Ceejay74's Personal Finance Blog

Our mortgage payments hit:
US: $379 toward principal
UK1: $258
UK2: $54
UK3: $57

All told, $748 down, $152 to go on the May goal. Next payment won't happen until around the 15th.

I've still been keeping track of baby expenses as best I can; I think I'm being fairly accurate although sometimes I'm too lazy to add sales tax. But other than that, I think I've remembered to add everything baby-related, both savings and expenses.

I do expect that tax savings next February will offset this quite a bit, since I'm going to calculate what my taxes would have been had I not taken unpaid leave, dependent-care flex spending and increased health care premium, as well as the increased deductions and credits that come with having a dependent. But I sure am glad I saved up an EF and cleared enough debt away to be able to cashflow these expenses; seems like there's something every day. (I haven't at all separated wants and needs, so you can see there were definitely places to cut corners even more. But also, we got most of our supplies secondhand from friends, so we saved ourselves spending thousands of dollars that way. Those donations don't increase funds directly, though, so they are not noted in this list.)

So here's the list, for anyone who's curious. There's no one representative list of cost since everyone's health care is different and the amount of free stuff that can be obtained will also vary widely. But hopefully it's a bit interesting nonetheless.

Date; Type of (expense)/savings; Amount
1/9/2009 Prenatal vitamins (16.10)
4/1/2009 No birth control $20.00
4/15/2009 Prenatal vitamins (24.69)
5/1/2009 No birth control $20.00
6/1/2009 No birth control $20.00
7/1/2009 No birth control $20.00
7/6/2009 Pregnancy test (6.99)
7/21/2009 Large pair of trousers (19.99)
7/30/2009 Dr. visit co-pay (10.00)
8/1/2009 No birth control $20.00
8/10/2009 Iron supplements (5.99)
8/11/2009 Iron supplements (5.49)
8/27/2009 Rx for prevention of UTIs (10.00)
9/1/2009 No birth control $20.00
9/6/2009 Prenatal classes (155.00)
9/10/2009 OB contract pmt (127.04)
9/16/2009 Belly band (16.99)
9/29/2009 1st visit tests + rest of OB contract (1012.62 total; 1st pmt) (377.43)
10/1/2009 No birth control $20.00
10/4/2009 Maternity clothes (177.91)
10/12/2009 Iron supplements (5.92)
11/1/2009 No birth control $20.00
11/2/2009 2nd pmt for tests, dr. visits & OB contract (268.78)
11/4/2009 Fleece zipup to supplement borrowed maternity coat (14.99)
11/10/2009 Iron supplements (5.92)
11/30/2009 2 new bras (one nursing, one larger strapless) (24.93)
12/1/2009 No birth control $20.00
12/7/2009 Maternity leggings (to use as long johns) (24.99)
12/15/2009 3rd pmt dr. visits & OB contract (254.70)
12/26/2009 Maternity clothes (including replacement fleece $11) [used gift cards] (70.00)
1/1/2010 No birth control (just $20 every 3 months now, w/ new health care) $20.00
1/6/2010 Prenatal vitamins & iron supplements (26.38)
1/7/2010 Exercise ball (for relief of back pain & labor pains) (23.64)
1/8/2010 4th pmt dr. visits & OB contract (178.96)
1/14/2010 Rx for prevention of UTIs (10.00)
1/26/2010 5th pmt dr. visits (16.59)
2/9/2010 Prepayment of 1st 4 weeks of daycare (440.00)
2/20/2010 Crib mattress ($200 pd w/ gift cert; $30 discount for water discoloration) (271.77)
2/20/2010 Gift certificate from baby shower $200.00
2/21/2010 Sprayer for cleaning cloth diapers ($15 pd w/ gift money) (45.00)
2/21/2010 Gift money from baby shower $25.00
2/21/2010 6 boxes of disposable diapers (different sizes) (incl. $10 coupon from dr. office) (52.94)
2/21/2010 2 wet bags (for holding cloth diapers while out) (13.50)
2/21/2010 Gift cards as baby gift from NT's mom $150.00
2/21/2010 Baby soap/shampoo (9.64)
2/21/2010 Bath cradle (6.64)
2/21/2010 Baby clothes hangers (2.19)
2/21/2010 Outlet covers (3.64)
2/21/2010 Baby nail clippers (2.13)
2/21/2010 Convertible carseat (56.85)
2/21/2010 Baby sunscreen (4.72)
2/21/2010 Cotton pads (for baby cleaning, etc.) (2.19)
2/21/2010 Baby liquid pain reliever (1.99)
2/21/2010 Iron supplements (5.89)
2/21/2010 Thermometer (8.54)
2/21/2010 Thermometer (3.14)
2/21/2010 Baby anti-itch cream (3.74)
2/21/2010 Baby neosporin (3.89)
3/5-3/8 Convenience food (estimated) (75.00)
3/5/2010 Breast pump, bottles, two sleepers (swaddling blankets) (333.00)
3/8/2010 Hospital parking ramp (10.00)
3/8/2010 Percocet & stool softener (14.79)
3/10/2010 Cabs to & from pediatric clinic (22.00)
3/11/2010 Baby lotion, caffeine tablets, ibuprofen, liquid vitamin D, breast gel packs, maxi pads (40.71)
3/12/2010 Sleepers (7.94)
3/12/2010 Nipple ointment, GasX (61.63)
3/13/2010 Nursing bra, ibuprofen (estimated) (25.00)
3/14/2010 Diaper service (299.00)
3/15/2010 Gift certificate for diaper service $100.00
3/5-3/15 Lost wages (disability) (518.87)
3/16/2010 Vicodin (10.00)
3/23/2010 Baby wipes (3.22)
3/23/2010 Baby wipes, baby powder & breastmilk storage bags (24.68)
3/24/2010 Car seat with lift-out carrier (127.39)
3/24/2010 Target gift cards given as baby gifts $100.00
3/29/2010 Hospital bill (1,149.73)
3/30/2010 Baby wipes (2.12)
3/31/2010 Lost wages (disability) (815.33)
4/9/2010 Baby wipes (5.00)
4/9/2010 Ibuprofen & witch-hazel pads (10.33)
4/15/2010 Lost wages (disability) (412.85)
4/15/2010 Baby healthcare premium (59.50)
4/22/2010 Hospital bill (251.24)
4/23/2010 Bottle steamer bags (4.79)
4/25/2010 Hemorrhoidal suppositories (5.49)
4/27/2010 Fiber tablets (13.37)
4/27/2010 Anesthesiology bill (183.20)
4/29/2010 Baby wipes (estimated) (10.00)
4/30/2010 Baby healthcare premium (59.50)
5/2/2010 Storage unit, ceiling lamp and night light for nursery (84.72)
5/3/2010 Hemorrhoidal suppositories (7.99)

TOTAL (COST)/SAVINGS (6,691.21)

April was a great month because I was able to see that my paychecks are going to be a lot bigger than I'd calculated for parental leave. That allowed me to put some big chunks of money toward debt that I'd been hoarding in the checking account to help cover the leaner weeks. So I paid down $4113 in debt, surpassing my $2190 goal by $1923.

My May goal is to pay off at least $900 in debt. Why such a small amount? First, some of my end-of-month payments may not hit in May since the last two days fall on Saturday and Sunday. And second, NT decided on some purchases he wanted to make for the home, so we may not do any extra debt repay this month. I'm hoping to at least surpass $1000 of debt repayment since we've never done less than that in a month, but I'm setting my sights low so I'm not disappointed if it doesn't work out.

As I stated in an earlier post, we're looking to have a $5500 surplus after I accomplish my goals this year, so I let AS and NT know that this can be used to fill any need/want gaps for the household. And that we can spend some of this money before I actually achieve my goals, since my deadline is the end of the year, and some of our wants are more urgent than that. I want next year to be devoted to several ambitious financial goals, so I'm hoping we can get set with everything we really want this year, and not need to make any big purchases next year.

Yesterday we went to IKEA and bought a couch, some lighting and storage for AA's nursery, shelving for the balcony closet, new dishes to replace some chipped and scratched dinnerware, potholders to replace some really grungy ones that weren't coming clean in the wash, and a duvet with two covers to replace a coverlet that had developed several holes in it.

The couch is being delivered on Wednesday. We'll try to freecycle our current, half-reupholstered couch on the same day, because you need to have padded curtains hung up in the elevators to move big pieces in and out (our elevators have mirrored walls). I hope that works out. I seem to remember there being some difficulty with getting the couch through the door when we originally got it, so I'll have to warn NT (he's better at spatial relations stuff, so he'll be able to figure it out when the time comes).

Next we'll probably focus on getting the balcony screened in. I'm really glad we didn't do it already though, because we just got notice that the balconies are being restored--railings painted and replaced where necessary, etc. People who have the screened-in feature will have to pay $350 to have it taken down and then put up again, whereas the restoration is free for the rest of us. Whew, dodged a bullet there! They've never done this type of work in the 6+ years we've lived here, so it probably won't need to be done again for a long time.

I extrapolated out my new paycheck prediction, and I concluded that we could pay off the credit card this year and have $7000 of budget surplus to use for other purposes.

Of course I need about $1500 to accomplish my other two 2010 goals of paying off the stove and saving $700 for Xmas, so that leaves $5500.

Still, that means we can get some other stuff done this year. I asked NT what he thought we should do, and he said he didn't have any plans because he assumed we wouldn't have any extra money.

Well, now we do! I'll probably look into consulting with lawyers and financial planners, and NT is going to see about getting a new sofa (as AS probably won't have any spare time to finish the reupholstery anytime soon), screening in the balcony, decorating and furnishing AA's nursery, or other home-improvement things that he can think of. The surplus will be coming in gradually throughout the year, so we just need to decide what order we want to do things. I just want to accomplish my three goals above by the end of the year (November-December), so we can do some of the other things first.

I think this surplus should be used to get things in order, legally and around the house, so there hopefully aren't any gaping pressing needs next year. That way 2011 can be spent attacking AS's student loans, increasing retirement, contributing regularly to charities and nonprofits, and saving up for a second baby. At this point we have a pretty big surplus every month, but it's not enough to do everything at once, so we have to be strategic and just tackle a couple things at a time.

My $7K surplus this year is just a guess, but it's an educated and I think fairly conservative estimate. There may be more because of AS's and NT's plans for bringing in extra income through some side hustles.

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.

I was checking my Amex account to see if my credit-card payment had posted yet (it hadn't). Then I noticed a link to get a complimentary credit report AND SCORE. I haven't actually seen my score in a while because it costs money, and I realized I hadn't requested my report in awhile.

I proceeded cautiously, reading all the terms and conditions to make sure they weren't signing me up for a monthly subscription that I had to opt out of. Not that I could tell--just a free report and score from Experian. Weird!

Anyway, I found out I have seven open credit accounts. That seemed high, but when I looked at them I realized it was correct.
* I have the Amex one, which I'm keeping open until I pay it off.
* Then I have a Chase Platinum which I use to rent cars (and have recently started using for other things to rack up reward points, paying it off within a week or using) because it has liability coverage for car rental.
* I have another Chase Visa that I don't use anymore, but I've kept because the interest rate stayed decent (my others are crazy high), in case I ever do need to go on credit again (here's hoping not!).
* Then I have a Discover card that I opened to put a trip on 0% interest (paid it off before I was charged a cent of interest); I've kept that open meaning to charge something on it because I can get some money back if I use it a bit more. (I should either go ahead and do that or just close it.)
* I have a Sears card that I use for big appliance purchases, because I can buy them and let the balance sit with no interest and no payments for a year. (I've done that with a dishwasher and a fridge, and right now I've got a stove purchase sitting on the card that I'm planning to pay off by November, before the interest hits.)
* Then I have my bank overdraft line of credit, and
* My mortgage.

Yep, that's seven all right!

How many of these would you continue to keep open? I could see closing the Discover card, the Amex and one of the Chase Visas. I like the convenience of the Sears card and the overdraft LOC, and of course I can't get rid of my mortgage. My other Chase card has a $16K limit, which seems like plenty to have available. But would you keep the others open to keep the credit score high?

Because...the score they gave me was 805! I think that's the highest I've ever been, so I must be doing something right. Which makes me think I should just leave all the accounts open. I'm not a score fanatic though, so would a small ding (if it happened) really matter in the long run?

One of AS's student loan payments hit; $117 went to principal. That brings our April debt payment to $3972! We have a credit card payment and a student loan payment scheduled for the 28th, so it looks like we'll pass the $4K mark this month. Yee haw!

I booked our UK flights for October. $3,397.75 for three adults and an infant (in lap). Shudder. The Labor Day flights I wanted were $1000 more total! We still need to book trip insurance and a rental car, but luckily no hotels as there are lots of nice friends and eager grandparents willing to put us up for this trip. And hopefully we'll eat in people's homes most nights; even if it's takeaway it'll save us some dough.

Yesterday I signed up for Freecycle and gave away a nice (but scratched up) Ikea table that AS used as a cutting table in the sewing room. Little AA's room is looking more her own as we gradually move the sewing supplies out and her stuff in. She got a nice dresser and high chair from some friends of ours recently, and packages of cute blankets, books and clothes from my sister and NT's stepmom.

Today I may try to Freecycle an extra Diaper Genie and maybe list some fabrics on Craigslist. But not now because AA is calling!

First, some fun news. Little Miss AA has a positive net worth of $238! We haven't even begun trying to save anything for her--we need to clean up our own finances much more first--but her UK grandpa gave her $210, and NT's office had a baby-name pool where the winner decided to hand the $28 prize over to the baby!

I don't think I'll be tracking her net worth as part of ours, since of course she'll be making her own way someday. But I thought it was neat that she already has some money to her name. We hope to teach her to be a saver (and a smart spender) early on so she doesn't make as many youthful mistakes as we did.

Anyway, on to our net worth.

Assets:
NT's UK pensions: 7,250 pounds ($14,500)
14,721 pounds ($29,442)
NT's 401(k): $8,247
AS's 403(b): $3,237
AS's IRA: $1,682
AS's 401(k): $328
CJ's 401(k): $34,388
NT's flat: 130,000 pounds ($260,000)
CJ & AS's condo: $160,000
Baby/emergency fund (shared asset): $8,304
---
Total Assets: $520,128

Total Debt: $367,489

Current Estimated Net Worth: $152,639

March 2010 estimate: $147,011

Change in net worth: +$5,628

Summary: We paid off a big chunk of debt and had some nice gains in our retirement accounts. Oh, and I did some research on our home's value and am fairly satisfied that $160K is still a valid number. If we had to offload it in a hurry, we'd probably have trouble getting that amount, but if we had time to fix it up and let it be listed for a while, it would eventually sell at that price, I believe. Since we won't need to sell any time soon, I'm going to leave it at that value.

I will update my "Individual Net Worth" page shortly so you can see how it breaks out.

Notes on the numbers above: House value estimates are fairly conservative. I don't have a way to check NT's UK pensions or flat value, so their values stay static for the purpose of this update (unless I happen to get some info by chance). UK asset values and debt amounts are calculated figuring $2 for every British pound, which was the exchange rate when I started keeping track. I maintain that ratio for the purpose of tracking progress, even though the exchange rate is now closer to $1.60 per British pound.

I managed to put $1800 to the principal balance of my credit card, and the payment hit the account today!

That makes $3855 of debt paid in April, far exceeding the $2190 goal. And that last CC balance is down to $5197.

I was able to do this because, even though I didn't get a schedule of paycheck amounts, I did get a calendar of what maternity leave days are paid and which are unpaid. I had calculated my budget as if all days off were unpaid, so that added quite a bit to the budget. I tried to be a bit conservative in my new estimates since they still are educated guesses. Maybe I'll end up having a little more in the budget each pay period!

So many of my titles are boring and similar, but I've never been good at short and snappy. :-)

A student loan payment for AS hit, and $85 went to principal. $2055 down, $135 to go on the April goal. That may go up soon, because my paycheck was much higher than calculated. Since I don't know exactly how much each will be, I estimate low. For instance, I calculated this last pay period as if I'd only get paid for the days I worked, even though I had some short-term disability coming, as well as some PTO to use. So I'm moving my budget around a bit and may come up with an extra principal payment to the credit card.

I also put some of it aside for the UK trip. I swear the other day I was able to find a trip for under $3300 with travel insurance, but recently I've only been able to find fares for $3390 without, so more like $3650 with insurance. Yikes! I think before I wasn't calculating AA's fare, and maybe some nice deal got snatched up in the days between searches. Because now the fares have been holding steady for a week. And yes, I've checked from different computers, not logged in to the travel sites, to make sure they aren't jacking up the price because of my browsing history. ;-)

On the upside, the tix I'm finding are ideal times, nonstop flights, and I would only be able to save less than $200 total by losing a day (either by different takeoff date or long layover). There are no redeye nonstop flights so I don't even have to consider that.

On the downside, consider this head-scratcher: A friend told me she got a United Airlines trip to Bulgaria, with layover in London/Heathrow, for $1000 per ticket. Yet when I search on United's Web site, I cannot find any nonstops to London/Heathrow. But I know they go there nonstop, because that's where my friend's layover is!

Anyhoo.

I'm overall tired but extremely happy with life today. Working two days per week has been really good, because it gets me acclimated to leaving AA with someone else. Even though I'm relieved to not be taking care of her alone 5 days a week, the maternal instinct is pretty strong and I'm a bit agitated by the end of the day, rushing home to see her! So good to get used to this before we start sending her to daycare 5 days a week. And knowing she's with NT is a comforting thought. (He's been absolutely loving his two days per week with her!) But he spoke to our daycare lady, and it sounds like she's really excited to have an infant again. So I think AA will be in loving hands when she goes there. We're probably taking her to meet the daycare lady this weekend.

My HR at work is being typically dumb. They've always said they would only use currently accumulated PTO for my parental leave. Then, they send me a calendar that uses up ALL my leave for the year! I have to request them to save me some for my fall trip, and suddenly they can't do that (even though the HR lady called me to ask my preference of using my PTO just days before). But they said I could take the pay now, and an unpaid vacation in the fall. You better believe I'm getting that in writing from the highest level before I book $3650 worth of plane fare!

Also in the same calendar, they had me coming back to work a week earlier, which scared the bejebus out of me because I'd booked our Va. trip for that week. E-mailed them and it was just an error. I'd sent them my calendar and reiterated my dates countless times!

Then, they've always promised me a schedule of paycheck amounts. Now, they say I won't be getting one. Which makes it very hard to calculate my budget for the rest of the year and see if I can afford things like the screened-in balcony or hire a lawyer/financial planner/tax professional, let alone when I can expect to pay off my credit card debt or begin contributing to charity.

In addition, I noticed on my last paycheck they STILL hadn't taken out childcare flex spending, so I checked and it's not showing up on the HR site that I opted for any, even though it was on the same form as enrolling AA in my healthcare--which they have done. I e-mailed a top guy in DC and he said he'd "get right back to me on that"--that was Wednesday morning, and no further word so far, even though I e-mailed him again today.

I'm so sick of having to hold their hands and tell them everything 50 times before it's done right. Yes, I know my situation's a bit more complicated, but they give every indication of understanding me the first time and then just don't double-check their own work, so it's riddled with errors! I guess as a proofreader it bugs me even more.

But, other than that, life is very, very good. AA pretty much sleeps through the night with one feeding halfway through, which isn't too bad really. And, she has begun to smile at us sometimes--real ones, not just in her sleep! It's unbelievably charming. She can also control her head much better and spends more time awake and calm, just looking around. In other good news, NT only has 5 more weeks of class, then he's done until the fall! That will help the level of tiredness and busy-ness in the household immensely. I feel nearly recovered from the surgery--I'm not going to start doing ab exercises or anything, but I can take walks, carry AA for long stretches, sit up in bed, twist sideways and bend over without having a setback. I only take Ibuprofen occasionally, and my last Vicodin was a week ago--and that was after a very active day, and was more of a nice-to-have than a necessity.

With things going so well, we're talking with certainty about AS trying to get pregnant next year! Two is our goal, so if all goes well, our little family should be complete by 2012! Well, unless we get a doggy someday when we move to a real house. ;-)

Oh good grief, lost another entry! Well, let's see if I can remember some of what I wrote...

This is my first day back at work (I'll be working two days a week most weeks until July), and it's really strange being apart from AA. But NT is home with her, so it wasn't as hard as it will be when we send her off to daycare! But I have photos up on my computer and I keep staring at them, missing her more than I thought I would.

Not much happening financially. I already used up my flex spending account, except for a couple bucks, and I have tons of receipts unreimbursed, so I'll send in one of those to get the last few dollars out. I once again underestimated my out-of-pocket expense for the year. I've grossly underestimated every year except one, when I put too much aside and ended up having to buy really expensive prescription sunglasses in order to not lose the money at the end of the year. I wish there was a better system that was less like gambling; like why can't you get your remaining funds back at the end of the year as taxable income, or be able to keep your leftover money for future years as you can with health savings accounts? I wonder if this is yet another stupid thing that only happens in the U.S., like having to pay for incoming cellphone calls...

I recently did a little research because I was wondering if it was really financial beneficial for me to be breastfeeding vs. formula-feeding, since we bought a really good pump for $300 and I needed a prescription ointment that cost $55. Plus, we have to buy storage bags and possibly pads for my bra, although these things aren't very expensive.

I concluded that formula costs approximately $120 per month, so if I breastfeed for at least 4 months, it will work out cheaper. Also, if AS uses the same pump when she has a baby, and if we're able to sell the motor after that, average cost will go down even more.

Oh, and here's that op-ed: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/opinion/06herbert.html
We at SavingAdvice likely don't need reminding, since there are so many military families represented here, but I thought it was a really good piece.

Nothing much going on financially. I've already wiped out my flex spending account--guess I underestimated my medical expenses AGAIN! I wish there was another system for flex spending that was less like gambling. Like if you put too much away, you get it back as taxable income at the end of the year. Would that be too hard? Or let us keep it in a tax-free account like HSAs.

Today is my first day back at work! I'm working two days a week until late June, when I work three days a week for a few weeks and then take off a full week to visit AA's grandparents in Virginia. NT is spending his first full day alone with her; he'll be home with her the days I'm working, until after the July 4th holiday.

It's a relief to not be tied to AA's side all day, but it's also really strange. I keep staring at her photos and missing her.

Also, AS went on a business trip this morning and won't be back until the weekend. It's the longest we'll have been apart in more than a decade, I believe! I'd be a lot sadder if I didn't think that AA will make the time fly by; AS and I haven't really had that much quality time recently anyway, what with the feeding, changing, soothing and general exhaustion. I think she'll enjoy the trip, so I'm just trying to focus on that.

Oh, one financial thing that I've done recently is try to figure out if breastfeeding is really more economical than formula-feeding. I looked on Amazon and it seems an average price for formula works out to about $120 per month. I spent $300 on a really good pump and $55 on an ointment to treat soreness. I also have to buy storage bags, but I don't think they're too expensive, and maybe some pads to put in my bra. So I think basically if I breastfeed for at least four months, I'll have saved money. Also, if AS uses the same pump when she has a baby, and we sell the motor after she's done with it, the cost will go down even more. If I weren't going back to work and had decided not to pump, it would've been virtually free except for the ointment and the pads. So from a financial standpoint, it's a good decision!

Oh, and here's a link to the op-ed I mentioned. I don't think this community needs to be reminded, what with all the military and spouses of military who are members of SavingAdvice, but it's a really moving editorial and worth passing along.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/opinion/06herbert.html

Yay, my $1225 extra payment to the credit card hit the account! $1970 down, $220 to go on the April debt goal.

That felt good! The credit card balance is now below $7000 and I feel more positive about getting it paid off by the end of the year, although I want to see what my reduced paychecks are going to look like before I completely relax.

Last night, I actually had a dream that I paid it off and was able to eliminate the "credit card/personal" category from my spreadsheet. That's right, I dreamt about my spreadsheet. (Nerd!) Also, in the dream, I believe the category was called "Weird debt." Very apt!

Dammit, when will I learn my lesson and copy my entries before trying to post? I'm still having problems with the new site, including getting logged out at random points, but the most annoying is definitely when I write an entry and then lose it.

Oh well, just wanted to post progress on my debt repayment:
US mortgage: $378 went to principal
UK #1: $256
UK #2: $54
UK #3: $57

$745 down, $1445 to go on the April debt goal.

Sorry, couldn't think of a good April Fool's title; I'm terrible at pranks.

All four mortgage payments hit today:
US: $378 toward principal
UK1: $256
UK2: $54
UK3: $57

So $745 down, $1445 to go on the April goal. Also added about $40 to the travel fund with money left over in the UK account after paying the mortgages.

I felt like I had some other news, but I'm completely exhausted, and The Boss sounds like she's ready to wake up for a feeding, so I'll cut this short.

There are a number of financial goals, or other goals that require money to accomplish, that are sort of stacking up, but our 2010 goals are already pretty aggressive considering the uncertain nature of our income and expenses this year. So they're sort of floating around in our minds and we bring them up once in awhile, but we don't know when we'll be able to fit them into our budget. Maybe later this year if our other goals go really well; if not, they'll become priorities for 2011.

I thought I'd list them so they're all in one place and it'll be easier to prioritize them if we do get to a place where we can address one or more of them. No particular order at present...and most money estimates are really rough.

* Consult financial planner about retirement, college savings ($200?)
* Consult CPA about UK & US taxes ($200?)
* Consult lawyer about how to secure AS's parental rights ($200?)
* Consult lawyer to set up wills, living wills, etc. ($200?)
* Begin contributing to charities (goal $150 per month)
* Get balcony screened in (approx. $1200)
* Get floor cleaned (approx. $85)
* Get floor "renewed" (approx. $1000)
* Look into FHA loan modification for mortgage (approx. $15K underwater)
* Paint & finish decorating/setting up AA's bedroom ($300?)

I may come back to this entry and add things as they occur to us...or maybe I'll start a separate blog page. I don't really want to overload my sidebar any more than it already is!

Oh yeah, and my question: Those of you who categorize your budget in order to make sure the ratios are acceptable to you, how do you categorize charitable contributions? For my working budget, my categories are: Mortgage/Utilities/Telecom, Debt Repayment/Savings, Spending/Entertainment/Travel, and Household/Groceries/Healthcare. I also recently looked at my total budget (including stuff that's taken out of our paychecks pretax) and broke everything down into three categories: needs, wants, and long-term savings/extra debt repay. Where would charitable donations fall in either of those scenarios? I mean, it's not a need, in that I don't need to contribute to survive, but in a cosmic sense, it is really a need that we try to make the world a better place for AA to live in.

My credit card payment hit and $140 went to principal. That means we passed the March goal of paying off $1130, with a total of $1221 paid toward debt.

I also booked our plane tickets for the Virginia trip in late June. $1059.66 including trip insurance for three nonstop tickets, leaving and returning at reasonable hours (didn't think we could handle a red-eye on our first trip with baby AA). I'm OK with that amount. I checked out UK fares for August but couldn't find an acceptable flight for under $1400 per person! Soo, think I'll hold off and desperately hope that rate goes down. Especially since we'll probably also purchase an infant fare so we don't have to hold AA on our laps for 8+ hours...

I decided what to do with the extra money AS brought in plus the flex spending and unplanned-for paid parental leave that NT informed me about. I'm putting aside some for vacations, so I now have $1000 spending money for Virginia and $3300 for buying UK tickets (really hope that'll be enough). We're accumulating funds in the UK checking account to buy rental car, hotel room or whatever else we decide on the make the UK trip more pleasant. So as long as we find affordable airfare, I consider our trips to be fully funded.

I also put some of the extra money into our dwindling medical and baby expense fund. Well, the part that sits in our checking account was dwindling; we still have a large chunk in savings, but I don't want to touch that as long as we can cashflow our expenses. So I made sure we now have $1000 sitting in checking for those expenses.

I had $1225 left over that's immediately available (some money will come later, as it came from adjusting NT's predicted future paychecks), so I'm sending that off to the credit card. Which makes our April debt payment target much more exciting than it was going to be:

Our April goal is to pay off at least $2190 of debt.

Beginning balances:
Credit card/personal: $8,222
Home/mortgage: $287,730
Education: $75,392
TOTAL HOUSEHOLD DEBT: $371,344

Another of AS's student loan payments hit the account, with $59 going toward principal. $1081 down and $49 to go on the March goal. My credit card payment should hit tomorrow and finish off the goal.

In addition to AS's $1325 freelance check she received yesterday, NT got $130 in flex spending reimbursement. He also e-mailed me about how many of his parental-leave days off will be paid via vacation or sick pay. I'd calculated that all his days would be unpaid for the purposes of budget planning, so this gave us about $1200 more than planned over the next few months. So this gives us about $2650 to put toward either vacation spending, debt repay or medical expenses. Pretty exciting! I'm tempted to put the lion's share on the stupid credit card, which I haven't been able to deal a really ugly blow to in a while.

Some of my paychecks will also be more than calculated since some of my maternity leave will be funded with vacation and sick pay; since I don't know how many days I've accrued, I calculated all the days as unpaid to be safe. Once I get a schedule of estimated paychecks from work, I should have more money in the budget than I do now.

I got my official doctor approval to return to work two days a week starting next week! My main restriction is on heavy lifting, and there will actually be less of that at work than at home, so I'm not worried. NT will be home with AA those two days; he's been really busy with work and school, so he's looking forward to getting to spend more time with her.

AS is going on a business trip for four nights next week. It's going to be so weird; we just never spend any time apart! This will probably be the longest chunk of time apart in over 10 years. But I'm excited for her to get some decent sleep and hopefully come home refreshed. And it should be an interesting trip, going to a writers and publishers conference.

Now that my return to work is approved, I know our schedule for sure these next few months, so we can go ahead and start planning our two trips for the year, Virginia in June/July and England in August/September. I'm a little worried that traveling will be hard but excited for our families to meet AA.

That reminds me, I need to get photo albums together for my and AS's moms. We're sending that as belated b-day presents (both our moms have late-March birthdays). That will be one of my projects this week.

Crap, lost a big long entry. Oh well, it was mostly whining about my slow recovery, which no one needs to hear. All I really meant to write about was progress on my debt payment: $121 went to one of AS's student loans, making it $1022 down, $108 to go on the March debt repayment goal.

Also deciding what to do with a $1325 freelance check AS got in the mail...I probably will put part toward the Va. trip, part to baby and health expenses, and some to the last credit card. But I haven't decided how much money to apply to each yet.

Update: recent photo of AA...

Ugh, today I'm so sick of feeling like an invalid. It's no fun recovering from C-section! I wonder if it's worse than recovering from regular delivery; I know there are different issues with each. For me it's trying not to use my stomach too much, which is hard with all the getting up in the middle of the night, picking up and putting down a cranky baby, etc. Also, every time I feel good and have a pretty active day, the next day is painful and bleeding increases. I'm interested to see how it is going back to work part-time next week; in some ways I think it'll be easier because less lifting and bending, but the commute might be a bit rough. At least I've been cutting back on painkillers a lot, so I know the pain is less intense and therefore I must be healing, even though progress is hard to detect.

Scoped out plane tickets to Va. last night; I don't think I'll be able to get nonstop tix for less than $1000, but I found three tickets for $1082, which isn't too bad, I suppose. I'm waiting until I see my doctor this week before booking, just to make sure I actually am healing at the right rate. If she were to say I'm not and have to stay home longer, it might throw off our leave schedule, so I don't want to commit to a trip until I know for sure.

AS just got her last big freelance check for the proofreading she did before AA was born: $1325 for two projects! There are so many places I want to put the money; into savings for spending money for the trip; into checking for baby and medical expenses; into a big payment on the last credit card, which I desperately want to pay off by the end of the year. I'll probably split it up between the three, but I haven't decided in what proportions yet. HR is supposed to send me a schedule of estimated paychecks, which would help me immensely in figuring out how realistic my credit-card payoff goal is this year, but I haven't received it yet.

Anyway, what was I supposed to be writing about? Oh yeah, a student loan payment went through for AS, and $121 went toward principal. So $1022 down, $108 to go on the March goal. I should have a credit card payment and maybe a student loan payment go through by the 31st, so I'm not worried.

I think that's it for now!

Is this really going on in my own country?

Ugh, I'm watching news about all the death threats and racist/antigay epithets directed at members of Congress and their children and spouses. Horrifying. And worse that Republican politicians will not stop the incendiary speeches long enough to strongly condemn these actions. I feel an assassination attempt coming. I mean, if your politicians are telling you that the Democratic tactics are illegal, and you've got violence-prone people posting politicians' addresses online, how long is it going to be? As illegal as I felt Bush's administration's actions to be sometimes, there was nowhere near this level of hostile and threatening rhetoric against him. (People were talking about impeaching him, not killing him.) I wish conservative leaders would show some public solidarity with their opponents -- if there was ever a time to put aside bipartisanship, it's when people's lives are in danger.

Anyway, hoping against hope that I'm blowing this out of proportion in my mind. To take my mind off it, I decided to follow Thriftorama's example and compare my finances to the median numbers in today's Yahoo article. I've quoted the article in each section.

Income

"For the 50 percent of families in the middle of the scale, household income ranges from $51,000 to $123,000 for a typical four-person, two-parent family. The median is about $81,000. Those numbers are from 2008, and have probably fallen 5 to 7 percent since then, on account of the recession. Median income for a single-parent, two-child family is about $25,000."

With three incomes and as a three-parent, one-child family, we're not typical. But just counting our gross paychecks, our income falls on the high side of the scale, well within the range of the four-person family. Delete any one of our incomes and we'd still fall within the range, closer to the middle.

Housing Costs

"For two-parent families, the typical home is worth about $231,000, accounting for $17,600 in mortgage payments and other costs per year. Housing costs have risen by more than twice as much as income since 1990, a trend that may finally be reversing thanks to the housing bust."

The home we live in is probably now worth between $145,000 and $160,000, so way below average. Our housing costs including utilities run about $21,650 per year, so much higher than the median. Just our mortgage and property tax costs us $15,075 per year, a little below the average. Not sure what we're supposed to count here, since utilities are mentioned below. Ours are rolled into condo association dues so are fixed expenses and not reduceable or optional.

We do own another home in the UK worth up to $260,000, and its housing costs are covered by the rental, so you could say that our home worth is way above average.

Home Size

"The housing bubble was one factor that boosted housing costs, but the typical family also lives in a much bigger home. The median size of a new, single-family home jumped by 40 percent between 1979 and 2007, to about 2,300 square feet. That may now be declining, as families downsize and some get booted from homes they can't afford."

The home we live in is about 950 square feet, so well below average. If you threw in the square footage of the UK home just for the heck of it, probably about 600 square feet, we'd still be well below average.

Medical Expenses

"You've probably heard — healthcare costs are going through the roof. A study by the middle-class task force headed by Vice President Joe Biden says the median two-parent family spends $5,100 per year on health insurance and non-covered expenses—assuming an employer provides health insurance. Healthcare costs have risen far more than any other aspect of the family budget since 1990, with no end in sight."

This is pretty accurate for us, although we're a little below the median; fixed health care expenses for us run about $4,100, and could go higher than that, but probably will stay below $5,100.

Cars

"They provide mobility and represent freedom, one reason the typical family spends about $12,400 per year on two medium-sized sedans or the equivalent, with a new-car value of $45,000. The recession may have dampened our love of the road, however: Americans are driving less and car sales are off about 40 percent."

With no car, we're way below average on both the cost of transportation (about $1200 annually for bus passes) and asset value ($0). In addition, not having a car enables us to rent our parking space for $75 per month, which defrays much of our bus-pass costs. While we rent cars from time to time, we allocate that from travel or other discretionary spending; it's not a necessary cost.

College Savings

"The typical family puts aside $4,100 for college expenses for two kids, estimated to cover about 75 percent of expenses at a state university. Financial aid helps with the rest. But if possible, toss more into the college fund: As states face budget crunches, tuition and fees are going up."

Way below this, as we have not started a college fund. We probably won't put a significant amount aside for college unless we quickly catch up on debt and retirement; I consider those to be much higher priority. Note that the Yahoo article advises people to "toss more" into college savings. I'll tell you why I think this is significant in a little bit...

Vacations

"One week at the beach or another destination is standard, at a cost of $3,000 or so for four. More affluent families can afford two weeks, at a typical cost of $6,100."

We take 2 vacations per year, and we tend to spend considerably more than $3,000 per trip, up to $6,000. We've probably averaged $4,000-$5,000 per vacation over the past several years, so we're way above the national median. This is one of our big splurge areas.

Retirement Savings

"A median-income family that saved 3.2 percent of its income—roughly equivalent to the national saving rate—would sock away nearly $2,600 per year for retirement. Of course many families don't hit even that modest goal, and stock-market losses over the last several years have further shrunk the national nest egg."

Currently we save about 5% of our gross income for retirement, but I hope to up this once our year of reduced income is over. Over time I want to increase retirement savings a LOT, though we need to concentrate on debt repayment for another year or two at least.

This section is the reason I highlighted the article's urging to increase college savings: Why on earth wouldn't they strongly admonish people to save way more than $2,600 per year?? I mean, ideally I want to put nearly $3,000 per MONTH aside for retirement. If I can also help our kids pay for college, great, but if I can't, there are other ways to get through college--there's no other way to have a comfortable retirement except to save for it! It's unfathomable to me that this article would especially call out the college savings as not being adequate without saying anything about this really shockingly poor savings rate.

Everyday Spending

"Clothes, food, utilities, entertainment and other living expenses amount to $14,200 a year for a median-income family. Not surprisingly, this is one set expenses many families are trying to reduce, by buying more discount brands, using less or doing without."

Hmm...well, for us, food, entertainment and other discretionary spending (minus travel and condo association fees) is nearly $29,000 per year, so double the median. I guess we really indulge ourselves in this area!

Number of Earners

"In 76 percent of two-parent families, both parents work. The higher the household income, the more likely it is that both parents are contributing."

All three of us have full-time jobs. This gives us more financial leeway, which we wouldn't have otherwise since none of us is in a high-income-potential profession.

Hours Worked

"Few parents will be surprised to hear that Moms and Dads are working more than they used to. The total number of hours worked in a two-parent family is 3,747 per year, up 5 percent since 1990. The increased hours add up to more than four 40-hour weeks of additional work per family."

If I calculate about four weeks off per person per year (counting holidays, vacation and sick leave), we work 5,760 hours per year, or 1,920 per person. If I count only two of us, the figure is 3,840, so a bit more than the median.

Education

"The typical household head has a high school degree plus about two years of college education, up by more than a full year of college since 1990. Good thing—education is a key factor in lifetime earnings, and high school dropouts face a dim future by nearly every measure."

We're above average in this area, since all three of us have high school degrees, I have a BA, AS has a BA and a master's, and NT is in his second year of a BA.

Free Time

"What's your top priority? In a 2008 poll by the Pew Research Center, it wasn't healthy kids, a strong marriage or a great career; 68 percent of respondents said it was free time. (And just 12 percent said it was being wealthy.)"

Free time sure is important, but we have other priorities that are higher (NT's education, additional income-generating activities, childrearing, home cooking). I don't know what the list looks like, but unless it was worded as "what do you want to improve on," I can't imagine putting free time before "strong marriage" or "healthy kids"!

Household Net Worth

"The typical household has a net worth of about $84,000, according to the Federal Reserve. That's down 30 percent since 2007, thanks to losses in stock portfolios and home values."

I'm happy to say that our net worth is much higher than average, thanks to NT's early home purchase and retirement contributions, coupled with our really aggressive debt repay of the past couple years.

Debt

"About 18 percent of disposable income, on average, goes toward mortgage payments, auto loans, credit cards and other forms of household debt. That's a bit higher than it was in the '70s and '80s. But since debt payments peaked at the beginning of 2008, at 18.9 percent of income, they've been steadily falling."

Strange figure to calculate, but here goes. I guess "disposable" means "net" income? OK, our minimum debt payments (including US mortgage but not UK) are $22,500 per year, and our net income (just paychecks, not rental or random freelance income) is $47,400. So our debt payments are 47% of our income. Yikes, that's much higher!

So interesting experiment. We differ from the median in nearly every category, higher in some, lower than others. Not sure it really tells me anything, but it was a fun activity anyway.

Assets:
NT's UK pensions: 7,250 pounds ($14,500)
14,721 pounds ($29,442)
NT's 401(k): $7,895
AS's 403(b): $3,237
AS's IRA: $1,681
AS's 401(k): $217
CJ's 401(k): $33,426
NT's flat: 130,000 pounds ($260,000)
CJ & AS's condo: $160,000
Baby/emergency fund (shared asset): $8,277
---
Total Assets: $518,675

Total Debt: $371,664

Current Estimated Net Worth: $147,011

February 2010 estimate: $143,201

Change in net worth: +$3,810

Summary: Despite not paying off very much debt, we got a nice bump because our retirement accounts performed well this month. So far we've managed to cashflow all the baby-related expenses, so we haven't dipped into the baby/EF even a little bit! I haven't had a chance to look at sale prices for condos in my building, so I don't know whether I need to lower my estimated value of our place. So I left it as is for this month.

I will update my "Individual Net Worth" page shortly so you can see how it breaks out.

Notes on the numbers above: House value estimates are conservative. I don't have a way to check NT's UK pensions or flat value, so their values stay static for the purpose of this update (unless I happen to get some info by chance). UK asset values and debt amounts are calculated figuring $2 for every British pound, which was the exchange rate when I started keeping track. I maintain that ratio for the purpose of tracking progress, even though the exchange rate is now closer to $1.60 per British pound.

So late March marks the beginning of our second year on three prepaid phones instead of a family plan. We bought some minutes recently:

CJ 1000 minutes T-Mobile fillup: $107.78
NT 300 minutes Net10 fillup: $32.82
Total cost for the year: $140.60

So our average monthly cost for this year is $140.60, since we're in the first month. Obviously, I expect that average to drop considerably over the next few months.

RECAP: I switched to prepaid in late March 2009. We have 2 phones on T-Mobile prepaid and 1 on Net10 prepaid. AS and I refill in 1000-minute increments and only need to refill when we run out or when it's been a year since our last fillup to stay active. NT needs to buy 300 more minutes every 60 days to keep his phone activated.

(Our cellphone bill, for three phones on a family plan, used to range from $80-$95, depending on texts, calls to 411, etc. Usually it was close to $85. My goal for next year is to get my average cost to $50 per month, but any average number below $85 will be a savings.)

Well, I've managed to keep up with my bills and my budget spreadsheets, but forget having the time to write anything! I already had to take a 10-minute break in this first paragraph to walk around with little Miss AA. We'll see how long she stays asleep now.

OK, financial stuff:
AA had the good grace to be born at the beginning of a slow period in my finances; not much happens between the 2nd of the month and the 15th, so it was easy to keep up on things.

One of AS's student loan payments went through, with $87 going to principal. That makes $901 down, $229 to go on the March debt goal.

I put $25 into the travel fund last week, as well as $1 in interest into the EF. We now have $1265 saved for the Va. trip and $3584 for the UK one. I'm waiting to make sure my doctor will authorize me to go back to work when I planned (hoping the C-section doesn't change that), and once that's confirmed I'll start to look for good deals on tickets.

I've had this small financial problem so boring I haven't even bothered to write about it, but it continues to annoy us. In a nutshell: NT and I opened another account at US Bank to take advantage of a deal where if you put $1000 into savings you got a $50 Visa card, and if you kept at least $1000 in savings for a year you get another one. We transferred the $1000 over right away, and received the first Visa card--for $36 instead of $50.

After weeks of inquiries we finally learned that NT was supposed to have given them a new tax form, which he'll have to do every couple years since he's a noncitizen permanent resident. Since he hadn't, federal withholding was going to be taken out of any interest income (which is what this Visa card counts as). We'd gotten the notice about the form ages ago, but when we went into the bank, whoever helped us thought it was sufficient to enter some data into the computer, and they never had us fill out that form.

Anyway, we filled out the form and got the $14 that had been withheld deposited into our account. Then the monthly interest hit our savings account that we've had for years--only this time, federal withholding was deducted from it. Sigh. Somehow this deal we signed up for has triggered a bigger problem having to do with NT's missing (but now provided) tax form. So now we're going to try filling out the form but with both of us signing it, and see if that fixes the problem. At least we've got an excellent banker working on the problem who's as annoyed with it as we are, so he's good at following up and keeping us informed.

My first paycheck at 60% disability pay hit my account, and it was about twice as much as I expected. I checked my paystub and realized they aren't withholding taxes. I thought about correcting that, but I'm only going to have one more paycheck of disability pay, and I think I've been cautious with my withholding on my regular paychecks, so I'm just going to leave it. Anyway, we could use the money now, and we'll be better able to pay any tax shortfall next year, when we're back on full pay.

I'm amazed AA let me write for this long! I should go ahead and post it rather than pushing my luck.

Hey, it's CJ again.

Just wanted to hop on and say we're back home finally. I've been reading everyone's comments but didn't feel focused enough to write anything while at the hospital. I'm slowly getting back into the groove (including finances) and will be posting soon.

Thank you so much for your comments; they were really great to read while recovering.

This is AS again. Thought I'd post more pictures while Ceejay's taking a nap (she's been really touched by all your comments, by the way!)

Miss AA. 6 lb 9 oz, 19 1/4". Both she and Ceejay are doing great.

Hi SavingsAdvicers, this is AS filling in for Ceejay because . . . she's in labor! We're at the hospital right now. We woke up at 4:00am, got to the hospital at 8:00am, and after several hours of contractions and pushing, the doctor's decided to perform a c-section, which we're totally fine with (she's in fact quite relieved.

I or NT will update you with more facts as we have them!

Not much to report, moneywise, but I thought I'd post just to say baby's still inside me. Doctor's appointment was routine; my blood pressure and baby's heart rate are good, so we're just still in a holding pattern. Monday is the due date, so we'll see if baby feels like playing ball by then.

I did spot a quarter on the bus this morning, a few rows up. I pointed it out to AS and she scooped it up as we were leaving. Woo hoo!

It's been super busy at work, and I was in late because of the appointment, so I haven't had much time to think about something to post. Tomorrow is my last day of work (unless today is!), so after that I'll have plenty of time to surf the Web. Tonight I'm going to call my insurance company and precertify my hospital stay, and call the hospital and make sure my registration is in the system. And that's the last thing on my to-do list before labor starts.

OK, back to work!

I'm still here! I'll try to post something every day until the birth so you'll know whether or not it has happened.

One rule of thumb that gets tossed around a lot on the SavingAdvice forums fascinates me: that generally, a good way to break down where your income should go is 50% to needs, 30% to wants and 20% to long-term savings.

I've also seen it said that extra debt repay beyond the minimums can count toward the savings 20% because it's helping your future.

That's not how I break down my expenses; my categories are Mortgage/Utilities/Telecom, Debt Repayment/Savings, Spending/Entertainment/Travel, and Household/Groceries/Healthcare/Transportation. I like the idea of the simpler needs/wants/savings one even though it breaks things out differently (some of my categories combine wants and needs, such as mortgage payment and Internet access). But I've never gotten around to seeing how this plays out, mainly because my everyday budget calculations are based on take-home U.S. income, not gross of all income. I think you'd need to start with the gross to accurately calculate needs and savings, since some things are taken automatically out of our income and don't show up in the take-home pay.

I've had a slow morning at work (which portends a horrible busy afternoon, unfortunately), so I finally sat down with our paychecks and worked it out. I was worried that needs and wants would be too big and savings/extra debt repay too small.

I was partially right, partially pleasantly surprised. Here's how our budget breaks out:
Needs: 53.37% of gross income
Wants: 22.30% of gross income
Saving/extra debt payment: 24.34% of gross income

So our "needs" category runs a little higher than the ideal, but our "wants" category is much lower and our savings and debt repay is a little higher. So overall, we're doing well.

Of course, our "needs" category is going to get bigger once we start paying for daycare and baby's health insurance. But it will also get smaller as I continue to slowly eliminate debt payments. So in a year or two, I'm hoping the category will get back to this level. The "wants" category I'm comfortable with; I don't feel like we need any more discretionary spending, and I now feel that we're not spending too much in that category when you consider our total income.

Also, if or when we get raises, if we could apply most of it to savings and extra debt repay, that would help our percentages.

In an ideal world, I would like to see the "wants" stay about the same while the "needs" shrink and the "savings" grow. Since we're still in a lot of debt and behind on retirement, I feel we need to keep that category higher than the rule of thumb suggests, at least until I feel we're more caught up.

The next four months are going to look kind of bad as far as the rule of thumb goes: Our reduced income will be taken out of wants and savings, while more will be put into the needs category. I reckon "needs" will grow to about 75% during this period, but I'm not going to make drastic lifestyle changes since I know it's temporary. There's not much we can cut out of "needs" anyway, at least not quickly enough to even out our categories for those four months.

So all in all, that was a fun and fairly encouraging exercise!

I actually forgot it was my birthday when I woke up this morning! But I soon felt special and birthday-girlish, because NT and AS had all my presents lined up on the kitchen island, and the first one was a 45 single of a song that my family would play at everyone's birthday, which was all set up on NT's turntable ready to play.

Anyway, last night I deposited a freelance check from AS and was able to put it all toward travel, so we've got our minimum goal amounts plus a bit more set aside. And two more freelance checks on the way. She got an offer for one more freelance job, and it was a very small one so she accepted (we've agreed she won't take any more full book edits until we're settled into our new routine a bit).

Also, the U.S. mortgage and one of AS's student loan payments hit the accounts, with $376 and $59 going to principal, respectively. So $814 down, $316 to go on our March repayment goal. (The next payment won't hit for two weeks; most of the action happens in the first day or two of the month.)