Wow.... it's been a long time since I was on here. It's about time I update this thing. :)Well, as you can see, we did not make as much progress the past few months as were making earlier in the year. Part of me feels a little bummed, but the other part of me looks at the overall picture of what we have accomplished in just a little over a year and I could not be happier. We have been paying such big payments on medical debt that I decided to add that amount to our chart as well. When I see the grand total, I just smile. Not only are we that much less in debt today than we were a year ago (which is awesome), but it represents everything we have been through as a family to get to this point. We're doing it!!!!...and we're doing it together!!!If I could give just one piece of advice to anyone else who is in our shoes, or to anyone who might happen to read this, it would be to NOT GIVE UP!!! Know that you will have set backs and you will struggle some months, but keep going....you will get there!!!lovelovelove
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Not the worst month, but not the best either. Still having trouble with the RCUcc. Still making good progress though. I am getting a tad worried about the Discover card. We did a balance transfer to that card back in March with 0% for 1 year. The 0% expires in February. The plan was to have it paid off by January, but I am not sure how that is going to happen right now. At the same time, I am in a state of "I don't care". I am due in 2 weeks with the new baby and it seems that is about all that is on my mind these days. Pregnancy is very hard on me and I am ready for it to be over. I am looking forward to feeling better again so I can focus more on the bills. Grocery shopping is one place that we have been slacking A LOT. I just can't get to all the different stores to get the best deals that are out there. Getting through just one store is about all I can do. Dan helps as much as he can, but he is also not home a lot either.We talked a week or so ago and both agreed that once the baby is here, things we get a lot easier. I won't be as tired (or irritable) and I will be able to coupon clip more again and plan out meals better, etc. We both thought we are easily spending an extra $200 - $300 a month just by not planning as good as we could be.Hopefully, with my next update, I will have a little baby in my arms!!lovelovelove
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.lovelovelove
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.LoveLoveLove
