catching up
Oh, hello there, it’s been quite awhile since I have posting anything on here. Between work, dance, and classes I’ve been keeping quite busy. Not to mention this latest kerfuffle of Joel’s, which he has requested that it remain anonymous (even here) because it’s not something he’s proud of.
I’ve made it through about a dozen performances, traveling for the holidays, lots of unpaid overtime at work, many many practices, an ad hoc committee, homework for a yearlong class, and the beginning of a 6 week class. I have survived (so far), and I am happy to get into my one resolution this year of learning to say no.
First things first though.
Last year we paid off $17,979.25 of debt (mainly from paying off the truck). Since June of 2008, we have paid off $38,011.21, or 35.4% of our total debt. Not too shabby, but I still long for those numbers to go down even more. Our remaining debt stands at $69,324.99, and consists of two private student loans and one federal student loan ($24,122.75, $4,602.89, and $40,599.32, respectively). Our emergency fund is in recovery mode after playing off the truck, but we are still happy with that decision. Because of some unexpected expenses and holiday traveling ($500 for gas in November!), we didn’t meet our savings goal by the end of the year, but honestly, there is no losing in that situation really (money saved is money saved). Last month, Joel told me he is very happy with how I’ve been managing our money, with the progress we’ve made and how we’ve still been able to save. Given all the battles we’ve had over money, it was nice to hear.
I’ve started taking new chapter organic prenatal vitamins (one month early). I haven’t gotten a good and consistent exercise routine down yet, between work, dancing, and a lot of one time obligations that all appeared at the same time. We are still planning on trying to start a family this year and are hoping for the best. I have a couple of other friends that have the same goal, so I think it will be awesome to have a group of ladies to commiserate with. I picked up some fertility tea at the local herb shop, and I am hoping to talk Joel into taking a vitamin while we are TTC. Soon!
Onto the housing front. The house that we put an offer on and then immediately pulled came back on the market and sold two weeks ago. We talked quite a bit about buying that house, and homebuying in general. Our RE agent has been sending listings, within or at the limit of our price range. Each time I’ve run numbers and taken a look at our budget and our future plans. These houses all seem to have the same things in common, they are just about at the limit of our price range, livable, but requiring of a good (or bad, depending on your view) amount of sweat equity. These houses make me nervous. One, a carpenter’s house is never finished, ever. Two, my parents bought a fixer-upper and have since poured all their money and time into maintaining this house. Three, if TTC is successful, I would prefer to spend time with the child, not all free time fixing up the house, particularly since we will be doing the daycare thing. Finally, having spent the last several years atoning for our transition to grown-up-hood start-up costs (our debt), we are very nervous about tying up our money in a house for the next 30 years and being house poor. Someday we hope to go on a honeymoon.
Last night we talked (again) about the homeownership thing, what this latest snafu means for that and the family thing. We’ve realized that what we really want is our own space, but not necessarily to own our own space. Our apartment is fine for a baby, but might get a little small with a mobile child. Theft and break-ins have gotten really bad in our neighborhood over the past year, and we’d like to get out of there soon. So we decided that we’ll move in 2 years and rent a house in the town that we both quite like. We don’t want impulsiveness on wanting to buy a house to be another financial mistake. So we will focus on paying down debt, long term savings, and maxing out our retirement accounts. Within 10 years, we could probably purchase a house nearly in cash, or at least with a substantial downpayment. This decision feels very right to us.
I am getting to the bottom of my horrendous to do list that has been lingering around for several months. Not everything will have been completed by its deadline, but at this point, I’ll be happy to finish it up and turn my attention to some things I have in the works.
Things are still rocky with my parents. We helped my mother move out of my father’s house, which will put some much needed perspective between them. I owe my father an email, that is still brewing inside and not quite ready to be written, but will contain all the things I need to say, that he needs to hear, and will hopefully go a long way to establishing a relationship that works for both of us. I haven’t had a good relationship with my father for over 20 years, so I don’t expect that it will be repaired with one email. It’s interesting that some of the issues I have with my father are also some of the same issues my mother does. Coincidentally, these are also things my father is not willing to admit are issues.
I’ve made it through about a dozen performances, traveling for the holidays, lots of unpaid overtime at work, many many practices, an ad hoc committee, homework for a yearlong class, and the beginning of a 6 week class. I have survived (so far), and I am happy to get into my one resolution this year of learning to say no.
First things first though.
Last year we paid off $17,979.25 of debt (mainly from paying off the truck). Since June of 2008, we have paid off $38,011.21, or 35.4% of our total debt. Not too shabby, but I still long for those numbers to go down even more. Our remaining debt stands at $69,324.99, and consists of two private student loans and one federal student loan ($24,122.75, $4,602.89, and $40,599.32, respectively). Our emergency fund is in recovery mode after playing off the truck, but we are still happy with that decision. Because of some unexpected expenses and holiday traveling ($500 for gas in November!), we didn’t meet our savings goal by the end of the year, but honestly, there is no losing in that situation really (money saved is money saved). Last month, Joel told me he is very happy with how I’ve been managing our money, with the progress we’ve made and how we’ve still been able to save. Given all the battles we’ve had over money, it was nice to hear.
I’ve started taking new chapter organic prenatal vitamins (one month early). I haven’t gotten a good and consistent exercise routine down yet, between work, dancing, and a lot of one time obligations that all appeared at the same time. We are still planning on trying to start a family this year and are hoping for the best. I have a couple of other friends that have the same goal, so I think it will be awesome to have a group of ladies to commiserate with. I picked up some fertility tea at the local herb shop, and I am hoping to talk Joel into taking a vitamin while we are TTC. Soon!
Onto the housing front. The house that we put an offer on and then immediately pulled came back on the market and sold two weeks ago. We talked quite a bit about buying that house, and homebuying in general. Our RE agent has been sending listings, within or at the limit of our price range. Each time I’ve run numbers and taken a look at our budget and our future plans. These houses all seem to have the same things in common, they are just about at the limit of our price range, livable, but requiring of a good (or bad, depending on your view) amount of sweat equity. These houses make me nervous. One, a carpenter’s house is never finished, ever. Two, my parents bought a fixer-upper and have since poured all their money and time into maintaining this house. Three, if TTC is successful, I would prefer to spend time with the child, not all free time fixing up the house, particularly since we will be doing the daycare thing. Finally, having spent the last several years atoning for our transition to grown-up-hood start-up costs (our debt), we are very nervous about tying up our money in a house for the next 30 years and being house poor. Someday we hope to go on a honeymoon.
Last night we talked (again) about the homeownership thing, what this latest snafu means for that and the family thing. We’ve realized that what we really want is our own space, but not necessarily to own our own space. Our apartment is fine for a baby, but might get a little small with a mobile child. Theft and break-ins have gotten really bad in our neighborhood over the past year, and we’d like to get out of there soon. So we decided that we’ll move in 2 years and rent a house in the town that we both quite like. We don’t want impulsiveness on wanting to buy a house to be another financial mistake. So we will focus on paying down debt, long term savings, and maxing out our retirement accounts. Within 10 years, we could probably purchase a house nearly in cash, or at least with a substantial downpayment. This decision feels very right to us.
I am getting to the bottom of my horrendous to do list that has been lingering around for several months. Not everything will have been completed by its deadline, but at this point, I’ll be happy to finish it up and turn my attention to some things I have in the works.
Things are still rocky with my parents. We helped my mother move out of my father’s house, which will put some much needed perspective between them. I owe my father an email, that is still brewing inside and not quite ready to be written, but will contain all the things I need to say, that he needs to hear, and will hopefully go a long way to establishing a relationship that works for both of us. I haven’t had a good relationship with my father for over 20 years, so I don’t expect that it will be repaired with one email. It’s interesting that some of the issues I have with my father are also some of the same issues my mother does. Coincidentally, these are also things my father is not willing to admit are issues.