DH and I normally charge every penny we spend and then pay off the credit card each month. We have done this for YEARS. Although we have the cash to pay it off each month, we know that this does assist in our needless spending sprees at times...

Last week, we were talking and decided to try all cash for a month to see if it would make any difference. We also wanted to try to cut our unnecessary spending at the same time. It's been a week and there really is a huge difference in mentality. It's so tough to hand over the cash instead of the plastic. But once you make the commitment, it really is not that difficult to just say no to mindless purchases. For example, I took the girls to the mall yesterday. They each had $25 to spend of their own money that they earned from our recent yard sale so we thought we'd go and see what they might want. I found the most perfect summer cardigan sweater that was on sale for $12. I was so tempted to get it, but I ended up putting it down and walking away. I asked myself if the sweater was a necessity and the answer was clearly NO, so it was easy peasy... (not really), but I did it! The girls didn't find anything that was a must have either so we all left the mall with absolutely no needless purchases....... and it felt great! And what's better, I still have my cash in my pocket.

Anyone try to buy a short sale house before?

Ok, I've said it a million times before but this time I really mean it! We found the house of our "dreams"...

Let me give some history first. About 5 years ago, we were moving due to a job relocation. The new job was in the same town as family so we stayed with family as we were looking for a home of our own. As I flipped through real estate magazines and the online MLS, I kept getting drawn back to one particular house. It met a lot of our criteria except for one thing --- price! It was much too expensive for us. I even told my MIL one time that if the price would decrease into our budget range at all, I would buy the house without even looking at the inside of it. The location of the house and the topography of the lot itself sold me on it. Alas, the house price never dropped so we ended up buying the house we currently live in (and are trying to sell).

Fast forward to the present. The house from way back then has been on the market since we first saw it 5 years ago! I love looking through the MLS listings as a hobby so I've noticed it on there all this time --- again, the price never budging. But, lo and behold, what do I see now? The price of the house has dropped over $150k in one sh'bang! It is now subject to a short sale with bank approval. DH and I went out to finally take a peek into our "forever" home. It needs A TON of work... the house had been vacant since that fateful day 5 years ago when I first noticed it for sale. Needless to say, it needs a lot of TLC. It was built in 1981 but looks pitiful now. The roof has to be replaced, the carpets in the bedrooms are hideous, there is wallpaper everywhere, and don't even get me started on the bathrooms! But, now that I've seen the inside of it, I love it even more! I can see the potential in it and think it would be a showstopper once we get done fixing it back up.

So, although the price has come down $150k from the original listing price, DH and I still think it's a bit overpriced for the sad condition it is in. We would be willing to buy it for another $100k off the current asking price. Would anyone out there have any experience dealing and negotiating with potential short sale offers??? I don't want to waste anyone's time if the banks don't even consider lowering the price anymore than what is listed --- but really, this is the one!!

Ack, what to do?? Ok, some back history. We tried selling our house for 2 years and had no offers. We took the house off the market for 6 months to take a break. We started asking for $349k and ended up our last listing price at $299k... Granted, we did start too high on the price for the market that we were in but settled on a price that is very fair -- but still no offers, so we pulled it off the market. Now that it is Spring, we are thinking about putting it on again.

Our past realtors were without a better term popping into my head right now, sucky. They just listed the house and didn't do much of anything else. We found another realtor that has come highly recommended... we met with him last week and he did a market analysis (CMA) on our house. If you've been following my blog, you know that we just installed granite in our kitchen... so, with that improvement, we really think we have an edge over the competition in our price range. DH and I thought we would stay at the $299k price as our listing price. After the CMA, the new realtor suggested listing it at $289k.... BUT in all honesty, the houses he compared to ours are nowhere near what ours has to offer. There just aren't too many sold houses he can compare ours to. So, he's comfortable in putting it on at $299k if that is what we still want to do. The bottom line that we are willing to sell for is $290k.

So, should we or shouldn't we try to sell the house again? DH and I just don't like it --- there is no other reason to sell. We both have stable jobs and we don't need to move anywhere. We've just HATEd our house since the day we moved in 5 years ago. If we end up at our bottom of $290k, we'd make zippo, and actually lose money really. We bought the house for $288k in 2006 (brand new) and put in $20k in improvements (granite and driveway/retaining wall work), so we've got $308k in the house. However, DH and I don't really consider the $20k we put into the house as additional cost for the house because those things were done to make the house more "liveable" for us. We wouldn't have to come to the table with any cash as our mortgage balance is low enough to where we will still have a bit of cash from the sale after the mortgage is paid.

So, what would you do? Would you go with the financially correct decision and just stay put? Or, would you do what would make you and the family happy and take a slight loss on the house?

Here's a pic of my new sink and granite counters.... I absolutely love how everything turned out! We got them installed yesterday and tonight the realtor is coming over to start the process of listing our house (again). Wish us luck!!

Ok, we tried selling our house last year with no luck. We want to try it again beginning April 1. We decided to get rid of our laminate countertops and get granite installed. The cost will be $3800. Cross your fingers and toes that this will make the difference and that our house will sell this time around. We are doing the demo in the kitchen this weekend and should have the install done within 10 days, ready for our April 1 listing date. And... if the house doesn't sell, then I get to enjoy brand new granite countertops!

Spring fever must be hitting me right now. I am in the mood to clean out my house and straighten up my life. For the past week, I've organized my closets, cabinets, and junk drawers. I have found a whole year's supply of contacts that I now remembered ordering and stashing so that I didn't have to go back to the eye doctor for another year. I totally forgot about these and I was going to place an order within the next month or so! I found 2 full size brand new containers of DH's favorite hair gel. I've donated bags of stuff to Goodwill. I've thrown away so much clutter that has literally just sat in our house for the past 5 years. It feels great! I highly recommend everyone to find a drawer or closet and get at it! I did an area each night for a week and it was painless.

A 2011 financial goal was to reach the $20,000 mark in our E-fund. I deposited a $100 credit card reward check today bringing the balance up to.... drum roll.... $20,049.28!!!!!!!! Now, let's cross our fingers that we won't see any kind of emergencies for a while so that I can enjoy seeing that awesome number. Wahoo!!!

Other random updates:
I gave my sister a blank check for her birthday payable to her power company. She's the one that is in a huge financial mess. The bill was for $210.55. I asked her how much of the bill was for late fees and penalties and she didn't even know the answer to that... it's quite sad. But, oh well, it's nice to be able to help her when I can (I only give her money for holidays instead of buying her nonsense so as to not try to enable her family's bad money habits). She did tell me that she went and applied for food stamps and other family aid which is about time in my opinion.

My co-worker is making great progress on her financial situation. She made it through Christmas without having to charge a dime. There are still a few debts that she has left to pay off but I see her getting to the finish line within the next year or two.

Ok, so I've always been interested in investing in real estate. I've blogged about possibilities before on here but have never actually taken the plunge to go for anything. A family friend, who has a lot of experience in real estate investing, referred me to government foreclosures as a possibility. This was back in November. I got wrapped up in the Holidays and hadn't really had a chance to follow up or look for any foreclosures but long story short, after taking a peek today, I see that there is a foreclosure up for auction next week! The gov't bid is listed at $26k, whatever that means. I have a lot of research still left to do but my mind is racing with the opportunity to get a decent house for so cheap. I know the area and I know exactly where the house is --- nice family neighborhood. I'd estimate the retail value of the house at around $90-$100k. I'm going to talk to my friend tonight to get more guidance about the process. He started out with a government foreclosure and so he'll know what to do... Maybe this will be the one for us??

We had been saving $1,000 per month into savings (short-term, mid-term, and retirement). I just got online to all our accounts and increased everything to $1,500 per month. I think we can do more but let's see how this feels for a few months.

We also are going to start paying extra on our mortgage... just to round it up from $1,652 to $1,700 each month which is just $48 so no biggie. We used to pay a few hundred extra per month when we first got the mortgage but then scaled back to the regular monthly payment amount when we were trying to sell our house. Now that it looks like we'll be here for a while, I figured we'd start paying a little extra just because.

Some things I look forward to in 2011:

1. Reaching the $20,000 mark in our e-fund.
2. Would love to be 100-105 lbs! Before you think that is outrageous, please be aware that I am very petite and this would be normal (but on the lean side) for someone like me. I have thus far cut out soda (except for one can twice a week -- long story) which is going to help tremendously. I am trying to fit in some exercise too... so far, so good.
3. Cook at home more/eating out less. This has been working out pretty well thus far.

Ok, so I can't believe it's been nearly 3 months since I last posted. Things have been absolutely crazy around here and so I have a lot of catching up to do in blogland!

An update on my co-worker's situation. I started working with her on Oct 1 to straighten out her finances. Good news --- she's paid off two small credit card balances, one medical bill, and most importantly, the debt she had with her son (she'd borrow money from him from time to time to keep herself afloat). She has also put aside $820 in her savings account which she says is the first time she's ever saved anything. $600 of this is for Christmas and the rest is for buying new tires for her car. She still has a long way to go to pay off her debts but she's made huge progress in the couple of months I've been guiding her through. We meet about 2-3 times a month to make sure that she stays on track and for me to basically hold her hand... she still can't figure out what to pay first, how much to pay, or anything like that so I give her a roadmap everytime we meet.

Ok, now the big news on my side of things is that DH and I are considering going to NYC over New Year's. Isn't that just crazy to even think about being in all that chaos? But, we were looking at our work schedules and the kids' school calendar and wouldn't you know that we have a ton of time off available. My sister has offered to watch the kids for us so it'll just be a trip for the two of us which hasn't happened.... ever! So, I hop online and look at rates-- it will cost about $2500 for airline and hotel for 5 nights. Yikes! It would be cheaper if we didn't want to stay right near Times Square but this will be a trip of a lifetime for us so we thought we'd splurge a bit more than what we normally would do. With eating and shopping money, the trip will probably be around $3500. Anybody ever been to NY? Anything to look out for or suggestions on where to stay, eat, or do?

DH and I can't decide on whether to use our "extra" money to put as a down payment on a piece of investment property or to use the money to pay for the installation of a heat pump/air condition unit for our house?? The property we are looking at is listed for $79k. It's an older brick home that we plan on spending about $10k to renovate and then either rent it or sell it (whichever comes first). I have always wanted to get into real estate investment and have been looking for something, almost daily, over the past few years. We'd offer $60k on it and go no more than $65k.

OR, we can pony up around $8k to install AC in our house. We currently live in the mountains where it only gets really hot about 2 months out of the year. We've lived in our house for 4 years now and haven't really thought about installing a whole house unit until this year. Since the tax credit will be expiring this Dec, we thought we'd look into it now. We currently have two window units for the bedrooms and that works out nicely for sleeping in comfort. But, the main living spaces do get pretty hot when it gets over 85 degrees outside.

So, we have to decide if:

(1) We take this chance to jump into the real estate investment arena (the recession hasn't really hit our area at all in terms of dropping real estate prices). If we get that house for $60k, we'd put 20% down or $12k. It would take about $10k to fix it up which puts our total investment in at about $22k. The mortgage would be approx. $350 per month and we could easily rent the place out for $700 per month bringing us a gross profit of $350 per month. Or, we could try to sell it for around the $110k price which is lower than the prices of the neighborhood bringing us a profit, before fees, of $28k.

OR (2) we can take $8k and invest it in our own home to install AC. We currently use gas forced air (propane) and the yearly cost of propane for us is about $1k. I'm told the cost for heating the house with a heat pump will save us tremendously in heating costs over the course of the year. And, there is that little thing of comfort during the hot months with the AC available. We had our house for sale for 2 years and just took it off the market with absolutely zero offers. So, we can enjoy the heat/AC now and it would be an additional selling point when we do put it back on the market next year.

I know the common sense approach is probably to go with option 2 and get the AC unit but my gut keeps telling me to not let this investment property go... I want to definitely start small and not get in over my head with real estate investing and this particular property will allow me to do just that.

Thoughts?

DH sold some more of his "A" stuff and has $1400 to do with as he pleases. He wants to use this money to buy a 2009 Honda Ruckus (basically it is a moped) that he's found on craigslist. The guy is asking $1700 for it which is right around the book value for it. DH is going to meet up with him tomorrow to see the bike and if he likes it, I told him to offer the guy $1400 cash as a firm offer since that's how much he's got. DH thinks that is not enough, that $1500 would be more reasonable and then they might settle in the middle at $1600. DH has never been a good negotiator so I'm afraid that he'll sway from a firm $1400 price (if he really likes the bike). I mean, it's not like we don't have the extra $200 for this but... you know how our budget conscious frugal minds work here on SA! At $1400, that is like a discount of 18% off the asking price... anyone have this kind of luck negotiating a deal before with a purchase off of craigslist?

I am weighing in at 115 lbs this morning... the least I've weighed since having children 11 years ago! However, this means I have 7-9 lbs left to lose to reach my target weight of 106-108 lbs and I just have 23 days to do it... guess it won't be happening unless I step into high gear and exercise like a crazy woman each day until then. {{Insert Big Sigh}}

Let's see what determination can do these next 23 days!

1. We decided not to move forward with the lot purchase idea. We just couldn't justify paying anywhere near the $99k they are asking for just a 0.5 acre lot. Even if they took $60k for it, my mother told me that it was still way too much to pay for such a small piece of land. We'll keep an eye on it and see what kind of activity actually happens on it though.

2. We are moving closer toward buying a small fixer-upper though as a rental (then a flip once the market really picks up). We have decided to focus on the neighboring county which has much lower property values and finding a house listed between $80-$100k. We have lined up with our realtor to look at 5 houses on Sat that fit this criteria so we'll see.

So, anyway, these are the decisions we've made today... who knows what we'll decide on tomorrow though {{wink}}. Aahh, the joys of real estate.

3. We have another scheduled showing tomorrow. So, in 3 weeks, that will make 5 showings. Activity is definitely picking up but now it's just a matter of someone making an offer on our house! C'mon, people! Whatcha waiting for?

I'm continually searching for something to invest in and I've got my eyes on a piece of property. My main criteria is that it's got to be flat and accessible (we live in the mountains). I've run across a listing that has been on the market for nearly a year now. It's smack dab in the middle of town and is flat as a pancake. We would build a nice but not extravagant house on it for us to grow old in...

Only problem is that the price is outrageous... they are asking $99k for this 0.53 acre lot!

Looking straight at the lot from the road (the lot is basically all the high grass that you see)



Looking at the lot with the neighboring house on the left (for your frame of reference of how the lot lays flat when the tall grass is mowed)


The house is in a neighborhood so I don't have to worry about major traffic issues and as you can see, it's super flat. There are also no trees to remove or any grading that has to be done.

The kicker is that a development company bought this lot back in 2007 for exactly $100k. I don't want to pay anymore than $60k for it but I know they'll just laugh at me. Sigh.

Added: I found a picture of the lot with the grass mowed down.

Ok, our scheduled second showing came and went. DH got home and saw that no one had been in the house. All the lights were on and nothing was touched. He was so upset because of all the effort we put into this showing. I emailed our realtor to see if she had heard anything about why the other realtor and her clients didn't bother to come like they were supposed to. Heard nothing all night. This this morning, I checked my email and see a feedback form from the other realtor. Apparently, the clients were supposed to look at 2 houses yesterday, ours and another, both second showings. After they saw the other one for their second time, they decided to go ahead and put in an offer on that one! The deciding factor was that it was in town and ours is not (ours is just 4 miles outside of town). Geez --- another opportunity to sell is gone and now we are back to square one. At this point, it feels as if we'll never sell this house! UGH! How frustrating!

Stuff we did for the showing today (second visit for this family)-

Outside: I bought 3 hanging baskets to put around the front covered porch. I bought a new plant to put in the flower garden (there was an empty spot there where I had to remove a dead plant)... 3 bags of mulch later, the flower garden looks great! DH weedeated the entire yard and some of our neighbor's too. He then spent about an hour cleaning up the gravel coming onto our driveway from our neighbor's driveway - weird situation here where we share a main driveway which is paved but the neighbor's didn't want to pave their part of the driveway going to their house so there's always gravel traveling down the shared main driveway. The neighbors just don't take care of their yard like we do so we have to do it a lot of the time.

Inside: All the rooms are tidy and clean. No clutter anywhere. I bought some fresh cut flowers to put in the kitchen. I set out some individually packaged snacks, candy, and water on the dining table with a printed note saying "Thank you for considering this great house as YOUR next HOME! Please enjoy the refreshments." I cleaned all the bathrooms, no clothes in the washer or dryer, no dishes in the dishwasher, and most of the cabinets have been straightened up nicely.

Now, we just have to wait until 2:00 when the showing is scheduled. I really, really, really want this to be a success with an offer attached to it! Pretty please with a cherry on top!

We have a second showing scheduled for tomorrow! Cross your fingers for us that these folks love every square inch of the house and want to put in an offer after looking at it again.

Back story on this family. They are from out of town. The husband is starting this fall with our local university and so that is why they are moving into the area. Our house has all 3 bedrooms on the second story and they liked having them all together since they have one small child and another on the way (instead of the more popular master on the main level floor plan). They also indicated after they saw the house the first time that they liked our finished open basement area since it provided them an extra family room space. When they came through town the last time, they looked at 14 houses and picked their top 3 (one of which was ours), so we made the first cut and that is why they are coming back to look at ours again.

I'm so excited for the possibility of how this may turn out. I'm going to buy some fresh flowers for the porch and for the inside of the house today. DH mowed the yard 2 days ago which is awesome since we've had rain the past couple of days and today as well. With a thorough cleaning tonight, we should be good to go. Can you guys think of anything else I could do to make our house stand out tomorrow?

Wow, at this rate, I'll be at a slim 106 lbs on my target date of July 22. Now, I realize that this may be that initial weight loss that will eventually stabilize itself out as I go along, but I'm still excited. I am trying to work out at least 30 minutes if not an hour each day and so far so good. I'm also watching my portion size.

It's amazing how it all just boils down to will power and determination. That's the way it is with me... if I 100% commit myself to doing something, it'll get done. I can't just want to do something half way--- else it'll never get done.

I just registered our family for a 5k race that is happening in a couple of weeks. It's $25 for each person, which for us means $100. Yes, this sounds like a lot but it is going towards cancer research so I think, if anything, it'll help our kids to understand that sometimes we need to give to good causes (even if it seems like a lot of money) when we can. We'll just cut back somewhere else in our budget this month.

1. DH and I agreed to a "no spend week" starting today, Monday, through this Friday. We are going to see if we can make it through 5 days of absolutely no cash going out at all. Our cupboards are full, the cars have about half a tank of gas each, and we don't have anything pressing to worry about this week. Cross your fingers!

2. I started on May 22 to buckle down and lose the last 10 pounds that I need to before our beach trip in July. I even put on my 2-piece suit and had DD take my "before" picture! Ugh. I'm at 118 lbs now and want to reach 108 (better yet 105) before July 22 rolls around. So far so good. On Sat, May 22, I started out running (and walking) in a 5k race. Then on Sun morning, I worked out with Fit TV for an hour and took the kids to the local park with the dog -- walked for another hour or so. Then this morning, I worked out with Fit TV for half an hour and will be running at the kids' track practice tonight for another hour. Believe me, I'm not a runner but I am intent on losing these stubborn pounds. Last April 2009, I got on the exercise regime and lost 15 pounds putting me at my current 118 so I can't complain. At least I've been able to maintain that weight for a year and didn't gain it all back... now I just need to lose that last 10 and I'll be good to go!

3. I have such a positive outlook on my life right now and it feels so good. We paid off all our non-mortgage debt just last week or so and look forward to June when we can start saving our money more instead of sending our money to creditors. No car loans, no credit card debts, no personal or student loans - life is good

Ok, so I got my MBA in Dec 09 with the intention to further my professional opportunities with it. I got a $2500 raise at work because of it which I'm so grateful for... and now with my MBA, I am qualified to be an adjunct (part-time) instructor at our local community college. So, I just mailed off the application and my transcripts. I indicated that I want to teach accounting or business administration courses... I think it would be a nice challenge and something different for me to explore -- I could teach at nights/weekends and this wouldn't interfere with my "real" job. Heck, it can't be that hard, can it? Does anyone out there do this too? I would enjoy the challenge and of course, the extra income would be cool too.

Please send your positive energy our way. We've had our house listed for 2 years now and no offers. The feedback has consistently been that the house is wonderful, priced well, and in excellent condition. So, why no offers? Who knows? We had a showing last Friday evening but no hopes of that one turning out in our favor (the realtor said the buyer liked another one better that they say that same night).

However, we just got a call from our realtor that there is going to be another showing tomorrow at noon. Please, please, please let this be the one! We are just tired of having to clean the house (and we clean it up spotless for every showing) and not 'living' in it, you know? We are very fortunate for NOT HAVING to have to sell the house due to any financial hardships or anything like that so we know that we are inconveniencing ourselves and it's our own faults since we DON'T HAVE to move anywhere. But, we just WANT to move... alas, the house is on the market and we aren't going to give it away by undercutting the price way low, so on with the inconveniences.

We visited my parents this weekend (they live just 30 minutes away) and had a conversation about their next door neighbor's house. The lady that owns that house is very elderly and hasn't lived in the house for years now. She lives with a daughter somewhere and her kids just pitch in to have the yard taken care of and they come and take care of the inside of the house every other week or so. My mom has been eyeing this house because she wants us to buy it when/if the family ever gets around to selling it since it's a great house. Well, we've had this conversation many times over the years and I've always replied that it would be too much of a commute for us (we currently live 5 minutes away from our jobs). However, this weekend, my mom said that SHE would buy the house if we would live in it and take care of it. We wouldn't have any mortgage or rent at all and could bank that expense into our long-range savings goals. Needless to say, I got excited over this prospect even with the 30 minute commute issue. Hmmm... just something to think about!

First, let me say that I absolutely hate running. My theory throughout life is that I will only run if something or someone was chasing me! Well, last night during the kids' track practice, DH and I decided that we would actually run a little (gasp)! We've walked during their practices which has been great but for whatever reason, I felt motivated to run last night. So, 4 laps on the track is equal to one mile and that is what I did. Granted I didn't run the entire 4 laps at once but broke it down into manageable pieces, 1 lap of running, 1 lap of walking, and repeat. We did a total of 3 miles last night. Anyway, what an accomplishment for me! Heck, I may keep trying to run a mile during each track practice (twice a week) and before summer, I might actually be in pretty good shape. I turn 35 years old tomorrow so maybe this will help slow down the aging process for me... ha ha. The ladies at work made me brownies today for my b-day which were so good! This counteracts the running I did last night but who cares? The family is going to participate in the girls' school fundraiser tomorrow which is a 5k race/walk so see, it all evens out... Life is a balancing act, isn't it? So, even though my birthday isn't until tomorrow, I plan to welcome it with open arms and look forward to another 35 great years!

It was a such a nice evening last night. After we cleaned up from dinner, we all went outside to play in the nice weather. The girls were playing with the dog and DH and I ended up sitting on the small bank that overlooks our house watching the activity. We ended up talking about all the things we'd like to do with the outside of the house (flower beds, retaining walls, building steps alongside the banks) - that is if we were to remain living here (the house is on the market). Of course, all these things will cost money so we probably won't end up doing much of what we talked about. We also talked about how we will be debt free, except for the mortgage, for the first time in about 4 years, as soon as I make our final payment to the 0% credit card in May. The 0% rate ends July 1 and I'd like to pay it off within plenty of time to ensure no timing problems. The current balance is $20,000. It will be hard to part with that much cash, but it will be fantastic to be debt free. We had been setting aside $1,000 each month to pay toward this credit card and will continue paying the $1,000 to ourselves once the card is paid off. It's a great feeling to see the light at the end of this tunnel.

Our house is listed via a flat-fee realtor for the MLS exposure but I also had listed our house on the for sale by owner website. I just received a request from FSBO from someone interested in seeing our house. Anyone here ever showed their own house before? I'm wondering if it would be best to just let them wander around the house by themselves. I know that when I look at places, I enjoy being able to walk about and take my time looking without the constant babbling from a realtor or owner behind my shoulder. Anyway, wish me luck!

We are thinking about going to Hawaii for the first time this July.

Lots of questions:

1) Is July a good month to go or will there be way too many tourists to contend with?

2) Which island should we fly to?

3) Where should we stay? Oceanfront would be just grand!

4) Do we need a rental car?

5) Is food expensive in Hawaii?

6) What is a must-do or must-see there?

We have a family of 4 and desire to go somewhere "tropical" this summer. If anyone has been to Hawaii and has any suggestions for us, that would be so great...or if you think we should go somewhere else, just let us know... thanks!

We just bought a Wii bundle last night from a gal selling it off craigslist. Very very nice system, hardly used at all. Did we need this? No, but it sure will help us with our healthy initiative for our family. Spent $300 for the console, accessories, games, etc. Thanks to all of you on the forums for helping me to negotiate to a fair price!

In keeping with my March goal of not shopping for clothes --- I walked away from Goodwill last night empty handed. I had an hour of time to kill so I thought I would stop in and see what they had. Oh, I found lots of stuff that I could have definitely bought but since I made myself that goal of not buying clothes this month, I just said NO. Then this morning, I get an email from my absolute favorite store where I buy clothes for work. They are having a 50% off sale. I went to their website and added some things to my cart. Then, I just said NO. Man, was that painful! But, here I am with no new clothes and I'm just fine. Guess I'll live.

1. Received our federal tax refund of $963 today in our account! Geez, that was fast!

2. DH got another $434 transferred to our savings account from his sales of 'A'. That makes the total now $7,434 in that account (goal use of the money is still undetermined right now).

3. Our contract with the flat-fee realtor expired March 1. The renewal fee with her was supposed to be $200 for another 6 months but she surprised us by offering to renew the listing for free --- we took her up on it, of course!!

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I have to say that life is pretty good right now. Financially, we are in a fairly strong position (for us) and I am very grateful for what we have. Sure, we can definitely do things to save more money toward this or that... we all can and should. However, we all know that life just gets in the way and what we should do is not necessarily what gets done. So, all in all, for our little family, I can't complain too much from a financial standpoint.

I've decided to get naked with all of you and post exactly what we have (and don't have) for the first time:

Debt -
Mortgage $268,000
Credit Card (@0%) $21,000
Total Debt = $289,000

Savings (NON-retirement) -
Mutual Funds $10,000
Emergency Fund $13,000
Short-term Savings Fund $1,500
Savings Fund (DH's sales) $7,400
Total Savings = $31,900

We so need to increase our savings and have done so steadily over the last couple of years. We currently have $970 taken out automatically each month from our checking to our savings accounts which is a huge increase over just a few years ago. This equates to about 15% of our NET monthly income so I guess that's about right? I would love to increase it to $1200 sometime this year but can only do so if DH and I get raises this July... chances are unlikely as our state's budget crisis continues but we'll see.

Non-financial:
Just signed up with our workplace healthy "Be Active" group - Starting March 1, we are all taking the initiative to move more. DH and I are a smidgen away from buying a Wii bundle from someone so that would definitely help us get up off the couch. And, I will make a conscious effort to walk around our office building more during the day rather than just keeping myself parked behind my desk all day. I'm motivated to begin as I need to shed about 10 pounds before June! Also, our DD has been signed up with a program called Girls on the Run for a couple of weeks now. At the end of April, she will be running a 5K and parents are encouraged to run with the girls... so I need to be in shape for that too!

Financial:
*Getting our federal tax refund next week - money will go straight to our savings. Our state refund will be delayed a while because of state cash flow issues. Thank goodness I don't ~need~ the money right now.
*NO spending for clothing/accessories: Every member of the family is just fine with what they have so I'm making it a goal to not buy a stitch of clothing for anyone in March (I usually am a sucker for sales but I must just say NO!)
*Gotta spend some money to get the dog groomed. He's needing his nails trimmed and I've tried to do it myself but am afraid to go too deep. Haven't had him groomed since we got him back in August so guesstimating it might be around $30?
*March is a long month til pay day (4.5 weeks) UGH!! Going to have to curtail the daily spending for food, gas, etc so that our credit card bill won't be excessive once it comes due as we charge EVERYTHING.
*Our DD is going in the middle of March for an orthodontic consultation. I know she needs braces but am hoping that it can be delayed a bit longer --- she's only 8 years old, for heaven's sake. If not, I guess it's another few thousand that we'll have to cough up. Her baby teeth aren't falling out quickly enough but her adult teeth are trying to come on through so there may be extraction costs -- poor thing has always had 'bad' teeth (from dad's side).
*Hoping that DH will be able to sell the rest of his "A" stuff which will give us hopefully another $3K. We've made $7K thus far and that would be super nice to reach the $10K mark!

Our house has been on the market for nearly a year and a half. NOTHING is selling in our county at all so this isn't out of the ordinary for our area. Of course the neverending snow that we've gotten since Christmas is not helping our situation at all these past few months. Anywho, we got a showing this past Sat (the first one in 4 months!). Even though our driveway was not driveable with the 2 feet of snow in it, the realtor and her client still wanted to come see the house. So, we got the feedback today from the showing and it sounds so promising. The realtor showed her client several houses that day and says that ours is her favorite. The client is finalizing a job opportunity in our county and once that comes to fruition, she will move forward on buying a house. Please send us your positive thoughts, well wishes, and good luck charms! We really want to sell our house and move forward with other real estate ventures.

As I've posted before, my DH is a super sweetheart but he has one financial weakness --- he is extremely OCD when it comes to his interests. Once he gets to liking something, he goes "hog wild" and has to buy everything ever made of that whatever. Well, over the past couple of years, he's bought a ton of stuff related to what I will call "A". Let me tell you that he's probably spent a good $7K or more on all this stuff. And what's worse is that the company that promotes "A" comes out with a new product every month or so with each item costing at least $200 and up! It's crazy. Dear DH finally realizes a few days ago that he just can't keep up with all the new releases and decides to just keep his most favorite pieces and to sell the rest! He's sold $4K worth in just 2 days! And, he's only a third through his stash! He's aiming to make around $10K once he's done with it all. We are keeping the money and deciding whether to put it down on buying the rental property we've been talking about or going on a super nice vacation with the kids this summer. I will leave the final decision to him as he's sacrificing a lot in selling all his stuff. I'm very proud of him -- this is a very huge deal as he's extremely emotionally attached to "A".