Tomorrow I have TWO dates. Woohoo!

I am meeting a friend for lunch.

Dh and I have been trying to schedule a date for a very small comedy tour. Final weekend this weekend. We keep forgetting things (like we were planning last Friday but didn't put 2 and 2 together he was going to be out of town - doh).

So today we went for a walk in the evening and on the way home I remembered. I said - "Isn't tomorrow our date night?" Dh said, "Indian food and everything???" He is so excited. Going to our favorite fancy restaurant (don't remember the last time) and then to the play. Almost forgot... We'll see if I remember.

Ugh. Just so busy busy busy. But that is one thing we just need to do, or else before you know it June is over, and no date!

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Dh has been busy selling Wiis. His profit thus far (gas considered) is around $200. Unfortunately, it's not all cash. A lot of it is just more stuff.

But he's a happy camper.

For this month I am using it to pay the satellite and whatnot. Mostly will be double billed this month as we change things over. Canceling the cable tomorrow, and hoping for a pro-rated bill.

But satellite charged 2 months up front.

ATT charged $50 for the modem.

So I figure we'll cover all this.

I know it will straighten out in the next couple of months - no satellite or cable bill next month. But it is driving me nuts. My budget and set up is "just so" and I don't like it when things rock the boat. I have plenty of cash, but I just don't want to mess with the SYSTEM! Likewise, dh took $400 cash from checking to buy and sell crap. He was all ready to put back $500 yesterday, but he went and bought another Wii. So he is driving me nuts too.

With the stimulus check I may just give him seed money. Problem with that is if I am not a nazi over the money, it tends to disappear. For now he knows I need that $400 back to pay the bills 6/30. I think it's good for him to have a deadline and a dollar amount over his head. Or else before I know it our house is going to be filled with more video game systems and games, in trade. It's already started...

On the flip side, dh is happy as a lamb, and less pressure on me.

For now it's putting pressure off of me, and helping the weird June budget a bit. For the long term we need a real system. x% of profits go to retirement or something. He wants more electronic crap (his big sacrifice of late). I want more retirement savings (my big sacrifice of late). Whenever we talk we are on the same page, but yesterday he told me he was tempted to keep one Wii. So I have to keep a sharp eye on that boy.

I admit he enjoys the freedom of making his own money, and I don't fault him for that. (I admit I am a bit of a control freak too). But since 100% of my income goes to the household, I do have issue with extras going to benefit just him. But this is always a bone of contention with us. I don't want a lot of "stuff" so I can live without, and he struggles more with it.

We'll find a compromise. I think it will mean more in future months when things settle down and the big one is out of preschool. For now I have vacation bills, medical bills, birthdays and camping coming up. Our date will be a bit of a splurge. For now it's just going to the household and us. But August - November is a pretty slow spend time of year for us, so if he can sell some more during that time I really do hope to plump the savings more.

We've also been talking about donating a little more to charity. So, we'll see.

Dh did wedding videos to buy his fancy video camera way back when and has done a lot of editing work to pay for his editing system. It seems fitting he would buy and sell Wiis in order to buy a Wii. This is why I usually have little complaint about his electronic haven. What percentage of our working income pays for this stuff? Not much. IT comes from the gravy. BUT sometimes I do admit I wish he had the same passion for our retirement fund. LOL. He's a saver, but since we have had kids, it's the electronics that motivate him way more. I guess in a sense he is retired. So what does he care?

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Ugh. Changing over my e-mail is turning into a week-long project.

I got most of it done, but told dh he could call and cancel the cable tomorrow.

My old e-mail does not work on the "send" anymore anyway. very frustrating.

I think I seriously need to keep a log of where I keep e-mails. For future changes. I am sure I forgot much. I feel like I changed it with 50 businesses/organizations.

Anyway, to top it off, I saw today yahoo rolled out "ymail." I didn't see it until late in the day, but I was able to come up with a much more acceptable "professional" e-mail close to my name. So though I had already e-mailed all my family and friends, I change it again on them. Yup.

I'll have to go back to all the financial institutions eventually too.

Just tired of it all for now. Whatevah!

My work mentioned the other day changing our e-mails to fight the spam - just so out of control. I don't think I could take it. I need one stable e-mail address!

Though the idea of a spamless ymail sounds pretty divine about now. I guess I could get used to it for a while.

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I actually cooked dinner tonight. Sloppy joes and corn on the cob with onion/butter rub. YUMMY! Corn is just not something we usually have, but I have been bugging dh. HE said the corn (husked) was about $4 for the 4 of us. I told him we need corn once a week from now on. I am not a big veggie person, but corn on the cob is just the best. When I like veggies, I must partake in them more. Maybe once every other week...

I think our grocery bill will seriously be under $300 this month. Don't ask me how...

It's $150 to date. We're all eating out tomorrow. Going to a party Sunday to eat. We're going camping for a few days. I doubt we will even hit $300, since will probably only hit the store once or twice more before July.

I feel less bad for buying so much food at that Tastefully Simple party. It hasn't arrived yet, but will probably lower the july grocery bill a bit since I did get so much food.

It's just bizarro.

Our gas bill, on the other hand, will be insane. Dh drove 80 miles today, round trip, to pick up a Wii. We're driving to Yosemite in a few days. San Jose? Twice.

But dh's parents already gave him $100 for gas and since we paid for my dad's entire camping trip, he decided to ride up with us and pay our gas. We will have to take the van, but will probably be nice to have it.

So it's been a good month overall, financially. Though everything is topsy turvy. Funny how it all works out...

I told dh if he could keep up that kind of grocery bill every month, he could spend the difference on whatever his heart desires. LOL. I said he deserved a gold star.

I think it is just the kind of thing where sometimes we really stock up on stuff on sale, and other months means less to buy. But I think this month will be a record low for us.

We haven't been eating out either, so it's just weird.

I do admit LM has had little appetite lately. Since he can usually eat like a grown man, could be much of it.

Then again, BM tried to eat us out of house and home today (1.5 ears of corn, 2 servings of sloppy joes, and a sandwhich and some fruit and pickles. Dinner. EGADS!) He was sick Tuesday so we just figured he was catching up.

Then again, I think last Thursday they told me he had 6 servings of lunch at preschool. Seriously.

Since the food is included, we should get our money's worth at camp. Between him and my dad. & dh really. Yeesh. My stomach is small so buffets are wasted on me. But the boys in the family will get their money's worth...

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Dh made some kind of meat-stuffed zucchini last night. IT wasn't horrid. I could force down half of one.

His mom makes this lasagna that I believe is zucchini, in place of pasta. I can't stand the stuff, though most people like it. So I was very skeptical. But I tried it and it wasn't so bad.

I think Saturday we are having a greek dinner (new recipes form our Best of Home magazine).

I feel quite spoiled on the food front. Well except for that zucchini. LOL.

We had chicken soup and dumplings the other day.

But yes, Indian Food, Greek, and BBQ. Oh, what a divine weekend...

& how could I forget? Japanese buffet for lunch. Got my coupon. Hadn't been in a while...

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My stimulus is to be mailed by tomorrow.

I am betting on Monday. In the mail box Monday...

We'll see.

Timing is good because I am paying off a $4k balance transfer 6/30. That stimulus check will replace half of it, so I shouldn't take such an interest hit.

I still have my big momma transfer with the awesome CD rate until December or so... So I should get that interest boost through the end of the year. Of course it would be nice to keep it, but now that we feel more on track financially, it will be less needed to going forward. Phew.

The balance transfers were a tad outside of my comfort zone. But at this point I could say that was the easiest money I have made in the last couple of years. I am glad I reached outside my comfort zone...

Didn't even really ding my FICO like I expected. All I learned is there is no apparent rhyme or reason to FICO. It has bounced around between 700 and 770 the whole time I had the transfers. I haven't found a pattern. Last month I had the highest balance and worst utilization and my score was 730. The month before it was 701 and I have no idea why. But 6 months in between it was mostly up to 750-760. Eh. So you know, obviously something really dinged my score that one month. I have no idea what. I was dreading the following month with my $1500 vacation expenses on our regular card, in addition to all the rest and usual, and then my score went up 30 points that month.

So, yeah, I have always said that if you have a good score you don't have to freak out about every little thing. I will now go as far as to say I wouldn't even worry about a balance transfer. (or many transfers).

Logically my score should jump up with these balance transfers paid off. I am just not holding my breath. IT doesn't really matter anyway...

But yeah - I expect to replace the $4k by the end of the year (money saved).

The $10k (big momma) will be a while to replace in savings, but in the next year or 2 I expect to have that much in the bank without the transfers. Maybe interest rates will improve a bit. They have been pretty in the toilet for the last decade though... But certain years have been better. For the long run I want to grow much of our savings with interest.