We just paid for our son's fall college tuition. Boy, am I glad he chose to attend community college for the first two years. The entire fall bill came to about $1,750.00 as opposed to a traditional four year college, which would have cost cost $10,000 per semester. We still have to buy textbooks, but I'll search the net for those and compare the prices with the college's bookstore. He has continued to work part-time, but will have to cut down to three days per week (and maybe every other Saturday). We used our credit card to pay for the tuition, but we do have the money saved up and we'll pay for the bill in full and the credit card company will send me a $25.00 gift card to use at amazon.com. So far I have $75.00 in gift cards which I'll use for Christmas.

On another note... we did pay the car loan in full. When my son is done with paying us the loan we'll turn the title over to him. Someone made that suggestion on an earlier post. (Thank you): )

I finally made a list of our monthly expenses. The total amount is $5,778.00, which includes $550 to account for the summer months. We can cover these expenses with our take-home pay, and the $1,800.00 we make from the rental property will go towards savings (money market account,403B, Roth IRAs). I did not take into account what my husband makes doing extras at work because I'll use that for miscellaneous items such as Christmas, 1/12 of the mortgage payment and the many things my kids need during the year. My goal for September through June is to put away at least $12,000.

I want to see if I can cut down on some of the bills, such as electricity, phone and cable. Any money saved on those items will go on a vacation fund. I would like to visit Punta Cana, Dominican Republic next summer (all inclusive resort).

Ok guys I need some advice. You know that car loan my husband and I have (my son's car), well I think I want to pay off the loan. The reason? I can't stand to pay the interest on this loan, especially when I don't even make that much by keeping the money in the bank. If we pay off the car it would leave us with about 6 months of living expenses in savings. Should I pay the loan off, or should I sucked up and pay the interest and keep the money in the bank? My son will continue to give us $200.00 for the term of the loan. Your thoughts on this?

The August edition of Woman's Day has a quite a few articles on saving money. Check it out if you have a chance.

I wanted to share some of my favorite vacation pictures with you. Hope you like them!

Hi friends,

We just got back from vacation and had a great time. We came back with about $80.00. I'm looking forward to reading all the blogs I missed.


I MISSED YOU ALL!!!

We will be leaving on Monday on our 12 day vacation to Puerto Rico. I've been planning this vacation for quite sometime and I'm happy to say that all of our expenses are accounted for and nothing will be charged to our credit cards.

I'll miss you all, talk to you when I get back.