In two years from now, we should be doing much better financially.  I’ll be done with my huge car payment, done with my small car payment, done with my travel trailer payment, and (I know this sounds mean but I can’t help it) we’ll be done paying child support/boarding school for my husbands daughter from his 1st marriage.  Yeah, my step-daughter goes to boarding school, her mother claims she’s “too fat” to go to regular high school, the poor girl isn’t even fat just big boned.  Besides, just how can a kid be “too fat” to go to public school?  We are stuck paying more than half the tuition for boarding school but we only have two more years to go!

In two years my credit card debt will be much lower, I’m guessing it’ll be around $25,000.  Once I get done paying all my vehicle payments and the child support I should be able to pay off the balance in less than a year.  Then I’m going to save money for an all CASH vacation!  After struggling for years with all this debt I think it’s about time we have a little fun.

In three years when we’re debt free I plan on saving money for a kitchen remodel and new flooring.   I can’t wait to get rid of that 70’s Formica counter top of mine and my carpet has been shot for years.  I plan on ripping out all carpet, except for what’s in the bedrooms and laying down either laminate or tile.  With living out in the country with lots of farm animals, lots of animal poop, dirty feet, and muddy boots, carpet does not really work for us, I need something that’s easy to clean.

I can’t imagine what it’s going to feel like to actually have some money instead of seeing it all go out every month.

Oh and I almost forgot - I’ll finally be able to get a few miniature horses!  I think they’ll come before the kitchen remodel. 

My credit card debt is well above average, no doubt about it. I’ve been asked how it got this high. This sounds bad but I’m not really sure how it got this high. Other than the two credit card checks I used last month ($3,000), I really haven’t used my credit cards in YEARS.

Here’s some things I know we charge in the past 13 years and the approximate purchase year. Most of them seem like stupid needless purchases now and I regret most of the purchases.

$4,000 Master bedroom set - 1998
$4,000 Computerized Sewing/Embroidery machine - 1998
$2,500 Tires and Rims for a vehicle we no longer own - 1996 (regret)
$2,500 Tires and Rims for a vehicle we no longer own - 2002 (regret)
$3,000 Tires and Rims for a vehicle we currently own - 2005 (regret)
$5,500 Tires, Wheels and adaptors for a vehicle we currently own - 2006 (regret)
$2,000 Tires and Rims for a vehicle we currently own - 2005 (regret)
$1,200 Quilting machine with frame - 2001 (regret)
$1,200 Treadmill - 2002 (regret)
$10,000 (guess) for various trips/short vacations - 1995 to 2005 (regret)

Those are all the major purchases I can think of right now. They add up to $35,900, that’s far short the $41,000+ I owe right now. I’m thinking the majority of the other purchase were for gasoline. I guess I’m still paying for gas I burned 12 years ago. That’s really dumb.

I think the biggest reason why we are have accumulated so much debt is because for the first 10 years of our marriage, my husband worked overseas. When he’d come home on days off, I wanted him to have whatever he wanted, I really couldn’t tell him “no”. So we’d spend with cash and then when he’d go back to work I’d try and sort it all out. If I came out short, my credit cards where there to help me out. While my husband was at work he had a horrible eBay habit that was costing me literally $1,000 +/- a month. To compensate, I’d sell stuff on eBay and the more I sold the more he spent.

Okay, let me have it!

I’ve been blogging about my debt and life in general since February 19, 2008. Now I’m going to give an update, the good, the bad and the ugly, you are going to see it all.

If you are a regular reader of my blog you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t updated my Credit Card debt for over a month. There’s an a reason for it, as I’m sure some of you have guessed.

Last month I came up short. Yep, I even bounced a few checks (the bank honored them). I ended up using two credit card checks. $1,500 for my property taxes and $1,500 to bring my checking account back into balance. I’m totally embarrassed to admit this, as I’m sure you can imagine. The total of $3,000 is locked in at 3.9% until the balance is paid off.

Today my total credit card debt stands at $41,501. That’s a $901 increase from when I started tracking it back in February. I’m not happy at all with myself, I know I can do better. Other than using the two convenience checks I haven’t charged a single thing.

Now for the good news. I paid off my state taxes as of February the balance was $9,276. I also paid off my husband’s truck. Back in Feb the balance was $4,459.

All together I’ve paid down $12,834 since February.

I’m cleaning most of my house today, the floors, bathrooms, all of it! Well, technically I’m cheating, my friend Rosa comes over every other Wednesday and helps me clean for $60. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this little splurge I give myself twice a month. $60 cleans 3 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, the living room, dining room, and the kitchen OR master bedroom. For me it’s worth it to have all the toilets and microwave look like new.

I’ve debated letting her go and throwing an additional $120 a month at my debt. She’s worked for me for over 5 years and she helps me out with my animals when I go out of town. Having her come to clean is my one splurge. I haven’t even had my hair cut in over 2 years, I cut my husband’s and son’s hair, all my clothes come from Walmart, yep, Faded Glory is my brand! I clip coupons and make all four kids lunch everyday for school. I’m always looking for ways to cut back.

My husband tells me I’m crazy. I get up early on cleaning day to pre-clean the house. Rosa tells me most of her clients clean before she shows up.

Now I’ve revealed my dirty little secret. I guess I’m trying to justify the $120 a month I spend on cleaning.

It’s my husband’s birthday and I can’t blame him for taking the day off.  I made him his favorite - carrot cake and cooked him an excellent dinner. It was a great day!  I love that man!  I’m posting this on his laptop and his “w” is broken and posting here is a pain!  I have to paste all “ w’s”  in.  So you won’t be seeing and capital “w”’s.  :-D 

My oldest - the daughter that is graduating from high school, in June decided she needs to move about 2.5 hours from our home to attend a junior college thirty miles away from there.  She has a big whooping $500 saved up and several thousand in a savings account, that’s not hers until she turns 18 in November.  At this point I’ve told her my college financial package is living at home with room and board which is worth approximately $700 bucks a month in my area.  She also has the option of living with my mother for free and attending a more “popular” college.  I know I should have planned this out better but I also know that no one helped me out with college.  I just want to add that she turns 18 in November 08, and I rarely regulate on her, unless she’s completely out of line.   

Does this make me a bad parent?  I sure don’t think so, although others may say different.  At this point, her expectations are beyond what I’m willing to do, while her friends parent’s are mortgaging their homes to pay for their children’s education - remember it’s not a guarantee, it’s gamble, a roll of the dice,  and I still have 3 more kids to follow I’m thinking my children’s education should be paid by them, not me, at this point we need too look out for my husband’s retirement.  Call me nuts, I really don’t care.  

My oldest has way too much “party” in her and the fact that she’s not willing to take her great grandma’s bedroom furniture - with her to her new apartment because she doesn’t trust herself or her friends, means I’m not willing to cosign, besides, realistically, it’s not like I even afford to cosign especially knowing that SHE can’t afford her rent and living expenses, let alone college.  

I’ve been accused of “ruining her life” and “not caring about her education”.  I’m so over that…  Sure it hurts but if she really cared that much, she would have earned the grades to go the college she wanted to attend and maybe would have saved some of the $8,700+ she earned last year.  Just a thought.

My oldest has known for a good year that I want to see a budget and see exactly what she can afford to pay for rent.  Despite this knowledge she flat out refuses to make a budget.  So what am I making of this???  I’m really not sure but I know I’m not willing to get caught up in the financial mess.   I do know that she is not wanting to attend our local JC that is only 15 minutes away from our house because, “no one goes to that JC”.  The horror of actually getting the classes you need and maybe graduating on time!

Okay, rant over, I hope everyone has a FABULOUS weekend!!!

Wow it seems like it’s been such a long time since I posted.  I’ve been pretty busy hanging out with my husband.  I’ve really enjoyed having him home and we’ve gotten a lot of stuff done around the house.  He ended up taking three days off but still had to answer his cell and of course, it rang and rang.

Yesterday my husband disked up my garden for me, now all we have to do is add some llama poop and we’ll be ready to plant.  I’m planning on having a big garden this year with lots of tomatoes and cucumbers.  I like to share with friends and family.

My girls got their 4H project pigs for the fair.  They are adorable.  They ended up getting a Hampshire (black pig with white belt across the shoulders and down the front legs and a Blue Butt (white pig with bluish spots on the butt).  The girls are really excited and so far are taking excellent care of the hogs.  They’ve been going out every morning before school to water, feed and fill up the pigs mud pit.

I’m not going to update my credit card count down for a few months.  I just find it too depressing.  I know that’s not “being accountable” but to tell the truth, I just can’t deal with it right now.  Hopefully my husband’s bonus will come in and then after paying off his truck, I’ll actually feel like I’m making some progress and not sliding backwards.

I’m working on some new niche websites in hopes of making a little passive income, fingers crossed it goes well for me.

Now for some good news.  My ebay sales are over $225!   My house is really coming together too.  I’m making progress. 

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’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.