HouseHappy's Personal Finance Blog

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.

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!

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!

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!!

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!

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

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 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.

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

I sent $193 to a credit card, paying it off! Only 2 more to go

Savings/Sinking Funds Balances:

New Home Fund: $5829.92
Holidays/Gifts: $297.56
EF: $366.31
Sewer/HOA/AAA: $281.77
Home Upkeep Sinking Fund: $151.12
Jewelry Insurance Sinking Fund: $14.80
Vet Sinking Fund: $60.53
Medical Sinking Fund: $140.99
Vacation Sinking Fund: $20

Lots of things to update! First, my personal retirement accounts have totaled above $75k. $75,844.51 to be exact! My husband’s 401k is approximately $32,000. I am waiting on access to his 401k to really take a look.

Today was payday. I paid household bills – Car payment $230, Car insurance $97.10, electric/gas $133.45. Some bills aren’t due yet, but the funds are designated to pay them when ready: Water $35, trash $20, Cable

I paid off one of my last 3 credit cards ($193.07) and put an additional snowball of $121.83 to the 2nd to last credit card on the list!

My sinking funds will automatically deduct in the next few days:

-$20 Vet fund
-$10 Jewelry Insurance
-$20 Vacation Fund
-$30 Sewer/HOA
-$20 Medical
-$25 EFund
-$20 Clothing

I have also designated funds for gas $40, groceries $200, personal items $20, beauty $25, Netflix $8 and entertainment $259.11; Entertainment is high because I have rolled over extra from last month.

An update on my Sinking Funds/ Savings with Capital One 360:

New Home Fund: $5829.92
Holidays/Christmas $297.56
EF (being replenished) $366.31
Sewer/HOA/AAA: $281.77
Home Repairs $151.12
Jewelry Insurance: $14.80
Vet: $60
Medical $140.99
Auto expenses $0.04

I have free money pending that will go into my Gifts sinking fund.

- Ebates check $36.23
- TD CC Rewards: $88.05
- $5 Credit card credit from a promotion (asked for a credit balance refund on it)

Fun Note: My Car payment will be paid off in August! I am not including it in my snowball because its being paid off so soon and its 0%.

So I have alluded to being sick. Part of it was the nasty 2 week-ish bug going around everyone I know. Part is first trimester super morning sickness. I am almost 3 months along now and FINALLY starting to feel better!

So many things will be changing for us. We have plenty of medical expenses to plan for. I want to beef up the Efund. We need to do some repairs to the spare bedroom/windows prior to turning it into a nursery and we have to revamp the budget. Should be a fun ride!

We are incredibly excited. I am happy that we are probably getting some hand-me-downs from my sister. My niece just turned 1 and will be almost 2 when our baby gets here.

We told the folks by printing out tickets that look like Ticketmaster tickets with the baby info and giving them to our family members telling them we won a bunch of tickets to an event. It was super cute and free. I found a template online & my hubs printed them at work. My mom loves that she can keep the ticket as a keepsake!

I am reading blogs/articles for suggestions as what to do to prepare for the baby. So far, some suggestions have been the following. Please feel free to add yours!

-Meal plan for freezer meals to make a month before the dude date
-stock up on deals for household items/groceries to help skip last minute store runs for things like toilet paper
-stock up on deals on baby wipes & diapers

I have been sick for most of the new year. Sleeping a lot, unable to do anything but bed rest kind of sick. Its been a challenging few weeks.

My husband, the sweetheart, had to take over grocery shopping and all chores as well as waiting on me. As a result, things are very disorganized and not very clean. I leave messes when I am living on the couch. Clutter everywhere!

This weekend, I finally started perking up and I am hoping to (slowly) get back on track. I was able to do some laundry over the weekend and that was first on my To Do List today.

-Work full day
-clear personal emails
-update budget/checkbook
-update savings logs
-track medical expenses - wait for bills to come in
-update Christmas/Birthdays list & budget
-Fold and put away all laundry
-Fill reusable water bottles from brita to keep for grab & go from Fridge (helps when feeling ill)
-dinner at home
-run dishwasher
-clean off kitchen counters
-go to bed early

2014 is the first year that my husband & are filing as married. It was interesting doing the taxes. However, they are DONE and we are getting a refund. A 100% of the refund (not a big amount) is going to debt. Woot.

I am already planning how I can lower our taxes for next year :P

I am recovering from the nasty bug going around, but made it into the office today. I didn't have the energy to pack food (bad), but had plenty of entertainment spending cash to get me through the day.

I spent $8.40 on breakfast & Lunch.

I put a bunch of free books on my kindle (thanks to several freebie sites) and purchased 2 books for a total of $8.98 which was out of an amazon gift card.

I also used my new Discover It card to purchase a deal in dishwasher tabs 90 count for $11.10.

My goal in the next 3-4 months is to stock up on deals for everyday household things - toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, cleaning products, dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, etc. This is a good start.

Using the Discover It card will yield a $100 gift card to Amazon. Sweet.

Thursday 1-1: Barnes & Noble: $54.39
Friday 1-2: No spend
Saturday 1-3: $10 food
Sunday 1-4: No Spend

No too shabby. I will only be tracking spending for myself and the household. My spouse's spending (fun money, etc) is not accounted for.

2015 goals include:

Pay off CC TY $1087.11
Pay off CC FR $5762.60
Pay off CC BA $9257.35
Pay off Car Loan $1595.93
Cash only gifs - Birthday & Christmas
Earn at least $500 in alternative income
Utilize HSA and spouse HSA

2015 yields many changes that I am not ready to discuss yet (all good, just tentative) and I don't want to go into too much detail of goals knowing that they may change.

Still - 2015 is going to be a good and smart year as well!

2014 was a banner year for me. Although I ended the year sick, I call it a winner.

I had alternative income in the amount of $1332.22. This income comes from Bing Rewards, Coke Rewards, Inbox Dollars, Ebates, Superbowl winnings, checking account bonuses and credit card rewards.

In 2014, I cash-flowed a wedding, honeymoon (approx 7k total), plumbing repairs ($5375.90) and a basement water damage repair ($6350).

I also paid $10,835.69 in Credit card debt.

Effectively cashflowing & paying off $29,561.59 in one single year. That doesn't even include my husband's debt pay-down as we both are working to clear the debt we brought into the marriage (and should complete in 2015).

Lots of things going on this weekend.

Friday - I worked 6:45am to 5:15pm. My hubby brought take out home (frugal take-out) and I wasn't feeling well, so went to bed at 8pm. Woke up at 7 the next day.

We did a car switch for an oil change on my husband's car. I did some watching of dvrd tv shows, balanced the checkbook & cleared out my personal emails.

At 12:30, we went to a local burger joint for my niece's 1st Birthday Party. Lots of friends and family. My one sister in law brought her son, who is the same age as my nephew and my mother-in-law came too. So nice to see merging of the families!

Saturday night, we watched a Netflix movie (In a World) and again I went to bed early. We did take out again - off a gift card.

Sunday, I worked 5 hours of OT (for a total of 23 hours OT this week). Then went to a locally owned pet shop, which had its once a year 30% off sale. I was able to get several bags of cat food at 30% off! So, $71.97 worth of cat food cost $50.37 out of pocket.

I also stopped at the dollar store for a few staples & spend $19.

Later on, my hubs went to the store for me (he had gone out to watch the football game with friends).

I am working to get back into packing food for work - so tonight, I prepped potato rounds and yogurt for breakfast, tuna fish for a sandwich and tomato salad for lunch, popcorn for snack;

Busy weekend. Bigger week coming up!

I put my alternative income into my holiday/gift fund normally. Sometimes I put it into other categories.

I like to keep an eye at where I am at. Currently, I have a lot of cash back and ebates rewards coming my way in January!

TD Rewards $20.53
D1 Rewards $12.20
D2 Rewards $27.25
AZ Rewards $14.09
Inbox Dollars $21.96
Ebates $25.02

Mypoints 1751 points
Recyclebank Points 435
MyCokeRewards Points 858

In November, I paid $230 to the car loan (New Balance: $1825.93) and $2567.97 to the credit cards. This amount does not include any recent charge & payoff immediately activity since I am using a card for 5% cashback right now.

I paid:

$886.97 to payoff CC-CD
$1527 to CC-CTY
Min $59 to CC-FR
Min $95 to CC-BOA

Woohoo! `

It's been a while since I have bought clothes for myself and I took this opportunity (Cyber Monday) to buy some clothes for myself.

At Kohl's, I found some bras BOGO and used a 20% off coupon code.

$49.50
-$9.90 coupon code
= $39.60

I will also get 5% cashback from Discover and 10% Cashback from Ebates cashback.

I hit JC Penneys for 2 work short sleeved shirts, 2 work long sleeved shirts & a holiday sweater.

$49.95
-10.00 20% off coupon code
=$39.95

I will get 5% Discover Cashback and 15% Ebates cashback)

Later in the day, I went back to Kohl's for some work clothes.

4 Work sweaters
$50.38
-10.08 coupon code
= $40.30

I will get 5% cashback from Discover and 10% Cashback from Ebates ($4.03). I also used a $25 Kohls gift card for $20 out of pocket. The 5% cashback will be on the $15.30 that was charged on the Discover.

All balances will be paid off as soon as they hit the credit card. I am happy with my deals! No more clothing needs for quite a while.

I have been incredibly lucky to

1. Have overtime this year up to 15 hours per week (until unlimited OT was announced this week)

2. Have the ability to work that overtime from home (makes it MUCH less stressful!)

As of my last paycheck, I have worked 234.07 hours of overtime year to date

Last week, I worked an additional 5.25 hours.

This week, I am committed to working 15 hours, but with unlimited overtime, I am hoping to make it 25. I worked 5.5 hours of OT last night and will be working 6 hours tonight.

Given that my husband & I are going to be filing taxes together for the first time, I have been very aware of my income and where that puts us in regards to tax rates.

However, I have had so many people tell me that I shouldn't work OT because its not worth it because of the extra taxes. I have heard the debates back & forth on that topic... but my OT has only benefitted us.

Feel free to share you thoughts

Lots of Alternative income in 2014 so far! I funded most of my Christmas this way & am using the rest towards supplementing various savings accounts.

TOTAL: 1061.61

Credit Card Rewards: $420.89
Checking Account Rewards: $350
Prizes: $93
Escrow Reimbursement $61.44
Ebates: $52.81
BING $45
Inbox Dollars: $32.47
Price Matching $6

Previous Credit Card & Car Loan Debt Totals:

6/1/14: $27,663.81
8/10/14: $23,424.90
9/19/14: $22,596.90
11/15/14: $18,626.56

10-23 Prev Total of Retirement Funds: $69,428.71
10-23 Prev Total PLUS SPOUSE 401k $101,828.71

11-18 New Total of Retirement Funds: $74,018.38
11-18 New Total PLUS SPOUSE 401k $106,418.38

More Work Freebies:
-3 sodas
-1 bottle water
-1 cookie

This week, my husband redid the drywall in our living room ceiling and lets just say the WHOLE DOWNSTAIRS was covered in a half in layer of dust.

So today, I spent the day mixed between vegging and cleaning. Every single item downstairs needs to be wiped down. I cannot even exaggerate that statement LOL

In the kitchen, I -

-Deep cleaned the kink
-wiped off the top of the fridge
-wiped off every bottle/glassware on top of the fridge
-cleaned counters
-hand washed dish drain rack
-wiped off cabinets
-cleaned off & wipe down kitchen table and chairs
-wiped/cleaned items on windowsill
-wiped down microwave
-cleaned kitchen floor

Living Room
-cleared off sofa table and wipe down every photo frame/item on it
-wipe down items in baskets on 2nd shelf of sofa table
-wiped hanging mirror and artwork
-removed all items from bookcase and wipe down each book and photo and replaced them
-fixed back of bookcase (using staple gun)
-Replaced wall art with finished framed poster used as Wedding Guestbook
-wiped down ceiling fan
-removed all items from entertainment center, wiped them down and organized them.
-wiped coffee table & all items on it
-wiped off 1 end table & all of its items

Misc
-took out recycling and trash
-cleared personal email
-did bing, mypoints, etc
-updated blog (now)
-purchased desk for nephew. Used $10 gift card from Recyclebank and gift/Christmas account for the rest
-made payments from payday - $875 to credit card!
-made dinner at home
-watched Catching Fire with hubs on Netflix
-fixed kitchen chairs

Breaking now and will finish cleaning off/wiping the rest of the house tomorrow!

-wipe off 2nd of end tables
-shake off blankets
-shake off couch cushions & pillows
-pick up living room
-wipe down stool
-clean rest of living room
-vacuum living room & stairs
-wipe off stair rails
-vacuum upstairs hall

Quick update:

Lots of freebies at work lately - 3 cans of soda, a cookie, 2 waters and some peanuts. Nice!

Last week, my CC#2 was Paid off! (in addition to CC#1)
Leaving:
CC#3 - $3297.16
CC#4 - $5879.60
CC#5 - 9447.35
CAR - $2055.93

My paycheck on Fri will put $847 to CC# 3, $230 to car.

New Remaining Balances
CC#3 - $4207.16
CC#4 - $5879.60
CC#5 - 9447.35
CAR - $1825.93

My ING/Slush Funds include:

ING
Christmas - $764.73
New Home - $5818.95
EF $67.26, $3000 (2nd acct)
Sewer/HOA/AAA $170.35
Insurance $90.64
Vet $20.46
Medical $20.86
Auto $0.04

Woohoo! The Payoff of a card just hit. Balance shows as $0!

No new debt in months (last 'new' debt is basement drainage repairs). I am utilizing one card due to 5% cashback on groceries, gas, restaurants and utilities. So I am using that card for normal purchases & paying off immediately. I already charged (and paid back) $500, so I will be getting a $100 bonus. And I still get 5% cashback for 5 more months.

Friday night, we had friends over for a Double Date in. I made sloppy joe and sides and mini apple pies for dessert. We watched a Netflix movie and played Cards Against Humanity. It was nice & relaxing.

Saturday, I got up and ran some errands and went to the store. Then I worked some overtime and was lazy the rest of the day.

Today, I went to the Winterthur Museum with a friend. It's a $20 admission, but includes a Downton Abbey Costumes exhibit (which is what we were going for). We also took a 20 minute tram ride around the gardens on the estate and a 45 minute guided tour through the house (once owned by a DuPont).

We had a wonderful time and had lunch at the museum. A bit pricey, but I was happy to have a full meal and not just a hot dog or hamburger.

Here are a few pics of the exhibit, the coi pond and the house.