FPU-July Review

What a month!  We've been busy with lots of little things:  hauling Ryley to Pony Camp, a weekend on Nantucket, sending big kids off on a camping trip, a couple of days on Lake Seymour, finishing up our chicken coop, a few days with AZ relatives, and lots of overtime for JD.

Financially, I was looking forward to this month, specifically JD's third paycheck at the end of the month.  Now that we're living with a monthly budget, those two months of the year when he gets a 3rd paycheck are huge (He gets paid bi-weekly; I'm paid twice monthly).  Thanks to that third check which wasn't needed for bills or anything else, we were able to put the whole thing towards our property taxes which we've been saving for since early summer.  And we met our goal!  In the past, we've been able to just set aside plow money for taxes.  This year we had to come up with over $6000 from nothing.  Thanks to FPU and the way that we've changed our spending habits, we did it!

We'll keep saving and hopefully pay off our first two loans (a personal loan and Ryley's orthodontics) early.  Without those payments, things will be a little easier going into winter when things tend to get tight.  At the same time, tuition payments and daycare will be starting up and if anything, our income will decrease.  I'm already looking forward to December when we'll get another 3rd check!

We had a little scare when something was going terribly wrong with our van and I could already envision a huge repair bill.  We were extremely thankful when we found out that even though it needed a new transmission (at only 55,000 miles) we only had to pay a $50 deductible as it was still under warranty.  Yay!

PS. I'm so glad that we got rid of our credit cards.  I thought I would miss my card and the perks, but after months now without it, I'm sure that the lack of a credit card bill every month definitely outweighs the perks.