DH just got his bill from the bursar for this semester of school. It's not paid yet because his Stafford loans have not come through. Well, I was a little shocked when I looked at it. He signed up for both the subsidized and unsubsidized loans to the tune of over $8k! He thought we could use the extra money (since he thought it was interest free) to pay for other things that are not interest free. I agreed with the plan at the time, but I thought it was only going to be $5k. He insists he told me, I don't remember...it's not important who's right though. The fact is that I don't want this! So I looked up some info on the unsubsidized loan and found out that the interest starts accruing immediately, whereas the subsidized loans do not accrue interest until he is out of school. Luckily, since his loans did not come in yet, he was able to go to the Bursar today to say he did not want the unsub. loan. Whew. So now we will have to pay a little out of pocket to cover the balance that the sub. loan does not cover, but that's okay. It will be a lot less money to pay back down the road.
Dh went shopping last night and picked up a few Christmas presents for his brothers, who are pretty tough to shop for. He stumbled upon a slew of Stars Wars collectibles (ok, toys, but calling them collectibles make them sound a little more appropriate for 30 year old men) at K-Mart reduced, plus buy one get one half off. So now there are two more people completely shopped for. Yeah! He also spent some money for school project supplies, but I don't know the exact amount. I'll guess it at $60.
I managed to dodge the gift for a coworker - the luncheon is tomorrow, but I will be out of the office. A lot of times, baselle, they just ask you to give whatever - then I can slip a few bucks into the envelope and pass it along. However, in this case, they had a specific gift in mind and asked for a $10 contribution. Despite being in a state job (where I had always assumed there was a lot of stability), we do have a lot of turnover - mostly people leaving for other positions internally in other counties or other state departments.
The nicest thing done for me today: a co-worker, who has a daughter a few years older than ds1, brought in a bag of books for me! There are some in great condition that I already know my son loves, as we got them out of the library a while back. Guess what will be in his stocking this year for Christmas!
The kids are doing a little better - although ds1 was a little bit of a monster today. My niece was over again. They either get along wonderfully, or are at each other's throats all day. Today was the latter. Ds1 was completely exhausted too, which did not help. And yet ds2, the sicky, was laughing and smiling. I didn't know his eye drops stung! Ds2 doesn't seem to be in pain, but maybe that's because I have yet to get them in his eye! He's a wiggler
December expenses: $527.78 + 60 = 587.78
December income: $537.61
Saved money today by: bringing lunch and snacks to work, drinking water at work, eating dinner from the freezer (okay, it was a t.v. dinner, but we are trying to get the freezer cleaned out!), saved interest by not getting the unsubsidized loan to pay for DH's school

Tomorrow I will be on my way to Long Island to see a new baby girl and get pampered at a salon. Have a great weekend all - I'll check in on Monday!