually putting the same amount in the fund as I put on the credit card. The income tax return will help with the credit card pay off I'm sure and at least there will be some bonus.

Long Time no write

December 1st, 2008 at 05:03 pm

I have been keeping up with Sparkpeople but not here. Guess I figure my finances aren't great so what do I have to add. Of course neither do I really have anything to add on Sparkpeople (a weight loss site) since I am not losing weight. So I am making some resolutions. I intend to blog here everyday and on Sparkpeople (actually I don't blog there I comment on the loving your husbands forum). More importantly I intend to have something to blog about!!
As in I intend to do something about our financial and health challenges.
Right now we have very little savings other than retirement stuff. I have some I have been saving for when we can take a really nice trip but that is out of my allowance and investments so am not counting it. We save 15% for retirement every month from the gross so will not be changing that. We have started saving another 10% for an emergency fund but only last month. We need to put a great deal away so we can visit family every year and last year did it on credit too much. We had to go, our DIL was having some health crisises and our DS was in Iraq. This year we hope to head East in July, and November. It is a long way off and we are unhappy about that but it gives us time to save. I'm sure our DD and DIL won't like the long time till they see us but can't be helped. DH is in a time crunch at work too which if we do this right may lead to a move closer to the kids so we can go alot more often. It will cut the drive from 3 days to 1 long one. That of course cuts the costs.

Garden time

August 9th, 2008 at 02:02 pm

Our garden hasn't produced alot yet. We got one pepper that we gave away (first fruits and all that). Yesterday I was surprised to find a fully grown cuke. My DS2 (age 5) said let's pick it and eat it Mom. So that is what we did. DH was home sick and he was delighted when he found out it is one of ours. We have a teeny eggplant forming and a couple more pickle size cukes as well as lots of green grape tomatoes and many little green butternut squash. May not get any more peppers but the carrot tops look good. The broccoli and cauliflower doesn't look like we will get much if anything.
We joined a farm share and it has been producing a little here and there. Yesterday I froze 6 quarts of mixed green and yellow beans, 3 of green and 3 of yellow. I also started two large bowls of pickles, 7 day and a new kind (freezer pickles). Today I have alot of zuccini waiting for me to freeze them. We use that instead of lasagna noodles. The jury is still out as to whether it was a good investment or not. We'll see if it gets more productive as the summer goes by. Up top now we have gootton some peas, 3 lbs of green beans (besides the ones I froze) 3 lbs of purple beans, some very small zuccini, a half pound of rhubard, and several things of radishes. I had to give most of that away since we were getting ready to go south but now we are home and I want to freeze a good bit of what we are getting. I still give some away, I know a family that needs it.

Money

May 9th, 2008 at 05:22 pm

Hey the IRS gave me more money! Guess when they said early May they meant it. I promptly put it on a credit card along with DH bonus. He got a raise too so things are looking up. Now to set up things so we can save it. Have to wait till we get back form our trip East but it will be set up the day after that.

Forgot

March 6th, 2008 at 06:53 pm

Didn't blog when the Federal taxes were deposited (I was too busy sending them to bills) but it took less than 2 weeks for us to get our money. It is of course gone but that's ok, we owe less now. On the other side we had a plumber in so the money I had saved for DS2 bed is now gone but that's ok. His new bed is a bunk and he slept in it for the first time last night and loves it. It looks like an army bunk complete with toy box engine. I'll try to attach a picture. WE live next to the owner of th estore so we got a big discount. It is so cool. I figure it will last him a lifetime, cause if he ever gets too old for army cloth that can come off and he'll have a hunter green set of bunks.

No more loan

March 6th, 2008 at 06:42 pm

I logged onto my bank account and almost fell over. It was about 3 hundred more than I expected. That is too much for a raise and too little for his bonus (both of which are due soon)so I asked him what was up. He said he changed the deductible since we are adopting in the morning. this way Uncle Sam won't get a big loan from us. I am going to try to "lose the extra" by hiding it in another account like the emergency fund when we get back. I am really trying t make sure we don't over spend on this trip East the way we usually do even though it is longer. When we get back we will have the "gift" from Uncle Sam to look forward to and his raise plus a couple other things in our mail. It might be enough to pay off the credit cards completely. That would make me extremely happy!

Maybe it is Turbo!

February 15th, 2008 at 04:47 pm

I was amazed to find my state taxes were already deposited into our account. That's less than a week.!


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