Thursday, March 17, 2011

Money

I have done the unthinkable. I have paid off four of the five credit cards we currently have. Two major cards and two store cards have been fully paid off (except for possibly some residual interest charges)!! I am so excited about this I can't even tell you!!

We still have the Visa card to pay off ($1,900) and we owe about $900 for a final medical bill and another $900 to Smug-Grandma who helped us out with some cash when Smug-Baby was born, but none of those are incurring interest at the moment. The Visa was a no interest on balance transfers card so I have about 6 months left to get that paid. The plan is to work on that one next while still paying on the medical bill. Once those two are paid off, Smug-Grandma will get chucks of cash until that too is paid off.

I was almost to this place last year when Smug-Baby was born. Then we had unexpected expenses due to being in the NICU and used the credit cards to live on some while I was on maternity leave. Once I returned to work, it was part time, so it has taken longer to get things paid off than we would have liked.

I feel so warm and fuzzy at the thought of not having those cards hanging over our heads and those payments to think about every month. We will be able to have a bit of breathing room in the budget as well as start to fund the savings account again!! I hate not having a little cushion of money in case of an emergency. I really don't think that the washer and dryer is going to last much longer and the dishwasher and refrigerator may be the ones to go after that. You never know when the hot water heater will die or the heat pump will need service and right now we wouldn't be able to afford to fix anything! But, now we have emergency credit available if disaster strikes and soon will have money in savings to cover emergencies without tapping into the credit! I love it when a plan comes together!! :)

In other news, I spent a lovely day with a dear friend yesterday. I don't get many opportunities to hang with people outside my family and while I love my family and hang out with them by choice, it is nice to have someone else to talk to. She has a baby who is Smug-Baby's age and they were cute to watch together. I think that Smug-Baby is used to Smug-Niece who doesn't present much of a challenge and who lets Smug-Baby pull her hair and sit on her and take her toys. But T-Baby is all boy and slightly bigger than Smug-Baby and he wanted to play with her and kiss her and take the toy she was playing with. Basically, she got a taste of her own medicine :)

We took them for a nice walk and they "talked" to each other the whole time. It was so cute and it pains me that we live so far apart. I just loved being with them. Really an hour and a half isn't a bad trip and Smug-Baby did really well. She slept the first 45 minutes of the drive both ways and spent the last 45 minutes just hanging out, playing with toys and looking out the window. Both ways, it was the last 5 minutes of the trip where she got fussy and really wanted to get out of the car seat. All in all, it was a great day!!

However, spending the day there meant that another day passed without working on the disaster zone that is my downstairs and garage. I think that I am going to load up the bed of the truck and have a big yard sale. Whatever doesn't sell, gets taken to the Goodwill at the end of the day. I am so tired of the junk and clutter and waste. Stuff that has been in boxes for 4 years we simply don't need! Let someone else get some use out of it!!

My house is not suitable for a yard sale, but I am hoping to think of somewhere to else to set up... have to give that some thought!!!

Regardless, I think that my spring cleaning mindset has arrived and I have to clean something!!!!

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