Mortgage for May

Balance $134,300.00
+$545.59 Interest
+$345.57 Escrow
-$1286.00 Regular Payment
-$505.16 Principle Payment
New Balance $133,400.00

Additional Principle Payments 2010 = $2663.25
Current Position on Mortgage Amortization Schedule....April 2015...4 years and 11 months ahead of schedule!

Current Total = $7,430.00
+$50.00 EF from paycheck (me)
+$50.00 Vacation from paycheck (me)
+$50.00 EF from paycheck (DH)
+$50.00 Vacation from paycheck (DH)
+$100.00 Retirement Hold Account
+$5.00 HSBC Interest
New Total = $7,735.00

I am SICK of this back and forth/up and down with the savings and I just want it to go up, up, up! We have a new game plan in life for the next few years at least and want to save as much as we can in the interim.
We did really, really well at not eating out in April. We did eat out just a few times, but only 3 and this was a vast improvement over any normal months. We are planning on doing the same thing again for May.

Week Five
Pounds Lost this week = 1
Total pounds lost = 2
% weight loss = 1.17%
Place = 7th out of 8 people
Total down since original BL = 4

A little less then a month left so I better get my tail in gear!

Current Total = $9,655.00
-$28.00 To ROTH IRA
-$300.00 Casino (Emotional Spending)
-$1900.00 Checking
+$3.00 Even Out Amount
New Total = $7,430.00

UGH! Got some very upsetting news on the medical front yesterday. And to drown my sorrows DH and I went to the casino.....DUMB! Lost $300. So irritated at us. Besides that I have been consistently transferring money from savings to checking when it was needed, and then as soon as I got paid I would transfer it right back to savings......well this was going ok for awhile as I was always putting the money back into savings. But each paycheck the amount going back and forth kept getting bigger and bigger. And now it is almost $2K (which is about what our paychecks are combined) so that is not working and was never a good plan to begin with. I always transfer little amounts here and there to savings to even out accounts, or to get to milestones, and pay as much as we can to the mortgage, and if we go to the bar or the casino or whatever I always take it out of checking and I never compensate that amount from savings. So I keep digging this hole in the checking account. Err.....really the resolution to this is simple = BUDGET. I am just bad with coming to terms with "No you can not put $20 more in savings, you do not have $20 more in checking" or "I am putting $400 extra to the mortgage, but if I pay $500 that will get us to the next $1000 mark" so I just do it and don't think about "where" exactly the money is going to come from, until my checking is a blackhole! We are not overdrawn because our major bills (Discover that we put all of our expenses on and pay in full each month, and our mortgage) coinside with paydays, so at the bank it does not look bad....only in my checkbook register. I always think about how the next paycheck will cover this, and then the next one and the next one.....but it caught up to me now, so I had to transfer the $1900 to checking just to get caught up.....still not much breathing room though.

I had some coupons I snagged from the coupon box at work and think we did pretty darn good!

Target
$1.00 off Herbal Essences
-Bought the economy size bottle that is cheaper per ounce, plus used the coupon to save even more
Buy a 36-60ct Tampax, get a 18-20ct box FREE
-Bought the 54ct economy size box and got $3.99 20ct box FREE

JCPenney
DH has been needing new jeans for some time, he alwasy rips the butt pockets out from keeping his wallet in that pocket! I also have been trying to keep a pair of flipflops I have had since highschool....they are my FAVORITE....cause they are so comfy, but the heel of it is literally worn down to the ground so I have been looking for some that look comfy for a long time.
2 pr jeans
-Reg $30 each, on sale for "2 for $38", plus a $10 off coupon....Total came out to $13.16 a piece so really even better then if they were BOGO free
4 pr flipflops
-Reg $12 per set of 2 pr flip flops. On sale for $5.99 per 2 pr set, plus a $10 off coupon...came out to $1.97 total for 4 prs flipflops! .48 per pair!

Really happy with the shopping today! How can you beat .48 cents a pair for cute flipflops!
Total cash savings today = $60.81
and we only spent $43.80!

I referred my little bro to my bank a few months ago so was eligible for a free gift. They didn't have any gifts that I wanted at the time, so I hung on to the coupon till now. They had an 18 piece barbeque set that I picked up and am really happy with it! It came with the cleaning brush, tongs, large barbaque knife and fork, corn on the cob holders, cabob skewers, basting brush, and spatula, they all have nice wooden handles and came in a plastic case with a handle.
We were waiting to pick up a cleaning brush and some utensils for a grill, so I am happy we got something so useful for free!

Current Total = $9,630.00
+25.00 Home Improvement Fund
New Total = $9,655.00

Now that our TV is paid off we are moving the $25 a month we were paying to the TV to savings for Home Improvements. It's not a lot, but at least it's something.

We bought our home in 2007 and very slowly are working and adding little improvements, some are actual improvements to the home, and some are just comforts to us, but I still consider them improvements.

2007
New Roof
New Living Room couch and 2 recliners
King Mattress
Flat sceen TV and Stand
Patio Furniture

2008
Grill
New patio door blinds

2009
New hot tub cover

2010
New blinds for living room and bedroom
Remodeled downstairs bathroom...working on it!

We are trying to do projects slowly as we save up for them. No "KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES" for us!
We should be 100% done with the bathroom remodel within a few weeks at the longest. We are trying to decide what to tackle next.....here are some of our proposed projects:
Underground sprinkler system
New lawn mower
New washer/dryer
New dishwasher
New bedroom set
New family room furniture (downstairs)
Fix fireplace
Fix doorbell
Fix porchstep
Fix and paint lattice under deck
Put plastic under rock beds
Guess we have our work cut out for us!

Well I think we are finally done with all of the purchasing for our bathroom remodel. Had to buy a ton of "little" items to get this done!
So I went to Menards with my Dad (he is super cheap too, yeah!) and he helped me get everything I need.
Toilet Cap $1.49
Wood Putty $2.98
Black Shower Curtain $3.49
Putty Knife $3.98
Trowels (3) $5.34
Shower Hooks $5.96
Shower Rod $7.98
Glue for glassboard $9.97
Orange Peel $12.74
Toilet Seat $12.99
Linoleum Glue $13.75
Floor Fill $14.87
Sheet Rock (2 pieces) $16.58
Glass Board $24.97
Shower Head and Fixture $109.00
Total at Menards with tax is $259.08
+Shower $200(got last year)
+Linoleum $45
+Bathroom Decor Free (gift)
= $504.08
So I am already over my bathroom budget of $500. Good news about the above purchases was I applied for a Menards card, I was approved for $7500 by myself! WOW, who needs that much credit at Menards?? Anyways.....for applying I got a $2 coupon in the mail, and also a $10 giftcard to Menards, so that was cool that I did get $12 back on my purchases. (Aleady logged on to Menards website and paid the balance off). Also the new shower head/fixture set were on sale $30 off, and I had a toilet seat in my cart that was $25, then found one for $12.99, so did get some sales/saving there. I still need to pay for meals for my Dad and bro while they do the work and will need to go buy bathroom rugs. Hopefully that is all that is left to buy! We started work by getting the old shower torn out and are working on scraping up the old limoleum and glue now. Saturday is the big day to start the real work, I am so excited!

Some progress made this weekend!
1) Get patio furniture out of the shed - DONE 4/17/10
2) Clean out garage
3) Repair lattice
4) Paint lattice
5) Take old hot tub cover to curb for clean up week - DONE 4/19/10
6) Clean out garden
7) Plant garden
8) Clean hot tub and put in new filter
9) Rake yard
10) Fix porchstep
11) Weed rockbeds
12) Weed driveway
13) Install new shower
14) Install new linoleum - Currently working on getting the old linoleum all pulled up and the floor prepped for new linoleum
15) Leather wash furniture
16) Put up blinds - DONE 4/18/10
17) Clean off grill - DONE 4/17/10
18) Clean out and wash my car
19) Clean out and wash DH's car
20) Get out our bikes and get tires fixed etc

Current Total = $9,925.00
-$300.00 Dumb overspending
+$1.11 King Mattress CD Interest
+$3.89 Even out amount
New Total = $9,630.00
Unnecessary overspending went on this weekend. Normally I could cover $300 from checking.....but lately we have been more "cash poor" in our checking then usual. I tend to throw everything into savings or to the mortgage.....probably to a fault.....ok, not probably, it is to a fault. When ever we spend more then planned, whether it is a need or not, I always cover it from checking, and don't change our normal savings contributions.....this works ok for awhile, till it starts catching up with me and pretty soon we are scraping the bottom of the barrel in checking. I need to work on finding a happy medium between putting money to savings/mortgage and keeping enough in checking to not be stressed about it.

Current Total = $9,755.00
-$230.00 Used for Bathroom Remodel
+$50.00 EF from paycheck (me)
+$50.00 Vacation from paycheck (me)
+$50.00 EF from paycheck (DH)
+$50.00 Vacation from paycheck (DH)
+$100.00 Anniversary Cruise account
+$100.00 Retirement Hold Account
New Total = $9,925.00

Week Four
Pounds Lost this week = 0
Total pounds lost = 1
% weight loss = .56%
Place = 4th out of 8 people
Total down since original BL = 3

No change from last week. On the plus side softball practice started this week, so that gets me out and moving. One day DH and I walked to softball and that is about 3.5 miles. Also today I FINALLY got off my butt and went to the gym. (How embarassing I have not gone since February) I did the ellytical for an hour, felt really good!

DH and I have been slowly converting all of our VHS movies to DVD. Usually we watch for them at Walmart for $5 or less or rummage sales, if we see a movie we have on VHS then we buy the DVD and put the VHS tape in our rummage sale box. Since we have just been doing this one movie at a time it has been a slow process and have not noticed the $ since it is only $5 or so at a time. Well I think we may have gone a little overboard......one of our local video stores is having a going out of business sale. We went to check it out, all of their DVDs were on sale for $5, and we found 20 movies we have been wanting to switch to DVD, 2 movies for Christmas gifts, and 19 new movies that we wanted.....that's right.....we bought 41 movies and spent $210 on movies yesterday. I know that was a good price for DVDs, but we really went too crazy....should not have bought so many! Guess we are done buying movies for the next few years! Well there are no returns so buyers remorse will not help me now and either way I am happy with the movies I got, just a shot in the gut to spend so much on movies at once. I have already wiped them all down and put them on the DVD rack. I also took all the VHS we had replaced off the rack, wiped them down, marked them for the rummage sale, and boxed them up and put in the closet.

We had gotten a new TV and TV Stand in 2008 for 18 months 0% interest. So we have been holding the money in savings until now to make a little interest. The 18 months is up in May so I am paying the bill now to make sure we don't get hit with the 18 months of interest.

Current Total = $10,230.00
-$475.00 Payoff TV and TV Stand
New Total = $9,755.00