MrsMcDowell's Money Management Thread

[McD]

Let me start out by addressing something:

I AM SOOOOOOO TEAM EDWARD.

Anyways, as a graduation present to myself, I spent some of my squirrelled away blow money and went and bought all 4 freaking Stephanie Meyer books. I have read them all. (Yes I read freakishly fast). They were amazing. I couldn't put them down. I am fighting the urge to reread them. And yes, I am TEAM EDWARD. Sigh. Have mixed feelings about the movie coming out about it.

Now back to the normal topics at hand:

Got the water bill last night. Fixing the leaky toilet got it down to 32$. Normally around 20$ so we'll see how next month is. The new bill for car insurance came-was way nice seeing 184 instead of 225.

We are proceeding cautiously on the debt snowball this month. Zac's pay schedule changed from bi-monthly and bi-weekly and I don't want to underestimate anything. I'm trying to get a handle on how the bills need to be readjusted and everything.

I'm going to make a big ole pot of chili today. It's a very cold and rainy day here and chili sounds awesome. Plus it's fairly cheap.

I need to do laundry today. And some mending. Now that school is over, I have more free time on my hands than I am used to, but I've just been vegging out the past few days. That needs to change. It's leading to my general feeling of piratey-unfrugal debauchery.

BTW, Wesley didn't dream about monsters last night. I asked him what he dreamed about and he told me that he dreamed about me. Started out my day just right.

[Greebo]

I AM SOOOOOOO TEAM EDWARD.

? What ?

We are proceeding cautiously on the debt snowball this month. Zac's pay schedule changed from bi-monthly and bi-weekly and I don't want to underestimate anything. I'm trying to get a handle on how the bills need to be readjusted and everything.

Here is how we manage our biweekly (that is every 2 weeks) pay.

Bills are still handled monthly. I'm paid every other Friday. (C's pay is irregular and we just throw it in whenever she makes a deposit)

On the last budget meeting of the month (last Sunday of the month), we call the month closed. By this time we know if there are any end of month bills, how much they will be for.

So - last sunday rolls around, we total up all the money in our assorted freedom funds, AND we add to that total any bills for the month that get paid in the last week. That's what our bank balance should be. We look at what our bank balance is, subtract our should, and thats the snowball.

Examples. Gas bill due the 30th. Last sunday is the 28th. Gas bill arrives a week early. It is for $125 (i WISH).
We have 3 freedom funds - house, car maint, and pet supplies, totaling $750.

So the funds, $750, plus the gas bill $125 totals $875. If we have $1225 in the bank, our snowball is $350 for that month.

Make sense?

[chevy_chick95]

BTW, Wesley didn't dream about monsters last night. I asked him what he dreamed about and he told me that he dreamed about me. Started out my day just right.

that is so cute!! makes all the hard times all worth it doesn't it!

[McD]

Greebs--The Team Edward thing is a reference to the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer.

[Cricketlegs]

...team JACOB!

I guess I like them tall dark and HOT..what was it 108º? lol!

[McD]

Okay, let's see. First of all Cricketlegs....

I made chili for dinner last night, but I made it differnently than normal. For starters, I didn't use one of those crappy chili seasoning packets that you can buy, I made my own with seasonings on hand. I love my chili to be really soupy, Zac likes his chili very thick so I tried to make a compromise today. I didn't add any tomato juice, but I only used 1 can of beans (I hate beans). I threw in a big a can of whole tomatoes (I cut them up) with the juice that had been marked down to 69 cents at Fareway b/c there was a dent. Used about a lb of hamburger. I usually just put in onions, but this time I added green peppers and celery. It turned out really really good and it made a perject amount of soup. We each had two small cups of soup and that was it for the chili! YUM! Wesley had a pb&j cut in the shape of a dogbone because he's decided that he's a puppy dog.

Did dishes and laundry. Also got some free goodies from a survey. Am really excited about that.

We are having the estimates on the furnace done at 6 p.m. tonight. I'm kinda nervous, but we need to just get it done with.

No big plans for the weekend-I work Saturday, we have a wedding Saturday night. Sunday, I plan on cleaning out the basement and getting rid of a ton of crapola. Either selling it or donating it but either way, it's got to go.

[McD]

Okay---did anyone notice how stupid I am? Seriously look at yesterday's thread and check out how I spelled differently. Yikes.

Yesterday was a fairly good day. I was somewhat busy at work, but still able to read my book. (I read the Twilight saga really quickly the first time b/c I was so excited to see what happened, but now I am rereading them and taking my time, yes I'm weird, I know.) Had leftovers for lunch. We all kinda snacked for dinner--Wesley had a hot dog on a stick (i.e. corn dog).

We had the furnace estimate. It's going to run us about 9K. It has to be done though.

[McD]

Okay-dokey-smokey.

So we had to break down and get the furnace fixed. Just about the time we get on track and get ready to knock the crap outta the debt....yikes. 10K. Just a minor setback.

We had to spend some moolah this weekend getting things that Zac had to have for the police academy. He left this morning and we won't be seeing him for two weeks. Normally, he gets to come home on weekends, but he has his drill weekend for the Guard this weekend. It's range fire weekend, so that means he can't come home at all.

Wesley and I are going to roadtrip down to Illinois to see my family. I haven't seen them since the middle of July. I miss them a lot. Dennis, my younger brother, called me last night just to chat. Dennis is one of those kids that just lights up a room by being in it. He's a happy person and makes me laugh.

With Zac being gone, we'll be spending less on groceries, gas, etc. That's good since we now have to whittle out room in the budget for a 190$ furnace payment.

Other than that, my friends, not much to update.

[Cricketlegs]

$190 a month--have you looked at the numbers yet?

[McD]

I have. We've got the money to be able to do it, it's just a pita.

[Cricketlegs]

I have. We've got the money to be able to do it, it's just a pita.

Amen to that. 2 steps forward and 3 steps back...

[McD]

Well the furnace is all fixed. They did an amazing job and I'm really happy we got it done. We are going to have to do some modifications to the garage--but it shouldn't be anything too awful difficult or spendy. I am still so mad at myself for not realizing that a v.a. home inspection and a homeowner's inspection weren't the same thing.

I had leftovers for dinner last night, Wesley wanted a corn dog. (I swear that's all he eats). Now that Zac is gone during the week, we haven't been doing much cooking or anything like that. I've got a five dollar gift certificate to Maid-Rite and the Maid-Rite just happens to be right across the street from the bank I work at. So after I get off work, I'm going to run over there and grab me some chili for dinner and pick Wesley up some french fries as a treat. Gotta love free dinner.

I got a rebate check in the mail last night for 3.76 and a 3$ check for doing a survey. Applied both those to the Vantus loan. New balance is 1265.42.

Busy day at work today--operationally speaking. I've gotta start working on schedules for October and all that. I'm in my cubicle right now, rocking out to some boybands that were popular in my youth.

I'm having a really down day. For the past two days, I have just had the most horrible feeling that something really bad is going to happen. I don't like it. I got an email basically saying that I sucked too much to even be considered for the position I applied for. Zac's gone for two weeks. And I miss my family.

Speaking of family, my brother sent me an essay he wrote for his college comp class. It almost made me cry. He had to describe a picture in his room, as well as his reaction to it. He chose to write about a picture of him holding Wesley. He said the picture made him think of Wesley and he talked about his bond with Wesley, but he also said the picture made him think of me. He said I'm one of his biggest role models, that I work hard at everything I do and am always successful in them. He talked about close he was to me while we were growing up and how we have a really unique bond between brother/sister and how he can tell me anything. He also wrote that I pushed him thru the hard times in his life and how the reason he works so hard at things is because he knows that is what I would do. And then he wrote that he never wanted to let me down, even though he knew that I would never feel that way about him. Can you see why I'm a blubbery mess today?

[Greebo]

Aww, that's very sweet of him. (((Nichole)))

And gratz on the furnace.

[Jamauk]

Oh Nichole, you made me cry!

I get that same "something bad is gonna happen" feeling in the pit of my stomach during this week every year (I think it has something to do with Thursday's anniversary).

(((BIG HUGS))) to you. Tomorrow will be a better day.

[JanieD]

Sorry you didn't get the new job, but I'm sure IT wasn't right for you. I believe things work out the way they're meant to... just doesn't seem that way sometimes. I also get those "dread" feels & its usually nothing. Could be stress, usually is in my case. Plus things are move in the right direction for you, maybe it seems too good to be true. Anyway, I'm sending good thoughts!

Plus, you've got to have the greatest brother in the world! Well, he's near the top. Most of us aren't as close to family as we'd like & its amazing you have such a bond! And excellent news on the furnace!