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Archive for November, 2018

Crossing Off Goals

November 28th, 2018 at 03:09 pm

I have all my Christmas shopping done!

Husband's 401K is successfully moved over into one account now. Yay. One less thing to worry about.

My bathroom mirror also finally got fixed at the welder after a couple months, so I am calling the addition officially done! Well sort of. We still have closet doors and some trim in the hallway to do, but our master suite is finished which is good enough for me. Another goal off our list.

I am only $542 short of my debt payoff goal for the year. It looks like I will right around that for my November Web Design income so I should be able to complete this goal no problem!! Also husband is going to start contributing overtime money towards the debt as well, so that will help us jumps start the 2019 goals.

I finally caved and bought a car battery. Mine has needed replaced for several months now but I just kept jumping it to delay spending the money. On cyber Monday the auto shop was having 25% off online, but I talked them into accepting it in store too, so I got my battery about $35 off.

My goats are going to be picked up this weekend and I will make about $500. I am about done selling goats for the year and I am happy that I was able to thin my herd some before winter. I would like to sell about 4 more but it's not critical.

Early Black Friday Shopping

November 21st, 2018 at 06:00 pm

We have quite a shopping list this year. As per usual I always purchase everything possible online. Usually the deals start days before Thanksgiving.

So far we have already purchased a tool set and a new tv and mount. Today I just purchased both my parent's Christmas presents. Just waiting on husband's gifts to go on sale tomorrow and I will purchase them as well.

We still like to go Black Friday shopping at the stores but since all our "needs" are already done it is much more fun to look for smaller items like clothes, household supplies, towels, etc, without worrying about fighting other people for the big items like electronics. It makes for a more relaxing experience and there are some great deals on things you wouldn't normally consider on Black Friday.

I sold some goats and was able to add $250 to the animal fund. Have a couple more sale pending as well but it will be a few weeks before payment/pick up.

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

2019 Goals

November 14th, 2018 at 04:01 pm

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to accomplish financially in 2019. I think 2019 will bring a lot of life changes, and our main goal overall is to put ourselves in a more comfortable living position.

Now that we aren't scrapping by, we want to save and pay off debt. We want to get ahead and improve our future.

Starting in March we will have to start paying our own health insurance which is going to add about $200 a month to our budget. Ew.

My goals do not fit into our budget on paper, but I am hopeful that with husband's overtime money we will be able to accomplish at least some/most of them.

1.) Save $1,000 in HSA
Since we will have to start paying our own insurance and it's a high deductible we need to begin putting back money in the HSA.

2.) Pay off $7,500 in Debt
Our stretch goal, but a necessary evil if we want to pay off the credit cards before they start to accrue interest.

3.) Add $1,000 in Car Fund
An easier goal since we automatically save for this each paycheck. Our cars are currently hanging in there, but I know it's only a matter of time before we will need to purchase a new one.

4.)Save $1,500 for Vacation
We had to skip a vacation this year due to husband's job change, so we are definitely going to take one next year. Planning for Yellowstone again, which last time cost us right around $1,500.

Save $4,500 in Animal Fund
Another stretch goal, but very doable if I put back all the goat money I get. This amount would pay for all animal related expenses for an entire year.

All this totals $14,500. Or over $1,200 a month. It's going to be tough but I think it's best to push yourself and aim for the stars.


I paid all my bills today including my annual home insurance premium. It feels good! My web design check came and I was able to pay off all my personal credit cards, and I actually have about $30 left over that is just siting in my account waiting for me to earmark it. Probably towards Christmas presents or a new car battery. I'm still YNABing faithfully and it is so nice to see GREEN.

Vacation Time & Overtime

November 13th, 2018 at 04:28 pm

I made a happy oopsie. I totally forgot my job upped my vacation time to 60 hours this year. Which is quite a bit since I only work 15 hours a week.

Well I thought I was about out of vacation time so I double checked how much I had left and was pleasantly surprised to see I have 35 hours left. Since I have to use it by the end of the year and have no vacations planned I am just going to cash out 5 hours a week until the end of the year. That extra money will help me buy Christmas presents and get ahead.

Husband worked 12 hour days all this week including the weekend. Whew. He sure is tired but the extra money is certainly welcome.

I am down to only $16 left floating on my CC. So on Monday I will be able to pay that off and all expenses from here on out will have cash in the bank to cover everything put on the CCs. Woo hoo!

Goat show went well. We made about $1,000 but it cost $700 in expenses. We also had car troubles and had to get towed and go to a mechanic. Ugh. But I was able to keep my half. So I made $150 + $50 from the sale of my goat (after purchasing another cheaper one). So I came home with $200. Not sure yet where I am going to put this. Probably just send it to the animal fund.

Husband wants me to get that fund up to $4,500 (a year's worth of animal expenses) so I can stop using part of my weekly paycheck for animal food. We'll see.

Friday Payday

November 2nd, 2018 at 01:57 pm

Husband's payday is today. I put back money for all the bills and paid my mortgage. My balance is down to $114,861.80. Which means we have paid down into the next thousand barrier.

In another week we will have enough money saved to pay completely for our annual house insurance. I didn't think we would be able to save $1,300 in only a few months but we did it! I have the deposit on auto-pay so by this time next year at the current schedule we should have about $2,000 extra saved for our emergency fund on top of having enough for taxes and insurance.

In the spring we will also begin saving in an HSA. I will be okay with this saving rate for the time being and the rest of our extra funds will be allocated towards paying down the CCs. I have a crazy goal in my head of having them paid off by April 2020. That would be about $740 a month which is pretty unrealistic currently. BUT I am hoping we will be able to throw a couple big chunks at them from either overtime or side projects. So we'll see.

The goat show is quickly approaching. I have a goat sold at the show which is awesome since I am also picking up a goat a bought. Oops. I will still make about $100 off the the sale. Hoping I win lots of money at the show.