Should we be taking a vacation?

The obvious answer to this question is no. Obviously.

But (didn't you just know that word was coming), our friends are getting married this summer close to where my husband grew up.  We booked our flight a couple of months ago with the intention of spending 10 days traveling in Canada and driving into the States.

We had a planned a route that would have us stay in hotels for about 7 nights and drive more than 1500 km. Which would be fun for us, we love taking road trips.  And it was already planned so we should just not go on the next vacation after that right?

We decided to pay the airline fee to change our tickets and only stay 5 days.  We would forgo the vacation to the States and just focus on the wedding and family.  We are both a little disappointed but it has the potential to save us $1500 that we just don't have to spend.  I mean we could spend that money and cut back our debt payments but that really be the most responsible thing to do.

We are serious about paying off this debt, and sacrificing vacation this year one way it's going to happen faster!

I think the important question is: what are you willing to sacrifice now so you can have a better future and don't have to sacrifice later?

Our Upside Down Car Loan

Earlier this year hubby and I bought a new(er) car replacing both of our vehicles with a vehicle that has never been in an accident but came with a bigger car loan.  At the time of signing the loan I felt my stomach turn a little, I knew it was too much but it seemed like the right this to do.  We now owe $29 000 on a car that isn’t worth as much.  Before we owed $12 000 on a car that wasn’t worth that much.

We talked about looking into selling the car and buying something smaller both in size and in the loan amount.  Today we went to a dealership who said our car was only worth about $19 000 to trade in.  Ouch.  That’s a hit of $10 000 since January?  Well not quite since we started this loan with negative equity.

I’ve been listening to Dave Ramsey’s pod cast a lot lately and one of his most common pieces of advice is to sell the car especially if you can’t pay it off in two years.  At first I didn’t take the advice so seriously, thinking we just got this car and we got it to keep it for a long time.  We also downsized to only one vehicle.  After a while of thinking and listening to Mr. Ramsey, I really started thinking selling might be the best option because at least it would leave us with a smaller loan to pay off even if we took a bit of a hit.

Here you can’t find a half decent car for less than about $10 000.  If we bought a $10 000 car and traded ours in for $19 000, we’d still end up with a $29 000 loan but with an older car.

Our other option is to work our butt’s off and pay off this car as soon as we can.  Sitting down and figuring out what our budget looks like, fingers crossed we can pay off the car by spring of 2015.  Much better than the spring of 2020 that our loan was for.

I think Dave Ramsey has good advice, but it doesn’t seem like it will work in our situation. The best thing I think for us to do is to call it a stupid mistake, keep the car, work our butts off and get it paid for and never finance a car again!

Where did the last year go?

Last time I looked up, it was summer time 2012, and now here it is, summertime 2013.

As I read back through my posts, it's obvious we haven't made the best financial decisions. Last summer, my hubby and I took on a huge renovation project that took all of our time, and all of our money.  We didn't plan well enough and we found ourselves back in the hole with a $12 000 line of credit.  Since our line of credit climbed that high, we've managed to pay it down to $6 600.

We also found ourselves in a position of owning a car that (due to an accident where we not at fault) was worth $6 000 and still owed $12 000.  We decided earlier this year to trade in both of our vehicles for what would could get and buy a new(er) vehicle.  At the time it seemed like a good idea, but now we have a $29 000 car loan to add onto our debt.  Hubby is still glad we bought a new(er) vehicle, and I am too, but I think it could have waited.  Our fuel consumption has gone down with this new vehicle, so we are at least saving money there.

We've gotten back on track and back on a budget and we will have the line of credit paid off by Halloween. We also plan to shorten our car loan to 2 years from 7 years and will hopefully have that paid off by spring 2015.

Every thing is a learning curve and while we were off track for awhile, I feel much better being on track again.

TTC Post #6 - Booked for an HSG

Just a short post to say I received a call today that I am booked for my HSG on June 17th.  It happens to be the same day and my hubby's semen analysis appointment.  This is stressing me out a bit because he can't drive and I am supposed to drive him to his appointment.

I am quite nervous for the appointment but I have blind faith that it is going to be ok!

TTC Post #5 - Our First Appointment at the Regional Fertility Clinic

Hubby and I had our first appointment at the Regional Fertility Clinic today.  I was really nervous and I didn't know what to expect.  We also were going to see a male doctor which made me nervous.  Turns out, our doctor is fabulous! He has an excellent "bedside manner" and a good sense of humour.  The clinic was extremely organized and we felt like we had enough time to ask questions and make sure we understood everything.  The doctor is sending us for more tests, Hubby is to have another semen analysis (test #3) and I am to have an HSG test.  Why do men get the better end of the stick?

From the test we got back today, Hubby's semen analysis is better than it was last time (woot!) and he thinks I have PCOS (boo!).

My OBGYN didn't think I had PCOS originally.  I do have some of the symptoms (not ovulating, irregular periods, trouble loosing weight) but not all of them (no extra hair, not overweight).  I'm nervous that this is going to be another road block in the road to getting pregnant, but I am happy that I have something a bit more concrete to research.

As for the HSG test, I am a bit nervous for that.  Most women who have had this say it's nothing, but one I know said it's extremely painful.  

Finger's crossed we can complete our tests and they go well!

TTC Post #4 - We Got Into the Regional Fertility Program!

Very exciting news!  We have an appointment at the Regional Fertility Program at the end of May!  I'm very excited and counting down the days till we go.

Fingers crossed it's going to help!

Hubby is Home From the Hospital

This has been one crazy week.  Hubby (who is not epileptic) had a seizure on Thursday night and ended up in the hospital!  He dislocated both of his shoulders and he broke three bones in his right shoulder which required surgery.

My work has been really good and luckily I am able to work from home this week while I take care of him.  It's going to be a long couple of  months recovery and once his shoulder heals, he still won't be able to drive.

His doctor thinks he will be off of work for three months - this is where emergency funds are really important!