Ah, that's the thing about blessings, sometimes they're cleaverly disguised. It takes some very rose-colored glasses some days....


In our quest to "get serious" about getting out of debt, July would be baby step one - put away 1,000. Originally, I'd planned to pay off two more bills, but understood the rationale in making sure some money was set aside for a safety net. Ok, so we'll carry those bills another month; we really need to complete step one. Dave Ramsey made the very good point that we need to be DONE with using credit. If we have some emergency cash, we can get through minor emergencies without going back into debt. Ok, sound advice.


I opened an account at a bank that offered 100 for opening an account. Easy! I can do that! And, we opened it with 100. So, there's 200, then add another 800, since husband works full time in the summer - even some overtime!!! Then we can get back to paying off those awful outstanding debts.


Well, not every week was full time. That was about 200 less. Ok, so we're down to 800 again. That's still a great start, right?
We had planned (and budgeted) for a trip to Silverwood this summer with the kids' grandparents. Finally, it was time for our vacation. The day we're supposed to leave, I was hurriedly folding the last pile of laundry so we could finish packing. My s.son comes running in - "Sam's eye is bleeding!" The neighborhood cat which has adopted us is a gorgeous siamese - apparently with degenerative eye disease. So it won't ever really go away. and if it's not treated, he develops ulcers on his eye - obviously very painful. However it's apparently become a VBD. (Very Big Deal) So... it's time to get finished packing, and it's also a Saturday in the middle of the day - not too many vets open. Sam's vet said "Sure, we'll get him in since it sounds like an emergency - if you can be here in 15 minutes. Otherwise, we can't help you." They're 45 minutes away. We go to them because we've had a tragic, horrible experience with a local vet and we trust these people. They have been amazing! However, we need someone NOW. We found a vet in town that was willing to take Sam and board him, even give him prescribed meds. (all for a price, of course.) His disease is a bit complicated though, since the medications he needs fight against each other, so it took some research on our vet's part to figure out a treatment plan that works. However, the sub vet didn't have the same medications. So they put him on some antibiotics and pain medications (a whole 'nuther topic, since cats apparently don't handle pain medications well) and boarded him. His actual disease is not being treated. All for the price of 253. Big sigh. There goes a little more of that emergency cash, step one.

(And we'll need to take him back to his vet to get him on his own meds. Another office visit and meds. Another sigh.)


Ok, so where's the rosy optimism? The cat has this issue no matter what, and he's strong and healthy otherwise. So is there really any better time for this to happen besides payday and after we've saved some money? It would happen anyway, and the blessing is in the timing. It's a hard blessing to see, but it's nevertheless very real. Frustrating, but a blessing nonetheless.


A few days ago we got a knock on the door. I asked who it was, expecting to hear the neighbor's voice. No such luck. (We love our neighbors!) Someone from who-knows-where had something for us. "A package, from the state of Washington." I don't open the door unless my husband is home. She kept knocking and ringing the doorbell for about 15 minutes, despite my telling her I would not answer the door. I asked for the name of the company though and looked them up on-line. It was a company that delivers court papers. Oh. my. What could this be??? Husband called them a few days later and found out he was being sought for an old debt from more than 4 years ago (we think???) and a collection agency had taken him to court. With my name on it! (I didn't even know him then!) The original cost was only abourt 150, but they had added on court fees, collection costs etc and it was over 400! When we met, he had a lot of debt from a bad situation he'd been in. I was fully aware of his past debts, how it had happened and I had debt I was paying off. There was nothing hidden, but we thought we'd dealt with everything. He was horrified - he didn't know he had this unpaid debt, and he had been working so hard on bringing in enough for baby step 1.... Those rose-colored glasses are feeling pretty tight fitting and they're pretty cloudy right now. So much for July and baby step one.


On the good side... We went on our planned vacation to Silverwood. We wouldn't be able to go to Mar Don's camping, but we'd be able to take the kids to a theme park. The grandparents offered to pay for the tickets and they even helped with meals! (WOW, wow and THANK YOU!!!)We had gas to pay for, camping, meals and a few other miscellaneous costs like buying sunscreen and such. I decided to try another of Dave Ramsey's "systems" - the envelope system. I haven't been able to read about it, (Still need to get a copy of the book) but from the website I think I've got the gist of it. We pulled out the money we had budgeted for the trip in cash and put it in the envelope. When it was gone, it was gone.
This was challenging for us! So many temptations - we were on vacation, after all! ...and again, at the end of the day, we were so exhausted, it was about 9pm and the kids were starving! Grandpa and husband were both very excited about a trip to Red Lobster. I'm terrible at telling my husband no when he wants something. He's such a good sport, great attitude, hard worker.... And it did sound pretty good, and would be a whole lot easier than trying to make dinner at 9pm, with few provisions...the camp light needed batteries and it was really too dark to see, and very hungry kiddos. Grandma saved the day (well, night, by that time.) She made Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, had a full gallon of milk, and all put together in about half an hour. We ate until we couldn't anymore, then grandma and grandpa brought out tiny individual ice cream containers and cookies. The kids were thrilled, we were all fed and full, and our budget survived. Thanks grandma! (I think husband/grandpa was still hoping for Red Lobster, but all I could think about was how sick I'd feel coming home, that we'd failed on our budget. The dinner was excellent and special because grandma made it and we were all together. I felt really good about not blowing the budget, again, for food.)

We managed to survive through quite a few "temptations" on our trip. We came home with money to fill the gas tank, and no feelings of guilt. However, we got home so late that Sam (cat) is at the vet's another night, so that's another bill. On the plus side - My friend asked me to write test questions and I would receive an honorarium for doing so. I couldn't wait to put that toward paying down another bill! Ok, so that will now go toward the outstanding late bill we just found out about (or the cat's vet bill, whatever. Ug.) But she liked my questions, and asked me to do another topic! Yeah! I can do this at home! So that will be another chip against the debt mountain.

We are now into August and we worry about making sure our kids feel well taken care of, yet learn NOT to do what we've done in creating out debt mountain. It's important for them to have clothes and resources for back to school, but we are also trying to teach them not to overspend. We also want them to value what they have and not fall into the trap of commercialism. We want them to understand the difference between what they "want" and what they "need." They do need some things for back to school, but it's not necessary to spend hundreds of dollars on a whole new wardrobe when they have lots of clothes that currently fit. Tall order for a child, especially when you're surrounded by commercialism!

The girls were invited by Nana to spend a couple days with her before our trip with the other grandparents to Silverwood. She took them shopping, they made crafts, swam and painted toenails, ate shrimp until they were stuffed, played dress-up, sent pictures of high heels with the title "new school shoes" to their poor mom to horrify her (me) and generally had a blast. (Nana is now thoroughly exhausted!) Nana also put together a bag of school supplies for the boy, so he is fully stocked as well. What a blessing!

It's been an up and down couple weeks, with blessings and mixed, up-side down blessings as well. I'm really frustrated that this is the third month in a row we're trying to get this one step done and we keep having set back after set back. However, at the end of each month, we have paid all our minimum bills, and taken care of the emergencies that have come up. Had we not been trying so hard, any ONE of these emergencies would have overwhelmed us financially, because we normally would have blown through any "extra" by spending on things we thought we needed. It's progress, even if it is slow going. This month's goal is to get rid of all the extra "stuff" in storage, and therfore eliminate the money we spend on a storage unit every month.