This last weekend we started our Thanksgiving shopping. We decided to hit any store with sales on it. One grocery store we spent $70.00 and actually managed to save $69.00 between the savings and coupons. Our 17 pound turkey was only 7.50. Gotta love the sales. Another store we thought we would do well in, really hurt our food budget. I'm still not sure why we went there but the DW thought there would be good deals. I'm glad that she finally accepted coupon use (she used to make fun of me) and now considers it a challenge to see how much she can get each week while staying within her budget. I think in the new year I will start keeping a spreadsheet for weekly savings just so we can see how much we save each month with the sales, etc...
*****************************************************
I started my Christmas shopping already, and got some good deals. buy one movie get one free, and the movie was on sale. I'm going to shop online on Thursday and Friday, but am not leaving the house. I have a very strict budget for gifts. The only thing that stinks is my son's birthday and my wife's birthday are in December. I have no idea what to get the wife.
******************************************************
I decided i am going to start a Christmas checking account at ING or Ally for next year. This way I don't have to transfer the money, and wait for it to hit my account. I can just bill pay my credit card right from the account. I use my card for everything, because I get cash back. I've done the research on the two banks, just can't decide which one would be better.
Otherwise it is pretty quiet. I have a short week, (grateful for that) of course my kid and wife are off Wednesday until Monday. I only get Thur to Mon off. Oh well. I will write more later.

Since it's been awhile I thought I would give a quick update.

The job is doing well, and I still really like it. I finally have the insurance. I already have to go thru open enrollment. We are going to get an HDHP. This way I can put my whole family on it for $100 a month. Right now my wife alone is paying $250 a month and I'm $160 with my son on my plan. It is a $3000 deductible, but that is all. We are going to save about $6000 a year between deductible, coinsurance and premiums. So we will put some of that money into the HSA.

I am going to roll over my 401k from a previous employer to my current employer. Gotta love it. The jokers from my previous 401k want $95 just for sending my money to someone else. I remember when companies actually did stuff for free. For the record I'm not saying they shouldn't be paid for their services. But isn't that why I pay a monthly fee out of my 401k. Oh well what can I do. Not like I can say no.

Our bankruptcy finally got discharged two weeks ago on 10/28. Means we start with a clean slate. It's not closed yet and won't be because we have a land contract that we collect money on each money and also because I have a pending lawsuit against someone. But our debts are wiped out, so I'm happy. Out of all my creditors only two filed claims against our assets. So we are really happy about that. They weren't even the largest creditors either.

It amazes me how fast the credit card companies start sending you new credit card offers. My wife had 3 the other day to help her rebuild credit. They know you can't file again for seven years. I had a card survive the bankruptcy intact so that was good.

Now that we don't have any debt we are saving up for medical expenses so that we don't start in the hole right away if we have to goto the doctor on the new insurance and so we can find out own place to live. While living with my parents has been a blessing, I'm tired of it and want out.

Other than that it has been relatively quiet on the homefront. I'll update later.

My wife and I had our 341 hearing for our bankruptcy today. It went better than we expected, and much better than the first guy. He and his lawyer got ripped because only he was filing bankruptcy, but all the money went into the wife's name recently. The trustee didn't like that. Anyway, when it was our turn, he just asked some questions, asked if we wanted to make an offer for the land lease and then take the payments back. (he wants nothing to do with it). He congratulated me on my job. When I told him what I do he said well, you won't get rich doing that. You can go have a good day. So now we start the 60 day clock. It was amazingly easy.

My job is going very well. I finally finished orientation. I've been there a week now, and have actually only worked my position for about 12 hours of it. We get unlimited overtime, so I am going to start working as much as I can. We need the money. It drives my wife nuts, because my workaholic nature kicked in.

Speaking of my wife, she had her second interview at the same hospital yesterday. They said she did well and the director likes her, so we will see what happens. They will let her know by the end of the week. But we will see if that happens.

My kid starts school next week, and we can't wait. Maybe our food bill and the electricity we pay will go down, since no one will be home during the day anymore. That would be a huge help.

Anyway, that is just a quick update.

Today has been eventful. We went to register my son for high school. He is going to be a freshman this year. We had to pay 161.00 to register him. Of course some of that is because he had to pick classes that required him to pay extra to take the class. I guess public school isn't that cheap anymore.

We had some extra cash come in the other day. That was a nice surprise. We were actually able to pay off my car repair as well as put a few hundred dollars away for the future.

And the big news. I finally got a job. After all the health crap and financial stuff, I finally got a job. And it is something I want to be doing. I get to work in a hospital doing billing. I start Monday. I just have to pass the physical tomorrow. I'm sure I will get popped for my weight, otherwise I hope everything else goes well. Of course this could throw a wrench in my bankruptcy, but I am not going to miss an opportunity to make money just to make bankruptcy go smoothly. But it shouldn't do to much damage, the creditors are already going to get almost 100% of their money, between my health lawsuit and our land lease contract that we get paid each month. I am so excited. I can't wait.

Just got back from my brother's wedding in Chicago. I was in the party which was a blast except for the insane heat and humidity but I would do it in again in a heartbeat. It was of course one of those weddings that is a four day event. Which when you aren't filing bankruptcy and have a job is okay, but when you are broke off your arse, it gets a little tougher. Luckily we knew it was coming so we were able to save some money up for the event. Of course, having my parents step up and pay for the hotel and train tickets saved us about 600 dollars. So that was nice. I will say watching the people driving in Chicago remind me a lot of Vegas. Crazy arse people.

It would be nice if the freaking state would send us our refund. (our tax guy messed up and we had to amend our returns) So now instead of getting a refund, we have been getting letters that we owe almost $800 dollars. I have been calling and sending letters but they don't seem to care. If it is dealt with soon, I am going to throw it on the tax guys desk, and tell him you frakked it up, you spend the time fixing it, I'm done. That would be more money to put into an EF (If I ever get to start it).

My wife got told right before we left that she will be unable to work for 10 days because the doctor she works for is going on vacation. She will probably file for partial unemployment (he suggested it). She has vacation to use, but that PTO also includes her holiday pay, so if she uses it now she has nothing left for the holidays. I told her once I get some money it might be time to find a new job. Her hours are to erratic. 40 hours one week 30 the next making it hard to budget stuff. So when she goes back to work I will probably try to start an emergency fund with money we have left from the wedding and living.
And of course her cell phone died sunday night, but we had an extra one laying around that the verizon people were nice enough to switch phone number and let her use so that saved us from having to come up with a crapload of money.

On another note, we got $6.00 worth of coupons from Hershey's on any of their products. I complained when I found a piece of hair in some Twizzlers I ate. So that is good at least.

The last couple of days has been okay. Lets see. We got my son's high school enrollment stuff. He got the classes he wanted which was great but now we have to come up with $165 just to start for the classes. We get to pay for the privilege of taking the class as well as any of the supplies needed. They must be preparing for getting hosed at colleges on expenses. oh well. We also found out his health insurance premium is going up $50 a month. He is on his own plan because it is a hell of a lot cheaper. To put him on my wife's policy we would actually have to PAY her company each month for the privilege of health insurance. Luckily the insurance we figured was going to go up so we budgeted for it.

The bank found out we filed bankruptcy (we knew they would) and so they closed her zero balance credit card (we knew they would do that to) but it sucks they took all the points she had earned including bonus points. Oh well. We only wanted it so if we had to rent a car or something then we could without getting screwed on a bank hold. The attorney said they may or may not close it. Up to the bank.

I am going to try and start saving for an emergency fund. I don't know whether to open an account at someplace like ING or do the local credit union. I'm thinking it would be just a savings account. However, eventually I would like to open a medical savings plan, (maybe put a checking account with it) since we keep getting surprised by medical crap. So I'm leaning towards the credit union. Maybe I'll post the idea in the forum and see what they say. Before you ask our current banks is one of those that require a minimum each month in savings or they charge you a fee. Well a fee to hold my own money when they get the privilege of using it at little to no interest is against my standards. Actually, it just really pisses me off.

Okay I'm done for now. I'm sure there will be something later.