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Archive for May, 2010

Summertime Start

May 31st, 2010 at 07:54 pm

I am enjoying the long weekend. It's very nice to have DH and DD home all day with me and baby. DH likes making breakfast on the weekends so I've been treated to breakfast in bed the past three days! Big Grin

Getting ready for summer break. DD's last day of school is this Friday. It will be nice to not pay for full time childcare because I'll be home on maternity leave for almost all the summer. I still want to give DD some time away from home. She is going to a few week long day camps. One is a really awesome horse camp with a friend from school. They went together last summer and had a blast. On Thursday they get to camp out overnight in the barn too. Me and the other mom split the driving, so that works out nicely. This camp costs $325. But I prepay so it's $300. Grandma (my mom) paid for camp this year as a birthday gift for DD. Smile
The second camp we bought in a silent auction at DD's school's fundraiser. It's a basketball camp. Cost $170 if you prepay or $190 if you don't. We paid $120 at the auction. I thought that was a good deal!

My mom is also taking DD on two grandma/grandaughter trips. (My dad's work is most busy during the summer. So it's just the girls!) One week in June to the coast and visit my sister. And in July to tour some of the California missions. (My DD will be learning about them in 4th grade.)
As I type this I am thinking how lucky DD is! She'll also likely spend a few days with my inlaws too.
I want to plan a camping trip for us four. I hope I can find the time...and the money...

Ah, the money...
*sigh* My CC#2 balance has crept up a little this month. Spendy month and decreased income. No fabulous purchases, just regular expenses.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

Prosper

May 25th, 2010 at 12:47 am

I am looking at getting a loan thru Prosper.
It's a peer to peer lending site, in case you are not familiar. I first heard of peer to peer lending maybe two years ago. I think it's a great idea!

How it works is individuals sign up to fund other people's personal loans. Little or large amounts and they (the investors) collect the interest, not a bank. So if you request a loan it might be funded by hundreds of people!

I would be using the money to payoff the two credit cards. I would get a lower interest rate and the interest money would go to people not the banks.

Has anyone used this service? What did you think?

Breaking Even & Living Comfortably

May 21st, 2010 at 08:41 pm

Redeemed my credit card 'points' for a $200 payment. Received a $200 check as reimbursement for a work expense so that goes to the card also. This covers the $400 copay to the hospital when I delivered DS. So...two steps forward and two steps back... Wink

It seems like this is a regular pattern with us. I'll have a few months where we just "break even", maybe even lose a little bit of ground. Then a few months where we gain ground, pay something off completely or make a big purchase in cash, add to savings, etc. I LOVE those months!!!

This will be a "break even" month, except for a small bump in the savings account. We are talking like $25-$40. But I feel like every little bit gets us to the goal..eventualy.

I want to go FASTER!!!

We could meet our saving/payoff goals faster if we were willing to really cut back. I'm not saying we spend a lot on a lot. Honestly, we could LIVE without the cell phones, DSL, cable, horses, breakfast out...you get the idea. But, I feel life should be comfortable. As comfortable as you can comfortably afford. And if our income suddenly dropped off/dried up we would make these cuts. I think there is a certain number of people out there that just couldn't give anything up. We could do it; we have lived without these before.

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Baby DS had his two week check up. He is now 8lbs. 8oz. and 1/2 inch longer. He's great at nursing so I knew he was growing well. Smile

Water Bill

May 20th, 2010 at 10:29 pm

I have a quick moment to get online and catch up on life outside my house!

Baby DS is doing very well. Two weeks old now. He has slept through the night three nights in a row now. **Knock on wood** He keeps that up!

Our water/sewer bill came, $29.30, for two months....What?? A normal bill is about $120-$140. It looks like they applied the $100 deposit we paid early last year. What a nice suprise and perfect timing too.

Feels like we've got lots of money going out and a trickle coming in....Only temporary. I'll be back on track in no time! Big Grin

Back to baby watching......

Baby Pic

May 12th, 2010 at 06:04 pm

Not much time to be online or even focus on bills/checkbook etc.. Good thing I prepaid most for the month so every thing is on auto pilot.

DS is VERY sweet and a VERY good baby! Lucky us!

Welcome Baby Boy!

May 9th, 2010 at 07:46 pm

Our DS is here!!!
He was born May 5th at 4pm.
8lb 4oz and 21 inches long.
He is so handsome and has a full head of shiny dark brown hair!

Now, to go get some more SLEEP!
Big Grin

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day!

Home Improvements

May 4th, 2010 at 01:09 am

Lots on the posts about home improvement projects. It must be Spring!

One of our projects for the house is replacing all the interior doors from plain plank style and mismatched hardware to very pretty doors and all matching handles. We have already replaced three doors, we have two more that are in the garage (bought while they were on amazing sale!) and we have to special order three more.

So DH says to me last week, "Hey, let's order those other doors and while my dad is here we can get the rest of the doors done." To which I replied, "Are you crazy? I don't want home improvement projects done the first week the new baby is home!!" Not to mention the additional costs.

Poor DH, I think it's just his form of "nesting", because he looked just a little hurt when I told him he was going to have to wait on the doors.

Our house was built in 1955 (good and solid). It is about 1140 sf on about 7000 sf lot. We bought it as a foreclosure. The owners before us had bought it in 2005/2006 for $504,000! Ouch! I really love our cozy little home, but could never see paying that for it. It's in good shape, but it needs some updates and some additional things we think would make it more 'special'. At some point I will post our wish list.

Yesterday

May 2nd, 2010 at 04:21 pm

No baby yet. (I'm ready anytime now!) And I didn't win the big jackpot. I don't think anyone did, so now it's $266 million on Tuesday.

Had a nice relaxing Saturday. It was a NSD because we didn't go anywhere. Oh, actually DH deposited his weekly paycheck, so it was a MMD (make money day? Wink ) I watched the Kentucky Derby. The winning horse was "Super Saver". He,He, I thought of this site when the race was over. We took a little walk because the weather is beautiful here this weekend. Came home just in time to watch Suze.

I am not going to bother with the checkbook or bills until tomorrow. Monday will be the financial start of May. I am expecting my first state check then too.

I think we'll be headed out for breakfast and a little grocery shopping now. No NSD today!