How do you define Progress?

***ETA:  I wrote this post last night, and scheduled it to go live today.  Almost no one actually GOT the point of the post.  Everyone is still on the "should we buy tickets" bandwagon....which for the record, I never asked if I should or shouldn't.  

In my GBU yesterday, I mentioned that we were "thinking" about getting concert tickets.  Our last concert was almost 10 years...oops....8 years ago (the kids were ALMOST 2).  Are they pricey?  Yep.  We were thinking about it; no decision made.  We have had 2 big date nights in the past year....and this would be the next one (not counting the wedding we have in May).

Is it the BEST use of money?  Depends on your definition of BEST.  No, it isn't going to debt.  But if you define BEST as "the ability for a couple to have a night out, see a show we both would enjoy, and have a night off from the stress of our life,"  then yes.  We have also considered only having G-man go (as he wants to go more than I do, even though I do want to go).  Then we would only have 1 ticket and parking.  No sitter or anything.

Consuelo made a comment regarding our numbers and our "lack of progress" in the past few months.

I am not going to deny that numbers are ugly.  I never have.  We were making progress, and last year really wrenched that.  No denying that.  But to say "lack of progress" in the past few few months isn't accurate.  I haven't updated our sidebar in the past few days because I know it is all about to change, and decided to wait until the big change to do the update.  But the comment really upset me, so I looked a few things up....a few things that may not be as apparent to you all because I don't share EVERY detail.

Since January 1....

• We have increased our EF by $324.    Prior to my root canal, we had just under $1,300 in there.  We withdrew some to float that money to get a discount.  When our FSA reimburses us, it will go back to the EF, and we will have the $1300 again, and are working toward
• We have saved over $500 towards the kids' camp for the summer, which acts as day care for us while we work.
• We have saved $550 in overtime pay.  Part of this is paying for G-man's speeding ticket and fishing license.  The rest is going toward our weekend trip to Sesame Place for Autism Day (entrance to the park is free, other than a $25 parking fee which goes to charity.  We have a gov't discount for the hotel).
• We have saved enough so far to pay for our water bill, which will come in May.  And we are on track to have the money saved for our personal property taxes in July.
• We paid off our retirement loan (whose numbers were never added into any of the tallies, but at the start of the blog....we had about $7100 left), a few year early.
• We established a "cat fund" that currently has enough for all three cats' check-ups, and have been working on saving per month for food and litter.

Based on the numbers on January 1, as reported in my Financial Goals for 2012:

• The student loan has decreased $456.
• The car has decreased $642.
• Medical has increased $50, but as long as Bossy has medical needs, this bill will always be in flux.  Considering I had a $700 root canal, and the overall bill has only gone up $50, I am happy.

This just leaves the CC bills.  Taking the mattress out of the equation, which we had planned to take a little extra out of the next retirement loan to cover....the CC has gone down about $400.  Now, what this means is that we have basically paid off everything we have charged in the past 3 months, and a little more.  This was considerably more, but as I said, we back slid a little on this in the past month.  Included in this have been a few gifts (baby shower, bridal shower, birthday parties).  Some has been eating out when we have been lazy about cooking.  But NONE of it has been shopping for the sake of shopping.  There has been no clothes, music, home decor (as tempting as it has been!!).

Once we take out the loan, I will update all the numbers.  At that point, all of the debt will be at an interest rate of 3.375% or less.  I know that not everyone will agree with the retirement loan for this purpose.  It is taking money from our future.  But in no more than 4 years, it will be paid off, and we will be just about debt free other than the mortgage (right now we are at 5 years to be debt free....but I think we may be able to shave at least some of that off).

I know this is a long post.  So if you made it this far....good for you!!!  But we HAVE made progress.  It isn't gazelle intense....never has been.  But it IS progress.

So to Consuelo....thank you for reading and spurring me to investigate this further.  I am sorry you don't feel like we are making progress, but in the end, we only have to account to ourselves.

What our son's fish taught us about finances

I posted here about Bossy's sick fish.  Well, fishy died today.  I knew this morning it was coming.....his color was bad, and he wasn't breathing well.

It was right before I left for my mom's that I noticed he wasn't right.  We pseudo ignored it.  We thought we asked the right questions about him, and thought he would be ok.  Once we noticed that he was REALLY not doing well, we sprung into action.  But it was too little too late.  RIP Blueberries.

People do the same thing with their finances.  They know something isn't right, but they choose to look the other way.  They "think" they know what they are doing, and if they just ride the wave, it will all be ok on the other side.  But eventually it catches up with them.  They are in huge debt...and now they try and fix it.  They try all sort of things to fix the situation, but they continue to drown.  Eventually it all crashes in around them.

Our fish's death could have been prevented.  We thought we were taking good care of him....but we found out that our tank is really too small, and he died of a probable infected ulcer from ammonia poisoning.  We were changing his water 1x a week.....and we really should have been doing it every other day.  It caught up with him, and now he is dead.

Finances are the same way....if you don't keep up with the basics, it can get out of hand.  You may think you are taking care of things....but are you really?  Or are you just looking the other way?  Do you know where your money is going, and where it SHOULD be going?  Fishes need tending......so do finances.

Sassy has a fish too, and we have been careful to not make the same mistakes, now that we know better.  Hopefully Strawberry the fish will live a long happy life.

Meanwhile....we have to tell Bossy about Blueberries.....wish us luck.

Unexpected pet problems

Stop the world, I want to get off!  Things need to calm down....I am so overwhelmed.  But fortunately (unfortunately?) I am not spending money to feel better.....I am eating instead.  *sigh*  One problem at a time.

The newest "problem" added to the Mysti/G-man plate is Bossy's fish, who is sick.

Before I left to take care of my mom, I noticed that he didn't look right.  And honestly, I thought he was going to die while I was gone.  But he didn't.  G-man asked at the pet store, and they said (based on his now very inaccurate description) he was fine.

It has been 2 weeks, and he isn't doing well.  And now he has this "spot" on his back.  Further research has led us to the diagnosis of fin rot, and an infected ulcer due to ammonia burns.  We are bad fish parents.  Apparently we were not changing his water often enough (about once a week).  We have a large betta tank, and thought we were doing ok.  Guess not.

So poor fishy is sick. Our choices are :

1)  Antibiotics.  They want $30 for this!  Sorry.  He is a $4 fish.  I am not spending $30 on a $4 fish.  Plus, if he is too weak....it will kill him.

2)  Salt Bath and other medicine.  This is time and labor intensive, but will only cost about $6.  And if done right, has a pretty good chance of helping.

3)  Let nature take it's course.

Poor fishy.  We feel bad that basically we didn't take good enough care of him.  He has been part of our family since December 2009, and has been great up until 2 weeks ago.  We feel really bad.  So we will attempt to save him, but if he doesn't make it.....we will have to deal with it with Bossy.

So, if you have a second....keep our fishy in your thoughts!  ;)

The cost of owning pets

We have 3 cats. Each one is special and brings its own flavor to the table. Love them all. However, three cats are expensive!!!

They are all indoor cats, but one (Orange) got out a few weeks ago and required an emergency vet visit due to a fight with another cat. To the tune of $160.

Today, Orange, and one other (Gray) needed their yearly check up. Just for both check ups and shots.....$210. Gray is in good shape. See ya in a year. Orange....needs a tooth extracted. That will run us about $330.

So let's start adding this up.....let's just say we do the tooth thing now. That would be $700 in vet bills alone in the past month. And that is just for 2 cats! The other cat isn't due for a check up until spring.

I looked at what I budgeted for vet care....and I think I have underestimated. Now that they are getting a little older (not old, but not young either), they will require more medical care. Something to think about for future planning.

I love them, but they are getting pricey. Add in their food, litter, and boarding expenses....it is a hefty chunk. Hopefully the amount we have budgeted for boarding can be floated to vet care since we don't *think* we will need to board them again for at least a year.