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Home > Archive: March, 2015

Archive for March, 2015

Today's To Dos

March 30th, 2015 at 12:51 am

Today, I did accomplish some things, but also was pretty lazy. Just tired all day long for some reason.

I finished my 3rd load of laundry and folded them all. Just need to put them away after watching the Walking Dead tonight!

I accomplished:

-Fold Laundry
-Do last load of laundry
-Fold that last load
-Refill weekly pill bag (have to time meds, so I prep for the week instead of carrying multiple bottles everywhere).
-Prep Food for week
-Run dishwasher
-Meal plan
-List items for sale on multiple sites
-Do Bing
-Clear Personal email
-Package up item to return to Amazon
-Fill reusable water bottles for grab & go during the week
-Balance checkbook
-Order present for friend's daughter's 1st Birthday. Spent $10.99 (Done for her)
-Order an early bday present (Melissa & Doug Furry Bowling Set) for almost 2 year old niece $21.91 (Done for her)
-Clean wedding band/engagement ring

Small Oopsie/Spending

March 29th, 2015 at 11:43 pm

So I purchased some great deals on maternity clothes recently, bought some much needed vitamins and then got an overpriced (not realized until after) hair cut & color.

Unfortunately, I JUST depleted some of my personal sinking funds to the credit card because I was so focused and ambitious that I did not plan accordingly.

So the funds for clothes and hair were nil and I now I have to 'reimburse' myself for those expenses. LOL

I got way ahead of myself on putting so much extra to the credit card.

In an effort to come up with some of the funds without detracting from any future credit card snowball payments, I am attempting to find the funds elsewhere.

So today, I put up several items on Craigslist and cross posted them on 2 different facebook sales sites. Hopefully I will get some bites!

Mens Tungsten Ring - $200
Basket - $5
Jacket - $10
Twin Blanket - $5
Armchair (inherited and not used recently) - $50
Moon Chair/Folding Papasan Chair - $25
Cordless Vacuum - $5
Linksys Router - $10
Christmas decoration - $15

I have some BIG furniture to do as well. However, that needs to be moved into place for the pictures and my hubs has to do that. So hopefully that will occur later this week!

Maternity Shopping

March 28th, 2015 at 01:22 pm

I have been lucky to hit 19 weeks with no need for maternity clothes. However, I know that time is coming.

After finding no luck at the thrift stores, I noticed Old Navy had a sale going on.

I truly need some maternity pants, some dresses and for the most part, the tops are not too necessary.

I ordered a few tank tops that can be used afterwards with my non-pregnancy body.

I ordered a few summer cardigans that can be used after pregnancy as well.

I ordered 2 maternity dresses. I already have some other wrap dresses that will fit on my maternity body without stretching the material.

Additionally, I ordered 2 pairs of jeans. One will be returned after I try them on (ordered 2 different sizes).

Essentially, I will just need some pregnancy yoga pants and some summer shorts after all of this is over. Woot.

Last Credit Card Payoff Push!

March 24th, 2015 at 03:38 pm

I mentioned before that I only have 1 credit card to payoff and am pushing VERY hard to have it done by August when the baby is due.

After the last large payment, the balance was down to $8175.47.

In the meantime, I revamped the budget a little to have $1188 to pay towards the card each month.

The Gas bill came in under budget, so I am putting $12.37 to the card.

I have extra funds in some of my sinking funds, so I am putting $341.83 to the card.

This leaves a balance of $7821.27.

I have 8 hours of OT that will come in the next paycheck. That will go to the card. With $1188/mo abd with $900 for an additional paycheck in May, I will still have $1929.27 to go. I can do this!

Gestational Diabetes - good for the budget

March 23rd, 2015 at 02:29 pm

Early in the pregnancy, I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. This resulted in having to purchase a Glucose meter, strips, etc. through insurance. Luckily, it wasn't very costly.

Since then, I am on a strict diet where I need to eat very specific amounts of carbs and protein in a breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner.

Initially, it was hard to figure out, but now my husband and I have it down. I am doing very well with it. There was an initial outlay on specific snacks for eating on the go and we utilized BJs to bulk up on our stock. However, we did manage to stay withing our grocery budget.

I notice that for convenience, I am packing more. The work cafe has some friendly foods, but I am tempted with the non-diet friendly foods. So staying out of there is beneficial!

So my old school Lunch Challenges are coming back into effect. Even though today is 3/23, my goal is to pack breakfast lunch & 2 snacks per day for the next 5 of the 6 working days. I will be eating lunch out one day for a team outting. I *think* it will be paid for though. So free is good!

Planned Friday's Payday! (bonus in check)

March 19th, 2015 at 01:27 am

With Friday's payday, I will be able to accomplish quite a few things.

-Bringing my Efund to over 1k (have separate savings, but this is the true baby Efund)
-Paying off Car Loan
-Paying off a Credit card
-Paying $354.88 to the last credit card!

The New balance on the last cc will be $8718.89 after that payment. I will also be putting $43 to it from leftover fun money.

After that, I plan on putting $1168/month towards the Card.

I REALLY want to have it paid off by the time the baby comes. After those payments, plus about $900 extra from an extra paycheck in May, I will still be $3103.89 short of that goal.

I am waiting for the approval for a new position to be created on my team. Once that happens, I will officially move into the new role, which comes with a new salary. However, I will not count that chicken before it hatches. If the money comes, it goes straight to this cc.

So my new goal is to get creative and find the money to pay off that debt before August, when the baby is set to come. Wish me luck!!

Busy & Frugal Day!

March 17th, 2015 at 12:55 am

Finally feeling better all around. Morning sickness has abated and the NASTY sinus and bronchial infection I had last week is finally gone.

Today, I had energy. So after work, I ran some errands.

-Stopped home (5 mins from work) and picked up a box to return to Amazon
-Stopped at dollar store to buy packing tape for the package
-Returned the package to UPS. I am returning a pillow to help with the acid reflux I have been getting. I didn't like it, so returned it to Amazon. I am getting a refund of $22.xx
-Returned a staple gun to Lowes - $12.98 back. I also picked up paint swatches for the baby's room.
-Stopped at Target for my free baby registry gift. They were out, so I will have to go back.
-Returned griddle to Bed Bath & Beyond. It was a gift, so got $49.99 in store credit.
-Cashed in change jar at a coin star. I used the Amazon.com option because there is no charge and I buy some grocery/household items there routinely. I will use that and take the funds out of the grocery budget to be able to put cash into the Gifts Fund. $58.20
-Met up a Facebook sale of a board game. Made $5.00
-Thought about getting take-out, but skipped it. Hubs had leftovers at home & I made a salad.
-Packed food for work tomorrow
-We received a free Baby Box from Amazon. It had a bunch of goodies!
- Gerber Life Cereal
- Gerber Good Start
- Playtex bottle
- breastfeeding pads
- Samples of burts bees lotion and creams
- shampoo/conditioner samples
- Aquafor sample
- a binky
- Gerber Organic Fruit/Veggie
- water wipes
- baby lotion sample

Yay for frugal & for Freebies!

We are taking a labor/delivery first time parents class $140 and a Happy Baby class (soothing, sleep training ect) $65. I been paying us back the $205 little by little. $75 from baby savings, $12.98 from the Lowes, etc. So I am happy with the returns!

The BB&B return of $49.99 will actually go towards another place setting. We have 9 sets from the wedding and I want to get to an even 10. With coupons, that amount will definitely cover the purchase!

Progress!

March 13th, 2015 at 12:02 am

Put together some #s to share:

Total Debt Paid in 2014: $13,372.03
Total Wedding Cashflowed: $11,000
Total House Repairs Cashflowed: $10,000

TOTAL Money Change in 2014: $34,372.03!!!


Total Debt Paid to Date in 2015: $3,545.94

Bonus and Money Goals!

March 5th, 2015 at 01:57 am

I have a bonus coming at the end of the month, which will net $5000!

I have $1135.93 left on my car loan (husband's is already paid off). We have the normal payment coming out this Friday ($230), and I am planning to pay the remaining balance ($905.93) on the 20th from the bonus.

I have 1 of 2 credit cards left with a balance of $3,845.77 that I will also pay off.

That leaves $248.30 to go to the last remaining card.

I have been offered a new role at work and it is going to come with an increase, but I am waiting on HR to make the formal offer. This should be a significant increase in pay.

With that being said, I should be able to pay off this last card prior to the baby being born, while still saving for baby expenses!

Once that is done, I want a good EFund and to put money into an IRA. Lots of ideas!

Once this debt is done, I will have over 1k a month to do with as I please - savings, IRA, whatever fun fiscally responsible plan we come up with!

DSW- good customer service!

March 3rd, 2015 at 09:36 pm

DSW had a sale on shoes & I needed some new ones for work. I purchased 2 pairs online with a $20 gift card and free shipping.

The next day, I received an email that they cancelled the order on one of the pairs due to unavailability.

They cancelled that part of the order. Then charged me $7.95 to ship the other pair since I no longer met the minimum requirement for free shipping.

I called today, explained the situation and the rep was able to just credit the $7.95 for the shipping. Woot.

6 Months of Debt Paydown!

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:03 am

We had those 2 major home repairs (10k+) mid-to-late 2014 and I have been seriously tackling them! I wanted to share my paydown!

9/1 $22,596.90
9/19 $21,926.55
9/29 $21,846.10
10/3 $21,384.71
10/16 $20,731.08
10/20 $20,657.08
10/20 $20,575.08
10/30 $20,500.08
10/31 $19,471.11
11/14 $18,624.11
15-Nov $18,627.06
28-Nov $18,007.06
1-Dec $17,790.06
12-Dec $16,780.06
26-Dec $16,107.06
3-Jan $16,043.12
9-Jan $15,700.12
22-Jan $15,624.12
29-Jan $15,064.02
6-Feb $14,749.12
10-Feb $13,451.12
20-Feb $12,919.12