The holidays always do it, with a surprise gift from my husband, our budget took a nose dive. We have just enough to pay all the bills, but over the next few weeks it is going to be tight. If it were not for the fact that Joseph gets paid weekly we probably wouldn’t be able to pay rent on time. Our savings is empty and a few things are in the red, but we should be able to fix it fairly quickly with my checks and his.

All this means we will not be getting a new couch this month, we will probably do it with our tax return, I cant wait! The couch we have is making the whole living room look bad! Joseph wants to also use the tax refund money to get me a used car, which I like the idea of but hate the idea of spending so much money!

I finally got the budget all ironed out, but before I got it fixed I was super worried and actually checked out this place, ThinkCash, that is similar to a payday loan company, only the interest rates are super low and not a huge rip off like the others. My ex-husband and I used to live off of payday loans, it was sad, we would pay one loan with another loan and on and on until we finally got it paid up.

This place offers installment loans of $250- $2500. You can get it on the next business day and you don’t have to do all that faxing crap. I am hopeful that we will not ever have to do those again, but it is nice to know that the option is there if we need it, like a backup. You have to be careful with these though, otherwise you can get into the same trap my ex-hubby and I were in, we ended up spending the whole tax return on paying off those loans. Right now my hubby and I are debt free, minus 150 owed to bell south, but that will be paid by the middle of next month.

He wants to put 2 grand down on a used car and finance the rest, but that scares me, having a car payment and having to get full insurance coverage, that is 2 more bills added to the pile, scary! But having a second car would be smart, if something happens to the truck right now we would be in trouble! And having my own car means I can go back to college and be able to work at coffee shops and such.

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I am officially sick, thanks Tiffanie! I have been denying it for a day or so, repeating the mantra “I’m not getting sick, I’m not getting sick!” I’m sick! Fever, can’t keep anything down, tired, hot flashes, and migraines….. I just hope Joseph doesn’t catch it, we cant afford for him to miss work!

Eating an orange and drinking OJ, hoping to kick this quickly! I hate being sick, but doesn’t everyone!

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Announcing, Caffeine-Overload.com/, I have been working on it for a few weeks off and on, but as of today it is live and ready for your eyes! While it is still in it’s baby form, I have a lot of work to do on it, getting plugins working and such.

Head on over and let me know what you think. This is going to be a fun blog to update!

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Worry no more, heck, in this town we have 8 glass repair shops, all vary in prices! Yet we only have 1 walmart and a sad pitiful mall! Anyway, if you check http://www.glass.netand give them the details of your car they will list the top three in your area with prices and insurance information. Kinda like getting an insurance quote. When we had the Buick (I hated that car!) we had to call around and my goodness, the prices varied by a hundred dollars or more! We have a small crack in the windshield of the truck but I don’t think it is nearly big enough to have to replace it yet.

Hopefully at tax time I will be getting my own ride, so I don’t have to take Joseph to work when I have an appointment! I cant wait! We are thinking about a Honda Civic- like a 2003 or so would be perfect! Once I get a car though I am gonna want a lap top so I can get out of the house and work, maybe at the lake or a coffee shop, just out of the house somewhere! My friend Tiffy might start blogging soon and it would be cool to get together with her and work at the beach or something once in a while!

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With the holiday season ending, it is a perfect time to redecorate your home. This process does not have to be expensive, you just need to follow a few guidelines and be creative and you can decorate a whole room for just a little money. Creativity is key!

First you need to know where to start, and make a plan you can stick to, for example, picking colors, style and formality. Do you want it brightly colored, relaxed, or very formal and fancy? What about casual and rosy? Now is the time to decide each rooms purpose, i.e. eating, sleeping, relaxing, etc. Make sure the purpose fits your family.

Starting with color, you know what your favorite color is, if you just dont know how to use it look at a few magazines and television shows for ideas. If nothing else, pick your favorite color and tone it down with some white to make a background.

Secondly, what style do you love? Western, romance, farmhouse, Eastern, etc. Some people like it a bit eclectic, which is a mix of several styles. Whatever you like is fine, just be sure to have a focal point in every room to help place everything else. For each room pick what feel you want, rich and worm, or bright and sunny.

Be sure if you like casual styles not to decorate formally, you will never feel comfortable if you cant relax, and vise versa on a casual look if you prefer formal.

You can easily change a room with flat sheets, use them as curtains, chair covers, valances, and so much more. They are affordable and most look very nice. Use paint to make mismatched furniture match. You can transform a room of mismatched furniture into a haven of comfort with a little paint and good use of color. For a small dark room, paint the walls with a light pastel color, you won’t believe the diffrence it makes!

For new furniture check flea markets, salvation army places, garage sales, and even online. Check online stores and ebay, you can often find something over half off online. You can even make some of the accents yourself from supplies at a craft store or your own hobbies.

By utilizing some of these ideas you will be able to creat a beautiful room that didn’t break the budget and you can have fun with it by being creative and cheap!

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