Oh, it's only been... 6 months since my last post?
I've been good, how about you?
Not too much has changed, except that my son is now four (!!!) and that expectant babe I forementioned is now a six month old wiggly little teeny tiny named Charlotte. We also have some new furniture since the new addition made us realize that we needed more space. It was more than I wanted to spend initially, but we had it put together to fit our exact specifications (color, texture, room size) and we added on the replacement plan, so it's set and proven to be pretty darn perfect. I'd like to add, for the record, we paid for it with cash. We're absolutely positively completely finished with any and all types of loans. Pay with cash on hand, or wait and save up until you can.
Oh yeah! No big deal, but we also paid off the 2015 KIA that we had taken such great care of. We were so dang proud when we mailed off that final check. Also no big deal, but the very next morning after sending that same final check, a woman blasted through a red light and smashed in to our car when I was taking my son to gymnastics class, totaling it. The entire experience has proven to be emotionally damaging and very, very stressful. The kids were both unharmed and I only had minor injuries (whiplash, bruising, soreness), but emotionally, it was tough. Talk about a smashing realization about the illusion of safety... If anything had happened to my children... I can't even go there. But we're all alive and ok and more together than we've ever been.
That's a part of why I'm back. With a vengeance. I have been so angry about all these bad and unexpected things that keep happening one right after the other. Medical bills, things leaking, things breaking down, things needing to be fixed, accidents... I did nothing wrong. Our lives were violently interrupted and it still hasn't all been resolved. Well, I'm here to control every possible aspect that I can. This is my life, my family, my home. Let's get to it.
The nitty gritty is basically that we were suffering financially for a pretty solid eight months. We just could not catch a break. We're finally coming out ahead this month (so far, knock on wood) and the biggest reason is probably the simplest. We've just stopped buying stuff. As much as we possibly can, we've stopped. Of course we buy food and those basic consumables we all need (toilet paper, toothpaste, etc.), but that's about it. I stock up on sales and completely avoid stores otherwise if I can. I stretch what we have at home. My son even repeated one of my mantras today when I told him that he needed to finish all of his broccoli: "We don't waste food". Proud mama moment.
I'm very proud of my kids right now for a lot of reasons, but I'm so super proud of my son, Donnie. We have not given him any new toys since his birthday a few months ago, and he has been so cool with it. He still likes to look at toys when we go to stores, but he never throws a fit when I have to say "no", though he rarely even asks anymore. We've been making more use out of the toys we have, making more fun crafts, coloring more, pulling down old board games now that he's old enough to understand some of them, going outside whenever the weather is decent (playing in our yard, going for walks around the neighborhood or going to the park), going to the library for story time (where he checks out books and DVDs), and reading more. All of these things are fun and enriching for him, and don't cost a thing. It's such a perfect lesson for him. We also deposited his full Iron Man bank into his savings account recently and he was super proud. He carried around his lil' transaction log book for days and kept saying that he had "four million dollars". Dream big, kid. We'll get there some day!
I've been keeping a close eye on our budget this month and balancing our checkbook weekly. We are finally seeing a slow, but steady rise in our balance. It's higher than it's been in over three months so I know we're on the right track. I'm feeling super proud of everything we've accomplished and super motivated to keep it going.
Well, it's this mama's bed time. I am wornnnn out. I had a couple teeth extracted (wisdom tooth & one broken tooth) about a week ago and it has proven to be much, much, much more painful than I was anticipating... Throbbing pains and aching canker sores all over my gums and cheek. I'm breastfeeding so I chose not to be put under or to take any prescription pain meds. Reaaaallllyyyy kicking myself in the butt right now and wishing that I had just waited it out until I was finished nursing. Remember that whole part about not being able to catch a break? Welcome to life, eh?
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