Eff me!  I finished up taxes 2008, and we owe a pretty whopping amount.  Here I thought I was being so good about paying the estimated, and actually a few thousand over, because I knew hubs was bringing in more income than in previous years.

But not THAT much more (and it's still not really obvious to us, compared to last year and '06), and when he got his FTE status in early 4th quarter, I didn't make that last payment, because it wasn't applicable anymore. Had I only known, I would have erred on the side of caution.  But it was counter-intuitive at the time.   I also hadn't factored in his side business-- some cartography jobs here and there, but still, it was low 4-digit stuff, not something you could subsist on.

So, tapped big time into savings.  Needless to say, belt-tightening will ensue, and no big trips or purchases planned anytime soon, until both checking and savings balances are brought up.  I always assumed we'd need to take out a small equity loan to do the kinds of remodeling of kitchen and bathroom that we wanted to do, in order to get the house seriously marketable.

Fortunately, we didn't need to for the kitchen countertops, lights (including some electrical work in spare bedrooms) and flooring, but for the bathrooms I just assumed so, if we're talking two of them. They're small, but they really need the whole 9 yards with new lighting, cabinetry, sinks, showers/tub.  
Plus, in almost all rooms we have to rip up old carpeting and get the hardwood floors refinished, or in the case of rec. room and perhaps master bedroom, replace carpeting.

And just a couple of days ago,  I discovered the newest  "something that needs fixing". I had flushed the master terlet, and after the tank filled up and all was silent, I heard what sounded like crackling noises coming from the laundry chute on the wall right next to it. I pushed the flap open to try to determine if that's where it was coming from. My first thought was "OMG, there's a fire in the basement!!"  I was scared to death, adrenaline coursing through my veins, and grabbed the extinguisher on my way down.
I was relieved when I cautiously opened the basement door to see that there wasn't a fire. I would have felt the heat, besides. What I was hearing were these droplets of water hitting some plastic bags and other items under the pipes.
Realizing that things could have been sooooo much worse with a FIRE, I also reminded myself that heck, we've had at least two major floods in that d#mn basement.

We use that laundry chute regularly, so while some water did end up on the floor, most of it went into the container with dirty clothes, thankfully.

I have no idea how much it's going to cost to replace the 1-2 foot section of corroding cast iron branch drain pipe (whether replacing with cast iron or PVC) but I'm hoping it won't be much over $1,000. Will be getting estimates this week. I guess I'll call Roto-Rooter. We've had two different fellows out here to remove clogs, and they've been excellent. Those were bet. $200-300 as I recall.

But anyway, it's a huge weight off when (if) you can get to the point of not living paycheck to paycheck and being able to pay credit card balances off completely. We've been able to maintain that for a couple of years, now.

I figure it's best to dip into the savings rather than start owing interest again.  

I've made my share of mistakes money-wise over the years.  I will freely admit that.  But not to the point of having a horrible FICO score that I could have done something to prevent, but didn't.

The thought of  "not having serious money worries" going away is a real motivator to live "fiscally conservative" again.

And one last thought, anyone who wants or expects a handout from government will never be truly happy, because they'll have surrendered a huge part of themselves., along with liberty.