I know I already posted today, but I just had to share. DH just texted me to tell me that starting next week he will be getting overtime again. He will be able to get 10 to 15 hours of OT a week, which if I did the math right and I just do it at a base of 10 hours OT, will be an additional $1200 a month after taxes. Well, every four weeks. If he gets 15 hours a week it will be an additional $1800 a month after taxes. That would start with the June 15th paycheck.

They told him he would get it through August, which also means DH has a job through August. Now if they will hire him on directly after the waiting period is up on June 4th, I will really feel like things are on the right track again for our future. If he does get hired on direct I will have to get used to getting paid every 2 weeks instead of every week, but that's not hard to budget for. It beats budgeting the weird, irregular pay he got when working 3 weeks on/3 weeks off.

I don't know how much OT will go towards medical bills and how much we can throw at the Monster Mom Loan. I wish I knew how much the operation out of pocket was going to come to. I want to plan for it and then see how much beyond that I will have to throw at the loan. We haven't had insurance this good since the first six months of our marriage.

I know DD has hit her deductible. I just don't know how much else we have to cover. Actually, I think her out of pocket might be $3000. I'll have to have DH check on that. If it is I can start planning. I just hope no one turns out to have been out of network. It's an in-network doctor and an in-network hospital, but you never know with the anesthesiologists. That's what could get us. We did pay $413 to the doctor before surgery, but that was to hit the deductible.

There is also a possibility she could get something like Bridge as she is unemployed and an adult who has been disabled with this. I think we probably make too much if they consider DH's income, but if it is just based on her, maybe. I'm not counting on it, but they did bring up something about it, so we'll see.

I just want to know what the future brings so I can be prepared for it. But then, don't we all?

I went through my freezer to decide what kind of meats I want to build my meals around this pay period and checked on my levels of onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, and sweet potatoes (all still good), and then I sat down with my price book spreadsheet and the grocery ads and filled things in around what I already have plus any super sales for staples I want to get.

I wrote everything out on a master shopping list divided into different stores and I put the prices of everything down and added them up. I am under budget with enough left to get milk or bread if we run out later in the week.

Safeway is having a very good sale on Cascade dishwasher soap. I need some, but the sale is $5.49 each if you buy 4 or more, so I am going to go ahead and buy 4. I like having a stockpile and I have $12 left in the household budget, so with payday's $50 added, I'll have $62. I also need to buy my son's body wash and some Puffs tissues, likely a 6 pack. I went through a ton of tissues with this cold. How much body wash I buy will depend on the cost of the Puffs, but I would like to stock up a little.

With the extra $12 I can easily absorb the cost of the extra dishwasher soap into the Household envelope. Unlike with food, I have to account for sales tax of 8.7% in the Household budget. Next week I will be buying more toilet paper (I like to have 2 cases on hand) and deodorant. Something else may crop up, but so far the $50 a week seems to be covering it all.

Tracking our expenses so closely is making me feel an enormous amount of freedom. I know that we will meet all of our bills and have enough extra to pay some on the Monster Mom Loan. I don't feel nearly as overwhelmed now that I know where every dollar goes. I am looking forward to tomorrow when I can fund my envelopes. It is good to have focus again and realize there is a way out if we keep our eyes on our goals.

I have done a detailed budget for the month of June, breaking it down into four weekly budgets, assigning amounts to each week and making every dollar work for us. While doing that I kept coming up with extra money each week. I figured when I got to the last week it would zero out, but it didn't.

Turns out when I added up the four paychecks I must have made an error, because I had more money than we thought. I was off by $110, so that means I can actually bump the grocery budget to $200 a week instead of $175. I added the extra to the cushion category, which put that at $40.80 a month. I want to build a small cushion into the checking account.

I am really grateful to have found that mistake, because we have gone over $175 both weeks so far, but still stayed under $400 for the two weeks. I was really trying hard, too, but when you are feeding four adults, 2 of which are male and 1 of which has extreme dietary limitations, and trying to eat organic at least on the dirty dozen, turkey, and chicken, that extra $25 a week is going to make things a lot easier.

There are still a few things I can cut yet in the grocery budget, but because I was sick, didn't. For example, I bought 8 bags of chicken fried rice from TJ's at $2.99 a bag which is $23.92.

Normally I make chicken fried rice at home and I have all the ingredients for it. I do up about 16 cups worth of rice in the rice cooker and then add some coconut aminos, peas, carrots, corn, shredded meat of some sort, scrambled egg, ginger, and garlic and stir-fry it in a bit of chicken broth. I used to use sesame oil, but not anymore with DD's restrictions. Then I divide it into quart size freezer bags. It is a huge difference in cost. I can make up as much rice for about $8, a savings of about $16.

So I know I can balance stuff out a little better to come in under budget, I just have to get there and be well enough to do it. As soon as I feel good enough to make our bread and rolls from scratch again that will help, too. Convenience happens when I don't feel well, so as soon as I finish this cold I will do up my rice. Or maybe even tomorrow. I did a lot today, got caught up on dishes and halfway caught up on laundry and didn't have the energy to do more than just make dinner today. I do have to make up more pudding tonight, but that will be easy.

Tomorrow I have to make breakfast burritos for the freezer and I will at least make the rice in the cooker. It stir-fries best when it is a day old.

I am taking lots of breaks so I don't push myself too hard. I will go to bed early, too. I don't want to relapse just when I am starting to feel human again.

I am reading a new library book, "Slaying the Debt Dragon," by Cherie Lowe, and one of the things she recommends is naming your debts. They called theirs the dragon. I did this in the past when I called the credit card companies the Evil Empire and my whole goal then was to bring down the Evil Empire. But with just having the loan left to Mom that doesn't seem appropriate. She's not an empire. So I am dubbing it the Monster Mom Loan. Not to say my mother is a monster, just that the Mom Loan is. It tickles me and gives me just a little more focus. It's weird in my head, but I like it there.

I have done a detailed budget for the month of June, breaking it down into four weekly budgets, assigning amounts to each week and making every dollar work for us. While doing that I kept coming up with extra money each week. I figured when I got to the last week it would zero out, but it didn't.

Turns out when I added up the four paychecks I must have made an error, because I had more money than we thought. I was off by $110, so that means I can actually bump the grocery budget to $200 a week instead of $175. I added the extra to the cushion category, which put that at $40.80 a month. I want to build a small cushion into the checking account.

I am really grateful to have found that mistake, because we have gone over $175 both weeks so far, but still stayed under $400 for the two weeks. I was really trying hard, too, but when you are feeding four adults, 2 of which are male and 1 of which has extreme dietary limitations, and trying to eat organic at least on the dirty dozen, turkey, and chicken, that extra $25 a week is going to make things a lot easier.

There are still a few things I can cut yet in the grocery budget, but because I was sick, didn't. For example, I bought 8 bags of chicken fried rice from TJ's at $2.99 a bag which is $23.92.

Normally I make chicken fried rice at home and I have all the ingredients for it. I do up about 16 cups worth of rice in the rice cooker and then add some coconut aminos, peas, carrots, corn, shredded meat of some sort, scrambled egg, ginger, and garlic and stir-fry it in a bit of chicken broth. I used to use sesame oil, but not anymore with DD's restrictions. Then I divide it into quart size freezer bags. It is a huge difference in cost. I can make up as much rice for about $8, a savings of about $16.

So I know I can balance stuff out a little better to come in under budget, I just have to get there and be well enough to do it. As soon as I feel good enough to make our bread and rolls from scratch again that will help, too. Convenience happens when I don't feel well, so as soon as I finish this cold I will do up my rice. Or maybe even tomorrow. I did a lot today, got caught up on dishes and halfway caught up on laundry and didn't have the energy to do more than just make dinner today. I do have to make up more pudding tonight, but that will be easy.

Tomorrow I have to make breakfast burritos for the freezer and I will at least make the rice in the cooker. It stir-fries best when it is a day old.

I am taking lots of breaks so I don't push myself too hard. I will go to bed early, too. I don't want to relapse just when I am starting to feel human again.

I am reading a new library book, "Slaying the Debt Dragon," by Cherie Lowe, and one of the things she recommends is naming your debts. They called theirs the dragon. I did this in the past when I called the credit card companies the Evil Empire and my whole goal then was to bring down the Evil Empire. But with just having the loan left to Mom that doesn't seem appropriate. She's not an empire. So I am dubbing it the Monster Mom Loan. Not to say my mother is a monster, just that the Mom Loan is. It tickles me and gives me just a little more focus. It's weird in my head, but I like it there.

I had some money leftover from this paycheck but we ended up using it to go over on the grocery budget. I had to buy pudding and Jello and extra milk to make the pudding for DD for after her surgery. I didn't think about that ahead of time. The Jello and pudding were on sale for 99 cents a box if you bought four boxes. I'll get the hang of this, but it may take a few more weeks. There is about $30 left in checking.

I added the tithe for my Thrive commission check into the tithe from DH's paycheck so it is a little higher than usual. My commission check was close to $50.

$128.72 Tithe
__55.00 Co-pay eye doctor
_175.00 Sleep doctor
_175.00 Groceries
__50.00 Household
__81.00 Truck Tabs
_125.75 Van Tabs
__35.00 DS Allowance
__25.00 Blow Money Me
__25.00 Blow Money DH
_100.00 OTC Medications and Vitamins
_150.00 Gas Money
---------
$1125.47

DD came through her surgery with flying colors. The doctor said she did amazingly well. Her gall bladder was white because there was so much scarring from gall bladder attacks. The doctor said it was full of sludge and gravel. No big stones as she had been passing them all week.

She already looks and feels so much better. Her color is back and she's up and walking around. Her operation was textbook. We left the hospital about an hour and a half after she woke up. She can try eating very lean red meat in a month, so she'll still be on turkey, chicken, fish, beans, and lentils for protein. The first 24 hours though will be pudding and Jello, broth, and maybe mashed potatoes if she is up for it.

Thanks for all your prayers for her and continued ones for her healing would be appreciated. Now we wait for the bills to come in.

One of the things Amy Dazcyzan recommends in the Tightwad Gazette books is to make a price book. I have never done this and I really never considered doing it before today, but it would have really come in handy these last two weeks when making up the grocery list, so today I sat down with as many receipts as I could still find and started making a spreadsheet with the prices of everything that would fall under either groceries or household expenses.

This way when I make up my grocery list I will know approximately how much everything costs so I can make sure I am coming in under budget, give or take a sale or two. I will also know which store has the better price on what, though I pretty much have that in my head already. It will also let me know if I need to bump a staples purchase to a different week or if I have enough in the household budget for whatever purchase I want to make that week.

I always thought it would be a tedious process, and it probably would be if I were doing it by hand, but typing it into a spreadsheet is easy enough. I put everything in alphabetical order, and then if I need to add anything new I can just insert a sheet row in the appropriate spot and still keep it in order. I do love modern technology.

I think it may be time for me to put the Tightwad Gazette books on hold again at the library. I am in a way different place than when I've read them each time before, much more heavily focused on the food budget and budgeting more tightly in general. I've learned something new with each read and I think that was because I was open to something different each time.

Oh, also, I am going to venture into cooking with lentils. I am looking for some good recipes that do not have beef, lamb, or pork in them. Most of them seem to be made with ham and she can't eat that much fat. Chicken or turkey or fish are okay and so is vegetarian. Lentils are a protein my daughter can eat (and likes) without fear of it upsetting her gall bladder, or in the aftermath of having it taken out. I just found out that Thrive Life has lentils, too, so I added a #10 can to my monthly order. If she likes those ones, then I'll get a bucket.

I spent all day Monday, from a little before 1 p.m. until midnight at the ER with my daughter. At midnight DH tagged me out and I went home to sleep because I had an early appointment on Tuesday morning, but they were home an hour later. They sent DD home with percocet and we were able to get a relatively quick surgery date of the 29th, so she has a week to wait. The meds should last that long. I will be so glad to see the backside of her gall bladder.

I don't know how much everything is going to cost and I don't know how we will pay for it if it costs more than $6000, but we will figure it out. DH says he will probably start getting overtime in June again, which will be a great help. The current project he is on, the one with no allowance for OT, wraps up at the end of the month.

They have him lined up for several more projects. His boss has said he contractually can't talk about bringing him on as a direct employee until June 4th. I don't know if that means anything or not, though, like is he going to talk to him on June 4th and bring him on, or just a statement of fact.

I do hope they bring him on as permanent because the benefits are outrageously good. Better insurance than we have now (which is really good, but expensive) for $250 a month for the whole family. Plus vision is $14 a month and dental is $100. So $364 total. Which is a far cry from the $1500 we are paying now. A share of company stock, which is worth $16K. 6% matching in the 401K. Paid vacation and sick days. Paid jury duty days off. I believe he also said good deals on disability and life insurance as well. I really hope this happens.

We'd have to pay COBRA for a couple of months, though, I'm sure. And that'll be $1500 a month. Worth it in the long run, though.

So I had to pay $413 today to the surgeon for the upcoming surgery. I don't know how much I will have to pay the hospital yet as a down payment. I am guessing around $1250. At least they can't turn her down for this surgery based on her BMI. Of course that is why it will be in the hospital and not the surgical suite at the doctor's office. I think DD has met her deductible now.

I have a killer head cold. I woke up with it Monday morning and so yeah, I had it the whole time we were in the ER. It was worse on Tuesday. Today I think it is at its height so hopefully tomorrow I will feel a lot better. Unless I caught something in the ER to add on top of it, because you know how my immune system likes to do things like that.

I got an email today saying that an old virus software on a computer we no longer have had been renewed automatically and charged to a credit card number we no longer have. I think it is the same card, just with a different number. I hope that means it didn't go through anywhere.

I am keeping an eye on the card that it used to be the number of just in case and then will dispute it. They worded it like they had already done it, but it hasn't shown up. I thought I had stopped any auto renewals, so maybe they are just trying to pull a fast one. Trying to figure out how to contact them through the info on the email is nearly impossible. We no longer do auto renewals on things so if they are trying this again we have to nip it in the bud, pronto.

So I stuck successfully to my grocery list, with 2 exceptions. I bought a case of Nongshim noodles and 3 ears of corn. Everything else was on the list and I came in under budget. I spent $155.73, so I still have $19.27 left in my grocery envelope. I may buy 2 packages of the hot dogs DH likes still and even then I'd have enough left over if we run out of milk.

I bought mostly to fill in around the gaps of my meal plan and I think I will have some overrun into the next week with onions and potatoes, but I am not sure yet. We eat a lot of potatoes, but I usually only get two bags or six pounds a week. This week I got 15 pounds.

Here's what I got at Haggen:

1 pot with 2 cucumber plants in it (yes, this counts as food or at least future food)
Baby spinach
4 red onions
15 pounds of potatoes (red, gold, and russet)
2 yellow bell peppers
Radishes
2 1 lb chubs of breakfast sausage
3 pounds ground chicken
2 pounds ground turkey
2 1 lb jars Jif Natural peanut butter
1 1 lb jar Jason honey peanut butter
1 bag of ice

And what I got at Safeway:

2 1/2 gallons of milk
1 2 lb bag of sharp cheddar cheese (same price as a brick)
2 bottles of ketchup
2 potato breads
1 dynamite bread
1 Thousand Island dressing

And what I got at Winco:

1 case of Nongshim beef noodle soup
1 bottle of Mirin (rice wine for recipes)
1 quart strawberry Zoi yogurt
2 red bell peppers
2 orange bell peppers
2 green bell peppers
3 ears of corn
2 cucumbers

I feel really good about this. I didn't get much in the way of convenience items. The noodles are (but they are the only version I've found outside of Trader Joe's that don't have MSG in them). The shredded cheese is, but it was the same price as the brick. So I definitely have to cook, but I've been doing a lot better lately so that hasn't been a problem. And we haven't even been tempted to eat out, but then I haven't had an RA flare for a few weeks, either. Everyone prefers my cooking anyway, even the Chinese dishes, which I am getting better and better at every time I make them.

I am already planning my next shopping trip for next Friday. I will have to get a couple items from Costco, some seasonings, eggs, cheese, ground turkey, sausage patties, and possibly butter. I will very strictly stick to that list, because I will still have to get regular groceries that week. Costco can be a money suck if you aren't very, very careful. If I stay on top of this, I really think I can do it. It just requires planning, and if there is one thing that I am good at, it is planning.

$1400.00 Citi Card
__82.13 Amex
_125.17
-----------
$1607.30

The paycheck plus what was left of the $1000 went towards finishing off the credit cards. AMEX is done and all auto pays have been transferred off it, so as soon as it clears I will be cutting up that card.

I will finish off the Citi card on next Friday and then it will only be used for the auto pays. We will take the credit cards out of our wallets. They can't be an option. Also next Friday I have car tabs due and a medical bill. There won't be a lot left over, enough to fund the grocery envelope and the household envelope. But then starting on the June 1st payday and continuing forward, we should be able to fund everything else with cash throughout the month.

Yesterday we opened a checking account for my son and then he set up his paypal account to hook into it, so he can now make online purchases directly out of his bank account and no one has to use a credit card. He needed a checking account anyway as he is going to get a job this summer and will need it for direct deposit. He's had a savings account since the year he was born.

He wants to read The Total Money Makeover after my husband is finished with it. He is very determined not to carry debt in his life except for possibly a mortgage. We've already talked about 10% of his income going into retirement from the start. He may not qualify for a 401K immediately, but he can do a Roth IRA until he does. He will also be saving 40% for college and 10% will go to tithing. Then he will need to put 20% into savings for a car and insurance and the remaining 20% will be what he can spend.

He wants to make a budget as soon as he gets his first paycheck, but before anything else he is going to save up $1000 for an emergency fund so he has it in place when he is able to afford a car. I guess we are rubbing off on him. Not so sure about our daughter. With her medical issues I despair of her ever being able to hold down a job.

I went to the credit union today and took out $475 in cash to fund 3 of my envelopes. I put $175 into the groceries envelope, $50 into the household envelope, and $250 into the medical envelope. For medical I am going to start using an old checking account at a different credit union. I took the $250 there this afternoon, deposited it, ordered a box of checks, and ordered debit cards. They even had some pretty checks that were the same cost as plain ones. I chose an American flag with the bald eagle soaring in front of it. I didn't think my husband would fancy the butterflies. So that took $16 out of the medical account right there, leaving a balance of $234.

I tend to write checks for medical except prescriptions. We have been using the credit card for that because we usually go through the drive-thru and it is easier than trying to write out a check on the steering wheel. So we will use the debit card for prescriptions once it arrives. That way DH can have a card, he usually picks up the medicine, and I will have the checkbook. That debit card will be used only for medical. It just makes it a little easier than playing with cash and not having a paper trail. I need a paper trail for medical if we need to deduct again.

I will be funding the medical account with $800 every month, with $200 coming out of each paycheck starting on June 1st. That should cover co-pays, prescriptions, and allow us to save for DD's surgeries. This does not include the amount for the chiropractor which is a monthly set amount for the entire family and I will just pay that out of regular checking. It has it's own budget category.

When the medical account reaches $1000 I will send any additional to the online bank and earmark it for medical on the spreadsheet. I'm not sure when they will let DD have her surgeries, not until her BMI is 40% however long that takes, so the extra will go to save up for that. But whenever the account drops below $1000 I will start adding money back into it. I am not sure how much we really need to set aside for medical. It varies so much in a month. This month alone has 6 co-pays, not to mention the numerous prescriptions.

Because we are switching over to mostly using cash and checks, I am not sure we will be able to make a payment on the loan to Mom until June 8th. I figure if I make the $500 payment towards the beginning of the month, then I will have to stick to the budget the rest of the month. If there is any extra at the end of the month of June I will tack it on to the July payment. If I treat it like a bill due the 2nd payday of the month, that should keep me on track.

I think I'm going to like this Gazelle intensity thing. Even if I can't do it 100% like Dave Ramsey, because we have to keep the EF at $6000 instead of $1000 for upcoming medical reasons, I am trying to focus in like we are. And really, we are. The EF is $1000, the medical fund is the rest of it. Once the surgeries are over than we can be fully doing it, but I don't know when that will be. I guess until then it will just have to be baby steps. Yeah, I saw it. Did it anyway.