Pay it off!

Recently, Justin and I have decided that we are going to definitely want to build a house in the next two years or so. We have got to pay down debts and build up a good little piece of savings to cover down payments, furniture expenses, etc.

Now when I first bought my car, I was newly married, 6 months out of college with almost no credit history except for a credit card I maxed out before I even turned 19. As a result, I was able to buy my car, but only with Justin as a cosigner and with a relatively high interest rate.

After having paid faithfully on it for three years, I decided to refinance with my local bank. I was successful in cutting my interest rate nearly in half!

After that big milestone, I have become even more encouraged in paying off debts and getting “Operation: Forever Home” kicked into high gear. I vaguely understand the snowball method to paying off debts. You pay off your smallest bill, use the budgeted amount for that bill and apply it to your second highest bill and so on.

After looking over the Georgia Department of Community Affairs website for helpful tips for first time homeowners (which I will be—not Justin) I discovered Utah State University Extension’s Power Pay program. It is free to use. You just put in your monthly debt accounts, loan balance, and interest rates and it will prioritize your bills, roll over the payment amounts it recommends you pay each month, and even calculates how many months of payments you reduce and how much interest you save.

I have three loans I am paying on besides my regular mortgage. Here are my results:

I save $220 in interest alone and rather than spend the money on frivolous things, it encourages me to pay down my debt and it gives me 8 whole months of savings to sock away for a down payment.

I have never been so excited about paying bills!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

My SIL

Because I grew up with two sisters, I never got terribly excited about the idea of a sister-in-law. I wasn’t that girl with all brothers that wondered what it would be like to get married and finally get a sister-in-law. After all, my sisters and I generally fought like cats and dogs until I moved away to college. I love them so so so so much now and wouldn’t trade them for the world, but there were times when I was little that I would have given them away.

I’ve heard horror stories of evil sisters-in-law and didn’t know what was in store for me when Justin and I started dating. Luckily, his sister Amanda and I get along perfectly. She is one of my best friends now and there isn’t a day that goes by without us texting, emailing, calling or seeing each other. I am so blessed that I have great in-laws and that our families get along.

Want proof? My nephew Ben walked into my office with a box from Belk. This was in it:

 

This is the softest sweater with perfect ruffly rosettes! I have a turquoise one just like it and Amanda knew I was looking for the orange one.

The best part? This was written on the box. Cue the waterworks. Poor Ben didn’t know what was going on and was nervously looking toward the door to make his escape.

The Whole Month of January

I didn’t blog ONCE since New Years Day and that was hardly a content-packed piece. Here is my sorry excuse for a catch-up blog for the entire month of activity. They’re all out of order but we had a lot of fun anyways!

  

One of my best good friends got married this past weekend. Jessica was such a beautiful bride and we had a great time celebrating her marriage to Clay, another high school friend of mine.

 

Wyatt got to try out his riding gear. He loves his little sit n’ scoot four wheeler. Amanda and the kids found their old push car and Wyatt got to ride for hours the other day too.   

I had an agritourism conference for work in Savannah and Justin and Wyatt got to come along. My sister Sami lives there for college so she and my mama were there too. Justin and I were able to sneak away for part of one evening and we got the chance to eat at Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House all alone! It was fun and we were able to squeeze some mall time in while Mama and Sami kept Wyatt.

 

We were just “hanging out:” {HAHA!} and realized Wyatt could hold himself up for a few seconds like a baby Hulk. He also got to sit in the little car while the boys PRETENDED to haul him (the golf cart DIDN’T move an inch!).

Wyatt’s standing up and scooting along the couches and chairs now. It won’t be long before he starts walking and it’s all over for any little bit of rest I might have thought I could get.

I got a big time hair cut and donated over 8 inches of hair to the Pink Hearts Fund, which makes wigs for children with cancer at no cost.

 

Wyatt got to experience all kinds of fun stuff this month! He rode the tractor with Justin as we were preparing a spot for our honeybees (that’s gonna take a whole blog post on its own).

 

Bath time is such a great time for fun. Every single night I get Wyatt out of the tub and stand him up in front of the mirror and he smiles like crazy. I think he might start looking a tiny bit like me now. He has my nose at the very least.

 

We celebrated two fun birthdays this month. My oldest nephew Jake turned 10 years old. I can’t believe that when Justin and I started dating, he hadn’t even been conceived and now he’s hit the double digit mark! Also, we celebrated my daddy’s birthday with carrot cake and Wyatt got his little bitty hands right in that icing. He’s got a major sweet tooth for an 8 month old but we limit his sweets to a bite here and there.

 

 

Wyatt is coming up with the most hilarious faces now. Mama said I used to make the same face when I was little and she calls it the Mr. Magoo face.

Jake, Ben, and Rivers colored their faces the other day with washable markers and I couldn’t resist giving Wy a little mustache. Can you tell he’s got built-in friends for life with his cousins? They all love him so much!

  

Wyatt loves his Nanny, my grandmother. At 80+ years old she is still going strong and loves when we visit with Wyatt. I am glad he is around to see her. I never got to be around my other grandmother, much less my great-grandmother so this is very special that he knows her.

Last but not least, Justin got my college diploma framed and helped me put it up in my office this past week. It’s been rolled up in a tube for three years now and I never would have spent the money to get it properly framed but Justin treats me so well. I am so proud of that paper!

Well, now that’s January. Hopefully I can keep up with February a lot better!

New Year’s Fun

   

On New Year’s Eve, Justin had to work so I took Wyatt out to the airport to check out his Pop’s plane. Wyatt didn’t get to go up but he was quite happy to check it out on the ground.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Amanda and Michael’s celebrating the new year with good snacks and then visited with Jonathan and played trivia for a bit. Wyatt was a trooper. He went to bed a little later than usual—9:45—but didn’t make it to see the big ball drop in NYC.

Hey!

Why, hello brand new year! I hope this year is as great as you could ever hope for!

Hello, goodbye

Wishing you and yours a happy and safe new year!

Wax melts

Have you tried the wax warmers that are all the rage these days? These are my latest addiction and I cannot help picking up a few every time I stop in the store.

I know there is a home-based business (with a really cute name!) that uses low wattage light bulbs to melt their wax, but I use a cheap warmer that uses tea lights to warm mine.

I was scoping out the after-Christmas sales at Wally World and found that the Better Homes and Gardens melts were on sale for $1 and I stocked up. Justin has put me on a wax melt buying restriction until I burn through the ones I already have.

My favorite one is an off-brand called Wild Thing. It has a subtle, light non-food scent that is perfect for making my home or office smell nice and fresh.

Christmas Eve Recap

Christmas Eve was a big day for us. We exchanged Christmas presents with everyone as if it were Christmas Day because Justin worked at the fire department the next day. We started out Wyatt’s first Christmas with just the three of us in our jammies at home on Dec. 23. Wyatt got a car/scooter and some fun movies from us. I bought Justin a banner with his smoke team logo on it and he had me bawling like a baby when I opened my gift from him. He got my college diploma custom framed. He is so sweet because he knows I would never spend money on myself for something like that.

      

On Christmas Eve morning, we got up bright and early in our jammies and headed out to Desiree and Sheldon’s to do our Christmas fun with Justin’s mama and daddy, Amanda, Michael, Jake, Ben, and Rivers. He loves his Wyatt-powered four wheeler and farm set! He also got some really cool firefighter jammies.

 

Later that afternoon, we headed out to my mama and daddy’s to exchange gifts with them, Suzi, and Sami. We all had really great, thoughtful gifts and Wyatt got plenty of toys and videos to keep him occupied for a good while. This one takes the cake though:

 

Sami took Wyatt into the kitchen and I didn’t think anything of it. All of the sudden, she came wheeling in with Wyatt on a bright red Radio Flyer. Sami had found this in a thrift shop and completely restored it all the way down to the wheels and suspension! I am sure we will enjoy this wagon for many years to come.

I had to stick a picture of this in here: I got a monogram necklace from Mama and Daddy. We southern girls like our monogram on everything!

We were all very spoiled! After it was all said and done, our living room looks like a baby car lot!

Christmas 2011

     

Since Justin had to work Christmas Day, we visited him at the fire department. Wyatt had a blast. I can already tell he will be begging to visit the FD many, many more times in the future!

My iPhone App Recommendations, part 2

I always get excited when I see a friend with an iPhone. Usually my first question is, “Do you have any cool apps to tell me about?” I found several folks who had boards on Pinterest about the apps they recommend and even a whole iPhone Mom blog for apps that moms can load on their phones for their kids.

I have a LOT of apps on my phone. They are almost all completely free and they might be less than great, but I keep them in case I need them some day. Here are mine:

1. Skype- This came in handy when my sister was in Italy. I was able to Skype with her on-the-go and didn’t have to be tied down to a home computer or wi-fi.

2. Red Laser is a great app that scans QR codes and barcodes. It will scan barcodes and find the best price in the area and online. This is great for big-purchase technology items, major baby items, and even diapers and formula for us. I wouldn’t recommend it for regular groceries, but it has saved us a good deal of money in the past few months.

3. NORAD Santa tracker, for the kiddos to see where Santa is on Christmas Eve.

4. White Noice, for my hubbs when we travel. He can’t sleep without some background noise and hotels don’t have ceiling fans like we do at home.

5. Shape Shift- fun game

6. Pocket Whip- this one is funny. Move your phone like you’re cracking a whip and the sound projects. It’s funny to say, “Hey baby, get me some tea,” and flick it. Justin and I get a kick out of trying to do that with a serious face and seeing people’s reactions. {WE DON’T ACTUALLY TREAT EACH OTHER LIKE THAT}

7. Angry Birds- Unless you live in a deep, dark place you know what this is. I downloaded the free versions, but Justin ponied up the $0.99 for the full version and beat it in a single day on a particularly slow day at the fire department.

8. This is where I file away the photography apps that I’ve downloaded and don’t really use. They MIGHT come in handy one day but I rarely access them.

9. Be Funky is a cool photo editor that lets you put cool effects on pictures. I use it less frequently since I’ve started drinking the Instagram Kool-Aid but it’s still good to use.

 

1. Cut the Rope- fun little mindless game

2. Blogger- I don’t usually blog on the fly but it’s okay to get a quick wordy post put up in a pinch.

3. I downloaded Tango because my SIL doesn’t have Skype for some reason on her tablet.

4. Monster Apps- this app gives you other apps for free once a day. Most of the time they are games. I usually download the app of the day and delete them right away but I have gotten a few on there I really like. Sometimes the free apps become paid apps after a day or so, so get them while they’re free.

5. Bouncy Nuts is a prime example of #4. I got this free and it’s a pretty fun little mindless game to waste some time.

6. Songify lets you speak words and it auto-tunes and sets it to a beat. BAM! You’re Ke-dollar sign-HA (QUICK- Glee pop culture reference here!)

 

1. Zinio is my digital magazine reader. I have gotten free subscriptions for Cosmo and Seventeen over the past month so this makes reading them much easier. Trust me on this one- this is way better on the iPad.

2. Find iPhone is an Apple app that you set up on a computer. It allows you to remotely make your iPhone send out an audible alert even if your phone is on vibrate. So that phone that’s wiggled its way into the couch cushions? Found! It also has a remote wipe function if you have sensitive data on your phone and it’s stolen.

3. Fruit Ninja is my latest addiction in the phone gaming world. I downloaded the free versions. Trust me. It’s every bit as addicting as Angry Birds!