I See the Light

Since last I wrote, we had a smashing garage sale and sold a bed on craigslist. Total take in the last four days: $550! Yeah! With this money, another total wipe of savings, and the first paycheck with the raise on it... WE CAUGHT UP ON OUR BILLS. AND THEN SOME. I am so happy!!! Not to mention we are just one day away from completely organizing the garage.
Unfortunately, the garage sale exploded our house. Today, Billy and I worked our butts off to get back to where we were. And our bedroom is thisclose to being completely put together. I am so thrilled.
With money set aside to pay for the first payment of our new medical bill >_<, we'll actually be able to budget for it come November. I'm crossing my fingers that Billy gets a commission check of some substance at the end of the year. At the moment it just seems like a carrot they're waving in front of him that will never come to fruition. With that check (hopefully) we can still pay off all our medical bills by December plus maybe completely pay back my parents. So... I've been thinking about what I want my new goals to be as my old goals were kind of silly. So here's the list I've come up with for the next three and six months.

By December 31 I want to:
Have the house in complete working order aka "be fully moved in"
Have Bee's birth completely paid off
Establish a working grocery budget
Have $500 in an emergency fund

By March 31 I want to:
Be under $20K in debt
Have $1000 in an emergency fund
Be at or under my pre-pregnancy weight

I was going to have "catch up on all bills" as a goal for December but I whipped that one already! And it feels sooooo good... ^_^

Smackdown

Our goals were starting to look so sparkly and attainable. Then we got the letter today that told us that our request for financial aid through the hospital was denied. Bee's ER visit in March is going to set us back another $1900. Just when I had everything under control. Everything was going to be paid off by December. A moment of silence as that dream flies away..............
Crap. Now I have to rework everything. Again. And delay credit card smackdown. Again. Gah.
In light of this defeat, we went to the store tonight and blew our grocery budget out of the water. Again. If there's one thing I don't have a proper handle on, it's the grocery budget. I think I just feel like I'm so busy with all the other budgeting that I don't have time to make a real grocery budget. Or that I'll just get to it later. This is becoming an issue.
In other news, I beat down the laundry beast in less than a week. Squee! On my list of things that I can't get a handle on, laundry was far above the grocery budget until this week. I would say we have been drowning in laundry pretty much since we lived in our tiny studio apartment. I can honestly say we have never had all the laundry done and put away EVER. Until now. The pride level for this accomplishment is sky high. I vow to never EVEREVER let this happen again. Six years of laundry pain is more than enough. And I did this all with a toddler attached to my leg, during kickoff weekend and spending a whole day cleaning the garage!
Ah, the garage. One goal will finally be realized on Saturday when we have our garage sale! Yeah! I am optimistic that this garage sale will get us on the right track to being caught up with our bills. I'll be sorting and pricing tomorrow. I can't wait until it's finally done.
I think I need to reevaluate our goals again. In the style of Sick of Being Poor, here's a progress report:
Dig Out of the Clutter and Hold a Garage Sale - Adequate progress
Oh, we've been digging digging digging like crazy. This goal will be mastered by Saturday
Get Under $20,000 in Debt by 25 - Failed
We got way off track due to medical bills. They just keep coming!!! But our debt is lower than when we started so it's not a total fail.
Pay Off the American Express Card Before They Shut it Off - Minimal Progress
We will be paying this off first like originally planned. If they shut it off... oh well. There's another card that's already closed with a much higher balance that needs attention first. And a whole bunch of other cards have raised our interest rate and/or lowered our limits.
Pay Off the Current Medical Debt - Adequate Progress
The goal was really to pay off Bee's birth before she was 18 months. This will be mastered by December as planned. Unfortunately, there's more bills now. ;_;
Get the SUV in Tip-Top Shape in Case We Need to Sell it - Minimal Progress
We did get work done on it but I don't think we'll be selling the SUV any time soon. Either way, we need to get it in and take care of the recall that's on it. Stat.
Get $500 in an Emergency Account - Minimal Progress
While I'm not saving a ton, I am saving some. Not enough to reach my goal by the end of the year, tho'. I will try to step this up.
Get Credit Score up to the Median ~ ???
I'm not even going to bother paying for my scores until I've paid off our closed card. Then I'll check.
Get Back to Pre-Pregnancy Weight - Failed
I haven't done a darn thing about it yet. This goal is so on the back burner right now. It shouldn't be, but it is.

All right. I need to create a new goal list. ^_^

Getting a Grip

Well. Billy called his payroll department and made them cut a check for the missing raise money. ~*Happy Dance!*~ When that check arrived, I repayed the depleted savings and had enough left over to pay our life insurance. Suprisingly, the check was higher than expected so I saved a little just in case they overpaid this time and will be shorting us on the next check. After receiving that boost, I went through our budget and adjusted it to reflect how we're going to attack our credit card debt when the medical debt is gone in DECEMBER! Woot! ~wigglewiggle~

Curiously Precarious

Billy's raise that was supposed to go into effect August 14 didn't show up on his paycheck. With his "signing bonus" officially paid out, we're $160 short. I had to wipe our tiny little emergecy fund and jack his tiny savings just to pay the bills. And... we only have $23 left in checking to last two weeks. Gah. Oh and the car's vehicle registration renewal unexpectedly showed up in the mailbox today and had to be plopped onto a credit card. Another $83 in the hole. *deep sigh*
We're not getting anywhere. Our debt is eating us alive.

September

Ah, September. The beginning of the end of the year. And I'm nowhere near where I wanted to be financially. At the very least, our debt is lower than when we started. Thank goodness.
I am feeling so down today. Billy is finally starting to feel the full weight of everything he's taken on and it's really starting to show. I was doing fine until he started talking about how bad he feels and how work and school and everything is suffering because of it. I pep talked him as best as possible but now I feel sad too. Then we went to the store and he bought new work clothes with some of the money he made selling stuff on eBay. He's hoping it will boost his confidence level. I hope so too. While we were at the store, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I looked god awful. Just run down and so not like myself. It was horrible! I feel so much older than I am. I find myself pining for the days when everything was simple. Nothing is simple anymore. I also had a dream last night about Missy. I'm still not over last year's falling out. I so very much so miss the girl that used to be my friend. Not the girl that stopped talking to us last year but the girl she was before. Before she got involved with and married a jerk. A jerk that pretended to be our friend for so long when he talked crap about us behind our backs. I miss her. ;_;
Right now I'm feeling isolated and lost. I so very much just want to pack a suitcase and go on a vacation but we can't afford it. In the past, we always went on vacation in September, right around our anniversary. I really want to get out of here. I always loved my goofy little hometown cuz it was easy and comfortable and pretty much anywhere we went on vacation felt like an exotic getaway in comparison. Now that we have zero travel dollars and don't go anywhere anymore, I get annoyed with being here all the time. Blah.
Dear Lord, please give us some reprieve.

Domestically Challenged

I've been a SAHM for mmmm.... 16 months now. (15 months with Bee plus 1 month prior)
For the first time, I'm actually starting to get it.

Let's be blunt. I'm lazy.
Billy's kinda lazy too. Domestically anyway.
Growing up, my parents never made me clean my room. I would let it get beyond imagination cluttered and then I would wake up uber-early one day and clean until it sparkled and shined. Unfortunately, that habit followed me into adulthood.
At first it was OK. The apartments or our first house would explode for awhile and then one day, we'd clean like crazy. And there was always one disaster of a room. Always.
BUT during the times that I wasn't working (with the exception of the first time I lost my job...), the house would be tidy. When we took our sabbatical, we lived in the Funky Lil Shack and it was so small we couldn't let it get messy. So we cleaned everyday.
Anyway, when we're working the house goes BOOM.
When the decision was made for me to be a SAHM... I just kinda assumed I would keep the house tidy while taking care of the baby.
Uh, yeah, NO. So didn't happen. We've been living in frickin' squalor pretty much since Bee came home. Slight exaggeration but dishes piled in the sink and then across the counter and the floors of our room and Bee's room being a ginormous laundry hamper is the norm around here.
But! In the last week, I've stepped into high gear. I think something in me just snapped. I've been cleaning like a crazy person and then *gasp* keeping up with the tidiness! Holy cow. So far, I cleaned and arranged Bee's room, Kevin's old room has been beautifully transformed into a guest bedroom/home office, and on Sunday Billy and I made our living room actually livable! Right now I'm surrounded by the contents of the hallway closet and that's my goal of the day. Squee!
I've divided the house into rooms and areas:

11 Rooms

1. Master Bedroom


2. Master Bathroom


3. Bee's Room (Done!)


4. Guest Room (Done!)


5. Guest Bathroom


6. Living Room (Done!)


7. Kitchen/Dining Area


8. Laundry Room


9. Garage


10. Dog Room


11. Studio

6 Areas

1. Master Closet


2. Hall Closet


3. Bee's Closet (Done!)


4. Guest Closet


5. Hallway


6. Pantry

We've also scheduled a day to do the garage. Finally. Then we can have the garage sale that was my goal for June 13... >_< Oops. Oh well. It'll get done.