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Weekend wrapup

October 27th, 2014 at 04:41 am

Had a fun weekend, and not TOO spendy. Friday night the girls stayed with our friends/downstairs neighbors while we drove to Stillwater (40 mins away) for a wedding reception. We only stayed a couple hours so we could get back downtown and hang out somewhere. We dropped off the carshare and walked to a pizza place a couple blocks from home, where I had two appetizers, and NT and AS each had a drink and a slice. We had a gift card from a friend, so we only had to put in $5 each. The carshare to the wedding was about $35, and the gift was a $20 serving bowl that we bought with Amazon CC rewards.

We pay for carshare with a monthly budget item, but we're already partly into December's allotted amount. Typically carshare usage goes way down once it gets snowy and icy, so it's usually OK to go over budget in the summer and fall and make it up then.

Saturday we did grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning. Saturday night we had a potluck at the downstairs place; the ingredients for our dishes fit into our regular grocery budget, so it was a nearly free night of entertainment.

We talked briefly about Xmas and agreed that it might be a good year to just give each other the money budgeted for gifts so we could get exactly what we wanted, since things have been so tight lately. If we did it we'd promise to use the money just for ourselves, even if it's for practical things (I really could use new bras and slippers and PJs and work pants).

AS has gone to give plasma after hearing our friend talk about it; she made $100 over two sessions. It takes a while so it's not a good hourly rate, but you can work on laptops, read, etc., so it doesn't sound too bad. The first 5 sessions you get $50 each; after that the amount goes down. But I might consider trying it at some point. I wouldn't mind having a little bit of extra spending money.

Today we finished up grocery shopping at CVS; with coupons and savings we spent $43 for $80 worth of stuff! I splurged with some of my spending money at CVS and Target today. $7 for Halloween candy to give out, $3 for a silly witch hat to wear while handing out candy, $4 on party favors for a party/playdate AA is hosting next week, and $4 on some sweet treats for my kids. So $18 total, about half of my weekly spending money.

Earlier in the week, I suddenly decided to try and apply for an unsecured personal loan to cover getting out of my promissory note to the crazy seller. I put NT as a co-applicant; it didn't offer a third spot, plus it's still hard to say what AS's monthly income is. Unfortunately, I didn't get approved; our debt-to-income for just our two incomes is too high, and our incomes not quite big enough for what I applied for. (I tried for $35K thinking it would also help us pay off the condo mortgage if/when we sell.)

However, the lady did tell me that if we didn't have the condo mortgage we would probably qualify for about $25K, which would be almost enough to cover the promissory note. So maybe if we get an offer on the condo, we'd get approved for $25K. The interest rate is 5.99%, which is pretty good for unsecured debt I think. Our promissory note is 5.375, but only for a year, after which it goes up. So I'd gladly switch to an unsecured loan with a slightly higher rate.

Today I was looking over my budget and bank accounts and realized that when I switched the promissory note payments to the 25th, I'd somehow skipped Oct. 25 and had no payment scheduled for the Nov. 1 bill! I set one up right away that is scheduled to reach the seller on Oct. 30, so fingers crossed it does get to him faster than last month's.

No news on the condo. Showings have really dropped off. We have a week left in October, and our agent says 25% of sales in our complex do happen in the winter months, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that we'll sell yet this year. So, we sit tight for now.

Daycare tuition is going up by $20 per kid next year. But AA will only be full-time there until the school year starts; after that she'll do after-school there, which is half the amount of full tuition. So overall, our daycare costs will be less next year, just a bit more for the first eight months.

AS continues to pull in smaller jobs here and there and is nearly three-quarters of the way through funding December paychecks and healthcare.

NT has eight more weeks until he gets his BA! So so excited to have that out of the way.

AS and I are getting ready to do NaNoWriMo again this year. I've nearly got my book plotted out. It's a cheesy young adult supernatural-ish thriller/horror novel. I'm hoping it'll be fun to write!

I have to check my PTO; I believe I have quite a few days to use up before the end of the year. Maybe I could work on my novel and give plasma on days off! Smile

5 Responses to “Weekend wrapup”

  1. CB in the City Says:
    1414416201

    I'm going to do NaNoWriMo, too! I'm thinking I'll call it "Train Rider."

  2. doingitallwrong Says:
    1414418395

    Have you considered a peer-to-peer loan such as Prosper or Lending Club? They may be a little less rigid on the DTI, and depending on the loan terms and your credit score the interest rates start at around 6%. (They can go up quite a lot higher, too, of course!)

  3. ceejay74 Says:
    1414420301

    CB, you should post your word count progress on your blog, and I'll do the same!

    diaw, I hadn't looked into either of those. I shall check that out! It would be so great to not be tied to our seller anymore.

  4. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1414454187

    I'm going to look into the plasma thing - thanks for reminding me.

  5. ceejay74 Says:
    1414630739

    Both Prosper and Lending Club say their rates start at 6.78% right now. I think I'll hang in a bit longer to see if I can sell the condo and borrow from the 5.9% bank

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