~We did a refi to cut quite a few years off the mortgage. That resulted in a higher payment.
~Car needs about 1200 worth of work. (tires, muffler, tranny flush etc) We would like to keep this car going as kiddo gets his liscense in the fall and he can drive himself the 13 miles to work. It is an 01 with 128K miles. Looks great but not worth much.
~A car replacement is planned in the fall. Sooner if the car keeps nickling and diming us to death. (need to really get saving cash!!!!!!!!)
~Dh's car is at 94,000 miles no problems but gets new brakes tomorrow. We need to start planning on replacing this one too.
~Barn needs new doors and painting
~Floors need to be ripped out and redone on the second floor of the house (approx 1800 with dh providing the labor)
~4 day concert in July. Tickets paid but need spending cash
~Oct trip with Dh's whole extended family. Approx 600
~Next week our new windows and doors go in. (have $ to pay cash:applause
~Need to rebuild the EF after all the recent car bills, basement problem, New windows etc to a level we are again comfy with!
I'm just leaving myself a place to jot down how we are doing. Ideas etc. Input appreciated!:deal:
:dunce:One issue we need to conquer is eating out more than once or twice a month.
I'll be reworking the budget yet again after I workout!
~Car needs about 1200 worth of work. (tires, muffler, tranny flush etc) We would like to keep this car going as kiddo gets his liscense in the fall and he can drive himself the 13 miles to work. It is an 01 with 128K miles. Looks great but not worth much.
~Need to rebuild the EF after all the recent car bills, basement problem, New windows etc to a level we are again comfy with!
~4 day concert in July. Tickets paid but need spending cash
~Barn needs new doors
~Oct trip with Dh's whole extended family. Approx 600
~A car replacement is planned in the fall. Sooner if the car keeps nickling and diming us to death. (need to really get saving cash!!!!!!!!)
~Dh's car is at 94,000 miles no problems but gets new brakes tomorrow. We need to start planning on replacing this one too.
~Barn needs painting
~Floors need to be ripped out and redone on the second floor of the house (approx 1800 with dh providing the labor)
Ok for Concert I will start saving all my tips. That will take care of the concert. I will save them after the concert for the trip in Oct. That should take care of most of it.
Currently adding $40 to Ef weekly but need to add more.
Muffler is not a safety issue, it can wait. Maybe it can be patched cheaply. Tires... you can probably do two new tires now and two more later, if all 4 need replacing. For summer driving you generally can get away with older tires than you can in slippery winter conditions.
Transmission flush... does it _need_ it or is it just "due". Our car (97) passed it's mark for transmission work, but it is driving fine and I've been told it's probably not worth the expense of taking it apart if the thing is running well. Might be worth talking to an honest mechanic about.
Your car is at the age where age and fatigue mean you will be replacing a lot of parts... but hang in there. After it is all done you will get another 5-10 years out of the car. $1200 is cheaper than a new car, and if yours is running well despite the muffler and tires, it's probably a better bet than an unknown risk on another used car.
Depending on what kind of flooring you need, you should check out a discount flooring warehouse, if your husband is doing the work himself, it's worth it to check it out, my family owns a flooring company and the markup on some things is ridiculous, esp. carpet, also you can try and contact the mill/maker if you're using carpet, I do believe most sell to private buyers, and it can be much cheaper, just depends on the type.
P.S. If you need help painting the barn, try finding some local college kids, pay em by the hour and provide pizza, worked for my husband and I when we needed our garage painted
Great advice you're getting here. Am very impressed with the handle that you have on all that needs to be done. Good luck and please let us know how its going.
ContraryHouseWife~ Dh actually picked up muffler tape to tide it over a bit. Mechanic says it needs to be flushed. All the tires are going but the one keeps getting out of round. I'll talk to dh about 2 at a time like you mentioned.
I'd like to keep taking good care of the car so ds can drive it quite a few years if possible. Nice safe bigger car! Now to save for a newer one!
Oiteness~ we are doing laminate. When we did the lower floor we saved over a $ a sq foot going with Sams Club. That sure added up with 1400 sq feet! I'll look at the box and see if I can contact the manufacturer. Great idea!
Dh will really disagree with this one but I think eating out needs to go to one time a month. I'd say a once a month date but that isn't fair to the kids. Hummmm pondering! The oldest eats McD's a lot (his $) as he works there. I could have him pick up something after his shift for his brother using his discount. That would work!
Checked into the price of renting a sprayer to paint the barn. The Amish also paint barns so I'll get an estimate from them.
Only one source of barn doors in the area. I will check Lowes and Home Depot even though they are 70 miles away as FIl says it very well may be worth the cost of the drive.
Need to check Sams club tire prices versus the local guy.
Need to do freezer inventory.
Oh on a note that made oldest ds very happy!!! His xbox360 broke yet again!!!! I told him we would not split the cost to repair it this time. I read of a fix on the internet. Did it last night and it works great! Ah the power of the internet!
Hope it quits raining! I said I didn't need dh to make sure he was home in time to get the car before the garage closes at 5 because I'd walk the 3 + miles as I need to exercise anyways. Besides his overtime is $! Got my raincoat ready just in case! The biggest dog loves water so she won't mind!
Glad your hubby taped the muffler, it may not be a safety issue like Contrary pointed out but it could be an issue with the cops, they like ticketing for cars with loud mufflers.
You are doing a great job, keep up the good work and let us know how things go.
Dh and I decided to have a little date last night as long as the oldest was off work to stay with the youngest a few hours. Total spent $32. Needed some kid free alone time!!! Not the best for the wallet but good for the marriage!
The oldest sprung his camping list for Mondays school trip last night. Oh heavens!!! I knew of the trip and that he would need stuff but this was ridiculous!!!
Last year his part of his groups list was maybe $10 and stuff we had here. This year he volunteered to being ALL the meat. Since it is too late to change this since he told us last minute we couldn't even the cost out a bit with his group. We sucked it up and bought all the deli meat, bread, cheese, mayo and grilling meat last night (and buns). That was $58 we were not planning on spending! I told him he can never volunteer to bring all the meat again. Some but not all!!!! Dh was grumbling "gee this is better than we eat!" because we don't buy deli meat
Still waiting to get into the garage. Haven't had time yet when they do.
Windows almost done. Cash sitting there ready to pay.
We went a little bonkers spending $ over the weekend. A birthday party for a 21 year old nephew. Dh bought the nieces and nephews drinks so the tab was not tiny. I about fell over when he told me how much was spent.
I gave the kiddo 18.00 out of the $ I have saved for the concert.
I told dh that is definitely the last big hurray until the concert as we have too much to save for. However I'm glad my nephews and nieces enjoyed the 21st celebration. LOL. Funny that half of them are now adults that can go in a bar. Still remember them little!!!
Did a freezer inventory last night. Getting low in there!
I made taco chicken last night. That was a tasty easy experiment.
Since the EF is down to about 1 month after everything that has happened I told dh this adding 40 a week and hoping there is extra to add later isn't working. I'm going to redo the budget today too see if I can squeeze out 75-100 a week on auto draft. It looks impossible but never say never!
I've also got to increase my gas budget. Kiddos job is 15 miles away and his hours are way up for the summer.
Dinner was a flop! We were given 3 rings of venison bologna. I cooked them up and yuck!
Instead of the usual~ lets go pick something up we had a bizarre meal. I had a pizza in the freezer so we had pizza, spinach, corn and potato. Odd but ok
Bumped the direct debit up to $60 a week. I'm not sure how it will work but I will make it work.
Kiddo needed black shoes 4 work. We actually found a decent pair for $16. Cool!!!
We had a house warming party. I thought a flower basket would be good for the bare deck. I knew how much a decent was in town was. More than I wanted to pay by far!
I stopped at an Amish green house and got a humongous 2 teired basked of gorgeous flowers for $17. It was so huge it was hard to fit in the car without squishing it
I also needed to bring a dessert. I was out of stuff to make cookies and going through the cupboards made up a recipe for some tasty treats using those left over easter bunnies!
I made the best granola bars today. I have a kiddo who doesn't get enough protein. I saw a recipe online and tweaked it.
4 c oats toasted in oven
3 c cornflakes
4 scoops protein powder
1 stick butter
3/4 c ground sunflower seeds
1 c brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 t vanilla
bring butter and can of milk to boil, stir in sugar and vanilla until smooth
pour over other ingredients. Stir together and spread on greased cookie sheets.
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