I don't know when I'll be ready to post my 2009 resolutions--right now the new year seems so far away! But I think it's safe to see how I did, or am doing, on last year's resolutions.

So here they are:
1. Become personal-debt-free within two years. That's right, by Dec. 31, 2009, I want to see my nearly $70,000 of credit card and personal debt go pffft!

STATUS:
A partial success. I project that I'll be at about $38,000 by the end of 2008, by paying off $28,000 and using about $4,000 of returned student-loan money to reduce my higher interest personal loan. So not quite halfway there, and with layoff and baby plans in the future, not sure that I will get there by the end of 2009 as originally planned. Still, I made quite a dent, and I reckon at a minimum I'll pay off another $10K next year. Hopefully I can do better than that.

2. Look seriously at what it takes, character-wise and money-wise, to become a mom. I am 33 and almost (not quite) to a place where I want to have kids more than anything. This is a very new feeling for me, so I want to go slow, do lots of research, talk to some moms, talk to my doctor, and by, say, mid-2009, know whether this is the way I for sure want to go, and (if so) when.

STATUS:
On track! We've been discussing on and off all year in my household, and we know this is the way we want to go. I talked to my doctor and got the green light to start trying, so now I'm going to start researching the financial implications to determine when we'd be ready (enough) to begin. We're thinking we'll start trying early next year.

3. Continue to work out almost 5 times a week.

STATUS:
Strong start to the year, but fizzled out in August. Mainly because of despondency over various health issues; probably due to eliminating the exercise-incentive money from our budget; but also because my workout buddy, NT, is working full-time AND taking a nearly full course load at college, so it's been hard motivating myself. Hope to have him back over the winter break from school, and maybe that will get me somewhat back in track. I'm going to set myself a fitness challenge for December, but I haven't decided what yet.

4. Grow my second balcony garden, and try for bell peppers this time!

STATUS:
Partial success. None of my pepper plants made it this year, the cilantro was a no-go, and one of our tomato plants had a defect where the fruit rotted as it grew. But we got some small tomatoes from some other plants, a nice crop of baby lettuce and arugula, and a really strong basil plant that yielded several crops.

5. Complete my debt-repayment "Ad Hoc goal" by 3/31/08 (see sidebar for info).

STATUS:
Complete success! The goal was to pay off enough extra debt to more than fund our England trip, and we surpassed it. In fact, the trip was completely paid-for before we went, and we even stayed under budget in our spending while there.

So that's pretty heartening; I at least made some headway on each of my goals. Makes me even more determined to post some ambitious goals for 2009!

I finally had my annual exam yesterday, which I've been trying to get done for awhile now but kept having to reschedule due to various issues.

The reason I was so anxious to see my doctor this year was to discuss what I'd felt was a bad health year, and to see what she thought about my trying to get pregnant soon.

I rattled off my various health woes of 2008 (chronic heartburn, infected gums, dental surgery, three UTIs in four months). She basically said she understood how it could feel like a big deal coming all in one year like that, but that overall I was really healthy and shouldn't worry about a series of fluky mishaps. She recommended preventive heartburn medication rather than Tums, and told me that UTIs can sometimes happen in clusters because the body's defenses are weakened by the first one, causing a chain reaction. She said we wouldn't worry about it unless I had more in quick succession.

Then I asked about pregnancy; how did she feel about my being 34 or 35 when I got pregnant for the first time? Would the surgery scar running the length of my belly affect anything? What would I do if I got UTIs while pregnant? Should I stop drinking completely when I started trying? She wasn't concerned about my age or my scar, which she said might get sore but would stretch. And she advised me to be very moderate with my drinking, but told me what time periods I might want to cut it out completely. And she said antibiotics for UTIs were fine during pregnancy if needed.

I got some other pieces of good news too: My doctor said she was no longer worried about my bone density because since my last visit, she'd learned that women who lose bone density while on Depo tend to bounce back quickly once they're off it. So other than taking calcium supplements, I no longer have to worry about my bones, basically until menopause! No more expensive tests. Also, the cysts in my breast had not returned since I got them drained out in January, so no worries there.

I felt such a sense of relief! And earlier that day I'd finally turned in a story I was trying to write at work, and the person I was writing it for said it was perfect, and she didn't mind it was a little late. The two burdens off my mind made me positively giddy yesterday. Today I got confirmation that my office is closed Wednesday before Thanksgiving, making me realize the holidays are upon us. I'm glad I get to go into them feeling youthful and healthy once again!

I've been keeping an eye on my Total Visits stat on the blog for the past couple days, and it just went to 100,003! How cool is that--it boggles the mind that I have so many people interested in my plight and cheering me on.

Thank you to everyone who reads and comments on my blog. It would be very hard to sustain the momentum, with SO much debt to get rid of, if I didn't feel like I had a support network (and friends that I was accountable to).

I love the feeling that we're all in this together, no matter what level we're at. And I benefit so much from all the wisdom and encouragement in members' comments. You're all amazing!

OK, I have my regular debt-repayment goal as well as a couple others.

My December debt reduction goal is to pay off $2,536. Why this odd number? Well, I figured out that I could probably pay off close to $2,500 by Dec. 31. Then I noticed that I was getting close to $410,000 total debt, and thought I should go for that. I was torn between that and going for $409,999, but I like the zeroes. Plus, if all goes well, I will tip the odometer down below $410K.

I also have a December eco-friendly goal, which I've already been practicing for this month: to not take a single disposable bag from a retailer of any kind. I'm considering even washing and reusing the clear plastic bags that produce goes in. Generally I don't use those bags, but for some things (lettuce, snow peas) it's unavoidable.

We already do pretty well with our regular weekend grocery trip; we have a backpack and two cloth grocery bags that we take with us. It's the little purchases that kill me; getting a few things at Target, or buying a CD or a shirt or a couple snacks somewhere. To try and avoid using bags in those cases, I've smoothed out, and folded very tiny and flat, two Target plastic bags for my purse and one for the inside pocket of my coat. I've been doing pretty well at practice; if I forget initially, I will go back to the counter, take my stuff out of the bag they just gave me, and give it back to them. Hopefully they reuse it. Today I didn't notice that the clerk put a second bag around the one I gave him to bag with at Target; I had more bags and could have used one of those for double bagging. But, I'll learn.

I also want to have an exercise challenge, but I haven't quite clarified it. I think I'm going to wait till after Thanksgiving to decide what that will be. I haven't exercised, really, since late July or early August. Amazingly, I took another 2 lbs. off since my raw foods cleanse, but not by doing anything right. Probably just by being ill a couple times, and by losing muscle mass. Not good. So I want to do something in December to get moving again at least a little bit.

My big payment finally hit! $2,183 went to principal on my personal loan, so I hit my November goal and then some.

I wanted to pay off $1,400 this month. Instead, I paid off $3,147! Yay!!!

Time to update my sidebar and come up with a new goal for December. Incidentally, this brought my official CC debt total below $40,000, though technically I didn't pay all that off; I used student loan money to pay about $4,000, so I will still have to pay that off the student loans before I feel CC debt free. Still, nice to see that total get into the 30Ks!

This week has flown past, thanks to another icky bout of illness no cranberry juice could conquer. I took two days off work and am now on antibiotics. Feeling better for the most part.

AS finally got her layoff notice! You know, the real one, not all the vague references to it. She has to work till Dec. 14 to qualify for unemployment. So she's going to try and go to work as little as possible while still getting done the few tasks that come her way. The best part is, I know when we can apply for unemployment (Dec. 28, or I guess Monday the 29th), I know when her last regular paycheck will be (Dec. 31), I know when her bus pass stops working (Dec. 14), I know when her health care ends (Dec. 31). Now we can start taking concrete steps in all these areas, thank goodness.

The holidays are upon us! We've gotten about five invitations in the last couple days. It's so great, but overwhelming. So we're going to try and start a shared Google calendar, since Google docs have worked so well for us. That way we won't forget any of the parties. Tonight is a happy hour with NT's office (they pay for the drinks!) and possibly going to see Quantum of Solace afterward. (I was never a fan of Bond films until Casino Royale; now I'm hooked!)

I decided to sign up for my company's health plan and try a Health Savings Account. I'm putting the full $3,000 in, since you don't lose any if you don't use it all, and if 2009 is anything like 2008 I'll go through it all anyway. My paychecks are going to be about $30 more than NT's, and he makes almost $8,000 less than me! It's not just health care of course; I contribute 6% vs. 3% to 401(k), and my bus pass money gets taken out vs. he gets to buy his with a company credit card. (I have stopped my bus pass purchases, but may start them up again if AS can't find a good deal on passes through the U before she leaves.)

I haven't completely stopped extra debt repay, but I have taken merch's advice in some part; I'm going to put aside enough money for our CSA farm share in Dec., NT's U bus pass in Jan., and our home insurance in Feb. And I'm going to set aside $1,000 as an emergency fund. If we don't need it by the time AS finds a job, I may keep it as an EF or put it toward extra debt repay, depending on what our situation is at that time. That still leaves $1,000 for debt repay in 2008, and about $450 (may be more with paycheck fluctuations) that I'm still deciding what to do with. I might see if that's enough to open an IRA with, because I want to make sure AS continues saving for retirement during her unemployment period.

And, some bad family news. AS's cousin G, an honor college student and all-around upstanding kid, got arrested for shoplifting Monday. He spent over $100 at Wal-Mart, but failed to scan a pair of socks at the machine. The guard stopped him, wouldn't let him just apologize and pay for the socks, called the cops, told them G had left the store and had spit on him. The cops arrested G and his friend, wouldn't let them have a phone call, decided to jail them for arraignment, and kept them there for 3 nights. AS's aunt and uncle nearly went crazy trying to find their son, until he was allowed a phone call on Wednesday night, after his friend had been released and he'd been kept there. Needless to say G was emotionally and psychologically shattered by that point. Police said he had to post bail to be let out, so his parents got some relatives in that state to take some money there.

Luckily, there are cameras in Wal-Mart that will prove the guard was lying about the leaving and spitting. Luckily, the Atlanta police chief admitted to the parents that A) G should have been given a phone call, B) most shoplifters are not held for arraignment, and C) under local law, 19-year-olds are supposed to be taken to juvie, not adult lockup. Luckily, G's going to get counseling, so hopefully this does not change his psyche forever. Luckily, G's mom is like a junkyard dog who is going to take down Wal-Mart and the police station, or at least cause them a lot of public embarrassment trying.

I don't have to tell you that this stellar student, dutiful son and upstanding citizen is a young black man, large in stature and with cornrows in his hair. You probably guessed that part already. I'm just bubbling with rage on his behalf. Three days in jail without a phone call for (supposedly) stealing a pair of socks!!!

$6 in principal, to be exact. LOL.

It was the first payment on NT's student loan, so it gets better from here.

Soo, what is that? $964 down, $436 to go on my November goal.

Can't wait for my big payment to hit on Monday!

So we've always had a somewhat fluctuating budget, but I feel like I've had a pretty good idea of where we're going to be a few months out. With this looming layoff/unemployment thing, it's been really hard. Also I didn't know when student loans would start coming due for AS. Also my choice of health coverage is still up in the air, the total cost unclear.

Still, I'm trying to predict what the budget's going to look like as best I can. I know you can get up to 50% of your current pay in unemployment, and AS usually brings home about $1800-$2000 per month after tax. So I'm lowballing and saying she'll get $200 per week on unemployment; I think that's a safe estimation. I hope it's more because I have a feeling my pay's going down one way or another when I figure out my healthcare plan. And I haven't found out when her transit benefits will end and we'll have to buy bus passes for her. But we have places we can cut back; reduce the grocery budget, take away the $20-per-person-per-month raise in spending money I just gave us, cut back our travel savings...So I know we'll be OK.

One bright spot is that I checked her outstanding student loan, and it's not going to come due till February '09! That's wonderful because it gives us plenty of time to work out how to pay for it. Who knows, AS might even have a job by then.

Anyway, at present, assuming $200 per week unemployment, assuming $400 per month for AS's health care, not factoring in bus passes or my health care, I've got the budget to a good place where all I've cut out is extra debt repay. My four blanket budget categories are looking like this percentagewise: Mortgage/Utilities/Telecom
$2,140.15 (34% of net)
Debt Repayment/Savings
$1,176.41 (19% of net)
Spending/Entertainment/Travel
$1,549.66 (24% of net)
Household/Groceries/Healthcare
$1,481.00 (23% of net)

If it changes as I suspect it will, Spending and Household will go down, but the overall takehome will go down as well, so I don't know how the percentages will work out. I don't want to assume anymore until I figure out what AS's unemployment pay and my healthcare premiums will be.

One of AS's student loans hit: $54 went to principal. (Reminds me I need to check and see why her 3rd student loan isn't in repayment yet--and make sure it's not just that we haven't been getting the bills.)

So that's $958 down, $442 to go on my November goal. Which I'm going to CRUSH in about a week.

Ugh, I've been soo busy at work I haven't had time to think about anything else. I've been soo ecstatic about Barack Obama but mentally it's been kind of an anticlimactic time because I've been too busy to really bask in this achievement. I actually forgot about a doctor's appointment yesterday! I rescheduled for this Wednesday.

Speaking of doctors, I'm still waiting to hear from NT's HR whether it would be cheaper to join his health plan or to stay on my company's next year. It's hard because their open enrollment isn't till the first of the year, but I've got to make my decision here by mid-November. Hope I get some information in the next day or so!

AS is still waiting to be "officially" laid off, though it's been acknowledged by everyone she's spoken to. And the terms of the layoff keep changing. First they said she could leave whenever she wanted after it was announced, and still be eligible for severance and unemployment. Then it was stated that they had to put in the letter that she would work for 28 more days, but that she could still leave whenever and get unemployment, though no severance. The latest scoop is that she'd have to stay the 28 days, or else it would count as a resignation, and if that happened, she'd get neither severance nor unemployment benefits!

Well, that leaves her with two options, both of which she's willing to go forward with depending on how things pan out. 1. Try to get them to retrodate the letter, pointing out (if they protest) that she has been working for at least 2 months since she learned about the layoff, and that they've broken any number of well-documented rules regarding the layoff notification process already, so why not break another (and avoid legal action against them)? (This option contains several levels of escalation which may or may not be necessary.) Or 2. When she gets the letter, "work" the 28 remaining days by calling in sick, taking vacation days, working from home and taking advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday so that she's not actually in the office for any of the days. This might actually end up being the road she takes. (Did I mention she doesn't have any work to do because there is no budget for any new products? And that she commutes 45 minutes each way to sit around and do said nothing?) Whatever it ends up being, she's determined to get at least unemployment, if not severance, since she's stuck it out this long solely for that reason.

I've signed up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org) again this year, but thanks to Halloween party, election fever and the insanity at work, I haven't written a word. Well, I probably will try to participate anyway. It's not like I ever finish, so doesn't really matter when I get started!

I've fallen behind on my budgeting too this week, but all it really needs is for me to total up our grocery and party spending and subtract that from the household line item, so it won't be too hard to catch up. Hopefully I'll have a little time this afternoon!

One of NT's student loans is already coming due--the private one. I thought those didn't need to be paid until after he stopped school. I was going to call them and check it out, but it's less than $50 per month, so I've decided to just start paying it. I can find room in the budget for it, and it will mean chipping away at our big student loan debt, and it doesn't take that much away from our CC debt snowball, so I don't mind.

BTW he is getting straight As and high 90s grades in all classes so far! I'm very proud of him.

I guess that's all in my frazzled world right now. Just felt like writing for awhile. Thanks for listening!

All four mortgage payments hit today:
US mortgage: $269 toward principal
UK #1: $133
UK #2: $28
UK #3: $29

For a total of $459. So that's $904 down, $496 to go on the November goal!

My credit card payment hit; $233 went to principal. So that's $445 down, $955 to go on the November goal.

I was intrigued by a vague story on CNN about a mortgage rescue plan in Congress right now. They don't know what it might entail, but they mentioned helping people with adjusting ARMs and mortgages that are more than their home's fallen value, both of which apply to me. So I wonder if there will be some legislation that could help me refi or something before the ARM adjusts again next fall. Here's hopin'!

I've been playing around with a new way of crunching numbers, courtesy of my friend NJ. He came up with the idea of putting all upcoming income and expenses in strict chronological order (not grouped in semimonthly sets of income and expense as I had been doing) and of showing what the balance would be after each transaction (to see if the account would ever fall short; something that took a little more work with my old method). It's taking some getting used to visually, but I think I like it:

In other news, I'm really busy at work these days since I took on some writing assignments. It's great, but it also means I can't just blog all day.

AS is still waiting for the hammer to officially fall at work, and has been channeling her stress into baking and sewing (lucky me!) She just made me an awesome padded vest, which she also entered in an online contest:



So comfy yet striking. I love it!

We've been planning for our Halloween party, but we can't tell how many people are coming so we're taking it a bit easy on decorations and snacks. It'll still be a great time if only the people who RSVP'ed come, but we're not going to knock ourselves out completely. So we're planning on making buckeyes, cupcakes, spinach dip and rye bread, and corn fritters with store-bought salsa. Then we've got an easy apple-cinnamon punch recipe and a recipe for black vodka martinis that we'll just print out and let people make their own. For decorations, we'll recycle whatever's left from last year plus add some crepe streamers.

For my costume, I wanted to do something kind of mean and ripped from the headlines, like last year. I try to be nice 364 days a year, but Halloween is for channeling my bitchy side! Last year I was zoned-out Britney Spears from the VMAs, and this year I'm going to be Ashley Todd, complete with "Wanted" poster for a gigantic black man! It should be relatively easy to put together this week--I just need a dark wig and some makeup to make the black eye and the carved "B."

I'll probably go shopping for it Friday after work. I just hope it warms up a bit this weekend--this morning it was 27 degrees!

What do you know--I checked AS student loan #2 on the off chance the payment had hit, and it had! $132 went to principal, so now it's $212 down, $1188 to go on the November goal.

UK credit card payment hit; approximately $80 went to principal.

Hmmm...payment was somewhere around $120-$130. I suspect we've lost our super-low interest rate on that card. But at least we're not paying $50 per month to transfer money over there; the UK income covers minimum bills.

Well, anyway, that's $80 down and $1320 to go on the November goal. Oh yeah, and AS is definitely getting a full paycheck next month, so I'll be able to put extra toward debt.

$41,579 to go on the Big-Picture Goal, though I feel obligated to mention that I shifted about $4K of CC debt over by paying it off with excess student loan money. So it won't be quite as exciting when it goes under $40K this month, but I won't be complaining either.

...Ned Flanders on the Simpsons considered insurance "a form of gambling"!

We just got info on our healthcare options at work. It ain't good--they're getting rid of the plan I'm currently on, and I can either get on another high-deductible plan with a Health Savings Account (HSA) instead of a Flex Spending Account (FSA), or I can go to a high-monthly-premium, low-deductible plan that still has an FSA attached.

Well, I hate flex spending--last year I had a bunch left over and ended up getting designer sunglasses; this year my doctor prescribed some lab tests right away, and I blew through my flex money in January and have been paying with post-tax dollars ever since. So you'd think the HSA would be the obvious choice. I can carry over what I don't use, it's tax-free--it's much better than FSA in a lot of ways.

BUT--I'd love to have tax-free savings for whatever comes up, and the max you can contribute is $3000--coincidentally your out-of-pocket maximum for the year. However, that maximum doesn't factor in teeth and eyes--and with the dental stuff I had done this year, I'd love to have enough HSA money to cover worst-case scenario PLUS dental worst-case PLUS vision worst-case. But I can't.

Oh well. If I went with the low-deductible plan and kept my FSA at its current, my paycheck's going down $80 either way. I guess HSA is better.

Aiming low to be sure I hit it: I want to pay at least $1400 off by 11/30. That's a bit more than the expected minimum. But, as momsents said, depending on when AS's regular paychecks stop, I may be able to do an extra payment and exceed this goal by a lot.

My big personal loan payment hit, and $3087 ended up going to principal. Yeehaw! My goal was to pay off $3000, and instead we paid $3393 this month.

Love these big months! My November goal is going to be very conservative because I'm not sure of our future income, but this was a satisfying month.

OK, here's a slice of my budget spreadsheet, hope it shows up...

You can't see the lines of the spreadsheet, but basically I have one column for dates, one for description and one for the amount (plus or minus). Then for each section, if you select the numbers you want added up and then hit "Sum" under formulas and then return, it gives you the subtotal for that set of numbers.

EDIT: Oh, and I cut several lines out so it would be shorter, and I realized I cut the header "MINUS NOVEMBER FIRST TO FIFTEENTH." But you get the idea...

On to the layoffs: AS finally got word that she is being laid off, though she doesn't know what day it will be or anything. It's great news, though it's still rather nervewracking to be laid off even if you've got a plan in place.

I was at urgent care all morning (another stupid UTI), and when I got in to work, there had been layoffs at my company! Luckily I was spared again.

Now I'm just staying at work long enough to be in on a conference call where we're interviewing someone for an article I'm going to write. The manager who informed me of the layoffs said it was great that I was branching into writing, because having more than one bankable skill was a good way to stay secure during tight times. Amen!

NT recently realized that since he gets free bus passes through work, and could get extremely cheap ones through the university, that he should take advantage of both and give me one set.

I currently get bus passes through my job, and they take the cost out pre-tax, which is a great deal, but not as good as the ones NT can get.

So I've canceled mine (I have enough passes to last me to NT's next semester beginning in January), and NT is going to order a bus pass through the university in early January.

As a consequence, I'm saving about $60 per month immediately, and even when we start buying U passes, that will only be $20 per month.

I know where every dollar goes when we save money; sometimes it goes to extra debt repay, or fun-money savings, or to correct a budget deficiency. But sometimes it must seem like more money never makes a difference to NT and AS, who only see grocery and spending money on a day-to-day basis.

So I decided to give us all a raise in spending money--$20 more per month. We've been at $60 per week per person for awhile, which I realize is very generous compared to most of my frugal buddies, but doesn't go terribly far for us. For awhile, we had extra money that we could "earn" by exercising, but I had to cut that out of the budget, so the straight-up $60 does feel a tad tight.

So the first Friday of each month, we'll get $80 instead of $60. NT and AS are very excited--and I have to admit, so am I!

And now, the pictures that accompany my last post (it was getting so long, I didn't want to add anything to it)...

The vacation hovel in WV (that's me and AS on the porch!):


A shrine to the victims of the mining disaster:


Random beautiful hills in WV:


A view from Skyline Drive, VA:


A fearless deer on Skyline:


Part of the fancy hotel suite in DC (one of the only pics we got in the city, LOL):


Chesapeake Beach, MD (a view of our hotel from the pier):


Random statues at night in Annapolis near a temporary boat show (none of our other pics from Annapolis really came out, so here you go):


Skyline of Baltimore, MD:


View of Fells Point, a picturesque neighborhood of Baltimore, from the water taxi:


A church in Baltimore:


A closer look at Fells Point:


There were so many things I didn't get a picture of, because sometimes when I'm really drinking something in, the last thing I think to do is get out my camera. But this is a pretty good sampling of our trip, I think.

I feel like so much has happened in the past two weeks that I would normally blog about as it happened, but what with traveling and being really busy at work, I just haven't had a chance. When I did have spare time I was catching up on reading everyone else's blogs!

I do technically have some work, but nothing that won't wait till tomorrow, so I'm going to indulge myself.

We went on our trip to see family, fall colors and some new places. First we hit Virginia, where we visited my mom, dad, a sister, a nephew and a niece. After that we visited AS's mom, who lives in the same town. Her dad was supposed to show up too (the parents are recently separated), but he didn't and that immediately ratcheted down the tension AS had been feeling. We had a great dinner with her mom and adoptive sister, and AS got tons of high-end material and expensive patterns from her mom, who works in a fabric store and gets deep discounts. We shipped them home to the tune of about $75, but there was seriously at least $1000 worth of patterns and fabric. We could probably sell one piece of cloth on eBay and make up the shipping costs! (Not that AS would let me, but maybe she'll part with some of the patterns...)

Next we went to West Virginia so I could show NT my childhood "vacation home," a ramshackle old house in a valley (or "holler" as it's called in WV), where I whiled away many a lazy summer climbing hills, wading in creeks and making campfires. Another sister lives nearby, so we hung out with her, her husband and kids. They took us to the site of the coal-mine disaster you probably all heard about in early 2006. I was in England at the time, and it made the news there! My brother-in-law works for the same company, so he took us past the mine he works at, and told us a little about how it all works. Then they drove us around for more scenery, my BIL even taking NT and I on the back of a 4-wheeler through woods and hills, where we startled many deer. It was a great time. The scenery in WV is breathtaking.

I got sick the second night we were there. Too much to drink, maybe, or just not used to not having healthy home-cooked meals. But I gradually felt better throughout the day. On the way back to Virginia we took a detour through Skyline Drive, which winds along mountaintops giving you a stunning view of the Shenandoah Valley. We saw many unafraid deer and a bear!

After that we spent a bit more time with my family, then headed up to D.C., where we stayed overnight for the first time ever. I splurged on a very fancy hotel for one night. It was amazing! (I'm still trying to get this pending charge off my checking account from them, but otherwise a truly indulgent experience.) We mostly just hung out in the hotel suite, though we did take short walks to find dinner and then lunch the next day. I almost got sick again after the dinner! I think I ate too fast and the food was a little saltier than we're used to. I can't believe I've got such a delicate stomach now. AS was also having digestive problems throughout the trip, either due to all the eating out or her new heart meds.

Thursday we drove to Chesapeake Beach, a small town in Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. We stayed at a hotel that had a spa, and I got my first facial! AS got a mud wrap for the first time, and NT got a good old-fashioned massage. A little teenage girl who worked there slightly scratched our rental car and was in hysterics, but I called the rental company and made sure it was covered, then let her off without giving me her info. She'd just gotten her license and car, and I was glad she was able to learn her lesson about careful driving early, cheaply and relatively painlessly!

That night we drove up to Annapolis and had amazing Thai food, and walked around their gorgeous downtown.

Friday we dropped the car off and took a cab to Baltimore to stay two nights. Even though I lived near Baltimore most of my life, I never thought to explore past the aquarium. We were pleasantly surprised at how pretty, friendly and bustling it was. And we had no trouble finding wonderful food for every meal. We took a water taxi, walked around the different neighborhoods and had drinks at a couple bars. We found a vegetarian restaurant that we really wish was here in Minneapolis, Liquid Earth. We heard a meat-eater customer tell the owner that their veggie reuben was better than the real thing!

Too soon, it was time to come home. Still, it was nice to come back to our beautiful condo and be able to cook for ourselves again.

It was a really interesting vacation; full of contrasts from rural to urban, comfortable family time to exploring new places, roughing it to living large. I totally recommend this method, except we got sick of all the packing and unpacking as we never stayed anywhere for more than two nights.

AS (as well as NT and I) was so glad to be places that were more racially diverse. Minneapolis is, but life can get really segregated, where you work with 95% white people if you work in certain professional fields. For AS it can get lonely and for me, coming from VA, NY, GA, it's just very odd. West Virginia, Chesapeake Beach and Annapolis were fairly "white," but D.C., Virginia and Baltimore were full of the diversity AS and I miss so much.

I didn't track spending on this trip, but figured it all out when we got back, and we went about $150 over budget. Only averages out to $5 per person per day, but it really adds up! Still, we had more than enough in our grocery budget, and since most of the overspending was on food, voila! Problem solved. Still, I'm tracking spending next vacay, because the last one we went on we came in way under, and I'm convinced the tracking helped.

We got to talk to people from all walks of life (East Coasters are much more outgoing with strangers than Midwesterners, in my experience) in the midst of a very strange political season. We started our vacation right as the financial crises started to get really crazy. We talked to Dems, Repubs and independents, and I really came away feeling determined to try and purge partisan rancor out of my bloodstream, because most folks, even people whose political beliefs I think are way off, just want the best for themselves, their friends and family, and their country.

Soo, now we're back! We're planning a Halloween party for Nov. 1, still waiting to hear the official word on AS's layoff, getting better at the new household order now that NT (the homemaking guru) is in class all the time, etc., etc., etc.

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted! I was on vacation Oct. 3-12, lazed around the 13th, and have been really busy at work the last couple days. I'll post some vacay photos when I get a chance, but right now I've got financial business.

AS's student loan hit, with $58 going to principal.

However, we got the first statement on one of her deferred student loans, payment due 10/26. Turns out that one had some interest ($577) that capitalized into principal. So overall we've been set back $519.

But it's not that bad; we also got a student loan refund of about $980 from NT dropping one of his classes. I'm going to put it toward my personal loan. So we won't miss our monthly goal or anything, but since that payment won't hit for another couple days, for now it's a step back.

So we're back at $306 down and $2694 to go.

My credit card and all four mortgage payments hit today.
CC: $238 toward principal
US mortgage: $300
UK mortgage #1: $143
UK #2: $30
UK #3: $32

That's $825 down, $2175 to go on my October goal.

And $44,746 left on my Big-Picture Goal.

I'm a little upset because my principal payment on the U.S. has been going up gradually all these years, but I just peeked ahead at next month's, when my payment and interest go up, and it says only $269 will go toward principal, $31 less than this month!

I thought principal would continue to go up steadily, since it's still a 30-year mortgage. What gives?

On the good-news side, it turns out NT will get $100 for his voiceover work! Not bad for half an hour of his time.

Today, NT got a bit of last-minute voiceover work from a friend who works in advertising. He had two lines in a radio ad, playing a snooty, surly English butler.

On Friday before we leave, AS is doing some hand-modeling for another friend, whose publishing house is doing a book about knitting.

And what about me? I'll be the money-grubbing, pushy handler behind the scenes.

Actually, I don't think either job pays; they're just favors for friends. I think we'll get a copy of the book and a CD of the ad and that's about it. Still, it's kind of funny they both got gigs the same week, out of the blue like that.

NT's paycheck today has $50 in overtime. Usually I know what my top priority for extra money is, be it extra debt repay, fun-money savings, medical expenses or spending money. But in an uncertain future, it's difficult to make those kinds of decisions. I know I should either:
- Put it aside for emergency or medical expenses.
- Put it in Xmas gift savings.
- Use it to start saving for next year's CSA.
- Put it toward next year's vacation.
- Pay off a little extra on my personal loan.

All of these categories need a lot more than $50, and so it's difficult to prioritize. Maybe I should put $10 in each...

Saturday was haircut day in our household. I bit the bullet and got a super-short hairdo that I'm fairly confident could be classified as "fierce." I love it! It's actually shorter than NT's, and he's been giving me pointers about how best to style it. Our barber only charges $15 per haircut and hasn't raised his prices in at least three years. We tip him $5 on each job because he is really good for the price (and a great guy to boot), so the total was $60 for the three of us.

Saturday night we went to the restaurant we'd picked out, Broders Pasta Bar. Even though we knew it was high-end-ish, the name led us to believe it would be a casual, first-come-first-serve atmosphere, so we didn't bother making reservations. Turns out there was an hour-and-a-half wait! We got carryout instead, shared a carafe of wine while waiting, and enjoyed the food at home (it was amazing--we'll be going back--with reservation made next time). Spent $65 instead of the expected $100-$120, because we only had a bit of wine instead of the probable bottle or two, plus no tip and no appetizer. We decided to put our saved money into our vacation fund--why not? We'll be eating out a ton then too, so it's going to the same purpose.

A friend came over Sunday to sell NT a couple CDs because he was hard up for money and needed some to tide him over for the weekend. I don't know much about this friend's financial situation but he seems pretty impulsive and free-spirited. After explaining that he'd gotten down to his last $4 and needed to fill up his car before payday, he proceeded to pull out a new Apple iTouch and show it off! Someone asked when he got it, and he said he'd gotten a "windfall" a couple weeks ago and used it to buy this. Boy, it looked like a neat gadget, but it'll take me awhile before I stop associating it with someone who was so disorganized, they were down to $4 two weeks later. Not like I don't blow my windfall money on luxuries sometimes, but I at least look ahead and make sure I've got money to cover the basics first.

UK credit card payment hit: $82 to principal. Since I made a huge payment to it, the minimum payoff each month has gone down by about $50. But that's OK, because the minimum payment itself has been reduced by $70. The goal with the UK account is to keep a small surplus in there so we can cover flat-rental expenses from flat-rental income and not have to transfer money over at $50 a pop (not including bank fees on the other end). So having a much smaller payment is good. And the interest rate on that credit card is low and fixed, so there are much more urgent debts to pay off quickly.

Anyway, that's $82 down, $2,918 to go on my October goal, and $44,984 to go on my Big-Picture Goal. (That goal got an artificial boost when I used part of a student loan to pay some of my personal loan off. I decided to go with it because it would get confusing to catgegorize part of one student loan under CC debt. I'm going to attack the student loans and mortgages with the same vigor once I'm out of CC debt anyway.)

Several good strokes of luck this week, and many fun things planned as well:
- Got a $50 Target card from one of my bosses for the crazy week I had.
- Got word from another supervisor that I'll be given another batch of writing assignments this fall.
- Friend's birthday party tonight.
- Haircuts tomorrow, and I'm going to coax my barber into giving me a supershort cut (unless he thinks it will look terrible with my round face).
- Nice dinner out tomorrow (Broder's Pasta Bar--never tried it but read and heard good things about it).

Sunday will be all about shopping, cooking, cleaning and homework, but two out of three days will be fun!

...in the checking account!

This was the first week AS's paycheck was due to go up to its pre-tuition-tax-withholding levels (her free tuition had exceeded tax-exempt levels and so for six pay periods we had about $250 more withdrawn from her checks). I knew her check used to be $900-something, but I just lowballed it in my budget estimations rather than looking it up (since AS's paychecks are notoriously unpredictable anyway) and put $900 even for today's deposit.

Well, I finally got a chance to check my account, and it actually was $1,005.22! Nice one! I put the excess aside for some medical expenses; I have some little dribs and drabs of copays and stuff that I've been putting off paying because I couldn't decide where to take the money from now that my September and October funds have both been depleted. Now I can pay all those little bills and won't have to wait till November (or take it out of some other category). It's about time we got a little stroke of luck!