Hiccup on this Snowball, Ragamuffin

We've been on this frugal/debt repayment/whatever thing for almost two years now. And in that time, we've paid down some debt, added a family member, and didn't add any new debt. And that's been really good.

But my clothes were looking really bad, people. And I'm not kidding. FRUMPY.

And yesterday, after finding out my freelance work will be sticking around for awhile (YAY!), SuperDad took me shopping. And $215 later, I have a whole new wardrobe. I bought 5 pairs of pants, 3 skirts, and 9 shirts. Woo! I'm really excited to have nice clothes again, and I think it's worth the little hiccup in the snowball to make sure I don't look like a ragamuffin at work. ;)

A Snowball's Chance in...

The bad news:

• Due to certain changes (to pay schedule, benefits alterations, and - mostly - losing a freelance gig), our monthly income has been reduced by $551 per month.
• This change reduces our debt snowball from $718 a month to $167 a month.
• Plus, we've had to stop the snowball repeatedly to cover other expenses. Like $1,300 to fix the van. Like to have a baby (the LAST baby, silly, not a NEW baby - yet, ha). Like to reshingle the house this summer. Like the curtains I bought and haven't hung up. Gah.
• Meanwhile, we've run up against our biggest debt yet, the student loans. They currently have a balance of $15,553. It's like chipping away at a granite wall with a fork. A plastic fork.

The good news:

• Boy am I glad we were snowballing that money in the first place! Imagine if I had to cut $551 out of our actual budget.
• I'm also glad we were snowballing at all, since we're in a much better financial situation than we were two years ago.
• Those expenses? The van, the grumpy baby, the curtains? We've cashflowed them. No new debt, and that's a great thing, yes?

While I'd like to be making more/faster progress on paying off the debt, I think it's time to redefine "success" around here. Sometimes, in some seasons of our lives (and the economy), just keeping our heads above water is a success. Glug glug.

Putting the "Fun" Back in "Refund"

Like most people, I really liked getting a big tax refund. Like, the $4000-ish we used to get. Yikes! I wouldn't save that money on my own, I knew.

But then something occurred to me. For what did I use my tax refund each year? Oh, to pay off my credit card. And hey, maybe if I had that money in paycheck every month, I wouldn't need to use my credit card. Huh. Lightbulb moment much? (And just to quickly mention how I wasn't earning any interest by using the Federal government to save my money, but I was PAYING my credit card big interest to use their money. What was THAT?)

So I changed my withholdings so that I wouldn't get a tax refund. Which was scary, honestly.

But then we had another baby. So despite all my planning, we did get a tax refund.

Which is good, considering the $1,500 mechanic bill we're facing. Sigh. But did I have to look for a mechanic that would take a credit card? Nope!

Oh, and something funny, just because it's looking kind of text-y around here.

(You can buy this t-shirt at http://store.theonion.com/t-shirts-c-11.html.)

Life With Three

Well, since you asked... (okay, no one asked, who am I kidding?). Life with three kiddos under five is going swimmingly. And by that I mean, I'm swimming in noise and messes and love and smoochable cheeks. Awww.

BUT... It's kind of like sticker shock, really. Our life, it's expensive these days. I bought groceries (from the local grocery store thankyouverymuchenoughwiththeguiltalready) for the week for $87. Okay, not TOO bad. But then. Then I "had" to go to Wal-Mart. And when the cashier said, "That will be $98 please," I almost swallowed my tongue. $98! But! I didn't even buy anything!

My shopping list was:
Frozen chicken breast
Taquitos (ahem)
Kid toothpaste (which I didn't buy and have to go to the natural foods store for, ca-ching)
Diapers ($30! When will we switch back to cloth? WHEN?)
Dishwasher detergent
39 gallon garbage bags
Shampoo (we recently tried the baking soda/vinegar thing, and NO. Just, NO.)
Pop (yeah, yeah, I know)
Canola oil
Treats for school (bananas and chocolate milk)
Cat food

Okay, so I maybe could have skipped the taquitos ($6ish) and the diapers ($30) and the pop ($9). Which brings us down to a respectable $62. Oh yeah, and the stuff I bought that wasn't even on the list: clearance tights for E ($3.50 for two pairs), three candy bars ($1.92) and a Mountain Dew (enough with pop already!), and we're down to about $55.

Okay, add the candy bars back in. I'm not made of stone, people. ;)

Debt Update

Today, I paid off our van loan. Yay!

We'll be taking yet another break from paying down our debt so that we can save up some money to reshingle our roof. Because we do it like this.

After that, we're on to tackle our student loans, which should take 17 1/2 months. Unless I get pregnant again. ;) So. Yeah.

Chimpanzee Riding on a Segway

RonaldJ asked about how we categorize things that aren't "food" into our budget. The truth is, if you can buy it at Wal-Mart, AND it's something we regularly buy (laundry detergent, shampoo, etc.), then it's in our food category. Maybe we shouldn't call it a food category. But I can't get myself to call it a Wal-Mart category, because then I'd have to throw up. (I've found we mostly can't avoid Wal-Mart. The convenience of having to make only one shopping trip when you have three kiddos under five just outweighs everything else. I'm sorry. We do spend a lot of money on gluten-free stuff from various local stores, for whatever that is worth.)

However, things we don't "regularly" buy, would fall into maybe the Home improvement or Clothes/books category. Like the mailbox our mailman probably very much wishes we would finally get around to buying.

But, you know, your mileage may vary.

Who wants to get a song stuck in their head for the rest of the day? You do!

The lovely and talented Sarah of Everyday Gluten Free said, "I'd love to hear how you got from separate checking accounts to where you are today!"

The marriage of one Gluten Free Frugal and one SuperDad is a mysterious and magical thing. HA ahhh ha ha! What I mean by that is, "Uh, I don't really remember."

Back in the day, I felt pretty strongly about each of us taking responsibility for our "own" stuff. I had MY money and he had HIS money and never the twain should meet. We were both making minimum wage or just above. I was a seller of movie tickets and he was an artist of sandwiches. That year, for my birthday, he bought me candy bars and crossword puzzle books. (BTW, do I remember what he bought me last year for my birthday? I do not. But I was thrilled with the candy bars. Actually, who isn't thrilled with candy bars? Crazy people, that's who.)

Time passed. Blah blah. It happened to be that I was making more money that he was. Like, by double. And splitting everything evenly wasn't really working anymore. Plus, I believe now, marriage isn't a "split" thing, it's a "share" thing. There shouldn't be "his" and "mine," there should be "ours" (except the comic books, I don't really want those, but thanx, mmmkay?), and so we put it all together. And that made moving to one income so much easier.

Now SuperDad is a very excellent type of person, and he doesn't spend money on silly things (well, other than comic books), and we all know that I'm ultra cheap a very reasonable shopper. So, that helps us, as far as that goes.

If there's one single thing a couple can do to succeed with money, it's to get on the same page.

And how are things going? A) I wrote a check for the entire cost of my braces (which will be reimbursed through my flex spending account). They asked if they should wait to cash the check, and I said, "Nope. It will be fine." How cool is that? B) It took SuperDad 10 days to pick up a paycheck. I asked what he wanted to do with it, and he said, "Whatever." A paycheck that we don't *need*? What is that?

These things didn't happen because we have so much money (BWAHAHA! As if!), but because we're on top of the money we do have. And that? Rocks!

The end. (Who is sorry she asked? Sarah is! Hee.)

Lessons

When SuperDad and I were in our very first apartment, a block from our college campus, I had a step stool to reach the highest shelves in my kitchen. All the paint had worn off, so I decided that when I got paid, I was going to go to the paint store and have them help me buy what I needed to paint the stool. They showed me the best brushes and the nicest paint trays and the colors and the paints. I can't remember what I spent that day, but by the time I was done at the paint store, I only had $40 of my paycheck left to last two weeks. And I cried and I cried and I cried and SuperDad covered the bills (can you believe we used to have everything separate? To the point where we sent everyone two checks - each for one half of every bill!) and it was okay.

But I never forgot that feeling. I have never since shopped blindly, or bought everything the salesperson said I should. Or simply decided just because I wanted something done, that it should be done, without considering whether we could afford it or not.

So, maybe, after all, that trip to the paint store was the best money I ever spent.


P.S. We've tried some new recipes this week - chicken enchiladas and white chili, and neither blew my socks off, so I'll spare you. :)

Not Perfect - FAR From It!

I hope this blog never gives the impression that I've got it all together. I SO don't. Anyone who has ever met me in real life (or, you know, seen my kitchen floor) knows all about that. Sometimes I think blogs paint such a rosy picture of someone's life (which, for the sake of fostering gratitude, I'm all for!), but sometimes it makes other people feel intimidated, or not good enough, or whatever.

I make mistakes all the time. We go over the budget, ALL the time. I'm definitely not Super Mom! Every day, my to-do list is about twice as long as what I actually accomplish. Some days, I don't even find the time to make a to-do list.

I watch too much TV, and I eat too much junk food, and I spend money on stuff I don't need (fancy coffee drinks much?). I haven't made my bed in months.

BUT. I'm trying. Always, always trying. I want, very much, to be a good mom. I want to live within our means and I want to always have gratitude for my many, many blessings. I never want to think I deserve more than I've earned. And this blog, I hope, is about that struggle.

So thanks, for keeping me honest.

Want

The problem I always have with being able to live within our means has a lot more to do with managing my "wanting" impulses than my ability to budget (you know, subtract). For me, it's always like those old cartoons of an angel and a devil on your shoulders, "Don't buy that. You can't afford it." vs. "You deserve a little treat every once in awhile, don't you?" Also, I think that devil lives at Target. Seriously.

Last night, I got home from work kind of late. And SuperDad wasn't feeling very well. And we all wanted to just go get some takeout (Qdoba! Woot!). But then I looked in our cash envelope. $105 to last us until NEXT Thursday. And we're running out of groceries. And the van needs gas. Sure, we could go spend $20 on Qdoba, but then what? Then try to spend $20 less on groceries? Good luck. I know we'd end up borrowing from next pay period, and we all know where that leads.

So, I bit the bullet (what IS that expression anyway?), sat the kids down with a yogurt "appetizer" and made soup and french fries (seriously, cupboard is bare, people). And it felt good.

2009

As of yesterday, we are back on the cash budget again. Which means that when I go to a store, I take a certain amount of cash, and I can't spend over that. Which works much better than you'd think. My sister was talking about how you used to see people in the store with those push-button money counters, making sure they didn't spend more than they had. How long has it been since people did that? (I've personally never seen it, if that' says anything.) I declare it time to start again. Except, you know, use a calculator. Or not.



I've increased our grocery budget by $50 for the new year. I've been hearing for awhile that grocery prices were increasing, but have only noticed it in the things we buy in the last six months or so. Plus, our quantities have been increasing as our family has grown.

I'm afraid that our grocery budget is far from "frugal." But we've reached a point where I'd rather save money in other areas, to ensure that we have a fairly loose budget in the food area. It's just less stressful that way. Anyway, it's about $550/month right now, including all toiletries (diapers!) and eating out.

Also, just because I think it's funny, a video for you.

Christmas: All Wrapped Up

I did something you should never, never do. I kept track of all of our Christmas spending. We had saved $504 to spend on Christmas this year. We spent... gulp... $1,300. Not counting food or travel expenses. This includes our 3 kiddos, 17 adults, and 7 children. Thankfully, we simply spent money that had been saved for my maternity leave but not spent, but still. Seriously.

Anyway, I wanted to wish everyone a really super Christmas this year! Loves, GFF

Baby Stuff Worth the Money

The Natural Mommy has a great post up today about how to save money on babies. The funny thing is that, in the area of babies especially, making the most frugal choice is often the best choice for other reasons too (for example, breastfeeding is free but also the best and healthiest choice for your baby).

I've been working on a similar list, of those things that, on baby #3 have proven to be well worth the money that I (or, you know, grandma) spent on them.

1. The Evenflo BabyGo Playard - Maybe any pack n play style of bed would have done just as well, and it doesn't appear they even make the "BabyGo" version anymore, but all three of our kids spent most of their first year spending at least part of the night in ours. I love that it fits nicely in our bedroom and that we can bring it when we travel so that baby always has a familiar place to sleep.
2. Our king-sized bed, for more room when baby does join me in bed. Okay, so we didn't have this one until Baby #3, but it has been NICE. Really nice.
3. Chinese prefolds. When we did (do?) cloth diapering, these are great. The rest of the time, they make awesome burp rags, spill-catchers, face-wipers, changing pads, and whatever else you can think of.
4. The Medela Pump-in-Style. Worth every penny.
5. This. Ha ha, it's hilarious, I know. But on days that I forget it, I never pump as much milk because I can't stand just sitting there. With it, I can read or work or at least change the darn channel on the TV.
6. The Avent Isis manual pump, as a backup. It fits in my purse for airport travel, girl's night out, or any just-in-case time. Okay, so I have a big purse. But still.
7. As for toys, this (or an older version, actually) is the only one that I can say has been pretty universally loved and long-lived (well past the "recommended" ages), both for our first two kids and anyone that comes over.
8. The bedrail. When baby is in our bed, she sleeps between me and the bedrail. It's safer for the baby, but it does make changing the sheets a pain. ;)

In light of a story like this, I think it's worth mentioning that 90% of what we spend on babies unnecessary. But that they have enough of eat? Kind of matters. Duh? And that free hospital formula we have sitting in the cupboard will be making it's way to the food pantry tomorrow.

Christmas Shopping

We started saving for Christmas in January. It has been really, really great to actually have some cash on hand instead of trying to eke Christmas out of our regular budget.

Thanks to the fact that they never see commercial television (oh, don't get me wrong, they see WAY too much PBS Kids, sigh), we haven't yet been inundated with requests for Hannah Montana or Barbie or... uh, whatever boys like. Instead I hand-picked a few catalogs and let them make a collage Christmas list.

Our favorites:
www.novanatural.com
www.lbtoys.com
www.youngexplorers.com
www.hearthsong.com

They made some excellent choices, I think, and I might be just as excited for Christmas as they are! :)

Financial Update

Final Stats:

I found out I was pregnant in February 2008.

Between February and M's birth in October, we saved $3,779, or roughly 19% of our take-home pay during the period we were saving. My plan was to estimate our lost income and medical expenses and save double that amount.

We spent:

• $900.15 in medical expenses (these include all of the West Nile hospitalization expenses, because I'm not sure how to separate them, plus I think the birth cost less because we'd reached our deductible by that time)
• $1131.95 in lost income for my maternity leave
• $251 in "stuff" to prepare for the baby (okay, obviously we spent more than that, but this is what wasn't cash-flowed out of our normal income)
• $507 just by not being on a budget during my maternity leave - lots of eating out, fancy coffee, etc.

We still have $988 left from what we originally saved. Wa-hoo! The plan? We'll sit on it until after Christmas, to make sure we have enough in case we're surprised with any medical bills or other expenses (plus to cover readjusting back to our normal budget), then use it to pay down debt!

Was Raining; Now Pouring

The hospital bills have started coming. Yikes. But thanks to insurance, an almost $10,000 hospital stay (for the West Nile) came in at a measly $600. Wow. But they're still coming. That's what kills us every time we have a baby, just when we think we've got everyone paid off, another bill shows up.

For no reason other than wanting to get an Amazon gift certificate, we used our credit card for the trip we took out of town before M's arrival and paid it off right away. All except for $17 in charges that came in the next month. Which we paid. However, the credit card company "didn't receive" our payment until 10 days after we mailed it. So, $25 gift certificate = $25 in late charges. Sigh. So much for playing with snakes, right?

Also, we've got a slow leak in a tire in our car and the check engine light is on in our van. And we'll deal with that... sometime.

Finally, last night I couldn't find my wallet. Anywhere. And then I remembered. I'd been at Wal-Mart, just ready to take my wallet out of the seat of the shopping cart, when I noticed an infant car seat in the car across from mine. And then I worried that someone had left their baby in the car. And then I thought about how I'd feel if something happened to a baby left in a car if I'd done nothing. So I peeked in the car. The car seat was empty. Then I noticed my own son had climbed into the driver's seat of my car while I'd been worrying about someone else's kid. And by the time I'd dealt with that, well, I'd left my wallet in the cart. Thankfully, some good Samaratin had found my wallet and returned it to customer service. And I THANK YOU!

It's amazing how once things get off track financially, they kind of attract more things. But I guess this will all work out!

Below: me and Miss Baby M, who won't be put down. Like, ever.

The Financial Effect of Illness

Just to update quickly, I'm feeling better. Every day I'm healthier and stronger and regain more of my eye function. So... yay! (We're also having some signs that labor may be coming soon, so double yay!)



And now that we're beyond the "urgent" part of my healthcare, the financial worries come in. I went in to the hospital with a $1,000 emergency fund and just under $2,000 saved for the baby (which was to cover my maternity leave and medical expenses for the birth). I had counted on having another month of work to save more before the baby's arrival.



But. Now we have another entire hospital bill to deal with. And I used up all of my sick leave. And all of my vacation. And am on to unpaid leave (though I am back to work, but not full time). And I've had to take leave of my two part-time jobs. Because I just can't do them.



I have health insurance. I have GREAT health insurance. But 20% of really expensive is still pretty darn expensive, if you know what I mean. Sigh.

Best Laid Plans

Remember how I posted our menu earlier this week?

Here's what actually happened:

Sunday: Scrambled eggs, blah blah blah
Monday: Spaghetti and garlic toast (E: What IS THIS on my bread? It's GROSS.)
Tuesday: Macaroni and cheese and baked beans
Wednesday: Scalloped potatoes and ham and pineapple
Thursday: French toast and pineapple and grapes
Friday: ??? Can't have nachos because SOMEONE SUPER ate all the tortilla chips and shredded cheddar. Can't have chicken nuggets because SOME LITTLE CHILDREN ate the chips that go on that.

And here's why. We've been overspending. And the overspending has been dipping into our grocery money. And the groceries haven't lasted the week. And so we eat out. And so we dip into next week's grocery money.

ARGH. Does this happen to everyone?

Trying to get back on track...

Seriously?

Well, I certainly could be even MORE unfrugal and buy these ridiculous products:

Popper Stoppers - WHAT? I'm supposed to tape down my belly button? You have got to be kidding me.

Hands-Free Car Seat Carrier Carrier - Apparently it's not enough to not touch the baby - we really shouldn't even touch their carrier.

People have asked me occasionally if the baby's room was done yet. It always takes me a few seconds to get what they're talking about. OH, a nursery. Yeah, I don't do that. My kids both spent their first year-ish in our room in a Pack N Play (okay, actually since the thing has done us such great service over these so many years, I should give the actual product name a shout out - it's an Evenflo BabyGo). So, the whole decorating a nursery thing? I've never really done it. But I'm cheap. There's nothing wrong with decorating an adorable nursery, it's just not my thing.

Sorry I've been kind of baby-oriented around here lately. That's just how it goes!

Falling Off the Frugal Wagon

Okay, and moving on! :)

The end of pregnancy (hey, I thought we were moving on?) is always rough for me. I'm tired. Unmotivated. Uncomfortable. And, oh yeah, I had to put on 4 shirts this morning before I found one that even remotely fit. And that's kind of a stretch - literally.

Frugality takes organziation and committment, neither of which I have right now. So, we've done some decidedly UNfrugal things lately. Like:

• Eat out. A lot. When we eat out with the kids, it mostly involves cheeseburgers, plain, with no buns. And fries. Or we'll go to Taco John's and get them the chicken that comes in the soft tacos, with no shell, covered in cheese. They like that. We've done Qdoba. We let them have hashbrowns for breakfast. As you can tell, we've WAY overdone our food budget.
• Hire a cleaning person! Is there anything more unfrugal than that? Not really. Do I care? Not at all. She's coming in at least once before the baby arrives, maybe twice, and if I can talk SuperDad into it, maybe a couple of times after too.
• Bought a tree. You know, for the baby.
• Signed D up for some classes at the community center. Because E is back in school now, and he misses her. :(
• Not done cloth diapers. According to my very informal survey, gluten in diapers shouldn't be a concern. There are other great reasons to do cloth, and we'll probably go back to it eventually. But not now.

We're dipping into the savings we built up for the baby. And I'm okay with that, because sometimes that's just how it goes.

Our gluten free eating has been anything but blog-worthy lately. Our menu this week:

• Sunday: Scrambled eggs, ham, peanut butter toast, grapes
• Monday: Nachos, corn, beans
• Tuesday: Chicken nuggets
• Wednesday: Spaghetti
• Thursday: French toast
• Friday: Macaroni and cheese and baked beans
• Saturday: Scalloped potatoes and ham

So this blog may not be very inspirational for awhile, but if you stick around long enough, I promise to show you baby pictures! :)