Tag Archives: money

Family Value

Posted on January 25, 2012 | 2 Comments

It’s been a rough two weeks, financially, emotionally and thanks to a lack of sleep we can add ‘physically’ to the list as well.

When I get run down I tend to use it as an excuse to get take out, buy coffee, and just slack off in general.  Now that I have a baby I have become a little bit better about the slacking off part.  There is always work to be done with a baby around and I want to make sure I put the time in to play, smile, hold and cuddle as much as possible – you know, before BooBoo becomes to embarrassed to be seen with me!

Last week we ordered take out.  The weather was terrible on Friday, it took me three hours to get home (it’s usually 45 – 60 min) and things were just a mess.  The interesting thing when we finished?  Neither Han Solo or I enjoyed our take out the way we used to.  So while the “days without takeout” calendar is being reset, I can tell you that the longer we go without bringing grease and crap into our bodies, the less we enjoy it when we do.

Saturday BooBoo went to my parents place for the day.  They had a blast and played up a storm.  Han Solo and I had 6 hours to veg out and spend time together.  We are in serious need of reconnecting since a baby came into our lives and having a bonus day once in a while helps that a lot.

After watching the lack of sleep continue to wear Han out, I decided to take yesterday off from work and stay on baby duty Tuesday night in order to let him recharge.  I am thankful for having such a generous employer to let me be able to do that.

So today’s post?  What is it all about?  I’m worn out, run down, having difficulty focusing, but I wanted to share with you that while I’m so focused on our financial goals as a family, there are so many things that my family members do for us or that we do for them that go a long way.  Not just financially but emotionally as well.

The debt repayment is long and painful and full of stress.  Add a baby into this equation and we have this beautiful little bonus that exhausts us and entertains us at the same time.

And let’s be honest, my parents dropping off muffins, lending us their car when we need a second vehicle, baby-sitting for the day, my work letting me have a ‘family’ day, these are all things that have a real cost associated with them.  So while I do not have these things in my monthly budget.  I think it is important to recognize them (in the anonymous blog they know nothing about) all the same.

If you have some “added value” in your life, please share it here and we can celebrate together!

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Fess up time

Posted on January 20, 2012 | 1 Comment

I have to share the good with the bad right?

Well, here it is.  Over the last two weeks I basically screwed our budget by the $500 I over-zealously put on Han Solo’s credit card!

Main problem?  We needed a new car seat ($230 – $100 (gift$) = $130). Then came a birthday I forgot about ($60).  Parking at work on days I didn’t take the bus (5 X $9 = $45), my bus pass ($100), extra gas money ($60). Coffee slip ups ($10).  Much needed baby clothes ($25). Han Solo’s automated credit card payment that I forgot to put on the calendar ($92) and finally the student loan payment that I got the days muddled up about ($300).

I was so concerned about the money disappearing on little things that I moved it before I should have.  Turns out the things I needed the money for weren’t so little.  Next pay I am going to give Han Solo and I some proper credit (metaphorically) and just leave the money where it is and move what is left at the end of the cycle.

Also, I hope to have our November to December progress and a 2011 year in review progress posted over the week-end.  It’s coming…just taking a little longer than I expected!

In Other News…

Remember that banker that I thought screwed our credit score?  Well she called last week to say that the loan expired.  We needed to bring in the written quote from the septic field guys in order to release the money.  There was a mix up at the engineering firm and the permits weren’t ordered when we thought…yadda, yadda, yadda, here we are again.  No written quote.  No loan.  And that loan was a struggle to get in the first place!

To tell you the truth, my first reaction to hear that the loan had expired (keep in mind she gave us no warning that this deadline was approaching) was relief.  I was relieved to never have to deal with this nitwit again.  But now that I think things through a bit more, our credit has taken another hit in the loan application (which we need to reapply for now), and I read this article about interest rates yesterday and it spoke of how banks are less likely to give loans these days if you look remotely financially insecure.  I chuckled a little bit here as we are not appealing candidates on a regular day!  Anyhow.  I’ve applied for some contract work and hope to start bringing in some extra money soon.  I think hubby should be back at work in the next few months, so while our backyard is disgusting if we run the shower and the washing machine on the same day, maybe we can turn this around somehow?

Waiting another month or so to reapply for the loan will give us another $2000 or so.  With that, we can reduce how much we are asking for and in turn have it paid off sooner.

I’m struggling with my inner-Pollyanna here, but I’m determined to rally!  Or collapse under the stress.  Stay tuned next week to see what happens!

 

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The Plan and the short term issues

Posted on November 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

My husband and I are treading water when it comes to our debt.  We are making the minimum payments on everything and at the moment we have something that resembles a plan for paying everything back.

The plan is to use what I have heard referred to as the avalanche approach.  Pay off the debt with the highest interest first and work towards the lowest.  Ultimately this method is financially the best approach as you save the most money in terms of your interest.

However, the snowball approach – paying off the smallest debts first regardless of interest rates and work towards the largest debts – I think would be much more motivational.  You get quicker results and feel better about your financial sacrifices.  In our case Han Solo’s credit card is both our lowest debt and our highest interest rate so I suppose we are for the time being using both approaches!

Anyhow, back to the plan.  You see there are a few challenges here when it comes to our budget.

#1. Han Solo and I are both collecting unemployment benefits.  Me for maternity leave and him for being laid off (he is a marine navigator working through a crewing agency – work tends to slow down in the winter around here!).

#2. We have another loan coming which is sort of hanging over our heads.  This is the loan to pay for the septic field.  The story about getting this loan is a post unto itself!  An irritating story, I figure I should warn you now.

#3.  Our old house needs work.  The biggest issue at hand is trying to get the walls of our basement insulated in order to reduce our heating costs.  The only reason this is on our to-do list is because of government tax credits.  There is no guarantee that the program will be renewed next year so we really need to do this job quickly!

I have cut our budget enough to accommodate the looming septic field loan and perhaps enough to make minimum payments + $50 on Han Solo’s credit card and rebuilding our butchered savings account by around $50 a month.  So the bottom line for this family is make more money!

How are we going to make more money?

#1 We are waiting to hear if Han Solo has gotten a new (and reliable) job.  So either he goes back to work soon or I do.  This will increase our monthly take-home by at least $800.

#2 Sell photos.  Han Solo is quite the shutter-bug and has a totally kick ass camera so we are hoping to start selling some stock photos.

#3 Any odd job either of us can get!

#4 Drop clothes I no longer wear off at consignment stores  (or host a clothing swap – I haven’t decided yet)

#5 I have a master’s degree in statistics so I’m hoping to start networking and get some jobs on the side.  It has always been my dream to be a statistical consultant who ran their own company, so really this is the motivation I need to step up and start working towards that!

#6 I have fallen in love with etsy.com and as soon as I think of something cool enough that people might want to buy I’ll be starting up a store there.

#7 Hustle on kijiji and amazon all the stuff that we are no longer using that is just taking up space in our small house and not making us any money.  Anything earned from this venture goes towards gifts and then debt.

#8 Apply the methods I have learned about from the Smart Cookies, And Then She Saved and other resources that I will soon create a page for to share with any readers.

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