So, how was your summer?

We’ve got some catching up to do!

Camping with the family was a real adventure!  The story that will be told over and over is that of our very first night…

We had borrowed a 1970’s canvas tent with heavy steel poles from Perry’s dad rather than buying a new tent for the family.  His would easily fit two parents and three kids and it was kind of like a small canvas one-room house.  It was tall enough that we could stand up and the windows were more than waist high.  It had double door flaps that tied back and let a great breeze flow through.

We arrived at our destination in the afternoon and found my parents had already parked their RV and were preparing dinner for all of us.  Perry and I set up the tent and noted the dark sky and the smell of rain in the air.  After dinner, we hustled the kids into the tent for their first night of camping.  We spent some time settling in and reading books, then tucked in for the night to the sound of gentle rain on the canvas roof.

Somewhere around 4:00 AM, Perry and I were startled awake by strong whips of wind and rain pounding the tent on what seemed like all sides.  Perry and I talked quietly about whether we should move the kids to the car or wake my parents and join them in the RV.  Before a decision was made, another gust of wind knocked down the steel poles on the back side of our tent.  I jumped up to hold the tent wall up while telling the kids to grab their shoes, books, and stuffed animals because we had to run to the camper.  I was trying to hide my panic as the rain was beating through the canvas wall on my back, soaking my clothes.  The wind was swirling around the tent, blowing in the now unsupported walls.  Perry helped the kids find their things while I called my parents’ cell phones repeatedly to wake them and ask them to unlock the RV door.

Within about 45 seconds, everyone was ready to run.  At this point, all sides were collapsed and there was just enough space under my drenched outstretched arms for Perry and the kids to huddle around.  Perry struggled to unzip the 30+ year old zipper, and he and the kids bolted out and ran to the RV.  I followed, dropping the tent and abandoning our pillows and sleeping bags.  Perry insists that I did a barrel roll out of the tent like some kind of ninja.

We made it into the RV and dried off.  Our tent survived another two days, always leaning to one side and threatening to give in to the smallest gust of wind before we decided it would be in our best interest to spend the money to replace it.

After a night in the wind.

We had to laugh about how we’d given the kids a great introduction to camping.  The rest of the trip would be easy after running out of a collapsing tent in a rain storm.  We went on to see an outdoor play of Little House on the Prairie on one of the properties where the Ingalls family lived.  We explored Wall Drug.  We hiked the Badlands.  We saw Mount Rushmore all lit up at night.  The kids earned Junior Ranger badges and promised to appreciate, respect, and protect all national parks when they were officially sworn in.  We saw the Corn Palace and learned a lot about U.S. history.  We ended our trip by surprising the kids with one night at a hotel with a water park where they played to the point of exhaustion, then slept like angels.

It was a great trip and we have tons of family memories.  We’re already thinking about places we can camp and explore next summer.

I'll do a really bad robot dance for $150 if you want to pretend this is Chuck E. Cheese.

The chicklets turned four at the beginning of April and we celebrated with a dinosaur-themed party at our apartment with a bunch of good friends.  I'm not much one to spoil my kids, generally, but it's really hard not to get them a ton of presents and throw big party.  I find myself thinking, "but there are two of them and they have to share a birthday..."  In the end, though, I know that I really want to do those things for me, not for them.  I want to buy them lots of things because I usually don't.  I want to throw a big party because most of our fun is just the three of us.  But, seriously, they were turning FOUR.  Would the girls (and the guests, for that matter) really have that much more fun if I spent $200 for bad pizza and jerky animatronic entertainment at Chuck E. Cheese rather than spending less than $50 for surprisingly delicious Costco pizza and cupcakes at our place?  $150 cheaper and far more interaction between people.  Granted, there was no giant dancing mouse, but I'm pretty sure that would've resulted in at least one terrified child anyway.

One of my birthday gifts to the girlies is a membership to the Minnesota Children's Museum.  I contacted their membership coordinator and finagled a modified membership.  Many museums, zoos, etc., provide family memberships for married couples with children or two cohabitating adults with children, but I've never seen any membership specifically for a single-parent household.  Since I usually bring a second adult with me but don't feel that a museum membership is justification for asking someone to move in with us, I asked if I could get a family membership without naming the second adult.  I figured it was worth a shot.  The membership coordinator contacted me yesterday and she's going to make it happen!  We're going to try to go this weekend to see the dinosaurs (this is R and K's current obsession).  This birthday present is going to get us out of the house and keep us entertained all year, so I have no doubt that it's worth it.

I also got some great deals on some new Leapster games for R and K by using Diapers.com's price-matching service and the referral credits I haven't needed to use for diapers/pull-ups (yay!).  After all was said and done, I ended up with $50 worth of games for $6.  Bargain shopping WIN!!  I've been using this site since the girls were teensy.  I've always been able to get good deals but, honestly, my favorite thing was that I didn't have to carry cases of diapers up to my third floor apartment when I was also juggling a pair of squirmers and umpteen million other things.  The UPS guy got to haul them up the stairs for me.  Some days, I probably would've rather he carried the kids and I took the diapers, but c'est la vie...

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I forgot to post the best birthday present ever!  My mom and I made dino-hoodies for the girls and they turned out awesome!

another one bites the dust!

I had my eye exam on Friday and discovered that I don't need new glasses. The glasses that I have are my current prescription.  It hasn't changed in seven years!  New glasses have now become a want rather than a need, so they're going to wait.  The money I had set aside to pay for my glasses has now been applied to my debt!  I have paid off three creditors this month and have $1,000 in the bank for emergencies!

Store Card 1 - $323
Direct Deposit Advance - $220
Credit Card 1 - $350
Line of Credit - $465
Credit Card 2 - $685
Student Loan 1 - $1,640
Store Card 2 - $2,800
Student Loan 2 - $3,145
Auto Loan - $4,005
Credit Card 3 - $4,470
Credit Card 4 - $4,910
Student Loan 3 - $5,615
Student Loan 4 - $6,025
 
According to the Debt Snowball Tracker that is part of my budgeting software, I have paid off $1,303.15 of my debt since I committed to this journey.  This includes both the larger payments I've made to pay off creditors as well as my regular payments to those still in progress.  I still have a long way to go, but this is an amazing start.  Next up is my Line of Credit.
 
I am using an envelope system for categories in which I tend to overspend the most or spend without thinking.  I have envelopes for groceries, restaurants, clothing and entertainment as well as one for fun money.  I have two checking accounts.  One of these is now being used solely for gas.  The reason for the gas account is that it makes it much easier to get gas when I don't have to take a pair of three-year-olds out of their car seats and into a store full of candy to pay for it.  That account is, essentially, my gas envelope.  The other checking account is being used to pay bills.

I'm still tweaking my budget with every paycheck.  I have discovered that I spend less on gas than I thought I did.  It's getting easier to admit that I don't have the money to do some things.  It's also very exciting to have money set aside to have some fun.  The girls and I are getting back into the habit of going to the library on our weekends together.  They love it and it provides entertainment for several weeks in the form of books and movies.  Gabe and I often cook as a form of entertainment and just generally enjoy each others' company.  I have maintained my Netflix account as an inexpensive form of entertainment as well.  We only get one DVD at a time and unlimited streaming movies online, so there is always something to watch if we're lacking things to do.  When we do go out, it's far less expensive with Gabe than most of my social life had been prior because there is no drinking on his part and very little on mine.  I used to buy friends drinks if I was getting myself one so the expense of one drink often doubled or tripled.  They're not cheap to begin with, so this is probably saving me more money than I even realize.

Things are great. My valentine's weekend was low-key and wonderful.  The girls and I are taking a road trip tomorrow to see Grandma Char and Grandpa Doug.  It'll be fun to spend some time with them and the girls always have a great time.  See you soon, mom and dad!

stoked!

Looking at my budget for February, I think I'll have my baby emergency fund fully funded plus pay off two credit cards and make a pretty good dent in a third by the end of the month!!  Wooooohoo!  What an awesome start!

I'm so happy I decided to get working on this just as I was getting my 2009 taxes ready.  My tax returns will play a major role in the jump start I'm getting.

Working overtime is also playing a pretty big role.  I've missed having time and energy for the girls over the last few weeks, but my manager is looking into getting access to allow me to work from home.  That will be a big help and allow me to spend more time with the girlies rather than having to shuffle them to their dad or to babysitters when I need to work.  I really hope that works out as there looks to be quite a few more opportunities to work OT in the near future and OT is far easier to work out than trying to find a part-time job to supplement my income while I'm on this journey.

I had a bit of a reality check the other day.  I was talking to Gabe about the possibility of taking another east coast vacation this year.  We had talked about (and Gabe's aunt Sue had insisted) taking the girls with this time.  I thought it sounded like a great idea and was thinking my tax return would allow us to do that, but upon reflection I realized that taking our vacation last year landed me further in the hole and if I want to pay this debt off, I need to be making smart decisions about money all the time, not just when it feels good.  I called Gabe back and suggested that we consider going camping someplace relatively nearby instead.  He thought that sounded like a decent plan.  As much as I would love to take the girls to the beach this year, I know that they won't care if we wait a few years and they'll probably appreciate it more and have loads more fun when they're a little older.

Gabe is one reason that I've decided that now is the time to get rid of this debt.  We've been together for 10+ months, but we're both divorced and in no hurry to tie the knot again.  In the meantime, I want to put myself in a position to be be less of a financial burden if/when the time comes.  I already come with two extra mouths to feed so upkeep on this package deal isn't cheap.  I'd love to be in a position where I'm living, not just getting by.  My goal is $15k this year, but I would love to surpass that goal.  I'm making an effort to make sacrifices now so I can live better later.  My income would allow for a comfortable life if a third of it wasn't going toward debt payments.  I'm going to get there!

the approach

How do I keep it going?
I'm taking a few approaches to keep myself excited about paying off debt.  I want to stay focused so I'm trying to spend some time every day working on my finances in one way or another.  I look at my budget every time I recieve a bill to determine when it will be paid.  Because I'm in my first few months of using a budget, it is going to require some regular tweaking before I get it just right.  I am also listening to financially-focused podcasts on a daily basis to learn more and hear about the experiences that others are having paying off their debt.  Right now, I listen to The Dave Ramsey Show and Rebound.  I have also subscribed to MyTotalMoneyMakeover.com and am using the money tools there to help me in this process.  I'll blog more about that soon.

Why do I want to pay off my debt?
At this point, I spend about a third of my take-home pay on debt repayment.  That's ridiculous!  If I was able to save that money every month, I'd have the girls' college funds fully funded well before they were in high school.  I could afford to have them in preschool.  I could spend money on piano lessons.  And for me, I could contribute to a retirement fund and purchase stock at the company I work for.  I could buy new clothes when I lose weight.  I wouldn't be stressed out about how I'm going to pay for car repairs when they're needed.  And there is the fact that I hated going into my first marriage with debt.  I do intend to marry again someday and I don't want to bring financial baggage into the relationship.  I am currently dating an absolutely amazing man that has the desire and ability to be an entrepreneur.  Business ventures require capital.  I'd love to be a help rather than a hinderence in those ventures if we should end up marrying someday (and I hope we do <3).