Life is...

This is more of a life update post than a financial or debt post...

Things are finally starting to settle down a little.  We are fully moved into the new house and out of the old house, but we are so far from unpacked. I have a goal to unpack about 10 boxes a day. Yesterday, I unpacked 14 so it was a good day. We'll see how today goes. My goal is to unpack and set up our computer desk. (The new house has a built-in computer desk in the kitchen.)

Besides unpacking yesterday, I spent 2 hours running errands; grocery shopping, buying things for the house, returning things that didn't work for the house, etc. It was a long day. We also had a pool guy come. We are going to pay $80 a month to a company to come once a week to treat and clean the pool. Money well worth it in my opinion, but we will need to factor the added expense into the budget.

When we signed loan documents, we were told our first mortgage payment wouldn't be due until August 1. That means most of my June 30 paycheck can go towards debt and paying for our vacation.

June is also a 3 paycheck month for The Husband. I haven't yet budgeted that money anywhere... Other than our bi-weekly budget items (food and gas) I think the rest of the money can go towards debt.  It's never enough, but every little bit helps!

I don't have firm numbers yet, but I think last month was a good month for debt payoff! I'm pretty sure we made it under the $10000 mark on the credit card, including interest. I can't wait to do a debt update and see where we stand.

We have spent a ton of money on the new house. We bought new bed frames and mattresses for all of us: $1500, new toilets and toilet seat lids: $1000, new bathroom mats and rugs and soap dispensers:  $300. We've also had to buy lots of odds and ends that don't fit into a specific category. I have tried to pay all house related expenses off when we made them so we don't increase our debt.  Currently we have $29000 in our savings account, of which, $1658 is our emergency fund. I continue to add $50 a month to our e-fund and to participate in a $1000 savings challenge. (For the challenge, I add some money to savings every week. The amount varies. It's like a BINGO board that you have to play blackout on. Here's the link to it.) It's nice to have extra money to use to buy/repair things for the house and because we don't know how our bills are going to fall out yet. We are hoping we won't have to tap into the extra money each month, but we are relieved it's there.

The Kids are adjusting well to the new house. They love having their own room and their own space. The dog is enjoying it too. There is a lot more of this house to explore. We are all settling in.

Summer is finally under way. The Kids have enjoyed splashing in the pool and we are starting to make day trips and soak up as much fun as we can.

Hope all is well with you!