Checking In

I just wanted to check in quickly to let you know that I'm still here, slowly trucking along.  I got my paycheck on Friday and I've paid all of my husband's medical bills.  This is the first time in a long time that I've actually had my budget written out ahead of time and it was already decided where the money was going.  A few minutes at the beginning of the month really helps to take all the stress out of paying bills.  I like to know where I stand, where I want to go and know that I have a plan to get there.  Now, things did not go completely the way I planned them, but we survived and our emergency fund really helps with that. 

Somehow I didn't realize that Mother's Day fell in the month of May (it's not like it's there every year or anything...) so I found myself wandering the aisles of Walmart trying to find a simple gift for several important ladies in my life.  I zeroed in on a beautiful candle holder and found a different scent for each lady.  May is also a big birthday month in our family so I knocked out a few birthday gifts as well.  A hundred dollars later I managed to leave the store with gifts in tow and we spent the day distributing gifts. 

As if I needed a reminder of our old habits, I got a text from my sister this weekend because she had bought some clothes from my husbands' cousin and apparently her check had bounced.  She wanted me to let her know that she knew the check had bounced and she would pay her back this week when she got paid again and wanted me to pass along her apology.  This served as a bittersweet reminder of where we used to be.  It was a relief to know that we had our emergency fund in place, but my heart hurt for my sister and the embarassment she must be feeling over this.  I offered to help, but she insisted she had everything under control. 

Today, I'm thankful for all the wonderful ladies who I've been blessed to have a role models and I pray that I am half the mother that my mom has been to me.  I'm also thankful that I can't even remember the last time I bounced a check, but then again I'm not thinking too hard for fear that I'll actually remember when it was. 

I hope everyone has a great week and good luck to us all on keeping our budgets on track. 

So Far, So Good

Well, since I was completely disguisted with myself over adding more debt to our balances, I have to say that we've done pretty well so far this week (no one needs to point out that it's only Monday).  We did eat out tonight (or take out anyways) so we weren't perfect, but I've got our budget set for the rest of the month and I've had a long talk with my husband and he seems on board as well.  He's removed the debit card from his wallet (or bullet from his gun) and has a set amount of cash for the week to buy his tobacco products.  He's decided that he wants to quit smoking (again...) and he's using smokeless tobacco (dip) to taper off.  I'm proud of him and he's not had a cigarette since Saturday so he's off to a good start.  I'll take any help I can with squeezing out our budget. 

I've mentioned in earlier posts about our budgeting method and I thought I'd show you our game plan for this month.  I write out the source of the income on the left and on the right I show exactly how each amount will be spent.  This way when we get paid we know EXACTLY what to do with it.  I try to leave a little wiggle room for incidental expenses so if something small comes up it doesn't knock everything else out of order.  When I receive our refund from the dental surgery that will pad our savings account at $1,000 so we're covered in case something big comes up too! 

I'm a big list maker and nothing makes me happier than marking things off my list, so as money comes in and the bills are paid I mark them off one by one.  This way I actually ENJOY paying the bills.  So without further ado, here is our budget for the month.  (Most of the first few checks are being used for medical bills so I've used abbreviations for the medical facility they're being paid to). 


May 2012 Budget


$45 in Checkbook:  Loren's gas for this week

$283 (Jeff 5/10):  $215 (Dr. Hauge) + $50 (gas) + $6 (BMH) + $8.76 (Max's ultrasound)

$200 (Nanny):  $124 (BMH) + $76 (BMH)

$50 (Wraps):  $45.76 (Vista)

$1,650 (Loren 513):  $250 (gas) + $84 (directv) + $64 (BoA) + $82 (Straighttalk) + $44 (BMH) + $174 (Hyundai) + $49 (car tags) + $200 (utilities) + $55 (Chase) + $38 (Chase) + $327 (PW) +          $232 (RTG payoff)                                                           

$283 (Jeff 5/17):  $250 (citi) + $33 (Bailey's b-day party)

$283 (Jeff 5/24):  $250 (citi) + $33 (Bailey's b-day party)

$283 (Jeff 5/31):  $95 (citi payoff) + $33 (Bailey's b-day party)

Loren 5/28 Check:  Not established yet, but will start on June's bills

Updated Numbers

I finally bit the bullet and I updated our balances in the sidebar.  It makes me sick to my stomach to see what I've done.  We were close to $90,000 in April and I've managed to push up backwards to over $105,000!  I think I need to go lay down now. 

I will get out of this hole I've buried myself in.  I will do whatever it takes and work as hard as I have to to clean up this mess.  What was I thinking when we bought a new car?  It's hard to swallow the numbers when you realize that you have to work so hard just to get back to zero.  Not to be wealthy or have anything, just to get out of debt and to reach broke.  That puts a completely new perspective on things, doesn't it.  This is not the way of live I want.  I don't want to owe anyone anything.  I want to save up the money for things BEFORE I buy them, not pay for them afterwards.  I don't want to be in debt anymore.  I'm going to work my fanny off and sell everything (but the kids) to get rid of this debt. 

Well I'm off to ruffle through all our stuff to see what I can add to our yard sale pile.  Wish me luck...

Paycheck To Paycheck

I'm Not Spending Another Penny That Isn't Absolutely Necessary!  We have been so wasteful and I'm tired of it.  We need to tighten our belt since my husband won't be returning to work and I need to play catch up on my husbands' medical bills from earlier this year.  I had to cancel my son's dental surgery because of our insurance change and I've requested that they refund our money that we've already paid (over $600) so as soon as I get it I'm putting it in our savings account.  I've got close to $400 in there already so that will set our emergency fund back up at $1,000.  Once that's in place I'm taking out my gas money for work and money for groceries and the rest is going directly to monthly bills, paying off these medical bills, and the rest onto our debt. 

I wil get out of debt, I will get out of debt, I will get out of debt! 

And I promise I'll post my new numbers this weekend...I'm still dreading the thought of the new car pushing us back over the $100,000 mark.  Sheesh, that's a lot of zeroes!

Are We...Poor?

Well...Max's surgery was rescheduled.  We made the long trip to St. Louis and met with the surgeon.  He had some concerns about Max's loud breathing and made an appointment for him with an ear, nose and throat doctor.  The ENT was also concerned and did a scope in the office to look at his airway and found some inflammation.  We're not sure the cause of the inflammation, but it was too dangerous to proceed with the surgery so Max was given some steroids and sent back to Kentucky.  What makes this so frustrating is that we are losing our insurance next week!  I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way because I am grateful that they have my childs interest at heart.  I am just frustrated with the timing issues and wish we weren't in this situation.  Now we have to wait 3 months before we can safely reschedule. 

My husband has decided not to return to work when his FMLA time is up.  His doctor has not released him to return to work (although I'm pretty sure he would sign off on the papers if my husband pushed) and suggested he go through physical therapy.  He will be able to draw his short term disability until next January, but he will be terminated if he does not return to work next to week.  After some research I found out that our children should be able to get insurance coverage through the state for free (which is wonderful), but my husband and I will not be qualified to receive it.  The hospital in St. Louis accepts this insurance, but the office staff were not sure whether the surgeon did or not, but they told us that he would have the option of accepting it if he wanted to. 

I am having some major ethical dilemma's here.  I don't have any reservations about signing my children for the state insurance because their well being comes first.  While looking into this, I found out that we may be eligible for food stamps.  I am really struggling with this.  We can get by without them, but that would definitely free up quite a bit of money each month.  I hope this doesn't sound snobbish, but I really can't believe this is where I am in my life.  I have never considered myself poor.  Growing up, we weren't rich by any means, but we didn't want for anything.  My dad worked and my mom stayed home with us until we all went to school.  I'm sure they made sacrifices with raising 3 children on 1 income, but we were never on any type of government assistance.  I think I make decent money and my hourly rate of $22.50/hour is much higher than that of my friends, so how is it that my family is eligible for assistance?  I know that I don't work full time hours, but I am pretty close (and I'm working on it...)  It just makes me wonder...are we poor?  I know that we could do more to work on our money management (and we're working on that too, ha ha) but this isn't where I want to be.  I turned 30 last month and I'm coming to the realization that I'm not a kid anymore.  I'm an adult and I should start taking better care of my finances, etc. 

I believe that any able bodied person should work and it's a disgrace not to.  I think that's a huge part of the problem with our economy is that too many people have figured out how to "work the system."  I don't want to be part of that problem, but is this something we should consider to help us get out of debt sooner?  Am I just trying to rationalize this for myself?  I shutter at the thought of saying the phrase, "We're on food stamps."  I don't know that I could say it out loud if I wanted to.  Now this makes me curious as to where everyone else falls on the income bracket.  I thought we made a decent living and were just bad at managing our money, but maybe we're low income. 

Say A Little Prayer

Please take a moment to say a little prayer for my sweet Max.  We are heading to St. Louis tomorrow to meet with a surgeon who will be handling his tongue reduction surgery.  For now, his surgery is scheduled for Wednesday if the surgeon agrees he is a candidate.  It's something we've been planning for a little over a month now and as I pack our bags the reality is setting in.  I hate that he has to go through this, but I do feel this is the best thing for him.  As a mother, I wish I could do this for him, but I can't and all I can do is hold him and pray that God guides the doctors' hands and he heals his small body quickly.  Please remember us this week.

Falling Off The Wagon

We traded in our SUV for a car.  A car that gets WAY better gas mileage (Yay!!!)  The bad news is that we added close to $10,000.00 onto our debt.  I could sit here and tell you how disappointed I am in myself to have added to our debt, and I am.  I am delaying updating my numbers because I can't stand the thought of that total rising instead of decreasing.  But I have to say that I LOVE MY NEW CAR!  So far the gas mileage has been better than the compact car I had been driving to work.  My husband is preparing to go back to work in early May and he will be driving the compact car which would have left me driving the SUV close to 150 miles roundtrip everyday.  I didn't have the heart to drive that gas guzzler to work and back so we went car shopping.  When we traded in our SUV we were left having to pay $3,000 to cover the difference between what we owed on it and what the dealership was willing to give us for it.  Our SUV was not in great shape.  Honestly, it was falling apart.  The power steering was making a loud buzzing sound which we were told was not a good sign and it was leaking transmission fluid about as fast as we could fill it. 

Now if only I can work up the nerve to post our new debt totals...eek!