Pay day = bill paying day. I love putting little red check marks next to my list of bills due on my handwritten budget. Two doctor bills I have been paying on the past 2-3 months are done with, finally. The last 2 months I paid $100 each. This month I paid them off - one was a $54 balance and the other was $104. It will be really nice not having those payments going out again next month. Now I can concentrate on the last big bill - the one for the MRI that DH had done and went to deductible. I have paid $150 towards it so far. When I called to ask to set up monthly payments of $75 (to start, until I got these other 2 paid off) the lady was so kind and said they will take $25 payments and she would set it up that way, in case I ever had a month I couldn't make the $75, I wouldn't have to worry about calling and letting them know. So, I called this morning and made a $75 payment and next month I should be able to start doing $150 per month.
Now I can finish my Christmas shopping, too. I've already gotten some of it done last week, but probably still have about $300 to go. Other than a dvd, I haven't gotten anything for DH yet (though we are just doing stocking stuffer's this year for each other) or DS. Since DS won't be here I'm just going to get him some more shorts and t-shirts for his trip. I'm not sure what else for him yet. I had originally planned to just give him cash for his trip, but he hasn't been very responsible with his money as we would like, lately, so instead of cash he can just waste on stupid stuff, we decided to get him things he can use. He did well to work and save for his plane ticket, but other than that he has been wasting a lot of money eating out and doing fun/expensive things with his GF. We had a sit down with him last weekend that we are not going to keep going without and sacrifice while we are still supporting him quite a bit, while he can go out and blow his money on absolutely unnecessary things. GF spends like money grows on trees (but it's all borrowed!) and he's just getting caught up in her lifestyle of eating out every day and buying "stuff". Now that she's living on her own while at college, it's gotten even worse. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here having to tell DD that if she wants to take a few private tennis lessons this winter, she'll have to pay for them herself. The money I'm putting out for DS to live here, provide him with a car, health and dental insurance, food (when he's home), etc could be used for the rest of us to have a little fun. I think he got the message somewhat, but it's still going to be an uphill battle since his GF has no parental restrictions on her life or what she spends her money on, even thought they still mostly support her. When he gets back from his trip, we'll be working on cutting the bank of mom and dad off even more. Time to grow up and take on those responsibilities himself. If he was scrimping and saving, like we have to, then I would have no problem to continue to help him out as we are, but he's not at all. I've really reached the point, now that he's 21 years old, where I now have no guilt feelings about cutting him off.
I spent $137 and ordered more of the little trees (50) and once those are planted should eventually give us a very nice privacy screen along the front and one side of our property. Hopefully in 2-3 years they will be getting alot bigger. DH is working on getting the Christmas lights put up outside today and has brought the tree (artificial) in, so I can finish my inside decorating this weekend. I'm really scared of putting the tree up with this 4 month old puppy! He's just so clumsy and playful and hasn't really learned all his boundaries yet. Everything is fun to him.
DS texted me this morning that the window tinting company next door to where he works has a new guy they need to train, so he offered to do DS's (our) car for free. DS wanted to know if it was ok to do, so we said sure! It sounds like the owner does it himself and the new guy just watches to learn, so I feel safe that it will be a decent job done on it, plus it does have a lifetime warranty. I don't know what a window tinting costs, but I'm sure it's not cheap.
Next Friday is the employee Christmas lunch/meeting at work. This is where they gave us our bonus checks last year. I'm so hoping we get a bonus like we did last year ($1500 net). That would be so nice to put in the bank, like I did last year. It helped get us though all the doctor and prescription bills we've had come up this year. Being the accountant, I do know that as this year is coming to a close, the owners/management are actually trying to spend some of the money - it was a very good year and they don't want to owe a huge tax bill. I'm hoping that with this "problem" they are really feeling generous in the bonus department :-)
I'm like you - love the day I get to pay off bills, check things off, & see progress!
ReplyDeleteDitto Hawaii. Pay day is bill day and I like it that way. Hope you get a nice bonus next week! Keeping fingers crossed.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you about your son contributing towards the family finances while he's living there. Have you thought about charging him say $200/month - that would cover his room/board and food/health & beauty items. He'd still be getting a REAL DEAL compared to living on his own and paying rent AND paying for all of that stuff. That was the rule in our house. Once we graduated college and got a job, if we lived at home we paid rent. If we had money to go out with friends to eat/drink, we had money to help with the house hold finances. I think it was $100/month (this was 30 years ago!!). We also, though, had to pay for our own cars - that would include gas, insurance, maintenance. So your son is spoiled if you are also paying for everything related to the car he drives. He's gonna be in for a BIG awakening. Hope he can learn to budget his money sooner rather than later! You really don't do your kids any favors by giving them everything. Being one of 8 kids, our parents just could NOT do that - and we all started working young. Because of this we all became financially responsible/independent at a very young age, too. Thankfully, to this day, we are all in good shape money-wise. We all budget and live well below our means. I am trying to pass this on/preach this to the younger kids in our family - that you can't spend every dime you make/have. You MUST save money!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck at the Christmas luncheon - hope your bonus is better than last year!! Keep us posted!
DS pays for the insurance and all his gas oil changes and tabs on the car, but it is our car. He was given a choice when he was 15 - a race car or a regular car - he choose a race car. We couldn't do both and he has never had enough money to buy his own car, as he has put most (until recently) of his money back into his race program. My plan is when he finally gets a regular full time job (which will now have to be after he gets back from Australia) he will have to either buy this car from us by making payments or he can buy something on his own and we can sell the car. Hopefully he'll have health and dental insurance with a job, but if not, he's going to have to pay for it out of what he earns. I haven't yet decided on if/how much to have him pay if he continues to live at home.
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