decided not to go to Noah's Ark this year

For the past few years, our family and my sister's family have made a trip to the Dells together and spent the day at Noah's Ark. We look forward to it every year and have a great time. We really wanted to go this year as well. We pick a date, made the plans and were ready to go again, but as the time got closer, we realized that we had already spent so much this summer that another $250 was not in the budget. I did not want to call my sister and tell her. I knew they would be disappointed but I also know she understands and would be supportive, which she was. This trip will be budgeted in next year as the first thing we plan. :)

We really needed to prioritize and plan better for this summer. We spent all of our vacation money in the beginning and had nothing left at the end. I hate backing out on things, especially when someone else is counting on us, so this was a good reminder to only say yes the things we know we can commit to.
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it pays to shop around

After we cancelled our cable, we got on a 6 month plan with Charter for Internet and phone. Our total was about $80.00 a month. I got a notice a few weeks ago saying our 6 months were up and our new bill would be about $105.00. That is WAY TOO MUCH, so I started calling around. I was able to get a price of $54.99 through a different provider. When I called Charter to cancel, they matched the price and gave us a 12 month plan this time.

I have called a few places in the last couple months about home and auto insurance to see what saving I could get there. We were paying $75.00 a month on the van alone. I never did end up talking to many agents or getting many quotes. My sister gave me the number to her agent last week. I just got off the phone with him and was able to get us a great savings. We were paying right around $135.00 for the van, the trailer and the WRONG coverage on the condo. We will now pay about $90 a month for all 3 three. We will have the RIGHT coverage on the condo rental as well. I fell so good about that!!!

It just goes to show that it pays to invest a little time to shop around.
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September

This month was much better than last month. The kids start school this week, so we had to spend money for school supplies, clothes and tuition. I also purchased a few items for the new baby. All in all - not too bad. Including medical bills, we managed to pay off another $1,569. We are almost under $75,000. We have come a long way since owing $116,000.

All the cards and debt went down this month, but the big problem I still seem to have is using the RCUcc and then paying it off. I am about 2 weeks behind in the items that come up to purchase. I did pay off the amount that I put on the card, but it's still a REALLY bad habit. It means I am still not budgeting right. That is the goal for next month. I am going to take that card out of my wallet and lock it up. :)
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