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Archive for February, 2011

Debt Update #2

February 28th, 2011 at 02:31 am

Debt reduction plan started in January. To date, here is my status:

Orthodontics - $1130 = paid
Sallie Mae Student Loan - $3850 = paid
CC#1
*January balance = $3,550
*Current Balance = $2,950
CC #2
*January balance = $11,118
*Current Balance = $7,880 to be paid off tomorrow with tax return money + $1880 from payroll!

Cars 1, 2 & 3 = $80K
House = $150K

TOTAL DEBT PAYOFF FOR 2011 YTD = approx $16,700

As happy as I SHOULD be about paying off my stupid credit card tomorrow, for some reason I'm not that excited about it. I will pay it off tomorrow morning and then close the account once the payment is cleared and balance is $0. For some reason BoA can't seem to update the balances when you make online payments until a couple days later. BUT my money is definitely deducted as soon as I issue a payment....??

Anyway, I am glad to have that one gone. With such a high balance, my interest payment was always high and that always pee-peed me off. I'm glad it will be gone and I will never do that to myself or my family again. The other one CC#2 should be pay off by the first pay period in April. Same story there too - will close the card down once the balance shows $0.

That will leave my cars and my house. We are selling the house and have a plan to accelerate paying off the cars within 6-8 months. If we don't sell the house, we still have a plan to have them all paid off in less than 2 years....unless I need to sell one.

If the house does sell, we will rent locally and save money so we can pay CASH for our next house in 3 years once my middle daughter graduates HS. We think we will be relocating but not 100% sure just yet.

Anyway, while I have made great progress by getting "Gazelle Intense" and killing off this debt....for some reason I'm not feeling as excited or relieved as I thought I would be. I am very grateful but I think I'm probably feeling "behind" at this point since we don't have any money invested and no significant savings. Hopefully that will be drastically improved by the end of this year...and well underway going into 2012 & beyond.

This weekend was a giant suck-fest for me, hopefully the coming work week will be much better. It can only improve, right??

have a good week :-)

Off to a GREAT week!

February 23rd, 2011 at 05:22 am

This was my "Monday" since I was off yesterday and it started off a little shaky. But things drastically improved as the day wore on and I quit working (I work from home) a little early so I could go to my daughters' (2 daughters on the team) high school basketball playoff game. We played a great game and are now advancing to the regional finals! This is a great accomplishment for our girls - the fartherest we've gone in the 4 years since my oldest (now a senior) made the varsity team as a freshmen! So proud of both of my girls & the entire team!

Annnnyway, we play our next game later this week but not sure who or when just yet. Fun times -- win or lose this will be a great week just b/c they've accomplished so much this year :-)

On another happy note, my oldest daughter turns the big 18 tomorrow! I can't believe she is a grown woman already! She's a great kid - very good heart, sensible & mature, not given to the dramatics and quite funny on occassion. I'm extremely proud to call her my daughter and I can honestly say she is a better person than me in some regards (doesn't let rude comments or gossip bother her!).

I'm proud of all my kiddos for sure but it is so strangly funny how they all turn out so different. All 3 of my girls come from different planets - they look like but that is where the similarities end for the most part.

The one thing I am going to work on with all my girls is teaching them to manage their money better than I have. Over the years my husband and I have made good money but we have mostly spent what we made, saving very little. Sure we have 401K's and pensions but there should be no reason for us to be in debt or not have more savings than what we have. VERY big shame on us...but we're getting better :-)

Annoying debt

February 22nd, 2011 at 05:25 am

I had the day off today and it was really nice b/c the kids were in school and my husband had to work too! Hopefully that doesn't make me a bad person - I just enjoy a quiet house every now & then :-)

For some reason this evening I have a nagging feeling about something being off....not sure WHAT is causing the feeling but I just have this feeling of mild annoyance and I guess I will chalk it up to my debt LOL. Payday isn't until the end of the month so I have a little bit to go until I can make another dent in my balances. I really do hate it that my debt distracts me and I find myself wanting to 'hurry up' my life so I can get it paid off. I do not want to be that person who misses TODAY b/c I'm too worried about the FUTURE! While I need to plan for the future I know I need to live in TODAY so I enjoy my life, my kids, my husband and the countless other blessings the Lord has blessed me with.

This is a blog-slap to myself...stop trying to 'hurry up' your life b/c you might miss out on the small stuff of today!

Remember to live in TODAY while planning for the future... Afterall, today is all we have :-)

Debt update

February 21st, 2011 at 05:24 am

Today I meant to log into my other computer to get all of my debt balances to share with you all. I didn't get a chance but here is a run down of the estimated balances for what my husband and I owe:

CC #1 - $9,240.00
Game Plan: to use my tax return to pay $6,000.00 and get this bad boy paid off by my 2nd pay period in March.

On a side note, I now know $6000 is too much of a tax return. My husband and I have already adjusted our filing status to correct this. Thanks Dave Ramsey ;-)

CC #2 - $2950.00
Game Plan: My plan is to have this one paid off by the first pay period in April. I know DR says to pay off smallest to largest but I have a burning desire to get that CC#1 dead & gone ASAP. I figure paying this one off shortly after that first one won't kill anyone or anything.

This is the gasp part....we have 3 new cars we bought late last year (pre DR). We've looked into selling them but the upside down situation is not something we are wanting to deal with (unless circumstances drastically change). By the time we sell them, get new loans for the 'gap' and buy new 'old' cars....we decided that would be very expensive as well. The plan is to keep these cars just pay them off....never to buy new ones again.
Car#1 - $18,500.00 at 0% interest (daughter's car, going to college)
Car #2 - $31,000.00 at 0% interest (my car)
Car #3 - $34,000.00 about to be convered from a lease to a 'lease purchase' so I'm not sure about the interest yet (husband's truck)

Game Plan: once the CC's are gone in early April, the plan is to snowball the payments and add about $3000 a month to get the cars paid off ASAP. As we knock out payments, we'll have roughly $4500 a month to get this gone.

House - $150,000
Game Plan: My husband and I are actually in the process of preparing our home to put on the market. We are pretty sure we will be moving to a new town in a few years when my middle child graduates HS. Since owning a home is more expensive than renting, our plan is to find a rent house here locally and socking away money to pay cash for our new home...where ever that may be. We will stand to make a significant amount of money when we sell so we could possibly use that money to paydown car debt or just put away for our next house. If the house doesn't end of selling, we will take it off the market & try again later. Probably won't put it on the radar to pay off since we know we are moving later.

On a happier note, since I started my DR budget and snowball plan in january, I have managed to score a few quick wins by paying off my Sallie May student loan ($4000), my 2010 taxes ($3650) and mine & my daughter's orthodontic note ($1300)...go me!

The snowball is rolling...!!

Future goals:
MUST save more
MUST give more
MUST stay out of debt (the CC cards are cut up)
MUST stick to our budget
MUST have fun doing all the above

Have a great week everyone!
:-)

Is getting out of debt going to be fun?

February 20th, 2011 at 05:20 am

I think so! I am so excited and looking forward to the immediate satisfaction that will come when I make my final payments to my creditors! While it will be TOUGH (and tough can be fun), it is with a very determined heart and mind that my husband and I usher our family into a new phase of our lives where we have ZERO debt and WE decide where our money goes down to the last happy little penny :-)

My husband and I are very fortunate to be employeed and we currently have no issues with paying our bills on time...however that would NOT be the case if I was to unexpectedly lose my job. I have usually been fairly decent with money and not racking up debt but as I've gotten a little older and made more money, I have noticed that I made some financial decisions assuming we could pay it off later. Now I look at our finances and my thought process and I am really shocked at how stupidly I've behaved and the money I've wasted. I can't do anything about THAT money but I can do something about the money God has earmarked for me in the future.

In January of this year we started the Dave Ramsey plan. I really do love that man -- so practical and so very right in his teachings. I prayed to God for helping in managing our finances and doing a better job and I KNOW WITHOUT ANY DOUBT THAT HE LEAD ME TO DAVE RAMSEY! He is so passionate about giving people HOPE for their future -- it is really a blessing to those who are seeking help! Thank you Dave!

So this blog will be my personal outlet to share my fun and exciting journey of getting out of debt. Will it ALWAYS be super fun...no. Will there be setbacks...sure. All I can do is the best I can for myself and my family and I know the reward will be the best thing I could ever do for my family!!

More to come on my numbers....wish me luck ;-)