I went to open an account on Tuesday morning with Ally bank. I have a couple at ING but don’t want to keep all my eggs in one basket. I am the type of person who has a separate account for everything, especially those pesky bills that creep up every 3 or 6 months. Anyway, back to my story, it said that they couldn’t complete my request online and that I had to call them. So I called them and spoke to customer service. She was not able to help me. All she could do was take my account out of pended status and send it to the review department. They will call me in 3-5 business days. When I asked what the problem was, she said she doesn’t know and that there may not be any problem. I’m all for account verification but to have to call them, just to get my account moved to review status so that they can call me back is a little annoying.
On another topic, I tried to apply for a new credit card just to see what would happen. I’m a firm believer of having at least two credit cards, in case one is stolen or lost, etc… but I got the whole we have pended your application. Which in the past means you were not approved. That’s okay though, I figured it was worth a shot.
I’m done with Christmas shopping. I came in under budget so I’m really happy. That will goto the car repair we just got hit with. The bearings on my wife’s car went out and need to be replaced. That is $700 I wasn’t expecting, but that’s why you have emergency fund. But that is about all I got. I will write more later.

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...
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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.
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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.