PW

I often lurk on this board and enjoy what you all have to share but I do not contribute because I don't know what to say. I used to be a frequent contributor a few years back because I was single and had 60K in debts that desperately needed support and accountability on daily basis (mostly under my old name gruntina). Now my financial life scenario is completely different. While I don't budget to the penny, I work within a reasonable guideline and am still debt free. I know this is all going to change when our little one makes his or her arrival sometimes in September.

I desire to have some sort of budget for the baby but it is really hard for me to understand what I need to do without experiences. I will be on maternity leave between 4-6 months and then I will have to return to work so daycare cost is definitely in the plan. I am just not sure how much everything cost (I know I am in for some rude awakening!) Part of it is that I am in some sort of naive denial that I am actually going to become a mom. This baby is planned but it was quite a journey to reach this point so it will still not feel real until I hold my baby in my arms.

This weekend I will start a new category on Nursery and Baby Gears to track my costs, frugal ideas and some snapshots of my progress. I think this is a baby step that will help me get blogging again and do some money minded exercises so I don't get too lazy and overspend.

It's been too long since I last visit this site. Everything looks different! It is so good to see many familiar names on here still. Hello to you all that may remember me.For those who may not remember me, I was also under the name "Gruntina".

Financially we done good and stayed on track lately but that will soon change.I anticipate financial changes coming up as I am now halfway through my pregnancy. My DH and I are super excited for this little one. We can't afford to be a stay-at-home mom and daycare cost is going to be a challenge (especially in the S.F. Bay area with high cost services). But, it all will be worth it.

I look forward to participating on this site again and hearing from you all.

With my recent moved into to a townhouse in the city from a house in the mountain, utilities expenses are very different.

The house runs on two wood burning fireplaces with no heater or a/c. Kitchen appliance, stovetop and shower runs on propane gas and the remainder was electricity. Our huge yard was often watered and plants maintained which was another expense. Propane in that area is significantly more expensive than natural gas and natural gas was not accessible in that area.

The Townhouse runs on both natural gas and electricity. We have a central heating system with air conditioning. There is no yard but we have a nice patio and a good size balcony. We dug up some of our favorite plants and potted them for our new place.

I expected for our PG&E bill to be much higher now than before but then again we will not have any crazy sky high propane bills. Unfortunately, the first month here at our new place, we had over used the electricity due to a faulty laundry dryer timer. The first time we used it, the machine ran all night long after discovering it never turned itself off in the morning. This happened two more times later due to forgetfulness. Thank goodness hubby replaced a new working timer in the dryer.

It is still too early to tell what our average bill will be for budgeting purpose but at least we tracking it.

Sorry! This is a long post since its been way too long since I last posted and so much have happened in such a short time. Finance was the last thing on my mind in the past few months and now I am finally settled and breathing again, I realize I am lost and really not sure where I stand!

Not sure where to begin but basically I am cleaning and sorting up my finance along with dealing with some major lifestyle changes.

Some of you may or may not remember, our house in the mountains was falling apart and had very serious damage that were beyond what we could afford to repair or fix ourselves.

To make a long story short, we moved into a 4 year old townhouse in the city that needs absolutely no repairs! It’s a very beautiful home and I often have to pinch myself that I actually live here.

Unfortunately, we do have a balance from an equity loan from our old house that we have to pay off. About 12K so that is a debt we now are trying to pay off.

In the same month of moving, I had a miscarriage. I tried to keep my mind off of that by shopping and searching for furniture and home accents to fill my new place with. While I have not spent much money, I do have a bad case of wanting so many things that I cannot afford and feel very discouraged. Even the stuff to diy cost too much in supplies. Also, going from a house with 1 acres of land into a townhouse with no yard, I am finding it weird not knowing what to do with my spare time now that I can not garden and hang out in the yard.

I need to focus on what is important again, pay off my debt and better tracking of outgoing and incoming expenses (much harder now that hubby pay varies each week), and add another bucket in my savings for home stuff.

I feel overwhelmed right now! I hope by blogging here more often, I can visualize my plans and goals better, be motivated to actively achieve them.

Thanks for letting me get this out of my system!

It's been awhile since I last blogged. Life is definitely not calm right now!

Work is a mess! I am at a point of not eating or sleeping because of the turmoil that is going on. It is mostly because the strategy that my manager had in mind was not well thought out and yet I get all the pressure and have to bear the brunt of it all. I am not sure how and I can not wait for this to pass! What a yucky feeling. So far I have lost at least 5 pounds this week. At least it is a jump start to my weight loss goals.

Home - Well the house is falling apart and it just not worth paying to get it fix as paying for the damages will cost just as much as the house cost itself.

Family - I miss them terribly! They are out of state and hard to reach.

School - With what is going on at work and the house, I am finding that I am not concentrating or even care in that matter. I hope I can relax enough to catch up.

Money - Well how funny! We are saving more than we ever have. This is probably, due to my lack of desires to go out at this point. Though I did buy a few dresses to spice up my wardrobe in hope to make myself feel better or at least look like I feel better.

Sorry for the rant! I just had to get it out of my system. I know this is just a bend in the road and at some point the road will get smoother. It just hard sometimes.

I do read your blogs and they make the day go by faster or at least put in some sanity in my mind. It just hard for me to talk and I am in hope that this blog is a starting point for me not to keep holding it all in to myself much longer.

I am still here...I been at home with a severe sprained ankle! It just happens to be my right ankle which limits my transportation opportunities. I went hiking last Sunday and somehow landed my foot wrong. At least I can telecommunicate from home for work for now and I am practically confined to a table where I can keep my foot up.

There has been heartbreaking news lately and I am finding I am still not ready to share with anyone just yet.

Somehow I still am taking each day one at a time and keep on smiling.

I enjoy reading all of your blogs lately and it has been a good distraction from the pain.

Some of you may know that I went back to school for Business to solidify my career at work. I also get tuition reimbursement from my work when I major a field that is for my position.

I did really well last semester getting an A in Intro to BUSN and a B in English Comp. I felt a great sense of accomplishment and was so ready to continue. I registered for two classes in the spring 2009 semester (BUSN Laws and (Statistics).

I was disappointed that my spring semester did not actually start until February. This seemed like a long time to wait and then I discovered that the college had a winter session as well. Well, I decided to enroll myself in the online course Macroeconomic. A 16 weeks course program condensed into 3 and half weeks! I knew it was ambitious goal. I was thinking that when I took the two courses last semester, I still had plenty of down time after studying and stuff so I would be able to handle this.

I find the macroeconomic course is extremely tough to understand, especially in a face pace course with no time to ask instructor for questions. A bit embarrassed but I confided to my instructor. He is willing to give me an I for incomplete which means I can retake the class that is 16 weeks long and my grade for that class will replace the incomplete status. This would not hurt my GPA but I have to retake the course within I year or the incomplete status will convert to an F.

This also means that I do not get reimbursed for the winter course because I will not be getting a grade. So it was a lesson learned for me. I believe I took on too much because of my fear of not succeeding or finishing school. Irony is that I set myself up for failure. I think I was trying to make up for lost times and was rushing into things without thinking things out thoroughly.

Now it is time for me to dust myself off to try again and keep on going but with a reasonable pace going forward.