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.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Spring

The weather around these parts today is gorgeous.  Sunny, 75 degrees, breezy and just plain beautiful.  I've spent the better part of the morning with the windows wide open getting a head start on my spring cleaning, which is a little odd because, well, it's February.

In fact, I can picture it now and I think the conversation between the powers that be has gone a little something like this over the past few months.

December 18,2011

Dear Mother Nature,   

                                                          

With just a week left until Christmas, I've noticed

that it has been unseasonably warm this year.  I thought

we talked about this.  I have one night a year, I don't think a

little snow is too much to ask.

Sincerely,

Santa

........................................

December 26, 2011

Mother Nature,

Alright, well I guess it goes without saying how last night

went.  Hopefully next year we can come to a mutual understanding

of what Christmas should look like.

Santa

.......................................

January 1, 2012

Santa,

Sorry big guy.  I guess I just got a little tired of doing the

same old thing year after year.  I know it's unconventional

but just try to enjoy it.  Take the Mrs. on a cruise!

Mother Nature

......................................

January 10, 2012

Dear Mother Nature,

He took your advice!  Thanks.

Love,
Mrs. Clause
......................................

February 23, 2012

Dear Mother Nature,

It has come to my attention that you have decided to "change things up"
this year.  Your advice sent Santa and the Mrs. on a cruise to the
Caribbean which, in turn, put them behind schedule for next
Christmas.  The elves and the reindeer are really confused and the
Easter Bunny is worried that at this rate tornadoes will interfere
with the festivities he has planned.  My phone is ringing off the hook
with concerned citizens making sure I did not, in fact, speed up the clock.
I realize that what's done is done but I would appreciate it if we could
just put all of this behind us and return to our normal yearly patterns.

Thank you for your cooperation,
Father Time
.......................................

<ERROR>
Message could not be delivered.  Mother Nature is out enjoying an early Spring.

Try to take some time off from worrying about the finances today and head out and enjoy the beautiful weather!

This is driving me nuts!!

Since starting our debt reduction journey last month, I have become a little obsessive about checking our bank and other account balances.  I love the convenience of being able to log on at any time of day and see exactly where our debt stands.  This has been working perfectly for me...

...until today.

When we first purchased our home we knew that Bank #1 would be who would actually hold our mortgage.  The only problem came when they were short on loan officers and ended up passing off the closing portion of our mortgage to a loan officer at Bank #2.  Make sense?

In the end it would still work out that our mortgage would be through Bank #1 as they would purchase it from Bank #2.  Well that time has come, and I am stuck in limbo.

I recently made our mortgage payment and signed onto Bank #2's site this morning to see if the account was credited correctly, I check with every payment I make just to be sure, and was a little surprised when the computer screen told me the account was closed and all previous mortgage payments had been transferred to Bank #1.

So here is my issue...Bank #2 does not show the most recent mortgage payment because according to them the account was closed yesterday.  I cannot log onto Bank #1's site yet because I do not have a loan number for their bank yet.  Who has my mortgage payment?  Bank #2 closed the account yesterday but that is where the payment was sent, we don't have an account number with Bank #1 because they don't have all the paperwork completed yet.

I just want to know where my last mortgage payment is!?!

Hopefully this is all figured out soon because it's driving me insane!

What's for Dinner?

This question seems to cause me more grief than any other aspect of my daily routine.

With the hubby's crazy work hours, the little one's sporadic napping schedule, the ringing phone, the dog whining to go outside, etc., dinner, more often than I'd like to admit, comes from a drive-thru window.

This is doing absolutely nothing for our debt reduction efforts, not to mention our health.

So in an effort to return to healthier eating habits and siphon more of our money into debt payoff, we are making it our goal to eat out no more than 1 to 2 times a month.  In theory, it shouldn't be too hard.  I love to cook, I love to bake...I just need to make the time to do it.

Today I took the first step and made my very first weekly menu.

Since it is only day one with menu planning I'm not sure what to expect but it feels really good to know that at 2:00 in the afternoon, I already know what's for dinner.

This week's menu:

Spaghetti

Garlic Bread

Salad

Mushroom Pork Chops

Mashed Potatoes

Vegetables

Tacos

Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Leftovers

Baked Cheesy Chicken Penne

French Bread

Salad

A Step in the RIght Direction

We've already made a little progress this month.

The tax refund came in...and went right back out again.  The difference between this year and those past is that this year it went towards debt.

There have multiple times throughout the years that we have planned on allocating the tax refund towards debt but without a concrete plan, the money would always seem to slip through our fingers, spent on frivolous things we didn't really need.  This year; however, we finally made some progress.

With the help of the tax refund and regular monthly paychecks we have been able to reduce our debt by 

$1,449.76

bringing our total debt down to

$145,016.02

 A mere drop in the bucket compared to the total amount but definitely a step in the right direction.  

The Damage

"Every day on Earth is another chance to get it right."

Steve Earle 

Well, the numbers are in, the math is done, and the results...well, let's just say that ridiculous doesn't even begin to describe them.

Our careless ways have caught up to us and the light at the end of the tunnel isn't even visible at this point, but we'll get there.

We didn't rack up this debt overnight and we certainly aren't going to pay it off overnight.

So, as painful as this is, here's the damage as of January 1st, 2012:

1)  Mortgage - $88,079.04

2)  Credit Card 1 - $13,274.64

3)  Credit Card 2 - $3,826.09

4)  Car Loan - $24,678.71

5)  Student Loan - $11,734.98

6)  Water System - $4,872.32

For a grand total of  $146,465.78

The First Step

"Credit buying is much like being drunk.  The buzz happens immediately, and it gives you a lift.  The hangover comes the day after."

Dr. Joyce Brothers

 Truer words have never been spoken, in my opinion anyway.

That buzzed, floating on air feeling that comes with your first credit card, your new car...I know this feeling all too well.

Unfortunately, the hangover period that follows swiping that pretty little plastic card is a little too familiar as well.

So here we are.  Tired of feeling indefinitely hungover, we're taking the first step on the long journey to a debt free life.  

We've got a long way to go and the path to sobriety is never an easy one to travel, but I am about as stubborn as they come and I am determined to rid our family of this burden.