Haha- I started to post last night and kept getting interrupted (because life with five kids
) After adding to it periodically, it turned into quite the novella. Oops!
I just read your update- life changing events cost SO. Much. Money
Keep debt pay off as a line in your budget and add small unexpected extra income to reduce debt. If you can make a little progess, that’s great. Keep the focus on not adding to your debt. I think <$10k is incredibly reasonable for a wedding. Sounds like you have a great plan
I am honestly not holding my breath for this year! Our hospital is a DSH (Disproportionate Share Hospital). Evidently, in 2016 and 2017 we did not receive hefty reimbursements we were expecting. They eliminated their Nurse’s Week celebrations which typically included a SMALL bonus and gift. They also skipped the $15 (yes $15
) gift card for a local supermarket they used to give out at Christmas. If they aren’t going to give us a one time gift of $15, I highly doubt we’ll see a raise this year. They claim they have no plans to change that, but we’ll see
I too am just hoping we don’t owe! Last year was a wash (federal return, but owed state), so I’m thinking this year may be the same. I did have three months of unpaid maternity leave, so there’s a chance we’ll get something back, but I’m not counting on it.
Eek! 3a-3p is rough! I complain about my 5a-3:30p shift because it feels too early
What line of work are you in? I hope they get a new employee trained and ready quickly. Any extra PTO is great!! Enjoy your day off
I am so jealous of the free health care! Either option we choose from my DH’s company is expensive. Eventually I hope to keep our shelter costs down to 20%. Right now we hover around 30%- slightly above or slightly below depending on utilities. Right now I only work one or two shifts a week. Once my youngest is in Kindergarten, I’ll work at least three/week and that will help significantly. She’s only 10 months, but you know- long term goals
As for our January budget-
We still need to kickstart our spreadsheet AND keep to our budget so we can maintain our goals which we are working on adjusting and clarifying.
1. Our first and foremost goal is still to pay off CC debt. We can do this painlessly by paying $200/DH’s paychecks towards debt. However, it would take us the whole year to pay them off. I’d rather pay them off much sooner (so we can get to goal #6) so I plan to pick up shifts at work and funnel that money towards it too. We have a nurse going on maternity leave in March, so I can pick up three more shifts/week from March to June. I won’t pick up that many as it throws off things at home, but it’s nice to have that option. We are going to start with the $200/paycheck in February and re-evaluate what additional lump sums to put towards CC debt at the end of each month. We made one additional $200 payment this month, but that’s about it. It’s a start at least!
2. We have a rental house that needs a new furnace. It’s still chugging along with no issues (PLEASE Murphy stay away!!), but it has to be on it’s last leg as it’s original to the house (so 29 years old
). My DH gets an annual bonus in March that is roughly $4-5k. All of this will go into buying a new furnace for the rental. Not fun, but necessary. We have a HVAC guy we always use and said he can do both units for $4k (which is a GREAT deal!!) so the bonus *should* fully cover the cost.
3. IF we get a tax return, we’ll put that into savings, which we want to get to a minimum of $3,000 (it’s just under $1k now which is not so great, obviously). Any tax return money could also potentially go towards goals 4&5.
4. We have two weddings to attend this year- one June 30, the other July 7
One is in town for my SIL. My DH and I plus three of our kids are in the weddding party. IF I also attend the bachelorette party in Las Vegas (which I am leaning against) I am estimating our all in costs for the trip, wedding attire, etc to be about $1,500. The other wedding is out of town and the area is rather pricey. We are going to split an Airbnb with family, but our cost is still $200/night x3 nights. With food and gas, I’m budgeting $1,200 for this wedding.
5. We also take an annual trip to Maine. My uncle has a lake house there and it’s just beautiful. As it is the same side of the family that will be attending the July wedding, we may not be doing a reunion week in Maine this year. But, I am planning as if we are going, so another $1,000 for this week. We split food costs/adult and children so it’s an incredibly affordable and wonderful vacation. Hopefully it’s a go this year
6. Now for my personal goal- I REALLY want to make it to WDW this year. I miss it so much! I’d like to go the week after Thanksgiving. Since we have a big family, we need to save a MINIMUM of $5,000 for a fairly basic off-site stay. My DH feels strongly (which I begrudgingly agree) that we have to meet all other goals before starting to save for this one. So, CC debt paid off, money in savings, and wedding costs covered BEFORE we start our WDW fund. I say bring on the overtime for DH (which he has been able to get 10-15 hours/paycheck) and the extra shifts for me.
Today I am taking my kids for a mini WDW fix- a weekend trip to see Disney on Ice
We’re staying with my sister, have a membership to the museum we’ll be going to tomorrow, and tickets were a Christmas present. So, $300 should cover the costs for this one. Hopefully less so we can get one baby step closer to starting our WDW fund
They hammer me with emails and I usually just delete them anyway.
Send me a pm and we will figure out the meet up arrangements.
Our last paychecks and stubs were correct as in it added the last check data, but it's still missing the previous one. Apparently this only happened at our location so our payroll person had to open a case with the corporate people, and they just keep extending their deadline on it a week 
Actual OOP costs should be around $200.
I decided to take off next Friday, otherwise I would have been stuck working 3am-3pm that day 
I've done that the majority of the days this year, and I'm over it already. But I don't see that ending until at least March because we need to get a new person in to train.
