I live, write, and garden in the PNW with my husband of 27 years, disabled daughter, college-aged son, and my 84-year-old mother. We have paid off $250,000.00 worth of debt (if you include the interest) in the last fifteen years and as of 6/12/2020 are 100% DEBT FREE!!!!It's hard to believe but it's been six months since my last entry. We're doing well here financially now and it's harder to blog when you have enough money it seems, than when you don't.
In the past year my husband's income has almost doubled. It made things get easy, but it also brought along with it some very bad habits that I want to stop. Because despite the extra income, we've only upped our debt repayment by a couple hundred dollars a month. And it's time to really buckle down and get going again. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
Thing is I don't really want to. I like having the extra money around. It's nice not to have to scrimp and save every little extra bit of cash that comes into my hands or funnel it all into debt repayment. But I know I need to, because I'm still tired of having all that debt hanging over our heads.
Our emergency fund is far lower than I want it to be at $1000. That's certainly not anywhere close to even a month's salary anymore. So I'm working on building that back up. And I'm starting to save up $1000 more for our vacation in February. I have $500 currently saved for it.
We're going to Disneyland. Our airfare is free from DH's miles. We're staying in my parent's travel condo for free, except for the $50 one time fee for end of stay cleaning. We're just needing to pay for the entry tickets, car rental for 2 days, and food while we're there. It has a full kitchen and there is a Costco close by so we will make and eat all of our breakfasts and one other meal a day and only have one meal out at the park each day.
The kids are saving up their allowances, birthday, and Christmas monies and will buy their own souvenirs.
As for the rest of our finances, we've raised our 401K 1% for the last two pay raises so it is now at 5%. On the next pay raise it'll be up to 6%, the full amount the company matches 50% of contributions on.
The mortgage on the house just went under $30,000 at $29,956.07. Our medical debt repayment is down to $142,623.81. Our unsecured debt is down to around $45,000. The website for that one is down at the moment so I don't have the exact numbers. So we've still managed to make significant progress. But there's so much more we could have made and I'd like to really get out from under this debt.
We can pay at least another $300 a month towards debt repayment that we are currently wasting on eating out. So that's my goal for now, to try to stop wasteful spending and put it onto debt.
We'll be cooking at home a lot more, but that's a good thing. Healthier, too. And it won't be so hard now, either. I just took my son out of public school and will be homeschooling him for the rest of third grade. He was being bullied pretty severely this year and it had totally turned his personality bitter and sad and he was behaving horribly. Two days at home and he's back to being the sweet kid he used to be back when school went well and he was popular.
I gave the school several weeks to sort this out but I just couldn't give them any more time. It was sucking the life out of my child and I couldn't bear it. The difference is like night and day. I wish I still had the curriculum from when I homeschooled my daughter for third grade, but I don't, so I'm starting all over again. I'll be spending about $300 to get started, but fortunately I have that money at the moment.
His math is above grade level but his reading is significantly behind. They don't really teach phonics at his school and it shows. So I'll be starting almost at the beginning with phonics for him but I saw what a difference it made when I did that for my daughter, so that'll be okay.
He's been bored out of his mind at school, too, insisting that they are teaching either "baby" stuff or stuff that his dad and I have already taught him about ages ago in science and history. I think we'll all be happier.
And my son loves to cook with me, so being able to save money by not eating out and cooking at home will be easier, because I'll have a helper in the kitchen and not a strung out child who wants nothing to do with me or anyone else, standing by my side.
My daughter, on the other hand, is thriving at the junior high. She's doing really well. It's funny because she's the one I was so worried about at the start of the school year. Life can be so unexpected sometimes.
It's Been Six Months
September 25th, 2008 at 07:39 pm
September 25th, 2008 at 08:01 pm 1222372870
September 25th, 2008 at 08:19 pm 1222373956
September 25th, 2008 at 08:19 pm 1222373966
September 25th, 2008 at 09:05 pm 1222376706
September 26th, 2008 at 02:22 am 1222395779
September 26th, 2008 at 02:25 am 1222395953
September 26th, 2008 at 04:00 am 1222401605
September 26th, 2008 at 04:10 am 1222402255
September 26th, 2008 at 05:48 am 1222408096
September 26th, 2008 at 03:36 pm 1222443398
September 26th, 2008 at 05:11 pm 1222449066
September 26th, 2008 at 10:20 pm 1222467652
The problem is the teacher is doing nothing to stop it even though I've been sending notes since the first week of school and calling the principal. Half the time she won't listen to him long enough for him to give her a note, just tells him to sit down and be quiet.
The principal is trying. The teacher accuses my son of being a tattletale. Here I am telling my kid not to hit back, to tell an adult, he does and he gets that? No.
I've gone round and round with the teacher and I'm firmly of the conclusion that she's a power tripping bully in her own right. Some of the crap she's pulled is just phenomonal.
I did find out that since his school failed the WASL standards and so did the other elementary schools in our district, I can put him in any other elementary school in the county. It may be another option, but for now I think homeschooling is the best bet.
September 27th, 2008 at 05:01 am 1222491674
September 27th, 2008 at 07:02 pm 1222542125