Lucky Robin's Personal Finance Blog

Today was payday, so I made a payment to the BoA VISA of $1800. It didn't drop the balance much since all of the autopays went through since the last payment, the interest charges hit, and DH bought his next round trip plane ticket. New balance on the account is $6574.60. But we will make another payment next week of $500 (maybe more, I'm hoping to squeeze an extra $200 out of the budget) and all of that will go to make a good drop.

I know I said I was going to use most of the emergency fund to drop the balance, but I haven't brought myself to do it yet. I feel very unsure about it. Maybe I would feel better if I just dropped it to $2000 in the EF instead of $1000. Part of me just gets really insecure when that EF goes down. Which means not getting the BoA paid off until June, but if I worry less, that's a good thing. I know it's stupid to keep paying the interest, but it's a psychological thing. Security is very important to me.

I also spent $5.49 on a gallon of Organic Valley milk. It was on sale for 50 cents off, so that made me happy.

I also set aside $1000 for either cleaning/repairs at the old house, or to give to Mom, since she has been vacillating on weather or not she wants our monthly payment to be on hold or to use it to get the house more ready to put on the market. I think she's worried that the remodel on the bathroom is going to overrun her ability to pay it. She is going to have to make up her mind soon, though, because if it goes to repairs, cleaning, etc., we want to be able to use it when DH comes home next week.

We will be spending an additional $225 on the alarm system (we paid half in deposit at the estimate and will pay the other half next Thursday when all the work is done. I am going to have DH take the really good vacuum out that day and vacuum all the floors at the very least so they'll be ready to be shampooed.

Oh, I paid out 3 weeks worth of allowances to both kids (I was behind, so that was $36.00 and $21.00 respectively). My kids have higher allowances than some here might expect because they do a lot of work with the chickens and ducks as well as household chores. They probably put in five hours a week on poultry care alone.

I also took out DH's monthly allowance and mine, which is $100 each. This is our walking around money and our frittering away money and our don't feel guilty about spending it money and our we don't have to check with each other before spending it money, although DH usually does out of habit, since we've only been drawing an allowance the last little while and we've always discussed any expense over $50. This is the first that we've really been able to not keep such a tight lid on our money and it seems to be a sufficient amount so far.

Okay, I think that covers everything I've done so far. I might have a bit more out of this paycheck, but I need to set up the May budget before I know for sure. I'll do that tomorrow.

So today was exciting for the new poultry flock. They moved from the old bathtub in the garage that was under the brooder and into the chicken coop. It will be much easier to keep them clean now. They can turn pine shavings into sludge in a matter of 12 hours and in the hen house you can open the back and just rake the gunge out and easily replace it. That was a lot harder to do in the tub.

The old flock was very curious as to what the commotion was about.



The reddish brown one is Queen, the gold, brown and black one is Kyri, the black and white one is Patricia, and the white one is Navi.

First we filled the bottom of a container with shavings and transferred the chicks.



Then we transferred the ducks.



This is their new home. Mom and DS were putting in a new red light so they youngsters will be warm enough.



And here they all are (save the four grown ups, who are out roaming) inside the coop. That's nine chicks and four ducks.



You can't see it but there is a mesh screen separating 1/3 of the coop for the older chickens so they can still go in and out down the ramp and so they don't pick on the youngsters. It gives them a chance to get used to each other without allowing the old ones to peck the young ones.

The youngsters all seem very happy about having more space. Plus they were flying up to roost on the perches. There are three levels of perches so there is plenty of room for everyone.

I can't wait until they get big enough to start laying eggs. Right now we get between 2 and 3 eggs a day from the four and that's not enough for everyone. When these girls start laying we'll be giving them away again.

So I thought about it a lot and I'm wondering if I can't actually save money by going to the grocery store more often. I know that seems counterintuitive to everything we're ever taught about saving money on food, but hear me out.

The grocery store is pretty much on the way to/or the way back from everywhere I go and is a six block walk away otherwise. Often times if I am buying for a week or two weeks, I simply buy too much food at a time and it some of it does go to waste, mostly because it gets shoved to the back of the fridge and we lose track of it.

My thinking is that if we keep a sparser fridge we will know what is in there and easily be able to see all of the ingredients for meals. And if I buy my fresh fruits and veggies as I need them I won't overbuy. It will also mean they are fresher as they are consumed instead of maybe ending up a bit past optimum consumption time. Or so far past they have to be tossed.

If I go to the store with a list and stick to those items, it should go well. It will mean I can't let myself be distracted by good buys, though. Not that I won't still pay attention to the flyers and plan accordingly, but I do need to finish eating down what is in my freezer stash, so it doesn't matter if there is a good deal on potroast if I have 8 hams and more chicken parts than I can count. I think I will give myself permission to buy hamburger in the way of meat, but until the rest of the freezer is eaten down, no more meat on sale.

I noticed that I have several packages of stew meat in the freezer, so I am going to buy some chiles and make up some chili this weekend. So I can leave a little early to pick up DD from school, stop by the store, by only what we need, and get out. I think this sort of thing will only work if I go to the store by myself. Taking the kids, even taking DH, often leads to extras. DH might go for yogurt but he often comes back with cookies. I'm not against cookies, but we can make them perfectly fine at home with the ingredients on hand. And if I take DD right after school she is usually starved and she will often ask for a package of sushi from the deli, which I can't make myself, but is $5 a container. DS always wants a donut and it has hard to always say no. Easier to go without them.

Anyway, I'll try it for a while and see if it doesn't make a difference. Tonight we are having homemade cheeseburgers and fried potatoes with broccoli/cauliflower and strawberries for dinner. Tomorrow will be homemade chili, freshly made rolls, leftover broccoli/cauliflower and bananas.

On Sunday I am going to roast a whole chicken (rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with basil, oregano, sea salt and freshly ground pepper) that I have in the freezer and we will have coleslaw and fruit smoothies made with the last of the strawberries and bananas and some frozen blueberries from our backyard. And then I will make enchiladas from the leftovers on Monday and figure out the veg and fruit based on what is left or if I need to buy some more. I have tortillas and the makings for enchilada sauce on hand already (except I need to buy more cocoa, but I need to do that anyway).

So my grocery list for today at the store is chiles, onions, cocoa powder, orange juice and milk. On Sunday I will go to TJ's for preservative free deli meat for school lunches. If I keep to those lists my costs for the week should be way down.

Okay, okay, so I've already posted twice today, but I could not let this occasion pass. My blog hit one million hits tonight! Hee.

And just to talk about something financial...I think I mentioned I have been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. Well, I really do think I am going to have to find a way to start buying organic, grass fed, wild caught, or free range protein from now on. The more I read about the industrial food industry, the sicker I get.

It just frustrates me so much, because a pound of organic, grass-fed hamburger costs $6 a pound and a pound of hamburger from a corn-fed feed lot steer is $2.50 a pound on sale. I say corn-fed, but eww, the stuff that goes into that feed is just...icky and not just corn that's been stripped of it's nutritional benefit. Plus the poor cows. Their stomachs cannot actually digest corn properly and they have to do unspeakable things to the poor beasts to release the gas it causes them. It also allows bacteria to grow in their stomachs that they cannot fight off because they were never meant to eat corn. It is sad. I won't go into details because they are very gruesome, really.

So plans so far are to buy a half a side of beef in the fall from this little farm in Bow, but I need to investigate chickens and lamb, too. In my state it is easy enough to buy wild fish at the store and stay away from the farm fed stuff. It's weird. I don't have an issue with paying $7 to $8 for wild salmon, why is it so hard for me to pay that much for beef? Or chicken? Maybe that is just something I will have to get past.

I think ways to manage it, is to have smaller portions of meat (hard for DH particularly) and fill up more with organic veggies and fruits. Organic veggies like broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, and cauliflower are pretty cheap here as are bananas and quite often strawberries. I still have a huge supply of frozen blueberries from the back yard. Organic potatoes and sweet potatoes aren't too expensive either, and that is a good filler upper food. We can grow a lot of green beans here, that is one thing that never fails so we can put those up.

I also can go back to baking more rolls and bread again so I can control what is in the food. There are a lot of corn products that go into commercial bread, things I never knew were forms of corn syrup like maltodextrin. I knew it was a sweetner but not a form of corn syrup. As are polysorbate, glucose, and dextrose. I always thought glucose and dextrose came from fruit and I'm not sure where I thought maltodextrin came from. It's kind of scary how they can disguise it. Just like they do with MSG.

And don't get me started on what's in a certain fast food place's nuggets. Suffice to say I wish I'd known before eating there the other night. TBHQ? Really? I think I've finally found a way to set the fast food switch to OFF for good.

You know, I thought this book was awfully simplistic when I started reading it, but the more I get into it, the more horrified I am. I consider myself fairly well-educated when it comes to the food industry, but now...well, now I think my eyes were only half open and if I am going to protect my health, I am going to have to find a way to spend the money on real food. I also realize why my allergies have been so awful these past few years. And my kiddos, too.

I guess it's time to go back to serious meal planning again.

...I got excused from jury duty. Fully excused this time. Apparently being partially disabled, being on certain medications that cloud my thinking, having various doctor's notes about surgeries and being unable to sit on those hard chairs for eight hours a day due to my hip and low back are not valid reasons to be fully excused without being recalled in six months, but being a stay at home mom who has to take her kids to and from school or be home with them on non-school days and has a spouse working in another state and cannot afford to pay someone else to do that because all our money is going to pay off past medical bills, is. Go figure.

But at least I feel like I have my life back now. That I don't have to wait another stomach-churning day to figure out if they are going to call me or not. That I don't have to worry about not drinking water all day or having violent allergic reactions to people's perfume or cigarette stink. That I don't have to have all my months of physical therapy ruined by being unable to move like I need to move throughout the day to avoid wrecking my body. That I won't have to go through the muscle spasms that would be caused by sitting in those chairs for so long.

None of it would be worth the $10 a day stipend. $100 to regress all the physical progress I have made and had to spend $1700 out of pocket for. Yeah, that's really what I wanted to do. I like walking without a cane. I like being able to go up and down stairs like a normal person again. I like only having to use my handicapped parking permit 1 time out of 10 and not every day. Going backwards I'm not a big fan of.

The only thing is I know that in a year or two when we buy a new house and we move and I have to change my address with the DMV and change my voting address (it's automatic now with changing it at the DMV) it will just pop me up on their list again. It does that every time I change my address or renew my license. Like clockwork. But at least I know which reason to use now. I suppose that is something.

And someday when I am healthy and strong and my kids are grown and they call me to serve, I will go. Of course, that is probably when they will finally give up calling me to serve.

I ended up spending $14.52 yesterday after tae kwon do testing. DS was so tired and I was ridiculously exhausted at that point and so sore from sitting on those benches that I knew I wasn't going to want to stand and make something on the stove and it was already 8 p.m., so I gave in to temptation and took us through the McD's drivethrough and got a couple of combo meals. I can't believe how expensive they have gotten. You used to be able to get two full meals for $10 and now it's almost $15.

The thing is, it's been a while since I didn't just grab a bag of double cheeseburgers and a couple small fries and the free cups of water, so not only was there price shock, but there was flavor shock, too. I'm not sure what it is, but the taste of the bigger burgers was just really off to me. DS thought so too. Maybe we are losing our taste for it or maybe the smaller meat is different than the bigger meat patties. Anyway, I don't think I'll be buying combo meals there any time soon. Plus I think they charge more for the bottled water than for the sodas, even though they are supposed to substitute directly.

It was just a big disappointment. I think we'll stick with Boomers Drive-In for bigger burgers in the future. It might take longer, but the quality is so much better. Lesson learned, I guess.

I am feeling a bit better today than yesterday, but I am still going to take a nap today. I want to continue in this direction.

Oh, I also picked up a prescription last night so that was $3.35.

Today when I woke up my left ear was not blocked for the first time in over two weeks and there was no clicking or crackling in my right ear. My head doesn't feel like it's about to explode from the pressure. Still have a runny nose and very minor throat cough and a headache, but my fever has actually dropped to 98.7 (still well above my normal, but almost standard normal).

I slept pretty well last night, 1:30 a.m. to 7 a.m., and took DD to school and then Mom said she would take DS to school so I went back to bed and slept for two more hours and I almost feel human again. I really had to stop and think about it because it's been so long. I still feel lethargic and like I don't want to tackle anything more ambitious than putting a roast in the crockpot, but I also don't want to spend the rest of the day sleeping so I think that's pretty good. LOL

I am thinking about making an appointment with a neurologist. I've been having some numbness and tingling in my right hand and less often in my left arm. I also have tremors in my hands sometimes when I'm really tired. I know those are possible signs of diabetes, but I don't have any of the other main symptoms. Since Dad had MS, I think it might be a good idea to find out if the symptoms mean anything.

It is also possible that it is the way I type, because tingling/numbness usually only happens then in my hand and I do have lazy laptop typing posture. But the elbow and arm happens when I sleep. It could just be me pinching a nerve, but still... Probably should just do an overall physical, too, as it's been a while. I just don't want to find out that maybe there is something else wrong with me. And more medical bills. I just want to be healthy. Is that too much to ask? It gets so frustrating to keep channelling money into this unending array of health problems.

Oh, well, I should focus on the fact that I am getting over this current illness and maybe by next week I'll be well for a while. I'd really like that. Even if it is just in time for jury duty.

I think I forgot to mention this, but DH booked the condo for our Disneyland trip. We've got it for a week in March of next year. We only had to pay $163, which is the yearly maintenance dues. This is part of my Mom's WorldMark Travel Club. She had a ton of credits that needed to be used up or she would lose them, so otherwise it is free to us.

Airfare will also be free as DH will have the miles by then from all his flying back and forth to work. So we will just need to pay for park tickets and food and transport to and from the airport.

We got a three bedroom condo as we are taking DH's sister and her two daughters with us. We are covering all of their expenses except food and souvenirs. DH's sister lives well below the poverty level, she makes as much in a month as DH makes in a day and a half and we try to help her out as much as possible. She would never be able to afford a trip like this for her and her kids and since we can get so much of it for free we can afford to take them.

We may help on the food a bit because we want to treat them to the Blue Bayou which is very pricey. But we want her to save something for the trip if she can (though in-laws will probably just give her that money). The condo has a full kitchen so we will buy some groceries at a nearby Albertsons that delivers to save on food costs, at least breakfasts.

Five day park hoppers for seven people will cost $1652 using today's prices and that may go up in 2013. And we calculate $2000 for food and souvenirs. That's probably high but I'd rather have too much than not enough. And transport to and from the airport for seven people...well it might actually be cheaper (and quite a hoot) to rent a limo for that. I'll have to look into the price. It's either that or a full-sized van with DH driving. We do not want to do the bus thing with that many people.

I am going to start saving now, but the bulk of the money will come from DH's annual Christmas bonus, which is 5% of his yearly income. And failing that (though they give it as standard) we'll use our tax refund money. With the HSA we are assured of getting a huge return even if we spent no more on medical than we've already spent so far this year (ha!).

I am looking forward to this trip a lot. It will be so much fun to do it with DH's sister and the girls and I will also get to spend one of the days with a good friend of mine who lives in California and has an annual pass and will come up to see me. With DH's sister and the girls there DH won't and the kids won't feel like I am abandoning them for my friend, but I only get to see her every few years so I'd do it even if they did!

No spending to report today for the daily expenses challenge. One of the few positives about being so sick is that it really limits the appeal of going anywhere to spend money.

I need to figure out what to do about dinner though, because I forgot to put the roast in the crockpot. Maybe soup and toasted cheese sandwiches. I think I can about handle that. Or maybe DD will cook. She's feeling way better than me.

I changed which credit card the last autopay I hadn't transferred yet goes on, so that it won't go on the paid off card anymore. It is so nice to only have the one CC to worry about now. Well, we also have the AMEX, but that doesn't typically carry a balance as we just use it for gas, meals out, on vacation and the occasional times when I forget the checkbook, so I don't count it the same was as the BoA VISA. I am so looking forward to having the VISA paid off soon. Just a couple more payments.

I added $14.14 to my coin jar today. I cleaned out my purse and two jackets' pockets to find that. I also added a Canadian penny to my Canadian coin jar. Being so close to the border I often end up with the random Canadian coin so it has its own jar. We take the contents with us whenever we go up there and try to use it up. Although pennies are used pretty interchangeably the stores here can refuse them if they want to.

I also added $5 a few days ago to the coin jar, but I don't think I entered it here.

I stepped on a staple today, not like the kind you use to hold papers together, but a more heavy duty one, like they use in construction. It was on the fairly small side of construction staples, but it still hurt like blazes. It didn't bleed too much, it was in the thick part of the heel, and I really don't like walking on it right now. Of course I did it too late in the day to go to the doctor for a tetanus shot (I'm due), but I will call tomorrow. You have 72 hours to get one after a puncture to be in the safe window.

I did not end up going to the store last night like I had planned. I had also only planned to only spend $10. And ended up spending $129.21 today. Well, I bought more cold medicine, and they had hamburger and pot roast on sale, and then they had chicken noodle soup and beef stew and chili on sale, and my pantry has been looking a little bare because anything we could heat and serve was pretty much used up while I was so sick (still am, but more functional now). And I bought milk. So...it's not like I went out of my grocery budget or anything, I've barely spent any of it this month so far, but it was a lot of unplanned buying. Staple buying, but unplanned.

I made tacos for dinner tonight. I didn't feel well enough to make the hamburger on the stove so I did it in the microwave with my Tupperware stack cooker, then added the taco seasoning. We use the big container of McCormick taco seasoning they sell at Costco and we use half a cup per pound. The directions say 1/4 cup but it is not enough for our tastebuds. We didn't have quite enough shredded cheese for everyone so I improvised with some Tillamoos. I do have some cheese I could shred but I didn't feel like standing there and doing it. Mom gave me all the lettuce leftover from the family gathering, so we used that for the lettuce.

This is the second dinner I have cooked this week that did not come out of a can. I made chicken last night. So I do seem to be getting back on stride a little, but I don't have the energy or strength to do anything big and complicated.

I have to take DS to tae kwon do tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday. I really don't want to, but he still has to get two classes in before the make up test Wednesday. He's missed so much being sick. It's already been four months to get the needed classes in. Usually at his age it only takes two months. I think I may just sleep out in the car. I am so tired and the hard benches inside for parents are so uncomfortable.

I'm still not quite myself. I am just so tired, still feeling blechy even if I am on the mend. I think I've lost all sense of ambition. I guess if I am going to be sick it is good to be sick in that long interval of not having to pay any bills until the 20th because I am not very on top of the finance thing right now.

I went nowhere yesterday and thus spent no money. Almost the whole family descended yesterday and it was long and exhausting though nice to visit. Although I still want to know why I am the only person in my family (besides my kids, and DH when he's home) that help my mother when everyone comes over.

I know that my older sister has always held the attitude that she is a "guest" and therefore does not have to help out. Where she got that attitude from I do not know because it is not the way Mom raised us. My eldest sister, who had just got done telling me all of the changing she had noticed in Mom and how much she was slowing down, sat there and watched me (sick, coughing me) clear the table and put everything in the dishwasher and did not budge an inch. *sighs* My thirty year old neice was there, too. Nothing.

My mom is 72, she had knee replacement in September, and she is not as strong as she used to be. My kids did a lot of work helping her get ready and I helped with the cleanup (i.e. did most of it). I am the least able of us three girls despite being the youngest, but I would not dream of leaving her to do it all alone.

I go through this every holiday and get together. I am always so stunned by the fact that they still won't lift a finger. I have asked before in the past and have pretty much given up asking them, but it still annoys me. My daughter did ask one of them if they were going to help and got the response, "Oh, I'm too tired." ????? Ooookay. My family.

Anyway, today is a spend day. The kids walked down to Trader Joe's and bought a big jug of pure maple syrup and additive free lunch meat for DS's school lunches, spending $21.78. I will be running down to Haggen after dinner to pick up some organic milk and 1/4 pound of deli ham for DD's school lunches. It'll come to under $10, so I'm counting that as close enough for recording purposes.

I feel like all I have done for the past four days is sleep. My fever finally broke yesterday. A week at 101 is hard, but yesterday it was 99 and today it was 97.6 (my normal). I am still coughing a lot, but it's way up towards the base of my throat. I can read again (have several days worth of blogs to catch up on now!) for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

I have spent around $40 on Dayquil, Nyquil, and psuedophederine this week. They at least helped manage the symptoms. Until today that is all I spent in the last few days (for the daily expenses challenge). Today I ordered a XL pizza from Round Table which was $27.18. I'm still not much up for cooking. I managed a chicken stir-fry from one of my homemade kits in the freezer yesterday, but that about did me in. Mostly it's been soup and sandwiches around here, or anything that comes out of a can but doesn't have additives.

Hopefully I will feel good enough on Sunday to make a big batch of pancakes for the freezer. That would have come in handy this week as it only takes 30 seconds in the microwave to warm one up from frozen. Maybe I'll make a batch of blueberry cornbread muffins, too. That's real simple and fast and involves hardly any work on my part.

Mom is having a big get together on Saturday. Everyone will be here except my husband. My eldest sister, her son and his wife and their son, my older sister, her spouse and her four boys, me and my two kids. I don't know how much time I'll spend there, though. I can't be around my nephew's wife much as she is pregnant and I don't want to expose her to this. I'll probably hang around for an hour or two and then go back to bed.

Mom wants DD to make cookies. DD is probably still contagious with this same thing I'm getting over. I don't think that's a smart idea at all, and DD doesn't want to, but once Mom gets a thing in her head you never hear the end of it until it gets done. Of course if the whole family then gets sick it will be DD's fault. *sighs*

I filled out my jury question form and sent it in today. I listed all of my physical limitations and disabilities, as well as a list of the medications I am on that may cloud my thinking. I will probably still have to serve, but whatever. They can't say I didn't warn them.

Hard to believe it's been six years since I started this blog, but it has been. Six years ago, I don't think I ever thought I'd get here, almost out of credit card debt and making tons of progress on everything else.

I remember when I started this road, people told me I should just declare bankruptcy and walk away from our debt. That's never something that I wanted to do, but always something I was afraid I would have to do. Fortunately we never did. Instead we put our heads down and worked hard and sacrificed a lot and through a series of raises and job promotions and changing companies for DH, we have made it a long way from those first few tentative steps.

I remember trying to find $10 a week to save for a baby EF and how hard it was. Now I regularly send $100 a month to the EF and whatever else I can scrape up. I remember trying to scrape up minimum payments and wondering how we'd ever have extra to send to one card so we could make a little progress. I remember how discouraged I was whenever I had another surgery and we had to put yet another medical debt on the credit cards.

There are days I wanted to give up, but we stubbornly pressed on and here we are coming out the other side and almost there. I have learned a lot on this journey, but the biggest thing I've come away with is that you can move a mountain even if the only tool you have is a spoon. You just keep at it and keep at it and eventually that mountain is no longer in front of you, it's behind you and you've done it. Our mountain is now a hill and we've upgraded to a shovel and that hill is getting smaller and smaller every month. And pretty soon the going will be flat and level and hopefully we'll never have a debt mountain to move again.

Yesterday's expenses:

$49.06 @ Costco

Today's Expenses:

$10 for DD to turn in for art supplies at school tomorrow for art class.

Really got irritated at the workmen today. They left their equipment in the house, blocking the hallway and access to the kids' bedrooms when they left. Including a power saw that was plugged in. Dangerous and careless. And Mom didn't understand why I was upset by that. It's not like her life is being disrupted by the remodel at all, other than she has to park her car in a different spot in the driveway. She's in a different wing of the house. But this was dangerous and she shouldn't have acted like it was harmless. I will be so glad when they are done. I will be even more glad when we can get out of here.

Mom had one of her nasty moments today where she was blaming us for the mold in the bathroom again, even though the workmen said it was caused by the leak in the roof which had nothing to do with us. This went into a woe is me fit which she does about every six months. She refuses to go out and do activities where she can meet people and then complains about how she has no friends because Dad never wanted to socialize. I keep encouraging her to do so now, but then she snaps at me about it saying I just want her out of the house (which isn't true, I want me out of the house). I hope I'm not seeing the early onset of anything. But she's always kind of been like this, it just wasn't as extreme when Dad was alive and still had his mind.

I just do not have the energy or the stamina for this when I am running a 101 degree fever and trying to cough my lungs out through my windpipe. I didn't snap at her, but it was close. I just keep telling myself she is my mother and I love her even when she goes a little nuts.

I swept DH's wallet and added $10.65 to the coin jar. I had enough to roll quarters so I did that. I have a pretty hefty deposit to make on Monday if I feel well enough to go to the CU.

DH decided to make a Costco run today instead of tomorrow so there will be some expenses to report after all when he gets back. He is just getting the minimal though, toilet paper, tomato sauce and chicken pot pies (DS eats these when I am too sick to cook, DD can fend for herself). Since DH goes back to Alaska on Monday and I have no energy yet, I want to have them on hand.

I got my summons for jury duty and surprisingly it's actually for the date they said it was going to be for. That has never happened before. I just hope I am over this borderline walking pnuemonia/bronchitis thing by then as I don't see me getting it deferred again or excused.

Daily Expenses Challenge will henceforth be abbreviated to DEC for me.

DH took the kids to see The Lorax in 3D yesterday so that was $36. They got 2 pretzels at Auntie Anne's for $6.36. They got 2 bottled waters from the vending machine $3, and a bubble tea $4.25. This is what happens when I don't go with them, other money gets spent. But I was too sick to go and frankly didn't care that DH would likely have loose fingers. They had fun and I had peace and quiet.

DH spent $39.27 at Walgreens to get various medications--the dye free cough medicine and dye free allergy medicine for DH, some fake Excedrin PM for me since the real stuff is still on recall, all natural cough drops, and some ice cream for sore throats.

DH took DS to the after hours clinic last night and then to get a prescription for antibiotics, $15. He spent $42.50 at the grocery store and $38.78 at McDonalds for 20 double cheeseburgers and 4 fries. I can't cook right now, I can barely stand, so when people want something they can warm up a cheeseburger. DH is making dinners, though. DD feels well enougn now to help with dinner tonight, which means it may or may not be more elaborate than tacos or spaghetti.

Today is a no spend day. Nothing will be bought and no one will go anywhere.

I am so sick it's ridiculous. Thank goodness the workmen were working outside so that I could sleep in. I went to bed at 9:30 last night and slept pretty well, but woke up every four hours or so coughing. Which is what the cough syrup dosage was for, every four hours. But fortunately I did get back to sleep. My skin hurts, my joints ache, and I am running a fever of 100.3 and can't get warm.

I went to the doctor this afternoon. DH had to drive me because I couldn't focus at all. It's not the flu which I feared, but borderline walking pneumonia. My bronchials and windpipe ache beyond belief right now. I ended up with four prescriptions, $25, $15, $15, and $7.55. My breathing was so bad he gave me an inhaler of albuterol, which I haven't needed in a couple years, and a nasal spray. I've also got an antibiotic (one that won't make me sick to my stomach this time) and the really good cough syrup which is helping already. I am so wiped out though. I have dozed off and on all day, I can't read a book, though I can read the computer a bit, and I can watch television for about 20 minutes before I doze again. I don't rember the last time I was this tired.

Let's see, other expenses have been 3/4 tank of gas for $63.73, $1.51 for a McDonald's double cheeseburger, and $25.71 for groceries. Also DH had to pay a deposit on the security system upgrade that we will be doing when he comes back home next time of $225. That's half up front, half the day of. DH also treated his dad to dinner yesterday at Subway spending $12.37, after he helped DH put up the drywall in the bathroom. I think that is everything.

The mortgage payment posted today with $293.54 going to principal and $82.32 going to interest. The new balance of the mortgage is $17,667.67.

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The amount of the U-haul rental plus mileage was $97.23 and the gas to fill it back up was $14.27.

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I will be so glad when the bathroom remodel is done. I don't know what my mother was thinking scheduling it for the week of spring break when everyone was going to be home. I know it'll be nice when it is done, but right now it is a pain in the butt. No one gets to sleep in because the workmen are here so early. I'm cranky because I can't take naps which is essential when I am ill. I can't stop coughing today unless I suck on cough drops constantly. The minute it runs out I start hacking again. On the bright side one of the workmen brought his little boy with him and he and DS have hit it off so DS has something to do today other than complain about how noisy the workers are.

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I'm not sure we are going to make it down to Seattle on Friday. We had planned to go, but DD has an ear infection/sinus infection, and I have whatever it is I have. We were going to go to the Pacific Science Center and then watch Hunger Games on the IMAX. We will at least go to the movie at the local theater if we can't go, but I will have a pocket full of cough drops so I don't ruin the movie for others.

Well, we got the house emptied. We filled up a small U-haul and we are going to have to take Mom's pickup out a few times to run stuff to the dump, but the house is empty and we can call for a cleaning estimate next time DH is home. I am exhausted. That is a lot of hard work but we got everything done in one round trip.

My back is killing me though. And my legs. I haven't done so much physical labor in a long time and I feel it everywhere. Which means I need to start exercising again. I've been letting it slip except being sure to walk to keep up the progress I made with my knee.

I've also got a bad sinus infection/bronchitis and the doctor was supposed to call something in for me but he didn't and then he won't be in his office on Wednesday so I can't even call him until Thursday. I hope moving in the rain/freezing cold didn't end up making this turn into pneumonia as I have been coughing deeper and deeper all evening. I probably should not have done it, but it really needed to get done. All I can say is we better have some amazing May flowers to make up for these icy April showers so far this month.

We will take the truck back in the morning after topping off the gas tank and then we will know exactly how much we spent on it.

By late last night, both of the BoA payments I made on Friday were pending and this morning they have gone through. It was nice to see a big fat $0.00 next to the total on the two Master Cards and know that is never going to change, barring future medical disasters. And the total on the BoA VISA is now at $6,365.74. We had a couple of autopays go through so it's a bit higher today than it would have been if it went through on Friday. Still, it's all part of the plan.

After the mortgage payment hits the account and we make the car payment on Friday, we will have $352.21 to pay off before our debt to income ratio hits 45%. That's how close we are to being able to qualify for the best mortgage loans. Of course we will still have to come up with a down payment and hopefully that will happen by year's end.

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We finished packing up the old house on Friday and today we will be going out there with a U-haul to bring everything that is left in to storage. We got the $19.99 plus mileage (.79 per mile) truck and our insurance covers us even up to replacement value of the truck so we don't have to buy their expensive 24 hour insurance policy. DH double checked yesterday. We'll put on between 50 and 60 miles so that'll be an additional $47 tops, plus whatever gas we use. I'm assuming at least 6 gallons at $4 per gallon, so another $24. But then no more moving stuff!

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I found two companies that do a very thorough Move in/Move out special on cleaning. They do everything. So if they will actually come out to the county, we will set up to get estimates done for the day after DH comes home next time and then hopefully be able to schedule a deep-cleaning of the whole house before he goes up again.

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On Wednesday DH and FIL will be putting up the last piece of drywall in the bathroom and the ADT guy is going to come out and give an estimate for replacing the code box that got cracked when those kids broke in and yanked it off the wall and see whether or not the alarm box itself is damaged. It was just yanked out of the wall and doesn't appear to be damaged. DH cobbled it back together at the time, being an engineer, and it works, but it doesn't look pretty. We want to get at least two more windows wired up as well, two that you can't see from the road and are not covered by the motion sensors.

We'll need to get an estimate still on replacing the broken window pane and then have it fixed. I don't know if we can get an esitmate this week or not. Otherwise it will have to be scheduled for when DH comes back home next time as well.

Once repairs are made and it is clean we can finally put it on the market. I am hoping to be able to do that at the end of April. And it should finally be warm enough for DH to paint that little bit around the top of the gutter that never got painted when we pained before because I wasn't tall enough to reach it even on the ladder. The back porch steps are in the way there and I couldn't quite stretch far enough. He also needs to take down the Christmas star attached to the front of the house and probably repaint that as it probably has left an outline from the sun hitting it there.

So much to do, never enough time when DH is home.

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I still have not heard about my jury duty. They were supposed to resummon me for April 30th, but I have got nothing in the mail yet. I've been checking it religiously. Maybe they've finally given up?

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I stepped off a curb at the library on Friday without relizing it was there and wrenched my low back pretty badly. It's finally starting to feel okay after a massage ($90) yesterday and a visit to the chiropractor, but I still have to watch how much I do. It's a little frustrating because there is so much to do and I was doing so well with walking and actually being able to do things again.

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I have a nasty cold again. Just a head full of snot and lots of coughing as it drains. Plus I'm tired because even though I sleep, I wake myself up coughing. My daughter infected me this time. And I can't figure out where I put the pseudophederine. DH bought two boxes for me. I guess I can drag myself down to the store to buy more. It's just such a hassle since they keep it behind the counter and you have to show ID and sign for it.I'm just glad it's still available.

I am getting really antsy. Late Friday night I made two payments on the BoA website. One to cover the interest from the card I just finished paying off of $34.02 and one towards the last VISA we owe money on for $1490. Neither one of them has showed up yet, not even as pending. The money also hasn't been taken out of the checking account on this end.

I am now starting to wonder if BoA's website had an issue over the weekend. Usually it shows as pending right away. If it hasn't shown up by tomorrow I will have DH call them and see if there is any evidence of it on their systems. If not, I will go pay the $34.02 one in person at the bank. Not too big a deal if that one ends up being paid twice because of a glitch. On the other one I will wait a few more days on. $1490 being paid twice would screw up my checking account.

I have to transfer the money from the EF at ING back to checking so I can make that payment. Part of me is still resisting it though DH and I both agreed it was the best idea and it'll keep us on track for having the credit card paid off by May 18th. I know we will still have $1000 in the EF and we of course have the credit cards as back up if necessary even if that idea makes me cringe. I just need to do it. Why is it so hard to take money out of the EF for non-EF reasons? I know we will get it built back up again, but it is such a psychological thing for me to have that money there. I know, in the long run, it'll be a bigger psychological thing to have that credit card paid off, though. So...gotta do it.

I added $3.44 to the change jar today after cleaning out my purse and DH's wallet. I think I have enough to roll quarters. I will be making a deposit to the Safety Net today. I am still going to work on building up the EF even though I'll be taking most of it to pay down the last BoA card.

Sometimes I think I just like banging my head against the wall. A house came on the market on Friday and it's just about perfect if you could just pick up the house and plop it down where you wanted it to be. And the price! $219,000 for 1747 square feet, with an unfinished basement. The outside was cute, not the greatest color, what I like to refer to as one of the least offensive shades of bland, but nice windows and doors, and the inside looked great from the photos. Hardwood floors in the living room, dining room, and master bedroom. Main floor master bedroom with ensuite. Gorgeous, big kitchen, large enough to put the table in and use the dining room for the piano and exercise machines. Open floor plan. The second floor has 2 bedrooms, plus a big rec room and there is a second bathroom, a must.

It has a fenced yard with five raised beds for gardening, is a completely flat yard, and has mature fruit trees. But it wasn't too big a yard either, so easy to mow. We drove by it. The only thing it didn't have that was bad was a driveway and there is no street parking, but there is a place for one car under the trees. I don't like the idea of parking under trees as there is so much sap and bird droppings that get on the car that way. There is no garage or storage either, which isn't necessary with the basement. But it looks good otherwise. It really does.

It is even in the right school district for both kids, though right on the borderline for the middle school. And the location is the reason why it's got a lower asking price than the norm. It's close to the freeway. Close enough you can hear it, but not as close as our old house was to the highway. It sounds more like a river than traffic. The neighborhood is okay, but not a favored area for me. I'd say it's lower middle class and I'm not sure what direction it is going, up or down. I looked for signs but they were mixed.

There were some very nice homes there, and a lot of minivans that were at least from this century, but probably early to mid last decade (probably all paid off!). There were also a couple of condmened houses being torn down and a house that had obvious burn damage that was being worked on. There were no wrecked cars and cars up on blocks, there was no sign of trash and the yards were all maintained. The front porches were not all cluttered up with junk. Some of the roofs had a lot of moss, but many where spotless. It was raining hard and a couple of the yards were flooded, which might indicate trouble with basements getting water.

We will probably not make an appointment to look at it. I know I need to have patience, and not push to look at things yet. And as nice as it is, there is enough for me to go, no, it's not got quite enough of my ticky boxes checked. And I don't want to rush into something. We rushed into something in 1998 and I have been regretting it since then. I don't want to make the same mistake we did before, being in a hurry to get out of where we are and not going into things with our eyes wide open.

I want one of my preferred neighborhoods. I want walking distance to certain things. I want to be closer to mom than that (but not so close she walks to me!) And I really do want a driveway. *sighs* I need to stop looking but those shiny real estate sites are just so...shiny.

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Ex-BIL is being a jerk again, no surprise. He has decided to sue SIL to try make her sell the house they still jointly own because she is messing up his credit by not making the payments on time. Of course, he is late every single month in giving her his share of the mortgage, not to mention child support, so of course she cannot make them on time. Kind of a duh thing.

This is the house that two of his children, whom she has full custody of, live in. It takes a special kind of selfishness to be such an awful human being. This is so the cheating, child-molesting idiot and the woman he is currently shacked up with can try to buy a house together. The only reason he is doing it now and not sooner, like when they divorced, was because one of the conditions they had when they built the house through an assistance program, was they had to wait at least five years to sell it or pay a major penalty. Guess when the five years was up?

What I was figuring would be $9 of interest after I paid off the MC turned out to be $32.04. Obviously I was very tired. But I've paid it today regardless, so it's fully paid off now.

The payment I made last night of $1490 isn't showing up as pending, but I did that really late at night so it should show as pending by tomorrow. It also isn't shown as being taken out of the checking account yet, so I'm sure it's just slow because of the weekend.

I have paid all the bills from now until the 20th of April, except the car payment and DH's life insurance. There is techinically enough in the checking account to pay that, but it would leave us with $50 for the week. Since it is spring break, and Mom thought that would be the best time to remodel our bathroom, we are having to be out of the house quite a bit this coming week. The workers are very loud and smelly (dust, mold, cigarette smell clinging to their clothes) so they are stirring up allergy issues. So we will wait until next payday to pay the car payment. It's not due until the 19th. Most of the money for it will still come from this payday, though.

As for DH's life insurance, it comes out on autopay in a day or two, but they change the rate every six months, it goes up a dollar and a bit or something. DH doesn't know what he did with the paper that came with the new amount, so I am waiting until it is deducted before I record the exact amount in the checkbook.

We will be renewing our Pacific Science Center Membership this week as we are going there one day this week. We also will be going again when the King Tut exhibit is there. We may also go down one day and do the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum. Depends on how things go.

Yesterday was early release for the kids from school and so we went out to the house and finished packing. The only thing left to pack is the tools, the drywall installation stuff, and the cleaning supplies. On Wednesday DH and FIL will go out there and put up that final wall on the back of the shower.

Then we need to rent a small U-haul to move the last boxes and the stuff in the shed, like the table saw and the broken dresser beyond repair that needs to go to the dump, but can't fit in the van.

DH still needs to set up an appointment with ADT to come out and replace the alarm box that is cracked and set up an estimate on replacing the broken window pane. I need to vacuum but I can't do that until the boxes are out and then we need to hire someone to clean it. My mother insists she wants to do that, but I really don't think she will. I know I don't. I want to hire a service that cleans houses or apartments after renters leave so that it is really clean, not something like Merry Maids that leaves the illusion of clean, but doesn't really deep clean anything. Then we need to get someone in to do the rugs as well. All that before we can put the dumb thing on the market. This is what we get for procrastinating so long, but then again, my health wasn't up to it before now.

I wrote the check out today to pay off the Master Card. They haven't showed the payment online yet, even though they are supposed to by five if you pay it in person at the bank by 2 p.m. and we paid it at 11:30. It'll show tomorrow, though. I see that they've already added the interest in for those few days that weren't calculated yet. So the payment has hit the system. It's just not showing. Once it shows tomorrow I will then send in a quick electronic payment for the interest. It's about $9 or so. I didn't do the math.

One of the things that DH's father has done for him and his sister since he was a kid was have $10 automatically transferred to DH's savings account every week from FIL's paycheck. Well, almost 3 years ago, we told FIL we really didn't think he needed to be doing that. DH had gotten a very large raise and we were doing okay without and we thought they needed it more than we did.

Well, we told FIL we wanted to close the account but FIL said he thought it would be a good place for him to keep depositing to, but that he could use that money to go on vacation with after it had been saved up. It would be a place he couldn't get to it without DH physically going and getting it, so he wouldn't be tempted to spend it. Well, they got that big inheritance in February (the one where we got a much smaller portion) from DH's grandma, so they decided they didn't need the money in the account that they'd been saving. So today we got to have that money. It was $1490. I took that $1490 and made a payment to the BoA VISA today.

That brings the BoA VISA to $6160.90. Then on April 20th we will be able to put an additional $1500 on it, which brings it down to $4660.90. And we are transferring money out of the EF at ING to pay an additional $3500 on it, which will bring it down to $1160.90. Of course there will be interest in there, and there will also be a plane ticket charged, plus all the autopays, which will be approximately $1200, so that will put us at $2360.90. The $800 payment I have been making to the Master Card I will be able to make the following week, which will bring it down to $1560.90 by the end of April. Which means I'll have it paid off on May 19th! Less than 2 full months away and BoA will no longer own my soul. (Eh, except for the car payment). I really am excited about that, even if it does mean having the EF at only $1000 for a couple months.

Do you guys remember when I started how insurmountable this all seemed? It's been almost six years of hard and steady work, but we're doing it. It really can be done. Pretty soon I will be able to say NO MORE CREDIT CARD DEBT!

I ran the numbers tonight, and if I were to take out all but $1000 of the emergency fund we could come pretty close to having the BoA VISA paid off by the end of April. This would be on top of paying off the BoA Master Card tomorrow.

I think that we should do it. A part of me is very wary of having only $1000 in the EF. But...we'd have all the BoA cards paid off in full by the end of May then. Unless I scrimp really, really hard and then I might be able to do it by the first of May.

Then by the end of May we'd be able to save $2000 a month and I'd have the EF back again by the end of June. I like having an EF, but it almost seems silly at this point when it is only earning .8% and my credit card is at 11.4% Paying it all off means having our debt to income ratio fall beneath 45%, which is a magic number for some loans. Right now it's at 49%. Plus we'll also have made 2 payments on our car payment which will lower it even more.

If I do this it means come July we start saving for a house, and when we have enough, to get the really good loans, and we might get into a house before we know it.

Tomorrow we go out to the old house to pack up the very last of the stuff and do some cleaning. Then we can set up a time with the rug lady so she can spend the day steam cleaning the rugs. We might need to rent a small truck to get the last of the stuff moved, and things like the table saw. We'll leave the lawnmower there until the house sells so we can keep the lawn mowed.

I really want to put this thing on the market. DH and his father are going to put up the last wall in the bathroom that needed replacing on Wednesday and that's the last really big thing to do. We will sell it as is/where is. If you only sell as is there is room to negotiate for the buyer. If you sell as is/where is, it means that the sellers are not willing to put one more dime into it and you take it or leave it the way it is. We like as is/where is, because we won't get slapped with the buyers wanting us to put on a new roof or paint it or fix anything. We really mean we don't want to do anything more than we do.

I don't even care that much about how much it sells for so long as I end up with $20,000 over the remaining cost of the mortgage and any realtor fees. The last tax assessment valued it at $92,000 and I think our creditu union values it at $112,000, but we will put it on the market for $75,000 knowing that they can then get a bigger mortgage to do the repairs with if needed. And we'll even negotiate price. What we won't negotiate is us fixing things. We don't wanna.

It seems like all I'm seeing these days in the mail is offers for spending so much and getting so much cash back. What I don't seem to be seeing is the offer I really want, 0% interest for a year or six months. After tomorrow, we'll be down to between $6000 and $7000 in credit card debt at 11.4% interest. It's our BoA airmiles card so it also has a yearly fee of $75. Not too bad, considering how much DH flies, and he can get 3 to 4 free round trip coach tickets per year and several first class upgrades. But it will be the card with the balance on it.

What I really want is to just use that card for airfare, hotel, and other travel related expenses for his job, which will then be paid off in full each month so interest won't matter, and a new card with no interest that we can transfer the balance onto and pay off over the next six months. So are there any good card offers out there for the 0%? I really don't want Chase, as we have a history with them being (as my children say) jack donkeys, but any other bank (except BoA as they won't let you balance transfer between cards) would be fine.

Our last FICO score check had us at 780 and I imagine since we paid off $15,000 since we last checked it has gone up since then, so we would probably qualify for whatever is out there.

I'd appreciate anyone steering us in the right direction.

I added .74 to the coin jar today.

I spent .50 on parking meters.

I spent $37.50 today, $30 for three types of the Boar's Head deli meats that we will divide up and freeze for DS's lunches for the next month and $7.50 for a bagel sandwich, small chips, and pickle spear for DS's lunch today as we were completely out of everything that he isn't allergic to and I was really, really behind on everything this morning and I had to pick DH up at the airport.

I went to the dentist at 11:30 to have some chips repaired and my portion was $68, so paid that, too.

Well, I guess my rant paid off, because DH just called me to tell me that they called him 5 minutes ago and he has been fully excused (not even rescheduled) from jury duty! So no EF crippling time off from work, no debt repayment stall out, no worrying about the financial side of things, thank goodness! That takes about half the stress out of my system. Now if they would just contact me about mine, so I can know and plan, I would lose another 40%, and just be left with the normal 10% or so that is part and parcel with being a parent.

But the best part is I will have that Master Card paid off by the end of March! I can make the payment on Friday. Well, there will probably be some interest calculated, but it'll be piddly and I can pay that off as soon as it hits. And then it's just a matter of destroying the VISA, smushing it down into nothing and being free of the dang noose of credit card debt once and for all. It is so close I can taste it.

It feels good to have my hope back again. I am generally an optimistic person, but debt has so burdened me for so long that sometimes I get very gloomy about it when things go wrong.

Now we can go ahead and schedule ADT to come out to the old house and put in a new control box. The old one works, but it is badly cracked which will not look good for resale. I'd also like to put four more windows on the system. And maybe the window people can come out and give us an estimate as well (one pane of glass on a double-paned window needs to be replaced as it is broken). We won't be able to fix it until the end of April/beginning of May, though, but we can at least schedule it for when DH will be home.

The insurance company is requesting a new certificate of security now as well, to keep our homeowner's insurance so low, so this is a good time to try to get it done. If it's not one thing, it's another. But at least I'm facing it again with a better attitude.