Fearlessly Frugal Wrap-Up

Well it's September and thank GOD for that. We ended the month with a grand total of $267 in the Baby Fund. I had hoped to have $300 but I was close enough and I'm happy that I was able to save that much and not go over on our budget for the month. I split it up into the five envelopes but perhaps a little too hastily because I should have just put it all into the car maintenace envelope. I went and got my oil changed today and had a check-up, just to see if I needed any routine maintenance done. It's turns out they're recommending $2,200 worth of maintenance, including replacement of my back wheel cylinders, shocks, struts, new tires, brake fluid flush and replacing a bearing that's loose. I almost passed out. I'm going to another place tomorrow for a second opinion. I want to make sure I'm not being fleeced but I honestly think I will still need to do about $1,000 worth of repairs to keep this car on the road another couple years. The thing is that I don't really want this damn car anymore. It's a van I bought brand-new in 2004, thinking my ex-husband and I would be having children. Little did I know we would have so many problems having kids, and have problems in our marriage too. So now my van has 115K miles on it and it's only 6 years old. It's been cross-country twice, the gas mileage isn't as great as Brandon's car and there's alot of cosmetic issues with it as well. I've been wanting a new car for a while, but this one has been paid off for two years and it's nice not having a car payment. But it's only worth about $3,000 so to put $1,000 into it would seem stupid. I could use that $1,000 as a down payment on another vehicle. Brandon thinks I should keep the car. He has a 2000 Toyota Camry so I just have that nagging feeling that one of our cars will kick the bucket soon so we might as well get a new car while we can. I would hate to be rushed into buying a car if one of ours breaks down. And by "new" I don't mean "brand new", just new to us.

I'm still on the birth control pills for the upcoming IVF cycle and I finally got my calendar. I start Lupron next Thursday and then the rest of the meds on Friday. It's the same protocol at last time: the Microdose Flare Protocol with 1 vial each of Gonal-F and Menopur, twice a day. Unfortunately the stress is starting to creep up. Brandon and I had a huge fight last night about an old "friend" who came back into his life recently, a "friend" that I don't exactly approve of, especially since it's a female. I'm not usually the jealous type but this woman almost ruined our marriage two years ago because she couldn't find the fine line between being a friend and being a home-wrecker. That fight made me reconsider doing this IVF cycle but we talked things through and we're going to forge ahead. We normally have a very good marriage and I don't want one argument to ruin a plan we've had in place for so long. Especially when that argument was probably partly fueled by hormones from said IVF cycle.

So needless to say, this week has been pretty crappy. I'm trying not to think about the $1,000 in repairs that my car will need, along with the $300 tires that Brandon's car will need. I'm trying not to think about the fight we had last night or the fact that I'll be injecting myself with fertility medications in just over a week. I'm trying to keep my mind off all that but it's not working. I still plan on having my giveaway, I'm just waiting to get the prize in the mail before posting about it. I want to make sure I like it enough to give it away to a reader! I don't want to give away crap prizes. I'll update as soon as I can and I hope that tomorrow I'll get some good news and find out that all these repairs aren't really necessary. Keeping my fingers crossed!