Order new baby carrier

Okay, okay so a new Beco baby carrier isn't exactly saving money...however I think of it as an investment. B/c I will use it with all my kids (when the time comes) and that I really enjoy having my LO close to me and I think it's a good thing to carry your LO's.
Here is my new carrier just ordered: https://www.sproutsoup.com/product.php?productid=326&cat=61&page=1

I wanted a gender neutral print (just in case in the future for any siblings of his). I'm very excited about it!!! It'll be easier when we go places to carry him and have the option instead of having a stroller.

Right now LO is sleeping and I'm needing to do some dishes and paperwork. I start back to work next week and I still have a good number of things to do around the house b/c I won't have much time when work starts. My evenings will be spent with the LO and hopefully not to many of those evenings will I be crying for having not been with him all day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something will be mentioned at work about bringing him up there certain days. If so, I'm ALL for it. He sleeps mostly anyways, and I work fast and get stuff done. So who knows. One can always dream...

I really need to clean and work on my sewing projects. I already made the wraps, which are much better than the one I bought for 10 times the price of the ones I made.

First shots

LO has his first set of vaccines today. We are going against the norm and are having them spread out some so he doesn't have more than 2 shots at a time. He did good today though. He just got 2 shots and oral medicine. He screamed at the shots but as soon as they were over I gave him a bottle of breastmilk and that helped him return back to his normal happy self.

We did go by to see if Maurices had any shirts marked down for returning back to work after maternity leave, but alas I still will not pay $10-11 a shirt, when I know it was 75% off a few weeks ago and I got a couple of shirts for $3 each.

I've been reading up more on babywearing and will hopefully get to make 2 more wraps today with the fabric I bought and put the LO in it and see what he thinks. I will have to take a pic and post. I feel in love with it. :)

My hubby got the Sims game (I think 3?) and made our little family. Everything is pretty much like it is in real life and that's kinda weird. Even our ambitions and goals and the way we look. I've yet to play it any (maybe I might now since I'm just surfing the net and nursing). I've been finally able to pretty much master nursing while at the computer thanks to a boppy and a very hungry (yet always falling asleep) baby.

First day of daycare

Today I took in my LO for his first day of daycare for a few hours. I meanwhile went to the fabric store to pick up some really cute (and cheap) fabric to make a couple more baby wraps, a nursing cover, 2 blanket/pillow combos for LO (for daycare), and some extra fabric to make LO an outfit. Oh yeah, and another blanket. I also got ribbon. I got a lot of fabric for only $38. I had to dig in the remnants to find the cheap stuff as well, heh.

Daycare was alright. I was about to break down in tears. I only left him there for 3-4 hrs today, to let him smell the smells and see the people. I feel really comfortable with the daycare, but it's just a sinking heart feeling that every day I will not be able to share it with him for the majority of it, instead I will be a slave to the working force. However, hopefully for not too long. I don't think I could be a SAHM for a long time, but I wouldn't mind being a part-time or working on bank hours/school schedule mom. LO is almost breaking out in laughs. DH says that he does it for him, but I've yet to catch him with the laughing. But oh the smiles are coming out and those are wayyyy too precious. :)

It's late and I still have household duties to attend.

Pay down and out

Since we have recently sold one of our vehicles (we now have 2 vehicles) due to buying a 'new' (aka new to us), I used that money to pay down a good chunk of one of our loans. As soon as I get back to work after maternity leave and get another paycheck of decent size, I will start heavily paying down our debt again. I pay at least 2-3 times what the minimum is due on all debts.

Here is how we stand being a 2 income family with 1 child (after paying down yesterday):

Loan 1: $5,800 : 15% interest (UGHH!!!)

Student Loan 1: $4,400 : 6-8% variable interest

Student Loan 2: ~$20,000 : 5.625%

Student Loan 3: $1,500 : 5%

Sears: $700 : 0% till May

Besides that we have our mortgage which is $126K left to pay with a 5.875% interest. That will be the last thing we work on, although I think I will start rounding up our monthly payments which pays down $75 more a month, thus an extra payment and some yearly.

I plan on paying off SL3 in Sept/Oct. Then when I get my disability leave pay I will throw that down on either L1 or SL1. I will have Sears paid off before interest hits. I pay a certain amount by the way I divided out the months, so it goes down each month. SL2 I pay a little extra each month, but not too much, b/c this will be the last debt we tackle. Also if something happens I'm good on my payments till 2013 so we wouldn't be falling behind or whatnot. The other debts would come after you, that debt is paid up till 2013 (it was at $40K until I saved up and knocked that out last year).

So that's where our debt stands. I get really excited thinking about when we pay it off. Already this year we have paid back my grandmother (for our house down payment) and a Best Buy credit card.

We go from the teachings of Dave Ramsey with some Suze O. I, though, modify it to our family. We saved up a good little piece before I went on maternity leave, just in case anything happened. Which after I get back to work, we can use that to pay down debt. In addition, I pay extra on all debts, not just the one with the highest interest. Although after paying the extra, I will knock out the highest interest debts first with the extra extra payments (if that makes sense).

For being married for 1 yr and having a baby, we're doing pretty good. We have worked up our savings accounts quite nicely. We have our emergency fund (baby step 1 check) which I build each month, b/c $1000 won't get many people far nowadays, plus savings for our LO, dogs (b/c of vet expenses, food, etc), vacations (2010 and future Disneyworld vacation w/ LO in 5 yrs), car insurance, and my hubby's income from freelancing (he's saving for a jeep...but to get one I will approve of, it's going to take awhile ;)

I plan to have all debts paid in full by May 2010, with regards to the SL2 which I'm hoping by December 2010 it will be gone.

Goals for rest of 2009:

Pay off SL1, SL3, and L1.

Continue funding savings.

Goals for 2010:

Pay off SL2 and Sears (which is not a problem).

Increase mortgage payment to shorten loan period from 30 yrs to 15 yrs or less.

Open up Roth IRA's for both of us.

Research best ways to save for college for our LO (instead of just a savings account).

Open savings account to fund an Europe or Ireland trip.

(Our plan is to save for 1 major vacation each year & 1 minor (weekend trip). Our honeymoon in 2008 was Cape Cod and saved for, 2009 no vaca b/c of new baby!, 2010 an all-inclusive in the Carribean (already being saved for and DisneyWorld (2014/15/or 16? depends on maturity of LO), which will be a major, major trip with all the icing and cake!!!)

So there it is...our debt situation, which isn't all that bad. I'm confident that it'll be down and out before we know it. All the more towards our (well mine in specific) to be able to do what I love and really want as a job and not feel as though I 'have' to work, b/c we need the money. Don't get me wrong, I love the people I work with now and am so thankful I'm no longer at the place I use to work at earlier this year (aka hell). However, it's a difference of the feeling inside. Like knowing that I can quit my job and go do what I want is something I really look forward too.

Weekend Shopping = Not Saving $

After a weekend spent celebrating my and DH 1st year anniversary, I have been out shopping. I know, shopping does not equal saving $. There were some good deals though, I got the little one which I might be referring in my blog as little one or LO, chibster, baby boy, and bubby. Weird nicknames, I know, heh.

Kohls had the 15% coupon with any purchase and tax free weekend, plus they had some really good 60-70% clearance. So I walked away with 9 outfits for $25. Which I do kept tags on outfits until the LO wears them, b/c you never know when he will grow super fast or you don't like the outfit. Same goes for me as well. I keep tags and receipts for clothing since when it comes time to wear it, I dunno if I will or not. Thus giving me the option to return the item for $ back or store credit.

Also went to a garage sale this weekend and got 25 outfits for LO for $8. He now probably has enough clothing for the next year or two to wear an outfit everyday and never have to wear it again. That's the problem with baby clothing, it's all soooo cute, which makes you think 'My baby will look super cute in this, I must get it.'

I told myself last week, he has enough clothing for cloth all of Angelia Jolie's children and the octuplets. But no, I give in when onesies and Carter's outfits are <$3 a piece. However, I think this will be the end of shopping for a while. I will have to return back to work soon (since I'm on maternity leave) and will not have time for shopping anymore.

Although I am trying to find a rainforest or tiny loves mobile that plays for 20 mins and has the projection onto the wall on craigslist for super cheap. I had no clue that mobiles play for such a short time until I play ours and then read about these mobiles. I'm really trying to figure out what I should send to daycare to hook up to his crib, since he'll be there the most everyday. I have a cute doggy mobile, but I need one of these as well to hook on the otherside.

In reality, I know he will be fine without anything, but I think 'He's going to lay in his crib for a while every day up there, I really need stuff for him to look at'. I also thought about making some extras like a black and white blanket for him...I dunno.

What hangs in your child's crib at daycare or at home? What 'extra' thing would be fun or good for his vision development?

Introduction

This blog is about about me and my family's ventures, mostly discussing finance (savings, couponing), mommy/baby related issues, pushing towards my dreams of being able to work at home/part time/or becoming a business owner to help me be a great mommy, giving me more time with my child (and future children).