State of the Union ~ October 2009

A little early, but not much else should go down in the next two days (hopefully ^_^).

Current goal progress report:

Have the house in complete working order aka "be fully moved in" ~ Adequate Progress
Nothing really major was accomplished in October as far as the house goes but I did keep up with the organizational routines that have already been established. I started the routine of fixing the bed everyday, the house has stayed (reasonably) tidy, and we hung up the art for the bedroom that has been sitting in the closet for over a year. I plan on having the organization overhaul complete before Thanksgiving.

Have Bee's birth completely paid off ~ Adequate Progress
Made payments as usual. Paid off the actual delivery!!! Woot! Still owe on hospital stay. Current amount left: $369.73

Establish a working grocery budget ~ Adequate Progress
In my new budget, I worked out a "Food & Household" cash envelope. This has only been in play for one pay period and has been working relatively well so far. I will call this a success when it becomes routine.

Have $500 in an emergency fund ~Needs VAST improvement
Still one big, fat goose egg in our emergency fund. A bonus looms on the horizon for Billy. I'll believe it when I see it. If it does come to fruition, I will fully fund the EF to $1000, checking off a goal for this and next quarter.

Also done in October... Created a true budget, started a Total Money Makeover-ish debt plan, and lost five pounds ^_^. On the bad side, had $338 in car repairs that were not planned for. Oh how we need an emergency fund!!!

I Drank the Kool-Aid

I finally did it. I got myself to the library and checked out Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. O.O <-- (That's me having my eyes opened)
Um. Yeah. I totally get it now. I realized that all this time I thought I was making a tunnel for us to get out of debt, I was really just digging a hole. A deep one that kept falling in. But now! Oh, there is totally light at the end of the tunnel. Squee!
Since reading the book, I have made a real budget, down to the last dime! And I've heard about and I've been fighting it (I don't know why...), but starting tomorrow the envelope system is going to be implemented in my household! WAH! This is gonna rock!

I'm Addicted to Drugstores

I think Walgreens was my gateway drugstore. It opened my eyes to a whole new world of paying little to nothing for necessities. After my deodorant extravaganza last week, I thought my world couldn't get any better. I was wrong.
Longs Drugs just became a CVS.
Oh. My. Golly.
In the two times I've been there since their grand opening I have spent just over $10 (with tax). With this $10 I have received:
5 packs of Huggies diapers (FIVE!!! 4 of which are spendy overnight diapers!)
1 Opti-Free Replenish contacts lens solution
1 Old Spice deodorant
1 bottle of Head & Shoulders
3 bars of Dial soap
1 tube of Colgate Total

All these things are necessities that I would have bought at one point or another for a total of $82. OK maybe I would've gotten a different brand of soap... Nonetheless, I spent $10. TEN!!! This is an 88% savings. Spending $10 OOP may not rock the socks of CVS veterans but it totally rocks mine. I CANNOT believe the money I have been throwing away my entire adult life. Un-frickin-believable. These are the brands of diapers, deodorant, shampoo, and toothpaste that we use and have always used. These are not store brands. These are not cut-rate products. These are the real deal. I get jittery just thinking about all we've lost by not being conscienctious! And the stupid thing is that we thought we were frugal people! HA! Not even! Using a coupon here and there to save a few cents... laughable, really.
I'm taking this wake-up call and as of next paycheck, I'm officially starting an honest-to-God grocery/household budget. There is no reason not to. Today I made dinner for 4 adults and a toddler for probably about $2 total. I could do this all the time. It's time.

State of the Union ~ September 2009

Current goal progress report:

Have the house in complete working order aka "be fully moved in" ~ Adequate Progress
In September I finished the hall closet, master closet, studio, and guest bath. We also held a garage sale and made a big dent in getting the garage finished.

Have Bee's birth completely paid off ~ Adequate Progress
Made payments as usual. Current amount left: $662.95

Establish a working grocery budget ~ Not yet introduced
I did do a fair amount of research into blogs of people that do have grocery budgets. I will continue to do so until the budget in implemented.

Have $500 in an emergency fund ~Needs improvement
I wiped this account to get completely caught up on bills which was well worth it. Hopefully I can really start hitting this one hard in the upcoming months.

Not too bad I suppose. As always, I could have done better. Also done in September... Got completely caught up on bills, reduced price of internet service, conquered the laundry beast, worked on our humble landscaping. On the bad side, we added approximately $300 to credit card debt and $1900 to medical debt.

A Prayer

Dear Lord-

I have been slowly learning to "Let Go and Let God". Little by little I have worked on shedding that skin of indifference and the hurt of my past experiences and really tried to let You into my life. I am by no means the best Christian- I don't yet know which path to take in serving You properly. You know my fears and inhibitions.
Yet, I have been doing more and more what I should have been doing all along - trusting You to provide for us. As I throw my burdens upon You, You have blessed us! The extra income has kept us afloat and there has been so many little blessings all around. Thank you, Lord!
Our ways of glorifing you will be very different, Lord. I hope you are okay with that.

Amen.