I've talked with Chuck and we've decided to rename our Anniversary Savings our Travel Fund. We are still planning a big trip (7-10 days) to Hawaii to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary in 2012. However, there is other traveling we want to do and we want to make sure we have money saved for these trips.
There are two other trips we want to take. One is to El Paso to visit my brother. He's put in his transfer request and the earliest he could be transferred to the northern border is November. Before he comes home, I want to see El Paso, where he lives, the town, etc. It may be just me going for a long weekend or Chuck and I or a whole family vacation. Those details are all TBD depending on when my brother gets his notice.
The other trip we need to start saving for is a big Disney trip. We want to take the kids to Disney when they are 4 and 6 or 5 and 7 years old. That means 2011 or 2012. And we'd like to make it a long vacation (about 7 days) so we can make sure we get to see and do everything we'd like. I think after the HELOC is paid off we'll up our monthly travel fund contribution from $20 to $50 or so to boost this fund a little bit. Then after we've built our emergency savings and our basement fund maybe we can funnel more money into this account.
There are just so many things we want to do! Finish our basement, travel, purchase new vehicles (ours are 1999 and 2000 models currently). And we want to do all this stuff in the next 1-4 years! I'm so happy we'll have our debt paid off soon (knock on wood!) so we can actually do some of this stuff without digging us into an even deeper hole.
LED Light bulbs?
Did you know there is such a think as an LED light bulb? I knew about LED Christmas lights and LED car headlights. However, I did not know development was so far along on LED light bulbs for your house! Trent at The Simple Dollar recently did an experiment to compare the type of light each bulb emits (LED vs incandescent vs CFLs). He also compared the total cost of each bulb over it's predicted life span.
This was an interesting post for a techie geek girl like me! Did you know my senior project for my EE degree was an LED life tester? Heh. Anyway, check out the article. I thought it was great!
And in case you don't, here's the winner: CFL's - in both light and cost if you ask me. Good thing we're changing to CFLs in our house. As each incandescent bulb burns out we're replacing it with a CFL. How about you?
This was an interesting post for a techie geek girl like me! Did you know my senior project for my EE degree was an LED life tester? Heh. Anyway, check out the article. I thought it was great!
And in case you don't, here's the winner: CFL's - in both light and cost if you ask me. Good thing we're changing to CFLs in our house. As each incandescent bulb burns out we're replacing it with a CFL. How about you?
Reduction in Preschool Expenses
Currently, Anya is enrolled in a private preschool, part of the Catholic church school system a block away from our house. It's $2,400/year plus a $135 enrollment fee for 3 days/week. Her birthday is in early September meaning she can't start kindergarten this fall. Instead, she'll be attending her third year of preschool.
Instead of paying that much money again, and basically putting her in the same environment, same curriculum, same, same, same, we've decided to enroll her in a public preschool. With a reduced monthly fee plus a reduced enrollment fee, we'll be saving ourselves over $700 this next school year!
Instead of paying that much money again, and basically putting her in the same environment, same curriculum, same, same, same, we've decided to enroll her in a public preschool. With a reduced monthly fee plus a reduced enrollment fee, we'll be saving ourselves over $700 this next school year!
Time to Check the Ol' Credit Scores
I haven't checked our credit scores in a very long time. September of 2007 I got our reports for free from annualcreditreport.com but of course that doesn't come with scores. We haven't had our scores reported to us in at least two years.
For two reasons, I decided now was the time to get both our scores and our reports. First reason was in the past couple of months we've received several phone calls for a Jessica OurLastName. It made me nervous that they had our last name correctly (even spelled out in one voicemail) but there is no Jessica at our house! Chuck is convinced it's a second cousin of his and that somebody is trying to track down any body who might know a way of finding her (and maybe her money?). Either way, it made me nervous.
Then, with the recent announcement that Experian is no longer going to make scores available as of 2/14/09 (reports will still be available), I decided to bite the bullet and order scores and reports for Chuck and I. Well, we were pleasantly surprised! Our scores range from 774 to 808!
I was so excited I'm actually a little choked up! We've never had scores this high! Previously they've ranged anywhere from the high 600's to the low 700's. While those are decent scores, these are great ones!
Again, just one more reason to get rid of this debt!
And now I'm off to critique these reports and see if there's any questions or concerns I see in them.
For two reasons, I decided now was the time to get both our scores and our reports. First reason was in the past couple of months we've received several phone calls for a Jessica OurLastName. It made me nervous that they had our last name correctly (even spelled out in one voicemail) but there is no Jessica at our house! Chuck is convinced it's a second cousin of his and that somebody is trying to track down any body who might know a way of finding her (and maybe her money?). Either way, it made me nervous.
Then, with the recent announcement that Experian is no longer going to make scores available as of 2/14/09 (reports will still be available), I decided to bite the bullet and order scores and reports for Chuck and I. Well, we were pleasantly surprised! Our scores range from 774 to 808!
I was so excited I'm actually a little choked up! We've never had scores this high! Previously they've ranged anywhere from the high 600's to the low 700's. While those are decent scores, these are great ones! Again, just one more reason to get rid of this debt!
And now I'm off to critique these reports and see if there's any questions or concerns I see in them.
Planning and Dreaming
Now that we're getting so close to being debt free but mortgage, I'm dreaming about and planning what comes next. If things continue to go well, this could happen as early as May, most likely in June. That's not that far away! From there, it's time to beef up the emergency fund. My goal for that is $8K by the end of the year. We're at a little over $2K right now. We could save $1K/month from July - December and hit our goal. Our budget right now affords us to push anywhere from $1000 to $1500/month towards debt right now.
I'm thinking that I'll stick with $1K/month towards the emergency fund and then anything I can snowflake on top of that will go to a new INGDirect subaccount that I'll create in June/July. It's going to be the Basement Finishing Fund.
Chuck and I really want to finish our basement. We'd have a 4th bedroom/work out room plus another 3/4 bath and an official office area (our office area is in a corner of our bedroom right now) plus a media room. Right now our exercise equipment is in the middle of our cement block wall basement. It's downright dreary down there when we go to work out. We've been dreaming about this since we built this house in 2005. We always said maybe next winter, next summer, next, next, next. Now that we're getting closer to having our financial house in order, we may actually get to finish that basement!
I'm estimating we'll need about $25K to finish the basement. As soon as we can start saving money for it, we can maybe start a few things here and there (put up a vapor barrier on the cement walls, designing the spaces and start putting up stud walls, etc.). I'm so excited and want to get started now!
Just one more reason to snowflake every single extra cent we have to the HELOC right now!
I'm thinking that I'll stick with $1K/month towards the emergency fund and then anything I can snowflake on top of that will go to a new INGDirect subaccount that I'll create in June/July. It's going to be the Basement Finishing Fund.
Chuck and I really want to finish our basement. We'd have a 4th bedroom/work out room plus another 3/4 bath and an official office area (our office area is in a corner of our bedroom right now) plus a media room. Right now our exercise equipment is in the middle of our cement block wall basement. It's downright dreary down there when we go to work out. We've been dreaming about this since we built this house in 2005. We always said maybe next winter, next summer, next, next, next. Now that we're getting closer to having our financial house in order, we may actually get to finish that basement!
I'm estimating we'll need about $25K to finish the basement. As soon as we can start saving money for it, we can maybe start a few things here and there (put up a vapor barrier on the cement walls, designing the spaces and start putting up stud walls, etc.). I'm so excited and want to get started now!
Just one more reason to snowflake every single extra cent we have to the HELOC right now!
Preliminary taxes done!
Over the weekend Chuck did a first pass at our taxes. With everything included, we're estimating we owe around $300 between state and federal. Not too bad! Last year we had a $3000+ refund come back to us. I altered my W-4 and we came pretty close to perfect this year! And I put that "extra" money each month to good use - debt reduction!
How about you? Are you owing or getting a refund this year?
How about you? Are you owing or getting a refund this year?
Link Update
I've found a few new (to me) interesting personal finance blogs in the last week. I like these because they are just that - personal. It's people telling their stories - no bulleted lists of what to do and not do here! Take a look and share the love:
Becoming Debt Free in 2009
In a city of 647,000 zombies
Six Figure Debt
Anyone want to share a link to a blog they like reading? If it's not on my blogroll on the left, leave me a comment! I love finding new inspiration!
Becoming Debt Free in 2009
In a city of 647,000 zombies
Six Figure Debt
Anyone want to share a link to a blog they like reading? If it's not on my blogroll on the left, leave me a comment! I love finding new inspiration!
January 2009 Month End
Sorry for the long absence. My brother was in town from El Paso from Wednesday through Monday and I was spending as much time as possible with him. And like the bad blogger that I am, I didn't have any posts queued up and ready to go. I usually don't though. What you read is usually what I just wrote.
Here we are. 1/12th of the way through the year. January is in the books. And it didn't turn out too badly! I didn't have any Christmas debt to pay which, of course, was nice. And it was a three paycheck month for me which was also nice! However, we went over our budget in several categories (household, dining out and miscellaneous - the $105 we spent in co-pays didn't help either - go away pneumonia, ear infections, pink eye and colds!). And while we were under in others (car gas, groceries) it didn't make up the difference. We had to pull some of that third paycheck to cover our expenses. Bad, bad spenders! Overall though, the month went pretty well. Take a look for yourself!
Debts:
HELOC: $5,667.96 (-$2,424.39) - Yeah, that third paycheck helped out a lot here! I put an extra $1000 towards this debt on top of what I had budgeted to pay and our snowflakes. It sure would be nice if every month could be this awesome! I'm hoping February can come close. I do have some of that third paycheck left in the checking account and I'm planning on sending a large chunk to the HELOC again this month.
Savings:
Emergency Fund: $2,018.81 (+5.64) - The emergency fund is on cruise mode right now. I sure hope it stays that way and that we don't have to use it!
Short Term Savings: $246.42 (+153.02) - Along with the $50 budgeted contribution this month, the rest of our Christmas gift money is in here now. $50 of that is earmarked as a family outing and the rest will go towards our Garmin 305 purchase. I'm thinking we'll order the Garmin in March when it gets a little nicer outside here in Minnesota and we actually start thinking about running outside again with some regularity.
Anniversary Savings: $399.62 (+20.79) - I'm thinking of re-labeling this account our travel fund. While a big goal is Hawaii in 2012 to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, there are other trips we'd like to take too. For example, I'd like to take a family trip to El Paso to visit my brother (and tour the city as I've never been to Texas before) before he transfers to the northern border (hopefully a Minnesotan city!). That could happen as soon as November. I'll have to think about that some more.
Christmas Savings: $330.11 (-299.30) - OK, all Christmas expenses have been transferred out. Here is our starting balance for Christmas 2009. We're well positioned already! Hopefully this money can just sit through out this year, gaining a little interest.
Our NCN chart went from 70.89% to 79.61% this month. We gained almost 9 percentage points in one month! I can see the finish line. We're getting close. A few more months (knock on wood for no emergencies) and we should be debt free but mortgage! I just can't believe we've been so fortunate. Long live the budget! (It has really been a hugely helpful tool for us.)
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Here we are. 1/12th of the way through the year. January is in the books. And it didn't turn out too badly! I didn't have any Christmas debt to pay which, of course, was nice. And it was a three paycheck month for me which was also nice! However, we went over our budget in several categories (household, dining out and miscellaneous - the $105 we spent in co-pays didn't help either - go away pneumonia, ear infections, pink eye and colds!). And while we were under in others (car gas, groceries) it didn't make up the difference. We had to pull some of that third paycheck to cover our expenses. Bad, bad spenders! Overall though, the month went pretty well. Take a look for yourself!
Debts:
HELOC: $5,667.96 (-$2,424.39) - Yeah, that third paycheck helped out a lot here! I put an extra $1000 towards this debt on top of what I had budgeted to pay and our snowflakes. It sure would be nice if every month could be this awesome! I'm hoping February can come close. I do have some of that third paycheck left in the checking account and I'm planning on sending a large chunk to the HELOC again this month.
Savings:
Emergency Fund: $2,018.81 (+5.64) - The emergency fund is on cruise mode right now. I sure hope it stays that way and that we don't have to use it!
Short Term Savings: $246.42 (+153.02) - Along with the $50 budgeted contribution this month, the rest of our Christmas gift money is in here now. $50 of that is earmarked as a family outing and the rest will go towards our Garmin 305 purchase. I'm thinking we'll order the Garmin in March when it gets a little nicer outside here in Minnesota and we actually start thinking about running outside again with some regularity.
Anniversary Savings: $399.62 (+20.79) - I'm thinking of re-labeling this account our travel fund. While a big goal is Hawaii in 2012 to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, there are other trips we'd like to take too. For example, I'd like to take a family trip to El Paso to visit my brother (and tour the city as I've never been to Texas before) before he transfers to the northern border (hopefully a Minnesotan city!). That could happen as soon as November. I'll have to think about that some more.
Christmas Savings: $330.11 (-299.30) - OK, all Christmas expenses have been transferred out. Here is our starting balance for Christmas 2009. We're well positioned already! Hopefully this money can just sit through out this year, gaining a little interest.
Our NCN chart went from 70.89% to 79.61% this month. We gained almost 9 percentage points in one month! I can see the finish line. We're getting close. A few more months (knock on wood for no emergencies) and we should be debt free but mortgage! I just can't believe we've been so fortunate. Long live the budget! (It has really been a hugely helpful tool for us.)
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