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Home > Archive: August, 2012

Archive for August, 2012

tackling the mortgage

August 23rd, 2012 at 03:26 pm

Nothing much to report, financially at least. The kids are both now in preschool, and while the four hours 3x a week they are in school is great, it still leaves me to fill many many hours between then and the time daddy gets home. Ugh! Why are little kids so energetic??? (and they fight a lot, over everything.)

Anyway, I made a big payment to the mortgage thanks to the freelance check that came, and knocked a little more than $2,000 off the balance. I think if we are diligent, we will make our timeline of having it paid off in 5 years or less. That feels nice.

I also put the primer coat on the basement office, and I have been cleaning and scrubbing down there in hopes of finishing my office, and clearing space for a future game room with a ping pong table. I'm hoping to put the first coat of paint on tonight. it will be nice to have my own office again, which I haven't had since we moved last year.

Free groceries!

August 20th, 2012 at 08:45 pm

A while back I got wild and crazy and signed up for a Kroger credit card. The gas discount was too good to pass up, and they offered me $70 in free groceries. They "reward" you with certificates for free groceries quarterly, with extra points earned when you buy "house" brands, which we of course always do. My first bunch came today-- $85! in free groceries!

Not too shabby. That will cover most of my bill next week. I'm trying to shop once a week on Mondays and do all my meal planning on Sunday nights.

This sudden streak of organization began last night, as today is the first day both of my kids are in school, in the same school, on the same schedule. Only 3 days a week, but still. It's amazing how much you can get done without one or two little ones going in and out of carseats and slow-poking around.

Today, I made two loaves of zucchini bread, went to the bank, thrift store drop off, got groceries, mowed the lawn, dropped off forms at the doctor's office, and still had time to work and eat lunch. Amazing!

Part of our new routine involves healthier snacks, even more reading, preschool worksheets, and less TV time with the kids, and so far, it's working out. Of course it's only day one!

They sent me some referral codes for the credit card, wherein me and my person would both get an extra $25 in free groceries, but I'm not sure I know anyone who needs another card! Oh well...

The stars have clearly aligned

August 19th, 2012 at 04:16 pm

This must be a charmed month. I actually got paid already for my $2,000 big freelance project from last month. That was amazingly fast. I had expected it to be more of a hassle and a long wait, from what I'd heard about the organization. So yeah, that with the $5,000 coming back from Dh's friend and that a whole bunch of money we hadn't planned on!

We paid off the car, and the rest is going to mortgage payday.

Car is paid off!

August 16th, 2012 at 02:45 pm

Thanks to DH's pal finally paying his tab, we were able to pay off the car today. The payment just cleared and the account is officially closed. That will be one less bill ($219/ month), although it will save us more as we were filtering a lot of extra money to extra payments. Guess that money can now be snowballed toward savings, IRA, and the mortgage. Hazzah!!It feels really good to be car loan free!

That lump sum definitely helped, but I'm also proud of home much we managed to just pay off by adding extra every time we had some extra money come in. We managed to cut the loan by about $4,000 just through that in the first 8 months of the year.

Pinch me. OMG

August 10th, 2012 at 07:55 pm

Yes, I actually used OMG in a sentence because I'm that shocked. DH's best friend actually paid back the $5,000 he has owed us for the last two years. he wire transfer landed in my bank account today.

I can't believe it. Even my hubby was shocked. He said he never thought he would see it again. Guess that's what I get for being a naysayer. Now I have to put that foot in my mouth!

Where did my blog go?

August 7th, 2012 at 09:03 pm

So, for some reason my blog has completely disappeared, apart from the sidebar. It says there is a fatal error. Nothing on the homepage and I can't view anything in my create/edit pages tab!!!

It's THAT time again...

August 6th, 2012 at 03:15 am



Despite the drought, the tomatoes seem to be fruiting just fine. Tonight was the first night of making and canning sauce. I just wish all the tomatoes turned red all at once, so I could just do the canning in one day!