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Archive for December, 2018

And Life Laughs...

December 28th, 2018 at 12:24 am

My last post was about how I felt so financially secure... And then the boom dropped.

My husband had severe stomach pain all day yesterday and finally went to the ER. He had an appendicitis and had to have an emergency appendectomy today... Thankfully we caught it before it ruptured, and the surgery went well. He is very tired and sore but home now resting.

The bad news. He is off work for 3 weeks. Frown Thankfully his work was very nice and understanding. I have already submitted a claim for short term disability which would pay him 70% of his base pay. BUT he has only worked there a little over 3 months so we aren't sure if he qualifies yet. We have to wait a week to receive the packet and then submit more forms, etc. Could be a while before we even know something. I do know he doesn't qualify for FML (you have to work a year). So I am a little scared he could lose his job, although his boss didn't indicate that.


Besides just his normal missing pay, this week was Christmas and he was off 2 days. Which was supposed to be a paid holiday, but per the employee rules you have to work at least one day in the holiday week to get paid. And now since he is off work he won't qualify for Christmas, or New Years either. On top of that he was supposed to be working 12 hour days these two weeks, and also Saturdays. So I don't even want to think about the amount of money we are going to be missing.


Major bummer. I know we will be okay. We always are. But it just stinks that instead of paying a large chunk of debt off, now we are going to be scrambling just to pay our bulls. I am very thankful we are in as good as a position as we are.

Hoping and praying that he doesn't lose his job, and that STD goes through so we can at least squeak by for the next 3 weeks. I would appreciate it if you kept us in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks!

Ready to Relax

December 20th, 2018 at 03:30 pm

I've been complaining a lot about stressing and being over busy with web design this month. The good news is that I have hit my monthly hour goal already and still have 11 days in the month left! I've never done that. Honestly it's usually a struggle to hit my goal.

Also I have caught up enough that I am only going to have to work one day next week on web design and the rest of the week I will be able to relax and enjoy family time. Sometimes hard work pays off!

With all this work + my raise I should have over $700 just from my side income to put towards the CC next month. Also husband has a couple hundred ear marked for me from overtime. We might be able to pay $1,000 on the debt in one month! I never thought it would be possible.

My car is fixed, our bills are paid, our savings are on auto pilot, we have increased our EF, we have purchased all our needs... Don't want to jinx it, but right now I am feeling very financially secure. Hope this trend continues into next year!

Another Goal Complete!

December 18th, 2018 at 03:40 pm

I had $95 left over from my paycheck today after paying all bills and putting back money for next week's expenses. I sent that extra to the credit cards, which brought my total debt payoff for the year to $5,066!

This completes my 3rd 2018 goal!

That will be the last goal I finish this year. But I am still hoping to send some money to the Roth IRA before the April deadline.

Car Repair

December 14th, 2018 at 07:15 pm

My car was done at the mechanic today. It was $130 which I had enough put back for. I just hope this really fixes it. *fingers crossed*

Husband's overtime is still every week. We are going to up the EF and then put some towards the CCs.

Goat is sold and gone.


Web design is still swallowing me. I've been having to play catch up on the weekends and been staying up to about midnight most nights. Both husband and I are worn to a frazzle. Our house is a wreck, and we have been eating a lot of crap food.

I really hope life slows down after the holidays.

CC Payment & Raise

December 7th, 2018 at 03:34 pm

I made a $513 payment towards my home CC with my web design check. That brought my balance under the next thousand mark and I am only $29 from completing my payoff goal for the year!

CC balances are $6,922 & $5,637 for a total of $12,559.

Paid the mortgage and the balance is now $114,713.47.

I've been really down this week. With the car problems, major website emergencies, sickness, etc. Just feeling exhausted and want to hide and forget about my responsibilities. Husband is feeling it too. We had about a million things to do this weekend and he just found out he has to work 12 hour days. We are both just wiped.

BUT I was surprised that in my web design check I got a $5 a hour raise across the board. Before I was getting paid two different rates depending on the job, if I was working through the company or freelance, etc. Now I am going to be making the same on everything. That will be so much simpler to keep track of and also the extra money is nice.

Kitty is still at the vet and I'm told she did fine. I get to pick her up when I get off work. I'm so excited. I can't believe how empty the house felt without her, even for one day. She brings such joy to our life.

I have another goat sold next week, but I need to get some vet care done on my horse so it comes out to a wash.

Cars & Cats

December 5th, 2018 at 02:52 pm

All bills and personal credit cards are paid, money is put back for this week's normal expenditures, and I have $7 left!

Bad news is that the new car battery did NOT fix my car like expected which means it has a much more expensive problem than we thought. I could not start it at all today and had to take my husband's car to work. Ugh. Looks like it will be going in the shop.

Also my kitten is getting fixed tomorrow, so I will need to come up with the money for that. That will be no problem when I get paid on Monday. I am really worried for her though, she had a terrible reaction to her first set of shots and almost died. We have no idea how she will do with the rabies vaccine and/or anesthesia. So I'm nervous. I will discuss my concerns with the vet before surgery.

I received an even better offer for the credit card I was planning on transferring our big balances to in January. Last month the offer was 14 months interest free, they sent me a new one for 18 months interest free. We will definitely still try to pay the balance within 14 months or sooner, but it's nice to have a bit more wiggle room.

Web design is overflowing right now. But so much so that it is stressing me out. Hoping I get the time to sit down and work a lot of hours to cut down on some of the projects hanging over my head. The income will certainly be nice!