*Forgot to mention work has been so crazy we skipped Toddler class this month - runs $32/month. I didn't really have the time to meet the fam and keep an eye on the big Monkey. So we skipped it. Save $32.
Will probably resume May - December. I think we will keep it on top of preschool until then. Who knows when he will start preschool anyway - said they might have an opening around his birthday which would work, but no hurry either. Will keep his little fun time in the meantime. IT's been good for him.

*Just paid the life insurance. Cash was in the bank. woohoo. The property taxes and IRS payment and all that stuff just cleared the bank as well - what a chunk of change.

*We are finally making it to the dentist today. BM has his first dental appointment. I have the money in the bank for this too. I think. I hope. No cavities please. Hope he takes it well, he is really scared but we keep trying to tell him how cool and fun he is. I don't think it will be so bad, said he might just be able to look in his mouth. But he has a cool camera that he puts in your mouth and you can see your teeth on this screen - magnified, I know BM will love that part. Well I hope. I realized we have not been to the dentist in AGES. HAve been trying to set up this appointment for months. My teeth really need a cleaning. So we'll see. My friend also gave me a glowing review for a local dentist. I've had one before that turned out to be a scammy dentist so I am very wary, but we'll see. We need a local dentist. But for today I am taking the day off work. It is so crazy we are just pretty much going to the dentist (quite a drive) and back today. I will work tomorrow. No time to really stay and enjoy the fam. It is raining today too - ick. Driving in the rain...

*Reminds me, at work I got my last extension out yesterday, so hopefully Monday and Tuesday won't be very rushed. I did wait for the very last minute to see if I could make it to this dentist appointment - wasn't sure I could. I noticed everyone at work was kind of treating Friday as the big deadline (as I had) so it was really winding down. But no rest for now, lots and lots of other work to catch up on and the impending 4/30 payroll tax deadline. Hence me going in Sunday for sure. & I still have people who want their taxes. Just nice to remove the 4/17 deadline and breathe a little - on all the extended returns. Even if I get them all out next week.

*Just paid all the bills. I don't even know how much money wormed its way in and out of my checkbook this month. A LOT. Was a little behind and just not sure where I stood. So I paid everything (I think) for the month, paid dh's PS3 bill which was $700 - or $30 less than expected. When all is said and done I have $200 or so sitting in my checking. I usually run it to 0 and I Wanted a small cushion with this extra money. So better than I expected when dh told me he spent $700 instead of $500. Still left a little. Oh yes, other reason is my mom sent me $100 for doing her taxes though I told her not to. I think I will just leave it in checking in case I missed something - not saving it therefore not adding it to the challenge. Some bill or other will come up I am sure. Oh yeah - I forgot I wanted to use that to fix my car. Indeed. IT will be spent and back to square one. But with a lot more in savings at least. I actually don't mind dh's allowance is way negative because I rarely have the ability to fund it anyway - it has been so tight. It is more a running balance in theory than actuality. So he has a negative $400 balance today that will be 8 months reprieve from funding. I have $25 or something that I might run through once things slow down = I have a few things to pick up at the store - just been too busy. So it is actually good - with negative balances, paid and gone, no need to replenish our funds for a while - hehe. I use it more of a guideline of play money we have than anything - since we tend to use it I don't do much with it. But in recent months dh was building it up for his PS3 and I had it all in one account to itself. That creates a conundrum since the minimum is $100. So in the meantime I have to do some fancy bookkeeping as I spread out our short-term savings to that account to cover minimums and I usually keep a little with my checking to have immediately accessible cash, and when the balance gets large (as it will the next couple of months with no big bills due) I keep a chunk with the emergency fund for the higher interest rate. It is usually much simpler than this, but oh well. Just more tracking.

*Since I paid all the bills for the month, got all the deposits (I think) I was plugging our numbers in my net worth spreadsheet. Oh yes, and because our investments had such a good week. Doesn't exactly mean a ton at one space in time, but suddenly our net worth is up about $10k for the year. Woohoo. First 1/2 of year should be quite grand is I expect another $2500 increase to the net worth next month with my bonus check - whether I pay the car or save it, will bump up the good old net worth.

*Oh yeah, I dug out dh's credit card info so I could pay off the PS3. SIgned up online to access the account, then linked it to my checking and paid it electronically. So in the future any bills will be delivered to my checking account. Though there shouldn't be any more. Anyway, when I signed up a 2nd mystery credit card account appeared. Dh thinks it is his very first card (with Chase too) that is in his dad's name too or something. I guess he thought his dad closed it. I guess not. I think since it is in his name he can close, but will have to check with his dad. I just closed my old ancient card and not a blip to the all but perfect credit score so I say close it. His score is the same as mine. At this stage in the game all I Can figure is our mortgage is 99% of our score - nothing else we do seems to matter. Either that or the years of paying on time speaks for itself. But well, that was an interesting find. I thought we scoured our credit reports but maybe not his as much as mine. The other interesting thing is the last time I saw these bills none of the were Chase. BAnk One & something else, but apparently Chase is taking over. So today we have 3 cards with Chase - who knew. Well, hopefully only 2 soon enough. I just have a thing about old opened cards that sit unused - don't like it. We both keep one for backup. But beyond that don't see the need to carry unused cards. Leaves 3 cards between us (2 joint), and that has been just fine.

Anyway, I am really happy to pay off all 3 cards this month. I like simplicity and why we use only the one card. Kind of a weird month for the credit cards, that I accidentally charged one thing to my backup card and dh had to resort to his backup card. So I just paid them off and that is good - was about $80 in gas and groceries I would have paid off next month otherwise, so that might help the cushion in the checkbook too. I just don't like it when my system gets all messed up. Glad to get those cards paid and out of my mind. Until something else comes up - another denied card or another tired reach for the wrong card - hehe. I have never done that before - so weird.