I can honestly say that I have NEVER been more happy to leave a month behind in the past. I can honestly say this has been the most difficult month of my life so far. Thankfully, it wasn't too terrible financially (but that's because only part of the medical bills are in - haha!). We will see how June ends up looking, but before I get too far ahead of myself, let's wrap up May's financials:
Not bad at all! DH has been getting consistent paychecks, we've been able to keep our main living expenses down, and for now we are just cruising along with paying down these balances. We are quickly approaching the point where our 401K balances and our total level of debt are nearly the same. I expect that before the end of the third quarter we will be able to finally say we have more in the 401K than we have in outstanding debt (not including the mortgage). WOW! When I first started this process I thought that day would never come.
We managed to not charge anything on the credit cards until the medical bills started pouring in. Since they were coming from so many different places, I paid them all using the same card so I could keep track of things on my end and then focus on paying down the card balance. It also buys me a little bit of extra time to come up with the funds to pay the bills. But none of those charges hit the card until June, so I will talk about them then :)
In July we will have left-digit shifts on several of our larger accounts (student loans and car payment). Those are always fun milestones to pass. I really think June will be trying to tread water and not get too far backwards with the medical bills, but July should be good again with DH's larger quarterly paycheck. I've planned to just take my paid leave whenever I deliver Aubree and will go back to work when that is over, so we no longer have to budget for unpaid time off. Since we've nearly reached our OOP max on insurance, I forsee those expenses dropping off sharply soon. My parents have offered to help with funeral expenses if we need it, so it is nice to know that is available. I have discovered there are several funeral homes in the area that also donate services for infants and I may contact one of them to see if we are eligible. It kind of feels wrong to try & find something low-cost/take advantage of free resources (it's been beat into my head by YM that only lazy mooches look for handouts). But they offer, and we qualify, so we might as well. I do plan to pay for a photographer even though they have free ones available. I wanted to pick someone that I knew, who does great work, and would most likely be available. I've heard sad stories about NILMDTS not being available and families not getting pictures with their babies.
2013 start: $62,300.13
May 2013: $53,070.73
Total difference: $9,229.40
Not bad at all! DH has been getting consistent paychecks, we've been able to keep our main living expenses down, and for now we are just cruising along with paying down these balances. We are quickly approaching the point where our 401K balances and our total level of debt are nearly the same. I expect that before the end of the third quarter we will be able to finally say we have more in the 401K than we have in outstanding debt (not including the mortgage). WOW! When I first started this process I thought that day would never come.
We managed to not charge anything on the credit cards until the medical bills started pouring in. Since they were coming from so many different places, I paid them all using the same card so I could keep track of things on my end and then focus on paying down the card balance. It also buys me a little bit of extra time to come up with the funds to pay the bills. But none of those charges hit the card until June, so I will talk about them then :)
In July we will have left-digit shifts on several of our larger accounts (student loans and car payment). Those are always fun milestones to pass. I really think June will be trying to tread water and not get too far backwards with the medical bills, but July should be good again with DH's larger quarterly paycheck. I've planned to just take my paid leave whenever I deliver Aubree and will go back to work when that is over, so we no longer have to budget for unpaid time off. Since we've nearly reached our OOP max on insurance, I forsee those expenses dropping off sharply soon. My parents have offered to help with funeral expenses if we need it, so it is nice to know that is available. I have discovered there are several funeral homes in the area that also donate services for infants and I may contact one of them to see if we are eligible. It kind of feels wrong to try & find something low-cost/take advantage of free resources (it's been beat into my head by YM that only lazy mooches look for handouts). But they offer, and we qualify, so we might as well. I do plan to pay for a photographer even though they have free ones available. I wanted to pick someone that I knew, who does great work, and would most likely be available. I've heard sad stories about NILMDTS not being available and families not getting pictures with their babies.
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