Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

I married a bro-ny... and i'm okay
with it.

A bit of normalcy has entered my life since the end of Relay (although there are still things to work on and do!). I feel more confident going into our next year already having gone through and done it once! Our city raised over $105,000.00 for the American Cancer Society and we still have donations coming in! My crochet flowers were a hit and all 60 sold out at $2 a piece and my little critters/animals I made flew off the table so those will return for next year!

But it has been wonderful to embrace normalcy again. I got to start my Saturday morning walks back with my friend this week, it seems the hubby and I have been able to real in our spending since our life has calmed down, and we have been preparing for our next showing at the farmer's market on Friday (2 days before father's day).

We already have doubled the inventory since last month & we have been promised a better location this go around too since I pitched how great the pens would sell for father's day. The gal who coordinates the craft vendors is rooting for us!

On the spiritual end of things, I've finally finished the Book of Mormon, and while i'm not at the point of joining the church or anything, I was glad to see myself pleasantly surprised that it didn't have a lot of the more "interesting" philosophy I believed it would. Were still hanging out with missionaries once a week, but now were  going to start talking about the church itself and how it got to be what it is today, which as a history nut is so up my ally.

Yup... Camo Duct Tape tie...

Despite finally getting my first paycheck of the year without any overtime on it, I was still already able to bring in a little extra green. A woman asked if I wouldn't mind doing a quick design for her on Vista Print to match her business cards. I was planning it a favor, told her so twice, and for around 15-20 minutes of my time I got a check for $70! I even tried to give it back to her but she insisted I take it.

We also emptied the last of SCB's unemployment off his EDD Card. Apparently that letter he got in the mail was because he checked the wrong box on his form... but we haven't received any more correspondence from them and all the money he was awarded has run out. Anyone know where to go from here? They didn't mail us anything about extended our benefits or reapplying.... Which is part of the reason that SCB has been slaving away pen turning like crazy the past few days. We are determined to make every last piece of inventory before Friday so we can give it our best shot and earn as much as possible since the market vendors are supposed to rotate so we don't see a July opportunity since they made an exception for us to come back since it was so close to father's day. I called about the annual 4th of July street fair, but for sellers, its a $90 stall fee and we haven't been able to clear much profit to afford to do that since we re-invested the profits from last time on more inventory and I have to work that day already and for a fair that large, SCB would want me there. But I tried emailing the Farmer's market in Irvine to see about vendor fees but no one responded back yet... I'll have to try the number since email is apparently a no go for them.

SCB is frozen at Relay after letting
one of my friends sleep in the
tent so she wouldn't freeze...
(luv him)

With our new budget this month including giving, we generally come up a bit short in a few areas, as I mentioned in our budget post:

• Roth is short $106.82 a month from maxing it out
• Birthday fund was eliminated ($50 a month)

But with the $70 check I got and the last of SCB's unemployment, we were able to catch these two items up for the month so now any monthly extras will go towards our car fund, which is currently only $830.82 away from our goal. Once it hits $1,000.00 we will be able to consider getting rid of SCB's 21 year old car and turning his old car into the state for $1,000.00 and buying my mom's more reliable 2001 single cab truck for $2k (It has only 60,000 miles on it!). The old escort has been making not the best sounds lately... I guess you could say we are at the point where we are considering the whole, do we go and be a once car family--- or do we purchase my mom's truck at a STEAL of a price just to be on the safer side in case we need a second car... The truck won't be around forever... a few of my sisters friends have mentioned wanting it and my mom will give it to us first over them... but its just a matter of time. She's willing to go till the end of the year/Jan for us to make a decision (when the escort comes up for SMOG renewal at CA standards for the first time).

Wow, a whole lot of updates for just a week so I better get on to our weekly spending!

Weekly Spending:

June 1:

June 2:

June 3:

June 4:

• $17.29 Gas (top off my mom's truck we borrowed for Relay)
• $23.23 The Hat (Eating out/Date Night)

June 5:

• $41.41 Electricity
• $809.40 Mortgage
• $58.42 Fresh and Easy (Groceries)
• $42.49 Gas (SCG)
• $9.18 Costco (Groceries- Milk & Block Cheese)

June 6:

• $15.15 Fuddruckers (Eating out/Date Night)

June 7:

June 8:

Money Goals:

1. 2012 Roth IRA SCG:  $1,225.73 / $5,000.00 (24.51%) 
2. Emergency Fund: $12,500.00 / $12,500.00 (100%)  Done
3. Paying Extra on the House:  $45.77 / $1,301.28 (2 additional mortgage payments) (3.51%).
4. $1,000.00 Car Fund: $169.18 / $1,000.00  (16.91%)
5. 2nd Roth IRA: $0 / ? We're just aiming to put 15% of what SCB earns in this account. Unemployment doesn't count as income... so I think we have to wait until his business turns a profit.