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More to debt and savings, money updates, etc.

November 30th, 2009 at 03:30 pm

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! I read everyone's latest posts last night, so I feel all caught up even if I didn't comment on many of them. Welcome back Pennywise! Smile

Our Thanksgiving was great--much better than we'd hoped for. Went to my sister's in Ohio--she's closest to me in age, but she and her husband are the most religious/conservative of my family, and I haven't seen her since NT moved in.

I needn't have worried. My family doesn't like making people uncomfortable, and I bet my sister's family got positive advance notice from the family that has met NT and seen the three of us together. Everyone was so nice. When it came time for family photos, someone yelled, "OK, inlaws stand behind the couch--AS, you get in there." So I knew they regarded her as an inlaw even though we're not technically married. Then later someone suggested taking separate photos of each sister's family, and they had me, NT and AS pose together first. I was very happy--that's all I want from my family, to recognize us as a family unit so that they understand AS is going to be our baby's mom too.

And I only got into two political-esque conversations--both with my mouthiest brother-in-law--and felt I managed to extricate myself before either of us got too heated. That was one of my main goals for the trip too, since me & mine are the only liberals in my whole family! LOL. But politics aside, my family is very open-minded so I would almost call them socially liberal. More like mind-your-own-business, classic Republicans, which is a trait I admired in that political ideology (and still do admire when I see it).

My baby bump got to "meet" 9 of its 11 cousins, who range in age from 12 to 20 (I think). So baby will be like me; I'm much younger than all my cousins, who seem more like aunts and uncles to me.

Oh, and I gave my dad the undated checks for $1000 each and explained my plan for paying him off. He seemed really happy, though in typical dad fashion said "Oh, you don't have to worry about paying me back before the baby comes." I explained that was just my personal benchmark that I was going to try for. I noticed he flipped through and said "Are there six checks here?"--that told me that even though he would never hassle me about paying him back, he does remember how much he gave me and how much I still owe him, so it is important to him too. That made me feel good--I wouldn't want to be sweating over the money if he didn't even care about it.

My mom gave me $100 cash to put toward the trip expenses, and told me to just let them know how much more we needed. I'm waiting until the car rental charge comes through on my card, but I think we got the trip in at about $540, a little better than the $585 I was expecting. We paid for our own food, but my parents are covering car, insurance, gas, tolls and hotel.

Anyway, progress on the goals: AS's student loan hit and put $117 to principal, bringing our November debt payment to $2321.

Plus, I had AS research IRA options for the retirement money we've been saving for her while she was laid off, and she settled on eTrade. I was going to put one more chunk of $120 to her retirement in December, since she'll start her 403(b) with the new job in January. So I took out that $120 a couple days earlier than usual, which means it goes to the November savings goal, bringing it to $890.

We got an early Xmas card from NT's dad and stepmom, with US $120 in it! We're putting that toward the laptop we're saving up for. I also got a $120 check for the freelance proofreading I did a couple weeks ago. Our total saved is at $888. We're now leaning toward a reconfigured Macbook Pro which is $999, so we're getting really close! The change jar is half full and I've been saving my one-dollar bills from my spending money, so we'll add all that in when we get a bit closer.

OK, I've got loads of work on my desk and my boss is unexpectedly out due to complications her poor husband had due to the lymphoma treatment.

8 Responses to “More to debt and savings, money updates, etc.”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1259595302

    I'm so glad you had a great Thanksgiving with your family. All families should be so lucky!!

  2. momcents Says:
    1259595734


    Sounds like a wonderful family trip for you all! Where in Thanksgiving were you? Last year we were in Columbus for my daughters' Irish Dance competition (Midamerica Championships). We could have gone this year too (both daughters qualified) but opted to stay home in IL because my 90 year old Grandma is visiting. Plus the Championships will be in Chicago in 2010 and 2011.

    I am glad that your family was accepting of your nuclear family unit! Funny thing is, DH and I are "odd ones" in my family (married 20 years, six kids - five surviving, hoping for more through nature or adoption). We get SO MUCH flack from my brother and biological father about our decisions. Oh, and we are pretty religious on top of it - Mass at least twice a week, praying before meals EVEN IN PUBLIC - much to their chagrin. Boy, if I could, I could comment on their lack of fidelity and commitment and talk about "living in sin" with their present amores-de-jour! But, I'd like to be a good role model to my kids.

    Sounds like you will raise well-adjusted happy kids!

    Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

  3. ceejay74 Says:
    1259597587

    momcents, we were right outside of Toledo. I have family in other areas of Ohio too, but not Columbus.

    Yeah, I'm really glad we're not that kind of family, harping on people's decisions. It's just not part of a get-together for us, even if family members comment privately to one another (and why not? I do that about them as you can see from the above post--LOL).

    For instance, one of my sisters clearly didn't ever try to teach her kids about nutrition or exercise, so they're all overweight and out of shape. (Then again they're also the poorest and most rural, so there are more barriers to getting the info, supplies and encouragement for fitness.) But they're all sweethearts, so why try to make them feel bad at a reunion? Sure, that's something you can talk about to your spouse later, but no one ever, ever says anything mean or critical about the kids or my sister's role in their health at the actual gathering. I love that about my family.

    We also have one Catholic unit and one sort of born-again Christian group in an otherwise religiously noncommittal family, and there's never any uncomfortable or ignorant words said about that either.

    I bet you're successfully raising your family to stay above that kind of stuff too. That's the important thing!

  4. wowitsawonderfullife Says:
    1259600924

    Hey CeeJay. You've really got your stuff together. It's great to read your posts as they are so motivational. Watch for the sales after Christmas for your computer - I suspect prices will go down even further. Good luck with everything. It sounds like your life is abundant and you have a wonderful family.

  5. frugaltexan Says:
    1259603256

    It sounds as though you had a really good Thanksgiving. I'm glad your family accepted all of you as a unit. Sound like good people. Smile

  6. ceejay74 Says:
    1259603783

    Awww, shucks. Smile And great tip about the computer--we probably won't have all the money before then anyway, so we'll be sure to look around.

  7. dmontngrey Says:
    1259629671

    Wow, that's the best Thanksgiving you could have asked for! So much to be thankful for there. Smile
    I STILL struggle to be accepted by DH's family most of the time.

  8. whitestripe Says:
    1259635298

    it's nice to hear that your reunion went well. i was only really 'accepted' by DF's family at the engagement party back in September - when they all met my Dad. DF's family is loud and full of life - and I am quiet and soft spoken. To top it off I don't talk a lot. I really do try, but I just suck at small talk.
    So my dad is softly spoken, quiet and considerate, and so after the engagement party they were all like 'Ooooh... now we have met your dad we *understand*'.
    Sigh. Big Grin lol

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