I’ve gotten way behind on blogging. It is mostly due to wanting to post pics of the “after” of our yard. I blog in the middle of the night, so if I have forgotten to take pics during the day, I can’t really just run out and take some in the dark. It’s actually been raining recently too, which is weird. You don’t think about how strange rain and wet ground is until you have lived without for so long. The drought here is really bad still, but thankfully the rain kept them from issuing water ration regulations.
I have really been letting the housework get behind. I hate that too, because I can’t berate my husband for not keeping the lawn cleaned up and mowed etc if I can’t keep the dishes washed. Anyway, I’ve been totally addicted to this stupid video game Luxor2. But it’s gotten so difficult now (level 10) that it’s not as much fun. I have also been working on our finances a lot more. I’ve finally come to the realization that if my budgeting hasn’t worked to get us a new place for the last 16 years, maybe it’s time to try something new. I know, I’m so wise. We get paid this Saturday (Fri night basically), so that makes it a real pain to get the bills paid that need to be paid first.
You see, since we are true White Trash we have been using those Cash Advance places. You write a check for $230 and they give you $200. Then 14 days later you have to go in and give them $230 and they shred your check. Well, I have one out for $230 and one for $330, and it sucks. I HAVE to pay those in cash in order to be able to write new ones because I haven’t been able to deal without that $500, or even 300 or 200 yet. But the cash advance places aren’t open on Saturdays and Monday is a holiday and they will be closed then as well…. Oh wait a sec… since Monday is a holiday, our paychecks will actually come on Friday which means we’ll get them Thursday night. Woohoo! I can do my bill-payin’ on Friday and get the cash advances done first, since they have to paid in cash and all. Did I mention they’re a real pain?
So, basically our problems is this… we have a ton of small bills, many of which are unnecessary and others are needing to be paid off like last month. I can make a budget like nobody’s business. It looks all fancy and important on my computer with every single penny accounted for… then I get cash in my hands. This is probably why I went to school to be an accountant for other people. My husband’s useless with trying to get him to regulate money more. We can be on our way to pay the water bill so they turn it back on (happens a lot actually), and he’ll ask if we can stop and get lunch or go to the nearby Big City and go to a book store. (Did I mention my White Trash Husband has a degree in English and had a certificate to teach HS English?… I don’t often think about it on purpose..) So, since he was no help, I knew I had to find another way.
I have been emailing my old love from high school… oh calm down, we’re both married with a slew of kids and weren’t born stupid. He is however, quite well off, especially considering how he grew up. Five bedroom house with a pool, 3 brand new cars, putting one kid through college now, and even takes in foster kids since they don’t have little ones at home anymore. Ironically, he says he never asked me to marry him because he thought he wasn’t good enough for me and my now-husband had a bright future ahead of him… yeah don’t get me started on the regret road. I’ll never get off of it. So, anyway, I asked him what I should do. After we established we make too much money for Food Stamps or even reduced lunches anymore (they still haven’t changed that btw heehee) and he now understands that together, my husband and I make just under what he makes (yeah that’s depressing cause my husband just got a raise that almost tripled his old salary). He recommended we have a separate checking account for bills, and another one for groceries, gas and spending money, and then a savings account. Then set up our direct deposits to deposit a set amount into savings, and into the spending account, so the rest goes to bills. That way, bills always get paid. Most of them are set up on auto draft from that account already anyway. With this plan in place, I will feel confident enough to set up all my bills to be autodraft and know I can cover them. I will not be able to overspend in to the bill money because it will be a separate account. If I spend too much on shoes for the kids or work shirts for him or birthday presents, then it comes out of grocery and gas money which HURTS. And we don’t like that. So, definitely something I need to remember everytime I spend anymore.. think about how many Diet Pepsis and Salisbury steaks that will buy … just kidding.. but I am serious about the Diet Pepsi.
So this Friday, I will go pay those cash advances and get new ones (as much as I’d love to just pay them off and deal without getting new ones, I can’t yet) . Then go to the credit union and open a new checking account and put the amount of money in it I have budgeted for groceries, gas and spending for this week. I would also love to put money into my savings account Friday as well. I am going to be putting 10% in there from each check, but this week the hospital has gotten rather insistent about their bills. I have to pay off two of those (around $200 total) to keep them from going to collections and making our dismal credit even worse. They are bills we should have paid off weeks or even months ago, so it’s our fault we have to deal with this now. But it will feel really good to pay those off!
What’s really cool is I have budgeted the $90 for my 10 year old’s 4-H camp trip. It’s going in the bill account and I’ll send a check along to the school next week. This also goes for the $15 instructional fees we have to pay for 6 and 10. I already paid the ones for 16 and 12 since they refuse to give the kids lockers until they get their money. I really don’t think my parents were ever blackmailed when I was in school, but maybe they just never talked about it. Anyway, as nice as it is to have money to go out and grab something to eat when I’m too tired to cook or we’re running late.. or to be able to get 6 a slew of new clothes just because they’re an additional 40% off at Kmart… it’s even nicer to look at my budget and know that this time, those bills ARE going to get paid, and we will still have food in the house, gas in the van and a little left over for any little surprises. I’ve actually been thinking about putting half of the spending money into the savings account, but maybe I’ll just stick it in my sock drawer or something. I get the feeling I’ll be using it for school pictures or gym uniforms or something. It will be SO NICE to have some money in savings to take away the worry of stuff like that.
I know, you’re thinking, “But that’s how normal people live.” Well, I’m not normal… well, I don’t know. Maybe I really am, just very much a late bloomer to normalness.
I’ll update again soon with pics of the yard.
