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.