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Archive for April, 2013

Inching Ever Closer & A New Fridge!

May 1st, 2013 at 03:47 am

One more month of operation wipe out credit card/car debt completed. And as long and tedious as it has been, we are in the final stretch now. Only $3341 left. In fact, we have an estimated payoff date of June 7th! Just gotta keep putting one foot in front of the other for a little longer...

Actually, I have a confession. Two days ago, we bought a fridge. With a store credit card. So, to be completely honest about it, out debt total is actually at $5279.08 now. I know, I know, we maybe shouldn't have. We're so close. But- we were absolutely going to do this as soon as possible after we finished in June, and -the store had a sale on them this month that saved us $200, and- there's no interest for 6 months and we should have it paid off 3-4 months from now. And also- we were sick to death of that stupid drawer always falling down and pulverizing our fruit! And just to throw in one more good excuse, it was so ancient that I'm certain our energy bill will go down by a noticeable amount once the new eco-friendly one arrives. And it's bigger. It might actually fit all our stuff! Wink

This doesn't actually change our payment plan at all really because given there's no interest, we're still going to put all our focus into the last credit card first and then start paying for the new lap top and fridge we need. We'll finish paying it off in the same time we would have saved for it, but this way I get the new fridge while we're doing it. At this point, I trust myself to deal with this new debt ASAP, so I am not too worried about it. I don't plan on paying interest to credit card companies EVER again.

So, one more month down. And I keep wondering, what will it feel like when the last debt is paid? If we were planning on adding all the extra money we'll have to our regular spending, I'd probably assume it'd feel pretty awesome. Instead we're mostly going to be doing much more practical things with it, like starting a 401k, increasing contributions to our HSA and saving for a new family car. So in terms of spending, it won't feel that much different. But I would assume there will be a mental shift of some sort? A different feeling when you know you are finally creating a hill rather than digging out of a hole? I don't know for sure. I guess we'll see when we get there. I sure hope it feels different! Would love to hear how it was for others when they reached this turning point.

Financial Goals

April 10th, 2013 at 03:50 am

Last post

Text is http://annereesedebtblog.savingadvice.com/2013/03/30/save-now-live-later_101898/ and Link is
http://annereesedebtblog.savingadvice.com/2013/03/30/save-no..., I was feeling pretty down about the state of our penny pinching lives right now. We've made great progress, but it's been all work, little play for quite a while now. This past couple weeks, I've been "running the numbers" and trying to figure out IF/WHEN and HOW MUCH fun money we might be able to squeeze in, while trying to meet our many financial goals over these next few years.

We're still putting most everything extra on hold until we finish paying off the credit cards in the next couple months or so. But I would like to start going on date night's out once every couple months again despite not being there yet. I'm fine with it just being something like TGIF's and a movie. Right now even McDonald's would be a splurge for us so that sounds great to me! But I want to get an actual baby sitter and not have to cook the meal myself. To watch an actual new release in movie seats rather than a rental on the couch. And to be able to start spending time with hubby before 8pm when the boys are finally in bed and our eyes are already getting droopy. This particular splurge, I am not willing to put off any longer. Even it it adds a little extra time to our goal. I need a life again. And once every two months hardly seems over the top.

The trickier part is what to allow when we do finally finish paying off all this debt. Not throwing hundreds, and even thousands into our credit cards each month will certainly free up some funds! But as discussed
Text is http://annereesedebtblog.savingadvice.com/2013/03/25/march-madness-ends_101832/ and Link is
http://annereesedebtblog.savingadvice.com/2013/03/25/march-m..., there are a lot of prudent ways those funds could and should be allocated. So we decided to determine which financial goals were our most important ones to meet in the first year after paying off our credit card/car loan debts. And to set aside the money for those things each month first. Here's what we came up with:

1) To replace the ancient fridge that is probably costing us a small fortune to operate and can barely hold a food safe temperature anymore. Also, all of the drawers are broken and every time the cheese drawer is pulled out it smooshes everything below. This was the single hardest item for me not to "splurge" on spending to replace.



2) Replace hubby's ancient desktop computer that needs rebooting at least once a day to even barely run these days. Preferably with a moderately priced and more portable laptop. Hopefully before, rather than after it bites the dust, but it's going to be close.

3) Get that $800 car repair for hubby's car that our mechanic mentioned is going to sneak up on us any day now.

4) Start putting in the maximum employer matching 401K contribution. At least it's pre-tax and won't be quite as big a chunk as it seems, but like it or not, it's the most important thing we can be spending our money on at this point.

5) Increase emergency fund from $1000 to $5000. Still far short of our long term goal, but it should be enough to cover, say, an ancient furnace that we were just glad made it through one more winter. Thankfully hubby's job is very stable right now.

6) Come re-enrollment this fall, up our HSA contributions to max that out too. That will be more than double what we're doing now but not doing so has totally bit us in the butt this year with unforeseen dental expenses (given that dental insurance is pretty much a joke). Long story short, I am going to be without a bottom right tooth for a while, and I would like to get that fixed soon.

7) Save about $12,500 for a "new" car. Again, preferably before the current one dies but that will also be cutting it close. In truth, we are going to rely on hubby's bonus next spring for about half of this. At the fortune 500 company he works for, it's a pretty sure bet. We even know pretty much how much it will be. If we're wrong though, we'd still rather get a small car loan that we paid off ASAP rather than wait any longer for any of these other things.


So those are the goals. There will be no family vacations in the foreseeable future, and we're going to keep date nights out at once every other month for now as well. We also will have not yet started saving for me to go back to school, and that will certainly need to be a priority in the year following. To say nothing of our longer term investing goals.

But thankfully, there is some wiggle room in there. A little cash for lunch with friends. Maybe a shirt from Kohl's and a new book once a month. Perhaps I can finally replace that pitcher I use every day that I'm missing the lid for? And we're definitely starting our Audible subscription again. We're going to have more fun. Ahh, the good life! Let me never take these small luxuries for granted again!