I found out today that I have to have surgery on June 1 to repair a Hernia. It will outpatient but I will miss about 2 weeks at my second job. Just when things were going good. I will have to redo my budget for June and probably July won't look too pretty either. I won't be able to lift anything above 5 pounds for 6 weeks. The bag I put my laptop in weighs more than that when the laptop is in it! Will have to figure something out about that.

I had to turn the heat back on today. It was 63 degrees in the house! I don't know what is going on. I saw pictures online of snow (SNOW!) at the Tenn/NC border near the smokey mountains! What is happening????

All of the payments have hit my checking account so everything is officially paid off now. Just waiting on the titles to my car and my son's car so he can get his out of my name.

I talked to my banker about the credit card thing because we are planning to refinance the LOC in 3-6 months in only my name, so my credit score is important. He suggested that I wait and see what happens with just paying everything off. Then when we apply for the refinance, we will see what happens.

My first check with the deduction for the 401k is tomorrow. I started with 35% and will build up to 50%. It is still a good chunk. Feels good.

One more morning and then I am off work(at my second job) for 9 days! I haven't had more than 2 days off in a row since I started a year and a half ago. I need a break. I sprinkled in some time off at my other job too so I have a few days of nothing to do! I hope to get things done around the house that I have been putting off since my mom got hurt. My paycheck will suck but I need this time off for my sanity.

We were able to disburse the loan on Friday...so all of my credit cards and loans are paid off. It is such a relief. My son's car is included in what was paid off so he can get it in his name and get his own insurance now.(It would have been paid off in June anyway). My car is paid off but I am going to keep full coverage since it is a newer car.

I need some advice though from those of you familiar with how credit works. I would like to close all but a couple of my credit cards but I have heard that could negatively impact my credit. Is that true? I would like to close them so that I am not tempted to use them.

I have a paypal debit card linked to my checking account. I get an email every time that debit card is used. I got two emails today that it was used at TJ Maxx and Marshalls. A total of $270. We don't even have those stores around here. So I instantly canceled the card and called them to dispute the charges. As soon as the charges actually post(they are pending right now) they will credit my account for that amount. I am glad I get that email and was able to catch it early. Funny thing is that I have the debit card...someone stole the number apparently.

My mom helped me get this loan to pay off my debt. Part of the deal is that I don't get to quit my second job. I have to put 50% of my income from my second job in my 401k. I know it is a good thing but I don't know how much longer I continue to get up at 4 in the morning and work until 4 in the evening(with both jobs).

Today is work from home day...I don't have to leave the house all day! I have become such an introvert that that is the perfect day for me!

Hi everyone! I know it has been FOREVER since I posted. I will try to catch you up on the doings of my life.

I am still working 2 jobs, but silly me thought it would also be smart to take 3 college courses. I was handling it ok until my mom hurt her back. Then I became her and my sister's gopher. I ended up having to drop all of my classes.

Back to my mom...she had an injection of "concrete" in her back and the back pain is gone. She has residual pain down her leg and is having a steroid shot next week to help with that. In the meantime, she still can't drive and I am having to run all of her and my sister's errands(my sister moved in with my mom to be a companion/caretaker and that is not going so well).

As for finances...I made a huge mistake when I signed the kids up for my insurance. When I looked at the prices I thought is was per month, not per pay period. So I am paying $900 a month for health insurance! It is killing me. But this is the last month as my ex now is able to get insurance for the kids.

I am still drowning in credit card debt. But we are in the process of getting a home equity loan on my house(which is paid for) to pay off everything on my credit report. My debt will be virtually 0! We closed on the loan yesterday and have 3 days before we can disburse. All I will have is a couple medical bills and my regular monthly bills. I am so excited!

Oh and did I mention that I am now an empty nester...DD left for college in the fall. She is only an hour away and I see her most weekends but it is an adjustment.

So that is what has been going on in my world. Lots of stress. Lots of fun(not!)

I hope everyone is doing well...I have thought about you guys often.

Tomorrow I get paid from my second job. Of course I already have it figured out where every dollar is going. I have $50 of going to emergency fund. I am excited to see this account growing. Then I am making a a few credit card payments(minimums on these as I pay additional on one until it is paid) and a car payment.Plus we are going to the grocery store. Sounds like alot but I also got a child support payment today.

I have my budget set through January and I will have 4 credit cards paid off by the end of January. I am excited and can't wait but I also don't want time to go too fast as this is my daughters senior year and she will probably be moving out at the end of the school year.

I decided to give Mint.com a try to work up a budget, since I am not really able to come up with the reports I want in Quicken. I have to say I was mildly disappointed. You can only enter credit cards that they have available. There is no option to manually enter them. So using this would not give me the big picture budget that I am looking for. Dave Ramsey's sight has one, but it is 9.99 a month. I just can't see paying that. Any one have any other sites they use?

I get my first paycheck from my second job tomorrow. They have it set up so I can go in the Sunday before and see how much the check is going to be for. This check is $140 more than I thought it was going to be for. I over-estimated the taxes to be with held. So I am transferring $50 to my savings account that has only $4 in it and starting my emergency fund. I also set it up to have $50 deposited each week in that savings account. I am excited about this. I will finally have enough money each month to start this fund and still be able to function.

I am alive and well. I have recently started a second job so I don't have much free time to be on the computer and I have been swamped at my day job. I am working 5AM to 9AM at a local retail store and 9AM to 5PM at my day job. I am exhausted by the time I get home!! But I made some financial mistakes that make this necessary right now. Then if I can continue I will get some more debt paid off.

I have decided to do the Dave Ramsey method and am excited to get started. I will try to keep you updated as to how it goes.

DS has decided to move in with his father, who is a functioning alcholic. I am concerned that my son will start to drink too much. But financially he is very responsible.

DD is working and making a car payment to her grandma. We pass in the night most of the time since I am usually in bed when she gets home. She is senior this year and the expenses are killing me.

That is about all going on in my life. I will try to be better about updating.

I have signed up for 3 different survey sites this week and I already have earned enough points with one of them to cash in for $10 paypal credit! It is time consuming but what else do I have to do while sitting in front of the tv?? I think I will send the $10 to my credit card.

Today was almost a NSD but I had to send DD to get milk. She only bought a half gallon...she is on this kick lately thinking we won't drink a whole gallon.

Here is my December budget. The actual column represents expenses/income that I have already entered into the check register. The big item is of course the medical expenses.

Here are my budget results from October.



I hope this works. I have never posted anything on this blog.

I can see a few categories that need work, especially the dining. I came in under in a few categories, which helped offset the dining category. I made two mortgage payments thanks to my mom. Medical came in over budget for the month. The cell phone bill is so high because ex dh didn't pay his share for the month.

Analyzing where my money goes is very interesting. Little things add up quickly.

I have posted regularly in a while but I have been around reading blogs. But I have a lot of things happening right now. I started my college courses, I am taking three this semester, which alone is going to be difficult for me since I also work full time and am a single mom. But I am also going to begin homeschooling my DD. There has been an incident at school that has been blown way out of proportion...she tried to walk home. Yep that is it. That is all she did and she even told a teacher she was doing it. And for that she has to go before a tribunal to see if she can continue at school. She also has to go before a juvenile court judge to face charges of being unruly. Now I agree that she needed to be disciplined so she wouldn't do it again, but having a tribunal? Having to go to court? And all of this was done by the principle. There is no requirement that these steps be taken. It was soley up to the principle. It just infuriates me! What would happen if she really was a trouble maker? Or did do something else so menial? Now she is in their sights. So therefore, I will be unenrolling her next week and begin homeschool. I am sure that I am going to have many late nights trying to keep up with everything that I have to do. But she is smart kid so I don't anticipate it being to difficult to homeschool her.

Anyway, financially, I am holding on by a string until I get my financial aid money. Should come in around Sept 4th. Then I should be fine.

Today was a NSD. It helps when you don't leave the house! I was thinking about going to get something to eat, but decided to eat Chili Cheese Fries instead. Thought I might not have enough cheese, but I did! I am so glad, I didn't have to get dressed and go to the store! I was also tempted to go get an ice cream, but I resisted that temptation as well.

I sent my son to the grocery store yesterday to get a few things. I sent him with a list. I thought it would be about $30-40 if he stuck to the list. I told him to be frugal when he left. He got everything on the list for $18!!! I can't figure out how he did it! But I don't care! The point is that I will be sending him to the store with a list for a while!! LOL

There is nothing new to report on the DH front...he is working around the yard today trying to get it picked up.

I will have to get gas when I take daughter to cheerleading tonight. Bummer.

I screwed up my online bill pay. I scheduled a large payment for last friday instead of tomorrow. So I am on pins and needles until tomorrow to see if i have any NSF. I hope not...I really can't afford it. I hope that everything turns out okay.

I am working from home today...got alot done...for work and for home. Been very productive.

With the money that my sister is loaning me, my utilities and household expenses will finally be on time! I mean they won't be due for another whole month! WOW! What a feeling!

I also bought my first Christmas present. My other sister and I are getting my son a laptop. We went in together so that I didn't overspend my Christmas budget. I am excited about it. Still on the lookout for a Wii for my daughter.

I have not been posting updates lately. Not feeling up to it. I have felt in a blah mood the last few days. I brokedown today and borrowed a large sum of money from my sister. It makes me feel pretty worthless to be 35(36 next Saturday) and not be financially independent. I took a serious look and realized that i was busy playing catch up and wasn't getting anywhere. Hopefully by borrowing this money I will be able to make progress. I set up a payment schedule with her(in the past, I borrow and never pay back...don't want that). So...hopefully things will get better now.

Well, as my info indicates, I am barely keeping my power on. I called yesterday to make arrangements with the bill. I was told that it was already out for disconnect but that she would try to catch him. When I got home, he(the mysterious power man) had been there and disconnected my power...but apparently the office had gotten in touch with him so he turned it back on. The relief I felt was great. I did not enjoy the thought of having to ask my parents for money for the power bill(who would have given it to me, but I am working so hard to try to be independent). This is the closest I have come to having the power turned off. The experience yesterday just makes my realization of last week hit even harder. What was I thinking? $55 a week(which is probably average) would have paid the power bill...but when I was spending that, I didn't think it added up to that much.

I intend to used this blog to keep up with my daily spending habits. I have a hard time not spending money even when I shouldn't. My credit cards are all over the limit and I am behind on the payments. I haven't done a "real" grocery trip in a couple of months...we have food, but not what we want. But yet I always find the money to get a bagel and coke on the way to work in the morning.

I need to make myself realize what I spend...and maybe putting it in writing will help me do that.