All our mortgage payments hit today.
US: $470 to principal
UK1: $218
UK2: $47
UK3: $50
All told, $785 down, $2415 to go on the December debt goal.
Lots of financial doings yesterday:
We got another bill from NT's hospital visit. It seemed higher than what his insurance site had led us to believe. I took a closer look and realized they'd tacked on a $398 charge from 2011. NT reckons that's from a finger injury that he ended up getting worker's comp to pay for. He's going to call the hospital and see why it's showing up on a bill now.
Money in the mail: Got $20 from my mom for our anniversary, and a $3 check for a wine rebate. They will both go into surplus to hopefully help pay down debt.
Paid our second holiday tip, $30 to our condo association's holiday fund for the employees.
I raised the possibility of starting our oldest on an allowance next year when she turns 4. I think about it every year but we've always decided she's too young. I think she's much more able to grasp concepts now, so it'll be a good time to start. Thinking about doing the thing where we make her save 1/3 and donate 1/3, and then 1/3 is for spending.
We decided to use an offer that came in an issue of Kiplinger's to get 15 bottles of wine for $90 (that comes to $6 per bottle). All we have to do is cancel the membership it signs us up for after that. That'll be good for the holidays.
Speaking of Kiplinger's, I think the most recent issue finally tipped the scales for me on doing something with my cash besides stashing it in savings. snafu, you'll be so happy! 
I'm making it a New Year's goal to figure out how to divvy it up and put it in places where it will earn at least a little bit of money. I'm thinking my EF will go in online savings and the house down payment money (when we get some) into a Vanguard fund of some kind. Kiplinger's recommended a bond fund from them.
And, some non-financial but fun news tidbits:
I won NaNoWriMo! I completed a 50,000-word novel in less than 30 days. The writing is terrible, the plot kind of half-baked, but I got to stretch my creative muscles and my self-discipline.
I've lost all the weight I needed to in order to win the DietBet I'm in. As long as I don't *gain* any for the next week, I should at least get my $35 back and maybe win a bit extra!
AS heard that she might get to attend the London Book Fair in April next year! This would be great both for boosting her presence in England for potential future career prospects AND to get to see our friends for a bit. Our best UK friends are visiting us in May, so she'd get to see them two months in a row.
December debt progress and other money news
December 3rd, 2013 at 06:15 pm
December 3rd, 2013 at 08:56 pm 1386104201
I'm so impressed that you've written a novel in less than 30 days on top of all your other roles. Did you find a way to s-t-r-e-t-c-h a 24 hr. day? What are your [family] plans for the holidays? I'm trying to get my brain to focus.
December 3rd, 2013 at 09:20 pm 1386105610
AS and I realized that we have about 2-3 hours after the kids go to bed when NT is usually off doing homework where we usually just watch TV and do other things sporadically. We turned those hours into writing ones. She'd bring her work laptop home and we'd both sit in the living room typing frantically. Our DVR of shows we like to watch has built up dramatically; demonstrates what we usually do with those hours.
Hope you're feeling better BTW!
December 4th, 2013 at 04:29 am 1386131366
December 4th, 2013 at 03:06 pm 1386169574
For the Vanguard fund - I presume this is money with a more nebulous time goal? I don't think any mutual funds are probably a good idea if the only reason is to try to generate higher yields. If you for sure need the money in the next few years this is extra true. If the timeline is more nebulous than maybe makes sense. If your investment time frame is more long-term I'd think a balanced fund with stocks and bonds would be a good idea.
MyMoneyBlog had a commentary about this today: http://www.mymoneyblog.com/howard-marks-oaktree-client-memo-...
I'd just be careful of any overly-bullish anti-cash sentiments. It's just market timing and nothing more. Which might be more important for a retiree who was losing their bond income in this times. But for young people like us, we probably have short-term needs (cash) and long-term needs (investments) but we probably shouldn't be chasing higher yields in the short run by taking on more risks. We have time to ride it out and it probably doesn't matter too much in the grand scheme of things. I have personally considered all this credit card reward bonus money as a great replacement for interest income. Eventually the bonuses will dry up but by then I might actually be making decent interest again. Problem solved without risking my cash unnecessarily.
December 4th, 2013 at 04:55 pm 1386176131
December 4th, 2013 at 05:13 pm 1386177211
Thanks MonkeyMama, I welcome all POVs and will definitely be researching the options before I make the leap. I do need to sit down and map out an estimated timeline for when I think the funds will be used. I know we're renovating the bathroom this spring so I won't put that money anywhere that has risk, but some of the other items/actions aren't completely figured out yet.
bluesfemme, she did! I finished the evening of Nov. 29 and she finished shortly after midnight, so about 5 hours later. She has also lost all the weight required for her DietBet goal. We were on fire last month!
December 8th, 2013 at 11:44 am 1386503091