So I FINALLY figured out how much I need to transfer from my reg acct to my sahm acct...76.42 which brings my total up to $120.41. That is not including the coupon money I am in the process of tallying.

The problem I'm having is that my receipts are scattered and I don't know if I'm going to be able to find them all. I guess this is a lesson for me that I need to be more organized. I will make that a goal...be more organized so I can track my savings.

So $120.41 REAL money....I am excited to watch it grow.

For the past few months I’ve been paying about $1000 each month on the student loan. I really want to get it paid off by the end of next summer/early fall. Other than the mortgage, this is the only debt we have so I want it GONE.

DH has been ok with this until the past few days. He’s going on and on how we should be investing that money rather than paying off the debt. Our investments are doing well and he wants more money for that. I’ve been resisting because I want to pay off the debt first. His student loan rate is rather high (7.25% I believe) and we are doing much better than that with our investments.

We are both teaching the time value of money in our Business Math class and it’s spurred him into a battle to redirect our money. I’m not saying he’s wrong (I do understand about present and future values), but I really want this debt gone. So we may decide to compromise and put $500 toward the student loans and $500 into the Schwab account. I told him that if he felt that strongly about it he could have $250 from each paycheck direct deposited to Schwab. That way the $$ doesn’t stay in our checking acct and get spent elsewhere. So the ball is in his court to actually DO something about it.

I just can't seem to get anything done so maybe a list is in order.

-Clean my house. It's a PIG STY. Ugh
-After (or AS I clean) the house is clean make piles of stuff to sell on ebay
-learn how to sell stuff on ebay LOL
-balance the checkbook
-tally coupon savings
-figure out how much I deposited in reg acct that should be in sahm acct
-make a list of online universities (eventually I'll start contacting them to inquire about adjunct faculty positions)
-pay bills
-laundry
-find recipes to learn how to cook EASY and frugal meals
-go pay for angelfoodministries food
-clean my car, unfortunately that's a pig sty, too
-bug DH to get a copy of the health ins his job offers (specifically costs and coverage)

Whew, I think that's it for now. Oh and work 2 jobs and spend time with my 2 year old. Why are there only 24 hours in a day?

No, I still have not tallied my coupon savings. I am really interested in this number but I just haven't gotten around to it. (Maybe I'm just lazy.) Between working 2 jobs and trying to get some quality time with my 2 year old, some things just constantly end up at the bottom of my priority list.

I did open a separate acct. Some call this thier $20 challenge money. I'm calling it my SAHM account. It will motivate me to add to it and I'm hoping it will prove to DH that YES we can afford for me to sah if we sell the house. OK, it only has $43.99 in it right now ($38.99 from rebates and a $5 rebate check). But I know I put some other $$ into our 'regular' acct that needs to be transferred. I'm thinking that will bring it up to around $100. That's not including any coupon $$. I don't know how much that will be but I think it will be enough to almost double it. I don't exactly what this $$ will be earmarked for......but we can worry about that part later. THe point is to show myself (and DH) that there are plenty of easy ways to save and I want to show him the actual dollars saved to prove it!

As I creep closer to 35 I continue to ponder whether or not to have another child. DH definately wants one. I am on the fence.

First of all, let me say that I was one of 'those' women that was really into my job and I never wanted children. Really, I NEVER had any maternal feelings or desires to have child. My DH knew that when he met me and knew that my feelings were the same when we married. Well, things happen and I got pg. After the initial shock I was thrilled and have never looked back. I love my son with every fiber of my being and wouldn't change a thing.

I am also a different type of mother than I ever thought I'd be. I work full-time but dread every minute of it and would love to stay home. I thought I would happily run off to work and cherish the time to be a grown-up and then go home and cherish my time to be a parent. THere is nothing wrong with that scenario except that I found it doesn't fit for me. The problem is that I'm the bread winner and carry the benefits for our family. I was always secretly proud of the fact that I make significantly more money than DH but now I hate that we are so dependent on my income (and health benefits). What to do?

Well, DH has been on and on lately about having another child. Since we are scheduled to have all debts except our mortgage paid off by next fall we are in pretty good shape financially. But of course another child will change the shape of our financial future dramatically. Yes, I realize that you can't make the 'child decision' solely based on finances. My heart is telling me that I DO want another child, but that I have to be able to be the parent that I want to be.

What does this mean? Well, we absolutely cannot afford to live on DH's salary without major sacrifices. I'm not talking about not eating out or cutting vacations. I'm talking about selling our house. We have a nice house on a lake that is appreciating nicely but we also have a 205K mortgage. We could afford to have another child and keep the house if I continue to work full-time. There is no way to make it work if I don't.

There is also the question of health benefits. We can get them through DH's work but they are about $500/month for family coverage and they aren't even all that great. This is a major problem for us and something we will really have to consider.

SO...my solution is to sell the house and buy a more modest home with a more modest mortgage (or better yet none at all). That will solve most of our problem right there. I could work part-time nights and weekends to fill in the gaps. That way I can be home with the kids during the day and still bring in some $$ and get out. Will it be enough? I don't know.

The problem is convincing DH this is a good solution. He loves to fish and our house is pretty much his dream home. I doubt we'd ever have the opporunity to live somewhere like that again. He also has a good argument that our house could be worth some bucks as property values rise. Right now I think our house is worth around $350K. Do we just turn our backs on any additional money we could make from it? If we hold onto it, we will surely make more $$.

Personally, besides the investment value, I don't care about the house. Yes, it's a nice house and it's lovely to live on the lake but I'd rather have the freedom to stay home with my children. I've told DH that I will not work full-time if we have another child so I know the seed is planted. I guess I will have to wait and see if he's willing to make this sacrifice. He can't wait too long because my clock is a-ticking....

Ok, I haven’t updated in a while. I wish I had some ‘real’ numbers to use but things are insane and I’m behind on tracking everything.

I will say that the student loan is down to somewhere around $12,200 = started at about $16,000. So some definite progress made there. Still no cc debt. The cc was high this month due to an airline ticket purchased but I still paid it all off and we are just biting the bullet not to dip into savings.

So…overall things are going ok. I’m exhausted but am happy that we are on track. I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m hoping to tally all my coupon savings and have a concrete number this weekend.