Christmas went great, and so did New Years. Lots of food, family and friends. My Mister and I went to a party with people from his (old) work. They happen to be my new co-workers as I have started there and he has since left that job to pursue a new and way more awesome one. (P.S. he loves the new job!) That's right everyone. Shortly after New Years, I stated a new job and I love my position. It happens to be the same company that Mister worked for before, however, I am in an entirely different department. I think I actually have most kid's dream jobs. I mix paint and get to play with colors all day and make a good deal of money doing it.
As for other news, the Mister's mother told us she is pregnant (again, again, again...) with baby number 6. We found out when we went up smelting with them. We took home a gallon of the smelt and the rest was sold for $20 per. A really good money maker. My brother's child is also due here relativity soon (May 7) and will be spoiled rotten. I joke that it's a good thing that I got a water filter because there must be something in the water. We have also decided that we will be moving (again, again, again...) so that Mister can be closer to his work. This will be a good move, and hopefully the last one for a while. We are looking for a single family home with hopefully slightly cheaper rent and an actually yard so that I can finally buy some chickens and plant a real garden.
Speaking of gardens, I finally got my rain gutter garden started. Mister was at work, so I went and built it myself. Super awesome feeling doing something that is normally not my forte and doing it well. I added a mix of mushroom compost and standard lawn soil to the space and have been letting it blend together and mesh before I plant anything in there. I know that I can't plant a ton of stuff in a four inch deep space, so it will probably mainly be planted as herbs. As for the deck space, I am waiting until it finally warms up more (the high in my area today is only 30 something) and it will be covered in any type of pot/planter you can imagine. I'm really excited about it. The goal this year is to practice growing less forgiving types of plants so that I have more experience before doing a big garden. The plant list for this year is tomatoes, potatoes, onions, tons of herbs, melons of some kind maybe, a few types of peppers, and maybe a fun plant too.
Woah, I guess I didn't really realize that much had happened since my last post. Today's post will be to talk more about the plans for the next few months to start getting our finances under order.
One thing that I wish I would have known before moving out was how easy it is to acquire debt and how difficult it is to pay off. Our current monthly bills total somewhere around $2,100. This is a give or take number based on the price of gas, what we spend on groceries, etc, etc. I know exactly how much we can allocate towards each bill so when there is a month where our electric bill isn't quite as high, for example, we still pay the full amount that we set aside so we are prepared for more expensive months. I also know that we pay roughly$900 per month is debt so we can have the items we have. We are paying on our bed with a total debt due in the end of $1,257. The minimum monthly payment is $55, but my goal every month is to pay at least $60 so we pay it off ever so slightly faster.
Actually, maybe I can help someone in a similar situation as our household if I post our bills, what the equate to and how we plan to pay them off. So I present to you, our monthly bills...
Due date-item amount
1st-Rent $575
1st-Cell Phones $180 (will be dropping a little once our contract is up)
5th-Electric $80 (see above paragraph for explanation)
5th-Garbage $25
8th-Student Loan $72
10th-Bed Loan $55
11th-Mister's Student Loan $60
13th- Internet $60 (we pay like we aren't on the promo price)
15th- My credit card $10 (it has a max of $200 and we use it to build credit)
17th- Heating $50 (typically around $30 so we have a nice cushion if something happens)
21st-Furniture Bill $90
22nd- My car loan $150
23rd- My other student loan $55
As you can see, we have a lot of bills due at all times of the month. We don't really get a savings week or anything like that ever because there is almost always something due. Could we save money by paying less on the bills that vary and redirect that amount to the loans we have? Probably... In fact I know we could. However, we choose to pay this way so that if one of us were to loose our job and we only had one income we wouldn't have to stress over the bills that will effect our credit as much. Could we have saved money by choosing to buy other things with our income? Probably. However, we needed a new bed. Did we need one that cost as much as the one we bought did? No. Was it well worth the investment? I say yes on this one. This bed and base was originally 3x as much as what we paid for it. It has an adjustable base and Mister doesn't have the greatest back. So I decided rather than spending 3x as much visiting the chiropractor, to get a bed that will last us quite a few years. To us it was a good investment. Our furniture however is another story. I love the set we have, in fact it is beautiful! But at our age, we didn't need to spend that kind of money on something that could get destroyed when we have friends over. All it will take is a few spilled drinks during a get-together and it will be trashed.
Our goal is to pay off the bed debt first, then redirect the money that was going to that to pay off the furniture faster. After the furniture is paid off, we will divide the money into thirds to pay off our different school loans faster. Could we focus on one or the other? Completely. That would help pay the one with the least amount due off the fastest, but then we are still stuck with the other two.
That's pretty much our life plan for the next couple of months. Until I post again, good luck with your own homestead-ish life style!
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