Better than Expected!

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We finally received word from Mr. M’s doctor and the news was better than expected. As of today, Mr. M will not need surgery (whoo!) and will be on medicine for the next three months. I am THRILLED that this is the plan as I did not want Mr. M to have surgery at all so this is a blessing. By giving Mr. M some medicine indicates to me that there is a chance that we could get pregnant which is uplifting.

So we have a plan. Stick to the snowball, knock down some debt and revisit the doctor in October. Okay – I can do that.

4th NDO

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We’ve decided to start NDO starting Tuesday and stay on this plan until August 5th. This month will be interesting as we are traveling two of the five weekends but I think for the most part, we can save some money. The fun part is now the menu planning and I wondered if you all would share some of your dinner recipes with me. Since we do try to eat a home a majority of the time already, I’d like to introduce some new things for dinner time this month.

Thank you for your help in advance!

Southern Visiting

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I hope you all had a wonderful 4th! We traveled to North Carolina to see Kaye and Jack, a couple which are like family to Mr. M and me and spent the weekend seeing their new home and town. Kaye and I were roommates after college and both got engaged to our husbands while we lived together. Jack and Mr. M are really good friends (they both work in sports) so getting together is a real treat and we were bummed when they decided to move to North Carolina so Jack could run a baseball team.

This is why when Mr. M proposed that we go and see them out of the blue two weeks ago, I didn’t hesitate and carved out some money to create a very small trip budget. Probably not the smartest money move but we stayed within budget spending most of our money on gas. Since they live in a town with only a gas station and no stop light (a big change from when Kaye and I lived downtown together), our meals were cooked at home. They now live on a farm so our entertainment was learning about the different crops, feeding the chickens or actually sitting and talking on the front porch. Mr. M called it real “Southern visiting”.

The beauty of it all is that when we left, we still had money left over and had such a relaxing time. It was such a change of pace and energized Mr. M and I to really tackle our debt for the next six months which is all we talked about for the six hour drive home.

Over 50%

OMG You all - We are over half-way there!

We have paid $22,347.79 down on our debt snowball and our original debt was $44,104.25! As of today, we have $21,756.46 which is still a good deal but I know we can do it. Our goal is to have all of our the credit cards paid off by December.

Here’s the breakdown:

Student Loan: $ 9,714.48

Credit Card #1: $ 7321.77

Car Loan: $ 3,459.33

Credit Card #2 – PAID 4/22/11

Credit Card #3: $1,882.12

Non-Profit Pledge: $700.00

Non-Profit Pledge – Paid 3/25/11

Bank Loan Closed – 8/27/10

Credit Card #1 – Closed 7/27/10

Total:$ 21,756.46

In other fun news…I tried to make an additional payment to Credit Card #1 and received this message. A sign that I’m doing something right.

National Champs!



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In unrelated money news...my alma mater won the College World Series last night for the SECOND year in the row. Way to go Gamecocks!

I would also like to say thank you to all the kind comments about my meltdown yesterday.  There are times in this debt-free and now medical journey that life is truly frustrating. I have many things to be blessed about but it was very helpful to let off some steam. 

Giving it to God

I'm having a hard time with giving over my worries, fears and frankly - tears - over to God this week. The nurse that has our test results is on vacation, followed by the next week when the doctor goes on vacation so Mr. M and I stay in this financial limbo for another few weeks. We're paying off debt like we planned but my type-A self wold like to set a financial plan for the rest of the year like yesterday and this waiting game is killing me.

In other fun news, a friend that I had confided in about our health issues has basically ended our friendship this month making me feel like a leper. I guess she thinks male infertility spreads from the wife to friends so something pathetically silly like that but to say that my feelings are hurt is an understatement. She is pregnant after years of infertility and I guess thinks that I can't handle her news. How many other friends will ditch me under the umbrella of "trying to protect me", I'll never know as I'm not telling another soul for a very long time.

Christmas

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I realize for some it's a long way off (less than six months as of this last weekend) but for someone who has to watch every penny she spends during the holidays - it is quickly approaching.

My 2011 budget is set with suggested amounts for each family member and friends. Nothing major but those $10 gifts here and $20 gifts there add up. I'm also looking into buying food boxes or bags now for that Christmas in July sale if efforts to save money. Last year, I spent basically nothing on my godson due to using coupons and sales which what I aim to do again.

So like I said, it is early to think about snow and the holidays but what do you do

to plan early for the Holidays?