Man, oh man!

I guess it has finally happened....the baby bug bit me and hasn't let go. I told Ben last night that I think I'm finally emotionally ready to have kids. I know, it sounds hokey, but I've been so terrified/horrified at the thought of birthing then raising a child that we knew it would be a slow process. Only now, we've got a short list of things we wanted or needed to do before having kids to contend with. And this list will put off baby making for about a year, if I'm amazing at saving money. I'm considering using this website I found called SmartyPig. It's an online savings account that lets you allot certain amounts of your savings towards different goals at one time. Which is great since I have a hard time discerning how much will go to what, I just look at it like one (not so) big number = money.

I've been working on paying off our debt, which thankfully is not much, and building our emergency fund. So far we've got one more credit card (0% interest), a car loan (0% interest) and a MIL (I seriously hope 0% interest..lol!) to pay off. Thank God, we've always been really good at finding deals when it comes to debt! We got one of our tax returns last week and paid off the big credit card bill, saved some of it, and are using some to pay for our trip to SXSW. I just wish I could save more of it, but I haven't gotten a rhythm down with our bills yet so I'm afraid to sock away too much.

Anyhoo! Here's our Before Baby List:

1. Save $1000 for emergency fund.

2. Save (amount to be determined) for baby fund.

3. Get into crazy awesome shape and enjoy one last summer with a flat stomach. (My goal, can ya tell?)

4. Save up and visit Europe. (Currently trying to figure out how much we'd have to save up for this. The only estimate I've found is ~$6000.)

Oh! There goes the dog, guess the neighbor's open house just got some visitors. I hope they sell it and get something close to what they're asking. We actually looked at that house and it's gorgeous but they waaaay overbuilt when they moved it. I've heard they meant to stay there forever, but something happened with one of their jobs so they're having to move? Here's hoping they find a buyer!

::fingers crossed::