Wild Irish Wanderer

Savings and Sinking Funds

2018-04-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

Since we have gotten back from our spring break trip, we put $400 in savings and although we did this I have one day that I didn't work the whole day on this paycheck so my next check will be smaller, we won't know if we will have to move some over until payday next Friday.

DH gets paid on the 30th and it should be about $6-700 dollars we don't use his checks in the budget as he doesn't work a regular schedule yet, so we put $278 into sinking funds every month and will put the rest into savings.

We have 9 sinking funds but some are already fully funded and we don't put money into those at this time.

ttyl

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Nothing Happening here

2018-03-25T07:39:00.001-07:00

We really haven't done much in the pay down area. We did cash flow a 4 day trip out of town for spring break and that is next week.

After spring break we will be again working on paying down debt while saving some for summer when we don't work as much.

Anything left over at the end of summer we plan to use for debt.

ttyl

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Paid down Chase

2018-02-25T08:05:00.001-08:00

Well we had to put new brakes on our car and had to put it on the chase card. We had the money in a sinking fund account at capital one 360, so I transferred it over and paid that in full plus an extra $100 to basically I paid an extra $165 dollars to chase so far this month.

Today I am hoping to sell another thing from my house and will put that also to the chase card.

DH gets paid next week and whatever is extra (if there is) after putting money in sinking funds for the month will go to debt.

~Wild Irish Wanderer

PIF

2018-02-17T05:24:00.002-08:00

Paid off another Credit Card this AM.

AMX is gooooonnneeee :-)

1 down 2 more to go.
But
Hubby hasn't worked for two days since his job is a sub job so we'll see if I pay any extra next week since I need to make sure we have 5K in savings for summer when we are both off a lot.

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Last day of training

2018-02-14T07:54:00.001-08:00

Today is the last day of training for DH new job, so officially he starts tomorrow it's only a substitute position but they think they will need him every day so we are hoping.

We haven't taken any money out of our sinking funds yet for the previous post I mentioned because we had money left over from my last paycheck and honestly I'm not sure what DR would say.

1. take it out and put it toward debt or
2. leave it in there and cash flow the stuff we needed to do.

If anyone knows for sure I'd love to hear from you..
We do have an appointment to have our oil changed and tires rotated on our car and will need to take money out of sinking fund for the oil change (the rotations are free).

Also I haven't made a meal plan nor done grocery list or meal prep this week for next week but I still have the rest of the week to complete this.

~Wild Irish Wanderer

House upkeep

2018-02-11T06:24:00.001-08:00

Well we had to spend almost $300 yesterday, we had our toilet in the master start leaking around the bottom. TMI I know..

We had to replace the toilet, Flange (boy was that fun), wax ring and scrub the whole floor.

But....

Wow it looks so much better now and we took out the over the toilet storage shelf and left it open for now and the space looks huge!

On to more savings I guess.

We did have money in the house sinking fund for this.

We also bought DH his new pants.

$164 bucks later....

We also had Sinking Fund money for this..

So really no out of pocket spent..

~Yea!!!

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Really need to up my game

2018-02-08T07:14:00.003-08:00

It's been along time !!

Things have been interesting in this house.

We have accumulated some more debt and have plans to take it down but we have other money we need to save for first. Both DH and myself have jobs that have down time in the summer months so we have decided to save up enough money to not fret when we don't work as much in summer, our goal is $5,000 and we have almost that amount saved right now. Then

AMX $626.77

Visa #1, $3,138.95

Visa #2 $10,652.44

Car Loan $10,339.02

We have no plans to get rid of our automobile at this time and prefer to pay it off.

As DH just got a new job he has not gotten a paycheck from this job yet and we don't have any idea what amount his checks will be so for now we are living off my checks and using his checks for Sinking Fund Accounts and Debt Pay down AFTER we get our summer emergency fund to 5K. His first check will be at the end of this month so we'll have a better handle on approximately how much he could potentially be making.

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Baby it's been awhile!!

2017-10-12T09:37:00.003-07:00

So wow I didn't realize it's been so long since we have posted anything.

We've been very busy here at the WIW household.

School is back and DS-Y has started HIGH SCHOOL! How sad is that my baby is in high school.

DH quit his job he hated so much the past month. While he doesn't have a job right now he does have 2 things in the wings and anticipates he will have one soon. He's only been out of work almost a week now.

We have ONLY one Credit card with just over 11,100.00 left on it, and ONE Car loan with also just over 11,500.00 on it! We won't be paying extra to either of those for now until DH gets another job then we plan to attack the CC until it's below 10,000 and then get the car loan to under 10,000. Then we will focus on the CC only.

Our reasoning is we have no idea how long our car will last it has had a check engine light on for awhile and while the people at the auto store say it's only something in our gas tank, I'd rather be safe and get it down to about what we owe on it. It does also need new tires but I have the money saved up in our car repair sinking fund for those and just haven't gotten to them yet. Especially with DH NOT working right now, we can just drive our other car and leave one at home.

The weather as usual has now turned to our normal horrid winter weather with lots of rain and snow for the next 6ish months.

I think that's it for our update and I'll try to post a bit more often..

ttyl

~Wild Irish Wanderer

June Update

2017-06-27T12:43:00.001-07:00

Sooo haven't paid much down in June, I had a health scare and had to pay quite a bit for medical expenses and I expect this month to also have some medical expenses since I have to do my year checkups.

June is a 3 pay check month and I have 6 hours of OT on it, so I'm excited to see how much that one is.

Weather is decent but not that warm also, so no hiking yet..

ttyl

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Paying it doooowwwnnnn.

2017-05-20T08:02:00.002-07:00

We paid another $500 dollars to our next debt. !!!

Weather is finally, finally cooperating with our hiking plans, we haven't and won't be able to hike this week of next week due to work obligations but I have a hope that the week after we can..

I'm still working on the Konmari method, I have kitchen mine and hubby's clothing, Living Room and Dining Room done.

Nothing else happening.

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Konmari

2017-05-03T09:57:00.001-07:00

I have spoken to the fams and we have decided to try to do the Konmari method.

If you haven't heard of her she is an organizing guru, you go thru your house in categories NOT rooms and pick out things that bring you peace and joy and get rid of the rest. I honestly have already pretty much done this with my clothing now we are going to do it with Hubs and Son's clothing.

I did already do the kitchen.. What a difference that makes!

I did the bathroom!!! And I did the hallway that doesn't have many places to stick stuff but I got it all done.

Now to convince hubs he doesn't "Need" the boxes the playstation or Xbox came in and we can really, really throw those out....

I have a few days off but we have plans for all day Saturday. I'm going to try to do as much as I can while the hubs sleeps and Son is at school.

Much less whining if it's already gone when they get home and seriously I bet hubs would not even know if I went through his T-Shirts..

I'd love to get rid of 85% of the junk we have in our house and live as minimalistically
as possible. We'll see how that goes with the rest of the household :-)

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Last CC

2017-04-20T08:00:00.001-07:00

Our Last Credit Card to be paid off has $12,656.05 on it, We've paid this months payment and $600 Snowball payment so the balance as of right now is.

$11,813.05

The interest hasn't hit yet but I know it will still be below $12,000 which is what our goal was. We'd like to have this paid off by May of next year and possibly even April or March.

By May of next year our car total will be less then $10,000 and we will either do something with it or pay it off completely at this point we haven't decided.

The weather has been wishy washy here since January so we have not been able to go on any hikes since with husby's new job we don't get that many days off together and when we do the weather isn't cooperating.

That's it for now...

~Wild Irish Wanderer

They tried to raise my interest rate so guess what.......

2017-03-25T11:17:00.002-07:00

I logged on to pay the snowball and found out they were raising our interest rate so I did the next best thing, I moved money from savings and paid that sucker OFF !!!

ONE Credit Card to go .....

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Paid More

2017-03-25T06:39:00.001-07:00

Just paid another $450.00 to Chase with only $915.71 left on this Credit Card. I seriously have the money in savings and probably will pay this off tomorrow or later today with the savings money. We still have $3,000 in savings because although we follow Dave Ramsey my guts tell me to have more then $1,000 in BEF.

~Wild Irish Wanderer

What's been going on at the household

2017-03-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

Another $200 to the Chase Card. We have very very high hopes we will get it paid off at the end of April, If it's not we know it will be paid off by May 6th. I prefer to pay it off in April as it will be 2 full months ahead of schedule.

We have a birthday for a family member in April also, so I'm trying to factor that into our spending also.

Our Anniversary was this month and had to factor in money for that also.

Now we can just hope for better weather then we have had so we can do some free outside stuff from our bucket list. Between snow, sun and rain it's been very hard to plan anything.

ttyl
~Wild Irish Wanderer

Update

2017-03-09T16:32:00.002-08:00

So DH did not get the job he applied for and we are okay with that since he already has a job, it was just an upgrade..

We have $1550 left on Chase Card and although I have enough to pay it off in savings, something else came up that will require some money so we are waiting.

We are thinking about savings up and taking a mini vacation before starting our LAST Credit Card payoff. I'd like to do this and go somewhere warm..

~TTYL

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Tax Refund, Snow and no word on Job yet

2017-02-07T04:39:00.001-08:00

So we got our tax refund back today it was abnormally high for us, we usually only get back $500-$1000. This was $5000 so we are going to put it on our Chase card and that will bring the balance down to a tad over $2000 left on this card.

Did I mention this is our Second to LAST Credit Card to pay off, we have paid off 3 others since last year. Small but paid off none the less.

Once this one is paid off we will have one credit card and our car to finish paying off.

On the bright side we have tons and tons of snow!!! It's been very fun to have all this white stuff to play in and although the cats hate it, the dog on the other hand thinks it's so much fun.

We still have not heard anything about husby's interview, we are patiently waiting for a yes or no...

That's it for now..

ttyl

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Job Changes

2017-02-03T08:49:00.001-08:00

Nothing really happening here, we are continuing to pay down debt slowly.

We are getting a Tax Refund which will go towards our lowest debt.

Husby still hasn't heard about the job he applied for and after 3 tests he finally had his interview this past week. He already has a job so we aren't too worried about it although it will be a better job all around.

My new position at work has been so much better and I'm much happier in the new space.

We've paid down $1,000 since December of 2016 but....

Husby's work where he is at right now is going to change his days, we aren't happy about it because he will have 3 on and then 4 off and this will cut down drastically on our debt repayment. So on the bright side we are really hoping he gets the new job he applied for. It at least will be 40+ hours per week, with a lot of overtime available.

So keep your fingers crossed!!!

That's it for this update..

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Happy New Year

2016-12-30T10:11:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, May this year bless everyone families...

We are continuing to plow through our debt while trying to enjoy our days off together.

Husby has a new job he has applied for and so far they have asked him to come in for a typing test and with any luck an interview to follow!

We still only have a few days off together a month due to his current job, but we try to make the most of them when they do happen.

The weather has made hiking nearly impossible since it can't decide whether to snow, rain, be sunny or all of the three in one day...

We are currently working on paying off our chase card which has $7426.27 left on it.

But we are also trying to save money in our sinking funds, when the total gets to $1000.00 not counting our BEF I think I'm going to talk to husby about putting it into debt unless we have to use some of it then going back to funding our sinking funds until its back up to $1000 again. We'd really, really like to get that card paid off this year and it won't happen unless we buckle down more then we are now..

Well that's all for our end of the year comments and updates.

TTYL

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Merry Christmas

2016-12-25T04:41:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family!!!

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Total 2016 Debt Paid Off

2016-12-21T05:18:00.002-08:00

We have paid off a total of $12,349.73 of Debt in 2016!!!

So Excited to have this much gone. I sure hope we can continue on this path.

I'm hoping the weather will cooperate and allow me to take some more hikes but so
far every day its nice enough I have to work.

We did have a minor issue here as our furnace motor died while it was 20 degrees outside and it took the furnace man about a week of coming over to figure out what was wrong with it.

Now it works like a charm, keeps us nice and toasty and when it's 20 degrees I don't fret!

I have been trying to pick up some overtime, at least once per pay period just for extra to savings and debt. Since we still aren't sure about DH job we are continuing to put money into savings.

It's off to work I go..

ttyl

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Paid down

2016-12-09T13:06:00.001-08:00

So far this year we have paid off 2 debts totaling $6468.80 and have paid down our next debt by $327 so far this month. We have been saving money instead of putting most of it towards debt as we are not sure how DH new job will be.

We have tried to put some extra to debt and save at the same time, We figured if his job continues as good as it has been we will just put a large chunk down at the end of next summer.

It's been snowing and raining off and on here lately so I'm sure out gas bill will be more then usual, even my pets don't want to stay outside it's been so bad..

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Hanging in there!

2016-11-30T11:58:00.002-08:00

So I'm back from Vegas and we have been plugging along with our Debt.

But!!

We also need new tires for our car sooner rather then later so that's next on our list.

Christmas is mostly bought and paid for with CASH!

Our heater motor went out and we are waiting for the heater company to come repair it at this moment. (No idea how much that will cost.)

Yes, we do have $1000 in our Emergency fund so we are good to go regarding pay6ing for the repairs, and IF they are more then we have, we do have alternative heat options and we can wait until we save up to pay for the repairs.

I did buy myself an Instant Pot for Christmas and I can't wait to get it and use it.

Other then that the weather is raining as usual but it's been warmer then normal which was nice until our alternative heat source got up an running since we all didn't freeze to death while it was out.

Not much of an update I'll do the bar update towards the end of this month since it's December and the end of the year.

Have a great Christmas and New Year.!!!

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Vegas Booked

2016-10-04T14:44:00.001-07:00

I booked my trip to Vegas I only had to spend money to fly there the people I'm going to meet used airline miles and booked our room.

I do plan to give them some money for the room since that would only be fair.

I have tentatively made up our October, November and December budgets, with the hopes to have all the money we need for new tires by the end of December (it's a 3 paycheck month.)

I am thinking about starting to save to have new flooring put down beginning in January because I would like to replace all the flooring with laminate since we are thinking about either selling our house or using it for a rental.

We have been looking at Motor homes and Travel Trailers for a couple of months now and I'm still leaning towards a motor home and a used on at that.

ttyl

~Wild Irish Wanderer

Changed it up

2016-09-18T11:27:00.003-07:00

I took down the Discover tab on the right side and replaced it with our Chase Debt as this is the next one we will be starting on come October. We might have to use one of DH checks for Debt and one for saving for new tires until we have $1500.00 for our new tires. We know we will need tires soon.

I have a girls weekend in Vegas coming up I still have to book, I hope to have this done by November 1st. I don't plan on taking much money with me just to eat I think it will depend on how much I can save between now and then.

~Wild Irish Wanderer