Debt Dumpers - 2017

OK, so I'm half genius, and half idiot.

I knew about the eclipse tomorrow, found out about it about 5 years ago. Been making plans since then to come see it in totality.

So, about 6 months ago, I cashed in some reward points to get a room. 3 months ago, I ordered the glasses so I could watch it. And while I was driving today, I started seeing signs and hearing radio ads talking about watch parties. So, I went online during a rest stop, and sure enough, the place I was planning to watch it from is having one - and they are already "sold out" on tickets to get into the city park and don't know that there will be enough extra parking places. So, I looked around some more, and finally found a place that says they will have plenty of room. It's just $20 a car and they will provide glasses.

So, I get to get up tomorrow from my hotel and instead of driving about 45 minutes, it's a 2 hour 15 minute drive to the viewing area.

On the plus side, the new spot is supposed to have totality for 2 minutes 39 seconds, so that is good.

Now I just need clear skies in central Missouri for my birthday!!! (I turn 15 on Monday. For the 3rd time).
 
It will be 86% here in Michigan, not a total eclipse, but I am still looking forward to it. :)
It's going to be 82% where I am. I ordered legit glasses from a vendor through Amazon (forget the company but it was on NASA's list) 2.5 weeks ago and just got them a few days ago! Paid $19.98 for two 5-packs. I'll send some home with my parents, bring a few to work and leave some for the kids and a couple extras in case any of their friends are over. I'll actually be in a meeting at the point of totality (or as close as it will get for us) but already told the meeting leader that I am going to take a short break to go see it.
 
And last Monday I wanted to buy eclipse glasses, but could not find them locally. I could only find legit ones online from eclipseglasses dot com, but they had a 25 item minimum at $4 each plus $20 shipping (to get them here in time). I decided to take the risk and order them. I only needed 2 pairs and planned to sell the other 23. Well, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Once I posted on Facebook to my local friends, they were gone in a flash. I just charged the cost, $4.80, but everyone rounded up to $5 even though I tried to give them the change. The extra $0.20 from each pair meant that we basically got one of ours for free. Turned out to be a good risk. And now we get to take a break from work tomorrow and watch the eclipse. It will be 86% here in Michigan, not a total eclipse, but I am still looking forward to it. :)

We're at 86% here too! All my coworkers are hoping there will be breaks in our courtrooms so they can get out to watch haha. I will be outside for it for sure. One of my coworkers found legit pairs of glasses at Wal-mart last week and picked up about 20 pairs for our office. DH's work are providing glasses. Looks like we'll have good weather here for it.
 


I'll be south of here for the eclipse, so driving away from the path of totality in the morning. Hoping the roads going that direction won't be bad tomorrow. It's not really a huge deal to me, but the friends I'll be with got a couple of pairs of glasses that the three of us can share. Maybe it'll be more impressive than I'm expecting! I think it will be at 91% where we'll be. ETA: Just looked it up and it will be 89.1%
 
Got to see the eclipse. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! Complete totality is SOOOO much more fun than a partial!! Had some worries at the beginning, looked like clouds were going to ruin it, but they stayed thin and I could see great!

April 8, 2024, just let me know if anyone wants to crash at my house. The one then should come through about 90 miles from me. I bet I can find a great place to see it from (home field advantage :))
 
Just got home - the eclipse was pretty cool to see - it didn't get dark out here, but it did get much less bright out and the temps cooled noticeably. The coolest thing to us was seeing the shadows of tree leaves on the ground with the eclipse showing in them. I'll try to post a pic later. The pics I tried to take with the eclipse glasses over my camera lens didn't show the eclipse at all so bummer on that, but it was really neat to watch the progress over the hour or two that it was occurring. A fun day all in all!
 


I wanted to watch it so bad. We were at 80% here. Dh is a welder so he brought us home lots of glass shields but I knew we'd be busy at work, and we were. I barely got a chance to look out the window. He sent me some pics because he works along a river with great view of the sky and they had a big eclipse party.
I absolutely am planning for 4.8.2024. 100% path will be through western PA so that isn't so far from us. Or maybe take a quickie flight to Pittsburgh then drive a bit.
It falls on a Monday so it would be a great long weekend trip. :hourglass
 
We had staff meeting early and made it shorter yesterday so that we could watch the eclipse. We walked out to a nice grassy area on campus that turned out to be a perfect spot. We got lucky because it was clear skies for the lead up and during maximum eclipse and then within just 2-3 minutes afterwards it became completely overcast. I really enjoyed watching and DH said he had a great time too. He said that they telecast the eclipse on the football stadium's jumbo-tron and he could see it from the his parking deck where he watched the eclipse. I think that is a pretty cool thing for people who didn't have glasses or a viewing box.

And then last night my boss emailed me and let me know that she decided to let my raise go through. I definitely feel happy that I addressed it with her directly rather than just trying to let it slide. In the email she said that she has been impressed with my work on a big project where I have been overseeing 5 contractors and that she has plans to increase my responsibilities on handling the contracts/grants process once I return from maternity leave.

The raise will start with my next month's paycheck so I will get 4 months of increased wages during this year. DH and I haven't discussed or decided how we want to use that extra money yet. I am thinking it might be good to sock away into our car maintenance fund, since it is still somewhat depleted from repairing DH's wagon earlier this year. Then starting in January, that money will get allocated mostly towards baby related expenses. We still don't know what DH's wage increase will look like, but unless it is unexpectedly large, it will probably just cover the increase in insurance costs for baby's health care.
 
OK, so I'm half genius, and half idiot.

I knew about the eclipse tomorrow, found out about it about 5 years ago. Been making plans since then to come see it in totality.

So, about 6 months ago, I cashed in some reward points to get a room. 3 months ago, I ordered the glasses so I could watch it. And while I was driving today, I started seeing signs and hearing radio ads talking about watch parties. So, I went online during a rest stop, and sure enough, the place I was planning to watch it from is having one - and they are already "sold out" on tickets to get into the city park and don't know that there will be enough extra parking places. So, I looked around some more, and finally found a place that says they will have plenty of room. It's just $20 a car and they will provide glasses.

So, I get to get up tomorrow from my hotel and instead of driving about 45 minutes, it's a 2 hour 15 minute drive to the viewing area.

On the plus side, the new spot is supposed to have totality for 2 minutes 39 seconds, so that is good.

Now I just need clear skies in central Missouri for my birthday!!! (I turn 15 on Monday. For the 3rd time).
How was it? Kind of cloudy here but still cool to see what we could.
Sorry...didn't see your post :)
 
I wanted to watch it so bad. We were at 80% here. Dh is a welder so he brought us home lots of glass shields but I knew we'd be busy at work, and we were. I barely got a chance to look out the window. He sent me some pics because he works along a river with great view of the sky and they had a big eclipse party.
I absolutely am planning for 4.8.2024. 100% path will be through western PA so that isn't so far from us. Or maybe take a quickie flight to Pittsburgh then drive a bit.
It falls on a Monday so it would be a great long weekend trip. :hourglass
My parents live in Maine and that's supposed to in the path for the next one, so maybe I'll have to visit them then.
 
We watched the eclipse from Epcot. It was awesome. It is hot hot hot here at WDW. We fly home next Tuesday.
Budget wise, I am using my Chase Freedom for extra points on food and the CSR for everything else. We rented a car so we went to Super Target in Kissimmee to stock up on snacks and water. I paid $5 for a large Dasani water yesterday and had to put a stop to that.

I was able to transfer $2,000 into savings last Friday since I've been very good at budgeting this month. Plan to start saving again aggressively since we have no more trips planned until next year.
 
August has been a month of self improvement for us! We each had a medical bill to pay so we cut into our emergency savings, but that'll be replenished next month with our bonus paycheck. We've really cut down on the going out to eat and the little things here and there that tend to make us spend! I've been trying to work at eating and making meals from what's been sitting around in our cupboard which is really helping. I really, really just want to be back at work. I may go back to my old retail job part time just to keep from losing my sanity (I had to leave my full time job at the beginning of my second tri due to workplace hazards). I miss working, I've never been without work (or school) so long in my life, but I think it'll be difficult to find something part time for only a few months- maybe something work from home or seasonal? Problem is baby's due at Thanksgiving... I imagine that's exactly the time of year they'd want me for.
 
August has been an expensive month here! DH and both his parents having birthdays so a bit of travel on top of gifts and the kids seem to need new everything's all at once. I had paid a bit ahead on the mortgage so just skipping my fortnightly transfer and that will more than cover it. Just waiting to see exactly how much I need to set aside for bills with the new car, the first few payments were adjusted so not 100% on the regular amounts til next pay cycle.
 
DH has been needing some new shoes for a bit. We got his current pair at least 3 years ago and they have been used on many, many walking/hiking trips plus everyday wear. And right before the cruise, he put them in the washing machine against my warnings. They are really falling apart now.

Well, the same pair is normally $145 and he has been waiting it out for a good deal. REI has their Labor Day sale on now. He ordered a pair from the REI Garage with an extra 20% discount. Savings of $61.50. And it was such a good price, he had me order 2 identical pairs so that he has one "waiting in the wings." I love when a good deal comes along to stretch our money a little further.
 
We need a second pair free or half price sale around here for runners! How 4 people in the house can need new ones all at the same time is some mystery, mine are 3hrs old (clearly I'm not sporty!) DD8'S a month old (wears them every day she can to school and for training g and game day), DD3 has just outgrown a pair I got her in Seattle in March, she outgrew her previous pair on the plane to the US because they fit fine when I packed! And DH has taken up running again so needs a new pair.

In better news, we will have money to pay for that, have all my new budget totals and even managed a $300 payment on our card we are paying down.
 
Back from Alaska :) had a nice time on the cruise, some nice family bonding for sure. Didn't spend much as my mom had covered the cruise, just our gas to get down there, half of the shuttle to the pork, gratuities, and a bit on drinks. Easily covered by the travel budget- yay!
 
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I'm ready for August to be over. Altinater in the car went out (after we spent $117 on a battery that we may not have actually needed). We were planning on taking that car to Orlando, so I'm seriously hoping it's an easy fix for hubby. It seems like every time we get a little bit ahead, something goes wrong to bring us back down.

I guess the silver lining is that all bills are paid, I got a few groceries, and have money for gas this check. Not much else (including the new part for car), but our next checks will have our bonuses on it, so we should be able to get our new part and I think I may have enough left over to get 2 of the 4 universal tickets we need for the trip.

5 weeks left until vacation. I'm so ready to go and relax and get it over with at the same time. Part of me kinda wishes we could just cancel going, but it's a huge family get together and I definitely don't want to miss out seeing everyone and everyone meeting the baby.
 
The baby shower was yesterday and it was great. It was a backyard BBQ at our house hosted by my friend and my mom. It was exactly what I had hoped for- a fun, casual co-ed get together with yummy food, great conversation and no silly games. We had a huge turnout and got lots of great gifts, which is so very appreciated. People seemed to have such a great time that it lasted longer than I thought, over 5 hours. And maybe most importantly, DH had an amazing time too. I am very happy that my only real request for the shower was that it be co-ed. It was genuinely lovely and so nice to celebrate baby's impending arrival with family and friends.

Later today we had our newborn care class, which was helpful. We practiced diapering, swaddling, holding the baby, etc. DH asked lots of questions. I feel like these classes are worth the time and money (though insurance covered the childbirth one) because it seems to make DH much more engaged. I have done lots of reading on my own, but he is less inclined to do that so the interactive classes benefit him much more.

We have started putting more of the baby items together too and getting our bedroom situated for baby's arrival. We found an amazing deal on a bassinet that I think will work even better than the one I had originally registered for because it is adjustable, has wheels and can be used up to a higher weigh limit.

We still have another shower at DH's office on Sept. 13 and after that we will start to purchase the rest of the immediately necessary items from our registry. The next month is going to be super busy between finishing up projects at work in anticipation of maternity leave, childbirth class and finishing prep for baby's arrival. It is hard to believe that it is just 47 more days until my due date!
 
The baby shower was yesterday and it was great. It was a backyard BBQ at our house hosted by my friend and my mom. It was exactly what I had hoped for- a fun, casual co-ed get together with yummy food, great conversation and no silly games. We had a huge turnout and got lots of great gifts, which is so very appreciated. People seemed to have such a great time that it lasted longer than I thought, over 5 hours. And maybe most importantly, DH had an amazing time too. I am very happy that my only real request for the shower was that it be co-ed. It was genuinely lovely and so nice to celebrate baby's impending arrival with family and friends.

Later today we had our newborn care class, which was helpful. We practiced diapering, swaddling, holding the baby, etc. DH asked lots of questions. I feel like these classes are worth the time and money (though insurance covered the childbirth one) because it seems to make DH much more engaged. I have done lots of reading on my own, but he is less inclined to do that so the interactive classes benefit him much more.

We have started putting more of the baby items together too and getting our bedroom situated for baby's arrival. We found an amazing deal on a bassinet that I think will work even better than the one I had originally registered for because it is adjustable, has wheels and can be used up to a higher weigh limit.

We still have another shower at DH's office on Sept. 13 and after that we will start to purchase the rest of the immediately necessary items from our registry. The next month is going to be super busy between finishing up projects at work in anticipation of maternity leave, childbirth class and finishing prep for baby's arrival. It is hard to believe that it is just 47 more days until my due date!

How exciting! Can't believe you're so close already!
 

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