I'm Baaaaack!

Oh my gosh; it's been since a long time!  I have much to fill you all in on.  We are starting anew with serious debt busting (we never really stopped, but our focus shifted a bit) and I cannot wait to fill you all in on what's been happening.  Still, before I do that, I want to catch up on your lives.  So, I am off to read!  See you soon friends!

Back in the Saddle

Wow!  What a few weeks it has been.  Some good, some bad.  I will keep this post brief but hope to explain some of what has been going on.

In mid-August my husband was in a car accident.  He’s OK, and that’s first and foremost, but it has been an interesting few weeks to say the least.  We just got his car back and all appears to be well.

However, in the resulting mayhem I resorted to using the credit card.  I just didn’t have them time or effort required to do budgeting, with the car accident, getting set up with a rental, back to school time, getting our daughter into a new daycare ($$$) and all the other stuff we had going on. It was just far easier to throw everything on the card.

We’re back on the wagon now, but it was a rough few weeks and now I am sitting here with $1500 on a credit card.  L

The good news is, we had been doing well with our E-fund prior to the end of August, so I have about $750 in there.  Since I am so gun-shy now about emergency savings, I think I am going to keep it in there, let it build up a little more, and then pay off the credit card balance all at once. It shouldn’t take too long. I am afraid to pull that money out; what if something else happens in the meantime and we need cash? 

I don’t love this plan, but I am more comfortable leaving the E fund in place and working off the CC balance than I am emptying the account.  Also, we’re doing well at purging our house and selling stuff, so I think we can earn enough extra to pay off the CC soon.

So that’s where we're at…in a nutshell. Sigh.

Spending Recap

Mon 8/1 - $40 gas
$11 Daughter's daycare activities

Tue 8/2 - NO SPEND

Wed 8/3 - $107 Groceries

Thur 8/4 $3.50 Fast Food Dinner

Fri 8/5 $10 Theme Park
$13 Snacks

Sat - NO SPEND

Last week was an OK week, although I had hoped Thursday would be a no spend also.  I had to wait in town to meet my husband before going home, and the wait was longer than expected.  The kiddo got hungry, so we went though a drive thru. Oh well. Other than that I am pretty happy with our spending!  We also went to the theme park and it was awesome!  What a fun time - and inexpensive, too, since my work paid for admission.

This week is unexpectedly going to be a little more money than I want to spend, but we are going to go forth with plans.  Our daughter had a last-minute the opportunity to take a trip to some local attractions with her grandparents so we are going to send her, despite the fact it will be a little money out of pocket. We think that time will be valuable for her, since she doesn't get a lot of alone time with them.   Also, I have been invited to spend time with a friend out of town Friday for dinner and drinks, and since I rarely, if ever, have a time to go out without my child, I am going to take her up on the offer!  I will try to keep my expenditures to a minimum.

Not much else is going on, though we did have a chance to sell two items on Craigslist this weekend - hurray!  I had a buyer lined up for them in July but she backed out, so I was glad to get these items out of the house.  We made $80 on them.

Other than that I have been cleaning furiously and purging our house of unwanted items in preparation for a yard sale.  I have finished the top floor of the house, now I need to work on the 1st floor and then on to the dreaded basement.  I am in hopes to have a very successul sale.  It will likely be at the end of the month.

I guess that is it for now.  How goes it for you, blog friends?

Payday Wednesday Update

Greetings from the very warm North!

It’s payday again, which means money came in, and went out again in a hurry.  It’s OK though. Everything is under control.  We’ve been doing really well with spending lately!

I paid the bills and reduced our truck balance a bit, and added funds to savings.  It now stands at $379, up from $279.

Our focus recently has shifted a little bit.  I have been paying our normal bills and a little extra, but we have become very focused on our tenuous grasp on the concept of an E -fund.  It’s just something we have ALWAYS been challenged at.  So, as of right now we are working towards saving more rather than aggressively paying down debt.

At the same time, it’s disheartening to me because our balances are moving at a snail’s pace. I am not going to lie – at this payoff rate, we are not going to hit our payoff goal for the year, nor are we making any headway on our snowflakes.  I had thought I had some Craigslist sales of items around the house lined up for July, but they fell through.

We are preparing for a yard sale in two weeks, so I hope to do well on that and put away a significant chunk from that.  We have A LOT to sell.  And I know that we’re going to get where we’re going, but when I look at the big picture that goal seems so far away.

We’re trudging forth.  I know we’ll get there.  I’m just discouraged.

Spending Recap

Sunday 7/24 – Included in CASH vacation numbers

Monday 7/25 - $20 gas

$1 Snack

Tuesday 7/26 - NO SPEND

Wednesday 7/27 - $45 groceries

$30 gas

Thursday 7/28- NO SPEND

Friday 7/29 - NO SPEND

Saturday 7/30 - NO SPEND

I did much better this week – really, out of necessity!  Payday is Wednesday and I really need to keep a close eye on our expenditures until then.

This week we have a few things planned...today has been a spendy day, but I should be able to squeak in a few no spends prior to Friday.  We are headed to an amusement park that day, which my job is paying for admission – yeah!  We will pack a lunch, but I’ll bring a bit of cash for treats.

I will post again Wednesday for my usual payday update!  Until then….enjoy the heat!

Spending Recap - My Wallet Hates Me

Monday 7/12 - $15.50 Lunch with kiddo
$49 Home Depot - supplies to paint porch

Tuesday 7/13 - $5 State Park admission

Wednesday 7/14 - $9 Home Depot
$48 Wal-Mart

Thursday 7/15- $60 Gas
$150 ATM withdrawal

Weekend – Vacation! (Cash)

Ouch…this was another painful spending week for us.  Vacation was planned spending and we did well, but on the other hand, I had an unexpected trip out of town Thursday to help out my mom, who had an unplanned surgery.  Some expenses arose from that trip, but what can you do?  She’s my mom, after all.

I am happy to report that we had a fabulous and jam packed vacation week and I was so excited to see our daughter’s face when she tried some new things.  Probably boogie boarding was the coolest thing! What a fantastic week for us.

Back to reality….I am super low on funds until payday a week from Wednesday.  It’s going to be a low key week and I am going to need to work in several no-spends to make it work.  The husband and I are already planning some fun and free activities for the weekend. The good news is we are heading in to August and it’s a three paycheck month for me. Phew.

On the debt front, no new reductions, but I did add some money to our snowflakes and Efund.

Anyway – onward and upward.  I need to get a handle on spending STAT.  If I can do that, we are poised for an excellent end to July and start to August!

Spending Recap

I almost hate to post this...you'll see why.

Sunday 7/10:  $9 State park admission
$16.64 Snacks and drinks
Monday 7/11:  $8.45 Bargain books
$7.09 Food
Tuesday 7/12:  NO SPEND
Wednesday 7/13:  NO SPEND
Thursday 7/14:  $5 Daughter's lunch
$10 Gas
Friday 7/15:  $6.46 Lunch
$156 Groceries
Saturday 7/16: $31 Lunch for myself and a friend
$63 New sneakers
$40 Pedicure

Ouch...expensive week....and I'm not proud of my little binge on Saturday. On the other hand, I was happy to find running shoes at about half what I was planning on spending, which is what led to the other purchases.  And of course I paid cash!  I ran in my new sneaks yesterday and my knee felt MUCH better!

Onward and upward.  We're on vacation this week and I am very excited about that.  We don't have a lot going on this week - we might check out the children's museum and/or go to the beach, but those are inexpensive day trips (under $10 each.)  At the end of the week we are going to Ogunquit which has one of the most beautiful white sand beaches on Maine's coast.  We are staying overnight in a hotel with a friend and her two children. It should be fun!

I guess that's all for now.  Off to clean up the house a bit and then make plans with my little one.  We want to get a hummingbird feeder to hang up outdoors, and I also need to do the returnables.  Nothing too exciting, but it's beautiful out and I am NOT at work - I'll take it!

So long for now...