Chipping Away

The picture was my motto for this week. I have not had a week that has felt this long a while. It was just one thing after another.

To start the week, I saw the scale starting to get bigger. I decided to go on a sugar-free diet this week. This is really tough for me. I enjoyed having a coke for dessert each night. I no have not had a coke since last Saturday. The first two days were really tough, but now it is not too hard to forgo that night time dessert. Since I have cut out as much added sugar as possible, I have lost 5 pounds while running 4 days this week. Not too bad, but we will see if I can keep at it.

Next came our landscaping quote, $9,500!!! $3,300 for a 2ft retaining wall, $1,700 for sod, 500 for grading, and $2,000 for a paver stone walkway! I am leaving out the $2,250 for the spinkler system. We told him very specifically we were looking to spend $5,000 and that was it. Ugh, I am so frustrated about this. Our backyard is a disaster and we really need someone to come in and build us a wall and clean up everything.

Next came our jersey order for my school's soccer program. I ordered navy blue jerseys, shorts, and socks. The company sent me the right color jerseys and socks, but the wrong color shorts! They sent me black. I don't think navy tops and black shorts would look good together, so I am having to send them back when we start playing games on Monday! Ugh! (That may be my word for the week, sorry.)

Yesterday was pay day and a solid way to end the day. I paid our mortgage for the month, saved our bimonthly amount of $600 and paid $150 to student loans. You may be wondering why we are saving so much rather than paying it to loans. It is because we are saving for that rental property venture we are looking to purchase in the fall. We are in a position financially now that we do not sweat the end of the month. I am usually able to pay an additional $200 or so at that time to loans.

Lastly, my wife may be getting a new position at work, which comes with a new salary, which means a raise, which means more money to pay to debt and save. We are going to keep our fingers crossed for this. We should know something Thursday of this week. IF she does get it, we could expect to see a $9,000 raise a year. 

Enjoy your weekend! It looks to be beautiful here in Atlanta.