Q and A Debt

Lately, I've been missing having girl time. I have a sister literally five minutes away but we never hang out since she always has something going on. I don't really have friends that I hang with in town. It's pretty hard to find people I have a lot in common with. I wish I was one of those people who can talk to anyone but I am not. I love hanging with Mr. Man and the kiddos, so any time spent away from them has to be worthwhile to me. Mr. Man says I should not be so selective but that is just who I am. My three close college friends live hours away so it's hard to see them. I guess budget wise it works out great since there are no dinners to be bought, drinks to be ordered or shopping days to be had. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise....lol! On a totally different front, we are gearing up for our trip. I am so excited as are the kiddos. Money is at the forefront of our minds. I'm hoping we can make it through without going nuts with what we have. It ...

So, I had mentioned in my last post that I was on the hunt for a new bag.  Initially, I only wanted to pay no more than $30 for a brand new bag.  That's a big splurge for me.  I had been looking at every store possible.  I wanted something easy to maintain and roomy but not huge.  I looked in department stores, discount stores and everywhere in between.  I did this while searching for clothes for our trip...no sense wasting a trip.  Well, today on my way home I decided to pop into a thrift store near my Mom's house and there hanging on the huge wall of handbags was a like new Tignanello handbag. I couldn't find any signs of it being used besides the absence of a price tag.  It was simple, black, cute and roomy.  I couldn't believe it.  I had just seen a Tignanello handbag at the dept. store yesterday for $150.  The bags were comparable in size but different design.  Either way I new this bag was made well and I would ...

So its tax time and while acquaintances are planning their next big purchases with their tax refund...I am planning on paying some medical debt.  I'm  actually looking forward to it and hope to not carryover any next year.  A portion of our refund is also going in our emergency fund.  The old me would have wanted to go on a spending spree and then worry about bills but I know that the only way to get where we want to be is to pay, pay, pay off our debts. I am still in the process of decluttering and find it hard at times because I thought I didn't have any attachments to stuff but I kind of do.  So half the battle is letting stuff go....thankfully I'm not talking about piles and boxes of things.  Its more like counter clutter and the kiddos old schoolwork...do we really need to keep every single vocabulary test?  On the spending front....I'm doing better on not eating out with the kids and cooking dinner at home....

Happy Friday everyone!  I have been absolutely loving the weather around here...cold and rainy. Had a dentist visit this morning and I was dreading checkout...thankfully today's charge for a cleaning/filling was $35...YAY!  This afternoon, I am going to do some major food shopping. I was inspired after reading Life After Money 's blog and a few others.  I decided to take inventory of what I have and plan/rearrange the menu for the next 7 days.  I'm hoping not to go back to the grocery store till next Friday. I want to see something in the jars at the end of the week! We'll see.  This afternoon, the kiddos and I will be grabbing some pizza and playing some games.  Kiddo 2 brought home a coupon and we'll that helped convince me because I hate paying full price at that place.  I told the Kiddos as long as they did well in school this week then that would be their reward.  They have been really great about not giving me a hard ...

Shaking the Money Tree  tagged me and it's time to answer some questions and pass on the fun. Yay...thanks so much :) So here are the rules: #1 - Post these rules. #2 - Answer the 11 questions from the person who tagged you. #3 - Create 11 new questions for the people you tag. #4 - Tag 11 people and link them to your post. #5 - Let them know that you tagged them. STMT's questions are: 1) What is one small difference you do to make money changes in your world?      Hope I'm answering this right...I make fewer trips to the store which in turn saves me money and      hopefully will help pay down my debt quicker.  2) What piece of advice would you tell 22 year old you?          My advice would be to remember to have patience! 3) What free entertainment makes you smile?      Walking along the seawall...it helps me realize what a great little city I live in :) ...

So I spoke with Mr. Man about using the money jar system.  He is sort of on board.  He said he can stay within a budget for the week (which I know he can) but he prefers to use his debit card. All that will be in the account is his allotted money for the week so it should work out fine. Next week we will start and  I'm excited but also a bit nervous about ending up with 5 empty jars! This week I have been organizing so I have set aside a few things to sell on Ebay.  Whatever money I make will go towards 1 particular credit card and medical expenses.  I will be updating my debt totals next week which I'm actually looking forward to doing!

Since my last post, I've been trying to get some more Christmas shopping done.  Since I'm quickly running out of money, I am tempted to just charge what little I can .  Luckily, I haven't given in. Considering its about 50-55 gifts I have to buy not counting the kids, I am trying to average no more than $10 per gift which is really hard when you actually put some thought into each gift.  I've been using coupons like crazy!  If I can get all remaining gifts with cash that would be amazing.

So here it is...my debt!  Every last bit of it.... Mortgage -              $92,600 Auto Loan-              $23,300 Loan -                       $6797 Credit Card A -          $8293 Credit Card B-           $4932 Credit Card C-           $1975 Credit Card D-           $1855 Credit Card E-           $1265 Credit Card F-           $1007 Credit Card G-          $1245 Credit Card H- ...