Wouldn't you know it...

So not too long ago I posted about wanting a house, bad. I said we were going to start saving mucho money for it. Well, we didn't. Instead all extra money went towards debt, and we've been doing a really good job.

So the other day I'm driving to my dad's house and I see this new development. Out of curiousity I drive through, and they're putting in new houses and townhouses. Mind you, this is the part of town Hubby and I have been DREAMING to live in, but houses are just way too expensive. Well, we could have a townhouse built in our budget. Nice new neighborhood, families starting out just like us, a park in the middle, nearly everything but the picket fence. We could live there for 5-7 years, and then when our daughter is older (we plan on having more children), we'll upgrade. Thing is, we have no money to put down. So I've been looking into first home-buyer programs, and because of the state of everything right now, no one is very eager to lend with 0 down. I feel crushed. I'm still going to try and see what we can do, but I just don't know what is going to be feasible. I'm telling you... it's perfect. Bleh....

Dr. Bills... Bleh...

I swear, they just keep coming in. I had my daughter 4 months ago, and we just keep getting more and more bills in the mail. Not as much is going to be able to go towards the damn cards this month because I need to start factoring these bills into everything too. I've paid down about $800, have about another $1400 to go, and that is WITH INSURANCE! I can't imagine having a baby without insurance. I love my daughter with all my heart and she is worth every penny and then some.... the bills just suck!

I'm $9 away from breaking $14,000 for our credit cards! That's awesome, and I'm stoked! Hubby isn't making as much because he's not doing the overtime, so that's about $500 less a week. On top of that, it's really slow at my work, so my paychecks have been close to $100 less a week. The timing sucks with the holidays coming up, but we're planning ahead. I also have a bunch of family birthday's around the same time, so I'm trying to start now with everything. Our daughter is young, so she won't know the difference.

Speaking of our beautiful daughter, she's going to be a fabulous pumpkin for Halloween this year! There was an adorable costume at Old Navy I've been eyeballing, and it was 50% off finally today so I got it for her. Not sure what we're doing, but it'll be cute to dress her up regardless :0) The pumpkin is going to be a tradition with our children... they'll all be a pumpkin for their first Halloween!

Things are progressing!

We've been doing a pretty good job lately if I do say so myself! :) Hubby is still working out of town, but no more 10-hour days. This means less money for each paycheck and more gas money spent, but it is soooo great to have him home again. Those weeks where his checks where large was awesome, cause any extra money we put straight towards the cards. I know I could tighten our budget more, and I'm working on it, but so far all my goals are working out. I'm not sure if we'll be able to meet the goal for credit card debt down to $11,000, but we're going to try. Once we get this debt down a little more, we're going to start some IRA's too... just in an attempt to plan for the future!

The housing market is crazy, so we're just hanging out for now. Each week we're continuing to put at least $100 into another account, which has been working out quite nicely. It's just so damn expensive here... makes everything harder it seems.

So far so good!

Nothing too exciting to report, financially speaking. Hubby is still working out of town, so me and the bebe are just staying home, which is saving money that I would spend otherwise. Hubby did a great job at not spending money while out of town too! Managed to put nearly $500 towards debt this week; would have been more but we got daughter's pictures taken and I didn't want to conserve since she's only this little once.

I'm pretty sure we've managed to put nothing, yes, NOTHING, on the cards this month! Whoo hoo! :)

I want a freaking house!

I've been looking at some stuff online tonight, and I feel very depressed. I feel like we'll never get a house. With the way the market is right now, we're going to need a hefty chunk of change to get in, and I feel like I'm in this moral delima of figuring out which to put money towards- debt, or savings. I think I'm going to continue to put $1000 a month towards credit cards, but work more aggressivly towards saving money. House and emergency fund are just becoming savings in general, and I'll figure out the other part later.

Bleh. The upside is Hubby was offered big bucks... 10 hour days, 6 days a week. This is huge cash for him. The downside? It's 2.5 hours away, so he's going to stay with a friend. He's been working down there for the last couple weeks and driving home each night, but a 10 hour-day is a lot different than a 8 hour-day, especially when you factor in the driving time. Looks like I'm going to experience single-motherhood, but the upside is I won't be doing much so I should be spending any more money.

Labor day weekend...

It was so nice to have a three-day weekend. Hubby and I had a BBQ on Saturday and a bunch of friends came over. As expected, it cost us a pretty penny, but there are just some times when you have to give in (maybe??). Sunday and today we just hung out around the house, and even sold my desk to a wonderful woman off craigslist.

Perhaps the most exciting news to me is that we got our new table... and also two stackable shelving units that I've been wanting for a long time. We still have boxes of dishes and what-not recieved as wedding gifts stashed in a closet, and it was time to get them out. I totally scored too... the desk was normally $299.99, but on sale for $199.99, and I had a 10% off coupon making it $179.99. The shelving units each are normally $139.99, but were on sale for $99.99 and using the same 10% off coupon, we go tthem for $79.99 each! Like I said, the whole thing was too good of a deal to pass up, especially since I've been wanting them for the last year. We're a little tight on money now until we get paid this week, but bills are good, and credit cards are on track.

All in all, a great weekend and after the BBQ (and table/shelves) we didn't spend a time. Heck, we didn't even eat out! Yay for us!

So far so good

Hubby and I have been doing really good at not adding to our debt, which is awesome. He got paid today, and while his paycheck was a little less than normal (he took Tuesday off for my birthday), it was still greatly appreciated. I immediatly transfered the $350 into the other account we have with that bank, and both our car insurance and rent came out of it. Next week's $350 will go towards electricity, cable, Capital One card and HSBC.

We're going to get the new dining room table tomorrow. $50 bucks will have to come from our money for the month for it, but we need the table. I just listed my old desk on craigslist, so let's hope it sells fast cause then we'll end up being ahead $50!

I caved in and bought two new dresses. A store was having an awesome internet sale, and I bought two dresses for $21 each that were normally $75. It was too good of a deal to let go, and I needed something for my post-pregnancy body. Next weekend we're going out of town for a wedding, wihch reminds me I need to purchase a gift for them. I think I'll just give them a gift card, because it's always hard for me to set a budget when I'm shopping off a registry. I always want to get a bunch of things so it doesn't look stingy, so I know in the long run it'll save us money to just get a card.

Also, we're having another BBQ Saturday. Tomorrow I'll make a run to Costco and Target to pick up some things... last big BBQ of the year. After it's all said and done, it'll probably cost us $100. Old me wouldn't have cared... new me sees how great it would be to put that towards a card. We haven't done much this summer though, so it'll be nice to have some friends over.

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, today was my 25th birthday. Nothing too exciting; Hubby stayed home from work today and we went to Ikea to look around. I told him not to buy me anything, and he actually listened... instead he made me an awesome breakfast and cleaned up the house. I bought a couple candles which I didn't need, but hey, it's my birthday :) We also went out to dinner; a friend of mine offered to watch our daughter so we could eat without her for the first time in the 3 months she's been alive. It was weird, and I missed her!

We've been needing a new kitchen table, and I decided to use my birthday money ($200 from random family members) to buy one. I looked at Ikea, but actually think I found the best deal at another store, where we can get a table and four chairs for $250. Only 50 bucks for a table out of my pocket works for me!!

That's about it around these parts. I think we're going to be able to save even more each month, which was actually my husband's idea. Instead of taking x-amount out for bills and savings each month, we're going to leave out $150 per week for food, groceries, etc, and whatever is left will go to savings. I'm starting to realize just how much random money we waste, so this is exciting!!

We're really trying to February or so to get a house. We might not have a hefty amount for a down payment, but we'll figure it out. We have GOT to get out of the place we're at.

September bills... CHECK!

I went through and figured out exactly what bills to pay on which days. I think this is going to work very well... Hubby generally gets his paycheck on Thursdays, so I figured out which bills to pay each week. I've got it hanging here next to my computer as a constant reminder.

This weekend we ended up spending a little more than I had anticipated. My birthday is coming up, and instead of other people doing things for me, I opted to have my family over for a BBQ. I had already gone grocery shopping earlier in the week to stock up for a good two weeks (spent $120 but saved $60!!), but I didn't have nearly enough stuff for an additional 10 people. Counting the food, beer, soda... man, we spent OVER 100 bucks. We're also having people over next weekend so I wanted the yard to look nice, which ended up costing another $50 on flowers (which is really good for me because I love gardening). I know this was money we didn't HAVE to spend, but hey, sometimes things happen. We're still doing fine with money, and nothing new has gone on the credit cards! :)

I've received a $200 bucks so far for birthday money. I don't need anything, but we really want a kitchen table. I figure we'll sell the desk that I have currently in the kitchen on craigslist, maybe get $100 out of it (it's a really nice corner desk), and put that towards a new table and chairs. Hubby and I have always been slackers and just had dinner in front of the tv, but as our daughter gets older I refuse to do that. She's not big enough for a high-chair yet, but she will be in a couple months.

Speaking of daughter, I just figured out that we owe $800 in hospital bills after insurance. That sucks, but at least it's not the $15,000 the whole procedure came to! Hubby was supposed to call and set up payment plans; I'll have to ask him again in the morning.

ING Account!

Whoo hoo, I opened up a savings account at ING. I'm stoked. I already transfered $120 over for our emergency and house funds. That's one less thing to have to worry about... on my payday every Friday, I'll just immediately transfer the money over. I've always at the computer, so it works.

Had a long talk with Hubby tonight and he's totally on board. He just laughs at me. We both really want a house and to start that college fund for our daughter. Right now we have a pretty big piggy bank full of silver change... I'm guessing there is at least a hundred dollars in it. I think we'll cash that in and transfer it into the ING account too... it might as well collect a little bit of interest instead of hanging out on my dusty bookcase! Once we make a dent in our credit card debt, I'd like to open some kind of college fund. I don't know much about this, so I need to start researching things. That'll be with the new year. Hubby also has a son from a previous relationship, and I would like to get a fund started for him as well.

I've got a game plan!

K, after doing some major number crunching, I figured out that hubby and I will each get paid 17 more times this year (we're each paid weekly). With two different banks, and four accounts (two checking, two savings), I've designated how much money will go into each bank each week, and what that money will go towards.

Each week, $350 will be transfered to a separate account from my husband's paycheck. This will cover all our household bills each week ($230), as well as $120 to go towards credit card debt. From my paychecks, $360 will be transferred into another account to go towards our car payment, house/emergency funds, and credit cards. This still leaves plenty of extra money for things that will come up each month, such as gas and groceries. Hubby does a lot of driving for his work, so we tend to spend quite a bit in gas, but we luck out because I work from home!

There may be another added expense coming up: hospital bills from the birth of our dear daughter. Insurance is still working out the kinks, but as of right now it looks as though we are going to owe about $800.

Then there is Christmas. I have a huge family, and hubby and I have always given gifts to everyone. We would like to cut back this year... which is going to be hard for me... I have no idea what I'll get, but we'll see. My goal is to start shopping a little bit now for people, and maybe spend no more than $20 bucks a person. If I start early, then maybe it won't hit so hard come December :o)

Here goes nothing...

It's seriously time for a change, and trust me when I say I am more than ready for it. I've been doing some number crunching lately and the hubby and I have got to start planning for our future. We're young, but we aren't THAT YOUNG. We have a beautiful daughter and we want her to have the best possible life growing up. Oh yeah, and we don't want to work for the rest of our lives. So with that being said, our current goal is to get rid of our debt.

Yep... debt. Credit cards, those lovely pieces of plastic that so many of us carry in our wallets, suck. We want to buy a house soon, but I want to get most of this crap taken care of first. We're hoping to make a pretty big dent by the spring, and then get a house before the market starts heading back up (if it ever goes back up).

Between the man and I (the husband), I am the number cruncher. I'm the one that comes up with the budget, the one who pays the bills and the one that plans. Thing is, I'll come up with great ideas, and then as soon as he says "hey, let's going out to dinner!" it all goes out the window. Well, it did. It's a new start now. We make PLENTY of money to get by. We aren't loaded or blowing thousands by any means, but we shouldn't have the amount of debt that we have. So with that being said...

... here goes nothing :)