Our roof needs to be replaced. It is original to the house which was built in 1955. We have gotten a few estimates and they have all averaged about $6500. We've had to limp our current roof along with patch jobs and last month a tarp across a particularly bad spot. I have focused our extra money on debt pay down and not making much of a plan for the roof. If DH had a large side job or two he could make enough to pay for it in cash, but he hasn't had any large jobs for awhile.

(Back story: About two years ago he had a big job and used the profit to buy a motorcycle. Made me so very angry that he chose that over the roof! Now he has been having to live with the results of that choice. At this point I hope he has learned from this. (I don't even want to talk about - sure way to start a fight.) When it comes to money he really needs to "grow-up". He has got to realize he can't buy every toy or thing he *wants*.)

I know because of these events surrounding the roof I am happy to *dump* the problem on DH and let him worry about it. I feel like I am saying "Yeah Honey it could've been done already, but you made your bed now lay in it." Without verbally saying anything.

Alright, on the real reason for the post.

About two weeks ago DH and I were talking about the plans for the "extra paycheck" months. He told me that he thinks he is just going to have to replace the roof himself. He has had offers from a few friends to help him do it. Some with prior experience and others just handy, so he wouldn't be doing it completely alone.

Then last weekend he was helping a buddy out with his furnace and the roof subject came up. This friend, B, replaced our windows a few years back and has general contracting experience. He told DH he has all the tools needed for roof replacement and has done it a few times. They discussed trading services; HVAC work for roofing work.

What this all boils down to is that we would buy materials and labor would cost us beer and pizza for 4 or 5 guys over a weekend or two.

This could be very good. Maybe it can all come together this summer.

It is a beautiful, sunny, blue sky day here.
I am sick and pretty much staying inside trying to rest up. I started coming down with it on Tuesday, it is not the flu or really bad, but I want to kick it as fast as possible.

This weekend I am going to finish updating my cc information with the last few auto-pay accounts. I am also going to call AmEx to cancel. I should call to see if two other cards can give me a better APR now that they have adjusted up from 0%.

DD has a friend staying over tonight. They are going to cook dinner for us (and maybe dessert too). Cheese stuffed turkey meatballs, tomato sauce, noodles, French bread. DH just left to run them to the store - needed breadcrumbs and pasta sauce for this dinner. Milk, bananas, tomatoes needed for the week and I wanted more ice cream.

DH was instructed to keep it under $80 because I know he and DD will buy more than what was on the list I sent them with. This is fine because they need stuff for their lunches and what they pick out they will use up.

Last night I checked my Ting account to look at my usage and *surprise* I had another $25 referral credit posted!

So, to who ever out there used it - Thank You!

Two credits equal three months of paid cell service. I am thrilled!

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Today is a quiet day at home watching both playoff games.
(**GO NINERS!**)

We have $1.30 in our checking account right now.

I cannot remember the last time our checking was scraped away to nothing.
I did say it was a tight month.

Tomorrow night I will deposit paychecks and the rest of the month will be much smoother sailing. I only have a daycare payment and two cc payments due before February 1st.

We did pretty well in October spending money on *needs* only.

The *wants* that we did spend money on were Halloween, breakfast out for DH's birthday, two lunches out, clothes for DS and a few miscellaneous grocery items. There were several times I wanted something (little things: cupcake, coffee, etc..) but walked away.

Going to continue to stay very strict November and December as every little thing adds up.

My challenge for October is to make it a *Needs Only* month.
I am aiming for 100% needs only spending.

Anyone else have a challenge planned for themselves this month?

I went to the grocery store late this morning. Major success on two points.

First, it has been two weeks since I've stepped foot in a grocery store. By having produce delivered, the garden and laying hens we really don't *have to* go to the store more frequently for perishables.

Second, I planned to spend $200 today and I spent $198.37.

We are fully stocked with the staples, breakfast, lunch and dinner fixings. We have fresh fruit and veggies coming out the wazoo. The garden has been bountiful and with the bi-monthly produce boxes we are scrambling to get everything eaten before it goes bad.

Total grocery spending for the month: $566.

Right now I am sitting in the backyard. It has been a beautiful day today. Really, the whole week has been wonderful, mild weather. Still not having to use the AC or heat.

I worked this morning for my co-worker who is sick. I don't mind working Saturdays occasionally because I get a few more hours on the paycheck, don't have to pay for childcare and don't have weekday traffic to deal with.

I decided to treat myself to Starbucks this morning and used the drive-thru. When it was my turn at the window they told me their system was down so they couldn't take my money, so my coffee was free!

Free coffee was a very nice way to start my day.

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Trying to juggle the budget because of the lower income due to DH being gone. He did get some of his time off as paid vacation. Even so, we are about a third short of what he would have made had he been home. In addition to lesser income he spent money while he was gone. A double whammy.

He has $800 coming to him from his side work with the fire department at the raceway, so that *will* help *when* it shows up. Until then I am dipping into the EF to cover the shortfall. Phooey!

Cutting back on the grocery spending is going to be essential now. There also won't be much progress on the CC repayment this month.

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DD had her first 4H meeting on Thursday. It was $33 for the yearly enrollment and another $32 to buy presale tickets for the fundraising BBQ. She has signed up for four projects. Her first project meeting is 'Canning & Preserves' and it meets tomorrow afternoon.

Going off Ceejay's post yesterday...

I'm home from work and it's hotter than heck out, so I enjoyed sitting inside with the AC putting this post together. Spent some time looking thru Quicken. Pretty convenient that we are exactly halfway thru the year; it was easy to come up with some averages.

If you missed Ceejay's post here is the USDA report she cited -

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/CRC/crc2011.pdf

I used the Western Region/middle income bracket. Page 28

USDA Figure [Our Actual Spending]

For DS (2 years old):
Housing: $4670 [$0]
Food: $1440 [$950]
Transportation: $1780 [$162]
Clothing: $800 [$300]
Health care: $800 [$250]
Childcare: $2750 [$6750]
Misc.: $1020 [$700]

For DD (10 years old)
Housing: $4670 [$0]
Food: $2460 [$1900]
Transportation: $1970 [$162]
Clothing: $750 [$300]
Health care: $940 [$250]
Childcare: $1950 [$1260]
Misc.: $1230 [$1000]


Housing:
DH and I would have bought this house or a similar three bedroom house regardless of having the kids or not.

Food:
I figured our yearly food costs. I was going to just divide it evenly between four people, but obviously DH and I eat way more than DS. So I just figured DD would eat about half of DH or I and DS would be about half of DD.

Transportation:
The USDA definition was "expenses related only to family-related activities". We do trips and such, but we would do those even without children. I just figured 5% of the annual fuel expenses per child.

Clothing:
Kids get gifts of clothes all the time. I figured an average of $20/mo/child, plus two pairs of shoes.

Health care:
"..the share of household out-of-pocket health care expenses spent on children.."
I've listed copays for annual dr. visit and bi-annual dentist visits.

Childcare:
These are crazy low averages IMO. I get that many people might have family watching the kids for free or work opposite hours so one parent is watching them. Anyhow, our total is much higher than their average.

Misc.:
"..(personal care items, such as haircuts, toothbrushes, etc.; entertainment, such as portable media players, sports equipment, computers, etc.; and reading materials, such as nonschool books, magazines, etc.).."
For DS this is where I counted his diapers, wipes, haircut every 4(ish) months, books, occasional toy and gifts.
For DD I count her gifts, twice yearly haircuts, extra activities (camp, craft classes, movies, trumpet etc..).

In yesterday's post I had checked Quicken and our total grocery spending for May had been $1005. Tonight I looked more carefully and there was a Costco transaction categorized as 100% groceries which was only part grocery. After deducting that, the total spent was $897. Our produce box was delivered five times in May also. But even so, we did a lot of food buying in May!

My goal for June will be half that of May.

Our EF is looking fat right now because we've deposited our refund checks into it.

We have earmarked those checks for the new roof, but gosh I am so tempted to leave the money in savings and try to limp the old roof along one more winter. Although, I don't think that would be wise....

EF balance (including tomorrow's auto transfer) is $7530

Some of you may remember that my payday recently changed from bi-monthly to every Friday. My DH gets paid every Friday also. Well this new way is working out great! For whatever reason it's making budgeting and bill paying much easier.

For example, last week I made payments to all the ccards at the same time on the same day. In the past I would have to stagger them out to match up with my pday or a Friday for DH's pday.

The other exciting part about getting two checks rolling in every Friday is the five Friday months. Next month, March, has five Fridays. That means we will have $1300-$1700 more income than a "regular" month! WhooHoo!

I bought Quicken Deluxe at Costco Thursday. After the coupon it cost $20.

I was thinking I would get the Home/Business edition because I have a little dream of having a side business here at home someday. I figured I should just buy Quicken once and have all the options. But, Costco was out of that one. (I suppose I could order it from them online...)

Do you ever buy an upgraded product in anticipation of using a feature "someday"? Or do you just re-buy the upgraded product when you end up needing it?
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Getting paid every Friday is pretty nice. DH gets paid every Friday too, so it makes for a large influx of cash weekly.

There has been some discussion about whether or not more taxes gets taken from your paycheck if you get paid weekly, bi-monthly or monthly. I don't know. Seems like it would all work out to the same amount in a year. Anybody know?
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Speaking of taxes, I have the childcare total from DD's afterschool program. $1168. I plugged it into our return I'm working on at FreeTaxUSA.com. I also plugged in the 1099-G. I wish I could get the remaining info I need so I can complete and file. Just like to get rolling on our return.

I paid our auto insurance policy for the year today. $618 for both vehicles for one year. This is the second year I've been able to do that and it feels great!
By paying in full I am saving the $7/mo "statement fee" or the $3/mo "auto-bill fee".

December is also when our homeowner’s policy is due. That will also be paid in full; paid thru our impound account. $611 for one year.

I find it funny that the amount of these two policies was basically the same.

Deposited DH's paycheck this evening so it will credit to the account tonight. I had let the checking account dwindle down to $19.80!

Stopped at Costco.
$66 in gas. It's 3.66/gal here.
$96 inside. I ended up buying a few more items than I had planned. Needed paper towels, laundry soap and ground turkey. I added Halloween candy, Nutella (coupon), frozen breakfast sandwiches (coupon) and a set of baking sheets ($4 off). And I saw plenty of other things I would've loved to have gotten. Like: hummus, bacon, Italian sausages, cheeses, pie, pizza, steaks, sparkling water, cute sweatshirts for DD, $50 value giftcard for $40, and so on and so on.

I also wrote two checks today.
$136 for DD's afterschool childcare.
$75 for DD's school lunch account.

I will send out a $300 check tomorrow for horse board.

Goes out as fast as it comes in, right?

Some spending:

My DH signed up for the Biggest Loser program/competition at the gym. He and his boss are a team and if they win (largest percent of weight loss) the prize is $500 for first (I think?). Cost to join was $50. Really I just want him to be successful at his weight loss. The money would be an awesome bonus.
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DS and I walked home after dropping off the car this morning and when it was ready this afternoon we walked back to pick it up. A 30 minute walk each way. It was a beautiful day today, 65F in the morning and 76F with a soft breeze this afternoon. It's clear tonight with a big moon, and so mild. (Geesh two days ago it was pouring and five days ago it was like 40F and we had the heat on.)
Stopped at the grocery store after getting the car for a few "fill in" items. $14.
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DD's school's fall fundraiser order is due tomorrow. I ordered a roll of cute wrapping paper with cartoon dogs and cats on it and a package of fancy tulip bulbs. $22.
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I placed a Diapers.com order and my favorite "squeezy pouch" food for baby DS went up in price. I will have to check the grocery store and see if their price is lower now. I also bought DD some shampoo. $41.

A long time ago when DH and I had our first computer together we only had a dial-up connection. We used AOL and paid for the unlimited use per month package. I think high-speed was newly out then and absolutely way too expensive for us.

A few years later when we lived outside of town on three acres we couldn't get DSL because there weren't any lines that far out. We could have gotten high-speed satellite service, but again too expensive. We kept our AOL.

Two years ago after we had bought our house in town we started using DSL and then cable, but we still had our AOL account being auto paid by the credit card. The account had always been in DH's name and every few months I'd ask him to find out if we could cancel or downgrade our package. For several reasons we need and want to keep the email addresses we have so I was afraid to cancel outright without him talking to a live person. Well my DH is not so good at calling and taking care of these things so it hadn't happened until yesterday.

He was able to log on to his account and make the change with about two clicks online. And it clearly said we would be keeping our same addresses.

Yay, now I have $25/mo more to put toward savings or debt.

September is another wonderful month with five Fridays. That makes five paydays for DH!

This fifth paycheck will cover the cost of tile for the bathroom with some to spare.

I think November has a fifth Friday too. Just in time for holiday expenses.

How'd I do in March?

1. Get to the gym three times weekly?
Yes!
There were three days out of the month I didn't go to the gym when I was planning to, but I did get exercise in other ways. And I tried out a once weekly Zumba class (free w/my gym membership) this past month and I like it.

2. Apply any "extra" money from regular paychecks to debt.
Unfortunately, No.
This month we didn't bring in much extra. And any extra income covered extra expenses like the truck smog, dentist, etc..

3. Weekly budget amount for food and household and etc. spending cut to $175/week.
This was sort of a success.
We never kept spending under this number, but we were very close one week! All of our spending was on the necessities. Food, baby care, household items like laundry soap and kitty litter, etc. etc. This is pretty much my version of the "No Spend Month", which I think is more like a "Low Spend Month" or maybe call it a "More Save Month"?

For April? All of the above.
And now that MLB season has just started (last night) I think I'll borrow from Ima her idea of adding to savings when her baseball team wins. I think that is a fun idea.
so..

4. Add $2 to savings for each SF Giants win.
If they only win half their games that would be $162.

I took the truck in for its smog test yesterday afternoon. I ended up taking it to the lesser expensive place 20 miles away. It cost $53 there vs. $70 at a place here in our town. The inspection took all of 5-8 minutes. And it is pretty much just a visual inspection. Thanks State of California!

I bought a few gallons of diesel, just a few at $4.49/gal!! Yeah that's right, no typo. Our truck won't be getting much use for awhile.

I paid $3.82/gal for gas at Costco on Thursday. $71 to fill up the Pathfinder for the week. We're now over our fuel budget for the month. Lovely.

Last night I booked our 'tent' in Yosemite for May. $120. Was looking at the website and planning a few trails we'll go hiking on. I wonder how much snow might still be there when we go.

I went to the grocery store this morning. DH made me a list. On top of that there were several items I saw that I couldn't pass up. One was 12pk Pepsi products buy 2 get 3 free, that will last us months as we rarely drink soda, also my fav rice was on sale ending today among other food stuff. Anyhow I spent $202 at the store.
Budget for this week is shot.
I am justifying this weeks' spending to myself because next week we'll need very little, maybe nothing.

I cleaned the chicken coop out when I got home. Taking advantage of a dry day. No rain (yet) today, but grey clouds and a chilly breeze.

Working on laundry and next up while I'm on the computer is April's budget.

Later DD, DH and I plan on making the little chocolate cakes with hot chocolate sauce in the middle tonight for dessert. It's a recipe DD made at school. I hope it turns out well because I love them whenever we have them at restaurants. I'll post the recipe if they turn out well.

Still raining here in NorCal. I think this is like the 22nd day of rain for this month.

I need to get the truck in for its smog check. I have been putting it off all week. I just don't want to take the time to do it I guess. I'd rather be here catching up on everyone's posts. The registration renewal is due the 31st, so I've got to get on it. The cheapest place is 20 miles away, or I could do it in town and spend a little more to save the time of driving. The whole thing is ridiculous because the truck is a diesel and they can only do a visual inspection. It doesn't get hooked up to a computer for emission tests, or so I've been told.

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Last week we went over the weekly 'stuff' budget by $120. I know I had said before that I thought $175/wk might be a bit ambitious and a bit tight. However, even though we keep going over we have the money to pay for the overages. And having that as a target amount really does help me and DH prioritize spending. (I have walked out of Costco or the grocery store with only the things I went in for!)

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Anybody see the Mega Millions jackpot was at $312 million last night? I haven't bought any tickets. If it's still big on Tuesday I'll buy a $5 quick pick ticket. How would it feel to win a piece of that?

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I've been looking at kitchen remodel ideas and I was just watching a kitchen renovation in Sacramento on HGTV. Realistically I see us getting a new kitchen in two years or more. I like to look, plan and dream now.. All of that is free.

For Sunday dinner I have a crockpot full of carrots, potatoes and corned beef cooking right now. I will add cabbage later this afternoon. It smells heavenly, I can hardly wait.

Last night the rain was pounding and the wind was whipping. Didn't get to see the SuperMoon. (Well we saw it on the news.) DH is a volunteer fireman and last night they were called out for a tree down, then a mud slide onto the hwy, then flooding at some cottages along the river. He was gone from 1:30am to 5:00am. Then he had to go work the Home Show at 9:30am. I packed him a ton of food to take with him so he doesn't have to buy anything to eat or drink there at the show. You all know how expensive the food concessions are. Yikes!

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Friday was the beginning of the new week, budget wise. Last week we were over by $74. Even though we've been over every week, it has still really helped us spend less.

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Our truck's yearly car registration is due the end of this month. $290. Blah! And in California they've started a smog check program for diesels. SO, we get to have that done this year. $50-$60 I figure for that. I will be seeing this week.

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My trees in the backyard are blooming. In between cloud bursts this morning I took this to share.

This tree has really taken a beating this weekend in the wind and rain. I need to look up what type of tree it is. A type of Magnolia maybe??




This is our Oklahoma Peach. It just started getting its buds and blooms this week. DH really pruned it back last year. I was afraid he had killed it, but it looks like it survived.

I've been waiting for our federal refund. We already received our California refund, so I didn't think the federal would be taking so long. I just logged onto the IRS website and it said my check would be mailed tomorrow. Okay, not much more time to wait.

Today is the last day of week #2 of the new, tight, weekly budget. I had to pick up two items at Costco, which turned into three items . They had a two pound pack of chicken breast lunch meat for $5.89 that I couldn't pass up. I spent $42 total. As long as we don't spend anymore today, we will finish the week only $22 over budget. I am very pleased with that.

Bought gas at Costco today too. $3.81/gal. Total to fill up - $67. Ugh...

I have a few goals I have started working on this past month and am starting to think about March now.

1. Get to the gym three times weekly.
I started doing this and so far I'm on track. Yay! I go by myself Tuesday morning and with the family on Thursday evening and Sunday mornings. DH and I discussed trying this for a month or two and if I didn't use the gym enough to make it worth while we would cancel the family membership and downgrade to just an individual membership for DH. He plays racquetball two to three times per week. We've cut back to the individual membership before when I knew I wouldn't be using it or we really need to cut back. My DH needs to workout for his mental health even more so than physical health...that said our gym membership costs less than visiting the marriage counselor. hehe I will always make his membership more of a need. Mine is more a nice perk. I like being able to work out at the gym, although I know I could still get exercise other ways. The gym makes me more "accountable" I guess and I get nice results when I go regularly.

2. Apply any "extra" money from regular paychecks to debt. (Then it'll be savings - Can't wait!)
This is when the paycheck is more than the amount I've budgeted for. Example: DH's budgeted paycheck is $800/wk. When his paycheck is more, say $870, I used to just put that in the checking account for more spending. Now I will apply the $70 to the debt. This is DH's idea. He has wanted me to do this for awhile, but I was reluctant to "cut ourselves too short." Now I see I was only enabling our spending by looking at that as EXTRA $ and thus spending it like EXTRA $.

3. Weekly budget amount for food and household and etc. spending cut to $175/week.
I am thinking it will be easier for us to monitor our spending if we break it down weekly vs. monthly. And inspired by ThriftORama, I just lumped all of that together, instead of trying to track grocery, dining out, household, gifts, etc in different categories. So I've combined and then cut back. Yesterday was the first day of the first week of this new approach. Wish us luck!

I did something last week I never thought I'd do, or rather what I wished I could do, but was never able.. I paid for my whole year of auto insurance! $660. I used money from the EF. I will still keep $120/mo. in my budget for the insurance and pay back the EF and then put the rest to the New Car Account. By paying all at once I am saving the $7/mo installment/billing fee or their $3/mo auto bank transfer fee (which I never used, maybe once?). An additional $36-$84/year savings. Yay!

I want to say thanks to all of you for your great ideas and inspirations. It has helped me look at my money (income and debt) differently. Last year I would have probably spent the money I used to fund my EF. Not on crap, but food or bills or a trip. Now I was able to pay my insurance bill and save the costs from the billing fees. Then to top it off I get to blog to you all about it because I know you'll be excited like I am. Thanks!

I have been so busy working and running around trying to get Christmas things done. Tree, outdoor lights, Christmas cards, shopping, wrapping, etc.. I had been meaning to make a posting titled "Runaway $$ Train" because of all the cash that's flying out the station here. But I couldn't get enough time on the computer until today. I wasn't feeling very well - sore throat, headache and DS has a runny nose and cough. So he and I have been snuggled up most of the day just resting.

I never had a chance to put a December budget together and am reduced to marking off which bills have been paid on a "To Do" list. Part of the problem is I haven't gotten any document or spreadsheet software for the laptop yet. My FIL has the Microsoft disks and we meant to bring them home after Thanksgiving and totally forgot them. He is going to bring them to our house for Christmas. If that doesn't work out I am going to try Open Office suggested to me by Monkey Mama. I'll just muddle thru the rest of the year, all two weeks of it , and start fresh January.

That's the other thing: We're hosting Christmas at our house this year. DH's idea. Hey, I would rather go to our parent's houses where they get to take on the cooking and cleaning!

My BFF came for a visit this past weekend. It was so great! She hadn't seen our house yet. It had been so long since her last visit (maybe three years?) She and I went to San Francisco Saturday evening for a show. We stopped for a nightcap and once we got back home we stayed up until 3am talking. The tickets to the show were a Christmas present to me from DH.

Baby is up, gotta go..
I'll leave you with a picture of him and Santa.

Driving home this afternoon DD was looking at the newspaper insert ads. I think it was a JC Penney or Kohls ad when she said, "Look at these cute shoes mama." They were cute little pink plaid ballet flats. But, uh, $28!! Not for my nine year old who wears holes in her shoes before she even outgrows them! (If they were everyday shoes - okay, I'd buy them.)

I said, "Honey, wow, those shoes are kinda pricey."

"But mama, look the regular price is $39."

Ahh, a "teachable moment"...

"Well sweetie, that's how the stores get you to buy something like that. They make you think you're getting a good deal. Sometimes you are. But not on those shoes." I said.

She thought about that and was like, "Okay, maybe we can find some like these for a lot less, then we could buy them."

"Maybe." (universal parent answer. )

She does need a new backpack and lunch sack for school. I usually wait until fall, Oct/Nov, to buy clothes and new shoes. So far she has always been fine with wearing "old" clothes to the start of school. Sure hope that doesn't change anytime soon.

Gosh, she'll be back to school on August 18th! Fourth grade! *WOW*

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Today baby DS is three months old. I will have to take/post a picture soon. Such a cutie!

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Grocery shopping yesterday. $108. Dinners for the next week easy, plus milk, bread and cereal. Tonight it's Sloppy Joes, broccoli, and homemade fried french fries. Yum!

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Overspent last month *sigh* Over budget by $900. Money I would have LOVED to put toward bills or savings. My excuse - long month and we did a lot and had several one time/occasional expenses (car registration, medical/dental etc..)
This month it'll be childcare and increased fuel usage.

Crunching numbers now.

Arrg.. the website logged me off/kicked me out. Made me lose most of this post so now I've re-typed. I MUST remember to highlight and copy before I click the publish button!

Our water bill came yesterday. Our city is now billing once monthly instead of every other month. The good thing is they finally adjusted our sewer usage down to "Winter Average". That saves because the sewer charges are $7.04 per hundred cubic feet (hcf=748 gallons). Tier one water charges are $2.83 per hcf and go up from there. Then you have base service charges on both water and sewer.
Our bill $74. I am going to start having this bill automatically charged to the cc each month.
In regards to the water bill it seems that our new washer is saving lots of water and that means it's saving me lots of money both in and out (sewer). I'll post once I calculate. But even if it uses one hcf less per month that saves $10.
Recent payments:
Payment to Sears card $75. Much less than I had budgeted for, but spent in other areas. I'll do a second payment if I have a little extra at the end of the month.
PG&E $143.
Home phone/cell phones/DSL $156.
Cable $85.
Garbage/Recycle/Yard Waste $44 (three months)

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My ROTH is down $14. Not bad with the market jumping around right now. I need to check DH's, but he has forgotten his username and will need to call.

Most months I have a budget on a spreadsheet/budget template on the computer. I update as we spend and pay bills. (So like every other day! ) But up until last night DH had never looked at it. I'd just tell him, "We've xx amount set aside for this." Or, "It'll have to be a cheap dinner out. We have already spent our eating out amount." Etc.Etc.. This past weekend I typed my financial goals (like what I have in the sidebar) on a Word document and stored it on the desktop. I showed DH the "GOAL$" document and where to find the budget folder. I want him to look for himself.
Last night he was looking it over and was commenting on how he didn't realize this, and, wow - we spend that much on that?
Good!
Eye opening for him to SEE what I see daily. He doesn't have to take my word for it anymore. Always has, but I've seen the skeptical gleam in his eye when I say we don't have money for "it". In his parent's marriage there is a lot of money hiding. Like a cc and loan his mom has that his dad knows nothing about. I think that creates a lot of distrust. So this is good for me and I know he appreciates the full disclosure.

Changed the coverage on our two vehicles. F-250 diesel truck and Pathfinder. Will be saving about $55 per month. Might be a little more, I'll know when I get my declaration page and billing statement.