New Year, New Totals

Here we go....the new, updated totals for the new year!  (note, graphics are from various sources.  The car pics are not out actual cars, but pretty close look alikes!)

For prosperity:

Retirement Loan:   $13,460.50

As I stated previously, we adjusted the terms of this loan in October 2014 to allow a greater cash flow in anticipation of G-man's move to NC.  Previously this loan was going to be paid off in April/May 2016, and it is now April/May 2017, based on the current repayment of $221 per paycheck (26 checks a year).  Previously it was $380 per check. 

Student Loan:        $22,474.73

This loan is the last on the list of priorities of repayment.  It always has been.  We pay $229 a month for this loan.  I *think* I am out of deferment or forbearance time for these loans, so even though we are dealing with some income fluctuation, I am not sure there is much I can do.  If we get to the point where we have to find a place to reduce...I will call and ask.  The worst they will say is no.

Credit Card:          $9,998.97

*sigh*  This total is a self-soothing, psychological game.  I couldn't deal with it going into 5 figures, so I made sure it was UNDER 10k, even if it is only by $1.03.  This is by far the BIGGEST area for improvement.  We have used it as a crutch, and we know it.  Especially in the past 6 months...there has been so much change, we failed to really pay attention.  That is on us.

Mysti's Car:           $5,150.00

At $230 a month, and a very low interest rate....this loan just gets chipped away each month.  It is scheduled to be paid off in November 2016.  I have started this little habit of paying an extra dollar or two to the principal to round the number off.  I just like the zeroes at the end. 

  

G-man's Car:         $3,500.00

This loan started at $6,000 at the end of October 2013 (first payment was November 2013).  So in 14 months, we have paid off  41.7%, and this was scheduled to be a 5 year loan (even though we never planned on taking that long).  This loan was done as a personal loan due to the age of the car (2001 Camry), so it also comes with a hefty 9.99% interest rate. 

Med/Dental:          $0.00

This is our starting number.  The question mark for 2015 is if this will STAY this way.  Bossy's supplies are on a 100% financial waiver that expires in February.  We will reapply for assistance, but there is a chance that we could lose the waiver, or have it reduced.  At that point...this number is going to go up.  Other medical and dental procedures will hopefully be covered by insurance and our FSA.  But we also have put aside extra to cover costs once the FSA is used up. 








Lastly....our EF.  It is currently sitting at $3,000.  My EVENTUAL goal is to have this at 5k. (In my perfect world, there will also be an account that has 6 months of expenses, but that is so far down the road, I don't really think about it). 

Financial Update...part 2

I promise....part 3....or the Year in review....or some post.....will talk about the side bar and the soon to be updated number.  But here is a continuation of part 1 from last week.....


The Boat

G-man sold the boat 3 weeks ago.  I hated the money sucking boat (even though it hasn't really been a financial issue for awhile).  But when the new owner was driving it away....I got sad.  The boat was purchased 6 months before G-man and I met, and I do remember the pre-kid days when we would take the boat out...he would fish, I would read.  Couple that with the major changes we have in general, and I just got overwhelmed.

We got $2000 for the boat.  Blue book was around $5000 for an excellent condition boat, and this was far from excellent.  It probably needs a few thousand in work, and time.  For the 20-something kid that bought it, who's best friend's dad is going to help him fix it up....they got an excellent deal (a trailer and a boat).

So we now have $2000 in cash......plus

Miscellaneous Money

Way earlier in the year we had saved about $2000 to make a massive snowball payment.  I just had a really hard time actually pulling the trigger, so it sat for a bit.  Then the move entered into the picture.  We used about $800 toward the getting-the-house-ready, and another $100 went to something that is escaping me right now....leaving $1100.

Add in the boat money, and we are at $3100.

Plus, we received a cash gift when G-man left his CT office.  That is another $350.

So now we are at $3450.    This is not our regular savings account.  This is not part of our EF.  This is pure "extra."

The Debate

As usual, I can't just pull the trigger on one thing with the extra money.  In some parallel universe there is a Mysti who has ONE plan and just follows it.  If I ever meet her, I will ask her how that is working out for her.

Meanwhile, in this universe, I keep running numbers....in no particular order.....

• Pay off G-man's car.  I haven't updated the side bar yet, but G-man's car is about $3472 with the December payment.  We keep a little slush in the account, so another $20-ish dollars and the car loan is gone, freeing up $127 a month, which could go toward debt or toward living expenses while we are living in 2 households.
• Huge snowball to Mysti's car.  My car loan is about $5100.  Add in whatever we get from our tax return, and there is a pretty good chance that by spring the loan is paid off, freeing $230 a month.  Again, go to debt.....or living expenses.  The biggest downsides to this option are that the loan has a very low interest rate so we aren't saving a huge amount there, and there is at least a few month delay before this is actually paid off....so the freeing of the money doesn't help in the short term.
• Huge snowball to the CC.  Obviously it doesn't get rid of the debt, but it is a boost to your credit score, which has fallen a few points because of the utilization ratio.  We are still in the high 700's, but I get an icky feeling seeing it drop.  As always, the concern is that using the CC as a crutch will bring the total up again.....yes, the simple answer is don't do it.  But let's just lay the cards on the table...there is a chance this is going to happen.  I know some of you will yell at me about this, but your yelling doesn't solve the problem that is "cash flow."
• Save it for the move.  We already know the move is going to run us in the $6500 range (between the movers, my trip to go house hunting, misc travel expenses, setting up a few home expenses, etc).  Obviously this covers about half....add in the tax return in a few months, and we should have about 3/4 covered.  We had figured at least some of our move would be charged, with the plan that we would have it as a tax write off...but that won't happen until 2016.  Whatever money we get back will go to debt in one form or another, it will just depend on what the situation looks like in 2016.
• Living expenses.  I started writing this post before we got paid yesterday and saw our $159 check.  The idea of saving it for living expenses was sort of on the bottom of the priority because a) we really didn't think the check would be THAT low, b) concern that it would get eaten away at "nothing", and c) G-man getting a second job was always a consideration to make up for a deficit.  But now that we know that we have about $330 less per month....this would float us for 10 months.  And we already know that this move is going to happen before then (hoping for May or June!)
• Fund the miscellaneous accounts.  I have talked many times about our on-line funds to pre save for expenses, such as car insurance and maintenance, water bill, taxes, etc. We also save for the cats, kids activities, Christmas....but right at this moment, those are secondary.  We could put aside money we know we are going to need for at least the next 6 months and not have to worry where that is going to come from.

In the short term.....it is going to sit and wait.  The next 10 days are just not the right time to make a decision, so we will mull it over.  (Although I would love to pull the trigger on 12/31 and bring out 2014 down!!!)  I am trying not to split the money into small piles, because it really doesn't help the big picture.

I really do wish we were in a situation where we could SPEND this.  But we aren't.  So this option is not an option.  But the thought was nice for the 1.3 seconds that it lasted.

Feel free to interject.  Am I missing something?

Cars are stressing me

I am a realist.  I know stuff happens, and I try to prepare for it.  Where I sometimes go to the extreme is how far in advance I plan for the inevitable.

G-man's car is a 2004.  It has 165k miles.  And he is hard on his car (as he is on everything....clothes, shoes, electronics....).  His car is a mess inside (which I try not to think about, as it is his car, and I am rarely in it).  But the bottom line is....he needs to take care of his car to make it last.

I have already told asked him to please make a list of what maintenance needs to be performed on the car, and to look at what should have been done at 150k.  A few things I already know that need to be done are an oil change and new air filter.  It got a new transmission last year, so that BETTER be fine.

But I am also thinking about tires....and those puppies are expensive!  I am pretty sure they are ok right now, but again....nothing lasts forever. No idea what else.

My car just got an oil change last week (when it was in the shop for the recall notice).  And since we had the car inspected when we bought it, I am fairly confident that it is ok.  But again, at some point down the road, it will need tires.  The brakes are squeaking a little...hoping they just need to be cleaned, but maybe they need new pads.

I have just about convinced myself that we need to save more for the car stuff.  So now I am thinking of changing the budget (again) to accommodate that.  It may mean taking some money from extra debt repayment, or using the overtime money to continue to pad the account.

I guess this rambling post comes down to the security I feel knowing that there is a pile of money available for life stuff.  And while I want to do it all, I can't.  This again plays into my post from yesterday about a boost in income.....I would feel better knowing the accounts are full and happy.....and for some reason that gives me more "energy" than the debt repayment (but trust me....watching numbers go down is a jazz!)

Do you save for this stuff, or just deal with it when it happens?  Is this what you use your EF for?

ETA:  We do have a "car" fund.  At this point, it just covers little things....wipers, oil changes, etc.  We have been able to use it for some "larger" expenses, like the alternator that died in April.  But something always happens before we are able to let it really build.

I guess I don't want to use the EF for the car because I already know that maintenance on a car is a given.  It really isn't an emergency.  On the flip side....if all of a sudden my master cylinder croaked....that would be an emergency!

Skipping to the Bank! And a look ahead.

Today is payday, so off to the bank I go.  This is going to sound so silly, but today, I can't wait!  I will go after I pick up the kids, so it will be about 3:30pm by the time I get there.  And here I am....counting down the hours.

I have many things to accomplish at the bank today:

The Basic Stuff

1. The obvious....deposit my paycheck!
2. Withdraw (or technically, subtract from my paycheck in cash) money towards our EF (remember, we do $25 a week, but I am a little behind, so I need to get some extra)
3. Get money for the kids lunches for next week (my new cash system is working wonderfully!!)

The Bigger Stuff

1. Notarize our loan papers
2. Notarize papers for "found" money that the state has been holding for us for TEN years and we just found (no idea how much this is...the site won't tell us that.  It could be $5 for all we know.)

The Kid Stuff

1. Get Lollipop
2. Get info about opening savings accounts for them
3. See what we can do about Sassy's ripped money

Once we have money in the account again, I can pay the bills that I have been itching to pay.  None of them are terribly exciting....electric, phone.  Next week will be much more exciting.  Two credit card bills, dentist, car....those actually effect the bottom line.

The loan papers will get submitted tomorrow (after G-man has his part notarized), and we are hoping that it will fund within a week.  But until then, we will keep going, business as usual.  Depending on when it actually funds will determine final payouts.  There is a chance that there may be a little CC debt left from residual interest, but that would get paid off in the next paycheck.

We should get our tax return soon, and be able to work on the repairs on Bossy's room.

G-man has ALOT of overtime this month, that will go into our overtime account, to be withdrawn at the end of June towards "something."  As it stands now, April will bring about 20 hours of overtime.  With May and June to come, we are hopeful that the overtime account will be plump, and I would love to make a big, fat payment to something.  I am thinking if it we can make an extra $1,000 payment somewhere, anything left over in the account can go towards the repairs needed for the deck.  Since we already know of 20 hours of OT, with 2 more months to go, plus anything that changes with me....I think it is a do-able goal.

Only 6.5 hrs to go until I hit the bank!!!

ETA:  All missions accomplished!  

How do you define Progress?

***ETA:  I wrote this post last night, and scheduled it to go live today.  Almost no one actually GOT the point of the post.  Everyone is still on the "should we buy tickets" bandwagon....which for the record, I never asked if I should or shouldn't.  

In my GBU yesterday, I mentioned that we were "thinking" about getting concert tickets.  Our last concert was almost 10 years...oops....8 years ago (the kids were ALMOST 2).  Are they pricey?  Yep.  We were thinking about it; no decision made.  We have had 2 big date nights in the past year....and this would be the next one (not counting the wedding we have in May).

Is it the BEST use of money?  Depends on your definition of BEST.  No, it isn't going to debt.  But if you define BEST as "the ability for a couple to have a night out, see a show we both would enjoy, and have a night off from the stress of our life,"  then yes.  We have also considered only having G-man go (as he wants to go more than I do, even though I do want to go).  Then we would only have 1 ticket and parking.  No sitter or anything.

Consuelo made a comment regarding our numbers and our "lack of progress" in the past few months.

I am not going to deny that numbers are ugly.  I never have.  We were making progress, and last year really wrenched that.  No denying that.  But to say "lack of progress" in the past few few months isn't accurate.  I haven't updated our sidebar in the past few days because I know it is all about to change, and decided to wait until the big change to do the update.  But the comment really upset me, so I looked a few things up....a few things that may not be as apparent to you all because I don't share EVERY detail.

Since January 1....

• We have increased our EF by $324.    Prior to my root canal, we had just under $1,300 in there.  We withdrew some to float that money to get a discount.  When our FSA reimburses us, it will go back to the EF, and we will have the $1300 again, and are working toward
• We have saved over $500 towards the kids' camp for the summer, which acts as day care for us while we work.
• We have saved $550 in overtime pay.  Part of this is paying for G-man's speeding ticket and fishing license.  The rest is going toward our weekend trip to Sesame Place for Autism Day (entrance to the park is free, other than a $25 parking fee which goes to charity.  We have a gov't discount for the hotel).
• We have saved enough so far to pay for our water bill, which will come in May.  And we are on track to have the money saved for our personal property taxes in July.
• We paid off our retirement loan (whose numbers were never added into any of the tallies, but at the start of the blog....we had about $7100 left), a few year early.
• We established a "cat fund" that currently has enough for all three cats' check-ups, and have been working on saving per month for food and litter.

Based on the numbers on January 1, as reported in my Financial Goals for 2012:

• The student loan has decreased $456.
• The car has decreased $642.
• Medical has increased $50, but as long as Bossy has medical needs, this bill will always be in flux.  Considering I had a $700 root canal, and the overall bill has only gone up $50, I am happy.

This just leaves the CC bills.  Taking the mattress out of the equation, which we had planned to take a little extra out of the next retirement loan to cover....the CC has gone down about $400.  Now, what this means is that we have basically paid off everything we have charged in the past 3 months, and a little more.  This was considerably more, but as I said, we back slid a little on this in the past month.  Included in this have been a few gifts (baby shower, bridal shower, birthday parties).  Some has been eating out when we have been lazy about cooking.  But NONE of it has been shopping for the sake of shopping.  There has been no clothes, music, home decor (as tempting as it has been!!).

Once we take out the loan, I will update all the numbers.  At that point, all of the debt will be at an interest rate of 3.375% or less.  I know that not everyone will agree with the retirement loan for this purpose.  It is taking money from our future.  But in no more than 4 years, it will be paid off, and we will be just about debt free other than the mortgage (right now we are at 5 years to be debt free....but I think we may be able to shave at least some of that off).

I know this is a long post.  So if you made it this far....good for you!!!  But we HAVE made progress.  It isn't gazelle intense....never has been.  But it IS progress.

So to Consuelo....thank you for reading and spurring me to investigate this further.  I am sorry you don't feel like we are making progress, but in the end, we only have to account to ourselves.

Just feeling good about it all

I really hope I am not jinxing myself here.....

But we are about 6 weeks into the new year, and financially speaking, we are working the plans and so far so good!!  I know that being 78k in debt isn't anything to celebrate.  But it was 80k six weeks ago, so the trend is in the right direction.

Retirement loan paid off....now that money pays for the car.  Late March we will do one more loan to wipe out the CC, and save hundreds of dollars a month, which will get applied elsewhere (probably medical stuff first, and then student loan).

We are writing less checks.  I have been using cash for the kids' lunch.  Debit card for co-pays at the doctor.  Set up a few on-line things for other things.  I still have a few checks to write, but they are very few.

The overtime money that was on this week's paycheck went into a separate account, and I don't miss it.  I hate that we usually spend the OT and never really know where it went.  Not anymore.  On March 31, the OT money will be used as an extra payment, or towards something EXTRA.  Not everyday things.

All but 2 of our February bills are paid already.  Those will come from the next paycheck.  While I would love to have everything paid for the month...we just aren't there yet.  I have a secret fantasy (no longer secret), to be able to pay an entire month of bills in one shot, and not have to look at it again. 

We have added almost $200 to our EF.  Once it hits $2,000, the "extra" money will go into the home improvement fund.  Need to have a better cushion for those things that have a tendency to wear out.  We have used our tax return in the past, but our piddly tax return this year won't cut it. 

Next paycheck we will resume saving for the kids' camp.  By early May, that will be fully funded.  Then onto Christmas savings.

MAYBE we are finally getting a handle on things!!!!

Remember that reimbursement money???

I posted about having some reimbursement money from items I got for PTA, and my generous money from the Bank of Parents to restock our fridge after the storm. Additionally....we scraped together a little more.  In total, we had about $1,000.

I am not gonna lie....there was a temptation to go and spend it.  But we didn't.  We ultimately decided to snowball CC3!

Even though this CC has a rate of 1.99% until January 2013, and we have higher rate cards, we decided that we could see the most progress by doing it this way.  Just about all payments will go to principle, and not interest.  Plus, this will allow us to possibly transfer more to this card later on since we will have more room.

I am NOT happy at the balances of the other cards.  Some was frivolous spending....some was storm prep.  G-man's glasses, food.  So here we are.  Excuses?  Maybe.  But our budget seems to be settling down some, and we have a 3-paycheck month coming in October for G-man, so I am hoping that half of that will go to topping off the EF, and the other half to debt.

Well....if the move is back in play....that money will get hoarded...but we will know about that before we hit October.

Plus, I already know that G-man's dental emergency will up our medical bills, but until I get the bill...I am not sure what that number will look like.  And the kids have a check-up coming.  I cancelled my dentist appointment, as my teeth are just fine and I can wait.

I am still bummed that we are $2,000 OVER where we were 6 weeks ago.  If we get some money back from the car issues, that will help.  And we will be submitting some amended tax returns.  Those will help.

Back up on the horse, the wagon...whatever.

Move it to the left....move it to the right....

Once again, in an attempt to pay as little interest as possible, we are moving things around.  I really wish we could just come up with ONE plan, and stick to it.  But that just doesn't seem to be in the cards for us.  Whatever.

CC3 had a 1.99% balance transfer through January 2013, with 1% fee.  Per their policy, we couldn't go over 80% of the limit in a 90 day period, so with the fees and all....we transferred 79%.  :)  It was the majority of CC1 and part of CC2.  I am watching CC4 to see if they offer a balance transfer.  I am doubtful on this one.  But I am watching.

We are also planning on trying another Lending Club loan.  We did this almost exactly one year ago, and it worked beautifully for us.  We have paid WAY less interest, and have paid off 1/3 of the loan at this point.   This would replace CC2. 

I realize that the fees eat into some of the benefits.  But the minimum payments collectively are almost the same, just more going to principle.  This will at least buy us a little time to figure things out further.

If I am able to get this job (please!!!!), it will drastically change the numbers.  I am estimating that we have the potential to be debt free (minus the house), in about 2 years.  I would LOVE to be debt free by 38.....two years before my goal.  But one thing at a time.

G-man has some overtime this month....about 14 hrs so far.  There is the potential for more in the next 4 weeks.  I am thinking of holding on to the money for the mean time and top off a few accounts, like the EF.  I need to see how the numbers play out.

I will update all the numbers soon.  Just waiting for them all to settle a bit.

So what is the EF for anyway???

I received a comment the other day regarding my continuing car saga.  The commenter remarked "isn't that what the EF is for?"  I guess for alot of people, a car issue is what the EF is for.  And in our case, we may have to use it to help us with the repair.  But in my head, that isn't what it is for.

I look at the EF as a way to cover those things that really do come from out of nowhere and hit ya.  Like, the emergency dentist visit we had for Sassy.  Or a MAJOR household repair (minor ones should be budgeted for).  But each person has to decide for themselves what to use it for. 

We have used our EF fund officially twice.  Once when our faucet in the kitchen broke (which should have come from a home maintenance fund that doesn't really exist....or does exist, but is used more for improvement than maintenance).  The second was during our mortgage refi, when we had to bring money to the closing table.

I see all of this from a proactive perspective.  Things that you know are going to happen, and should be planned for.  Cars need maintenance.  No getting around it.  And they will have repairs.  Again, no getting around it.  So in my world, this is a planned expense.  You may not know exactly when it will happen, but you know it will. This is why we started the car maintenance fund.  Right now we only $30 a month in there.  We have such a tight budget (and getting squeekier by the day), that is all we can do.  In the past, our car fund has offset oil changes, wiper blades, some tires, and a few other minor things.  It has done nothing for the major repairs.


I think I am afraid to use our EF.  I know how hard it will be to rebuild it.  So if it gets used, then I won't have it as a cushion.  It is bad enough that I really want $1500 in there, and we are at $900.  There is ALWAYS something that happens to us.  Anyone who reads this blog should agree....we get more than our fair share of Murphy visits.

If we used our EF for everything that has happened, it would have been long gone, and never replaced.  I know the idea is supposed to be if you are prepared, then Murphy leaves you alone.   Apparently Murphy missed that staff meeting.

As for now...I think we are going to fix my car.  Half of it will come from our home improvement account.  The other half will come from a combination of my three paycheck month in August and some overtime that G-man will have later in the month. 

We have some potential BIG changes about to happen, so we are having to rethink the entire strategy for everything.  Stay tuned.

How about you?  Do you have an EF?  If so, how much is in there?  What types of things do you use it for?

Building up a Contingency Fund

*while I am away, recharging my batteries, please enjoy this guest post by Andreas from moneysupermarket.com; who writes about all things finance including savings, loans and credit cards. *

Financial experts advise that everyone should have a contingency fund in place for life's unforeseen events. But what is a contingency fund and how do you create one? A contingency fund is simply a pot of money that is normally kept separate from everyday finances and is used in emergency situations. Governments and businesses also have contingency funds.

Contingency funds are similar to savings, but are there to be used only in extreme circumstances. It is a good idea to have a separate account for your contingency fund and moneysupermarket.com details many providers.

The idea to separate your money is so that, whereas with savings you can dip in and out, contingency funds should be left untouched until an emergency arises.

According to statistics published by Bankrate's Financial Security Index Poll in 2010, twenty-four percent of Americans have no contingency fund at all and only twenty-two percent have limited funds. These limited funds would stretch to cover three months living expenses at the most, when financial experts suggest six months expenses are a minimum amount to have in a contingency fund.

This may sound like a huge amount of money, but the financial implications of an unexpected emergency can escalate quickly. The loss of wages due to redundancy or reduced hours can be the start of difficult times. Since the global economic recession of 2008 began, millions of Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure and many more have declared bankruptcy because of financial issues.

Besides unemployment and wage freezes, individuals every day become ill or suffer an injury or accident that prevents them from earning but creates additional expenses such as medical bills.

The slowing of the economy and the rise in food prices has meant that Americans have to do more, with less. For some individuals, this means borrowing heavily on credit cards just to pay day-to-day living expenses.

Those individuals who have a contingency fund can draw on this pot of money to help through these most difficult times. It can be a financial lifesaver and an emotional one too. The stress of money worries affects people in many physical and psychological ways. A contingency fund can provide a sense of reassurance and security that is invaluable.

It does take time to build a contingency fund, but the best time to start is right now. Even if you start with a small deposit into your fund, it is still a start. From small acorns great oak trees grow, so make a regular effort to contribute to your fund and find the best interest rate that will help it increase.

Aim for a month's living expenses and remember to include the small costs such as bus fares. It is a great idea to make changes to your spending so that you can deposit more money into the fund.  After you have saved a month's expenses, aim for three months and then six months. You will feel great satisfaction and a peace of mind that should the unexpected occur, you will be ready.

Mysti's Notes:  Many of you Dave Ramsey fans will recognize this as an Emergency Fund.  Emergencies WILL happen.  Be prepared!!  You may want to start even smaller than Andreas suggests...save $500.  Then work up to $1,000.  Then go for a month's worth of expenses!  Per Dave Ramsey, baby step 4 is a fully funded EF of 3-6 months of expenses.  You can't afford to NOT do this.  

And don't forget....there is a difference between a real emergency, and things that you should be planning for.  Car repairs WILL happen.  Christmas is December 25 every year.  Water bills, car taxes....these are all things you know are coming.  Don't dip into your EF for those...plan for them!! 

How do you save for it ALL?

Let's just put the saving while in debt debate aside for a minute.  We all know there are things we WANT and if you save for them...then great, have at it.  But what about things that you NEED, and you need to save for it ALL????

Home maintenance is pricey.  I think the statistic is something like 5% of your home's value per year.  For us, that would be about $9,500.  I think that is a little on the high side yearly.  But I would say that $3-4,000 isn't totally off the mark at times.

All of the things that need replacement aren't dead and broken....YET.  They are all senior citizens, who aren't quite at round the clock care, but definitely in an assisted living situation.  Legitimately, they all have lived out their lifespan.  It isn't unreasonable to think that they need to be replaced.

The problem...trying to save for it all at once!!!

I sooooo wish I was more money savvy when we bought the house 10 years ago.  There are so many things that I would have done differently as a whole.  But one HUGE thing would have been starting a home maintenance fund.  And then when things wore out, I would have a cushion.  But no...we couldn't afford to save (how can you afford to NOT SAVE......ugh, lessons learned).

Things that need work around here (in no particular order):

1. Pool liner (in process....the current liner was placed in 1993)
2. Deck boards (also circa 1993)
3. Stove/Oven (circa 1998)
4. Refrigerator (circa 1998)
5. Carpeting in Bossy's room (um, no idea on age, but I am guessing that you aren't supposed to see the floor boards underneath through the worn holes)
6. Carpeting in Sassy's room (eh....it is really ok, but if we have an Adventure in Carpeting (starring 80's teen star Elisabeth Shue!), we might as well replace hers)
7. Furnace (circa 1950's....still works but is highly inefficient)
8. Windows (circa 1911...original to the house....again, works, but is inefficient)

Additionally, there are household items that are also worn out, or getting there.  These have moved way down on the priority list, but at some point will need to be addressed.

1. Living room couches (circa 1997)
2. TV in our bedroom (circa 1994)
3. Closet system (for the larger of the 2 closets we have...where 3 of us share it for all our clothes, and it just isn't working)
4. Digital camera (circa 2004; we did get a newer one, and it doesn't work right and we hate it)

It is completely overwhelming.  Where do you even start to save???  What if you aren't able to do it one thing at a time, and multiple things go at the same time?  What if a larger ticket item goes sooner than expected??  ARGH!!!

Back to the saving while in debt.  Yes, we have an emergency fund, and the majority of things on the list aren't emergencies (kitchen appliances and furnace really are the only true emergency items).  But I don't want to deplete the EF, and then struggle to rebuild, all the while with debt and other things looming.

Right now, the I call the plan the $115 plan.   This is the amount that gets transferred from our checking account to ING savings per paycheck.  It is the go-to money for larger savings goals.  Camp was funded this way.  The kids' birthday party (almost funded!) and Christmas will be funded this way.   Once each of these accounts is funded, then the $115 will go towards saving for the extra stuff, until it is time to start saving again for Camp and Christmas.

Piggy back this with gift cards and such from other savings programs (My Points, Swagbucks), and we are cobbling it together.  Not a great plan...but it is the only one I have at the moment.  If we can make some MAJOR headway in the debt snowball, maybe I will slow that down a little to allow for more savings for the items.

And maybe in Fantasy World...we will get to take a vacation someday.

A few updates....

We always have so much going on....


The washing machine - G-man took things apart, cleaned it....for the moment it seems to be better.  We also found out that the part that seems to be going is only $72 (vs. $125).  Let's hope that it doesn't come to that!  Luckily, we have a laundrymat around the corner, so if the washer does go out...we can at least get the clothes washed (and brought home to dry).

Camp - as of today....Camp for the kids is fully funded!!!!  Since it in an ING acct, we can't withdraw the money for a week....but it is so nice knowing that we saved up for a planned expense, and we can now enroll them both for 7 weeks of fun.  I am glad that I changed my savings strategy and put all my efforts into this one goal.  Moving on to saving for the kids' birthday parties, then finishing our Christmas fund.....then back to Camp again!  The cycle of the year....

Vacation - In an attempt at reclaiming some "family" time....we are taking a mini vacation this weekend.  The kids are off for Good Friday, but we are taking them out of school a few hours early on Thursday.  We will be going to Sesame Place!!!  This Friday is "Autism Day" and admission to the park is FREE, with a $25 parking fee.  But c'mon....$25 is nothing for a family of 4 to get into a theme park.  We found a hotel for less than $100 a night (with breakfast included and an indoor pool!!).  The kids are super excited!!!  And we need a few days to just focus on our family.  G-man had overtime in this week's paycheck, which will cover the cost of our weekend.

Refi Money - We are just about at the point where we are ready to pull the trigger and actually USE the money for debt now.  I am a little torn....of the $2,000 we will use for debt (the remainder is replenishing our emergency fund), the original plan was $1,000 to CC1, and $1,000 to the car.  BUT....G-man gets paid 3 times in May....if we take half of his extra check, and the full $2,000....the car is paid off!!!!!  That will free up $350 a month to apply to other debt (CC1 has the highest interest rate). 

If we stick to the original plan, the car will be paid off  in July.  (This is using half of his 3rd paycheck, plus $1000, plus regular payments....MAYBE we can swing a June payoff if we can throw a few snowflakes that way).

and last but not least....

Mysti/G-man - We are trying to work things out.  It is slow going.  Trust is a hard thing to earn back.  But he has been much more engaged with me and the kids.  He is back living at home, and we are both in individual counseling, as well as couples counseling.  It has now been just over 2 months since this disaster started, and we are no where close to being "over it."  But we are hopeful that learning to communicate with each other, learning to work through resentments and anger from our marriage, and rediscovering why we got married in the first place will all lead to a stronger marriage.  Wish us luck!!!

Well, if it is going to happen....let it happen all at once.

I am sooooo glad that New Year's is coming, because it is like a big reset button!!!!

Things have piled up left and right, and now I am trying to re-sort, re-analyze, re-----lax?????

1)  Christmas Blow Out - I don't even know what the numbers are yet.  Other than over budget.  Funny thing about it though, it isn't because of the kids.  We have spent less than $60 per child.  Budget blow outs have been because a) G-man has gone hog wild; b) I failed to budget for some "forgotten" gifts ; c) I set too low of a budget for some items, and by default, I had to increase the amount, plus I underestimated the shipping costs, and d) the Craigslist money we were "saving" for Christmas....some of it got used over the course of the year for a few things.

2)  Those irregular bills - Water bill was due 2 weeks ago, but it is still outstanding.  Between that being over $100 higher than I expected, Christmas, blah blah blah....I still have it.  Additionally....personal propery taxes are due "Jan 1" with a 30 day grace period.

3)  Love/Hate the 3 paycheck month - It got sucked up in "life."  My plans on paper...ain't worth the paper they were written on.  Additionally....my boss has decided to muck with payroll schedule.  So while I was expecting 3 paychecks this month, it is actually 2.5.

4)  My car!!! - Bad water pump and something with a hose to the heat core....$564.  We had $120 in the "car maintenance" acct, and the rest will come from emergency fund, which will drop to just over $1000 now (it was at $1500).

5)  Christmas Bonus! - I got $200 Christmas bonus.  Up until today, I was toying with treating myself to a new tattoo....a memorial tattoo for my daughters.  I picked it out 3 years ago, and haven't done it.  Well, now that seems largely irresponsible.  Between having to dig out from Christmas overspending, bills, the car....I would never be able to enjoy the tattoo.

6) Medical stuff - I need new contacts and glasses.  That was SUPPOSED to come from the 3-paycheck months.  Um, no.  So that has to wait until after Jan 1 when our FSA resets and I can use that. 

7)  Need to revamp the plan - before my car broke this week, I was toying with taking money from the E-fund to "fix" some of the above issues.  Now that I have to use almost 25% of it for the car, it makes me nervous to take more out.  Need to look at the numbers again.

8)  Snowball thoughts - I really thought I could pull off paying off my Student Loan by Dec 31.  Not sure now.  We had also planned on paying down CC2 (with the highest interest rate), as the next snowball victim.  The new plan is to undo Christmas damage, and then focus on G-man's car.  If my car is going to start to die, I don't want to end up with 2 car payments.

Oh, and dear bloggy friends....this isn't even all of the stuff going on!  More on that stuff another time.  At least you know where I have been.....dealing with LIFE!

A little cushin' for the pushin'

Get your mind out of the gutter.  I am talking about cushioning your bank accounts!!!

Do you routinely leave a little extra in your account, for those just in case moment?  Does the thought of a ZERO balance terrify you?  Or do you drain your account to the bare bones, and let it all ride?

This has been a subject of discussion around our house lately.  It started with our "extra" money in our checking account last week.  If you remember, I had about $700 left in the account, with a week to go in the month.  Very odd.  Everything (minus one bill) was paid.  I was sure that I screwed something up.  I put $300 in our savings account as a "just in case" and left the $400 for the week for gas, groceries, co-pays, etc.  And to date....we still have money in there!

We rarely have extra money in our checking account.  RARELY.  If anything, it is the opposite, where I might have to float some money from our savings account to our checking account for a few days until we get paid.  So having a cushion was a treat.

Which brings us to our "savings" account.  This account really is a joke.  It has sort of been the "just in case I screw up our budget" account.  We deposit $75 a paycheck in there, and in the ideal world, we would never touch it.  But we do.  MUCH less frequently than we used to, but sometimes (like I took money from there when I went to my mom's).  Right now, it has about $650 in there (plus my $300 I am holding). 

Before you get all wiggy on me about emergencies.....we have a separate account from a credit union that is our emergency fund.  Per Dave Ramsey, you should have $1000 for emergency fund.  Well, we have about $1450.  And $23 gets added every month.

$23???  Huh???

Our car payment is an auto debit, and we rounded up for the automatic deposit from G-man's pay.  Hence, the weird number. 

*We are weird......I know.

If you add all the cushions together, you have about $1300 this month....$1000 if you take out the beloved $300 from last week.  Dave Ramsey would say take that and use it in your snowball.  It isn't doing any good sitting in the account. 

If used in the snowball....basically it would wipe out my Student Loan 1 that is the current snowball victim.  It could also pay 1/3 of CC3 which is the highest current interest rate card (again, this isn't counting the $300 which is earmarked to pay off CC1, which is the actual highest rate card). 

Part of me really wants to do it.  Really.  But I can't.

I am convinced that as soon as I do it, something will break with the car, or the house, or whatever.  And then I will have to drain our real emergency account.  And what if bad things keep happening and I can't build the emergency fund back up?  Then we have no liquidity.

Should everything be budgeted for?  Yep.  Is it?  Nope.

Like the cars.  We do have a "car fund" for maintenance, repairs, etc.  But it isn't enough and I know it.  Right now it has $75, and we add $15 a paycheck.  It isn't much, but it is more than we were doing.  And it came in handy when I had to get new tires and we didn't have to put it on a CC.  But if a major repair was needed....$75 won't get us far. 

So what do you do?  Do you leave a cushion in your account?  Do you think I am silly and overanalyze this? 

A few updates

Credit Cards:

Did you notice some minor changes to our CC totals???  We completed a balance transfer offer that took $5,000 from CC1 (at 19.24%) and put it on CC4 (at 5.99% for 12 months, and 9.24% after). We decided against trying to open a new card and get 0% for a few months.  Ultimately, we were concerned about dinging our credit.  We are thinking about applying for a peer to peer lending to pay off CC1 and CC3, and trying to get the best rate possible....so dings won't help our cause there.

The totals will be updated later this week after I pay the bills for the week.

Snowball #1 - Hospital:

Part of G-man's and my big talk the other day was this bill.  I budgeted to have it paid by the end of August (the kids' birthday).  This is the last of the bills related to their birth, and Bossy's subsequent surgeries and hospital stays.  We have been paying this bill for 8 years.  Yes, EIGHT years, and I need it gone.  So, in a bold move....we decided to pay it off in July.  Taking the $410 that I budgeted, plus $200 from our savings account, and $200 from our "extra" emergency fund (Dave Ramsey says to have $1000....we have almost $1450, so we will still be above the $1000).  Throw in an extra $5, and it is GONE.  Emotionally, this is a huge victory for us.

The next bill we will snowball is Student Loan 2, which should be gone in about 3 months.  This bill is the last of my student loans that are in both my and my father's name.  I was 17 when I went to college, so legally all the bills were listed as me as the co-borrower, even though my parents didn't pay the bill.  My dad did a lousy job on my loans, and because of the way he did the loans, I was unable to consolidate them or do anything, with them.  One loan had an interest rate of over 10%!  So this bill just needs to go....c'mon, I graduated in 1996!!  The Student Loan 1 is my Master's Degree.

There after, we decided to veer from Dave and go in interest order.  Currently that would be CC1, CC3, CC2, CC4, Car, Student Loan 1  We decided to leave the Dentist out of it.  If we do a peer lending, this is subject to change a bit.

July Challenge - No eating out

Today is the 11th, and except for a minor slip up on G-man where he bought a soda (he forgot about the challenge), we have not had any take out, coffee, water, soda, or fast food.  Grocery budget is still doing ok and meal planning is really helping.  I will be heading to the store later to restock for the week.

Blogging Realizations:

When I added the progress bars, I realized that when I update totals, I just write over the previous total.  I keep forgetting to make note of the starting balance!  While I have the balance of our debt when I started this blog (my blog-anniversary is just a few weeks away!), I have lost track of a few things.  Like the hospital bill....I couldn't tell you what the balance was a year ago, or even when we started snowballing it. I could probably figure it out, but that would be more work than it is worth.  So now, I will make an effort to note the starting balance of the snowball.

Crisis Averted!

Here in the Northeast, we are having a heat wave.  While G-man and I are from the south and really don't know what everyone is complaining about....we will concede that inside our house it is an oven.  The other night, at 11pm, the house was reading 90 degrees.  Not ideal sleeping temps!

We have a larger (10000 BTU) window a/c downstairs, and smaller units in the bedrooms.  We considered getting another larger unit to cool the entire upstairs.  But it wasn't in the budget, so we said we will consider it for another year.

Last night, Bossy's a/c decided to blow hot air.  Perfect!  I bunked him in with Sassy (and when I checked on them later, they both had fallen asleep in her bed).  But that was a temp fix.

The knee jerk reaction was "we need to buy a new a/c."  I really didn't want to....I said let's make the kids share a room for the summer.  G-man thought that was a bad idea.  We toyed with buying the large unit.....but I wasn't all in for spending that money either.

Well, we figured out the problem....something with the thermostat.  The unit is 15 years old, and doesn't work great....but at least it is better than nothing.  I am hoping to snag a new one on clearance at the end of the season.

The end is near....

All good things must come to an end.  Lost.....24 (although I don't watch this).....

And now....our desktop computer.

G-man texted me at work that our computer had bit the dust.  According to him, it shut down on its own, and wouldn't come back up.  He tried EVERYTHING (wait.....do you hear the sarcasm??).  Eventually he gave up and took out our ole antiquated lap top.

I came home, and the computer started right up.  HMMMM.  Maybe the computer is an uber feminist, and didn't appreciate his grubby male hands all over her.  Maybe it is so old that it needed a long nap.  Who knows.  All I know is that it is working (or at least on) right now.

Haven't tried the internet, as it is currently connected to the lap top.

But I am taking this as a huge warning sign.....the end is near.  Better start researching computers.  Now, does a new computer consititute an emergency....thus, coming out of our emergency fund?  Does it come from our home improvement fund?  Do we suspend debt overpayment and put that money aside for new computer?  Do we limp along with ole Stumpy, the Senior Laptop?

Ugh, and I am afraid that with our luck....bad things are about to happen.  The old stove and refridge....the car again....ugh.

Any words of wisdom???

Taking the ole Emergency Fund out for a spin

Seems that most of our "emergency" problems center around our cars.  But apparently the house decided that it felt like the neglected child, and decided to throw a tantrum last night.

Or at least the kitchen faucet did.

First off....I have to admit that I walked in on the tail end of this issue.  G-man was the lucky recipient of the wrath.  I walked in to the house, and G-man is on the floor mopping up water, water all over the counter, sink.  OK....what happened? 

As he was shutting off the water in the sink, the hot water handle blew off, and a geyser of water shot up.  He was smart enough to grab a nearby pot to cover the geyser while he ran to the basement to shut off the water (he forgot that we had shut off valves under the sink....but hey, I probably would have done the same thing....minus the pot....I probably would have continued to have a geyser).

Upon further investigation.....here is the problem:

See all those little pieces?  Yeah....that isn't supposed to happen.  This might explain the dripping faucet that I have been asking G-man to fix for weeks.  But alas.  So the dinner dishes didn't quite get done last night (no dishwasher here...and no water in the sink....thus, a big ole pile of dishes waiting for me).

So bright and early this morning, G-man set out to try and fix this.  After trips to 2 large home improvement stores, he was told he needed to go to a plumbing supply store.  They said that basically we had a "cheap" faucet (it was a Price Pfster) and that we would have to replace the whole faucet (the piece that broke could be replaced, but the same problem would eventually happen).

So now....here is our new faucet.

This totally blew the plan for the day (powerwashing the fence).  But having a working kitchen sink was more important.

We were able to take the money out of our Emergency Fund, so no major debt damage done.