Oh how things have changed!

Well, leave me away for a couple months and it's amazing how many things change! My hubby and I are offically homeowners now. So many things just fell into place, and it's been wonderful. We got the keys November 30th to our home... 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, awesome yard, and it's ours! It needed some work, and while my mom wasn't able to contribute to the downpayment at all (we did finance 100%), she helped in so many other ways... she bought all the paint for the house (we had to paint the whole place), new carpet in the family room and bedrooms, and she gave us beautiful hardwood floors to install in the kitchen, dining room, entry way, and hallway. My dad brought a bottle of champagne; it's amazing how different they are! Regardless, we couldn't be more estatic!!

Money has been interesting. As if now having a mortgage to take care of, I was laid off from my job in November (actually, my last night was the night before we got the keys to the house). They're pretty sure I'll start working again as soon as things pick up, but honestly, I'm not sure when that is going to happen. On the upside, work is continuing to pay for our internet and I did get to keep my computer. The whole month of December I was able to still get money flowing (severance pay and my vacation hours), and I'm now collecting unemployment while I figure out what to do. In addition, a good friend of the hubby's is living with us and giving us $400 a month to contribute towards bills (in addition to him buying most of the groceries and cooking dinners almost every night!). AND, I've started baby-sitting a friend's children two days a work. We'll see! :)

I need to sit down and come up with a new budget again. As expected, we have experienced many new costs in owning the house, and there have been plenty of things that we've had to charge. If memory serves, our credit card debt is back up, but not quite the highest it's ever been. The reason is we had to buy a new refridgerator for the house, and while we did have some money saved (about $2,000) I decided to charge it at a promotional interest rate and save the money incase we need it (car payments, etc.). So far so good, and I think we're doing okay!

I'll do some good old fashion number crunching here in the next couple days and start a new budget. I still can't believe this house is OURS! :O)