Ditch My Debt

New Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:21:00 +0000

My new consolidated blog, Mom's Many Projects, is now available. It can be found at http://momsmanyprojects.blogspot.com! This blog will still be available to view older posts.

Consolidation of Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:43:00 +0000

I am currently in the process of consolidating my blogs into one new blog. As much as I enjoy each of my blogs, I'm afraid I don't have as much time as I would like to keep up with all of them separately. Therefore, soon there will be a brand new blog that will encompass posts on my personal finance, genealogy, home and garden projects, and anything else I feel like posting. I feel that at this time it will allow me more flexibility to post in times when there is more subject matter to discuss in one area over another. I will post the website here as soon as I am ready to go live with it.

This blog has been extremely enjoyable for me to work on and I hope everyone that follows it will enjoy the new one!

InboxDollars

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:34:00 +0000

I finally got to the minimum amount to cash in on InboxDollars.com! It's about time! Now there's only a couple of problems.

First, they are not sending the check ($30.15 minus $3.00 processing fee = $27.15) until January 2, 2009.

Second, I have to remain an active user until the check is sent.

Bummer! That means I have to keep on clicking on their little email things and cannot cancel the account yet. I really wanted to get rid of it, too! *sigh* I suppose a little longer won't bother me too much. And I am still clicking away on the SendEarnings.com emails until I get enough to cash them out, too.

End of Month--October 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:14:00 +0000

Wow! Another month gone. The holidays are coming up so fast!

I am amazed with the current gas prices! Hubby stopped for gas the other day even though he wasn't totally empty yet because he saw it for $2.299! It cost him $36 to fill up! Let's hope the prices stay this low or lower. At least for a little while!

I've updated the sidebar. Not much to really update, but I did it. I also updated the NetWorthIQ for October.

We finally ordered the tires for my husband's truck. They were really needed. I saved and transferred the money to the credit card and then used it to pay for the tires. They should be here in a day or two, then we'll make an appointment to have them mounted. The total cost for four tires was $675! Ouch! But it is a worthwhile expense. His safety is more important than money. We researched the tires on tirerack.com and were very pleased with the reviews. These tires should last a lot longer than the ones that came with the truck.

Other typical end of month tasks:

I transferred $45.59 from my round up fund to my emergency fund
I transferred my VA benefit to my emergency fund
I added any interest given at the end of the month. We earned $9.22 this month in the emergency fund!

I also figured out that I should be at $5,000 in my emergency fund in 9 months or less. If you remember that was the original amount I wanted to save, then I upped it to $10,000. I'll just be happy to make it to the halfway point because that's where we were before my husband was out of work for 2 1/2 months last year. It will make me a lot more comfortable knowing we have that money to pay the bills just in case.

I also paid two bills for next month in advance. Well, I used billpay and set the date for after the next pay period. At least I don't have to worry about paying them. The first was a $65 cell phone bill (2 cell phones--family plan) and the second was our electric bill of $159, which just keeps going up no matter how many times I turn things off. I think it may be because we are on the budget plan though.

How does your electric bill compare? Do you find it always going up? Or have you found a way to keep your electric costs low? I cannot wait until we are debt free so we can afford to put in a solar system! It is one of the first things I want to do!

Finally...

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:58:00 +0000

I have never been so happy to see a pay period get here! OK...that's not exactly true because all pay periods are good...more money always helps! But this time with DH's mistake I was really looking forward to this one.

And there are NO BILLS due for these next 2 weeks! I can really put some money aside for DH's tires and hopefully he'll be able to get them really soon! I've already replaced all the money I've "borrowed" from the other accounts. Plus the normal transfer of $442.60 into the savings account for our mortgage payment.

Getting into the routine of transferring 1/2 the mortgage payment every two weeks into the savings account it automatically gets pulled from was a great idea! The mortgage is the first thing I "pay" every pay period. I have never made a late payment or missed a payment! And I know the money is always in the account when it's time for it to come out.

I don't expect to have any problems paying my bills, but if I did I would pay my mortgage and heloc first because I would never want to lose my home. Second, I would make the truck payment because DH needs to get to and from work (though if we were really that bad off we would probably sell the truck and get a cheap, reliable vehicle--unless it was already paid off). Lastly, I would pay the credit card. Of course mixed in all that would be buying food, prescriptions, and paying for utilities. Those would also be before the credit card.

Of course all of this really doesn't matter if you plan well. That's why we have an emergency fund. If DH loses his job we don't have to make decisions on what to pay and what to not pay.

And someday our plan is to not ever worry about it at all! Our plan to payoff all our debt including our mortgage is a long term one for now, but once I can go back to work that will turn into a short term plan.

Everything I make will go towards debt!
Anything over what we've been currently living on from DH's paycheck will go towards savings.

Right now it's just send whatever we can to pay down or off our debt. Living below our means definitely helps though we don't deny ourselves either. I have 2 more years (Spring, Summer, and Fall terms) of college to complete my B.S. degree along with my double minor and 3 certificates. Once that is done I'll volunteer for a few years to get my foot in the door of my new career and still be available for my youngest son, who will still be in elementary school. I'll be able to get a job again when he gets into middle school (my oldest will be in high school by then).

I can't wait to see how fast the debt disappears once I'm working again! I almost want to see about getting a job sooner because of it, but I know I have to concentrate on my schooling and children first. Though if the right opportunity came along that still allowed me to do all the things I do with my boys, then I would consider it.

Woohoo!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:08:00 +0000

DH paid $2.799/gallon for gas this morning and I paid the same at a different station this afternoon! Usually we've been paying up to $65.00 to fill up DH's truck and about $40.00 to fill up my car. But today it was $44.50 and $27.02! I am so happy! I know it would be better if it went even lower, but for now this is exciting to me!

On another note...DH made a mistake and bought something using the debit card instead of using the credit card that I told him to use to replace a piece of important computer equipment that died on us. It totally threw off my entire budget for these two weeks. Especially since things were already tight because it was a 2-week period where it seems all the bills decided to be due. In the next 2-week period coming up there are absolutely no bills due! So I've had to borrow from our blow money "accounts" and will replace it when we get paid later this week.

Cheaper Gas

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:16:00 +0000

I actually paid $3.459 for gas this morning! It was 20¢ cheaper than the last time I filled up. If it could go down just a little bit more now I'll be happy!

Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:36:00 +0000

Earlier this week I decided to finally do the meal planning I had been talking about. I went through the Kraft Foods website and picked out a bunch of meals that sounded good, then made a grocery list of what was needed to make them. This was new for me. Usually I end up buying a lot of the same things and we get into a food rut!

For the next two weeks, I'll be making these for dinner:

"BLT" Pasta
Cheesy Chicken Tostadas
Crisp-and-Creamy Baked Chicken
Easy Bistro Chicken
Easy Layered Taco Pie
One-Pan Chicken and Potato Bake
Polynesian-Glazed Meatballs
Portabello Mushroom Sandwich
Quick 'n Easy Pasta
Shrimp, Tortellini, & Spinach
Slow-Cooker Tex-Mex Chicken

We also have some other quick meal things that I picked up because we have a few days where we get home late.

I went grocery shopping on Friday night and I started cooking these dinners Saturday night. So far I've made the "BLT" Pasta and Polynesian-Glazed Meatballs. They were both very easy to make and delicious. They are going to be "keepers" for future meals.

The only thing I have an issue with in all this is how much food costs these days. I spent $180.98 on two weeks worth of food (not including the mini trips I'll have to take to replace milk, bread, etc.). We don't buy a lot of meats and use generic and/or sales whenever possible. I admit there are a few items where I've tried the generic and didn't like it so I stick to the brand name food. I didn't like the generic frozen chicken tenderloins so I buy Tyson. It's only about $1.00 more and the taste and texture is much better quality.

Here is the breakdown of some of what I bought:

24 of the items I bought were generic/grocery store brand
Only 9 items could be considered meat (including precooked meats, lunchmeat, frozen, etc.)
11 items were fresh fruits and vegetables
I saved $22.22 in sales and "buy one, get one free" offers
I did buy two subs for dinner since I didn't get home from shopping until past 8PM

The only upside to all of this is that buying groceries and cooking dinner at home costs less than going out to a restaurant. Now THAT'S expensive!

Advanced Payments are GOOD!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:18:00 +0000

Thank goodness for the truck loan being paid in advance! My husband desperately needs new tires on his truck because he drives 570 miles a week and the tires the truck came with are crap!

Anyway...

Since I haven't had the time to start saving up for Auto Maintenance, which this lovely issue brought to my attention, I am planning to use the money I would have used to make the 2 extra payments to the truck loan to buy the new tires. Because honestly it makes no sense to use the money to pay down the truck early instead of buying new tires so hubby doesn't go out of control on the highway when a tire blows. Plus I would probably have to pay for massive hospital bills, if not a funeral. That would be bad!

The tires are actually going to cost $568.00 plus delivery, installation charges, taxes. I'm expecting it will cost quite a bit by the time this is all said and done. But it is a necessary expense with how much he drives.

We've already researched the tires on tirerack.com and found some that have a very high rating. His original ones are there, too, and confirmed how crappy they really are, though the dealership told him they were top of the line when they tried to sell them to him when he got his oil changed. They had no idea we already researched the tires. Nice try, but no thank you.

So the plan now is:

Use one, possibly two, months of extra truck loan payments to pay for tires for the truck.
Use any extra money such as bonuses and tax refunds to "catch up" to where I wanted to be with these missed extra payments.

Hopefully that will all work out the way I would like it to, but if it doesn't that's alright. I still see the truck loan being paid off early even with skipping a couple of months.

September Update

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:02:00 +0000

I finally got around to taking care of end of month activities. Phew! This year is just flying by!

I've updated my sidebar including NetWorth IQ. Did you notice the truck payment? I'm now under $7,000! My last two payments have posted and the remaining balance is at $6,697.32! I AM SO EXCITED!!!! Sorry for screaming, but I just cannot contain myself.

My emergency fund is trickling along, but at least it's moving up. It's now at $3,273.04 and I earned a whopping $8.65 in interest last month! This is the most I've ever made in interest.

I earned a measly $0.29 interest in my checking account, which I promptly put in my round up fund, and $0.71 interest in my "mortgage" savings account.

I've already paid most of my bills for this month. The credit card, cell phones, water/sewer/garbage, and the electric bill (which was horribly high for us at $153 and some change) have now been paid. I only have two bills left for the month--other than the mortgage, which is automatically taken out in a couple of days.

I seriously need to go through our food and set up a menu plan so I can use all the food we have efficiently. I know I'll be running out of a few items soon, but for the most part we have a lot of food to eat if I would only start writing it down! That will help me save money on running out for food I don't really need yet.

More Future Payments

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:58:00 +0000

I've made out two more checks towards the truck loan! They will be for the January and February payments. WOOHOO! It feels so good to be that far ahead in our payments. I want to continue making 2 payments a month, but it's nice just knowing that if there was an emergency we won't have to make another payment until March!

And the really good news is that these two payments should bring the truck loan below $7,000!

Now I can't wait until next month so I can make payments for March and April!

Get The Works and What Are You Saving For?

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:42:00 +0000

I've entered two different sweepstakes that others also may be interested in.

The first is the Bath and Body Works' "Get the Works" sweepstakes. They are giving away $500 worth of products. You can enter here. Disclosure: following this link will add additional entries for me to win. You will also get your own link to invite others to enter. Now I don't know about you, but I LOVE Bath and Body Works products. Not all of them, but a good portion of them. Enough for me to be able to come up with $500 worth of products if I win...that's for sure! The sweepstakes ends October 22, 2008.

The second is FNBO Direct's "What are you saving for?" sweepstakes. They are giving away a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate. You can enter here. Disclosure: I do not get any additional entries or credit by you following this link. This sweepstakes ends October 6, 2008.

Suze Orman on AC360

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:17:00 +0000

Last night Suze Orman was talking to Anderson Cooper on CNN. Everyone has a different opinion on her. Some people like her and some don't. I'm more in the middle, but that could be said about any financial personality out there.

But last night she made some very good points that I believe a lot of people forget. Before I get started on them I just want everyone to know they can find the transcript for the show here. You have to scroll down some--about halfway down the page to find the section with her, then Ari Velshi talks for a little bit and back to her again.

Here are some points:

"If you need the money in one year to retire, to generate income for you, and it's all in growth stocks, yes, you betcha. You come out of the stock market right now." and "But, if you don't need the money for 10, 15, 20 years, and you're in good, quality stocks, stocks that aren't going to go away, then of course you stay here."

Let's face it most of us are in it for the long haul. You're 401K is there for the future and over time they end up growing. The media reports make it sound like it is so bad that you're going to lose everything! The big thing is to keep on contributing, don't put everything into one basket, and if it really makes you nervous--don't look at your account too often right now. It can get really depressing if you do. Be patient! In my case, I try not to look at it because I know it's going down, but I have another 27 years until I really need it!

"Look at your own lives. Look at what you have got going on. There's only one thing, Anderson, you have control over in this life. And that is your own personal finance, as what you do with the money you have, what you do with the money that you don't have. Look at your own lives. Look at what you have got going on. There's only one thing, Anderson, you have control over in this life. And that is your own personal finance, as what you do with the money you have, what you do with the money that you don't have. And that's where you have to focus right now"

Again I have to agree here. How can the average person control what is going on outside of their own finances? The average person cannot! So the only thing anyone can do is take care of your own finances to make sure you can survive in a time like this. You cannot worry about others (examples: government spending, stock market, bank closures and bankruptcies, etc) when you don't have your own finances in order. Make sure your money is safe in FDIC insured accounts, pay off or down high interest credit cards and loans, have an emergency fund, know where your money is going and/or figure out where it should be going.

So how are you dealing with the current financial situation? Do you watch it constantly and panic/get depressed? Or are you patiently waiting for it to be over because you know you're in it for the long haul?

I admit it can get pretty depressing always hearing about decreasing home values, decreasing home sales, increasing foreclosures, increasing bankruptcies, businesses going under or being bought out, stock market crashes, increasing gas and grocery prices, etc. But the media also isn't talking about people that are making it in these "hard times", who were smart enough to not get themselves into a bind by paying off debt, not panicking, not buying more house than they could afford, etc. I know that some really fell into trouble because of others or emergency situations, but we also have to be responsible for our own personal finances at some point.

Attempt to Get Back on Track...

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:11:00 +0000

...Or at least I'm going to try.

I've updated everything on the sidebar now as well as NetWorthIQ. It's not looking good, but I didn't expect it to what with the student loans being added to it all.

I made several payments to the truck loan. We are now down to $7,131.24 left on it and I don't owe them another payment until January. Of course, I'll continue to send them in because I want it gone! My extra loan payment "savings" is up to $145.69 so I'll only need $87.07 to send in another extra payment along with my regular payment.

I received my homeowner's insurance statement. The payment is due in December and is paid through my mortgage escrow account. I would love to not have a mortgage escrow account, but they are required on VA loans. As usual the policy covers some pretty stupid things like volcanic eruption, which may be needed if I lived in Hawaii, but I live in a flat state with barely a hill; and grave markers (is there something I don't know about?). The good thing is that it looks like it will be going down $14.97 from last year's premium. It's not much, but it'll still lower my monthly mortgage payment. That's $1.25 a month that I can put towards something else.

I have all my monthly bills paid for the rest of the month and we still have another payday to go this month! The next bill is not due until the 7th of next month and it's the only one for the next two pay periods! I've already made sure I did a big grocery shopping. We are set for food other than refrigerated items we go through quickly. I spent over $215 so it better last! So I think this is a good time for auto maintenance. I need an oil change and new battery and DH needs an oil change, some other routine maintenance yet to be determined, and a couple of new tires. We'll have to do some pricing. For tires we like to check them out on Tire Rack to get reviews and pricing. We bought my new ones on there earlier this year. We had them delivered to a local shop to be put on and we couldn't be happier with them.

I believe that may bring me up to date for now. If I think of anything else, I'll add another post later.

Way Behind

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 03:50:00 +0000

I am way behind in updating everything! What else is new, huh? Especially when school is in session.

I'm trying to update what needs to be updated little by little now and get back on track. I missed posting about more than several personal financial events including the last 2 week period. I'll be getting to all that soon. I hope!

I have just updated the Money Earned Online section of my sidebar. You'll notice quite a few companies gone: Hits4Pay, Mindfield Online, Netwinner, Opinion Outpost, RewardTV, SurveySpot, Testspin, ACOP, and ClearVoice. I've deleted my account for Hits4Pay. I could have waited until I reached a payout amount, but I was really tired of them. The rest have not yet been deleted, but their emails are being deleted as I receive them until I take care of that. You'll notice the only two with a * that are still there are Send Earnings and InboxDollars. They will remain there until a payout, then deleted, though they will remain on the list for the year of the payout received.

That's all for now. It's getting really late and I have some schoolwork to do tomorrow. I'll try to update some more tomorrow.

Advertisements/Solicited Reviews

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:07:00 +0000

I wanted to make a quick post about advertisements/solicited reviews on this blog. What advertisements/solicited reviews you may be asking? Well that's exactly the point...there aren't any. And that's the way I'd like to keep it.

Lately, I have been receiving all kinds of emails requesting advertisements/solicited reviews be put onto my blog. So I've decided to answer you all right now as well as anyone else thinking about making a similar request.

Thank you very much for your email requesting information regarding the placement of your advertisement/solicited review on my blog. At this time I am not interested in advertisements/solicited reviews on my blog. Nor do I feel I will be interested in the future. Nothing personal. I just want to keep my site as clean and free of items I do not support or potentially do not support. This means no advertising/solicited reviews. Again thank you for your consideration, but I will have to pass.

There that should take care of that! I hope!

As some of my readers may know I have placed some banners and items on my blog as well of reviews of items, which I do support and/or believe are good products. The difference is that I have chosen them, have control over the content, and support the causes in some way. I will NOT put advertisements/solicited reviews on this blog that I have no control over and/or do not endorse.

Sorry for being so hard about it all, but it's one thing I don't want to have to deal with. I know others may jump at the chance to have their blogs make money for them. I don't have a problem with that and of course I would love to make a little extra to take care of the bills. I'm just not going to do it at the expense of my readers.

1,000 Visitors!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:04:00 +0000

Yay! We've had 1,000 visitors! Thank you everyone for visiting the Ditch My Debt blog. Here's to another 1,000 visits!

Final Dentist Bill and Incoming Money

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:36:00 +0000

I received the last claim statement from the insurance company so on Wednesday I went into the dentist's office to settle up with them. The final bill came up to $299.50 so my total out of pocket for all their dental work was $671.60. I'm glad I took care of it and got it out of the way.

I'm now waiting for the remaining balance of my student loan to post to my account. You may wonder why I take the full amount when I also get a grant. The reason is that it still doesn't cover everything. I only get $600 a term in grant money. That is about the cost of my books in a fall or spring term, which I pay out of pocket and then reimburse myself with the loan. My tuition is around $1,800. Any left over goes towards paying down my credit card to prepare for the next term. The remaining also covers my summer term costs, which I receive a small grant for but no student loans.

This is what this term cost:

Tuition--$1,831.28 minus $600 Grant = $1,231.28 minus $2,722.50 = ($1,491.22) remaining.

Books/DVD's--$582.18 minus $1,491.22 = ($909.04) remaining.

That remaining $909.04 needs to be "saved" for the summer term's tuition, books, and supplies, as well as any additional supplies needed for this term. I'll add whatever is extra from the spring term to the fall term's remaining balance, too.

Doctor/Dentist Bills, Red Cross, End of Month

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:29:00 +0000

I received a bill from one of my doctor's for an appointment I went to in December. I've actually had 2 other appointments since that appointment, but for some reason they messed this one all up by putting in the claim 3 times! Pretty unorganized of them! So now I have to fit in a payment of $125.32 to them. I'll take care of that this weekend and get it out in the mail on Tuesday.

I've also received some more of the claim forms for my boys' dentist appointments. So far it looks like I'll owe them $209.30 at least until I get the last claim form. I underpaid on a couple of appointments and overpaid on one. This is not as big as a deal because I was pretty much expecting it. Plus the dentist office has not sent me a bill as yet either. So we'll wait and see on that one, but I'll probably go in as soon as I've received the last claim form and settle up with them.

On the sidebar you'll notice a banner for the American Red Cross. They are one of the few organizations that I support and believe in. I do not in any way receive money or endorsement from the Red Cross for placing the banner on my blog.

Since today is the last day of the month I'll probably be closing everything out. It looks like I'll have $38.17 to transfer over to my emergency fund (other than the normal $117) from my round up fund from the checking account.

These are the final month end numbers:

Groceries: $379.07

Dining Out: $249.53

Gas: $540.41

DH's Work Lunches: $108.06

I'm not sure if I've missed anything. The progression bars will be updated in a week or so when the mortgage, truck payments, and emergency savings are shown to be updated in their systems so I can get exact numbers. Though I believe the emergency fund will be above $3,000 and the truck loan will maybe be close to $7,000.

It's Payday Again!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:38:00 +0000

Another payday and thank goodness for this one since I had totally misjudged what I needed for the last two weeks as mentioned in another post. I am so glad that is over!

My "Loan Payoff Savings" has lowered to $9.69, but the reason for that is because I was able to make another extra payment on the truck. I just made payments for November (regular, but early, payment) and December (extra payment)! I only have 34 payments to go and on my way to making the goal!

Again it's slow because I really do not have any other bills to pay until the next payday.

Payoff Date Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:55:00 +0000

Things have been kind of busy here dealing with storms, college classes, the boys going back to school, and their activities starting back up. But at the same time the finances have been kind of slow going. There just hasn't been anything much to talk about. So I was looking over my posts here and realized that I never gave any dates of when I'd like to get everything paid off.

I guess I do have something to talk about now!

1. Pay off truck loan early: My goal on this is to completely pay it off by December 2009. The original maturity date is October 2011. Once it is paid off, then I'll also be downgrading the insurance coverage so I'll be saving some money there, too.

2. Start paying down Heloc until student loans come due: This will be done from January 2010 through June 2011, which is when I should have to start paying on my student loans.

3. Pay off student loans as quickly as possible: I do not have an actual payoff goal on this as yet until I see the final damage. I'll have a better idea around the summer/fall of 2010. But know it will be paid off early.

4. Finish paying off Heloc: This will also depend on other factors like how much I paid off prior to student loans coming due and what my work situation is like once I start paying it off again.

5. Work on paying off mortgage early: The original maturity date on our mortgage was January 2034, but we knocked it down to August 2032 with an employee loan through the bank as I worked with them at the time we bought the home. We paid that loan off a long time ago! My ultimate goal would be to pay off the mortgage somewhere between 2020 and 2022 or sooner. Again it will all depend on paying off the other debt, my employment situation, and any other things that happen to pop up.

Updates and What's Going On

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:35:00 +0000

Well, Tropical Storm Fay has now completely left us. We still had a few (very few) remaining storms come through yesterday, though we were able to get out of the house for the afternoon. No damage so that's very good! One down; ?? to go.

I still got the mail during the storm...yes, the poor mailwoman still had to deliver the mail! I received a letter from my 401K plan saying that I have under the minimum $1000 and if I do not call by a certain date a check will be cut minus all the many fees and penalties they take away from you. I know I received a check for all the funds to roll them over to my new Vanguard IRA. Or at least that's what they told me! So I took a look online and it's a whopping $3.13 for company stock! $3.13! It was probably some dividend or something that got applied after the check was cut. So fine...cut me a check. I'll probably get like $2.00 or something. It's just not worth my time calling them to have it rolled over to my IRA. Let the IRS get the 20% penalty or $0.62...LOL. I could always put $3.13 into my IRA and then get my $0.62 back at tax time. Maybe.

I also received the explanation of benefits sheets you get from the insurance company for the boys' first visits to the new dentist. I'll probably owe them in the $200 range. Not bad considering they only charged me $50.70 for those appointments at the time. We'll see what happens with that when the bill comes in.

I've started updating the sidebar and progression bars. It still needs some tweaking here and there. My classes start tomorrow so my time will be limited until I get myself on a schedule.

Ebates and storm

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:10:00 +0000

I received my first check from Ebates a couple of days ago. It was for $16.42 so when I deposit it I will place it in my Loan Payoff Savings. I believe I'll be able to send out an additional check with that. Also for those interested though not yet signed up with Ebates, you can join now and earn $10 for using them. If you go through my referral in the sidebar, I'll also receive $10, which will help towards paying down that truck loan! This current offer expires September 12, 2008.

I haven't been posting much due to Tropical Storm Fay. It has sort of taken over everything here in Florida. We still have power, but it is basically stalled over us right now. We are currently in the center of the eye waiting for it to crawl over us so we can get the east side of the storm over with.

I'll post again when things calm down and return back to normal.

Fuel and I Messed Up

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:36:00 +0000

Firstly, I want to ask what is up with gas? The prices are going down, but it is still costing us the same to fill up! There is something seriously wrong with this! If it goes up a penny, then our cost skyrockets, but when it goes down .20-.30 cents, then our cost doesn't go down. Totally crazy! We're already up to $309 for fuel costs this month.

I readily admit that I messed up for this 2-weeks already. I was so used to the boys being out of school that I didn't budget in the costs of them going back very well. Plus groceries were more than normal due to school lunch items. So I'm going to be short during this 2-week period. Therefore, I'll need to take some out of the different savings funds I have set up to get by. Not a lot, but enough to lower a few of them and have to play catch up later. Thankfully, they are not areas where I need a lot of that money right now anyway and I have plenty of time to catch up.

Oh well! I guess it happens on occasion. As long as it doesn't happen all the time, though I do now expect I may need to do some additional tweaking for the next few paychecks to get back on track.

Answer to Comment Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:49:00 +0000

I received this comment and thought I should answer it in a post:

dedicated said...

Stupid Question - Does the loan company require that you make your regular payment amount? Or do you do this for ease and record keeping? Do they have a limit on how many payments you can make a month?

Or maybe you are just trying to show in your minds eye the car is being paid off, by the shrinking payment book coupons?

Just curious. Not that it matters since you will be 4 months ahead on payoff it is all good.

Firstly, I don't think they are stupid questions at all. I would probably have the same questions. And if you don't ask, then how do you know?

I'm not really sure if the credit union we got the truck loan with would take partial payments, though I don't see why not.

Yep, I do this for ease and record keeping. I know it seems like a waste to write out separate checks when I'm mailing them all out in the same envelope, but 1) I don't use checks all that much anyway so I've got to use them for something--LOL; and 2) it helps me keep track of them better.

I don't know if they have a limit on how many payments can be sent in at once. So far the most I've tested it with is 3 payments at once. I would think they would just be happy to get their money.

Oh yes it is definitely nice to see the coupon book start to get smaller and smaller. Our maturity date is supposed to be October 5, 2011. My goal is to have it totally paid off by December 2009 or sooner. I can do this by making at least 2 payments a month with some extra payments thrown in during the two months with extra paychecks.

Thanks for the great questions! I hope that has cleared it up, but if not feel free to ask me some more questions.