It's a Good Thing I Like Chocolate

Our initial goal is to be debt-free in about one year.

Ahem.

This does not include house debt, which for us includes not just the house we live in but also a house we still own and rent out in Las Vegas that has been a thorn in our side ever since.

That will be a future post.

I would like to reflect on that choice word initial. Because I have complete understanding that these things can change, that things can come up, the best-laid plans and all that. "Life is like a box of chocolates," don't you know.

But I'd rather have a plan that we can edit along the way than to have no plan at all. That's partly the definition of hope, I believe.

Future posts will outline what exactly our debts are and what amount(s) we plan to throw at them on a monthly basis. Suffice it for now to say that this plan is ambitious. And that we are tentatively planning on following the Dave Ramsey method that he outlines in "The Total Money Makeover." The reason it is tentative is that The Hubs hasn't exactly finished reading the book. Ahem and ahem again.

I'm getting a tad-bit antsy about this, but tracking your finances, controlling them, and getting debt-free isn't exactly for the faint of heart. And it's vital that both spouses are on the same page or you're just better off praying and trying to put away pennies for a rainy day all the while keeping on eye on the storm clouds off on the horizon and hoping for the best.

It's not that The Hubs has not tried to read the book; but the copy he was reading belonged to the library and had about a thousand holds on it and his three-week TDY came up before he had a chance to finish it. That pesky Air Force.

He just got back and yes, I realize I should just go a buy a copy of the dang book already, and maybe I will, but it seemed the height of irony to spend money on a book that was supposed to help you, er... not spend money?

In the meantime, we are frantically preparing for our Spring Break travels which Mapquest is telling me will be taking us 1254 miles one way. Yes, we are driving. And yes, we are crazy. But we have flown quite a bit in our lifetimes and we hate it that much.

You might not want to ask me in a couple of days how much I still like driving.

To close, I'll offer the latest financial nuggets that I'm attempting to ignore reconcile. A motley assortment of chocolates, if you will, including the nutty and fruity variety:

• We have $700 left on our insurance to cover the cost of Conner's braces. I am still waiting on the final figure, but they will probably cost close to $5000.

• We will either pay for our 13yo's braces with our tax return or we will take advantage of their same-as-cash payment plan.

• During our regular dental check-ups this week everyone was cavity-free except for Olivia. Poor thing. (I've written about her dental woes before in my other blog.) Final bill: $87.60. If that seems kind of high it might be because I opted for the white filling. (Where we are, before insurance a silver filling costs about $110 and a white filling about $150.)

• The Hubs just informed me that his reimbursement for his recent TDY is $2294.30. I'm trying to reconcile that with the $3378.57 in transactions my Mint categories are showing me... I did include absolutely every penny that he spent during his three weeks there, whether it was lodging, eating out, a haircut or souvenirs for the kids, but still. Hmmm....

I will be trying to keep tabs of our spending adventures during our road trip over this next week, so keep checking back!

** The Hubs just responded to my concern about the TDY reimbursement. Here was his reply:

"Whoops, forgot to include per diem. That figure was just reimbursables.

Here is the total coming - $3,507.73 Whoo-hoo!! We made $130! But then, I did blow like $150 on various gifts, too."

I think my heart just started beating again.

And one of those gifts he "blew" the money on? Was for my birthday, which is today. Happy Birthday to me! Go on, you know you want to sing it.