TarWalker's Blog

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. :-)

My parents opened a life insurance policy for me when I was born. I am just now taking it over and paying the premiums. But I have no clue how it works or functions, and they haven’t explained it in a way that I understand yet.

How does “modified premium whole life” insurance work??? It kind of looks like it has something to do with dividends, and I know I have to pay yearly. Do I keep this insurance or get a different life insurance?

I’m so lost. Can you explain it to me?

What a surprising turn of events happened the other day! Within 6 hours of stumbling across a puppy ad, we had gone and picked out our new puppy! She’s completely smitten with us and we’re head over heels in love with her! She’s a Golden Retriever, on the tiny side right now, but who knows! The first few nights went really well and she’s getting along swimmingly with the family dogs!

(Can you tell I’m excited!!!)

But, as this was rather spur of the moment, it’ll be interesting tweaking the budget here in the next few days to accommodate for the new costs. There’s the adoption fee ($350), the vet bills (paid $120 today for first out of a bazillion puppy visits), food ($10 for 9lbs), puppy classes eventually, and of course, the fun stuff- we just dropped $55 on toys, bones, and a new collar.

Any hints of what I should be budgeting for the pups first year?

She is perfect for us and I am so in love!

Things are going alright. Everything is on a steady hold pattern, which is a nice change from the breath holding “is it going to get worse?” worry. If this holding pattern keeps for the rest of the month, or perhaps gets slightly better, there might be a chance I will get a pay raise come mid-June. Hopefully it’ll bring my salary back up to what it was, but I’d be happy with any raise at this point.

I’ve been looking at dogs again. I’ve become very picky, not because there aren’t cute dogs out there (my coworker just adopted quite a cutie!), but I think it’s because deep down I know we can’t afford a puppy right now and would rather pay down debt and move out.

I was thinking about budgets the other day. My family makes fun of me how I like to “play” with my budget on almost daily basis. Our family accountant said that a budget should be set and put in stone [for that month/year]. Another person asked why would I keep playing with a budget, it’s the same amount of money no matter how you put it.

So perhaps I don’t have a real “budget”, but more of a cash-flow utilization plan. I am planned at least a month out on all aspects, but setbacks (like that shocking doctor’s bill), don’t throw me off. I just adjust this and tweak that and voila, we’re still moving forward on our little amount. It makes me not take any income for granted and makes me excited about the “leftovers”. It works well for us, and it works well for work too, actually. One can never count on bills being paid on time these days, but one can always expect unexpected bills to come in (if that makes any sense).

Speaking of that last doctor’s bill, I thought for the fun of it I should post what everything was and what it cost. By the way, we have a high deductible plan (which means we’ll pay up to an extra $5400/yr on top of premiums, no more, but usually way less since my husband and I are healthy and rarely go in) and I pay the entire insurance premium out of my paycheck because I am the daughter of the boss ($703.29/mo or $8439.48/yr).

Any way… Here are the numbers (The first amount is pre-insurance discount aka what the doctors billed insurance, the second is what isn’t covered by the insurance discount aka what I owe):

*Visit:
Doctor’s Visit: $232.00 --- $202.28
*Tests:
Vitamin D: $213.00 --- $75.69
Glucose: $36.00 --- $10.05
Sodium: $30.00 --- $12.06
Potassium: $35.00 --- $12.06
Creatinine: $43.00 --- $13.40
Thyroid: $95.00 --- $42.87
Complete CBC W/ Auto Diff WBC: $66.00 --- $20.09
UV-Assay Transaminase (SGPT): $40.00 --- $13.40
UV-Assay Transaminase (SGOT): $34.00 --- $13.40
Gammagloblin: $79.00 --- $24.11
Immunoassay, non antibody: $96.00 --- $29.47
UREA Nitrogen: $39.00 --- $10.05
“Specimen Handling”: $25.00 --- $13.40
*Pills:
Vitamin D Pills (1st 4 wks): $11.99 --- $6.75
Vitamin D Pills (2nd 4 wks): $11.99 --- $6.75

*Total that was billed to insurance: $1086.98
*Total that was billed to me: $505.83
*Total insurance “saved me”: $581.15 – just under one month’s premium

And they want me to go back and do a follow up test. I imagine that will cost me anywhere from $75 for just the test to $275 for a visit and a test. I have a few weeks before that comes up though, so I may do it, or I may not. Depends on what the nurse says since I can honestly say I feel so much better.

After the “Insurance Discount”, I owe the doctors a shade under $500 because I finally went in to figure out why I was “chronically fatigued” just to find out I have a Vitamin D deficiency. I was ready for two hundred or so, but almost $500 blew my mind. $500 is about two month’s leftover money right now. I’ll probably dip into savings to pay for it, but it will still take 2 months to pay savings back. *sigh*

AND they wanted me to come back in 8 weeks to do a follow up test. I am going to call and ask if that is really necessary, because I really don’t want to spend another two hundred on that test and a visit.

The sad thing is that it doesn’t even make a dent in my deductible of $5,400 and I pay 100% of my premium that pretty much eats up my entire paycheck. Gah.

…And people wonder why I balk at going to the doctors and put it off as long as possible. *sigh*

One step forward, two steps back. Not the end of the world, but very frustrating.

Dear Universe,

I am ready for some positive changes to come our way anytime now.

Thanks,
TarWalker

Wow. I can’t believe we’re halfway through April already, and I didn’t even do any April goals. Whoops!

I’ve been spending the last few weeks getting work ready for me to take a weeklong vacation. It finally arrived! I am officially on vacation and it’s wonderful!

About a week and a half ago, I finally went to the doctors. I was tired of feeling tired. It got so bad it affected my work performance and that ticks me off. I am a very productive person with a great work ethic and here I was coming in late, doing little, and leaving early. So I went to the doctors for feeling “wiped”. 5 vials of blood later and I find out I was low on Vitamin D. They put me on a vitamin program to jump start my system. I have never felt better. Not looking forward to the bill for the visit and the blood tests, but it was worth it.

Unfortunately, I had to take one of our family dogs to a specialty vet. She had cataracts, and now to find out she also has glaucoma. In other words, she’s going blind and there’s pretty much nothing we can do. She’s 10 years old. I have to start facing the fact that her, and our other family dog (also 10yrs) are getting old. First her sister had two knee surgeries this year, and now she is going blind. That’s a tough pill to swallow.

So I think my April goal is to enjoy my week off. I will spend it snuggling with the pups, getting things done around the house, and hopefully get a few crafts done. Plus, I get to hang out with my nieces and one of my oldest friends at some point this week. It’ll be nice.

Well, I think I’m finally caught up on finances. We got our state refund back this week, and federal will come out tomorrow. I paid the accountant, transferred savings to ING EF, and sent in an extra $200 to Car Loan 2.

I’m really stoked about my idea to be debt-free by time we go to Russia in 2014. Even on my lesser pay, I think we can make it work. If we send in an average of $200/month extra to Car Loan 2, then by Dec 2013, it will be paid off. Car Loan 1 (0% financing) will be paid off on our payment plan by then. DH Student Loan 3 will need an extra $300/month for a year (in 2012) to wipe out, and Student Loan 4 will need an extra $600/month for a year (in 2013) to be wiped out. I think we can swing it.

Hubby interviewed for a full-time job on Friday. This job is kind of (barely) in the same lines of his dream job, but it is way less pay. It actually pays less than his part-time job now (about 85 cents/hour less), but instead of 34 hours a week at random times, he would be working full time consistent hours. We’re not sure about any benefits. The good thing is that they won’t drag him along for months, like his dream job applications did. We’ll probably get a yes or no by the end of the week. This job will by no means increase our take-home pay by enough (if at all) for us to move out, but it will help a little with sanity.

I’ve scheduled a week off in April to stay at home and just found out that it might be the nieces’ spring break. I’m thrilled if that ends up being true. I haven’t seen them in forever. I’ve also signed up for two “personal enrichment” courses at the local tech college that will help me with work. They’re only 5 or 6 classes each and should give me more of a background on the stuff I’m learning to do on the fly.

I’ve also moved two of my tall bookshelves out of the basement up into our make-shift den. I couldn’t bring myself to bring up my books yet (I have boxes upon boxes full of books). Husband thinks I’m funny and wasting energy (“You’ll just have to re-pack them!”), but I haven’t seen or read my books in 2.5 years. Who knows if/when we’ll ever move out at this stage? I don’t want to go another 2.5 years packed away.

I’m actually tempted to unpack everything except for kitchen stuff. Perhaps after all that work, maybe a windfall will happen and we’ll be able to move out. I would rather see my stuff, that I do actually cherish and would use, than to keep it boxed up for years. Maybe I’d even find stuff to sell. Plus, I don’t mind packing, should I have the "mis-fortune" to pack it all back up. It’s a thought…

I paid off DH Student Loan 2 with the save-for-taxes money. I’m going to put all leftovers to Car Loan 2 now on. I really hope to get it down to 4 digits this year. I’m tired of paying $70 in interest every month.

*****
I have a new long-term goal. I want us to be debt free by the 2014 Olympics. That gives us about 34 months to pay off two student loans, two car loans, save up EF to 6 months, and pay for the trip in cash. Lofty, yes, but I’m going to do it. I don’t want to think about payments while on vacation for two to three weeks.

*****
If I were to go look for a job elsewhere (not that I am looking, or even want to), I’ve decided that they will pay me well, or I won’t take it. No more of this less than the average salary work. I am worth every penny.

*****
What if we never move out? If you think about it, in about 20 years, my parents need to be taken care of and/or living with us. We could save a lot of money over the years by not paying rent or a mortgage to someone else. It’s an idea, but I don’t know how valid of one.

I just want to say that I love our accountant. She is so awesome and answers all our questions and finds everything and does it so fast. I should bake her cookies. Can I do that? Or is that questionable thing to do for accountants?

I only owe $800 to the federal government. If I would have gone with what Turbo came up with, I would have owed $2500. Ouch. Plus we get $1200ish back from the state! Whereas Turbo had come up with only $300 as a refund. BIG difference. Not that I blame them. They really didn’t design the system for a boss’s daughter.

I am so relieved. My Emergency Fund will be untouched!

My husband is a little disappointed though because he thought we’d get a large refund back. I think he forgot that we weren’t in school in 2010 and that makes a huge difference. We also made more than we have in past years (not that our take-home pay reflected that).

I’m going to bed very happy tonight.

I opened an ING account this last week. My current savings was only making .15% APY. I’ve been eyeing ING for a long time because it is so clean and simple and not filled with advertising every time I log in. Plus at 1%, it seems like it would benefit me in the long run.

My goal is to get my EF $3000 into the ING account. That way it is more out of sight and out of mind. Right now, whenever I log on to do my checking, or my husband logs on to do his checking, we see our normal savings account. The money in it calls out to me “pay off debt, pay off debt” over and over. But I know better, I do better with an EF.

Plus, I might have to pay a chunk in federal taxes, if Turbo Tax is right. Taxes are going to the accountant on Monday, so I’ll find out in a week or two if it was even close. I am hoping it was way off, but am prepared if it was dead-on. And ready to change withholdings if it was right.

Anyways, onto the EoM-
February goals didn’t turn out so well due to my large pay-cut. Everything was scaled down. Plus I’m back up to 2 or 3 sodas a day. Whoops.

So… March Goals:
1) If I owe taxes, pay it. If I don’t owe that much, pay off DH Student Loan 2.
2) Transfer $1000 to ING EF from savings.
3) All leftover to savings.

It is quite odd. Something that I dreaded, that most people dread, has actually brought me stress relief. We’ve had a pay cut. A pretty significant one. Yet, I trimmed the fat off of out budget and we can survive until December. And the only reason December will be tight is the gift/visit family budget for that month that I’m sure can be adjusted when we get there.

I am so glad that it finally happened. No more waiting and worrying. No more stress over “do I have enough in savings”, and “can we handle it”. Husband was very helpful figuring out the new budget suggesting changes and things to chop.

The hardest thing out of all of it is the halt on progress on our goals. We’re at a zero leftover budget, with $50 to savings a month. I’m sure we’ll have little here and there to work on them, but not at any speed.

This is hopefully a temporary setback. I’m calculating sometime between June and December our take-home income should be back up to where we were originally. That’s not too far away. It’s very do-able.

My husband finally received confirmation that he did not get the jobs he was very high in the rankings for back in November. He had made it to the top 6 and they hired 3. I’ve lost count how many times he was at the top x and 1 to 3 spots away from being the hired one out of hundreds of applicants. It’s ridiculous. So are the 4 to 5 month long application processes, and the bazillion rounds he has to go through each time.

We’re pretty bummed. My first reaction was to widen the search range, list all the other places he could/should apply to, when they’re due, and what he has to do. If we have to live long-distance for a year or two in order for him to get his dream job, I will do it. I’d do just about anything right now to get him his dream job. Of course, nothing I do will affect him getting it.

We’ve halted the puppy search for a couple of weeks. We wouldn’t have the time to take off in order to train and enjoy the puppy’s first few days with us these next two weeks. I’m tempted not to resume seriously looking though. Which is weird. I want a dog so bad. I begged and cried and pleaded my heart out to get the ok to look. In the end, this is a want not a need.

Plus, I’m iffy about the future of our income. I am starting to make a “tight” budget so that we can live off of his fluctuating paycheck alone. It will be quite tight. Less tight if I could stomach getting our own health insurance outside of the company. It would save us $500/month to do that, but then we lose the security of the company plan (not being denied or dropped). Plus, there would be no maternity coverage. While I am NOT planning on getting pregnant while in this situation, I know an Oops Baby could cost $10,000 without insurance, or more. Tons more if there are complications. Not a risk I’m particularly fond of…

We shall see.

Oh, and I've had two soda-pops this month. I guess I need constant rewards in order to stop completely.

Well, I know there is still one more day in January, but I am expecting a long tiring week at work, plus family guests this next weekend. So here it is…

Completed January Goals:
-$198 went go to the Car Fund
-Leftover went go to DH Student Loan 2 for a total of $350
-I added $500 to the Emergency Fund
-An extra $100 went to the Car Loan 2
-I haven’t had a soda for all of January!!! Chocolate fondue next weekend!

Partially completed January Goals:
-I started the Tax Returns, by trying to do Turbo Tax. It doesn’t help people in my position (daughter of the boss), so it’s a very rough estimate. I miss the days when I could figure out the paper taxes fast, but the business side is too complicated for me. It looks like we will owe quite a bit of federal tax. I’m hoping the accountant finds out differently. I will probably have to change my W4.
-I only read one of the three books. I just didn’t have the energy this month to find out if I didn’t like the next book.


My February Goals are the following:
-$167 to the Car Fund: this is set up on auto-savings
-All Leftover to the EF: If we do owe lots of tax, then I want to be able to pay it when the time comes. If it ends up we don’t, then we can either keep it as EF or lump pay a loan off.
-Extra $100 to Car Loan 2: this is already set up on auto-payment
-No Soda: I’m still having a lot of cravings despite not having any for 30 days. If I start again, it’ll be just as bad, so another month to go. Hopefully the cravings will be gone by then.
-Read the second book: I need to read and return them. February is a short month, so I think I will only be able to do one.
-Sort my paper stacks: There are too many piles now, and they need to be sorted and recycled. We have a lot of junk paper.


In other random news, my husband and I are starting to look for a rescue puppy to add to the family. He’s picky and I’m picky so it’ll be awhile before we’ll find one we agree on. I’m just glad we can have an open conversation about adopting one instead of “later” or “not right now”. This at least makes me feel like we’re moving a little in the right direction, even if we don’t adopt this year.

Taking a page out of ceejay’s book – What would I change:

Edited January 2011

Trying to not get too depressed, so here’s what I wouldn’t change:

Job:
-My job is something very few my age gets to do.
-I love doing 90% of my job duties.

Myself:
-I have finally figured out what I am allergic to (peppers, tomatoes, potatoes), and I’m feeling a lot better.

Home life:
-I have a wonderful husband who cares for me and is working very hard for his dream job. Wouldn’t change that for the world.

Removed January 2011

It’s been awhile since I last blogged. I’ve started a few posts, but never finished putting it up due do being busy, distracted, or downright exhausted. Since I blogged last, for the first paycheck of the month, I was able to put the extra $31 plus the auto savings towards the car fund completing it, and $150 towards DH Student Loan 2.

This paycheck (today), I was able to put another $200 towards the student loan. I also took the large-ish cash surplus I was growing in the checking account and put it in savings towards growing the EF to $5000. Doing it that way, I was able to put $500 in the EF fund.

It felt good to do that. I was debating on putting it towards the student loan, but I just couldn’t do it. Things are tight as my work is going through some pretty nice/evil growing pains along with the normal January tightness. Come March, though, things should be brightening. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

The extra $100 towards Car Loan 2 is in the mail, but won’t clear until the very end of the month. That bank is so slow. I don’t know why we let ourselves get the car loan through them. Live and learn, I guess.

I’ve started to play with the tax stuff as it came in. I’m just going to have to add it to the stack of work taxes and parents’ taxes to give to the accountant. It’s too complicated for me this year. I typically love doing taxes (it’s a puzzle game to me), but this daughter of the shareholder thing gets a little tricky. I’ll pay the fee to get them done right.

I have managed to have no soda all month long so far! Only 10 more days to go, and then I will be able to get my chocolate fondue as a reward. I almost caved this week as my stress level hit the roof, but I didn’t. I’m so proud of me. :-D

I did read one of the three books, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to read the other two. The first book was good and had an interesting idea for “magic”, but I don’t know if I’ll like the sequels. I’ll start reading the second this weekend and see if it catches my interest. Otherwise, I won’t worry about it.

Other than that, I went to a family business seminar this week. My dad should have been the one to go, but he couldn’t. It was neat, but I was the youngest there by 15 years, which made it a little awkward when you add that to my dislike of mornings and my reserved-ness/shyness. I went to an estate planning lecture, and my head is still spinning. It’s like the business cannot be handed down to me without being taxed out the wazoo or taking several (like 10) years in the process and betting against the IRS/profit of the company. If I do want to take the business over someday, I better start saving to either a) buy it or b) be able to pay the taxes. Ugh. Yet another thing to think about.

Oh, and I finally got new tires the day before snow was dumped on the city. That was quite lucky, or I probably wouldn’t have made it home that night.

I'm looking forward to a simple weekend, of doing nothing. It'll be nice.

I have already completed my first yearly goal! My EF reached $3,000 today when my check cleared. AND I had an extra $135 to put towards the car fund. I just hope the EF can stay this high this time.

Here are my January Goals a few days late:

1) $198 to car fund ($167 auto, $31 extra) – this will effectively knock off a month of saving
2) Leftover to DH Student Loan 2 – hoping for about $300 despite husband’s time off for his vacation
3) Put $100 extra to car loan – on autopilot for end of month
4) Start tax returns, finish if I get everything on time
5) No soda – reward: chocolate fondue
6) Read three books – I need to return my friend’s books, but first I need to read them

Also, I’m enjoying my time home alone these past 4.5 days. I’ve cooked a lot of good food for only me, cleaned the house and it STAYED clean, watched MY shows on the big TV, and had a lot of snuggle time with the puppies. This is one of the best staycations I ever had, even though I had no time off of work. Yet, I’m so ready for my family and husband to come back. Empty house gets a tad bit lonely from time to time. Only one more day left.

Removed January 2011

Removed January 2011

Removed January 2011