Thought I'd attempt blogging here again. Some time back I had deleted all my entries after getting too discouraged and overwhelmed about the bad state (mostly due to medical expenses) of our finances. We have since sold our home and have been in the process of making final payments for our various debts. We also now have some savings in the bank too. I do miss my little home and wish we could have kept it, but it is much nicer to have the heavy weight of debt off our shoulders. Barring some huge, unexpected windfall, we will likely never be able to afford to own a home in this state. We are now renting a 2BR/1BA place, which will be fine once we finally get settled in. Still have boxes stacked all over the place.

After the house sold, we tossed our belongings into the rental and then took off on a month-long vacation out of state to visit my in-laws and my stepdaughter and her family. We sure needed to get away and relax after all the pressures that had been going on. And it was a frugal trip as far as not having to pay for lodging or food while staying with the in-laws. We did splurge at the stores a bit for the kids and ourselves, but it was considered to be Christmas spending as we didn't spend at Christmas time since the house sale hadn't quite closed yet. (The older child living at home understood, and the younger one didn't know the difference.)

Anyway, on to a fresh start....