Amberbamber's Personal Finance Blog

And we're off tomorrow morning! I am so excited. My youngest has never seen the ocean! This is an all cash vacation for 3 days- which is a huge excitement to me! None of it will go on the CC's!

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

Ugh- we're slipping. It feels like a black hole that I'm inching out of, then I see light at the end of it, but then I slip and fall 2x further down than I feel I was. It will end, it will end, keep repeating to self.

BOA CC- 2664.23 @ 15.24%
MBNA CC- 6776.09 @ 7.9%
Discover CC- 558.80 @ 10.24%

Where to begin. I'm throwing everything I can at the Discover, just to have it paid off. Then next will obviously be the BOA.

Hopefully my DH will have the floors he's working on finished soon and that will be around $1000 to throw completely at the BOA- if the Discover is paid off. And a check for $300 should be coming in for work he did yesterday. That will go 100% to the Discover.

Grocery shopping tonight...I have a budget of $150 for the rest of the month. Think I can do it!?

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!

I've checked with our credit union on a lease buyout to purchase the van. It would be a 72 month loan at 7.49% I've also checked with the bank that we hold the lease with...they will get back with me tomorrow. I'm really hoping that one of these institutions will come through. At the credit union our payment would only go up $30 a month. Which we can handle. So that would be great to know that we own the van and can drive it until it dies!

Dh got paid 1320.40
Paid other half of rent $400-$37.00= $363
Cell phone = 51.54

Will wait to pay van payment until later in the month to see if this loan thing works out. Otherwise that is $435 that I can throw into savings for a payment in the future or throw it onto a credit card.

---------------------------------------
It's been Spirit Week this week at my kindergarteners' school! Tomorrow is wear your favorite team shirt! Go Purdue!

UGH- KBB lists the value of our van at 16,900.00 We owe 26000.00

I'm going to call our Credit Union tomorrow and see what they'll do regarding a lease buyout. But I'm not hopeful. Ahhh, tomorrow...

Ok- so the ONE terribly horribly wrong decision that I *we* make, was the decision to lease a mini van. So, now I'm trying to figure out how best to purchase the darn thing and mark it up to a lesson learned. So anyway, we are currently leasing the Honda minivan with a payment of 435.00 a month. OUCH! So, anyway...I call to get the payoff today to figure out about financing....payoff is...*drum roll please* $26,657.10. Talk about OUCH! So, I am trying out how to finance that much money on a stupid car. Dumb, dumb, I know. Believe me we will NEVER ever do this ever again. We are going to drive this car until it dies and then buy something USED!

So, anyway...any suggestions? We don't own a home to get an equity loan and car loans right now are at the 7.20% I have this amount available on my CC's to possibly put on there, but the interest rate is at 10%. I'm sure I could ask to lower it..as we've always been on time, and have a great record with them. So, help me out!

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!

I've been through all of my bills and paid everyone for September! Woooohoooo! That is fantastic! I have also paid some bills for October.

Rundown:
Bills for October
Rent - $800.00 pd half already -$400
Cell Phone $52.00
Van payment- $435.00
Power- $250.00
Sallie Mae-A- $55.00 - PAID
BOA-CC - $100.00
Discover - $100.00
Sallie Mae CC- $100.00
Truck Payment - $100.00
Car Insurance- $135.00
Sallie Mae-A- $200.00
Life Insurance- $64.00-PAID

These are the fixed bills, groceries and gas will also fit in there somewhere. I am trying to get my DH to not take so many handyman jobs as I've decided I'd rather be in debt a little while longer than lose my sanity and my marriage. I hope he sees it the same way I do.

Balance on CC's as of 9/7/07
BOA-959.47
SM- 6882.00
Discover- 159.00

That does count what I just paid in for the month of September. Looks like it's going well. DH isn't expecting a bonus check next month so with his checks the rest of this month I am hoping to pay all of October's bills or at least get a BIG jump on them.
I've also decided that I HAVE to start contributing to our IRA's and my children's 529 plans. I will put $50 a month into each of our IRA's and $25 into each child's 529 plan and $25 into their savings accts- (they do not know they have , nor will they and they will be used for college expenses).
All in all, everything looks like it's on the up and up. DH is in Indiana this evening for his grandmother's funeral, will be home tomorrow evening late. I'm thinking the kids and I should go to a park tomorrow. I've got laundry to do and I will wait to do it tomorrow so I can hang it to dry and save money!

Uneventful evening, and for that I am thankful.

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.

My DH and I argue about money vs. time quite a bit of the time. He works his full time job and then does handyman side jobs on the side. Like 6 days of the week. I would like him to be at home to help me with the kids, or just plain be active in their lives. At what point is getting out of debt worth it? Don't get me wrong, I would love to be 100% out of debt, but it's not going to happen overnight, nor probably within the next few years. I want him to be present in their lives and heck MINE too. I married him to have a relationship with him-FOREVER. But being with my children for 6 days a week straight isn't good for my sanity level. Anyone else dealing with these kind of issues? I'm almost ready to tell him to quit the side jobs completely, but they're helping us not put things on the CC's. UGH...what to do?

1-This month I would like to not be in the red at the end of the week in our checking account.
2-I would like to start putting money into our IRA's and the kids 529 plans again.
3-Save $250
4-Rework budget
5-Pay off CC totaling $1400

First my oldest started Kindergarten


Then my baby boy got his 1st haircut!
BEFORE


AFTER


So many changes this week :-(

After an unplanned trip to Indiana, resulting in over $300 spent we are now in the hole. School starts tomorrow. Groceries need to be bought. I see light at the end of the tunnel. Tomorrow is at least Friday!

The unplanned trip was to say goodbye to my DH's grandmother. She is 90 years young and now on hospice. Poor woman, her body is starting to shut down. DH will have to fly up there for the funeral -whenever that may be. There will be another $500 at least. New tires for the mini van and an oil change, racked up another $400. I couldn't see putting our family in danger driving through the mountains hydroplaning on tires that you can see the wires.

Everything has had to go on to cc's lately too. I hate it. The vicious cycle- will it ever end? I hope so!

Being a stay at home mom is challenging, I find lots of free entertainment to do each and every day, but what gets me is eating lunch out. With 3 kids, I try to get us out of the house 2-3 times a week. Otherwise they just get stir crazy in and around the house. At least the area we live in has lots of entertainment available. And free is even better.
But today after a visit to the doctor and a $25 co-pay, we went to the Nature Center here. It's very education entertainment for the kids. And the one "teacher" there is awesome. I usually take my oldest there for nature classes. Today was just a visiting day, where we were going to walk around one of the trails, stop in the nature center to see the animals and color a few pictures, etc. Miss Staci brought a snake out for the kids to touch and learn about. She is excellent with the kids! It was an awesome morning.
Then...the kids needed lunch. Instead of driving the 25 mins home to get lunch there, my friend wanted to eat out. Chick-fila. UGH. $14.36 for all 4 of us to eat. I don't even like chickfila. They're extremely expensive. So, total spending for the day was $39.36. That's way too much! I guess I will be packing the kids lunch and just putting it in a cooler in the van just in case. Tomorrow is another free entertainment, we're going to the rec center. $1 per child is almost free for 2 hours of fun! So, total spend amount for tomorrow will be $3 and I'll be packing a lunch! Lesson learned!

ON another note, we received our power bill for this month. $235.87. Yowsa! It's up $20 on the month. It's to be expected though with the temps here in NC in triple digits for almost 20 days straight!
I'm going to try and keep the air set around 80 from now on.

Another end to another day! Oh to see the sun rise again!

So, the kids are being relatively good this morning. Always a good thing. I've been able to do some cleaning and play some puzzles with them.

I transfered $1000 from our GMAC account to our remaining CC. Balance that remains is 6782.00 0% interest is up in Sept 07, I believe. I will make it a point to look into that today.

Things to do tonight include putting a shelf up in DD1's room to hang her school clothes and get her organized and ready for kindergarten. :-(

Went through the pantry- some slim pickings, but I'm not going to the store for food this week until Friday. I'll have to get creative!

Started my 100 mile challenge- completed 2.5miles. Today I hope to add at least 10 miles in there.

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!

Well, not really. But just one blow after another with my DH's job. It seems they are trying to get him to quit. After relocating to NC, with all of our family in the midwest...we always plan on going home for Christmas. Not this year. They won't let my DH take the time off. UGH. Not a good thing when you're homesick the way it is. Please dear Lord, let it turn around.

No spend day today. Still recovering from the flu..and DD1 has it now. Hoping DD2 and DS1 won't get it. Today has been laundry and thank God it rained some. Yay! We need rain!

On a side note, I was doing paid to click for ReadRevenue.com...now for some reason their website doesn't come up. Anyone have any insight on this? I'm pretty perturbed by the whole thing.

I have been so sick for 3 days. I have wanted to do NOTHING. Being sick, plus having 3 kids, and being a SAHM means no rest for me.
Today I finally feel about 50%.
Things are not looking good on my DH's job front. With the stock market the way it is and the big risk with home mortgages, of course my husband works in the residential construction sector. :-(

So, what happens next? Where do we go from here? I really need to start planning for market turns and rely on our savings then.

Big ouch today!

I am making it a goal of mine to have 4 no spend days a week Today both girls had dentist appts, we went, insurance covered it 100%. Yay! Then off for lunch at a friend of mine's. Free lunch! Whooohooo! Came home, naps, then get ready for dinner!

!

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

We received our $12,000 closing cost check. Hopefully within the next 30 days we'll receive our escrow account monies back too. We have paid off the $8000 CC and have around $2000 left after paying all the bills ahead of time and putting some back for savings. The CC we are paying on now has 0% interest until Aug of 08. I am going to pay as much as we can, while we can, but also think I should be socking away as much as we can into our savings.

I have paid all this bills off for the month, except the car insurance. I am thinking of setting only $500 back for the Thanksgiving trip home, and for groceries for the rest of the month. Putting the remaining $2000 on the CC or into our high yield savings acct. Any thoughts?

To Do List:
Change PIN #
Car Inspected
Address Change
Get Birth Certificate
Upload to IPOD
Update Blog
Update Baby Books
Order Turbo Tax
Look into Renters Insurance

So tomorrow is pay day. And I hope to pay all the of the months bills with my husband's paycheck. He'll recieve another paycheck in two weeks and hopefully I can apply that directly to savings and/or CC bills.

This is what gets paid with one paycheck:
Mortgage 1100.00
Gas 25.00
Sallie Mae school loan #1 55.00
Cable/phone/internet 152.00
Discover CC 175.00
Sallie Mae school loan #2 200.00
Medical Bill 60.00
Truck Payment 100.00
Auto insurance 112.00
Sallie Mae CC 125.00

for a total of 2101.00
should have around 800 left over for gas and groceries. Looks like a good month all around. We'll close on our house on the 31st and then pay off the 8000.00 CC and then put the rest on the 11,000.00 CC. Leaving us with $7000 in CC debt. If I use the snowballing I was using, I could have this amount paid off in 7 months. Paying around 1000 a month on it. Boy that sounds exciting! To be 100% CC free in 8 months! Wow!

My next goal is to pay off my student loan and my husband's truck in 2 years. For a total of 16,000.00. I think it is possible and I will keep my eyes on the prize! Debt FREE!

So far we've had one showing on our house, and another one today. I love that my house is so clean. I really hope we sell this house quickly and for full price (wouldn't that be nice?)!

Toda I am trying to make it a no spend day. Yesterday I was sick, but DH bought me a MT. Dew and chicken strips at BoJangles for a whopping total of 7.99! I asked if the chicken strips were made out of gold!

Today, I vow a no spend day. Only gas that is already in the car, while I am out picking up the neighbors from school.

So, our house has been on the market for a week, with no interest. Despressing. I really was hoping we'd sell the house in less than two weeks and start the process of saving tons of money. Since we do already have access to the house we will rent, we've been cleaning it and moving stuff over there to help de-clutter our house. Which means, we haven't stuck to our budget about eating out. I was exhausted, tired, cranky, and didn't feel like cooking much...so I caved and we ate out. Total for the weekend- almost $125.00! I've got to get back on track. I figured out the next paycheck that my DH receives I can pay all of the bills for the month. Every single one of them. With around $300 left. I've never been able to do that before and the feeling is great.

I've also been watching the amount of TV we watch and keeping the computer on. Last month our electricity bill went down $40! And our water bill went down by half! Now if we can just move out of this house before winter! We'll be moving from a gas heated house to a wood burning house! And I'm so excited! We have unlimited amounts of wood to use and it will only cost us sweating and working! I can live with that! Plus the other house is total electric with a heat pump! I can't wait for *all* of my bills to go down!
I'm probably getting my hopes up and I probably shouldn't be setting myself up to fail! But, I can't wait for this move!

OK so one CC is paid off, this morning as of 9am. In 10 days I am calling to cancel it and tear it up forever! No more CC for me! Whoo HOOOOO!!! I cried this morning I was so excited at paying it off! Who ever knew gigantic things like paying off a CC would make me soooo happy?

Ok, today I received a check in the mail for around 2100.00. My cash out of my whole life. It will go directly to a CC that I am paying off. My Dh's and my children's whole life insurance pay out check should be here sometime next week, I hope. Then the entire CC will be paid off. That's $4000.00 down! I am so excited to see this happening. But also so dissappointed in myself for being sucked into buying it. I will definately do more research next time. Although I was only 17 years old at the time, I still wish I would have looked at the entire big picture then.
The depressing thing is, I recieved a statement from the insurance holder and it stated I had paid almost $14,000.00 into this whole life insurance and I only recived $2100.00 back. To think of all the stuff I could have done with that $12,000.00 is very depressing.
I can't change it now, so from here on out, I will be doing anything I can to get my family out of this mess and saving for our future!

Ok so I kinda feel like I've come full circle in the financial sense. When I was younger I was the saver in my family, then I went to college and totally lost my mind. I spent all the money I ever had and then some. Then I married my husband and with best intentions we got ourselves further and further into debt. We are currently 303.000.00 in debt. That's alot. I am getting the hang of this getting out of debt thing. We've changed lots of things in our lives and are starting to pick up the pieces and realize that we don't want to live this way. Hopefully in 2 years we will completely be debt free.