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?

Here is my Zero Based Budget:

Expenses: Monthly
Housing:
Mortgage / Rent $1,060.00
MDU $126.50
Water/Waste $56.90
Cell $96.16
Internet $38.11
House Downpayment$0.00
Storage Unit $55.00
Phone $29.17

Medical:
Dental Premium $12.69
Dependent Meds $15.00
Braces Fund $150.00 (Savings)
Dental Work Bills$25.00 (Slush)

Daycare:
Daycare $165.00
Weekend Sitter $100.00
Summer Daycare $175.00 (Slush)

Vehicle:
Lumina Gas $50.00
Insurance $33.16 (Slush)
Tags $17.00 (Slush)
Lumina Repairs/Replace $100.00 (Savings)

Dependent:
School lunch $37.50
School Snack $6.66
Clothes $20.00
Gifts- Xmas/Bday$50.00 (Slush)
College 529 Fund$20.00 (Savings)
Back 2 School Items$45.00 (Slush)
Allowance $8.00

Misc:
Food/Cleaner/Etc $200.00
Gifts- Xmas/Bday/Wedding$10.00 (Slush)
Roth IRA $416.66 (Savings)

Total $3,118.51 SHORT 664.53

Income:
Work $2,453.98
Child Support ???

Saving(FROM ABOVE NUMBERS):
Slush Fund $355.16
Downpayment Fund $0.00
New Car / Car Repairs $100.00
Braces Fund $150.00

I am $664.53 Short to keep up with my finacial goals so changes need to be made. First note I do not know how much I would get for Child Support BUT it will be small as my STBX income is $1195 per month if they do not include the $705 non-taxable income he earns. I want my budget to be based off no child support so if for some reason he cant pay and his amount goes to arrears that I am not in a bad situation.

I am trying to follow a Dave Ramsey type program. I want to create a slush fund for bills that are not monthly such as back to school clothes and supplies, gifts, car insurance and car tags etc.

I would like to save for a downpayment or house purchase in the future and so that is a savings item. I would like to save for College for my Son, I would like to save for Braces for him, I also want to save for retirement.

What do you think?

I know the storage unit HAS to go (And will as soon as the house is SOLD), the grocery/cleaning/etc is a total estimate and I am selling the house and would like to put the difference between my current housing cost and rental cost into savings for a downpayment. I am guessing the difference is going to be $500.

If this was your budget would you?
A. Reduce the savings that is going to the downpayment on a house ($500)
B. Reduce/Stop the saving for Son's College ($20)
C. Reduce Roth IRA savings ($416.66)
D. Combination
E. Other ??

Question 2 I bought my STBX an new phone which I signed a 1 year contract for, I can either
A. Cancel line pay $200 Fine
B. Change plan to a smaller plan and pay extra $10 or $20 (depends on plan) until Dec 2010 and keep the phone plan no cancel fee
*** B is cheaper BUT then I have a second line to deal with. I upgraded both phones at the same time so I cant just take over his number and cancel my number.
WHAT would YOU do?

Well I had question marks next the the Emergency Fund instead of amounts because I did not know what to put there.

If we cant sell and we need to pay for the house then it is $2360.00 a month. If we sell and we rent an apartment it will be less.

I have desided to list the emergency fund as if I will pay for the house payment and then if it sells I will redo the amounts to match my NEW expenses.

So
3MTH is 7,080.
6MTH is 14,160
9MTH is 21,240
12MTH is 28,320

*** Today is payday, I NEED to balance my checkbook and see what I have to as a ballpark for EF. It will just be a ballpark since until the divorce is final the STBX could turn around and say he wants more.

****** Got a email back from the lawyer and it said that she wanted me to know that unforquently she is super busy with court cases this week she is not going to be able to get to my paperwork until next week. Hurry Up and wait (I am used to this so no biggy). So now I will sit here and wonder if the paperwork gets done next week and mailed out and signed and returned how long is the process from then on? I should have probubly just got some guts and sat down with the STBX last week but I think it would have been a bit much for both me and STBX.

The truck starts, told Hubby to let it run then turn it off and restart it to check if it is the silonoid. He says it is fine.

I have my fingers crossed BUT I am going to load up the back with the leftover sheetrock scraps and the wood that is garbage and finish cleaning up the rest of the basement.

Now that we have a working truck I am going to have to keep an eye out for deals on river rock so we can finish the border around the house. (Free or cheap is good for me)

Hopefully hubby can figure out an easy way to get rid of the large rock/boulders that are in in yard. I want them removed and am willing to rent a bobcat but hubby doesnt like that idea because he would have to load the rocks into the truck then take the bobcat with to unload them. (Sorry it is not that difficult to drive a bobcat off a trailer then unhook a trailer then use bobcat, hook up trailer then load bobcat); it is not like I am asking him to move them by hand.

As for the large boulder I need to find someone with a jack hammer, hubby says you cant rent one because it has to have a generater to run it. I guess I figured they made gas ones or at least rented them. We will see.

Also now that the truck is running hubby needs to take his car in to be looked at, he says it is making straige noises having to do with wheels. I hope it is not too spendy as I was going to start having us split bills on the 1st of May and I am not sure if he is going to go for paying for the repair all by himself. I was planning on having repairs for the truck split but repairs to our own cars being the responsibility of the driver.

Well, after the hubster tried to poly the door we got to replace the one upstairs it got white specks in spots (this was with a 4 day dry time). So I have given up. I know at this rate it will take a month to get this door up.

My husband is super busying playing Xbox 360 so to have one side of a door have 2 coats of stain and one coat of poly it has taken 10 days, it still needs the sides and the back done.

I called the place that provided the doors to the builder and am having one prestained. I will then have our handy man come back put in the knob hole, install the knob and put in the hinge holes and hinges and hang it. Two weeks from now my special order door will be DONE!! $80 for the door I just ordered

I am waiting for them to call me back with information so that I can order some siding, when the sprinkler system guy put in the system he got too close to the siding and melted two pieces and the corner piece. I need to have the handy man come over and tell me how many pieces total he thinks we will need to order.

Truck, needs a new starter...Hubster was planning on getting a used one, and installing it himself. Went to see if it would start at all and nothing. So he went to the battery place.

The battery was so low that the battery place is going to try to charge it and then they will test it tommorrow after they see IF they can charge it.

Battery or not IT needs a new starter, there is a problem with the sioloniod on the starter (it is one piece with the starter on this model and not seperate) that allows the vehicle to restart after the vehicle is warm. Anyway now my husband thinks it is just the battery; I HATE this (cuss word here) truck.

Anyway either we will be paying for a battery and a starter. Or a battery now and a starter later. But that is tomorrow.

We need to have the truck running in two weeks time so we can pick up the door and also have it to use for other jobs we need to get done to get the house ready for sell.

I should have just called the repair shop and had them tow it in and fix it BUT I thought it would be easier to do once the hubster was home; but I forgot how EVERYTHING is an arguement over who is right with him and that he takes 5X longer than most people to get around to doing something and 10X longer than most people to finishing it.

On a Positive note..A old friend looked me up and they are so workout crazy that it has motivated me to get off my duff and yesterday I got a workout in (6 mile walk in my reebok tone fit shoes). And this morning I took my diet pills. I need to lose 20 pounds my June 1st I should lose 40 pounds but need to lose 20 for work.

The hubster called and his daughter is in town and she wants him to take her out to dinner. He wanted ideas on where to take her, something not expensive but at the same time enjoyable for her age. It is nice now that he has his own spending money because he is alot more aware of his spending and he is trying to make it last. So that is smile worthy.

The Hubster mentioned that before he goes out of town for the concert in May, we need to order a replacement tent pole.

Long Story Short He broke the tent pole on another concert trip about two years ago. So he better believe it is coming out of the money I have already saved for him for the trip. It will not be coming out of household funds.

He told me that weekend he has to go down a day early, he plans to take a tour of the campus that he wants to attend this September.

He talked of applying for work at the place he worked back in 2003. The reason is if he is hired here; then moves there, there is a chance they would transfer him and he would then have a job right away without having to locate one once he is settled in.

Depending on when and what kind of hours he works will determine what kind of daycare we need and if our son will be going to the free half day summer school program or not.

Whatever happens we will see, I just have to sit and wait.

Hoping to shake loose the cobwebs.

I am so tired from working this weekend. I am also hungry; I would love to treat myself to a McDonalds breakfast.

I know that is so bad to think I deserve a $4 Breakfast meal as a treat on the MONDAY after pulling a 62 hour week last week and two more days until I can take a day off.

My fingers are crossed on getting Wednesday off because we are about to get crazy busy working 12 hour days with no days off. PS did I mention I am salery. So all this extra time is FREE for my employer.

I do get paid VERY WELL for what I do even if once every month or so I have to pull 65 hour weeks. And occasionally have to pull 12 hour days without a day off. Like I said I work with Emergency Services so it is not like it is not an Emergency causing me to have work these shifts....LOL little office humor.

My Husband posted an ad for our Entertainment Center. I hope it sells!! Tonight I need to clear off MY 6 foot folding table and move it into the basment and put plastic over it. I want to let my husband use it as a work space so he can do more staining at one time. Staining is a long process since you have to let it dry between coats and some need 3 or 4 coats of stain before poly. So if I could get more work space for him it would cut down on how long it would take before the contracter can come back and install the wood and shelves.

Yesterday I found the hubsters two credit cards.

The Capital one card that I have been wanting him to cancel and the other one with a rewards balance on it.

He canceled the Capital One Card....Wahoo one more thing done on the split the finances checklist and he activated the other CC.

I had planned to cancel the joint saving account after the house is sold BUT I am thinking that it is kind of pointless. Yes it is nice to have the repairs money in a savings account but I am thinking that at the start of next month I am going to cancel the savings account and just move the money into the joint checking but move it to the back of the register so it is in there to pay the bills as they come due BUT they are not in there to be spent willy nilly If you get what I mean.

The reason for next month is that is when he no longer gets income from his former employer so we will need to start using that savings money anyway.

wrote a check for the hubster to cash to deposit into his checking account for spending money.

He got his spending money, gas money and $10 so I can order him some checks for his new account. (To Do - Order Checks)

Giving him the gas money is working Awesome. He said it is no big deal on the amount of gas money he is getting as he is telling his buddies if they want rides they have to pony up money for gas. Funny how before, when he used up all his gas he just asked for more $, now IF he is frugle at the end of the month any extra gas money could be spending money. So Win Win, he is no longer giving his buddies free unlimited rides and I can budget a certain amount for gas money. I was going to give him more this month but when I asked about how much driving he had ahead of him for the month he said the same (went into the speach about telling his friends they would have to contribute gas $), so no reason to give him more if he did not say last month was tight.

Gave Son a check for lunch for the 1st through the 15th. He tends to like to add ala carte items and run out of $, so if I am only paying until the next payday I can keep a better eye on that. And IF the extra spending continues I am going to start looking into ways to send him healthy cold lunchs for less than $1.50 per day. I have done the math before and I always came out spending more per lunch.

Completed the form needed to remove StepDaughter #1 from dental plan. I need to have Hubster sign it tonight so I can fax it tomorrow. The rate is about to spike so we are removing #1 but leaving StepDaughter #2 on for 6 more months as she is in the middle of braces treatment. Removing #1 will save $46 per month; as the cost to insure just #2 is about to be what we were paying for both before.

The last time the hubster was unemployed for a while I hated it because he just sat in front of his computer and the TV all day long. This time it is not so bad, he is getting house stuff done, he is cooking, and since we have no TV he is actually getting alot of stuff done. We will see if that changes once the family room is set back up.

I really like the NO Tv, it is helpful for the entire family. It is such a Time Waster.

Last night my husband said he wanted to start a more active role in bill paying. You have no idea what a weight this is off my shoulders.

Once the house is sold we are going to sit down and try things differently. His idea is we would each get paid into our own accounts and then split the bills and pay them as they come sitting down on Saturday to do this.

I have agreed whole heartedly to this because once we do this I will not feel like I am holding the burden. My husband will have his extra money to Free spiritly spend and I will have my extra money to save for our sons college fund and whatever other savings I need to feel financial secure.

Right now his income is not enough to pay for half the bills, that is why I am waiting until after the house is sold. Right now I am handling everything and at the end I work extra hard to fill in the slack. Well once we are renting and the bills go down he will get whatever extra is in his account and if it is not enough like he feel it is not enough now then he will have to pick up his own slack.

Now that I know I am swimming to a goal instead of just endlessly swimming to keep my head above water, I have a new burst of energy to do what I need to do to make sure I get picked to stay on at my job.

On March 1st, since it is the start of a new month I will start tracking food spending. This I hope will allow me to get a real look at what we are spending on food.

I also want to track gasoline usage.

I am hoping that this weekend we will be able to do some furnature movement which will mean that I can clean up the house. When we reset up the office or family room I want to make an area to work so I can start posting items for sale on our towns free online classified listing.

Taxes!! I also want to sit down once the office or family room is set up and gather up all the tax forms and file our taxes.

See we textured and painted the ceilings in our basement and everything that was in the basement is piled in the livingroom upstairs and it is a nightmare. This weekend we hope to caulk the seams, paint the seams then clean up from the mess (Paper, painter plastic) wash floors and move furnature.

We are hoping to put our house on the market, Sell it, then rent an apartment for less and save the difference.

Lots of things to do this weekend and then hopefully start March 1st tracking expenses!

Hi I am trying to cut costs so I can work on financial security. Our take home income MAY drop this Dec due to a lay off so I am trying to be proactive. Right now I am just looking to have a solid budget and trim a little so the saving can go to an Emergency Fund. And later if the layoff happens will make more drastic changes closer to Dec.

Here is my budget could you help look it over and see if there is anything you would look into changing.

Expenses: Monthly
House:
Mortgage $1,060.00
Electric & Gas $126.50 *
Water/Waste $56.90 *
Phone $29.17
Cell $100.00 #
Internet $38.11

Dental - Premium $44.68
Sons Meds $50.00
Daycare $239.00
Child Support $679.00

Car:
Gas $180.00
Insurance $33.16 *
Tags $17.00 *

Misc:
School lunch $30.00 (Edited from $50)
School Snack $6.66-> $15 EVERY 9 WEEKS
Food $450.00 #
Cleaner/tolietry/Paper$10.00 #
Gifts $60.00 *
Clothes $20.00 *
Toys/Fun $20.00 *
Spending $ Husband $100.00
Husband Life ins $38.00
My Life Ins $36.50
College Fund $225.00

$3,647.68 (-$20)

House Repairs
Misc
Dental Cost Share

I was going to explain areas but decided not to make excuses and just let you attack it. But I will put * next to Averages and # next to estimates.

Take Home : $4160.02

Mortgage is Mortgage plus taxes & insurance as loan type requires an escrow account

(Changes) I cut the School breakfasts 2/25/2010 out of the budget. My husband is back home now so I dont have to drop my son off for breakfast at school in order to make it to work on time. This was actually more than $20 because he was buying extra al-carte items but my budget was base price.