Total Debt $275,226.22 We have paid off 0.37% of our debt since the last Debt and Net Worth Post. Technically, that's not even one percent, but the graph won't go to fractional percentages, so if I get to register the reduction at all, there you have it. 1%
So, what action did we take this month?
I signed up to start having the monthly mortgage payment come out of my check every two weeks, on the day after I get paid. This will work out to be one full extra payment each year. That simple trick will shave five full years off of the life of the loan. Also, I rounded up both biweekly payments to the next dollar, putting two more dollars per month on the mortgage that I wasn't paying before. This is easy and automatic. For an easy explanation about how half-payments work, you can read this post from www.PennyPinchinMom.com. Also, I'm no tax expert, but I think I can put that tax refund to better use throughout the year, rather than a lump sum in February. Last month, I updated the taxes my employer takes out to reflect my married + two status. Both my Federal and State withholding did have me as married, but with one and zero exemptions, respectively. The difference was hardly noticeable on my most recent paycheck. It's not an even number, so I'm rounding it up to $25.00. Another eighty seven cents won't hurt too much, right? This will be another $600.00 per year going toward debt reduction. And it's painless. I've created an automatic payment for every other week toward our signature loan. Every Dollar Goes to Work. What did you do this month to get yourself closer to your goal? Let me know! *Net Worth as of May 2016: $53,599.20, not including insurance or retirement savings and benefits.
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I spent three hours Saturday pulling weeds by hand, clearing 8-12" wide circles around the new seedlings so there would be less competition for water. It was probably only about 1/3 of our massive garden. I pulled weeds until my hands wouldn't grip anymore. Surprisingly, the numbness in my hands I usually experience from doing fine motor movement was gone. Pulling weeds _IS_ exercise!
This post contains links to join my teams and sign up for the money saving apps I use regularly.
Pretty, right? So, my husband and I decided to Stage our Townhouse for sale since it had been on the market vacant for over nine months with no offers. Because we are going under by about $600 a month for every month it sits unsold, he agreed to let me take two months' worth and stage it for sale. Instead of using our credit cards, I used the Flexible Spending Account reimbursement check we received as working cash for purchases. *Update to the Update! Two baby piglets came home with my husband this weekend! They're so stinking cute! (And I mean stinking!)
So, early last month, we moved hundreds of seedlings outside to get some sun and then life happened and they all died, except for three tiny seedlings I managed to revive. It's May 8 and all I wanted for Mother's Day was to plant my garden. While the Ax Man napped, my husband, Rocky, and three year old son, Sting, got started in our ambitious 2600 square foot garden on Burton Farm.
So, you know how I like the phrase, "Every Dollar Goes to Work." In the next few weeks, I want to talk about some ways to make a little extra money that you can use to put toward getting out of debt. Today I'm going to talk about Swagbucks.com. This is not an affiliate post. No one is giving me money to tell you about these. (Unless you join Swagbucks from my link below--then I would get some Swagbucks for the referral.)
I've been a member of Swagbucks since 2009. You can make some money with Swagbucks.com...Maybe not enough to pay your mortgage, but enough to, say, buy some Amazon gift cards to make the sting of Christmas shopping a little easier. Or how about, you can use the Amazon gift card to buy something you would have bought anyway (diapers and toilet paper, anyone?) and then use the cash you would have spent on those items toward paying down your debt. 0%
Total Debt $276.243.63 as of April 8, 2016. Ouch. April 7, 2016. I'm not going into details today about the circumstances surrounding it, but this was a burdensome and heavy-hearted day in my life. An informal, undocumented loan was called due by text message at 3:30AM, followed up by an email at around 4:30AM, net seven days, mind you, so I applied online that evening to four different reputable lenders. The next morning, my local credit union dumped fifteen grand into my checking account and it was official. I was the deepest in debt I had ever been in my life. $276,243.63 to be exact. Five days later I underwent a planned outpatient surgery that required a week & a half off of work from my day job. I spent hours each day, sitting on the back porch under the fan, watching the cats and thinking. I finally had time to think without interruption, to reflect on how our spending lined up with our goals and values. Because it was bill-paying time, I had decided to calculate our total debt. Whoa. That's over a quarter of a million dollars. That figure rolled around in my head all week. Several evenings, my husband and I sat outside and discussed our situation. The townhouse had been on the market over nine months without a single offer. Why was it taking so long? Our baby had been sick so much, he was out a day or two per week visiting the doctor, but we had to pay daycare whether he went there or not. Paying two mortgages and having two toddlers in full-time daycare was putting us in the hole about $600 every month, groceries were going on the credit cards, and it was getting dangerous. I couldn't stand the thought of having a mortgage until we were 67! Were we going to have to abandon the townhouse mortgage and trash our credit just to keep this roof over our heads? Was I going to have to get a second job? Who would watch the children? Was I really going to have to work til I was 67? And every time I thought about making a payment on this particular $15,000 loan, it made me sick with disgust. No. This wouldn't do at all. There had to be a way. I scribbled through an entire spiral notebook coming up with plan after plan, charts and graphs, searching for inspiration and motivation to make it happen. We tested numbers in free online calculators and saw that we could be completely debt free in ten years, maybe even less! That's before the boys even start high school! We could be on our way to financial independence, maybe even early retirement! I felt so much relief. There was hope. We just had to take action. First of all, I paid off one credit card so that I could take advantage of a balance transfer offer to save money. I transferred two $1250.00 credit card balances (with over $20% interest!) to another card with an eighteen month promotional offer of 4.99% and no balance transfer fee. I took the card out of my wallet and deleted it from my Amazon account so that we wouldn't add to the balance. We could pay $150.00 per month and finish in 18 months, easily. In 18 months, we will add that $150.00 to the new loan to pay it off faster.
I then set up automatic biweekly payments on the new loan, so I wouldn't have to write a check if I didn't want to and the balance would be paid within four years, maximum. Any found money that is not already in the budget will be put toward the principal on this loan until it's gone. I also promised myself anytime our utility bills run under budget, I will transfer the amount under budget toward the principal balance on the loan, which has a slightly higher interest rate than the promo on the credit card. I'm not looking at that thing for four years. It turns my stomach. I convinced my husband to let me take $1,200.00 and re-furnish the townhouse to stage it for sale. Obviously being vacant wasn't getting it sold and we were losing $600 a month on it already. If we dropped the price, it would have to be at least $5,000 to be significant enough to interest buyers to take another look. $1,200.00 would be two months worth of losses we were already taking and way cheaper than the first price reduction. All the real estate blogs and websites insisted that Staged Homes Sell faster and for more money than vacant and unstaged homes. We had to take that chance. More on what I did to the Townhouse in an upcoming post. I spent a few hours doodling in my day-planner, The Taskmaster! I have a spot each day for meal-planning (which saves big on time, "what's for dinner?" frustration, AND money when you think about it!). I have a spot for a daily goal focus. Did you ever read that book about the Habits of Highly Effective people? The author had an exercise called "Sharpen the Saw" that I remember and just latched on to the idea. Basically, you determine your roles in life and focus on one thing each week in each role that will make you more effective in that role. Meanwhile, we are working on other ways to cut costs and increase income. I have some ideas that I plan to flesh out here soon. Net Worth: $54,265.37* It's Positive! This is reassuring! I went back to work the next week feeling like superwoman because I was finally back on track at home! Regards, Erica *Amount not including retirement accounts or life insurance. We searched for nearly a year for our new home, as we had quickly become two, then three, and then four in a matter of a few short years, and the townhouse just couldn't hold us anymore. When we saw this house online, we fell in love, even though it was nearly twice as much as we wanted to spend. After talking about it in depth, my husband and I realized we could afford the payments, but we would have to make some sacrifices. He would have to go back to work and our children would enter daycare full time.
It has been a year and, looking back, we know we made the right decision. The boys love all their new friends & teachers, and have really benefitted from the fun learning activities. This home is perfect for raising our boys, planting our garden, and growing our little empire. |