As we are done with expenses for the month (Any "surprises" would come out of our emergency fund.) I found an extra $200 to put towards school loans for the month above the $250 we're already paying.

I also have enough cash to pay for the summer session of school and am working on saving up enough to pay cash for the fall semester.

We've also been saving regularly towarsd our Roth IRA. Not to the maximum, but right now that's not something we can do, as the budget is too tight.

If we can keep up this great pace and put 90% of my take home pay (after school gets out) towards paying off debt, we'll be done in less than 5 years from now. That's a great feeling.

We managed to save enough to pay for summer tuition in cash this coming year!

DH decided I should take the tax refund (yes, I know this is a free loan to the government..) and use it to pay for an international rotation next year for school. Something I've always wanted to do, but isn't real high up on DH's list for joining me. So it looks like next year I'll be going abroad for a month! It's one of my dreams and right now I am still in shock that I'll be able to do it.

Well the last two weeks have been tough with school and I haven't even hit our major midterm tests (3 more weeks). I've fallen behind in trying to make contributions to our Roth accounts. I've fallen behind in the housework. Even worse I am struggling with getting all this information organized and somehow crammed into my brain. They say there's still room.. but somehow I am doubting it. I've never been good at memorizing things -- concepts great. Memorization. Ugh.

However, I also haven't had time to buy anything! Our spending is about the same as it was two weeks ago. Going to do a couple store runs this week, but it's almost getting harder to find stuff we need and spend the grocery money. As I've been shopping sales with coupons, we've been stocking up. If I bring home any more pasta, DH would kill me. Still some things that I would love to have a bigger stock of. I'm aiming for a 3-12 month stock of items depending on what they are. Meats are closer to 3 and toiletries are 1 year.

As I was clearing out closets, I was making room for my stockpile of stuff we use. We have a grand total of 3 small closets in the house, tiny rooms and just about no wall space. I love my house! No seriously I do for now, just hoping in a few years to have one that's a little more "remote," with more land and more natural light with an open floor plan.

To add to my savings:
$5 from a survey

I went back to school much earlier this year, after leaving my job. Living on one income has been a little scarey. I have been so used to having lots of extra money and no debts (other than the mortgage). So, to have lost half of our income and acquiring new debt is a new experience.

I thought I would be okay with the debt, as I know we'll be able to pay it off quickly after I finish school and start working again (2 more years). I have decided to rethink our plan, by decreasing the amount of new debt we take on, and starting to pay off my school loans much earlier if possible.

I'm going to try to get an idea of where we really are financially right now, and work month by month to hopefully have no more debt (except the mortgage) by the time I get out of school.

-J