garage sale profit already!!

My husbands brother in law came over today to pick up a few items from our garage that were his.  My husbands sister dove in immediately to our garage sale items and was in heaven.  It was hilarious.  They both left with a bunch of stuff.  Then the brother in law came back with his mom and his sister and they bought even more stuff. 
So far....$115 profit and we haven't even had the official garage sale yet. 
Wahoo!!

almost there

Well, we are almost there.....I start my new job in 2 weeks.  I am so excited. 
I start my new job and I'm keeping my old job and will work there as much as I can until I get some of our debt paid off. 
The really exciting news.....I think I should be able to get 3 of our 4 credit cards paid off by September.  I should be able to earlier than that but I'm being realistic and planning for something to come up between now and then....

The bummer news...I need to call the 3 credit cards and tell them...because I've been way late on my payments.   I know the want to hear from me and hear the plan so they know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth but it's so embarrassing.  I just need to suck it up and do it. 

I wish I was starting my new job earlier so I could get going on this debt  thing but they don't have an orientation starting until the 13th....ugh.

No bites on the house yet but we are having the big garage sale next weekend. Hopefully I will be surprised and we will make a small fortune that can go to our credit cards to make them happy until I start the new job. 

Let's just keep on with the changes

So my husband comes home from work today and says...."so what do you think of me starting a new job?"

Keeping in mind that our house has been on the market for 1 week (about 3 weeks earlier than planned)  and I start a new job in 2 weeks. 

We talked a little bit about it and decided he may as well start a new job.  This job will be in the same field he is working on a degree toward and it will provide more contacts and a potential in the future (plus it's closer to home!) than his current job.

So.....

why not have all the change in the same 2 weeks.  If we are going to mix up our lives may as well mix it all up!  

I should mention that we don't do this regularly.  My husbands 2 jobs have been for 10 years and 4 years and I've been a my prior employer for 11 years.  We have been in our home for 9 years so we are actually stable people...but you would never know it by looking at us the past 2 weeks.


A funny side note while preparaing for the garage sale today I had some lady walk into my garage thinking I was having my garage sale today.
Apparently in my town an open garage door and a house for sale sign = garage sale!

Hopefully this is an indication of a successful job in the future. 

On a mission

What does it mean when I'm on a mission......that no tornado sirens or warnings will deter me! 
ha

Well yesteday I was wrapping up my garage and I must say I'm nearly ready for my garage sale.  Ahead of schedule! Wahoo. 

As a close (storm-phobic) friend called and texted me to get inside because of nearby storms.  I tried to convince her that it wasn't even raining or windy at my house.  She just didn't believe me.  I wrapped up my cleaning and organizing and even had room to put my car in the garage with the set up tables in each side!

I just have the detached garage to clean and organize and then start pulling more items out of my house for the garage sale. 

I just need to be done with all this before my garage sale and before I start my new job! 

garage sale

Wow.  Now I know why I've never done a garage sale before.  WHEW I'm exhausted and the actual sale isn't until almost 2 weeks.  This week I've been super busy with getting the house ready for sale and the ceiling's painted and cleaning the garages.  I'm sorting through the items that will move with us and those that will not. 
I just feel like I've been hustling everyday this week.  Although I must admit I did sit back and relax last night by ordering chinese and eating ben and jerry's half baked ice cream while watching family guy.  It was the night in by myself and I just chilled. 

I'm thankful my in-laws have lots of tables I can borrow for my garage sale and they are so willing to help but sorting through all your belongings is best done by ones self.  Its kinda embarrassing how much crap I've accumulated over the past 9 years in our home. 

Well, my break is over so back to work I go.  Hope you all are enjoying your weekend. 

opened the door for opportunity

Opportunity knocked.....I answered. 

I accepted a new job.  I will still remain at my old job on an "as needed" basis.  I have been at my "old" job for almost 11 years.  So it is amazingly hard to decrease my hours but this job will be a professional advancement and huge challenge.  I am excited but so nervous. 

The plus side to the job change -   The professional opportunities, I will have the "as needed" job so I will be able to supplement my income considerably.

The negatives to the job change - I will be driving farther to work and the pay is $13/week less.....
Ok...I know what you are thinking. 
You are driving farther AND taking a paycut  are you mad????

The Answer:

Maybe.  This job I have been applying for since 2009 and I've never even had an interview.  It will advance my career.  Yes, it's bad in the short term but it will place me much farther ahead in the long run.  It also gives me the opportunity to have my current job on an "as needed" basis so my pay will increase about $10/hour and I can pick the hours and how many hours I want to have.  This will help our income considerably and offset the job change in the short term. 


On the financial saving side of life - - -

I went to Dillons (Kroger) and purchased $121 in groceries and some of the goodies I had coupons for and guess how much I paid....$53!!!  This is really good for a newbie coupon-er like me. 
I was thrilled. 


Well until later.

Happy Saving!!

Saying Goodbye

So, today is a sad day.  My dogs are moving to my parents house until we get the house sold.  This is heartbreaking for me.  My boys will be 2 hours away living the farm life.  They will be fine and they will have eachother but I won't have them!  I need the cuddling.  I have two very large dogs.  I have a giant schnauzer that's 8 years old.  I also have a half giant schnauzer/standard poodle mix that is 6 months old. 

Our boys are so fun.  They love to play fetch and frisbee and roll in the yard.  I just hope we are able to find a new house that has a big yard for them. 

I was up way too late last night trying to sort my garage in preparation for the garage sale.  My in-laws brought over several folding tables for me to start putting things on.  I have decided to go through, condense and place all the items I'm keeping in a room in our garage.  This will make it so I can just close the door and all the garage sale-ers can buy anything in the garage. 

Oh....stress.

The realtor already has my house online.  I can't believe how fast these guys move. 

Freaking out has officially started!!!

EEEEKKKKK

My freak out mode has already started. 

The realtor came by today for the first appointment.  We decided on friday that we would sell our house.  Today....there's a for sale sign in my front yard. 

I'm totally freaking out.

I have so much to do to get my house ready....well not really.  Just paint ceilings and clean garages out.  Otherwise it's fine but EEEEKKKK

I'm so excited.  If we get the price we are hoping we will end up with about $30,000 profit.

That would put us pretty close to paying off all our bills but the student loans.  We would be getting rid of the $600/month in gas or significantly cutting it down and so then that money could go toward student loans.

Also great news......

I have an interview for a job.  Just an as needed position in another hospital but it would make paying off debt so much easier and faster! 
But for now, I'm off to clean the garage!

The preparation begins...not Preparation H

The preparation begins.  I have T minus 19 days until we have a garage sale and I've done nothing. 
Yep, NOTHING!!! EEEKKK.

I've got to get on the ball! 

The realtor is coming out tomorrow so he will tell us who knows what about the realism of selling our home. 
I'm so anxious I've worked myself into a cold sore on my lip that feels similar in size to Mt. Rushmore. 
It's pretty annoying.
I don't know why I'm stressing so bad about this but I am.  I am so scared he will tell us there is some major problem that we will have to fix before we can put our house on the market. 
I've had to work 12 hour shifts everyday since we met the realtor and set up the appointment.  He wanted to come out asap which was probably so he could see the condition of our house....right?  Maybe I'm just paranoid. 

I am also worried we will have to send our dogs away while our house is for sale. I won't be very happy about the thought of sending the dogs to my parents.  They won't be happy either. 

I'm also not really thrilled about  the options I've come across so far for homes for rent.  It seems all the homes are pretty old and not so great.  I'm not totally surprised but I'm also having a hard time finding homes that allow pets the size of mine.  I have one dog that is a Giant Schnauzer and he's 116 pounds and my other dog is a half Giant Schnauzer and half Standard Poodle.  He's still a puppy but he'll probably end up around 70 pounds at least.  
Most of the homes and townhouses I've seen either allow dogs under 60 pounds, under 35 pounds or No dogs at all. 
Uh oh. 

Well going to throw the Frisbee for the puppy and hope a post work second wind comes up so I can get some cleaning done....if not I'll start bright and early in the morning. 

I'll post after the realtor visit!!

Huge Steps

Today my husband and I took two huge steps. 

We met with our bank.  Our bank manager is D. and She's amazing.  We went to discuss our thoughts of selling our home.  She brought in a mortgage officer and we all talked about our options, our future and what the bank looks for in customers.  It was really helpful.  Here's a little of our situation.
We commute to work and spend $600/month in gas.
We have always been on time with our mortgage payments. 
We have owned our home for 9 years. 

Our ideas

Sell the house  and rent closer to my work and my husbands university.
My husband will be done with college in 2-3 years

Our Bank's suggestions

Don't save that huge payoff from your home.  Pay off all your debt and try to graduate from college debt free.  Then start saving for the future home.  A small down payment but no debt will look better than a larger down payment but debt. 

So our plan  if  when we sell our home

Pay off all credit cards and both cars
start paying off student loans
rent a cheap house in town that we work and have school to save that $600 in gas each month - put that toward student loans

GOAL

3 years from now - be completely debt free including all student loans and have at least $10,000 saved for down payment on home


Immediate To Do List -

Contact Realtor about selling home - Done!
Start getting house ready to sell - without spending money
Get Current on bills including husband and self getting second jobs


I did research about what Dave Ramsey, etc advise regarding selling your home - they say it's ok as long as you want to sell your home to begin with.  Don't sell your home just to have an easy fix for your debt.  It will not change your future spending habits. 

We recognize this and do not feel this is a quick fix.  We would likely be moving when my husband graduates from college anyway for his job.  May as well end up in a better financial state. 

I really appreciate all the advice and support from everyone in the blogosphere. 

Options

The dear husband and I have been pondering our options.  One option includes selling our home.  We have been homeowners (well mortgage payers) since 2002 when we were married.  Our mortgage is $984 each month.  We have been debating on selling our home.  We would likely make a good profit on it IF it sells.  That could pay off all our debt.  We could then rent a place in the town that I work and he attends school.  This would in turn save on gas since we commute 40 miles round trip each. 

I still have difficulties with the thought of changing from a home owner (well mortgage payer) to a renter for 2-3 years until my husband gets done with school. 

Decisions Decisions Decisions.

I was thinking of going and speaking with my supportive banker on her thoughts of the idea as well as my mother and father in law.  All three of these people have completed the financial peace university.  My husband and I were planning on attending the classes next month.  I'm curious to see what Dave would say about this. 

Is this an easy and dumb way out of our debt?  We would also plan to save at least $20,000 for the down payment on a future home and use the rest to pay off our debt which we would probably have enough.

It's payday and I'm scared

Well Friday was payday....and I still haven't looked at my bank account.  Even though I know my paycheck had an extra $500 on it due to working a lot of extra overtime, I still don't want to look. 
I should look.  I know. 
I just really hate it.  I hate looking at our finances and feeling like I've worked so much lately and I've gotten nowhere or feeling like I spend my entire paycheck in less than one hour on the computer paying bills and then realizing that I have 12 days until my next paycheck...how will I get by.
Wondering what will come up in the next 12 days that will require money that I don't have because I don't have an emergency fund yet. 
Sigh.  Guess I'll try to coax myself to logging in to the bank account...Maybe I'll check my e-mail first.

Made $100 in groceries today!!!

Holy Macaroni!

I'm so excited.  I made $100 in groceries today. 
How do you ask???

My Dillons is running a promotion.  For each prescription you transfer to them and fill they will place $25 onto your Dillons card.  You can only use $25 at a time but for me and my grocery budget this is huge!  My prescriptions were formerly at Walgreens but I was considering transferring anyway because they don't have the $4 prescription plan and so I was spending $6 extra each month to pay my insurance co-pay. 
The promotion was just the nudge I needed to go ahead and transfer my prescription. 
WAHOO

The other exciting news is I sent the forms into my bank to delay one of our payments by a month.  The banker emailed me to let me know she received the form and I emailed her to thank her for all her support, kindness and help during our hard times.  I also told her we were starting the financial peace univ.  next month.  She sent the nicest response back.  She was amazingly kind and sent me the form her family created for their budgeting purposes.  She encouraged me to let her know if we have questions or need support. 
I am so lucky we have a wonderful bank to work with. 

I also started the spending diary online and hope it will help us to budget better and track our spending. 

We get paid on Friday and it can't come soon enough.  The good news is I will have a lot of overtime on this paycheck! YEAH!

minor triumphs

Minor moments of triumph

I've noticed when starting from scratch on trying to change a behavior and mindset the little moments need rewarded.  I am no different than a child learning how to potty train....I need sticker charts, M & M's or praise.  Preferably all three! 

Anyway,  I've been really proud of my husband and I despite our minor learning lessons such as a $3.95 activation fee and a coupon-less paper. 

The past week we have
1. Severely limited our spending and have budgeted gas properly not having to utilize our debit card once. 
2. Clipped a bunch o coupons and put them in a coupon organizer that I already had in the garage.
3. Developed a game plan complete with a date of a garage sale for a little extra cash for bills, etc
4. Signed up for a Financial Peace University Class that starts the first week of June
5. Made dinners from what I already had in the house with only minimal purchases at the grocery store but always used cash
6.  Talked to bank and will skip one months payment on a small loan and try to get caught up.
7. Took a mental inventory of items that can be placed on Amazon for sale and will start putting them online next week. 


We are really working hard together and I think we have talked more about money in the past 2 weeks than we have in a long time.  I know that's not good but we have not gotten angry with each other.  We have remained supportive and realized we need to make some serious changes together.

I'm really excited to use some of the coupons I've clipped and see if I can have some good savings too!  I've been putting off buying some essentials so it will be nice to restock!

Again I really really appreciate all my blogger friends and their constant support.  I am so motivated to keep up the commitment to our financial future because I see your stories of struggle and inspiration to keep working on it!