What a Week...

Well, it finally happened. We had to take the SUV in and put the repair on a credit card. ;_; Nooooooooooooooooooooooo.... It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be at $107. Argh. I was going to borrow from my parents (which I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE to do) but they have enough going on right now and it already looks like we'll have to borrow to bridge the gap between Billy's last paycheck with the old company and the first paycheck with the new company. *sigh* Bleh. I despise not having an emergency fund anymore. Yes, we used the emergecy fund for an emergency but it never got rebuilt. That sucks.
Anyway, that was Thursday. Since then we have:

Eaten out WAY too much (about $50 worth)
Almost had to pay late fees on the movies we rented for free from Redbox (we got them back with three minutes to spare)
Forgotten about the registration renewal for the SUV and had to spend $58 today that we didn't have
Received another ugly chunk of hospital bills (I seriously need to sit down and get them all organized. The three we have been paying on were kinda easy to keep track of but now they're getting out of control. That's one of my #1 priorities for tomorrow.)
That was the bad stuff. Now for the good:
We started going through the garage. YAY! We made HUGE leaps in the declutter area and now have a nice chunk of sell items for the garage sale. I'd say we're about half way through the STUFF.
Sold a shirt on eBay. I didn't make a ton off of it but a little is better than nothing and having it out of the house is wonderful.
Got a bunch of free formula! Raley's was clearing out some for $5.74. I found a coupon in the free coupon box at the library for $5 that brand... 74 cents spent rocks for formula. Then yesterday, I got a sample canister from Enfamil and a day's worth sample packet from Parent's Choice. Bee is old enough now that her tummy can handle the different formulas as long as it is mixed with a majority of her Similac. Unfortunately, we're almost out of Similac. >_<
Ultimately, right now I'm dealing with one of the things I hate most ~ Not having enough for essentials. I miss the days when this was not an issue. I used to think I was an amazing financial guru... I didn't know anything back then. Now I know so much more. I think our whole situation would be different if I could tell that newlywed girl the secrets and hacks I know now about couponing and rebates and freebies and all that jazz. Alas, I'm still making mistakes left and right but at least we're slowly getting on the right track. In the mean time, I have $10 to buy contact lens solution, dog food and formula. I have no clue how I'm going to pull this off.

Addendum

In addition to the clutter and financial goals I posted yesterday, you may have noticed the weight loss ticker as well. I suppose if I'm going to have the ticker, I might as well make it an official goal. Right now, I think it will have to go in phases. Ultimately, I woud like to lose 30-35 pounds total. In the mean time, I just want to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight as it has already been almost a year. I lost it all right away as is usually the case with an abdominal surgery. Then it just pops back up. Not all. I gained 23 pounds total and lost about half. So yeah. I'm going to put that goal as:

Lose the Baby Weight aka Lose 12 Pounds ~ August 18
I'm putting it on Hubby's birthday so I can't forget the date. It's also right around my next doctor visit cuz I really don't want a speech about weight. ^_^ I haven't really decided what path I want to take to drop the weight... We'll see.

Also, as far as financial goals go, it's easy to look at the whole figure and go WHOA that's a lot of money and not really think about where that money went. Paying off $25000 in credit card debt will be easier (I think/hope) if I can have mini-goals of what I'm actually paying off. So here's a really rudimentary (but generally accurate) breakdown of where it all came from...

$5000 = Medical Emergencies & Pre-Insurance Prenatal Care circa 2007
$5000 = Furnishing & Stocking New Home circa 2007
$5000 = Incidentals & Filling in the Gaps Between Paychecks circa 2007 & 2008
$5000 = Water Filtration System circa 2008
$5000 = Just Plain Stupidity circa 2007 & 2008

In addition to my other goals, I'll be keeping track of what I'm actually paying off. Right now, I'm working on the "Stupidity". That way, I can stop beating myself up about it. After that, I'm torn between paying off furnishing the house or the incidentals. Probably the incidentals cuz there's only so much longer I can stand paying interest on groceries and gas that are long long gone. *sigh* I know it's all really a mind game but it makes me feel better. I honestly think it will be a huge relief to say, "We paid off our stupidity!!! Unneccesary tchotskes and trinkets from that trip to Disney World? PAID OFF. That Bose surround sound system we really really didn't need? PAID OFF. All that random crap we'll be selling at the yard sale for pennies on the dollar? PAID OFF. That pointless maternity discount card that didn't do anything and I never cancelled and got charged for every month? PAID OFF." Not there yet, but when we are, mark my words, I'll be doing a great big happy dance! (That will also burn some calories... hee hee)

Gooooooooooooooals!

OK, I think I'm feeling better now. I'm still miffed about the overdraft fee but it was a lesson well learned. Onward!
Recently, I dicovered that American Express was offering cardholders a free credit report with credit score- no strings attached. I hopped on that and discovered my credit score is (drumroll please)... 717! Three points under the national median and better than I thought it would be. Granted, I always pay on time and fight tooth and nail everyday to make sure none of our medical bills end up in collections. But our debt-to-credit ratio is UGLY. Based on this, I decided to set a goal of where I want my score to be. So here it goes, along with the rest of my short term goals:

Dig Out of the Clutter and Hold a Garage Sale ~ June 13
So far, we haven't gotten that far yet. We started and... well, there was a huge family reunion/anniversary party last weekend and we just kind of swept that under the rug. Bleh.

Get Under $20,000 in Debt by 25 ~ July 27
I'm hoping this is still a feasible goal. All of April's "snowflakes" have gone to making ends meet unfortunately but we still have 3 months so better luck in May. (and June and July ^_^)

Pay Off the American Express Card Before They Shut it Off ~ September 30
Honestly, I'm hoping that this will mesh with the under 20K goal but I'm still giving it a buffer. That will be 6 months since they lowered the credit limit for the second time and I'm going by the assumption that they look at the situation about every 6 months. If they choose to shut it down then, so be it. At least I won't have a balance on a closed account. And once all of this is said and done and we're debt free, I'm going to cancel this card and tell them exactly WHY. Good frickin' job American Express, sticking it to your good customers in their biggest time of need...

Pay Off the Current Medical Debt ~ December 4
Ah. This one is tricky since this debt grows practically everytime I walk to the mailbox. So I'm going to put this as... pay off the birth of Bee and her stay in the nursery by the time she is 18 months. Anything past that and I just think it would drive me bananas.

Get the SUV in Tip-Top Shape in Case We Need to Sell it ~ May 16
It's not just that we might have to sell it. Billy just took a job 60 miles away and will need the most gas-friendly vehicle for the commute. This means Bee's carseat is moving and I'm taking over the SUV. It makes more sense really just in general since the stroller is taking up my ENTIRE trunk and grocery runs tend to overflow into the backseat and it's a mess. Toward this goal, Kevin (now just parttime Roomie cuz he also got a job 60 miles away and will be staying at various friends' places during the work week) and I cleaned out the clothes explosion from the back of Mr. SUV. See, we lived in a teeny tiny one bedroom mini house for about a year (fondly called the Funky Lil Shack) when we took our sabbatical. (Yes, sabbatical. Back when we were invincible and not financial slackers.) We packed up our clothes and put them in storage and lived off a very minimalistic wardrobe as we had a teenier tinier closet and one little dresser. And we weren't in need of work clothes at the time. Anyhoo, these clothes have followed us around ever since and when we got gung-ho about cleaning out the garage one day, we thought it would be a good idea to stick them in the back of the SUV until we could go through them... BIG MISTAKE. That was... October or November I think. Yeah. Bad idea. BUT, today I narrowed it down to three boxes of keep plus quilts Nana made and a few beach towels, 12 garbage bags to go to the thrift shop, one box to sell at the garage sale and a few throw aways (dead socks and whatnot). OH YES. We still have to get it to the shop and a few other things but it's a really really good start.

Get $500 in an Emergency Account ~ December 31
I know this is a really far away goal for such a little amount but if you look at how much we have going on, it seems like a fortune. Right now, we're at a big fat goose egg in savings. ZERO ZIP NADA.

Get Credit Score up to the Median ~ ???
I really don't know how this works... But every little bit we pay off helps tremendously.

So there ya go. My goals. WOOT! It feels good to get them out actually. Deep breath and.... GO!

Going Down Down Down

First EVER overdraft fee. EVER.
Dangerously close on falling behind on bills. Dangerously.
The End.

Freebies Rock My World

OK, I have to admit that a good portion of the reasoning behind our Get Out of Debt Plan was a fluke that had everything to do with freebies. Both of these things happened around the same time. I don't remember which one happened first. Here it goes.
I'm going to say that this happened first- I got my first taste of getting something for nothing at Walgreens. I had been suffering with cheapo shampoo and conditioner and my hair was rebelling and my scalp was crazy itchy but I was going to live with it until the next payday when I would go plunk down a fiver for a bottle of Fructis. Then I stumbled across a Walgreens circular and saw that with their coupon I could get a bottle for 99 cents. The same price as I was paying for the cheap crappy shampoo!!! Whee! I went skipping down there as soon as possible. What did I find? I found some bottles were on sale for $2.17. The coupon was for $2.50 off. Put two and two together and VOILA! A free bottle of Fructis! I was hooked. I then discovered the rebates. And the Register Rewards. And the ability to double up coupons on an item. OH JOY! I now have a nice arsenal of Fructis and Herbal Essences so my hair doesn't have a break down and it was all free. I also have a ridculously large stockpile of free toothpaste. I once know a man who lived off of a tube of toothpaste for a month while in Vietnam so I suppose it could come in handy someday... Anyway, the freebies that way have been eye-opening for me. I can't believe I've been paying for all this stuff my whole adult life! It's a travesty!
Secondly (I think), I was told about The Freebie Blogger. Handsdown the best freebies site EVER. I go there everyday without fail. The thrill of a thick envelope or little box in the mailbox gives me enough of a buzz the abstain from random shopping. It's weird but true. I got the tiniest little roll of toilet paper the other day that was so cute and unexpected I was showing it off. Crazy, huh?
Once the freebies ball got rolling, I really got into seeing how much for how little I could get at the grocery store. The stores in my area do not double coupons so it's an even bigger challenge. My best so far has been 63% off the original bill. ^_^ Yay!
When all of these came together, I realized we could live without credit cards. Some weeks it's a stretch but we've already made it over a quarter of a year and taken almost 10% off our original debt load. We probably could have done better but we're still learning.

Meandering Mind

I was up late with the Bee last night and random thoughts kept passing through my head. Here they are:

Diapers.com: What's the big deal? In my PF blog perusals, I always come across shopping at diapers.com to save money on baby items. I've looked over and over and I just don't see the appeal. Am I missing something? Is there a special secret price list somewhere for frugal baby stuff shoppers that I just can't see? Honestly, the prices are just not that amazing. I can do better at Walmart even without a coupon. I can do amazingly better at Walgreens when they have a sale and I pull out the big guns of Walgreens hacks.

Penny-wise Pound-foolish: I was reading an old post on Shtinkycat about saving money in the short term while risking long term expenses far higher than the original expense would have been. After reading this I felt really bad about not getting ye olde SUV looked at. Honestly, I have no idea where the money is going to come from to fix it but how will I feel when it dies completely and we're stuck without it? I think I'm finally breaking my pride down enough to call on the Bank of M&D aka a parental loan. I hate hate hate to do that but we just can't have a vehicle out of commission.

That's pretty much it for now I guess. I desperately need a nap and Bee is sleeping right now so I'm going to try and sneak in a quickie Mommy snooze. *yawn*

I Can Never Have a Total Money Makeover

I have never read the ubiquitous Dave Ramsey book but I get the jist of his cash-only lifestyle. I realize he also allows debit cards but anyway... I do NOT carry cash. At all. If I have cash it disappears. I don't understand why I get that way. I've been selling stuff on craigslist to the tune of $80 total and when I went to deposit the cash, I had $31 left. I blew threw $49 over the weekend on ridiculous expenses. Cash seems to say to me... "I'm just paper. You can get these random items that you want at this exact moment but probably won't want in an hour or so just by handing me over. And I'm just paper. No big deal." Yeah. It's horrible and I'm totally beating myself up about it. Grrr.
This weekend was not a good money weekend. It started with going to a movie and out to dinner to the tune of $80. We got takeout three times. I had to buy baby sunscreen which is ridiculously expensive and they had a display of toddler sunglasses that I should've resisted but bought anyway with PAPER (see above). Then I spent the afternoon with my mom putting together favors and whatnot for the anniversary party this weekend and Billy and Bee spent the day together which culminated in the purchase of a spendy Elmo toy. Argh. He went to the store to buy a cheap ball to play with at the park and, well, the rest is history. I guess in defense of cash-only living, I could've given him a 5 or 10 or whatever and said, "This is for lunch and incidentals." Which would've resulted in him eating at home and buying the ball only. OK OK that's great but that isn't stopping me from my bad cash habits... I'm a failure!

Dejunkify Update

I forgot to mention that we also returned one eBay item and one Walmart purchase that have been sitting in our house unopened for awhile. Less stuff and money back... oh yeah! Plus, today I sold Bee's tummy time mat on craigslist making my profit for the last two days a grand total of $80. The person interested in the swing was a no show so that one's at a standstill for now. I also listed the cosleeper we didn't really use and it has potentially sold as well. Wheeeeeee for extra cash!
Now of course I have a conundrum to deal with. Do I throw this cash at debt or put it aside for the inevitable car repairs? I would love to make a chunky payment toward AmEx but I don't want to put the repairs on a credit card. I think I just answered my own question. I'll hold onto it and get the car into the shop. *sigh* Such is life.
Out of nowhere today Hubby decided he wanted to go thru the storage boxes we've had piled in the garage since we moved in and we made pretty decent progress in weeding out things to sell and trash. This worked out great since I wanted to set a personal deadline to get through it all. I'm looking at June 13 for planning a garage sale forcing us to plow through it in two months or less. Hopefully less.

Dejunkify

I'm desperately trying to dejunkify our house and in turn our lives. ^_^
In the last week I have...
Dumped a box of magazines at the library
Recycled three big bags of grocery bags
Recycled five bags of aluminum cans
Thrown away about a shoebox worth of junk from the garage
Listed three things on eBay, two of which have already sold
Listed three things on craigslist, one of which has already sold and two of which are going to be looked at tomorrow

In the mean time, I did buy one Easter chick stuffie for Baby Bee's basket which did benefit the March of Dimes... and a shirt for her to wear under her dress for my grandparents' 50th anniversary party next week. So a bunch of stuff out, one tiny stuffie and one tiny shirt in. Not too bad plus I made $70, potentially $127 if everything else sells.

WOOT!

No Better, No Worse

This week has brought new stresses but nothing too bad hopefully. Billy is leaving his job to take a new position in the family business. I'm wary of putting my family back together in the business world yet again but his current position is eating him alive. It potentially could pay more but it could potentially pay less as well. So we'll see. *sigh*
Billy is learning reluctantly to stop pestering me about his "needs" that are really "wants". Yes, I too WANT new couches but there's just no way. Unfortunately, after three and a half months of not using credit cards, I'm starting to worry that we will actually have to put some genuine needs on what little credit we have left. We rearranged our livng room to make more space for Baby Bee and she took that as her cue to truly learn to crawl. I thought for sure she was going to skip crawling and just want to walk which would require us as balance for another month at least. But no, she's officially mobile now. So somehow we have to come up with the scratch to buy babyproofing paraphenalia. Just the baby gates alone will put us back quite a bit. I've been looking on craigslist to no avail. Also, we still desperately need to get our SUV looked at as it's overheating every time it's driven. If we don't get it taken care of soon, it will become an even bigger problem... I don't know what to do.
Well, we didn't add to cards but we could only pay the minimums for the most part yet again. Any extra little bits get put on Priority #1 Card, the American Express. We barely paid off anything this month. And the medical bills are becoming more and more of nightmare. Tomorrow, I have to call the devil's insurance for the umpteenth time about Billy's ER visit from last July. Pain in the butt. I'm getting ridiculously good at it though. Grrr. I'm debating about calling Countrywide about the whole "Making Home Affordable" movement that's going into effect as of late. I'm wondering if it will be better to bide my time until it gets more established. Either way I have to call them about getting proof that we paid off our Fernley mortgage so I can try to get a refund from HUD.
Enough about money, As an aside, we're also digging out of our horrendous stash of clutter. I guess you could look at it like our debt. We got into that mess and this mess because of medical emergencies hitting us left and right for the last two years. Last Wednesday, I shredded a medium size box of papers from 2006 and 2007. Which means they've moved with us TWICE. How horrible is that? Yesterday, I took a big box of magazines dating back to 2007 to the library. I refuse to get stuck under that pile again. It felt really good to get a whole box of clutter out of my house. it also felt great to rearange to living room and completely ditch our coffee table, forcing us to go through mail, take dishes to the sink, clean up our mess!! Tomorrow, my goal is to start the immense purging of our closet. Billy is a clothes freak - if it's on sale and it's his size it comes home. I know for a fact that's at least five shirts hanging in the closet taking up valuable real estate in our tiny closet that he hasn't worn in over a year if not longer. We also have souvenirs from our anniversary trip a year and half ago that are in boxes and bags that have never been opened. It's a travesty since they just barely got paid off. I don't even think they've been paid off in their entirety. Bleh, we are sick sick people. What a hole we've dug.
To round out my thoughts about clutter I leave with this: It takes just as long to put something in the wrong place as it does to put it in the right place. I read this recently and didn't think much of it until today when I found that Kevin took a paper plate that needed to be thrown away from breakfast past the trash can and into the kitchen which he proceeded to place on the counter. It would've taken less time just to throw it away! So yes. As soon as I find the right place for everything and ditch all our junk, it will indeed be easier to put everything in it's place.