Many of you have pointed out to me that my hubby seems to be a reluctant partner in this Total Money Makeover of ours. To which I could not agree more. And it's certainly not as if that's something he and I haven't discussed. But its been a difficult topic for him. He feels like he works and works and works and yet has nothing to show for it (there's some truth to that right now). And generally speaking, since he lets me decide how to spend most of the money even though he makes most of the money, I try not to be too hard on him.

I did get annoyed enough the other night to bring it up again though. I was trying to have just a strategic, non-emotional discussion about what we should prioritize first once we finish paying off the last* credit card next month (*please ignore the fridge for now. I need that to be separate so I can be done, or I will implode.) But it once again turned in to a whine fest.

I managed to mostly keep my cool and said that while this certainly is hard, and there certainly is reason to whine about it occasionally, that shouldn't have to be the case every time money is discussed. That it made me feel like I was making him do this even though he has agreed many times that he feels it is what's best for us as well. That in order to feel like partners in it, I needed to just be able to talk strategy with him sometimes so that we could figure out how to best prioritize things together. I didn't say it all quite that nicely, but I did my best.

He didn't take it all that well at the time (it had been a long day and perhaps was not the best time to bring it up in retrospect). But later that night he did seem to come around some. And since then he has actually been much better. He even offered to put off getting the new laptop he so wants until the fridge payoff is done. We talked about how we might generate a report for him to look over after each paycheck so that he has a better understanding of how the numbers are moving (we're nerds like that). I told him that I was actually frustrated about it all the time too, and that if I didn't have my spreadsheet to look over and fiddle with almost daily I would probably be a wreck. Simple tasks like changing box shading from yellow to green to show it's completed do wonders for keeping me sane.

So, hopefully that was the talk that will finally change things. And we are so, so close. One more paycheck (don't talk to me about the fridge yet). It's really hard to not fixate on it. To a level of being unhealthy probably, but it's just been soooo long and part of me just can't believe that we're really about to frickin' do this. I keep checking and re-checking because it seems surreal. As if any moment a large, unforeseen expense will rise up and swallow us whole. But so far, the spreadsheet says we're on track. It says we're okay. Just one more paycheck...

We are so, so close to our credit card debt payoff. Only $1482 more to go! (Not counting the new fridge, as discussed). Our expected payoff date is June 7th but the closer we get, the more things that seem to be creeping up. Our printer has stopped working, and our router is acting up and has to be restarted multiple times a day. We have 3 medical bills that came in at once and only enough money in the HSA for 2 of them (even after setting up payment plans). Our family car's air conditioner seems to need recharging. We have a plumbing issue with the water line to our new fridge. And to top it all off, we just found out our home has moderately high levels (6.2 pCi/L) of radon gas (common in this area) and that we need to install a mitigation system, which is going to run about $1600. We have $1000 in our emergency fund.

Hubby is chomping at the bit for the new lap top he's been promised when our last credit card is taken care of. And it would really help him with the side job he does that has helped pay down this debt faster. I don't think he's going to take no for an answer again if we have to push that last payment off a bit longer. But I really don't want to add anything else to credit. We need to take care of the new fridge still as it is.

I'm trying to decide what we can put off, and what we must do. I never pay bills late, so I think I will have an anxiety attack if I don't take care of the dental bill. Though I am going to call tomorrow and beg for a later due date (sad). As long as we don't start hitting 90's constantly it seems like we should be able to squeak by on the car's air conditioner for another month or so. My 2 year old boys sure looked hot back there today though. They were so flushed I was worried about over heating.

If hubby is going to demand the lap top then maybe he will have to wait on the fridge water line instead. We managed to get water from the sink for the last how many years. Shouldn't kill us to go a little longer. Hopefully we can figure out what's wrong with the printer and as long as the router doesn't completely die, we can deal with restarting it constantly a month or so longer. The radon mitigation system is the one that has me stuck though.

My daughter's bedroom is in the basement where the concentration is the highest. If she hadn't just gotten home for the summer from college then I think we would definitely put this off a few months. But she is home, and she sleeps down there (well, when she's not at her boyfriend's at least.) Long term exposure to radon increases your chances of lung cancer. 3 months isn't really that long of exposure (though this must have been a problem before too). To be honest, her risk of getting colon cancer from not eating any fruits and vegetables is probably higher, but I just don't feel good about it. Whether or not we take care of that right away though will probably be the difference between finishing the debt payoff in June or not.

Need to have a discussion with hubby I think. Hopefully one that entails more problem solving than whining.