I posted in SN, but DS does end up needing OT as well as PT, so I will be continuing to be a busy mom. We are also looking into orthotics for him for over pronating/ toe walking, stiff ankles.
Not much more progress on the money situation. Looking to up our life insurance. We still have to go through a tax calculator which helps you decide how much money to put in pre-tax retirement accounts. Still working on the money document. More things keep coming up, so it needs more edits. I may have time this afternoon.
Update on no spend November- I am not sure if it is a bust or not. On one hand we had unexpected (brakes) and expected (tires) expenses to the tune of $1200. On the other hand, it is forcing me to pack my lunch more often, which is probably healthier. And we don't have to host Thanksgiving, so expenses there will be minimal. No Halloween costumes or candy to buy this month and no kids birthday parties to host or kid activity expenses this month.
I'll keep you posted throughout the month, because this is something I am interested in, so maybe other people are too? I always like to hear how other people live or how they handle things. It's the mini sociologist in me.
How is everyone else doing? Kids? Jobs? Life? SO's?
Post by traveltheworld on Nov 9, 2017 11:55:00 GMT -5
Home Depot still hasn't given us a quote on our flooring. That's pretty much the only thing we need to finish our basement. So far our contractor seems fine and the basement is 85% complete and he has not notified me of any cost over-runs, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll stay within the original quote. I desperately want to move forward with buying more furniture but don't feel comfortable doing so until I know how much our flooring is going to cost.
Work is going well, kids are good, other than the DD shyness/DC issue that I mentioned in the other thread.
I still don’t know what shoes to wear. Today’s pictured - I am giving the flat slouchy ones another try but my jeans are too long and bunch up. FWP: It’s weird how frustrated the shoe situation is making me.
2chatter, Different jeans or hem them or leggings? My one boots are like those so I have no option but to tuck skinny jeans in them. My other ones are not as open and slouchy at the top and closer to my leg, so I can wear boot cut jeans over them.
Post by covergirl82 on Nov 9, 2017 12:05:00 GMT -5
waverly, I would participate in a weekly or monthly money-matters type post. Especially given the open letter to DH that I just posted. And because of that, I've already spent at least 30 minutes today going through possible scenarios of how we could spend DH's bonus to pay down/off debt.
I can't remember if I posted about this in a TWERK before, but my coworker's kids (14 and 16) were kidnapped by their dad back in July, although the courts didn't officially declare them as kidnapped until August. Well, Monday around lunch time she got a call from CPS in Atlanta that they had her kids, so she left immediately to go get them. (A 13 hour drive from where we live.) Late morning on Tuesday she texted me to say that she was waiting for CPS to deliver her kids. She found out they were homeless, and it sounds like the dad got desperate and checked into a homeless shelter or sought help from a social services agency, and I'm assuming when they ran a background check, they found out there is a warrant out for him for kidnapping the kids. The agency made the decision to put them up, despite the open warrant, so that the agency knew where they would be and could arrange for police to arrest him and take custody of the kids. I haven't heard from her since the text on Tuesday, and I am just so worried that he brainwashed them and made them think their mom was the bad one, which would have made for a difficult reunion and will be a tough road to get them un-brainwashed.
Last week was pretty awful as far as DD's behavior. She was at the worst of the rebound point coming off Prozac, so we expected it, but it was pretty rough. At one point we were going to have to have a conference with the teacher and I was honestly afraid she would be kicked out of school, something I have not seriously worried about before. Thankfully, a phone conversation helped the teacher understand better, followed up by an email with some suggestions to increase her movement at school. But I spent last week sending desperate emails and texts literally all over the country looking for help. I actually got a text, an email, and a phone call! The call was from the author of the book "Child Decoded", who had a lot of insight and wants to speak again. I also got a rec for a psych 3.5 hours away who is supposedly a magician with challenging and complex kids, so we may get an eval, maybe in spring, through him. We shall see. Meanwhile she is leveling out a bit (24 hours without a meltdown, woohoo!) and exercise is helping. And we started her back on a med she used to take with some success. We took her off because she seemed to outgrow the dose, or it lost effectiveness as happens, but by then she was on the max dose for her weight. She's just a fast metabolized I guess. So it is still a concern, but it worked the best of anything we ever tried with few side effects so hopefully she can get at least several good months before we are back to the drawing board.
Post by ilovelucyvv on Nov 9, 2017 13:03:44 GMT -5
covergirl82, omg that is one of the worst things I've heard in a while. Poor kids. I hope they are okay. I would not be smiling every day if that was me.
Post by judyblume14 on Nov 9, 2017 13:08:30 GMT -5
Getting a New Roof - lol nope. Ain't nobody got funds for that... until next year.
First long weekend of solo parenting since DD2 was born - lol nope. Never doing that again.
Chicken Reiki - it's almost here. Next week! With my stress mounting, I feel like I'm about pop. I am going into this with the expectation that it will relieve me of ALL negative energy in my life and I will be blissfully calm for all of eternity.
waverly, I'm taking a deep look at our finances too. I finally got all of our accounts, including credit cards, loans and investment accounts linked to Mint. I love that I finally have an accurate picture of our net worth. DH and I made a budget for Xmas spending and I am trying to get a baseline on how much $$ we can use to pay down debt. I also decreased my 401k contributions a little bit since I was contributing a lot more than I need at this point. We are also trying really hard to not spend unless we really need it. So far, so good. I hope we can get through the Xmas season without too much damage. I'll be getting a pretty big bonus in January, so DH and I are planning a trip to Iceland for our 15-year anniversary. We will still have a good chunk left to pay some debt off and put a little into savings.
I might be getting involved in a startup company. A mom posted on the local Mom's board on Facebook looking for an engineer to help her out. I responded and I like what I hear so far. I'm meeting with her on Tuesday to get more info. I'm excited to work on something for fun and to meet another mom in the tech field.
waverly, I'm trying to figure out where all our money is going. This month I am going to try to get DH to give me all receipts for the month or at least dollar figures so I can track each expense. My budget shows us having an extra 800-1000 a month but the checkbook doesn't show this.
Still looking for a dishwasher. Now looking for a new car. The governor signed in a sales tax on new vehicle & bicycle purchases starting Jan 1 so if I am going to buy I want to do it before the tax goes into affect. Looking at a small sedan Corolla, Civic, Camry, Focus, Prius, etc. Any opinions WPs?
DD missing coat was found on Monday! It was inside the piano in the music room. No idea how it got there and I feel like someone hid it on purpose but it is found. She is so happy to have it back but now refuses to wear it to school. The rain has set in so coats are now needed at the end of the day too so we haven't had any issues this week.
Post by judyblume14 on Nov 9, 2017 14:04:34 GMT -5
186momx, I drove a 1997 Civic from 2004 until 2012 I think? And then I took over my husband's 2006 Civic and just traded it in about 2 months ago. And only because it was a 2-door and I couldn't fit 2 car seats in the back. I'm a big fan of the Civic. Great gas mileage. Last forever.
In my budget I have childcare for example $1000 a month. So that is taken out of the total.
But then I also have CC payment in the budget that I use to pay off the childcare and stuff from this month (all budgeted in other categories) And then previous debt, let's say $3000 for example.
So how does that work? Am I double counting the childcare because I count it in Childcare and CC? Would the CC payment then just be for previous debt instead of current month expenses?
Does anyone know what I am talking about?
Or should I break that into CC- current month payment and CC- previous debt payment and have them 2 separate budget items? I've struggled with this, and I feel like it should be simple- like not counted twice, but I can't seem to wrap my head around it all the way.
waverly, I'd probably just do a line item for "credit card payment" and then under that, break down what the line items are that get lumped into it. So it's like a tiered thing. Does that make sense?
Ok I am going to put it as previous CC debt and Current CC Monthly spend, and see how I like that. It already looks a little better. Its hard when you are paying off debt, but also putting monthly expenses on.
waverly, There are a couple of ways that I would approach this. First I would keep the 1000 dollars in the budget for childcare (it is a fixed cost and not likely to change for awhile) Then I would have a separate CC budget. The CC budget would start with your Income minus all cash transactions (car, mortgage . . .) then look at your remaining balance and start budgeting the fixed monthly cost on the CC. Then look at the cash you have left over and budget that towards CC. Sounds complicated, but I think it would help.
Also I would be interesting in joining that convo starting in Jan.
My updates:
I have a jelly bean with a strong heartbeat. We went to the doctor yesterday and everything looks really good.
xctsclrx , I was thinking that. I put 0 for current monthly CC spend as that is budgeted elsewhere. And then my total minus cash purchases (mortgage, student loans) should match.
And then previous CC I have on a different line item (same category). They are two separate cards, so should be an easy differentiation.
Love those appointments of jelly beans with strong hearts.
186momx, Corollas are really nice, but I had to get rid of mine when I got pregnant. Could not comfortably fit two infant car seats in the back seat. We're a Toyota family all the way though, so definitely recommend it!
Income minus Expenses Daycare Current Visa spending Debt payment-Visa House Pmt Etc.
If you could stop using the CC until its paid off that might make it simpler. Otherwise I would split it between current charges vs old charges so you can try to get the balance down so it is paid off each month.
186momx - I narrow cars based on IIHS highest rating, then size, then price, then fuel economy, then preference. It makes it way easier! I just helped my mom buy an Accord - and was surprised at the low price - 16K used with 20k miles and 5 years and 80K miles warranty remaining.
186momx, I don't recommend a Ford Focus. I have a 2013 Focus and the transmission sucks. I've had mine reprogrammed and rebuilt and it is still not running smoothly. There is a class action lawsuit in progress for Focuses from 2012 - 2016. I'm only keeping the car because everything has been covered under warranty and I have a loan on it. If I keep having problems, then Ford will give me more money as a result of the lawsuit. Also, there is not a lot of room in the back for a car seat. If you have a booster, it is ok though.
I do recommend the Ford Fusion though. I had a 2010 Fusion that was awesome. I put a lot of miles on that car (100k+) and it still ran great. I sold it to my niece when we bought the minivan. It is still running great for her.
+1 to the I have no idea where all the money goes. We put money into a 401k, my pension plus an extra Roth for me, and 529 for the kids. We also have tuition for Dd. But we have no debt besides the house and our payment is supper low compared to people buying now. I have tried to get Dh to do budget, but he refuses because he thinks it would be useless. I would be one calling Dave Ramsey asking how to get a spouse to cooperate.
I had a Corolla and loved it. Super reliable. It was a little small so I upgraded to a Camry and love it to.
Updated, enjoying most of the day off due to working a full week by 10:30. I had my class make Christmas cards for the boy in ME with cancer asking for cards, so a nice class thus morning. Off tommorrow for Veterans Day.
2chatter- Did your mom get the silver car? Inquiring minds want to know!
An oldie. We stopped DD’s handwriting OT and she’s gotten leaps and bounds better since. We had her parent teacher conference, and her teacher isn’t the least bit concerned with her handwriting. She said she thinks we are going to see her progress by leaps and bounds this year. My BFF, who was a Special Ed teacher, said that we were telling her every week that she was bad at handwriting, every time she had an appointment. BFF was absolutely right. DD’s narrative has gone from “I go to OT because I need help with my handwriting” to “I don’t have to go to OT anymore because my handwriting is so much better”.
186momx , one of my BFF's has a Camry and she absolutely loves it! Hyundai Sonatas are really nice too.
We got a Sonata when we retired the Civic. I am in LOVE with it. t is so spacious. We have 2 rear-facing car seats. We can push both of the front seats all the way back and STILL not touch the car seats. Lots of room in the trunk, too.
When you're driving though, it doesn't feel like a huge car. Parking it... I'm still getting used to it. It is much bigger than a Civic!
Post by erinshelley21 on Nov 9, 2017 15:52:30 GMT -5
Nothing too new here really since I live-blog my work drama as it happens lol
I am on day 2 of Adderall. I told DH that I feel better already just knowing that things are going to improve for me. The new dr is confident that I'll be able to quit taking the zoloft that I was given for PPD in a month or so. He didn't want me to wean at the same time as starting adderall again. I'm also hoping that the weight will start falling off soon. I had no idea that zoloft could make you gain weight. So, between starting adderall (suppresses appetite), quitting breastfeeding (it is a struggle for me to lose weight while doing it) and stopping zoloft on top of starting crossfit next week, I'll be looking like Carrie Underwood in no time!
This week DH is leaning more towards just being content with his job and not leaving. Still wants to buy his mom's house though and that idea is at least a month old at this point.
And DD has been referred to a private handwriting clinic (for real, that exists was my initial response). How did OT come into play? Wondering if that would be cheaper....It’s her jacked up grip.