Thursday, January 21, 2016

Numbers...part 1

Sorry for the short absence.  I am still figuring out my new normal, and part of that has led to a good ole fashion down-in-the-dumps period.  Lovely.  Add in some Sassy problems, some hard discussions about Bossy and some frustration....and I just haven't been in the mood.

Wanna talk numbers?  I know a few of you are curious.  I am still paying January bills, so I thought I would break it up and talk about the bills that are already paid for the month and the future plans for them. I am just going to call these February 1 numbers, since they won't change before then.

Mysti's Car - $2,203.58
The credit union removed the on-line option that lets you make a principal only payment.  Boo.  I made a small "overpayment" using the updated system, and it only applied it to the next payment and indeed split the amount between principal and interest.  There went my rounding....unless I want to call every month and make a $2.57 payment and have it principal only.

It doesn't matter that much because this loan only has 9-ish more payments (the 10th payment isn't a full payment and we have a plan to eliminate the 10th payment)!  Doesn't feel like I have had this car for 4 years but I have, and we are almost at the end of the loan.  Fantasy has this paid off by summer but until I am steadily bringing in a paycheck, that isn't an option.  Once we are free of this loan, that is $230 that will be available for other stuff, which may be extra on the house loan since it is at the same credit union, or may be CC.  That will get determined as we get closer to the pay off and we see what our budget is at that point.

One more payment and the total is officially in the one thousands.  Yay.  Then it is 5 more payments  (4 if we can pay $60 by then) and we are below $1,000.  We are almost there.

House loan -$20,760.90
This is the loan we took out in October for $22,000.  The first $9,400 paid off the retirement loan, and the remainder went toward the house at closing.  The "nice" thing about this loan is that with a payment of $435 a month, the total drops into a new thousand every 3 months or so.  It helps with the mental game.

The interest rate is 6.99%.  The CC has a higher rate, so extra money should go toward the CC, but again.....the mental game.  This loan still ties us to CT, so for us, there is a higher motivation to get rid of it.  We will see how it goes.  Nothing is getting extra right now, and we are still 9-10 months away from my car being paid off, so this Fall we will assess where we are at.

We did all we could to avoid this loan, but at the end of the day....it was the only way to help generate the $18k cash we needed for the house (we had $6,900 already put aside from selling stuff, tax return last year, etc).  This loan above all others has really emotionally effected me.  It should represent the start of the next chapter of our life.  Instead, it represents our short comings.  Until it gets down to $9,400....where we were before....it will weigh on me.

I am toying with (again, mental game), separating this loan into 2 parts for tracking purposes.  It is completely arbitrary.  Basically, I would put the $9,400 in one category (which is true consumer debt, since the retirement loan was a consolidation of consumer debt) and the remainder in another category (house, moving, whatever).  I know at its heart, it doesn't matter....right now, the mental game is really where its at for me.  Its a game....I know it is a game.  No need to tell me that.

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So there are a few numbers to wet your appetite.  Student loan and G-man's car get paid on Monday....so that update is coming.  And CC gets paid over the next 2 weeks. Are we having fun yet?







14 comments:

  1. I'm glad you are okay! I was wondering what happened since your blog has been so silent.
    I totally get the mental game...There is no need to apologize to anyone for that because, unless you have ALWAYS had your s*%t together, we have all been there. Sometimes when things seem overwhelming (for whatever reason) rearranging/playing with the numbers is the best way to stay sane!
    Keep plugging away...You got this! =)

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    1. Gotta love the juggle! And spreadsheets. lol

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  2. Are Bossy's discussions school related?
    Poor Sassy. I love so many things about the south. The schools are not among those. Perhaps it's best you aren't working. Might be advantageous to stay home...make your goal to make the home an emotional respite for everybody, and that includes you. Meanwhile, work on that black belt in frugality. Nothing but essentials, and be brutally honest about what are essentials. True, shopping when you're down is an escape, but when I first became a sahm and found myself looking to the potted plants for company, I would say, "ah, well, I am in a crappy mood anyway, may as well add to it and deny myself."And then we had no debt. Yep. Just like that. Sort of...
    Hang in there. Keep us posted on the kids. Thanks for the update.

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    1. There are some medical things going on with Bossy right now, in addition to school. Lots to sort out. In regards to school though....since high school is next year, there is A LOT of planning going on.

      Sassy....I am not going to really get into what is going on with Sassy here. She is not doing well. Not at all. For the first time, she is realizing that a) she doesn't socially fit in, b) is being "called out" for her intelligence by her peers so has decided to not do her work in an attempt at being "average." She has created a huge situation for herself and hid it from us. Now she is fighting us as we are trying to help her out of it. It isn't good.

      As for being home...this isn't where I function best. I do better with an outside job. I am frustrated at home because things I would like to do are not possible because of finances. I never leave the house unless I am going to the grocery store. No shopping going on....unless you count the cat food on Amazon. With just G-man's salary (and his part time job, and the very little I am bringing in from a little work I am still doing), it is paying the bills and nothing else.

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  3. Adjusting to a new school in the middle of the year can definitely be a bummer and middle school is the worst, even good kids are a pain.
    The bills will work out, it'll simply try to drive you crazy in the process. It just takes time.

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  4. I'm sorry things are rough right now. I hope things settle down with the kids and you find a job soon.

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  5. @Meg B. Schools down South? There are bad schools and good schools in EVERY part of the country. Look at Detroit. A NORTHERN school. Yes, as a southerner I take offense to that stereotype.

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    1. Let me clarify: In my travels all over the U.S., I found it more difficult for some of my out of the box kids to manuever the mores of the schools in the south, (where football is king attitude) versus NE and the PNW. Academically, the southern experience was on par. The social...ee gads. In all fairness, there was that same issue in SoCal...

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  6. Starting high school sort of resets everything assuming that kids are joined together from multiple middle schools, so she just needs to make it through the rest of this school year.

    When I sold my house for a loss, I ended up taking a $13,000 loan from a CC at 9.99%. I completely understand how you are feeling. I had a lot of motivation to pay it off ASAP and lived cheaply. It sucked for that time it took to pay off but boy was I excited when that hit $0.

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  7. Glad you are okay. It will take time to adjust. Like the #'s update makes me feel like I am not alone in the game.

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  8. Hope all works out well.
    Change is hard for everyone and much harder for a teen. I assume since she moved in the middle of the year cliques were already established and it is hard to squeeze into an existing group. She needs a little time to learn to navigate the cultural differences and let kids who have lived there all their lives (and known each other since they wore diapers) get used to her also. Right now a little time is her friend.

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  9. My 16 yr old who although not gifted is in top 7% of her class of almost 600. She's had "friends" since kindergarten who make cracks about nerd and brown noser, etc. I give my kid credit she just keeps going. She figures on senior awards night when she hopefully (cross all appendages) pulls in scholarships she ll see whose making fun then. Maybe Sassy needs to find that area she's comfortable with. For my kid it was friending smarter than her kids so she felt included.
    Keep plugging away this too shall pass even if in the throes it never seems like it.

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  10. Misty, you are doing great. Keep your chin up. We are facing a similar situation after me taking a year and a half off to take care of a sick adult child. We had to dip heavily into our savings and even incur some new debt but she is healthy and I was able to care for her directly.
    So too with you and Mr G-Man you have been through a bunch of crap and now you are stepping out if it and you will one step at a time :)
    Anette

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  11. Chin up, Sassy. Nerds rule in the real world.

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