A short lived excitement

The past week has gone pretty well.  As I said in my last post, we spent the money to get the hubs Chantix.  He's been on it for a little over a week now and so far, so good.  It's still a little early to say 100% but, for now, it seems to be doing the trick.

So, I've been feeling pretty good.  We've been coming up with a game plan for the money that would normally buy cigarettes and I was getting really excited to put that plan into place this upcoming week on payday.

Unfortunately, it looks like our plan is on hold until next payday.

On the way to work last week, the hubs had to take a detour due to an accident that shut down part of the highway.  Apparently, he missed the sign alerting drivers of the reduced speed limit and there just happened to be a cop sitting on the side of the road.

After all is said and done, $122 will be going to our county courthouse.

While it's definitely not my favorite way to spend a 100 bucks, there is a lesson to be learned I guess.

When traveling a new road, keep a careful eye on ALL road signs.  A mistake can cost you a bundle.

$132 well spent!

Whew!  It's been a busy weekend around here but I'm back and ready for a new week.

The storms on Friday have passed and while we spent a good 3 hours under tornado warnings with multiple funnel clouds spotted, nothing touched down near us and we were extremely lucky compared to others in the storm's path.

Moving on, we spent a very well thought out $132 at the end of last week that I can now say was well worth it.

You see, the hubs is a smoker, has been for as long as I've known him.  Fortunately, he long ago realized his need to quit and has been trying ever since.   Everything from patches and gum to just going cold turkey, you name it, he's tried it.  He has cut back considerably but it seems like he just can't rid himself completely of them.

So, after a discussion with his doctor last week, he picked up a prescription for Chantix.  I have to say that I was skeptical at best and really didn't want to have to fork over a ton of money since our insurance wouldn't cover it.  But, after discussing it in detail with his doctor and the pharmacist. he wanted to give it a try.

So he did, to the tune of $132 and some change.

He's not even a week into it yet but is already smoking less than he ever has in a day before.  Obviously, it will be a few more weeks before we can tell for sure if it does what it says it will but as of right now I would definitely say that it's turning out to be a success.

And hey, if $132 means that hundreds of dollars will be saved every month by not buying cigarettes then I'm all for it!

Have you tried Chantix?  Did it work for you?

Rain, rain go away!

Just last week I was enjoying sunny, 75 degree weather with my windows open, getting some much needed spring cleaning done.  This week looks a little more like this

Source

The Debt Hangover household happens to be right smack dab in the middle of that oddly shaped white blob.

I grew up in tornado alley so I know how to be prepared...well as prepared as one can be anyway, but I can't say being prepared makes me feel any better about the black clouds that have been rolling in all morning.  Especially when it's just me and the little man here today.

There is one silver lining though!  Should anything happen, we have an emergency fund.  Wow!  That's definitely nice to know.  While it's not a lot, as long as everyone is okay, we'll be just fine.

If you're in the path of these storms today, stay safe and try to be as prepared as you can be.

Overlooking overtime

The hubby works for a fairly large company.  One with hundreds of employees and yet, he is the only one in his department.  On most days he works through his lunch hour, eating at his desk.  On Thursdays his day usually ends around 11 or 12 at night.  He remotes into work at all hours of the night and occasionally on the weekends if there is a problem that requires his attention.

He enjoys his job and likes that he has the chance to learn from some of the "higher-ups" with his current position.  The problem lies in the fact that he feels guilty logging every single second of overtime that he works.  He feels that a lot of what he does is considered "helping out."

Today he was told otherwise.  After a meeting with HR he called to let me know that they discussed all of the situations (some remote log ins only take a minute or two but can take up to an hour or more) and everything from this point on is to be logged and everything over 40 hours paid out as overtime.  That or they would start micro-managing his time sheets.

Looking back over his actual schedule the past few weeks have shown him that while he is paid for 40 hours a week, he is actually putting in between 50-60 hours each week!  That works out to an extra $500 a week approximately.

He still feels guilty because he feels that a lot of his time spent in the office after hours is either helping others or learning from those in higher positions but he will obviously begin logging everything from this point on.

I completely understand his stance on the subject but I also know that he and the company could get into trouble if all of his hours are not logged.

So, my question is this, do you log every single hour of overtime that you work or is some of it just a write-off? 

Hoping for a homemade Christmas

Is it really the end of February already!?!  Seriously, where has the year gone!

2012 seems to be just flying by and before you know it December and the whip of winter winds will once again be knocking on our doors.  I don't know about you, but Christmas always seems to just sneak up on me.  I'm just happily enjoying the crisp, cool fall weather and then BAM! the holiday season is upon us and I'm scrambling to get everything done.

Hopefully this year, that won't be the case.  In an effort to fully prepare for the Christmas season ahead of time and avoid the gigantic debt hangover I felt earlier this year, I've started working on a few projects that will allow me to give some great gifts without ridiculous price tags.

My current project

I started this quilt for one of my 2 nieces back in January and I'm hoping to have it finished with in the next month or so.  Her sister will be receiving one as well in purple and green as those are her favorite colors.

In total I've spent approximately $10 for the fabric and the batting I had just lying around.

Starting early is definitely giving me an edge this year.  My nieces will have Christmas gifts that are much more thoughtful than some last minute $30 toy that they will most likely break within a month and I've saved my bank account from hyperventilating.

So if you're looking to get a head start on your Christmas preparations as well as lighten the load on your checking account come December, you might think about making a few homemade gifts this year.  I'm sure the recipients will love it!

Got little ones? Save cash on clothes!

Remember when your kids were little?  When you were first expecting?  The idea of picking out all of those cute baby clothes, all of those adorable little outfits.  It's definitely an exciting time....

for a little while anyway.  

I don't know about you but I have a very hard time spending a ton of money on kids clothes.  Obviously I don't want the little one to be running around with nothing but a diaper on, but the idea of spending a ton of money on clothing that will only fit him for a month or two just makes my stomach hurt.

So when the temperature started inching toward 80 degrees last week and the only warm weather clothes hanging in little man's closet were 0-3 months and he's pushing 11 months, I was less than thrilled.

Fortunately, I may have found the one thing that could revive my short-lived love of shopping for kids clothes.  Consignment sales!!  I didn't realize just how many consignment sales there are each year.  In fact, I learned this weekend that most places usually host two sales a year, one in the early spring for summer clothes and the second in early fall for winter clothes.

I was able to pick up close to 20 different summer outfits for the little guy for what I thought would be around $30, turns out I showed up on the right day because the sale was coming to an end and almost everything was 50% off the already extremely low prices.  Not to mention the fact that quite a few of them still had the tags on them.  Brand new clothes for a dollar or two, yes please!  Let someone else pay full price for something their kid will only wear a handful of times.  I'm officially a consignment sale junkie!

If you're in the market for some new clothes for the kiddos and don't want to spend a fortune, definitely check out this site for a national listing of kids consignment sales by state:

http://www.kidsconsignmentsales.com/

A very sobering moment

With February coming to an end within a few days and the first paycheck for March coming at the beginning of next week I went ahead and totaled everything up for the end of the month totals.

After interest, we reduced our debt by a total of $1,418.67 this month!

Speaking of interest, I figured that since we are paying so much money each month towards our debt I would figure out just how much of that money goes towards interest.

I almost wish I hadn't.

Don't get me wrong, it was definitely a good exercise and made me all that more motivated to eliminate our debt but to say it was a sobering moment would be a gross understatement.

For the month of February we paid $697.03 in interest!!

That works out to approximately $22.63 a day!

So that means that even when I manage to sneak in a few no spend days, I'm still technically paying out over 20 bucks a day.

Sobering and motivating at the same time.