Debt Update…

Posted by Beks on February 9, 2010 at 5:00 AM
in Debt Updates | 1 Comment » |

We still made slow progress this month. My husband only received one regular check in January and anything extra we had we put into our emergency fund. Both our jobs have become slightly more stable but neither of us feel comfortable without a sturdy safety net.

Overall, the job loss was good for us. We were able to adjust and refocus but more importantly, we were able to prove to ourselves that we could survive our fear. Sometimes knowing what you are capable of is the best lesson.

Here are this month’s numbers…

Original Debt: $38,495.86
Paid: $19,149.13
Remaining: $19,346.73

Broken Down
Auto Loan 1: $0
Credit Card: $0
Student Loan: $9,501.52
Auto Loan 2: $9,845.21

Yup, we’re about $100 from HALFWAY!! Woo Hoo!!

We will hopefully receive our tax refund check in March so we should have a nice jump next month.

A trip to the emergency room… without insurance.

Posted by Beks on February 8, 2010 at 9:32 PM
in health | 10 Comments » |

I was CERTAIN my husband would be healthy and accident free until he received healthcare from his employer. He started work in mid-January and was promised coverage by February 1st. I was finally starting to feel at ease about his healthcare issue.

When my husband called me from work on Friday to let me know he had injured his eye and needed urgent care he mentioned…he had no healthcare coverage.

His employer had failed to send the application.

We panicked. Goodbye tax refund. Possibly goodbye house…goodbye car… goodbye right arm.

Thanks to some quick thinking on my husband’s part, his was rerouted to the hospital at his school rather than to the local emergency room.

A few hours later he was bandaged, drugged, and… bill free. Because he is an active student, he is given certain medical care for free. Whew!

For those of you who attend, or have children who attend, large universities, consider researching the medical options available. It could save you a bundle.

Two Things I Never Want to See Again…

Posted by Beks on February 5, 2010 at 9:00 AM
in Reducing Debt, Spending Money | 31 Comments » |

1.) A car payment

2.) An elderly woman wearing pants with ‘Naughty’ crocheted across her hind quarters.

While I can’t stop an octogenarian shopping at my local Target store from reliving her youth inappropriately, I can stop car payments. How?

Our tax refund this year is just shy of $6,000.

We will wipe out 60% of our car debt. SIXTY PERCENT!!

YES!!

Working Toward a Cheaper Grocery Bill…

Posted by Beks on February 4, 2010 at 9:09 PM
in food | 6 Comments » |

After nearly two months of our ‘eat from the pantry and freezer diet’, we’ve finally run out of food. Sure we have a few things I was willing to attempt to serve as a ‘meal’ but decided to call it quits after I asked my husband how he liked dinner and he said, ‘It’s edible’.

‘Edible’ isn’t the response a wife wants to hear.

I’ve decided to cook the inexpensive meals you suggested when I first started the ‘pantry diet’ and review them here. I’m off to the grocery store!

If you have any additional meal suggestions you’d like to share, I’ll make them!

Saving Money With Elbow Grease…

Posted by Beks on February 2, 2010 at 5:00 AM
in :), Saving Money | 2 Comments » |

My husband is still in the process of building our fence. It’s been slow going since he started school. He’s trying to juggle school, work, helping friends and co-workers with emergency plumbing problems, building a fence, and squeeze in somewhat of a life.

He finally carved out Saturday to build a large portion on the fence. Since it’s not a task he can complete by himself, he called my brothers and his brothers to help.

No one was available.

He looked at me, his last hope (his very last and desperate hope since I’m afraid of sunshine, bees, saw blades, splinters, and manual labor)… and said, ‘Hon, do you think you could help me out this weekend? I need strong helpers but everyone is busy.’

I thought about pulling the ‘I’m recovering from pneumonia’ card but quickly decided I should make an attempt at being a decent human being.

We worked together for a few hours. I drew lines on the beams and things seemed to be going well until he started calling out construction terms when measuring.

‘142 – 3 strong!’ He yelled.

‘Hut hut hike?’ I asked confused. Were we playing football?

Things only went downhill from there. I tripped repeatedly, accidentally broke boards, misfired the nail gun, and inaccurately measured several times.

Fortunately, his brother freed up his afternoon and stopped by to help for a few hours. His brother knows construction terminology and they moved like a set of skilled craftsmen. I was demoted to weed puller and water girl for the afternoon.

Despite the botched morning, the fence is nearly done and it’s beautiful thanks to the hard work of my husband and his brother. It’s times like these that I am thankful for the talented men in my life. Without them, I’d be a mess. Well… more of a mess than I already am.

And in case you were doubting the stability or reliability of our old fence… photos are more valuable than words…

and the last photo – the saw blade start to our new fence.

A Surprising Change to our Debt…

Posted by Beks on January 31, 2010 at 9:32 PM
in taxes | 9 Comments » |

I am nearly finished with our taxes. We are waiting on two more forms to arrive in the mail before we can finalize the forms.

I spent about an hour compiling information and completing forms in the tax software. It was far easier than I expected and I am a bit perturbed at how difficult our accountant made us think it was and more importantly… how much he charged us to do it.

It’s upsetting to me how many hundreds of dollars we have wasted in the past for something so terribly simple.

Don’t tell my husband but… I actually enjoyed doing it. The chronic organizer/obsessive compulsive in me loved the structure and numbers. My husband offered to do the dishes for a week if I took care of the taxes. If he finds out I actually enjoyed it, I’m on KP duty again so… shhh!

So far, the results are going to make a change to our debt. We can’t finalize anything until mid-week but as it stands now, it’s a far different number than we were expecting.

More? Less? Are we going to have to pull out our credit card to pay the tax due or are we getting some cash back?

I guess you’ll have to wait and see…

Thankful for bills and weight gain?

Posted by Beks on January 29, 2010 at 8:50 PM
in Confessions | 6 Comments » |

This afternoon, a co-worker offered to take me to lunch since I had stayed late to complete a project with her. We walked to a local deli and were chatting about weight gain as we ate our giant ‘healthy’ sandwiches. I glanced at the TV hanging on the wall as she went to refill her soda while photos of Haiti popped on the screen. Police were spraying huge crowds with pepper spray because riots had broken out over food rationing.

I looked down at my doughy fresh sandwich and immediately felt guilty.

I forget that sometimes, weight gain is a blessing.

The first of the month is around the corner. I can hear the collective groan. Bills are due. Stress is high.

Be thankful for what you have. There are those who would trade you in an instant.

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