We are consistently lowering our bills thus far.  We have changed from cable internet and tv to our local phone company which is dsl and dishnetwork.  This change is a savings of 50.00 a month in our tv/internet bill.

I am also planning on cancelling netflix as well and that will be an additional 20.00 saved.   With our new tv/internet plan it won’t be necessary for us to have additonal movies with netflix.

When our cell phone contract come due in March of 2009 we plan on not continuing our cell phone plan for several months this will save us about 100.00 per month.  We are going to try and see how long we can get along without our cell phone.

At the moment we have stopped our debt repayment plan and are concentrating on building up our savings.  We have found this necessary as when unexpected expenses come up we don’t want to have to run to the credit cards.  We don’t want to add anymore to our current debt as we have made a dent in it so to speak. 

 Recently my husband found out he owes his company 800.00 from a company move they did for us over two years ago.  They have agreed to allow us to pay it back at 50.00 a month with 5.0% interest.  I am so aggravated at this new debt, but there was no way to avoid it, we just have to pay it.  We are glad we get to pay it back slowly because we are no where ready to pay it all up front.  We also had some necessary dental work which added another 500.00 to our debt, this will be paid off in small chunks.  We are doing all we can to stop spending but it comes back to those unexpected bills, those are the ones that are making it hard for us to dig our way out of the hole.  I tell my husband it is like trying to dig a hole at the beach the more one digs the more sand falls in.

Oh and dare I forget our fridge is still broken but it still keeps food cold thank goodness.  It is creating a big piece of ice in the freezer which I have to take out about every few days to keep water from spilling out onto the floor.  We paid 200.00 just two months ago to fix it and it appears to have broken again.  Fixing it again would require another 200.00, at that rate it is almost better to replace it.

And the story shall continue on till we are debt free……

The budget or spending plan whatever you choose to call it has become a big topic of discussion in our home.  It is a work in progress,  I am doing my best to keep us afloat. 

Hubby is now helping me with it and is painfully aware of what come in and what goes out financially.  I believe between the two of us we can make it work.

Since I last blogged I have started working for another work at home company called ACD Direct.  I have been with LIveOPs for a little over a year, but wasn’t working many hours with them.  I now have a renewed goal to put in more hours with LiveOps.  I also am enjoying working for ACD Direct.  I have new hope in that I can make some monies to help my family.

I will be posting more updates soon, so much to post on it is a bit overwhelming to me.

Today is the last day I am babysitting the children.  The family has decided to take the children to grandma’s an 1 1/2 hr. drive  each day.  I think it added up really fast for them money wise.

I am glad and I am not glad for the following reasons.  They really used me to the max during these last four weeks.  They cut hours as they needed to reduce the fees, but I never knew when they were coming or not.  I was not able to plan my day as I had to be waiting to see if they showed up at my door.  A few times I was asked to watch the children till 7pm which really created a mess for our evening family time.  One time I was asked till 8pm but I said I couldn’t that was too much for our family.

The children were sick one week and they still brought them to me.  The little girl had yellow/green mucus, a sure sign of infection.  These parents didn’t even take her to the doctor.  They said she is always sick and they just let it run it’s course.  I told them I couldn’t watch a sick child, because I had to think of my family.  If they get sick I have to go thru difficult days while they get better.  If I get sick, I will be out of commission and can’t watch their kids.  If my husband gets sick he has to miss work.  All in all not a good scenario.  One of the reasons they are taking her to grandma besides money is that grandma will watch her when she is sick.

I think that is the best scenario for this particular family.  Grandma will be at their beck and call, will watch sick children and best of all she is free.

I will miss the little extra income but fortunately it isn’t needed to make ends meet.  I will try to find another family that needs my help, but not in any particular hurry 🙂