A few setbacks...

Robert lost his first tooth over the weekend. I didn't exactly budget for the tooth fairy to visit, and luckily at nearly 4 years old, he doesn't quite appreciate money like he would at 5 or 6, when his tooth was supposed to fall out. I have heard of some kids getting upwards of 25 bucks for losing a tooth. For real. That's just absurd.
I pulled a dollar from the grocery envelope and Robert was happy as a clam - "a WHOLE dollar" he said and he was really excited. The Tooth Fairy also left Chutes and Ladders since it was her first visit.
Ironically, on the very same day that Robert's tooth fell out, within hours actually, one of Bobby's molars 'broke' while he was eating a tootsie roll. Sheer irony. Like father, like son.
We both cringed at the thought of what it was going to cost to get it fixed. Our dental insurance only covers cleanings and check-ups and and we anticipated this was going to be a pricey fix.

Our emergency fund is still not completely established. I am waiting on payment for some work I have been doing, and the check has been delayed. That check IS our emergency fund.

Fortunately, we are getting a nice tax return. Initially, the plan was to put the entire amount to debt, but we will be refinancing in the next month or so and need some money for closing costs. And now we will need to take a nice chunk to pay for Bobby's root canal.

Today I got a letter in the mail that our escrow account with our mortgage company will have a shortage by May. I am disgusted by this, as our mortgage guy assured us last time this happened that it would never happen again. Regardless, we'll need to replenish that account by May 1st - and that means another chunk of tax return will fill that void.
**Came back to edit this part - Bobby informed me of my own ignorance. Our taxes went up, so of course our escrow will need more funds. I didn't anticipate this, but we have decided that we will be adding some extra escrow to our monthly payments from now on so that we aren't hit with this again next year.**

Bobby just took out a million dollar life insurance policy- something we have talked about for years. We need to pay this quarterly and it's not cheap. Thank you again, tax return.

As expected, LIFE goes on around us, and we've been thrown a few curve balls. Funds get moved around, and we can still pay for things that need to be paid for. This just means less debt paydown then we anticipated. bummer.

The important thing is, we are not accumulating more debt. The envelope system is working well so far. I am anxious for Thursday when there will be money in our bank account and I can replenish the envelopes and do some shopping. I have been busy planning our shopping trips all week and will account for each and every dollar and make sure I am getting the best deals out there.

I made a trip to Walmart this week to do some price checking. I took a notebook and wrote down the prices of many of the items that we buy regularly. I am currently working on a spreadsheet to compare Walmart's prices with those at my local grocery stores to ensure that I am not ever paying more than necessary - for anything.
Interestingly, Luvs diapers are over $2 cheaper at our grocery store than at Walmart. Can you believe that?

We have really had to 'do without' over the past 2 weeks. By that I mean 'do without' certain things that used to be luxuries for us. We really are needing nothing and it feels good to be living simply.