TarWalker's Blog

I haven’t written much (despite my love for setting goals (New Year’s requires new goals!)), because, oie, the last 4 or 5 weeks have been a little chaotic:

There was the second job (finally!).
Followed by the two weeks of sickness hell (I have blocked out the memory).
Followed by the week of exhaustion from recovery and year end work (not sure how I did it).
Followed by the week of chaos with changes at work and a major family holiday (thank goodness I wasn’t sick this week).
Followed by catchup in every aspect of life (still catching up).

Throw in some interesting possible changes (that I can’t go into yet) with a dash of everyone else getting sick and a sprinkle of taking over another person’s job temporarily, and…

*whew*

I have not been able to sit down and figure out my goals very clearly yet. And the interesting possible changes will throw the goals out the window and require a new set.

On a side note: I could use some good mojo the next few days to swing the changes in my favor. I really hope the changes will come through, but if they don’t, what’s meant to be, is meant to be.


I can tell you my vague 2012 goals though…

1) I’d like to increase our family income somehow. My second job has allowed us to purchase a few things we really need, but were pretending we didn’t, but it hasn’t really allowed us to save. They didn’t give me enough hours like they said they would.

2) I’d like to decrease the amount we pay for our health. I pay way too much monthly for a high deductible plan. Our medical right now is between a third and a half of my gross income. I need to find some way to decrease it.

3) I’d like to put some more into our EF. I found that I am more comfortable with $3000 in our EF than I am with only $1500.

4) I’d like to constantly put some money into our health deductible fund. Right now we’re putting in $75/month, which is a start, but not nearly enough.


Of course, I have other goals floating around in my head that I’d like to accomplish, but without any concrete way to tackle them, I think I’ll let them float temporarily.

Wow, it’s been awhile. Time has flown by without me really noticing. Lots of little random things happened, and I’m not sure where the time has gone.

I started my part-time job (finally!) two weeks ago. I’ve had an orientation, training, and a shift. And then I got sick for the last six days straight. I can’t even function to do my day job, so I had to call in my last two shifts sick. I feel like a dweeb. Here I fought so hard for this job, and then I get really sick. I’m still not healthy enough to make it to my desk job, much less stand and talk to customers as a cashier. Luckily, my voice sounds absolutely terrible, so they’ve believed me so far.

Hopefully, I will be healthier by Wed when my next shift is. They’re only scheduling me for 9 hours/week despite my preference/their offer of 15-20. I’ll take it, as I honestly enjoy the job despite the money. I doubt that they’ll be keeping me on after the season ends in two and a half weeks. They’ll have only seen me for 8 to 10 shifts max. How can anyone honestly say how well I did if I worked so little?

In other news, we have received two more bills for the kidney stone that happened back in Sept. There went our cash cushion. Hopefully that’s it, or we’ll have to start touching the emergency fund again.

We’re dropping our dental insurance. We pay $100/month, and it’s not worth it. There is no way we spend $1200 for two of us a year in dental cleanings/fillings. This will allow my paycheck to increase a little despite the health insurance increase.

After long and lengthy discussions, my husband is not going to continue schooling. The field wasn’t for him and I’d rather not have more student loans. Now to figure out what’s next…

Oh, I failed NaNoWriMo which is very unlike me, but it’s been a stressful couple of months, so I’m giving me some slack. I have no December goals, as I just need to get through this sickness and then catch up at work. I am working on coming up with 2012 goals, but things are so… topsy turvey, I have no clue what to do besides “stay in budget”.

First off, the good news: We sold Car #2. Yay! But we sold it to a dealership for the same amount that we owe. Boo. It was either wait and wait and wait, pay for the oil change, new tires, insurance, extra gas, etc. Or sell it for way less. We took the sell it for less (obviously). It is making such a difference in the budget.

And now… the What?!? News: Like I said in my last post, I was told I failed the drug test, but I don’t do drugs (or prescription drugs, or eat poppy seeds). When I called the HR guy back, he said he sent an email that “[I] passed so they should pass [me]” (whatever that means) and that he’d call me back when he got approval. He also mentioned that orientation was 10 to 2 on Friday. I rearranged my schedule so I could do the orientation, but it kind of suck that it was during my normal work hours.

Next day, he called me back and said I was approved, and that there were two orientations, the second at 5 to 9. I practically jumped in joy and said I would do the later one so I could keep working. He said ok and had me wait for a second so he could write it down before he told me the details of what to wear and bring to orientation.

I show up at ten to 5 and wait where I was supposed to wait. At 5, when no one else was there, I went up to customer service who told me that orientation was to wait where I was supposed to wait, someone was supposed to come get me.

I waited 20 minutes before going back up to customer service. They called the HR guy to the desk. The customer service people (one a manger) weren’t happy to hear my story. I made sure to tell them about the drug test part, too. The HR guy arrived and said that he had just canceled the orientation. He thought that he had called the only person who was doing the orientation. As we talked, me a little upset and confused, him saying that he was going to be in so much trouble.

So as it stands, supposedly they’re having another orientation this week. If I don’t hear from him, I am supposed to call him on Monday by 9. Of course, I’m guessing the orientation will be on Wednesday, when I’m out of town and had asked off as a condition of hiring.

On top of that, when I got home after the major mess up, I had a letter from the corporate office. It said that I never took the drug test. What?!? I can’t imagine what is next. I don’t know what to think about this other than the HR guy doesn’t want to hire me.

I’m half tempted to call on Monday and tell him (or his supervisor) all my complaints, including that I turned down another job for this, and then tell him no thanks.

As I had mentioned, I was offered conditional employment for a seasonal part-time job two weeks ago, went and took the drug test, and was waiting to hear back about orientation. I called late last week, wondering if I could make other plans for last weekend, and they said that they hadn’t gotten the results yet. So I made plans and enjoyed what I thought would be my last free weekend in forever.

When I didn’t hear anything this week, I called this afternoon asking about it. I was on hold for a while, and when he got back on, he said something that made me just about fall out of my chair - I failed my drug test.

WTF?! I don’t do drugs. I don’t smoke. I drink maybe once a year. I am a goody-to-shoes. It’s insulting to even off-handidly impy that I have done drugs.

The HR guy said that I need to call the drug testing center if I thought they were wrong, and that they have been wrong before. I called, and all the drug testing center could tell me was that they had no problems processing the test and that if the employer wanted to confirm or ask a question, they could call them. The drug testing center could not tell me if passed or not.

I called back, stating such, and I am waiting for a phone call back from the HR guy. If he doesn’t call me back in an hour, I plan to call him... again.

Seriously. How frustrating. All I want is a few hours a week for a month and a half. I’ve put my life on hold, not scheduling things, because I thought I would have orientation with little warning and get put on the schedule so that I would have a few practice runs before the busy Black Friday.

I can’t help but to think that they’re trying not to hire me. If they wanted to rescind their offer, rescind the offer! Say we hired too many people; say that I have the wrong hours that they need, something. I’d get it! Don’t insult me by saying I do drugs.

I can’t believe I turned down another (seasonal part-time) job for this one.

I am flabbergasted.

***

In other news, income isn’t increasing (the above job fiasco, hubby not getting interviews, and in 2012, losing $35/paycheck for insurances), monthly costs aren’t decreasing (still no bites on Car 2), and unexpected expenses are coming thru the woodwork.

No wonder I’m so pessimistic lately.

I had applied Sunday to two part time jobs. They both called, they both interviewed me, and they both wanted to hire me! I was able to pick the one I really wanted (which also has the higher rate) and did the drug screen today.

It is seasonal, and will last through the first week of January, with an option for them to hire me on permanently. I think it’s a perfect fit as I can see if I can handle it with my current full time job without having to commit long-term. I’m hoping to take home an extra $800 before the end of season. We shall see.

Now I just have to wait to hear about training and when my schedule starts. A few people are worried about me burning out. I am cautious, but I think I can handle it. If I can’t, I can always find someone to cover some of my shifts or quit.

Now to just figure out what I want to apply it to… hmm…

October is pretty much over. We still have not sold the car despite dropping the price even more. No one has even inquired. There have only been two scams: “pay me x and we’ll sell it” and “my agent will pick it up, give me your paypal info”. Ah, no thanks. It’s been suggested to post it on some craigslists that are a bit farther away. Maybe we’ll get a real bite, but I’m skeptical.

I paid the ER bill, and am waiting on the follow up appointment bills. It only halved our savings account, which isn’t too bad. Way better than I expected.

I applied to two part-time jobs today. My husband is talking of applying, but I can’t sit around and wait for him. Most tell me that I’m crazy to apply for a part-time job on top of my full time job because my full time job is so “much” of a job. We’ll see. Even if I do it only seasonally, every penny will help. I might apply to two more tonight.

I am going to do NaNoWriMo again this year. I’m not sure if I’m going to finish so I think my monthly goal will be to write a bit every week. My story idea isn’t fleshed out at all, but I have kind of a premise. As long as it provides words and constant movement in the story, I’m ok with that.

I’m honestly not looking forward to November. It’s going to be a long tiring month with many trials. I wish I would have been able to go on that vacation so I could go into this relaxed and ready to get stuff done. I just hope it speeds by.

It’s been awhile. Between 2 week long colds, that kidney stone, a computer going on the fritz, partially taking over a coworker’s position, and switching rooms, we’ve been pretty much “recovering” all month so far. This post will probably be random.

It looks like we won’t be hitting our deductible this year (yay), but it looks like we’ll probably wipe out most of our savings (boo). That’s what it’s for, but I just wish I had the opportunity to save back up.

We’ve posted Car 2, at a price under KBB. No calls. I think there are 3 factors: 1) it’s too high of a price if we want to sell it quickly. 2) it’s rear wheel drive with a mid-west winter coming on. And 3) it’s a pricey used car with everyone in this area freaking out about jobs/income. We’re dropping the price slowly every few weeks hoping we’ll get a nibble, but short of begging a dealership of buying it (at an insanely low price and trying to be talked into trading in) there’s not much we can do yet.

We’ve flip flopped rooms with my brother. I’ve spent most of this month slowly cleaning, priming, priming, painting, painting, painting, …and finally moving. Still need to do a lot of staining/polying of windows/doors/decorative wooden ledges, but it’s getting there. It’s a nice change of scenery and doesn’t feel as temporary as my previous set of rooms. Plus we’ve spent very little on it as most of the supplies had already been purchased or found around the house.

Instead of writing 5 cards and meeting up with a friend, I’ll have reconnected with 5 friends, and send one card. Funny how life switched that up on me. I’m counting it as a successful month, even though it was reversed.

It seems like the federal direct loans really restructured their website. I’m loving it so far as I can finally apply payments the way I’ve always wanted to, but I haven’t used it yet since we’re in deferment. I will probably re-number all the student loans in January because it isn’t even grouped the same anymore. This will help with my snowball method and to target those that have a higher interest. (Whenever I have money towards debt repayment, that is.)

We’re still debating our options for our future, and we’re not sure if he’s going to continue schooling. Honestly, it’s feeling like a gamble. A lot of money/time/debt for a potential for a payoff. Will it actually payoff? We don’t know; a lot can change in 4 years. Will it be worth it? That’s debatable. We’ll see. He has until December to pick a route as the University application is due then or shortly thereafter.

My next year’s dental insurance numbers came in today. I love dental insurance. It’s simple, easy to manage (from the HR perspective since I run it at work), and it rarely goes up much. This time it is only a $3.56 per month increase. I can handle that. I’m just terrified of the health insurance number for which I’m still waiting. That one I’m expecting $50 to $100/month increase.

I shocked the coworkers in the weekly meeting today. I just happened to remind them that, hey, it’s the end of the year, and guess what, that means all the end of the year stuff. I hope they’re ready for a long sprint. I’m not procrastinating until December. I have enough that they aren’t involved in that goes into work in December/January. I’d like to reach February without keeling over.

Since my year’s goals have been shot, I’m going to make a few mini-end-of-year goals:
1) Sell Car 2 or get Car Loan 2 under 11k. Very doable if I can swing the January payment before the end of the year.
2) Finish staining and/or polying our room
3) Declutter/sell/toss books and craft supplies
4) Finish a craft for a Christmas gift

That should be easy enough and costs very little. :-) Speaking of Christmas gifts, I’m thinking I can stick to my $50 budget I weaseled in for this year. I can make or use some of the stuff I’ve been stocking up earlier this year for gifts.

Ok, time to end this long rambling post.

Well, we’re selling car 2. We posted it on craigslist last night, and once we take it through the car wash today, we’ll take a picture and post it on carsoup. It was easier to convince the husband than I expected. Although, it kind of makes sense, we’ve been thinking/talking about it since July.

I’m happy with the decision because I’ve never been really thrilled about the purchase of car 2. It was impulsive and so not like me. At the time we could afford the car (since husband was working two part-time jobs) and have plenty to save/payoff debt, but not anymore. I can say that I won’t ever buy a used car ever again as a family/until it dies car. I would, however, be ok buying a used car as a short-term (read: year or two) clunker. And I don’t want to buy a car with a car loan EVER AGAIN. Oie the headaches this car has given me.

Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll only get a little over $2500 back after we pay off the car loan (depending on the negotiations when they happen). That will go straight to the rest of our deductible for the year and re-building up the EF.

Car 1 has under $8000 on the loan and is zero percent finance. Good gas mileage, good for long trips to visit his family, and good for fitting the nieces in (and their car seats, toys, and groceries). At the moment, we’re not going to sell it, but it’s not off the table. We need to sell car 2 first and foremost.

We’ve also been talking about my husband’s future. His schooling is really taking a toll on us and maybe it’s not the best time to do this. We’re not sure what his other career options are though. Right now, his recent experience puts him at low-wage/minimum-wage, part-time, no ladder to climb jobs. While doable (he’s done that for quite some time when he was trying to get into his dream job), he’s a college graduate and can do so much more.

I recently read something that says our generation is the “lost generation”. I am beginning to think that is so true. I can’t tell you the number of my friends who are living with parents and are taking whatever jobs they can get. It’s sad. I’m jealous of 30-something year olds who have relevant experience in their field and have roots/place of their own, and those who are just entering college now who will be the pick of employers when they graduate. We don’t have relevant experience, and by time there are jobs open, our degrees and knowledge will be outdated.

Well, I’m posting my budget. I haven’t done this in forever, but it’s to the point of I’m going crazy trying to make it work and its unsustainable. I need someone else to agree with me on my thoughts or give me other ideas.


Monthly Take-Home Income: $1220
Total Monthly Expenses: $1220


Monthly Car Expenses Total: $930
Car Loan 1: $248 (0%)
Car Loan 2: $305 (~5%)
Gas: $277
Insurance Savings: $100

Monthly Allowance* Expenses Total: $280
My weekly allowance: $40
Husband’s weekly allowance: $40
Joint allowance: $100
Puppy allowance: $100

Other Monthly Expenses Total: $10
Netflix: $10
Student Loans: deferred

*About allowances-
~Weekly Allowances: the $10/week/each goes towards things we want for ourselves that isn’t for a joint reason. For example, lunch out for work functions, needing new socks or clothes, getting a new CD/game, buying a grocery craving.
~Monthly Joint Allowance: it is for groceries, dining out, entertainment/dates, cold medicine, items that are used jointly. $100 is really small, $200 is where we function the best without wasting money or scaling too far back. Thank goodness my parents feed us a lot.
~Puppy allowance: This is for her food, frontline/heartguard, and vet visits. I’m crossing fingers that our expenses for this goes down now that she’s spayed and rid of giardia.


*****
My first thought is we need to increase income. Period.

My second thought is that we are now really, really, really car heavy. We weren’t while he was working two part-time jobs which brought in way more than my salaried job due to health insurances coming out of my pay (~$700/mo), but now that he doesn’t have either one, it is a heavy burden. I’d like to sell car 2 because it isn’t a car I can comfortably drive. Or we could easily sell my car since it’s a used Toyota. Or we could sell both and fix the windshield on my parent’s old ’94 beater-no suspension left, rusted van. It’s an awful situation and I’m also selfish in the thoughts that I will be the one that has to carpool and be carless all the time. Been there, done that, it sucks. But I’ll suck it up though…

Because… If you notice, there is no monthly savings in there for emergencies. My income never fluctuates up. Our EF fund will be gone with the recent trip to ER. If the car gets a flat, it’s going to have to go on the credit card, and not be paid off… for who knows how long. There is no way to even start paying back the EF, so next year, we’ll have nothing if either of us needs to go to the doctor. There is no savings for Christmas. We usually have extra expenses around that time for traveling (ie: driving/gas/food) to visit his family more than presents. We don’t do presents in my family or to each other, but I do typically get something for his nieces and nephews. Plus, insurances go up at the end of the year which means my paycheck goes down fast.

So…We need to increase income and decrease car. Am I right? There's not much else to it that I can see...

Lucky us, we got to visit the ER today. My poor husband woke me up at 5am because he was in pain and couldn’t take it anymore. He’s the kind of guy that never needs to go to the doctor, and will never want to unless it’s bad. The on call doc said to go in and not wait.

I was really impressed with the ER service, and we got in right away (which totally dispelled my wait forever belief). After an IV, blood tests, urine test, shot of pain meds, and a CT scan, we found out he has a kidney stone. Poor fellow.

Now that I’ve had a nap and time to process what happened (I’m not a morning person), I’m starting to think about what this is going to cost me. We have a high deductible plan ($5400), and I only have $3000 in my EF. I’ve read that an ER visit for a kidney stone can cost from $500 to $10,000. Anyone have a better estimate for me so I don’t go into sticker shock when I finally get the bills?

Oh, and is September over yet?

The second half of the month wasn’t any better. One failed goal. I didn’t increase income. One succeeded goal. I didn’t go over our strict budget

I don’t have any good to say about anyone or anything right now, so I think I’ll just keep this short.

My October goals:
1) Send handwritten cards to five people
2) Connect in person with a friend and do something fun

I’m in a bad, icky, dark mood…

I’ve tried to increase our income twice so far this month, and both failed miserably.

It’s the last weekend of my husband’s remaining part time job. I think he thinks he won’t be able to handle another part time job with his “heavy” schooling. Not sure how far I can push the issue without causing a huge fight/lasting resentment since we can and are living on what I do bring home. There’s just not enough to save, pay for unexpected expenses, or pay for his schooling if we don’t get financial aid.

I shocked my husband when I proved to him that when he graduates, we’ll have $60,000 in student loans to cover only tuition, fees, and books. $12,000 from the past, plus $9,000 this year, and about $13,000 each the next three. I sure as hell hope he graduates early and is able to work part time through school. Funny thing is, we’ve talked about the number before and it’s just now clicking in his mind.

Then I realized, while proving the numbers to him, that since we got married 3.5 years ago, we paid down $21,000 in credit card debts (from moving cross country twice), bank of moms loans (wedding lending), and student loans. (Well and added two car loans, but I don’t really count those since I can sell both easily for more than I owe. Net-wise, they’re positive). Which, now that I think about it, wasn’t too bad for progress. But now we’ll have it back up to that insane number in no time.

Plus, that number makes me wonder if I shouldn’t have paid down debts and instead I should have saved for a down payment on a house. Which is a whole stupid thought cycle in itself. I wouldn’t have been able to pay house payment and all those minimum balances. But, gah, I want my own place!

And then my relationships with friends/family aren’t going too well. But that’s a whole book in itself.

So yeah, dark mood. Chocolate isn’t working. Catching up on sleep might. Hopefully I’ll wake up tomorrow feeling less moody.

I really hate how every penny now has a need. I loved having “leftover” money each month to put towards savings, debt repayment, or random expenses that came up. Now, even the auto-savings has a need. Every six months, the exact amount we put in will come out to pay for the car insurances.

I was just thinking that by time my husband’s schooling is over, we’ll have lived with my parents for 7ish years. Never in a million years did I think this would happen. How depressing.

So yeah, I’m not sure if I’m going to survive the next 4 years of scrimping by and additional debt. I really hope this proves to be worth it.

September’s goals:
[ ] Stick to tight budget
[ ] Increase income

There have been a lot of things to talk about financially, but I’ve been too tired to write about them the past several days. So here we go…

I’m not sure what I’m going to use the book income for. This round I just let it go into the joint fund so we could get school supplies. We’ll see when/if I sell the rest.

I asked for and got a credit limit increase on my credit card. Not as much as I wanted, but something is better than nothing. I won’t need it, but it’s good to have. They will be mailing me the reason why I can’t get the full increase I want.

I still haven’t moved my personal account yet. I haven’t had time yet and still aren’t sure where to put it. I like Wells online checking best out of the three I’ve had in the past. I need to check out the local credit union in town.

Husband’s last day of his part-time job was yesterday. He’s happy. And school starts Monday for him. He’s excited. I’m excited too, actually. Not as much as he, though.

We have financial aid worked out. Subsidized and unsubsidized loans cover tuition, fees, books, supplies, car loan for 4 months, and gas. It is more than we technically “need”, but this way we can have some wiggle room each month until we officially decide to sell car 2 or husband gets a part time job (we will decide on that in a few weeks). We can always pay it back if we don’t use it.

I’ve been asked by a state to file 2007 taxes… uh, I don’t owe that state taxes and I did file my 2007 taxes for the correct state. And even then I made around $10,000 that year… why would they come after me? It’s more annoying than anything.

We paid for what we hope will be the last of the vet bills this week. She was spayed and still seems like the giardia is gone. We’ve said that before, but I’m hoping it’s finally gone this time. I don’t want to add up how much we’ve spent at the vet since we’ve gotten her.

I’ve been asked a few times these last few weeks what my dream job would be or what I would go back to school if we could afford it. I don’t have an answer. We’ve been so focused on helping the family and my husband going for his dream job(s). We’ve been surviving and I’ve been taking it one day at a time. It’s hard to dream when my first priority is to get rid of debt and my second priority is to get our own place. I need to work on that.

I think that’s all. I’ve been anxiously waiting for more news from Scottishgirl all day: how her appt went and if her move to her mom’s went smoothly. :-)

I posted four books on half.com and have sold two! I have mailed them and have $5.94 profit off the two despite they sold for $4 a piece. The $2.64/each shipping allowance covers the $2.41/each postage, But it doesn’t really cover the bubble envelope that I found at dollar general for $0.66/each. I need to find an envelope for 23 cents or less. Any ideas? The only thing I’ve found close was 35 cents but I had to buy 100 from uline.

I wouldn’t worry much if I had pricey books, but the out 41 books I looked at, only 4 of them could be sold for $1 or more. The rest were all $0.75 so far. If I can’t find packaging that would be less than 23 cents, I would really only get 21 cents profit. And what’s the point of that?

I got an email today from Wells Fargo. My personal checking that holds my weekly allowance is no longer going to be free. There will be a $7/month fee starting mid-September. Well, that is unless I direct deposit $500/month or keep $1500 in it… which is hard when I only have a $10/week allowance. Hah. So time to get a new checking account.

Although I’m half tempted to just make a “sub-account” in my joint checking instead and just use that to make my purchases. I don’t really want to open another account at this moment. What’s funny is my husband’s personal account isn’t changing, but it’s probably because he had gotten it as a student account initially. I used to like Wells, but I’m beginning to change my mind.

Also, it seems like Netflix has raised its prices, but is removing watch instantly shows – no more Up, District 9, Babylon 5… We were just going to downgrade to watch instantly only, but now we’re more than half-tempted to drop it all together. It was the one frivolous thing we were going to allow, but maybe not.

I have a lot of books. Young Adult, Children, Adult, Classics College books… all sorts of books. When I unpacked them this year for the first time in a few years, I was so happy to have them. But now that I’ve looked at them for several weeks, I realized that I have favorites that I read on a yearly basis, but I have a lot of other ones that are just ok. I had kept them because at one point I had wanted to have a HUGE library where the room was 360 degrees of bookshelves overflowing with books. I don’t see that in my future anymore, so I think it’s time to part with some. Plus, I could use the extra personal funds.

I found that when I took them to half-priced books, I would get what seemed like pennies per book. I would like to try to sell them online, but I don’t know the best place to sell books. Is half.com decent? Do you have any suggestions on places or suggestions on how to sell them? I’m not interested in paperback swap, because I don’t read much these days nor do I typically find new stuff I like when I do borrow books.

Speaking of selling… I have some pretty nice dolls and Barbies that I’ve been thinking about selling. Where/how should I go about selling those?

We’ve finally made our decision.

It started with getting letters from the places that my husband interviewed at containing the multiple variations of “no”. Those were the last ones we were waiting on. His eligibility to get this type of job is up soon and since each application process takes 4 to 5 months, we’re pretty much to the limit of his ability to be hired. A year and a half he’s been applying, interviewing, getting to the top of the interview process, and then not getting hired.

So, he’s going to go back to school to get a second degree. His first degree is a liberal arts one that has no real job attached to it. It could be applied to many things, but it doesn’t help him with any specialized skills or job experience. So this one is more … specific, for a lack of better term, and has real job applications with potential for a nice salary.

It is a 4 year degree though, and the only thing his previous degree will help with is that he will most likely not have to do any gen eds or liberal arts electives. He is starting this fall with some of the basic classes at the local tech and will transfer into the university next fall. This will help keep the cost down.

He will be leaving the part-time job that he has the most hours with because they are not flexible with schedule at all. Unfortunately, that knocks our take-home pay in little more than half. He will be keeping his other part-time job, but that’s only one weekend per month without ability to pick up extra hours or shifts. He is planning on getting a student job or other part-time job in-between/after classes, but we don’t know when that will happen.

I have rearranged our budget to survive on my paycheck alone. We have already started this new tight budget for August even though he’s working through the end of it. I want to bank every penny we can before it actually happens. Once his current student loans go into deferment, we will have a little wiggle room, but not much. We will also need to take out more student loans since we don’t have anything saved up for it.

Also, we had the really tough conversation about selling Car 2. It’s his dream car and I love the freedom of having my own car. Yet, we could use the monthly payment for other things and the extra money from selling it could really be used in the EF. I don’t see us being able to put much into savings for the next 4 years. So we will be selling it. He sees the sale as an investment into his future. I see it as a necessity, even though I will end up being the one without a car again.

I have canceled my fall trip, because we no longer have much of a personal allowance or even much of a joint allowance. I know I will need clothes here for winter soon, so my money will be saved for when I feel like I can no longer stretch what little I have. My husband offered to help pay for it out of his personal, but he doesn’t have much saved up and he could use any cushion he has too. It was very sweet of him to offer to help, though.

Let’s see, what else is there to tell.

My husband is really excited about going back to school and the subject matter. It’s not his “dream job” anymore, but it’ll be interesting. Plus, he will have internships that could become a job once he graduates. He also is very happy he won’t have to stay at the part-time job as it can go nowhere promotion-wise, time-wise, benefit-wise, or even raise-wise.

I am growing a little excited. It’s change, even though it’s not much change for me. Plus, I tend to learn things when he’s learning. He loves coming home and telling me about class or what he read.

What I am not excited about is that we will be taking out more student loans. And there is no guarantee for a job at the end of this. And there is no chance for moving out; we won’t be able to afford it for the next four years or even for probably a year or two after that as we dig ourselves out of student loan debt. And we won’t be able to go to Russia for the Olympics; he’ll be full time at school then.

It seems kind of counter-intuitive to go into more debt in order to make money, but we don’t have many other options. Here’s to hoping that the economy gets better in the next 4 years so that when he completes the degree, there will be plenty jobs.

This month started with so much promise and excitement, and has ended in BLEH. Bad month for goals. Bad month for anything planned. It all went wrong on so many levels.

I didn’t succeed at any of my goals for July:

[/] Save $100 of personal – Managed to save $75, forgot I needed a few things, so I didn’t manage to squeak out those last $25, but it might not matter anyways as the trip may be canceled.
[-] Teach puppy 4 tricks – Didn’t happen. It was an odd month. Nothing got done. And surprise! She is still sick. Puppy is back on medicine. I’m beginning to think the Giardia will never go away. :-(
[-] Plot lunches and buy groceries – I seriously only needed this to happen once to consider it a success, so of course it didn’t happen. I did try, though.
[/] Cook one family meal – Well, I didn’t, but my husband did and I kind of helped. Does that count as a partial?
[-] Eat breakfast 20 out of 31 days – Only ate breakfast 5 times. Pathetic.

Now onto August, I don’t have any goals for this month because we’re in the process of making a decision that will affect the next few years of our life and a lot of our money. My husband is optimistic, and frankly excited. I, on the other hand, am not excited, but I don’t see many other options. I’m sorry I’m being vague. I just don’t want to jinx it either way. I’ll go more into it once we finalize.

So, a few days ago I received an email from my car dealership. They would like me to trade in my 2009 Yaris for a 2011 Yaris. Traded in, including all the taxes and registration and fees, they would come back with a monthly payment of $5 less per month.

I haven’t asked for more specific details yet, but is this even something to think about? My current loan is 0% and I think if this new loan has interest, I would balk, but if it’s also 0%... Well hmmm. A car two years newer is always nice, even if I have car payments for a few years more, but at theoretical 0%, it would hard to say no. Right?

What else would I have to ask besides interest rate? The Yaris's (Yari?) are pretty bare/standard, so it’s not like I would be trading down in features… What a sales pitch. I can't think of the downside, and there's got to be one.

What do you think? I’m not sure what I think. My husband isn’t sure what he thinks either.

It’s been a bad week from the get-go for me. Ran out of stain for doors I wanted to get done before guests came (they didn’t get done – not even close), got a flat tire, bank messed up –three times, clients asking for payment plans on pre-paid discounts, lots of things going wrong… Actually, just about everything I touched this week went wrong.

I’m tired, cranky, and stressed to the max. This weekend the house is full of family guests. I’m really looking forward to visiting with them, but hopefully I can shake this bad mojo so it doesn’t rub off on them.

The only plus is in our finances. I managed to send $20 to my personal savings and an extra $100 to Car Loan 2 this week.

It’s been a chaotic past few weeks. Luckily, busy meant keeping me from the stores (mostly, had one oops). The pooch is doing better health-wise. It’s not 100% gone yet, but I think this last round of meds this next week should hopefully knock it out and we can start weaning her off of the expensive special canned food back onto puppy kibble. She’s GROWN so much now, and yesterday she shed the lanky wire-y look and turned into a beautiful elegant puppy. We’re loosening her collar on almost a daily basis it seems.

My husband is back in the months-long interviewing processes again for two places. He’s made it to the top 50 out of 270 applicants in one, and 120 out of 200+ on the other since they both just started. We’re crossing all our fingers, toes, and eyes hoping that one of these will pan out. Otherwise, we’re going to have to start looking at other options which puts the work we’ve done for the past two+ years down the drain.



On the no-spend month wrap up:
I filled up in Week 4 (10.385 gallons at $3.539/gallon for a total of $36.75, 376.2 miles at 36.2mpg) and I filled up yesterday in Week 5 (9.055 gallons at $3.569/gallon for a total of $32.32, 315.50 miles at 34.8mpg).

I did spend in Week 4 at Kohl’s. I had $5 gift money that was expiring, along with a $10 Kohl’s Cash, plus 15% off. I ended up finding two things I wanted, K-cups and a gift so I spent $11.29 on my Kohl’s Card. I debated on not paying it back until next month, but then I’d be carrying a “debt”, so I paid it off right away. One oops out of the month isn’t too bad!

At the end of this week, I have $63.62 left, so I sent $62 to savings in order to surpass my monthly savings goal!

$66.26 – Opening Balance
-$20.00 – Week 1 Savings
-$26.33 – Week 1 Gas
+$65.00 – Week 2 Allowance
-$40.00 – Week 2 Savings
-$31.46 – Week 2 Gas
+$65.00 – Week 3 Allowance
-$30.00 – Week 3 Savings
-$34.49 – Week 3 Gas
+$65.00 – Week 4 Allowance
-$36.75 – Week 4 Gas
-$11.29 – Kohl’s Spending (oops)
+65.00 – Week 5 Allowance
-$32.32 – Week 5 Gas
-$62.00 – Week 5 Savings
=$1.62 – Cushion Left after No-Spend Month!

Total amount saved: $152 - $2 over the $150 goal!

I’m feeling really good about my progress. It was hard not to go buy food for lunch or buy two CDs that just came out that I really want. But I did it!



On June’s Goals:
[/] Do not spend personal money – I think I will leave this as half completed. I did spend, but I also did save my goal
[X] Open a personal savings ($152) – Success!
[-] Start a puppy fund – HA! No go. I can’t wait until she’s healthy.
[/] Teach the puppy 3 tricks – I think I will leave this one as half completed as well. She learned jump and lay down, but not come or stay. Come is still a work in progress. Stay is laughable.
[-] Sign up for puppy class – Can’t until she’s healthy and won’t pass he sickness on to the other pooches.
[-] Finish cross-stitch – Didn’t have the time to sit down and even glance in that direction.
[X] Get motivated at work again - Done
[/] Complete 3 work projects – Partially done. Made a lot of progress, but only one was officially completed. I’m hoping Monday will be very productive since everyone will be out of the office besides my puppy and me.

Only two goals completed, but that’s ok. I made progress, and it is summer. No surprise there.



July’s Goals:

1) Save another $100 of personal spending. This will give me about $50 to be able to get a few things if I want to because I don’t think I will be able to do another completely no spend month. But I really need to save quite a bit more for my trip this fall.
2) Teach puppy 4 new tricks, potentially Come, Heel, Stay, Speak, Roll Over, and/or Shake
3) Plot lunches and buy groceries for both husband and I – If I even do this once, I will consider this a success. We’re horrible at planning lunches in advance.
4) Cook at least one meal for family
5) Eat/drink something for breakfast 20 out of 31 days – another issue of mine because I hate breakfast foods and spending time in the morning eating. This one will be hard for me, but I know breakfast isn’t something I should skip.

Seems I have a lot of food issues to work on this month. Maybe this will help with being healthier and give me more energy.

In overall news, the pup knows a few new tricks. She’s about 75% accurate on “Come” and “Heel”, but the one that she’s shining in is “Circles” where she runs in a tight circle. I knew a friend who taught there dog that in order for them to “wipe their feet” when they came in. I like it because it burns some of her energy. :-p We’re just starting “lay down”, but it’s proving tricky as she puts her butt back in the air and does a reverse sit so we have to keep our hand on her tush. It’s actually rather amusing.

I’m finally motivated back at work. Last week was –very- productive, and this week already I’m rocking off the to-do lists. I’m counting that as goal completed. I also have finished 1 long term project finally. I’m hoping tomorrow to have another done.

My vitamin D test came back in the mid-lower “healthy range” with no recommendations on what to do. I can feel it fading though, but not enough to go in and force the issue. Doctors always seem to blow off the little things that make a BIG difference. No wonder I had to self-diagnose the tomato/potato/peppers/paprika intolerance. They thought I was making up feeling icky all the time. Sometimes I daydream about how it must feel to feel healthy all the time. Nothing major is wrong with me, just a lot of little piddly stuff. I probably should just get a vitamin D pill at the grocery store and take a low dose daily. I’ll have to think about it.



On the personal no-spend month front, I filled up on Friday morning (9.427 gallons at $3.659/gallon for a total of $34.49, 329.3 miles at 34.9mpg). And then Fri I traveled across town for work, Sat I traveled quite a way to visit a friend, and Sun was full of errands. I will have to fill up tomorrow morning already and possibly at the end of the week.

Today’s allowance day (Yay!), but I didn’t put anything into savings early this week in case I do need it for gas.

I almost broke down and bought lunch today, but I made a quick sandwich instead. It was a strange sandwich, but it saved me a good $5.


$66.26 – Opening Balance
-$20.00 – Week 1 Savings
-$26.33 – Week 1 Gas
+$65.00 – Week 2 Allowance
-$40.00 – Week 2 Savings
-$31.46 – Week 2 Gas
+$65.00 – Week 3 Allowance
-$30.00 – Week 3 Savings
-$34.49 – Week 3 Gas
+$65.00 – Week 4 Allowance
=$78.98 – Available for gas with remainder going to savings

Total amount saved so far: $90 out of $150


*About my personal account: Every Monday I get $65 to purchase gas and my personal splurges. In June, anything not spent on gas will be sent to savings for my trip this fall.

June has been declared spendy (joint wise) and I’ll just have to tighten the belt elsewhere and adjust. I had a long and tiring weekend, and this week is insanely busy already. Plus, my puppy is not getting any better and she was supposed to be a LOT better already. So we might have another vet bill in the week. Also, went in for a recheck on Vitamin D levels. I can feel my energy flagging already now that the pills are done. *sigh*

Oh, but I did take our dimes, nickels and pennies in today to be deposited into joint. It came to $43.82! Yay, little wiggle room!

And so we’re on Week 3 of my personal no spend month. (The only place I feel like I’m making progress! Weekly allowance in, savings of $30 out. Balance:

$66.26 – Opening Balance
-$20.00 – Week 1 Savings
-$26.33 – Week 1 Gas
+$65.00 – Week 2 Allowance
-$40.00 – Week 2 Savings
-$31.46 – Week 2 Gas
+$65.00 – Week 3 Allowance
-$30.00 – Week 3 Savings
=$48.47 – Available for gas with remainder going to savings

Total amount saved so far: $90 out of $150


*About my personal account: Every Monday I get $65 to purchase gas and my personal splurges. In June, anything not spent on gas will be sent to savings for my trip this fall.

When we refinanced our car, we couldn’t figure out what the exact payoff amount was since it all depended on when they received it and when they processed it (ended up being three banking business days after they signed for it... grr), so we refinanced for about $380 more than the payoff ended up being. We figured as soon as it was paid off, we could turn around and apply whatever was leftover right back to the loan… but that money’s gone already.

Plus, over half of our $200 monthly joint allowance is gone and we’re only 11 days into June! We have a visit to a friend’s house next weekend (money for gas, and probably food), and a friend visiting the following weekend (gas for outings and food). Plus, we need to buy more puppy food and a new bone for her. It’ll be gone in no time.

AND I’ve had to take money out of our savings account to cover some of the expenses (pay off May’s credit card balance, unexpected expenses, and smaller checks coming in). Bah. Gah. And phooey.

So, where did all the money go? It pretty much went to the vet. I had budgeted $150 this month for the 12 week vaccines and food for the pooch, but yesterday we surpassed that amount by $100 for one vet visit. We went in for the 12 week vaccines, and brought a stool sample as she still was having soft stools. Here to find out (as I expected) she still has giardia and coccidia, so we’re on a 4 week-long more aggressive treatment to cure the giardia, and they think they wiped out the coccidia yesterday with one-time last treatment. I’m skeptical. She’s tired today from the vaccines, bland (and lower amount) food, the coccidia treatment, and the first dose of the giardia treatment. I can’t believe we’ve been fighting this for 4 weeks already, and it’ll be another 4 weeks before the treatment might be done, IF it’s successful.

But despite all this, we paid this last visit with cash and paid off the May credit card balance (vet, new puppy expenses, unexpected friend’s visit, “rent” gift, etc). I didn’t want to deal with that interest. We’re going to be tight for June and July.

My poor husband wants to go out to eat or go to the movies so bad, but I’m still reeling from the backwards state of our finances and worried about upcoming expenses, and am exhausted overall. I keep telling him that I’m not interested, but he could go out if he wants to (on his own dime). He hasn’t taken the bite, yet, but I think that might mean he’s just antsy and not really wanting to do it.

Oh, and I’m calling the puppy fund goal a fail this month. There’s nothing left to put in it after yesterday. Plus, I won't be signing up for puppy class as that will cost money, and she won't be able to go until she gets the kennel cough vaccine. *sigh*

This week has been HARD. I’ve wanted to spend almost every day. It’s been a tiring week between work (deadlines), puppy (who’s still sick and just got put on more meds), and husband (who’s also sick). The place I’ve wanted to spend the most was for lunches. I go home every lunch to take the pup out, but then I just don’t know what to eat (since I don’t typically get to get the groceries). It’d be so much easier to go out to eat and have someone make the food for me. Well, that is, until I remember my food intolerances. Then it’s not so easy. And then tonight we went into a fabric store, and I’m a sucker for craft supplies. Not that I ever finish any of my projects, but that’s not the point. I managed to walk out without buying a cross stitch I fell in love with. *pat self on back*

Today I filled up on gas. Despite running to the other side of town, twice, I didn’t do too badly. 8.414 gallons at $3.739/gallon for a total of $31.46. I only got 33.5 mpg this time, but that doesn’t surprise me with the two extra long stop and go trips.

$66.26 – Opening Balance
-$20.00 – Week 1 Savings
-$26.33 – Week 1 Gas
+$65.00 – Week 2 Allowance
-$40.00 – Week 2 Savings
-$31.46 – Week 2 Gas
=$13.47 – Available for gas with remainder going to savings

Total amount saved so far: $60 out of $150


*About my personal account: Every Monday I get $65 to purchase gas and my personal splurges. In June, anything not spent on gas will be sent to savings for my trip this fall.

Back from the traveling weekend. It was a nice weekend, but it felt simultaneously long and short. I’m just excited that I get to start the week with a full tank of gas! Plus my puppy only got up once last night! YAY! (We’ll see if it’s a permanent change tonight.)

I will be transferring $40 to my savings account today. Out of sight, out of mind!

$66.26 – Opening Balance
-$20.00 – Week 1 Savings
-$26.33 – Week 1 Gas
+$65.00 – Week 2 Allowance
-$40.00 – Week 2 Savings
=$44.93 – Available for gas with remainder going to savings

Total amount saved so far: $60 out of $150


*About my personal account: Every Monday I get $65 to purchase gas and my personal splurges. In June, anything not spent on gas will be sent to savings for my trip this fall.

Since we’re traveling this weekend, I filled up my tank after work. I put in 6.789 gallons at $3.879 per gallon for a total of $26.33. I had traveled 241.7 miles according to my odometer which means my car made 35.6 miles per gallon. My little Yaris makes me very happy.

This weekend’s trip’s gas will be on joint since we’re both going to the wedding. This means I will start Monday with a full tank of gas. Also, I will not be spending anything this weekend (personally), so I conclude Week 1 as a successful No Spend Week. Only four more to go!

$66.26 – Opening Balance
-$20.00 – Savings 6/1/2011
-$26.33 – Week 1 Gas
=$19.93 – Available for gas with remainder going to savings

Total amount saved so far: $20 out of $150


*About my personal account: Every Monday I get $65 to purchase gas and my personal splurges. In June, anything not spent on gas will be sent to savings for my trip this fall.

I am starting out June with $66.26 in my personal account. I don’t owe joint or my credit card for the first time in a long time! (Sometimes I purchase my personal things with joint items and have to pay joint back, or I buy online and use my credit card which I pay back as soon as it clears.)

In order to start the month out right, I opened a personal savings account with ING and transferred $20 to it. I figured the less that is in the account, the less I have the urge to spend. My goal is to reach $150 in my personal savings.


$66.26 – Opening Balance
-$20.00 – Savings 6/1/2011
=$46.26 – Available for gas with remainder going to savings

Total amount saved so far: $20 out of $150


*About my personal account: Every Monday I get $65 to purchase gas and my personal splurges. In June, anything not spent on gas will be sent to savings for my trip this fall.

Well, end of month is here (tomorrow)! Today puppy and I have been out in the kiddy pool getting her used to water. She’s passed out next to me now. I think I –finally- wore her out.

In the past two and a half weeks, we’ve been to the vet three times. Twice because her poop was loose and once because she spent the night puking with diarrhea. Poor thing has giardia and coccidia, along with a possible UTI and upper respiratory infection. Plus, she just stopped eating one puppy food. We had to abruptly change foods on her because she just wouldn’t eat the other one, no matter what we did to it. It is never healthy to abruptly change foods on dogs, but she’s a little puppy and had to eat. Luckily, she’s in pretty good spirits through this all.

So, needless to say, we’ve overspent on the puppy budget this past month (and have lost a lot of sleep). And this doesn’t even include her 12 week shots and kennel cough vaccine that are coming up in a week and a half (if she’s healthy by then).

Luckily, I already knew that dogs cost a lot of money, so I was mentally prepared for potential high vet costs. She’s worth it, makes me very happy and keeps us all entertained. I just was hoping to have a few months (or years) to save up! I have some catching up to do.

It is weird to see my credit card with a balance though. I’ve gotten so used to it being zero, or close to zero. I might have to carry a balance this month on it depending on our leftover money supply (which might be slowly increasing! Knock on wood!). Not the end of the world. It’ll be gone within two months for sure. Maybe I’ll borrow from our EF to pay it off and then pay back the EF just to avoid the interest. Hmmm…

I have still yet to receive the official doctor’s bills for my vitamin D deficiency. It’s been two months. I wonder when I will get it. Hopefully mail hasn’t lost it. I might have to call and ask… or I might just wait. The money’s there now. I am laughing at myself for worrying about paying them right away. The official bill never comes quickly.

We refinanced our car loan 2 this past week with our current bank. We got the interest rate to drop down .5% and we shortened the term. It’ll be a lot easier to pay extra too with online banking. I sent in the payoff check to Fifth Third Bank, and made them sign for it. They got it early Friday morning according to USPS, but have yet to process it. I plan to make a stink about it if they charge me interest until Tuesday. Now I know for sure it wasn’t the mail taking forever, it was the bank taking forever. I am so glad we refinanced it. Thank goodness I used to mail our payments three weeks in advance.

So onto June… We have a wedding out of town next weekend, and at least one vet visit in the works. I actually have several goals this month, so I’m quite excited. It’ll be an ambitious month, but I can do it!

Goal #1: Do not spend personal money. I am (partially) joining ScottishGirl with a no-spend month. I can’t do joint with a wedding to travel to and a sick puppy, but I can do my own personal money. I receive $65 per week for personal and gas. I spend about $35 a week on gas, so that gives me about $30 left over a week. My goal is to have $150 at the end, more if I use less gas (hard when I’m still coming home for lunch to feed and let the puppy out). I have $65 starting today (spent all of last week’s), so I’m including it minus this week’s gas in my June amount.

Goal #2: Open a personal savings with ING. I hope to go on a vacation this fall with a friend, but I have nothing saved up for it. I want to put the $150 I hope to save this month into a savings and add to it a little each week. Even $5 a week will add up by time fall comes.

Goal #3: Start a puppy fund. I’m debating on keeping this in my normal EF savings account, or open another savings account. I like having things separated, but when does one reach too many accounts?

Goal #4: Teach the puppy to lay down, come, and stay. She already knows sit. We got that in before the tummy problems really started. Hopefully we can start doing treats again this week. Treats help a lot in training her.

Goal #5: Sign up for puppy class. A need for socialization, but it must wait until she’s healthy and gets her shots.

Goal #6: Finish my cross-stitch. I hope to get it done this month in order to give it to my friend for her birthday.

Goal #7: Start getting motivated at work again. Quit procrastinating. Plan each day.

Goal #8: Complete at least three put-off long-term work projects.

We’re trying to refinance our Car Loan 2. The dealership had run the financing through Fifth Third Bank and I am not happy with them. It takes about a week and a half for them to receive and process my checks (I know for a fact that the mail is NOT that slow) and their customer service is frustrating. Plus they don’t have a branch nearby to do business with, so I can’t even walk in the check.

Hubby liked the idea. We went to our bank today and are trying to refinance it with them. Potentially we will get a lower interest rate (from 5.94% to about 4.91%), so besides the ease of financing, it could be good for the pocket book. Plus we are going to knock the term down by a year and a half. :-D

We probably won’t hear until Monday. The guy is going to watch for the application to be approved today, but he said that he’s doubtful as he didn’t have the “they’re waiting” option on the application. I’m in no hurry, just something I wanted to get done eventually.

In other news, puppy is doing well. :-D She’s definitely in the biting stage which is a little frustrating, but potty training and crate training is going well. She is so dang cute! Definitely the Apple of My Eye.

I just realized I never came up with any May Goals. Since May is almost over, and I’m a little sleep deprived, I think I will leave May be. June’s goals will probably include figuring out the puppy budget and decluttering. Too much stuff in my den since I just unpacked everything that puppy can eat. :-)