Debt-free By 33's Personal Finance Blog

*Budgeted numbers in parentheses

My Account
Capital One Savings: 25 (25)
Netflix: 7.99 (9)
Insurance: 88.68 (88.68)
Navient Loans: 152.35 (155)
ACS Loan: 169.70 (170)
Phone: 149.25 (150)
Wells Fargo: 50 (50)
Target: 0 (0)
Food/Gas: 138.57 (90)
Misc: 31 (45)
Mariner: 100 (100)
Chase Freedom CC: 120 (100)
Chase Slate CC: 30 (25)
Capital One Venture CC: 207.51 (0)
NFL Points CC: 60 (60)
Car: 0 (0)
Misc: 35.82 (0)
Entertainment: 35.88 (0)
Taxes: 152.39 (0)
Wedding: 0(0)
Vegas: 132.20 (0)
Apartment*: 1400 (1400)


Our Account:
Rent: 1591.23 (1600)
Gas: 52.12 (80)
Electric: 123.10 (140)
Verizon: 93.12 (95)
Groceries: 425.79 (300)
Entertainment 390.72 (100)
Misc: 245.22 (0)
Couch: 649.95 (650)
Pets: 418.95 (400)
Capital One Venture CC: 0 (100)
Chase Marriott CC: 2332.49 (2495.24)
DC United Tickets: 165 (165)
Wedding Savings: 300 (500)

It was an okay month. Still way too spendy, but better. I do want to change the way I account for cards because in reality, half of my accounting from other categories goes on the cards, so it's not a true picture of it. Our miscellaneous spending was pretty much all wedding-related, so I'll break that into it's own category next month. I also added temporary Wedding and Vegas categories to my own budget to account for my spending in those areas.

With all the costs associated with a wedding, I'd decided to do my Save the Date invitations myself. I got permission from one of my work's higher ups to use the company printer to print them. There are 3 to a page, so less than 30 sheets total. I found

this really cute idea online, and starting mocking up a template. Mine's a little different and still felt plain, so when I was buying the twine for the knots, I bought a couple of stamps and an inkpad. This totaled to about $70. Adding in the cost of the heavy brown paper, I'm at about $1 per invite. Seeing as printing them online would have been about $.75 per invite, I felt cheated. And then it occurred to me to just make life simpler and print the images directly on the invite, so I'm returning all the stamp stuff. Total cost will be about $50 (not counting postage) for the Save the Date cards. I'll post a picture of the finished product.

Today, Amazon Prime is $67 for new members. (I also read something about existing members gifting themselves a subscription to get around the new member thing, but I'm not sure how valid that is...) This is almost a third off the regular price. We'd been debating Prime for awhile, so we're going to take the plunge and get it.

Awhile back, I had bought DF and I tickets to Ed Sheeran (had I known he was going to propose, I may have just saved that money instead), so tonight is date night. Unfortunately, it coincides with the Pope's visit, so traffic is probably going to be a mess. Expenses include doggy day camp for the pups (my equivalent of babysitting: since we both are working and then going to be gone for the concert, I didn't want them to go stir crazy) and dinner (going to try and do HH somewhere so it's cheaper). I joked that we only had the budget for one shirt, so we'd have to share it to which DF responded 'You can just get one for yourself...so long as it's a medium...' I don't go to concerts often, so I like to have the shirt as a tangible thing to bring back the memory, but we'll see how dinner shakes out.

For those who've had/attended a destination wedding (looking at you VS), did you (or the hosts) plan additional events around it? Since the wedding is 100 people, I was only planning to invite the bridal party to the rehearsal dinner, but all of my research indicates I should host at least one other meal as a thank you to everyone for attending. I was originally thinking a picnic brunch the day after the wedding. DF shot that idea down saying once the wedding was over, it was done. I still think we should do something, so my new thought was to still limit the rehearsal dinner to the bridal party/family, but then have an informal evening cocktail hour with some light apps. Should I also arrange some sort of excursion? I'm not sure what's the best way to show my appreciation for everyone's presence without going totally broke to do so...

There was a recent forum post on how married couples handle finances. This has been a well-discussed topic for DF and I lately. I'd always imagined that after we get married, we'd transition to a single account. He's pretty set on a having a joint account, but still keeping our individual accounts. I think we've finally decided on a compromise that will suit our needs. I wanted the single account for ease of financial management for our household. He wants to keep his account to have his 'fun' money that he can spend without feeling guilty or having to run it by me. So, we're going to combine our wants. After we get married, I will merge all of my stuff into our joint account and handle all of my finances out of that. DF will switch his direct deposit to go straight into our joint account, and then we will transfer an agreed-upon amount of 'fun' money to his bank account for him to do whatever he wants with. Currently, his paycheck goes to his account, and he transfers money into ours. I'm glad we were able to figure out something that will accommodate both of our wants.

This is non-financial, but I've gained a ton (15 lbs) of weight in the past month. Due to everything we've got going on, DF and I have been drinking much more than usual. I finally got fed up with it when a dress that used to hang off of me now makes me look like I'm in the early stages of pregnancy. About a month ago, I had invested in the Cize DVDs, but never kept up with the workout. I did one last night, and it is super fun, so rather than add more stress by trying to do it every day, my goal is to do all six songs once a week. This can be spread out or in one long jam session on the weekends. Additionally, DF and I separated alcohol from entertainment in our budget, and the only money that goes into the alcohol budget is $5 each time one of us completes a workout. This way, we're combatting the weight gain.

I didn't mention it at the beginning of the month, but I scored a great deal on meats - $20 for 4 meals (chicken breasts, seasoned drumsticks, hamburgers, and steaks). These are meals designed for families of 4, so I immediately split them into ziploc bags and wrote out a meal plan for the month. We've done a couple of small supplementary trips, but I think we'll be well within our $300 grocery budget this month!

Yesterday was National Guacamole Day. DF and I planned a long time ago to take his parents out to this really great Mexican place that DF's friend owns. While I had budgeted for this, it turned out to be REALLY expensive. Fortunately, DF's friend ended up comping all of our food, so the drinks came out to only just over what we budgeted. It was extremely generous of him as our entrees were all relatively pricy.

In other news, we paid the full statement balance (~2300) of our Chase Marriott card yesterday. We've now earned the bonus 80k points which we'll use on our honeymoon.

Groupon had a 25% off two-day sale the other day and I picked up some great Groupons. I got two for 8.95 each for $20 at a burger joint and Italian place in Vegas. These are both right near the Planet Hollywood restaurant where we're staying and allows each of us to eat for less than 5 bucks each. I almost splurged a steak dinner, but since I just started YNAB, I made myself wait until I had money in the Vegas account.

Speaking of, I started the trial a few days ago. So far, I really like it except I'm still learning. I missed the class I signed up for, so I'll have to sign up for another one and actually attend since they select someone to win a free copy of YNAB. I also showed it to DF, and he really liked it. He actually took to it better than me. As I was showing him around, he's pointing out how to enter transactions and stuff while I was still searching for the right button :/

Other recent financial wins include paying off our couch in full and putting aside $500 for October deposits to wedding vendors. I'm thinking we'll need between $1500 and $2000 depending on who we go with for catering. Between my babysitting job and DF, we should be able to make it without asking our parents for help.

I apparently skipped posting August's budgets although I did do them. Even though the month's half over, here is September. Although since starting YNAB, I may roll with the punches and do some adjusting in the second half of the month. One other thing that I didn't note on August payments was that we paid the remainder of our couch in full, so yay!!

Below are our July budgets:

My Account (Still have $270 unaccounted for)
Capital One Savings: 25
Netflix: 9
Insurance: 88.68
Navient Loans: 155
ACS Loan: 170
Phone: 150
Wells Fargo: 50
Food/Gas: 90
Misc: 45
Mariner: 100
Chase Freedom CC: 100
Chase Slate CC: 25
NFL Points CC: 60
Apartment*: 1400

Our Account:
Rent: 1600
Electric: 140
Gas: 80
Verizon: 95
Groceries: 300
Entertainment: 100
Pets: 300
Chase Marriot: 2495.24
Capital One Venture CC: 100
Wedding Savings: 500

The apartment under my account is my contribution to our account.

I've been terrible about getting this up quickly after the end of the month. To be fair, there is a lot going on, but I really need to be better about it..

*Budgeted numbers in parentheses

My Account
Capital One Savings: 25 (25)
Netflix: 7.99 (9)
Insurance: 88.68 (88.68)
Navient Loans: 1555 (155)
ACS Loan: 169.70 (170)
Phone: 149.25 (150)
Wells Fargo: 50 (50)
Target: 0 (0)
Food/Gas: 137.75 (90)
Misc: 0 (31)
Mariner: 100 (100)
Chase Freedom CC: 785 (45)
Chase Slate CC: 25 (25)
NFL Points CC: 60 (60)
Car: 710.01 (0)
Misc: 602.65 (0)
Entertainment: 87.73 (0)
Wedding: 5.29 (0)
Apartment*: 1400 (1400)


Our Account:
Rent: 1630.95 (1600)
Gas: 92.47 (80)
Electric: 102.21 (140)
Verizon: 93.12 (95)
Groceries: 381.08 (300)
Entertainment 903.28 (100)
Misc: 1807.64 (0)
Couch: 649.95 (650)
Pets: 1205.64 (400)

As you can see, August was pretty brutal for us. We had plenty of money come in, but we also pretty much spent it all. The entertainment budget includes a rather sizable investment in camping gear, a weekend camping trip and a weekend hosting out-of-state friends. The miscellaneous is wedding spending which I will probably start adding to a wedding category. My own car was paid by the other driver's insurance when I was rear-ended. The miscellaneous from my own account was paying back my FSA. Ouch...glad August is over.

I started the babysitting gig this week, so like all those with families, I'm suddenly adjusting to a 'school' routine. It's been rough waking up. I usually get up about 545/6 with the dogs, but I'm used to going back to sleep. Now, I have to stay up. On the plus side, it's $100/wk for making sure a 13 yo stays on her morning schedule and dropping her to school. Pretty easy and makes my FT job schedule more regular. Next week, she's off school the whole week. What's interesting is that it's written into my contract that if the girl is sick or misses school for any reason such as teacher workdays, then I still get paid the full week, so she said she'd still pay me next week even though I don't have to do anything. Since I've just started working for her, it felt strange accepting the money for a full week's work when I'm not needed. The daughter will be staying home all week and their house is right near my work, so I offered instead to swing by on lunchtimes and look in on her. I figure it's a fair alternative and makes me feel like I am actually earning the money. I've been waffling on what to do with the extra $400/month, but I think it will go half to the wedding and half to my CCs.

It's open enrollment time for my FT job. This year, we're offered 3 plan choices. Our standard plan , a local one which is cheaper with a more limited network, and a national plan which costs a little more with less of a deductible. I think I'm going to go with the local plan as my healthcare will possibly change once I'm married. I'm also considerably reducing my FSA as even with the $500 rollover, I still have almost a grand to use up this month. I am adding an AFLAC policy. I currently have 3, but since we anticipate starting a family not long after marriage, I'm going to add the hospital plan too, so we can take advantage of that.

With all the additional attention drawn to it lately, I've been doing some research into YNAB. I'm a little hesitant to dive in considering we have a big trip in October and then it's the holiday season...all while planning a wedding. However, I think all of that may be the perfect reason to jump in now. I'm going to really sit down and look into it this weekend, but I'm leaning towards doing the free trial starting next week. If that goes well, then at the end of the trial, I'd use part of my extra earnings to get it and really start both DF and I on it.

I still owe August recaps and September budgets, but for today, I thought I'd make myself feel better by taking note of all my efforts to make the upcoming trip as effective as possible while minimizing costs.

Accommodations: I wasn't planning on a vacation this year. The Vegas trip came up when my mom received an offer for gambling a lot last year. It was 5 comped nights, $150 in freeplay, and BOGO show tickets. She asked if she could contribute and we could go for her birthday again. I agreed and we decided it would just be a mother-daughter trip. My mom decided 5 days wasn't enough and wanted to stay a week. That wasn't a problem as we play rewards programs which offer complimentary nights. However, DF's parents belong to a timeshare and had points to use up, so they graciously covered our other nights. It ended up working out that we'll be there 8 nights as the timeshare requires a 3-night stay. In July, DF proposed and we decided on Sedona. Flights to Phoenix are crazy expensive (close to $400/person). I realized Vegas is only about 5 hrs. drive away, so we decided to combine our vendor trip with the Vegas trip. I used my CC rewards to cover our hotel for our one night in Sedona.

Flights: Frontier has non-stop flights from DC-Vegas which are very reasonable. I've kept my eye on them. We got DF's roundtrip for $124. However, the DC-Vegas route is seasonal and stops on October 24th (terrible timing!!). We got one way flights for $187 for the two of us which includes our one checked bag. I'm still monitoring return flights, but it looks like it'll be about $220. So all told, my mom and I's flight will be about $200 each.

Entertainment & Food: I've mentioned before about two rewards programs which help make our trips a little cheaper: MyVegas and Social Rewards. MyVegas allows you to play slots for gold coins called Loyalty Points. You can then redeem the points for real-life rewards. They have several partners including MLife casinos, Station casinos, Royal Caribbean cruises, and Allegiant Air. Since my mom sometimes buys coins to play with, she has 4 MLife rewards while I have 3. We each got tickets to the Beatles Love cirque show and the Thunder from Down Under show. My mom's remaining rewards are for 2 free buffets and a $50 freeplay. My last reward will either be for another set of buffets or Shark Reef passes. The program also has restaurant rewards for Wolfgang Puck which we will use as well. The other program (Social Rewards) allows you to share things on social media and watch videos for points. Once you hit 1000 points, you can transfer that for $10 to use at any Caesar's property. You can earn about $10/month. There's a great little sandwich deli in Planet Hollywood, so we will probably use the $60 or so I have from that to eat lunch there several times. One of the places I really wanted to see was Fremont Street. There's a bus that runs downtown that we will take the day we go there. I'm also considering a $37 membership to Las Vegas Advisor which gives you a ton of coupons (most of which are for downtown). There are several $5, $10, and $25 free/match plays as well as a $50 credit to any Palms restaurant. I will most likely get it as the food credit alone pays for the membership and my mom could then spend the day hopping the casinos and playing. The hotel we're staying at the last 3 days has a kitchen, so I will most likely just buy food to keep in the room to cut down on eating out.

As the trip gets closer, I will be scouring groupon and living social for additional food/attraction deals. I will hold off on getting them until they have their extra 15/20% deals, so we can save even more! It should be a fun trip.

It feels like money is just disappearing on me. Between the wedding, the Vegas trip, and trying to get a handle on my finances in general, it's becoming a lot.

We are combining the Vegas trip with a quick side trip to Sedona to meet with all of our vendors. This will be the only trip out there prior to the wedding, so I'm staying on top of my game to make sure we do everything we need to. From everything I understand, our marriage license would be good for a year, so we're getting that. We've also already confirmed appointments with the venue, photographer, and florist. I'm coordinating still with the DJ, officiant, food, and cake vendors. I did score a pretty sweet deal on flights. I have a whole separate post planned on our Vegas trip and how we're maximizing the trip while minimizing expenses.

With the Vegas and Sedona trips comes extra spending/deposits for all of the vendors, so my payoffs will be less as I try to save/cash flow these expenses. We are saving quite a bit by combining the trips and driving between the locations. We also used CC rewards to cover the hotel while in Sedona.

I'm also making some changes to my health plan while in open enrollment which should free up some extra cash. Our company just started allowing us to roll over $500 of our FSA. Since I have $1300 to use by the end of September, I will definitely be rolling $500 over and plan to use the rest for new glasses/prescription sunglasses/refresh all the first aid kits. I'm going to lower my contributions significantly which should up my paychecks a bit.

On top of all that, DF and I had a mini date night going to a promo event for the DC United soccer team. He enjoyed himself so much and we actually ended up getting a single full season ticket. DF works so hard and has very little free time and this is one of his few indulgences. I was concerned that it'd be a waste since he can't make every game, but the exchange policy is super flexible and he's going to choose 9 games he wants to see, and exchanged the tickets for the rest of them, so he could bring someone to every game. It's a win because he gets to enjoy the matches with someone. We're on the payment plan since it is interest free and payments are spread out over a year. DF was so happy...he couldn't stop smiling. Some things mean more to me than money...although, I did tell him that covered Christmas and birthday gifts

I think I've finally found something to curb the eating out. I have a really bad tendency to treat myself to dinner/lunch when I'm stressed/pressed for time/annoyed at life. While each meal is often under $10 or even $5, this easily adds up. Lately, I've been asking myself if I want the meal or a life with DF. With everything we have coming up, we really need to jumpstart our savings and curb our spending. While I've only employed this technique a few times, it has stopped me from getting food. Yesterday, I even turned around from Five Guys and made a grilled cheese. Yummy and considerably healthier!

In the opposite direction, we did spend $15 on a Groupon. It's normally $25 for $50 at Brookstone. I had a $10 off $25 or more offer, so $15 for $50 seemed like a steal for us. We're going to use it to most likely replace our showerhead and get a wireless speaker for DF to listen to music in the shower.

In other news, I also paid off our couch, made a $400 payment to one of our CCs, and am hoping to make another $150 payment to my Chase card.

The woman looking for a mother's helper got back to me last night. I'm meeting with her Monday. Her daughter is 13, and I'd just need to make sure she's up at 7 and at school by 815. Provided her daughter is one of those obedient, easygoing teenagers, the job will be a breeze. I've discussed this with DF as it means he'll have to take morning dog duty and he's not a morning person. He's concerned about the extra stress it may put on me, but he understands we could use the money and is willing to give it a shot. Fingers crossed it works out!

My mom's AC broke last week. She definitely doesn't have the money to fix it, but my brother suggested she could get a window unit since it gets hot here in August/September. Before she asked me for money for one, I went on freecycle and posted for it. Lucky enough, someone had it! It actually was a woman I'd gotten a shoe rack from before. My mom is really grateful for the cooler air at no cost.

I also reached out to a woman who posted on Facebook for a mother's helper. The pay would be $100/week for morning drop-offs. DF and I could definitely use the money, so hopefully this pans out.

The last bit of news is a request for help. DF and I entered a contest for our apartment company. Our entry is less focused on why we love our home and more focused on us, but I'm hoping we can get one of the vote prizes ($500). If you read this and have a minute or two, we'd appreciate your vote (bonus - you'd get a much more personal look at us). The contest is here:

http://www.equityapartments.com/contest/contest.html. You can actually vote once in each of the various browsers on a device, but we'd appreciate even the one vote!! Our entry will most likely be on one of the first three pages and is titled DJ - Fairchase. The video screenshot is pictures of us playing pool on a green background.

My mom's AC broke last week. She most definitely does not have the money to fix it. My brothers are fine suffering, but it definitely gets hot in August here. My brother had suggested that maybe she could get a window unit as a temporary fix. I posted on freecycle asking for one, and as luck has it, someone did! It actually turned out to be a woman I'd gotten a shoe rack from before. The unit works well and my mom is grateful for the cooler air without having to spend money.

I also reached out to a woman who posted for a mother's helper to get her daughter to school in the mornings. Pay would be $100/week which DF and I could definitely use as savings to our wedding.

The last bit is my own plea for help from this community. DF and I entered a contest held by our apartment company. Our video focuses more on our story with some bits about why we love our apartment community, but the top 5 vote-getters win a $500 prize. If you read this and have a minute or two, we'd really appreciate the help (plus, you'd get to see a more personal side of us)! The contest is here:

http://www.equityapartments.com/contest/contest.html. Our entry will most likely be on the first three pages. It's called DJ - Fairchase. The screenshot is us playing pool on a green background. You can vote once in each of the various browsers on a device, but I'd appreciate even the one vote!

First off, venue is booked! DF's next paycheck will be put aside to pay off this amount on the new CC.

We are using the paycheck he just got to buff up our account (1000) and pay off the couch (650) as well as make some payments to our joint card.

Next month, I'm hoping to pay off the remainder of my 401k loan (~610). That will put an extra ~250/month into my account to put towards debt payoffs.

Poor DD1 ended up sick after our camping weekend. All this week, he's had terrible diarrhea and then yesterday, he threw up. He's more than potty trained, so it's been a really tough week having to continually clean up after his accidents in the apartment. (For a day or two, we actually unnecessarily punished DD2 thinking she was the culprit...) Yesterday, we took him to the vet. Since then, he hasn't gone at all which is also a bit concerning. They gave him fluids, two meds, and two antibiotics to the tune of almost 300 bucks. Ouch.

We got a new joint credit card (the Marriott one) since it has 80000 bonus points and we have a lot of spending coming up. Since this card has no 0% interest period and it's DF's first credit card (he's an authorized user to help build his credit), we have to be very mindful of how we use this one. It will be for wedding/joint expenses only and can only be used for things that we already have money in the bank for. I plan to put our venue deposit on this card shortly, so we will officially have our date and location (Sedona, AZ). Can't wait to marry that wonderful man!!

*Budgeted numbers in parentheses

My Account
Capital One Savings: 25 (30)
Netflix: 7.99 (9)
Insurance: 83.71 (83)
Navient Loans: 45.51 (45)
ACS Loan: 169.70 (170)
Phone: 149.25 (170)
Wells Fargo: 50 (50)
Target: 0 (0)
Food/Gas: 187.75 (90)
Misc: 0 (50)
Mariner: 100 (100)
Chase Freedom CC: 825 (653)
Chase Slate CC: 25 (25)
NFL Points CC: 60 (60)
Clothing: 235.87 (0)
Pets: 2 (0)
Entertainment: 497.84 (0)
Apartment*: 1400 (1400)


Our Account:
Rent: 1600.09 (1600)
Electric: 85.54 (140)
Gas: 0 (60)
Verizon: 93.15 (95)
Groceries: 321.55 (300)
Entertainment 85.40 (75)
Misc: 10 (450)
Couch: 50 (50)
Pets: 446.73 (400)

My account was just terrible, but our account was probably the closest I've ever come to being accurate in most categories. I'd hoped to pay myself a good amount back under Miscellaneous, but that didn't work out. DF has been doing really well though, so I should see at least a couple hundred this month. The entertainment category on my account was mostly the Florida trip and one set of exercise DVDs.

I'm a little bummed. My mom and I's relationship may be permanently fractured, and it's upsetting. She ended up in a situation where she needed money, yet again. While this time seems legit, I've learned that loaning her money means I have to give it to her with no expectation of getting it back. Unfortunately, this time, I need the money back as DF and I are mostly financing our own wedding. I told her I'd give it to her, but she had to sign a promissory note. She got really offended, made a comment about how we never signed one when she raised us, and told me not to worry about it.

A part of me is relieved because I'm not entirely sure we'd have ever seen that money again, but another part of me is seriously worried about the effect this will have on our relationship. I truly love my mom, and if I had all the money in the world, I'd give it to her in a heartbeat even knowing how bad she is with money. But the reality is that DF and I are about to start a life together and since I never, ever want to put my children in the position my mom has put me in time and again, I need to take care of myself first. It's a really hard realization, but I'm finally getting it.

In other news, I just realized that I'm older than I thought. I kept thinking I was turning 28 this year, but I actually turn 29. This news was super depressing as there's no way I can pay off all my debt by 30. If I focus, and I mean FOCUS!, then I could potentially have all consumer debt paid off including the wedding, so that will be my new goal.

I've been in a mood lately, but today just got better!

I play a game called MyVegas to score freebies for our upcoming trip. While the rewards have certainly deteriorated, there are still a few worth playing for. Most players can redeem 3 for MGM rewards. My mom occasionally buys chips to support the game and has 4 rewards. Awhile back, she'd managed to get ahold of the Beatles Love Cirque show ticket.

I've been trying unsuccessfully to get it as you have to luck out and be there right when they refresh or it goes too quickly. I started following a refresh thread and managed to get it today!

So far, we've redeemed 2 Beatles Love tickets (1 each), 2 Thunder from Down Under tickets (1 each...and certainly not something I'd pay for, but a fun novelty experience for free), 2 buffet passes at Monte Carlo (my mom).

We each have one remaining. My mom currently has a NYNY room voucher, but she's probably returning it as we need two nights and can most likely find a decent deal elsewhere. She wants to get a $50 freeplay. I'm much lower on points. If I earn enough, my options will be 2 more buffet passes, $50 dining credit to MC (where we're staying), or 2 Shark Reef Admission passes (again, not something I'm willing to pay for, but would like to see).

We may also redeem food rewards for House of Blues or Wolfgang Puck (or even both!).

I'm debating an Entertainment book as we will be venturing to Fremont St. this time and they have a bunch of $5 matchplay offers.

Operation Frugal Vegas is coming together!!

Just trying to get some of my thoughts written down:

1) The Car: I'm going to call the body shop and see if they'll take a payment over the phone prior to the repairs to ensure it clears. If possible, I'd also like them to keep the card on file, so if there are additional repairs, it can be covered. I also have to look up rentals. While my area is certainly more expensive, I think it can be kept under $100.

2) The Wedding: My colleague saw the outside of our venue earlier in the week, but couldn't get in. He said he'd call and try to get a quick appointment for today. I truly appreciate the effort he's going through consider he doesn't know me at all. By my rough estimates, he's saved me about a grand in travel costs just to book the venue. Regardless of whether he gets inside the facility, I'm going to have them draw up a contract which we'll review with his parents this weekend, so the venue should be booked by early next week.

3) The Vegas Trip: Still on the lookout for a good hotel deal for two nights and flights. Also, still trying to score one free Beatles Love Cirque show ticket from MyVegas. I'm not terribly worried as there's still time. Other MyVegas freebies we're getting are: tickets to Thunder from Down Under, 2 free buffets, and $50 freeplay. I have to review the list because we'll probably also try to do some rewards that aren't specifically MGM properties.

4) Upcoming Spending: I made a list of several things DD2 will need soon as she's almost as big as DD1 and has mostly outgrown her baby things. She also needs to be spayed in August which is thankfully covered under her CareClub insurance. We also have two camping trips in August. SO had a great end to July, so we're expecting at least 2k next month. I've roughly allocated it to: building up our account buffer (300), paying me back (300), paying off our couch (600), and partially paying back our venue deposit (800/1700).

In all my wedding excitement, I completely forgot this...

Two Fridays ago, I got my car back from being repaired after I'd been rear-ended about a month ago. I was fortunate in that even though I did everything wrong, he accepted fault and his insurance covered everything.

Two Saturdays ago, I got rear-ended. Yep, that's right. Hit again!! A day after getting my car back!! At a stoplight, no less!! I was so angry that I originally sped off in anger, but then decided to pull over and check it. Luckily, I did and he'd followed me because there was noticeable damage. This time, I got pictures of the cars, his license, and his contact info. He didn't have his insurance card, but said he'd probably pay out of pocket anyway. I forgot to note where we actually were, but I'm getting closer to getting everything I need when I'm in an accident...

I just did the estimate today because I've been busy. It comes out to just under a grand. If he chooses to pay out of pocket, does anyone have experience with how it works? I assume he gives me the money upfront or calls and gives the company his card info. Also, since it's a 4 day repair, I feel like I should also ask him to cover a rental car since insurance would cover one. Any advice is more than welcome!

It's odd because I don't even have my venue secured yet, but my dress is currently hanging in the living room at my mom's place. I went to a Brides Against Breast Cancer charity event where they sell pre-owned/used wedding dresses with .73 cents of every dollar going to breast cancer research. While doubtful that I'd find my dress, I figured I'd go and look just in case. I actually loved almost everything I tried on (about 6 dresses). However, when I tried on a strapless white chiffon gown with beading, I caught my breath! Even better, it was only $200 and fits like a glove The only alterations needed will be to hem it and a strap if I decide to add one. I'd had my heart set on a one-strap princess-type gown. Since it's so long, the extra chiffon and beading they cut off can be repurposed into a single shoulder strap, so I have to decide if I still want it.

All told, I definitely think I will be able to stay under my $500 dress budget. Yay me!

I just made a $400 payment bringing the balance to 1165. I have another $30 to put to it as soon as I make it to the bank to cash the check. I'm also expecting my little brother to pay $200 of his $1000 deposit this Friday bringing the balance to $935. Depending on how our pet expenses shake out in the remainder of July, I should be able to put another $100-$300 paid back from our joint account. That plus next month's $500 payment and any additional paybacks should wipe out the Chase Freedom card!

At that point, my attention will be split 3 ways - Las Vegas savings, wedding savings, and Chase Slate. The Vegas trip is in October which will only give me 2 months to save as much as I can. The goal is 2k. If it's any less, then we will just have to eat/sightsee with whatever I have saved up. My mom is bringing her own gambling money this time, so that will help considerably. Chase Slate is at $645 which I could easily knock out in 2-3 months if it were my only focus. The goal will be the end of the year since it's at 0%. Wedding savings will be $100-$200 these next few months and will become my main focus starting in November.

DF got paid more than we thought, so that's a bit of a relief. I don't have to put the pet expenses to the credit card. I have some payments pending to my credit card - 30 for gas, 30 reimbursement from a work purchase, and I'm also going to take $100 out of our joint account. I will also make a $320 payment next paycheck (Wednesday). I'll still end up paying interest which is a huge bummer seeing as I've managed to avoid it the past year, but only on about $920 (the statement balance was originally $1525). For August, I have $543 budgeted to Chase, but I'm going to do my best to knock out more.

This weekend, we had two potlucks. We did bring desserts to both totaling $35.

I'm in a holding place with wedding plans. In an effort to save a trip out there, I desperately reached out to a former class instructor who is currently in my wedding location. He's graciously agreed to swing by the place and check it out for me. If he agrees that it looks like the photos, then I'm going to coordinate with their event planner to draw up the contracts to book the venue. (I had originally asked the event planner to Skype or use technology to conduct a virtual tour, but she claimed to not have the means to do that.) That would mean we only have one planning trip which I'm actually going to try and combine with the Vegas trip to save money on a cross-country flight. We've decided to go without a planner completely. I can be pretty organized when I want to, so I'll just have to make this a focus in the coming months. DF wrote up his list last night - it was over double what I had in mind. We're going to make some cuts, but I think we'll still end up inviting between 100 and 150 people now. Since it's a destination wedding, I'm going to send the invites out between 4 and 6 months and ask for RSVPs to be back by the two month mark for planning. This should give me ample time to plan if all of them suddenly decide to show up.

Got some random updates:

DF and I grilled some marinated chicken and chorizo last night and used up the last of the potatoes for steak fries. It was by far the best meal we'd had in awhile. Tonight will be mac and cheese with the leftover meats and some leftover veggies from earlier this week. Sat. and Sun. evening we have cookouts. I'm probably just going to get a small cookie or pastry platter for Saturday's cookout and we'll ask DF's family if they'd like us to bring anything for Sunday.

I have some upcoming pet expenses: DD1 is due for his shots and DD2 has a wellness visit (which is covered by her pet care plan) where we will have to pay for her flea & tick/heartworm meds. I think we will have to use one of the 0% cards for this, and pay it off in August when DF's income has (hopefully) stabilized.

My weight has held consistent a little above the 10%. I'm actually perfectly fine with this. It slightly above the normal weight for my height, but given my body structure, I look better with some meat on my bones. Wedding goal will be to maintain this weight, but turn the fat into muscle.

We're moving forward with wedding planning. I think I'm now set on proceeding without a wedding planner. It will be difficult coordinating with long-distance vendors, but I think it's doable. I actually know someone who's in our destination right now. Even though I barely know him, he's agreed to check out our venue. If all looks well, we'll book it saving one trip out there. The only snag is that we are supposed to coordinate the site visit, and I feel like that's asking more of him because now he has to go at a set date/time. Hopefully it all works out as round trip flights run about $400/trip.

Still chipping away slowly at the credit cards. I'm owed about $2200 from various sources, so hopefully if that money starts coming in, I can make some real progress. $2200 is about the combined balance of both Chase cards, so it'd be really nice to knock those out in the next few months.

Awhile back, the dealer had suggested a list of maintenance items for my car. I've been remiss in taking care of them, but given that my inspection ends this month and my brakes are on the list, I figured I should start looking into it. When I got my car detailed last week, I had asked for quotes. I didn't have the list, so I did it from memory, but he quoted me around $500 for several items on the list. He also told me at least one of the items definitely wasn't needed. I think I'm going to make them my new regular mechanic as their prices are much more reasonable and I was pleased with their detailing work.

I'll start with the other stuff:

Our budget this month is crazy tight. I'm actually cashing in our piggy bank and putting some extra money I made for helping DF's mom out into our account just to make sure we could cover everything. Our buffer was completely depleted when DF was gone for so much of June and then this first week in July. Needless to say, all extraneous expenses are out and we're eating down the pantry.

I'm super grateful that we made it through the FL vacation without too much extra spending. We mostly used DF's work incentive gift cards to cover the extra stuff.

I will probably get some flack for this, but I did provide a down payment for my little brother's car. The one he was driving was on the verge of destruction - it was like russian roulette on whether the brakes would work or not. Unlike my mom, he actually will pay me back. It will just be over several months.

Now to the wedding - it's definitely not going to be cheap. I only plan to do this once, and I never thought it'd happen so soon. I'm so lucky that he asked, and now I get to plan this day. We've decided on a destination wedding. We're inviting about 100 people, but given the location, anywhere from 40-all 100 of them could show up. I geniunely have no clue of the final count and won't until RSVPs come back, so budgeting for all 100, we're looking at about 15k. My family is pretty much useless. My dad did say he would help a bit, but I'll be lucky if my mom manages to pay her own way. Fortunately, DF's family will help out in any way they can, including my future mother-in-law lending her event planning assistance, so I can forgo a wedding planner. It's going to be a stressful, but exciting next several months!

Below are our July budgets:

My Account
Capital One Savings: 30
Netflix: 9
Insurance: 83
Navient Loans: 45
ACS Loan: 170
Phone: 170
Wells Fargo: 50
Food/Gas: 90
Misc: 50
Mariner: 100
Chase Freedom CC: 653
Chase Slate CC: 25
NFL Points CC: 60
Apartment*: 1400

Our Account:
Rent: 1600
Electric: 140
Gas: 60
Verizon: 95
Groceries: 300
Entertainment: 75
Misc: 450
Couch: 50
Pets: 400

The apartment under my account is my contribution to our account.

The miscellaneous in our budget is for the table. It may be less depending on how our income looks for the month. We are going to do our best to eat down our pantry.