Well it's that time of month again (already?!?!?!) that I sit down and try to hammer out what we will have for the next month to eat. I just cleaned out our outside freezer so I think that just about everything in there should be good.....like think things we will eat. LOL There was a lot just hanging around that I am not sure where it came from and was taking up valuable real estate. This is the second month that I have had to do this where I have had morning sickness and absolutely nothing
Ok, I understand that in the grand "scheme" of things that this isn't huge. But, it kinda is......well when you add it up with all the other things that these people have done over the course of the last year.
And no, they aren't horrible tenants. But they are not good tenants either. DH says that I don't look at this as a business opportunity. I am taking it personally. And I probably am..........but sometimes it's hard not to, kwim?
First off, these people pay us late. Like almo
I just can't seem to motivate myself today to do the things that I should (think cleaning my house).
So I sat down and decided to play with my spreadsheets....Sometimes these things are the bane of my existence. I mean I can waste hours sitting there trying to predict everything just right, knowing that it will change. I have things that aren't built into our budget but I know we will cash flow. So that means change. Taxes change, bonuses come and go. You get the picture.
Yet someho
I don't know if anyone noticed but I haven't been around a ton......well, ok I was but in a sneaky, just checking in once a week or so way.
We are still making progress but it is slow........and coming here was stealing my focus from my homelife. I was starting to feel like the progress we were making wasn't good enough. And headed to a bad place in my head. So I had to take a break.
But darn if you people aren't hard to stay away from. So I am going to try and keep this in check.
So I just wanted to jot down some of the goals that I have for the upcoming year...........I don't like calling them resolutions since that makes me think that if I mess up, the game is up. Let's just call them things I want to improve in my life.
Losing some weight..........at 5'3" and 180, I am obviously overweight. I have been heavier ever since getting out of high school so this has been a struggle for some time. Also, adding to the fact that we are trying to get pregnant and that kin
So we are at the end of another month (and year for that matter) and I find myself staring at my blank board wondering what in the world I am going to make for the next five weeks. Here we go.......
30-Rotisseire chicken, stuffing, veggie
31-Pizza
1-Chicken noodle soup, homemade biscuits
2-Repeat
3-Shrimp dish, angel hair pasta, veggie
4-Shepherd's Pie
5-Repeat
6-Meatball Sandwiches
7-Breakfast dinner
8-Pasta Bake
9-Repeat
10-Crispy Cheddar Chicken, noodles, veggie
11-Ribs,chees
DH got the news that he is recieving his year end bonus.....and it will be $1k more than last year. This is great news for us. Now to just find out if he is able to sell back some of his vacation. That will make a ton of progress for us. I can't wait!
Well, it's another month and another day of struggle trying to get this thing thrown together. I feel like this month's meals are really meat heavy. I might cut a few of them if leftovers become overwhelming.
2-Rotisserie Chicken, red potatoes, veg
3-leftover chicken, potatoes, veg
4-Cresent Dogs, fries, veg
5-pasta bake, garlic bread(or french bread)
6-pasta bake, bread
7-Grilled Chicken salad
8-Hamburger helper
9-slow cooker chicken and rice
10-breakfast dinner
11-Ribs, apple sa
Even though it's the 5th thought I would get this listed out somewhere in case something (or someone)happens to my dry erase board.
4-Cresent dogs, fries, green beans
5-Crockpot chicken cordon blue, chicken rice, green beans
6-Slow cooker meatball sandwiches, fruit
7-Chicken noodle soup, biscuits
8-Leftover soup, biscuits
9-Pizza
10- Meatloaf, mashed taters, corn
11-Slow cooker chicken and rice
12-Breakfast dinner
13-Pork tenderloin, veggie, side
14-Crispy cheddar chicken, noodles,
We have probably 4 purchases that we just really have decided that we can't put off until spring or when the PMI goal is met. And they definitly can't wait til we are debt free. So, we are once again flaking these so that we can then move back to throwing everything at the PMI. I just wanted to keep a running total here to be accountable and know what was what.
October snowflakes= $274.32
Picked up infrared heater for the boys room -$148.25
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About good intentions?
Well, we were supposed to be flaking and working on getting our PMI paid off up to 22% so we can drop it. We really do not want to spend more than $1k to do it (which would be a little over 14 months). Of course we would like to do it as quickly as possible because the longer it takes, the more money every month I am paying for nothing. So we decided to put our wants/needs list on hold and throw everything at it.
All well and good.....until. SIGH Hate when tha
So I had to actually do 5 weeks worth since the first falls in the middle of the month.......Here we go!
30-Meatloaf, mashed taters, veggie
1-Grilled chicken, noodles, veggie
2-Pork ribs, apple salad
3-Baked Potatoes
4-Pizza
5-Out for the zoo
6-Slow cooker chicken and rice
7-Grilled Pork chops, stuffing, veggie
8-Cresent Dogs, fries, veggie
9-Pasta Bake
10-Pasta Bake
11-Chicken Noodle Soup, biscuits
12-Chicken Noodle Soup, biscuits
13-Turkey Burgers, fries, veggie
14-Crockpot L
We actually sat down and looked over the budget although DH was not as involved as I would have liked him to be.......gotta make him turn off the TV next time. LOL
Here it is, I know there is some fat on it but I also know that sometimes if we cut to the bone, I have a tendancy to give up in the middle.
Income-$4307
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Entertainment-$81 (this is high this month due to a zoo membership)
SLs-$182
Snowball-$1255
Donations-$20
Tithe-$80
Mortgage-$1028
Because who doesn't love an update!
Well, I guess if it is a good update that is. LOL
We are at almost 16% for our goal and after the beginning of next month we will be at over 20% so 1/5 of the way there. I think that we can manage to have the whole thing paid off by April of next year which would put us at 10 months for over $25k. Not too shabby. As long as everything goes according to my plan...wahahahahaha.
We have also talked and looked over the wants list that I posted i
So DH and I sat down a few days ago and started making out our lists of wants (with a few minor needs thrown in for good measure).
I thought I would list them out here and then see how we do with them and how long they last......also thought that I might list out if I was able to get some good deals or not. These things will be paid for all with snowflakes with one exception. We refinanced the house that is now a rental and didn't have to make a payment in August. Since I had budgeted for
We have been at this for 2 1/2 years and while we have made progress I feel like it isn't enough. I am not a patient person and we are a single income family. We started off with around $70k in debt, I think and we still have around $48k. But we have bought a house, bought a mini van, had a baby, replaced a well and water softener, and paid off the difference in the debt. Me not contributing financially is hard on me. That being said.......I would love to just power through and get this don
With less than two weeks from turning 1, my little girl broke through another tooth today. I will be glad when she has a full set to flash at me but those little baby grins with only the bottom two are priceless also!
That is all.
So, we were waiting on our renters to pay us for the rent for August. Talk about gut-wrenching!
It was go out to the mailbox, nope, not there. Wait for the next day, nope, not there.
Then around the 6th she writes and tells us there has been a miscalculation and that they would pay us half now and half in two weeks. My DH wrote back and told her no, we do not accept late rent. So she did pay us half and said she would have the rest by the 10th and that Sept's would be on time.
S
I had to come up with 34 days worth of meals and I feel like we have been eating in a rut. But I also have some picky eaters here so it is hard sometimes to come up with things. Here is what I came up with.
29-Tacos and rice
30-Grilled chicken, rice and veggie
31-Pork roast
1-Cheeseburger wrap
2-Breakfast dinner
3-Chicken Noodle Soup
4-Chicken Noodle Soup
5-Rotissiere Chicken
6-Leftovers
7-Pasta Bake
8-Leftovers
9-Slow cooker chicken and rice
10-Pizza
11- Hot Dogs, fries, vegg
I am taking a cue from Zaga and setting some clear goals for us in the second half of 2012 so we don't just wander around aimlessly.
Goal #1- Get moved into the new house on Thursday with as small amount of stress as possible.
Obviously, we made it here! There was a little more stress than I was expecting (since Murphy thought he would help) but that seems to have died down some. We had renters move into the house on the 15th, so now we sit back and wait.
Goal #2-Get unpacked (and thi
Just being very impatient with everything lately and I hate when I get like this.
Wanting the month to be over so that we can throw our snowball at the PMI on our mortgage. I know that it will get here but I want to do it now. I really need to follow up with the mortgage company and see if I can make an additional payment. I guess when we get paid next (which would be this Friday) I could just pay the mortgage then instead of waiting until the end of the month.
My unpacking is not goi
We have renters!
I went over today at 11 to meet with the girl and I handed her my keys and she handed me a check.
So why does part of me feel sad? I just kept telling myself that it still belongs to us. They are just going to live there for a while. And it's not like we don't like the new house. I love it! But sad just the same.
Oh well, now the fun of being a landlord begins. I am hoping we don't have any major problems but we are ready if we do.
I am so excited! After only paying minimums on our debts since Dec of 2010, we are finally, thankfully, going to start getting somewhere.
Granted our first order of business is now to pay down on the new house that we bought so we can get out of the PMI as quickly as we can. But I am confident that we can get out of that in a year (or less if we get it rented). I am determined because after that it is on to our SLs. That is something that I cannot wait for.
I borrowed $527 for a gara
I am taking a cue from Zaga and setting some clear goals for us in the second half of 2012 so we don't just wander around aimlessly.
Goal #1- Get moved into the new house on Thursday with as small amount of stress as possible.
Goal #2-Get unpacked (and this includes everything by August 1st. While this seems like a long time to some, I still had a few boxes in this house that I just came across when we moved in 7 years ago. Don't want that to happen again. It was difficult to figure
