I just paid off Credit Card #2! Now the only credit card I have left is my main card that I use periodically for purchases. The balance on that one right now is still about $200, because I have regular monthly charges on it (Netflix, the gym, etc.) that total about $80/month, plus I purchased something on behalf of a friend who is going to pay me back, so that’s about $120 of that amount.

Now I need to exercise DISCIPLINE so that I can stay out of debt, save up for a few big projects, and maybe start actually saving something towards retirement…

Bada-bing! 2 weeks ago

paid off all but about $60 of one card and all but about $200 shy of the other. I am waiting to get next month’s bill to pay the full balance, because there always seem to be charges pending or payments in process, so I want to be sure I’m not overpaying, and only paying the exact final amount. But I have the money to pay off the last bit.

So huzzah, pip pip, boom chicka wow wow, and yeeeeeeehawwwwww! 1 month ago

I was dumb.

That is all. 3 months ago

twice in the past two days. Once for something stupid, and once for something important. Well, the first one was not totally stupid (taking two friends out for dinner, both of whom were having a really hard time, neither of whom knew that the other person was also having a hard time!), but not the most necessary expense. I just wanted to do something nice to cheer them up, though I know I could have done something less expensive…! We did have a nice time, though!

The second thing I used it for was the emergency ladders, which I think is an OK credit card purchase. Cash is always better, but emergency ladders are very, very important. 4 months ago

but I was able to take a bit of extra time for lunch and decided to drive home instead. I made dreamworker’s tortang talong. It was yummy, and I was glad I saved the money. 4 months ago

because I was away from home longer than expected today and got sideswiped by low blood sugar…totally unexpected! But I had only eaten part of a banana and half a scone almost 5 hours prior, had been running around doing errands with TripleB, and was so hungry that I seriously could not think of anything else – I even started having a hot flash! So TripleB and I pulled into the nearest place to eat that looked cheap-ish (a wings joint), and I ordered a chicken sandwich and fries. It turned out not to be super cheap. :-/ I also got a small soda, which I don’t normally drink, but I really wanted the sugar while I waited for my food! The cold and the sugar helped, in fact I even got a little chilled.

So lunch was more expensive than I budgeted for the week, but necessary. I used to do a good job of keeping protein bars and peanuts or almonds in the car, but haven’t been doing that lately. I need to start again. 4 months ago

on my credit card. BUT I am trying to keep it within reason, and I should still be able to pay off those expenditures next month.

ZH, Mr. Peabody, and I went to find a Christmas tree for my living room today. We decided to go to a lot instead of cutting one down, since we were short on time. The first lot we went to was cleaned out, except for four forlorn looking trees in the corner. We debated in the car, and Mr. Peabody said, “Well, check the price, at least you have some comparison that way.” I got out and checked the tag – $15.99!!!!! I asked the lady at the outside stand if that was right, and she said, “Yes, last ones.” I went back to the car to report, and everyone leaped out to go examine the trees. I asked ZH if this was OK, since it didn’t seem very festive or exciting to be picking out trees out of four left standing in the corner of the parking lot near the dumpsters, but he said it was fine. We examined them, decided they weren’t bad after all, and I asked him to pick out which one he liked best. He picked the tallest one. It’s standing smack-dab in the middle of my living room now.

$15.99 for a Christmas tree – so it wasn’t a grand excursion, but considering trees can run $50, $75, or higher, I am stoked! 5 months ago

and it’s actually about $330 less than I thought! I’m down to about $450, which I hope to pay off in December. BUT…I may use my credit card for some Christmas purchases, but it won’t be more than I can pay off in January.

I am SO excited to be so close to paying off my second card! Then I will only have one left to pay down, and I should be able to do that quickly, I hope, barring unforseen circumstances. I DO want to fly out to see my extended family sometime soon…maybe I can get to the point where I can save up the cash first and then pay off the tickets from the credit card right away…that would be great! 6 months ago

my car registration and my brake repair on my credit card. Mr. Peabody was nice and paid half my brake repair. I don’t get any spousal or child support, but every once in a while he’ll pitch in for something like that, since he does make more than me. _{He’s not a total creep!}

So I was thinking that Credit Card #1 would be around $500 or less after my payment last month, but I forgot that I paid for those two things, plus a gift I had shipped to my goddaughter. So CC#1 is about $750 right now. And CC#2 is somewhere around $1,000. I read something in the mail today that said that the average American has about $16K in credit card debt (I’ve seen this figure online, too, though I did see one a while ago that said about $8K). Either way, the fact that mine is only $1700 makes me feel pretty good, though I want it to be $0! I’m getting closer, though… 6 months ago

I forgot to write that my refinance is completed!! It lowers my mortgage payment by about $200 every month, but I am still going to pay that $200/month (if not more), because it will take me something like $350/month extra in payments if I want to pay the mortgage off before I retire. It’s the only way I’ll be able to afford to retire…well…depending on the cost of health insurance…! 6 months ago

I should be able to pay off both of my remaining credit cards. I paid off one a while ago. Then I transferred the balance of the other to a new card with a 0% interest rate on balance transfers. Then I racked up some travel expenses on the card I had just emptied, so now I had two cards – neither one maxed out, not even close, but enough that it’s taken me several months to pay them down.

So…I should be able to pay off the one with the highest interest rate by next month, and the 0% interest rate card within a couple of months after that. The tricky part is not to get into the mentality that now I can “afford” to use the credit cards! I want to keep them empty, except for using the one with airline miles and paying it off every month.6 months ago

One of these list items was moving my checking account from the big bank to the local credit union. Which I did. And now am wondering if I regret it. I was not happy with their handling of my refinance, I am unhappy that they do not have ATMs readily available in many locations, and this is the second time I have tried to do online bill payments (going through all the trouble of entering the amounts due for each company), and then it comes up saying I don’t have enough in my account. I was paid a week ago, my checking account page says I have puh-lenty, but the bill payment program has not been updated. In a week! Not updated in a week!! WTF????? And tomorrow is going to be super busy already, I have to now deal with this and REDO all my bills!

Not happy.

But I am trying very hard to remember the benefits of a credit union. They are many, and I am sure this will be worthwhile… 7 months ago

Yes.

Why do I allow this to happen? Each time I get nearer to my goal of paying off my credit card, I get sloppy and start using it again.

My mindset becomes, “Oh, it’s just $30. No whoop.” “Oh, it’s just $21, I can pay that off easy.” “Hey, $15 for that? I would so use that! Great deal!!”

Well, guess what? $30 + $21 + $15 + several other “small no big whoop” purchases add up very quickly and become hundreds of dollars.

Time to clamp down again. The running shoes I bought – fine. That is a health investment, even if they were $118, but with my knee surgery and all I think I will not regret buying better shoes. But there are lots of little stupid purchases. A few things I’m returning – something I bought for a house project that I don’t need, a few clothing items I bought because “they’re on sale and the price was so great,” but I’m not really crazy about them and don’t really need them. (You should know that I am NOT a big clothing, makeup, and jewelry shopper, but I do need some on occasion!) And Groupon is the Devil. You think you’re getting a great deal, wow, because things are so cheap, and they are things you would use and love, but you end up buying something you would probably have done just as well without, and it’s easy to do because they have your credit card on file and you just have to click a button. So I am going to set it up not to get more Groupon notifications in my email box and eliminate that temptation.

Dang. No…damn.

Refocusing. 9 months ago

You can look below at my color-coded entries dated 7/15/12 and 8/1/12 if you’re interested…

and now for the BAD NEWS…!

So I was paying half of my mortgage twice a month for the past several months. TripleB looked at my statement and said they are holding onto the payment and aren’t applying it until the first, so you are not getting any benefit. GAHHHHH! I called them and they said, well, your loan agreement says the mortgage is due on the 1st, so that’s when we apply it. I said, it doesn’t say that I can’t pay half twice a month. She said, no, but it does say it’s due on the 1st. I said, is that even legal to interpret it that way? She just repeated herself. >:-{

So I emailed the bank that I am in process with and asked them if I would be able to pay half my mortgage twice a month, and have it applied the day they receive it, not “holding” it. She wrote back and said yes.

I will make sure it is written into the loan agreement this time around…dirty bastards. 9 months ago

Look for the colored entries dated 7/2/12 in my older To-Do post below if you’re interested.

I hate it that my brain does not wrap around this stuff easily. I hate it that I feel like a deer in the headlights when people start throwing around percentages and rates and financial terms. I have to remind myself, “You are not stupid, you are not stupid, you are not stupid.”

Well. I am trying. Points for that, girl. Points for that. 10 months ago

I did three good things tonight.

Good Thing #1: I made the first “half payment” on my new schedule for paying my mortgage. So the first half of my June mortgage is paid, and I will pay the second half on the first of June. If you missed my last post, by doing this I will knock a few years off my mortgage payment, which will help me when I retire. There is NO WAY IN HECK I can pay my mortgage after I retire, and I don’t even live in a fancy place. It’s decidedly small and unfancy.

Good Thing #2: I increased the amount I pay towards the principal each month on my mortgage. It is still only a little bit, because I can’t pay much more without living like a monk, but I did increase the extra amount from $30/month to $50/month. That’s $600 a year, which is almost half a mortgage payment a year. People say it’s a good idea if you can pay one whole extra mortgage payment a year, so that’s my goal, but I just don’t feel like I can do it now.

Good Thing #3: I got a 0% interest, 12 month, no fee balance transfer offer from Credit Card #2. So I decided to transfer the remaining balance from Credit Card #1 to Credit Card #2. If I combine the two payments I usually make to both cards and make them my monthly payment to Card #2, I should have my credit card debt eliminated in about 6 months, as long as I don’t add to it. This also saves me about $55 per month in the fees I was paying on Card #1 – that’s $330 I will save on fees over those 6 months until I pay off the debt!!

I still have many important things to do on my list from my January 14 post, but I feel good at least about getting these things taken care of…! 12 months ago

that instead of putting that remaining bit towards property taxes, I was going to use it to kick off paying my mortgage in two payments each month – half on the fifteenth and half on the first, when it is due. I’ve been wanting to start this, but you need to have an extra half-mortgage up front in order to start the cycle.

Did you know that just by paying half your mortgage twice a month, instead of the full mortgage once a month, you can knock a few years off your loan? That’s a lot of money saved – in my case, that would be anywhere from $28,000 saved if I knock off 2 years, to almost $56,000 if I also include extra principal each month and knock off 4 years!! Plus that means I might be able to afford my retirement, because as it stands, if I have to pay mortgage when I retire, I will have no money left over for anything else. Nothing.

So I really would like to knock a few years off my loan… 12 months ago

I forgot that if I don’t have automatic deposit into my new checking account, they charge a monthly service fee! So I’ve paid something like $30 of the $100 startup for opening the account for nothing, just because I haven’t had a chance to fill out the form to get my automatic paycheck deposit completed!!!

BAH!

On the plus side, I did complete one project today that has been a BIGGIE, that I have been avoiding and procrastinating on doing for YEARS (closing my storage locker). So I am proud of myself for that.

I also re-evaluated my homeowners’ insurance on Friday when it was time to renew, got some comparison quotes, decided to stick with my current insurer, and made some adjustments that actually cost me about $2-4 more per month, but I still feel like I am better covered and it was practical increases. I never felt like I carried enough insurance, so now I feel better. It’s probably still a bit low, but I closed some gaps anyway. 12 months ago

Used most of it to pay down my credit card, and saved a bit towards the next round of property taxes…I want to be out of debt someday.

Someday. 13 months ago

I think the name change worked this time! 16 months ago