Thanks, but I planning on being

thank you so much..i am planning to ask the mgr for new apt...sm [2008-11-01]
I have lived in apartments all my live and have never experienced anything as noxious as this lady Thank you all so much for your comments, since my DH does not care to exert himself, it is all on me, and so I will ask for another apt. It If that doesn Thanks again. I sincerely appreciate your great advice.

Thanks, but I planning on being [2008-07-02]
right in the ocean with them or my husband will be. We But thanks for the reminder. Glad to hear your situation turned out okay.

Please start planning your escape...sm [2008-06-29]
I am joining in your children I found this website: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/domestic_violence_abuse_help_treatment_prevention.htm Please take a look at it, and then call the number they give for the National Domestic Violence Hotline. I am assuming/hoping they would know how to guide you. NO ONE should have to live like you are. Best of luck to you and your children.

Would this have made you mad - husband planning trip [2007-11-14]
My husband has a habit of making plans and then telling me where I am expected to be without discussing it with me first. This drives me crazy and I have asked him many times to stop. He also makes lots of plans for himself for weekend and sometimes 3 or 4 day trips and just e-mails me a note to put it on my calendar, without asking if I mind. He does this all the time. Yesterday he came home from work and announced that Joe and I are planning a family trip for this summer, so start saving your money. I said, oh is Joe your wife now?? Do you think you could ask me if I want to go there before you tell me to save my money? So he got really angry and started yelling at me that I never understand anything. I told him I like to be treated as an equal in the marriage and that I would not plan a trip for him without discussing it with him. It is a HUGE trip, to California, and we live in NC. I would have been happy if he came home and suggested it to see what I thought..but I was angry that he planned it out that way. He wants us to go with a family that I have never met. My kids are elementary age and their kids are in high school. The two men would be in conferences all day so this other lady and her kids and me and my kids are expected to hang out together. He is very furious with me for not being receptive to this whole plan. Should I have not been mad?

I was planning on making a flower bed there [2007-10-22]
with several good-sized bushes such as hydrangea and/or forsythia. Hopefully that would take care of the problem, especially since we don't plan to get any other pets (we're mid-50s, want to travel, plus I don't think I can go through this pain again).

Okay, planning a trip to see some snow (first in 10 years). Here's what I need! sm [2007-10-04]
Where can I go just north of Atlanta, GA, to see a good amount of snow that isn With or without hubby. I NC? TN? I have no idea!

Most teachers have at least one planning period when they [2007-04-26]
can grade papers. If their job requires work-related hours away from school, they are given comp time.

If you think that one little hour or less of planning [2007-04-26]
These teachers donplanning period is a joke!

Not if you are planning on baking [2007-04-14]
Wax paper will melt wax into your foods if you are baking. That being said, if you are making a cake you can butter the pan, both sides of the wax paper, and place the wax paper on the bottom of the pan wax side down, putting your batter on top. You can also use wax paper to steam. If you are planning on baking using direct oven heat (where the paper will be exposed directly to the enviornment around it) I would not suggest it.

Planning an overnight bus trip to NYC... [2007-04-09]
bags after we check out of our hotel on the 2nd day? I don Surely others have run into this problem. Anyone have any ideas?? Thanks a bunch!!!

Planning on using mine for chicken tonight - We love it! [2007-03-28]
We use it a couple times a week!

Planning a trip to New York City and [2007-03-22]
was looking for suggestions on a nice hotel to stay in and what are some of the best sites to see. Will only be there for four days at the end of May and want to cram as much in as possible.

I am terrible about no pre-planning [2007-03-17]
I often go to the grocery store 3 or 4 times a week. I love to watch the cooking channel when I have time. Robin Miller has a show that usually shows how to cook a couple of times a week and take the leftovers and use for another meal. She now has out a cookbook so that might be a great place to start.

If you aren't planning on more children, I would have the surgery. [2007-02-05]
x

Maybe learn some life planning skills before bringing blessings into the world that you can't aff [2006-11-13]
and not very responsible or mature.

This is what thanksgiving is all about...a must read [2008-11-28]
At turkey time last year, Monique White was unemployed, living in a cramped motel room and pining for the Thanksgivings of her childhood, when dozens of people would gather for a holiday feast. Today a receptionist at a dentist's office, she has a townhouse in Littleton, Colo. And, thanks to an Internet posting, a list of Thanksgiving dinner guests — strangers all — who will help her eat nine turkeys, four hams, 16 boxes of stuffing and a dozen or so pies. How did this happen? White, 36, was feeling a bit lonesome a week ago; her two sons were planning to spend the holiday with their father. And though her longtime partner, Doug White, would be there for her on Thanksgiving, she longed to be surrounded by many more people. So she posted invitations on Craigslist, the Internet classifieds site. In part, one read: Maybe you are someone who is new in town and doesn She figured four folks, maybe five would answer. But then the replies poured in: People laid off from work. People with no family. People ashamed to bring their children to a Thanksgiving dinner at a soup kitchen. I thought: There White says. In all, 32 people are expected for dinner. When White's boss heard what she was doing, he offered to pay for the food. Then a local hotel offered to provide tables and chairs. Then a professional magician said he would like to perform for the kids. Certainly a far cry from Thanksgiving 2007, White says. Last year it was just us two. It was horrible. Doug White has been busy baking turkeys, putting one in the oven as soon as another comes out. People need to stop being so worried about me, me, me, my bills, my life, he says. You stop worrying, and look what happens?

It's actually something like a second job to get the bill that low. [2008-11-18]
I spend a lot of time studying sales and clipping coupons (doubled and sometimes tripled in our area). And I use bonus cards and shop at places like Aldisauce I just use olive oil, salt and pepper, GOOD cheese, maybe a little bit of chopped ham or dried sausage as a flavoring. Add some sauteed spinach or escarole, a little salad from whatever veggies looked good at the market. Add some beans to the salad to boost the protein, and we're eating very fine! I also haven't bought canned soup in .... probably ever. I save up chicken carcasses or buy the backs to make stock. I also make veggie stock and buy beef soup bones and make my own beef broth. The home-made stocks make all the difference when cooking from scratch. I keep the grocery bills low by planning my shopping expeditions and cooking from scratch. It depends on how far you want to go with it. I love to cook. It's a creative outlet for me, so I find it relaxing. Someone else may not, in which case, buying convenience foods would lower their stress level and would be worth the extra expense.

We eat out mostly at the local pub. [2008-11-18]
We're lucky to have a real neighborhood Irish pub, and we like to meet up with friends there, listen to music, have a beer and a sandwich. It probably costs us about $30 for two of us. Since we're nearly empty-nesters, it's just DH and I who go out. Big, fancy dinners are usually just for birthdays or anniversaries. When wefend for yourself night . My sons know how to cook. DH not so much. But he can make a sandwich, and there's usually something leftover that he can make. My youngest son is a good cook, and if I ask him he'll usually make dinner for all of us when I'm just too tired to bother. Also, a Crockpot is a marvelous thing! I love it. A little planning and effort, and dinner is in the pot cooking all day and ready for dinner time.

I can't imagine affording all those meals out, but I have some suggestions sm [2008-11-18]
I usually cook from scratch. My idea of fast food is a can of lentil soup, and I have that about once a month, occasionally twice. I make crockpot soups a lot because I am busy. I will tell you, there is a place that is sort of between a restaurant meal and home cooking. I used to have kids at home, lots of them, and I would get too tired to cook. My answer was to hybrid the dinner, so to speak. You can get Stouffer's lasagne which is good. You can pickup some ready-made stuff in your grocery store deli or freezer case. We liked the frozen Banquet chicken back in the day. I might get that, a box of flavored instant potatoes, potato salad or ready-made mashed to go with it. We might get a bag of salad too. Fresh fruit cups were nice if they were on special. You know, make a nice meal you don't have to 100% cook, but isn't going out. These days, I see that you can get beef tips in gravy, or sliced beef in gravy and other prepared stuff at the store. It just takes looking. It is more expensive than doing it all yourself, but it is much cheaper than going out. You can try another thing that is NOT everyone's cup of tea, and that is OAMC or Once A Month Cooking. This is my favorite website: http://snider.mardox.com/plans.htm I donmini plans using what is on special in a given week. They have breakfast plans, muffin plans, potato plans, chicken, beef, pork plans, ground meat plans, even some dessert plans. With planning, you can do this in bits and pieces. From people who have done far more of this than I have, they tell me that with soup already made, no chopping or messing, they are more likely to make fresh rolls, salad and even a quick dessert...round out any meal because the work is done. Obviously, it saves money.

My oldest daughter knew when she was 10 [2008-11-10]
Kids talk at school and on the bus, and I'm sure that's how she found out about Santa and the Easter Bunny, etc. Of course now she's 14 and tells me how could someone believe in a huge bunny who comes to your house and leaves candy. LOL. I also have a 5 year old and the older one knows under no circumstances is she to tell her sister anything. She can find out on her own. I think you should just let him know that he shouldn't tell the younger ones just like you were planning.

Thank you all for your messages and suggestions sm [2008-10-25]
I canComes the Dawn a lot also.

This offends me, the fact that places can get away with it sm [2008-10-24]
Yup, I'm a Catholic and I have 6 kids. If not for birth control, I don't mean natural family planning, I mean medical ordinary birth control I WOULD HAVE 12, not 6. As a matter of Catholic principles, I refused to have my tubes tied, that part is true. But I used birth control of all sorts, BCPs, barriers like French letters and diaphragms, cervical caps, IUDs and the like. I still got PG no matter how hard I tried, so I accepted the children and busted my fanny to support them. For the record, never been on welfare, but had food stamps for two months when the ex stopped helping support them. It was too much hassle for the $118 a month they gave me and I could make that amount of money in the time it took to go and fill out the papers and have an interview. That alone should tell you something about those of us who prefer to work than take a hand out, and about others who line up for hand out rather than work. As I have gotten lost in what I was going to say: This just pisses me off! A woman has a right to CHOOSE what goes on in her body, from birth control to abortion to you name it. This country was founded on the idea that we are all free to do as we choose, follow our conscience and NOT suffer at the hands of those who would TELL us what we can and cannot do! EWWWW!

I wish I could do this! [2008-10-23]
My family basically does this. Mom buys all the food and the kids cook (mostly me because I love it). We decided last year that we would not buy gifts. We only exchange gifts that have a meaning to them. We call it Crafty Christmas (or Crappy Christmas as the husbands joke). It can be something that is meaningful from childhood, pictures, something regifted from your house, something funny, or crafty. We actually had a fantastic time last year and everyone voted to do it againt this year. We agreed not to spend more than $10 getting the gift together, but I don't think anything cost more than a couple dollars as most of it was made from household things. Grandma still bought for grandkids under 18 and did stockings but that was it. Now my in-laws insist on making a big thing of Christmas every year. They spend thousands. I suggested it last year as they were planning to retire and letting us know that they had to cut back - but MIL was obviously offended at my suggestion. My husband's brother and family are in no way financially able to provide any gifts this year (they are living with the in-laws) so I'm thinking of proposing the idea to him and his wife for agreement and let the others do what they want. I can't feel bad for not being able to afford gifts for everyone and wanting it to be more about family than presents. I would love to make dinner this year since we are not going to my mom's (she lives out of state) but that's another thing that my MIL doesn't want to give up and obviously didn't care for my brunch a few years ago BUT since we have the only young child in the family I insisted that we have Christmas morning at our own home and my hubs backed me up.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. [2008-10-23]
Reason being, no presents. Just family and an excuse to eat lots of yummy foods that you don't get to have any other time of year. I have loved it since I was a child. I like your idea though. Maybe I will do like you said. I can't please everyone and I am working both holidays so it will be hard for me to get time to go somewhere else. I can certainly use my breaks and some planning to make it at our house though. LOL at your story. Thanks for the tip and encouragement. It's a shame that some people are such sticklers when all it really comes down to spending time with family!

Don't borrow from the 401(K)!! [2008-10-15]
NO!! Do not borrow from a 401(K) to pay credit card debt!! If the debt is all yours, contact a bankruptcy attorney and file chapter 7 to get rid of it. You can file BK individually. The 401(K) is exempt from attachment in a bankruptcy. I My credit card debt was incurred trying to keep the house. Stupid move on my part. Good luck! Things will get better.

Fireproof movie [2008-10-08]
My daughter and I went to see it last weekend and I would recommend it with 10 thumbs up. It really was the best I have seen in a long time since Amazing Grace. We are also planning on seeing the Billy Graham movie.

you sound like the big sis I need [2008-09-30]
Thanks for your note. I could be making more of this than what is really necessary. It is a horrible way to live (always planning for the worse and worrying about what's going on for things we can't control). I think he realized today that all the negative news and me having to work was really getting me down. I just feel myself getting heavier and heavier and I'm so exhausted right now I feel like I'm about to fall asleep and I have got to finish the rest of my work (about another 4 hours). The reason we don't celebrate holidays is actually an agreement we both have. We used to celebrate holidays but every year I found myself so depressed because I've been away from home for close to 30 years and it is still hard, and I cant just go home every year. And he does not like family rituals or whatever those things are called (can't think of the word), as in it's Thanksigiving so we eat Turkey because it's thanksgiving (family traditions - that's it). So over the years I found it easier to deal with the holidays by not celebrating them. If I do cook a turkey on Thanksgiving its because I feel like having turkey that day. When I say I can't throw too much at him, he doesn't have health problems, but he just can't handle too much. We take one situation at a time. I learned that years and years ago. Me, I'll do 10 things at once, but I keep it simple for him otherwise, so he doesn't get too overwhelmed. Yes I know he's a big boy, but not all men act like it. I may not be expressing myself too good at this point. I'm so exhausted and need to go lay down. Thanks for listening. I liked your last line bout thinking his down and out feelings are more important than my well being. I will be thinking on that one more. Thanks again.

It hasn't too much, except in the 401(k)... [2008-09-26]
We are debt free but the house, the payment only requires one of DH's paychecks (he gets paid twice a month and then on the off weeks he gets his overtime check) or my paycheck for the month when I can get my lines in, we have never taken out a second mortgage or touched the equity in our home. Our mortgage rate is low to mid 5%, cars paid off, CC paid in full, great credit score and we live below our means. We still take vacations, eat in restaurants, etc. Our circle of friends don't seem to have any problem with this economy, other than investments. We are in our late 40s, early 50s, kids grown and gone, we don't pay for college. DH drives 66 miles round trip to work, but has an economical commuter care. Our SUV gets about 20 to 24 mpg, which compares to some newer ones out there. My DH has worked for the same company for 25 years, however, layoffs are coming, and he is putting out his resume just in case. He will get a nice severance package, etc, if it happens, but weare planning in advance just in case. House is up for sale, a few very interested people, and if it sells we will make enough profit to buy a house free and clear. We have always lived below our wage and I think that has helped us tremendously. Do we want new cars, TVs, etc, sure, but why bother, we don't want the payments that come with them. We are happy with what we have, don't have a lot of the gimmes or wantitis that has a lot of Americans in debt up to their eyballs with no way out.

camping [2008-09-19]
If camping sounds okay to you try going to floridacamping.com as they have the amenities you can choose from and an area map so you can see where you might like to stay. We just had a vacation to the Destin/Panama Beach area in June and it wasn There is a camping site in Panama Beach and I think it is called Campers Inn. They were across the street from the beach, but had direct beach access. Enjoy planning your trip!

No ideas but I like to [2008-09-19]
and when I hear about a nice place to visit I go online to try to find their city website or visitor's and convention bureau. Many of these will allow you to get on a mail list and send you tons of free info, brochures, MAPS, and COUPONS! I have family that lived in FL, but just moved back, and I had been collecting a lot of info for those areas in hopes of planning a trip to see them next spring so I know there is a ton of info for Florida. You just have to do some research and visit a lot of websites and give yourself time to get the info in the mail. Even did it for my local surrounding areas where I live and was amazed at what I found. Oh, and if you do think of camping go to the coleman website and those for other camping gear and many times they have checklists and such that you can download. Makes live MUCH easier, especially for first timers.

Have the opposite problem! [2008-09-16]
DD went off to college this year 250 miles away from boyfriend of a year. I was hoping she would forget about him, but no such luck. He has already visited after only 3 weeks. They will probably both come home for long Columbus weekend, and they are already planning a weekend visit in November. Do I want to see her heart broken? No. But if it meant she was rid of this guy, definitely!

We're sort of a "have to" case, too. [2008-09-13]
My son was having problems with bullies and stress migraines to the point of being sick, so we've prayed about it and started this year homeschooling. It IS a LOT of work. I am pretty much a single mom most of the time, with my husband on swing shifts. There's about one week a month that he's home any amount at all. So, my son and I are in this together, just me and him, and I am trying to work and spend time with him. The teaching is really very minimal because he is pretty much able to teach himself...very gifted. I spend at least a couple of hours with him daily though, for interaction, and I spend a LOT of time planning, doing records, etc. I am thankful to be an IC...no schedule to keep, but on the other hand, I'm not getting MY work done until late most nights. I hope we fall into some sort of routine and I get to do more of my work in the daytime soon. It's sure hard to get up and get going when I've had about 5 hours sleep. Thanks for the reply.

Gulf Coast people [2008-09-12]
BE SAFE. Praying Ike doesn I have kids and grandkids there and they're planning to ride it out.

What is your opinion of this? [2008-09-02]
The scenario is...a husband and wife who are limited financially. The husband is between jobs but gets a small unemployment payment each week. The wife works every day. They are driving somewhere and stop to get gas in their car and she asks him how much he is going to put in. He says ten dollars. She hands him $20 and tells him not to just get $10, but to go ahead and put more in, then she thinks about it and hands him $10 more and says just go ahead and get $40, and maybe it will last us through the week. He goes to the pump and pumps in $30!! Because she was looking at the gas pump to see if he was about finished and ready to go, she sees that he only pumped in $30. When he gets in the car, he doesn't say anything to her about the amount he got, and as he starts to leave the station he notices that she is angry! He realizes why and starts to tell her that he decided to keep the $10 to put gas in HIS car at home a little bit later. She feels like he cheated her in some way by taking the 30 and using it, but saving his own 10 (no matter what the reason) because when they originally pulled up to the gas station, he was planning to use the 10 he had and nothing more, yet after she voluntarily offered him the 30, he didn't use his 10 at all, and didn't even tell her that he was going to do it that way. This has caused a really big fight between them that she says is rocking their marriage. They are at the point of not speaking to each other over this! What is your opinion about this story? btw, this isn it's a lady I talk to on another forum (some back ground information on him...he is notorious for getting 5 and 10 dollars worth of gas at a time, and having to keep stopping for gas many times because that much just doesna few dollars worth! She gets really upset with him for doing it this way and says that he should take the total amount that he will be getting in small increments and put that whole amount in at once. She says it will go further)

I agree with you so much! sm [2008-08-30]
I have two children and thankfully don't have those kinds of problems - but they all have their issues they need their parents' help with. But I have a brother who sounds very much like the son of OP. When he was 11 my stepfather kicked him out. His father and stepmother came and got him - I remember him crying and begging them not to send him and I cried and begged them not to make him go. When they started to put him in the car he spread his arms and legs and held onto the doorframe of the car fo dear life. His stepmother ran a nursing home in her house and my brother was required to bathe elderly patients at the age of 11. At 12 hey sent him back to live with us, and by 15 they had shipped him back to live with his dad and stepmom. At 16 he got a job at McDonalds and saved his money to buy a car. A few months later as a punishment his stepmother took the car and wouldn't let him have it back. He had worked and saved his money and earned it. He never felt loved his whole life. No one ever just focused on him and loving him and letting him know that he was valued. He became an alcoholic. He got several DUIs and finally had his license permanently revoked. Now, he has married and has 5 children. He is 35 years old and though he never graduated from high school and has no driver's license he is the manager of a crew that installs AC ductwork into high rise buildings. He does all of the planning and is very intelligent and manages many people. But he has to have someone drive him everywhere he goes. He never ever visits my mother and rarely calls her. He doesn't acknowledge her birthday, mother's day, etc. She can't understand why. She cries over it every holiday. You get what you pay for.

Before the post gets buried below regarding credit - very long message sm [2008-08-24]
I just wanted to share with the posters who were considering bankruptcy. Unless you are on the verge of losing your home, I would strongly encourage you to consider another option. Bankruptcy does not just go away after a few years. It Even if you rebuild your credit afterwards, it A friend and my in-laws also filed bankruptcy in the past. My in-laws filed over 20 years ago and have recovered financially but it My husband is a credit card spender. I would only spend when I had the cash and did not depend on credit. It didn Our spending habits combined nearly led to our financial demise a few years back too. This is what I did and I hope you give it a try and it works for you too. I started with a complete inventory of all of our bills, separating them into three categories. Home (mortgage and utilities) Credit cards - (lowest balance to highest balance regardless of the APR) Miscellaneous bills (entertainment, clothing, food, gas, fast food, etc.) Since the Home category is pretty consistent every month, I set up a budget for that first. I went back through our utility bill for the year prior and chose the highest month bill of the year and added that amount to our mortgage amount. Next, I reviewed our telephone, internet, and television (satellite) bills. On average, I was paying about 230.00 per month for them all combined. Way too much in my opinion. I started shopping around and found a bundle package with Verizon. Now I pay 153.00 per month for unlimited long distance telephone, satellite TV, and DSL service. Saved $77.00 per month, just doing that. Then I added this amount to the mortgage and utilities. This totalled amount is what I know I absolutely have to pay every month and I better make sure it's in the account. Next, I did the Miscellaneous. I I started going over what was spent where and learned that we spent a lot more than we really needed to. I set up a weekly grocery budget and a fun budget. If there was anything extra at the end of the week, it was divided evenly between the two and added to the next week. I do this every week until the end of the month. If there is anything left over, that amount is divided in half again and half is divided again and added to the following week's budget (grocery and fun), the other half is locked away in the savings account. The money for monthly gas was a little trickier when the gas prices skyrocketed. I first had a set limit for gas each week but did have to adjust that. I did manage to adjust it a little bit upwards and still be able to pay the cards down (see below.) Also, every time I spend cash, no matter if the amount is $5.01 and all I need is a penny, I don Instead, I will give them $6.00 and get 0.99 change to put in my giant size espresso cup of change. When the cup gets full, the change is rolled and turned in to the bank as a deposit into the savings account. My cup last gave me $281.00 change to put in the savings account. That was in March. It Nobody touches the cup! They might lose a finger or even a hand! That being said, and having two set amounts for each budget, I then subtracted that amount, plus the Household amount from our combined monthly income. Lastly came the dreaded credit cards. To be honest, I was floored when I learned just how much credit card debt we had. My husband had wracked up over $40,000.00 in credit card debt alone. Since he paid his own credit card bills each month, I had no idea. Even worse than that, he is very inconsistent about paying his bills on time so he had late charges and the interest rates were way the heck up there. It was terrible. I took each of his cards most current statements and started from the lowest to highest balance. The lowest one was about 1200.00 but the interest rate on it by that time was 22%. This is where I started. I had him call the company and basically gave him a script to go by (my name wasn He requested a decrease in his APR on each and every card. Two of the five card companies agreed on the first call. The 22% card was reduced to 11% so they cut it in half. Not as low as I would like but it was a start. Another card was up to 31% and they reduced that to 20%. The other three didn't budge the first time. This is where I made two The first one was MS Money software. I highly recommend it. You can set up your checking, savings accounts, print your checks, balance your checkbook in about 5 minutes, pretty much a no brainer software that really keeps you in line with your bills and spending as long as you remember to faithfully enter any debit card purchase in your check register provided with the software. It will also link to many banks to update your balances online. You can also set it up to remind you for upcoming bills. (Maybe if the husband had used this earlier, we would not have been in this situation?) The second purchase was about $8.00. An accordion file folder for the monthly statements. Husband always threw his away and I cana dumb idea that is. KEEP them. Organize the tabs for each bill and put your statement in when you pay each bill. I also write the date and the amount when I make a payment somewhere on the statement, then keep them in chronological order. The actual payments came next. The smallest balance card was paid off first. All of other cards only got the minimum payment PLUS $1 more. I started doing this just for my own peace of mind I guess but I learned later that this actually helped us a bit when negotiating the lower APRs on the three more stubborn cards. It may have only been $1 extra but it was EXTRA payment and, believe it or not, they do look at that. Excluding the card to be paid off first, I added up the minimum payments of the remaining four cards (plus the extra dollar to each of those) and decided on an amount to pay the lowest balance card to get that balance moving toward 0 as fast as I could. In this case, I decided on 200.00. This left me with a little over 200.00 extra (I call it mad money but it really goes into savings anyway -planning ahead for birthdays, auto insurance, Christmas, and emergencies.) I had that card paid off relatively quickly in a few months. When it was paid off, the card was cancelled and that 200.00 was added to the minimum payment (plus $1) on the next lowest balance card. After the first month of this, once again, had the husband call his credit card company and ask for a reduction in his APR. This time it was granted. Should also mention that this card was one of the three that refused the request the first time. The first six months or so of this wasa mildly painful transition. He was used to whipping out a credit card, I was used to having cash on hand for whatever I wanted. It wasn't going to happen anymore. Finally, I wasdown to the last remaining card (754.00 per month payment by this time, having applied the payments for each card to the next as they were paid off.) When I got to this point, I started shopping around for cards with rewards programs and started comparing those cards. The last card I was paying on also had a rewards program but not quite what I wanted. I wanted to know if the terms were negotiable. It was! How about that! So, instead of losing a valuable customer the card company decided to keep me. Now I get 3% back on purchases of most things as long as I pay the balance in full every month (which I do). Any kind of air or rail travel purchased with the card is a 6% reward. I no longer use a debit card. The husband is not allowed to get a credit card again but instead, takes a certain amount of cash every week. Say what you want but he got us into this mess pretty much so he has to live with it now. It I find that I average about 400.00 per month AFTER the rewards bonuses kick in so essentially I am able to bank another $354.00 per month in savings. It adds up quicker than you might think. Should also mention that we have two teens still at home and they can really be expensive. They were made a part of the plan and do their part to help out too. Their contribution is mostly the avoidance of fast food all the time. They can come home and have a meal or eat before they leave. Things like that. Sorry for the lengthy post but hopefully I can help anyone else get out of a potentially bad financial situation like we faced.

Make a list of budget/spending priorities for your self employment income [2008-08-24]
Dave Ramsey's book has a irregular income planning sheet. Basically you list your expenses with the cash flow sheet. With any steady income you allocate it. For irregular income, make a list from the cash flow sheet of what needs to be paid first. Keep a culmulative total.

How about good ideas for upcoming marriage [2008-08-20]
Any good ideas for someone getting married in the next year or so? A second marriage and not planning to have much of a ceremony. (Where, what to wear, etc.) Thanks for any ideas.

On the beach... [2008-08-19]
in the cold wind. lol Poor planning for the time of year but I have beautiful pictures at sunset. :)

Throwing a party - can anyone steer me to a website than will give (sm) [2008-08-19]
how-tos on planning a party for about 40 people? Very, very new at this. It is combining an18-year-old BDay and going-away for 2 daughters who are getting deployed to Iraq again. Planning for outside (have a large tent). Needs tips on best (reasonably priced) food and decorations. Thank You.