End of Sept TMMO Check-in

Ugh. It feels like this is just SO SLOW. Of course, didn't help that I had a trip up to Boston this month that cut in to my "snowball"...plus living without a credit card means that I have to come up with cash for expenses that come up like 80k car maintenance (~$500!), termite warranty, heartworm prevention for the dogs, etc.

On the plus side, when I look back to when I started, I've paid off over $11k so far, I've taken the plunge into selling things (still haven't tackled craigslist yet but I did get some $$ for some books, DVDs and games)...and I've got a much more realistic budget going. I think that has been the hardest part for me so far. I didn't realize how reliant I was on using credit to hold me over until the next paycheck, etc. (The sales I have passed up this month alone!)  Even though I usually paid off the balance each month, it feels like I am in more control over my spending now. And I'm actually enjoying the challenge of stretching every dollar.

It's going to be slow-going here for the next few months as I'm trying to build up a little more cushion plus have Christmas with all those hidden costs. I've added categories to my budget for every big expense I can think of that could come up - from vet visits to car maintenance to my sweetwater membership so hopefully once January comes, these big expenses will stop sideswiping me and I can really get going.

i won a camera

we had a baby shower for ronessa today (who is having twins!) and I won the contest that had us identify the pictures of double/twin things (e.g., Minnesota Twins logo, Double Indemnity,...) and the prize was a cute little point & shoot camera (which I looked up on Amazon and is selling for $299!) just in time for my trip to Boston next weekend!!

Anyway, here are some pics from the office today (we are not getting much work done this afternoon...despite how people are pretending in the pictures):

The whole crew

Shari, here to help you

Kenneth

Keven & Joe don't like having their pictures taken

Revenge...

Audrey turns a blind eye

Margie!

Margie has some big shoes to fill

(she is actually wearing her shoes inside of these ones belonging to Joe)

I am so smart

So I took a look at Quicken last night and could not for the life of me figure out how that loan would work unless Chase not only waived closing costs but PAID ME an additional $7k. So it was not a huge surprise when I got a message from the processor saying that he'd been wrong; that he couldn't figure out a way to do it for less than $7,000 in closing costs. At least with that, I didn't even have to ponder what to do.

As soon as this market comes back....I am so anxious to be done with these crazy mega banks!

High Finance

So the refinance is back on. I think. I'm hesitant to say anything for sure at this point since they have been so...inconsistent but I just got a phone call from my processor saying that he'd had to run it through underwriting and had a counteroffer for me - all the closing costs can be rolled into the loan + the total loan amount will be $1,500 less than before (which also makes my monthly payment about $50 lower). According to what he told me today, I will only have to bring about $150 "to the table". Huh?

I'm not sure whether they miscalculated before or if they just decided it makes more sense to lower the costs in order to keep me with them. But since it costs me nothing to keep going at this point (other than the inconvenience of getting another appraisal done), I told him to keep going. So stay tuned, I guess.

Best Profile Pic

OK, long overdue in updating profile pic. Finally took a slew of pictures after haircut today (hurrah!).

What's your vote for which to use on facebook, etc?

OR



OR

I, of course, have issues with all of them but trust me, these are the best ones of the bunch...

or maybe i should just get kristi to take some tonight that AREN'T so close up!!