This year is the year I am going to make things happen. My husband tends to be a procrasinator and I fall into the trap of "someday this" and "someday that". Well, someday has arrived!!!! I am sick of putting everything off so this year I am going to stay motivated to make things happen.

Top of my list:

1. Save for and purchase a new couch. I have had my couch for 10 years and it has dealt with 2 kids, 3 cats, and countless overnight guests. Needless to say it is in really sad shape and I hate even looking at it.

2. Fix outside stairs to the house. They are brick and cement and are falling apart. Safety hazzard for sure but not a huge worry since we never really use that door. But, like the couch it is an eyesore and I am done with looking like we are living paycheck to paycheck.

3. Get driveway widened. We have a long, narrow driveway which requires us to either drive on the grass or move cars to get around each other. Not good for the grass, especially in the spring. Impossible to accomplish in the winter.

4. Save towards taking a real vacation. Every year we go to Toronto for a long weekend but I am hoping to skip this trip in order to save money to take the kids to Florida and Disney.

5. Take my sister for a spa weekend for her birthday. Since she is the last living member of my family I don't feel guilty at all for splurging on us.

6. Pay off all store cards and put a massive dent into VISA/Discover.

7. Excerise 3 times a week and make the money I pay the gym worth it.

8. Just to simply enjoy my kids being kids while they still are. I am going to try to limit my committments so I have more time to give to them and actually enjoy it.

I am sure there are a million more things that I am not able to think of right now but I think this is a good start for me. I can feel the winds of change starting to blow and I am excited!!

and I am pretty optimistic about it. I really think this is the year that I get control over my finances and start making some progress.

I see some of the progress already. I have been sticking to my budget for the last 2 pay periods and I just calculated everything and came out with $176.96 left over from last pay period. Might not seem like a lot to some but prior to starting here I rarely had anything left over.

So, I just divided this amount by 3 and made an additional payment to one of my store credit cards. This is something I never would have done in the past. I would have said "oh extra money for me to spend!" But I just completed the transaction on-line and off it went. I also took 1/3 and transferred it to my FNBO savings account in addition to the amount I normally contribute. So, I am a few steps ahead this month...yeah me!!!

I think 2008 is going to be a good year for me We don't have anything really planned for the weekend so as long as I can stay away from the mall I should be OK without spending any money. I am going to devote sometime to cleaning the kids rooms and perhaps finding some stuff to sell on ebay. I have had some look on there before but have gotten away from it. I doubt this is a great time to be selling but I'll see what I can do.

Everyone have a safe and happy New Years Eve!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed their time with loved ones.

I am back to work today and happy about that. Not that I don't love my family to pieces but 3 days of celebrating is a bit much for me. Growing up it was always just my parents and sister and I for the holidays. Now it is 3 days of celebarating with at least 25 people at each party. It is still a little overwhelming after all the years I have been married. All in all the kids enjoyed their holiday and Santa didn't disappoint.

I ate way too much food and am pumped to go to the gym today. I had a hard time taking my wedding band off this morning to take a shower and I believe it to be because of all the food I consumed! I am looking forward to an extra long workout today since I get out of work early and can dedicate some real time to it. Guess it is becoming a habit, this exercising thing

Among other things I received $50 for Christmas. Can someone please tell me to use it to pay down debt?! My mind is already racing with all the options of things I could buy. Not that I need any of it but I feel myself slipping into that old "I deserve a present, don't I?" mentality that does my financial life no good. I have to just deposit it into my checking account and send it off to one of the credit cards. Lord, give me strength!!

Good news on the estate front!!!! The surrogate court clerk called my house on Thursday to say they received my paperwork (which was what I paid the attorney for but ended up doing on my own) and that all looks good. I just have to pay $165 for an additional filing fee and then things will be done for good. I am a little annoyed at the thought of paying more money but am willing to do so if this closes the estate and I never have to think about it again. Yipee! Merry Christmas to me!

I am trying to enjoy the Christmas spirit but for some reason I am not feeling it this year. I think I have tried to cram too much stuff in too close to the holiday and couldn't really enjoy any of it. I am going to try to plan better for next year so I have time to do some enjoyable things with my family.

I did manage to squeeze in 8.5 hours of OT this last pay period. I will be glad to see it in my next paycheck. I am amazed at how hard it is to find any time to put in as OT. Between getting DD on and off the bus and DS to daycare and working out at the gym I barely have time to make dinner for the family. I think one of my goals for the coming year is to learn how to manage my time better.

I am pumped to start paying off my debt. Now that I don't have to Christmas shop every spare dime is going towards my credit cards. For once in my life I would like to be debt free so I can spend my money on stuff I want. Our house is in need of some serious work and my DH's car is about to die. Knowing I have these 2 expenses ahead of me is what I am hoping will motivate me to pay off the cards. Plus, I won't really have any reason to be going to the mall so hopefully that will limit the impulse buying.

Well, I hope everyone has Happy Holidays and enjoy your time with your families. I am really glad that I found you guys and thanks to all of you who have commented in the past. Hopefully next year at this time my debt will be significantly reduced and my savings improved!

Ugh......I am so annoyed right now. In a round about way it does have to do with finances so I thought I would vent to you all to get it off my chest.

Both my parents passed away in 2001. Dad in Feb, Mom in Sept. That year I was 30 years old with a 6 month old baby, not married, and with only 1 sister who lives 5.5 hours away.

I dealt with the situation as best as I could and I still deal with their deaths everyday.

Turns out I am still dealing with trying to close their Estate! When my mom died we used her attorney to close the estate. We paid her lots of money and gathered all the paperwork needed and all she had to do was send it in. Well, she never did and eventually she died too. I had no idea she had died and thought the estate was closed.

About 1 year ago I got a letter stating I was to appear in court regarding the estate. I panicked and went to the court house to find out what was going on. They gave me the name of the attorney who took over my case and suggested I call him to have the paperwork sent in. I called and called and called. I spoke with him once and never heard back from him and he never sent in the paperwork.

Forward to yesterday, another letter in my mailbox to appear in court. I just completed the paperwork myself (no idea if I did it correctly) and I am mailing it in today.

The reason I dislike attorneys is that they tend not to care about the smaller cases that don't make them any money. Well, to a 30 year old who just lost both parents dealing with their estate is a BIG deal. After 6 years I think I deserve the opportunity for closure. Is that too much to ask for?!

Oh and to tie it into finance-my parents were deeply in debt and we lost their house when we were forced to foreclose. My mom was a complusive shopper and I try to keep her and their situation in mind whenever I want to buy something I don't really need. I don't want my kids to have to deal with the garbage I have had to deal with.

Oh yeah, and whatever happened to all that money I paid the first attorney?!

Well I managed to get through the weekend without spending a lot of money thanks in part to the big snow storm we had.

Saturday I came into work and put in 5.5 hours of overtime. I had not worked OT in 2 weeks and was missing the extra boost to the paycheck.

Sunday I got up early and made a quiche and meatloaf for dinners this week. My dh informed me that "real men don't eat quiche". Well, they do if they are hungry enough! I also made sandwhiches for lunch all week.

DH made cookies on Sunday which is a hysterical story in itself but so far the cookies have prevented me from buying anything here at work to eat. I figure 2 cookies a day will save me $3 and shouldn't put on any additional weight. Just to be sure I will work out extra hard tonight.

Still have some Christmas shopping to do which is stressing me out and my daughter is anxious to go see Santa. Tomorrow night I plan on finishing and taking her to see him.

I am so impatient when it comes to paying off my debt. I want to see results everyday. Now that I am budgetting and trying to keep track of my spending I check my bank balance on line everyday and try to figure out where to get more cash from to pay off the store cards-Goal #1 is going to happen and it will happen by the date I specified.

So according to my budget I should have $43.06 left in my checking account before my paycheck is put in tonight. My online checking account says I have $85.11. I have no idea where the discrepency is coming from. I recorded everything that I spent and I can not account for the extra money. Not that I am complaining about having extra money but I like things to be exact and this just isn't adding up. Frustration like this in the past is what led me to give up on budgetting or even trying to balance my checkbook.

Note to myself-I am NOT going to waste +$30 on muffins and coffee next week. I refuse to do it no matter how badly I may want them. I am hoping to make Christmas cookies this weekend so maybe that will replace my muffins.

Well, I just ran through my numbers for the first 2 weeks of my new budget and for someone who has never liked to budget or been successful with it I think I did pretty good. There are some areas that I need to do better on and those will become my goals as I enter the 2nd pay period of my budget.

Areas I went over include:
Groceries-I had a budget of $100 and spent 198.73. The increase was due to the dinner party my husband decided to have.

Spending money-I had a budget of $80 which I thought would be more than enough but I spent 83.90. My biggest weakness is the coffee and muffins. I have to stay away from the food no matter how convenient it is.

I came in under budget in the gas category and all other areas I was right on target-expect my prescription that I forget to budget for. Luckily that was only $16.00.

I am expecting to get reimbursed for $241.00 worth of therapy sessions and the 16 for my prescription. When that money comes in I am going to apply it to my debt.

I love Christmas but will be happy when I can focus more on saving and paying off my debt. With all the shopping I have done I haven't purchased anything for myself which is a big improvement over last year. Last year I was buying a present for someone and then I would pick up the same thing for me. Ugh-shopping addiction sucks!

I went totally over budget this past weekend when we had friends over for dinner. I spent $85 at the grocery store in addition to the $100 I allow for groceries every 2 weeks. I was going to send my husband but then realized that he probably wouldn't be able to find half the stuff on my list. All in all it was a great time but I have had to borrow from my savings account to cover the additional expense.

Did some more Christmas shopping last night. Not sure how much damage I did until I get home and look. I got home late last night and just put the stuff in the garage. Tonight I will make sure I have equal presents from both kids and that the amounts are close to being equal. I still have to finish dh and all the stocking stuffers, not to mention the cards and cookies!

I did make it to the gym 3 times last week and last night I tried a spinning class. Good God, what kind of torture is that?! I nearly fell off the bike a few times and couldn't complete the class. I would not recommend spinning to a beginner!

Just transferred $25 to my new on-line savings account..yippee! That felt good. I can't wait until the numbers start adding up

I am also going to the gym tonight which makes it 3 visits this week and 3 visits last week. I am trying to go at least 3 times a week and so far I have been able to keep it up. I am afraid that I will lose interest before going becomes a habit. What is it, like 3 weeks of doing something new and then it becomes a habit? I haven't really seen the benefit yet which I didn't really expect to after just 2 weeks but just like my savings account I wish it would hurry up and improve.

Might be a slightly expensive weekend. We are having 2 of my dh's work friends over for dinner tomorrow night. I am making lasagna and we will have bread and salad. I am sending dh out to the grocery store in the morning so he will be paying for dinner (remember we have seperate finances) and he will pick up dessert at the local bakery as well. I will stay home and clean up the house.

Sunday we are taking the kids to the museum and we are not members so I am afraid it is going to be pretty pricey. I will have to remember to feed the kids before we leave and bring some snacks so we don't have to buy over priced food for lunch. The kids are looking forward to it and it should be fun.

Next week I have to figure out how to add some time in my schedule to work overtime for those well needed additional Christmas funds. I still have a lot to do in order to be ready this year...ugh!

Darn caffeine and trans fat ladden, processed baked goods addiction!

I was thinking I was going to have another no spender and then remembered that on my way to work at the ungodly hour of 5:30am I stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a muffin and coffee.

I don't know why I can't get through a morning without some sort of baked good. I only have one coffee a day so I don't feel like I have to cut back on that, but the baked goods aren't doing any good for my wallet or my waist!

Well, at least I only spent $3.38...almost a no spender, right?

I think I am finally going to manage a No Spend day

I made my lunch at home this morning prior to heading out into the blizzard we were having so I wouldn't have to buy anything at work to eat.

When I got to work I managed to slip and fall in the lobby of the hospital I work in. I was on my way to redeem my coupon for a free coffee and my foot slipped out from under me and down I went. No, there was no way of stopping me once I was headed for the floor. Fell right on my left knee in front of tons of people! I was very embarassed and wondered if free coffee was worth falling in front of tons of people. I decided it was, picked myself up and went and got my free coffee.

Dinner is all set for tonight and I have no plans to go anywhere after work so I think I will manage this first No Spend Day in a long time

I will have to go shopping this weekend for a new pair of boots. The ones I was wearing when said accident occured are boots of the fashion type, not boots for trudging through snow or walking on slick linoleum. Hopefully I can find some that are reasonably priced and not too hideous!

I actually had $75 left over after last pay period. I had asked the question of what I should do with left over money-save or pay off debt. Thanks to those of you who responded. I think I am going with the 1/3 idea. 1/3 for debt, savings, and everyday expenses. Especially now, that $25 will come in handy with Christmas shopping which I am so behind on! I talked to DH today and we are going to have a shopping date this Friday night to get the kids done. I have a $10 gift card to the toy store so we are going to finish up every kid on our list. I was thinking we could go to dinner also on Friday night but we are changing it to tonight. My 7 year old daughter has been VERY weepy lately and when we ask her about it she can't put her finger on what is bothering her. She cried this morning when I put her on the bus b/c she didn't want to leave me. We are going to take her to Friendly's (her favorite restaurant) tonight and see if we can cheer her up a little.

Did my bi-weekly grocery shopping over the weekend and like many of you noticed the increase prices on many things. My $100 budget for the next 2 weeks didn't stretch very far so I am going to have to be creative with dinner ideas. I am making a meatloaf, a quiche, and a ton of pancakes tonight, all to be put into the freezer until later in the week. Also plan on having chicken sandwhiches and grilled cheese. DH ate a whole package of cookies over the weekend that I had purchased for lunch snacks-I could have killed him!