I officially ended my participation in the coupon trains today. I've been thinking about it for a while, and have seen several of the train members jump over the last few months for various reasons. I guess I finally realized/admitted that I wasn't getting enough REALLY great coupons from it. I was taking coupons for stuff I could use, but nothing that I couldn't do without. So with that, and the pressure that comes from getting it and knowing it needs to be turned around quickly, and the cost of mailing it ($4 each), I decided to call it quits.

I feel good about the decision though. I've needed to make some small changes like this for a while, so I'm glad to put them in motion. Another change: I'm going to start having my property taxes taken directly from the checking account. I've been meaning to do this for a few years now (I know - pathetic), but I just got my stubs in the mail today and it had the enrollment form for autopay, so now I really have no excuse.

Another long overdue change: I started having the kids do chores. They're 6 and 8 now. They both make their beds, put away their clothes after I fold them, DD sets the table and gets the mail, DS puts the recyclables in the garage and brings up the garbage can, and they both need to clean the playroom together. It may not sound like much, but it's been a really positive thing for me. I'll add more to their list as I think of them.

Finally, though I have mixed feelings about this one, we're dipping in to savings to pay off some debt/bills. We have about $4500 on a 0%cc that expires in September. This was from a home improvement a while back where we added a room and bathroom to our house. We also have $2700 for some other necessary home improvements, and the $1000 tax bill from the audit. So we're cashing in some mutual funds to wipe that all out. We're finally ready to start fixing the bathroom that was damaged in the flood last October, and I want to have the rest of this stuff cleaned up (financially) before we start the bathroom.

So alot's been going on...baby steps, but I feel positive about them. We'll see how it goes.