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May 21st, 2021 at 05:34 pm
I've been dishwasher shopping for several months now but the one I picked has been completely out of stock this entire time. Last night after randomly checking I saw Lowes had just a few available for purchase on backorder (not to arrive until July.) Best Buy had also gotten a few in stock for the same timeframe and $70 cheaper but you had to pay $80 delivery or pick up yourself. My credit card is currently running 5% back at Lowes. So what to do?
I went ahead and purchased from Lowes before they were gone. This morning during business hours I called their customer support line and talked to a very nice lady. After explaining to her the same dishwasher was $70 cheaper at BestBuy she confirmed and refunded $70 back to my credit card. Super easy and quick way to save $70 AND I also get my 5% cash back and free delivery. It never hurts to look at competitor prices and ask for a price match.
Kitchen remodel is going pretty well. This is week two of no sink or stove but my countertops are being delivered today! My husband has the next four days off and my construction worker is coming to hopefully install the counters on Monday. So if we can get everything painted and trim up over the weekend hopefully we can move back in early next week. I am SUPER excited and ready to not be eating microwave food off paper plates every day anymore.
I am still waiting on my last $1,000 web design check to pay for the kitchen remodel. And I don't have the money saved for the dishwasher purchase but since it's been out of stock so long I had no idea when I would get another chance. Thankfully they won't bill until it ships which is weeks from now so we should be able to come up with the money by then or at worst we can borrow from ourselves for a short time.
Posted in
Home Remodel
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2 Comments »
May 6th, 2021 at 06:29 pm
Debts
Mortgage −$120,914.85 (-$233.91)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$20,355 (+$623) 401K +$40,293 (+$1,457) Emergency Fund +$8,831 (+$353) Animal Fund +$1,060 (+$0) Truck Fund +$1,1195 (-$10) HSA +$1,550 (+$375)
Overall: +$3,031.91
Kitchen remodel is starting tomorrow! I am scared and excited. I have been very sick this week and it seems like a terrible time to get started but we can't delay since the contractor is scheduled and the cabinets are waiting to be picked up. I am worried about not having a kitchen for a couple weeks and that seems really hard with a toddler but I'm sure we'll make do. Hopefully it goes quicker than expected and it turns out well.
Vacation is only a month away which is also exciting and scary. Thankful everything is already reserved and paid for.
Posted in
Home Remodel,
Monthly Check In
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2 Comments »
March 29th, 2021 at 02:10 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$$121,148.76 (-$233.35)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$19,732 (+$355) 401K +$38,836 (+$2,005) Emergency Fund +$8,478 376 (+$102) Animal Fund +$1,060 (+$0) Truck Fund +$1,205 (-$0) HSA +$1,175 (+$116)
Overall: +$2,801.35
Still plugging along. Kitchen remodel budget actually doubled but thankfully I also got a web design job which covers the entire amount. After we get a few more little saving items done and replenish the car fund I will probably start bumping up our retirement savings. It has been a year or more since we saved anything in the IRAs which has been sad. But we also paid off like $25k of debt or something crazy and this year we have saved over $15k. That is an insane amount of money for our income. We have been putting some into the 401K this entire time, but we can do better. Glad we are young and time is on our side. We have more saved than most people our age and income I think.
Posted in
Monthly Check In
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2 Comments »
March 17th, 2021 at 01:39 pm
I received my stimulus today and used it to finish saving for my medical out of pocket max for the year. What a relief to have it already saved for! No more medical debt. I am still fighting out of network charges from last year but I am hopeful for a resolution soon.
Which means we have nearly completed all our goals for the year except for regrading the yard. We are waiting on the weather to cooperate, but the money is saved.
We went ahead and added another saving/project goal which is a small kitchen remodel. I already have $3,000 set aside for that. If we go over budget I may have to save a little more, but hopefully that will mostly cover it.
Now that all our goals and wants this year are basically saved for I'm not sure what we will use extra income towards. I do know I need to save a bit for some time off work I will be taking this fall. So I have been taking a small amount from each check. Otherwise I'm not sure if we will contribute more to retirement, save for more home projects, a new car, or perhaps just a general savings fund and then decide later. What a good problem to have!
Posted in
2021 Goals
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1 Comments »
March 3rd, 2021 at 04:24 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$121,382.11 (-$232.79)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$19,377 (+$243) 401K +$36,831 (+$995) Emergency Fund +$8,376 (+$203) Animal Fund +$1,060 (+$1) Truck Fund +$1,205 (-$0) HSA +$1,059 (+$206)
Overall: +$1,880.79
These numbers are actually not completely reflective of our total savings because I also have $3,000 saved for vacation and $2,500 saved for medical expenses. But since those funds are fluctuating and will be eventually drained I don't want to include them.
Besides that I also use YNAB so I have several thousand dollars sitting around that is alloted for different budget items and future bills. It's crazy to see my checking account pushing $10k but I don't consider myself to have "extra spending money." Everything is accounted for and budgeted for.
We are currently in a good spot so even though I have been working less lately our net worth is still slowly climbing. Right now I am trying to finish up our medical OOP savings, then I will replenish the truck fund and then start saving for more home projects. If we happen to get another stimulus as expected it will pretty much finish everything off at once. We are fortunate that stimulus money has been an unexpected windfall and not needed for daily living.
Posted in
Monthly Check In
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1 Comments »
February 24th, 2021 at 04:15 pm
I got my federal tax refund this week. Still waiting on state. I got over $6k this year. So I took tithes out, put $3,000 into our vacation fund, and put the rest back for medical expenses. Unfortunately I am on a new medication that is about $300 a month and not covered by insurance. So that will be a drain on our medical fund which I did not count on.
I also received another unexpected medical bill from our NICU stay in January 2020. Sigh. It was supposedly taken care of back in September but here it is again. So I'm working on still fighting that. I am hoping I can get it from $3k+ down to about $400 which at the point I will just pay it and be done. I still think I should have to pay none of it, but I'm tired.
I think I have husband convinced to replace our kitchen cabinets and get a dishwasher. I think I can do it for around $3,000. So we'll have to save that up first. Hopefully within the next few months.
Posted in
2021 Goals
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2 Comments »
January 30th, 2021 at 08:14 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$121,614.90 (-$232.23)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$19,134 (+$501) 401K +$35,836 (+$891) Emergency Fund +$8,173 (+$659) Animal Fund +$1,059 (+$850) Truck Fund +$1,205 (-$600) HSA +$853(+$437)
Overall: +$2,970.23
Lots of progress this month. I was able to fully replenish my buffer and I sold a few goats to boost my animal fund. I can't stress how amazing it is getting a paycheck and getting to decide where I want to save the money rather than figuring out how I can make debt payments.
Posted in
Monthly Check In
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0 Comments »
January 27th, 2021 at 03:46 pm
I have most of my taxes filled out and it looks like we will be getting back around $6.5k!!?? Usually we break even.
This is a combinaition of a lot less self employment income, having a baby and also the stimulus checks for the baby which we did not get yet.
If the numbers are correct we will basically be able to fund all our goals for the entire year which is just crazy to me. I'm not sure what we will save for this year. Perhaps retirement, or some other future large home projects we want to do in a year or two.
Anyway, every year around tax time I always re-evaluate working. I work 2 part time jobs which are both sort of high stress. I only pulled in about $12k this year, and my tax rate is crazy high because of it being self employement income, AND it pushes us out of some tax breaks. Around half of my income seems gobbled up by taxes. Which I am just not sure is worth working a few days a week plus random weekends, evenings, late night calls, etc. Especially since we are basically getting back in taxes what I net in a year. lol.
Especially now that I have a child and finding a babysitter has been hard. Our parents watch her, but my in-laws are super afraid of Covid, so we are frequently banned from visiting and babysitting if we see anyone else. Example: They will not be babysitting for possibly the next 8 weeks because of a few engagments we have to attend.
My mom is in healthcare and works crazy hours, and although she is always willing I feel terrible making her babysit when she worked 12 hours all night and has to babysit for 8 hours and then go back to to work. It's not really fair. I also can't pay someone to babysit because I would have to pay more than I bring in. So it's just kind of lose lose. We have been talking about more children and that just seems like it will make it even harder.
I am afraid of quitting my job(s) though. I like having a little spending money, and I also like getting out of the house a couple days a week. I think I would get extrememly bored and lonely at home all day every day. I'm also afraid I would get lazy and fall into the trap of laying around all day. If I had some hobbies, or a few things to do every week I think I would be okay. But I'm just hesitant. I have always worked. I took one year off to do only web design for a year and I kind of hated it after like a month. I was so stir crazy. But that was before I had kids, and I enjoyed my 6 weeks maternity leave so I just don't know.
My part time office job can be stressful but it is also kind of gravy. Especially since Covid, I come in late and leave early whenever. I called into today because of snow and I'm working from home. I don't get paid much, but I also like the flexibilty and time away from the house, so I am hesitant to give that up. But part of me would also like the 2 or 3 days a week at home to do other things. I'm worried if I quit I will regret it like I did previously. But I also see quitting as possibility if I get pregnant and have a bad pregnancy like I did last time.
Thoughts? Has anyone else transitioned to stay at home mom?
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Uncategorized
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4 Comments »
January 13th, 2021 at 05:52 pm
I spent a lot of money this week but surprisingly my finances are in as good of shape as ever. It makes a huge difference not having to use all extra income to pay debt. Besides the fact that husband has been working 6 or 7 days a week and some long hours.
We got our on demand water heater installed and it's glorious to have all the hot water we want. Hopefully it will lower our electric bill slightly but I'm sure our water bill will go up with all the baths and long showers we have been taking. lol.
We bought a used sectional, a new tv and some wall art for our livingroom. All told we spent about $2k this month on home projects, but our livingroom is almost complete. We had been using hand me down furniture for almost a decade and it is nice to have something that is more what we want and matches. Besides just cosmetic issues our baby is almost on the move and everything needed to be child proofed. So a new tv that can hang on the wall out of reach is great. We still would like to purchase a recliner and some new end tables, but not in any hurry.
I did sell the last of my available goats and added $850 to my animal fund along with pay for and pick up my remaining hay for the season.
Also spent about $100 buying outfits for our upcoming family pictures. We never got any real maternity or newborn pictures so we are finally getting some. A friend is a professional photgrapher and is only charging us like $50. Which is insane! He did the same for our wedding. Usually his wedding photo shoots are $2k+ so I really appreciate his enormous generosity.
Posted in
Uncategorized
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2 Comments »
December 28th, 2020 at 09:19 pm
The goals for 2021 are a bit harder for me. We finished paying off our non-mortgage debt and now that we are onto savings I am a little unsure about what our priorities are. Although I've always had 5 goals a year I can only come up with 3 for now. I may add more later.
Goal 1.) $3,500 for medical OOP max
We already have $4,500 being saved into our HSA but we want to save the remaining $2,500 for our OOP max plus an extra $1,000 for an uncovered medical expense.
Goal 2.) Regrade the yard and install water heater
This is been a waiting project for almost two years now. We have the money set aside and I'm just waiting on contractors. The water heater is supposed to be installed next week.
Goal 3.) Go on vacation
We aren't sure where or when yet, but we want to take a vacation and pay cash. Approximately $3,000.
Posted in
2021 Goals
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0 Comments »
December 28th, 2020 at 09:12 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$121,847.13 (-$231.68) Medical Loan #2 $0!! (-$4,100)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$18,633 (+$426) 401K +$34,945 (+$795) Emergency Fund +$7,514 (-$1,017) Animal Fund +$209 (-$0) Truck Fund +$1,805 (-$0) HSA +$416(-$2,358)
Overall: +$2,177.68
I was able to pay off my last medical loan which means I am debt free besides my mortgage and also completed all my 2020 goals!! This is the first time I have been able to accomplish that which I think is astounding since this has been such a terrible year.
I think we plan on resting for a month or two and saving up for a few smaller home projects and then we will begin saving in earnest again.
I will be working on and posting my 2021 goals soon.
***** New website that will showcase personal finance blogs is up and you can now make accounts. I took a break from working on it over the Holiday but will be picking it back up soon. https://budgetbloggers.com/
If you have and suggestions on things you would like to see let me know.
Posted in
Monthly Check In,
2020 Goals
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1 Comments »
December 16th, 2020 at 09:09 pm
Long story short I have $1,100 left on the 0% interest medical loan before I am debt free. (besides mortgage)
My stretch goal was to pay it off this year but it looks like I am going to be about $800 short. I have over $8,000 in savings to regrade our yard and install our new water heater. Cost estimate for that is $6,000ish, and I won't need to pull it for at least two more months, but I also know projects always seem to cost more than expected. I'm itching to borrow the $800 from there and pay off the loan this month. I would then use the next couple months to build back up my buffer. Any logical reason againist that or should I just pull the trigger?
I am SUPER excited to be able to save money every month instead of putting a sizable chunk towards a loan payment!
Posted in
Debt
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6 Comments »
December 4th, 2020 at 07:33 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$122,078.81 (-$231.13) Medical Loan #2 -$4,100 (-$600)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$18,207 (+$1,827) 401K +$34,150 (+$3,833) Emergency Fund +$8,531 (+$247) Animal Fund +$209 (-$729) Truck Fund +$1,805 (-$225) HSA +$2,774 (+$250)
Overall: +$6,034.13
Markets are crazy up. Had a car repair and bought some animal feed for winter. I already paid a huge payment on the medical bill for December and fingers crossed I will be able to pay it off this month and be debt free for the new year.
***** New website that will showcase personal finance blogs is up and you can now make accounts. https://budgetbloggers.com/
If you have and suggestions on things you would like to see let me know.
Posted in
Monthly Check In
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1 Comments »
November 11th, 2020 at 04:58 pm
In order to make anymore progress on https://budgetbloggers.com/ I need to add some blogs. Are there any bloggers here that would be okay with me copy and pasting a few of their posts over on my new website? After that is successful I will also be looking for a couple people willing to set up an account and make a few posts to try out the system. Let me know if you would be interested in that as well. Thank you!
If you are interested in setting up an account to test please email me at support@budgetbloggers.com
Posted in
Uncategorized
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3 Comments »
November 11th, 2020 at 04:55 pm
I have almost all my clients switched over to either the new company or to myself. So far everyone except one account has paid their bill upfront for the next year. So I have a huge inflow of cash right now, but I have to remember it will only be once a year. I already saved back the amount I need to pay for the subscriptions that are due in a couple months, and paid for the hosting for all the accounts for 3 years. The rest I went ahead and put towards savings and debt pay off.
Still sad about loosing my job but I will be okay. The few clients I have taken over will pay for my personal websites and subscriptions. I have two companies I am picking up work from, and I can always find solo projects as well.
I have three more goats sold which will be picked up and paid for over the next month or two.
Lots of things to do on the farm before winter.
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Uncategorized
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0 Comments »
October 30th, 2020 at 02:22 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$122,309.94 (-$230.57) Medical Loan #2 -$4,700 (-$500)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$16,380 (+$268) 401K +$30,317 (+$735) Emergency Fund +$8,284 (+$212) Animal Fund +$938 (+$0) Truck Fund +$2,030 (+$5) HSA +$2,524 (+$250)
Overall: +$2,200.57
Markets went up a bit. Slowly picking at debts and savings. Still waiting on insurance reimbursement from July.
***** Thought I would let you know that I am working on a new website that will showcase personal finance blogs. https://budgetbloggers.com/
If you have and suggestions on things you would like to see let me know.
Posted in
Net Worth
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1 Comments »
October 14th, 2020 at 04:19 pm
Sadness.
The design company I have worked for over the last 8 years is dissolving and my clients and I have been transferred to a new owner. I'm pretty sad about it. I think I will continue getting my tiny monthly maintenance payments (like $125) but I doubt I will receive any new clients. I am also losing a lot of the free subscriptions I have been using all these years such as Photoshop, my email, etc. If I were to purchase all the things on my own it would cost well over $100 a month, therefore cancelling any income. But not having the subscriptions will affect my personal clients, and also my own projects. Sigh.
Thankfully I didn't depend on that income and have just used it for debt pay down. I am mostly sad about now being responsible for paying for all my programs, and because my boss was awesome and I will miss him. I usually fly to his house once a year and visit with his family. Hopefully we can stay in touch.
Now I have to decide if I want to try to branch out and go back to freelancing, look for a new employer, or if I am going to take a bit of a hiatus because of Covid and my new baby.
The other design partner I have worked with has been giving me a little work lately. So I have that to keep my busy for now.
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Uncategorized
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7 Comments »
September 29th, 2020 at 12:40 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$122,540.51 (-$230.02)
Medical Loan #2 -$5,200 (-$300)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$16,112 932 (-$820)
401K +$29,582 (-$1,298)
Emergency Fund +$8,072 7,767 (+$305)
Animal Fund +$938 (-$179)
Truck Fund +$2,025 (+$20)
HSA +$2,274 (+$251)
Overall: +$1,190.98
Still waiting on insurance reimbursement for baby's surgery. Claim was processed wrong and had to be resubmitted. Lost net worth this month because of the bad market. Hoping next month is better as far as savings and debt payments.
Posted in
Monthly Check In
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0 Comments »
August 29th, 2020 at 02:58 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$122,770.53 (-$229.47)
Medical Loan #2 -$5,500 (-$300)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$16,932 (+$820)
401K +$30,880 (+$1,603)
Emergency Fund +$7,767 (-$253)
Animal Fund +$1,117 (-$300)
Truck Fund +$2,005 (-$10)
HSA +$2,023 (+$250)
Overall: +$2,639.47
Waiting on insurance reimbursement for baby's surgery. Also had a stupid random out of network bill show for a couple thousand from her stay in the NICU over 6 months ago. They are telling me it is going to collections soon if I don't pay. Which is retarded since this is the first bill I've received. Apparently insurance denied it and then never informed me or the agency... Gr. I've been fighting it and I strongly hope it will get removed since I've paid so much already and I feel this bill is unfair since I've met my OOP and the other bills in the same hospital were all in network. The health care system is such a scam!
Posted in
Monthly Check In
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1 Comments »
August 3rd, 2020 at 02:28 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$123,000.00 (+$11,059.35)
Medical Loan #1 -$0 (-$1,000)
Medical Loan #2 -$5,800 (-$300)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$16,112 (+$1,023)
401K +$29,277 (+$2,155)
Emergency Fund +$8,020 (+$3,932)
Animal Fund +$1,417 (+$1,001)
Truck Fund +$2,015 (-$60)
HSA +$1,773 (-$155)
Overall: -$1,863.35
Not bad after adding $11k to our mortgage. Of course the numbers are a bit skewed because we will be pulling $5,000 out for a home project eventually.
Paid off the small medical loan. This month I also finished saving for vacation, bought a fridge, and had to pay for travel for our baby's surgery. With husband's lack on overtime I'm surprised we completed as much as we did. August is probably not going to be as successful but I am happy to be down to just one goal for the year!
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Monthly Check In
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0 Comments »
July 22nd, 2020 at 01:50 pm
My car insurance was up for renewal in a couple months and I noticed the price was going up again. So I called my company and asked them to shop around for a cheaper rate. Within a couple days they called me back to let me know they found me a better deal.
My car insurance is dropping from close to $1,500 a year to $925 for the exact same coverage! That is almost half the cost. Just a reminder to everyone to shop around every once in a while, it is an easy way to save money!
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Uncategorized
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4 Comments »
July 17th, 2020 at 02:53 pm
I decided to go ahead and top off our vacation fund with part of the loan proceeds. Another goal done! Only one left which has $5,800 left to pay off.
Baby girl is not growing properly. Took her to a specialist who says she has a hidden tongue tie. Frustrating since I've had her checked at least 3 times by others and it was never caught. They referred me to another specialist who will hopefully get back to me today. If they deem it necessary we will have to take her about 5 hours away for surgery. We are really struggling right now with getting weight on her and keeping my milk supply up, so I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Poor little baby.
Posted in
2020 Goals
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7 Comments »
July 9th, 2020 at 03:00 pm
We closed on our appraisal and got a total of $7,005 cash out. $5,000 will be saved back to finish our dirt work project. $1,770 will be used to pay for the water heater, and the rest will be put towards the new fridge we had to buy since ours went out this week... Ugh.
At least every appliance is new now.
We also effectively gained the $2,000 I had set back for our taxes and insurance since the new loan has escrow included now. It will just remain in our savings account for our EF.
Our payment went from $603 to $510 (Plus $175 for escrow) with an additional $11,000 added to the loan. Our interest rate dropped from 4.75% to 2.875%. We are going to pay $525 a month and save the other $75 difference in our EF.
With the money saved from this month's mortgage payment I went ahead and paid off the first medical loan!! So now we are down to just one 0% loan. This crosses goal #3 off our list. Goal #4 is soooo close.
Posted in
Home Remodel,
2020 Goals
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3 Comments »
June 29th, 2020 at 02:40 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$111,940.65 (-$159.27)
Medical Loan #1 -$1,000 (-$400)
Medical Loan #2 -$6,100 (-$300)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$15,089 (+$171)
401K +$27,122 (+$438)
Emergency Fund +$4,088 (+$301)
Animal Fund +$416 (+$0)
Truck Fund +$2,075 (+$30)
HSA +$1,928 (+$250)
Overall: +$2,049.27
Steady progress. Husband got a bonus so with my extra web income we have $900 to put towards our vacation (not included in the above figures). Only $600 more to go to our goal of have a PIF vacation.
I am selling 4 goats next week, just in time because my hay is ready to start getting picked up.
I getting at least one month where I don't have to pay our mortgage while it's changing hands. Since I already have that saved I am going to apply the old $600 payment towards the medical debt. One loan will only have $400 left on it. Hoping I can pay if off in August, July would be awesome but a bit of a stretch. Then we will be down to just one loan again!
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Monthly Check In
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1 Comments »
June 13th, 2020 at 01:05 pm
Our appraisal came back! Last year our house appraised for $150k and we needed that much again to refinance and get out $5k extra to do the dirt work.
Unexpectedly our appraisal came back at $184k! I'm not sure why it went up so much. We did finish some random little projects but nothing major. I can't believe it. They offered to let us have more money out and we decided to go ahead and add $2k more to cover part of the cost of the water heater. That way I don't have to open another 0% CC. I will still have to cash flow the installation cost, which I am not sure about yet but guessing around $1k or less hopefully.
We could have gotten more which would have been nice to finish some other projects but I really didn't want to add a bunch more debt even if it low interest.
By rolling it into our mortgage I am hoping to still be debt free except the mortgage by the end of the year. We will probably pay some extra on the mortgage as well just to offset the $2k we added.
What a relief and now we can finish projects on our own timeline and save cash for a while. I would still really like AC some day...
I did work some extra web design last month and will have some money to put towards our vacation. We still need to come up with about $1,500 in the next couple months. So may have to shift from debt repayment to savings for a bit.
Posted in
Home Remodel
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1 Comments »
May 28th, 2020 at 01:30 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$112,099.92 (-$158.64)
Medical Loan #1 -$1,400 (-$100)
Medical Loan #2 -$6,400 (-$320)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$14,918 (+$794)
401K +$26,684 (+$1,644)
Emergency Fund +$3,787 (+$376)
Animal Fund +$416 (-$90)
Truck Fund +$2,045 (+$10)
HSA +$1,678 (+$250)
Overall: +$3,562.64
Markets recovering. Only paid minimums on debt and our automatic savings this month. Hanging onto money with the refinance and Covid-19.
Already have the minimums saved for next month so hoping to make an extra payment in June.
Waiting on the appraisal report to come in so we can close on the refinance. Last pup sold and goat kids are being born.
Our water heater is going out after only 8 years and we had planned to replace with a tankless when it died. Looks like it will be around $2,000+-. Will probably get a 0% payment for this just to keep the cash on hand for now. It is always something...
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0 Comments »
May 21st, 2020 at 02:32 pm
Still here, still moseying along. I am getting quite adjusted to this more laid back life. I've always been a busy bee who rushes to multiple things every single day. I won't lie. It's been nice not having to set an alarm (the baby wakes me by 7 anyway, lol) not have to rush to get ready to work, visit a bunch of people, etc. I work from home, enjoy my baby, piddle around the house and clean, watch some tv finally, spend time with my animals, etc.
After essentially maternity leave since January it is going to be really hard to go back to work soon. Part of me is excited to get back out of the house again, the other part is thinking this is the lowest stressed I have been in a while.
It is not only work. Going to church multiple times a week, visiting family every week, seeing friends, going shopping, on and on. Some stuff I enjoyed and miss of course, but at the same time I realize that I was running around nearly every single day.
After my original maternity leave was up I was ready to go back to the office, now I think I am used to staying home. I hope I can adjust back okay. I still don't have a return date yet, but their original plan was to pay me until June. So I'll have to wait and see what they decide.
Debt repayment has been slower because after husband worked 6 or 7 days a week nearly every week for a year and a half he has had a couple months of weekends off. His overtime typically doubled his salary and we could put it all towards debt or savings. Without it only minimums. It has been so nice having him home, and although I miss the money I'm not ready for him to work so much again and for me to be at home alone with the baby every day.
Our house is getting appraised for the refinance sooner than expected. They wanted to do it today already but only gave me heads up yesterday. I talked them into Tuesday so I would have the weekend with husband to clean and maybe do some small projects before they come.
Also my current bank finally called me back after 3 weeks and I told them I was switching lenders. They offered me a lower rate to stay, but I am going to continue on with the new bank. My current bank has not been very reliable at all, and often breaks their word.
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May 12th, 2020 at 03:05 pm
I had hoped/planned on paying off the first medical debt in June. There is no way. So far this month I have made only minimum payments. I have another $150 set aside but I feel like I need to hang onto that until I make sure I have enough for next month's minimum payment.
With husband working no overtime and my hours minimal at my second job we have no extra to go around.
Hopefully Covid will get better and the overtime will pick back up in time for us to save for vacation and pay off our debts by the end of the year. Thankfully the debts don't have to be paid by then, but it would certainly be nice.
I have submitted all the documents to refinance our house. Currently we are quoted a rate of 2.875% but it could go up or down a bit before we are locked in. With our current rate being 4.75% this is a significant savings and should drop our payment by about $100. We will probably continue paying the same on the loan to knock some years off once we are debt free.
We are also going to try to get about $5,000 extra out to regrade the yard. Everything is still messed up from our new basement/addition and we need to bury our gutter lines to run the water away from the house. There are some trees about to fall that need cut out as well. After that is done we can reseed the yard, plant new trees, and put in some landscaping finally. Right now we have lots of standing water (we have cattails growing in our yard it is that wet! lol) and a several dirt piles. This is a project that is long overdue but we had to complete and pay off the waterproofing first.
The final puppy I need to get rid of has a leg problem that we can't figure out and I don't feel right selling him until he gets better. Spent about $300 yesterday at the vet and he is on 6 pills a day currently for 6 weeks, trying a little bit of everything to see if it helps.
Also have 3 cats and a dog due for their 3 year shots. Ew. That will be several hundred dollars.
Baby goats are due any day which is good and I have a few of the adults sold next month so I will save that money back for winter feed.
I did save up and do some significant renovations on the barn the last couple weeks. It was a project I've been wanting to do for several years, so having it finally complete is nice. Still have several other outdoor projects on the list. But they will have to wait until I get more money put back.
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April 29th, 2020 at 05:11 pm
Debts
Mortgage -$112,258.56 (-$158.02)
Helitech Loan -$0 (-$2,550)
Medical Loan #1 -$1,500 (-$100)
Medical Loan #2 -$6,720 (+$6,720)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$14,124 (+$922)
401K +$25,040 (+$1,901)
Emergency Fund +$3,411 (+$401)
Animal Fund +$506 (+$0)
Truck Fund +$2,035 (+$90)
HSA +$1,428 (+$250)
Overall: -$347.98
Markets recovered a bit. Savings also went up and we paid off a large chunk of debt but unfortunately we also took on almost $7k of new debt for the rest of the baby bills. Overall not as bad was expected. We should be back in the green next month.
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April 15th, 2020 at 02:40 pm
The stimulus check hit my account this morning! Allowing me pay off the full balance of my construction loan! 6 months before the 0% interest expires!
The small medical loan is up next. Hopefully by June it will be gone and we will be down to just one debt.
In other news I bought a new dryer. Ours was given to us well used when we got married 8 years ago. It has been on it's last leg for two+ months now. The bearing is going out and it makes a horrible screeching, so loud you have to cover your ears while in the same room. Every time I use it I cross my fingers that it will work. Also recently clothes keep getting stuck in it and tearing them up. With a new baby and our laundry needs going up I figured it was time.
Our old washer went out a year or two ago and I purchased a new one. So I have been watching the matching dryer price for about a month. It has been on sale this week for 40% off and last night was the last day. With our stimulus coming in, I went ahead and purchased it. They said it could take up to a couple weeks to arrive with free delivery. I didn't want to chance mine going out and being stuck without for weeks. That uses up the last $500 of the stimulus, which I was hoping to save for animal money but oh well.
We are not getting the $500 for our 2020 baby since they are basing it off our 2019 taxes. From what I understand that $500 will probably get added our tax return next year.
I also ordered a new crockpot. Mine has been broken for a while and I was given money at Christmas to purchase a new one but I couldn't decide which one. I've been holding onto the money this whole time because I am sooo picky. I always read reviews and check out all options before purchasing pretty much anything. Well I finally bit the bullet and picked one out. Super excited to use my new appliances soon.
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