tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30584540348739734552024-02-08T13:13:27.520-06:00Goliath Debt, David IncomeThis is a blog detailing my climb out of the gargantuan debt I'd accrued even in comparison to my yearly income.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-18658217762534784412015-09-03T15:39:00.000-05:002015-09-03T15:39:54.453-05:00A New Month!It is the start of another month, and we've not made as much progress as I would have liked. One big glaring item on our budget is the amount of money that we spend every month just to live in this house. It is becoming more and more of a burden, and less the dream we thought we wanted.<br />
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Our house is undoubtedly our largest expense and our largest debt. Selling it might bring in enough extra money that we could have a down payment on the next one, and we don't have any issue at all with down sizing. If we were to try and rent instead of buy, the rental market is so strong right now that we'd almost spend the same as we are now, but we'd be in a smaller house and a "less desirable" neighborhood. I put that in quotes, because I really don't have a problem living in areas that have houses running in the 50%-75% value of our current house.<br />
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The rental market being what it is, it also presents us with a dilemma - do we sell the house, or utilize the strong rental market and rent it out?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-77447438585564444692015-08-19T18:59:00.000-05:002015-08-21T21:10:05.721-05:00Still Plugging Away...I'm updating this blog for the first time in about 6 years. In that time, several things have happened:<br />
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<li>My son has gotten about 6 years older.</li>
<li>Our non-medical debt has dropped, albeit not extensively.</li>
<li>I have a just over 2-year-old daughter.</li>
<li>Our medical debt has skyrocketed.</li>
<li>Our income has increased.</li>
<li>We have a health insurance alternative in place.</li>
<li>Our income has decreased.</li>
</ol>
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My income was hovering around the $55k/year until last year, when it increased to just over $60k. In January 2015, my income was hovering closer to the $65k mark. Then, in July, I was told to cut my hours back from about 55 hrs/week to no more than 45 hrs/week. We are now existing on take-home of about $1,200 less per month than previously.</div>
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As a result, I'm updating this blog again to get motivated, and to make sure that I'm on track for actually decreasing the debt we've gotten into.</div>
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If there is anybody out there still listening, drop me a comment, and I will answer any questions in future blog posts. For now, I'm putting together the information to track my progress, and am going to get into the habit of at least doing my monthly updates again. Tips, tricks, and the detail of my climb out of debt, even after a few mis-steps, will all be chronicled here.</div>
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I'm just looking for that smooth, round stone right now...</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-36855718408973377902009-09-02T21:19:00.000-05:002009-09-03T07:20:12.940-05:00A New Month<p>September ushered in, seeing several new medical bills come in, as well as the slide into over $12,000 again in credit card debt.  I am determined not to let the credit card debt pass the car debt we have, which means that I’ll need to make at least $340 worth of payments against credit cards over and above the interest charges to stay ahead.  Is it doable?  Possibly.  The medical debt is now made up of 7 bills, and so far, only one of those bills has a monthly obligation.</p> <p>I am really hoping to send a few dollars in on the medical debt, but put the bulk of my debt reduction against the credit cards.  Once the credit cards are dealt with, then we can begin the process of paying off the medical debts.</p> <p>It is a very long road we have begun to travel on, and we started our journey at a time when, for many people, drastic measures are required just to keep afloat.</p> <p>I have begun the process of rebuilding our emergency fund, and am very slowly but surely making progress there.  We are within just a few dollars of getting to 25% of our $1,000 goal.</p> <p>Hopefully, this month will see us better off than the past two have, at least in regard to everything except medical debt.</p> <p>We’ll see, I guess.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-51297947872599350812009-08-18T06:10:00.000-05:002009-08-18T09:11:04.210-05:00Another Bill… and My Thoughts on Public Health Care<p>Well, we got another bill today – this time from the ambulance service.  It was less than I thought it would be (under $1700), but I found out that for $55/year, one can have unlimited emergency services (and, if uninsured, a 60% discount on services.  That means it would take me about 8 years to make that up, if it ever happens again.  So, that’s worth considering.</p> <p>I don’t expect that there will be a discount available on the bill, but I’ve asked for any that might be available, and also asked if there was a month-to-month plan that i could get on.  I have also done this on the radiology bill we got for the CAT scan and X-ray.</p> <p>Our medical bills are now over $5,000, and that’s after pre-paying the labor and delivery and putting $2,000 on the credit card for the emergency visit.</p> <p>We also got a call from the hospital we went to for the birth, and they informed me that I still had a balance of over $9,000 for the birth.  So we still have to get that resolved.  The big question is whether the pre-pay covered mom and baby, because the $14,000 bill for my wife was reduced, but the $9,000 bill for the baby was not.  It was my understanding that the bill from the hospital was taken care of, but the business office doesn’t currently see it that way.</p> <p>Scary as having all that medical debt is, even with all the facts lined out as they are, I still cannot get behind a public plan for health insurance.  I don’t believe that the hospitals and doctors are as much to blame for the high cost of medical as pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies.</p> <p>Some of my problems with the public plan as it is being proposed right now are due to the speed at which a 1,000+ page document is getting pushed through.  Last time we did that, we sent money to banks without much accountability at all, and are surprised that the 800 <strong>billion </strong>dollars seemed to have little to no measurable effect.  For another, any plan on the table does not include the people making the decisions.  I would be far more agreeable to a plan that the ones with the power to produce such a plan were under it as well.  If they are not willing to go under such a plan, why should we have to?</p> <p>Also, I look at a bankrupt Social Security, a nearly bankrupt Medicaid/Medicare program, the huge amounts of fraud and wasteful spending, and it does not inspire confidence in me that a new program along those same lines (but expanded) will be any more efficient or any less wrought with fraud.</p> <p>The combination of those three factors cause me to pause on the current plan being proposed.  Even in my position, in which a government plan could potentially make a lot of this medical debt go away, I can’t put my support behind it.  Do I have an answer for the solution?  No, I don’t.  If the pharmaceuticals and health insurance companies are behind the plan, then I will have to be against it.  I don’t believe that either of those occupations work with the average American’s success in mind.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-40948627626800428422009-08-07T06:19:00.000-05:002009-08-07T07:20:26.199-05:00A Guest Post<p><a href="http://www.livingalmostlarge.com/about/" target="_blank">Living Almost Large</a> gave me <a href="http://www.livingalmostlarge.com/2009/08/06/guest-post-gambling-with-health-insurance/" target="_blank">an opportunity to blog</a> about my recent medical experience.  Be sure to check it out!</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-78803933440465970762009-08-05T06:46:00.000-05:002009-08-05T11:47:27.446-05:00August Update<p>Well, we are 5 days into the new month, and the medical bills have started trickling in.  I’ve added a new field to our debt reduction, but, like the Mortgage, I’m not updating our Overall Consumer Debt field with it.  As I negotiate with the medical community on our debts there, I’ll adjust.  Also, whenever we make payments against that debt, I’ll update the bar.</p> <p>I was tempted to move our medical debts that I put on the credit cards recently over to that bar, but since they are already on the credit cards, they pretty much qualify as credit card debt.  Any additions to the credit cards from the medical debt will be reflected in the credit cards and subtracted from the medical debt.</p> <p>I hope that makes sense.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-41167907792976990312009-07-24T06:56:00.000-05:002009-07-24T09:57:18.850-05:00I gambled, and I lost. Big time.<p>I was 100% focused on getting out of debt.  I admit it.  Several times, I was given the opportunity to change some things, but I didn’t want to spend the money, and detract from the pace at which I was eliminating my debt.</p> <p>But a house and a baby are big detractors, anyway.  And I failed to make those connections.</p> <p>We have no insurance on my wife, and no insurance on the baby.  So we are paying all of these expenses out of pocket.  To make matters worse, my wife had an eclamptic seizure on Monday afternoon, something that happens in only rare cases after the birth.  An ambulance ride, 3 additional nights in the hospital, and thousands of dollars later, I arrive at the end of this week not really knowing where to go from here.</p> <p>The baby had already run up costs significantly, so our return to the hospital put an already drastic situation into dire straits.  We will, of course, be negotiating with the doctors, the hospital, and everybody else that comes running to us for money, but, at the same time, it appears that we will also be making drastic lifestyle changes in the coming weeks.</p> <p>First thing on the list, though, is to get through the current crisis.  Wife and baby are fine, but this process can take 6 weeks to work through.  Thankfully, they are both at home, and most of what needs to be done is simply rest & recover.</p> <p>I don’t know the damages yet, and it could be months before all of this gets figured out, but there will be a major revamping of the family finances, for sure.</p> <p>I am not complaining.  There is no question in my mind that whatever sacrifices I must make are worth it, because I have my wife and baby.  And, in the big scheme of things, that’s really what matters.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-62093313233236188782009-07-20T06:14:00.000-05:002009-07-20T11:17:06.103-05:00Well, that pretty much settles it.<p>Our budget has been blown.  Completely, totally, and without hope of recovery (fast, anyway).  We had our baby, but there were some complications.  I still haven’t received all the doctor’s bills, etc., and the way that payments are done now (at least at this hospital), there is no sending the proverbial $25/month to the hospital for the next 36 years to pay it off.  They said I could either put it on a credit card, and they would give me a discount (about 70%), or they could allow me to send in whatever I could, but it would be for the full amount, and at 18% interest.  So I slapped down my credit card, and was happy that I’ll only be paying about 15% interest.</p> <p>I will probably suspend updating for a while, at least until I somewhat recover from the reeling I’ve done over the past several days.  Emotional decisions are never good (at least, that’s been my experience), so I want to let things calm down, and allow the logical side of my brain to start functioning again before we get too far down the road.</p> <p>I will keep updating the debt and savings charts, just to keep myself on top of where we stand, though.</p> <p>c'est la vie.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-6087742145329698462009-07-12T07:55:00.000-05:002009-07-12T10:07:28.079-05:00Term Life Insurance<p>I recently bought a term life insurance policy, and, in the process, learned some very good things about how it works, and how I should plan for it.  Listening to Dave Ramsey, the Primerica agent, and several others talk about insurance has helped me develop my own plan for term life insurance. </p> <p>Some recommend 8-10 times your annual income as the determining factor in insurance (this, I believe, is a simplified version of Dave Ramsey’s approach).  While there is nothing inherently wrong in this approach, and it keeps things extremely simple, there is no real room to tailor the policy to your life, and so you just end up with a random amount of cash, arguably able to cover your family’s living expenses for 7-10 years (depending on the additional cost of the funeral, etc.).</p> <p>Before we get into evaluating the factors I took under consideration for determining how much and how long my insurance should cover me, there are several things to keep in mind:</p> <ol> <li>Life Insurance should cover your spouse and children in the case of your death.  At the point of retirement, my income will be (ideally) passive, so I don't need to plan for term life insurance beyond retirement age.  In most cases, this means having a policy that will be effective until age 60-70. </li> <li>The younger a person is, and the shorter the term, the lower the cost will be for the policy. </li> <li>Health makes a huge difference in the price of the policy.  If you are a smoker, or have a family history of cancer/heart problems, your policy will cost much, much more. </li> </ol> <p>So with these thoughts in mind, I used the following factors to determine our plan:</p> <ul> <li>I am 35 years of age, leaving me 30 years to retirement. </li> <li>We just purchased a house, with a 30 year mortgage. </li> <li>I anticipate being in non-mortgage debt for less than 5 years. </li> <li>My wife is pregnant with our first child. </li> </ul> <p>These factors played heavily on the length and amount of insurance that we purchased:</p> <ol> <li>In the event of my death, my wife would need enough money to pay off all debts (including the house), plus have enough to live on for a while (5 to 10 years) so that she would have some time to begin generating an income.  Eliminating the house debt lowers her income requirement significantly, giving her an easier path to supplementing the income. </li> <li>In the event of my wife’s death, I would need enough money to provide care for our child, in addition to the money I already make. </li> <li>In 10 years, neither of us will have any kind of consumer debt.  Also, our income should be higher and our living expenses lower (inflation adjusted) than they are today. </li> </ol> <p>Bottom line, we settled on a 30-year policy that had enough coverage for me that it would wipe out all debt obligations, pay for the funeral, and still have about 10 years of living expenses, if something were to happen to me tomorrow.  (Of course, as time goes on, our debt will be smaller, but there may be more dependents, so I decided on a single 30-year policy).  For my wife, we decided on a policy that would pay off the mortgage, cover burial, and take care of child care expenses for about 5 years.  We didn’t find it necessary to cover the consumer debt on her policy, since I am the primary wage earner.</p> <p>Had our circumstances been different, what we settled on would have been different as well.  Instead of having no insurance in place, it would have been wise for me, in my 20s, to purchase about a 10-15 year policy covering all of my consumer debt, paying for the funeral, and a little extra.  Once I got married, I should have purchased a policy for my wife (and revised mine), taking my wife’s situation into account.  Since she brought her student loans into the marriage, and I brought my credit cards and vehicles in, we would need a policy that paid all of that off (plus a little).</p> <p>Those policies are relatively cheap, because the amounts are not usually very high, the terms are short, and we were younger.</p> <p>Now that our age and level of responsibility has increased, it was time to purchase a policy that would at least financially take care of our debt obligation.</p> <p>Naturally, the policies now cost more than they would have when we were 10 years younger, but they would not have carried us all the way to retirement.  In the same breath, I did not want to purchase a policy that would cover us, but would seriously impede our ability to reduce our debt.  If our standard of living changes, I will probably re-evaluate and either change or add to our policy.  (Given inflation the way it is, and just the general tenor of things, I doubt I’ll ever decrease our coverage)</p> <p>So, in summation, the way I picked Term Life was not based upon income, but expenses.  Rather than looking at life insurance as a replacement to income, I view it as a way to weather a storm.  A strong storm, to be sure, and one that I hope neither my wife nor I have to face.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-89053554067030271942009-07-09T06:21:00.000-05:002009-07-09T07:21:20.221-05:00Update Thursday: 2nd Week of July<p align="left">We made up some ground this week.  Not much, and after all the money that has been spent (to date) on the pregnancy, I’m really not surprised…  (Kids cost a bundle, and he’s not even here yet!)</p> <div align="center"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="250" align="center"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Month:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">$3,932</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">3,945</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Now:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">3,914</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off This Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">31</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">18</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">80</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Left to Pay Off for Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">62</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="left">If we can keep up the pace of $30+ a week this month, we’ll make our goal.  It is beginning to look more and more that I’ll need to get something going in the evenings, though.  The recession added to my debt isn’t helping anything.</div> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-8456267999885463232009-07-02T06:35:00.000-05:002009-07-02T07:36:23.341-05:00Update Thursday: 1st Week of July<p align="left">Well, nothing like starting the month in the hole!  I didn’t get a chance for a payment to hit, and one of the credit cards charged interest yesterday, so we start with a $13 hit to our goal.  Here’s the numbers:</p> <div align="center"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="250" align="center"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Month:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">$3,932</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">3,932</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Now:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">3,945</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off This Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">-13</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">-13</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">80</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Left to Pay Off for Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">93</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="left">At least we are pretty well caught up everywhere else.  Medical could use some help, since I wasn’t anticipating a $55 bill for asthma medication this month, and we’ve apparently been spending more on gas lately, but everything else is just about even.  If we can get a little better handle on our grocery budget, we should be fine.  Hopefully by next week, we’ll have made decent positive progress against our goal, too.</div> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-27960805553011853062009-07-01T23:25:00.000-05:002009-07-02T07:27:56.742-05:00July Goals<p>Well, we made our goal for June, even if only just barely.  This month will more than likely see the birth of our son, so I’m going extremely conservative on our debt reduction, and we’ll see what happens from there.</p> <p>We had a few setbacks last month – nothing too major, and nothing impossible, but I’d still like to get a month in like the latter part of last year.  Chances are good that I’m going to be looking for second job again here pretty quick.</p> <p>In the meantime, I’m setting a relatively low goal, just to be sure that we catch up on things this month.</p> <p>So, my goal for July is $80 against the credit cards.  I’d really like to do at least that much, even on slow months.  Of course, this really means more than $80, because of the interest that gets put on the cards every month.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-54531410332637144232009-06-25T23:55:00.000-05:002009-06-26T06:55:43.934-05:00Update Thursday: 4th Week of June<p align="left">Yech.  What a week.  I’ve started the “Couch-to-5k” program, and was on week 2 when one of my knees started acting up.  After talking with a few people, it was decided that it was my 12+ year old tennis shoes that were causing the problem.  Correcting for my foot cost me nearly $110, but hopefully this will allow me to continue on the program.  So that set me back a bit on catching up this week.  Still, we made our goal for debt reduction, so it wasn’t all bad…</p> <div align="center"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="250" align="center"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Month:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">$4,049</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">3,988</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Now:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">3,932</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off This Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">56</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">117</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">117</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Left to Pay Off for Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">-0-</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="left">Now if we can just get caught up on bills.  I think I am about ready to invest in a timer for the sprinkler.  Two nights since we’ve moved in, I’ve forgotten about the sprinkler in the front yard.  I’m sure our water bill will be through the roof this month.</div> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-14665311949404115022009-06-18T06:16:00.000-05:002009-06-18T14:17:03.297-05:00Update Thursday: 3rd Week of June<p align="left">Well, this week saw my savings account getting zapped for service charges (due, I believe, for the balance dropping below $100).  As a result, although there was still forward progress made, it still wasn’t as much as I’d hoped.</p> <p align="left">Initially, our balance in our checking account dropped below $1,000 for the first time since fall of last year.  Coupled with the fact that we have no emergency fund in place makes things a bit sticky.  However, even with the transfer, we also had some extra income, and it allowed us to get current in all but two categories.  I anticipate getting caught up in those by week 1 of July.</p> <p align="left">Also, my current plan is to see about getting some passive streams of income going.  I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do just yet, but I do know that I’m not happy with the amount of progress being made – I’d like to have an extra $1,000/month to throw against debt, and be done with it in the next 2-3 years.</p> <div align="center"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="250" align="center"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Month:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">$4,049</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,017</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Now:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">3,988</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off This Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">29</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">61</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">117</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Left to Pay Off for Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">56</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="left">The economy being what it is, I’m grateful I’ve got a job and that the numbers continue to decrease, though.</div> <div align="center"> </div> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-79437961275169617472009-06-11T05:48:00.000-05:002009-06-11T05:48:00.838-05:00Update Thursday: 2nd Week of June<p align="left">Somehow, in the midst of everything, I forgot that we were taking an overnight trip out of town for my wife’s sister’s wedding.  So there was a lot of eating out, and a hotel stay thrown into our plans.  Needless to say, this was another pretty pathetic week.  All in all, though, I’m not displeased.  We still paid for the weekend and paid down our debt.  In addition, we made some good progress towards improving our checking account, so we are only down in 4 categories now, instead of 6.  I’m hoping to make some good progress against the debt this next week, and hopefully put two of the categories back in the black.  Then, in the final week of June, I want to get the final two categories back, and finish off the debt reduction goal.</p> <div align="center"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="250" align="center"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Month:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">$4,049</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,034</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Now:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,017</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off This Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">17</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">32</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">117</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Left to Pay Off for Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">85</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="left"></div> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-62363275270568625902009-06-10T20:48:00.000-05:002009-06-11T06:46:36.548-05:00I’ve been Tagged!<p>This is seeming to make its rounds in the PF Blogosphere, so I’ll bite…</p> <p><strong>The Rules:</strong></p> <ol> <li>Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post. </li> <li>Share seven facts about yourself in the post. </li> <li>Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and links to their blogs. </li> <li>Let them know they’ve been tagged. </li> </ol> <p><strong>The Original Tagger</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.moneyfunk.net/" target="_blank">Money Funk</a> tagged me in <a href="http://www.moneyfunk.net/uncategorized/tagged-i-am/#content" target="_blank">this post</a>… </li> </ul> <p><strong>Seven Facts</strong></p> <ol> <li>My wife is expecting a baby next month.  I already presume that this will have an immense effect on our debt reduction.  (It is already beginning to show signs) </li> <li>We were putting the better part of 50% of my gross income against debt until December.  At that point, we started saving for the baby and the house. </li> <li>I have recently begun the “Couch to 5k” program.  Interested in seeing if there is a correlation between fitness discipline and money discipline. </li> <li>Up until the end of last year, I had more debt than gross yearly income.  Up until the beginning of the year before that, my debt was more than twice my yearly income. </li> <li>I have a turntable, and use it on occasion, but look forward to the day that I have an amplifier to go through, vs. the computer. </li> <li>Sad thing is, if we could sell all our media for face value, we would not have a debt problem whatsoever, telling me that I am heavily overinvested in CDs, DVDs, and record albums. </li> <li>I don’t have great confidence that the answer to our nation’s fiscal problems is spending more money. </li> </ol> <p><strong>My Tags</strong></p> <ol> <li>Undercover Vixen at <a href="http://debtorinthecity.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Debt and the City</a> </li> <li>Mrs. Accountability at <a href="http://www.outofdebtagain.com/" target="_blank">Out of Debt Again</a> </li> <li>T.W. at <a href="http://fool-and-his-money.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">A Fool and His Money</a> </li> <li>Ron at <a href="http://postdivorce-reclaimingmyfinanciallife.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Post Divorce – Reclaiming My Financial Life</a> </li> <li>Tammie at <a href="http://bootingourdebtforgood.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Booting Our Debt for Good</a> </li> <li>Staci at <a href="http://stacismoneyhelp.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Staci’s Money Help</a> </li> <li>Andrea at <a href="http://ditchmydebt.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ditch My Debt</a> </li> </ol> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-35944673506815427122009-06-04T06:44:00.000-05:002009-06-04T11:45:10.842-05:00Update Thursday: 1st Week of June<p align="left">Well, the interest charges hit the credit card this week, so over $25 of our reduction went to pay those back down.  yech.  Spending money every month in interest is definitely no fun.  But at least that card’s interest charges are out of the way for the month, and the rest of the debt reduction will be to actually reduce debt, instead of just cover the expenses.</p> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="250" align="center" border="0"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Month:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">$4,049</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,049</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Now:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,034</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off This Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">15</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">15</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">117</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Left to Pay Off for Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">102</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="left">Hopefully, next week, we’ll have less than $4,000 in CC debt.</div> <div align="left"></div> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-85778914841558521072009-06-01T06:13:00.000-05:002009-06-01T06:13:01.094-05:00June Goals<p>With only 1 more month until the arrival of the baby, we’ve got to buckle down and really get things straightened out.</p> <p>I think that part of our problem last month was that we made good progress at the beginning of the month and then burned out once the unexpected popped up at the end of the month.  After the unexpected hit us, we completely fell apart, abandoning budget, debt snowballing, and reason in order to get what we wanted when we wanted it.  The thing to do now is remember the experience, learn from it, and go on.</p> <p>I read <a href="http://www.savingforserenity.com/blog/how-much-should-i-spend-on-debt-repayment.html" target="_blank">a blog post</a> recently from <a href="http://www.savingforserenity.com/about-me/" target="_blank">Alan Schram</a> over at <a href="http://www.savingforserenity.com/" target="_blank">Saving for Serenity</a> (great blog – if you don’t subscribe, you should) explaining his personal goals on how much to spend repaying debt.  He makes several good points, but the part of the post that really caught my attention was when he said:</p> <blockquote> <p>Saving For Serenity is about achieving a financial life free from stress or strain. Obviously, having no debt would be a significant stress release! However, I am not willing to sacrifice quality of life to become obsessed with debt repayment.</p> </blockquote> <p>I think the point is valid, at least for us.  The whole point of reducing my debt was to be able to not think about money every second of every day and how it was dragging me down.  I think in my push to get out of debt the past two years (since we have paid off more than $46,000), I lost the purpose of getting out of debt.  Since we have been so “gazelle-intense”, we have paid down debt at an enormous rate, averaging over $50/day for 880 days, including holidays and weekends.  But that intensity is beginning to burn us out, since we have only progressed 3/5ths of the way through our debt.  Because of this, my goal for June is going to be a bit different.</p> <p>Due to the last week, I’ve now got the balance of my credit cards spread across three different cards.  So, a total of five consumer debt vehicles.  I am going to aim to put $550 against the five, which, although it horribly reduces the amount I’m paying against the cards, it will allow some overflow to 1) rebuild my emergency fund from “breaking the glass” to cover most of the screw-up of last month (thanks, Jim), and 2) allow some “flex” to the rest of our budget so that we, hopefully, don’t have a repeat.</p> <p>I am going to see an allergist on Tuesday, and don’t really have the money set aside for that, either, but hopefully there will be enough flex that we can pay for whatever the insurance doesn’t get.</p> <p>The payment on the car and the student loans equal $433, so our goal against the credit cards is only $117.  However, there are a few holes in our budget that we will plug up this month, and hopefully make some progress to restoring our emergency fund as well.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-57166257081413684352009-05-28T06:03:00.000-05:002009-05-28T07:03:40.168-05:00Update Thursday: 4th Week of May<p align="left">Not a good week at all.  We ended up spending way over and above what we actually paid off.  Fortunately, now we won’t have to buy tires for the car for a while, but it is frustrating when I don’t see any progress, or even backpedal.  My wife’s birthday was this week, too, so we ended up going to a nice place (not as expensive as last year’s anniversary dinner, but still pricey), and I got her a good, compact camera.  I got a great deal on the camera, but it wasn’t in the budget.  Unfortunately, neither were tires, and so this week undid all the progress we’ve made this month.  Unless I dip into the emergency fund to pay for the tires.  So frustrating.</p> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="250" align="center" border="0"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Month:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">$4,280</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,012</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Now:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,573</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off This Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">-561</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">-293</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">428</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Left to Pay Off for Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">721</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="left">That just burns me up.</div> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-49107794510566739492009-05-21T06:09:00.000-05:002009-05-21T15:09:38.065-05:00Update Thursday: 3rd Week of May<p align="left">Well, this week went better, but still not good enough to reach the goals.  To further complicate issues, vehicular malfunctions created a mess.</p> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="250" align="center" border="0"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Month:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">$4,280</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,096</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Now:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,012</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off This Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">84</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">268</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">428</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Left to Pay Off for Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">160</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <p>I thought I was going to have some extra money through selling a ticket that I wasn’t going to use…  Sold it for $40, got back to the truck, and it wouldn’t start.  Fortunately, my insurance covered the towing, but it was well after midnight before we got to bed.  The next morning, the dealership ran diagnostics and discovered it was a short in the battery.  They sold me an 8-year battery – diagnostics and battery cost me $135 with a $20 mail-in rebate.  Our Fusion was in the shop as well for an air conditioning problem, but they called and told us that there was very little tread left on our tires, so those needed replacing as well.  After the service and tires, the total soared to nearly $600, so we’ve overspent our budget by about $700, and only gotten an extra $40 in.  This is killing our budget this month, but perhaps we’ll figure a way out of that.</p> <p>I’m beginning to get burned out on attacking the debt so heavily – truth be told, last year I was running out of steam, even after seeing the incredible progress we’ve made.  I’m just getting tired of the little rewards, and then spending all our discretionary income on things we need vs. having enough left over after debt reduction and paying the bills to do something fun.  And I shouldn’t say that – we’ve bought a house, gotten some extras – a 24” monitor dipped to $200, so I got it…  but by and large, there has been too little to really do something enjoyable with the money.</p> <p>I’m sure the price we pay today will be worthwhile tomorrow – and I know we’ve come over halfway in less than two and a half years…  but I still wish I could treat my wife to a trip to Mexico for a few days – or even just spend some time away from finances and worry…</p> <p>On another note, my asthma is back, so I’m sure that will play into the finances before long…</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-72671063260862680702009-05-14T05:56:00.000-05:002009-05-14T05:56:03.250-05:00Update Thursday: 2nd Week of May<p align="left">Ugh.  This week did <strong>not </strong>go as planned.  There were a few unexpected expenses, and that pretty well threw our entire week off…</p> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="250" align="center" border="0"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Month:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">$4,280</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,100</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Now:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,096</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off This Week:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">184</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">428</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Left to Pay Off for Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">244</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <p>Now that we’ve only got two weeks left, the progress made this week really ups the ante, so to speak.  Now, I must come up with more than $120 both weeks to hit the goal.</p> <p>Amazing how the truck payment just absorbed into our general expenses – I am allocating more for groceries since the wife not working will mean a hit there, but still!  Hopefully more progress is made next week…</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-4179754660562134182009-05-07T06:37:00.000-05:002009-05-07T06:37:02.193-05:00Update Thursday: 1st Week of May<p align="left">This was a decent week – if we can keep on top of everything else going on in our lives, we should still make our goals…</p> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="250" align="center" border="0"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Start of the Month:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">$4,280</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Now:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">4,100</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Total Paid Off:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">180</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">428</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="189"> <p align="left">Left to Pay Off for Goal:</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="59"> <p align="right">248</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <p>Fortunately, a little extra income came in from my wife’s dwindling job, helping us get a good jump start on the month.  We only have 3 more weeks, and I’ve got less than $130 allocated, so we still have a ways to go, but, with her income, we should be able to get close or possibly even beat that goal.  Getting the total balance below $4,000 will put us back where we were the 2nd week of December, except that we now have a paid off truck in the mix.</p> <p>One of the disgusting things about this is that our interest charges for the month on the two cards were over $32, which totals the amount of interest I was paying on the truck, which had almost twice the balance!</p> <p>I’m very motivated to getting that balance down, especially since I could pay for a MUCH nicer internet connection or over half of a fiber TV package w/ DVR for that price…  youch!</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10614139009139917963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-49620793255617123082009-05-01T06:26:00.000-05:002009-05-01T06:26:00.996-05:00May Goals<p>Well, its time that I set some goals again.  I now have over $4,000 in credit card debt, so I’ve got to attack that.  For the time being, I’d like to at least see 10% worth of progress every month against that number.  That’s fairly aggressive, since I’m only allocating about $160 against that in my budget.  So, I’ll need to figure out how to get the additional $264.  This pays the credit cards off by March of 2010.  I’d really like to be done with the credit cards this year, and be down to the student loan, our car, and our house.  We’ll see how this all works out.</p> <p>So, I’ve got $4,280 in credit card debt.  My goal for May 2009 is $428.  We’ll see if its a doable goal, and adjust June as necessary.</p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-74511185607185785952009-04-28T05:39:00.000-05:002009-04-28T05:39:02.261-05:00The truck is PAID OFF!!!<p>Well, I went down to the credit union yesterday evening after work and wrote the check that pays off the truck!  I should get the title in a couple of weeks after they process the loan.</p> <p>In the process of paying the truck off, I learned a few things.  First, I saw the difference that freeing up an additional $200/month can do.  Secondly, I noticed that when I am in “spending mode” (buying things for the house), I am not keeping as close track on our money as I am when I am in “pay it off” mode.  This year, I haven’t been making any extra payments against the credit card debt – we’ve been getting settled in the new house, buying things in preparation for the baby, etc., etc.  Buying a little of this, a little of that, eating out “just this once” because we’re “too tired to cook” can really wreak havoc on one’s finances.</p> <p>Now we are back in “pay it off” mode.  We’ve pre-paid for the pregnancy, so there is a little more expense right before the baby comes, but not much, and we’ve got about two months to go before those expenses hit, giving me plenty of time to save up for it.  I took the money that was going to the truck every month, and, for a while, intend on putting it against the credit cards.   (You’ll notice that the balance on the credit cards jumped a little over $2,400 in correlation of the truck dropping to zero.)</p> <p>If some expense begins to overwhelm us, or we have to adjust our debt reduction number a bit because of some unexpected expense, then so be it – currently we should be able to pay the minimum monthly payment against the credit card every week.</p> <p>Another thing I plan on doing is going back to my goal setting and Thursday updates.  Now that I should be sending more against the credit card than the minimum payment, I should set goals for that, and I think the Thursday updates really helped with that aspect of it.  Of course, with my wife’s job trickling down to nothing here in the next few weeks, and me only working the one job, the days of $500+ weeks are gone, but it should still help motivate.</p> <p>The cool thing is, I fully own one of the two vehicles we drive now!!</p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3058454034873973455.post-17528443899923603732009-04-27T06:21:00.000-05:002009-04-27T10:21:41.692-05:00The Weekend Referrals<p>Today I decided to do something a little different…  I’m taking the top 5 PF blog referrals that I’ve gotten and giving those links to you:</p> <p>Be sure to check out their sites, and thanks to you guys for the traffic!!</p> <p>Here they are, in order of visits:</p> <p><a href="http://becomingdebtfree2009.com" target="_blank">Becoming Debt Free 2009</a> – A relatively new blog that began in October of 2008</p> <p><a href="http://beingfrugal.net" target="_blank">Being Frugal</a> – A wife and mother blogging about her journey to get out of debt</p> <p><a href="http://pennywiseandpoundfoolish.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Penny Wise and Pound Foolish</a> – A woman very, very close to achieving the goal of ZERO credit card debt</p> <p><a href="http://debtorinthecity.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Debtor in the City</a> – the undercover_vixen trying to eliminate over $70,000 in student loans and credit cards</p> <p><a href="http://www.moneyfunk.net/" target="_blank">Money Funk</a> – a simple living/frugality blog about getting away from consumerism</p> <p>Have a great Monday!</p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1