Easy come, Easy go

I like having money in the bank, but I hate when we to have to spend it on not so fun stuff.

Saturday, I went to Lowes to pay for our two replacement windows and associated repairs due to rotten window frames. We knew we would have to do these windows and planned on doing it in the spring. However, once we could see daylight through the top of the frame, we knew we had to do it now before the snow flies. Then on Sunday our water heater died (after our showers, thankfully). It's being replaced today. Ugh, almost $2k out the door for these repairs.

Don't the house gods know that Christmas is coming and we have a vacation we want to plan so that we can escape the snow this winter?

Thank God for Dave Ramsey and our emergency fund.

My 100th Post!

Hello all!

I noticed that today is my 100th post. Pretty cool! I noticed that today is actually our 900 day wedding anniversary too!

Just checking in for a weekly update. Nothing too exciting going on lately. I've just been getting back into the swing of work and life after the holidays and it's been going well.

I've been working on a perpetual meal plan. I set one up for January and hope to rotate it in future months as I find new recipes to try. I've been finding some awesome ones at http://www.kevinandamanda.com/. Last night I made the "Real Juicy Bacon Cheeseburgers." They were awesome! Tonight we're trying Amanda's "Alfredo Tortellini." I can't wait. I've tried a few other recipes and have yet to be let down. Check out her site and try some too. It's such a cute site and she does a lot of scrapbooking so her blog designs are super cute.

We've been doing pretty well with our budget and were able to send off a nice chunk to our credit card. I just love seeing that balance come down. We plan to have everything, including the truck, paid off by the spring. (That doesn't include the house of course). I'm really motivated to get this done and it's nice that come July, we will be debt free (except for the house) and can enjoy a nice long weekend on the Cape for our anniversary knowing we've paid cash for it. Woo hoo!

On another site I frequent, a forum was set up about getting back to basics. We're sharing recipes, home and garden tips and the like. I'm really excited about it. I'm especially looking forward to the gardening tips as Michael and I would like to set up a veggie garden for the summer.

Aaahhh, summer. Can you tell that I'm hating this Arctic cold and snow we've got going on here and am dreaming of the beauty of summer?

Well, that's all for now. 'Til next time, have a great week!

Tuesday

We had our office cookie swap yesterday and everyone brought such yummy cookies. My Tupperware was overflowing when I was bringing it home! I've only sampled a few, but so far they are delicious!

I went to Target last night to pick up a few things and was able to finish my Christmas shopping too. I just love that place. It's so dangerous because the one I go to is within five minutes from the house and is brand new so it is really well stocked. I can rarely get out of there without spending a small fortune. I was good last night and stuck to just what I went in there for and only spent $53.

We're going to start the Dave Ramsey plan in January, but have already started working on a cash only basis. I think that's what really kept me in check last night and I am very proud of myself. I hope the plan works well for us. I'm hoping to have our credit cards and the truck taken care of by the spring/early summer and then start putting the money we had been paying on credit cards toward our mortgage. It would be so awesome to get it paid off early. I keep saying to Michael that I want it paid off by the time we are 45, LOL. That may be wishful thinking, but it's a good kick in the pants to try to get to that goal.

Well, I'm off to lunch. Have a great day everyone!