July check in. I feel like June sucked (can I say that here?).
° AMEX balance $8125 in January-
Current Balance $1464.08 almost there!
Haven't made any additional payments on this.
° Start a
Roth IRA for myself.
Done! Called to see what to do with the money and I ended up moving it again into a GO account. It's only been a few weeks and it is growing some. On payday I will make a contribution. I'd like to make that a reoccurring thing once a month.
°Keep money in savings!
Took $2000 out. DH found a specialist that he wanted to see for some joint issues he feels like he is having. Well the doctor wasn't covered under our insurance so getting the bill the next morning was a bit of a shocker. I was a little annoyed but what can I do- that's what emergency funds are for I guess.
°Purge the garage-
work in progress. It's really been a hot hot mess in there lately.
Same hot hot mess that is now starting to cause arguments between DH and my mother. Something's gotta give.
°Eat better and drop a few pounds-
0/20 I still don't really want to talk about it. Either my scale is broken or I think my thyroid is failing me. I am not one to go to the doctor and haven't been in almost 2 years but I made an appointment last week. I have to do some lab work this week but I already feel like this doc isn't going to work out. I hate waiting long (like 45 mins long) after my scheduled appointment time then only to be dismissed after a few minutes with the provider. I had like 6 things I wanted to talk about and I was given a lab slip and an invitation to Google the Mediterranean diet.
°
Disney August 14-22 at Copper Creek in a 2 bedroom villa for $6444. Still no real budget here as it is still coming together with several "maybes". Total paid vs. outstanding so far is
$1921/$8165 plus what ever the cost was for CRT prepay. Is that the only one? Does O'Hana charge upfront too? So June 10th came and went and my friend didn't get back to me. I don't want to say I am sad but rather I am upset. I just don't understand some people. If you don't want to go just say so because I do and I need to make (economical) changes to the trip if it's just me and the kids. I truly don't mind just going with my kids, we will have a blast. What does worry me is things like if one child has to use the bathroom during a meal so we all have to go, or the younger child doesn't want to go on 7DMT so the older one misses out. Stuff like that has me concerned. I half thought about asking my parents to come along but they would really only be coming to hang at the hotel. They are not adventurous so they would not take the monorail to check out another resort without me for example. I don't know how much fun they would have and my mom would probably stress about her dog being at a kennel all week. I have to pay by 7/15 so I really have to make a move here.
°Landscaping-
OMG the landscaping .
So the worker had a little (ok not little) accident and he is not able to complete the job. So now I am out $2500 and the wall is like 1/3 constructed. Got a letter from the HOA saying we have 6 months to finish it or we will be fined. 6 months sounds like a long time except it is impossible to get workers to perform around here. I'm at the point where I want to take it down. I am trying not to be upset about the money part and I hope it helps him some with his recovery.
Other things on my mind:
- I get paid once a month so I haven't seen the increase yet for my promotion. Work overall has been incredibly stressful, unpredictable, and just down right sad- like sad sad not pathetic sad. I have been pulling 18 hour days several days a week between report writing, so much windshield time related to work, entertaining the kids, etc. I need a break, so...
- Taking a few days this week for a road trip to Houston, TX for DS 6th birthday. He has been asking to go back to the Space Center so I got us the CityPass and we will go to NASA, the aquarium, the Boardwalk, and maybe the Zoo. Neither of the kids know yet (I've sneakily been packing their bag for the last 2 days) so I am very excited to get them in the car and just go. Booked through Hotels dot com and now I have enough stamps for a free stay in the future- sweet!
-Travel trailer for DH's mother is on hold because we live in an HOA and they don't allow them on the property where they can be seen from the street so we either need to build an enormous garage or store it somewhere. DHs mother is deciding if she wants to store it or skip it. We did go shopping for one and got real excited about a Jayco 264BH. She is coming to visit in a few weeks so we might revisit this topic. Also when she visits...
- She wanted to go to the beach while here so I booked a condo in Port Aransas, TX for a weekend in July. It was a little pricey for 2 nights but DH's mother insisted on paying. We will buy food to have on hand at the condo and then meals out.
-Going out to eat less and ordering less take out.
Doing ok here and I've actually cooked a few times recently . Made chicken enchiladas last night that were a big hit! We order some meats from Wild Fork and so far we have been pleased with the quality.
- What to do about the CTC? Our 2020 was inaccurately inflated due to a settlement so we did not receive stimulus checks and it looks like we won't be getting the full amount for the CTC either. I wonder if we should just opt out and wait until we file next year.
* edited- guess I missed the window I just saw the opt-out ended at 11:59 est.
- Cruise coming up in October 2021 final payment is due 8/2. Not sure what to do here. I don't want to pay all that money to have restrictions. Once I make a final decision if I am keeping my room at WL then I'll decide on the cruise. If I had to make a decision right this minute I would reschedule.
- I hastily got ride of 2 wicker rockers we had on the back porch before shopping around for a new set. I had some sticker shock with the set I found, and the runner up is out of stock (of course because it's July already). So now we suffer with one 1 chair left or I pay big bucks for the set I want.
- All throughout typing this my spacebar is sticking so on one hand I apologize for any typos and on the other hand wonder what child spilled what on the keyboard