Saturday, November 24, 2007

Ebay - sweetness!

I'm so excited - for about a week and a half, I couldn't use my office computer for anything that had fill-in boxes (like here, and OD, and ebay, and Auctiva, etc). They just wouldn't load. So dh reformatted my computer, and now I can!

So - I was able to get 5 auctions listed tonight, in addition to relisting some things that didn't sell. I also have at least 2 more that are scheduled to start tomorrow night (I'm picky about when my auctions end - I like them to end between 6:30 and 8:30 CST).

I have such a huge ebay pile for Christmas stuff, and it hit me just about 2 weeks ago that I needed to get my butt in gear - because those auctions need to END no later than the 10th or so in order for people to get them before the holidays. Plus, ebay just DIES in January, so I need to get as much on there as possible to get my ebay stash down before the late-winter death of sales.

No stress. Nope, not here. I soooo want to get as much sold to send a big ole payment to BECC #1. That would be SO COOL, especially right at xmas time.

(side note: our dryer seems to be dying. It's 9 years old and is making a terrible rumbling sound. Still turns, still dries, still blows air - but terrible noise. I'm so worried about how much it will cost to fix it...we just got the BEF set up!!)

Friday, November 23, 2007

Dave Ramsey is a Black Friday killer.

Seriously. :)

I have amazing memories of Black Friday. I love it. It's the start of the Christmas season for me. I always find some cool deals, and I have a blast.

But looking through the ads this year, things just don't seem like great deals. Not much that seems worth getting up at 5am and spending our hard-earned money on.

I was really bummed. I still went out, got some things, but nothing like I used to.

I actually stayed within budget. And I, you know...thought about what I was going to buy.

Seriously. Dave Ramsey kills Black Friday.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

We got it!! BS1 - completed

The money from insurance was deposited on Thursday - so we officially have BS1 completed! $1000 in the bank for a BEF.

I am so excited to move on to BS2. We are not using any of the insurance money as a snowball, but we do have it completely budgeted - xmas money, some for me to get some new clothes (desperately needed - it's been 7 years since I've bought work pants for myself...), and a few other things we've been putting off.

So - officially, here comes the snowball!!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

BEF!

It's ALMOST official...we'll have our $1000 BEF in place by the end of the month!!

I am SO freaking excited, I can hardly contain myself.

I surrendered an old rip-off life insurance policy after I was sure the new insurance was in place, and we're getting just under $2000 back on it.

This will give us the BEF, update our Christmas fund, give us the money to pay some big annual bills coming up, and still send some to the BECC.

Whooppppeeeeee!!!

Sunday, November 04, 2007

October Review

Life has been so busy - just in general, too much to do and very little time. Today we have a goal of getting the storm windows on and the A/C's out of the windows. I also need to dig up some dead plants and plant some things that need to be dropped - some mums and roses, mostly that have been in pots all summer.

How did October go?
  • No increase in the BEF...
  • But also, NO use of the cc's. I think that ROCKS.
  • Although the tough part of the month was over by the 20th with payday, we've been doing very well with the Oct paycheck (we get paid monthly). Perhaps I need to do monthly reviews around payday, since that's really our month...
  • Got new life insurance...
  • But haven't cancelled the old yet. The new doesn't have my check as cleared yet. As soon as that goes through, the old is over and we'll get a check that will help us refund the BEF and xmas fund.
  • Only ate out twice (although once counts for Nov, I guess, but I mean per paycheck - we went out to breakfast yesterday, planned out, and it was great).
  • Made some ebay sales, even though I'm still waiting on payment for one. What would you do? Person writes back after 3rd email and says they are waiting to make sure another auction clears before paying us. wtf?
  • Got my computer fixed so I can continue with ebay downstairs.

Not bad, hey?