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...