ARGH!!!

I am so uber mad at myself right now!!! I cannot find my receipts from all of my Huggies purchases. I bought 9 packs of Huggies Diapers and two Huggies swim diapers... Yeah, laugh at me all you want, but that is $8.25 that I lost...Caregiver's Marketplace gives back 75 cents on each of the items I purchased. So frustrating!!! I just spent 30 minutes going through old shopping bags and receipts looking for them...no luck. I am pretty sure, as my sis Jamie says, I too will now lose sleep over this... I am so upset!!!

Rowan, my fishy...

Tonight we had Rowan's very first swim lesson; I was of course very nervous, since he has not been in a pool since last summer. Not to mention, he is seemingly fearless! Well, when we got there, I went dressed and ready. He was ready except for his swim diaper. That made the changing room ordeal a little less chaotic (anything helps). When we got to the pool, he wanted to jump right in. Out of everyone, we were the first in the pool. GOOD SIGN, good way to start! He did fantastic at first; he wanted to kick his feet holding on to my fingers. GREAT!!! He did absolutely fantastic...until it came time to go UNDER the water! LOL At this point, he freaked out a bit. I had him jumping off the side of the pool, and he liked that...until I let him go under...
Overall, he did really well, and I was really impressed!

Savings?

So, at the beginning of 2009, I was so pumped to do everything right! I really wanted to get our savings built up, pay off some debt, and learn to live more simplistic. I am proud to say that we are making some progress, but I am just not as motivated...merely three months into the year! Do not get me wrong, I by no means am living the high-life here in Jville... I need to get back on the wagon, and go at it with gazelle intensity again!!!
I think, when Jamie gets home, it will be much easier to live on a budget. For now, running three households, it is darn near impossible!!! Rowan and I are here in IL, Jamie is in Iraq, and we still have our house and expenses in Germany. I can't wait to cut the Germany expenses out. When Jamie is HOME, we will be able to cut back a lot on our spending...not to mention, we can do it together, which really is essential in a good financial plan. Jamie is a little bit more of a spender than I am. I much prefer to save, where Jamie would live paycheck to paycheck if it were up to him....luckily, IT ISN'T! :-)

my plans for when Jamie gets home:

1. maintain ONE vehicle, not two or three. I am used to being home all the time, so it won't bother me to be w/o a vehicle during the day. On days when we have something to do, I can get up and take Jamie to work...or he can carpool!

2. Get rid of the house phone (69.99/month). We ONLY have it b/c I need it to get calls from overseas.

3. Squeeze the overall budget a little tighter. Since he won't be in Iraq, and will be home for meals, I will be able to provide a cooked meal most of the time...rather than him grabbing BK every night!

With the money we do save from him being home, I would like to continue sending care packages overseas to the troops. More for us = more for them!!!!! :-)

WAGS DEAL:

Another good day of deals!!!

GLADE STARTER KIT: FREE
on sale for 3.99
used $4.00 MFC

4 Rolls of paper towels for $2 (used RR, no OOP)
FREE

8 Dove deodorant 99 cents EA
got $10 RR back
FREE PLUS OVERAGE

4 packs huggies at $10.00 each
used 4 $1 WAGS coupons
used 2 $3.00 off coupons
4/$30 and $10 RR back
4/$20 used RR to pay for

got two bottles of Benadryl and meds, used RR to pay for! WOOT

I will be sending in my receipts for 75 cents off each pack of Huggies, I bought 7 total!!! That's another $5.25 back in rebates. LOVIN IT!

TECHNOLOGY IDIOT?

I hate printable coupons! They NEVER work for me, and then it says I have reached the maximum allowed. I don't get it! Anybody else have this problem?

WAGS DEALS

I am totally excited about my Walgreens shopping tonight!!! Here is a brief summary, questions, just ask!

HUGGIES JUMBO DIAPERS $10.00
SPEND $25, GET $10 RR

I bought three packs = $30
Register Rewards = - $10.00
I used 3 1.50 MFC = -4.50
I used 3 $1.00 off Wags coupon (in coloring book) = - $3.00
-------------------------------------------
3 packs Huggies (96 diapers), for a total of $12.50 (13 cents/diaper!!!)

ADVIL PM 4.49
$2 RR
$1.50 off coupon from Insert
----------------------------------
.99

CREST PRO HEALTH TOOTH PASTE 2.49
$1 RR
1.50 MFC
----------------------------------
FREE PLUS OVERAGE!

Woot!!! Can't beat those deals. I also got a crazy random $2 RR...not sure how.

OOP = $26.48
Register rewards back = $15.00

total = $11.48

If only the doves deal had worked....see milkallergymom.blogspot.com for that bargain!!!

Oh little monkey boy...

Rowan is absolutely INSANE!!!!!!!!!!! For those of you who do not already know, we made a trip to the emergancy room AGAIN! He dove head-first off the bed onto the hardwood.

Anyway, thanks for all the calls and prayers...he is doing just fine, and is back to jumping off furniture...ahhhhhh

PAIN, pain, go away...

Okay, so the last couple of days have been awful... Yesterday I went back to my orthodontist, and got braces put back on my top eight front teeth. My front tooth just has a mind of its own, and doesn't want to cooperate! He is doing it for free, so I thought why not...get 'er done, right?

Also, I somehow managed to do something to my back. My shoulder blades literally feel like they are on FIRE, and have a weird numb sensation that I cannot really explain with words. So, after several hours of calling my doctor repeatedly, I got a prescription. I think I should have probably gone to the chiropractor...

Fun day!

Rowan and I have been fighting off some bug. Yesterday Rowan was running a temperature and not feeling so well. He was very grumpy all day! Then, this morning, I woke up with a major sore throat. I felt awful all morning and afternoon. Tonight I am feeling a little better, so I hope whatever it is, is going away!!! PRONTO!
Today, my friend Hope and her two little girls, Elise and Caroline, came over. We had a lot of fun talking and watching the kids play so well together. It was actually really nice to be able to just stay home all day! :-) I feel like we haven't really stopped all month. GO-GO-GO-GO-GO!!! I don't recall February always being like this???

Baby steps count!

Today, I took a HUGE step. I called all the credit card companies, and cancelled allll of our cards!!! I paid them all off while Jamie was in Iraq last time, but we had managed to pile up some CC debt on one card. I am very pleased to say that we are now CREDIT CARD DEBT FREE, and it feels freaking fantastic!!!

Cards we got rid of:
Capital one platinum
Macy's
Victoria's Secret Platinum angel
Sear's
Sam's
Express platinum
Limited Platinum
Kay's Jeweler

At our worst, we had over $5,000.00 on all the cards. We are now out of debt as far as credit cards are concerned!!!! CAN I GET A WHOOP WHOOP???

Secondly, I have applied to get our car loan through a local bank instead of through Chrysler financing. I am looking at dropping our interest rate from a WHOPPING 14% to 7%, much improvement, right? Also, we are taking it from a 6 year loan to a four year loan, and it will STILL lower our monthly payment by over $130.00. We will continue to pay the higher monthly payment, since we already have been. Hopefully we will get out of this loan much sooner than we had expected.

Yesterday, I ordered our annual FREE copies of our credit reports, so I am anxious to see our "FICA SCORES", hale the holy! :-)

We are taking desperate measures to get ourselves out of debt. We do not have anymore debt than the average American, but we like Dave Ramsey's theory, "Live like no one else today, so you can live like no one else tomorrow"...here is to a debt free tomorrow, my friends!

Our overall financial goal is to be debt free in 39 months. We are working our tail ends off to get it done!!! WHOOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!