So long, November

I have not been on the computer much this month - too much going on. I'll hit the highlights.

1. I turned 50. Enough said!

2. A week and a half ago, I dropped my son off at the university and five minutes later, while sitting at a stoplight, a speeding bus plowed into my van. There ended up being five vehicles involved. No one was hurt, thank goodness, but three of us saw our vehicles towed away. I spent the next few hours trying to find a wheelchair accessible van to rent - made more difficult because it was the week before Thanksgiving and they were all booked ahead. Finally got one on a temporary basis. I called the owner of the bus company two days later because insurance appeared to be moving slowly. He was extremely nice and sincerely wanted to help. He called the rental company and is personally guaranteeing payment for the rental van ($770 a week!!) My van has a lot of damage and I'm told if it were not a wheelchair conversion (which adds value), it would have been totaled. Thank goodness for that conversion because we were NOT planning on buying another van now! It will be another 3 weeks before we get it back because of the many parts that have to be ordered, but we are able to keep the rental until then, so all is good. And by the way, the bus driver - who never got off the bus to check on the four women involved in the accident - is no longer employed by the bus company.

3. Christmas tree is up and all presents wrapped and paid for in cash.

4. Updated my debt totals and they went down by more than $1,500. Woo hoo! Slow and steady is winning the race.

Hope everyone had a lovely and peaceful Thanksgiving.

Sarah

I'm hiding from the goblins tonight

I didn't buy any Halloween candy. We live in an older neighborhood and there are very few kids around. The past two years no one rang our doorbell, but the weather wasn't the greatest. The result was that I ate way too much candy the day after Halloween. Not so this year. I'm keeping the porch lights off and staying away from the windows. I may be a scrooge, but it's better for my wallet and my waist.

Sarah

The upside of menopause ...

... just the thought of turning on the heat makes me sweat. The temperature dropped to the 30s the other night and I slept with the ceiling fan on! Of course, I'm not the only one  living here, so I'm eventually going to have to give in....but not yet.

On an unrelated note, I just went to see what's up in Mysti's world and found I had been blocked from her blog. As she was one of the first PF bloggers I started following way back when, this makes me sad. I'm trying not to take it personally ...

Is it getting hot in here??

Sarah

A sobering reminder

A friend lost her husband last week. No warning. She found him dead in his recliner of an apparent heart attack. He was 50 years old.

Not to sound totally crass, but my brain immediately went to the financial implications. I think my friend is in pretty good shape, though I don't know that for sure.

But really, I started to think about our situation and what if something happened to one of us. It's scary, you know? It makes me thankful that we took Dave Ramsey's advice several years ago and bought term life insurance on both of us. It would be nice not to have to pay those monthly premiums, but at times like this I'm reminded why we do it. If I were left alone today, it would take half of the $500,000 of DH's insurance to pay off all the debt, including the mortgage. That's a huge chunk gone quickly, but at least it would be there to pay those bills.

I'm also thankful that we finally put on our big kid panties and started beating down this monster. Had we kept going the other direction ... well, I don't want to think about it.

It's hard being an adult.

Sarah

Yes, dear

Out of the blue the other day, DH said "How can I make what is a decent living and we never have any money?" He wasn't angry. Just venting.

I've long given up getting DH terribly interested in the money situation. If I dwell too long on it, I resent him and that's not what I want to do. (He took over paying the bills once early in our marriage and I was so horrified by the awful bookkeeping that I just started doing it myself.) He knows what we have and what we owe - well, he has access to it all, he just rarely bothers to actually look too hard into it. He is not a spendthrift and doesn't have expensive hobbies or car lust, so I try not to be too hard on him. We are just wired differently.

But back to his question. I think because he is removed from the finances, he forgets. But don't worry, I'm right there to remind him. I pointed out that $100,000 went (and is still going) to sending kids to college. We bought four cars in a year's time (2 for us, 2 for the kids ... all are paid for). We are still paying for the $40,000 accessible bathroom addition for our son. (I so wish I had a $40,000 kitchen instead!) There have been the medical expenses - and the equipment not considered essential by insurance. For example, a van with a dropped floor and a ramp to accommodate a power wheelchair - $15,000. Just for the modifications. Our daughter got married last year. So we paid for a wedding. And on and on and on. The list of necessary and stupid is long.

I did reassure him that there is a light at the end of the very long tunnel. In 2.5 years, we will wipe 6 credit cards off the list. The monthly minimums for those 6 cards total, hold on to your hat, $1,443. That should help give us some breathing room, finally, and get the snowball rolling.

He's really frustrated, I think, because the raise that was supposed to kick in over the summer is being delayed by union contract negotiations. And, like me, he knows retirement is getting closer on the horizon. Well, he hopes it is, anyway.

Sarah

Life keeps on coming

Ended the weekend with a bang, so to speak. DS fell during a wheelchair transfer and we had to call EMS to lift him. The blood. Oh. My. Word. It was everywhere. He has a nice gash on his head that required stitches, but no broken bones, which is nothing short of miraculous given his brittle bones. I lost a couple years off my life, though.

Something I learned from this experience: If EMS responds to your 911 call but doesn't transport the patient to a hospital, you aren't billed anything. Who knew?

Now the ER bills will be another thing ...

Sarah

Trudging along

I am so tired of being in debt. So tired of trying to get blood from a turnip. Not that I have a choice. It is what it is. We are halfway through the payoff programs we have with six of the credit cards. I'm holding tight to the realization that when those payments disappear, we will at least be able to breathe. Getting rid of six big payments almost at once will be amazing. And then we will be able to start snowballing instead of just paying minimums. Maybe we will get out of this mess before DH is ready to retire ...

OK, no more Debbie Downer.

Remember those beer rebates I talked about awhile back? A friend and I have teamed up and when we find forms, we pick up one for each other. It's not a lot, but in the few months I've been sending these things in, I've received rebate checks totaling just over $300. Pretty cool, huh? With coupons and sales, that should take care of Christmas this year. Woo hoo! Anybody else started Christmas shopping? I've always been a plan-ahead shopper - but it is especially important now.

With DS back at school and my chauffeur duties in full swing, gas is once again eating a hole in my budget. And groceries ... ugh! Prices are out of control! On the upside, we had an incredibly mild summer here and my A/C costs were substantially lower than they typically are this time of year. Can I order a mild winter with low heating costs, too??

Sarah