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Motivating Myself to Move Forward!

July 26th, 2011 at 08:18 pm

Math is Motivating.

I posted a NEW page on the side of my Blog.

It is my Sept 2012-2013 Goals. That way once I get home there is no thinking about what I want my money to do for me.

I have a plan...

#1 Ensure I have 12 Months of Emergency Fund.

#2. I used to MAX my TSP Retirement savings, well I want to change that. I want to instead of funding to my TSP which I can't touch until retirement I want to switch to Maxing my Roth IRA First then TSP to fill out the remainder of Baby Step 4.

#3. I want to start autofunding $250 per month to savings for Car Repairs or Replacement. By Dave Ramseys standard of Vehicles not to exceed 50% of yearly income I can afford a $27,500 car. That divided by 5 years, then monthly is Monthly Payments of $458.33 Which is more than I want to apply to a car payment.

#4. Then I want to start on Dave Ramseys Baby Step 6. YEP # 6, I have finally gotten over my fear of tying my money up pre-paying my Mortgage.

My plan is the automatically pay an extra $1,000 per month principle online each month.

Then I will send extra principle twice a month, when I see how much I have sitting in saving after paying all bills and extra misc things that pop up.

If I only pay the 1K then I can pay off my Mortgage in 7.5 years after starting extra payment on May 5, 2020.

If I were to pay $1,920 (which is my true Gazelle INTENSE Goal) than I could pay it off in 4.5 years or
on May 5, 2017.

Living Like No one else, so later I can live like no one else. If I had no house payment, I could live off Minimum Wage if I had too. The freedom to do whatever I really wanted to do without regard to what wage I received would be AWESOME! Also the stress of can I afford my house IF I lost my job would be gone because I could pick up any JOB to pay the bills until I found the position of my dreams.

New Glasses --- Trying to get a record of a electronic transaction

June 28th, 2011 at 03:10 pm

I got my new glasses, I do really really like the anti-glare coating that they say helps with eye fatigue.

Not sure if it really helps with eye fatigue but there is no white glare on my lenses when I take a photo. I actually think my eyes are tired, but the prescription is correct, I flip flopped between new glasses and old glasses....I LOVE not having a scratch right in front of my eye. I think my eyes are tired because I am used to my glasses fading into the background and I am not used to these new plastic frames, so I keep catching myself focusing on the frame outline.

I am wearing the least flattering pair, Yeah I know why would I wear the least flattering pair.

I look best in smaller glasses and this pair is the largest (I think it is a medium size). But this pair has the narrow-est sides, hinged sides and a solid color.

The pair I look the best in #3, and when I bought them figured they would look the best on me...But they have thick sides, atleast thicker than I am used too. I am used to just moving my eyes to see to the side, not used to having to move my head because of having glasses sides blocking my paripherial view.

The second pair: I like the smaller sides, the sides are a bit bigger than pair one, but half the size of #3. The shape of the lens is not bad, but the color is black and red. I am used to wearing thin metal glasses. So I have to work up to wearing the Louder red and black glasses.

I am really impressed with the glasses, I am probubly going to order a pair of prescription sun glasses from the company. I am going to try on pair number two (black and red) when I get home and picture them with sunglass lenses in them. I think that pair would be really cute as sun glassses.

****
So I found out that I can get repayed for the cost of my passport. I have a receipt for the processing fee $25. I do not have a receipt for the actual cost of the passport.

When I applied for my passport, I only got a receipt for my transaction fee because that one was the one cashed by the receiving entity. I should have used a Credit Card, because then I would have atleast gotten a Credit Card processing receipt. (But at that time I applied we did not have information that they would repay use the fee).

I emailed the passport people, they do not issue receipts...I paid by check.

My check was electronically processed, I emailed the bank and asked for a receipt of some kind for the transaction, I wrote a check for a receipt BUT the check was electronically processed, so no voided check. Well the bank sent me back a form to complete and every option was basically for invalid electronic charges....The charge was not invalid I just want proof of the transaction.

I want the $140 refund , BUT I will not get my bank statement for a month (the transaction cleared the 20th and the end date of the statement is the 17th) and do not really want to submit my monthly bank statement to my employer.

I am not sure what to do at this point, I think I will have to go into the bank with the form letter they sent out and see if I can get anywhere.

Going to HAVE to buy laundry soap.

April 11th, 2011 at 03:24 pm

Darn it, I just know I will end up stopping at the store tonight to buy laundry soap.

I am starting to get my head around stuff I am going to need for deployment. One of those things is sheets for my bed. Well luckily I have them already. See I got a twin bed after my mother passed away. On Black Friday I purchased two sheet sets and a comforter for that bed. I had some sheets from my mother but wanted the bed to look nice.

So those two sheet sets I bought and the comforter (well they will be packed in my tuff box). The thing is one set of sheets and the comforter have been on the bed and need to be washed. The other set of sheets are new-in-bag, so they also need to be washed to remove that NEW sheets itchiness.

Last night I did laundry, I used the last of my prefered laundry soap (ANY Brand of non-scented HE Soap). So I started using the Emergency Soap AKA Scented Non-HE (I have a HE washer).

The Emergency Laundry Soap is stuff we have for whatever reason but it is not HE or non-scented. I have Cheer liquid (I only use on my ACU's because it does not contain optical brightners), I purchased a huge bottle years ago and still have two small bottles. (I transfered it to smaller bottles later to take up less room). Then we have two bottles of scented non-HE Tide (BF purchased it before we met), plus I had two small bottles of cheap liquid laundry soup from when CVS gave them away for 50 cents on Black Friday. So yes I have LOTs of Laundry Soap, but I have allergies. So anything I wash to pack away for the deployment, I want to wash with unscented laundry soap so my allergies are not going crazy.

It will not be very expensive, I would just grab it when we go grociery shopping next. BUT I don't want to wait until the 22nd of April to get this done. When I want to do something I want to do it ASAP.

I guess there is a chance that BF will go to the store for a few grocieries before the 22nd so maybe I can wait it out. Maybe just Maybe I will be able to resist the urge to go the the store.

OH I also decided this year after I finish the rummage sale any leftover clothing will be going to the thrift store for the tax deduction. It seems like normally I sell about 75% of my non-clothing items and like 10% of the clothing items when I have a rummage sale so this year, after it is over the clothing items are going to be entered into my excell spreadsheet I have for donations and off they will go for tax deduction.

Weekend Spending, bills plan.

April 11th, 2011 at 02:42 pm

This weekend was good. I only spent $10 on daycare, we were let out a little early Friday Night because of whatever reason the class/speaker we were having could not make it, so they cut friday night early, so that if we had to add the briefing in on Saturday or Sunday those days did not seem so long.

I am ALWAYS beat after a Friday-Saturday-Sunday drill. I spent the evenings of Saturday and Sunday falling asleep AKA taking naps.

On Friday I filled gas, $40.02. But Saturday and Sunday were no spend days.

This weekend we were issued our tough boxes. As far as I know this box will be going directly from here to the final deployment destination so I am thinking long and hard about what to put in it.

I am planning on just leaving it at work (it fits in my office) and slowly bring stuff to work to fill it. The box is too big for my car, so if I take it home I need to coordinate how to get it home then once it is filled coordinate how to get it back to work, SOOO it is staying here and I will fill it as I figure out what I can live without until I get to the final destination.

So far I have 9 months worth of SOME toliterys inside. I got the toliteries free or cheap when I used to CVS shop so I took then stuff out of the boxes and bags and put them into gallon zip lock bags (less air and extra waterproof layer). I have the space since I don't plan on bringing stuff like Video games etc.

I figure that 9 months is a good amount, that way I am not packing more than I will use but I am packing enough that I will not be spending money on that kind of stuff right from the beginning. If I do not already have the tolietry items at home (purchased free or cheap) I will make sure I have one of the item in my hygiene bag and a spare in one of my duffles (incase the one in my hygiene kit gets lost or stolen) and I will just buy what I need as I go.

This weekend we had our supply showdown, and our Admin Records Review. There is two new forms for the family care plan. Now to make sure I can explain to my Ex-husband the forms so he signs them without giving me much lip.

Living on the Emergency Fund! and Raid the Pantry/Freezer.

April 8th, 2011 at 04:43 pm

Well today, I took proactive measures for the no paycheck period. I stopped most of my auto transfers.

I tried to figure out what my paycheck will be for 8 days. This is not exact as I am not sure how much they take out for taxes, but I have a ballpark. I claim Single 2 or 3, I don't remember exactly. I should probubly just claim tax exempt, but I am woried about something happenning and then owing big time.

Anyway back to the topic at hand,
I turned off the automatic payment from my checkbook (where paycheck goes) to my savings accounts that my mortgage, my Emergency Fund, and My Escrow Account are paid out of. Until I get my first paycheck following the govt restart I will not be funding these accounts they will be paying out without being replenished. Once I get paid I will figure out what should have been deposited and schedule 1 catchup payment and reset up my autopayments.

This means I need to pay my elec/gas, dental premium, cell phone, internet, and water/waste bill, PLUS gasoline for my car until I get a paycheck I figure this is $250 per month. I am also suppose to pre-pay the Sept daycare bill on May 1st.

I should have enough money to last 3 months of no pay without having to dip into Savings to start to pay the above bills as long as I do not have to buy grocieries.

I guess it is going to be a raid the pantry/freezer until the govt shutdown is over, event.

The good news is no paycheck will Force me to limit spending and so when I finally do get my paycheck and all that back pay, I should be able to hopefully knock out the savings goals with all the money I saved by cutting the spending from the beginning.

Have you ever regreted not fully funding your Roth IRA?

April 5th, 2011 at 06:18 pm

Tax time is approaching, I was reviewing my retirement plans.

Two Big areas I need to work on: Mortgage Prepayment and Roth IRA.

I found a Mortgage excel document that I plugged my info into. I hope that once I have my Emergency Funds to where I want them that I will be motivated to apply ALL or Most extra funds to my mortgage loan because I have the document magically cutting interest and reducing the length on my mortgage; basically showing me progress.

Roth IRA, Last year in March I put money in my Roth IRA; I maxed it for 2009. Well last year and so far this year I have not put anything in for 2010.

I wonder has anyone ever regretted not fully funding their Roth IRA the year before? See I am looking at money I have ear marked for other things (Daycare expenses which whatever is not used are going to fund the checking account cushion AKA Deployment Emergency Fund). I wonder, if I don't put that money into the Roth IRA before the tax deadline that opportunity is gone forever, will I regret it?

If I was spending it on junk, instead of the money just sitting in savings I could say without a doubt YES I regret it.

Right now I have another two years until my 5 year window is finished, so if there was an Emergency I can't pull out the deposits with out penalty and taxes for atleast 2 years. If I was outside the 5 year window it would be a no brainer because IF I really needed it I could just pull it out.

So I wonder is it really a big deal to miss putting money in a Roth IRA?

April 4th Spending

April 5th, 2011 at 02:44 pm

I stopped at my diet center. I want to complete a detox because I have been having major sugar and salt cravings. The detox will also help me jump start my diet. I need to lose weight prior to 26 May.

I spent $25 on a bottle of detox and this will last for 5 (3day) detoxes. I also purchased a $25 bottle of appetite appeaser this will also last for 5 (3 day) detoxes. I normally use slimquick when I diet BUT when I detox I don't want to MIX products so I use the diet aid from the same product line.

Spent $54 diet after tax.

I wanted to buy some bannanas to mix into the protein shakes I have been eatting for breakfast. But I realized if I am going to be detoxing for the next three days it can wait until BF gets back to buy groceries. The bannana is mainly to cut down on the taste. I purchased some meal replacement shake powder, and I did not realize they were vanilla creme. I dislike the creme taste. So I have been mixing two different protein meal replacement products to reduce the creme taste. It has been working and a quarter of a bannana will totally wipe out the lingering taste without adding too many calories to my diet.

Monthly Spending:
Diet Aids: $54
DS Allowance $5
BF Trip Cash $5
Groceries $19.60
Medicine $8.23
Deployment Expenses $11.00
Easter Baskets $64.20

APRIL MONTH TO DATE:
167.03

Bought Shoes and Talked with BF

February 24th, 2011 at 02:58 pm

So last night I realized I needed to start the look out for new running shoes as they no longer make the style number I have. Mine are old and when I run in them my arches start to ache within like 3 minutes.

I have been putting this off for a while. I went online and checked about five different sites. They all had the shoes listed for $84.99. But then I checked kohl's. The good news was I got Free shipping and there was a coupon code online for 30% off. Plus Kohl's sale price was $5 cheaper. So I saved $30 a pair. Yes, I bought two pairs because after taxes and everything they were $55 each. Which was too much of a deal to pass up.

Yes, you are might be thinking what is she thinking, buying two pairs of shoes instead of just one. Well the reason for it is....I need one pair now. And if I doing my math right this pair will wear out about half way through my deployment. I am worried that I will either break, lose, or have this one pair stolen and so I want a spare pair at home. I also have never shopped online and dealt with APO shipping so I figured it would be easier to buy them now and then if I need them before I come home for R&R then I can have BF ship them, instead of possibly having to pay jacked up prices because of the possibility of the cheapest provider not being APO friendly.

****
I talked to BF again about the fact I am broke. He let me cry and told me he understands and has been in my shoes and it is just going to take time to get back on our feet. He gave no ideas, no oh honey but I am going to pay the water bill, nope just yak yak yak about how it will all work out it time, it is just not been very long since my divorce and I just need to relax and let things settle into a pattern.

I knew I needed gas in my car, I need to pay my son's $24 dental bill and my water/waste bill is coming due soon. So this morning I took the gas that I purchased for the snowblower that does not use a oil mix and put it in my car. When I started the car it was nearly on E, oops thought I had a bit more. I now have almost a half tank of gas. I don't know if we will need to use the snowblower again or if it is just going to be shovel weather, and the tank is also the mower one (the grass is still covered in snow so don't need the gas for that yet, so I figured I would use it up).

I know when BF and I sorta talked about him moving in (did not talk about exact finances) anyway he said he would not stand for 2 Rosters in the hen house. Meaning EX could not stay there if he was. Well I am planning to tell him that I NEED to let the parasite live there while I am deployed because I can't afford the financial ramifications if he does not. I hope BF can deal with that. I know it will not be ideal BUT what does he expect for $225 a month rent (which he has not started paying). Yes, it will be ackward for everyone at first, but either everyone will get used to it or I guess BF will move out once he has saved enough money from leaving in my home to either rent an house that will allow a dog or have saved up for a down payment.

I think BF is a good guy, and I would hope he would be able to deal with the situation but in the end.

Not having my Ex live in the house while I am deployed will cost me.
$319.90 Child Support I am paid
$717 Child Support I would have to pay
Child Deduction 2012 taxes
Head of Household 2012 taxes
20% co pay of medical insurance instead of Full coverage
$250 Seperation Pay per month
Yep sure adds up fast.

I feel bad that BF is going to have to put up with my EX living in the basement in one of the spare bedrooms but I can't justify the financial losses.

Time to find a NEW checking account.

February 23rd, 2011 at 07:22 pm

I have had US Bank as my checking account home for 11 years, in that time I have earned just over $40.00 in checking rewards.

They used to pay every October when I first opened the account. A few years ago they changed it to once you got to $10.00 you could request the reward, but reward dollars were only good for 2 years, if you did not claim them or they did not get to the $10 limit you lost them.

Well Today I read another persons post about checking points and that got me thinking. So when I went into my checking account rewards section, it has changed again.

Now I have a balance of $0. Seems that the .01% reward on all debit card purchases has been changed to select businesses having different rewards points percentages, and the only businesses (5) that I actually use are not paying in store rewards just online rewards. But Rewards where reduced to requests allowed at $5.

I Do Not use my Debit Card online, I use my CC, then pay off the CC.

So since the Rewards Checking is of no reward to me I need to start looking at other Checking accounts so that I can find a rewarding partnership. I would like a local bank or an online bank that I can scan checks to. I do not like the idea of having to mail a check to be deposited into my checking (So ING orange Checking is out of the loop). What IF it is one of those rebate checks and it gets lost in the mail or delayed in the mail and it says on the check must be cashed within 30 days.

I went to the Savings Advice Forums and located a link for Checking Rewards based on my State. The problem is the higher paying ones don't have many Locations. I want to be able to bank when I am also out of state if need be.

The other thing that sucks is that I have almost all my automatic payments coming out of this non-rewarding account. I will have to go in and reset up all my automatic transfers etc. Oh well.

If BF is going to take over the utilities, I guess this is as good a time as any to start looking for another bank since some of the automatic payments would be stopping. I think I will have to keep this account open for a few more months though so that I know the afterschool daycare final autopayment clears on April 5th.

I am not looking for much.
1. Some Sort of Rewards - either from debit card usage or based on the balance I have in the checking account.
2. Free ATM usage at either their bank machines or at certain machines if online bank.
3. Online Access
4. Deposits made either at a local bank or online such as scanning the front and back of the check.
5. Overdraft insurance or low low fees.
6. No Debit Card required transactions (while deployed will need to use star card for cash not debit card).
7. allows actual checks. (again sorry ING)


I don't have a smart phone but I am thinking of going that way because I am thinking of going to Straight Talk which would be cheaper than I am paying for cell service now. So if the bank had a banking application that would be cool also. I know of one bank that does the check scanning that you can take a picture of the front and back of the check using your phone to make the deposit.

So Far
ING Orange is a No!
US Bank is what I am leaving!

Wish me luck...

Feb Goals

February 2nd, 2011 at 10:24 pm

February Goals
January 31st, 2011 at 10:48 am
#1. Figure out how to set up a online account for my mortgage, so that I can view the principle balance and make online extra principle payments.

My excuse for not having done this sooner was that I already have my payment autopaid. I get statements in the mail but I have not made the time to create the online account since I refinanced.

#2. Research what I need to do to get a passport. (DONE)

I would write get a passport but I am in the process of growing out my hair and I dont want to have the picture taken. I plan to tackle all the items it takes to get on in March.

#3. Calculate how much extra each month I have to apply to my mortgage principle in order to have my house paid in full before my mandatory retirement date.

#4. List items for sale on Free Online Website.
At a minimum:
_Couch
_Bookshelves
_Two Padded chairs
_Two Dressers

#5. Track ALL my spending in a notebook, so that I may use that to create a more truthful budget.

(Okay I Cheated and completed the Passport research today and I will post it as a March Goal).

Excited to do Taxes....Am I Crazy?

February 2nd, 2011 at 10:23 pm

Excited to do Taxes....Am I Crazy? 2012 taxes Questions.
January 27th, 2011 at 07:33 am
I want to do my taxes. I am actually pretty sure I have all the documents I need. I say pretty sure because the last two years I seem to keep forgetting documents BUT in both cases once the tax return was amended I got a slightly larger refund (daycare reciepts, etc.).

I will be itemizing again this year, because I refinanced my house this year. Actually I could be itemizing every year from this point on until I pay off my house. I keep forgetting that I am single (well head of household) so I only have to meet $7,850 in deductions to itemize.

I am going to have to do some math BUT I might do that thing where one year you pay your property taxes after Dec 31st so it is applied to the next years taxes and then pay that following year before the 31st so that you have double property taxes and the mortgage interest in one tax return and basically itemizing every other year. I dont know, I might pay enough in taxes and interest just to itemize every year for a while. See last year we did not itemize because we were like $200 short BUT that was as married and the property taxes were smaller.

This year the basement was finished, inspected and the house value rose by 39K, thus the taxes went up. I refinanced the house, and I went from a deduction for a married couple to head of household.

I wonder if I will still get head of household in 2012? See I will still have a house, but My son will have lived with his father Jan - August because I was deployed. BUT I would still have provided about half of his expenses for that time frame because I provide the Medical, Dental and I already purchased ALL his clothing for while I was gone, to make the process easier. Then Sept - Dec I will be providing basically 100%. *** Edit*** My Ex-Husband could claim head of household because he would have had our son more than 50% of the time, I also wonder if he might fight me for the dependant deduction (even though our divorce decree states I get it- his child support was reduced because I am suppose to get the deduction). I am really confused. A few months ago I was going to have my Ex live in my home basically rent free (which then basically there would have been no question on the provided support issue), but I think it would better for everyone for him to rent an apartment instead. ??????????

What do you do to make your tax time easier? I would like to create a checklist of items I need to file my taxes but I always seem to forget until it is time to file and then it is too late for that year.

Next Year I need:
W-2
1099-INT ING
1099-INT USAA
Property Tax
Mortgage Interest
Daycare Receipts
529 Statement
Church Donation Receipt
Charity Donation (Itemized) Receipt
?????

I started my tax return at turbotax...With just my income and interest entered I am at a $1604.00 fed return. I wonder how much it will be once I have my itemized deductions in? I would like $2505+ when both my state and federal are done, because then my Emergency Fund would be funded and I could start my other savings goals and start saving for Flood Duty daycare. I should know before the end of the evening because I know I will not be able to sleep until I have it finished.

Are you Average? I am not!

October 5th, 2010 at 02:14 pm

I was listening to the John Tesh Radio Show on the way to work. He said the Average person spends $9,000 a year on their car not including their car loan payment. The topic went on to talk about ways to reduce that including car pooling and taking public transportation.

I spend about $2,175 per year

Insurance 112-124 per 6 months = 250 year
Gas 75-80 per month rounded to 100 = 1200 per year
Car Tabs 65 = 65
Oil change 40 x 3times per year = 120
Wiper Blades 40 = 40
Repairs/maintenance 500 = 500

I put 500 in for repairs/maintenance because it seems like every 2 years I have a repair. This year it was new tires and everything flushed because my car hit 120K miles. That cost $830 with Oil change factored in. Two years ago I needed body work after I had a small fender bender which left me needing $1,200 in work. So every two years or so I need 1000 with or work which averages to $500. I do not have to replace my wiper blades EVERY year but it seems like it and with the High Volume of Snow we get here, I tend to buy and put on top of the line wipers.

I live in a area that I am lucky enough that I do not pay toils, I do not pay for parking, I have gotten 2 speeding tickets in my life (knock on wood) the first one was $25, the second was $40. I am trying to think of other car expenses which might drive up the cost of car usage for others but so far none apply to my situation.

So I am $6,825 below average.
Then to top it off I bet I am below average in the fact that I drive a car without a loan.

Thank you!!!

September 3rd, 2010 at 02:45 pm

Thank you all for you advice on the mental issue I was having regarding the lack of deck or fire excape as I was looking at it.

""I honestly don't think Dave Ramsey would say it is okay to borrow money for a deck. However, he might think it a safety issue and a priority. He would tell you to take a second job, sell everything you can and use the cash on hand you have. In other words, everything you can think of doing before you would go into debt further."" (Need to go back later and give credit to the poster)

I wanted to post about what I am thinking of doing to get my EF funded.

First: I have responded to an ad online looking for a roommate. I am thinking that for a while I will rent out a room in my house. This is not nearly as much money as a parttime job but after you deduct all the costs with parttime work it would be about half of what my take home would be, equal to it IF I could rent out two rooms.

I am going to look into seeing if there are any jobs in town that I could work from home. I would like to pick up a second job but because I would have to line up daycare and it would have to be when I am not working my primary job it would make it not super easy to do. I also have to get approval from my employer to work outside my home so I am thinking internet in the evenings. If I can find something internet than even if my job took me out of town as long as I have internet acess I could still pull in work. Or the job would have to be one where I could bring my son along (part-time evening nanny).

I have a few items I could sell, I just had a rummage sale and plan to have another next summer for the small things. I need to put ads out for the few large items I do have to sell to make a little money.

Okay now thirdly the "Use the money you have" The point of an emergency fund is to plan for unexpected events. Truthfully My job is secure I have a contract (just not the orders yet) for a 6 year position. So the Emergency Fund is fine at 3 mths. The Escrow and Mortgage do need to be at 12 Months because the posibility of needing to have then autopaid for extended periods without me being able to oversee it are more likely.

So I am going to buy the 3 rolling ladders
then I am going to continue to work on increasing income
then I am going to save for the Mortgage and Escrow.
then once those are at the 12 months I will save for the Emergency Fund and deck.

***
The only blip that is going to be on the horizon is in Dec. I NEED to have a months cushion in my checking account at that time as that is when my contract moves from old to new and pay is ALWAYS messed up for atleast one pay period where you end up waiting on the first check to cut.

September Budget and Goals $303.22

August 23rd, 2010 at 05:32 pm

I have been thinking of that $260.82 that I have budgeted for food/gas/daycare/misc for the rest of August and all of September.

Yesterday I returned the Humidifier that I had purchased for my sons room in a hope that it would help with his nearly daily bloody noses. Well it was a replacement for one I had tossed out because the machine was just getting gross and the filters were expensive. Well this new one was basically the same thing but without a filter. The old one would turn off once the sensor noted it was at the moistness level selected. This one only had three settings instead of a continous slider. Well the first morning of use I came into the room and there was a good 2 inches of water on the floor by the machine. I put down a towel from that point on but I was a little freaked out since that could have ruined the floor.

The machine was pushing out water instead of misting, yesterday I pulled the machine apart to drain it to return since I was not pleased with it. It was had mold growing. I was not able to remove the mold from the inside of the main compartment: no wonder my and my sons alergies were acting up big time.

Well I have desided to just try to limit use of the regular Air Conditioning so the air doesn't get to dry instead of buying a new one right away. The return was $42.40 which means my Sept Budget is now $303.22.

--
Today I have a few more returns to do which will increase my September Budget.

--
Finally I need to buy a few grocerys: flour, eggs, Bread. I am planning on doing a raid the pantry/freezer/fridge challenge. I am going to see how long I can go without buying any groceries. I am allowing myself to buy flour, eggs, soymilk and bread BUT anything else such as tomato paste or whatever to round out a receipe is going to be limited to $5 a week.

August 8-23-2010 $ until 1 October 2010.
303.22

Roth and 401K Retirement

July 30th, 2010 at 02:42 pm

Got My end of quarter statments that ended 30 June 2010. Should not have looked.

My Roth went down BUT since I know how much I have put in I looked at it and said to myself oh well $80 profit for 2 years is not bad. Note year 1 was only 1,000 deposited.

Then I looked at my 401K, It is down, it is down about $400 MORE than I put in this quarter. Which means I lost $4,900. Man that hurt to see that. So I am mixed, part of me is glad that I reduced my savings amount, I mean IF I am going to LOSE all I put in and then some for the quarter why put in so much.....But then I think the market is down. I should be buying.

Then to top it off I see a TIP on this website about the child care credit. I start to thinking IF I am not contributing the max to my 401K this year will I get the Child Care Credit this year?

I am thinking maybe I should just increase my 401K back up and just figure out ways to get my other goals accomplished. I have been thinking of taking in a roommate. I saw two ads for rooms/roommates wanted for single mothers and am thinking this might be the way for me to go. I am going to let everything settle for a few more months and if I am still as tight as I am currently I think I will start with a 6 month lease renting out one or two of my basement rooms so that I can get a little more wiggle room.

But in the mean time, I am (to quote Dave Ramsey) going through all my stuff and "selling anything not nailed down until the kid thinks he is next"!

The positive side is my XH comes back to town Monday Night, so we will sit down and discuss his visitation schedule. I figure I will only have to pay for daycare for 4 weekend this coming year. The sad thing is that the 2 week training this summer we both have the work and so I will need to pay for that. BUT this means if he will take his visitation that should save me $600 in daycare costs this year.

Rummage Sale Results $305.10 Profit

July 18th, 2010 at 12:46 am

Today was my one day rummage sale.

It was from 8am until 6pm. I posted a FREE ad online and put a sign by my road and a sign by the cross street that runs off it.

Last night I got lazy and went to Wal-Mart and spent $1.80 on those round garage sale stickers that are super fast to put on stuff.

The stickers were my ONLY cost. So I made $305.10 Profit after factoring out the cost of the labels/stickers not bad, not bad at all. As a result I am now I am about half way to my credit card payment goal (to pay for my new furniture).

My neighbor will be having another rummage sale here in about three weeks so, she said I could add stuff to hers. All I have to do is as I pack up to make sure the stickers have my initals on them and then pack the stuff away for three weeks. Hopefully I can get rid of some more stuff. The nice thing is it will be closer to school so more of the clothes will go.

I am extremely happy about the results of the rummage sale. I should have put together one a LONG time ago. But now that I know the turnout is good for this area I will just keep some totes empty and as I find stuff I want to get rid off I will label it and set it aside for the next sell.

I ended up giving someone a $19 discount on the FireKing Dishes BUT better to have the $30 that I got for the remaining 43 pieces than to have them collecting dust.

If someone asked if I would take lower on any item I always said yes. Better to have cash in hand than a piece of clutter in a box. Truthfully the only regret is the dishes. It would have been $49 for all the pieces and she offered $20. I came back with $35 which really was what I would have been happy with, but then she came back with $30. I need to get over it and not stress out over $5. The thing is that they had special meaning to me and I already priced them low to begin with so here I am trying to let it go.

The only downside is tomorrow I NEED to clean, I moved EVERY flat surface piece of furniture that I owned into the garage to use and so the house is back to being trashed and there are boxes EVERYWHERE. Oh well....I will clean.

Oh I forgot to mention the quality time spent with my computer. During the sale I was cleaning out my email inbox. I have really neglicted the email account I have for sendearnings, inboxdollars and Mypoints. Guess who knocked out a bunch of emails and surveys. So really I made more than just the $305.10 I just dont know how to put an exact dollar amount on the email time.

Wish I had a truck

July 16th, 2010 at 02:26 pm

I wish I had a truck. I live where it is a benefit for driving through the deep snow in the winter. I am also a home owner so there are some purchases that owning a truck comes in handy for.

I want a little truck. I have not looked yet and am hoping to pass as long as possible, since an added vehicle means increased gasoline and added insurance cost. Plus another space used up in my garage.

I am having a rummage sale on Saturday, IF I had a truck or knew of someone who had a truck I could borrow tables from work to set stuff on. Why does everyone I know have Jeeps, Vans, SUV's or cars?

Oh well. I am being creative, I moved two empty bookshelves from the basement into the garage. I also moved a storage chest. I have two end tables and my laptop desk that I plan to move to the garage to set things on.

I put my Fire King Dishes on the top two shelves of both Bookshelves. Out of the reach of children but still displayed. I have 59 pieces of peach luster dishes, including some serving pieces. Truthfully that is one of my bigger items. I am trying to sell by the piece but if someone wants the set then I will give them a group discount. I just want the money and I priced them low enough that someone could buy them and sell them online if THEY wanted. I dont have good luck with online sales.

I have two doors that I use to create tables, one is already set up. I thought I had another set of saw horse legs but I guess I dont so the second door is going to be placed on some rubbermaid totes.

Tonight is going to be a long night since I will spend the evening setting out the rest of the stuff. In the morning I will need to put out the things that are going in the driveway.

If I sell anything than it will be worth it, I just want to clear some space. Well that and get a little cash in pocket. I plan to post a FREE online ad for the dishes, TV's, Bed Frame, and 8 by 5 rug IF they do not sell Saturday at the rummage sale.

Here is Wishing for a Awesome Sale!

Temporary Buyers remorse, and Change of Retirement Savings

July 14th, 2010 at 02:51 pm

Well I went back to the store and bought the furniture for upstairs. In 1 to 2 weeks I should have furniture for my house. Later that evening as I was thinking of the total bill I started to regret it.

I got a great deal on the furniture, I really do need furniture as it makes it hard to sit down and relax when you only have wood kitchen chairs to sit down in. But being the tight wad that I am I have a hard time spending money on myself.

Truthfully this is the first Me Purchase I have made in well 11 years. The last Me Purchase was my Car in 1999. I guess I am stressing because I charged it to my credit card and unless I want to pull the $ out of savings about half the charge might sit one cycle on the CC. Of course my rate is 8% so that is not bad considering. But as a pay in full credit card person this extra month freaks me out.

__

I would like to have a fully funded 12 Month EF, truthfully I do not need that much as my job is really secure but it makes me feel better.

Today I reduced my retirement savings from 36% of my pay to 15%. This will bring me about an extra $700 per month into my take home. I plan to use the extra money to fund the Emergency Fund, The House Payment Fund and The Escrow Fund. (Basically I have the Emergency Fund broken down three ways) I figure if something were to happen then why breakup the fund to those three things when I can just break them up now.

Once the Emergency Funds are funded I need to save for the Deck and for a larger house repair fund. The Deck is a Need as it is a safety thing. I have a walk out lower level so without the deck if there was a fire at the front of the house the only way out the top floor would be the two story windows. The house repair fund is currently being fed $100 per month. I would like at least $2000 in the account. The deductible on the homeowners insurance is 1000 and I want to have atleast 1000 for repairs.

Once that all happens then I will raise back my retirement savings. It really hurts to reduce my retirement saving BUT truthfully if I continue how I am saving for retirement I will have $50K per year income and I am currently living off of $29K per year with the mortgage payment so I should not be stressing.

--

I hope to have a rummage sale this weekend to help pay for the furniture and to also reduce the clutter in my life.

I was trying to think of ways to increase my income. I could get a parttime job (but this would require permission from my employer). I could sell stuff, which is why I am having a rummage sale/sales. Or I could think about having a roommate or two. I am not ready to go the roommate route because I like being able to live my life without having to worry about noise from other. Also if I get a parttime job I would have to line up daycare. So I am not sure what I will do for extra money once I sell everything that I can sell.

--

Hopefully I will get clearity as time goes on, I just feel so pulled in so many ways.

Waiting for the Refinance Payment to hit, Bought Furniture

July 13th, 2010 at 02:45 pm

I am waiting on my Refinance Payment to hit my old mortgage company. There was a 3 day "Change your Mind" window with the loan which means I signed paperwork after hours on Monday so I had until Friday the 9th at Midnight to notify the lender if I desided I no longer wanted the loan.

Well Midnight on Friday translates to nothing happening until first thing on Monday. So I am checking my online mortgage account waiting for the payment to post or for me to try to log in and for it to tell me I no longer have an account.

__

I need furniture, it is very difficult to entertain anyone when the only furniture you have is the kitchen table chairs and or the bedroom beds. So I finally broke down and went to the furniture store to purchase the livingroom set that I had desided I was going to purchase.

When I go there I realize to my dismay that the set I picked out that I thought had attached cushions infact did not have attached cushions. Sorry but I hate when a couch does not have attached cushions and you have a wiggly child on the couch and before you know it you are leaning against the back of the couch between the cushions.

So after a trip around the show room I had 3 options, the set that I am planning to purchase for the upstairs livingroom, a set very similar to the set I had selected originally but more $$ and with hard arms, and a third set that was not in their catalog.

I actually went with the third option, the couch was smaller than I was planning (only 2 inches larger than the one I plan to buy for the upstairs). But I LOVE the microsued fabric. It was also the BEST price. This store that I went to is always the best priced, so there stuff is hardly ever on sale more than their regular price.

Well they were comping this set because a local store had a similar set on sale so I got a couch, loveseat, chair and ottoman for $1100 plus a discounted delivery fee. That is $600 less than what I would have paid for the original set and the ottoman was basically a freebee. Actually they threw in a fabric protector package also for the sale price listed but since I would not have paid extra for it I did not include that in the price calculation.

Last night as I was sleeping or trying to sleep I got to thinking, I need furniture for the upstairs livingroom also. I was going to wait as this is a want not a NEED. But I can get a couch, chair, and ottoman for the price I would pay for just the sofa I was going to buy for the upstairs because of the comp PLUS since I already paid the reduced delivery fee why not buy the upstairs stuff now and save the second delivery fee.

Buying now would save me $300 PLUS the delivery fee. And the furniture upstairs would match the furniture downstairs so I think the house would flow very nicely. So later today I am going to go back to the store and add the upstairs pieces to me order.

That is so awesome that for the price I planned to pay for just my basement furniture I will have gotten all the furniture I need.

__

This weekend I plan to have a rummage sale. I hope it goes well because I really want to get rid of some of the clutter in my house.

Cell Phone - ??

July 9th, 2010 at 02:52 pm

Okay here is the situation. 6 months ago my now XH had to have a NEW phone so he could text. So after researching new phone prices I desided to extend my cell phone contract to get new phones at a reduced cost.

The cancel early fee is $200 per line but the discount on the phones was $220 each so the lesser of two evils was to extend the contract. My XH now has his own plan but he still has the phone I purchased for him. He has basically given me the $200 cancelation fee in FREE daycare services. But there was a mess up with the Internet bill; I pay the bill but the bill was in his name so when the bill was transfered to my name; he is going to get a refund of MY $$ for about $100. If I get that money returned to me I am good for the phone but if not then really he only gave my $100 for the contract cancelation.

Yeah a complicated mess. Here is the deal. I can cancel the phone now, and pay $200 and save $28 per month which times 5 months is $140 or a total cost of $60.

Or I can just keep the second line and it will cost me $140 more over the next 6 months BUT if I only get the $100 it will only cost me $40. But if for some CRAZY reason he desided to refund me the Internet refund then It would save me $60 to wait out the contract.

What would you do? Would you pay the extra $60 and just be done with the mess and the ties to your XH. Or would you wait out the 5 months then cancel the line to save the $60? At this point I have to wait until the 9th to make any changes. The way my provider works is any change made mid cycle will be prorated and if I make the change before the start of the new cycle I am afraid of overage charged because of the prorate.

Another thing is he said he would give me the phone, if I do not get the other phone back I will cancel the line ASAP. But if I have the phone in hand and know no calls will be going OUT from it I am more willing to keep the line. What to do?

Oh one more thing, I HAVE ALLTEL yep, Alltel. We were suppose to be in the process of being switched to AT&T like 3 years ago. At this point I am wondering if that switch happens before the contract would end would I really have a contract cancel fee as the contract is with Alltel NOT AT&T? The swap is causing me many questions because I am not sure my phone will work with them and If I cant upgrade am I going to have to pay FULL price for a phone to work on the AT&T plan?

Case of the blues

July 8th, 2010 at 02:25 pm

Well I have been on a run of happiness. I was looking forward to having my XH out of my house and his drama gone.

I was looking forward to my son spending time with his dad so I could have a break from being the person that handles everything.

But I have hit a blue patch.

Now that it is day two of my little boy being on vacation with his father I am sad. I really miss my little boy. The house is too quiet. I miss my daily hugs, kisses and of course the "I love you mommy".

Last night I blew up at my boyfriend. He does this thing where he quotes movies in a wierd high pitched voice and I try to ignore it but last night he sent me a sound text and it basically it was a movie clip, an annoying OLD military one at that. I know it is dumb to let something like that eat at me but I really find the movie and tv quotes annoying since I have no clue the movie reference since I dont watch TV and because I have a young child most movies I watch are family friendly. Plus the high pitched voice is like hands down a chalk board to me.

I know I am going to have to say something BUT not sure if it will do any good because he does this more when he is nervous so it might be ingrained habit.

We were suppose to reserve the hotel rooms for the trip this weekend but I am dragging my feet on it because I do not want to spend all that money if I think I am going to be blue the whole time and secretly upset with him over the voice thing.

I think I am going to try to have a rummage sale on Saturday instead. I have so much stuff for a sale that I need to have a sale so that I can have a sale. I really need to be saving $ for my $$ Goals and not spending money on things I can really go without.

What to do? What to do?

Savings annoying

July 7th, 2010 at 07:20 pm

Well I desided I not longer wanted the goal saving with my local bank. I had opened it up as a slush fund but after realizing how little interest it makes (.1%) I desided to go with an online saving. Yesterday I empty it out and called today to close it.

Well I called today and IF I close within 6 months I am charged $25 for an early termination fee. So today I transfered $10 back into the account so it doesn't have a zero balance. I reset up the required monthly transfer but reduced it to $30 which is $5 more than the minium required.

I guess I will just have to go into the account after the transfer happens and transfer it back to checking. I will do this for the next 4 months to save myself the $25.

This is a big pain in the butt. But the bank is not going to cheat me out of $25. I will just play their game.

This weekend I am planning on going on a small vacation. Hotel and Gas for the 2 nights should cost around $120. The Spa pampering is going to run me $200 and food I am guessing $50. We are also planning on stopping at the outlet mall and so I am thinking $500 for shopping.

At the outlet mall I am hoping to pickup a Machine Washable bedding set for my king size bed. I am also wishing to buy some clothes for myself and back to school clothes for my son. I would like to get some art work for my walls and maybe a right hand ring. Hopefully I am successful.

Look at my sidebar....I will get that TREAT MYSELF TO SOME PAMPERING goal completed!!! Sweet!

A catch up

July 6th, 2010 at 09:19 pm

Okay lets see. XH moved out on the 1st of the Month, came back on the 2nd for the holidays then left on the 5th until the 22nd when he is bringing back DS from their visit.

I gave him a BUNCH of furnature and as a result I have no couch, but I figured it saved me the hassle of finding someone to take the livingroom set to the dump once I saved up enough money to buy new furnature.

I bought a new (softer) mattress, what a difference that has made. My XH always thought he NEEDED a firmer mattress so I listed my old one on a online site for free and it was picked up within 4 hours.

I need to step on the scale and see where I am at for weight. I passed the physical fitness and body fat requirement for work so today I signed a NEW 6 year contract with my employer.

Yesterday my relatives were all saying that I looked like I lost weight and a co worker who had not seen me in a week said the same thing. I think now that my stress level has gone down the weight is coming off.

I set up autofunding of all my savings goals. I am kind of stressing because after all is done I only have like $600 per month for things like food, gas and unexpected. I am trying to plan for as many non-routine expenses but there is always the unplanned that pops up. I have my 3MTH Emergency Fund completed and am $1300 short of 6MTH.

Tonight I close on my house refinace. So as of tonight I will offically be a homeowner all by myself without my XH on the title. We did a quit claim but the refinace will make it 100% offical as when they were doing the title search they had to have XH sign some more documents so I am glad I refinaced so all the i s are dotted and t s are crossed.

The big summer work rush happened, not sure if I wrote about that but my now single status was the thing to talk about. As a result I am now dating someone.

I got the garage opener back from my XH, but forgot to get the key because he threw a little drama in my lap as he drove away on the 5th. Oh well I am not looking forward to spend the money to change the locks BUT I did want to put a more decorative handle/lock on the door so now I have a good reason to push that to the top of the to do list.

The guy I am seeing has a cousin that builds decks, so he is going to talk to him and see if he can get me a deal on the construction of one. I need a deck, it is not just a want because it is an exit. It is a FIRE escape if there is a fire at the front of the house or in the garage.

I currently have $100 a month going into a house repair and projects account, Once I have my Escrow account funded, my mortgage account, and my 6MTH EF funded to where I want them, I want to bump that up so that I can build the deck sooner.

I am slowly going through the house and I so need to have a rummage sale. I need the money and I need to clear some of this junk because I want to declutter my life.

I had some rocks and a boulder in my back yard the boulder weighed 4600 pounds. I paid a coworker to remove them. The total cost was 326.80 for the work and now once the grass grows in I will be able to mow the grass without having to mow around the rocks. It is a huge weight off my shoulders....Like 4600 pounds. HaHa

Getting the Emergency Fund actually Funded; Pondering Savings moves

May 26th, 2010 at 10:04 pm

Well today I opened a NEW savings account.

It is online and it is my Emergency Fund. It is for the first 3 months of Emergency. I plan to do the rest of it in CDs.

I guess there is some rule about transfering money from one Savings account to another, so I had to transfer the money from one savings account to my checking then once it clears, transfer it to the Emergency Fund Savings. (This could be faster but it is not because it is THREE seperate companys).

I was going to transfer the FULL 3 Months from the Savings account that feeds my Mortgage BUT there is a daily limit so I tranfered $4,580 and tomorrow I will transfer the remaining $2,000 to my checking. The remaining $500 came out of Checking which I used to open the account.

I left enough in my *pay the mortgage autodraft account* to pay the Mortgage through the end of August. Hopefully it will sell before that and then I can roll the remainder into CDs I am creating for the rest of my Emergency Fund. My thought is that I will need a place to temporarily hold the money from the sell of the house until I can open the CDs and that is what this saving account will serve as. If it does not sell prior to that then I will need to start putting money back into the account.

The CDs are going to be open with this company because there CDs pay higher then the other two.

The online account that my EF is in is earning .45 MORE than my Mortgage account is so that is why it will not be my Emergency Fund. I am sort of rethinking having my Slush fund through my Checking account Bank because that is really bad for interest, EF savings is 1.0 Higher. I might turn Mortgage Autopay into the slush fund later (once it is not longer being a Mortgage Autopay) then close the Slush Fund Savings.

The thing I have noticed is there is a limit to how much money you can transfer online each day and the CD's I want to create are larger than that amount SO It will take me 6 business days to transfer the money plus clearing time.

My Car Repair and Replacement Savings is with ING.
My Emergency Fund is with ING.
Both are more out of sight out of mind because car repairs are few and far between and the replacement is quite a few years off, and the EF well that is Emergency Only.

My Mortgage Autopay Savings is also the Bank I have my Credit Card through, that is why I am thinking that would make a better home for the slush fund. The Slush fund is for non-reguler expenses such as auto insurance and Car Tags which I tend to pay online using my Credit card so having the slush fund savings there would make paying the bill faster.
My Sons Braces account is at that same company BUT I am thinking maybe it is time to close the account there and open it at ING so it grows faster.

Well Tomorrow is another day....

One last note Spent $20. I registered for a 5K Run. My FIRST offical 5K Run. It is on Sept 18. I am pretty excited about it. I registered early so I could save on the registration fee. It goes up by $5 every month until Race and I registered online so I saved an additional $5. I get a Long Sleeve T shirt for finishing so basically I bought a $20 T Shirt that says "I ROCK" okay it does not actually say that I just think I rock for doing this!

Shopping this weekend! $$$

May 24th, 2010 at 06:08 pm

This weekend we went shopping for carpet.

Looking over the instock supplies; XH was set on a certain type and color of carpet the sales lady was suggesting which was $2.29 per SF. I had pointed out that I prefered a totally different type and a mixed color instead of solid one which was $1.19 per sf.

He was stuck on the carpet at $2.29, until we got the quote. $714. He wanted to go to another store or two and so we left and on the way out he said okay maybe we will go with the $1.19 per sf carpet. I truthfully had been hopeing to get the carpet installed and all for around $300 so the $1.19 per sf is much closer to that price than the $2.29 stuff.

I guess it helps that I have purchased carpet with my grandmother many times and know that the price per sf adds up fast!

This is the same place he went to to get the molding for the upstairs bath that he was charged $60 a piece for. Really!!

***
We had went to my prefered store next. XH and I met with someone and talked about our needs, he suggested not only instock but figured out how much carpet we would needed and suggested a remenet piece. Being XH was about price at this point we picked out an piece and when it was all done it was about $424.

I am not sure the exact price because XH paid for it. Which was nice that he paid since I purchased the replacement garbage disposal and paid the plumber to fixed the water line for the dishwasher the day after we had the countertops installed.

The nice thing is this guy was the real deal, he made sure to ask about all the add ons. We ended up going home and measuring doorways because we needed to fix the transition of the lamenet. Which by the way is $30 there per piece!

We ended up having to go back because XH missed measuring out the landing at the foot of the stairs and he said it was like a foot and I was sure it was more. When we got home the landing was closer to 2 feet. We ended up having to go with a larger piece of remnent but it was an easy process and the price different of going from 12 x 10 to 12 x 14.6 was actually only $29.00.

The first piece was a berbur, the second was a pile but not a cheap pile, the thin little curly q type pile. Actually the store had it in wierd diagnal cuts of different colors at the front of the store so it must be popular. I want to say it reminds me of a shag rug. Maybe it is shag carpet.

Anyway the carpet we got was almost identical to what we had except the type. The carpet on the stairs will be removed and the carpet will be laid down on the stairs and the hallway this friday.

****
Saturday evening I went shopping, I got propane for the gas grill. I am hopeing that we can grill more so that #1 we will not be using the stove inside (so kitchen stays clean). #2 we can cut back on the number of meals we are eatting out to minimize the mess to the kitchen.

I then went to Wal-Mart, I finally found some shorts. I went in hoping to buy another pair of jeans but they were out of my size and I could not find jean shorts that fit like I wanted. BUT I found workout shorts, I have been looking long and hard. I am picky about my workout shorts...I do not like them too short and I like them to look flattering but it seems like either they are tight like spandex or they are more relaxed and they ballon out below the thigh.

I found 7 pairs of capris that fit just like I wanted and they were on clearance from $11 to $5 each. I bought all seven pairs because when I find something that works I need to stock up and seven pairs is one weeks worth or shorts. I also got a Tank which was regular price $11 but Marked $5 but rang up $1.

***
Sunday I went shopping with DS I wanted to see if I could find more tanks, I had been looking at the $5 racks after trying it on in the fitting room and after getting home and looking at the reciept I realized I should have been looking at the $1 rack.

Sunday I bought a St. Joseph Statue, I bought DS three sets of shorts and tanks they were $7 each and I bought him a pair of flip flops $4, and a pair of canvas slip on shoes $1 clearance. I found myself another tank but it was $5.

DS might not really have needed the tank/short sets BUT I am not sure. I think his summer stuff is in the tote in his bedroom closet but I might have taken his summer stuff over to the storage unit. Either way the tank and shorts end up $3.50 per piece since they could be worn seperately so for that price it is not bad.

These were the last ones in his size, so If I would not have gotten them they would have been gone when I went back. He wears size 7 slim pants with adjustable waist BUT in shorts wears 4/5 (skinny waist). So I bought them and after I go through the tote in his room and IF he has a ton of clothes for summer I might return them.

So this weekend was alot of spending but not too bad, I did not buy furnature so $1500 less than I planned.

Daycare....

May 21st, 2010 at 04:04 pm

XH is going out of town next week, going to a week long outdoor concert thing. No big deal I work 8-4:30 amd I have after school care already. The only glitche is that on the 28th there is no school so no afterschool care.

I have desided to take the day off work. So I will be using a day of leave. Oh well easiest fix AND little sweet heart and I get to spend the FIRST day of his summer vacation together yea.

****
Well today I was on Facebook and I noticed XH had a post for a memorial walk on that he had said he was doing. I am thinking in my head he really needs to start watching his calender.

I posted below it, a question on if HIS employer was going to let him do it during work hours (which since it was a memorial for a few coworkers they very well could). I continued with a comment saying I thought you were going to BLANK which basically means he would be out of town during the walk. So I texted him and asked the hours he had to work that weekend, and he said yep no walk, and so I had to ask again what his hours were and His answer was "I dont know". So a third time I asked what are your hours I want to schedule daycare.

So I asked if he wanted to take him to his buddies house or if he wanted me to ask my cousin or our other daycare lady (which days again he deleted her number out of his phone saying "dont need THAT number anymore"). His answer was to say DS does not like to stay at his friends house. Truthfully I dont like when XH takes him there BUT I just suggested it because it might be easier for him and cheaper. I told him once I got a yes I would tell him who, location and projected cost at pickup.

See I will be out of town, when XH can pick DS up. We need daycare from 8am-4:30p on Friday then Sat 8am until XH picks him up either LATE Sunday or first thing Monday. So I figure worest case it is 3 days or $180. Yeah XH is going to LOVE that. Oh well I am not home so he will have to pay for daycare.

I say worst case because if something changes I might just need to have DS stay overnight Friday so I dont have to drop off early Saturday. Plus XH will not give me time to what LATE means so if DS is with Sitter we have to pay until the time I reserved which would be until 7:30am Monday.

I hope he remembers his checkbook when he goes to pick him up, even with reminders the last time he needed to pay a daycare provider (out of joint checking) he forgot to bring the checkbook and had to turn around half way there to go get it.

Oh well even IF I end up having to repay XH for the Daycare bill it is less than I normally pay for a month (as long as he does not skip town prior to the end of the month).

House price drop...Sort of; and house work

May 12th, 2010 at 02:44 pm

So yesterday XH painted the stairwell and the banister. There are only two days left until we leave town for his work thing so once I mentioned that to him he realized today he has to do a bit more painting today then he got done yesterday.

The good news is the new paint in the stairwell and banster REALLY make the house look so much cleaner. We still have to paint more areas but I am hoping getting the really smuggy spots done will help with the (It needs to be cleaned comments). We had all the stuff me needed to do except for threee rolls of paper and we barrowed a painting paper roller from a coworker so the painting job so far has only cost $12. And IF we dont use all the rolls any unopenned rolls of paper can be returned.

***

Talked to the realtor last night, she hasn't heard back from the realtor who looked at our house on Saturday yet so I am thinking that means they are not going to be making an offer on the house. Knew we probubly should not have showed it before the stairwell got painted BUT they lived out of state.

The realtor called around and got three quotes on what a deck would cost, 2 said 4k one said 6k. Which is in line with what we had gotten for quotes back when we were looking to add a deck. So we went middle of the road and have now included a 5K allowance for the buyer to build a deck with. So technically the price has not gone down for the buyer but because 5K of the purchase price is being held for them to buy a deck with our profit went down by 5k.

Part of me would like to just pay for the deck and enjoy it now that summer is almost here until the house sells; BUT I dont want to spend 4K and then the buyer not like the deck because they would have chosen a different stain or composite decking or a much larger deck instead.

****

I am working on the rock border, yesterday I got the front of the house by the front door done, and I got the side of the garage done. Tonight I will be working on the side of the house by the front door. That way if you are in the front yard everywhere you see the rock border will be done. My back is so sore, but oh well Tonight is that last night I have to work on it because tomorrow night is the road trip.

****

Tonight is Subway so that I can keep working on the rock border and not stop to deal with dinner....$7.17.

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On a kiddo note, since we have three bathrooms in our house I staged the two upstairs and cleaned them superwell and the towels are pinned in place so that they are perfect. I figure we can use the downstairs one and then that is two less things I need to be cleaning daily to keep the house show worthy. We told Little Love of my Life to only use the main bathroom IF it was an Emergency and he could not get to the bathroom down stairs.

Well last night as I am working in the rock garden what does he do? He calls me to come quick I need to look at the bathroom, After asking him a bunch of questions to figure out the EMERGENCY, I go inside. In the process of trying to get cleaned up enough to enter the house, I get MUD tracks all over the newly cleaned rugs by the front door. So I go to the bathroom and the Emergency is......... He has made me a smiley face out of WET Toliet Paper and put it on the Mirror in the Show Bathroom!

I also noticed this morning that he got the NEW bathroom rugs dirty in the process of making the smiley face because he did not take off his shoes before entering the house like I asked.

I am ready to sell the house so I can laugh and appreciate stuff like this instead of just thinking about the mess made.

8888
Added
I just opened my slush fund. It is a goal savings so the amount of my slush fund will automatically get transfer from checking into the slush fund. This is for those bills/events that are once or twice a year. It is with my brick and morter bank that has my checking account so as needed I can transfer the funds from savings to the checking account.

I would like to open a seperate savings account with ING for my car repair/replacement stuff but I am going to wait a few days to see if I can get one of the $25 bonus referal links. My car rarely goes into the shop for repairs and the replacement is a while off so I want to get higher interest on it and the three day transfer time is not a biggy.

Email back first draft of divorce papers

April 29th, 2010 at 03:22 pm

I sent back the first draft of the divorce papers. I will need to call the laywer and ask again about the payment.

I just do not want the process slowed down because they are waiting for payment...They have my CC Number and I just want them to use it if that is what is needed to keep the ball rolling.

I have the option of going down to pick up the papers and present them to STBX or to have them mailed and I think I am going to go down and get them. I want to make sure I have signed everywhere I need to sign before I hand them over to him for signature. Plus it cuts a day or 2 of the wait depending on time and date of them being done.

Yesterday he asked if he could have "Someones" look over the papers once they are done, I think he was asking if I thought they would do it. I said he could try asking; then he brought up the name of someone who he actually knows. I told him I would PREFER if he had her look them over before we resubmit them back to the lawyer and he said never mind. I offered twice and he said just send it back.

I really hope now he just signs them when the time comes...If we have another rewrite I have a feeling I am going to be paying $250 per hour for the modification. I am going to be a little miffed then because it would have been no extra cost IF he would have just done it before like I offered.

I guess it is wait and see....Today if the final draft is done and picked up then $500 Spent.

5.4 pounds down since Friday AM 32.8 to go!!!

April 27th, 2010 at 06:15 pm

Okay realistically I dont know if I will get down to 143. I technically need to get to 149 in order to avoid being taped to see if I am under 34% body fat.

2008 July I was about 150-155 pounds and toned (lots of swimming) I would like to be there again. I have until Dec 5th to make this happen. Once this happens I an extending my Job contract for 6 years.

Yep Job security for me and my son for 6 years, So worth a little discomfort now. I have been good and drinking 10-11 glasses of water a day, taking my diet pills and counting calories.

I have desided I am going to bite the bullet and buy more benefiber drink mix (keeps me full) even though I have some raspberry tea flavor at home. The raspberry tea flavor makes me gag. The cost of it as as a diet aid is worth it when you consider it is helping me keep a 50K job a year in a 18K a year average area. Just wish I could find my coupon file since I am sure I had some benefiber coupons in there.

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House Update
Door is to be installed tonight. Countertops sometime this week (the counter is at the store with the install team - just need install team to call to set up a time).

Laywer - no news yet.

***

Three days until payday. Need to balance the checkbook. Bought my son some jeans on clearance that I need to return to the store. They are "Rocker" style AKA basically skinny cut jeans for men. I figured they would not be bad as he normally wears slim jeans. HA the butt looks like he is wearing a diaper and the tightness in the legs/length looks like he should be a host on that show "Q--- eye for the straight guy".

Oh well I am hopeing to get a trip into Once upon a child so I can see if I can get him some bigger jeans. It is hard finding him SALE/Clearance/Used jeans because he needs an adjustable waist (needs a belt because he is super skinny; but cant wear a belt due to medical issues) and he wears slims while Short and HUSKY is the standard wear I live. If he wears nonslim jeans the waist does not get tight enough with the adjustable waist and when he jumps etc the jeans fall down to his shoes.

Have a great day!!

Ouch this is going to be expensive - DIET!!

April 20th, 2010 at 04:49 pm

Okay stepped on the scale....179pounds.

Yes instead of being nice to me the scale is being MEAN!! It was suppose to magically turn to 143 pounds.

I guess all that resterant eatting because we have to leave the house so people can see the house and so that we are not cooking and messing up the house is messing up my waist line.

So Tomorrow is the work BBQ, that is the last day before I go back on my diet.

I am going to hit it hard, I am stopping off at the diet center and buying the detox drugs...Yep that is between $75 and $90 for a month. Then I plan on stopping at the grocery store and buying some fruit since I already have the meal replacement shakes (I want to add juice and fruit for flavor).

I have two bottles of the meal replacement already(one for at work and one for home) they are 15 meals per bottle, you are suppose to replace 2 meals with the shakes and then eat sensible the third meal. So a bottle is 2 weeks. Well I need to stop eatting all together. I need to totally stop the garbage that I am putting in my body so I will be doing three shakes a day with the added fruit and fruit/vegtables as snacks to get to my needed calories and then hopefully after my cravings end and stomich shrinks in size (full faster) I can stop the meal replacement and go back to cooking meals.

One thing I do know is if I stay out of the kitchen I eat less so the quickness of the meal replacement might be worth the money.


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