Moore's Money Monitor

[G'MaDebbie]

This is probably going to be long, so I apologize, but I need to get this all out as a motivator for myself. It has been a long time coming for my husband and I to get our act together as far as finances go (we have been together for 9 years, married for 7). We just paid off our one and only loan other than our mortgage! You would think at our ages, we would have our act together by now, but we don't. I am not going to dwell on this matter anymore, I am doing something about it!
My husband has been laid off since July, and who knows when he is going back. He is collecting unemployment and doing small jobs to make up the difference. I work full time. He has a 401K, if there is anything left in it after the hit these accounts have taken. I have a Simple IRA.
I just opened and ING savings account which will have a weekly deposit made into it. To me, it isn't a ton of money, but it is more than what we have saved right now...$0! I will also be making deposits into this account at the end of every month. This will be our EF.
My husband got sick last year and we have a ton of medical bills that need to be paid. As you can see, I said last year, so those bills have gone to collections. I need to get all the bills together to see how much we actually owe (I am dreading this). I need to do that this weekend. . Other than the normal monthly utilities, insurance, food and gas for our vehicles we don't have any other debt than medical bills.
My husband and I are foster parents, so we do have some unexpected expenses when we get children who come into our home with nothing. We do get reimbursed from the state, but that takes a loooooong time.
I have taken in so much good information from FV, now I just have to get my butt in gear and put all that info to good work!
I will be updating my info in my signature as the things I need to do to keep myself on track...... Wish me luck!

[mrsmac62]

Look forward to seeing your progress.

[rowdy35]

GOOD LUCK !! YOU CAN DO THIS !! getting the info together is most of the battle. Try and work out a payment plan with the collection company... Let them know your DH is unemployed

hang in there, there is a lot of support here for you

[G'MaDebbie]

I have been working on my list since I posted it, but today is the day that I am tackling the biggest portion of it. My DH is hunting for the weekend, my DD is down with the flu and I have no foster children at this time. IT'S TIME TO GET THINGS DONE!
I am in desperate need to declutter my home, simplify my life and get a budget figured out...I have SO MUCH to do, but I know it can be done. I have way more to do than what it on my list, but you can only put so much stuff in your signature line. lol
I am off to get things done, I will not be defeated!!
Stay tuned....I will post later tonight (probably when I am deadbeat tired from all this work! )

[Darlene]

Love that positive attitude!

[jamie79]

You can do it. Keep us posted

[G'MaDebbie]

I had to take my list out of my signature (space is limited) so I am putting it here. It is 11 pm and I have accomplished so much today, and my entire body feels it! I am exhausted, but a good kind of exhausted. I feel so accomplished! Tomorrow is a whole other day and I hope I can keep up the pace!

11-20-11-23-08


Gather up all change in house and truck- put in jar
Get medical bills together and figure out payment plan
Create a home information book
Print out pantry list
compare pantry list to what I have on hand
purchase those items on list that I don't have
Get coupons together for shoppingshop for Thanksgiving dinner
Print Weekly menus
Clean up family room
Declutter bedroom 2
Clean out closets in bedrooms 2&3
Set up crib in bedroom 3
Get spots out of carpet
Clean out drawers in bathroom and kitchen
Laundry
Vacuum
Wash bedding in bedroom 2

[mickee311]

Good luck!

I'd like to say that I just got a good laugh...I looked at your name and told my husband what it was, we laughed. His mom's name is Debbie and the kids call her Grandma Debbie....Then I looked at the state you're in and that's where she lived. I flipped out a bit till I read your post and saw how long you'd been married...I seriously thought you were my MIL for a minute! LOL!!!

[G'MaDebbie]

I think I had a touch of the flu that my daughter had, so I didn't accomplish much yesterday other than taking out the 12 bags of junk that I cleaned out of my house!! I did start printing out my lists for my household book, I wanted to bring them to work to laminet them but I forgot...darn it! I did collect all the medical bills and got them all in a basket to go thru and start contacting the places to make arrangements. I attempted to set up the crib, but the allen wrench I needed is nowhere to be found, so that will wait until DH comes home from hunting. Tonight I am cleaning up the family room and baking 2 out of the 6 pies for Thanksgiving.
Oh yeah...the most important part....I got an $800 bonus from work!! Now I have to breath and remember how to apply this money correctly!! I will update on this later.

Get medical bills together and figure out payment plan
Create a home information book
Print out pantry list
compare pantry list to what I have on hand
purchase those items on list that I don't have
Print Weekly menus
Clean up family room
Set up crib in bedroom 3

[G'MaDebbie]

Good luck!

I'd like to say that I just got a good laugh...I looked at your name and told my husband what it was, we laughed. His mom's name is Debbie and the kids call her Grandma Debbie....Then I looked at the state you're in and that's where she lived. I flipped out a bit till I read your post and saw how long you'd been married...I seriously thought you were my MIL for a minute! LOL!!!

That is too funny! All 6 of my grandkids call me G'maDebbie!

[G'MaDebbie]

It's been a slow day here at work. so I have been working on my list....I know, I know, bad idea, but really nothing else for me to do right now,

Get medical bills together and figure out payment plan--working this out this weekendCreate a home information book DONE
Print out pantry list DONE
compare pantry list to what I have on hand DONE
purchase those items on list that I don't have
Print Weekly menus
Clean up family room
Set up crib in bedroom 3

I will be so glad when this list is done with so I can start concentrating on my financial matters...I know I should have done that first, but I can't concentrate with all that clutter speaking at me so loudly!! I am hoping to wipe this list out by the end of the weekend!!

[phoeny_moonstar]

:claps: Good job on all the things you have accomplished so far!

[G'MaDebbie]

Well, this is the weekend that I wrap up decluttering and organzing my home. Then I start on paying off the medical bills. DH and I were talking it over, and we have decided that we will make arrangements to start paying on these bills in January. I do have a bill or two that are very small amounts, so I may pay them just to feel better about it, as I feel guilty for putting them off for yet another month.
I just discovered that we will have less than $100.00 in our account once the house payment clears this week...that scares the crap out of me! On the brighter side, I know that our weekly deposit is being made to ING, now that enlightens me! I also have $48.00 in my paypal account, so if I have to, I can use my debit card to access that money in case of an emergency. DH unemployment comes thru on Wednesday night, so until then we will be watching our spending CLOSELY.

I made the decision to have my cell phone shut off, which also included my 17 yo DD phone as well. To say the least she is NOT happy. I just can't see spending that money every month when I have bills to pay. I may consider getting her a prepaid phone, but at the moment she is phoneless and acting like a child who has had their favorite toy taken away. So, depending on her actions, we will see if she gets another phone or not. I'm thinking not at the moment.

I get very anxious about money and food. I always feel the need to have more money and more food. I don't know why I am like this, but as I said earlier, being under $100 in our account is almost making me have an anxiety attack. I also feel this way when our food supply is low, although it is never really low, I have been trying to overcome this fear slowly, and some times are better than others....right now is not one of those times. We have food, our light and gas are on, we have a roof over our head and we have gas in our vehicles.....it will be ok!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving....have a wonderful weekend!

[G'MaDebbie]

I did it!! I am done!! And it feels so good!!! My house is clutter free and looks so nice!! I keep going from room to room just to make sure it really is done! lol
I feel like I am lost at times, because everything is done and it has NEVER been this way. It is such a nice feeling to have a clutter free home. Now I can concentrate on the more important issues at hand: the medical bills.
My husband is so passive, even when our home was at it's worst he would never say anything about it....but I see the look in his eyes when he walks thru the door that he appreciates all I have accomplished....that's a great feeling in itself.

I know that I could have accomplished this task on my own if I had wanted too, but it was the help, advice and tips from the Village that helped me thru it all.