Starting to Feel a Tiny Bit Better Financially

My husband got a bonus this week and while it won't make any dent in our bigger problems it will let us do a few things we've been wanting to do, but couldn't afford.

- Finally move Little Hugger from her toddler bed to a twin bed.
She's six and barely fits when fully stretched out. Of course I kept telling myself that no one sleeps completely stretched out, so she was fine, but that was just rationalizing. She's been asking for a big bed, and I promised that she would have it by the time she starts first grade. Now we can hit that goal a little earlier :) I know what we want to get - the Petite Marguerite bed from Land of Nod. We need something without a real footer since we have low old windows and this will be be perfect.

She has a bookshelf and dresser from their Fresh Scallops line, but unfortunately that was discontinued a while back.

I just want to wait til Memorial Day weekend, in case there is a sale. Nothing bugs me more than buying something and then seeing a sale or getting a coupon shortly after.

- Moving Little Man out of his crib and into the toddler bed. I can't wait to get rid of the crib. As with most dropside cribs it has been recalled (although retrofitted so it wasn't dangerous) so I can't pass it on to anyone but may try to use it for some of the cool things I've seen on Pinterest. Also his room is a mishmash of decor - Elmo and safari. I'd like to make it something he likes. Probably Cars or Thomas, the question is whether he will be able to choose one.

- Getting new tires for my car. Boring but necessary. I was hoping to put this off for a while longer but since I'm driving on the spare we'll be heading to Costco next week.

- Paying off the car repair on my husband's car from last month that we had to put on a credit card. He came sputtering home and the car had to be towed to the dealership the next day. $1200 later it's running well. After 8 years, we finally made the last payment on it this month, so hopefully it'll be good for a little longer.

- Buying some new clothes for me using the money my parents gave me for my birthday but I felt too guilty to spend when we could barely afford Christmas.
I have 3 pairs of jeans that all have holes in them. My t-shirts are mostly stained or too short. My go-to spring jacket is stained. I'm a mess. I got all this cool jewelry from Lia Sophia a couple of months ago and while I love it all, I hardly ever wear it as my warm weather clothes is not jewelry worthy. I've scheduled a day off for myself in June, and plan to do some shopping if I don't find some things before.
My hair is way too long after not having been cut since last January - yes a year a half - but that will have to wait. At this point it's so long I've started telling people I'm growing it out for Locks of Love. It wasn't my original intention, but since I'm just an inch or two away from their minimum length I might as well do it.

- Buy tickets for my in-laws to come visit this summer.
They always come out for Christmas and then we try to go there or have them come here another in the summer. They live in California and unfortunately can't afford to buy their own tickets so we have to. It's still cheaper than visiting them. If we went there, we would have to do Disney, etc. If they come here, we can go some fun places, but mostly just chill and have family time.

All that will only leave a little for an emergency fund until the next bonus, so I don't really want to use it for paying down credit cards, but I still have to look at all the numbers closely, and see if we can do a little. At least this also brings us to the FICA cutoff a little earlier so he'll be taking home a little more with each pay check.

If nothing else, I am starting to feel a little better that we have now reached the point where I will be able to pay all our bills on their due date, and that is a relief, as that was not the case last year.

Also now I really do plan on getting back on mint.com. It didn't really help much with a negative cash flow. It would just depress me more. Now I plan on keeping bill money in our checking account and "fun" money in a separate account and an emergency fund for unexpected stuff. I've done a lot better these past few months and haven't resorted to credit cards for anything other than the car repair.

If we can't afford it without credit cards, we can't afford it period.