So far...

So far this month are doing really well. John and I were so excited to find out that when the pay check came this month, the balance WAS several hundred more than the deposit. Normally there is a few dollars more (or less if we went into the over draft). It seems like we have so much more money, but really, nothing has change but our way of thinking. It's crazy how much more money you can have (or think you have) when you just pay attention to where it is going. We are on track to have I think $700 extra this month. Wow! It kills me to think that there were times in the past that we could have been more conscious in our spending and not be in this mess.
There have been so many blessing in our lives since we made the decision to really buckle down and stick to our plan. I have had a friend call out of the blue and offer me a bag of flour and laundry soap on two separate occasions. I have had friends call and give me money saving tips and places to learn how to save money. We are getting more back in taxes than ever before, and the refinance on the house has had blessing after blessing show up. There was a Monday that I got a rebate check in the mail for almost the same amount that I had paid to my church the day before. This has been such an amazing experience already. Thank you to everyone that is lending their support to us.
Last week we went to the closing and that was so crazy. I guess the company that is doing it is very particular about your signature being the same and NO mistakes. I thought I was going to need a drink afterwards I was so stressed. At one point, John wrote the wrong date and you could just see the color leave his face. Luckily the lady had an extra copy of that sheet, otherwise, we would have had to set up a new closing and start over again. No pressure, right!?! As we went over the fees she kept commenting on how good our rate was, how low the fees were and could not believe how lucky we were. Luck, no, blessed, YES!
I had been going through the storage room the week before and pulled out some papers that John needed to go through. In that pile was paperwork from our last closing that would give us a 40% discount if we used them within so many years, blah, blah, blah. Well, we were so close to everything being finalized that if he would have waited even one more day, it would have been too late. We also locked our rate in at 4.875 just before it went up again.
As we were finishing she reminded us that we would not have a payment due until April, yes APRIL!!! We just looked at each other and smiled. (I know John was thinking DISNEYLAND) Well, after all is said and done, we will be paying only $22 more a month after combining our equity line and mortgage, pay off a CC that we used to finish our house projects and free up almost 300.00 more a month to pay on our student loans! Not to mention the extra money that we will have each paycheck for changing our deductions! THIS FEELS SO GOOD TO BE IN CONTROL!
Wow, hows that for numbers!