Weeellll... I've done a preliminary #'s crunch for the month of Nov. It seems totally too good to be true. +$448 before debt!
I've estimated only the water and car insurance as I do not have an exact figure for them yet and worked all amounts to be paid by MO. I have also taken into consideration that DH missed (with late days and unpaid sick days) a total of 4 working days that will be applied onto 1st check in Nov. and I gave a estimated 6 hours of work per day (instead of 8)to compensate for any future late days that will fall into 2nd check in Nov. I think that is a pretty exceptable cushion for his fluctuating income.
I have had to do a little moving of bill pay scheduals around to make it work. For example. I would normally pay Nov. rent with 2nd check in Oct. so as not to be late. I was unable to do that considering that we had some suprise expenses this month. BUT, all is not lost! Rent is due the 1st and we have until the 3rd to pay before late fees start. DH gets paid on the 5th of every month normally, but this pay period the 5th falls on a weekend so he will get his check on the friday before... which is the third. So, rent will be covered with no late fees!
I am currently caught up on all utility bills. Yeeeeaaahhh! But, by caught up I mean that I am actually sending the checks out before they actually start charging late fees. (bills have actually been mailed a day or 2 past their due date). My goal is to be able to pay well ahead. But it feels so good to be able to say that I don't owe 2 or 3 months worth of utility bills at one time!
My initial reaction to this positive money amount was to immediately apply it to debt. Then, I thought that maybe I would just pay on the utilities ahead of time and get them knocked out so I am not scraping the deadline on them anymore. Still unsure as to what to do with it as these are still just preliminary figures.
Also, I have not taken into account any of the change I have laying in my bank bag. It totals to $11.53. Don't know what category I'm going to sock this into yet.
Also, with DH's extra income work we have an estimated $450 actually sitting or waiting to be escrowed into the PayPal acct. That money goes toward paying off the negative bank balance, though. Still, it's one big step closer to it being gone. Then, I'll be able to open a bank acct. again!!!
I sure hope these figures are right! Only time will tell...

I forgot to get the change back from him after he bought the KFC. I just called him to let him know that I would need the PayPal money transfered out and asked him about it. He said that he bought smokes this morning with it and only has $8 and change left. How can this be?

$50 (starting cash)
-$30 (KFC)
------------------
$20
-$ 4 (smokes)
------------------
$16


I am so angry!!! I asked him where the rest of it went and he first told me that my math was off. Then he said he wasn't sure where he spent the money. The only time that he had that money that he was away from me was this morning on the way to work. And he can't remember! AAAUUUGGGHHH! It seems stupid to be arguing over $8, but it's the principle! Well it's the money too, because we are broke.

I caved into DH's begging to spend. He was really just fed up with not being able to have any money to blow. Spending money is like an addiction around here, I think. Anyway, DH came home with DS late Sunday morning to come and get me and DD and go back over to FIL's house. Told DH that I wanted to make a quick trip out to WalMart to pick up some travel toiletry bottles. DH started begging for food (DS had already been begging for a little while). FIL evidently had little in the house (I doubt that, though, more like little ready made) so they ate toast for breakfast. DH suggested that we pick up some fast food on the way out to FIL's house and I eventually caved thinking we could run through the MikkyD's and spend $10 on the dollar menu. DH said KFC had some good deals so we went there. He grabbed a fifty out of the money bag and went into the store. I would have made sure that he got a smaller bill, but we didn't have one in there for him to take. He walked out with $30 worth of food. I was so angry! He said that he was going to work extra hard with his side jobs to make sure that we would have enough. He also asked me if I wanted him to give FIL money sitting in Paypal so I would have cash on hand. That money is going to the bank, so we can eventually get an open and active account again!
Anyways, here's a run down of the spending spree this weekend:
KFC-$30
Clearance toy at WalMart (for DD's upcoming birthday)-$20
Smokes-$9 (got 3 packs instead of 2)
Toiletry bottles-$4.50
Total-$63.50

DH gave me $120 when he got home from work today. His ticket only cost him $20. Yah! So, all total I think we are only off around $80 for October's budget. Much better than over $200. I'm breathing a little easier now.
DH's extra job brought in $50 last week and I made sure he put it in the bank. It is showing that it posted in his PayPal acct., but for some reason the bank is not showing that they recieved it. I'm trying to get DH to investigate it with PayPal, but he seems reluctant to do so. I feel horrible about it, but I just don't trust him about all of it. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but something seems fishy to me. He got another $200 posted into his acct. last night, but I am having him hold off on paying it into the bank because we have no conformation on their end of recieving the last payment. I am feeling very uneasy about him having access to this money that is burning a hole in his pocket. And we have no acct. now to transfer it out into, so we may end up having to wait for it and get a check in the mail if we are unable to go the direct deposit route. In the hopes I am just over reacting I am going to lay low with this for a few days.

Went out to check the mail a little while ago and made a two dollar splurge for DH and myself on sodas from the vending machine. Got the mail. Got two credit card offers-HAHAHAHAHA. Trash. Got a notice from the bank. They have closed my account and sent it to credit. Sigh. I knew it was coming. I am now truly starting at the bottom of the barrel. It's so depressing and I feel so unmotivated right now. Just defeated. I feel like crawling into a hole somewhere and hiding out till it goes away.
I know I'll feel differently tomorrow, but for tonight I think I'm just going to crawl into bed and dream about a debt free life. On that note, good night.

Well, I am deviating from my budget again to buy locks. Seems DS knows how to get out the window in his room now. The locks that are on it are pretty pointless because I could very easily break in if I wanted, but he knows how to work them. I found him outside with his little sister this morning. He can get her out of bed now too, but I've known that for awhile. They were outside playing in the mud just outside the window at about 5:00 a.m. this morning. I just thank God that they were not hurt or worse, someone snatched them up. I'm also parinoid that someone may have seen them and has decided to call the CPS or something. I normally get up at 6 a.m. with them, but today I guess DS just wanted to be up earlier. So, the locks will be bought ASAP. I'm thinking about getting the little metal ones that have the wing nut screws that thread through them. All those saftey ones for kids (in the isle with the doorknob covers and such) he can pretty much get into, and if he can't he'd be able to break the plastic. I wouldn't think the locks would be too expensive, but at this point price doesn't matter. I just want to make sure it never happens again.

Gearing up for the garage sale this weekend or next(probably next). All I have pretty much is kids clothes and toys and old movies, but I'm hoping to get enough out of this sale to get the craft items I will need to buy to make this years Christmas presents. I don't have much to sell, but these things are taking up a large portion of our 900sq. ft. apartment living area and it's making me crazy. I can't wait to get it all out!
Pricing is about to drive me nuts with the baby's clothes. She only wore a lot of items once (if she even wore them) and has a lot of sets. It makes it more difficulte to calculate the price of. I've been reading different articles to try to get these things priced, and am still a little stumped. Most every artical has a point to try and sell items for no more than 10-30% of their retail value. Well, if that's the case, some of these sets would be selling for much higher than I think anyone would pay for at a garage sale.
For example, I have a dress set that has a matching onesie that goes under it. It also has matching tights, bloomers, shoes and hairbows. I know that this was a pretty expensive item (first granddaughter and all) and I would pay upwards of ten dollars for the whole set at a garage sale for it personally. It was an outfit we put her in twice for church. It has no damage and really doesn't look like it's even been worn. I tried the consignment store with it but they are overstocked with items so they are only excepting certian brands right now. But, would somebody else pay ten bucks, I don't know. Maybe if they knew anything about fashion/brand names, they might. So, I sit and ponder over it a little longer...

I'm starting to get exhausted!
I have been trying to put my grocery list together for my upcoming trip to the store. I have read over the 3 local store adds to see what all the sales are. I'm compiling a menu list that fits with the sale items right now. Then, I will look through my coupons to see if there are any that I will be able to use. After that's done, I am going to go through my coupons with the sales adds and see if there are any amazing deals for items that I may need in the future. Then, tuck the coupons away in order of isle/store with my grocery list (for each store)and my menu list. It seems like it should be easy enough to do, right? It's not! It is so time consuming! Even if I didn't have a three yr. old and a 10 month old running around me, I think it would take a better part of the day to get it done. Sigh... I know that it will get easier with each time that I do this, but man, it's been a long day already!

DH codes on the side for extra money. He stopped doing this for awile because it started to eat up all of his free time and he was only getting a max of $50 for hours apon hours of work. He has started again because of our current financial state, but he is being a little smarter about it. He is accepting higher paying jobs and only taking on work that he is certified to do. He knows how to do other alot of other things that he is not certified for, but it takes him twice as long to complete them because he is not as fluent in the code.
When I started the new budget I asked him if he would be willing to put the money from that into our overdrawn bank account as it is paied out to him through PayPal. He agreed, but apon recieving his first completion check he spent the money on books online. He told me the day before they were to arrive in the mail. I was furious! They are coder books and in the long run will help him make more money, but I feel like he was deceiving me by not telling me until he absolutely had to.
Payday for his competed codes is coming up in the next couple of days and he promised that he would put all the money in the bank this time. I don't trust him to do it, and with his car being in the state that it is in I have no money to put towards bringing the bank account back into the positive. I have no way of checking his income in his PayPal account because it is his account. The only way I will know is by my (the bank account is in my name only) balance. That could take up to a week to know and he could easily spend that money in that time.

I totaly feel like I will never get out of this debt today! I have my working budget in place for less than a month and there is already a snag to mess it all up!
DH got a $140 ticket the other day. Seems he "forgot" to get the car inspected the last time it was due...a year ago! Inspection will cost around $60. So, there is $200 that gets cut out of the budget that is already streched to the limit. We will have to let some things be a little late to get this taken care of. I just got caught up again with the bills, too. Man, it sure did feel good for those five minutes.