To Do List

I put in a school application tonight. If I can get all my transcripts together by January 5th, I will be able to start taking classes in the spring semester. I need to:
-Contact high school about transcript and mail $2 fee in-need to mail $2 in.
-Send written request to college 1
-Send written request and $5 to college 2
-Complete FAFSA-Done

Other to-do's-
-Pay off whatever DH spent on me for Christmas
-Pay $250 extra to Chase for month of December
-Clean out car completely

Thinking Ahead 2011

Ha, 2010 hasn't even started, and I am thinking ahead to 2011! If DH and I can knock out a good portion of our credit card debt next year and get my car paid down, we are going to try to conceive next summer/fall in 2010, thus bringing a bundle of joy. The plan is for me to be able to drop one of my part time jobs and stay home with the baby/work from home when DH is home to care for the baby. I will attend a few classes online as well. One of my part time jobs enables me to work from home, but has no benefits and I am paid based on how much of the project I complete. The great thing is that it is flexible, I do really well at it, and I could work from home! My other part time job has benefits, but would require daycare for the baby. Plus, I work with a bunch of people who I just can not stand! The work is enjoyable, but the people make me want to scream!
Before the baby actually gets here, here is what we would need to do:
Pay off my car
Pay off Chase 1,2,3, credit union card, and BOA
If we could pay all of this off, our monthly expenses would decrease by $513 a month.
Have baby fund fully funded
Have emergency fund at $3000
For my student loans, I can defer the federal ones if I am enrolled in school, so I would take advantage of this since the interest rate is so low and one of the BOA cards would be left to pay off. The private one I could defer, but I would not because I really want to get it out of the way.
I still have a lot of number crunching to do, but at least we have some semblance of a plan in shape.

Official 2010 Goals

I am a total goal person. I love making goals, love planning things out, love reading other people's goals...my only issue is sticking with the goals!

Financial Goals

Pay off Chase 3-1586
Pay off Chase-2190
Pay off Chase 2-2353
Pay off BOA 2-2300
Have BOA 1 card at $8000
Have credit union card at $367
Continue to pay student loans in a timely manner
Pay $450 a month to my car-If I can do this, the balance will be $1777 by December 2010.

Save $1200 total in baby fund-have $350, $850 more to go
Save $2100 total in emergency fund-have $300 (pathetic!), so $1800 more to go
Save $630 for DH's crown in February-have $315, so $315 more to go

Leave 401 K and IRA contributions alone. If I do this, we should contribute around $8K to at least hit the $22K.

Personal Goals
Lose 30 pounds
Get re-enrolled in school
Work on calling friends and family more
Stick to my cleaning schedule

Oh wow...

Wow, it has been a month since I have updated this! Yikes. Work has been really busy lately. I went up to 30 hours at one of part time jobs, and I am doing 15-20 at the other. DH has still been working the overtime, so life has just been crazy. I have five whole days coming up of vacation, so I am psyched. I need to get caught up on my cleaning and finance planning.

Good things that have been happening
-Our 401ks are at a combined balance of $14,126 right now, so we hit the 14K mark for the year. YAY! I am so happy over this. Next year, we are going to put in at least $8K. Barring a huge market downturn, we will hopefully hit $22K.
-All of the Christmas shopping is done! I stayed within $100 of my budget, but DH went over budget on buying for me $300. I have no clue what he bought since it isn't Christmas, but he worked extra hours to make up for it. Thanks DH :)
Debt Update

	Start 8/15	18-Dec	Difference
Sallie Mae	12762	12305	457
Well Fargo	11700	11150	550
Chase	2353	2190	163
Chase 2	2300	2353	-53
Chase 3	1710	1586	124
BOA	9300	9140	160
BOA 2	1833	2300	-467
Credit UnionCard	700	567	133
Car Loan	7875	6600	1275
Car Loan 2	2090	0	2090
Target	149	0	149
Campus Loan	8250	7800	450
Husband School	376	0	376
Capital One	376	0	376
	61774	55991	5783

Since August 15th, we have paid off almost $6000. I am planning to use some of my 12/30 paycheck to make it $6000 even. The cards moving in the wrong direction were from DH's overspending, so this will be fixed once we get the paycheck with the overtime in it.

Chase hiked the rate up on all three of our cards by three percent, so I think I am going to focus on them first. I wanted the credit union card gone because it was so small, but the interest rate is so much lower. I don't know. Right now, I am focusing on Chase 3.

Update

I am now at $4974 since I started tracking this debt on August 15th. I am going to try to have $6,000 paid off by December 31st. Aside from the regular debt payments, I am going to try to get that credit union card gone. We are so close! Christmas shopping is going well, I have about $340 left to spend and am actually on budget so far, which is a small miracle. Our retirement accounts are at $13370. Barring a massive market downturn, we should definitely hit 14K this year.

Update Time!

	Start 8/15	Nov.25th	Difference
Sallie Mae	12762	12373	-389
Well Fargo	11700	11192	-508
Chase	2353	2190	-163
Chase 2	2300	2371	71
Chase 3	1710	1936	226
BOA	9300	9179	-121
BOA 2	1833	2326	493
Credit UnionCard	700	370	-330
Car Loan	7875	6949	-926
Car Loan 2	2090	0	-2090
Target	149	0	-149
Campus Loan	8250	7800	-450
Husband School	376	0	-376
Capital One	376	114	-262
	61774	56800	-4974

Yay!

DH and my retirement accounts hit the $13K mark today, $13,010 to be exact. I know it might not last but a day or so until the market goes down, but it is still nice to see!

Christmastime!

I heard the first Christmas carol of the season today. Only 44 days till Christmas. While I LOVE everything Christmas, it has proved to be a budget buster for us year after year. Both myself and my hubby overspend. I am really hoping to make this year the exception. I have about $350 left to spend for family gifts, $250 left to spend on my husband's presents, and no clue on what my husband has left to spend on me. I am determined to stick to my guidelines!

Update Time

	Start	15-Oct	Difference	Nov.11th	Difference
Sallie Mae	12762	12467	295	12373	389
Well Fargo	11700	11364	336	11192	508
Chase	2353	2229	124	2203	150
Chase 2	2300	2303	-3	2367	-67
Chase 3	1710	1950	-240	1941	-231
BOA	9300	9200	100	9179	121
BOA 2	1833	2334	-501	2326	-493
Credit UnionCard	700	620	80	395	305
Car Loan	7875	7250	625	7250	625
Car Loan 2	2090	0	2090	0	2090
Target	149	0	149	0	149
Campus Loan	8250	8076	174	7954	296
Husband School	376	0	376	0	376
Capital One	376	220	156	182	194
	61774	58013	3761	57362	4412

Working on Goals for Next Year

I have started thinking of goals for next year, and they will be some hefty ones.

2010 Goals
Have Credit Union Card Paid Off			600
Have Chase 3 Paid Off			1900
Have BOA 2 Paid Off			2350
Have Chase Paid Off			2229
Have Chase 2 Paid Off			2303
			9382
Have EF at 2000			1900
Have Baby Fund at 1200			1100
Have 20,000 saved for retirement			7000
			10000

To meet my debt pay off goals, I will need to pay about an extra 781 to debt, assuming the credit union card and Chase 3 are still there when we start 2010. Hopefully, one or both will be gone! Obviously, I will keep making scheduled payments to all student loans and other debt.
Retirement is all pretax, so I am not worried about meeting this goal at all.
EF and Baby Fund will require 250 a month.

Our retirement is now at $12,700. Yeah!

Goals 2009 Update

Goals 2009 Progress

I took the pruning goal off because our microwave broke, so it will need to be replaced. The leaves will fall soon anyway, so pruning might just wait till 2010.
Fund and spend Christmas account:1400-Have bought some gifts, now need $1200.
Pay car insurance in full:600-was not able to pay in full, paid 135 to it, so $465 left to pay
Pay off car loan number two-DONE
Pay off credit union card-working on this month
Pay off Chase 3 card-Blah. Will tackle after credit union card.

Goals I am adding:
Contribute $100 a month to EF-Done for October
Contribute $80 a month to baby fund (not anytime soon!)-Done for October.

Updates

Okay, I am trying out a new format that tracks all debt except for our mortgage and one card I am not racing to pay down. Here is what I have:

	Start	15-Oct	Difference
Sallie Mae	12762	12467	295
Well Fargo	11700	11364	336
Chase	2353	2229	124
Chase 2	2300	2303	-3
Chase 3	1710	1950	-240
BOA	9300	9200	100
BOA 2	1833	2334	-501
Credit UnionCard	700	620	80
Car Loan	7875	7250	625
Car Loan 2	2090	0	2090
Target	149	0	149
Campus Loan	8250	8076	174
Husband School	376	0	376
Capital One	376	220	156
	61774	58013	3761

So, since August 1st, we have paid off $3761. Not too bad, but I wish it could be higher.I would like to have $6000 total paid off.

Yay for Columbus Day

I had today off for Columbus Day, and I have done NOTHING=) I stayed up all night watching I Love Lucy, and slept till 5 today. It was nice. I am starting to feel a little bit more like myself, but still miss my grandma like crazy.
I did a little bit of Christmas shopping online last night. I only have 6 people left:
My Mom-100
DH Mom-100
DH Brother-30
DH Brother 2-30
DH Niece-30
My Brother-50
Total-340

For my DH, I have a few things left to get:
Grill-200
Hard drive-70
Odds and end type items-30
Total-300

I have issues sticking to my Christmas budget because I enjoy Christmas so much, and I love to give gifts. I have done a decent job this year though. DH and both moms are my weakness. I love them all so much, and it is hard not to splurge!

I checked all retirement account balances today, and we are at $12,189. Nice! It looks like we are on track to finish with around $13,600 this year, depending on the market. I just made our payments for our debt yesterday, so hopefully I will have a decent update.

Goals 2009 Progress

Fund tree pruning/garden repair account:300-DONE, however, the garden repair turned out to be $300 itself, so the pruning will have to wait.
Fund and spend Christmas account:1400-will start working on this this month
Pay car insurance in full:600-was not able to pay in full, paid 135 to it, so $465 left to pay
Pay off car loan number two-DONE
Pay off credit union card-working on this month
Pay off Chase 3 card-Blah. Will tackle after credit union card.

Goals I am adding:
Contribute $100 a month to EF
Contribute $80 a month to baby fund (not anytime soon!)

Wow..and Update

I can not believe it has been one month since I last posted. My grandmother was diagnosed with leukemia at the end of August and we sadly lost her last week. Things have just been so crazy, and I know my debt has gone up, due to missing work and a bunch of eating out. Some things are worth it though. I would not trade the time I was able to spend with her for anything. I still feel numb, almost like it isn't real yet.
Update time and it is not pretty
Car Loan One: 7875->7659->7510(365 paid off)
Car loan two:$2090->1912->1729->720->(2090 paid off)
Target:$140->0(140 paid off)
Credit Union Card-$700->700->660(40 paid off)
Bank of America Card-$9300->>9200(100 paid off)
Bank of America Card 2-$1833->1812->2273(440 added to card)
Chase-$2353->2314(39 paid off)
Chase 2-$2300->2285(15 paid off)
Chase 3-$1710->1900(180 added to card)
Sallie Mae Student Loan-$12,762->12762->12575(187 paid off)
Wells Fargo Student Loan-$11700->11409(291 paid off)
HSL-$373->373(0)->0(373 paid off)

Total Paid Off:3020
Well, my pay off did go up, but it I believe this is mainly due to my student loan and car loan payments. I added a lot to the BOA 2 card and Chase 3 card. Sigh. I am going to work on formatting this into something a little easier to read.

Change of Heart

It is absolutely amazing how a few days can bring about a huge outlook on things. Thursday, I was psyched that we had paid off $2600ish in a month. On top of the world.
This weekend, I went to a flea market with my mother to try to sell sale items I had left over from my wedding. It was slow at times, so I used the time to go over our budget and calculate different debt payoff situations. It is depressing how long it will take us to pay off this crap. I just can't help but think in my mind how our situation would be so much better if I had only done this or that. Sigh.
My dang $450 is student loan payments could have been completely prevented. Why did I have to chose the stupid private college where I was ultimately miserable?! If I would have chosen a state school, my scholarship would have covered EVERYTHING. I would have no student loan debt rather than $35,000 and no degree to even show for it yet. I am just so dissapointed and disgusted in myself right now.

Update

I just made a huge payment to the second car loan, so I am psyched! I <3>7659->7659(-216)
Car loan two:$2090->1912->1729->720(-1192)
Target:$140->0(-140)
Credit Union Card-$700->700(0)
Bank of America Card-$9300->9300->9200(-100)
Bank of America Card 2-$1833->1812(-21)
Chase-$2353->2314(-39)
Chase 2-$2300->2285(-15)
Chase 3-$1710->1520(-190)
Sallie Mae Student Loan-$12,762->12762->12652(-110)
Wells Fargo Student Loan-$11700->11409(-291)
HSL-$373->373(0)->0(-373)


2687 paid off!!!
Hopefully in September we will have car loan two gone. I also want to have car insurance and money for tree pruning in the bank account by September 30th. Fall is supposed to be the best time for pruning and our next car insurance bill is due October 4th. That will just leave Christmas for the rest of the year, and then I can focus on building up the emergency fund.

Goals for the Rest of 2009

Fund tree pruning/garden repair account:300
Fund and spend Christmas account:1400
Pay car insurance in full:600
Pay off car loan number two
Pay off credit union card
Pay off Chase 3 card

I think all of this is reasonable, but I would love to pay off another card. We'll see....

REFI IS DONE!!!

YAY! Our refinance is done. We now have a 5.5 percent interest rate, down 1.35 from 6.875. I am psyched. I need to work on our year end goals today. I think I will work on that during the slow times at work today and post later.

Closing tomorrow!

Well, we will be closing tomorrow at 10 AM! Hopefully all goes as planned. The mortgage payment that we get to skip will be going straight to the smaller car loan. That sucker will be gone in September.
I can't believe Christmas is only four months away. I say only, but it seems like once Halloween gets here, the time just flies by.

Closing delayed

Blah. We were supposed to be closing for our refi tomorrow, but they don't have all the paperwork needed. Something about the escrow account had to be fixed. It really irks me because I had to cancel a doctor's appointment to close, and it freaking got delayed. I am mad. The stupid doctor can't see me now until November. Makes me wonder why the heck I even go to a doctor that can't see me for two freaking months.

Update!

I am updating again because I have made a lot more progress, and I am excited about it!=)

Car loan:$7875-$7875->7659(-216)
Car loan two:$2090->1912->1729(-361)
Target:$140->0(-140)
Credit Union Card-$700->700(0)
Bank of America Card-$9300->9300->9200(-100)
Bank of America Card 2-$1833->1812(-21)
Chase-$2353->2314(-39)
Chase 2-$2300->2285(-15)
Chase 3-$1710->1520(-190)
Sallie Mae Student Loan-$12,762->12762->12652(-110)
Wells Fargo Student Loan-$11700->11409(-291)
HSL-$373->373(0)->0(-373)

Total Paid since August 1st-$1856. YAY! I am psyched. A lot of this has been due to my awesome hubby working major overtime (we're talking 60+ a week).

I missed the deadline to enroll in school for the fall semester. My procrastination is killing me. I did enroll in a tax preparation class with H and R block. I figure that will allow me to 'test the waters' so to speak.

Refi is supposed to close next week. That will be wonderful! Lots of good things happening lately, just need to keep the momentum going.

Update time!

Car loan:$7875-$7875(0)
Car loan two:$2090->1912(-178)
Target:$140->0(-140)
Credit Union Card-$700->700(0)
Bank of America Card-$9300->9300(0)
Bank of America Card 2-$1833->1812(-21)
Chase-$2353->2314(-39)
Chase 2-$2300->2285(-15)
Chase 3-$1710->1520(-190)
Sallie Mae Student Loan-$12,762->12762(0)
Wells Fargo Student Loan-$11700->11700(0)
HSL-$373->373(0)-added on 8/17

Since I started on August 1st, we have paid off $583 worth of debt. Woo-hoo!=)

House Refi

I think we are going to be able to Refi our mortgage! Our current rate is 6.875 (rates were much higher when we bought a year ago), and we can hopefully do an FHA streamline refi to get down to 5.5. That would be awesome. Including the closing costs we would roll in, we would break even in 28 months.
If everything works out, we won't have a mortgage payment till October 1st. I am going to take what would have been our September payment, all my hubby's overtime, and any and everything extra and try to get the smaller car loan paid off.
Seeing all our debt payments really got to me the other day. I would feel much better about our budget and finances in general if I could get that down.

In doing some hopeful planning and budgeting in the past few days, I have come to the conclusion that our fixed expenses are ridiculously high. Look at this crap:
Mortgage:936
Power:110
H2O:10
Cell:80
TV/Cable:110
Blockbuster:18
Gym:40
Car Insurance:100
Total:1404
*There are the basics. I am okay with this. Here is where things get shady:
Car 1-282
Car 2-173
SM School Loan:150
WF School Loan:130
CF School Loan: 69
BCF School:110
MC School Loan:90
All Credit Card Minimums:475
Total:1479
Look at this crap! Our debt payments are as much as our basic living expenses. UGH!

Thoughts

Alright, I have my husband and myself contributing $7450 a year to retirement accounts. According to a retirement calculator, we will have enough to replace 80 percent of our current income from age 65 to 102, or for 37 years. I know this is not set in stone, but I think it is a great start!
Had a set back in the student loan department. I received a notice today for a loan I thought was deferred. It is now in repayment, and the first payment was due August 1st ( I have no idea why I didn't get a statement before now) for $500 (the payments are made quarterly). I used the $200 in my EF to make a payment. I will make the rest Friday when I get paid. Sigh. The monthly payments are not that bad, but it was a surprise. The balance on these is $8000, so nothing too terrible.

Goals and My Plan

Long-term Goals ( I am defining long term as 10 or more years out)
*401 K-I have used various retirement calculators that say my husband and I will need 2.5-3 million to retire with 80 percent of our current income. It is so hard to plan for something 40 years out. I have no clue what our income will be then, nor do I have any clue if social security will be there for us (I am guessing no in all my assumptions), and health care costs? Psh! My plan is to be contributing 15 percent of our combined income within four years. I just upped both of our 401 K contributions by 1 percent so we now contribute 9.8 percent of our combined income between our 401 Ks and Roth IRAs. I plan to increase this by 2 percent a year. In 4 years, this will put us at 17 percent in four years, which is even better than the goal.
*House: We plan on remaining in our current home about 5-8 years, more if needed. I plan to keep paying our mortgage on time (Duh!). Right now, this is it for this goal until the credit card debt is gone! Our next home will hopefully be our forever home. I want a place with a two car garage, an acre or so of land, and four bedrooms. Everything else can be changed if needed.

Short term goals (under five years)
*Pay off all credit card and car debt: This is the order that I would like to pay off:
1. Target-140
2. Chase 3-1710
3. BOA 2: 1833
4. Chase-2353
5. Chase 2:2300
6. Car 1-7875
7. BOA 1-9300
By the time all this is paid off, the other car loan and the credit union card will be gone on their own with just the regular payments.
*Get Emergency Fund to 6 months of expenses: around $18,000. Right now, I am only putting $200 in this a month until the debt is gone.
*Start and fund baby account-$2000. Have not started, will do when we are planning to start conceiving.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good
My 401 K: $4180
*I contribute 12 percent to my 401 K, and my employer matches my match 100 hundred percent for the first five percent. Based on my part time salary at this job of $15,000 a year, I put in $2250 a year. My other job does not have a 401 K plan.

Husband's 401 K/Roth IRA:$5700
*My husband makes about $45000 a year, depending on overtime and bonuses. We put in 5 percent of his salary into the 401 K, and his company puts in $600. We put in $50 a month into a ROTH IRA. The total comes to $3450. We are working to get both of these numbers up through auto increase and we will be increasing it with any annual raises.

Mortgage:$113,300 left on a home that appraised for $125,000. Our area seems to be holding value as well. We saved for our down payment for a year, and our mortgage payment is affordable. It will be even more affordable once we have knocked all this debt out! I am not planning to pay this off early, but I would like to keep track of it just so I know where I stand.

The Bad
Emergency Fund: $210
*This is terrible. Ideally, this would be 6 months worth of income, so around $27000 as our ultimate goal with current expenses. The needed amount to fund this would decrease once our debt is paid down.

The Ugly
Car loan:$7875
Car loan two:$2090
Target:$140
Credit Union Card-$700
Bank of America Card-$9300
Bank of America Card 2-$1833
Chase-$2353
Chase 2-$2300
Chase 3-$1710
Sallie Mae Student Loan-$12,762
Wells Fargo Student Loan-$11700
My plan is to pay off the car loan 2, credit union card, and Target card first. I would this to be done by Thanksgiving, then I will decide what to tackle next.

I will post in detail my long term and short term goals very soon!

Introduction

As I mentioned before, I am a married 22 year old female. I married the love of my life (I apologize for the sappiness in advance) in May of this year. Don't worry, there is no little arrival coming in nine months that prompted this marriage. I have been with this man for four years, and he is a person who lights up my life and makes my world a better place to live. I love him, and I can not wait to spend the rest of my life with him, though it would be best to spend this life together debt free!

I have not finished college, and I actually need to work on getting my lazy self re-enrolled in college. However, this will be a public college with affordable tuition, not a private college like the one I attended because everyone else though that is what would be best for me (I have NOTHING against private colleges. I just regret that I never listened to my own desires when I was trying to chose where to enroll four years ago.)

Don't worry, I am not just sitting on him on my bum letting my husband support me while I twiddle my thumbs. I am currently employed at two different part time jobs to help bring in some income and whittle down this debt. I am worried that I won't be able to handle two part time jobs and my courses when I re-enroll in school, but I will tackle this when the time comes.

I have made a few smart financial decisions, and a plethora of horrid ones. In my next post, I will detail what our starting numbers are, what our starting assets are, and what our ultimate goals. I am excited to begin. I will post an update biweekly detailing our progress towards our goals. Wish me luck!

It begins

I am 22 years young, and in my 22 years (well, more like in the last 4 years) I have already made some serious money mistakes. Among some of these, I have taken extensive private and public loans to attend a private college where I was miserable, when I had a FULL scholarship to a public college. Even worse, I withdrew from this college my junior year and still do not have a degree to show for it. I have used credit cards to subsidize a lifestyle that is possible when my husband and myself are making decent salaries. However, when this has decreased, I have not adjusted my lifestyle in the past. I have spent when I should I have saved. I have bought when I should have just walked away. This is all about to change. I am determined to turn this mess around and start planning for the future instead of paying for the past.