I don't think I have been terribly busy, but I have been using my online time for craigslisting/freecycling. So haven't gotten on here.

IT's not going well either. We have some old recliner my mom might have even used when my sister was a baby. Well at one time it was a very nice chair. It still is comfy, just ugly as hell (Worn, dirty, torn, etc.). & I am sad I can not give it away. 2 separate mentions on freecycle and nothing. Not even anyone asking to see it! & so I tried free section of Craigslist. This morning I had an e-mail and excited maybe someone wanted it, all it said was, "ugly chair." Well, gee thanks. I went between annoyance at someone could be so rude (I am emotionally attached to this chair - wah) to kind of, duh, I didn't say it was beautiful. Has the guy looked at the other free stuff? I have seen some pretty hideous furniture. Didn't think this was so bad. LOL. But um yeah, thanks for stating the obvious. Hehe.

I did get rid of a few things - baby blankets, old bibs (the ones I couldn't sell) and a pile of hangers (like a giant bag). So I have had a little success on the purging, but not much. I have about 5 bags for goodwill too. So maybe this weekend... (Mostly baby clothes - some adult clothes and shoes from my grandma).

I am also shocked no one is interested in our crib, though there were a million listings. Just few were asking for so little and the crib is very nice. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. I am tempted to hold out and try the crib another week. Just never had such bad luck - must be the time of year or something. But if not I will happily donate it. The crib can be used. The chair may have to go to the dump. Bummer!

In other news, I sent off $1200 to the IRS. The good news is I only need to pay $300 to the state to ve even steven for the year. ($8 to fed and $8 from state, doesn't get much more even than that!). & also my withholding is a tad on the high side so I might adjust it down a notch next year. Woohoo. With all the ROTH conversions and balance transfer interest I am just leaving it as is through January. I will be happy to adjust it down 1 or 2 though for next year.

So yay - I thought I was going to have to shell out another $600 - $800 to the IRS in January. $300 to state instead is MARVELOUS! I am also making overtime, so financially things seem good.

On the flip side I spent $100 at Target yesterday. Kid clothes. Most necessary. Couldn't resist. (A lot of the prices rival the thrift store and since Target is so convenient I have been shopping there much more for the kids. I can easily work the overtime to pay all that versus the time it would take to scout the thrift shops. Reverting back to laziness I guess).

& Our trips are coming up fast.

& I feel so broke. I have $100 coming out of my checking every month for investments, $300 for balance transfers, and $225 or so for LM's preschool tuition. I was "trying" to set aside $450/month to savings. & though I mostly succeeded, with this $625 outflow - all automatic - I am feeling really broke.

Dh wants to go out to dinner for our anniversary and my friends want to go out and on and on and I feel like I don't have a dollar to spare.

I am working hard on the overtime and hopefully all the preschool tuition for LM for the year will be reimbursed around December or JAnuary. No guarantees - my boss just pays it whenever he feels like it (if it feels like it though he mentioned to me the other day he would pay me overtime if I would work more - hint hint hint...). So my goal is to do that, to get efund to $12k, and to not sink in the meantime. We'll see. October I will know where we are at. IF we have to drive to Vegas with a cooler stocked with food and not leave our room - LOL. OR if we can splurge a tad there. Either way we will enjoy. The tough part for us will not be splurging on the food in Vegas, but we can go pretty cheap otherwise, and have a good time. But if I get enough overtime and we don't have to spend a dime on our trips, we may be able to spurge on some nice food. On the other hand, our parents are taking us to far off lands, we can help them a bit. Just don't want to be cheap with them - they have done a lot for us this year.

Of course I was sure I might pocket $60 this week with the crib and a few other big items. But so far, pretty blah. Which is bumming me out too. Could really use it. (No focus group calls lately either!!)

So that's the long and the short of it here...

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Um, I can't believe I leave for Japan in like 2 weeks. Haven't done a thing... I guess little to prepare since I already got my passport earlier and since it is just me there is not a lot of preparation with packing up kids and arranging house sitting, but I don't know, feels like I should be doing something. LOL. Our "host family" will be planning our activities. I guess I should just sit back and relax. This is how we should really always vacation - little planning. I am hoping to fit all my luggage in one big duffel bag (I bought earlier in the year for travel). Oh, we'll see... Not optimisitc. I am an over-packer though I get better with the years. But yes, would be nice to fit it all in one bag.

One thing I probably should think about is phone calls. I will want to call my family. Haven't figured that out yet (a frugal way?). I can look at my cell phone but the roaming is probably insane. Will have to see about my AT&T card if there is any benefits with it. Perhaps?