I was going to hold my extra paycheck until February and make a big HELOC payment then. I just can't wait though. I want to see that balance take another big nose dive this month. My reason for waiting was so I didn't bleed our checking account dry. Instead, I'm compromising. Instead of sending my whole paycheck or holding back all of it, I'm going to snowflake some of it now and then hold the rest for that February payment. What a novel concept! I get so black and white sometimes that I forget there's this gray middle. So, the check is written and tomorrow it will be deposited with our credit union. Take that HELOC!
Wait until you see the ending balance for January. It's going to be great!
Living the High Life
Have you seen or heard the Miller High Life beer commercials featuring the "common sense" delivery man? I think they're hysterical. They have a new promotion going for the Super Bowl talking about the ridiculous prices paid for ad time ($3 million for a 30 second ad!). The delivery man uses a phrase during a radio spot that had me laughing out loud the first time I heard it:
Hemorrhaging Dummy Dollars
I'm going to think of and use this phrase whenever I'm at Target buying more stuff I don't need. Whenever I thinking about purchasing lunch at work instead of bringing my own from home. Whenever I'm wanting to splurge instead of snowflake.
Hilarious. And so true.
Hemorrhaging Dummy Dollars
I'm going to think of and use this phrase whenever I'm at Target buying more stuff I don't need. Whenever I thinking about purchasing lunch at work instead of bringing my own from home. Whenever I'm wanting to splurge instead of snowflake.
Hilarious. And so true.
Adding a Budget Line Item for Racing!
It's winter here in Minnesota. It's cold (sometimes bitterly), it's snowy and in some places it's even icy (usually hidden under the snow). That doesn't mean I don't have warmer temperatures and sunshine on my mind though. I do. I also have racing on my mind! Now, I'm not an elite athlete by any stretch of the imagination. But I do think I can be athletic and I do like to work out and set goals and see what I can achieve. And this year I've set a couple goals for myself: complete a duathlon, a half marathon and a 10 mile race. In between all those races I'd like to do at least a 5k race each month from April to October that I'm not doing one of the above races.
That means it's time to start adding a budget line item for race entry fees! Chuck is doing a couple of these races with me (namely at least one 5k and the duathlon) so some months will be higher with registration fees than others. Have you ever completed an endurance race? It is a high unlike any other.
Of course there's the financial guilt associated with these races - we're still in debt without a large emergency fund - why are we paying all these entry fees for races?! Simple - we want to and it's our money, so there! Heh. Actually, most of the races are for charity so a portion of our entry fee goes to the non-profit organization. And on the flip side, having races scheduled and goals set help me to keep to a fitness routine. I don't want to fall flat on my face so therefore I must work out! And lastly, I want to set a good example for my children - that working out is fun, that fitness is important, that you need to set goals and work to improve yourself, etc.
And I like the "free" t-shirts and fancy finisher's medals too. Sometime, I'll have to show you my Walt Disney World "Mickey" medal for finishing their marathon!
That means it's time to start adding a budget line item for race entry fees! Chuck is doing a couple of these races with me (namely at least one 5k and the duathlon) so some months will be higher with registration fees than others. Have you ever completed an endurance race? It is a high unlike any other.
Of course there's the financial guilt associated with these races - we're still in debt without a large emergency fund - why are we paying all these entry fees for races?! Simple - we want to and it's our money, so there! Heh. Actually, most of the races are for charity so a portion of our entry fee goes to the non-profit organization. And on the flip side, having races scheduled and goals set help me to keep to a fitness routine. I don't want to fall flat on my face so therefore I must work out! And lastly, I want to set a good example for my children - that working out is fun, that fitness is important, that you need to set goals and work to improve yourself, etc.
And I like the "free" t-shirts and fancy finisher's medals too. Sometime, I'll have to show you my Walt Disney World "Mickey" medal for finishing their marathon!
So Close
There is one thing about this debt marathon that is truly satisfying. It doesn't have to do with seeing the outstanding balance shrink. It doesn't have to do with security. It's this: We are close to the point now that Chuck doesn't have to work. He brings in around $1500 a month for us. That's awesome for a part time job I think. This month alone we paid over $1400 to the HELOC. Yes, about $150 of that was snowflakes. However, we are truly getting to that place where if Chuck lost his job in this economy, we'd be OK. There are definitely areas in our budget where we could cut back.
We could do it. We could live on my income if we had too. That is a freeing and satisfying thought.
We're not ready to do that though. For one we still have debt and an un-refinanceable mortgage hanging over our heads. For two, if any sort of emergency came along, we'd be dead. No, Chuck will continue to work to help us pay off this debt at a fast pace and then to build our emergency fund.
It's nice to know he doesn't have to though.
We could do it. We could live on my income if we had too. That is a freeing and satisfying thought.
We're not ready to do that though. For one we still have debt and an un-refinanceable mortgage hanging over our heads. For two, if any sort of emergency came along, we'd be dead. No, Chuck will continue to work to help us pay off this debt at a fast pace and then to build our emergency fund.
It's nice to know he doesn't have to though.
Running Away
On days like today and weeks like this week, it's oh so tempting to take that third paycheck and run away to some place warm.
Our high today was below zero - I think it was -3F. And that's not adding on the windchill which brought us down to the teens or even -20's. It is bone chilling cold outside.
Wouldn't it be nice to turn a blind eye to debt and hop on a plane? Maybe to El Paso to visit my brother. Maybe to the Caymans to do a little scuba diving. Maybe just the least expensive tropical location to lay on a beach in the sun for a few days.
These are the things I'm daydreaming about today as I can see my own icy breath even while driving in my car.
Our high today was below zero - I think it was -3F. And that's not adding on the windchill which brought us down to the teens or even -20's. It is bone chilling cold outside.
Wouldn't it be nice to turn a blind eye to debt and hop on a plane? Maybe to El Paso to visit my brother. Maybe to the Caymans to do a little scuba diving. Maybe just the least expensive tropical location to lay on a beach in the sun for a few days.
These are the things I'm daydreaming about today as I can see my own icy breath even while driving in my car.
Three Paycheck Month!
How could I have missed that this is a three paycheck month for me!?! Sure enough I get paychecks on January 2nd, January 16th and January 30th this month. Our budget is built around two paychecks of course. I've decided that this "extra" paycheck is going to be an automatic snowflake for February. Since we're still living paycheck to paycheck, that January 30th paycheck will go to the mortgage. But with other paychecks always coming in, that money will be in our account for February.
I feel like we're really on a roll right now. We're making a huge payment to the HELOC this month and now we should be able to make an even bigger payment to the HELOC next month! Barring any emergencies, we should be able to pay the HELOC off in May! A month early!
We could be debt free (but mortgage) in May!
I feel like we're really on a roll right now. We're making a huge payment to the HELOC this month and now we should be able to make an even bigger payment to the HELOC next month! Barring any emergencies, we should be able to pay the HELOC off in May! A month early!
We could be debt free (but mortgage) in May!
Christmas Money Update
Well, we've spent the majority of the $350 we received for Christmas. We decided to first purchase a 1TB external hard drive. This one to be exact. Good reviews. Decent price. I hope it works well for us. We paid $121.99 for this drive.
Then we decided we wanted a bike trainer. So Chuck went to Ebay and found a slighly used CycleOps trainer. He bid and won the auction for $125.00 including shipping. The trainer was originally $240 in stores.
That means we spent $246.99 of our $350. We've decided to reserve $50 for an outing with my Dad as a thank you. I'm sure he'll love more time with the kids. The other $53.01 we're going to stick in short term savings for now. When we have enough saved, probably by the end of February or some time in March, we'll purchase a Garmin GPS heart rate monitor for ourselves. We haven't decided yet between the 305 and the 405. I like top of the line electronic items (and other items too!) so I'm leaning towards a 405. However they are much more expensive than the 305 which would still meet our needs. The 305 is only $156 right now on Amazon while the 405 is $349. See? Lots more expensive. We'll probably end up with a 305. I just can't imagine spending that much money on a sports watch with bells and whistles.
And there went all the money! I'm so grateful to my father and grandmother for their generosity. Now Chuck and I can mark a few items off our wish list!
Then we decided we wanted a bike trainer. So Chuck went to Ebay and found a slighly used CycleOps trainer. He bid and won the auction for $125.00 including shipping. The trainer was originally $240 in stores.
That means we spent $246.99 of our $350. We've decided to reserve $50 for an outing with my Dad as a thank you. I'm sure he'll love more time with the kids. The other $53.01 we're going to stick in short term savings for now. When we have enough saved, probably by the end of February or some time in March, we'll purchase a Garmin GPS heart rate monitor for ourselves. We haven't decided yet between the 305 and the 405. I like top of the line electronic items (and other items too!) so I'm leaning towards a 405. However they are much more expensive than the 305 which would still meet our needs. The 305 is only $156 right now on Amazon while the 405 is $349. See? Lots more expensive. We'll probably end up with a 305. I just can't imagine spending that much money on a sports watch with bells and whistles.
And there went all the money! I'm so grateful to my father and grandmother for their generosity. Now Chuck and I can mark a few items off our wish list!
Automatic Stress Relief
Remember my panic, anxiety and stress around this time last year when we were notified that our mortgage payment was going up $330 a month? I guess I was stressing out and didn't need to as we met our 2008 goals without any trouble. That extra money going to the mortgage each month didn't impact us as much as I thought it would. And now that the year is over, our mortgage payment is dropping by $222 each month! This starts in February and I was excited to be able to throw that extra money straight at our debt.
Then Chuck asked a good question yesterday when we received this letter - should we just continue to pay the same mortgage amount as we always have? Should we leave that $222 in our mortgage payment? At first I didn't understand why we would want to do this. I had to take a look at the numbers.
We are paying down our HELOC at a healthy rate. If we continue to make $1000 payments to it each month (this month we'll be paying over $1400 to it) plus use my extra paycheck in March we'll have it paid off early - before my June 2009 goal. Then, in July if we switch that $1000+ each month plus add in an extra paycheck of mine or Chuck's we'd more than meet our goal of $8K in emergency savings by the end of the year. Plus, we'd be paying an extra $222 to our mortgage for 11 months this year, paying off an additional $2442 in principal above our regular mortage payments. My goal for 2009 was to pay off an additional $1800 above our regular mortgage payments.
Wow.
We can keep our mortgage payment the same, meet all of our goals and put ourselves in a much better financial position for refinancing!
Well, I think the decision is made then. Chuck's idea to keep our mortgage payment the same was a good one. The numbers don't lie.
How exciting!
Then Chuck asked a good question yesterday when we received this letter - should we just continue to pay the same mortgage amount as we always have? Should we leave that $222 in our mortgage payment? At first I didn't understand why we would want to do this. I had to take a look at the numbers.
We are paying down our HELOC at a healthy rate. If we continue to make $1000 payments to it each month (this month we'll be paying over $1400 to it) plus use my extra paycheck in March we'll have it paid off early - before my June 2009 goal. Then, in July if we switch that $1000+ each month plus add in an extra paycheck of mine or Chuck's we'd more than meet our goal of $8K in emergency savings by the end of the year. Plus, we'd be paying an extra $222 to our mortgage for 11 months this year, paying off an additional $2442 in principal above our regular mortage payments. My goal for 2009 was to pay off an additional $1800 above our regular mortgage payments.
Wow.
We can keep our mortgage payment the same, meet all of our goals and put ourselves in a much better financial position for refinancing!
Well, I think the decision is made then. Chuck's idea to keep our mortgage payment the same was a good one. The numbers don't lie.
How exciting!
Our Emergency Fund Goal
In my 2009 Goals post I wrote that one of my goals is to have $8K saved in our emergency fund before the end of the year. Right now our emergency fund stands at a little over $2K. To us, $8K is a lot of money. We've never had that much in savings before. But $8K wouldn't be enough told hold us over for very long if we lost our income. Isn't that crazy?
Chuck and I have decided that we want to have 6 months worth of expenses saved for us to feel comfortable with our emergency fund. Tonight I calculated what that would be. If I included mortgage, association dues, natural gas, electricity, car and truck insurance, life insurance, phone and internet (to us internet is a necessity if not only to help speed up a job search but also to make money online but this could be cut if things became dire), gas, groceries and limited household items it came to almost $19K ($18447.48 to be exact). This doesn't include any sort of health care which may be necessary to pay out of pocket depending on the emergency (i.e. I lose my job and Chuck can't go back to full time at his current employer thus securing health care for our family through his company).
I'm just going to round that number up to $20K to make it nice and even.
That means after the HELOC is paid off, our next goal will be to beef up the emergency fund and $20K will be our ultimate goal.
20,000 dollars.
I can't even imagine having that much money in the bank just sitting there earning interest. It boggles my mind. But then, I've never, in my adult life, been debt free either.
$20,000. Seems like so much money to me right now.
Chuck and I have decided that we want to have 6 months worth of expenses saved for us to feel comfortable with our emergency fund. Tonight I calculated what that would be. If I included mortgage, association dues, natural gas, electricity, car and truck insurance, life insurance, phone and internet (to us internet is a necessity if not only to help speed up a job search but also to make money online but this could be cut if things became dire), gas, groceries and limited household items it came to almost $19K ($18447.48 to be exact). This doesn't include any sort of health care which may be necessary to pay out of pocket depending on the emergency (i.e. I lose my job and Chuck can't go back to full time at his current employer thus securing health care for our family through his company).
I'm just going to round that number up to $20K to make it nice and even.
That means after the HELOC is paid off, our next goal will be to beef up the emergency fund and $20K will be our ultimate goal.
20,000 dollars.
I can't even imagine having that much money in the bank just sitting there earning interest. It boggles my mind. But then, I've never, in my adult life, been debt free either.
$20,000. Seems like so much money to me right now.
What to do with the cash we received for Christmas?
Chuck and I were very fortunate to receive $350 in cash for Christmas between my father and my grandmother. We're now trying to decide what to do with this money. I have to admit that my first thought was the HELOC, of course. I didn't tell Chuck that though because I know he grows weary of all our extra money going towards debt instead of fun things. So, we're going to spend this money. Hey, we'll be stimulating the economy, right! So far, here are our ideas:
1 - external hard drive - We can get a 1TB drive for around $100. This would be great to back up all our important files from our computer (pictures, video, tax documents, budgets, etc.). We've wanted one for a while to do just that.
2 - Garmin GPS heart rate monitor - We both want one of these for our running and biking workouts. I'd like a 405 because it's not as big as the 205 and 305 models and would fit better on my skinny wrists. However, the 405 is around $350! We could get the 305 for around $160 and it would meet all our needs but be slightly bigger.
3 - Bike trainer - We'd also both like a bike trainer for our winter indoor biking workouts. Neither of us use our bikes during the winter. It's just too dangerous on our snow and ice covered roads. With a bike trainer though we could train year round. Bike trainers range from $80 to $300 depending on style and model.
4 - Outing with Grandpa - One thing we for sure will do is a family outing with my dad. He gave us the bulk of the money and we'd like to take him with us and the kids for a family outing of some kind as a thank you.
We have more shopping and pondering to do before we make our final decisions. What would you do with a $350 cash gift?
1 - external hard drive - We can get a 1TB drive for around $100. This would be great to back up all our important files from our computer (pictures, video, tax documents, budgets, etc.). We've wanted one for a while to do just that.
2 - Garmin GPS heart rate monitor - We both want one of these for our running and biking workouts. I'd like a 405 because it's not as big as the 205 and 305 models and would fit better on my skinny wrists. However, the 405 is around $350! We could get the 305 for around $160 and it would meet all our needs but be slightly bigger.
3 - Bike trainer - We'd also both like a bike trainer for our winter indoor biking workouts. Neither of us use our bikes during the winter. It's just too dangerous on our snow and ice covered roads. With a bike trainer though we could train year round. Bike trainers range from $80 to $300 depending on style and model.
4 - Outing with Grandpa - One thing we for sure will do is a family outing with my dad. He gave us the bulk of the money and we'd like to take him with us and the kids for a family outing of some kind as a thank you.
We have more shopping and pondering to do before we make our final decisions. What would you do with a $350 cash gift?
December 2008 Month End
December is done. 2008 is over. It was hard to keep track of our finances during December. We used our credit card to make some online purchases for Christmas presents so there were extra payments to the credit card this month. Then some Christmas presents were bought with non-Christmas expenses so I had to watch my receipts to make sure the correct amount of cash was being taken from savings to pay for those presents and then we spent more than we expected on groceries and well, it was confusing. OK? But, that's all behind me now and I can start fresh in January with a plump checking account and a straightforward budget. Whew! Here's how our December worked itself out:
Debts:
HELOC: $8,092.35 (-$835.66) - Another solid month! Can't ask for much more with the Christmas madness surrounding us. Some of this was November budget surplus, some was my raise backpay, some was normal snowflakes. It's January I'm super excited for though. We should be able to pay almost $1400 to the HELOC in January! I know - giving away all the good news in one fell swoop. That's OK though - I'm so excited I have to share! And that's with buying Guitar Hero World Tour (which we already have and are really enjoying - who knew I was a drummer!?!). January, fingers crossed, should be a great month! And, for some even better news, the rate on the HELOC just dropped again. It's down to 4%! That's still more than we're making on savings so it still makes sense to get rid of this debt fast but paying less interest is always a good thing!
Savings:
Emergency Fund: $2,013.17 (+5.72) - We're now making more money in our $1000 emergency fund CD (4.25%) than we're paying in interest on our HELOC (4.00%)! I really want to beef the emergency fund up but any money I put into this account will only get 2.5% interest right now so it still makes financial sense to dump all extra money into the HELOC. I really want to see this balance grow though, especially in this economy. Really, really want to see it grow. Must eliminate the HELOC at record pace!
Short Term Savings: $93.40 (-199.98) - Took some money out of here to help pay for the gutters. We have no immediate plans for this money so it should grow for a few months with our regular $50 monthly contributions.
Anniversary Savings: $378.83 (+20.84) - We should hit the $400 mark next month. 2012 seems so far away still. I'm glad we're saving this money now though for that trip. We certainly don't miss the $20/month but will feel great about paying cash for the trip!
Christmas Savings: $629.41 (-378.18) - Not all Christmas money has been transferred out yet. The transaction is still pending so this is what the December month end balance was. I transferred another $300 out of here and that should take care of our Christmas expenses. We'll still have over $300 left in the account! That's a nice starting point for Christmas 2009. And since we're going to start drawing names for next Christmas instead of buying everybody an individual present, our holiday budget should be greatly reduced.
Our NCN chart went from 67.88% to 70.89% this month. We crossed the 70% paid milestone! That is so awesome! I had originally set a goal date of 9/1/10 to pay off our almost $30k debt. My current goal, as I posted yesterday, is to pay off the rest of the balance by 6/30/09. That's more than a year ahead of schedule! Incredible! We've had some good fortune along the way (no need to use the emergency fund yet!) and some "extra" money come in (higher than expected tax refunds, bonuses, raises, snowflakes, etc) but still - I'm amazed that we're getting so close! I'm hoping to beat my June 2009 goal by a month or two if I can too! Gone. Gone. Gone. I want the HELOC gone.
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Debts:
HELOC: $8,092.35 (-$835.66) - Another solid month! Can't ask for much more with the Christmas madness surrounding us. Some of this was November budget surplus, some was my raise backpay, some was normal snowflakes. It's January I'm super excited for though. We should be able to pay almost $1400 to the HELOC in January! I know - giving away all the good news in one fell swoop. That's OK though - I'm so excited I have to share! And that's with buying Guitar Hero World Tour (which we already have and are really enjoying - who knew I was a drummer!?!). January, fingers crossed, should be a great month! And, for some even better news, the rate on the HELOC just dropped again. It's down to 4%! That's still more than we're making on savings so it still makes sense to get rid of this debt fast but paying less interest is always a good thing!
Savings:
Emergency Fund: $2,013.17 (+5.72) - We're now making more money in our $1000 emergency fund CD (4.25%) than we're paying in interest on our HELOC (4.00%)! I really want to beef the emergency fund up but any money I put into this account will only get 2.5% interest right now so it still makes financial sense to dump all extra money into the HELOC. I really want to see this balance grow though, especially in this economy. Really, really want to see it grow. Must eliminate the HELOC at record pace!
Short Term Savings: $93.40 (-199.98) - Took some money out of here to help pay for the gutters. We have no immediate plans for this money so it should grow for a few months with our regular $50 monthly contributions.
Anniversary Savings: $378.83 (+20.84) - We should hit the $400 mark next month. 2012 seems so far away still. I'm glad we're saving this money now though for that trip. We certainly don't miss the $20/month but will feel great about paying cash for the trip!
Christmas Savings: $629.41 (-378.18) - Not all Christmas money has been transferred out yet. The transaction is still pending so this is what the December month end balance was. I transferred another $300 out of here and that should take care of our Christmas expenses. We'll still have over $300 left in the account! That's a nice starting point for Christmas 2009. And since we're going to start drawing names for next Christmas instead of buying everybody an individual present, our holiday budget should be greatly reduced.
Our NCN chart went from 67.88% to 70.89% this month. We crossed the 70% paid milestone! That is so awesome! I had originally set a goal date of 9/1/10 to pay off our almost $30k debt. My current goal, as I posted yesterday, is to pay off the rest of the balance by 6/30/09. That's more than a year ahead of schedule! Incredible! We've had some good fortune along the way (no need to use the emergency fund yet!) and some "extra" money come in (higher than expected tax refunds, bonuses, raises, snowflakes, etc) but still - I'm amazed that we're getting so close! I'm hoping to beat my June 2009 goal by a month or two if I can too! Gone. Gone. Gone. I want the HELOC gone.
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