My credit card payment ($82 to principal) and one of AS's student loan payments ($59) hit. so $141 more paid to debt. The April total is $4113! Very nice month indeed.

I checked my payroll info for tomorrow's direct deposit paycheck, and it looks like they STILL haven't begun taking out dependent-care flex spending! I wrote to the HR guy; should hear back in a few days (grumble) since everything takes forever with him.

Managed to rejigger my paycheck estimates upward AGAIN based on this check, though it still isn't an accurate check because of flex spending and a couple minor temporary adjustments. So I still don't know what my normal paycheck will look like. I think I have one more chance, if they get my next one right, to see what a normal paycheck amount will be, because after my next check, I start taking some unpaid leave until July, and that's going to make it impossible to know what tax withholding, 401(k) and everything else will be on a regular full check.

So I've been trying out using my Visa card for purchases to build up rewards points, since I'm nearly CC-debt-free, trust myself not to charge up stuff I can't pay off, and only just noticed my card even has a reward program. But I'm already a little frustrated. I've been trying to keep receipts (and collect NT's from him when he uses the Visa), then make a payment every few days to pay off what we've charged so far. But I seem to be about $50 short on my calculation based on the CC account when I logged in to that today. There are pending transactions, and unlike my checking account, there is absolutely no info available as to what the pending charges are. So I'm left to wonder: Did I just lose a receipt? Is there a finance charge of some kind that I'm not aware of on this CC? Is it fraud? I just have to wait until the pending transactions actually show up in the account before I can see where the disconnect is between my calculations and the actual amount. So if this situation doesn't turn out well, not sure I'm going to use the card regularly anymore. We'll see.

In other money news, AS has taken another freelance assignment ($500 or so) and NT is planning on selling some of his LP records and donate the proceeds to the communal good. Oh, and AS's boss confirmed she's getting a raise in July and that it will be quite nice. So it's looking better and better that we'll be able to accomplish all our stated 2010 goals AND maybe dive into the additional goals I laid out a couple weeks ago! That would be exciting indeed. I'd love to meet with a tax lawyer before UK tax season (October). And it would be great if we could screen in our balcony before the summer's over. Heck, depending on how nice my and AS's checks end up looking in the second half of the year, we might knock off ALL our additional goals and start tackling AS's student-loan debt this year instead of next. But I'm getting way ahead of myself. At least contemplating the positive possibilities has lessened my irritation at HR and my credit-card company.