Down by 2514.04
Monday, November 30, 2009
November, in short
I need to do a much more comprehensive blog in the near future, but I couldn't let the night - and the month - draw to a close with at least a quick update. This month, in honor of Thanksgiving, I want to express my thanks for so many things... but specifically on the financial front, I am thankful for Mike selling his truck!! It's allowed us to catch up on bills, even splurge a little, and eased much of the burden of this first month of furloughs. Total debt for November:
Down by 2514.04
Down by 2514.04
Friday, October 30, 2009
October Roundup
First: Total debt for October - down by $434.66
Second: October was a big month for us, money-wise. Mike sold his 4Runner, and bought a (very cool) 1992 Land Cruiser to replace it. It netted us a fairly significant profit, which enabled us to take care of quite a few things that have been put on the back burner for all too long. It will also allow us to put some extra money to debt next month, and ease some of the burden of the reduced paychecks in November and December.
Our numbers will be a little crazy for the next two months: Next month we'll be making that big payment to our target credit card, and we'll also be putting all our Christmas money to our Amazon credit card (so that we can use it for our shopping and earn our Amazon bucks!) So we'll have a big reduction for November, but will likely show a rise for December. We'll have our last two months of furloughs in November and December as well, so that will also affect both our spending and debt reduction efforts. At the end of December, I'll do a update for the entire year, which I hope will show something encouraging!
Right now, I'm just thankful for how this truck situation panned out, as it removed a great deal of any current financial stress as we move into the holiday season.
Second: October was a big month for us, money-wise. Mike sold his 4Runner, and bought a (very cool) 1992 Land Cruiser to replace it. It netted us a fairly significant profit, which enabled us to take care of quite a few things that have been put on the back burner for all too long. It will also allow us to put some extra money to debt next month, and ease some of the burden of the reduced paychecks in November and December.
Our numbers will be a little crazy for the next two months: Next month we'll be making that big payment to our target credit card, and we'll also be putting all our Christmas money to our Amazon credit card (so that we can use it for our shopping and earn our Amazon bucks!) So we'll have a big reduction for November, but will likely show a rise for December. We'll have our last two months of furloughs in November and December as well, so that will also affect both our spending and debt reduction efforts. At the end of December, I'll do a update for the entire year, which I hope will show something encouraging!
Right now, I'm just thankful for how this truck situation panned out, as it removed a great deal of any current financial stress as we move into the holiday season.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Freebies
Dental Floss
Mentromint Water
Toilet Paper
Yogurt
Hand soap
Zone Perfect bar
Frozen pizza
Maruchan Yakisoba meal
All things we got FREE yesterday, thanks to the Grocery Game!
Mentromint Water
Toilet Paper
Yogurt
Hand soap
Zone Perfect bar
Frozen pizza
Maruchan Yakisoba meal
All things we got FREE yesterday, thanks to the Grocery Game!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
September
Another month of numbers slowly ticking down, down, down. We had a lot of extra expenses this month (but really, does anyone ever not have a lot of extra expenses?) but we still managed to stay within budget, and make our extra payment to our targeted card. One more month to go until the heavily furloughed months of November and December.
Total debt down by $554
Total debt down by $554
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Pleasant Surprises
Spencer got braces on Thursday. Even with insurance covering most of the cost, we were resigned to the fact that 1) this was going to cost us some money, and 2) it was going to increase our debt temporarily.
Everything went smoothly, but the woman putting together the paperwork for the bill took a very long time getting it ready. She was apologetic when she finally presented it to Mike. He looked at it, and having gone over the numbers many times since they'd presented them to us at the last appointment, he noticed that something was wrong. He - politely - reminded her that we'd been told we'd be given a 10% discount for paying upfront in full.
More emphatic apologies as she rushed off to re-do it.
When she returned, she told him that ordinarily the discount was 10%, but that she was going to give him 12% because of her mistake. ! Which meant that our insurance card would cover the entire balance, and our out-of-pocket cost would be ZERO.
Happy Day!
Barring any other unforeseen emergencies, our debt should still come down for the month of September.
Everything went smoothly, but the woman putting together the paperwork for the bill took a very long time getting it ready. She was apologetic when she finally presented it to Mike. He looked at it, and having gone over the numbers many times since they'd presented them to us at the last appointment, he noticed that something was wrong. He - politely - reminded her that we'd been told we'd be given a 10% discount for paying upfront in full.
More emphatic apologies as she rushed off to re-do it.
When she returned, she told him that ordinarily the discount was 10%, but that she was going to give him 12% because of her mistake. ! Which meant that our insurance card would cover the entire balance, and our out-of-pocket cost would be ZERO.
Happy Day!
Barring any other unforeseen emergencies, our debt should still come down for the month of September.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Christmas
Every year, I seem to think about Christmas earlier and earlier. I actually don't like thinking about Christmas this early. Life is always so rush, rush, rush... why would I want to think about Christmas in September?? But alas, necessity and practically have forced me to do so.
We have a savings account for Christmas, but for various reasons it is fairly significantly smaller this year. Which means that once again we need to really plan, be creative, and scale down. And once again, while I would love to make more homemade gifts, I know that it's just not our reality right now. I keep a very tenuous balance, and I know myself well. I would dive headfirst into a dozen handmade Christmas projects, all excitement and enthusiasm.... then I would burn myself out and wind up frustrated, sad and stressed out, which totally defeats the purpose. I have one small idea that I might do, but otherwise I am buying my gifts and feeling good about it.
And in the past couple of weeks, I have made an excellent start! I found a too-good-to-pass up deal on a big present that will be shared by Everett and Tegan mostly, but is something that I suspect the older boys will play with as well. It is currently in the neighbors' garage, until we can figure out a better way to keep it safe and hidden away from curious eyes. I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT IT! Last week, I found something that I know Spencer will love. I'd started looking a few weeks ago, and was more than a little dismayed to find out that it'd been discontinued, and wasn't available anywhere. Ebay to the rescue! Someone was selling one his daughter had gotten as a gift and never opened. I was the first and only bidder, and got it for less than half of its retail price of $80!
So two big things crossed off the list, and it's only mid September.
It won't be easy to stretch our budget as far as we need to stretch it, but I know that we can do it, and I'm excited at the prospect of creating another magical Christmas morning for our kids.
We have a savings account for Christmas, but for various reasons it is fairly significantly smaller this year. Which means that once again we need to really plan, be creative, and scale down. And once again, while I would love to make more homemade gifts, I know that it's just not our reality right now. I keep a very tenuous balance, and I know myself well. I would dive headfirst into a dozen handmade Christmas projects, all excitement and enthusiasm.... then I would burn myself out and wind up frustrated, sad and stressed out, which totally defeats the purpose. I have one small idea that I might do, but otherwise I am buying my gifts and feeling good about it.
And in the past couple of weeks, I have made an excellent start! I found a too-good-to-pass up deal on a big present that will be shared by Everett and Tegan mostly, but is something that I suspect the older boys will play with as well. It is currently in the neighbors' garage, until we can figure out a better way to keep it safe and hidden away from curious eyes. I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT IT! Last week, I found something that I know Spencer will love. I'd started looking a few weeks ago, and was more than a little dismayed to find out that it'd been discontinued, and wasn't available anywhere. Ebay to the rescue! Someone was selling one his daughter had gotten as a gift and never opened. I was the first and only bidder, and got it for less than half of its retail price of $80!
So two big things crossed off the list, and it's only mid September.
It won't be easy to stretch our budget as far as we need to stretch it, but I know that we can do it, and I'm excited at the prospect of creating another magical Christmas morning for our kids.
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