The Carter's Personal Finance Blog

I couldn't remember my password for a while but I finally figured it out.
I worked 14 hours yesterday and I have another 14 hour day today. Thank God, because I have $403 in medical bills to pay off now. I had a stupid little accident while babysitting and ended up in the ER. It's kind of funny looking back though. I've already paid off $140 of it today so I have $262 left to pay. Good thing I have the emergency fund that Dave Ramsey insists on! One of the people I babysit for owes me money from the last few times. I'm babysitting for her again all day today so I will remind her about it. I feel bad doing that though. She lost her job a couple weeks ago and now is working again at a better paying job (she's a nurse) So, that's why I didn't push it at the time.
My husband is almost done with his junior year of nursing school! He will be working full-time this summer and I should be getting more hours. On top of that, we are both taking classes this summer. I'm taking 2 and he's taking 1. Luckily I should be getting enough financial aid to covor our classes and books.
This summer we have a family trip to New England. My mother-in-law and sis-in-law have an event in Rhode Island and my family lives in Massachusetts so we figured we would all go together. I'm excited but it will be close to $1,000 for all three of us (me, husband, son) I also don't like flying at all but it's too far to drive.
AND our lease ends around that time so we need to do apartment searching soon. We are trying to downsize and save some on rent. We will probably look for a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom instead of 2/2. We just need it to get through May until Ethan graduates and hopefully gets a nursing job. We won't be staying with his parents like we talked about. I am big on saving money and all that but I honestly don't think it's worth it to stay there. It would be terrible for our marriage and probably miserable since we would all be cramped together. I would rather spend a little more now since it's only 10 months to get through. It's not how I usually feel about these things but my marriage/family is more important than the money this coming school year. plus they live far away from our schools/work.
I need to head to work now...........I will be back!

Ok so this is for everyone who shops online. If you order plane tickets online or anything else,(clothes, flowers, hotels..anything) this is great.

For anyone who doesn't know, shopathome.com is awesome! Most of the popular airline sites and stores are on here. (ex. southwest, cheaptickets, priceline, american eagle, old navy, target, walmart. etc)
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You also get a $5 bonus whenever you tell a friend about the site and they sign up and make a purchase!
So, please sign up if you shop online! and PLEASE use my e-mail in the friends e-mail box (for referreing you) when you sign up. It's lizsf2144@yahoo.com

you can click on the banner in my info section or go to shopathome.com

Ok so this is for everyone who shops online. If you order plane tickets online or anything else,(clothes, flowers, hotels..anything) this is great.

For anyone who doesn't know, shopathome.com is awesome! Most of the popular airline sites and stores are on here. (ex. southwest, cheaptickets, priceline, american eagle, old navy, target, walmart. etc)
You sign up for an account and you automatically get $5 credit! Everytime you shop through this site, you get a percentage back! I will be booking plane tickets soon and I will get 3-3.5% back. It credits your account and they mail you a check after your account reaches $20. It is aweseome and it's a great way to get some extra cash for shopping you will do anyway!
You also get a $5 bonus whenever you tell a friend about the site and they sign up and make a purchase!
So, please sign up if you shop online! and PLEASE use my e-mail in the friends e-mail box (for referreing you) when you sign up. It's lizsf2144@yahoo.com

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I need some advice on when to begin school again. I have my associates degree that I got in May 2007. I did not start school that fall because I was pregnant with my son. I had him in April 08 and took that year off in order to stay home with him. I planned on starting up again in Fall of 2009 but my husband was starting his junior year of college and got accepted into the nursing program. I decided to let him focus on that so I put my education on hold once again.
I have about 57 credits to go in order to get my bachelor's degree.

I have been accepted to Park University and am planning on doing the online program for business management. I can still transfer 9 more credits from a community college so I really wanted to take a couple classes over the summer.
I've already filled out all of the financial aid and applications and have transferred all of my transcripts..Everything is ready to go.

Here is my problem. My husband thinks it might be a little too stressful since he will be in his senior year of nursing. I don't think it will be too much of a problem since I will be doing online classes and have plenty of time to work on them. When I work, I nanny and have time to study if it's at night or when the kids are napping..But I work few hours since it's part time/as they need me.
I think taking classes now are a good idea because I can recieve plenty of financial aid this way. If I wait until my husband graduates, we will most likely be making too much money for financial aid. I don't want to drop thousands and thousands of dollars on something that I can get done SOONER for WAY less.

I will be taking 2 classes every 8 weeks and only have to go to campus for tests. I told my husband that if it is too stressful during that 8 weeks, I can cut down to 1 class every 8 weeks. and if THAT too is too much then I will take the next semester off until he is done with school and start up again the next semester since he will be done. That way if it is stressful we have a plan to reduce the stress AND I will still have at least 15 more credits out of the way. Which will still save us money in the long run.
I think it will work out and I can take full time each semester. But I know it could be too much and that would be our plan to fall back on.

I would like some feedback on this to help with my decision...thanks!

Ok so i'm giving up on the March challenge. I've driven almost 200 miles in a week! I drive to work and back and it's not really close..AND I had to drive to my husband's school and back because he forgot his book. So I am definitely giving up for the month. I am still keeping track of my miles and gas though.

I filled up right before the month began and I still have just under a 1/2 tank. I'm doing good as far as that goes. I haven't had to fill up yet. I spent $28.55 when I filled up and it's been 9 days.

I will keep track of it on here for the rest of the month but that's all I have for now.
My husband has spent $10.02 on gas so far this month. (I keep track of his also, for our budget)

This blog post will most likely be all over the place since I am giving a background of my story and sudden, huge interest in finance.
I've always been interested in writing budgets and staying out of debt, but now I am interested more than ever.
I am 24 years old, married to a nursing student and have a 22 month old boy.
At the start of the fall 2009 semester, we knew my husband would have to cut back his work hours and switch to 3 days a week. I am a nanny so that I can keep my son with me and also be a full-time mom. We weren't sure how we would make it with such a low income while my husband is in school.
I have an associates degree and am continuing for a bachelors in Business management. (starting in June or August).
Luckily, we had savings and financial aid for my husband. Unfortunately, we still had to take a couple student loans since he attends a private school and it's pretty expensive. We probably would have recieved more financial aid if my husband filled out his fafsa sooner. He got a late acceptance into the nursing pogram so we didn't even think he would be attending school that year. (He got his associates and then was put on a waiting list)
We were shocked when we found out he got a spot! He will finish up his junior year in may and work full-time during the summer. (hopefully in a hospital setting)
We are HOPING that we get a lot more financial aid for next semester since we applied so much sooner.
This January, my husband had to cut his work hours to two days a week. I've been working a couple different nanny jobs and it has worked out pretty good for us. We are extremely blessed to have a nice apartment and everything we need. (Thanks to savings and budgeting)
Enter, Dave Ramsey....I've heard of Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University but I never gave it too much thought...until I came across his tv show. I was instantly hooked! I began taking notes and recording his show everytime it was on. He really changed a lot of my views on personal finance. I'm currently reading a personal finance book and am so happy I discovered all of this.
I do a budget every month. I've paid off all of our credit card debt. (except for 1 that is 0% interest and will be paid off 2 years before the interest would begin since it's not a huge amount) I got a car a couple years back and I've been paying extra on my payments every month. If things go as planned my car will be paid off next fall which will be 2 years early.
We never want to finance a car again. We were very lucky to recently buy a new(er) car for my husband by saving up cash for it. We set a budget and stuck to it! We also set aside an emergency fund, and money towards our rent for the next 4 months until the end of our lease. We are working on cash budgets for the month to avoid using credit cards. I've taken most of mine out of my purse and haven't used an actual credit card in over a month probably. I don't plan on it either.
Thanks to Dave Ramsey and the books I'm reading, we are setting goals and sticking to them. We were also able to save for a lap top in cash which was very nice!
Ethan will graduate nursing school in May of next year. We plan on renting for at least a year and paying off 100% of student loans. (luckily they are not very high) I know things can happen in life that change plans but if I don't have a goal, I will never reach that goal. We also hope to save for a house that year too. All of my income will go into savings assuming everything goes as planned. We really want to have absolutely no debt, and 20% saved when we start looking at houses. We don't get a house until those goals are reached! I know he has about 10 years to pay back those loans but our goal is to have it done in ONE year!
There's so much more I could talk about but I feel like I'm typing a novel right now.
I guess I will break things down in my next blog.