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Archive for September, 2006

no choice but to spend $70

September 29th, 2006 at 02:58 am

Last week my not yet 1 year old DS learned how to climb out of his crib...So as you all can imagine I am a nervous wreck about leaving him in his crib unattended. The minute he wakes up DH or I run in to get him. How quickly these little babes learn...he is really taking advantage (lol).
So, being sleep deprived and seeing no other option I went to Babies R Us to look for a net to go over the top of the crib...turns out only 1 model is available and it cost $70!
DH and I thought about just putting this money toward a toddler bed but decided he is still too young for that.
The only good thing is they are going for about the same price on ebay...so when I am all done with it, hopefully I can make my money back.

My Goals

September 27th, 2006 at 03:09 am

The reason I started for looking for money saving ideas in the first place was because I couldn't seem to pay my mortgage or car payment on the due date... I needed to take full advantage of th 15 day grace period, and even then had to withdraw funds ($100-$200) from my savings account.
So...Goal #1 was to pay the mortgage by the 1st of each month.
Goal #2 was to pay the car payment by the 15th of the month.
After only 2 months of making some changes (mostly small changes)the car payment was paid by Sept. 15 and the mortgage payment will be paid on the 1st of October...after paying the mortgage there will be almost $200 left over in the checking account.
Now onto the next goals...paying off the truck and the home equity loan early.

Big Changes

September 26th, 2006 at 03:17 am

I mentioned in my About Me blog that my life has changed a lot in the past year. I knew having a child would change everything, but I really had no idea.
I took a 12 week leave from work when DS was born last year, 8 weeks which was partially paid. I had just paid off my 2002 Chevy Camaro Z28 so there was some extra money, which I thought would be put toward a daycare expense.
During my leave I realized that there was no way I could be a SAHM...financially DH and I could not swing it....we weren't always careful with our money.
The first example of this is our Camaro Z28. How practical is this car in New England? (But it was soooo cool!!!) So....we had to buy a 'winter car'. Fortunately DH's grandparents had a 1992 Oldsmobile that they were ready to part ways with. Although we got it relatively cheap (paid cash), it was always in need of repairs, not to mention the extra expense of having another car on the road. We thought about trading in the Z28 when DS was born, but neither of us were ready to give it up.
Second, DH had a pickup truck without an extended cab. So after being without a car payment for 3 months, so we traded it in...enter a new car payment....there goes the extra money for daycare.
Luckily a friend offered to watch DS free of charge. We 'paid' her by bringing small gifts and buying dinner once a week. But, when things started to go bad 2 months later I had to get him out of there fast! Without the luxury of time to find a suitable daycare, I asked my boss If I could work the second shift temporarily until I could make other arrangements.
So here it is, 7 months later and I am still working nights. It hasn't always been perfect, but I figure this is saving us about $9500/year...with the added bonus of getting to spend all this time with DS!
In July, when DS outgrew his 'baby' carseat, I realized that I could not fit his new carseat in our beloved Z28..well it would fit but it was extremely difficult getting him in and out. We were hoping to trade down, and have a very small car payment or none at all.
My dad offered to trade his 2003 Impala for my 2002 Z28 and give me $1000 cash...WOW!
So this enabled us to donate the oldsmobile (DH and I did not feel comfortable selling it...it needed some work). All totalled this saved us almost $800/year with insurance, taxes, registration and inspection fees.
These are my 2 big money savers this year....but we still have a long way to go.

About Me

September 26th, 2006 at 02:46 am

I have often thought about starting a blog, but the events in my daily life, while fufilling to me, may not be very interesting to other people. Since a lot of people from this site blog about their money saving ideas, goals, etc. I thought it might be interesting to share my thoughts and see what people have to say about them.
Just for some background about me, I am 30 years old...married for 6 years, and have a DS that will turn 1 in a few days. My life has changed a lot in the past year...when it was just me and DH I knew we would always 'get by'. Now that DS is in the picture things had to change. I didn't realize that right away, but now that I know, there is no turning back.