2009 Goals

cc debt 24442.
Pay monthly: 2200.

Daily:
one pss blog
one nf blog and new listing
nwsg each pss g
each nf g


Other: double pay car/clear at least half

Max Roth
start personal 401(k)

The cc debt has to go. It keeps me up at night.

Monthly Goals

Goals
CC's $1200 (nada)/800
Car (double pay ) $500 /done
savings 500/done
Roth 500/550 done
Xmas 500 (nada)
Mortgage (Nov + 200) done
Sl's (overpay) done

Reminder to me
Mortgage Dec.
CC's

Still sick

Rainman is still hacking, but the antibiotics kicked in, and hoping tomorrow he goes back.
Holiday means no pay deposit until tomorrow, but put $200 in savings and Roth.

Rainman is sick.
Two days home from school and not eating.


Maybe a checklist will help keep me on track.
Goals
$1200 CC's/700
$500 car payment/ $500./done
$500 water bill
$500 xmas fund/ $100 so far
$500 Roth/ $400 so far.
$200 ef/ $200/done

So far, renewed Dreamhost for the year/business $150
had to buy an industrial fan for the basement, $210.,
Cash $120 yesterday which got gobbled up by Domino's mainly to get something into rainman, Dunkin Donuts for me and Rainman, Babygirl for the mall, her dance, Babygirl and bathboy's lunches, and at some point I need coffee to get stuff finished tonight :)
Serve $86.
Food/$97
Wal-mart $61

Reminder to me-
SL's $600/1100.
Mortgage

Jibberish but I need to save my coherant thoughts for people who pay me :)

October Goals

No more driving Rainman, which frees up time and money.
Xmas and Babygirl's birthday soon,which means money drain.

Goals
$1200 CC's
$500 car payment
$500 water bill
$500 xmas fund
$500 Roth
$200 ef

In addition to all my other living expenses.

Monthly Goals

Tight month already.
Goals:
$500 car
$1500 ccs
$500 xmas
$500 water bill
$400 Roth
In addition to my day to day bills.

Murphy Visits

Back to driving Rainman, so more expenses.
Paying down the debt has taken a backseat to maintaining.

Gas $60
Target-duct tape, Rainman's nachos, cheese, pepsi 1 litre, 6 pack, dish liquid, fruit bowl.
$22
Dunkin $5
paid this month $400 toward car (150 over)
Sl's $600
Nothing so far toward cc's, xmas,or any savings.
Work is in a slump, and I am unavailable at prime times.
Kill me now.

Daily Spending

Tuesday
Bad day.
At the beach this morning, one of the dogs sliced a leg.
Bled pretty freely, taking care with the advice of a friend who knows much more than I ever will about dogs.
The younger two are really overdoing the sibling rivalry thing.
To the point I wanted to give them both up for adoption.
Spending:
$8 DD me and babygirl before the beach.
$$$ leftover from yesterday, got school supplies
$8 Staples 36 notebooks, 5 packs 6 count highlighters, 20 folders
$3 Four bic pen ten packs, highlighters, 48 pencils
ATM $20
$14 me and babygirl's dinner - the other three went with the ex

Sunday/Monday

Sunday
$5 papers
$2 rainman's pepsi
$5 my coffee and bathboy's muffin
$22 pizza
$5 babygirl's sleepover
Ex gave $40 for pizza
total:spent $39

Monday
$8 rainman needed snacks at cornerstore and forrest too
$40 from atm- I owe babygirl $25 handbag party plus need spending $$$
$170 ouch groceries
spent $220

Daily Tracking and August Goals

Daily:
-$2 paper
-$12 dd and my dinner
-$10 ds dinner

$22.

August Goals
$2500 CCs
$Xmas fund $625
$500 car
$900 SLs
Roth Ira $125
Savings $125

Lofty :)

Daily Spending/Goals

Daily Spending
-$9 DD for Babygirl and me before dog run at the beach.
-$2 Rainman's after school frosty.
-$4 My DD coffee coolatta w Rainman.
+Ex gave $20 for dinner.
-KFC -$9
CVS Motrin, 2 toothbrushes, sunblock -$25
spent $30


Goals
CCs 25117
by 14 months 10/09
Car 12019.
by 1/10
then SLs.
IRA $5000
by taxtime 4/09
Xmas $125 week until 12/1
:)

Wednesday/Thursday

Just keeping track:
Wally world for school project
BK for Rainman
Rest for Babygirl's lunch etc Total $60

Thursday so far:
Home Depot/ Utility Pump/Replacement Filter / Garden Hose
$177.
Cash $40 Forrest's school trip/DD/petty cash for me
Gas $66.
:)

payday

last night continued-
Papa's $35 (ex gave cause he's away)
Wednesday
Dunkin Donuts $3
M&P Lunch $6
Wallyworld - $212.
Hannaford's $31.
Visa payment $580.
:)

Monday -food coop $90
Tuesday -Mortgage + extra $120
DD Iced C + kids $10

Saturday- $3 dunkins
Sunday -paper $5
Coffee, juice and muffin for rainman $8
Monday $20 BB yearbook
$3 Iced cofee
$50 for the basement clean up at Wal-mart

Eye opening

Friday continued- I just had to go to the bookstore( eye roll)
$31.
$5 taco bell for me
$5 Babygirl after picking her up from friend's
$32 -3 pillows (dogs ate babygirl's and mine) 2 doggy bone things, pillowcases, chapstick)

Saturday morning:
weekly paper for coups $1.50
Ice tea for child who went $1.

What budget?

Thursday-
$100 car ins
$40 school bus never showed so Dunkins for Rainman, then dinner at BK
(Ex gave $100 for gas, so not as bad as it looks). Kids lunches.

So far today
$120 - $40 for Babygirl's carnival,
$60 for birth certificates
$20 Dunkins plus parking in Boston

It hurts to see how much is frittered away.

Jane4girls is my new hero.
$800 a year food budget- and they eat very well.
Baby steps.
:)

Payday :)

Sure goes fast.
Made a $560 disc.
Rainyday $100




Monday: kmart 20
BestBuy 150
Kids'lunches and my coffee :$20

Tuesday: Wet/dry vac $130
Kids/coffee $20

Wednesday: Food $100
Gas $70
Kids & Coffee $20

Back from the money pit.

Bah.
Never ends.
For this to actually keep me accountable, it needs to be a daily post, at least until Mint decides to add my bank.
Citi 16,108.
Discover 11,111.
Total : 27,233
Up from last time.
Sigh.
I maxed 07 Roth and that's in an international fund.
According to Quizzle, at my income (which varies widely each week), I need $28,333 in a rainy day fund, just in case.
I have $300 in that account.
And the weeks leading up until tax time slowed my billing hours to a crawl.
But, next week, will be the last weak check from my main contractor.
To pay off my debt in 18 months, it will take 1737. a month.
Roughly $450 a week, with an additional $100 going to Roth 08.
Guess I better get busy, yes?



Daily spending:
Sunday papers: $5. +$1 ice tea for child who got them
Last minute book for child who tells me last day of vacation he needs it: $15
Ice cream with babygirl $6
Dunkin Donuts iced coffee to keep me from opening a vein $3.
Total : $30

Chugging at the Roth IRA

Single Ma wrote a post about starting to coupon. She is usually not only very informative but also really funny, so if you don't read her Fabulous Financials, go take a peek.

Ok, chugging away at the Roth. On track and even just a tiny bit ahead, with my 2007 Roth at E*Trade with $1300 deposited, with $2700 to go by 4/15/08. Also deposited $50 this morning. I am trying to get in the mindset of not just trying to pay off the evil credit card debt, but also to save. I have 9 more Wednesdays (where I get DD from my main contractor) to fund this, and when that's complete, I will just continue until I have $5000 for 2008 done, and then see where I am.

I am following the advice in "On my own two feet" which is clear, concise financial advice geared toward women and money. It is short, and you could read 20 minutes here, half an hour there, and get it done within a few days, but it gives a polite kick with concrete advice on what you need to get from here to there.

Off to pick up Rainman :)

Back on Track

I set up a Roth IRA at E*TradeFinancials and so far, so good. I am on track to maxing out my $4000 for 2007, having deposited $960 ($320 each Wednesday) and started the savings account too, only depositing $150 so far, but it's a start.
What else happened is, my car died. I was in a pretty bad fender bender, and although my car was fixed, it has been stalling on long trips. No one can seem to find exactly what's wrong. The Ex has agreed to give me a down payment and co-sign, and with Rainman and the long commute twice a day to his school, there is no getting around the need for a reliable car. I have been looking at 2006/2007 low mileage Dodge Caravans, and Monday is the big new car day.
Deep breath: CC debt total is $26,661.
I want to have that to $13,330 by next year, if not sooner.
Wish me luck :)

Grape shampoo & Speed Roth

So, Forrest takes a shower, jumps into bed, and the dogs are all over him. He is yelling, so I go upstairs, and he is sticky, and smells like fruit.
"Forrest, did you use soap?"
"Yes, Mother, I did use soap, Mother, I used the purple soap."
I go check.
He used the grape jelly in the squeezable tube.
Yeah.
I am woefully behind on my retirement savings. And I need to aim for $4000 before the tax year ends.
Eeek.
There are more or less 13 paydays left until taxes close.
I need to have $308 each Wednesday to do this.
I am really going to have to push to do this.
I am going to do this by pushing myself with some drudge, barely pays stuff that I dislike, but I really need to generate income.
I am going to open a Roth here by tomorrow, as I just got a check from a client and I can deposit it tomorrow, as well as I get direct deposit tomorrow from my main employer.
I will post more tomorrow, as the children came back early and Rainman is wiping Chocolate ice cream on my ankle.

2 Girls 1 Cup

2 girls 1 cup
Shudder.
Do not look.
There are some things that once seen, can not be unseen. But, add Rainman, and just about anything can be entertaining.
This video has been floating around for a while, along with "Four girls fingerpaint" (even worse) and the BME Pain Olympics (no, no, my eyes).
My memory was jogged about this incident that happened about a month or so ago by reading Save Leighann
I was trying to get some cleaning done when I hear the theme song to the infamous vid. Thinking it was Batboy (ds 13), I go running into my bedroom and Rainman is on youtube, watching this.
You will never see Kermit the Frog the same way.

Mint.com

I was reading Girls Just Wanna Have Funds and saw this cool new money program. It is called Mint.com, and it is similar to Microsoft Money Plus, but Mint is free.
Free is good :)
It tracks expenses by credit card, bank account (although my bank isn't listed), and so far, so good. It is extremely easy to use, and unfortunately, even with pretty software, my biggest expense is still gas.
Give it a look :)

Budget Busters

Right now, the biggest ridiculous expense is gas. Rainman goes to a school about an hour away, each way. That is four hours a day, and guess who drives him?
The school system is supposed to, there is an IEP with this in place, but for the last three months I have been hauling him there and back. Partly due to the fact that most of the bus drivers should be in special ed themselves, and partly do to a director of sped that is extremely scattered and cheerfully incompetant, I have been spending about $50 a day in gas plus about $10 for Rainman's "raisin bagel honey honey dip orange juice" (and my large french vanilla (don't even think about me driving without coffee) iced regular) and this is just money thrown away.
Bah
The Ex has been throwing a hundred to me about every other week toward gas, but this is killing my snowball (money thrown toward debt). This is supposed to be cleared up in a week or so, when they finally get Rainman a restraint that fits.
My confidence in this ending without going to mediation is zilch.
$300 a week toward gas and donuts.
This is so depressing.

Just a glimpse into my life

Morning :)
I got a lot done, revenue wise, but I didn't get much sleep, as usual. At some point Rainman crawled into bed with me, and I woke up in a warm pee circle. Rainman has an aversion to body hair, and struggling to wake I feel a razor shaving my dry legs and his dead weight on my ankles.
Just peachy.
Rainman's twin, Forrest (as in Gump) has been up since about 5 a.m., when he came into my room with "Mother, it is 5:02. May I get up yet?"
No, not till 6 a.m.
Then, I hear "Mother, it is 5:18. In 42 minutes it is 6."
Me: "Go to sleep till then"
Forrest :"Mother, I am sorry, so sorry. Mother, I am sorry"
"Fine, baby, just no tv till 6"
"Mother, so sorry I asked. Mother?"
Bleary, eyes burning "Yea?"
"It is 5:28, Mother. In 31 minutes it is 6, and I can watch tv."
Forrest, not till 6, k?
"I am sorry, so sorry, Mother. So sorry, so sorry I asked"
It's ok, just give me till 6,k?
"I am so sorry, sorry, so sorry, but Mother, can I ask you something?"
Garbled , yeah yeah?
"Mother, it is 5:38, and in 22 minutes, I can watch tv!"
Me:zzzzzzzzz
The 6 a.m. rule is in place because of past instances of him getting up earlier and earlier to watch tv or turn on the computer- nothing like being woken at 3 a.m. by the theme to "Shrek" or "The internet is really really great-for porn!"
Forrest is also almost the total opposite of Rainman. Forrest is laid back, communicates well, and presents more with mental retardation than anything else. He is also a lot bigger than Rainman, and very gentle. His social, emotional and academic strengths and weaknesses are all over the place. He reads well- adult fiction such as Dennis Lehane and Robert B. Parker- but also baby books such as The Backyardigans or Thomas the Tank.
And Rainman is always trying to kill him.
Seriously.
Rainman is constantly going after him with anything he can pick up, and when there is nothing to pick up, he will kick, pinch and bite Forrest. I don't see this as much with me, but it does happen. It's one of the reasons I try to take Rainman on long rides and such, to give poor Forrest a break. Forrest is ok being home by himself, and will ask in a round about way, with subtle hints.
"Mother, may I ask you a question?"
Yup
"We are almost out of milk"
Hmm, there is a half gallon left, but, ok.
"Doesn't that mean you need to go shopping? And go today? Children need milk, Mother"
Yup
"Sorry, so sorry, Mother, sorry I asked."
I'll go in a bit, Forrest
Five minutes later:
"Mother, we need milk, Children need milk, Mother. Are you going shopping?"
Yup, in an hour, Forrest.
"Sorry, so sorry, sorry I asked, Mother."
And this will go on until I leave with Rainman.
Isn't autism fun? :)