North Georgia Gal's Financial Awakening

I was going over my Quicken today. This is a really neat program. I have never used it to it's full ability before...but I am now.

Anyway..I was comparing my expenses last month to this month. I have already spent $54 eating out this month!! that is crazy! I had spent $28 by this time last month. It is the little amounts that add up. I had no idea I had spent so much already! Reality time! No more eating out!! Back on track!

Well, I got two 1/2 out of the five goals accomplished. I planned the birthday party which happened today. It was a success. I did my taxes with turbo tax and e-filed them. And my husband did his laundry(that is the 1/2). Techincally, I didn't get but 2 done, but since I am willing to take credit for what my husband did too!

The cheer competition yesterday was good, but took longer than expected. My husband was up all night Friday night, really bad sick. He isn't sick much so I knew when he didnt get up he was truly sick. I had to drive the 2 hours there and back, which I am not used to. There was a co-ed Level 6 team(highest I have ever seen) that was totally awesome. But one of the men was doing their tumbling and hit a girl in the back of the head. She instantly went down and they ended up calling an ambulance. It was pretty scary for me as a spectator...I can only imagine what her parents felt. But that delayed the already running behind competition by almost an hour. So we didn't get home until about 6:00.

I had estimated $125 for the competition and going out to eat afterward. Last year we bought my daughter something at each competition, which was promptly discarded in the depths of her room. I told her this year we would not be purchasing anything at the competitions(maybe the last one or something). So instead we are going out to eat after each competition, since we live in the country, we don't always get good restaurant food. She doesn't remember that we ate out last year too and bought her things(no wonder I was broke!) so we are really saving money. Anyway...of the $125 estimated, we only spent $65!! Gas was $22, $10 to get in, and $13 for Chik-fil-A. We also stopped at the Dunkin Donuts(my family has a thing for donuts) and got a some donuts to bring home. I attributed them to the cheer budget since we wouldn't have stopped if we hadn't been at the competition.

I fell sleep on the couch when we got home. I think the competition did me in yesterday. We had to walk a good distance from where we parked and just being gone all day was a bummer. We had the birthday party today. I am really hurting tonight thanks to the newly diagnosed endometriosis. Really should be in bed by now. Going soon.

I figured my taxes tonight. If I file like I want, I will get a refund of almost $5000 federal and $400 state. WOW!! I knew it would be a good refund year, but WOW!

I found a great deal online for Circus tickets this month. We have not been in a long time. My sister used to buy us tickets all the time when my son was younger...good tickets(front row tickets). But since her situation has changed, she has not been as generous now, when my daughter is the same age as my son was then(make sense?). So anyway, I found tickets online for $12.50 each!! they are decent tickets that are normally $35 each!! So I bought 4 tickets and we are going to the circus!

I must say that I don't know if I would have been able to even consider purchasing tickets if I hadn't learned to budget. I have the money in my account to cover the tickets so I could purchase them today. Before I would have to wait until Payday to purchase things like this and the tickets would have been gone.

I am excited and can't wait!

1) Get items listed on ebay

2) Plan family party for son's birthday(no pressure just have to arrange what food)

3) Print invitations for SIL wedding

4) do my taxes(think I will be getting large refund)

5) LAUNDRY!!!!

This is of course after the cheer competition which will take most of the day on Saturday. I can do some of(plan the party) on the way to/from. Can put husband in charge of printing invitations(he actually did ours pretty good).

Wish me luck!

I had to get paper towels and toilet paper yesterday so I ventured to Dollar General. I know...I should use handtowels instead of paper towels. I purchased a large 30 pack of towels and have no idea where any of them are! Maybe if I got my laundry caught up I would find them! LOL.

I did real good though, as I only purchased what I needed. DG is usually a spend-a-rama for me. So I was proud of myself.

Checked my accounts online today. Sister 1 hasn't taken her $200 out of our joint account($50/payday). It has been sitting there. Sister 2 hasn't deposited her checks for $300. So as far as the bank is concerned, I have had over $500 sitting in my accounts for over a month now! WOW!! If only it were true!

Have a cheer competition tomorrow. Have to be outside of Atlanta at 8:30. We have been to Atlanta entirely too much lately! This will make 5 trips within 4 weeks!! UGH! And I have to go back next Thursday for a doctors appointment. I guess that is part of living as far in the country as we do...have to travel a good distance to have good doctors and entertainment!

Yesterday was a NSD for me. YEA!

I still haven't taken the pictures to get the items on ebay...I just haven't had the energy to do it. I am at home today with a (not so) sick kid. Maybe I will get some pictures taken later. Need to do some laundry too.

I have set up some new accounts in my sidebar and in my Quicken. I have added the car fund, the vacation fund, and the Christmas fund. These accounts aren't going to grow quickly, but seeing them will induce me to put money in them. I didn't actually open accounts at bank, but rather set up dummy accounts. Will transfer money to them on pay day so I can start watching them grow.

Yesterday was a weak day. I decided to get breakfast on the way to work. I haven't done that in a really long time. But I really wanted a fast food coke...they just taste different. Anyway, I didn't even eat half of my sandwich and only a few of the hasbrown nuggets! What a waste! Thought I wanted it...guess not.

at 5:00 yesterday, I was informed that my son needed a ride home from soccer practice. He hadn't mentioned it and I hadn't thought about it. So at 5:45 I left my friends house(closer to the practice) to go pick him up. They were supposed to get their jerseys. At 6:40 I left. I still hadn't picked my daughter up!!! Told him to get a ride to my friends house and I went to get Pizza. I had dinner all planned too. I was going to make tuna casserole(a favorite standby of mine). But it was too late to even begin! The pizza took almost an hour for them to make(I picked it up)...guess I know where my son should look for a job! But they had these coupons on the counter...I asked the guy about it since I wasn't given the deal. It took $10 off my total! I got 2 large pizzas and 2 orders of cheesy bread for $22! I thought that was an excellent deal!

I also filled up my car for $22 yesterday. It is funny how simple things make you smile. No so long ago, I didn't ever fill my car up! Granted the prices were outrageous! But even so, If I was still living like I was, I would only be getting enough gas to get me through to the next day or so. I can't tell you when the last time was that I didn't fill up my tank! And I actually have money in the account to do that! Like I said, simple things.

The doctor called with the results of my second biopsy. I have endometriosis. I have heard of this, but do not know exactly what it is(other than what the doctor told me). I am going to the "woman's doctor" next week to discuss treatment.

Nothing malignant, no tumor that needs to come out. This is excellent news. But more doctors appointments in Atlanta! YUCK!

Okay, if you read my blogs you know that I was freaking out about not having enough life insurance. In order to up it at my work, I was going to have to go through a physical and jump through hoops. I was waiting until I had an answer about the biopsy before I iniated this. One thing at a time!

And then, in my email inbox, was a gift from my "employer". See, we are leased employees, which means that although I work for one company, we contract through a larger company to handle payroll and benefits. Anyway, this email said that they have decided to allow open enrollment again for people that missed it during their eligibilty period! That means that I can now increase my life insurance and not have to go through the hoops! YEAH!! YEAH!!!

I made the final payment to one of my medical bills. And another one will be paid off on the 15th. YEAH!

Unfortunately, I think that I will start receiving bills for the CT's I have had done lately. The previous payments will be replaced with new ones! YUCK!

I transferred $40 into my savings account this morning. That is the amount of gas left over from last week's budget. I still think I will be able to two Mortgage payments in february, but not as early as I would have liked.

I made payments on all of my credit cards this month. Still need to get a couple down under the limit, but at least I made payments!

My brakes were more than I estimated. I had guessed $125 and they were $160! YIKES!

I went to the grocery store yesterday. Instead of going to Ingles, I went to the smaller IGA. My reasoning was that although IGA had slightly higher prices, their selection is no where near as great as Ingles.(and I wasn't feeling particularly frugal yesterday)! So I figured I wouldn't be tempted to purchase what we didn't need. I made it through every aisle in 20 minutes and only purchased what we needed. Spent $75. I feel sure that I would have spent at least double that at Ingles.

I didn't get anything posted on ebay yesterday. I am still really sore from the biopsy. Didn't do much of anything. Finally had to tell DH that i was in pain and I couldn't do like I usually do. No clean towels? Wash some! No tea made? Make some! He finally got the hint.

All in all, I think I am looking pretty good for february...as long as those unplanned things don't pop up too often!

Well, I got paid Friday. I made payments on my credit cards...all of them. So I met one of my goals for the month. I also have fully funded my contacts. My appointment is Monday. I can't wait.

Yesterday was a nsd...today won't fare as well. I have to get new rotors for my car for my dh to put on. He has gone to get them now.

Bad news though...there is no way that I will be able to pay he mortgage this week. I will have to make two payments in February in order to get it caught up. i haven't planned competely through Feb yet, so I am not sure that this is possible. Will try to figure it out later today.

I have lots of items top put on ebay today. Need to get pictures of them and get them posted.

Yesterday I got gas for $20 and dinner for my daughter and myself. It was a total of $26 spent for the day.

Today I spend $7 for a dozen donuts on the way back from the biopsy. That is all I spent. The hospital validated parking and my DH bought me dinner since I hadn't eaten since last night.

Got paid today, but am too tired to work out all the details right now. Had the 2nd biopsy today.(went much better than the one last week) Left home at 7:00 this morning and got home at 8;30 tonight. Everything that needed to be paid was set up with an automatic payment, so I am not concerned that something didn't get paid. Just too tired to work out the details right now.

DH left as soon as we got home to drive his brother and SIL to Savannah to pick up 2 cars that they bought. They will drive down tonight, get a hotel room and drive back tomorrow. I suggested waiting until tomorrow to leave, but they wanted to be able to drive during the day tomorrow in case there are any problems. Kids are at the Dad's so I am home alone until sometime tomorrow. Peace and quiet! Now if i could just find someone to take the dogs!

I had a dr appointment to find out about the dizzy spells.(Fluid on my ears). Copay $20 Prescriptions $39

Son had chiropractor appointment(not covered by insurance) $35

Total spent $94. YIKES!!! The Chiro was already in my budget, but the other two items weren't! Have to make more adjustments.

Discussed with DH the need to get some of the logs in the woods above our house cut up for firewood. I found some firewood in the paper for a pretty good price, but he is adament that he will get the logs down and cut up. We also decided that he would take his truck and load it with gravel then spread it himself. We can get a load of gravel cheap...we usually pay for the delivery. We are in desperate need as our driveway is a big mud pit due to recent rains! Working on more money saving ideas.

I have my 2nd biopsy tomorrow. It is at a different hospital. No eating after midnight and we have to be there earlier...so we have to leave the house at 6:00 AM!!! UGGGGG. I am so not a morning person!

I woke up and got in the shower this morning. As I was drying my hair, my daughter came in sick. She has a spot on the back of her head that she scratched to bleeding in her sleep. So I have got to take her to the doctor. I could have stayed in bed!!!

Yesterday was a NSD. Go Me! I have added some forgotten expenses into my budget and don't know how I am going to get through the next couple of weeks. I always do though. While I don't want time to fly, I just want to get this over with!

This is not financial, but I am frustrated! My surgeon called me this morning. He was looking over the CT biopsy and had spoken to the radiologist. They felt that the needle was a little high for where the biopsy needed to be done. In other words...THEY BIOPSIED THE WRONG SPOT!! Dr suggests that I have another biospy done. I will have to think about it.

If I have another one done, it will be at another hospital. I went to Atlanta(2 hour drive) to have a more experienced crew. HAH! No one verified my information when I checked in(still had employer for 1999; wrong address; and had my EX HUSBAND listed as the emergency contact). They were fixing to put me in a room when I noticed this information on the paper they were picking up. I was not given an id wristband. The nurse came to take blood and couldn't because I didn't have a band. My nurse kept insisting that I was staying the night(even though I was only there for out-patient). She also kept disappearing. Not an impresive experience.

However, I think my doctor has priveleges at the hospital across the street. They will probably be a better option should I choose to do it again. Not real thrilled at the prospect of having it done again, but the peace of mind will probably cause me to do it.

My jaw is also starting to hurt again. I have been doing everything the ENT told me. So I have a call into my dr for some antibiotics for a sinus infection...probably the cause of my dizzy spells lately.

I am falling apart. I am only 36 years old! I shutter to think about the future!!!

Those of you who have been following my blogs know that I "divorced" my husbands finances. We keep them completely seperate. He gives me money toward the household expenses, but the house and all utilities remain in my name. But I have been noticing a trend lately. When he runs out of money, he assumes that I have some!

He gave me $227 last week and paid a dr bill for my son. I had told him that I needed $300. It worked about about the same. But he tells me as he is giving me the check that he will need gas money this week. I just let it go. Then he called me today and said that he needed to get some gas money in order to go out to his brothers and help him return some equipment(that they both benefitted from). I told him that I was running short this week and was going to running on fumes this week. He said that he might have to go pawn something. My immediate reaction was "well, I could probably spot you $30 or $40". Why didn't I just say ok??? How is it my problem that he can't budget? When I say I need $300, I mean $300. I don't mean $300 and then I need to give you gas money!!! To me, that comes out of the $300. Granted, he has given me alot of money the last couple of weeks. And granted he didn't work much last week because of the weather and my dr appointment. But we are behind and trying to get caught up. Then it will level out.

I have done well seperating our finances. I used to try to pay all of his stuff and that just caused me to be near a nervous breakdown. So my enabling this week is just a minor setback.

I am trying to live different...which means not spending every last dollar! Which means planning! And truth be told, I haven't really "ran on fumes" in a couple of months. But he just isn't to that point yet.

Well, I planned on making two mortgage payments this month, thereby getting it caugh up. I have juggled and moved all that I can. The only way that I see that I will be able to accomplish this is if I take the money that I have been able to save(about $250) and use that. I am thinking that this is the smart thing to do to get my mortgage caught up. Then I won't have that worry any longer and I will be able to start saving again without that fear, with the economy being what it is. I should be able to put the money back if I make my goal on ebay and my husband gives me some more money.

So what do you think? Take the money out of savings and make the payment or leave the money in savings and continue to run a month behind?

I have figured my ebay sales for the month since I am unlikley to sell anything else this month. I failed to get anything listed over the weekend due to Cheerleading competitions and such. So after figuring the fees and all associated costs with the lisitngs, I made a profit of $164!!! YEA! I am hoping to continue this next month, but I am out of big price items to sell so it will have to be done with a bunch of little things, which take more time. I do have a bunch of things on the newly created "ebay table". Anytime I am cleaning and come across something I can list, it gets put on that table. So I am semi-organized in this effort.

I did purchase ink for my printer at home and ordered boxes from the USPS to totally prepare shipments at home instead of having to stand in the PO and wait for them to help me!

My best friend had a family situation a couple of nights ago. Long story short, her daughters cell phone was broken. Although they have the insurance, it is $50 to replace the phone. I decided today to give her the $50. This will not put a serious crimp in my budget. This friend has helped me out before when I needed it. Although the phone isn't a need, it will relieve a little of her stress trying to figure out how to replace the phone. It feels very good to be able to do this for them. In the past, I have never been able to help anyone. Since I have been living with a budget, I have been able to put money where it makes more of a difference and I rarely run short! It is amazing when I just started paying attention to where the money was actually going!

My daughter had pictures at cheerleading and one of the moms brought in Subway! How dare her! Anyway...that led to us getting subway for dinner. We haven't eaten out in a really long time so I am not going to beat myself up over it.

Subway $22

My doctor called me with the results. The biopsy was normal and showed that it was scar tissue. But that leaves more questions. What is causing the pain? Where do we go from here to determine what is causing the pain. He said that the biopsy may have aggravated the area and to give it a week to see if I am still in constant pain or if it goes back to just once in a while. I really like this doctor and trust him based on our family history with him...but I am not ready to just "let this go". There is pain and I want to know why!

I have been swamped at work today...I like being busy and kind of wish it was this way all the time!

Yesterday was a pricey day as I had to refill my prescriptions..$55. Ouch! It was $20 to ship items sold on ebay and $6 for a gallon of milk and a newspaper! Another Ouch!

So far I have sold $153 on ebay this month. Someone wants to come get the gas logs that I have listed on Craigs list. That will be another $100. I was worried about sticking to the plan for the mortgage, but it looks as if I will be able to handle it with no problem!

Just got home form the biopsy. I am sore but not in too much pain. It took alot longer than anticipated...not the test itself, but the waiting. We had snow last night so it took a little bit longer to get out of town, but the closer we got to Atlanta, the snow disappeared. They have already called off school for tomorrow as well.

I spent $7 at Chic-fil-a for dinner(Hadn't eaten since last night) and filled up for $23. It has been an expensive gas week so far and it is only Tuesday. The extra trips to cheerleading aren't helping! And we have to go back to Atlanta on Sunday for our first competition.

I called to make the appointment to get contacts. The appointment is next Thursday at 3:30. This is one of my goals! So it will be met next week! I am so excited!

I spent 9.00 yesterday for some labels to print postage through paypal. I also ordered a bunch of the free boxes from the post office. I am getting the hang of the shipping thing!

Still not sure how I am going to handle getting the mortgage paid(see previous blogs) but I am sure it will all work out. I am closer now and I know that my husband will be giving me some money between now and then...so it might be close.

I set up automatic payments through bill pay to come out of my checking tomorrow based upon an automatic deposit that comes on Tuesdays. However, since today is a holiday, it won't hit my account until Wednesday. Hoping that the automatic payments don't clear until Wed!(since this is a check that they actually mail, it should be okay.

I have my biopsy tomorrow. I am really nervous about it. I was okay at first but now I am freaking out. What if it is cancer of some sort. It hit my on Sunday that I never upped my life insurance. I only have $15k through work. That is hardly enough to bury me and pay my bills. I am sure that the house has credit life insurance so it will be paid off but with this market, converting that to cash will take a while. And then I would be leaving my kids to live with my ex(who is in a less than ideal living situation) and this would send my sisters into a frenzy causing a huge civil war in the north Ga Mtns! I am trying to stay calm and collected..but that only works for a little while.

I know this is long but I needed to get all of this out...especially about the biopsy...don't want to worry other people. That is what I do...I hold everything in. So thanks for listening.

I had another one of my baskets sell this morning on ebay. That brings my total for the month to $114. After I sell all of the baskets, it will be hard to meet the challenge, but I am willing to try. I am excited to get rid of stuff that I hadn't thought about listing. Even getting a little bit of money for them is better than none!

I also listed some VHS movies(disney) on half.com.. I was keeping them around thinking they would be nice when I have grandchildren...but it suddenly dawned on me that by the time I have grandkids, no one will have a VHS player any more! Hopefully someone still wants them!

Yesterday was a NSD! It helps when you don't leave the house!

I have met my savings goal for January...I am so excited. I was looking at my accounts this morning. I have had $60 in my savings account and $20 in each of the kids savings account for about 5 weeks now! that is unprecendented in the history of me! Not only that, but I began transferring the $50 a pay period into my sisters account in december and she hasn't taken any of it! She is starting tomorrow I think...but I have had $100 sitting in that checking account as well for almost a month! I haven't transferred it back or relied on it in anyway!(overdraft protection). And my other sister hasn't cashed her checks for $300 yet...so that has been sitting in my account. Although I can't spend it and want to make sure it is in the account, my financial picture at the bank is looking good! I also haven't bounced a check since November. I used to never bounce checks, but I had begun to depend on the $500 overdraft protection...so getting back to not doing that feels really good!

I realized last night that the cheerleading competition season starts next week. I didn't take that into account when I worked up my budget. Although I figured high on gas for the two week period, I have to now add the cost of admission to the competitions for my husband and I. I also need to pick up a few things at the grocery store...not much but $$ I hadn't planned on since we are well stocked. So now I am really not sure how I am going to be able to keep up the mortgage plan...but I am absolutely determined to make it happen! When I make my budget, I need to get to a point where I alot a certain amount of money for unexpected items...right now I budget right down to the last dollar...and it is just unrealistic to assume that I won't have to spend anything unplanned between paychecks!

I also realized last night that I am paying $35 a week for the chirpractor for my son. That is $140/month! This isn't covered under insurance. But I wonder where that money has come from...I never would have been able to keep this up before! I am so thankful that my finanical journey has begun.

I made the first of three mortgage payments to be made in the next 4 weeks. This one was for December's payment. Will make the January payment 1/30 and then the February payment 2/13 and wa-la...my payment will be caught up! I am a little anxious about this because it looks like I am a litle short(ok, maybe a lot) to make this happen...but I am going to make it happen. If I have to move things around, it isnt going to be the mortgage!

I am joining the ebay challenge as well. I have enough crap around my house to get rid of...little things I have never thought about putting on ebay. So far this month, I have sold $107 on ebay. That is not usual for me so I will have to work at this challenge.

I was tempted...I was starving by the time I was heading home. My husband had decided to go work on his truck(see husband rantings post). It was just going to my my son and I for dinner as my daughter goes to her friends house on Wednedsays and then to church. I thought about all the options...Taco Bell...Pizza Buffett...pizza delivery...wendy's. But in the end, we went home and had grilled cheese and french fries. GO ME!

We went and picked up my son's truck last night. When did I become old enough to have a child that has a car???? Just doesn't seem right to me. But none the less, I have a child that has a car. He is very excited about it. He should get his license next month. In a round about way, my mom loaned him the money to get the truck(loan from insurance policy in his name that she owns). She made him read all of the papers last night and sign that he had read it. He has to make monthly payments on it. I am not worried about him and money...he is like a scrooge and has learned well from my mistakes. Trust me, you don't want to borrow money from him!!!

This is not on the subject of finances, but I am frustrated! When my husband starts a project,, he goes all hot and heavy for several days or until it is done, foresaking all other activities. His latest project is a truck that his mother gave him. He purchased the radiator only to find out that the engine was cracked. Long story short, he traded the two trucks that are sitting in our back yard(previous unfinished project) for an engine and has been working on the truck since Tuesday(would have been Monday, but I was stuck in Atlanta and he had to take daughter to cheerleading, much to his disappointment). We got the check today for my son to go pick up his truck. And where is my husband? Working on the truck!!! He said that he would be home by 9 so that we could go get the truck. Now I am not old, but feel like I am. I am in bed most nights by 9:30. So this is really cutting into my sleep time. Not to mention that it seems cruel and unusual punishment to make a 15 year old boy wait so late to pick up his first truck when he has already been waiting on the check for almost a week!

Now I know this about my husband and most of the time, I can accept that my husband probably has some form of ADD, but today for some reason it is really ticking me off! I don't know if it is due to the medical crap going on or because I haven't slept well the last couple of nights and I am overly tired. But I am going to explode shortly!