Sometimes it's not what you know, but also who you know.

DH has a new job - one that is a M-F position, pays more, has a car allowance and gas compensation program. No more heavy lifting, no more 13 hour days, no more working weekends. We are both so happy. I want to put an exclamation point after that, but my shift keys won't work....

My initial estimate says we'll be able to start saving about 750 a month, give or take. I'm thrilled about that, because life is constantly getting in the way of our savings efforts. Our first goal is to fix our garage which is falling in. That will cost just over 1,000; we have a trustworthy friend doing the work. This will include a dumpster, wood and paying him for labor. We will have that completed before the end of the summer. Next savings project will be for our new roof. I'm estimating 10k, so we'll start saving that much before we get quotes.

I am so happy to know that we can actually start tackling the projects that need to be done, rather than just dream about them in the future. This is a whole new chapter in our lives open. We are truly blessed.

But there's no rest for the weary!

It's been a couple of rough weeks at work - some transitions/power struggles (at least that's how I see them) has been causing everyone a lot of undue stress. Normally everyone's very happy there, but there have been a lot of angry people lately. But, the issue (or individual I should say) has been taken care of. Things are starting to come back to normal, but not without everyone putting in extra hours to get what needs to be done taken care of. That's the bad part about being salaried...no overtime. So I'll be working to do my part in the catch-up.

However, DH has been making a few extra bucks with working overtime. Unfortunately, he also got spendy. When he took the job and we found out his wages, I told him we'd be able to put money in the bank. Well...for whatever reason, he seems to think that he can be a little freer with his spending. Not on anything substantial - $20-$30 here or there. I sat down with him Thursday and tallied how much he spent in one day. $130. He had no idea. He also needs to have gas in his tank for work (he gets reimbursed for his mileage, but not til the end of the month). I told him there was no money for him to have for gas until the next payday - his reply "but I need it." I told him I understood that he needed gas for work, but if there's no money, there's no money.

He also has this concept of "well, I put in a lot of hours last week" so that should justify him being able to spend some extra money today. I ask him "did you get paid for that yet?" I think he's so accustomed to using credit that he still hasn't grasped the whole "cash only" deal we agreed to.

I'm just venting somewhat. He's a good husband and he's a good friend. I think shopping/spending makes him feel better, just like it does for so many others. I just need to make him feel that way about saving. I feel I have a long road ahead of me to retrain his brain! I will be creating a graph of debts decreasing and savings increasing so he can have a visual. Any other thoughts on how to make him think saving is cool?

I finished and filed our taxes tonight. We're getting a refund from both federal and state. I called the IRS last week because they stopped taking out the payments in February (we're on an installment plan due to owing on our 2008 taxes). They said once someone files for bankruptcy, they can no longer take the payments until it is discharged - often in 6 or so months. We can send voluntary payments...but to be honest, with DH stll not having luck on the job search, the $280 a month will come in handy. I'm also thinking that the refund we're getting from the federal taxes won't be touched...but I'm unsure about the state. We'll see how it goes!

I've been busy with all kinds of work, myself. I told DH that with my part-time job, on top of a really good raise at my full time job (yeah me!) he could work just part-time himself and that will give him opportunity to look for full time work and still pull in some cash. We're almost at the point where we're not going to be in the hole every month. We've been lucky so far with a few windfalls we've received, but the reality is those are going to be few and far between!

I've updated my sidebar...seeing it still had February numbers on it!