August Wrap-up

The big financial news for August is that we were able to pay another 23% of our timeshare debt off! That's up to 40% of the total we owed at June 30th so we're making great progress. I'm not sure we'll be able to continue at this rate because of some other big expenses coming up, but we'll keep at it.

Other August goals:
1. $200 for groceries - Ha! Between all my irresistable $5/$25 coupons, buying 75 pounds of peaches, and stocking up on formula I spent $315. We did make adjustments in our budget to allow for this increase, but it's a long way from my original goal of $200. Just think how much more it would have been if I didn't have a garden for produce!

2. Sell 5 things on eBay or Craig's List - Again, Ha! We did sell a brand-new infant life jacket on Craig's List (Thanks to DH for handling that), but otherwise nothing - even with the free listings on eBay (that is still running through Tuesday, 9/7).

3. Use the clothesline 5 times. I was doing well with this until the last week of August. I just hit a pregnancy/energy wall and DH asked me to give myself a break and use the dryer. It did help a lot to stop lugging about 10 loads of laundry a week up and down the stairs, but I miss the sense of accomplishment the clothesline provided!

4. Finish the Spring Cleaning posts - good enough. I will stop feeling guilty . . . NOW! I have one more post that's already scheduled on that topic but I'm not doing any more "Spring Cleaning." Seriously, the weak attempt I made this year is about 90% more than I've ever done before, so I'm just going to feel good about that.

5. Continue the Resourceful Gifting posts - slow, but check.

Goals for September:
1. Pay anything extra on the timeshare debt. Like I said we have some big expenses coming up so the goal is just to put any "found" money toward the timeshare. By "found" money I mean grocery rebate checks, random unexpected cashflow, and any weird savings account balances I can find floating around out there.

2. Keep up with the Resourceful Gifting posts, but don't beat myself up about posting every day. Do what I can and feel good about it!

3. $160 for groceries this month to help make up for last month. Also, I won't be making as many dinners this month as several friends have volunteered to bring meals to help out during my recovery.

4. Just stay caught up on laundry and skip the clothesline. Maybe I'll be recovered enough by October to use the stairs & carry heavy baskets of wet clothes again.

5. Have a healthy baby and a good recovery from surgery! Get on my feet fast and be the Mommy my family needs me to be!

Katie