My mid month update...
Our cc are currently to 13500/43300 available. We're still under MY personal required 1/3 utilization but we're close. Super close...
That's up about 3k. We rent and I think I've mentioned we get water in our basement, which we use and every time water comes in we have to try and save our kid's living/play area. Well we had a rain event coupled with snow melt (12 inches in some spots) and a pretty deep frost line still). We've never had to try and save it in February before. I'm done. We bought tvs for the each of the kid's rooms, we bought all the tools and lumber needed to build them mini loft beds for their rooms and this will provide exactly the extra storage needed for the toys that were remaining downstairs. We elevated what little was in storage that could get wet. So now we just need to wait till it gets a bit warmer and we're going to have some family/friends come over to help bring out the couches/tables etc and then the middle of the basement will be empty. Everything that's down there is up and off the ground enough that the streams that come through will not harm anything (annoyance only). We've been back and forth a million different ways and we have no recourse here unless there are signs of mold which though I watch for there are none. Landlord is not interested in the 8k fix. We are planning on leaving here in the next few years. So this decision was made for my mental health. The anxiety and physical injury that has been caused because of rain/water in the basement will be significantly decreased from now until we move and I don't regret that spending. But it's spending and so it STILL sets us back.
I also just had to catch up on a few copays and medical bills for the last appt my daughter had for her broken arm, which took place after our insurance change. So 500 in medical bills. We also decided to use that 2k we had to buy our tickets because we knew a price increase was coming. Not the wisest decision I know, But we do still have our tax return coming hopefully in about 5 weeks. The rest was spent paying for parts of our trip. So it was all money we were already planning on spending this year. All money we were planning to put on the cards to get the points, just earlier. I am trying not to beat myself up about it. When our tax return comes, part of that will become our emergency fund, and part will go towards DebDum.
Really awesome news though, is without any warning, Friday morning, my husband got his raise. So an extra $160 on that check was really nice. That went towards the CC payment. His next check he will get retroactive raise pay from the first of the year. However we already spent that. My husband needs a work phone, so he decided to upgrade his own phone, use his old phone for work (work phone will be on work's data plan), and we went ahead and upgraded DS's tablet (we had been planning to, he was still using the kid's kindle he got when he was 4, he's 10 this year) which my son is actually paying more than half for. So we'll have a little extra left that we will throw towards DebDum. Starting in April, we're increasing 401k contribution to 3% to get an extra 1% match from work. I think once we see how much more a month we have after that happens, I'll have the extra from what we were getting each check just shaved off the top and go into a savings account. Because I won't miss it if I never budget it.
ALSO, I finally got my car back! I had an escalation agent that I just talked to Wednesday and he said, between shipping from Korea, clearing customs, and arriving at my dealership I was looking at April 8. The dealership called me FRIDAY morning (I missed both calls because I was busy and ignored the calls because I didn't recognize, I didn't see till later when I saw the visual voicemails) to tell me the part came in and then when it was done. I had my car back home by 2pm. I called my escalation agent and he was baffled. I had to email him our retail contract and the repair invoice, and he's going to call me tomorrow to talk compensation. He discussed an accessory, maintenance package, car payment, as possibilities before my car was back. It was gone for 39 days. I am thinking I would really like remote start.
So that's my mid month. It's messy and I'm not happy with it, but it it what it is, and I was happy making the decisions to move the kid's living/play areas upstairs and start paying for our trip, so I'm just going with it! At least it's all interest free
), registration fees x4 for next school year, a downpayment for an Airbnb for a bachelor party my DH is in charge of as the best man and some other miscellaneous expenses. All told, those add up to over $1.5k in unusual expenses 
The good news is we’ll still buffer out about 75% of April AND we didn’t add any debt. I feel like we’re mostly treading water as far as debt dumping goes, but I also recognize we are doing far better with our budget than a few short years ago all thanks to YNAB and this group!
As our last baby (after five!) I was surprised how sad I felt we no longer have a ‘baby’ (although of course she is still quite young). It feels like we our entering a new era for our family! And I’m sorry if this is not allowed, but y’all are like family and I just have to share a pic of my birthday princess. Where does the time go??
if we had opted for the lower monthly cost plan our then employer's offered we would have been on the hook for a large deductible, 20% of all those doctor's appointments, mris, tests.... and $12,000 for the hospital-the equivalent to years and years and years of the higher cost of our insurance. at the same time a friend's child had a serious medical diagnosis. the friend always thought people like us who paid for the higher coverage plans were 'suckers' and he could do better 'banking the difference' (of course it never happened that the difference got banked)-in the first 3 months his kid's expenses were in the hundreds of thousands BEFORE he rolled into a new deductible year. within 6 months they were looking at over $50,000 just as THEIR share of the costs
my dd went on to need a second surgery-again low cost to us while his little guy needed several years of treatments to the point of financial destitution of their family.
