I was reading back through older posts and I'm amazed at the progress we have done in the past 3.5 years. When we started actually looking at our finances and figuring things out we were $59,000 in debt. As of today, we have paid off $30,000. We have made it over the halfway point, and in that time we have had a baby, had tonsils out for 2 kids and changed a job/insurance.
I hope we can attack this debt and not take 3 more years and I feel like we can/, especially since $15,000 of that was paid off last year alone. We're down to two things: our line of credit (aka stupid tax) and a student loan. The line of credit should be gone in a year. The student loan will hopefully be gone in 2015.
Mike and I are finally on the same page with all this. We have a goal, we have a plan. We are communicating better than we ever had and watching our family blossom from our decisions and changes. We're no longer normal:
We don't own a credit card. Not one.
We don't have cable. Nope. We have an antenna so we can get basic channels and we just signed up for Amazon Prime for $79 a year. This enables us free shipping from Amazon (where we get most of the kid's Christmas stuff for FREE thanks to Swagbucks, ExpoTV and MyPoints) as well as Instant Videos so the kids can still watch their favorite shows. But we really don't watch much TV
We own both of our cars. Yup! OWN THEM. One we paid off using the snowball. The other we sold and just took the overage and bought a van. For less than $1500. It's old and it won't last us forever, but we own it and it fits our family and I couldn't be happier.
I don't have a smartphone. I know, I'm weird.
I coupon and save weekly at the grocery store.
We are living like no one else so one day soon we will live like no one else.
Showing posts with label Debt Freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Debt Freedom. Show all posts
Monday, January 13, 2014
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Monday Mayhem....on Tuesday
Crazy weekend, but a good one. Got some pumpkins, did the Pumpkin Walk. Put the truck on ksl.com and SOLD IT! More on that in a sec.
This week is Halloween week. Fun, fun, fun!!
Monday: Pizza (supposed to be chicken nuggets and butter noodles, but had a change of plans)
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday
Wednesday: Grill cheese & tomato soup
Thursday: Homemade pizza
Friday: shopping so we'll figure it out then
Saturday: See above
Sunday: Ditto
Only thing we really have going on is Halloween. Grace has a parade at school, and then we'll probably go Trick or Treat downtown. And then around the neighborhood. Grace is going to be a vampire, Mercy is going to be a Candy Corn Witch and Bethy is going to be a bee.
Ok, so the truck.
This all started because my car needed some new tires. Safety inspection is due in November before I re-register it. And the other day, before I was heading down to Lehi, I noticed some metal framing poking out of my tires. Not good. Figured it wouldn't be the best idea to drive on that. So took it in to a local place and they told me I needed 4 new tires. One of my rear tires had a screw in it as well. Boo. And both front tires were bad cause my alignment was messed up. So left the car and the little kids and I walked down to the library.
When we got back, they told me my brakes were shot too. Probably shouldn't drive on them. And it wouldn't pass inspection. So added on the cost of new front brakes. And rotors. Needless to say, $830 later, I was driving away with new tires and brakes and a heavy, sinking feeling in the bottom of my stomach. Our emergency fund was now gone. Nothing. Empty. And when I sat down to balance the checkbook that day, we were back in the same place we were before. Out of money.
I'm so sick of living week to week. I'm so sick of watching the money we work so hard for, go to pay for our stupidity from when we were younger. We used to have 2 paid for cars. But we also had credit card debt. Then we got the bright idea to get new cars. I can honestly say, we will never have a car payment again. When we get a new car, we'll save up the money and pay for it. In cash.
So, back to the truck. I looked into CarBuyCo.com, which I had heard about on Dave Ramsey. They offered us an amount that would pay off the loan and leave us with a little extra to buy a beater car. But I felt like we could get more. So on a whim, Mike put the car up on ksl.com. Within 5 minutes, someone had texted him asking details. Next thing you know, the guy says he'll be up the next day to check it out. He had offered $500 less than our listing price, and we just wanted it gone with a little extra, so it was a good offer.
Then the next morning a kid called Mike offering us $500 more than our listing price. So Mike called the first guy to let him know. Turns out that guy was a car dealer. He wasn't too happy, but Mike said "sorry!" and met with the other kid. We ended up selling it for $500 less than asking because we got an inspection on it and it did need some work.
We are now $6500 LESS in debt. O.M.G. This feels crazy. And we have some cars we want to look at that we saw on ksl.com for less than $2000. That we will pay cash for. Cold, hard, cash.
And after a long discussion, we're taking some money out of savings to pay off the hospital bills. We'll be down to just a line of credit and student loans by November. And without a truck payment (and subsequent registration due in Dec) and hospital bills, we'll have an extra $500 a month to throw at the line of credit. Which I hope to have paid off by my birthday. Then, all that will be left will be the student loans. It might take us a year or two to pay that off, but that's peanuts compared to the 30 years that it would take if we paid minimum payments the entire time.
Wow, I feel.....amazing. And we're not even debt free yet!
We went from not having money for Christmas to having almost $10,000 less debt and extra money to make sure the kids have a good Christmas (more on that in a later post).
And there's the possibility of Christmas bonuses from work that we've heard about (and gotten in the past) but don't want to count on, so if they go through, then we're even better off.
I'm SOOOOOO glad that we're finally on track, and on the same page, and getting our financial lives under control. It's gunna be a good week!!!
This week is Halloween week. Fun, fun, fun!!
Monday: Pizza (supposed to be chicken nuggets and butter noodles, but had a change of plans)
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday
Wednesday: Grill cheese & tomato soup
Thursday: Homemade pizza
Friday: shopping so we'll figure it out then
Saturday: See above
Sunday: Ditto
Only thing we really have going on is Halloween. Grace has a parade at school, and then we'll probably go Trick or Treat downtown. And then around the neighborhood. Grace is going to be a vampire, Mercy is going to be a Candy Corn Witch and Bethy is going to be a bee.
Ok, so the truck.
This all started because my car needed some new tires. Safety inspection is due in November before I re-register it. And the other day, before I was heading down to Lehi, I noticed some metal framing poking out of my tires. Not good. Figured it wouldn't be the best idea to drive on that. So took it in to a local place and they told me I needed 4 new tires. One of my rear tires had a screw in it as well. Boo. And both front tires were bad cause my alignment was messed up. So left the car and the little kids and I walked down to the library.
When we got back, they told me my brakes were shot too. Probably shouldn't drive on them. And it wouldn't pass inspection. So added on the cost of new front brakes. And rotors. Needless to say, $830 later, I was driving away with new tires and brakes and a heavy, sinking feeling in the bottom of my stomach. Our emergency fund was now gone. Nothing. Empty. And when I sat down to balance the checkbook that day, we were back in the same place we were before. Out of money.
I'm so sick of living week to week. I'm so sick of watching the money we work so hard for, go to pay for our stupidity from when we were younger. We used to have 2 paid for cars. But we also had credit card debt. Then we got the bright idea to get new cars. I can honestly say, we will never have a car payment again. When we get a new car, we'll save up the money and pay for it. In cash.
So, back to the truck. I looked into CarBuyCo.com, which I had heard about on Dave Ramsey. They offered us an amount that would pay off the loan and leave us with a little extra to buy a beater car. But I felt like we could get more. So on a whim, Mike put the car up on ksl.com. Within 5 minutes, someone had texted him asking details. Next thing you know, the guy says he'll be up the next day to check it out. He had offered $500 less than our listing price, and we just wanted it gone with a little extra, so it was a good offer.
Then the next morning a kid called Mike offering us $500 more than our listing price. So Mike called the first guy to let him know. Turns out that guy was a car dealer. He wasn't too happy, but Mike said "sorry!" and met with the other kid. We ended up selling it for $500 less than asking because we got an inspection on it and it did need some work.
We are now $6500 LESS in debt. O.M.G. This feels crazy. And we have some cars we want to look at that we saw on ksl.com for less than $2000. That we will pay cash for. Cold, hard, cash.
And after a long discussion, we're taking some money out of savings to pay off the hospital bills. We'll be down to just a line of credit and student loans by November. And without a truck payment (and subsequent registration due in Dec) and hospital bills, we'll have an extra $500 a month to throw at the line of credit. Which I hope to have paid off by my birthday. Then, all that will be left will be the student loans. It might take us a year or two to pay that off, but that's peanuts compared to the 30 years that it would take if we paid minimum payments the entire time.
Wow, I feel.....amazing. And we're not even debt free yet!
We went from not having money for Christmas to having almost $10,000 less debt and extra money to make sure the kids have a good Christmas (more on that in a later post).
And there's the possibility of Christmas bonuses from work that we've heard about (and gotten in the past) but don't want to count on, so if they go through, then we're even better off.
I'm SOOOOOO glad that we're finally on track, and on the same page, and getting our financial lives under control. It's gunna be a good week!!!
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