I'm elated beyond belief! It finally rained here in the greater NC area! Yay! They are saying we only have 115 days of water- scary stuff! Thank goodness I have my rain barrel and have been doing as much as possible to conserve!

Pay day today! I've paid all the bills for October and a couple into November. DH had 3 jobs this week for a total of $400 extra. That money will go directly to CC #2, as CC #1 has been PAID OFF! Woooohoooo!

Balance- CC#2 1998.76
CC#3 6776.09

That is my plan at least. To be completely 100% debt free in 72 months. Starting in October 2007. That seems far off, but with over $68K in debt, that is about $10K a year just to pay on debt! Wow! I know I can do it!

Toyota-Adam 7.20% $10,976.01

Honda-Amber *lease* $27,150.00

Sallie Mae Credit Card 0.00% $6,882.00

Sallie Mae-Adam 8.00% $18,206.08

Sallie Mae-Amber 3.37% $1,574.59

Barb and Dave 0.00% $2,700.00

Bank of America CC 10.48% $959.47

Discover 10.24% $359.31


This is my debt balance! Whew! Where to begin.
We cleaned out our piggy banks- I deposited $20 into each kids ING account. Left over was $113.36. $50 was sent to the Discover. And another $40 was sent to the EF.
I'm leaving some in the checking account as a cushion for gas and unforeseen groceries.

Dh has class tomorrow night and then Wednesday a pressure washing job which will hopefully bring in around $40. He will take $10 for himself.

I'd like to take that $40 and apply it to the Discover card...I'd like that to be paid off by the end of the month.

Ah...my goals. I WILL reach them one day!

My Dh's grandmother passed away today. That means he'll be flying to IN for a 2-3 day stay. Meaning eating out and any other misc expenses my DH might be tempted to purchase. Not a good thing on our bottom line this week. I know death is not something that can be controlled and I certainly did not want his grandmother to suffer any longer.

Went to the grocery store this evening and spent 53.00. Not too bad. For 5 people that will last us the rest of Sept with my meal planning, other than the cost of buying milk.

I'm able to do much more organizing with my oldest in Kindergarten.

MBNA CC- goal balance will be 6000 by end of Sept. Current balance= 6882.50 @ 0% interest.

BOA-CC goal balance will be 1000 by end of Sept. Current balance =1459.47 @ 15% interest.

I need to do some research into the BOA CC and find out exactly why the interest rate is so high. We have a good credit score, so I'm thinking it should be somewhere in the 5-9% range.

With the husband gone for the next couple of days, I'll be able to go into the storage we have in our attic and pull out some things that I think we can sell.

I should also check my balance at a children's consignment store and see if I can have them cut me a check- I will apply that toward the BOA-cc.

DH is working today doing his handyman job...he will bring it at least $75. That will be put into our checking to pay on the CC. Yay- I am so glad to see that balance keep going down each month.

Bad thing- Dh had to get a new tire for his truck. $150- that wasn't expected so it went onto the discover. Will be paid off by the end of the month.

School starts next week. All supplies and clothes have been purchased! Only $20. As a gift from my mom, DD1 got all of her school clothes. How neat! And great for us!

Did 3 survey's on NFO which adds to my balance. Hopefully I will be able to cash out again in about 2 weeks. $10 is $10 to me!

DS is sick today. Geez I am so ready for this flu virus to leave our house!

I'm planning on a no spend weekend. Oh I forgot we have to buy a gallon of milk. Not too bad!

Ok so we've fallen off the wagon sort of. I haven't been that diligent about paying towards the cc. BUT it is down from beginning balance of $11,000 to 7800. So, not too bad, I guess. My husband and I have decided once that cc is paid off we will start looking for a house to buy. Currently we are renting...and I hate it.
So, now my goal is to get that 7800 paid off as quickly as possible. Any extra money I am receiving I am putting towards that debt.

Question for y'all- We have a savings acct that has about 6000 in it...we use it as an emergency fund also. If you were me, would you take about 1000 from the savings account and put it towards the CC or would you just keep paying on the cc monthly?

CC interest rate is 0% until September 07
Current interest rate on the savings acct is 5.5% Thoughts?

Ok so I've had 11 goals hung up on my fridge for 6 months now. I've obtained only one of them.

Here they are:

#1- pay off SM CC $11,000. (DONE)
#2- DH have the big snip! = no more children!
#3- Pay off BOA cc started at 11,000 now down to $8000.
#4- Simplify
#5- Find a church home
#6- Contribute to kids 529 plans
#7- Date night with DH once a month
#8- Contribute to IRA's
#9-Lose at least 15lbs
#10- $10000 in Savings
#11- $2000 saved for land purchase


#1 is so far the only thing we've accomplished. I am going to look at this as the glass if half full and say we still have 6 months to accomplish all of this, right?!

We're going to visit family in exactly 11 days and I am doing a pantry challenge. Hopefully- we will only go to the store for milk. We have bread in the freezer and plenty of eggs.

I cannot wait for my garden to start growing. We've already been picking broccoli from it. I'll be canning and canning and canning hopefully this summer. Green beans and tomatoes for chili and spaghetti! Yay, I can't wait!

With the end of May also brings the end of preschool for my DD. Which means we'll be adding an extra $148 to the bills for 3 months at least! That excites me also!

Only thing I forsee not allowing using to meet goals this summer would be that my 17 and 18 year old brothers are living with us for 2 1/2 months. Feeding teenage boys somewhat scares me. I will defiently be buying bulk items as much as I can!

So, there it is...all laid out for me to see. Ahhhhhh