The house is an "investment" not a flip per se, we are looking to stay here @ least 5 years, if not more, and it's an up an coming 'hood. The deal w/my mom is this, I pay the mortgage and all bills, she did the downpayment and in 5 years or whenever we sell, she gives me back all the money I paid, not including utilities, so in effect, paying the mortgage, $725/mo, is socking away savings...not too shabby.

Yet, it's still waaaaaaaaay more than I paid in the last year living on the cheap, but still less than when I had my own apartment. Since it's our home, I committed to fixing up the exterior, doing the landscaping etc, while she decorates the inside.

That is where the lack of control came in. It wasn't outrageous, but when you factor in basic moving expenses, setting up new utitilies, the change in commute etc, I've spent a pretty penny.

I gave myself a $500 budget to make the outside look right and if I haven't already hit it, I'm a bit over. The yard is a mess. The house was a foreclosure and we've been told it was empty for a year or 2. The yard if full of weeds, stones and brown spots. My goal for this first year is just to get the lawn looking right and start growing a few flowers in some pots for next Spring. Next year I'll set aside a budget for landscaping, maybe adding a few trees and shrubs and pavers. The 3rd year we'll extend the patio and add a wrap around deck.

Now this impacts my overall spending a bit, but other than the movies, I don't spend much money on anything else, plus gardening will be a fun hobby to throw myself into.

Financially, it doesn't look like I'll hit my big pay off goal by October, it's okay though, I still have hope and if I don't make it, I have a super big year long challenge that'll get me back to my regular blogging.

I also made a big decision over the weekend. It's something I've been wanting to do for a few months now, but was going to wait till I paid off all my debt before I even considered it, I'm going back to school.

This go round, I'm paying it in cash as I go along and will be doing community college first, to get my basic classes out of the way and will be cheaper, and when I'm done, transfer to a 4year public college to get my BA.

Each semester will cost me about 1000-1100 a month, that's a full load, fees, parking and books. Not bad compared to the 4k I shelled out PER QUARTER when I got my AA degree a few years back.

I rationalized it this way, if I hit the ground running w/school while paying off my debt in tandem, a few things can happen. By this time next year, my car will be paid off, I can also defer my student loan repayment if things get bad or ask to pay less, currently paying about $450 on both and after a year or so, if I can nab an internship in my field one summer work part time later on and secure a job while still in school through those contacts, if I get paid twice as much as I do know going for the job I have my eye on, it'll be worth the investment, especially if I can continue to pay for school each step of the way.

The first 2 years will be easier to swing, I can go nights and weekends, but as I get to my major classes, when they are morning and afternoon, I'll have to see how flexible my job will be in letting me work flex time every now and again. I'll worry about that bridge when it arrives.

So that's what's been going on. Updating will be sparse in coming weeks. We are on dial up *bleayuck* and sharing the phone line, but as I near the one year anniversary of my debt pay off pledge, I'll start posting more often and when I kick off my year long challenge, I'll blog daily.