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Home > Archive: April, 2016

Archive for April, 2016

Little Things

April 27th, 2016 at 02:18 pm

Piddly changes on the truck fund and LOC.

I did get one of the credit cards completely paid off. Only about $130 on the other one, and it's not even due for another month but I just want them to be $0 for a while. I always pay them in full before the statements, but it's annoying having something on them at all times.

I also got all the goat kid registrations sent in and paid for. That is something big that is done and over with. I hate paperwork, so I'm happy that I got it completed so soon.

With finally getting caught up on the credit cards, this should put me in a good position to work on the goals, as long as the vet bills don't deter me too much and I keep spending in check.

Husbands computer is still acting up, after it's already been sent in twice. We hate it and want them to take it back and let us get a better one, but they keep insisting on fixing it over and over, which has a several week turn around. Arg. I think they are just stalling until the warranty runs out. I'll have to call them tomorrow, which means a several hour hold, and lots of arguing. I think I need to make a bigger stink.

Payday & Cat Drama

April 22nd, 2016 at 02:54 pm

**Gah, I wrote a huge post and didn't copy it for once and of course it got erased**

So much cat drama at my house. The cats all hate each other. The outdoor cat ran away for two days and we thought he was gone, but he finally came back.

Momo is still being a very slow eater. He is starting to act more hungry, but when you pour his food it's like he doesn't want it anymore. He'll eat canned food, and his teeth look fine. So I may pick up a new bag of food, maybe something is wrong with his one, or he is tired of it. Who knows.

Computer balance is finally below $500! Still hoping to knock it out by the end of May but that is going to be a stretch with the upcoming vet bills.

May is vaccine discount month. Both dogs need to go for their yearly vaccines and heart worm test. Rango the outdoor cat is due, and the kitten will need all her shots and the spay. In addition I just wormed all the cats for $50, and everyone needs flea meds. Yikes. It's going to be a very expensive month for vet bills.

Not sure if I should take everyone on the same day, or if I should break it up over several trips. Wrangling two 100 pound dogs who hate riding in the car, and two cats who hate each other does not sound very fun.

Starting a Blog... Questions

April 19th, 2016 at 08:41 pm

Husband and I have been toying around with the idea of starting a blog.

I'm a web designer, and he is a photography enthusiast. Seems like a good fit. We are remodeling a house, and live on a farm. So we have content.

But I think I am mostly worried about remaining partly anonymous.

I already have a successful goat business and website, with my contact information on it. If I make a blog which ties to that, I worry about peopling linking this savingadvice blog to the new blog, or to my goat business. I'm not sure if I am comfortable with everyone knowing my name, address, income, etc. How can I prevent this? I'm not sure how much should be kept private.

I'd love to share the new blog with you guys. But at the same time. I feel like I don't want this more private area of my life attached to my name, etc. Thoughts? Ideas on how I should go about this?

New Addition

April 18th, 2016 at 02:59 pm

My boss gave me a $100 bonus for being a hard worker. Smile

I've figured out that on Friday's payday I will be able to pay off the credit cards and have about $200 to send to the computer. Hurray! It seems like forever since I've been able to put money towards something besides our monthly bills.

We have also been productive around the house. The vegetable garden and the flower garden are both done, our closet trim is ready to hang today, and we deep cleaned the bedroom and living room.

We now have a new cat. Someone dumped a very very thin kitten off at my parents. I didn't really need another cat, but she is so sweet, and I felt so bad for her. She obviously needs food and care. Poor thing has ate and ate and ate since I've brought her home. She purs very loudly every time you touch her or feed her. It's so cute compared to my grumpy Momo.

She seems to be settling in well. But the other two cats are not at all happy about the new addition. Especially since she has taken over the outdoor cat's bed. lol.

We named her Zazzles, or "Zazzy." Which is from The Big Bang Theory. She is grey with a white face and feet. My husband is so good about enabling my animal habit. Within reason of course. He didn't even put up a fight, he just rolled his eyes when I asked and said "bring her over." lol.

Unfortunately she is long haired. I'm about at my wits end with brushing long haired cats. I've never had so much grooming to do. The two current cats rough house and play so much that they tangle their hair up in giant knots. I am brushing and cutting out mats daily. It's a constant battle with the indoor cat to keep fur off everything. Yuck. My old short haired cat didn't shed half as much. I have all hard wood floors and I still can't keep the hair down, I can't even imagine how it would be with carpet.

I will be scheduling an appointment to get her spayed ASAP and vaccinated. But I want to get her a little healthier before surgery, plus she is very small yet. I'll go ahead and pick up some wormer for her, and the other cats.

Momo the ragdoll has been acting off the last few days. He has a rare gum disease which hurts so I take him to get steroid shots every few months. He hasn't been eating well lately, so I was worried he is sick again but it hasn't been that long since the last shot. It's best to delay it as long as possible since he is so young and long term steroids can cause permanent damage. I looked at his gums and they don't look that bad right now. I am wondering if he is just stressed because of the new cat. I will keep a close eye on him for a couple days before I decide if he needs to go in or not. The vet is swamped right now with only one vet, and very few workers.

Medical Bills

April 11th, 2016 at 04:50 pm

Well it finally happened. I have started receiving medical bills for my long stay in the hospital in January. Frown

My mom had graciously agreed to pay all the bills for me. She just wanted me to get better, and not worry about the money issues.

But in the past week we have already received over $1,200 in bills. And the doctor hasn't sent his bill yet.

Originally we thought I wouldn't have much to pay, because in-patient care is sometimes covered 100%.

I have good insurance, with a deductible of only $635. So I'm not sure why the amount is so much. We will have to look into it some more. But I don't feel comfortable letting my mom pay it all, so it's definitely going to affect our budget. Just not sure how much yet.


Garden boxes were filled in, but it's been getting below freezing at night, and it has been raining all day yesterday, last night, and still raining today. Planting will have to wait a little while longer. Until then the plants will do fine in our sun room.




Small Update

April 8th, 2016 at 03:58 pm

Credit card is $635 right now. Ouch! I haven't been shopping or spending like crazy, so I'm shocked it's that high. It's mostly our regular bills, bridesmaid dress, animal food, the wood for the garden boxes, and several $5 lunches.

Thankfully next week I have $320 coming from my paycheck and a goat deposit. So that will bring it down to a more manageable number.


I paid the mortgage today to bring it down to $47,209.82!

We did finish building and installing our garden boxes, and purchased the dirt and plants. Tonight we are going to fill them in, but it's supposed to get below freezing so we will wait until tomorrow to plant.


Project Progress

April 4th, 2016 at 03:02 pm

Not much progress financially. Actually I'm a ANOTHER wedding and had to put the deposit down on the bridesmaid dress, so I lost progress. Gah. (Am I allowed to say I'm sick of weddings, and how expensive they are?)

But, we've been working hard on home projects. We cut, and sanded our closet door trim. Yesterday we cut assembled and installed another raised garden bed. Just have to fill it. We only have one more bed to do, and we've already got it built, still need to bury and level it. Every year we've built a couple more, and kept increasing our garden size. But we will be finally be done making garden boxes, at least until our family grows.

Besides that I've got all the goat kids tattooed and vaccinated. Just need to fill out and send in all their paperwork.