Today the Sprinkler guy came to fix the head that popped up from the ground. He also (main reason) fixed the cut line from the post hole auger. He also adjusted some heads so they were not hitting the fence. $60

This afternoon the AC/furnace guy came. He blew out the AC drain, put some gel tab thingys in and poured water down drain. He also let some Freeon out ( I guess we had a bit too much in). Hopefully those things fixed the leak. He could not find a reason for the leak so it could have been the tooo much freeon which was causing the coils to freeze then thaw and when thawing leaking under the unit. Waiting on the bill. I did ask him to please rush the bill since I was leaving in two weeks. Some times it takes them a while to bill.

+++
I am still on hold for someone to come out and fix the window.

I have a dentist appointment for DS tomorrow after school.

I have my car going into the shop for a bunch of little things on Friday, so I took that day off.

I then have a Doctors appointment for DS on Monday the 12th.

I think that is all of my to do list. Sadly not wanting to see the bills from all these projects but no choice since I do not have a magic pay the bills fairy.

+++
Tomorrow my stuff will be loaded into the conex and I will be done with my deployment stuff.

Tonight I plan to mow the grass, BF did not do it this weekend and I forgot my grass stained yardwork shoes at work so I did not do it. I wanted to do it since BF is going to have to do it every week once I am gone. Not sure why BF did not do it this weekend BUT I think he is starting to be bummed out that it is getting close to time for me to leave.

DS is getting a bit more hyper, not sure if it is because I am leaving or the fact that we have TV again. I saw a decrease in his hyperness when I disconnected the TV years ago. Then I saw another decrease in hyperness when BF moved in. I hope it is just DS's way of reacting to my soon departure. That way once I am gone he can calm down. My cousins have even MORE cable channels than we do, so I am hoping it is not the cable.

Last week I had drill, it was crazy long.

Monday got up at 5:30am we got to bed at 3:30am the following morning.

Tuesday up at 6:30am we got home at 6pm. I had stuff to get done so bed at 10pm.

Wednesday up at 5:30am we got home at 10:30pm.

Thursday up at 5:30 dismissed at 6:30pm.

Friday up at 5:30 dismissed at 6:00pm.

Saturday worked 9am-11am.

There were issues with food and scheduling so on top of lack of sleep I was also very hungry Monday and Tuesday.

---
But while on vacation I got my two doctor appointments done. My glasses came in last week but due to the hours I worked I could not pick them up. I will be picking them up tonight.

I have to repack a few bags since I took stuff out to sew. I need to find my matching padlocks then I plan to bring it in to work.

I was suppose to be all packed Friday but then they gave us full-timers an excuse since we will actually need our stuff between now and when we leave where as the other will not need them.

I got the utilites switched over to my BF's name. He will be paying the utilities while I am gone. The first bill is due on the 31 (city water) and he has yet to pay it. I just printed off the auto bill pay forms from the website so he can set up autopay out of his checking if he wants.

I am a bit concerned, IF he does not pay then the utilities will get turned off. Kinda hard to live with turned off utilities. In my state IF the renter does not pay the landlord is responsible BUT I will not be around to pay them so if he does not pay them then the company can just turn them off until he remembers to pay. I guess the fact that he is waiting this close to the bill being due to pay it bothers me. I like to pay a bill that I do not have on autopay right away or go online and schedule a payment as soon as I get a bill so I do not forget.

When we had talked in the past he came off as liking timely bills, but now that we are at that point I am not seeing it. In fact I am seeing the opposite.

He himmed and hawed about rent. First it was he had to finish off the Student loan that went to collections while he was on workers comp then unemployed (had 5 payments of 25% of his take home). Then he could not get out of his contract with his landlord (landlord did not want to relist it)...Not sure if I believe that because there is a housing shortage in town. BUT maybe he did not want to bother to follow up to prove the landlord rerented the apartment, and take him to small claims court.

Anyway, months went by and May became June (oops 5 payments not 4 to SL) and then June became July. Well now it is August and He has YET to pay me the $525 (his old rent amount) but now says $600 (half bills) per month he was going to pay for rent.

It is August and I said I would prefer him to pay the utilities and then him put the difference into a savings account so that if repairs come up he has the funds and then when I get home the leftover can be used to pay for some of the house repair projects we have planned (Deck, Patio, Shed).

I don't want to have to deal with odd deductions for utilities out of my checking account while I am deployed and I don't want to have to figure out how to handle him paying rent then paying him back if he has to repairs etc.

He says the Cable company double billed him and so he told them to eat the bill...Instead of working through it. Well it went to collections and he had to pay off that bill before they would allow him to take over responsibilty of the account.

When we called the ELEC/GAS company he also had an outstanding bill for his appartment. Since it was less that $20 they just added it to the new bill. It was $10 plus $0.11 late fee.

When we called the water bill people there was no issue , and that he can pull his name off the bill at any time. Yep, except for him needing water there is no incentive for him to actually pay the bill.

===

Not sure what to do...I feel like a Sugar Mama again. I realize there is not much extra cost with him living here (a bit more AC and a bit more Water) and he was picking up the tab for the majority of the groceries but why tell me he is going to pay rent if he does not want to.


I need to call the AC people and have them look at my furnance, I think the overflow container is full.

I also need to make an appointment to have a broken window fixed.

I also need to call my sprinkler guy. BF installed a fence and three posts from the end (Middle of yard) he punctured the sprinkler line. He went to Menards and Lowes to look for a repair kit and could not find one and has yet to go to a hardware store. So I think I am just going to call the sprinkler guy and pay to have him do the repair.

The fence is not done, it is functional but it needs a bit of fine touches...He was planning on putting a top around it. And some area where the panels did not meet filler boards need to be added I guess if necessary if he never gets to it I could just cut down the posts and put caps on them and be done. He spent $1000 on matterials.

Yes that was nice, we have a nice almost functional fence (need to figure out a lock for the gate (keeps openning unless you put lots of heavy rocks on the one side). Also there is only a gate on one side the other is not done yet.

We needed a fence for his dog. It was not an expense I NEEDED so I don't feel like the fence makes up for not following through on the rent promise. Also he said he was going to get a special door that attaches to the sliding glass door so that his dog could come and go as she pleased. I am certain he said he ordered it, well it did not come with the fence matterial and then he said he had to order it....Still not here so I am guessing he never ordered it.

Well I have hopes that today will be a No Spend Day. We will have to see, yesterday I went to my grandmothers and packed up another car load of things to take to my house. I did not sort the stuff between the piles into (Aunty, Mine, Dads, and my Brothers) so I will have to do that later.

I am LOW on gas, I am hoping that since today we need to use BF's truck to pick up the furnature that I can delay the gas fill up another day.

This morning at 6:45am the delivery of the fencing matterials arrived. The timing was GREAT, even if since I had only awoken 15 minutes prior I was a little out of it still. They put the cement in the small stall in garage and the other supplies infront of the small stall that we have the mowers and BF's Motorcycle in. It might rain and so now the cement is protected...They were so nice and that was a nice suggestion to make.

I got a cooler full of things from the freezer, actually it included some ribs. I took one pack out to thaw for this weekend. There is more in the freezer but my aunt asked if I would use each item before she either put it in the cooler or moved it to the side of the freezer for someone else to grab.

I passed on the bannana bread, and the frozen rubarb. I ended up with a cooler full of Meat, and two packs of shreaded cheese and a pack of frozen meat ravioli.

Looks like today I will head to my grandmothers and take the furnature back to my place. I hope that we can do it in one trip. Then we can start on the fence.

Yesterday I vaccumed the back room, and sorted some things and of course loaded a car load of stuff. I am hoping that maybe next week will be the final week of actually sorting and removing stuff from the house. I will be out of town, the following week helping the EX move his stuff back to town, so I will not be available to help.

Things still need to be picked up by people they go to, I am picking up 7 or 6 pieces. Truthfully even though everyone seems to be taking atleast one load home (car or pickup) everyday there is not a single room that is cleared yet. This weekend I think is going to be the big clear out of furnature.

There are three groups of items that still need to be sorted...The Christmas Decorations, the tools in the shed, and a closet of (gifts), fabric and lace. The gifts are NEW items that my grandmother purchased over the years or she had people purchase for her so that she had gifts on hand for events/holidays and not need to head to the store to buy stuff. My grandmother was German and so she has a large collection of new and Antique lace.

I will either be spending my weekend putting up a fence or I will be helping clean and load stuff at my grandmothers....Either way a super Exercise weekend. I am going to be tired.

So last night I went over to my grandmothers house. I guess my aunt and uncle were doing some research online and were creep-ed out by some information they found on a set of trunks that my grandparents bought at an auction yearsssss ago.

When they were dividing up the belongs of my grandmother, my uncle got one and I got one (well technically my father got it- but My Father told my aunt ALL he wanted was his fathers gun and the rest of anything he was gifted could go to me or I could get first dibs, or if there was anything I wanted that I could pick it and call it his).

Well my family came to the US years ago, My Grandfather was in WWII in the US Navy. The trunks belonged to an area family and from the data we have found out there is a story of two brothers. One that used his connections to flee Germany when he heard rumors the War was to break out and worked on a Red Cross Boat, and relocated to our state and was imprisoned ONLY because of his nationality until the war was over, but he did NOT want to be in Germany during the War so he had no problems with it. He met his future wife here in town.

His Brother was in Germany during the war, He and the trunks came over long after the war ended. Basically during the time when the US was finally letting the "war criminals" into the country. So my family thinks the two trunks, one looking very much like a Military FootLocker could have been Nazi trunk. Research online has VERY little information on the second brother that died just last year. The small obit of the seconds brothers wife who died in May of this year, seems to give the impression that the family might have been that the second brother and his wife were "the family dirty little secret".

My uncle is going to contact the daughters of the first brother and see if they want the trunks for family history as they are antiques and according to the labels on the trunks the first brother paid the passage for the trunks and his brother and sister to come to the area. The trunks have a Value of $175-$350 as is...If restored they could have a value of $500-$1300.

I think the trunks are interesting. I keep telling myself that maybe he was one of the nazi Soldiers that was forced into the war but secretly opposed the efforts, and did what they could such as give some of their rations to the starving children, or maybe he even saw a few Jewish people hiding out and he pretended not to, so they could keep on hiding.

****
Yesterday I went over to grandma's house and helped clear out some of her non-parishable foods.

I am storing items for my father, my aunt that has been taking care of my grandma these last 6 months, and my brother...My aunt lives out of state and eventually will take the items with her or ship them. My father is planning a road trip two years from now and will take his items then, and my brother comes atleast once a year and can either slowly take them in his luggage or ship the stuff once he is down here to see what I thought he might have attachment to.

So yesterday I brought another car load of things to the house for storing. I helped load items for other family members then I came home.

***
Today I will be emptying some of the food my aunt purchased out of the freezer to bring to my house. She will be staying at my place once the house is almost clear, then she will just go back daily to prep, paint, and repair the house to put it on the market.

Friday my BF and I will be using BF's truck to load the furnature I got.

Friday the Hardware store will also be delivering the fence matterials that BF purchased yesterday so we can fence the backyard. He said he came in right where he had hoped to budget wise for the fence. Not sure what that is...I am not going to ask.

I am broke, and at one point he said he would pay for the matterials since it is for his dog. Secondly I have no desire to fence the yard, I like that not having a fenced yard make the yard look larger. Thirdly, I would prefer a no-maintence 6 foot privacy fence, he would have been happy with a chain-link. But we went the middle road and he went with a wood 4 foot fence that he is going to put 2 foot of lattuce on top of to bring to 6 feet. In the end I think if he frames out the 4 foot panels and the lattuce it will look really nice. He was also planning on getting a doggy door for the sliding door. That way the dog can come and go as she wishes during the day once the fence is up. This is a summer only option BUT it will be nice since it will cut down on accidents during the day during the summer.

Yesterday was a No-Spend day, but I did do extra driving as I drove to my grandmothers house.

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.

Let me explain....Lately I have been really second guessing myself. Can I really keep this up to another 13 years.

If not I better make changes. Currently I am investing the MAX into my retirement. Because I do this it results in an earned income credit of $2640 more than I would get if I didn't save any in pre-tax dollars. This is basically 16.50% return on the deposit BUT I can't touch it until I am 65 years old.

I wonder is that 16.5% or $2,640 worth it, or should I start funding my Roth IRA and investing in the stock market then when I make a career change I can slowly sell my stock and use it to make my mortgage payments.

I guess option 2 is to instead of putting money into the Retirement account put that amount into my mortgage and then refinance/downsize when I make the change. But will I be refinancing with a higher interest rate? Applying 16,500 a year would take 8 years to pay off my mortgage. If I made it 8 more years in this job I would be crazy to quit.

Truthfully I have been unsatisified with my work life for about 2 years but I have been hanging in because I did not see any other choice. If I change jobs unless I downsize I will be house poor.

I wish I had been able to sell my house when I got divorced because then I would have had a smaller mortgage and would feel like I could make a change. Right now if you figure reducing my income by that 16,500 per year I need a job that makes 36K a year or approx $16 an hour, just to keep maintaining without any retirement savings.

I need a personal cheerleader, the reward is AWESOME if I can hold out in this job another 13 years. The reward is good if I can hold out in this job part time for another 9.5 years.

I am just getting burnt out, I am tired of working 40 hours a weeks plus having to work one weekend which means once a month I have a 12 day streatch without a day off. Once a year I have to leave my son with family for two weeks minimum. Next year I will gone from home for a whole year. I will make approxmately $500 more per month BUT my bills because of this go up MORE than $500 per month.

Last year I signed a 6 year extension but truthfully I am starting to think I should request a hardship discharge. The 6 year extension does not mean I could not switch to part-time, which would be alot easier. I could also go part-time then IF my part-time does not work with my new job request ING then possibly Discharge based on employment conflict.

Everytime I leave for Annual Training, for Job Training, Flood Duty it is getting harder and harder mentally on my son.

I need to start planning short term instead of long term because I don't know how much longer until I burn out. I guess another problem is I am tired of fighting the weight battle. I am allowed to weigh 149 pounds or % body fat. At 149 pounds I wear a size 7/8. My body naturally falls at 165 so the % body fat option has been my option for YEARS. Right now I need to drop weight to get down to my % body percentage. Some times I just wish I could eat what I want and exercise because I enjoy it instead of doing it because someone is going to be putting a tape measure to my body or counting my reps or timing me and judging me.

Okay change 314, I was told I leave Friday for flood duty, then I was told I leave Thursday but inprocess Wednesday Night and would be driving my vehicle.

With the price of gas, the fact my ABS light is always lit, and we are not paid in and around mileage just from home of record to the Work location and then from the work loaction back to Home of Record; I really really do not want to drive.

The past few years it was nice to have my car so I could still have somewhat of a life instead of working my 12 hours then spending my 12 hours at the hotel but that was before I was saving all my money to get ready for the deployment. In 2009 I ended up having my car and did a little CVSing when I was not on shift (I worked the night 12 hour shift so this worked out).

Now I don't leave until Thursday, I am to meet another co-worker here at 2pm and we will be driving a GSA part-way where someone will then drive the GSA back here. We will then hop on a helicopter and fly into the work location.

I also talked to BF and he will be watching DS from Thurday evening until Sunday Morning so as of now my cousin will be watching my son for 109 hours so the cost has gone down to $272.50.

I am going to treat this as a deployment trail run. I will be staying at a hotel BUT I will only have what I bring with me (besides towels, bedding, etc). So this will be a chance to write down reminders of things I really need to make sure I pack. In the 5 weeks I was on flood duty in 2009, one thing I ended up going to the store for was facial moisterizer. My face was soooo dry it hurt.

I also will be going to Annual Training in May and will use that as a trail run also. It is hard to remember sometimes what you really really need to have when you are trying to pack as lightly as possible.

***
Sidenote, I never got that Cell Phone I ordered online so I will need to order it again. I never was sure if it took since I did not get a confirmation page. My phone transitions to AT&T on May 3rd so just incase my flood duty gets extended I will have to take both phones on flood duty with me. Tonight I will need to go down to the AT&T store at the mall and transfer my numbers. I got a call from the store at the mail suggesting I do that.

I also purchased a extra tall wide span gate (baby/pet gate). I have a 42 hallway that I want to block off, most non-wide gates expand to 41 or less. My dog keeps peeing on the carpet. So I want to block off the hallway so if she continues to pee on the carpet at least it will be limited to the area at the foot of the stairs. So less area will need to be cleaned. The gate was free ship to store, and it was a little under $52 after tax. I want to minimize the damage to the carpet until I get back from deployment and can level that hallway and then put lamentant back down.

I had been holding off on the gate because I could not find one in stores that was wide enough. Well today my sweet fluffy pee-ed on the carpet this morning after I brought her in since we were leaving for work and school. We do not have a fence yet so she has to come in during the day. She also left me two brown presents on the carpet area at the foot of the stairs. I moved the training pad from an area on the lamanet where it was laying unused and put it over the area she left my present and usually marks.

This mornings incident was why I had enough and went online and was able to find what I wanted. A little shopping around actually saved my a lot.

I am sure she wants to be left outside all day while we are gone, but because we don't have a fence she can't. I am sure that this is the reason she is showing her displeasure with the potty business.

Last time I did a one item a day declutter it ended up being at least a few items a day thing.

Well this time I am slacking and actually I am managing to do one item a day, but alot of that is paperwork.

Yesterday, It was to go through my coupons and throw away the expired ones. I also went through all my magazines that had coupons in them and cut out the ones that are not expired and then sorted them into what I will use and what will go into the coupon train when I get it.

I did bring 2 sets of sheets, my second pair of running shoes and three toothbruches for my tough box.

I need to do much better, I think I would have done much better but Friday and all weekend it snowed. It is hard to want to spring clean when it is snowing outside.

Okay first I spent ALOT of money yesterday.

I purchased:
A blower/Vac for the yard 97.00
A large bag of Fertilizer with Crabgrass preventer 53.94
Garlic Bread $1.34 (reduced to quick sale)
Giant Pet Lint Roller 4.98

Total Spent $166.62

I tried to borrow a blower BUT no one I know has one, and since I still have a 7 foot high snow bank on half my boulivard I will need it more than once. Anyway it is one of those things I need every spring so it was time to just suck it up and buy it.

The Fertilizer is a need, it has to have crab grass preventer in it because that is my BIG yard issue. I also sprang for the Scotts brand because it is not suppose to burn the grass, and it is suppose to be timed release. BUT truthfully the main reason in addition to the above reasons, I spent a little more on the scotts over the generic was because the Scotts is suppose to be pet/child safe as soon as the dust settles where as the others NOT SO MUCH.

****
The declutter plan, I cleared a bunch of things out of my garage and put them on the sidewalk for spring cleanup week on friday. Wonder how much of it will be gone by the time I get home tonight? Anyway it took up alot of room in my garage. It was stuff I was going to put in my garage sale for super cheap. I just wanted a little money, but I decided not to have a yard sale.

It is amazing how mentally tough it is to see clutter and hold onto clutter in the hopes to make a few bucks. Yes I might have made a few bucks at a rummage sale, but with all the things that are out of my control in my life right now, I want the control of discarding those things and getting my garage to a point where I can start organizing it.

I want to have a yard sale but I just am not going to have the time (My days are pretty busy with extra training to prep for the deployment) Plus I want to spend time with my son, not spend time preping for a sale and hosting a sale, and I really want to start on the process of getting my garage user friendly. It was so functional until I moved that stuff into the garage so it was out of the way until the garage sale. But it seems like when I have a garage sale the garage and house gets MORE messy before it gets cleaner because I am moving stuff around to make shopping easier and in my case I am moving all flat surfaces (desks, end tables, coffee table, etc) to the garage to put stuff on because I don't have enough tables.

The stuff I put onto the curb was not good enough for the thrift store to be willing to pick up, and I am not going to store it in my garage for weeks in the hope someone sees the $5 ad and wants it. There are still three items in the garage, two items I will post online, the third I will be adding to the pile outside. I always put the stuff outside a few days before spring cleanup because once I do that it frees up space in my mind (mental to do list) and I start to remember other things that can go.

Anyway.....I have a plan. Starting Yesterday Everyday I want to declutter atleast one item. I have approx 160 days left until I deploy so that is 160 items I would declutter out of my house before I leave.

I will count items I throw away, and I will count things I donate. The things I throw away I get credit right away for, the things I donate I only get credit for them when they are recorded onto my donation spread sheet and placed neatly in a box to go to the drop off point. I will donate the stuff IF I have it recorded on the excell sheet. The big push is to get it on the excell sheet. Usually once I get about 3 or 4 boxes of stuff onto the spreadsheet I get in a hurry to donate it to clear the space.

If I am taking stuff to resale I do not get credit for it until I actually take it into the store. The reason for this is because I tend to sometimes put those things in my car and then it takes me a few days to actually take the things in.

I also have another thing, I have things at my home that are going to deploy with me, such as sheets etc. If it is a deployment item I get credit for getting it out of my house IF it is an item that is going into my tough box. And then I only get credit for it once it is in neatly packed into the tough box.

Yesterday I took some items into my favorite childrens resale shop. I made $10 then realized that they are still taking out of season stuff and so I took another bag of items in and got another $17. So Yesterday was a big day of decluttering.

I know, I know....I said I was not going to post No Spend days. BUT I am so proud! Yesterday, BF called to see if we had any empty spray bottles. I told him I was sure we did not have any.

He wanted a spray bottle to put soap and water in so he could wash his motorcycle. I asked him if he went to the store for the spray bottle could he pleaseeee pick up laundry soap.

So last night he bought a bottle of my prefered soap and I was able to wash my comforter and sheets for my deployment. I also washed my car. I normally run my car through the car wash during the winter (if we have any warm days where the doors will not freeze shut) usually this cost $10.

So I saved $3.50 on laundry soap, and $10 on a car wash.

Friday is our garbage day, it is also spring cleanup week. I will be getting rid of two old car seats, a bag of leftover roll insulation, 5 gallon bucket of leftover dried up sheetrock primer and a bucket of leftover cement waterproofer, and BF's futon and mattress. All these items were living in my garage. On Thursday Night they will be on the street for any scroungers to take to a new home or on Friday to be taken to the garbage site.

I am so looking forward to Rummage Sale Season. This Saturday I am going to a Rummage Sale at my Church. I am hoping to get that size 8 coat and Size 10 Snowpants for DS.

But Truthfully I am really really excited for June to roll around. I will have my rummage sale, then whatever is left of the clothing I will be donating to the thrift store. I have no problem storing a tote or two of small nick nacky things for my next rummage sale, but any of the bigger items that do not go are going to be either listed on the local free online site, donated or taken to the dump. I say dump because I have some older furniture (small box color tv), etc and I know that some thrift stores are REALLY REALLY picky on the furniture.

Really looking forward to the chance to declutter!!

Today I fixed my Author Info.

I updated my Emergency Fund numbers because a while ago I recalculated what would be drawn out of the Emergency Fund incase I had a major financial issue. I took someones advice and cut it to the bone. I also bought a MagicJack, so I was able to remove the cost of my cell phone. I left internet BUT because of the cost for the internet being the same as a pre-paid unlimited cell phone with internet, if the worst happened I might just drop the internet and get the cell phone and drop the annual $19 for MagicJack or I might reduce my internet to slower. Lots of barebones options that I could consider.

Anyway.....Now I have 6 months Emergency Fund and 6 Months Escrow and I am $482.55 short of 6 Months of my Mortgage. My Goal is 12 Months Mortgage, 12 Months Escrow before the Deployment and as close to 12 Months Emergency Fund as I can get. The Important thing is if the PooP hits the fan I want to be able to pay my Mortgage, Property Tax and House Insurance for the deployment even if My Ex-Husband milks me for the majority of my paycheck.

***

I took April 1st off from work, I am planning on spending that day applying for summer daycare. Once that is done I am going to try to get in for a physical so I can start donating plasma.

My car (anti-lock breaks) light keeps glowing as I drive me car, so soon I will need to take that in to get looked at. I as need to do something about that left blinker light. In a different car I had the problem with the blinker was actually in the lever that activates the blinker. I think that might be the problem this time around also. I only have one ignition key and so I need to get around to ordering a second key. All that adds up, I hate to use my car fund, it is almost to $1,000 BUT that is what the car fund is for. I had just hoped once I got to 1,000 in the car fund to stop funding the account temporarily until the Mortgage fund was done then go back to funding the car fund.

All in all, a good day. I know once I have 12 Months of Mortgage, Property Taxes and House Insurance in the bank I will have such a feeling of pressure lifted off my shoulders.

BF and I had another talk about the finances. This time I made the point that he keeps saying he is going to do something (Buy groceries, give me money for utilities, or take care of the carpet situation) then when he does not follow through I am getting to the point where I don't know IF I can trust his word.

We went grocery shopping on Saturday, BF paid.

We came home with a cart full. I did not think he was going to buy that much. The shopping list that I had posted on the fridge was a baseline list basically anything we were completely out of or things we were getting low on that we can't run out of (such as soymilk and bread).

Anyway, we started at one end of the store and basically went through every aisle EXCEPT for the Candy/Seasonal aisle. The total was $250.

I am really actually pretty happy with what we came home with. I would say only 10% was processed food. It mainly was meats, Fruits, and vegetables. There was no junk food, there was some processed foods but they were things like crackers, canned beans, and cresent rolls.

Today I am going to create a new excell spreadsheet based on the spreadsheets I use to track my monthly cash flow. BF wants the list of household bills so he can figure out what is a resonable amount to pay me for household bills.

I told him I just wanted to know what he was willing to pay, I don't want him being resentful by the amount but I want to have an advanced idea of what I can expect. I said even if that amount varies. Like less now because he is still paying rent on his apartement he can't get out of, then once the lease is over more, and then while I am gone atleast 100% of the utilites.

I told him I did not want to create the list of household bills because I did not want it to influence his answer. I wanted him to set it based on what he felt was fair not being swayed by my overall household expenses.

He asked me to tell him how much I am short and he would just pull it out of savings and give it to me. The problem is I am not in the red now, I am close but I also need to start saving for the added expenses I will have while I am not home. I guess the fact I am planning on donating plasma to do that is making him realize that I am serious.

Yesterday was a snow day. The night before we got lots of snow. I got a call on my cell phone at 5:45 am and again at 6:15am (the school must have my number listed twice). The call on my cell phone was by the school districts emergency notification program. It said school was cancelled. It was really nice to have the call to confirm the NO School instead of wondering about no school. Of course I was not mentally awake enough at 5:45 am to even be worried about school or no school at that point.

The snow was DEEP, I started snowblowing the driveway at 6:45 am and finished at 8 am. At 6:30 I took a walk down the cul-de-sac to check out the depth of the snow on the cul-de-sac and the road it connects to. It was too deep that I would have gotten stuck, so I stayed home.

If I had purchased a truck like I keep telling myself every winter I am going to do it would not have been a problem but when the clearance under your car is a foot or foot and a half and the average snow depth of the snow on the street is 2 feet to 2 and a half feet that just does not work.

Today I almost got stuck in the road right beyond my driveway, then I almost hit a van stuck in the middle of the road our cul-de-sac connects to. I also almost got stuck 3 times trying to drive around drivers who were driving in the somewhat of a path in the middle of the road.

***
Last week one my co-workers came up with a chili cookoff idea. So today to office smells of yummy chili. There are 6 crockpots going in the conference room next to my office and there are chili pots going in offices all around the building.

My BF made some chili a month or so ago. It ended up being ALOT more than he planned. It was also a bit hotter than he planned for the mild batch. See he made it up then realized how much he made and divided it into two crockpots then added extra spices to one pot. Well the chili is not my favorite. It is all heat and not much flavor. I like mine to get the flavor from green peppers, Onion, Tomato and Ground Beef. His is bean, red chilis and Hot Links.

Anyway, Since he made the chili serving containers of it have been sitting frozen in the freezer. He might take one serving every week or every other week to work. So Yesterday I took 1 green pepper, 1 onion, and a pound of Ground beef, tomato sauce and diced tomatos and added it to the chili. I like it much better now BUT it still has a high HEAT to it. Too much heat for my liking.

Anyway I compiled ALL the chili that was in the freezer and added my stuff to it and now it is at work. It was super easy and hopefully it all gets eatten so I dont have any to take home. BF ate it for dinner, not sure if he liked my version better, but he also took some with for lunch today. There were other leftovers in the fridge he could have taken so I think he liked my chili.

***

Pickup purchase, like I said above there are some days I really wish I had a truck. Our cul-de-sac is connected to a road that has alot of undeveloped lots on it, so it is one of the last that gets plowed when there is a storm. Since I have lived here I have wanted a reliable truck. I had one when I was married BUT it was a work truck so it did not get good gas mileage and I think the starter was going out because it had issues starting, so when we needed it, it would be tempramental. I want a smaller truck that can get through deep snow but is reliable and gets good gas mileage. I want one every time I pass a rummage sale and see something I could use that is excellent priced, I want one when I have things that need hauling, I want one when it snows and I can't drive down my road BUT the rest of the roads in town are okay.

But then those moments pass, and I forget and or I think of the added title, registration and insurance costs and talk myself out of it for the little use it would get. If I forget about my pickup want shortly after the need passes, is this really a need? Truthfully my work is VERY forgiving. I know of others who HAD to go to work, If I HAD to go to work this would be a must. Not sure how much longer I can miss work once or twice a winter because I can't get out off my street without getting stuck. I think yesterday they might have thought it was more school being cancelled and not roads, but my son could have went to my cousins house OR come to work with me and sat in the conference room watching cartoons.

MY BF has a truck so IF I had to have come to work we could have got a ride with him, of course he works 10 hour days so being stuck at work for 11 hours without transportation would have sucked, especially since my son and I might have been the only one here that early and that late since others would have came and left at their normal time.

***
BF and Househould Contributions:

Last Night, BF made another comment about waiting until Payday to purchase something.

I point blank asked him. "BF where do you spend your money?" His answer was he is cheap. I said "No, Something is NOT adding up. You said you had a car loan for $225. Your last Student Loan Payment of $450 was this month? (Pause for his response)."

This is when he said he should have told me but his landlords lawyer called him and he is not being let out of his lease and he called the housing authority in Town and they told him they do not have to let him out of his lease. So until June he is still paying $525 plus lights per month on the vacent apartment.

Well this still leaves him $500 or so left once you factor in gas and insurance for his vehicle so come Friday I am still going to ask him for atleast the Gas/Electric Bill Money. The Water/Waste and Internet would be the same if he was here or not. I feel he should pay the full amount of the Electric/Gas for the house as his share plus as a repayment for cost I have incurred for his dog (carpet) and food I have purchased for him thinking he would be purchasing some himself once payday came.

He told me he has $1000 in savings (Emergency Fund) so in my opinion since he only has the car payment and the Apartment hanging over his head that is a large enough Emergency fund. He can pay his way while building up his Emergency Fund. He wants a $3,000 Emergency Fund. Plus he needs to save for a fence for his dog. I do not need a fence so I will not be paying for it, BUT I will not allow a chain linc be put up. I wanted maintenance free but because I am not paying for the materials just helping install it, I have desided that I will allow regular wood as long as it is painted/stained so that it does not gray.

Well tonight I have to measure the wall space of the hallway in my basement. The ONLY carpet I have in my house is on the stairs and the hallway in the basement.

For some wierd reason BF's dog LOVES to lay in the hallways, either upstair or downstairs.

A week ago or so my BF's dog peed on the carpet in the hallway. I don't know if it was stress from the move, if she was marking her new home, if it was too long between when we leave in the morning and when we get home or if she needs to visit the vet because she has a bladder or urinary issue.

Anyway I did not have any shampoo for my spotbot so the stain sat there uncleaned for a few days (I had drill so I was busy) until I ran to the store and bought the cleaner and spray. I am still a bit upset about it because BF said he would clean it up and instead I ended up cleaning it up and paying for the cleaner.

Fast Forward

Normally BF puts her out in the morning and I bring her in when I get ready to leave, well this morning it was raining and she was inside so I was not sure IF BF put her out so I did. As I was walking back to go upstairs I notice the training pad I bought after the last incident incase we are delayed and she can't wait she will use the pad and not the carpet.

Well the pad was used, and based on the pattern it looked like she used it twice. Well I threw it away and walking by the hallway I look over and there was not one spot but two wet spots. So I spent as much time as I could running the spotbot over the two spots before I had to leave for work.

BF said he would pick up more cleaner on the way home from work. He better because I want to have it on hand so future accidents can promptly be cleaned up and not set.

I have desided that I am going to place a baby gate at the start of the hallway. That way at least I can keep her off the majority of the carpet. I then am going to measure the area not blocked off by the gate and I am going to put down a pet training pad then put a rug on top of that.

My thought process is if she does pee on the rug then if it does some how run through, the training pad will stop it from getting to the carpet and I can just toss the rug in the washer.

BF did take her out this morning, so he walked right by the used training pad and the two wet spots. He never noticed the first spot either, my son found it. I fear that if I do not block off the hallway while I am gone my BF is not going to notice if she has accidents and there will be alot of pee stains in the carpet when I get back home.

This morning Mya knew she was in trouble, My son even said she knew she was in trouble because I normally pet her and talk to her and this morning I gave her the cold shoulder except to tell her not to pee on the carpet. She was also hanging her head and not wagging her tail as much as normal, I told my son she gets NO treats today.

If there is another spot on the carpet before BF gets around to paying for the gate I will be very upset. I am going to make him pay for the gate and the rug because it is his dog and I paid for the first bottles of cleaner.

We had a communications briefing at our last drill. It was VERY informative.

I am planning on getting MagicJack for my deployment. I plan to get it now, so I have a house phone. I am extremely happy about having a house phone again.

The MagicJack cost $39.99 which includes a one year service and then each addition year is $19.99. The purchase price is LESS than what I was paying monthly for land line service BEFORE I cut the cord.

The good news is I plan to purchase and install it this weekend. I will get the telephone number and update ALL my contacts with that additional number. The good news is that it is portable.

Right before I deploy I will switch the magicjack to my laptop (get to keep my phone number). I will then be able to get and recieve calls from the US just like if I was not deployed. This way IF the bank calls me or My Sons school calls me they can actually reach me.

I was thinking of skyp but since this conference I think MagicJack will be a much much better fit.

****
I got a text on my phone last night from ALLTEL telling me AT&T shipped my phone and will be going Live in March. I was then actually able to go to AT&T's website and review the phone plans. They are very much the same as ALLTEL's current plans but slightly different.

Anyway I found out today that Verizon gives a 15% military discount. Well that is nice...They dont advertise that. For like 3 years I had Verizon and that 15% discount would have been nice. Anyway I was doing the math and if I had their cheapest plan with texting I would be saving $5.50 a month over what I am paying now because of the discount. Oh well I am not going to get locked into a two year contract right now to just save $5.50 a month.

My plan is to keep Alltel/AT&T until I deploy then Freeze my account and my number. I will unfreeze my account once I get back. That way I can keep my cell phone number. I will then be switching to pre-paid which is cheaper. After review of the many ways to combine plans for two phones I will be saving $15 per month by going prepaid. I save $15 on the first line nothing on the second because of the family plan discounts the second line actually comes out to the same on both (prepaid vs contract).

My plan is to get my son a cell phone since he will be old enough to stay home alone for the 45 minutes between the time school lets out and I get off work. I plan on going with straight talk. They currently have free basic phones on their website. I will purchase two, one for my son and one for me. I will port my number to my phone. Then I will save up and watch ebay/online for deals on one with a full keyboard.

I figure I will have a little leave at the end of my deployment so I might be able to delay the purchase of the cell phone for my son for a month or so.

I will have the magicjack at home once I get home for contacting him, BUT I want him to have a cell phone to use to contact me IF he has any problems (misses the bus and has to walk home, or whatever else comes up). The cell phone cost of $30 per month plus tax is much cheaper than the $165 per month I would pay for afterschool daycare for those 45 minutes.

I am divorced, My divorce was final in May of 2010. My Ex-Husband moved out of state to go to college. It is a 12 hour round trip distance. In our divorce decree we were suppose to sell the house and divid the profits. Well my Ex-Husband is underemployed because he is lazy.

We tried to list the house for sell, but it did not sell. So eventually we came to a both agreed upon house value and I bought my Ex-Husband out of the house and refinanced the loan.

He lived rent free in my home until he moved out of state to start school in August. In Late July we finally came to an agreed house value and I refinanced.

Before I started dating my BF, my EX-Husband would come and stay in the spare bedroom in the basement when he came to visit our son. (Nothing PHYSICAL was going on, so I felt not fear).

****
Fast Forward.
I learned that I would be deployed out of country this coming September and asked if my Ex-Husband would take an extra large course load to graduate at least one month early (they are on a 6 week cycle) so that he could be done before I leave so that he can take care of our son.

I came up with the idea of my Ex just moving back into the house while I was deployed so that my son would not have to change schools and because if my son is living in my home then his medical is paid 100% with no co-pays BUT if he moves out of my home then he get moved to standard with a 20% co pay. Plus my son has a support system here on the cul-de-sac of people who love him.

Also I figured this would mean that someone would be around to watch the house. I was going to let him live there rent free because he was doing me a favor by watching the house and because of all the benefits for our son.

***
Fast Forward 3 months.
Well then I met my BF and I started thinking maybe I should adjust my plan a bit. I would trust BF to take better care of the house and IF I did have my Ex-Husband living in the house I would need him to pay the waste/water and elec/gas bills ($225 per month) just so that I could insure my Ex-husband would not run up the bills just because he was not paying it.

After a while I gave BF a key to my place not thinking he was going to move in but just so he could come and go as he pleased without me needing to let him in. Well he took that as me asking him to move in. I guess maybe I was asking him to move in without asking. Anyway he asked if I was sure IF I wanted him there because if he was staying at the house then my EX would need to find an apartment during the deployment AND he would need to find another place to stay when he came to see our son, because he was not comfortable with the situation.

My BF gave notice to his landlord and is in the process of breaking his lease. He has a dog and his parents are bringing the dog here with them when they visit either this weekend or next weekend. (They live out of state and have been watching BF's dog). At this time the only financial contribution BF has provided is that he has watched my son for me so that I could work the weekend twice.

****
A few days ago my EX said he wanted to talk to me because he was stressing the housing situation and wanted to iron down the details. I think he thought I might be on the edge of letting BF move in. Anyway when I told EX that he should plan for an apartment when he moves back to this state after finishing school, he said he was really looking forward to living in the house rent free to get back on his feet and since he will not have a job he is not sure how he can afford to rent some place and IF he has to pay rent then he would have to go to Child Support to stop his payments and to get something from me.

Please note that my EX-Husband ran through his Equity buyout in like 3 months and is now getting calls from his bank, creditors, and credit card company. I know this because I told him he need to update his telephone number because his "Services" still had the house number listed as a contact and they were asking for him to call him back.

***
I did the online calculator from our child support website and I currently get $319.90 from him now, IF I was forced to pay him Child Support I would have to pay $717. This is $1036.90 more money he would have a month and $1036.90 LESS money I would have if he chose to go that route. IF he goes that route I dont know where I am going to cut $1036.90 a month out of my bills.

I was thinking to make it easier I would see if BF would agree to let EX live in the basement. I have a two floor home with four bedrooms and 3 bathrooms so the only shared space would be the laundry and the kitchen. My EX is neat and tidy so that would not be an issue.

My another FEAR is once MY Ex-Husband realizes that if he has custody that not only would he not have to pay $319.90 a month he would make that $717 and so he might try to get permanent custody while I am deployed so I have to pay him the $717 each month. Another thing is once I get back from deployment and have to ask for another Child Support Adjustment to get my garnishments stopped and his started his other daughter (Different mother) will have turned 19 so if he maintained custody of our son her amount he would get to keep instead of possibly increasing my amount because of the freed up money.

Yes it is a complex MESS.

What would you do? Would you ask your BF to just try to look at your EX as a housemate? Would you do something totally different? What would you Do?


I am not thinking clearly and don't know what to do.

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.

So Monday I had the talk with BF about finances, not really totally happy with the outcome. I feel sort of taken advantage of when it was done because I was not comfortable telling him what I wanted, just asked him what he thought was fair.

He said his take home is $1600, and he is not going to completely hand his check over to another person ever again. I care about BF, and he is a good housemate, but I want a chance at a long term relationship and BF doesn't plan to get married again. Which is fine with me, because it would just complicate things, but I would like a more intertwined relationship. Okay, I would like to be one of those engaged for 10-12 year people.

Back in Sept 2010 I told my EX-Husband he could move into my house (so our son would not have to move while I was deployed). Well I was not planning on charging him rent since he would still be paying child support but then I got to thinking and feared my EX would damage things such as the stove etc. Or to be spitful run up my utilities bill. So I desided that he would have to pay the utilites so that he would not be tempted to set the heat at 80 in the winter or air conditioner at 65 in the summer. So utilities $250 average per month plus 319.90 child support equals $560 per month $$$ I would have gotten from EX.

Well then I met my BF, and he moved in. I trust my BF to take care of the place better so last night after my EX said he wanted to know exactly where we were sitting, I told EX "he should just rent an apartment". I think it would be best for our sons mental adjustment anyway and mine since I don't trust my EX not to purposely damage the house while I am gone if he gets upset with the responsiblities that come with being a father.

Well BF knows that I was going to let EX move in and just pay utilites so that was what he suggested. That he pay the utilites. I guess part of me feels that is taking advantage of me because of the fact that since my EX is not staying in the house I will need to pay him $319.90 in child support so having BF stay there instead of the EX is costing me $319.90 for my deployment time frame. Also $250 in utilites is less that the $410 (1/3 total household costs) I was hoping he would offer. He was paying $525 a month plus lights in rent so I feel like $410 would have still been a better deal than what he was paying.

That aside, I am trying to look at it like a house sitting option, BF is house sitting my house for me and I am getting the utilites paid out of the deal. Then once I get home I think I will have to re-address the issue. Right now in addition to the utilities (which he has not started paying yet, he does provide me with daycare for my drill weekends whenever he is not working also so that saves me $100 each month).

###

I was trying to look up IF I could get composite fencing done here, and the main professional fencing webite had the type of fence I wanted and a section on Dog Kennels. We will need one once my BF's dog comes to live here because I want a composite fence if one is going to be put up and they are expensive PLUS a fence is not one of MY priorities. BF said he would pay for the fence and install it since it was for his dog BUT in his mind he had a chain linc fence in mind. Sorry but if I am going to put up a fence it is going to add curb appeal. I do not want to put up a chain linc fence then try to sell the house later and the buyer turned off because there is a chain linc fence. So for the time being a dog kennel will have to do. I guess I don't really want to pay for the fence, I plan to get a estimate on what having a pro install what I had in mind done. Then maybe BF can apply what he is saving in rent by living with me to the cost of having the fence either installed by the pros or towards the materials that I approve. I saw some at the hardware store but I was not at all impressed. I would prefer the pro install.


After seeing the dog kennel on the one website, I desided to check if there where any new listing for kennels on our local free online website. The last time no luck but last night there was one that was listed on the 16th.

Menards had a deluxe model (5 x 10) for $350 and a basic chain linc the same size for $290. The ad did not have a picture BUT I think it is the deluxe model anyway they want $250 or best offer, because they said they paid $350 plus at Menards for it which leads me to believe it is the deluxe one. BF called them last night and left a message. He will call again today. Hopefully they still have it. It would be nice for him to get a deal on it, also the hardware store said it would take one week for it to get to the store.

Well Last night after I showed BF the web ad, he got a text from his mother to call his tonight. Seems BF's parents are coming to visit, they will be bringing the rest of BF's things and his dog. We found out last night that they will be here either this weekend or next weekend. So need to either get the online one or order the one from the hardware store asap. The good news is because they are doing the trip it is only going to cost BF gas money so instead of having to pay for a uhaul and time off work ($2000 approx) he is figuring about $600 in gas.

Now I just have to not let the housing agreement with BF bug me, I don't want it to ruin our relationship so not sure what to do.

I need to get my Emergency Fund Finished. If the Continuing Resolution is not fixed prior to 4 March 2011, then I am going to have pay issues.

I made a list of my expenses and posted it as a page on here. Hopefully later after I am thinking clearly I can ask for advice on whys to cut out costs that I am over looking.

My Mortgage was refinanced in July 2010 so there is not much I can do about that. It is what it is but I noticed that interest rates are higher than my 4.25% currently so that is that.

I also can't do anything about my house taxes, they were just assessed this Summer also so they are actually correct.

I am thinking maybe it is time to call my house insurance company though and see what I can do to reduce that cost or if that does not help get other quotes. BUT I think I will put that on the back burner for now because I don't want to increase my deductable until I have the increase in my in my Savings.

Today I will try to reduce my Gas/Electric Bill by reducing the heat temp and changing the time settings to match up more with what time we are getting out of bed and going to bed.

I have a list of 5 things that I think will be easy and then hopefully I will start tackling the harder stuff.

Well I guess BF's apartment manager called him yesterday and told him he was SOL, that they were not going to do anything about helping him terminate his lease he just has to keep paying rent. WTH??? What IF he could not afford to pay his rent would they then do something?

BF would have gave them 45 days notice IF they had returned his numerous calls, he ended up giving them 30 days written notice with this months rent. Now 11 days before the end of the month they tell him nope, nad, too hard to find renters in the winter. Really, he could have started to locate a sub-leaser or renter to take over his lease 45 days ago if he would have know that.

I am a little upset because that $450 per month for the next 5 months is $2000. He signed a 9 month lease. I did not expect for him to get out scott free (truthfully I was expecting a lease termination fee/fine, and at a minimum 30 days rent and possibly rent until it fills and possibly deposit loss) but I did not expect for him to be completely shot down with no options.

I went to my states government website under the housing section and they had a tenants rights flyer, the flyer has a Legal Assistance Number on it and also a Fair Housing number and Depatment of Labor telephone number. I am hoping they can offer some help. See when BF was staying at the apartment the landlord/apartment manager came very close to breaking some laws many times. So if necessary I guess BF might have to play hardball.

An example is Snow removal is under the landlord responsibilies and BF told him many times that the front steps were icy and asked when the snow would be removed from the parking lot, The apartment manager ignored the ice comment and told BF he needs to make sure to get every speck of snow off his shoes when he enters the apartment building and that there is a snowblower over in the shed....Really you are going to have a tenent use a power tool they are not familiar with, also what if said tenant can't operate that power tool because it is HEAVY??? There are more examples but that sticks out in my mind.

I love having my BF living with me, I just wish that he could help with added household expenses. BF will not be able to do that until this lease mess gets ironed out. The sad part is I am starting to feel a bit taken advantage of (kinda like when my EX-Husband was not working), so I want this mess settled soon.

I know someone who might be willing to take over the lease BUT they don't need a place until right before the lease ends, and I don't want to put them into a place with an unethical borderline lawbreaking landlord/manager.

I have a problem, I make a plan then I change my mind. First I might decide to pay extra on my mortgage but then I start playing it over and over in my head and I think I should save a years worth of mortgage payments into saving FIRST before doing that.

How do you keep with your savings goals without getting side tracked and rethinking your plan.

The only debt I have is my mortgage. So I am causing myself mental STRESS over what to assign my extra money each month into.

If all the debt you had was your mortgage and you had a pretty secure job, what would you do? How do you figure out when to start paying extra on your mortgage?

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My irrational thinking below, please don't let it sway your advice to the questions above:

I fear losing my job even though I have no logical reason to fear this, then having to get a new job. My job pays EXTREMELY well and I fear making my mortgage payment if I had to find another job. This is not rational either, Yes I am paid well and would more than likely take a pay cut. The reason the not make the payment is not rational is I have my BF living with me, he has not starting paying rent yet, but if this happened then he would be a shoulder to lean on.

I also currently save a large portion of my paycheck to retirement. If I did not save a dime to retirement at my new job, I would have to find a $18.77 per hour job. OUCH in this area that would be tough. So my fear boils down to how can I find a really good paying job IF all of a sudden world peace broke out.

I guess worst case I could try to sell my home. See I tried to sell it this summer but I know why it did not sell. BF has plans to do some stuff to the home which would will just add buyer interest at a later date. I just hope I can sell it for close to its value. If I was, I could buy a cheaper home and thus reduce my mortgage. I have 74K in equity IF it sold at value. In this town a decent home starts at 110K, so I could get a bare bones house for a loan of 36K and that I think I could afford on a NEW less paying job.

Well this weekend went QUICK! Yep Capital letters. My son woke up this morning went to get a drink of water and offered to turn off my bedroom light on his way back to his bed. I was just laying in my bed having a hard time getting out of it. So I said thanks sweety but I need to get up and get ready for work and to pack your lunch for school.

His Answer "BUT IT IS SUNDAY!!!!" Yeah poor boy is not the only one who thought the weekend went by too fast.

Saturday I went to Wal-Mart to buy a birthday present for a party my son was attending, when we got there the greeter was handing out coupons for an additional 50% off all clearance items priced $50 or less. I was able to purchase 3 pairs of jeans for my son at $5 each, a t-shirt for $2.50, and swim trunks with a swim shirt for $1.25. I bought flip flops AKA shower shoes for $.25 and a set of organizers for $2. I also bought some grocerys and of course the birthday presents.

I bought the jeans for next fall. I want to stock up on clothes for my son. That way if my son stays with my cousin or my ex while I am out of country then the clothes are there and less for them to deal with/buy. I do not want my cousin to have to purchase stuff, and I do not want to hear my ex complain about having to buy stuff either so I made a list and between now and leaving I want to complete the list (hopefully as cheaply as possible). I have big plans for Black Friday.

After the party I went to Kmart and purchased a picture frame and camera batteries. I need non-rechargable batteries because I put fully charged rechargables into the camera and it is not enough juice...I guess I have recharged the batteries a few too many times for use in the camera. I want two frames but they only had one so I will need to go back. I wanted frames for the two photos I got mailed to me of my mother. One is a copy of her high school graduation picture and one is of her 1st communion.

Sunday I finished pricing the clutter I had around the house and boxed it up for next summers rummage sale. I have more clutter to gather up and price but for now I am slowly making progress. Yeah me!

Well I got word this morning that I have basically a little less than a year until I will be handed my first year long overseas assignment.

This means to make things run smooth back here for my Son and myself, I need to get my Emergency Fund Completed.

I will need to either rent out my house, get a company that takes care of vacant houses or ideally my XH will move back into it. This would require him to move back into state. If he could do this early it would work out best.

Right now his school should be complete in October/November 2011. I leave for Assigment in Sept. I am hoping that he can finish early so he could move into the house and then our son would not have to leave his home or his school. I guess worest case even if XH says he will not return until October that is only 2 months that my son would have to stay with my cousin as long as my XH is not set on staying out of state even though that would not be in the best interest of our son.

I have all my bills already on autopilot. If I rent out the house then I will need to get a managment company so that they can pay the bill for me while it is not being rented. If I just find a company to mow the grass, shovel the snow so it does not look vacent then the autopay would stay with only a few things getting cancelled (internet and telephone). If my XH moves in then nothing will need to be changed except changing the name of the cable bill so that he can add TV or make changes as needed.

If my son ends up staying with my cousin for a few months or for the year I am gone than I need to open a joint savings account so that I can get her a debit card to pay for clothes etc for my son and to pay her for taking care of him.

I will be out of country so I want to make sure I have my life insurance in order, I want to make sure I have enough and that is will be valid IF something would happen while I am working.

Now the $$$ breakdown:
#1. 3,000 in checking so that the few bills that would continue to be pulled from my checking account can without any action by me.
(I have been through this too many times that I KNOW that there is always a glitch with the pay-either it is slow getting started or you are paid less than you are suppose to in the beginning, so I need to be able to just ride it out).

#2. 2,695.70 into my escrow account ( I will need to figure out a way to get my house taxes and insurance paid without any action by me).

#3. 5,233.06 into my mortgage account so that my mortgage can continue to be pulled automatically without any action by me.

#4. Pay in Full Credit Card.

#5. ??? into E.F. For anything that Might happen that is not planned for (house repairs etc)

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.

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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.

So I am punching numbers.

I have the following question, Building your Emergency Fund is a step 3 item, Debt reduction being step 2.

Where would a house repair that is not really a repair fit in?

I have desided that all my extra $ over the next few months is going to the house savings account that is basically the money I would need to shell out if I had to claim something on my house insurance until it is finished.

Then I need to figure out a plan of attack. See I do not have a deck on my house, I have owned the house for 3 years, we were able to purchase the house without a deck BUT we could not resell the house without putting a deck on the house or putting an ALLOWANCE into the selling contract so that the city knew it would be completed shortly after sell.

It is a safety thing, If there was a main floor fire at the front of the house and we could not exit out the front door, then it is a 2 story drop to get out of the house without the deck built. I want to get this done ASAP but not sure how to prioritze it.

Is building a deck a DEBT because technically it should have already been done for safety reasons and me be paying it off. Or does it fit into step 6 paying off your home early because it is something that needs to be done to the house.

I was thinking maybe it fit into the middle gray area somewhere. I was planning on trying to pay a percentage to the Emergency Fund, The Mortgage Fund, the Escrow Fund and the Deck build. But I figure I have about $450-$500 per month that can be spent/saved IF I am gazzelle intense. If I do the % then it will take me 5 years to finished all them and the deck then move on to the next dave ramsey step.

The problem with that is I hate thinking that I am putting my sons safety at risk for 5 years when if it is a DEBT catergory item then it would be saved for in 21 months or Approx August 2012.

Is there anyone out there that who just wants to slap me and say get over it, it is a safety issue who care what dave ramsey would think and you should take that CC that has a limit high enough to pay for the deck and build the thing financing it at 9% and be done worrying that a fire is going to come along and then it will be a debt to be attacked.

Please help me deside.

I planned to make a return and a deposit today and pay a bill but I stayed home.

Tomorrow I will do all my errands together and save a little gas.

Today cooked homemade pizza, rice crispy treats and made ahgratten potatoes and fish. (spelling bad)

All these items were from my stash.

I finally got to doing the cement repair/fix by the garage doors. It helped alot with drafts. I do know I will need to replace the rubber thing on the bottom of the garage door as it is not sealing well as it is like smushing out instead of down.

Not sure how much that will cost, if it is some thing I can do myself or something I will have to hire out.

I have been spending alot of time with DS. I elected to use some of my stockpiled vacation time instead of paying for a babysitter this month.

I have saved alot in daycare costs and it has been nice. Three more vacation days until school starts.

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This year instead of paying for school lunches $1.50 and breakfast $1.00 each day I am going to pack cold lunchs and make sure he eats breakfast at home. This will mean less veggies as the lunch is going to be a sandwich and a snack such as cereal and water but it will save money until I make some progress on my Emergency Fund goals. It will also mean making sure he gets up earlier and goes to bed earlier since he doesn't like to eat in the morning.

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This Saturday I am having another rummage sale. I hope to sell alot. I hope to do as well as last time BUT even if I only get $100 it would be worth it to reduce the amount of stuff I have in my house. Right now everything is packed neatly in my garage, okay that is a fib as I still have some stuff I would like to go through and label.

Whatever I do not sell I can put in my neighbors sale on the weekend of 10-12 Sept, I just have to make sure I get my initials on it. That will definately happen.

Rummage sales have been worth it so once the rummage sale is over in september I plan to pack everything back into totes and store them under the stairs so that next year all I have to do is pull the totes out and instant rummage sale. Also I hope to have a empty tote or two available so as I find stuff in the house I want to rid myself of I can toss them in.
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Today I paid the Credit Card Bill, I made 3 payments over the next three days using up the money in both savings accounts (that were at the online bank that was paying out less than my ING accounts) and my checking account. I need to come up with $265 before the 1st of September, so I am hoping to do well on the rummage sale this saturday. Worest case once the sale is over and I know I will not be having another I can cash in my Rummage Sale (starter change) which could help. Depending on the turnout/weather/amount of stuff left I might consider another one on the 28th and or the 4th.

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Next week I will call and cancel both the savings accounts that I emptied out that were paying less than my ING accounts.

Right now I have a $543.53 on my credit card that will be due on Oct 1st. After paying all the bills for September I will have $804.35 to spend so basically if I make no progress on goals this coming month I need to spend no more than $260.82 on food, daycare and gas or anything else for the rest of August and Sept, So that I can be back at a zero debt level. Man it is going to be tough. Hopefully I do well at the neighbors rummage sale so I can bring in some extra money.

I bought grocerys a few days ago, I am hoping that besides maybe bread that I can clean out the pantry/fridge/freezer and do a very low grocery bill. Daycare is going to cost $100. And gasoline is going to be around $60 so that would give me $100 for food and unexpected or Checking book cushion that I have wiped out to stretch until the end of Sept.
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I have a finished basement, it is a walkout/daylight basement so very nice.

I would like to rent out a room and have been looking on my towns free website and after doing some math I am thinking $350 or $400 per month IF they want in garage parking for one car. I am thinking $600 IF they want two bedrooms and one car parking.

I am scared, How does one start to find decent renters, this is really important as they will be sharing a home with me.

I am trying to sell stuff from around the house to get extra income but at this point I am thinking I need to do something bigger. If I get a second job then I have to get daycare plus the way my contract reads I would have to get the MOONLIGHTING approved through my employer so that is does not reflect poorly on my current employer.

I am thinking the renting of the room would be better/easier. I figure if I rent out both basement bedrooms then I can move my sons playroom/toys into the storage room. I have been slowly emptying out the storage room by getting the stuff tagged for my next rummage sale.

Any advice?

Well we had major storming last night, had a little hail but no damage. I do not think I am going to get hail damage for a LONG time. Why because I have desided once I do I am going to pay the extra/difference and go with seamless steel siding instead of the vinyl siding that I have now.

The water easement that is at the rear of the lot behind our house had major water collect in it. I took a picture of it with my four foot tall son standing by it. He looked like a toddler.

I resently rechecked the sprinkler system because I thought that I was watering only once a week but it seems that I was watering twice a week because one day while I was at home the system started. Well I fixed that so my water bill should go down.

My grass has been growing super tall super fast SO starting lastnight I actually am now only watering three zones, the boulivard (which has misters) and the zones that are on the side of the yard that meet the unseeded lot that a house is in the process of being built on. Because there is no grass next to mine in that area my grass needs more water because there is less vegitation to hold the water into the ground.

I tried to fertilize that area but rain came and it kept coming and coming so the fertilizer actually got washed away a bit early so I will need to redo it. Just going to put it on lightly since it did get a little bit that did not completely wash away.

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On a different note, We went to the Zoo on Sunday. It was my son and I and well my boyfriend. The boyfriend paid, then we caught a bite to eat. I paid for DS and I and the boyfriend paid for his. So the Zoo trip and Meal only cost me $13.11. Not bad, not bad at all.

I have desided that YES my boyfriend has issues because he tends to spend time with me in small doses which I guess I just need to get used to since I am used to a relationship where the person is always around.

But since it costs me nothing to go out and spend time with him I am just going to enjoy it and hope that eventually he gets over his issue with wanting to save his days off for cleaning and couch patato vegitation.

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.