Well, we've had more "surprises" to the tune of $390 so far this pay period. I went to check our balance online to make sure we'd have enough to cover bills (I figured we'd be within a few dollars once everything went through). I saw our balance was $265.43, but our available balance was only $65.07! I started to flip out because we had pending medical bills at $135 and $24. It took me a minute to realize that our available balance was only $65.07, because the bank was already taking the pending medical bills into account. Whew. I had started to cry and kind of flip out before I realized that though.

So, after those pending things go through, I'll have $65.07, but still have a $54 student loan payment. I expect to only have $9 for the rest of the pay period which won't cover gas SO, I transferred the last of the money from our Freedom Account to cover expenses. This kind of makes me sick to the stomach, but I guess this is the sort of thing it's there for. The fact that we're on the brink of disaster is what makes me sick to my stomach; this is one of my worst fears.

The bright side? I have been hording any cash I find around the house ($7 in my winter coat that I forgot about from last winter!) and have enough to cover any additional food we'll need. It'll be tight though.

Since we don't have family in the area, we'll make Thanksgiving really low key and inexpensive. I'll make the stuffing, sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie that are our Thanksgiving staples. I'll buy some turkey slices from the deli and that'll be that. I have most of the things needed for the stuffing and casserole so this is good. We'll probably do the same for Christmas dinner.

Oh, I also had someone contact me about something I used to sell online (website still up, but says "out of stock") to see if I had any in stock. I do still have some inventory, told her what I had and that I'd discount it. She's ordered several things and so that's another $20 coming our way. What a blessing that is.

I just need to keep focused on the blessings and that these "surprises" will have to end at some point.

Well, I got some good news today and figured I should share since I my last two entries have not been that upbeat.

When we moved halfway across the country a year ago we decided to sell our townhouse and rent an apartment for at least two years. We signed a 14 month lease last November in hopes that when we renewed our lease or bought a house, January would bring better prices due to being during the slow time. Well, we just got our renewal offer letter today and our rent is GOING DOWN by $50/month! How exciting; I NEVER expected that!!

They had accidentally put us in the computer as a 12 month lease so I got a renewal offer letter two months ago too (until I showed them my lease and they fixed it) and they were offering a 12 month lease for $875 then, so I guess our plan worked! We will now be paying $800/month starting in January, so we just saved ourselves $900 in rent next year! Yippee! And that includes our basic cable, can't beat that.

Honestly, I don't know if it was our "good planning" or the tanking economy I have to thank for this little surprise, but I'll take it either way. The new budget I just wrote out last night will now have to be redone (I'd figured $875 for rent.), but I will do it happily.

I hope y'all get some fun, unexpected news soon too!

I was just cleaning out my wallet and found a Visa gift card that I had forgotten I had. I thought there was still some money on it and I was right. I have $9.70 left, yeah! That'll cover two of the magazine subscriptions that I want to give as Christmas gifts. I'm going to order them now.

I like giving magazine subscriptions because they give all year. I am giving these friends the Family Fun Magazine so it's more like a gift for the family. It's a great magazine and very reasonable. I think it's usually about $5/year, but if you go to http://www.magazinepricesearch.com/index.html, you can get it for $3.55/year. They have great prices on other magazines too that change each day. I always check there first. Last year I gave all the nieces & nephews a children's magazine subscription; they all LOVED it (they got mail and they were about animals, Thomas the Train, etc.) and I didn't spend more than $12 or $13 each. I have also renewed my husband's ESPN subscription, which is the only magazine he asks for, for $4.94! ESPN was wanting $26 to renew. I just ordered Parents magazine for $5 about a month ago.

Just a heads up, if you want to do this for Christmas, now would be a good time to order since it usually takes 8-12 weeks for the subscription to start. It takes a little while because you'll be going through a third party. Also, keep your receipts! I have ordered about 7 or 8 subscriptions so far and had one that never came, not sure what happened there. Anyway, enjoy!

First the good news: a few posts ago I asked what y'all were all selling on eBay as I'd seen several mention this. Most of the comments mentioned just selling things around the house. When we moved about a year ago we downsized and did a TON of purging so I hadn't been thinking we've have much left to sell. However, after deciding to stay in the apartment another 1-2 years, I decided to reevaluate everything in storage with that in mind and have listed several things on Craigslist. Well, I just got my first call (hopefully, the first of several) and on the biggest ticket item! We are set to meet tomorrow at lunch and I should get $50 (for a power washer). Keep your fingers crossed that it'll all work out!

The bad news: My husband got a speeding ticket the other day. We don't know the amount yet, but it really stinks, especially since he was set to have another ticket drop off his record in the next several months that would have reduced our car insurance even further. Aargh!

Yeah! I just made my third CafePress.com sale today. I make $2.00 commission on each item sold so that's $6.00 this week. That pretty much covers my monthly hosting with them so any other sales this month will be profit. I love it!

UPDATE: It's been 3 hours since I first posted this and I just got another email alert that I made another sale! It's a $4.00 commission this time; yeah!

Well, this is how we've used our bonus so far...

1. Paid off our overdraft - $2500 (we can now check off that goal!)
2. Paid off Chase - $269
3. Paid off Target - $242
4. Extra payment to Bank of America 1 - $1000
5. Charitable contribution

Out of our paycheck we made the following payments...

1. Citicard - $40 (minimum + $10)
2. Bank of America #3 - $65 (0%, minimum + $20)

I still have a cushion in the budget of about $500 which I'll put towards credit cards and savings if it's still available at the end of the pay period. We have a few car issues to find out about before I use it for debt payments, I really don't want to overdraft again.

Today is a happy day!

Well, we got the bonus check yesterday and had originally budgeted for $3,000 after taxes (we were trying to be conservative). We found on last Friday that we'd get more than last year so I again figured conservatively that after taxes, we'd see $4,375 or there about. I was completely off and we got a check for $5,300! Yeah! So, although we had unexpected expenses these last couple of months that has caused us to overdraft, we will be able to pay that off as well as pay much of the other debt we'd hoped to pay off with the $3,000 bonus. That's exciting! We've deposited the check and are now just waiting for it to post....

The yucky part was that we were supposed to see my husband's raise in this paycheck, but it didn't come. His manager is looking into why we didn't get it and I'm sure we'll get that back pay, but I am excited to see that so I can make sure that my new tentative budget will be correct.

I still have family in visiting so I will have to wait until this weekend or next week to do our September monthly overview, but it should be a fun one to do since we're paying off some debt.

We just got an extra $150 check in the mail (from my husband's freelance work). I just deposited it today to cushion our account more this pay period since we've have more surprises this pay period. I hate "surprises".

I just changed our 401k contribution to 6% of my husband's salary (that's the max. his company will match) so that it will go into effect on this next paycheck. We expect this paycheck to be the first to show his raise and want this to already be in place, that way we'll still see an increase in our take home, but we won't see it all, which is probably good.

I just got my CafePress.com check in the mail, $40.15. That will be deposited tomorrow and will help cover the things I have gotten for my toddler son. I just visited the back-to-school sales last night to get crayons, shapes/colors bingo, alphabet bingo, markers, paint, etc. The rest will add a little more cushion to this pay period.

Here's our current status for August; not the best. We had a few unexpected expenses that threw off our budget and left us with about $1500 more debt. Luckily yesterday we got our homeowner's insurance refund check in the mail and I have sent a third payment to Target this month ($165) and an extra $100 payment to overdraft.

I'm also bummed to see that my husband's 401k lost approximately $257 this month. I know this is one area that I need to learn more about; I sure don't like to see it going down!

Current Debt: August 2008

Student Loan #1
% V, Outstanding: $2,435

Student Loan #2
4.3% V, Outstanding: $1,575

Bank of America
10.24% V, Outstanding: $10,390

Bank of America
9.90% V, Outstanding: $10,211

Bank of America
0% to 03/2009, Outstanding: $4,635

Chase
15.43% V, Outstanding: $261

Chase
10.99%, Outstanding: $10

Citi
0% to 07/2009, Outstanding: $2,060

Target
22%, Outstanding: $445

Overdraft
18.00% V, Outstanding: $1,365

401K
Loan 1, Outstanding: $937 (Pay off 07/31/2009)
Loan 2, Outstanding: $4,233 (Pay off 07/16/2011)

Car Loan
9.90%, Outstanding: $15,944



DEBT TOTALS
Credit cards & Overdraft: $29,377
Student Loans: $4,010
401K Loans: $5,170
Car Loan: $15,944


THE BIG DEBT TOTAL: $54,501

Total Savings: $0
Total Retirement: $46,750

Well, we finally got word of the raise and it'll add a good $10k to my husband's salary. This is going to make a BIG difference in our debt repayment plan. I'm so excited! We talked today about funding his 401k up to the match (6%), putting $100/month in savings and then putting the rest of the raise completely to debt. We also talked about not changing our lifestyle expectations with the raise so we're on the same page. This is so exciting and such a relief. They'll officially announce his promotion to the department on Wednesday. His yearly bonus is due to come on Sept. 15th and we find out tomorrow if it'll be based on his old or new salary. (Keeping our fingers crossed that it'll be based on the new salary!)

So...here's a breakdown of the new anticipated budget. I expect to see $2550 each pay period (bi-monthly) after taxes and other deductions. I think it'll start on August 31st.

BUDGET

$5100 take home

$850 rent
$40 water
$80 charitable offering
$300 food
$334 car payment
$300 gas
$100 fun money (the money we don't have to be held accountable for, $50 each)
$40 haircuts (we'll rotate in getting this, I need to learn to cut my husband's hair and save a bundle!)
$150 car insurance
$70 student loan #1 payment
$54 student loan #2 payment
$55 cable/internet
$120 cell phones (no home phone)
$200 electric
$515 tithing (charitable offering)
$100 cushion/misc.
$100 savings
$1692 DEBT REPAYMENT ($538 in minimums)

I don't have any special accounts or withholdings to pay for special things when they come up (such as car registration, etc.) but expect to use the cushion or take it from the extra debt money when they come due.

It feels like whenever we get ahead a little bit on our debtload, we accumulate more. Thankfully, it is not usually quite as much as what was paid off, but it's still so frustrating! We have my husband's bonus coming up in September and I had hoped to have no overdraft or any new debts that would claim the bonus so it could all go to credit cards, but in August alone we have accumulated about $1500 in new debt. Although we expect the bonus to be quite a bit more than this, it's still incredibly frustrating.

Looking at what we owed in Dec. 2007 (in terms of credit cards only) we were at $33,472. In May 2008, we were at $28,757. Now in August we are at about $29,622! It just seems we always take two steps forward and one step back; I just wish we could keep going forward.

I guess I have to look at the bright side and see that we DO owe less than we did in December and just not think of all the money that we've paid, but has been canceled out due to new debt.

On a good note, we have had some good news on unexpected money coming our way. My husband has done some freelance work and has a check in the mail (not sure how much). I have a check coming from CafePress (about $40) AND we have a homeowner's insurance policy refund check ($492) coming in the mail. Here's to hoping no more debt will creep in so we can put all of this and the bonus to our current load. Oh, best news of all is my husband is getting a promotion...they will probably be negotiating the new salary tomorrow, wish us luck!