Boomeyers's Digging Out of Debt

Our local grocery store has a special on certain Thursdays where they will give you $10 off a $50 purchase. I made my list, followed it so carefully and when I reached the checkout, she told me I hadn't spent enough! So it was back out (running through the aisles!) to pick up a couple of things I had not thought I had enough money to get. Finally made it over the mark!

I thought I estimated on the high side when I made my list. I even went over some old receipts to keep it really close to only spend my $40 (+tax). Things were STILL more expensive than I had highly estimated them to be! Yikes!!

If you look at my magic numbers over to your left, you will see my shameful secret. I am frugal, I know what to do, yet I am racking up $1000 more in debt on AVERAGE per month. The stock market may go up, but we are getting poorer. Some was put on because of the cruise and the trip to Disneyworld. The rest is probably food and junk my kids wanted and I spoiled them with. I do bad things, like not telling myself NO! So I will challenge myself, although I have done it before and simply and easily talked myself out of the challenge for whatever "good" reason I may have come up with, I will challenge myself to see if the last number on the line can go DOWN in one month. Think I can do it???......

Our ebay sales did not go well at all! I just can't seem to get the hang of this. I actually shot myself in the foot on this one. DD2 gave me some little Hamtaros to list and they have been going like HOTCAKES! Big bucks! So we started the listing at .99 to let it ride. Well, it did'nt. One of the items sold for .99! These things have been going for $35 to $100!! Geeze! Had I know, I would have at least listed it for $5 or $10! Ugh! Live and learn.

Hey all, my brother turned me on to this. It is a website that sells manufacturers specials. One only per day. They list the special deal at 12:00:01 and stop taking orders when the item is sold out or 11:59pm, whichever comes first. I just signed up, (really easy to do!) and looked around. Todays special was an indoor grill/griddle for 19.99. Yesterday was a Stanley socket set. Some stuff was weird, like a remote controlled helicopter. Anyway, check it out if you would like:
http://www.woot.com/Default.aspx

Went to the buffet at the casino today. Not bad, but not great. Glad I did'nt have to pay! Dinner was more goodies from the meat sale!

and did'nt spend! Woo hoo! I fought the mall and won!

Came home and had some friends over for dinner. That meat sale came in handy. Also had fresh veggies and shrimp and chips and pickles. Not a feast, but not too bad considering it was last minute!

Tomorrow we get another free meal. BIL has decided to take the family to the buffet at the casino to celebrate my nephews birthday. Not sure why he chose this particular place, since we'll have the kids, but oh well, its free - I'm gonna enjoy!

So, I did a little shopping today. I went to Walmart because DD2 needs a new ceiling fan in her room and they have them cheap! Got one for 18.88. Saw all the wonderful school supplies on sale and picked up some notebooks, paper and so on.

Then I went to our local grocery store and stocked up on meat. I chose to purchase ground chuck, shrimp, london broil, sirloin, stew meat and chicken breast. It was 5 for 19.99 so I bought 100.00 worth. I looked for the largest packages of meat I could get! The receipt says I saved 57.60! Not bad. In regular coupons I only had 2.55! A 60.00 savings in total was not bad. I was aggrevated because our other local store was have a $5 off meat purchase over 19.99 that I could have used at this store. Darn! Never good enough - right!

This is birthday party weekend. Hopefully will get through it without spending any more money!

Spent the evening taking pictures and listing on ebay. Going for some grocery money! My listing fees are up to almost $30, so I have to wait for anything over and above that to make money. (This is from other stuff I listed too, earlier in the month). They have had a summer special, so I am supposed to be saving money on my listings. Kept it to a short 3 day auction. Don't have the patience for longer!

I have resisted the lure of those evil restaurants and have been cooking at home every night! Going to visit my sister out of town tomorrow night, but they live in a small town and we will be dining at "the tavern". Fried everything!!

Have been enjoying reading again. I guess with the kids getting a little older, I have moved from the quick to read romance novels back to the REAL novels!! My DD2 shares books with me now! Fun! Came up with a new system to mark on my calendar so I don't end up with all those overdue books!

I am so excited to report that my favorite store in town is again having its meat sale!!! Last time we ate for two months off the meat sale! Any five picks of their meat offerings for 19.99! London broil, ground chuck, chicken breast, sirloins, so much more! I always look for the largest cuts and pick those! Will go stock up on Friday. Will let you know what we get!

Soooo... yesterday I had my plan in place...right?? DH comes home and tells me he put $1000 in the savings account from the checking account. Ugh! Too bad we only had $800. He had received a bonus and that will go to cover some of our house payment, but he did'nt think about those purchases he made this weekend. Gee, we need to cover that??? Again, ugh! Good thing we have the overdraft. So now when he pulls out the house payment, I am going to remind him to pull out that extra $200 to pay it back. He will have a fit. It is amazing the denial one likes to live in.....

I worked on the budget, made it neat and tidy and even included paying myself. I want to list a bunch of stuff on ebay to help pay for groceries, part of my new "plan". I will be making a little more on my check. Not sure how I will distribute that. Each month I pay for the month ahead and I find myself getting confused and double paying sometimes!

DD3 will be going to a birthday party and DD1 just got invited to one too. Am thinking of using my JCPenney birthday gift card of buy $15, get $15 off to get something for DD3's friend (as she is a good friend of the family) and giving the $10 GC for Walmart to DD3's friend whom we don't really know well. Sheesh! I'm just trying not to spend any more money!

Will go up to visit my sister Wednesday and Thursday. Hope it won't kill me in gas.

Also need a new backpack for DD3 who will be starting back to school next week. (Cycle schools for grade schoolers here!) Have most of her supplies bought or already in our school supply box. Even ready for lunches!

Seriously! I need to stay away from eating out. What the heck is it going to take??? I am so sick of the BAD prices, LOUSY service and YUCKY food!! Yet I keep going!! WHY?? Today I made my kids go to Chili's for lunch. They did'nt want to. They begged for McD's and should have gotten home cooking!! The food was terrible and I did'nt check my bill and got RIPPED OFF!! I'm thinking I need a little device that gives me a shock every time I think about eating out. I guess my July goals should be my new budget and NOT EATING OUT! (Of course it does'nt count if someone else is paying!! Mom and dad are taking us out to eat tomorrow night! )

So, we had our vacation and our big party for the 4th, so now it is time to buckle down and plan for July. I am going to try to make closer to the minimum payments on our bills, so we have more cash to pay for everyday things. Then I will divvy out the cash for gas, food and entertainment. My focus has always been on "paying more" to each of the cards, but then being cash poor, so we put things back on credit. Pretty goofy huh? So I will go againist my nature and try this other way.

We are getting ready to have a big shin-dig tomorrow for the 4th! Besides the meat which I bought in advance at Costco we are adding some cheap eats:

Beans - from a lovely can bought on sale with a coupon.
Deviled eggs - 18 count for 1.18, double it and you have lots
Jello - see it wiggle, see it jiggle and cheap!
Pasta salad - pasta was FREE with coupons, bought salad dressing w/double coupons, threw in some parm cheese I had in the fridge and some leftover bacon bits.
Green salad - head o' lettuce, some shredded cheese from the fridge and a sliced up egg from the deviled egg collection and a chopped tomato from the garden (it was small, but usable!)
Cupcakes - bought mix for .30 and the icing was free with the mix purchase! Yum!

I guess the vacation Gods heard the Meyers' were going on vacation, cause just like our cruise, the trip to the lake was rainy and cold EVERY day! The first day we checked out the condos. Nothing to set the house on fire for, but at least we have an idea of the wheres and how muchs. So Friday we decide to do the indoor stuff and go to the outlet mall and the movies, but by Saturday we were getting pretty disgusted. Hung out at the condo, rented a movie, got up this morning and headed out of town!! We did visit with a friend of DH's when we were down there and we joked that it was US that brought the rain. She called us on our way home and asked if we had left town, because the sun came out!! NO kidding!

We are already to leave on our trip. I have loaded the car with anything I could and tomorrow morning we will take off. We are heading for the Lake of the Ozarks (for any of you Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas folks, you know exactly where I'll be!) Thought about leaving tonight, but too many storms cruising up the state and I did'nt feel like driving in the rain in the dark.
Will look at a couple of condos to possibly invest in. I know DH is too much of a tightwad to pull the trigger, but it would be a great investment toward our retirement. (This is the area we plan on retiring in.)

Okay, I am trying, we'll see. I have paid for the condo in advance with a check. I have bought enough food for breakfast, lunch and dinners. My paycheck will be direct deposited on Wednesday night, so that will be our spending money. I will leave DH to figure out how to pay for the boat rental. We have plans to eat out twice. I do need to buy new tennis shoes at the outlet mall and I will run by Tommy and Dress Barn (still have a gift card for here). I will look for more stuff on clearance to sell on ebay. This is the plan, not sure how the execution will go!

I have successfully turned the AC up to 76 and all have aclimated. Wondering if I could get away with 77?? Hmmmm......

I rolled out of bed yesterday morning and was actually able to stay awake long enough to go garage saling. My goal, of course, is not more junk for my home! My goal is to find some good ebay goodies. Unfortuneately, not much to be found! I went to 11 sales and could'nt find anything I thought was viable. Bummer! Maybe I will try again this Wednesday!

Doing bad on my dieting! May have to let this go for a while and come back to it later. Still keeping the weight I did lose off!

My biggest challenge is (was) eating out!! I am happy to report that I am trying very hard to keep our finances on the straight and narrow and I have been cooking our dinner at home every night for a week (whether anyone will eat it or not!)! Cupboards and freezer are getting low, but I don't want (nor can I, according to our finances) restock until we get back from our trip to the lake. I may even try to stretch it to after the 4th of July!

I was watching the news yesterday (ugh) and they had a story about the fact that the cost of food will be up another 7% by the end of summer!! Yikes! I told my husband we are just going to have to starve! Really though, they said the costs are rising due to corn being used to make ethanol instead of food. I guess I'm glad for the farmers! Finally they can grown something besides soybeans and make a profit!

On the carb front, I've been watching what I eat, but not necessarily cutting way down on anything.

Listed 10 things on ebay last night. Man that is time consuming!! Going to a garage sale this afternoon that is supposed to be a big hit, will see. Looking for more stuff to list on ebay. Going to try to make some money this way. You can get a debit card from Paypal and use it at any store. I was thinking of using this for FOOD! One less expense from our salaries that we can use for chompin up the debt!!

Happy first day of summer to all you hotties out there! Okay, honestly, I hate summer! You'd think because I was born in the summer I would have an ifinity for it, but NO!

Turned the AC up yesterday from 74 to 75. Have all the ceiling fans running to help out. Thinking about kicking it up another knotch (gotta love Emeril), but literally trying to hit 76. Wonder if anyone will notice or melt?

Took DD3 to the clinic to have her ear looked at. Tried to treat it at home first, but too painful.

$15 copay, $35 (!) drops! Geeze! $50! It still isn't feeling better. They said if it did'nt get better to bring her back in. What then? $40 antibiotics? Wish they would have just given her antibiotics instead. It has always worked before. Oh well, I'll give the drops another day and see what happens.

Happy Fathers Day to all celebrating today!
We have been busy spoiling DH! Big dinner for the whole family both sides! Got DH breakfast in bed and Guitar Hero for the PS2. Oh and some scratchers too!
No spend day!

Went to Costco today to get the meat for our barbque on Fathers Day and I was going to drop off the 30 rolls of film I have gathered in a bag over the last 10 years! I even brought along my address labels to make it easier. Anyhoo, I was told they no longer have anything but the one hour photo! Pooh! I guess I'll try Walmart. Guess I better try quick! Who knew it was going to be obsolete to take pictures with FILM?

Worked on the deck and painted again today, so I am skipping the Pilates.

Spent $161 at Costco, and $100 at the grocery store. This includes all kinds of stuff and is kind of a stock up thing. Did save a lot in coupons at the grocery store.

Made dinner again! Have'nt done the eat out thing in quite a while. Got a check from pt job #2. Might take DH out for a fathers day dinner. Or maybe I'll put it in the saving account. Hmmm... will have to think on it!

(I apologize for the ramble!)

I love this man, but sometimes he just makes me dizzy! Go to work, he says, make more money, quit your job, etc, etc. I think the stress from his job is affecting his brain!! I have not asked him for any extra money than he has been bringing home for the last 6 years and he thinks I should be asking for LESS! Has'nt the cost of living, gas, food, electric shot up??? Another job for more money and more hours came up, but he did'nt want me to take it because of the hours?? Anyway, I shake my head.

BTW, our electric rates are increasing by 2.1%. Our last bill was $84, this bill was $222. Grrrr.

Been exercising, sticking to the low carb and I GAINED weight. Maybe its muscle -right? Hah! Ate cookies and said to heck with it!

Took $60 out of my check and treated the girls, and some friends to a matinee and popcorn today. Saw Oceans 13. Pretty good, especially if you have seen the first two. Nice hot day to spend a cool time in a dark theater with George Clooney!

Oh well, tomorrow is another day. I did tell DH to find me that perfect job with the perfect hours and I will gladly send in my resume. Will see what he comes up with!

We did our dental appointments and we did not have any co-pays!

I went to Aldi, since I was in that direction. We bought some fruit and so such. I did get the girls each a candy bar there. That was about $52 total.

Took the girls to the library to sign up for the summer reading program and they got some books. Free!

Filled up the van! Ouch! 62.60! This should last me 2 to 3 weeks.

Picked up the family some Fritz's (frozen custard stand). Again Free! Had a gift certificate.

On the diet/exercise side: kept up with the low carb, did'nt buy Fritz's for me, and did my Pilates work out again! I am working hard to get it down another pound!!

Okay, I made my goals! I brought my lunch to work, I cooked dinner at home and I had a NO SPEND DAY!

Tomorrow we have dentist and orthodontist appointments which will cost co-pays. I will try for an otherwise no spend day. Try to resist those "mommy buy me's"!

Now... for the choking drumroll. I added up our debts, (minus the house) and we are in debt..... $22909.43!! The faster I go, the behinder I get!
DH is still putting all his commission money in a savings account and I am left with paying the bills with his itty bitty salary. (Remember we took the huge pay cut at the beginning of the year.) We are'nt spending the way we were, but we did spend alot on travel. (Which we had been nowhere in 7 years, then two big trips in a row!!)
It makes me feel like a financial failure! I really felt like I could squeeze something out of nothing, we did it for years, but now I spoil the kids too much and I am still resisting getting the full time job in favor of staying home and raising said spoiled children. We do make them buy the big things themselves, but too many treats, McDonalds, etc... is taking a nickel, dime toll.

On the upside in personal growth, I have not abandoned the low carb diet and I actually did my Pilates today!

I have been more worried about content, than I have of keeping track of my expenses.

I may just start leaving a ramble everyday, so I can track my progress and stop worrying whether anyone will find it interesting!

So todays spending:
McD's breakfast/coffee 3.00
Made dinner!
Walgreens prescriptions 90.00
Walgreens almonds/diet coke/sugarless candy 11.20

Tomorrows goal:
pack lunch
cook dinner
no spend

Yeah! I saved $18 yesterday at a "15 hour" sale and I saved $16 today. There was a super cereal sale and I stocked the freezer with a million popsicles. And I scored some freebies at Dollar General! And there was a great Edy's sale with $1 off coupons! All the bagged lettuce was gone though!
On the low carb front - well after almost a month and six pounds, I am stuck and have decided I may have to switch to Weight Watchers instead. I have heard before the low carb works better for men than for women and I guess maybe that is true. I still do plan on trying to eat less carbs as a rule. At least to think twice!

The plan was to sell DD1's drum kit and buy one of those quick set up pools for the girls to entertain themselves with for the summer. The reality was, it is so shallow for where we can put it (as to not touch DH's lawn!) that we scrubbed the idea. Guess its sprinkler time!

I know it does'nt sound like much, but my "diet" has netted me a hard earned 5 pound loss! It has only taken two weeks! I have been doing the low carb, but not no carb. I still eat carbs, since depriving myself would mean a diet and not a lifestyle change, so this will be a slow climb!