I’m so excited! The kids are excited! I think my dogs are even excited! I haven’t seen him since Monday and while that doesn’t seem like that long ago, in the last six weeks he’s been home about 15 days.

On Wednesday he told me he wants to quit his job. He’s confident he can get more money with another company working 14 days on and then 14 days off. He’d actually get some time off! Thinking about him switching jobs scares me but I think it’s a healthy move for him, physically and emotionally. I support him in what ever he decides. After I gave him my okay, he called his boss/owner to yell at him/eat his ass out, what ever you want to call it. His boss listened to my husband and then told my husband he was going to be getting a big bonus next week, he wasn’t sure of the amount but told my husband it would probably be $12,000 or $13,000. He also told my husband he’d be getting a big raise in the next few weeks. Woo hoo! A bonus and a raise. So my husband decided he’d stick it out a little longer. I keep thinking that if my husband actually got to spend some of his hard earned money on things other than installment payments he’d be happier on the job.

I’m thinking after the bonus is taxed we might be getting $7,000 +/-. I plan on paying off my husbands truck the balance is about $4,000. I’ll stick the remaining $3,000 in my savings account for emergencies. That’ll save me $250 a month. I’m so excited. I’m also hoping to get my tax refund and with that, I’ll pay off my State taxes of $200 a month.

I spoke with my husband about cashing out his tiny $22,000 - 401K to pay another vehicle off. He already knew about the 10% penalty and having to pay the taxes. He said, “We’ll talk about it”. He wasn’t for it or against it, he also wasn’t shocked that I asked. He knows how stressed out I am trying to make all these payments and I think he’ll go for my plan but I’m not sure. I guess I’ll be finding out this weekend. That 401K hasn’t done anything, no gains and no losses in the 15+ years he’s had it.

I’m also going to talk to him about selling the dump truck worth about $5,000. With him being gone the majority of the time, it’s going to be hard to sell it. I don’t want strangers coming to my house unless he’s home. We live in the country and only have one neighbor. Maybe I’ll put it in the paper and schedule people to come out and see it when my husband is home. I don’t know, I guess we’ll have to figure it out.

I’m doing so well with my ebay and half.com sales. Here’s a snapshot:

Ebay

Half.com

Not bad huh?

Here’s some free stuff that I found online this week. I’m not paid to post any of it but I just wanted to share. One of the best things about getting free samples is they almost always include coupons for the product, so even if it’s something you use everyday, it may be worth signing up for. I love free stuff!

Free Charmin Roll Extender.

Free sample Metamucil.

Hour Energy Drink free sample.

Free samples of maxipads for girls at BEINGGIRL.

Free Subscription to Off Road Magazine.

Free Subscription to Bridal Guide Magazine.

Free Subscription to Elle Decor.

Free Subscription to Blender Magazine.

Free Subscription to Vibe Magazine.

Free Subscription to Auto Week Magazine.

Free Subscription to Interview magazine.

Free Fonts at Font Searchengine, Urban Fonts, Jabroo, Acid Fonts, and Font Garden.

Free sample Astroglide.

Free Coffee Mug - make sure you check the box that says, “Please include a free P&M coffee mug”.

Free Walmart Stuff - L’oreal Skin Genesis, GoodNites Sleep Boxers, Fiber One Caramel Delight Cereal, and Prilosec OTC.

Celestial Seasonings - Starter Kit. 2 UPC’s required. Here’s some UPC’s
070734070364
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Free sample of VCF the alternative to the pill. I personally have never heard of this but it sounds interesting. I have no idea how effective it is so use at your own risk!

If you get picked to do this Interview for eyeglass & contact wearers, they’ll pay you $75. The interview will be about an hour in length, it will be set up ahead of time and you’ll need internet access while the its is going on. It sounds good, I’ve already signed up, I could use the $75 so I thought I’d give it a try.

I spent Tuesday afternoon calling pig breeders in the surrounding counties. I finally located two wiener pigs for my girls to enter in our local fair at the end of summer. Since the kids that auction off their animals at the fair get inflated prices at the auction, the breeders also inflate their selling prices. What would normally be a $60 or $65 wiener pig goes for $225- $300 if it’s for the fair. In most cases, these “Project Pigs” are the same pigs that are for the freezer but since the pig is for the fair it’s an additional $165+ over the market price. Is it fair to price gouge the kids? I’m not really sure, I guess everyone is just looking out for themselves and the almighty dollar.

After the auction, when my girls get their checks, I make them reimburse me the price of the hog and the cost of the feed. I’m trying to teach them life lessons and responsibility. This year I’ve decided that the girls should pay for the pigs themselves and then reimburse me the cost of the feed when they sell their hogs.

Here’s where I could learn a thing or two financially from my 10 year old. I told the girls we’d be going to the bank on Friday to get the cash from their savings accounts so THEY could pay for their pigs on Sunday. I’m thinking they could use experience handling a large sum of money and seeing just what $225 dollars looks like and how it feels to have to give up their own money to pay for a pig.

My 12 year old was cool with taking money out of her savings account, no problem at all. My 10 year old informed me that she wouldn’t be needing to withdraw any money from the bank because she’d been saving money and had the cash! I was shocked! Yesterday I had only $36 dollars in cash yet my 10 year old had over $225! She recycles bottles and cans every chance she gets. We also pay her a small amount for good grades. She saves up coins and when she gets a full jar, she takes it to the grocery store and turns it in to dollar bills. She’s a penny pincher and always has been. This just goes to show you and especially me, that a nickel here and a quarter there all add up. I wish I could be more like her. I have no idea how she got so smart about money at such a young age. She’s my hero!

Cleaning… I got a bunch of cleaning done today. I cleaned out a closet and found five black widows in it. That’s not cool at all. I killed them and sprayed ant spray (it was either that or mosquito spray) around the baseboards. This weekend I plan on setting off a bug bomb, hopefully I can wipe them all out.

I also tidied up my bedroom, did a bunch of laundry, and finished cleaning out the feed room in the barn. My house is really starting to come together.

Fighting… I was so pissed off at my husband this morning. I’m not going to go into the boring details but he’s still on a business trip, he’s been gone since Monday, and I feel ignored and neglected because I have been ignored and neglected. I’m not one of those women that want him calling in all the time or texting me constantly, I’m far from it but when work is over, come on, I think I deserve a little time, like maybe ten freaking minutes or some texting back and forth at the very least.

Apparently, I’m still immature, this morning I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. I ignored his calls and his text messages. Did he like it??? Nope, not at all. After an hour he text me saying he was freaking out and was going to call someone to come and check on me if he didn’t get a response. So I responded.

Making Up… I think (hope) he finally “gets it” but I’m not so sure. He was really freaked out and told me he’s so sorry he did what he did last night. He had some excuses, blah, blah, blah, but I told him I didn’t want to hear the excuses, I just wanted him to realize how it hurts to be ignored. He apologized and now we’re ready to kiss and make up. We only have 1,690 miles between us. Friday can’t come fast enough.

Here’s my update on me:

It’s been cold here. Last week it was hot, this week it’s cold. The vineyards have been on frost patrol. Check out the picture with the icicle’s that I took yesterday morning.

My husband took off again, he left yesterday morning and won’t be back until Thursday or Friday. He travel so much of business and leaves me home so much. I’m tired of it and I’m sure he’s tired of it too. He hasn’t had a full weekend off in over five weeks.  He gets to eat out on his company credit card while he’s gone and I know he really likes that. He’ll call and ask what I’m making for dinner. Most of the time it’s something cheap out of the pantry and he’ll be eating a porterhouse steak. How unfair is that?

I had 37 things listed on ebay and I’ve sold 12 ($82), I’m waiting for payment on two and so far people have bids on 5 more things ($30). I’m doing pretty good there and really can’t complain. I have at least 50 more items I’d like to list and just need to sit down and do it. I get so bored of listing stuff, it’s almost painful but I know that I need the extra money so I’m going to buckle down and do it.

I’m doing pretty good on my half.com account too. This month I’ve sold five books there and am waiting on a payment of $40. In March I ended up getting paid $67!

I’m still trying to cut back expenses everywhere. My electricity bill actually made me happy this month it was ONLY $211. Normally it’s over $300. Big families = big electric bills. We also have a well and pump our own water, that adds a lot to our electric bill.

I’m still working on daughter #2’s bedroom. She’s a slob, there isn’t any other way to put it. This girl doesn’t mess around with her messes, she goes all out! I’m hoping to get it done today, unless something comes up or I can find an excuse to get out of doing it. LOL Tomorrow is garbage day so I really need to get in there and throw stuff out.

I’ve also decided to clean out my laundry room. I’m almost done!

I was tagged by My Good Cents to carry on the 3 Random Things About Me Meme. So here we go…

One: I’m a tattooed woman. I have seven!

Two: When I was a toddler, I painted my babysitters cat. I painted the cats armpits and belly button with black paint. I also painted my own armpits and belly button.

Three: I have 5 dogs, 20 chickens, 5 guinea hens, 1 goat, 2 miniature donkeys, 1 steer, 1 horse, 1 llama and about 50+ goldfish.

——————

The rules state I must now tag 5 people to carry on the meme.

Let’s see if I can do a better job this time, and not pick people that have already been tagged.

One Girls Quest

The Erratic Homemaker

Debt Dieter

Frugal Babe

Growing Hearts in the Fish Bowl

I’m still thinking about paying off all of our debt with my husbands 401K. It’s so tempting. My brain tells me it’s probably not the smartest thing to do but my heart tells me that we should do it. If we did go ahead and do this, we’d have enough cash flow to live credit card free, using only cash. Here’s my list of pros and cons.

PROS:
Freeing up $3,000 a month
Less daily stress
We could save money and go on a CASH paid vacation
We wouldn’t feel poor anymore
We could buy clothes and shoes for CASH and not be worried about making payments
We’d be living again, versus just barely getting by
My husband would be able to actually spend some of the money he’s worked so hard for

CONS:
We’re tapping from our future
Tax impact???

I’m sure I’ll be adding more to the list.

Update 4/23/08 - I spoke with my husband about my plan.  He’s already aware of the 10% penalty and the income taxes we’d owe on the money.  He’s not against the plan but he’s not 100% for it either.  He said we’d talk about it when he comes home from his business trip.

I’m looking for comments good or bad, I can take it.

I’m drowning in payments here, I won’t go into all the nasty details but there are many of them and they are killing me. I barely have anything left at the end of the month. So here’s what I’ve been thinking about doing. I’m just not sure it’s the correct thing to do. I want to ask my husband to cash in a 401K that he has that hasn’t done anything in years. It has $22,000 in it. I’d also like for him to sell this dump truck that we have that’s worth $5,000 and is never used. I’m thinking, after taxes I might have $20,000 and I could pay off two loans freeing up $600 a month. Is this a good idea or a bad one?

I’ve also been thinking about tapping my husbands big 401K he has a very large sum of money in there. What if we tapped that to pay off all our remaining debt? We would be taking 20% of his 401K. Is this a good idea or a horrible one? Is it even possible to do this?

If we went ahead with both these plans, we could be debt free (I’m guessing) in a month or two. I would also be freeing up over $3,000 a month, $36,000+ a year. We could max out his 401K contributions and put money into savings.

If you are reading this please leave a comment good or bad and don’t tell me what you think I want to hear, tell me what you really think, it will be appreciated more than you know.

Thanks in advance.

If I can’t be truthful here, then really what’s the point of even blogging about my pathetic financial condition? So here goes it.

I didn’t have enough money to pay the second half of my property taxes so I ended up using a check from my Chase credit card for $1,500 plus a personal check for $106. The $1,500 check is locked in at 3.99% until the balance is paid off. Geez, I feel bad about doing this but I really had no choice. Having said that, isn’t that same sort of philiosophy that got me into this mess to begin with? I didn’t have a choice, it was on sale, it was a great deal, I really needed it, the kids needed it, blah, blah, blah. When will my excuses end?

Now I need to go crawl under a rock and hide.

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