Debt-free By 33's Personal Finance Blog

I'd typed out a giant rant post explaining all of the issues around insurance, but deleted it. The short version is that we've been dealing with this for about a month now. We'd thought we'd gotten to a resolution several times only to find some new thing messed up. As of yesterday, we were once again dropped from insurance effective 12/30 with no notification. As of this morning, it's been handled and we still have one likely impossible hurdle resulting in about a month and a half's OB visits not being covered due to the way these systems are set up.

This may be more of a weekly thing, but I'm going to informally try this.

Day 1 was a no spend day.

Day 2 spending included the following: Electric ($367.71 - this is actually two months' bills. I completely missed a payment in all of the craziness, so I just caught it all up); Debt ($264.35 - 2 credit card bills. I forget about the Lowe's CC because it's a set $210 every month. The remaining payment is the balance transfer at 0 %.); Eating Out ($15.70+tip; yesterday was an insanely stressful day and also DH's birthday. By the end of it all, I decided to let him order dinner on our account for a nicer birthday meal than the dining hall. That decision was made before I decided to actually commit to the UFMC, and due in part to the next line.)

Money in on day 2: $85.68 overpayment check and $50 birthday gift card.

DH's parents also took me out to celebrate my and DH's birthdays, so I got a free meal. Afterwards, we played jackbox (a fun online pack of mini games that lets players play from their phones) with DH.

Today should be no spend. I packed breakfast, have leftover lunch from yesterday, and don't have any commitments this evening other than destressing from yesterday. I have about half a tank of gas left, so I'll need some next week.

I also have some car maintenance things that need to be done this month, so there'll be spending for that (hence, the informal attempt at the UFMC). Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything else we really need to spend on this month, but with things still getting ironed out, I make no promises.

Par for the (recent) course, I'm a day late. But here are my 2018 financial wins and fails. For ease, I've picked my 3 biggest of each after looking back at the year.

Financial Wins:
1) YNAB - I cannot even begin to describe how eye-opening it's been since YNAB has finally clicked. It took several tries, but last March, it finally stuck. It's enabled us to save for several goals, build our bank account to its largest ever balance, and meet financial win #2.

2) Debt Payoff - We've managed to pay off the following debts: Wells Fargo loan, NFL Points CC, Ashley Furniture CC, BOA CC. I also transferred the Capital One CC to a 0% interest card. Right now,the only remaining CCs accruing interest are Navy Federal and Chase Freedom. We also use Target, Amazon Rewards, and Chase Marriott CCs on occasion and pay those off so no interest accrues. I'm hoping to take this momentum into 2019 with several more debts paid off.

3) The last win is that our BEF has remained untouched for almost a year (knock on all the wood!). We've had the $1000 BEF in the past and always raided it as soon as we found ourselves short. With YNAB, we've been able to budget for big expenses and cash flow minor issues, so we haven't had to touch it at all.

Financial Fails:
1) Leaks Galore - I keep an idiot tax category in YNAB to see how much money we've wasted on late fees and things that could have been avoided. Some of my worst offenders are not using up all FSA funds properly, not looking in to internet renewals and missing some incredible incentives, and not paying our property taxes on time even though the money was actually there for once (I knew it was due in October, but thought it was later in the month rather than the 5th, costing me an extra $75 in late fees).

2) Additional Debt - I did have to take out a 401k loan right at the end of the year. I had hoped to be done with debt, but this particular instance gave me the mental fortitude to finally be done with my mom (which is a win in and of itself).

3) Stress Spending - I still struggle with keeping incidentals under control when I'm stressed (which was a lot of last year). I resort to fast food when I feel too overwhelmed to worry about food. And I turn to spending to make myself feel better when I'm down. I hope to be stronger in 2019 and find healthier outlets for my stress.

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. I was managing fairly well until I went to sit at the table and couldn't decide whether to sit at the head of the table (DH's normal spot) or leave his chair open and sit next to it. Once the floodgates opened, it was difficult to stop. DH was able to sort of participate though. He was off, so he Skyped in and watched us open gifts. We were able to broadcast him up on our TV and get all 8 of us into the camera view for him to see everything. My MIL also does small prize bags, but she forgot games this year. So we had DH host Christmas trivia. In all, it turned out okay, but certainly didn't feel as happy as a normal Christmas. FIL and I did bond over how much we miss him though.

In regards to the planning, DH got his first pay statement. He said future ones may be a little less, but we're not entirely sure since he was still charged life insurance, and overseas should have some additional pay things in there. I was expecting around 3k/mo (his civilian job brings home 2k). It looks like it is more likely going to be 3.5-4k.

I've made a list of 2019 goals and think we can hit most (if not all of them):

Debt Payoff - 6 debts in the following order: NavyFed Loan ($975), Chase Slate CC ($1044), Dept of Ed Student Loan 3 ($1490), Chase Freedom CC ($3060), Chase Marriott ($1890), UAS Student Loan ($2540); NOTE: There's no real rhyme or reason to these other than some are my highest interest debts and others are low-hanging fruit to free up monthly cash flow and feel like I'm making progress. I anticipate paying the NavyFed loan off in Jan to free up the $200 monthly payment, but all other debt payoffs will wait until after baby is born, so we can stockpile money. It'll be assigned to the right categories in YNAB, but I'll be holding on to all the cash until we know things are okay.

Savings Goals - These are a little more fluid. I will definitely put aside money to the first 3. The others are projects that I hope we can at least start to save up for: EF (Currently at $1000, would like to add $300/mo to start building it up. We will also have a one-month buffer in place starting in Jan.); Car Replacement ($500/mo); Disney Trip ($500/mo); Fireplace (Need $800); Backyard Landscaping (Need $2k); Hot Tub Repair (Need $650)

Even though I hate being apart, I'm hoping to make it count and make some real progress towards more stable financial footings.

In the first few days of the new year, I'm going to fresh start YNAB zeroing out all categories and living off last month's income (which will actually be pretty meager since DH wasn't getting paychecks). I'll lay out all remaining debts and a full financial picture.

I'm going to try and take some small steps over the next few weeks to get a jump start on our reset year.

Here's the high-level view of what we're looking at with more detailed numbers and plans over the next few weeks as the dust settles.

High-risk pregnancy: Things are going well here. I'm seen every 2 weeks and despite the complete disregard for self-care as of late, baby is thriving. (Side note: the disregard certainly isn't intentional...I just don't sleep well, have severe veggie aversions, and forget to drink water since I'm constantly on the move.) I'm trying really hard to just accept things as they come and not stress.

Deployment: I think we've finally got things in a semi-decent place. I have 3 or 4 things to follow up on over the next month or two. Additionally, I recently found out about SCRA benefits, so I'm looking into those to see if we can take advantage of lower interest rates on some things to maximize this year. Unfortunately, I didn't add my husband to most of my debt and even on most credit cards, he's just an authorized user rather a joint owner, so I'm not sure that we'll actually be able to utilize them.

Pest Problems: There wasn't 100% confirmation, but we're about 80% sure we have termites. We've had some holes pop up in the hardwood. Our pest control guy was stumped because there's no evidence of them other than the empty holes. He thinks it's likely they came in through the front step, are relatively new, and have only been working on that one beam. We went ahead and treated since it's recommended to be done every 5 years. We've been in the house for just over 2, and this is the first we've seen of them.

Mom Issues: This one is complicated, but the end of the story is that I took a 401k loan to give her $4000 to try and get herself straightened out once and for all. I've said that I've been done in the past, but never truly felt the conviction that I felt this time. Both my husband and I put several restrictions in place before she got the money. We also don't expect to see it back even though she says she will pay it. But we both made it very clear that this was it. Part of the restrictions included my older brother getting a job and me having full visibility in to her finances to see if this would actually help her. It's pathetic that I have to treat her like a child, but I sat with her and laid out a budget moving forward. I had planned to babysit her and make sure she stuck to it, but I decided it's not worth my time and energy. I gave her all the resources she needs to fix it, and if she fails again, tough nuggets. I have more important things to worry about.

After several weeks of sheer madness and an average of 4-6 hours of sleep a night, I'm still going. To say the least, things have been a whirlwind. I feel like I'm finally starting to catch my breath. My plan is to start the new year by laying everything out again with what has happened these last few weeks and my goals for next year.

I also want to do the UFM challenge, but haven't decided whether my sanity will allow me to commit to it.

Just a smidgeon of what we have been dealing with: high-risk pregnancy, DH's year-long deployment (which came with a whole slew of admin issues that I'm told don't normally occur), pest problems (totaling a lovely $1600 on top of everything else), and of course, mom issues.

With everything we're dealing with, I plan to make 2019 our reset year. Wish me luck.

DH is confirmed to leave this weekend. It's been a whirlwind of trying to get things done because the admin side was so disorganized. It's really unfortunate because I hear that this isn't the norm, but it's left a terrible taste. They basically messed up his orders and then autoenrolled only me into insurance based on those orders which screwed everything up. I spent multiple days on the phone with several organizations trying to get it straight, and we still aren't there. Hopefully, we are getting close though.

Even with all the chaos, I've been trying to steal quiet moments and not wish it to all be over because then that would mean he is gone. Our eating out has been terrible, and I don't even care right now.

One financial win that I did have was in regards to our estate planning. We had been planning to do wills, POAs, and living wills before the baby, but this pushed up the timeline. A friend had suggested Legal Zoom and pricing it out was about $250 for all 3 documents for each of us. I looked up military benefits to see if there was some sort of assistance or help with this stuff, and there was! The Legal Assistance office was able to squeeze us in for a last minute appointment. At first, we were told that since it was only an hour, we could only do my husband's documents which was fine. However, since our needs were fairly straightforward, we were able to do both sets. We now have some peace of mind as to what would happen if anything happens to either of us, and it was completely free.

Today brings more appointments. We're also doing early Xmas with both families tonight. Tomorrow is pretty light besides packing. Lots of downtime to spend with each other and our furbabies.

In other financial news, a lot is being floated until DH's new regular paychecks start coming in in January. Until then, we are lucky enough to have enough savings to cover his lack of salary.

Things have sort of gone to the birds over here. It's been really hard to stay financially focused when we're dealing with expecting anxieties, an upcoming deployment, holidays, etc. But we're trying. I did meet one of our goals - the Ashley Furniture card is paid off!

Considering how few of the other 2018 goals we're going to meet, I am proud that we did this one. While we still have funds set aside for the fireplace and car replacement, the deployment's changed those plans. I'm going to take those amounts down to $200 for the fireplace and $2000-3000 for the car and repurpose the rest to cover our lapse in income (see below). We have all next year to save for both goals since I wouldn't really use the fireplace without my husband around until I got used to it (and I'd want him around for that). For the car, I'm going to use DH's while he's away. My car will still go to my older brother as planned, so that it can be driven regularly.

For the everyday use credit card, I still haven't paid it off, but I am officially riding the float meaning I'm no longer paying interest, but paying the balance and then reusing the card for that month's spending. The remaining balance is sitting right at $1500.

One other difficulty during this time is that DH won't be getting a paycheck for awhile. We expect today to be his last day at his civilian job, and he probably won't begin collecting a military paycheck until the end of December or beginning of January. Fortunately, we have the savings funds to repurpose and can hopefully make up ground quickly once he starts collecting paychecks.

Everything is still so floopy, but I'm hopeful that at some point, they'll become un-floopy. (Friends reference...)

I had to go back and look at my last few posts to see what I had and hadn't shared. Things have been a flurry of activity over here. While we are still waiting on official orders, it looks like DH will be deploying for a year. While it's unfortunate timing and our first long-term separation, I'm at peace with it after some adjusting. I have a really good support system in place here with my family and DH's as well as a few close friends, so I think it will be manageable. This puts all of our financial plans sort of up in the air until we figure out what is happening. He was slated to leave early December, but hasn't actually gotten orders. He has been officially transferred to the unit though.

I had drafted a list of things to get done before he goes, but we're waiting on official word to kick those off. I guess we should probably start since it's not looking like he'll get the 3 week notice he was hoping for. It also puts him in limbo at his regular job as he'd like to take these last few weeks off to get everything in order, but doesn't want to schedule his 'last' day until we have official word. I'm hoping they come in this week.

I've been feeling much better these past few weeks. While I still don't have abundant amounts of energy, I do have enough to work out a bit most days. I still feel meh towards food and don't like cooking, but I've been forcing myself to focus on using up the stuff in our freezer. Yesterday, I had DH make the last of the frozen potstickers and about half of the remaining bag of spinach/mozzarella ravioli. I brought a bit of the ravioli with me for lunch today. Our fridge is mostly empty and we're running low on lunch snacks, so I'll likely have to make a Costco trip soon, but we're using things up for dinner.

I know I have the following in the freezer - 8 pk. tilapia fillets (x2), 1 pk. mild sausage, 4 frozen chicken breasts, 4 frozen pizzas, 1 pk. frozen shrimp, and a handful of Hot Pockets, Bagel Bites, and Pizza Rolls (left over from survival mode). We also have several packs of frozen veggies, 2 containers of stuffed bell pepper soup, and a questionable turkey from sales last year.

In the pantry, we have tons of pasta, mac and cheese, rice, and chili staples.

For upcoming meals, I've planned things such as shredded bbq chicken (both sandwiches and tacos), mac and cheese and sausage with veggies, rice with fish and spinach, and shrimp fried rice. My goal is to empty our freezer over the next few weeks, so I can make a winter batch of once-a-month-meals. I suspect that I won't want to cook much in the next few months, so I'd like to make a month or so's worth of meals in the next couple of months. And then 1 or 2 more batch cooking sessions towards the end with my mom/husband's help. This should help us get through without spending too much on eating out. The issue is that I simply don't feel like cooking and DH has no idea what to cook without direction (which I also don't feel like giving). The last few times that I've done the batch cooking worked out well because I wrote the cookbook page number on the frozen meal, so he just referenced that. Since they were mostly prepared and required little effort other than baking or reheating, he was a lot more comfortable taking the lead.

It's been one of those weeks that feels like it'll never end. Wednesday felt like Friday since it was Halloween. Then, Thursday felt like Friday since it seemed like it had been forever this week. And now today finally is Friday.

This month is DH's 3 paycheck month. While I'm hoping to make some progress on our goals, I'm also hoping to be able to put some more aside for shopping. I know it's silly to suddenly cram every house project ever in to the few months remaining until my (hopeful) due date, but that's what we're trying to do. This month is getting the fireplace working. For some reason, I'm obsessed with the idea of wasting my winter nights away reading in front of the fireplace.

The next few months will be a flurry of organizing, decluttering, and fixing up the nursery. We have almost all of the big things, but I want to redo that room a bit. We've picked out paint colors and wall decor (we're framing puzzles and my mom is drawing some original artwork). Since DH's dad is a contractor and so excited, we're hoping he'll be willing to get his hands dirty and help. We'd like to switch the carpet to laminate that looks like hardwood, add a ceiling fan and overhead lighting, and (probably) add crown moulding. We also want to insulate more between the garage and bedroom since the two rooms over the garage are horrible with temperature.

My two wish list items for Black Friday include family tablets (would like 3, but may just go with 2 since I probably won't use it nearly as much as I'm thinking: one each for DH and I, and one that will stay with the recliner in the nursery) and a Nest thermostat with sensor. I'd like to put the sensor in the nursery, so we'll be able to handle temperature in there a bit better.

I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend and really hoping the projects and holidays will make the next few months go by quickly.

Today's the day where we find out if everything is okay after the trip. Everyone was incredibly worried about me driving that far given what happened last time. Since I'm stubborn, I refused to miss out on it just because I'm expecting. I'd feel really terrible if everything isn't okay given everyone's concern. I did clear the trip with my doctor beforehand and feel like I did everything in my power to take precautions. I feel good and haven't had any concerning signs, so I'm hoping everything is fine.

In financial news, I found out at my therapy appointment that I owed another $80. I had been told that the counseling facility was covered by Tricare. I finally figured out how to access my EOB and account info. I found out that I'm at $297 of our $300 deductible and $950 of our $1000 catastrophic cap. Since I still have almost $500 in the FSA, it should more than cover any remaining medical expenses through the end of the year.

It's been brutal adjusting to being back. The trip was really relaxing and just what I needed. The drive there and back was a bit rough given my condition, but it was so nice to be able to tell family and friends in person. We did spend quite a bit more than anticipated considering the 'budget' that I'd set barely ended up covering gas. In the future, I'll have to actually do some math rather than just guessing at a random number. All told, we spent just under $700 which I covered by pulling from other categories. I'm really grateful that we were able to make these memories without stressing about money or going further in to debt.

Debt-wise, this was a poorer month in terms of payoffs. I didn't make much leeway on my goals, but I'm trying not to beat myself up about it since we have a lot of competing priorities at the moment. All I can do is keep pushing forward.

We've had a lot of random spending lately (groceries, household, gifts, and entertainment). I currently have about 8 categories that are over budget. The reality is that the money is there in my account, but I really don't want to pull from the car fund, so I'm letting it sit over budget until Friday. DH's paycheck Friday should catch us up. That coupled with my paycheck next week will fund us through the end of October. If I top up all my goals categories (which I'll likely do), then our first November paychecks will go towards rent. I'd like to be more ahead, but for right now, it's okay since the car fund is sitting as a giant buffer in our account.

One other thing that I did recently was increase my retirement. I had always interpreted the 401k match incorrectly, thinking that it was 50% matched up to 4% meaning their max contribution would be 4%. That would mean I need 8% to max it out. However, it actually means that they only match on the first 4%. Since I already contribute 3%, I increased it to 4% to take full advantage of the company match. It will likely stay there for awhile. My latest projections have us debt-free except for the mortgage by 2021, so at that point, we'll start playing catch up.

I just set up a credit card payment to pay the statement balance in full for the credit card that we use for everyday things. Technically, there's another $150ish set aside for the payment, but I just did the statement balance. The money was set aside in YNAB for current purchases put on the card, so this officially means I'm riding the credit card float. It's strange that this is a big milestone, but I certainly consider it one. This is the first time since early last year when our dog got sick that we've been able to pay a balance in full on this card. The goal is to have the card paid off completely by December (which will also be the one year mark of losing my dog).

I'm so, so tired. Since I'm out on my trip next week, I've been trying to make it in to the office every day this week. Today was incredibly difficult, but I made it. I'm leaving a bit early for a therapy appointment. Hoping the therapy helps with everything I've been dealing with.

Financially, we're slipping a bit, but mostly holding it together. I need to get a better bill payment system in place. With me being out of it, I've paid 3 bills late so far this month. The money was there. I just forgot. Fortunately, we're in a much better place now thanks to YNAB, so it's not terrible. My 'Idiot Tax' category has been getting some use though.

I've also been trying to get out more to help improve my mood. My friends have a whole October schedule planned. We did apple picking last weekend. This weekend is a local event where they use pumpkins to create these elaborate sculptures and then an afternoon of fall crafts. I opted out of the event because it's almost $30/ticket. I've been wanting to go for years, and DH said it was my call, but that next year would probably be more special with a kid in tow. For fall crafts, we're mostly trying to use what we have on hand. I'm going to host since I have a yard for the dogs, and my friends know that moving is hard, so they offered to come to me. We're going to do Italian night. I'm going to cheat and get the Stouffer's veggie lasagna, one's bringing pasta/meatballs, and of course, garlic bread! I may also pick up a salad even though I can't necessarily eat it. I'm getting better at the veggies, but only if they're hidden.

Edited - Forgot to update intro...Below are our original goals for the remainder of 2018 along with how we're tracking to meet them. As I thought, September was difficult. Hoping to get things back on track through the end of the year for everything except last month's income. Since kiddo is (hopefully) due in April, we plan to have last month's income in place by then.

1) Pay off 2 more credit cards (Ashley Furniture balance: $827, Marriott balance: $2500): On track - Paid $544.01 extra to Marriott (1621.64 remaining) in addition to current charges and interest payments. Paid $180 to Ashley Furniture ($370 remaining).
2) Save 10k in a replacement car fund. (Original balance $50): Slightly behind - I was able to put aside $800ish this month. We'll see how this continues tracking, but the goal will be a new-to-us car with whatever balance we end up with. New balance is $5854.86.
3) Live off last month's income. (Orginal - $2500): Behind - I've decided this goal is lowest on our priorities list. I actually didn't put anything towards this choosing instead to throw as much as we could into the car replacement fund. Current balance is $0.
4) Fulfill fireplace fixing and dining room pantry savings goals ($160): On track - Fireplace account has $480/$800 set aside. Behind - Home Maintenance (where we'll pull the dining room pantry from) currently has $0. We actually added $160, but wiped out the category to get a pressure washer and leaf blower.

I was going to wait a little longer to post this, but since some of my recent purchases can't be explained without it, here goes...I'm pregnant again!

Yesterday was my 12 week checkup, and I'm due next April. (Fingers crossed!) I haven't really let myself be excited about it, and I've had a pretty rough first trimester, so I'm hoping it lets up soon. Since it's been so difficult, I just kind of leaned into it. There was a lot more eating out than normal since I had no energy to cook, and even if I did, the food aversions were so bad that I couldn't actually look at food for more than 5 minutes before getting violently ill. Once I realized how bad it was, I started buying more convenience food to enable my husband and brother take on more of the load, so we could eat out less. Two weeks ago, my mom stepped up big time. She visited and cooked a week's worth of healthy-ish (certainly better than the frozen stuff) meals. She offered to do that for as long as I need. This weekend, my brother is delivering the next set of foods. Since I have really bad veggie aversions, I tried to think of ways to sneak them in to the meals she's making. The menu is fajita mix, spaghetti meat sauce, broccoli cheddar soup, beef stew, and chicken fried rice.

I can't even be in the grocery store for long without gagging, so DH has been making the trips with me. At Costco last weekend, we ended up with several impulse purchases, including a big one. We bought new potholders and a king size blanket (from the Household budget). We also bit the bullet on our last remaining big purchase for the nursey - a recliner. I knew I wanted a recliner, so we could use it in the living room furniture eventually. Costco had one for $350 that was electric and had massaging and heat options, plus a USB port. The ones I had been looking at were around the same price without the bells and whistles.

For other baby planning, my dad and stepmom had already bought our crib last pregnancy. We'd also bought a dresser before losing him. When Toys R' Us had their closing sales, we went ahead and got the infant travel system, high chair, extra infant car seat base, pack n' play, and bassinet. At this point, I think we're mostly set. I don't want a lot of toys, and we're set on clothes. I don't want to heavily stock up on diapers, bottles, etc. because I have no clue what the little one will actually tolerate or take to.

Obviously, this changes financial plans yet again. More to come on that soon.

Today was essentially 4 paydays - my personal account, my contribution to our joint account, DH's paycheck, and a payment from my brother. It's all been appropriately budgeted out.

One thing I haven't yet mentioned is that next month, my brothers and I are going on a road trip. My dad moved from California to the deep South. It's now about a 14 hour drive to see him, so we hope to go down once a year or so. This year, we timed it for my brother's and our stepmom's birthdays.

I've only budgeted $300 to the trip. We're going to drive straight down in one shot, but break the drive into 2 days coming back. I used my rewards CC free night for the hotel. We're staying with family and will mostly just focus on family time, so the $300 is gas, road snacks, hotel parking, and then a trip to the aquarium on the way back home. The trip fund is fully funded. We also have the money for my kitchen pantry set aside, so I'll probably pull the trigger on that soon.

Apparently, my company has 2 financial planners as free resources. They gave a presentation the other day, and I decided to meet with them to get some ideas. They asked me to give them a look at my financial picture, so that they could help me develop a plan. I'm still working out what information I actually want to give them, but it did force me to look at my financial spreadsheet and recalculate debt payoffs based on where I am today and some things that we're anticipating. According to the new calculations and not accounting for raises and bonuses, we should be debt free (except for the mortgage)by the end of the first quarter in 2022. If we push hard and stick to this plan, we may even be able to do it earlier. My 35th birthday is in December 2021. That'd be a pretty nice gift to myself.

I'm trying to cut myself some slack because we have a lot of things we're juggling right now. I currently put aside about $1250 across 5 goals - Marriott CC payoff, Ashley Furniture CC payoff, fireplace fixing, property taxes, and an old loan that I took for my mom that she just completely stopped paying me on. All of these goals minus the old loan were planned to be completed by the end of the year. Rather than rush to live off last month's income, I'm going to use the $1050 freed up from everything else to pay off the Mom loan (there'll be less than $1k left) in January (if I can't find the cash before the end of the year) which would free up the last 200. That extra $1250 will give us breathing room to up my retirement to 10% and still give us at least an extra $500/month snowball. Looking at the next few months, it looks like Last Month's Income will happen first quarter of 2019. We also won't have $10k for a new-to-us car, but we're going to stay within whatever we manage to come up with (it's looking like about $8k). That'll also free up whatever money we'd been saving to that goal - not sure what the number is yet since October will be the first normal pay month we've had in awhile.

It's been so difficult adulting recently. On the one hand, our financial situation is probably the best it's ever been. On the other hand, we still have light years to go, so it feels impossible. To be fair, we are not even remotely gung ho about the debt payoff, so I guess that I can't get upset if I'm not actually willing to commit to the sacrifices.

A random list of financial things:
- I moved our baby emergency fund of $1000 out of our checking account and in to savings. (I used to keep it in checking to ensure that we'd have the $1500 account balance.)
- Our checking account saw over $10k for the first time ever which is huge. It's still sitting up that high, but all of the money is accounted for in various YNAB categories.
- I won't be able to make all of my goals for the rest of the year. I know the living off last month's income will be short, and I'm pretty sure the car will too, but I'm still going to try. We'll just find a car within whatever we do have saved. And DH will have one extra paycheck month by year end which will get us kind of close on the last month's income.
- I set up our credit card payments today and realized that if I found an extra $500ish, I could pay off last month's balance on the Marriott card (our main one) and officially move on to riding the credit card float rather than paying interest.
- I also should have an extra $500 coming in from DH, but that might be better funding ahead rather than allocating it to the credit card.

Below are our original goals for the remainder of 2018 along with how we're tracking to meet them. It's a bit misleading as we received a big influx of money from DH's work payment. In September, we'll only receive one and half paychecks for DH, so things will be tougher.

1) Pay off 2 more credit cards (Ashley Furniture balance: $827, Marriott balance: $2500): On track - Paid $544.01 extra to Marriott in addition to current charges and interest payments. Paid $280 to Ashley Furniture.
2) Save 10k in a replacement car fund. ($50): On track - Right now, YNAB says we're on track since we were able to put aside DH's bonus. I know this will fall behind in coming months, but we'll do our best. New balance is $5064.54.
3) Live off last month's income. ($2500): On track - This will fall behind in September since we won't have 2 full paychecks for DH, but right now, we're ahead. Current balance is 2970.34. We need about $5600.
4) Fulfill fireplace fixing and dining room pantry savings goals ($160): On track - Fireplace account has $320/$800 set aside. Home Maintenance (where we'll pull the dining room pantry from) has just over $100. The pantry I'm looking at runs about $200.

So far, we're doing well. September will be tough, but then I think we'll be able to make some headway again in October when DH's schedule should be back to normal.

I just realized I've been MIA most of August. Things are still chugging along. DH gets back today, and his paycheck will come in tomorrow, so I'll be able to meet all of the goals this month (more to come on that later in the week). I am a little disappointed with myself at the exorbitant amount of eating out that I did ($234.06), but sometimes, life is about survival.

I love payday...mostly because I get to go in and budget it. I finished off the Costco and Marriott CC sinking funds since both come up this month. I also went into the next month and reset the goals for next year. Since I started midway through this year, they were higher than they normally would be.

I've also started putting more things on autopay. As I get more comfortable with YNAB, it's easier to simplify all the bills to pay themselves.

DH's bonus comes in tomorrow. It's a little less than I thought at $5500ish, but still a big help. The goal is for that to go into the car replacement fund, but I think that I'll have to use some of it temporarily to float us until DH's next paycheck. Maybe if I don't fund the sinking funds until his money comes in, I can swing it, but seeing the orange makes me feel like I came up short.

DH's only paycheck this month will come in Friday. It'll be slightly more than normal due to 4 hrs overtime. There will also be an additional per diem payout for some short term out of town work he did before he left.

DH left this morning. I'm a big emotional eater, so skipping fast food breakfast was a big deal. I had made a batch of blueberry overnight oats, but those didn't look appetizing. Instead, I just grabbed a yogurt, nutrigrain bar, and bigger lunch.

I was debating adding money to the animal fund to get our dog groomed, but I decided to just try it myself. She's a GSD/Husky mix, so her fur is getting out of control. I'd bought a cheap grooming kit when I was considering cutting DH's hair. However, he's since decided to just embrace the bald look, so I'm going to use that and give it a shot. That'll save $100 if I can get her to a reasonable state.

I've also planned simpler meals since DH is gone. They're so easy that my brother can pitch in and cook more.

Like the last time that he was gone, I've made a list of small house projects that just never seem to get done to tackle while he's away. Today is furminating all the animals, cutting the dog's nails, and using the hair remover block on the couches/chairs. Other things this week include clearing out all of empty the Amazon boxes from our downstairs closets, organizing some of the house decorations, decluttering the kitchen, and deep cleaning the floors.

It's been up in the air as to whether DH would have to go out of town for 3 weeks again this month, and as of yesterday, it was confirmed. DH leaves on Monday morning to drive to his destination 6 hours away. While there, he won't have to drive and meals are covered. He knows he gets mileage, but we have to check on gas reimbursement. His projected pay for the out of town work will be just over 3k before taxes/deductions to be paid out the week after he returns.

This means, we'll have to do some moving around again this month. Between his one paycheck next week and my two normal paychecks, I think I can cover this month's expenses and next month's mortgage. If we can manage that, then I can use all of that work paycheck when he returns for goals. Our expenses are considerably less when he's away because I keep the temp much higher (75-78 depending on how cold I am), and we eat less/simpler because it's just me and my brother.

I'm going to update on these goals once a month, so here's where they stand today.

1) Pay off 2 more credit cards (Ashley Furniture balance: $827, Marriott balance: $2500)
2) Save 10k in a replacement car fund. ($50)
3) Live off last month's income. ($2500)
4) Fulfill fireplace fixing and dining room pantry savings goals ($160)

I did some more forecasting/YNAB goal setting, and it looks like my goals are going to be really hard to reach. Forecasting what I'd need to accomplish them looks like this:

1) Pay off 2 more credit cards (Ashley Furniture needs $180/mo and the Marriott card needs $520/mo). Capital One is just not going to be possible with the other goals, but if we happen to get some sort of windfall, then maybe.
2) Save 10k in a replacement car fund. 6k of this will come from DH's bonus. We need just under $800/mo for this one.
3) Live off last month's income. Based on the average spending from the few months of YNAB data, we need $1200/mo for this one, but less if I prioritize this over sinking funds and/or roll the BEF into last month's income and use that buffer. Taking out the mortgage payment (which we recently started accounting for next month's in this month's budget) leaves us needing $720/mo.
4) Fulfill fireplace fixing and dining room pantry savings goals (160/mo)

That totals almost 3k/mo going towards these goals. I'm not sure we're going to be able to do this, but I'm going to try. DH and I will have to discuss what's priority. For me, I'd rather accomplish 1,3, and 4, and adjust our car budget to whatever we manage to save. I think he'd prioritize 2 and advocate for skipping 4 this year.

Just typing this out, I've realized that 1 and 3 are my main priorities (and by default, DH's). While I want 4, and I suspect he'll want 2, I think we'll probably end up going with 2 and part of 4 - a safer car is more important than getting the fireplace fixed this year. The pantry is only $150 and would help with kitchen organization. Worse case, I tell him not to get me an Xmas gift, and we use those funds for that.

I'm going to update on these goals once a month, so here's where they stand today.

1) Pay off 2 more credit cards (Ashley Furniture balance: $827, Marriott balance: $2500)
2) Save 10k in a replacement car fund. ($50)
3) Live off last month's income. ($2500)
4) Fulfill fireplace fixing and dining room pantry savings goals ($160)

I did some more forecasting/YNAB goal setting, and it looks like my goals are going to be really hard to reach. Forecasting what I'd need to accomplish them looks like this:

1) Pay off 2 more credit cards (Ashley Furniture needs $180/mo and the Marriott card needs $520/mo). Capital One is just not going to be possible with the other goals, but if we happen to get some sort of windfall, then maybe.
2) Save 10k in a replacement car fund. 6k of this will come from DH's bonus. We need just under $800/mo for this one.
3) Live off last month's income. Based on the average spending from the few months of YNAB data, we need $1200/mo for this one, but less if I prioritize this over sinking funds and/or roll the BEF into last month's income and use that buffer. Taking out the mortgage which already rolls over, we'd need $720/mo.
4) Fulfill fireplace fixing and dining room pantry savings goals (160/mo)

That totals almost 3k/mo going towards these goals. I'm not sure we're going to be able to do this, but I'm going to try. DH and I will have to discuss what's priority. For me, I'd rather accomplish 1,3, and 4, and adjust our car budget to whatever we manage to save. I think he'd prioritize 2 and advocate for skipping 4 this year.

Just typing this out, I've realized that 1 and 3 are my main priorities (and by default, DH's). While I want 4, and I suspect he'll want 2, I think we'll probably end up going with 2 and part of 4 - a safer car is more important than getting the fireplace fixed this year. The pantry is only $150 and would help with kitchen organization. Worse case, I tell him not to get me an Xmas gift, and we use those funds for that.

Debtfreeme pointed out on my last post that I don't pay rent...I've been in the house for almost 2 years now and still refer to my mortgage payment as rent...oops!

To honor my stillborn son's original due date, my boss gave me a butterfly bush. She knows we have a ton of yard, and landscaping isn't our thing. She came over to help us plant it, and we ended up spending hours out there starting to clean things up. Apparently, we have boxwoods and azalea bushes in the front. (I'm terrible with plant identification.) We used the new hedge trimmer to clean them up and shape them nicely. We dug out a bunch of weeds and small trees that were popping up. The butterfly bush looked beautiful for a few days, but then the rain stopped and it shriveled up. My boss was shocked because she said they're really hardy. I'm really hoping it perks back up because my whole concern with planting something was that I wouldn't be able to deal if that died too...

This past weekend, DH cut the grass since there was a break in the rain. I decided to use the hedge trimmer (I'm obsessed with that thing) to clean up the shrubs and bushes in the backyard. 4 hours later, we'd actually moved on to start clearing out the line of overgrowth that had provided privacy between us and our neighbors. We'd torn down their 4 ft fence and replaced it with a 6 ft privacy fence, so the overgrowth wasn't needed anymore. Unfortunately, most of it is on our property. The longterm plan is to turn that side into a small vegetable garden (lettuce, zucchini, peppers).

Everything looks so much nicer. Next year, I'm looking forward to hopefully putting some perennials in a few areas that we've cleared.