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Home > Archive: November, 2015

Archive for November, 2015

Lots of Outgo

November 30th, 2015 at 03:51 pm

My cold is starting to clear up, but now it's a chain reaction to my lungs. Two nights ago I stayed up all night coughing. Then had a bridal shower to host. Ugh.

Anyway, lots of happenings here, and LOTS of spending. Goodness. The fence is half up! Big Grin It poured rain here for 3 days straight, and they still came out and did it in the rain. I was surprised. Hopefully will be finished this weekend.

Purchased the last bit of hay for the winter, $280. Ouch.

Had to pay for stuff for the bridal shower. I did some minor online black Friday shopping. Only spent $20. I just ordered the invisible fence for the dog. Another $300 outgo.

Furnace has finally been decided. The mini splits were going to be $7k which we couldn't swing, so after a lot of deliberation with the HVAC guy we purchased a new 2 stage propane furnace. The ducts are still horrible, but once we build the addition we will move the furnace and it will be a lot easier to put in new ducts. So we are going to leave them for now and in the mean time we will have some heat. Price is around $2,800. We have paid a $1,500 deposit.

It's going to take quite a while to dig myself out of all the recent expenses. But I am very excited about all the projects getting completed. Just wish it wasn't all at once. lol.

Ugh

November 18th, 2015 at 03:24 pm

I feel so run down. I've had several bad days at the new job. I've made some mistakes, due to just not knowing everything yet. And several of the people have been short with me. I'm very sensitive, and do not take raised voices, or harsh criticism well. Especially when it's due to misunderstanding, or just not knowing something. After work I went and bought a soda, came home and had a good cry and a nap.

Besides that, I've been sick for nearly a month now. My lungs were giving me fits, then I started a new medicine which made me feel absolutely horrible, now I've got a bad head cold. Sigh. I just want to feel like myself again.

The fencing guy did come out. He can't start until two weekends from now. And then it takes at least a week to finish. So it won't be done until December. Also he raised his prices a bit, so now I need to come up with another $500. Which is really going to push my goals back even farther.

I get easily stressed and flustered, so all these things that have come up are really dragging me down. Today I need to be working on my web design clients, but I would much rather just lay around and relax on my "day off." It's been hard to get motivated, or focused to get anything done.

Feeling the Crunch

November 16th, 2015 at 03:18 pm

The carpenter finally got my closet trim cut, and the bank has finalized the LOC.

The fencing guy has set appointments then cancelled last minute twice now. He swears he will be here Tuesday... Won't hold my breath.

Furnace is still up in the air right now. The first price he found on the units was about 3 times what we want to pay. But he misunderstood and had us down for 3 instead of 2. So that will lower the price, he is also looking into other brands. Fingers crossed we can make it happen.

Paid some on the computer, and towards the truck.

Also added back the LOC in the sidebar for the windows/furnace. Will be paying that down with our standard $200 a month home project budget, and additional as we can.

I can't believe it's already half way through November! I need to kick it into high gear if I ever want to be able to reach my goals for the year.

Right now I just want to get the fence installed and paid for. After that I can switch focus to other things. I tend to work on two main things at once, one debt, one savings. My normal checks are usually sent towards debt, and any cash I collect I put in an envelope to save for something different than our normal savings. My fence fund is nearing completion. Then extra cash will go towards the animals. The cash savings seem to grow slower, but it's amazing how much random cash I accumulate. Either by selling stuff, freelance work, or my parents often give me small amounts of money when I visit. $10 here, or $20 there. It adds up!

Baby Its Cold Outside

November 11th, 2015 at 09:16 pm

It's cold! Being without a furnace is no fun!

After talking it over with husband, and reading all of your thoughtful opinions I believe we will be going with the new mini splits.

Still waiting on an exact price, but it looks like mini splits will be around $3k and a new propane furnace would be about $2.5k not counting the fact that we would have to hire someone to dig out our tiny crawlspace, and then also pay for all new duct work. Looking at several thousand for that.

So mini splits is the easy choice. I'm a little wary, just because they aren't as common, but the HVAC guy and some friends that use them have encouraged me.

Debt is no fun, but heat is a necessity.

Fencing guy is hoping to start working on it this weekend! So that is good news. My horse is going to live at a friends house on a semi permanent loan. One of their two passed away, and the remaining horse is lonely. My horse used to live together with him, and they were buddies (a decade ago). I haven't ridden in years, and I think my old guy would be happier there with a friend and pasture in his old age. Not sure how I feel about it yet. I'm happy for him, but sad for me. Frown I will miss him, even though I don't give him the attention he deserves. Trying not to be selfish. He will remain my horse, and I can go visit, or bring him back whenever I want. But he's been a part of me so long, it's hard to imagine him not here. We'll see what happens. It will save me a LOT of money on food costs over the winter, and will cut down on my work.

Banker tried to call me yesterday but I missed it, and they are closed today. I will try calling back tomorrow. Fingers crossed it's good news on the LOC and I can get the money for the windows and furnace ASAP.

Besides that I'm just going to try to be frugal and pay stuff off as fast as I can. Picking up some extra shifts at the new job already, but need to be careful not to let myself get overwhelmed. Christmas seems so close, and I feel like I will never catch up on finances.

New Furnace?

November 6th, 2015 at 08:46 pm

So our furnace didn't want to start up again for the 4th year in a row. So we called the contractor out to come take a look. It only took him a couple minutes to pin point the broken part and he said he would try to find one for us.

He calls back today, after more than a week of searching he has found the last remaining part in the US for our furnace. It's $500...

Well the furnace is 30-40 years old, and a piece of junk. It's sooo inefficient, and we have rusty, leaky old ducts which we can not even get to. Every year we cross our fingers, that it's going to work. We turn the heat down to 55-60 and use space heaters. The propane alone is $1,500 - $2,000 every winter, on top of our electric bill which can soar up to $300 a month with space heaters. Ouch. All to be at a still chilly 65 degrees.

We have been wanting to get mini splits since we moved in. Which is a ductless heating and cooling system. (Because the crawl space is too small for ducts) But kept putting it off. Well the time may have finally come...

We can buy mini splits in sections. So for now we are looking at getting 2. One for the bedroom, and one for the living room/dining room/kitchen. We would still have to use one space heater in the bathroom like we normally do. (No central heat there currently, broken duct)

Off the top of his head he estimated they would cost around $3k to install. And later on when we had the cash we could add more for the bathroom and upstairs. He is going to sit down and give me real figures on Monday.

Honestly, with the $1,500 from the propane savings, and the $500 it would cost to fix our current furnace, we are looking at only a $1,000 difference. They are suppose to be super cheap to run in our area, and the thought of having air conditioning as well is quite appealing!

We knew this was coming, but didn't want it to be so soon. Now we have to make a quick decision. Not happy to have to take on debt. But at least I'm getting extra income from my new job.

We would have to add it to the LOC with the $1,000 for the windows. Of course we could instantly put our propane account credit towards it ($500 ish), and also the $120 monthly propane payment.

Not to mention the electric bill savings.

We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. He's been trying to talk us into replacing for several years now. And he really doesn't want us to throw more money on the old one.

What do you guys think?

Woo Hoo... and Sick

November 6th, 2015 at 05:40 pm

The windows and doors are in! They all look fabulous. They had to cut some drywall to install the pocket door which I expected. Will just have to repair it.

The storm door works great, and the cat has already figured out how to use it. No more drafts.

The mortgage payment has hit bringing our total down to $47,920.23! Yay, finally got to the 47s!

In other news, I was recently put on a a round of new medicine for a week. It made me terribly sick. Joint pain, shivering, sweating, metallic taste, constant headaches and nausea. I haven't been able to eat much and have lost 4 pounds in 3 days. Not sleeping. I'm also vomiting, which I haven't done in over 10 years. I've been hurting so much that I've spent the last several days crying, sitting by the toilet, and trying to make it through work.

The taste of the pills themselves are so horrible that I had to wrap them in bread or candy to swallow them without them coming back up.

Yesterday was the last straw and I decided I couldn't do it anymore. I stopped taking it at the halfway point. I called the doctor this morning and they said they don't think they have a substitute, and that I need to tough it out. But they are going to call me back. I'm sorry, but it is literally poison to my body. I don't think I've ever felt so sick, and as a person with heart and lung problems that is saying something. I'm not a weakling, but this is ridiculous. Sorry, not taking it. (I've taken a lot of medications in my life time, and NEVER get side effects)

After 24 hours I feel a lot better, and was able to hold down some breakfast this morning. My taste is still messed up, but apparently the side effects can last a couple months. Embarrassment Hopefully not.

Tired of Work and Waiting

November 2nd, 2015 at 02:24 pm

I feel wiped out. It's been hard adjusting to working so much. I'm going to have to be careful managing my time so I can stay up on my web design work.

Was able to pay towards the computer, my credit card, and purchase some hay. Feeling pretty good.

Today is payday at the vet, but I will only being getting one day of wages on this check. I will be putting it towards the fence. I've got the money to pay the installer, and I have already purchased the actual fencing. Just need to buy the posts, concrete, and little things like staples.

I am so tired of waiting on people.

Still waiting on the fencing guy.
Still waiting on the windows/doors.
Still waiting on the bank to mail the papers for the LOC.
Still waiting on the carpenter to cut our closet trim.
Still waiting on the repairman to fix our broken furnace.

I am paying all these people, I don't now why they keep dragging their feet. I have all this stuff needing done, but no one to do it. I've called and called and they keep promising it will be done next week. And then the week comes and goes. Gr.

So frustrated.

The goats are going to their new home tomorrow. Frown It's sad, but good at the same time. They are costing me several dollars in food a day. And I'll be glad to have one less pen to take care of.

They will certainly be missed.