House on the Ocean

May 12, 2018

House on the Ocean

Good Morning,

I had intended to spend more time typing up a blog about some of the things I have been thinking about lately but the more went by too quickly!

I mostly have thoughts about our new home and how everything will turn out. We've submitted the preliminary information for DR Horton's lender to try and prequalify us. The amount is more than what we were originally prequalified for.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we hear some good news back from the lender. We should get an email or phone call today or beginning of next week.

I can see us getting into a new home and I really love this space. It's a really open floor plan with a lot of space and in a nice community. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Today I should also be receiving my new work shoes! I finally broke down and bought some that will be specifically for Florida Eye. I am on my feet so much that I need better shoes.

I was also looking a little harder at my finances and I wanted to type a little bit about my plan for the next few months, to try and pay back the IRS and save money for the house.

It is definitely doable but I have to keep careful watch of my money.

The main money issue on my mind is still the IRS. That is $646 due to the IRS at the beginning of August.

So, my plan to pay that back is to take all of the cash that I get working at Cohen's and putting that directly into my savings. I CANNOT use it for anything else. Not a small coffee, not lunch, not groceries, it will go directly into my bank account at the end of the weekend.

If I follow this through, I will have $725 dollars by the 3rd weekend in July saved up. (This is not including if I double up on more Sundays than I have already planned into my schedule. I make $25 per day, on top of my hourly pay when go into Cohen's, so if I just save that up, I will have more than enough money to pay off the IRS by the due date.

Another option I have been looking into is donating plasma. It DOES NOT look like a fun experience. I think the clinic is severely under staffed and the original appt can take up to 4 hours!

HOWEVER, you make $50 every time you donate, and you can donate twice per week. That is an extra $400-$800 PER MONTH if Tim and I both donate. Pretty easy way to make money.

Although my finances vary a little depending on how many hours I get at Florida Eye, and if I work a full weekend at Cohen's, I make around 2100-2200 between the two jobs a month.

My bills, give or take $100, because my credit card bill I can pay more or less than $100 per month are around $1,303. I should have an extra 797-897 per month to take care of gas, food (I usually spend the most on food in the house).

That seems like a lot!? Where is all this money going? And, as a disclaimer, this is a calculation if everything goes as planned. I don't get cut hours or I don't leave early. This does not include the cash that I get at Cohen's either

So, with all of that being said, I have a few things I am going to try to do to help me save money for the IRS and for our new house.

Watch carefully how many groceries I am buying (I asked Tim to please help remind me)
SAVE all of the cash that I make at Cohen's and deposit it at the end of the weekend.
Use less than $100 on any given credit card (I have been great about this)
Try to keep my account balance above $50 (or more if possible) at any given time (between my savings and checking accounts)

As a side note on this, while we are applying for a mortgage, I didn't realize how important it was to have money regularly in your account and savings to show that you are capable of saving money. I absolutely cannot have any more overdrafts or get to a point where I am at $10 between pay check to pay check. I will be thinking about that even harder than before.

So, with all of that being said, I don't have exact pictures of the home we are looking at but there is the same model in other states with pictures up, so to give an idea: