First, fitness results for the past two days:

June 25

10-min. workout: NO! I've been uber busy and hopefully burning some calories, but haven't had time or energy left at the end of the day for a workout.
Results so far: 20/25 (20 out of 25 days)

Calorie counting: Estimated 1522. (My target is 1280-1400.)
Results so far: 23/25 (my goal is to track, so even if I go over my target, it counts as a success)

No night snacks: Success!
Results so far: 22/25

June 26

10-min. workout: Nope. Same as above.
Results so far: 20/26

Calorie counting: Estimated 1567.
Results so far: 24/26

No night snacks: Success!
Results so far: 23/26

***

AS's student loan payment hit. Also, some money from the UPromise program hit! (I signed up for it but don't really get how to use it, but apparently I managed to rack up about $15 that transferred over to AS's student loan. Sweet!) All told, $142 went to principal. That means we paid $1069 of debt this month, exceeding the $1000 goal. Yippee! I'll take what I can get, because it's been a rough summer financially and it's only going to continue.

***

As I mentioned, we've had an expensive couple months and more to come, which is kind of painful when we're on reduced pay and already trimmed extra debt repayment and most travel out of the budget. We've got dental surgery and one other outpatient surgery for NT coming up, $700 for the teeth and $?? for the other. We've gotten insurance letters indicating we might owe about $2000 more for SL's birth -- darn! We'd already paid over a grand and I was kind of hoping that would be it. We have $2500 in our medical EF and another couple hundred in the checking account allotted to medical, but it looks like we're going to be wiped out completely and still have to come up with more money somehow. Years of medical savings have been decimated in just a few months, thanks also to my teeth problems, my skin problems and the cat's UTIs.

We also need to replace a window which is going to be about $300. Desperately hoping to cashflow that somehow so we don't have to resort to using our EF, which already is less than we started the year with.

One fun expense that's scheduled and we do have the money for, but isn't set in stone, is an August road trip (about $600 for hotel and car combined). Worse comes to worst, we could cancel that and harvest that money, but it's one of the few fun mini-trips we're able to take this year, so I'm hoping we find another way.

I'll be super glad when parental leave is over (in terms of money)! Then we'll have a big travel budget and big extra debt repayment line item, both of which can be dipped into when absolutely necessary for other things. Meanwhile, we just have to figure out a way to pay for everything.

I do have a small travel budget surplus since it sounds like none of my siblings are taking me up on the offer to fly them out here for a visit. (The one that is coming insisted on paying for everything herself.) I was hoping to keep it all for travel or other fun activities (like hiring babysitters for date nights), but the way things are going it might have to go toward yucky bills instead.

I also thought we should try to tap some credit card offers to ease the pain of the above. NT had $105 from a recent credit card so I'll put that toward medical expenses. If my Chase Sapphire double-dip works, I should be getting $400 in August that I can hopefully use to help pay these bills.

I asked NT and AS to each apply for a Citi Dividend card, which has a good $150 bonus if you spend $500. If they're both approved, that's another $300 we can use to these expenses. I might apply for that card, too, if it's still available once I'm done qualifying for my Chase Sapphire reward. If not, Capital One usually has a $100 bonus if you spend $500 offer available, and that would be better than nothing. Heck, the amount we're needing to spend, I might as well apply for the Citi AND the CapOne! If I did that and was approved, that would be another $250 we could put toward the medical fund.

Unfortunately, I think if any of us get holiday bonuses at least some of it will need to go toward bolstering our savings. It sucks to see it take such a nosedive! This is the first time it's happened this much since we even started HAVING savings (which granted has only been a couple years).

***

Anyhow, on a brighter note, I've started implementing some of your excellent suggestions about rearranging the house! I decided to start with the kitchen, since that was something I could do on my own. Some of the others will need the input and skills of NT and AS to complete.

I Freecycled some stuff (the George Foreman grill, the fondue set, some extraneous dishes) and rearranged a lot of the cabinets. I adhered to the no-mixing-food-and-utensils rule that some of you suggested. Sometimes a cabinet will have mixed use, but each shelf at least has a discrete purpose.

I moved a lot of the countertop stuff into cabinets, moved the coffee stuff into a corner where it's less imposing, and cleaned everything but the daycare calendar and the menu off the fridge. I moved AA's sippy cups into the cupboard and put away that big glass bowl they were in. I moved silverware and napkins over closer to the table and dishwasher, and the coffee appliances are now directly under the coffee itself. Everything makes a lot more sense and the surfaces look a lot cleaner. I'm holding off photos because we need to get some different sizes of storage containers for some of the stuff that moved, so I want to wait until the interior of the cupboards looks more organized. Plus we're still in the process of Freecycling and getting rid of things, so some of the surfaces are temporarily cluttered with stuff that's about to go away. When I do post, I think you'll all be pleased!

I also decluttered AA's toy shelf to some extent and hid the free-weights that were visible under the couch. We're still going to try and store stuff under the couch and bed, and we're going to test out covering the shelves with fabric we already have. If we like the effect but the fabric doesn't quite go with the room, then we'll know it's worth investing in some better-matching fabric. We just have to buy some Velcro and cut the fabric to try it out. (And AS will probably want to hem the fabric so it doesn't look too rough.) I'll post pics as soon as we get this all done.

That's all for now! I have to go tackle a big pile o' work.