Stephanie, there are days I'm glad our cat is not a huntress.

My sister's is. I was letting her in the back door once, and she looked kind of funny. She's a very slender, sleek black cat, and her head looked funny, kind of jowly.

So I grab her as she tries to snake past me, give her a bit of a shake. She opens her mouth, and out pops an entire bird. Alive and apparently unharmed. It sort of shook itself off and hopped out the door, while the cat gave me such a look of grim death I'm surprised I'm here to tell the tale.

I have also always bought too many bargains.

There is danger in that and I've been flirting with it way too much most of my life. See, credit card debt that is eating me starting with my bottom.

Roommate is watching Love Actually, which, a) way too early in the year, b) kind of crap film anyway, and c)we're at the part where Colin goes to america, which always makes me wince so freaking hard.

On the upside, I've made fried chicken and barley-stuffed butternut squash for dinner. Which, yum.

I've got an annuity from a 401k rollover from a job I left nearly 15 years ago. Unfortunately, the fees for putting that into something that makes decent interest would wipe out half of it.

Really? I am not at all knowledgeable about 401K rollovers, but when I took an old one from a job I left 10 years ago (they finally were like, HEY, manange your own damn money!) and rolled it over into an IRA (with ING) it didn't cost me anything. The taxes and penalties are only for if you cash out... though maybe you are talking about something else?

One thing that helped me start saving was the automatic transfer. I set it up with the bank to put a certain amount in savings every payday.

Admittedly, this is an answer for "I have income and don't know where it all goes" and not for "my income doesn't even cover the necessary bills."

b) kind of crap film anyway

I don't understand these words in this order wrt Love Actually.

it over into an IRA (with ING) it didn't cost me anything

It's no longer a 401k, it was rolled over 15 years ago into the annuity.

The company it was with at the time (that annuity has been traded around more often than the Pamela Anderson sex tapes) said there were significant penalties for making any modifications to it before its maturity date. I'm planning on calling them again to see if there are any changes.

He is learning that he can afford the occasional dinner out and some nice things. I have always been a bargain shopper, but I have also always bought too many bargains. These last couple of years have really been a learning experience for me. I never planned out meals or bought large amount of groceries before we started dating. I have really had to teach myself how to do all that and what is a good price on food items, etc.

Yeah, that's exactly how it was with us too.

It is very helpful to work toward getting on the same financial page (each coming to the middle from different directions) before your finances are actually totally together. We did baby steps for that- even before we lived together, I think, we each contributed to a household account that would cover groceries (and then later utilities and rent) and we contributed to it sort of proportionally to our individual incomes. Then we eventually just had the one checking account and one credit card.

I think finding a solution to manage money in a partnership/marriage is one of the most challenging things on the face of the planet.

ING looks very interesting ... I need to check the minumum on my savings accounts where we are now .... I kno wthe interest rate is not as high as that.

butter is good.

dead things in the house are bad.

My theory is that if your debt is less than your savings, you are ok. however 3 kinds of debt, house, education and car , don't count. Car would be the next on the list to pay after CC debt, but I have a zero interest loan. Unless you have something like a house, keep a little debt around. It is better for your credit. keep the credit cards paid off, but let student loan ride.

IOfinancialN, our credit card debt will be greatly reduced at the end of this month. We should have a skimpy 6 months left in savings and an account DH's dad had put together for his sons'. It is less thatn we had before - but seeing a possible end to CC card debt is goooooooood. It should add flexibliity to our money that hasn't been there. I 'd like to get tothe place where If I had to put something like a car repair on the cc, I'd know about how long it would take to pay it off.

I am seconding or thirding the need to see olivia in attack mode.

It's no longer a 401k, it was rolled over 15 years ago into the annuity.

Aha. Sorry, then. I don't know nuthin' about annuities.