We're getting out of debt? You Bet!

Round and round we go.

2010-12-02T03:56:00.000-08:00

Well hello, old blog.

This morning I was looking through a couple of old new year's resolutions I had written and came back across this blog. While I was encouraged that we accomplished some of our goals, it was a bit defeating to know that some are still on the list. What was most encouraging though is that we are no longer, well...poor, as far as a day-by-day rate goes. We are still in debt, but we are making leaps and strides to pay it off.

We've also added another baby. Hooray!

Just to state where we are now vs. where we were on my last post:

*Replish emergency fund to $1000 (We have about $350 in there right now, mostly due to our misunderstanding about hubby's per diem when we first moved here.) Ah, ye olde emergency fund. Right now I'm comfortable keeping it at $500, but we are at this step again due to a couple of emergencies not too long ago! $250 in, $250 left to re-fund.

* Pay off Capitol One card-about $800 We paid off the $800.....then paid it off again at the pretty penny of $2000. Lesson learned.
* Pay off almost all of our Hyundai Elantra-This one has been paid off for almost 2 years! Whoo hoo!

Now, here are our current goals:
1) Finish re-funding emergency fund back to $500*
2)Pay off Visa (($2700)
3)Pay off Bank of America ($3800)
4)Start saving for a house

Our goal is to throw not only $800 extra a month towards #2 and #3, but also pay them off by April. And no, the math doesn't add up, but we are counting on a possible tax refund as well as a couple of raises to the hubby's salary. Then we are going to take a break from our snowball to save a down payment for a house by the end of next year. We also have an auto loan and student loans, but, we will cross that bridge later on.

*We decided to only have a $500 emergency fund for now because we are living in an apartment and anything that breaks here doesn't cost us anything. We figure that most emergencies can be tackled with that amount, plus the extra $800/month we are using for debt, if need be.

CVS Trip

2009-02-15T20:13:00.000-08:00

Spent $1.34 out of pocket, received $4.99 in ECB's. Not bad, huh?

In other news, hubby filed our taxes Friday and we should be receiving our $3000 direct deposit around the end of the month. We've talked a little about what we want to do with it, and here's the ideas floating around so far (which will most likely be the plan of action we do decide to take)

*Replish emergency fund to $1000 (We have about $350 in there right now, mostly due to our misunderstanding about hubby's per diem when we first moved here.)

* Pay off Capitol One card-about $800
* Pay off almost all of our Hyundai Elantra-We bought the car, a 2006 model, with a "junk" title because it was in a wreck somewhere along the line. We only owed $3500 and are making $140/month payments on the car. We plan to pay $1250 towards the car, leaving us with 1 more monthly payment, which we MAY be able to squeeze this month, if not next. The reason we're not paying it all of is because...

*We're setting aside $400 for us. I know Dave Ramsey says to pretty much sacrifice everything now to be out of debt, but that doesn't really work for us right now. Hubby, who has unfortunately started smoking again, and came across this, which is the best solution for him right now. Start up is about $150. I also need new contacts, and...new pants! Yes, I'm still sticking with my new years resolution to lose weight, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my current jeans are TWO sizes too big. We're also going to set aside some money for our daughter a spring wardrobe-there are a couple of big consignment sales next month. Hopefully she'll just squeeze into her current clothes for a little while longer! I just can't bring myself to buy her bigger winter clothes when spring is so close! If there's any extra after that, we'll put it towards the car or the next item on our debt snowball. But how exciting will it be to knock out two monthly bills with our refund?!

CVS trip-and a note on keeping it simple

2009-02-12T10:09:00.000-08:00

When I became a SAHM last summer, I decided that there was no reason for me to not cloth diaper. I'd researched it some in the earlier months when my daughter had a recurring diaper rash, but it just wasn't doable then. When I started seriously looking at the options of what we would use in our house, I got a little-ok, a lot-overwhelmed. Not only are there different types of cloth diapers, there are also as many different wash routines, detergents to avoid, and care instructions as there are stars in the sky. After driving myself crazy, I finally decided that I would do what worked for me, and if that ceased to work, THEN I'd try something different. Turns out, my routine and how we use cloth in our home works perfectly, and I haven't fretted since.

The same can be said for CVS-ing. People fret over the items to buy, the frequency of trips to make, and even the order in which you should hand your coupon to the cashier. Because, if you only saved $10 instead of $10.50, it's a failed trip, right? WRONG!

So this go-round, I'll do what works for me, and once I get the hang of that, maybe I'll dive deeper in the thriftiness. Or maybe I won't. After all, if you spend all day trying to save a dollar, it's not worth it!

With that in mind, yesterday was my most successful CVS trip to date. I took a picture with my camera phone, but I'd rather you not see that poor quality:) (I did get a new battery for my digital camera, though-so I'll definitely have pictures this weekend!)

Here's a list of my loot:

(1) Gillette Fusion Power Razor-$7.99, plus a $4 coupon=3.99. Earned $4 in ECB's. Basically, CVS paid me a penny to take this home. How nice of them:)
(1) bag cotton balls, (1) bottle nail polish remover-$4 for both, got back $2 in ECB's
(1) bag heating pads-$3.99, got back $3 in ECB's. This can be repeated 5 times, so I'll be picking up more this weekend.
(1) pack 2-count 6 hour energy drinks. $4.99, got back $4.99 in ECB's, making these FREE!

The only thing I bought that didn't earn me any ECB's were some um, feminine products, and let's just say that you never want to be out of those, and we were.

It's also been so long since I shopped at CVS that I got a $1.50 ECB for my fall spending.

I spent $21.62 and received $15.50 in ECB's. Not a bad trip. Not a bad trip at all.

In Which I eat my words

2009-02-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

In my last post, I mentioned the waste of time couponing would be, but now I realize the error of my ways. While we do eat a lot of fresh, natural foods, I guess I didn't realize how much coupon-worthy stuff we use.

So starting tomorrow, I'm throwing my hat back into the "CVS game." I even set aside some special money to get me started. Part of the CVS game that I don't care for is that sometimes you buy stuff that you don't really need (leading to more clutter) but this week isn't one of those weeks-while the products on my list might not be things we use daily, they are things we use (or in the case of a heating pad, things I wish I had on hand when that special time of the month comes, if you know what I mean.)

Anyway, I will post tomorrow how my trip went, hopefully I'm come back with something good to post!

Budget

2009-01-29T10:45:00.001-08:00

I keep going back and forth about posting my budget online. I'm nervous that you guys will judge me, haha. But I know that it would keep me motivated to stick with it, so I don't have to post about how we failed. ;)

I have decided, after much hemming and hawing, that our grocery budget will stay at $100 per week. While I love those who can do their budget for less than that, here are the two problems I keep running into:

1. I try to eat as naturally and organic if and when possible, and coupons are targeted more to processed junk that we don't need in our home. I'm wasting my time buying a newspaper and clipping coupons that will never be used.

2. We eat a LOT of fresh produce, which usually means I have to make a mid-week grocery run to replenish our fruit bowl. We usually spent about $70-$80 on our main grocery run, and the rest at our mid-week stop.

When we move back to Atlanta, this could change-my beloved Kroger discounts a lot of fresh produce, and even a lot of organic staples like milk and yogurt. But, no such luck here.

I would still like to play the CVS game, but again, I've been reading a lot on personal care products, and would like to use more natural products in our home eventually.

My February budget is written out, all I have to do now is find the courage to post it here.

Eating Organic

2009-01-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

I've always been a little bit of a hippie, but my efforts to save the world went into overdrive after my daughter was born. We still have a long way to go to be totally green, but we've made some small & significant changes in our effort to live a more economically friendly lifestyle. One choice I made was to use cloth diapers, and another is that we try to eat organic. My head & my checkbook battle it out every week, though, when we look at the price tags on organic foods.

In Atlanta, we have a great farmers market that sells organic foods CHEAPLY. Our local Kroger also had frequent discounts on natural and organic foods, making it better for our budget-and our body. We stopped going to the farmers market for a while though, and now that we're in Oklahoma, I'm kicking myself. No Kroger, no farmers markets-at least, not year round ones.

Ideally, my goal is to eat 100% organic. I know that in order to do this, we'll have to raise our grocery budget, and I'm ok with that. The dilemma, however, comes in the present: how do I choose the healthiest foods for my family while also watching my budget and trying to pay off debt? Money that is spent on organic food could easily put a small dent in our debt payoff each month, yet our health has to be priority #1.

My question to you: How important is it to you to eat organic foods? Is it worth the extra money you spend?

bits and pieces

2009-01-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

A few blog entries that caught my attention today:

MSM did her 2nd Baking Day "live blog," and I try to copy her the week after she posts her menus. The times I have had a baking day, it's made a big difference. What a timesaver to make things ahead of time-and your wallet will thank you when you're not cruising through the drive-through.

Over here, (the 1/20/09 entry) there is a good article about cereal. Not only is it not good for you, but have you looked at the price of cereal lately? We're not completely cereal free, but we're doing a lot better than we were a few months ago.

I am still trying to get the "feel" of this blog, and there isn't much going on in our debt paydown, so please bear with me! Basically, we're in a transtion period with my husband's new job. He starts getting paid next week though, and hopefully then we'll have a better idea of what our budget will look like for February. I'll post that here as well as soon as I get it written.

Although hubby is making a larger salary, we are currently living in a short-term apartment, and it's more expensive than what we'd usually pay. Also, our health insurance doubled in price-a decision we're ok with, since the coverage is second to none. At this season in our lives, with babies & pregnancies (whenever we're ready for #2), good health insurance is worth a financial sacrifice.

Frugal Failures-Disposable Razors

2009-01-09T05:24:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, Meredith pointed me in the direction of the CVS game. I'd explain it more here, but I'm still a newbie myself, but if you Google it, you'll find tons of information.

I haven't "CVSed" in a couple of months, but back when I did, I bought some BIC women's disposable razors for a fraction of the price, thanks to coupons, a sale, and an ECB or two.

I usually use the Venus brand razors, but they're really expensive, so Bic it was.

The first time I used one, I immediately regretted my decision. They cut my legs up something terrible. I don't shave my legs that often-once or twice a week-so maybe that had something to do with it. Maybe the disposables couldn't keep up. At any rate, every time I used them (because, oh, I was GOING to use them, they were free, dammit) I had to apologize to my legs.

During this past week of moving, I used the last one-thank God. If I'm learning anything this year, I'm learning that cheap just doesn't cut it (well, I guess in this case it did, haha) when it comes to personal care-especially disposable razors. I'll be purchasing some refills for my beloved Venus razors very soon. I'm sure my legs will thank me.

**********************************************************************************

In other news, we're finally settled into our home away from home for the next four months. Out of our "setting up" fund of $190, we spent $130 yesterday, meaning we have $60 left for food & misc. household items. He still has another paycheck from his old job coming his way, so we're in the clear for now. We're still playing this by ear, though-we've calculated that there will be 1 week where we have no cash coming in, but hubby is also receiving per diem pay for living expenses here, and that might start coming in during that one week.

How are you doing financially so far in the new year?

Baby Step #1 almost complete!

2009-01-05T03:57:00.000-08:00

Our emergency fund is now at $912, and I'm crossing my fingers that it stays that way for the month of January.

We deposited $200 more dollars originally set aside to "set up house" once we move to Oklahoma. Hubby and I then figured, we'd find a way to spend it if the money was just, you know, sitting around, but maybe we wouldn't spend it if it was resting comfortably in our savings account.

So, until he starts getting paid at his new job (which, unfortunately, looks like it won't be until the end of the month) the $200 is fair game. If we need it, fine, if we don't, awesome. While he's at the FAA Academy, he'll also be receiving a per diem pay, but we're not quite sure when he'll start receiving it. Things will be a little bumpy until we figure it all out.

We start our journey tomorrow! We've already bought snacks for the trip (saving money by not buying them at gas stations) and we have an envelope specifically for the 'setting up house' that I mentioned before (you know, buying groceries and other things needed to run a home) I'll update once we get settled in Oklahoma City!

Our Financial Goals for 2009

2008-12-28T17:29:00.000-08:00

In my previous post, I promised I would share our financial goals for the next year, and I'm not going to lie-I'm stealing them straight from Dave Ramsey, who uses "The Baby Steps." You can also go here to read more in-depth about the plan, because Dave would rather you buy his book than read about the steps on his website, and that's ok-luckily, I already have the book. But you might not.

So, the baby steps, if you haven't already clicked one of those links above.

1. $1,000 to start an emergency fund.
2. Pay off all debt using the debt snowball
3. Put 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings-a "full grown" emergency fund.
4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5. College funding for children
6. Pay off house early
7. Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate

Our goals for 2009 are to complete baby steps #'s 1 AND 2, and believe me, that's a lofty goal-#2 will take us a while. But I have faith, and the determination to sacrifice my wants this time.

My dad & stepmom turned hubby and I on to Dave before we got married, and let's just say that we've let life get in the way long enough. It's also worth noting that my dad & stepmom followed this plan successfully, and let it be known that nothing made my husband drool more than to watch my dad pay CASH for a (small) flat screen TV, and then pay CASH for a new laptop just a few weeks later. It's amazing what you can do when you have no payments!

So here we are, baby step #1: $1,000 in savings for an emergency fund. Thanks to a very blessed Christmas, and an unexpected $159 from my old place of employment (see side note), we now have $712 in our emergency fund.

side note: Apparently, my old employer deposited money in my 401(k) while I was working there..1%, I believe. I should be more educated on this stuff. Anyway, since I'm not working there anymore but the money is 'mine,' I got a check yesterday and a notice saying the policy had terminated. Quitting my job is like the gift that keeps on giving!

We'll stay put with this amount until we arrive & get settled in Oklahoma City in a couple of weeks-that is where hubby will be doing his FAA training. We'll need any extra cash that would otherwise go in savings to "set up house," so to speak. Once his paychecks start coming in and the bills are paid, we'll deposit $288 more and be finished with baby step #1. I can't wait!

The Motherload

2008-12-23T09:37:00.000-08:00

In the coming days, I'll be posting our 2009 financial goals on this blog, in the hopes that every month, I'll be able to blog about how much progress we've made. I will, however, go ahead and tell you that our grocery budget is one that definitely can/will be made lower and lower as I get back into clipping coupons, shopping sales, and maybe even playing the CVS game.

Before I started doing that (or, currently, taking a break from that) we were spending about $100 a week on groceries. For 2 people. (This was before our daughter was eating anything other than breastmilk or formula) We whittled it down to about $85 and now, our new goal is $75 a week. This post by Money Saving Mom really made me feel like it's "ok" to not be to the point where we're spending $40 a week on groceries. We're also currently following the South Beach diet, which means we're eating more protein than we were before.

Anyway, this week, armed with my envelope system , I headed out to the stores with $75 in cash.

My current plan of action is usually to go to Aldi, Kroger, and then Publix and Walmart (if needed) in that order, although after this week I might start shopping at Kroger first.

At Kroger, damn near everything I wanted or needed was marked down-if you have a Kroger near you, you know what I'm talking about. When the expiration date is getting close on things like produce, milk, or dairy products, the price is marked down quite a bit-I'm not sure the exact percentage, but it's usually 50% or more.

This week's grand total spent was $70! I was $5 under budget! And, this included...

8 lbs. lean or extra lean ground beef (I have made a rule to spend no more than $3 on lean ground beef per pound...I got these for about $2.57/lb)
2-half gallons of organic whole and fat free milk ($1.39 each, regular price around $4.19)
1-6 pack yobaby yogurt ($1.29, regular price around $3.75)
4 packs of salad (my rule is to just buy romaine hearts unless the bags are marked down)
2 tubs of fruit: cantelope & watermelon. (I paid $0.90 for each, regular price around $2.25)
Tub of hummus-($1.99, regular price $2.99 *i think*)

My only disappointment is that I found out there is not a Kroger in Oklahoma City. What am I going to do for the next four months?!

Job News!

2008-12-22T10:32:00.000-08:00

As I alluded to in my first post, we are currently living with my mother in law. We are doing this because we knew hubby would be getting a new job at the beginning of the year that is having us move to Oklahoma for four months. We didn't want to re-sign our lease at our old place, nor did we want to pay month to month for 2 months, so here we are. The news? My hubby has been offered an air traffic controller position! We had gone back and forth on whether or not he should do this for a while (ATC is the most stressful job on the planet) but things are now getting underway. He starts school January 9th, and we'll be starting our debt snowball as soon as his first paycheck is deposited. Stay tuned!!!

Guess I should probably update!

2008-12-09T04:50:00.000-08:00

After getting a nudge this morning to update my blog, here I am! :) Truth be told, this month is a hard one, especially with Christmas. Every year, I tell myself that I'm going to put aside a certain amount per week so I'll be all set for Christmas, but every year I don't. Maybe in 2009..

I guess I should be patting myself on the back-we definitely used the credit card *less* this month than last month, and we didn't use it last month that much at all. It seems Murphy has set up a tent in our front yard though..for example, I had put a large chunk of change in savings at the end of November only to have to pay a medical bill (that insurance is refusing to pay, but that's another post for another day!) that was almost THE EXACT AMOUNT that I'd set aside.

So instead of feeling like a failure, 2009 is right around the corner. I can't exactly go into detail yet, but it *does* look like we'll have a substantial amount more money coming in next year. In the next week or so, DH and I will sit down and brainstorm our financial goals for the next year, and actually stick with them. I'll post those here so you all can follow along if you'd like to:)

By the way, it looks like quitting my job to stay home with our daughter keeps bringing blessings, even if it doesn't seem like it. When I was working outside the home, I worked for a small, but successful, company. I heard through the grapevine, though, that for the winter, everyone @ the company was going to have to take a week of unemployment. Yikes. We would have barely broken even-if we broke even at all-after daycare. I know in my heart that quitting my job was a good decision, but it made me feel even better after hearing that.

Frugal Breakfasts

2008-11-12T03:47:00.000-08:00

Since this blog would be very boring (and seldom updated) if I just posted about how exactly we are getting out of debt, today I'm going to talk about...breakfast.

One site I visit daily is http://www.moneysavingmom.com/. I am impressed-and inspired-that she feels her husband, 2 girls (and one on the way!) and herself for.....$40 a week. Yes, you read that correct. Something to strive for, right?

Reading sites like Money Saving Mom have taught me to shop smarter. Let's take breakfast for example. A few weeks ago, Kroger had their store brand waffles on sale for $1.50 each-what a steal! I got 4 boxes (building a stockpile when it's on sale so you don't pay full price when you need an item) and it fed Monkey & I for breakfast for a month. Very cheap breakfast, especially when you pair it with some marked-down fruit.

This week, when I went to Kroger (by the way, I've found that it pays to shop at Kroger first-they always have the best markdowns, at least in my neck of the woods.) they had overbaked some cinnamon raisin bread and had it on sale for $1. They also had the pre-sliced jars of fruit on mark-down...these are usually $4 or $5 a piece (which is why I don't buy them!!) but they were marked down to about $1.35. I bought 2. So, we have been eating cinnamon raisin toast and fruit this week for breakfast-I spent $4 total to feed the Monkey & I ten breakfasts (2 breakfasts x 5 days..Hubby has breakfast duty on the weekends)...which is 40 cents per breakfast!

It's finding good deals like this that will cut your grocery bill drastically-especially if its on stuff that you use regularly. That, in turn, will leave you extra money to put towards debt!

For more frugal tips and ways to save, vist http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ and http://www.thethriftymama.com/.

Aldi's

2008-11-04T13:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to Aldi's for the 2nd time ever, and the first time doing most of my grocery shopping there. We spent $42-not bad AT ALL considering we got a lot of stuff (including 90% lean meat for $2/pound thanks to some markdowns!!) but we spent just as much at Wal-Mart..a place I try to avoid, but it was one of those weeks we were out of a lot of neccessities like shampoo, toothpaste and I knew they were cheap at Wal-Mart. Must remember to try to start "CVSing" again and follow scenarios I find online instead of trying to do it myself.

Of course, OF COURSE, I went to get the oil changed in hubby's car and his transmission fluid needed to be changed as well. Another unexpected expense that went on the credit card..hopefully this will be one that can be paid off at the end of the month, which I totally expect it to. It's just very discouraging that we seem to be in the habit of shoveling dirt out of the hole with one hand, and tossing dirt into the hole with the other hand. But-that's what this blog is about. Trying to figure it out, and keep myself accountable!

Laying it on the line: What are our goals?

2008-11-03T04:13:00.000-08:00

Every big journey has to have its rest stops. Similarly, every BIG goal has to have little goals along the way!

What is our big goal? We want a house. And yes, I realize that buying a house is just MORE debt, but our main focus is that we want our only debt to be a house. Ideally, we'd like to buy a house before the market goes back up, but only time will tell on that one-we don't want to buy a house before we're ready financially.

Anyway, every month I will make a monthly goal and a weekly goal.

Our November Monthly Goal is to set aside $400 in our savings account.
*Dave Ramsey suggests having a $1000 emergency fund as Baby Step #1. And let me tell you, what a blessing that emergency fund is! We had our $1000 most of the year, but our move cost a little more than expected, and then we had a major car repair-we were able to use our emergency fund for that INSTEAD of getting further into debt! Now, we just have to replenish the fund.

Our Weekly Goal (Nov. 3-10): Put $50 of the $400 in savings.

Tune in Friday to see how we did!

Welcome!

2008-11-03T03:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome! This blog's purpose is to detail our journey as we get OUT OF DEBT!! My husband and I have been toying with this idea since we got married, but as the old saying goes, life got in the way. 2 years, 1 baby, and a couple of job changes later we feel like we're "finally" able to get started. But, a little bit about ourselves and how we got here...and where we're going!

When we got married, we each had a student loan-mine more than my husbands-and we each had credit cards. Again, mine were more than my husbands. When I got pregnant (an unexpected but wonderful surprise) a few months after we got married, we relied on credit cards more than we should have. Later, we decided to purchase a larger car...well, you get the idea.

Currently, my husband works outside the home and I stay home with our daughter. You may be asking yourself why I am choosing to *not* bring home an income if we're in debt. When our daughter was born, I went back to work 7 weeks later. When she was 10 months old I decided I couldn't do both anymore, and decided to stay home with her. I haven't looked back-it's the best decision I've ever made.

For reasons that will be revealed later, we're currently living with my mother-in-law until the new year begins. While we are splitting some of the expenses with her, we're obviously not paying nearly what we were when we had our own place. What better time to jump start our journey to debt freedom?