Tax time

Tax time,,, some love it, some hate it. With 3 children we are in the stage of loving it because we always get money back. : ) This year turned out even better than we expected, and that is a good thing because I already have plans for this money. And believe it or not were not getting anything extravagant or unnecessary. The only questionable item is a dishwasher, but to me that was a necessity. Having 5 people in our family, plus childcare children and being home all day produces a lot of dishes! Plus we got a pretty good deal on it!

With our return we will be purchasing a used vehicle for Ben with cash (finally!) I'm really hoping we can find a good deal for him, I don't want to spend more than 3000 on one, but we also want something that is reliable for him. Then I will be able to set up my 1000 dollar emergency fund,(first step of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover). Then I am going to be able to totally pay off a credit card that has a pretty hefty amount on it and a ridiculous interest amount on it (then that card will be cut up and seen no more!) I have a medical bill that will get paid off also.

I am very excited to be able to do all of this. It really gonna help me get the ball rolling. From there then I can focus on the rest of the credit card debt, using the money I was paying on the CC that I paid off and putting it toward the next one on my list along with what I was already paying on that one! By using a website that you can calculate how long it will take you to pay off a card, I should be totally free by the beginning of 2012. It will probably be a lot sooner though because once we get the ball rolling and any extra money will go towards those debts, it probably wont take that long. It seems like a long way off but it will be totally worth it!

Now I just hope that nothing gets screwed up b4 now and the time we receive our refund. Something always seems to happen, but I'm thinking positive!

Childcare fun

So I am trying to find activities to keep the littles occupied and do fun things since we can't get outside. Last week we played around with my floor mat and made a house with it, the girls had a lot of fun with there imaginations in that. And this morning we dyed rice and played with it. That was a huge hit! These girl played for almost 2 hours in that rice and finally I told them we had to clean it up cause I needed to make lunch.

It really is a great activity, they loved the feel of it and scooping it up and pouring it into different containers, then we got out the little toy animals we have and they played with those in the rice. I think I will try different things like this,, maybe macaroni, dried beans,,,the possibilities are endless. Its a great sensory activity!