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October 1, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Fall 2017 Update

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Life

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Welcome back folks!  How have things been for you?  Super crazy?  Oh, good…. same here!

Our last update came in July, and I shared with you that we survived the spring soccer season even without a microwave, and had suffered through a Lyme disease care with Lady Bug, I had a sinus infection, we all went on a family vacation, and Hubs had a weird reaction to a bug bite.  Turns out, Hubs had contracted Lyme from a tick that was attached and gone in record breaking time.  After that diagnosis and a second round of antibiotics, all was well with him.

fall 2017 update

At the end of July, two days after Hubs ended his second treatment, Monkey got this weird eczema patch on his shoulder blade.  This isn’t unusual for him because, like me, he has super sensitive skin.  But the size was a little odd.  So Hubs marked the outer edge of it with a pen, I put some calendula cream on it, and we watched it.  Four days of watching it grow, marking the new area, and applying cream, I started to get worried.  He had no other symptoms besides a huge mood shift, but his spot was getting bigger and bigger each day, and had some faded areas in the middle.  So just to play it safe, I called his pedi so we could get it looked at.

fall 2017 update

The pedi had determined he had Lyme.  And again, we saw absolutely no tick.  The one time this summer I see the tick, we go through antibiotics as a precaution.  The times I haven’t seen ticks, and we’ve been obsessively checking, someone gets Lyme.  And what’s even more peculiar, is that Monkey’s symptoms were considered night and day compared to Hubs, who was laid up in bed for 2 days with a fever, nausea, and a huge rash that spread so fast.  Monkey’s started out as a mood shift, and a slow progression to his rash.  Absolutely nothing alike.

I had decided after his appointment that I was just going to take another hiatus from the blog.  The deciding factor there was that I didn’t want to have to worry about trying to keep up with this and making sure he was okay, so I just decided to step away for a bit.  It turns out I made the right decision because not only did I not sleep well with “mom-guilt”, but he also had some pretty wicked nightmares {a side effect of the medication}, and so sleep in general was very rare during his treatment.

Three weeks of antibiotics later, he had been deemed as cured.  By the time he was ending his antibiotics, we had shifted our focus to gearing up for school with more doctor’s appointments, open houses, orientation nights, kindergarten orientation appointments, numerous forms to fill out, bus route changes, and the list goes on and on.  In between all the crazy, we still had tons of harvesting and preserving from our garden to do, as well as  adjusting to a new soccer schedule.

fall 2017 update

It wasn’t all crazy-busy though.  We took some time during August to just step back and enjoy the moment.  Ladybug was super excited that we found some monarch caterpillars, and insisted that we bring them back to the house.  It was hard to say no to her, and a month later they still talk about watching the caterpillars metamorphose into butterflies.

fall 2017 update

We also took a day to enjoy the solar eclipse in our back yard.  Since we weren’t able to get the eclipse glasses, we looked up how to use Bookworm’s telescope to project the eclipse onto a box that we hand on hand.

fall 2017 update

With all that craziness done, and after hunting down some first-week-last-minute school supplies, I think we’re adjusting to our new schedule okay.

Now we’ve hit the stage where they all bring home germs.  We’ve had two stints of pink eye, a chest cold that’s made its rounds through the family, and I’m currently battling some laryngitis.

I’m not used to the quiet that occurs during the day.  I still have things to do around the house that need done in order to keep on top of everything during the crazy soccer season, but I thought I’d start making it a habit to get on here a few times a week.  I’ve got a ton of topics that were had lined up for the summer, so there’s no shortage of content to come.  But I also loved the accountability that coming here and showing our budget and debt payment for the month gave me.  It really helped with motivation, which is what I really need at this point in order to crush this last credit card before moving on to our student loans.

So now it’s your turn: how was the rest of your summer?  Super insane, crazy, relaxed, or working in your favor?  I’d love to know in the comments below!!

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makingcentsmatter

makingcentsmatter
Only you can determine what your financial goals a Only you can determine what your financial goals are. If that means you're adding money to your savings account, or contributing to your retirement, while you are paying off debt, then so be it!⁠
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Do what looks right for you and your personal finances.⁠
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#budget #budgeting #savingmoney #savings #cashbudget #cash #cashisking #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #makingcentsmatter #financialfreedom #debtfree
The trick to meal planning is to make it predictab The trick to meal planning is to make it predictable. But predictable doesn't mean the same thing week to week. You could have a chicken meal, a soup meal, a pasta meal, a leftovers meal, a family favorite meal, and so on.⁠
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We always try to go with themed days, but some weeks are so hectic the theme is literally "fast". Thankfully that hasn't been the case lately.⁠
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#mealplanning #mealplan #budget #budgeting #monthlyincome #savingmoney #savings #cashbudget #cash #cashisking #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #makingcentsmatter #financialfreedom #debtfree
I can only hear about my extended warranty I never I can only hear about my extended warranty I never purchased so many times. 😣⁠
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#makingcentsmatter #budgets #monthlyincome #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #savingmoney #payingoffdebt #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #monthlyincome #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom
March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠ .⁠ House: $51 March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠
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House: $511.13⁠
Citi: $0 – this has a residual $3 in interest charges since payoff, due in April⁠
D NelNet: $100⁠
K NelNet: $100⁠
K Chase: $600⁠
Explorer: $336.27⁠
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Total Paid in 2021: $8,258.84⁠
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Extra Payment: There isn’t one this month since we were $25 away from zeroing out the budget for our February 15th monthly paycheck. That $25, and monies left from our January 15th paycheck, covered our OOP costs for Hubs’ filling. We also have some savings goals coming up that need to be met, making our debt payments a little lower for the time begin.⁠
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#makingcentsmatter #debt #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #savingmoney #payingoffdebt #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #monthlyincome #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom⁠
The battle for who can charge what tonight is abou The battle for who can charge what tonight is about to begin. 😬⁠
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My kids run off with my charger, plug it into one outlet 5 feet from where they found it like that particular outlet is the only one in this house, and then proceed to fight over who can charge their device first at night.⁠
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Then they get grumpy when it's their turn and it's not the proper input cable. #itwasmychargerfirst #dontlikeitgofindyourown⁠
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#parentingteens #parentingtweens #momlife #realife #budget #budgeting #savingmoney #cash #frugalblogger #frugalmom #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #makingcentsmatter
A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a bit in our February Budget Check-In about how much of this I think we'll owe, and you can check that out on my YouTube channel if you're interested, but I wanted to say here...⁠
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To the mother with little kids struggling to get your finances in order, it will get better. I wish I could have heard those words years ago.⁠
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Nearly 10 years ago we were facing a $1,400 out-of-pocket portion for A's Phase 1 orthodontic work (I looked it up after I uploaded the video... we had a $1,400 portion).⁠
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It was a lot of money for us at the time. Our kids were 6, 2, and 3 months old. I don't think we even had $500 in savings, and I just left a part-time teaching job because it wasn't paying the part-time daycare bill, so paying our portion in full was just a dream I didn't think was achievable.⁠
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I was even stressing about the monthly $100 payments. We were so strapped. It was our breaking moment to start cutting costs and budgeting more effectively. We've learned a lot in that time period.⁠
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What we've learned is that it does no good to stress about it all the time. Life happens. All you can do is try to plan ahead, and if it's something that's unplanned, readjust. It won't always be easy, especially at first, but it will be worth it.⁠
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Nearly 10 years later, we are still paying off our debts. Student loans suck. But I see this bill as a reminder of how far we have come. Seeing a bill like this doesn't stress me out like it used to, and I know we can easily create a plan that can get it done and out of the way.⁠
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Will it delay our debt-free date more? Yes. But it's not worth stressing over. Life happens, readjust, and continue on down the path. It's called a journey for a reason.⁠
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#wisdomteeth #personalfiannce #personalfinancetips #financialgoals #budgeting #budgets #savingsgoals #savings #cashbudget #zerobasedbudget #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress #adulting #lifehappens #realife #realbudget #makingcentsmatter
It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budget It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budgeting categories are working out for the pay month.⁠
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Food is looking good this far into our paycheck, probably because miscellaneous - which includes eating out - took a hit with unexpected purchases. Pet is low for this time of the month, and Household is spot on.⁠
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Fuel looks like it'll be lower than last month (yay for weeks of snow days & delayed school starts), and Therapy had one more appointment than initially planned.⁠
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Garden, Dental, Medical & Propane are not included in these estimates so far because those expenses are coming from sinking funds. Once we're done with the month and review the budget, I'll move over the total amount spent from those sinking funds.⁠
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How's your paycheck budget coming along?⁠
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#realbudget #monthlyincome #monthlybudget #budget #budgetupdate #budgeting #savingmoney #variablecategories #savingmoney #savings #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #cash #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #frugalliving #frugalblogger #budgetblogger #makingcentsmatter
Automating your finances makes saving money and bu Automating your finances makes saving money and budgeting more convenient, and therefore easier on you. Out of sight, out of mind, right?⁠
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What's one thing you can automate this week to make your finances easier?⁠
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Me? I'm going to set up our sinking fund transfers to automate every payday (the 15th of every month). Our bank set up a feature on their app where we can schedule savings transfers now, and I'm going to take advantage of it!⁠
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#personalfinance #personalfinancetips #budgeting #budgettips #personalfinancemadeeasy #savingmoney #savings #sinkingfunds #cash #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogess #financialfreedom #makingcentsmatter
Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone a smidgen overboard this month!⁠
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I foresee a goal for March's paycheck to at out less than twice. That's where this category went awry. $99.16 of it went to eating out. 😑 Some of it was avoidable, but not all of it. Having to drive to multiple appointments in one day during snow squalls and rearranging our whole day was one of those unavoidable instances.⁠
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Tracking our expenses - much like a budget review - is vital to sticking to your budget!⁠
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#makingcentsmatter #debt #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #budgetcategories #monthlyincome #savingmoney #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom #expensetracking #budgetfail
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