The Wait Game

Last week Hubby applied for a job that pays $6.00 more than he is making now.  It is in Law Enforcement (same field he is working now) and they are hiring a number of people to fill 2 different academies.  He is qualified for the position and I know they will love him.  The stinky part is waiting for the invitation to interview.  Apparently they only have 3 people who process all the applications, and it will take a couple weeks to find out if he will be interviewed.  Hubby assures me that everything will work out fine.  He is confident that he will not only get an interview, but he will also get the job.  I don't want to think about what that extra $6.00 an hour would do for our family.  Because once I start thinking about the possibilities, I will be so depressed if it doesn't work out.  But I can't help it.

An extra $6.00 an hour means that we can actually make ends meet each month.  We won't be struggling to figure out how we are going to pay for groceries or Dr. bills.  We can aggressively get out of debt.  We can think about buying a house.  We can consider having a 3rd baby (I really want to have a boy).  We can build a savings.  We might be able to get a second car.  Sigh.  There is so much we can do with that extra $6.00 an hour!  I really hope we hear from them soon.

Leave the Cards at Home

Many years ago I worked in a fabulous retail clothing store.  One of our daily goals was to open new credit cards.  Why?  Because credit card holders ALWAY spend more.  Always.  Something psychological happens when you pay with a credit card as opposed to cash. 

Whenever I pay with cash, I always take my time in deciding what I want to buy.  I never buy the first thing I think is cute.  I will compare items and really think about the purchase, asking myself "How much do I really want this."

When I make a purchase on a credit card it is a whole different story.  I am more liberal with my spending. If I think,"This will be nice to have"  I put it on the card.  I spend maybe 5 minutes thinking about my purchase, compared to 15 when I pay with cash. 

So now I am going to try something new.  If I need to go grocery shopping and I have $40 to spend, I will withdraw it from the bank- taking my cash to WINCO and leaving my credit card at home.  Trips to Costco?  Use cash.  Walmart and Target?  Cash only.  Fun walks through the mall- no cash, and definitely no cards.

Same as Cash Trap

When hubby and I got married, the only bed we owned was my full size bed I used through college.  It is an extremely comfortable bed that I loved.  However, I thought it was too small for Hubby who is 6'2" and me being 5'7".  So we decided to get a king size bed.  After doing some shopping around it became apparent we couldn't afford to pay cash for a new bed.  Buying a used bed grosses me out, so that wasn't an option.

One of the local furniture stores was having the infamous "Same as Cash" deal.  Buy the furniture now and have no payments or interest for 1 year.  What a generous offer I remember thinking.  While we were at the store looking at mattresses, I saw a beautiful bedroom set.  And this is what I thought:  If I don't get this now, when will I get it?  We are already buying a bed on credit, might as well get this too.  We will be able to pay it off in time- Hubby is going to make a lot of money this summer.  And so I batted my eyes and made my plea to Hubby. Bless his heart, he didn't argue with me.  Probably because we were about to get married.  Most likely because he realized I had decided this is what I wanted to do and it would be near impossible to change my  mind.

Two weeks later a gorgeous bedroom set was delivered to our little apartment. 

It barley fit in the master bedroom.  I didn't care. It was the nicest thing in our apartment and the matress is incredible.

Throughout the next year I made small payments.  About four months before the year mark I started to get very nervous because we still owed a significant amount.  Luckily we didn't have any children or credit card debt so our monthly expenses were very minimum.  I was able to pay off the rest of the debt in time.  Big sigh of relief.

We didnt' learn our lesson.  A year and a half ago Hubby's laptop died.  We decided to get a new computer.  Best Buy was having a great deal on computers as well as "Same as Cash" offers.  And so we got ourselves into a mess.  What I should have done was calculated how much I needed to pay each month in order to pay it in full by the dead line.  Excuses kept coming up so I always paid the minimum amount due.  Now we have until March 9th to pay $970.30.  If the account is not paid in full by that day, we will owe an additional $529.18.   There is a good chance our tax return will be processed by then, so we might dodge the bullet again.

If I don't learn my lesson this time, I need to be beaten with a stick.

Getting by until the blessed Tax Return

Payday was today.  Right now we have $982.34 in our checking account.  After I subtract the bills due by March 1st (943.42) we are left with $38.92.  I have to buy formula for my little one (WIC just covers the baby food) which is $17.00- so that brings me down to $21.92
 I still owe 3 different bills for February, totalling $655.39. (One is my student loan payment of $206 which comes out of deferment next week.  One is $84 for Loan #1 and the last is 3 payments of tithing that I fell behind on totalling $364.23). 

I contacted Loan #1 and they are graciously working with me and will wait until my tax return comes back to be paid.  I have $230 in an emergency saving account that I will transfer over, I just received a $75 check for some work I did last month and I have $53 in cash I was saving for groceries.  Add all that to $38.92 and I have $379.92. 

I've decided to make the tithing payment so I am current on my tithes.  I will call my student loan and see if I can work something out to pay them 2 weeks late.  So after I pay tithing, I will have $15.96  We have plenty of food to last the next 2 weeks, so I shouldn't need to use any of that for groceries. 

Our tax information in on the way to our accountant.  I am hoping to see the return in our checking account by March 7th.  I am really crossing my fingers for a good return so I can be current on all my bills and pay down some of our credit cards!

Thank you WIC

It took a long time before I humbly applied for WIC.  I didn't want to admit that I needed help.  I didn't want to be one of "those" people.  I didn't want to be poor.  But we are poor, and we need help.  So we became a WIC family, and I am very grateful for WIC.  My 3 year old can drink as much milk as her little body needs and my 10 month old has plenty of baby food to eat.  It is so nice to get fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, cheese and cereal.  During a time when money is extremely tight, it is comforting to know we have food to eat. 

However, I very much look forward to the day when we don't need WIC.

Budgeting our Expenses

I've broken up our expenses into two different categories, based on the due dates. 
The list of our monthly expenses. 

Tithing to
my Church           $130
Rent                    $525
Car Insurance      $62.60
Rental Insurance  $15.82
IRA                     $50
Gas for Car          $70
Electricity              $50
Gas                       $40
Total for the 1st   $943.42-- leaves me $125 extra for groceries, dr visits, ect.

Tithing to my
Church                 $130
Cell Phone            $30
Savings                 $25
Internet, Phone,
& TV Bundle       $89
Gas for Car            $70
Diapers                 $40
Student Loan #1   $50
Student Loan #2   $206.24
Credit Card #1     $10
Credit Card #2     $106
Credit Card #3     $170
Credit Card #4     $20
Loan payment #1   $ 84
Total for 15th $1030.24 -- gives me $38 for food, unexpected expenses.

After we pay all our bills, we are left with $163 to buy groceries, personal items, pay for medicine, or unexpected dr. visits.   Had we not used our credit card, we would have an extra $390 to budget.  Add what I pay in Student Loans and that would be an extra $646 per month.  If only I could go back in time and tell my young self to STOP BORROWING!

Starting a Budget- Income

Our income.  Hubby makes $13.14/hr with a $.65 shift differential. An 80 hour pay period (2 weeks) give us $1,103.76 gross pay.  Minus $65.60 for taxes, $84.88 for retirement, $84.37 for insurance and we are left with $868.91.

I work at home for a wonderful company.  They pay me $10/hr and I work anywhere between 10-12 hours a week.  On average my pay check is $200 (for a two week pay period).

I also work with a MLM party planning company.  It is a 100% commission pay, so I never know what my paycheck will be.  I figure the best way to work this income into our budget it to apply all excess money I make toward our credit card bills.

So essentially I have $1068.91 to budget every two weeks.