by jolyn on July 20, 2010
Wow, I just scrounged up a draft of this post originally dated July 1. I guess I had admirable intentions of a timely update. I have been amazingly lazy about reluctant to post June’s numbers: Paying down debt just isn’t very exciting when you’re only making the regular payments. I really can’t call this a [...]
by jolyn on June 15, 2010
Hmm… Mid-June and I’m finally ready to talk about May? Yea. It’s been a few of those weeks. Debt Update Not very exciting. We’re in minimum mode right now. As in, just making minimum payments. Our debt snowball is just sitting there, in limbo. Waiting for a couple of major life changes (aka Selling a [...]
We’ve been overdue for a new bed for a long, long, long time. Truly, in hindsight, buying a new mattress five years ago would not have been too soon. Indeed, I’ve had back problems for at least that long, which I attributed to issues that came up following the birth of my daughter (who’s now [...]
by jolyn on April 12, 2010
Alternate Title: Why You Shouldn’t Travel Without an Emergency Fund Alternate-Alternate Title: How Not To Communicate with Your Husband About Finances Alternate Sub-Title: Why You Might Not Want to Max Out a ROTH Right Before Traveling Cross-Country First I Met With Our Financial Adviser On our recent trip to Kansas to visit family, I met [...]
by jolyn on March 6, 2010
I think many people feel that putting themselves on a budget will restrict their lifestyle and keep them from being able to spend money on the things they like to have and do. My experience has been the opposite: creating a budget has actually felt quite freeing. Before, whenever I wanted to spend money impulsively, [...]
by jolyn on February 10, 2010
You may have heard a little something about the East Coast getting dumped on with the most snow they’ve ever had at one time since 1899, or something crazy like that. Ohio’s only gotten a taste of what’s hit DC and New York, but it was enough to close the schools for a couple of [...]
by jolyn on February 1, 2010
*I call anything a Buster Buster that comes into or goes out of the account unexpectedly. These are not emergency items, but things that I perhaps should have known to budget for… January’s Total Budget busters from the mid-month assessment: -$265.32 Mid- to End-of-Month Budget Busters: Debits -$70.00: Garage Door Opener Repair. (Actually, replacement — [...]
by jolyn on January 25, 2010
We got a new garage door opener! Woo-hoo! The Final Tally: $115.00 The Home Warranty came through (with a little help from Josh The Garage Door Fixer Guy) and covered the replacement of the opener instead of just the stripped gear. Aside from the $70 service call, we are also paying $45 to replace the [...]
by jolyn on January 18, 2010
At the beginning of January, before The Hubs left on his deployment, I made up a budget for January based on known expenditures for the month. A few things have “come up” since then. *ahem* Have I mentioned lately that this budget thing is still a work in progress? Baby steps, people. Is It Possible [...]
by jolyn on January 14, 2010
I’m slowly coming out of my denial that moving to a cash system is the step we need to take to really get a grip on a budget that we control. Particularly in light of our most recent tenants vacating that thorn in our side our rental home, it is vital that every dollar we [...]