For some reason, it just seems like there's less time in my weeks than usual. I have little time to get online, but I can't really figure out why that's happening. It is frustrating, though. When I don't have time for "me", I tend to be more stressed & overall less happy.
Money situation has been interesting. I made our first pass through the taxes, and it looks like we'll be getting about $30 back for Federal, but over $1000 for state. I have no clue how that happens. Seriously. But with that $1000...we will be sooo close to paying off the smaller of the BECC's!! That will be an amazingly happy day. We'll only have a couple of hundred dollars left after the tax refund. Wow..that just doesn't seem possible.
We will probably be doing a balance transfer on part of the bigger of the BECC's. We paid off Citi with the check we got this month, so that's open, and they offer BT's with 0% interest for 8 months. I'm not sure we could pay it off in 8 months, but 0% vs. 30% is a huge difference, even with having to pay a 3% BT fee. That would let us tackle the bigger BECC (the high interest one)with full intensity, probably paying only mins on the BT. Not totally Dave Ramsey-ish, but I think it would get us out faster.
This is the year for us on the debt!! That's so exciting. Then, we can save up part of a full EF, and start to tackle the student loans. That'll take awhile, and we'll probably divert some of that money to some house projects along the way, but there are things that need to be done here in the house that can't wait too much longer -- we have a leak in the roof that is ruining the hallway ceiling and walls, and it just needs to get done before the mildew & mold get to be an issue. That's #1, and we're not sure how much it's going to cost, but it's on the docket for the summer. We also need new gutters -- the leaks are getting very bad and are causing runoff in the basement. Ick.
Well, enough on that. I need to go plan my day out. :)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Woo HOOOOO!
Well, our check came two days ago, and I deposited it that night. Today, we spent time making sure it was all on paper right...and then we PAID THEM OFF.
Lotsa people got money today. And you know what? I feel GREAT about it. Even though we didn't use the money for anything super-exciting or fun other than debt repayment, it felt amazing. Like huge rocks were taken off my shoulders.
We paid off:
Wells Fargo (bed)
Citicards
VA
City curb assessment
We paid $2500 to the smaller of the two BECC's - now down to $1600!!!
We set aside $300 for new glasses for me, in the hopes that it costs nowhere near that much and we can send the rest to the smaller BECC. (Mine snapped right across the ear thingee right before xmas -- they're about 8 or 9 years old, so it was time, I was just hoping they'd last a little longer - and I need an eye exam, too. I'm positive I need a new prescription. Hopefully I can find something very reasonable at Shopko.)
We also paid the AAA bill due in Feb.
So now, we are down to $10,943.12 on cc's. Still a lot (more than I'd like, that number still made me cringe!), but it's so much better than it was before!!
We have a bigger snowball now. Just taking the min payments from the other debts will make our payment $190 to the smaller one. Plus, with the Feb check, I get a raise because I finished a class in Dec, which pushes me into the next part of the payment grid. So that can go to them, too! Ooh, and it just occurred to me - our electric budget billing dropped by $80, so that can go to them, too!!
Woo hoo!
Lotsa people got money today. And you know what? I feel GREAT about it. Even though we didn't use the money for anything super-exciting or fun other than debt repayment, it felt amazing. Like huge rocks were taken off my shoulders.
We paid off:
Wells Fargo (bed)
Citicards
VA
City curb assessment
We paid $2500 to the smaller of the two BECC's - now down to $1600!!!
We set aside $300 for new glasses for me, in the hopes that it costs nowhere near that much and we can send the rest to the smaller BECC. (Mine snapped right across the ear thingee right before xmas -- they're about 8 or 9 years old, so it was time, I was just hoping they'd last a little longer - and I need an eye exam, too. I'm positive I need a new prescription. Hopefully I can find something very reasonable at Shopko.)
We also paid the AAA bill due in Feb.
So now, we are down to $10,943.12 on cc's. Still a lot (more than I'd like, that number still made me cringe!), but it's so much better than it was before!!
We have a bigger snowball now. Just taking the min payments from the other debts will make our payment $190 to the smaller one. Plus, with the Feb check, I get a raise because I finished a class in Dec, which pushes me into the next part of the payment grid. So that can go to them, too! Ooh, and it just occurred to me - our electric budget billing dropped by $80, so that can go to them, too!!
Woo hoo!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Weekend
We should have our check sometime this week!
We had a talk tonight and have pretty much marked it all out. I need exact dollar amounts and we'll have a better idea. We will be able to pay off a lot of our smaller debts, and get the smaller of the 2 BECC's down to about $1600, which I will probably be transferring to the Citicards as soon as it's paid off, on a 0% BT. That will take care of it all except for paying that off, which will go fast with 0% interest, a probable tax return, and the second check we should receive in the summer -- and then the biggest of the BECC's, which sits at about $8900.
I am so excited, I can hardly stand it!
We are also setting some of it aside for new glasses for me - mine are very old, about 8 years at least, and broke right before xmas, so I've been wearing them with a "sleeve" on the earpiece to hold it in place. They are crooked and look pretty bad, plus it's been so long since I"ve had my eyes checked, my prescription really needs to be changed. So that's a chunk of it.
We've been eating out way too much...which sucks. I need to get back into the groove!
We had a talk tonight and have pretty much marked it all out. I need exact dollar amounts and we'll have a better idea. We will be able to pay off a lot of our smaller debts, and get the smaller of the 2 BECC's down to about $1600, which I will probably be transferring to the Citicards as soon as it's paid off, on a 0% BT. That will take care of it all except for paying that off, which will go fast with 0% interest, a probable tax return, and the second check we should receive in the summer -- and then the biggest of the BECC's, which sits at about $8900.
I am so excited, I can hardly stand it!
We are also setting some of it aside for new glasses for me - mine are very old, about 8 years at least, and broke right before xmas, so I've been wearing them with a "sleeve" on the earpiece to hold it in place. They are crooked and look pretty bad, plus it's been so long since I"ve had my eyes checked, my prescription really needs to be changed. So that's a chunk of it.
We've been eating out way too much...which sucks. I need to get back into the groove!
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Tuesday
Well, things have been going well. It's entirely possible that we'll see that check soon - they did mention dispursal (?) on the 7th, so...
We have agreed to get some money aside for things like glasses for me, AAA, etc, and then start plowing through the bills. In fact, we've kind of figured out how to pay off ALL of the BS2 debt except for the student loans by the end of this year! Including the car! Wouldn't that be COOL?
Some issues on the job front, but for now, that's still kinda quiet, just in case I have sneaky readers. :) I might be changing jobs. We'll see. More later as I know more.
We have agreed to get some money aside for things like glasses for me, AAA, etc, and then start plowing through the bills. In fact, we've kind of figured out how to pay off ALL of the BS2 debt except for the student loans by the end of this year! Including the car! Wouldn't that be COOL?
Some issues on the job front, but for now, that's still kinda quiet, just in case I have sneaky readers. :) I might be changing jobs. We'll see. More later as I know more.
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