I've been a little lax on recording this, even though everything has been paid on time. Still, I want a good record of things this year, so this is a bit of a catch up post for bills that have gone out since the 1st.

$__41.25 Old house insurance
___86.30 Car insurance
___37.61 DH Life insurance
___32.70 Me Life insurance
_1000.00 AMEX
_3600.00 Bank of America (The Evil Empire)
__375.86 Mortgage on old house
__142.00 Storage
___15.98 Electricity old house
___39.37 Alarm system old house
___90.00 Tae kwon do lessons
----------------------
$2221.07 Spent so far

I still have to do mid-month bills like internet, phone for the old house, car payment, as well as set money aside for dues, laptop fund, garbage, water/sewer, and propane. I also have the Fashion Bug card to pay off. That one will never have interest charged on it and will always be paid in full.

I have $1400 left of the December money. I may have to dip into some of the money I set aside for January, but I am going to try to cut it as close as possible, so I can save that money instead.

I really, really hate to do it, but I am going to have to raise my grocery budget. I spent so much time getting it down from $800 a month to $500 a month, so to raise it just feels like I'm taking a step backward. I know that I'm not. I know that it is that prices on real food are rising and that real food seldom has coupons. But it just annoys me so much.

It's like the year I spent getting my electric bill down by doing things like line and rack drying my clothes, cooking more than one thing in the oven at a time, replacing all the light bulbs in the house with CF ones and making sure lights weren't left on all night or radios, TVs, and fans weren't left on all day. I got my bill down to $90 and then a few months later they raised the rates and it was right back up to $109 again. It was so frustrating.

I know it's not me or my shopping habits. It's simply that the cost of food is going up and there just isn't really any other option (for now) but to pay higher prices or go back to eating manufactured foods. Well, I won't do the latter. We have too many allergies.

I've been keeping track of prices the last few months just to make sure that what I've been seeing is real, and I haven't just been hitting a high price week at the stores. But it is. Milk has gone up 50 cents a gallon. Chicken has gone up 30 cents a pound. Beef has gone up $2 a pound (except hamburger which has gone up $1 a pound). The all beef hotdogs I buy at TJ's have gone up 50 cents. Pork has gone up 20 cents a pound. Turkey is up 50 cents a pound (not counting the on sale for the holidays whole ones). I'm assuming eggs are up, too, but we have chickens so I don't pay attention to that much. Butter is up by $1 a pound. So are most of the cheeses (though they do still go on sale). Yogurt is up from $1 to $1.25. Ice cream is about $1 more per container. The fish counter scares me. It's not worth buying fish anymore unless you buy the whole fish and have it filleted in the store (much cheaper and they let you take the backbone, head and tail for making chowder since you've paid for the whole fish).

It's not just meat and dairy prices, either. Canned goods have risen anywhere from 20 cents to $1 more per can. Frozen foods are up about $1 a box or bag. Fresh produce, well, you can still get cheap bananas, oranges, onions and cabbage, but forget cheap potatoes or apples. They don't exist anymore, not even in this prime apple growing state. Most apples are $1.29 a pound and the specialty apples are closer to $1.79. I can still remember when you could get a couple kinds of apples for 29 cents a pound. And it wasn't my childhood. It was only ten years ago.

Even broccoli and cauliflower, which should be low right now are over $1.50 a pound. Although the $2 lettuce seems to be a thing of the past (mostly because people wouldn't pay it) I am keeping a sharp eye on it. I am eyeing unfamiliar vegetables like mustard greens, kale, and chard simply because the prices are lower. I will be looking up recipes to see if there is anything I might like with these veggies. I am making sweet potatoes more often because regular potatoes have gotten so high.

But even so, I have decided I will have to raise my grocery budget from $500 a month to $600 a month. Hopefully that will be enough to make up for the rising prices. And hopefully the prices will hold steady for a while. Because I'm tired of the only beef we ever eat anymore being hamburger or pot roast.

Next fall I hope to order half a beef and maybe a lamb. At least I'll be able to get some decent prices then. For now, meal planning will get more strict, I'll have to make more stews, chilis and stir-fries and less of the traditional big chunks of protein with two sides meals. Hopefully I can keep it to $600.

I transferred $100.00 to ING today to the Emergency Fund.

$3326.11 Starting EF
+_100.00 Deposit
-------------
$3426.11 Total EF

I need to come up with $73.89 to hit my December/end of the year EF goal of $3500.

I also added $12.87 to the coin jar, which was what was left of my cash from the first half of December. There is probably enough in the coin jar to make a deposit to the Safety Net portion of the EF, but I won't be going by there until Monday, so no point in counting it up right now.

Today is payday so I will do my usual payday post either tonight or tomorrow. All the bills have been paid or mailed and entered into the budget spreadsheet, but my hip is bugging me a lot after physical therapy so I don't feel like typing it up at the moment.

Bonuses were mailed today. Now it's just a waiting game.

DS came into my room a minute ago and said, "Mommy, what's my Christmas budget this year?" I so love the fact that my kids know we set a Christmas budget, and other types of budgets, and want to work with us to stay within that budget. When I told him the amount he frowned for a moment and then his face lit up and he said, "I think I can get what I want if we buy it used!" I also love the fact that my kids don't think it's a bad thing if their Christmas gifts are used. In the past this was more because it meant they could get more stuff, but nowadays it means they can get better stuff that is still of high quality.

So many parents hide the facts of budgeting from their kids and I worry about what that means when these kids become adults and try to stand on their own two feet, but have no idea about bills, or living within their means, or what credit cards can do to your available income. Every day, in so many different ways, I teach my kids these things. We don't hide the truth of our money situation from them. It's surprising how much this cuts down on the "I wannas."

DS saves up his allowance and his can money (he collects aluminum cans from the neighbors for recycling) for things for long periods of time. It took him 9 months to save up for his 3DS and he treats it like it is priceless because he had to work so hard to get it. Before that he saved up for five months to buy a used DSI from a pawn shop. Right now he is anxious to turn in his cans, but he knows he will get a better price if he waits until he has 50 pounds. DS has learned the value of waiting and I used to think he was the most impatient person in the world.

DD is learning these things more slowly. She tends to want to spend her money faster, but she works very hard and at least understands the concepts of saving and budgeting for bigger expenses. And the great thing is she seldom asks for things anymore, figuring out how to spend her allowance and baby-sitting money to get what she wants faster (usually by buying used or bartering with friends). I overheard her explaining budgeting to one of her friends who had never even heard of the concept at age 15. Wow.

I had a medical bill come in today so I paid that, $215.00. Ugh. I sent $500 to AMEX and paid the mortgage, $375.86. The mortgage is now officially under $19K now. I won't know the actual number until the payment is reported in the next day or two, but it should be around $18,900 or so, give or take a few dollars.

Interest hit the ING account today, so I added that $3.89 to my Emergency Fund. That brings the total EF to $2809.73. After looking at how much extra I had, I decided to go ahead and put some of it into the Emergency Fund, too. It was $480.88 extra, so that brings the total EF to $3290.61.

My goal for the month of December was originally to hit $3000, so I've blown past that. So I am making a new goal of getting the EF to $3500 by the end of the year. $100 of that will be the monthly deposit so I need to scrape up $109.39 extra to hit that goal. I think I should be fine to do that.

I had originally thought I'd put the money into the January/HSA money fund, but I can hit my goal for that without it, so the EF made the most sense.

I guess the sweaters were a good investment, because I've at least not felt chilled to the bone since I started wearing them. I still don't feel completely warm and I'm keeping my bedroom heater on 72, but I did have it up to a ridiculous 76 before, so it's an improvement. We had a very hard frost last night. It looked like it had snowed, it was so thick. Guess I'm lucky not to have woken up feeling frozen over myself.

I'm sick again which may be why my internal thermostat seems so wonky right now. I think it's just a cold though and not an infection. At least I hope so. I've got too much to do this month to be sick on top of it all.

DS is going to his first dance today after school. He is "meeting a girl" by their lockers and they are going to "hang out" together at the dance. I don't even know what that means. He's only 11 so it can't mean too much, right? They seem to have become best friends this year. I don't know if it's more than that. He's excited though. And according to the girl's mother, so is she. The dance starts right after school so I packed him an extra half a sandwich in his lunch box. With his allergies he may not be able to eat the provided refreshments.

DH is on a plane to San Francisco today. He'll be back around 8:30 p.m., though. It's going to be a long day without him here.

I've got bills to pay today. So far I have dealt with deducting the autopays of life insurance, car insurance, house insurance, storage, and the security system from the checkbook. I've paid the electric and I need to do AMEX and the mortgage on the old house. I believe that is all until the 16th. I'll have to double check my spreadsheet after I pay those two things.

Oh, yesterday we wrote a $35 check for DS's next belt test at tae kwon do which is next Thursday. I also spent $65.32 at the grocery store. They had turkey thighs and necks pretty cheap so I stocked up. Beef prices are so ridiculous and nothing was marked down for quick sale. We're going to be eating a lot of chicken and turkey until the prices decide to get reasonable again. I also bought milk, oranges, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. I also picked up a copy of Clean Eating Magazine and have already found a couple of recipes I want to try this month.

I just spent the last hour fixing my spreadsheet for my Emergency Fund and Holding Tank money. The last set of updates either didn't save, or didn't get transferred correctly from the laptop that's now in the shop and the one I am currently using.

Thankfully I was able to figure it out by using the numbers I found on my blog. But from now on I'm going to be even more detailed than I currently am, because I didn't quite write out everything and I had to do a little guessing on what I'd set aside some of the money for. It equalled out to the correct amount in the end, though, so I think I am fine.

I have gotten the hang of Open Office and I'm not sure I'll ever buy regular Office again for a computer. Especially since they limit how many times you can install it. I'd still be using a previous version of Office that I own if they'd let me install it more times. It's not like I'm installing it everywhere, I've just had cruddy luck on a lot of my computers in the past. I paid enough for it that I should be able to install it on my laptop when the previous ones break down. But the stinginess of that limit means I will be far less likely in the future to purchase these types of programs from Microsoft. They basically shot themselves in the leg with that one.

Now if I can find a good program for photo editing that is either free or doesn't cost an arm and a leg, I'd be happy. I used to have a good one that I was given for Christmas, but it only runs on Windows ME or previous versions. There's all kinds of incompatibility with anything current.

I balanced the checkbook today, which wasn't hard since I've been doing the math all week instead of leaving it to the last minute.

I am hoping that I won't have to use all of the money that I set aside in the holding tank for first of December bills. I've got over $1000 from the last paycheck and I think I can get away with using only half the money I put in the holding tank and if so, I'll have maybe another $700 to set aside for January/HSA money, which would be really nice. I might put $100 of that $700 into the EF. We will see how it goes.

Okay, this might be my last post for a while. I am taking my computer in to be fixed and I don't know how long it is going to take. Or how willing DH or DS will be to give up their laptop or netbook respectively to let me go online a bit. It's almost worth getting another netbook at this point, as one or the other machine is always a problem and it would be nice to have a cheap spare for backup.

Before I take it in though, I did all the payday financial stuff. I sent $2900 to ING. Of that money $1770.09 is to be set aside for first of December bills. $129.91 goes to the Emergency Fund. $1000 goes to January/HSA money fund.

January/HSA fund money is now at $4483. The goal I've set for that is $6000 so another $1517 to hit that goal. I should be able to do that by the end of the year with no problem.

I added the $129.91 to the EF and also took the coin jar money (added $3 more yesterday) which is $34 and deposited it into CU#2, the Safety Net.

$2134.31 EF at ING
$+671.53 Safety Net at CU#2
---------------
$2805.04 Total EF

I swept past my goal of hitting $2750 by the end of the month and am well on my way toward my goal of $3000 by year's end.

Next week's paycheck will be more than enough to get through the two following weeks with no pay and hopefully half of it will go into the January/HSA money, but I'm not relying on it. It is the small check so usually only between $800 and $1200 depending on if they are taking out medical that week or not. They shouldn't be, but sometimes they take out weird things.

DH said that bonuses will be mailed out after the 15 of December, so we could have it within a week of that. We still have no idea how much it will be, though. And I still kind of half believe it's a fairytale. Oh, well. If it comes it will be a nice surprise.

All right, I'm off to get the computer fixed and stop by the court house to get my temporary disabled parking pass renewed. I can't believe it has been six months already. The doctor has okayed it for another six months. Then maybe by the time it's up, my knee will have completely healed and I won't need it anymore.

I just finished doing the last of this month's bills and balancing the checkbook. Nothing else is due until the 1st of December. I have $85.29 in checking and $45 in cash. That should make it through until Friday just fine. I've already bought a gallon of milk for DH who comes home on Wednesday (he drinks 2%, everyone else drinks non-fat) and that should do him until Friday.

So bills paid today:

$300.00 to Mom for utilities
__49.65 Garbage
_757.82 Car payment (plus extra to principle)
__10.56 Medical DD
__10.56 Medical DS
_500.00 BoA CC
---------------
$1628.59

I also transferred $2800.58 to ING

$100.58 to Emergency Fund
$100.00 for Propane to Holding Tank
$100.00 for Property Tax to Holding Tank
+_17.00 for HoA dues to Holding Tank
____________
$317.58

So $2483 goes to the Holding Tank for January/possible HSA.

This brings the portion of the EF at ING to $2003.82 and the total EF to $2641.93. I need to come up with $108.07 to hit my November EF goal of $2750. I think that will be easy to accomplish.

This brings the total in the Holding Tank to $3923.70.

Items in Holding Tank:

$3483.00 Total January/HSA money
___51.00 HoA Dues
__100.00 Property Tax
__289.70 for Propane
------------
$3923.70 Total Holding Tank

Propane money is for the old house. I haven't had to fill the tank since the end of spring as the furnace has not been on and used any propane since then. We are starting to get frosty at night though, so when DH comes home I will have him go out to the old house and turn the furnace on to 55 so that the pipes don't freeze over the winter. I am hoping to get by with the full tank and possibly one more fill up around January or February.

We should be able to save a good portion of the next paycheck for January/HSA money. I think at least half, with the other one going to cover the first week of December bills. Then the next paycheck will be the little one and that one should get us through until the next paycheck in mid-December. We will go a couple weeks without a paycheck because of DH's screwy work schedule, but I don't foresee it being a problem as long as we don't go nuts over Christmas or eat out too much. And if he gets the bonus, then that'll just be gravy.

Because I have been sort of avoiding a lot of stuff this month (not the bills, just the rest of the minutiae that goes along with recording things), I am finally getting around to listing what went out the payday before this one. I am trying to get back on the ball again.

$1180.00 to BoA CC
___14.08 Electricity Old House
___44.89 Phone Old House
___65.56 Internet
___39.37 Security System Old House
__500.00 Extra AMEX payment (to catch up)
__385.76 Mortgage Old House
__200.00 Laptop Fund
___55.00 Dance Class
__232.42 Medical Bills
__350.00 Grocery Staples Stock UP
--------------
$3067.08

We also spent about $250 on meals out that week and $61 for the stupid PTSA magazine drive for DS's middle school (I bought two kitchen gadgets and Fine Cooking magazine, which I buy anyway). The rest is still in checking.

One of my friends told me today that she is getting a divorce. It is sad and I feel really bad for her. I don't know her husband that well, I only ever see her, but they have been together for fifteen years (only married for the last few). It sounds like it's a bad situation and I just wish there was something I could do for her. They don't have kids, so at least there's that.

I went to the doctor this afternoon and he wrapped my knee and said he will write the paper excusing me from jury duty, so that's one less thing for me to stress over. He really did not like seeing how swollen it was. I go back on Friday so I can get it then.

I spent money on perscriptions today, $71.51. I also got lunch at DQ, spending $6.40. I just got a meal, though, no ice cream. My resistance was down because I was in pain. That is something I am really going to have to guard against since I will likely be in pain a lot for the next two months and I can't buy a dinner everytime I hurt or I will go broke.

I added $7.64 to the coin jar (.01 of which I found on the ground).

The chickens are going gangbusters on the egg laying front now that we've put a light in the coop overnight. They need so many hours of light a day to lay consistently and in the winter time they don't get it without assistance. We are getting 3 to 4 a day now. We have to check both morning and night though because temps are freezing and if we let them sit out all day or all night the eggs will freeze.

Mom says to go ahead and suspend payments to her for the next couple of months so we can save that money for the weirdness in DH's upcoming schedule, so yet another thing to not have to stress over. Won't have to make them again until February, though we will still be paying the gas/electric/garbage/internet bills.

I need to remember to call Virginia Mason and reschedule that surgical follow-up appointment, as that is the day I need to see the knee surgeon. I keep forgetting.

My son has his first crush and it is rather adorable. And the girl likes him, too. Aw.

I still need to do my entry on Friday's spending, but I'm definitely in the "I don't wanna," phase. I did enter it all on the spreadsheet, so I'm not slacking that much, but I do like to enter it here for accountability.

...but here I am awake anyway. Woke up at 7, just like every morning. Fortunately the kids did not and are sound asleep and I just might be able to snooze for a little while anyway. Last night I was so tired I basically just waited up for Fringe (not that much emotional satisfaction after waiting 2 weeks without it for some resolution that should have happened in this episode, but didn't) and then fell face first into the pillow and zonked out.

I only got halfway through paying the bills yesterday, just stuff that either needed to be mailed off or electronically paid to hit due dates. Today I will be doing the ones that aren't due until mid-month and hopefully squeezing out at least $1000 to send to the January/future medical fund.

Next week I hope to bank almost 2/3 of the entire paycheck. I've got to make the car payment and send an additional bit to the credit card, but that should still leave me around $2500 to $3000 to put in the bank at ING.

Mom paid me back the $2 she owed me for picking up bread and I had .57 in the bottom of my purse so I put that in the coin jar.

I also got gas yesterday and forgot to mention it. It was $57.59 to fill it. It has dropped to $3.59 a gallon, which was nice to see. Last time I filled up it was $63 something for the same amount of fuel.

Going shopping today at Costco (I wish they would open early so I could go now while the kids are asleep) to do some stocking up. I need the organic mashed potato flakes like yesterday. Been out for a month and am getting really tired of peeling potatoes almost every night. I also want to pick up some more of their black pepper chicken kits. The ingredients list is safe for my son's dietary issues, it is so fast to make (15 minutes start to finish) and is delicious and way cheaper than grabbing takeaway. I also need some fresh fruit and veg and some flour and sugar.

Mom wants help today expanding the chicken yard. They keep getting out so she wants to give them more space so maybe they won't be so tempted. I hope it doesn't take long because I have a lot of stuff on my to do list today that requires not being at home. It does need to be done though as I am getting sick of chasing down escaped chickens. All four of them are laying now. The banty started on Wednesday. Her eggs are about 2/3 the size of the regular chicken eggs and will probably take two to make up for the difference in size when eating.

I will try to be back later with an accounting of all bills paid from this paycheck.

So I sat down with my calendar and my budget and figured things out for the rest of the year. Now that we are on a four week cycle (3 weeks of pay, 1 week of no pay) it should make it easier to pay things without having to make a tremendous stretch of two weeks with no pay. It was doable, but always took a lot of planning. Less planning now, more ease when making payments. I don't know how people who get paid only once a month do it. Well, yes, I do. Planning.

DH said last night that they are getting caught up on stuff so he won't have to work that extra week, which means he will be home on Wednesday. Boy, 2 and 2's go so much faster than 3 and 3's. He still doesn't know about that extra week off in January, though. Ugh. I don't like being in limbo. So far I've got $1000 saved just in case. I am hoping to add at least $2000 to that by year's end. Then if we don't need it, to extra debt repayment and to HSA it goes.

Everything is so tangled up right now. It may be June before we are out of credit card debt. I just don't know. At the beginning of the year I was so hopeful we'd be out by year's end. Oh, well, stuff happens. I wish we hadn't had so much new medical on top of everything else this year. Still, we have made more progress than I ever dreamed, so I have to stick with the positive mindset that it's coming and we'll be out of that debt soon enough.

The tax return should be huge because we can deduct the full amount of a maxed out HSA. That will at least put a big dent in it.

Hmm...I wonder if I can stretch $2000 over that extra week period instead of $3000? I am going to have to juggle some more numbers, but if I can free up that $1000 for debt I would feel a whole lot better.

First off I paid the property tax today of $518.07 for the half year. That's not part of the payday spending, but I don't need to make 3 posts today, just to say that.

Now for the regular payments:

$1000.00 to Mom (loan payback)
___37.61 DH Life Insurance
___32.70 Me Life Insurance
___86.30 Car Insurance
___41.25 Old House Insurance
__142.00 Storage
__180.00 Tae kwon do (2 months)
___65.21 Virginia Mason
__144.00 Water/Sewer Old House (2 months)
__261.60 Dental
___82.57 Clothes Shopping
__106.00 Kids' Allowances (6 weeks)
__217.62 Grocery

I will also be paying the AMEX and the Mortgage on the 1st, but will post that when I do it. I will also pay for physical therapy and dance class for DD next week.

We went to Kmart today and I got each kid a fleece-lined sweatshirt for the colder weather. I also got them each an umbrella. I got myself 4 pairs of the super fuzzy warm slipper socks. I looked for pants but didn't see anything I liked. I've lost so much weight I am constantly tugging my jeans up and it is annoying.

DS needs a winter jacket, but I couldn't find any boys' coats, just women's and grown men's. I may have to order him something from Land's End, but we will check Penney's first. I was hoping he could wear his sister's old coat (it was a boy's coat from Land's End because she had such a long torso she couldn't wear girl's coats then) but his shoulders are too broad. Otherwise it would fit him perfectly, but he finds it really uncomfortable. He was bummed because he always liked the coat. DD wore it for three years though, so I guess that's okay.

I really need a new parka but I am hoping to limp along with my ski jacket because by winter of 2012/2013 I hope to be down to the weight I will stay at and don't want to buy an expensive coat I will only be able to wear for one year. I will probably keep a lap blanket in the car though. At least our fancy shmancy Sienna has seat warmers (which seem like such a luxury, but I love them) and that makes a big difference because they warm up before the heater does.

So I sat down with my stack-o-bills and wrote out checks for everything. I won't have to pay anymore bills until the 28th. I have two bills that are due on the 31st, but they are local so if I mail them on the 28th, they will get there in plenty of time. Otherwise there are no other bills due this month, though all the autopays save one come out the first week of November. Nothing is due before the 17th and we will take that one and a couple others in in person anyway, since the BoA drive-thru is very close to the high school.

It will be nice not to worry about any bills for the next 19 days. I did a major grocery run today and I now have $282 to get through until the 28th. That should do me just fine. $120 of that will go to physical therapy, but all I should have to buy between now and then is milk and some produce. The gas tank is almost full. I do, of course, have money in savings I have set aside in case DH has to take an extra week off at Christmas, but if I had to, I could tap it. I don't think I will have to. We won't be eating out at all between now and the end of the month anyway.

Tuesday we will run money through our HSA and then dump it back in our checking account. We will do this before mailing any bills. We are definitely maxing out this year. We've actually spent more on medical bills this year than the max for the HSA but not enough to be over 7.5 percent of DH's income. But we can still deduct the entire $6,150 and our property tax without having to itemize and it would still be a bigger tax return than itemizing.

We will have quite a hefty return because of the HSA and I am hoping that it will wipe out our CC debt once and for all, though that depends on what is going on with my knee right now and whether or not I have to get it fixed. I'd like to do it this year if I have to since we have already far surpassed our deductible.

The only thing left for me to do now for finances is figure out the new budget for 2 weeks on/2 weeks off as opposed to 3 weeks on/3 weeks off. It's been so long since I've had a budget for the 2/2 that it's going to be a little weird. But I'll get it figured out and then I'll figure things out for the rest of the year. I have to go through and remark my calendar since the paydays won't be quite the same as before. It's a pain, but 2/2 is well worth it.

Usually I balance my checkbook once a week, but I was so exhuasted from my sinus infection/plus virus and helping Mom with her physical therapy exercises, that I actually went two weeks without balancing it. But now it's all up to date. I did last week's budget and then this week's budget and have recorded all the autopays. I still have a few bills to write out and send.

I seem to be missing the internet bill, though. It's usually due around the 21st so it ought to have come already. I'll have to ask DH if he's seen it, or Mom. I can always go there in person, I suppose, if I need to and pay it there.

I need to have DH run some money through the HSA. Been a lot of prescriptions this week.

This is the last payday until the 28th and after paying all the rest of the bills I should have around $500. That is more than enough to get through that time period if I can keep DH from spending money willy nilly.

DS stayed home from school today, but his fever finally broke. I wish mine would.

I added 3 dollar bills to the coin jar today. I might have more later today as well, but so far just $3 in. I should check and see if I have enough coins to roll any yet. After I balance the checkbook, which I have been putting off all week. And doing the budget for both last week and this week since today is payday again.

I wish this thing would pass. Aside from the sinus infection/bronchial infection, I've managed to pick up a nasty stomach bug. What the heck, body? I am just hoping that I don't get my mother sick as she really can't risk any infections right now recovering from the knee replacement surgery. Hard when I'm the primary caregiver right now and have to help her do her physical therapy exercises.

I've been washing my hands so much to prevent infection they are starting to chap and I had to take off my rings. On the bright side I've dropped two pounds in two days, though that will likely rebound back on.

I still have not done last week's budget. I've got all the bills together now at least, but I need to balance the checkbook and see where we stand. It is just so hard to focus. Maybe I'll have DH balance the checkbook for me, as I might just be too out of it to do math.

I am supposed to go to the doctor tomorrow for another ultrasound treatment on my knee. The one I had on Tuesday did seem to help a fair bit. I am hoping that this one will do the trick and I won't have to do a cortizone shot. At least the swelling has gone down.

Both kids are sick, too, but just with sinus infections. DD has missed three days of school and DS missed just today, but he thinks he can go back tomorrow. So does DD, so hopefully they will go back and I can get a bit more rest. At least DH is only got a mild cold and feels pretty decent so he is helping as much as he can with Mom and the kids. I am grateful he is home.

I had some pretty serious withdrawal from this webiste while it was down. I don't think I realized before how much I depend on making daily posts until I couldn't do it, or how much I like to keep up with all of you. I am glad it is back on and hope the guys can sort it all out soon.

After 3 weeks of fighting this thing on and off I've finally succumbed to it and so have the kids. DS was okay enough to go to school today, but wanted a doctor's appointment after school. DD was too sick for school. We are taking them both in to the doctor at 4. My doctor prescribed Biaxin for me for sinus/bronchials.

I managed to do the first round of physical therapy exercises with Mom this morning before my appointment. The chickens got out though so I had to chase them down and put them back in their pen so was a little late getting there.

The in home physical therapist is here right now, and she will do the second round of exercises with Mom so I don't have to do them. I don't have the energy so it's just as well.

DH will have to take the kids in to the doctor as Mom shouldn't be left alone just yet. He's not so good at stuff like that, but I don't think I can drive again today. Not sure I should have done it earlier. I have another appt tomorrow. This one for my knee. It's swollen and full of fluid and needs to be drained.

I haven't done the budget yet for Friday. I haven't really had time or the ability to focus that well with my head so full and achy. I did send $600 to the AMEX and I know the insurance autopays will come out today, tomorrow, and the next day. And storage. Nothing else is due until the 17th so I can take a couple more days before dealing with the budget if I need to.

I am going to put the no eating out challenge on a bit of a hiatus. I want egg flower soup from my favorite place and might as well get protein and veggies there, too since I probably shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a hot stove at this point. I also want ice cream so I can freeze my throat, but that's probably not a good idea for my diet. I can balance Chinese food. I don't think I can balance ice cream. *sighs*

I hope I get better soon. Too many people need me right now for me to be this sick.

My mom is going in for knee replacement surgery in a few hours. I'm a little nervous about it as she is 72. Please pray for her if you pray.

After a year of working 3 on/3 off, DH will start working 2 on/2 off when he returns to the slope after this time home. While this is good news, it is going to screw with the budget I had figured out through the end of the year. And it means he'll be working through Thanksgiving and Christmas this year instead of having them off.

2 and 2's are way better emotionally and financially in the long term, it's just that it would work for our budget so much better if he worked 3 then had 2 off instead of having 3 off and then working 2 for the changeover. I guess I'll see how far things will sretch. Again. Don't know what I'll do about January if he has to stay home that extra week. Maybe we will still be able to swing it. I won't be able to make maximum payments on anything though, which will be annoying.

This will definitely help with the no eating out challenge. We simply won't be able to waste any money at all until the end of November. On the bright side (and I always try to find one of those), DH will be home for my next follow up trip to Virginia Mason. I was going to try it by myself, but now I won't have to.

I think we'll continue eating as much as possible from the pantry and the freezer to try to cut grocery waste. I am really glad cucumbers, cabbage, bananas and lettuce are cheap at the moment. I think that's going to have to be the main produce for now. And pretty soon the cheap oranges will be in as well. And DH is going to have to cut back his milk consumption, too. No more going through 3/4 of a gallon on his own, per day.

I need to do some serious meal planning so we can figure out the best way to save money on that. Today will be spaghetti and meatballs, and then not sure for Wednesday since DH's flight gets in at 6. Maybe I can make a lasanga since I will have sauce leftover from making the spaghetti. I'll just do up extra meat for that. I can always grill up some boneless, skinless chicken thighs on the George for my diet.

Today was payday so I did bills and then ran around doing errands this morning. I had an irritating time at the CU (see previous post), but otherwise everything went smoothly. I will be glad when DH gets home Wednesday so we can take care of the irritating things.

$1000.00 to savings (possible Jan. extra week off)
___17.00 HoA dues savings
__100.00 Property tax savings
__100.00 Propane tank savings
__100.00 Emergency Fund
___37.68 Garbage
__215.00 Chiropractor
__754.24 set aside for HSA
___33.00 DS's school photos
$1000.00 Loan payback to Mom
___13.56 Electricity old house
+_183.91 Master Card (paid in full and put away)
_______________
$3554.39

I have about $400 leftover. I took out $50 in cash and will pay $60 on Monday for physical therapy which leaves me about $290. $100 of that DH will get for his allowance. I am buying a new bread machine which will be less than my allowance, but not by much. That leaves $90 for food, but I think we can get by with only buying deli meat for next week's lunches and some milk, especially since we are still on the no eating out challenge. Whatever is left will go into the EF.

Speaking of the EF:

$2223.18 Starting Amount
+_100.00 Deposit
_________
$2323.18 New EF Amount

$2323.18 EF Amount
+__37.30 Coin Jar savings
__________
$2360.48 Total EF

So I've met my goal of $2250 in the EF. Next goal is $2500.

I am doing fine on day...whatever it is of the No Eating Out Challenge Starfishy and I are doing. Today was a nice use up all the leftovers day.

I spent $1.09 on a packet of highlighers for the kids for school. I gave the chiropractor a check for $215, but he's holding it until tomorrow. He'd rather I do that than pay with a CC as he has to pay a fee every time someone charges their visits. I don't want to pay with CC anyway, not even the one I pay off in full every month.

Tomorrow is payday. I have budgeted this one pretty tightly as well, but there will be a bit more breathing room. I just really want to have that money to set aside in case DH has to take an extra week off in January. It's worth it to pinch now so we don't get overwhelmed later or have to touch our meager emergency fund. So far the kids are being very good about it.

I paid $1 to rent Hanna out of the DVD Express box. it was excellent. I'm not sure what I was expecting from it, but about half of it was different from those expectations. Still, it was very interesting. I liked the alternate ending better than the original. The original one just sort of...ended without coming to a real conclusion. The alternate one seemed to go full circle.

I added .59 to the change jar. I had $1.25 more, but DS needed that to buy a graph composition book for his science class tomorrow so it never made it to the change jar. They have to purchase them in class as they are a special order thing. I think that's it for today.

Well, it took some serious number crunching, but it looks like if we are careful and are a little more conscious of our spending between now and the end of the year, we will be able to set aside $1000 a month, which will give us $3000 extra if DH has to take an extra week off in January. It's about 3/4 of a full week's salary. There's a possibility of more, but I decided to do it with setting aside $1000 a month for medical (and $500 a month for next year's deductible). If there are no more large bills to arrive from Virginia Mason then that money will be there if we need it to get through an extra week off. And if we don't need it for medical, I think I'll put it into the Emergency Fund. It's nice to know we can swing this without dipping into the emergency fund.

I've calculated in the costs of Christmas presents and another trip to Virginia Mason (a half tank of gas @ $30, a meal in the cafeteria @ $7, parking @ $10) in December. I may do an overnight in the hotel ($119 plus tax) as well if I end up having to go down by myself, so I can split the drive into two days. I'm confident enough now to do the drive by myself at that time of day, but that many hours driving in one day makes my knee hurt and my back hurt. If I do stay in the hotel I will also have to plan two more meals there (approximately $15 total in the cafeteria) and additional parking time ($12).

It'll all work out. Definitely won't be able to pay off our CC debt until the end of March though. *sighs*

I think I spoke too soon. The mail just came and in it another medical bill. I was sure I was done paying for all the surgery stuff. Guess not. Though this seems to list every date of service I had except the time in the hospital and the surgery itself (which is paid for already). Well, it's $978. So I guess that $1700 that I was going to save up for the other surgery that it turns out I don't need after all, is going to have to go to medical anyway. I'll put the extra $700 into the HSA when I get it and leave it there. I just don't want to take the chance something else might pop up. Anyway, so I'll pay this bill on the 23rd.

I had just sat down and figured out what to do with all of the paycheck coming in on the 16th. This bill won't affect that at all and the nice thing is I'll be able to put $2000 on the VISA this payday. About $1000 of that goes to cover the plane tickets and the hotel overnight that is part of DH's expenses to get to work and back. About $300 goes to interest and only about $700 to principal. I will be able to send another thousand on the 23rd that will all go to principal. I will also start repaying my mom $1000 a month on the 23rd.

I think I will have DH put the next ticket on the MC because of the lower interest rate. Actually, he should stop using the VISA altogether for a while. That will give us a chance to get the VISA with the higher interest rate down. We won't get the miles for it, but we will get cash back rewards. I just want to get the VISA down to $10,000 by the end of the year. It makes me disappointed when I thought we'd have it paid off by the end of the year and I know that's impossible now. But I do think when we get our tax return in March we will be able to finish paying everything off and be out of credit card debt.

I'm going back on a no eating out challenge for the rest of the month and maybe for all of October, too. I can then squirrel away that money for debt repayment. When I don't focus on not eating out, it happens way too often. I've probably spent $300 on eating out in the past month. I need to stop. I have plenty of time to prepare for meals with the kids in school. Not doing it right now is just being lazy. Plus eating out is not conducive to my diet.

I would really like to go one week without getting knocked on my butt. I know we are much further ahead than we were at the start of the year and I know that medical bills can't be helped, but sometimes it just seems like it never ends. I am grateful for the EF I have of over $2000, because we didn't really have that before.

I think I need to go listen to my theme song (Tubthumping by Chumbawamba, at least the chorus) and adjust my mental attitude again. It can often help me get my head on straight.

I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down. I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down...

On Sunday I transferred $1515.40 out of my holding tank at ING. This was money I set aside for the first half of the month bills (I still have a bit in there for a bill that doesn't come due until the 12th as well as my short term bigger bills like dues and property tax).

So anyway that money showed up yesterday and so yesterday and today I paid the following bills:

$375.86 Old house mortgage
$500.00 Amex
$_83.98 Car Insurance
$_41.25 Old house insurance
$300.00 Mom for Utilities
$_37.61 DH Life Insurance
$_32.70 Me Life Insurance
+144.00 Storage
-----------------
$1515.40 Total bills paid

I have over $600 in checking and I am going to try to only spend half of that over the next two weeks so that I can put an extra $300 on the credit cards. I don't know if it will happen or not, especially since school photos are coming up. That is if there is school. We got the news today that our teachers are striking.

I guess there was a 1.9% cut across the state or something. Our district told our teachers they would eat it so that their pay wouldn't go down. They are still striking. I don't know if it is in solidarity or what. I just really get annoyed about these things. Pay the teachers what they are worth and be done with it, you know? But also, don't hold our schools hostage and make our kids go to school through half the summer at the same time because you mess up start dates with striking.

I'm sure there is more to it than what is being talked about though but the benefits being offered look reasonable to me. They are better than my husband's benefits. And in this day and age when the economy sucks it seems to me people are taking a huge risk to strike, especially when there are about three times as many qualified teachers as there are teaching positions thanks to the fact that we have a teacher's college here. Desperate times call for desperate measures and I know more than a few out of work teachers who would actually scab to put food on the table. I hope it doesn't come to that and that the negotiations go smoothly and school opens on Tuesday without any problems and with both happy students and teachers.

I ran the numbers and figured out how much money I need to set aside for the first two weeks of September when there is no paycheck coming in to meet the bills that come due then. $1574.77, so I'll just round that to $1600. I also need $722 to meet this week's needs and wants (allowances for me and DH, a trip the fair, DH's b'day presents, water/sewer at the old house, and groceries). That'll leave about $1000 to send to debt. I will pay off the MC (again) that we put some money on while we were on vacation and the rest will go to the VISA. I had hoped for $2000 but I always forget things when I try to figure

The next paycheck will be the little one that is usually around $1200 for two days (might be a bit higher with the raise). I think we will likely spend about $500 on school clothes and I need new shoes, too. I've figured out what the kids have outgrown and what they need. I am pretty sure we won't spend all $500, but I'd rather overbudget for it than not.

Out of that $1200 I will send $116 to the EF to hit my goal of $2000 by month's end. I will probably keep out $200 for random expenses (prescriptions, groceries, b'day dinner, one movie, ASB cards, yearbook ($40 now or $60 in June). That should leave an additional $500 leftover to send to the VISA. So a total of $1500 extra this month to debt repayment.

It may not look as good as it actually is since the cost of airline tickets has gone up and we have to absorb that, but we still should have this all paid off by year's end.

Oh, shoot, I always forget something. I left out chiropractor and physical therapy. So...$400 or so for that. Only $1100 extra. Bummer. But still good.

So I sat down and ran the numbers. Out of the next paycheck I will need to set aside $1574.77 for September 1 through September 15th's bills (those are the two weeks of the cycle when no paycheck comes in). I will need $722 to cover water/sewer, groceries, a family trip to the local fair, DH's allowance, DH's birthday presents, and my allowance. That is $2296.77 altogether.

Depending on whether or not they take medical out of this week's paycheck or not that will leave between $1300 and $1700 to send to credit card debt. It might be higher because of the raise, but I'm not sure how much. We will also have the two day paycheck on the 26th. I will set aside $200 of it for groceries and some will go for school clothes and school supplies. $120 will go to the Emergency Fund so I will hit my goal. If there is anything left I will put it into temporary savings and then when we get paid on 9/16 I will then use that amount to send to debt repayment. I will need $35 for DD ASB card and $40 for yearbook ($60 if you wait until June). DS might have an ASB card this year as well since he starts middle school.

I am not sure how much we will spend on school clothes. My son needs all new pants as he has grown so much since we bought pants in September that there is about four inches of ankle showing. So he needs at least three pairs of pants and maybe 2 pairs of sweats. He needs two new sweatshirts. He needs at least two short sleeved shirts and 3 long sleeved ones. He has a few good tops that he has not outgrown because we got some extra long. He is set on underwear and socks, but he needs tennis shoes. Possibly two pairs if they have to have separate ones for PE. His boots still fit but may not by winter. His jacket still fits.

DD needs two pairs of jeans, three shirts, and a couple of sweatshirts. Her boots still fit, but she needs a new pair of tennis shoes and a pair of dress shoes. She would like a skirt, but her taste doesn't run to the little bitty skirts they have in the stores, so we may or may not find one. Her coat still fits fine. She is set for undergarments and socks.

I still need a new pair of casual/dress shoes, but I don't think that will cost more than $20 to $30. I am going to need a new winter coat, preferrably one that goes past my hips, but that can wait until closer to winter and won't come out of this month's pay.

I need to sit down with my budget spreadsheet and figure out exactly what I need to do with the next paycheck. I'd like to send $2000 of it to debt repayment and then make sure that I have enough money set aside to cover the bills until the start of the next paycycle. There will be one more paycheck after that, the small one with two days on it, and that one I'd like to bank in it's entirety, part to the EF and part for future medical savings, but I might only be able to do one of those. One way or another though I am getting my EF up to $2000 this month.

DH's b'day is coming up and I know what he wants and how much it will cost so that is included in there, also. And his allowance has to come out of next week's check, too. I have been debating what to do with my allowance. DH gets $100 every six weeks.

I usually don't spend that much, usually getting a season or two of some show I want on DVD or something like that and using the rest on cooking magazines, but right now I don't want anything so I am thinking about setting it aside in another savings account. I've been toying with the idea of getting an Index Fund through Vanguard to generate some side income (the one I am looking at pays dividends). It costs $3000 to buy in. So it would take a while to save that much up, but what else am I going to do with it on the months where I have no interest in spending my allowance?

Today has been a slow day. I had to use the heater again last night and this time I left it on all night. Today is cool and about 65 with a breeze. I'm convinced we're never going to see any true summer weather here this season. I had physical therapy so $60 out for that.

We picked about 3 gallons of blueberries last night and there's still just so much more to do. I can't believe how much two six foot tall bushes can produce. I'll make another batch of cornbread blueberry muffings today, but that only uses about a cup of blueberries. We'll make jelly with about half of what we picked and freeze the other half for later use.

The two new chickens are finally old enough that they should start laying eggs soon. I keep hoping to go out there and find three or four instead of the usual one or two. The fun part is that when they start laying often times they will produce double yolk eggs for the first six months. The kids love having a fried double yolker.

Someone remind me why it's not a good idea to start up any kind of dialogue with a troll, and then whack me with a copy of the Complete Tightwad Gazette if I do. I don't even know if this person really believes what they are saying or is just trying to start arguments, but this person can't respond to anything without insulting the person she is talking to/and or making inflamatory comments in general. Very wrong inflamatory comments.

Oh, well, I am done with them. I am so used to friendly disagreemets on all the boards I'm on, that this person just threw me for a loop and I totally don't need the drama. I tend to hang out at nice places online, where people discuss things respectfully, so it always surprises me when a troll shows up and doesn't abide by the unwritten rules of niceness. It shouldn't but it does. I will just ignore this person in future.

I did the major Costco run and now my pantry and toiletries are fully stocked again. I should be able to go a month without going there again, and then only for toilet paper and lemons (we go through a lot of these to make DS's lemonade). It is nice to see the shelves full. The only thing I did not get was potatoes because they only had the 20 pound bags and they looked like they were starting to sprout. We might be at the point where we can start digging up potatoes, but I still have 1/3 of a 5 pound bag left and several packets of organic potato flakes so it's not the end of the world and I can pick some up (hopefully on sale) at one of the grocery stores soon. I did impulse buy a package of English cucumbers ($3.39), but everything else I bought was on my list.

I also paid bills today. The majority went to BoA. We used our MC on vacation and to pay for the Inn at Virginia Mason which is why I'm listing it again when it was paid off before. This doesn't pay it off, but I will be putting more on it next Friday with that as my intention. I will also be putting more on the VISA.

$1862.10 BoA VISA
$_500.00 BoA MC
$_757.82 BoA car payment ($250 extra to principal)
$__10.56 Medical
$__43.70 Garbage (old house)
$__65.56 Internet
$__44.89 Phone (old house)
---------------
$3284.33

I spent the rest of the grocery budget and close to $100 for toiletries and the megapack of paper towels (18 rolls, I think).

I decided to keep the $40 I still had in my wallet from last pay period and not get anymore cash out for this week and see if I can get by on it.

I did roll a thing of pennies and I had $25 in ones and two fives that I'd squirreled away in the coin jar so I went to CU#2 and added $25.50 to the safety net portion of the EF. That brings the safety net to $389.03 and the total EF to $1884.96. That leaves me $115.04 to scrounge up by month's end to hit my goal of $2000 in the EF.

My first goal for the safety net (which is my easily accessible portion of the EF) is to hit $500 and my second goal is to hit $1000. I figure I probably would not have an emergency bigger than that, and if I did that would give me the time for the transfer from ING back to a local account. I don't have four wheel drive anymore so if I blow a tire I'd only have to replace one, not all four. That was my biggest foreseeable expense before we got this vehicle.

Oh, I bought a Christmas present for DS while I was at Costco today. It seems too early to be buying presents, I usually don't start until October, but this was a good price and something he has wanted for months so I was happy to see it and it can sit in my closet for the next four months. I really should finish knitting his scarf as well.

Starting on the first paycheck in September DH will have hit the point where they stop taking out social security for the year. That should give us an additional net of $650 a pay cycle. This on top of the raise which gives us an additional $550 a pay cycle means we'll have an extra $1200 every six weeks to pay on either consumer debt or medical debt until January. I am really, really hopeful that means we will be out of credit card debt by the end of the year like our original plan before my medical issues raised their ugly heads again.

I haven't gotten any bills yet from Virginia Mason. I am really wishing that I would start seeing some so I would know how to plan. I get anxious when things are unknown or up in the air. I started going down there in May so I feel like I should have gotten something unless there is going to be some sort of lump sum at the end. But I don't know if this last visit yesterday qualifies as the end or the follow up in a month does. So far I have $2000 set aside for it, but I really want to know what it is going to be.

I actually had them double check that they had my address right in the computer when I was there yesterday. They do. I should have DH check with the online insurance page to see if they've received anything yet. That might give us a ball park.

Today was my daughter's 15th birthday. She wanted pizza so we got a Hot and Ready 3 meat pizza and a few bags of breadsticks and red sauce from Little Caesar's. It was $19.52. The .48 in change was added to the coin jar. My mother made the chocolate cake and frosting off the Hershey's cocoa can. It was very rich. I only had a small piece. It was nicely moist but I can't handle too much chocolate. Everyone else devoured it, but there is still over half a cake left. I've had enough sweets for the week.

I'm still quite exhausted. The trip to Seattle really wore me out yesterday and I've not quite bounced back yet. I hope another good night's sleep will help with that.