MariRDH's Personal Finance Blog

Little Ryan was born HEALTHY after many months of health scares by the doctors. My girlfriend was told at 20 months gestation that this baby had an incurable and deadly disease...after months of prayers this little boy has no signs of that problem. He will be monitored, but everything looks VERY good for his healthy and happy future!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO PRAYED FOR THIS BABY! ALL OF OUR PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED!!!

My daughter has been taking swim lessons for a couple years but we never joined with a full membership until today. We chose a Full Family membership so all adults & children included. I hope we get our money's worth since it seems pretty expensive to me - $70/month. I guess it's not expensive if you are a "gym" kind of person but we are not. As a matter of fact I hate exercising...but I guess I better start changing that thought process around. *sigh* YNAB here I come again to find the money for this monthly payment.

I decided to add my current weight to this entry as it will be interesting to look back and see if any progress has been made. I normally NEVER weigh myself as I have always been a thin person and never had to worry. My how times have changed. I am 5'1" and 140 lbs. My goal is approximately 115 lbs but the real goal is looking better and feeling happy with my body which I am not right now.

Ah yes, it is that time when my darling daughter is in need of help with her horrible oral situation. As a hygienist I know a little about occlusion and saw this coming years ago. Of course, knowing and actually preparing are 2 totally different things.

We met with the orthodontist for a consultation this morning and she will need to have 4 baby teeth pulled (they are not the least bit loose and the adult teeth under the gums are almost fully formed), a retainer for her upper teeth to help her severe overbite and a retainer for her lower teeth so that they do not crowd any further while we wait for the rest of her baby teeth to fall out. That is just the pre-braces stuff. Oy.

Anyway, the orthodontist was very nice and took time with us to explain everything which is sometimes lacking in medical professionals, so I appreciated that very much. Since the office I work at refers patients to him I also received a small "professional courtesy" discount which was a very welcome & generous surprise. Thanks Doc!

They offer an in-office payment plan so that I can pay over 12 months for this initial stuff. I like that idea also since I'm working on re-building that EF right now. I've gotta go re-work my YNAB budget to show the new monthly payments now.

New EF balance with Bonus from work and one rebate check: $3,096

If you've got a CVS card and some coupons this week is another great week to bring home more ECB's than you walked in with! Today and tomorrow are a HUGE 2-day extravagance of items that are FREE after ECB's, so when you buy them with coupons you will get back more money than you paid. You just can't beat that!

Added paycheck #2 plus part of paycheck #1 and a few small rebates I received in the mail this week to the EF:

Total EF Balance: $2,839.53

Although I have been trying really hard to avoid the financial news these last few weeks, my DH takes it upon himself to remind me that 1.5 MILLION jobs were lost over the last 3 months! Yuck. My patients keep reminding me with all their economic talk as well, so I am glad to be putting my whole paycheck from job #2 toward the EF. Last time I grew my EF I decided that $5,000 was a good EF. These days I am leaning toward building it a bit larger since I have been forced to think about possible job loss. We'll see how I feel once the EF is back to $5,000.

Job #2 Paycheck plus ones place and change from Job #1 paycheck added to EF (rounded up): $251.00

EF TOTAL @ 12/10/08: $2,497.53
Halfway to the $5,000 mark again! Hooray!

The good news: I went today and found everything I had on my list from yesterday. I also came out ahead by $20 ECBs.

The bad news: The manager decided I was doing too well on my deals and would not allow me to use my $10 off $50 CVS coupon or my $2 off $10 CVS coupon. She claimed that corporate changed the registers so that "people can't keep using ECBs to get ECBs".

I plan on calling CVS customer care on Monday and asking for a $10 credit if this woman denied my coupons for no reason as I suspect. I followed all the rules and I should be able to use the coupons they give me. Otherwise why would they give them to me?!

Update 11/29/08: I spoke to corporate and found out that this manager was LYING to me as I suspected. The corporate CSR was very nice but told me I would have to go back and return everything and re-do the transaction to be able to use my coupons. I did not feel like all that trouble. They did say that if it happens again to have the manager call them directly and they can tell her to put it through. I think it is a shame that their own store managers do not know the rules and do not even care to learn. Very sad and frustrating.

CVS is having a TON of free after ECB items for their Black Friday sale. However, they are starting their Black Friday sale on Thursday and running the specials for 3 days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday). With coupons, these items end up making you money - for example, I buy an item that costs $5 and at the end of my receipt I get $5 back, but I had a coupon for $1 off so I only paid $4 and still got $5 back. Do this with a bunch of these "free after ECB" items and you've just made quite a little bit of money! Yippee!

Here is my plan:
Starting with $50.98 in ECB's:

Transaction #1
$ 7.99 Schick razor Get $ 6
$ 2.99 Aussie Get $ 2.99
$11.98 Soleil razor x2 Get $11.98
$ 5.98 Colgate x2 Get $ 5.98
$ 5.99 Garnier Get $ 5.99
$ 5.69 J&J lotion Get $ 5.69
$13.98 L'oreal gloss x2 Get $13.98
Total:$54.60
$10/50 CVS coupon
$4 schick
$1 aussie
$6 soleil x2
$3 colgate x2
$1 garnier
$1 J&J
$2 L'oreal x2
$2/10 cosmetics (or L'oreal skincare) CVS coupon
Total: $24.60
Pay with $23.99 ECB's + $0.74 cash, Earn $52.61 ECBs

Transaction #2 (Friday/Saturday)
$ 2.99 Aussie Get $ 2.99
$ 7.99 CG Smoothers Liquid Get $ 7.99
$ 5.99 CG Smoothers pressed powder Get $ 5.99
$ 4.47 Gatorade G2, 20oz x3 Get $ 4.47
$12.99 Sambucol Get $10.00
$ 6.49 Coricidin Get $ 2.00
$ 9.18 Revlon nail polish x2
Total: $50.10
$10/50 CVS coupon
$1 aussie
$2 Covergirl x2
$2 coricidin
$4 Revlon x2
POSSIBLY $2/10 cosmetics CVS coupon (if not used in Trans#1)
Total: $31.10
Pay with $29.98 ECB's + $0.85 cash, Earn $33.44 ECBs
(I will have approx $82 ECB when both transactions are complete).

I am starting with a nice stash of ECB's that I have been building for the past few weeks, but anyone can do well with this sale by buying one item, then turning around and using that item's ECB to pay for the next item.

I am extremely excited to shop tonight/tomorrow. I only hope they have everything I need to make my deals work. *grin*

It was a very good CVS day today. I had an awesome, friendly cashier, Felicia, who was very happy that I got such good deals and did not hate me for using a billion coupons! *LOL*

I started with $18 ECBs and ended up spending $7.92 oop total for all that you see above!!!
I got:
(4) Coke 12-packs
(2) Coke 2 liters
(3) Buddy bars
(4) Glade glass scents
(8) Glade jar candles
(1) Clear Care twin pack
(1) Crest Pro Health
(1) L'oreal Pro Calcium
(1) Zantac-3
(6) packs of batteries totalling: (20)AA, (8)AAA, and (8)AA Rechargables

It makes me very happy to get so much for so little. I also came out with $43.50 in ECBs to spend on the awesome Black Friday deals that CVS plans on having this year. Looks like lots of free stuff in my future! Hooray!

I took a long break from this fabulous blog not even on purpose; time just got away from me.

I am still CVSing but trying to moderate myself so coupons don't take over my life, as they have been in the last month or so.

I am planning my daughter's birthday party. She'll be 10 in a couple weeks and I have no idea where all the years went! *sniff*

I haven't even started thinking about holiday shopping and usually I am almost done by this point. I hate crowds and really shopping in general so I usually buy everything online or by catalog. This may not be possible this year if I don't really get on the ball.

Our beloved Phillies won the World Series!!! Yay Phils!

I am still trying to build the EF back up to at least $5,000 but with the holidays and birthdays coming up it will be really hard to put alot into it until after the new year. But, we'll see.

I have totally lost track of putting the ones place and change from my paychecks toward the current goal (right now the EF), so have not been doing that for the last few months. I'd like to start doing that again since it was an easy and painless way to help fund the goal. I'll re-start with my next paycheck.

That is about all for now. It's good to be back. *smile*

As I have mentioned in the last month I am not happy with the insurance options that are available to me in NJ. I did set everything up to switch from an HMO to an HSA starting September 1, but my husband got some information in the mail today that may change everything (again).

My husband is currently a FT college student and we just received a pamphlet on the "student health insurance" that is offered through his school. We are able to buy additional coverage for all 3 of us, and it would cost WAY LESS than the HSA, actually saving us about 9 months worth of premiums, and have the same $5,000 deductible. Right there I am sold. There are other perks to going with the student health insurance as well, such as the fact that we would continue to be enrolled in the state FamilyCare program which we would have to drop if we had the HSA. So we would continue to have a "backup insurance" so to speak which makes me feel even better about the student health insurance option.

There are a few questions we have to ask about the student insurance before jumping into anything, but if they answer those adequately it looks like our financial picture will be a lot brighter than I expected in the next year. *whew*

Plus, I will no longer have to worry about my boss not paying the premiums on time, or complaining about how expensive the health insurance is even though the premiums come out of my paycheck!!! That alone will be a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and bring a big smile to my face.

*Keeping my fingers perpetually crossed until I talk to the student insurance people on Tuesday*

I saw this job and thought of you. I know it is not what you usually do (editing) but it might be close enough since the benefits sound incredible???

Full time employees are eligible for the following benefits:

* Health/Dental/Vision/Life insurance
* Disability (short and long term) options
* 401(k) Plan with Company match
* Flexible Spending Plan
* Transit/Parking Plan
* Gym membership reimbursement
* Paid vacation time
* Holidays, personal days, sick days
* Stock options

It made me wish I was qualified!

They are looking for a copywriter (as well as some other positions). Check it out:

http://www.tutor.com/careers/corporate/copywriter

I have been so bummed about going to the expensive HSA with the $5k deductible. I still am, but I have found a little relief.

I checked my professional association and found that they offer a Rx Discount card for no additional fee as long as you are a member in good standing (in other words, paid your dues for the year). I also stumbled upon the fact that BJ's Wholesale Club also offers a Rx Discount card for its' members. Go here to read more if you are a member of BJ's club: http://www.pharmafutures.net/bjs/rxdiscountcard.html

Both websites offer a Rx look-up service which tells me how much I should expect to save on the prescriptions our family needs. I just typed in the name of the medication, the number of pills per month and it spit back a real cost with the card.

Now for the really good news. It looks like the BJ's discount card will save us $25/month on my daughter's medication. It's not a fortune, but every bit helps as you all know.

So, moral of the story, check with your professional organizations and other affiliations you may have to see if they offer any "extra perks" with membership. It could really pay off!

in the 9/1/08 People magazine on newsstands now (Ellen & Portia's wedding on the cover).

On page 24 - $5 off any purchase of $5 or more.

Valid 8/22-9/29/08

Cannot be combined with any other coupon or employee discount. Valid at all US Payless ShoeSource locations. Not valid at locations within ShopKo stores. Not valid at payless.com

Perfect timing for back-to-school shoes!

We brought my hubby's car into the dealer today for a complete check. The car is a 1999 Saturn with 159,000 miles on it. My hubby uses it to commute back and forth to the train station and we also use it to haul the canoe when we take that out.

We were expecting a little bit of an expense since the car is older and it is due for updated parts, but it has turned into a much larger expense than we foresaw. New radiator, hoses, water pump, thermostat, rear brakes, head gasket! To the tune of nearly $4,000.

Yes indeed, when it rains it pours, ladies and gentlemen.

We actually contemplated trading it in and buying a new car, but we can't afford a monthly payment and we'd rather not buy used and get stuck with someone elses's headache.

This is really putting a crimp in our debt repayment strategy, and going to make it ten times harder to save for the HSA as well (although we will still put the $200/month we had planned into the HSA). I figure I will pay the $4,000 out of our $5,000 EF, and slowly rebuild that fund. If I cut back to the minimums on all our debts that will save $20/month. I am paid ahead on the Personal Loan (at the left) until May 2009, so I can stop paying that $130/month and apply it elsewhere. That is $150/month I can put into the EF, then any "extra" I make at the PT job will go to the EF also. Hopefully at least $200/month.

No more fun categories in the ol' budget for the next 3-6 months at the least. *sigh*

I was talking to my sister the other night, and she could not believe how much I was going to be paying for the new HSA ($600/month premiums but the DDS pays $100/month, so $500/month out of my pocket)...especially after I explained that with an HSA I pay all expenses out of pocket up to the first $5,000.

My husband, daughter and I are very healthy so we are basically paying for nothing. Seriously. I doubt very much we will come close to spending anywhere near $5,000 in the next year. My DD goes to the doc twice a year for check-ups, and my DH and I go maybe once or twice max. My DD does take prescription medicine, so I called the pharmacy and that will cost approx $40/month without a conventional prescription plan. If all of those trends hold we will probably spend under $2,000 over the next 12 months.

So, my sister says, why don't you just drop insurance altogether and save the $500/month in a savings account in case you get sick! If something catastrophic happens (G-d forbid) you can always get charity care. As a person who loves to save money it was like hearing the siren song calling me to throw myself on the rocky coast. For about a minute and a half I really considered it. And, if it were just my husband and I we would probably do just that, but with a child it seems too irresponsible.

What do you all think? Would you or have you gone without health insurance?

I am not going to rehash all the trouble I have had the past 9 months with health insurance and my job. If you need a sleep aid feel free to browse my previous posts on the subject. However, I will say that all of this !@#$ with medical insurance is getting really old.

My boss calls me on July 30 (my day off) and tells me that as of July 1 my insurance premiums are going up $300 more each month (to $1,100/month) and asking what I want to do. Seems she has not paid said premiums for July yet even though it is July 30. Nice. Well gee willikers, boss I guess I gotta pay it for July and August at the very least since you are giving me so very much notice to research other options. *No sarcasm here*

I am seriously fit to be tied. Every single time I come up with a little extra money to put toward debt freedom I am thwarted. Absolutely no exaggeration. It is beyond ridiculous at this point.

Anyway, I have talked to an insurance broker and have gotten quotes. The only option that is less expensive is an HMO HSA for $600/month. It will cover only in-network doctors/hospitals with no out-of-network coverage. The family deductible is $5,000 with a max out-of-pocket of $10,000/year. Guess what my $5,000 Emergency Fund is going to be called come September 1st?! *sigh*

I am tired of barely treading water. Someone needs to sue the pants off all the insurance companies so we can get back all those "profits" we pay them only to have them deny coverage of every little thing. *GGRRRRR*

Okay, rant off. Anyone with insight into HSA's please feel free to opine. Thanks!

In honor of 08/08/08, Restaurant.com is running this special.

$25 gift certificates for $2...Sale expires Aug 10 at 11:59pm -
Enter Discount Code: FIRST At Checkout and Hit "APPLY"

Hope this is helpful to someone. Unfortunately, there are no restaurants near me that use this site.

Okay, I admit I laughed out loud after reading this story on

Yahoo! News today.
**********

MARATHON, Fla. - Authorities say a grandmother was arrested for driving around the parking lot of a Marathon grocery store with her 3-year-old child sitting on the roof of the car.

Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputies were called to the Publix store Tuesday and arrested a 54-year-old woman after she was driving around with her three-year-old granddaughter on the roof of her car.

The grandmother was released from jail 15 hours later.

The woman said Thursday she would never let anything hurt her granddaughter. She says she was driving at "snail-speed" and holding the child's leg.

Authorities say the woman told police she was giving the child some air and letting her have fun. !?!?!

She faces charges of child abuse. The child is back with her mother.

Thank you all again for the advice on what action I should take on which debt to pay off first (post of 7/13).

I have decided to put all extra money toward the personal loan that is at 6%. I like the fact that it is not revolving debt so once it is gone it is really gone. While we are not using the CC at all and have not been for a long time there is still the possibility hanging there.

The other factor that decided me was that I also realized that if I can get that personal loan paid off by January 2009, I can always get my credit union to grant me another personal loan to transfer the balance that remains on the CC which is currently at 0% through the beginning of February 2009.

So, I will keep the ticker running on the 0% CC, but I will be adding one for the Personal Loan since that will now be my new GOAL. The personal loan is not due to be paid off until the end of 2010, so I am hoping to pay this off 2 years early. *fingers crossed*

First day at the new 1-day-a-week office. Not great, but it's a paycheck that will go entirely to the debt.

It wasn't a terrible office, but it still made me appreciate my 3-day-a-week office even more than I already did. Little stuff like they only give out toothbrushes and no extras like floss, proxybrushes and endtuft brushes to patients who have special needs. They keep the toothbrushes at the front desk which makes me think I am not expected to teach home care to my patients. That's not cool. That is one of my most valuable and important skills.


The office seems "cheap" as far as supplies go also, which is also "not cool" since they were explaining that the doc does not want me to use a new mask for every patient...um, not gonna happen, sorry. That mask is to protect my health and the health of my patients and I definitely will not compromise on that stuff.

We'll see how long I last. I may jump ship if my specifications are not met, or they may fire me because I have specifications!

I would really appreciate feedback from all of you. I know there are many more financially savvy individuals here than practically anywhere else, so I know I'll get great thoughts and suggestions from you all.

I have been putting all extra money toward the CC you see to the left which is at 0% until February 2009. I was hoping to have the entire balance paid off by the time it returns to a higher rate. At this point I am not sure if that will happen or not. Right now I have about $600 to put toward my goal, but I am holding on to it until I get some advice from you guys.

Now that I am half way to the 0% offer's conclusion and have only paid about 25% of the balance off, I am wondering if I should change my plan. I am thinking maybe I should put all the extra money I was putting toward the 0% card instead toward the debt with the smallest balance (a personal bank loan) - $3300 at 6%, or to the one with the highest interest rate (another CC) - $4600 at 10.51%.

We are trying to pay down our debt now by throwing all extra money toward it, then save for a down payment on a home. I would love to be able to buy a home within the next year while prices are still down, but right now our debt/credit limit ratio on the CCs is still very high at 38.6% (down from 41.2% in January) and our minimum monthly payments are high at about 27.5% of our monthly gross income.

If we pay off the bank loan we would lower our monthly payments to 24.3% of our gross, and if we pay off the 10.51% CC it would be about 25%.

We've never bought a home before or shopped for a mortgage but I think those are things they look at during the mortgage process. Do any of you who know about mortgages and home-buying have any insights for us?

Any and all thoughts are welcome!

A very successful CVS run today. I really planned everything out so that I could spend the very least amount possible out of pocket (oop). That perfect plan didn't quite work out, as it would have had me paying about $2 oop, but I still did extremely well.

Here is what I got:
(10) Dawn dish liquid
(2) CVS pantiliners
(1) Playtex tampons
(4) Sure deodorants
(2) Always pads
(2) Pert Plus shampoos
(1) Trident Xtra Care gum
I think I made out like a bandit this week. What do you guys think?

Wow. My first time using a Target coupon. It made me never want to shop there again. I had a Target store coupon from a couple weeks ago that was $5 off 3 items from specific manufacturers, J&J, BandAid, Playtex, etc.

First trip to the register, I have 2 Johnson's detangling products and 2 Johnson's buddies products so that I can also use 2 printable coupons I found online. No go. "The bottles have to say the word baby on them" according to the cashier. Okay, no problem. I put those back and grab some that say baby on them.

Second trip to the register, I have 4 buddy soaps (to use the 2 printables), 2 baby shampoo and 1 baby powder (to use the $5/3). Cashier (different one) gives me the most evil look like I am trying to STEAL from them, looks in the bag where she has already put the items she rang for about 5 minutes then looks back at the coupons, then in the bag, etc. Sees the 2 shampoos and tells me the other products don't qualify. I show her the baby powder. She puts the $5/3 coupon through. People behind me are now giving me the same evil look as the cashier. Tells me I can't use the other 2 buddies coupons because the total will be zero and they can't have a zero transaction...if that even makes sense. I understand her to mean that the 4 buddies bars are only 94 cents each and they total less than the coupons. I ask if she can adjust the coupon down - no. I ask her if I can buy another bar so that the total is more than the coupons. Yes.

I pay for all the other stuff and walk away, look at the register tape and realize they overcharged me for the baby powder. I sent my husband over to CS to get my 35 cents back.

Third trip to the register, I go back to the original cashier who is at least nice to me. Buy 5 buddy bars using the 2 printables, and it takes her forever to figure out that the register is WRONG and that the products do indeed match the coupon. I pay and get the heck out of there.

Is it always this frustrating shopping with coupons at Target? Are the coupons always denied? That is what it seems like to me since each and every coupon was denied by the register and had to manually be accepted by the cashier.

Anyway, after all of that I did make out pretty well:
(5) Buddies bar soaps - $0.94/ea
(2) Johnson baby shampoos - $2.79/ea
(1) Johnson baby powder - $2.09
(1) 5pk Kandoo refills - $8.99
Total - $21.36

Redeemed:
(1) $5 off of 3
(2) $2 off of 2

PAID: $12.61

I went yesterday and again today to 2 different stores.

Yesterday I didn't do as well, but here is what I got:

Revlon brush $5
Revlon hairclip (my DD has been begging me for this pretty butterfly clip) $6
2 Coppertone Sport sticks $10.60
2 bags Lifesavers BOGOF so $2.19
1 CVS facecloths $3
Redeemed:
$2 coupon
$2.19 BOGOF Lifesavers coupon
$3.49 ECB
Paid: $20.83 oop and received $15 ECB

Today I bought:

2 Softsoap bodywash - BOGOF so $4.49
2 Coppertone Waterbabies sticks $9.98
Redeemed:
$1 softsoap coupon
$8.49 ECB
PAID: $5.19 oop and rec'd $10 ECB

So, these 2 transactions kinda even each other out, since I spent $26 oop and got back $25 ECB.

I've gotta get better at finding coupons to go with the ECB deals, so that my oop is lower. I tend to get very confused when I walk in the store and distracted from what my "plan" should be.

I did find out that the store that is all the way across town has the coupons from the "Reinventing Beauty" magazine hanging for customers to take which is super nice since I ended up buying this mag yesterday just to use one coupon. Now I will know to get the coupons from the other store.

I received a check in the mail Friday for $64.00 for doing my decoy mail* assignments for the Winter quarter (Dec07-Feb08). They are catching up after falling behind on payments, so that is why I have received 2 checks so close together. I am only paid 4 times a year by them and now I am all caught up so I don't expect another payment for 2-3 months or so. Anyway, this is "extra" money so it is all going toward paying down my goal CC.

New Balance 0% CC: $7,416.70

*See my 6/15 post for an explanation of what this is.

I am so bummed. I just received an email from Pinecone explaining that they are "phasing out" the $5 surveys and will be replacing them with $3 per survey plus an entry into a monthly $500 sweepstakes.

The $3 is not bad, but I was hoping I could stay "grandfathered in" at $5. I guess that was a little too much to ask for.

They sent me a survey asking if I want to switch to this other payment option now or stay at the other option and eventually stop getting survey offers altogether. I am choosing to switch. I will miss the $5, but at least I can stay on the panel and continue to earn a little extra to put toward the debt.

I had to go out and buy a birthday gift for a party my daughter is going to tomorrow - of course she tells me this tonight.

Anyway, she has been driving my husband and I bonkers sniffling for the last couple weeks. Tonight in the car on the way to the toy store I hit the end of my sniffle patience. So we stopped by CVS to pick up some allergy medicine for her, and I figured I'd attempt to locate the elusive CrossAction toothbrushes my husband so dearly loves and which are FREE after ECB this month.

Well, I looked through all the toothbrushes and there were none - again - so I went up to the counter to pay and decided to ask about the rain check they had given me previously. The raincheck had the sale price listed but no mention of the ECB so I wanted to get it straightened out since I have looked in 4 different CVS stores and no one seems to have any. The clerk was so friendly and helpful! She says, "I know someone just bought those so I think we may have just gotten them in. Let me go look for you". She brought back 2 packages for me just the type I wanted (by the way, a little dental hygiene advice here, always buy SOFT bristles). Plus, she fixed my rain check so that it says I can get them for FREE next time. WooHoo!

I was so excited that when my daughter asked for a disposable camera that was on sale for $5 I totally caved and bought it for her. *LOL* I am also trying to cultivate the creative side of her normally very analytical mind, so I figured it could be a good thing for her.

Here are my purchases today:
2 2-pk Vitalizer TB
1 CVS brand allergy syrup
1 27 exposure camera
2 bottles of Coke (my husband's addiction)

I redeemed $12.99 ECB, and the Coke is BOGOF this week. Total oop $16.03, and received $13.98 in ECB...so net cost of $2.05. Not too shabby for a newbie CVSer.

I am really enjoying my new hobby!

Yesterday was a very long day. I worked from 8:30am to 8pm, then I had a meeting to attend. I was at the meeting until about 9:15pm and proceeded home to finally eat a late dinner. Boy, was I hungry!

On my way home my cell phone rings and it is my husband telling me that a dentist I interviewed with over 6 months ago called at 9pm and will be calling me back at 9:30pm. He really wants to talk to me.

I walk in the door and about 10 minutes later the phone rings. This DDS wants me to work for him one day each week from now on and will pay me $2/hr more than I am making at my full-time office. WooHoo!

I obviously took him up on the offer, but I do have some mixed emotions about it. I am thrilled that I will have more money to put toward debt repayment on a regular basis, but I am also sad because it is summer and my daughter is out of school, and now I will be working even more hours. She and my husband have been having all this fun without me...as I toil away, working my poor fingers to the bone. *sigh*

Okay, yes, I am totally being melodramatic, and the money will definitely come in handy! So overall a great outcome.