The farm and farmhouse

I had a pleasant surprise today.

On my electric bill there was about 3 different prices and I wasn't sure which one I was suppose to pay. So I called them this morning, and apparently a couple years ago when we bought the house we had to give them a deposit to establish credit. Well I guess our trial period was over, and they just applied the credit to our bill. I had completely forgotten all about the deposit! So I don't have to pay anything this month, and there is still $65 remaining to apply towards next month's bill! Yay.

So that means, I was able to use my found income, to pay my credit card almost completely off, and I also put $250 towards our EF. In two weeks we get an "extra" paycheck, and that will really boost things.

I also have 3 goats sold this month, totaling $700. October is going very well so far!

I discussed salary with the Internship employer yesterday. I wanted to make sure I will be able to quit my current job, and still make enough to live, for a couple months until the business takes off.

He has offered to match my current salary! This would only be a guaranteed base pay. (In the case of not getting enough projects for a month, etc) And all the projects would be "extra" money for me.

Whoot whoot! That takes such a huge weight off my shoulders, knowing I will be able to depend on at least making what I am now. With lots of opportunity for growth.

I was planning on picking up a part time job, for a steady source of income, but I think I will hold off on that for now. I don't want to over burden myself.

I still can't put my quit notice in yet. He is giving me a project hopefully next week, and we are going to see how that goes before we make the entire leap.

But things are looking good! I'm anxious to get started.

*flaps arms wildly and runs around screaming*

I just wrote the check for the final car payment. That baby is paid in full!

So eager to move onto new goals. Emergency Fund, I'm looking at you.

So with the car being paid off tomorrow. I'm trying to figure out what my next plan of attack is.

I had planned on starting to really push to get the EF finished but is that still the wisest thing?

I'm going to be switching from my regular employment into freelance before the new year.

Would it be wiser to stick with the plan and just save, save, save? Or should I divert some funds towards bringing down the LOC, so we have less debt?

If I pay down the LOC, it could be drawn from in an emergency. It's maxed out right now.

If I keep saving for my EF, I will receive the Saver's Credit on my tax refund, because I will be putting it into my Roth IRA. So that still seems like the best choice to me.

Maybe a little bit of both? Put mostly towards EF but maybe allot $50 a week towards paying down the debt?

Just wanting to get in the best position possible before the job change.

I just sent $50 to my EF for the first time in months! It feels great!

Money should be arriving by tomorrow from freelancing. So I will be able to pay the car in full on Wednesday!



It feels so good to see some progress finally. I also paid $100 towards the credit card.

Now each of my pay checks will be able to go towards our EF and paying down our LOC. Such good news! Want to get debt to a minimum and savings higher before quitting my job this winter.

I forgot that my Mortgage payment hit a few days ago. It was early because of the way paychecks fell. Bringing my balance down to:

$49,680.37

Spent all of yesterday cleaning, and working on a freelance project, which will hopefully be bringing in a steady cash flow in the following year.

Tonight we are having a get together with friends. Tomorrow we are going to a wedding.

The next two weeks will be crazy! I have a mock interview, 2 doctors appointments, and 1 dentist appointment.

Really beginning to weigh my job options.

Picked up some side income, and also someone is finally sending me a check for work that was completed at the beginning of the year. I had just counted it as a loss, but I'm glad to be receiving, even if it's late.

Totals about $400, once the money arrives I will be putting it towards paying off the car! *crosses fingers*

Keep Kuzco in your prayers. Still limping. Trying to decide if he needs to go to the vet tomorrow, or if I should wait until Monday and see if there is any improvement.

Did get a good amount done on the horse shed. We also put in all our storm windows, and cleaned out our sun room which was way overdue. We still had unopened wedding gifts from 2 years ago in there!

Kuzco is doing great with the goats now. I was scared at first, but I think he is a permanent addition. Sadly he has been limping for a few days and I have no clue way. I felt him over and couldn't find anything wrong. He probably just pulled a muscle. I will keep an eye on him and if he doesn't get better soon he will be going to the vet.

Money is a slow process. Have about $150 put back for the car, and have been working on paying some of our recent expenses off. October will be better!

Going to try to work on our trim this week, and we are attending a wedding this weekend. Lots going on.

Started working on the horse shed yesterday. I'm buying the first set of materials today, and hopefully will get a good amount accomplished this evening on it. Has some lumber at home for it, so that will save me some money.

Not much progress on the money front. Went shopping this weekend for some much needed clothes, and a couple unneeded ones. Didn't spend too much, but still. It did feel good after our month long spending freeze.

Set internet payment up on a automatic credit card payment.

The Jeep is fixed and running again! Only cost $75 in parts, and many hours in free labor.

Kuzco is officially moved in with the goats full time. For 2 weeks every single day he would dig under their pen and get into it while I was at work. We kept blocking the holes but it was futile. So we decided to just leave him in there. He hasn't dug out since. I'm still nervous, but so far he hasn't hurt anyone. He does chase them a bit, and they hate him and are very scared. But I think they are slowly getting used to each other. *fingers crossed* Goats can be very dramatic.

Juno is still a spitfire, and will hopefully be moving in with the horse over the winter, so she will have more room and warmth.IF we can keep her from digging or climbing out. She is CRAZY. But she is learning.... very very slowly. It takes a couple years with these dogs, as I have found. Kuzco has came a long way with time.

Winter is quickly approaching and I'm about to go into full panic mode. There is so much to do to winterize, especially when you have a farm with animals. So I wanted to collect my thoughts, and make a list of what needs done, in order of importance BEFORE the snow and really cold hits.

Things completed

Repair goat house latch
Build new ramp
Clean out barn
Make buck pen
Fill propane tank

Put in storm windows
Put middle on horse shed
Side front of horse shed
Get hay cut and put away
Close in goat house windows
Insulate buck house
Warm solution for Juno
Get straw and put around outside of house
Make kitty bed
Finish living room/dining room archway
Find solution for leaky front door
Clean and check space heaters

Paint sunroom windows
Repair & paint sunroom door
Finish kitchen archway
Indoor goat manger
Move Kuzco in with goats

Well a super stressful weekend turned into a pretty fun and productive one!

We did lots of community volunteer work, we got the entire barn cleaned out(which took over a week last time), stacked 100 bales of hay in the barn, got my new buck pen put up, sold a goat, got the yard cleaned up, and finished putting poly on the living room archway trim.

Husband, uncle, and father-in-law worked on the Jeep for about 4 hours yesterday too. They replaced the broken part, and now the jeep can start, but it seems something is wrong with the ignition switch too. So they are going to explore that and hope it's a cheap and easy fix.


Got my first tank of propane order. Money came out of our budget billing which I've been paying all year, so no scrambling for cash. Got propane at a steal, for only $1.79 a gallon! Whoot, Whoot!

Feeling accomplished, and glad we we got a lot of necessary work out of the way that needed to be done before winter. Next big project is finishing the horse barn.

I have $275 in cash put back for internet/car payment. I might have to steal some of the money to buy the first set of materials for the horse barn though. Cold weather is setting in quick! It's been in the low 40's the last few nights. So it needs done ASAP.

Car payoff may be pushed back until Oct. But have to think about priorities.

With the goat money, and husband's paycheck I have put back all my cushion, paid all our bills, and have $130 left over.

It's nice for husband to finally get a paycheck again! But we lived through the gap without just fine. Yay for thriftiness and budgeting.

I still have not received a bill for our internet, and have no idea when it will get here or how much it will be. So I am just going to hang onto the extra money for now.

This weekend is going to be very stressful, so keep my family in your thoughts and prayers, please.

I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to go ahead and pay my car off today since I have checks in the mail coming to me or if I should wait until they actually come in. Well I finally decided to do it....

Then I stopped in this morning to pay my car insurance, which I was going to put on my credit card because it wouldn't be due until November. I could just pay it off at my leisure.

Well something was wrong with the system, and they couldn't take credit, only check. So I had to use every penny of my car money, and $250 of my cushion to float the difference.

So the good news is, I don't owe anything on my credit card. The bad news is, it's going to take me a while to build back up my cushion and save another $500 for the car payment.

Oh well. I'm hoping after my checks come in, I will be able to still pay it off in September. And it does feel good not to have the car insurance money hanging on the credit card. Baby steps.

Making some good progress.

Was able to put $150 towards car. Leaving only $275 left!!

There is a $200 check in the mail for me right now, for goats. So I think I will go ahead and pay grandpa the balance on the car Wednesday!

Mortgage payment hit. It only dropped about $20, since last month they didn't take out escrow, they had to take double. Boo. But it's still under $50k. So I'm pleased.

Still have a couple payments to me pending for freelance work.

October is an extra pay check month, and also I have goats being sold then. So I am really hoping to dig myself out of this mess by November, and get my savings back on track.

Things are starting to slowly look up. Somewhat anyway.

The Jeep is still deader than a door nail. It may end up that we will have to sell it and keep both the cars for now. Very stinky since I was hoping to use the sale of one of the cars to help pay down the $5k we owe from fixing them up and the fence. We will have to wait and see. We just can't believe the Jeep is broken. It has never given us problems, and had no warning signs.

Went ahead and put new license sticker on Cobalt so I can drive it around legally.

Internship is going well. He gave me a $200 check yesterday to cover his share of internet for the year. He also buys me dinner every time I meet with him, and he gives me $10 to cover gas for my trip. It's almost too good to be true!

He is also going to help me with a project I've been wanting to do for a long time now. It will take a while, but once it's up and going it should produce a small steady income.

Internet is hooked up, and oh my goodness we are like kids in a candy store. It is amazing how much we missed it.

I decided to put the $200 to use and will just have to come up with internet money when bill arrives monthly. I couldn't stand just having the $200 sitting there doing nothing for months, so I went ahead and made my house payment today. I also paid off the credit card completely, and put back $75 for a car payment. It feels great not to have anything on the card, but on Tuesday it will go back up when I put the $465 for insurance on it. Boo.

Sold a goat, and money should be arriving sometime next week. Will use that for paying off car. *happy happy dance*

"Real" job is stinky as ever. Just trying to get through each day.

I send $157 to the credit card today. That's about all the debt reduction that is happening around here right now. Sadness.

Staying pretty close to budget. Only have $40 something left to groceries for the next two weeks, but have everything I need for this week. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed we can make it. Everything else is on budget.

Internet is getting hooked up today.

Jeep is still broken, and I'm driving the Cobalt. And it's license plates are expired. Sigh. Hoping the jeep gets fixed soon, and I don't get a ticket until then. I forgot how much I love that car. Driving it is bad for me, I'm getting reattached to it.

Couldn't stain our archway trim because of the rain. Darn. That was our weekend project. But we did clean up the house, and had a party. So that was fun.

Paying grandpa for Neon tomorrow, and then I am going to kick it into high gear to pay the last $500 by the end of September.

I also need to start winterizing the goat house, and finish the horse shed, so we don't have nosy neighbors calling animal control again this year.

Yesterday husband had a flat tire. It had a huge piece of metal in it. Like a bolt, but more than 1/2 inch in diameter. I think the tire is a complete loss. A shame since those were fairly new.

Today his Jeep wouldn't start. It acts like it is fine, and it turns over, but never quite catches. He had to take my car at the last minute. Then I had to scramble to find a ride.

Sigh. Will it ever end. On a side note after spending $150 on mistakes from the mechanic who put the engine in, now the Cobalt is running great. Waiting on mom to fix the windshield so I can sell it. She has been driving it, and may end up buying it herself.

The Wordpress meetup went well. It was fun to eat a fancy dinner, and chat about computers. Employer has high hopes of me being able to work full time for him this winter. Sounds good to me!

Tonight I am meeting my employer. We are going to a restaurant for a Wordpress meetup.

How cool is that! He is buying my dinner, and I get to go chit chat with another people interested in the same things as me, while eating a scrumptious meal. And it counts as work, and towards my internship! Score!

Networking is a BIG part of computer related jobs. Learning is also a big part. Reading books, articles, and practicing skills is all in a days work. You constantly have to be changing, evolving, learning. I love it. It is so much more fun than doing the boring same old thing day after day.

I am super excited. I've been wanting to go to a Wordpress meetup for some time now. But I didn't feel comfortable going alone, and my husband was never interested in going with me and sitting through "boring computer talk."

Regular job is becoming increasingly stressful. Having trouble sleeping, and keeping up with the housework.

I am REALLY hoping this internship pans out and I can commit to it full time next year. I'm having a good old time so far.

If it doesn't work out, I already had another employment place I am interested in. Which I will apply for in a couple months if the internship is heading downhill. Either way I'd really love to be in a new job by January.

In the mean time, I am just trying to hold on, and pay down some debt. I want to be in a good place financially before making a career change.

The changes in my life are a little scary, but also so exciting. Wish me luck!

YNAB is going well so far.

I have been staying in budget for everything, except for groceries! Yikes. I did really good only getting what we need, but the fact is food is expensive, especially dog food!

We are already $30 into our food budget for NEXT week, and I need to go pick up some cheese and sour cream for dinner tonight. After that I'm making it a goal not to buy anymore groceries until Friday.

I did manage to save myself some money! I called the car insurance company and had them shop around for a cheaper plan. They found one for nearly $400 less a year! Whoot whoot! Now I only need to come up with around $165 before Oct.

Put the first $127 of my school bill on the credit card. Only 2 payments of $112 left.

Paid $185 on my credit card today. I only need to pay $15 next week to pay off the statement balance, but I am going to continue to pay it down to $0. I'm tired of having a "balance" on there, even though we don't get charged interest.


Just trying to manage until husband gets paid again. 3 weeks seems like a very long time away.

Since some of you have asked for puppy pictures I finally took some.



Kuzco the "older pup"



Samantha



Working as a team



Liberty looking over her field



Best friends

As a side note. Since these pictures Juno and Kuzco can no longer play together because I guess she is too old now, and Kuzco is acting too manly, and I don't want an accidental puppies. Sad.

Also Juno has mauled several goats, and now lives in a kennel until she can learn to behave her self. We are trying to take them out and work with them both, at least every couple days and let them have supervised goat visits. Kuzco is FINALLY starting to learn things, and is finally starting to come out of the "bad puppy stage." He is about 1.5 years old now. And yesterday I managed to get him to sit, lay down and stay very well. Which is a lot of progress for him. Usually they are very independent, and distracted, and you're lucky to even get them to come to you. This breed isn't known for listening well. lol.

They usually just do their own thing, and come to you occasionally for some belly rubs.

I started the free trial of YNAB today. I'm a college student so I should be able to activate it for free.

It is interesting although I'm still getting the hang of it. It's too hard to try to back track and fill in all the information from August, so I will just start from today I guess and hopefully it will smooth out by September. I'm curious to see how close it is to my mental budget.

Well after the initial shock of having to go 3 weeks without pay, then being short half a pay check I think we are going to be okay.

Husband had an excess of $100 on this check from thrifty budgeting to put towards the gap, and we have vowed to cut our grocery bill and eat cheap for the next month. Whoo hoo ramen noodles. *gag*

Really going to try to find meals out of our limited pantry and refrigerator. Tonight I have rustled up BBQ chicken, shells n cheese, and fresh corn on the cob.

I also put back an extra $50 out of my paycheck and set it aside for our house payment. We really only need to scrape up another $50 or so over the next couple weeks and we will be fine as long as we keep extra spending in check.

Husband can also put gas on his credit card and it won't be due until Oct.

Besides that, financial hasn't made much progress. I paid all our bills today. Sent $150 to the credit card, and put $50 back for the car. I only need to come up with $200 more for the credit card before Aug. 9th.

I am going to halt payments towards the car. I have $500 now to give to him when he gets back from vacation in a couple weeks. After I give it to him I will start saving for the last payment again. But until then I will put all extra funds towards the credit card, and floating our missing paycheck.

Sorry for the 3rd post today!

Well after my earlier discussion about the EF, it turns out I may have to use it after all... But for different reasons. Gr.

Husband's work has recently started a new pay roll. Yesterday they told him that the system is a little messed up and in order to smooth it out everyone will be getting a check 2 weeks in a row, then no check for 3 weeks, then it will go back to normal. Whatever. That is annoying, but no big deal. We would just have to shift money a little.

Well today they came back and decided that instead of paying the total of the 3 weeks, they are just going to pay the normal 2 weeks, and the other week's worth of pay they will give the workers when they quit!?

What the heck. That means he will work for 3 weeks but only get paid for 2. Many people working there won't quit or retire for years and years. They can't just hold your money hostage all that time can they?

Husband says the entire place is outraged and about to start rioting. I'm sure there are other workers worse off than us that need that money to eat.

We are going to lose over $400. I have NO idea how we are going cover the house payment, and buy groceries. Looks like I will have to pull out of the EF to cover it.

Not going to do anything drastic yet. But this is REALLY going to slow down progress. ARG!

Is that legal? Husband is pretty bummed. And it just adds stress to me. It seems like I will never get out of this hole.

This has also been an eyeopener that I need to increase my EF, so I don't have to panic when stuff like this happens.

To help ease my stress I thought I would share a few pictures of the critters enjoying their new pasture.



"Yummy!" & Kuzco acting crazy



"MAMA!"



My sweet Leon. (Goatie baby)

I'm having trouble making a decision, and I need input. Right now it seems like I owe little amounts of money to a lot of different things, and it is stressing me out. Nothing is getting paid down very fast, because it is being split between too many things.

Nothing is due immediately, nor is there interest on it, so it is not desperate or anything, but it is just in the back of my mind all the time.

So I was thinking in order to ease my stress load a little I could take out $500 from my EF and pay some things off. Of course then I would owe myself, but I would owe to one thing, rather than a bunch of little things.

But I don't know if this is a good idea, or what I would even pay down. So here are some of the things that I know need paid, and maybe you guys could give me suggestions.

Things I owe & when they are due:

$500 for car - 0% interest, Grandpa is on vacation so I can not give him any money for at least 3 weeks. Not due until end of Sept.

$150 to mom - She says pay back whenever.

$400 on credit card - Due mid Sept.

$160 to cash stash - Probably last thing to pay

$300 for car insurance - Due Oct.

$125 for school - Due Sept.

The car would give me the biggest win because I am currently putting a $100 a week towards it. BUT since I cant actually pay it for 3 weeks it seems silly to have all that extra money just sitting in my account until then.

I am currently leaning towards stopping putting money back for the car and just pay down other things. Then I can take the money out of the EF in 3 weeks and pay off the car then.

Or should I just keep plodding along, and leave my EF alone. Everything will get paid down slowly, it will just take a few months. No interest will be accrued. Help!

Things are going great here.

Interview went well, my internship is in full go!

It is a little intimidating right now, I am worried that I wont be able to keep up, or do the expected jobs. But I am going to try my hardest! Hoping he will be patient with me, and teach me.

The opportunity is even better than I thought. My new employer is on the beginning stages of starting up a Wordpress company, and he has big plans. He was offered $70 an hour to work on Wordpress websites for someone, and he decided if they are making enough money to pay him that much, why don't he just start his own and cut out the middle man. He has the knowledge, and connections to make it a reality. I am the first to be hired, so that means I am on the front end. Who knows, in a couple years we could be the new facebook! lol.

I am really keeping my fingers crossed that by the end of the internship that we will have enough business that I can do that full time and make enough to live off of.

He has already hand picked another person to work with us. Another student that I have taken classes with before. He was another overachiever like me, we were both top of the class. I think it is kind of funny that the teacher was scoping out potential employees from his classes.

I can tell it is going to be a large learning curve, and hard work for a while until I get confident in my abilities. I hope I can keep up at my normal job. I am already trying to figure out ways I could quit and find a less labor intensive job. But in the mean time I will just hang on for the ride.

Employer is paying $50 of my monthly internet. Which is great since it is going to be between $75 - $85 a month. I felt bad making him pay the entire amount, so I just suggested the $50. That is still a large help. I sent the application off today. They said it should take about a week and I will have internet!! *happy dance*

Trim is going up in the house. Just have to put the poly on and we will have door trim in our livingroom.

Well today when I went to go pay for my tuition. I noticed there was a payment plan option. I didn't think I could qualify for that, since I signed up so late, but I can!

Even though I had the money to pay it, Id much rather have 3 months to pay it off interest free. That way I can continue working on paying off the car and the credit card. Also it only cost $350 instead of the $400 I was expecting!

First payment is only $125 and not due until 9/01. No problem.

That means my credit card is down to $350, not due until middle of Sept. That is great news!

I had lunch today with an old friend. We were best friends as children. But I have not hung out with her since middle school, when I stopped going to her school. I truly have no close friends. (All moved away) So husband urged me to contact her.

I am so glad I did! We still have a lot in common, and it turns out her friends all moved away too. Looks like a found a new/old friend, and she seems as excited as I am to have a girl to hang out with. We are thinking of getting together again this weekend. Whoot whoot! I am so happy to have someone to meet for lunch, chat with, and to go to the movies with. Ive really missed that since my friends have all moved on with their lives and left the area.

I sold some goats Saturday! Whoot whoot. It doesnt dig me out of my hole, but every bit certainly helps.

I put $350 back for a car payment. I am excited that I only have $550 left! That seems like such a little amount.

I also scraped up enough money to cover my school tuition after taking some out of our small cash stash (not included on the sidebar) and borrowing $150 from mom.

Internship seems to be a done deal. The wheels are rolling, and I cant wait to get started. Will post more after my interview tomorrow.

We also purchased the materials and have started to work on more trim for our house. It feels good to get projects completed. Every time we finish something it makes the house looks so much better.

Oh my gosh I can barely contain my excitement!

I am done taking classes for my Web Design degree, but I still have to take the internship before I actually graduate.

Well my teacher from last semester whom I really hit it off with, contacted me today to ask me if I still needed to take my internship.

He offered to take me on, to work in my favorite thing. Wordpress!

Not only that, but it is a telecommute job! Which saves me the 2+ hour trip. Not only that, but he said he would hire me on after the original internship was over!!! And not only that, but he said he would cover the costs to get internet to my house!!!!

I just want to jump up and down. The semester was suppose to start on Monday. So I am completely unsure if I can even get enrolled and registered before then. Everything is up in the air right now. I filled out my FASFA and left a message with the program coordinator, so I can get enrolled ASAP. But I could really use some prayers! This is my dream job!

Oh I also have to figure out how to come up with around $400 for the class.

*runs around crazily like a chicken with their head cut off*

AHHHHHHH!

Mortgage balance is $49,898.25!!!

My payment finally hit, bringing my total down below $50k. *happy dance*

There is a slight problem. For some reason they did not take the normal $102 escrow out. So I may have to call them up and ask what the heck. The balance may go back up, but it will still hit $50k. Can't believe I have 3 of my 5 goals completed.

Of course I have the hard ones left, but I can do it!