With our debt being paid off with such intensity I know that it will be a matter of only a few short months until we are yet again debt free except for the mortgage which we will focus on paying that down/off as well.
As long as we have no debt we will be ok. I had posted an Entry not to long ago about a possible job loss for Dh. It was so out of the blue and we would have been in such a mess had this happened with the debt we needed to pay off. I will not be taking this for granted. With dhs military pension and my 80 minutes a day with my job we will be ok should a job loss occur in the future but not for the long haul,and again, we will have to be debt free for that to work.
I have always been one to cook from scratch and I love to bake, I have found a lot of frugal recipe ideas on the internet as well. A great website to visit for Excellent ideas for scratch cooking and emergency menus etc is at Hillbilly Housewife .
We could have taken the easy route and taken equity out of our investment property to pay off our debt however, Dh and I strongly felt that by doing this would only defeat our purpose of getting ahead and being accountable for our mess. I would rather embrace frugal living and pay down our debt by living below our means. Prior to selling our last house we had refinanced and taken out equity. We used most of the money to buy our investment property although other bits of the money just seemed to "dissapear" along the way. Lesson learned there.
We are on the right track, I am so thankful. It is so true when one thinks about how it can take only minutes to go into debt but yet it can take months if not years to pay those few minutes off.
Happy Monday Everyone!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Another Debt Bites the Dust!
YAY!!! We paid off our Mortgage broker yesterday. Now we have to pay off the Investment property taxes which should be in a couple of more weeks!
Because we have been going with such intensity on paying down/off our debt we decided to take a break and pay the minimum payment on the credit card until after Christmas. I went out and spent about $150 at once on groceries opposed to dividing it up to $75 a week, I had a blast too!
We have also started to purge through our clutter although my weakness really are books. I have so far 3 boxes to donate to our local library. I have no ornaments or clothes etc to donate to the salvation army as I do not have many. I do not care for ornaments as that means extra time dusting, I only shop for clothes at value village and pick up what I need at walmart for personal items about once a year so I really don't have much in the line of clutter there.
I saw Thursday and Fridays show on Oprah about a lady who hordes and I thank God that I don't have that problem, my heart really broke for her and her family.They did a wonderful service by appearing on Oprah even though it was hard on them. I started thinking of the books which I kept telling myself that I would take over to the library for example.
Monday I have to list 3 things in which I would like for Christmas for our Christmas party at work on December 7th. I can only think of 2 items which I really would like for Christmas gifts and that is a pair of oven mitts or an apron. I honestly cannot think of a third.
Well, it is Saturday night and Dh and I are invited to visit with a lady I work with and her husband. It is his 51st birthday. We even picked up a few beer to take :). They live within walking distance I should add as we do not drink and drive.
Ohhhhhhhh, also, I picked up this past week an extra 9 hours total @ $16.29 an hour. The school board also pays me my vaction pay and a couple of other little things on top of that on my paycheques. I am hoping to pick up some more extra hours next week but we shall see. It is great because I work at the school my 2 dd's go to :).
I am waiting for my contract to be signed, hopefully sooner than later. I love having a job in which when school is out so am I lol, although if I work after school I am sometimes there until 5:15 p.m but still I have my evening,weekends and holidays off. My friend even told me that they thanked her for recommending me as I fit right in and I am such an asset. Ok, I will stop now as my head is going to start swelling any moment lol.
Well, I had better start getting ready for our big outing this evening. Dh and I very rarely go out so I am extra excited :).
Have a Super weekend Everyone!
Because we have been going with such intensity on paying down/off our debt we decided to take a break and pay the minimum payment on the credit card until after Christmas. I went out and spent about $150 at once on groceries opposed to dividing it up to $75 a week, I had a blast too!
We have also started to purge through our clutter although my weakness really are books. I have so far 3 boxes to donate to our local library. I have no ornaments or clothes etc to donate to the salvation army as I do not have many. I do not care for ornaments as that means extra time dusting, I only shop for clothes at value village and pick up what I need at walmart for personal items about once a year so I really don't have much in the line of clutter there.
I saw Thursday and Fridays show on Oprah about a lady who hordes and I thank God that I don't have that problem, my heart really broke for her and her family.They did a wonderful service by appearing on Oprah even though it was hard on them. I started thinking of the books which I kept telling myself that I would take over to the library for example.
Monday I have to list 3 things in which I would like for Christmas for our Christmas party at work on December 7th. I can only think of 2 items which I really would like for Christmas gifts and that is a pair of oven mitts or an apron. I honestly cannot think of a third.
Well, it is Saturday night and Dh and I are invited to visit with a lady I work with and her husband. It is his 51st birthday. We even picked up a few beer to take :). They live within walking distance I should add as we do not drink and drive.
Ohhhhhhhh, also, I picked up this past week an extra 9 hours total @ $16.29 an hour. The school board also pays me my vaction pay and a couple of other little things on top of that on my paycheques. I am hoping to pick up some more extra hours next week but we shall see. It is great because I work at the school my 2 dd's go to :).
I am waiting for my contract to be signed, hopefully sooner than later. I love having a job in which when school is out so am I lol, although if I work after school I am sometimes there until 5:15 p.m but still I have my evening,weekends and holidays off. My friend even told me that they thanked her for recommending me as I fit right in and I am such an asset. Ok, I will stop now as my head is going to start swelling any moment lol.
Well, I had better start getting ready for our big outing this evening. Dh and I very rarely go out so I am extra excited :).
Have a Super weekend Everyone!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The Good,The Bad, The Ugly And The Future
The Good : Payday is in 3 more Days! Why am I excited? Because another debt bites the dust! The last $500 left owing to our mortgage broker will be paid in full!
Dh and I will have paid out $3800 on our debt in 9 weeks by cutting back to the bare basics,becoming "Really" creative, me picking up a part time job and of course we did end up skipping one mortgage payment which we had never done before.
The Bad : Dh last week had to go on a business trip. He deposited 2 cheques into our bank account from his boss to travel with and our bank put a hold on one of them as it was deposited through our debit machine. What little bit of money I had set aside in our account dh needed to put gas in the truck his boss had rented.He didn't call his boss as it was late in the evening when he discovered this. I have been dipping into the change jar as I did not do a complete grocery shop, well, with what I had left over to work with.
The Ugly: Dh used the credit card to pay for his hotel while on his business trip because of the reason above. It was that or he would have been sleeping in the truck for the night. I have to change the total owing on the credit card now as soon as dh calls for the total balance. Dh has not finalized his claim for this last trip so whatever his boss owes him will go onto the credit card.
The Future : I can see us having the credit card paid off in full within 3 to 4 months and then we will be living debt free except for the mortgage and regular living expenses. I miss this way of living that is a given! We have had this taste of freedom and all I can say is We definately want it back! :)
Now, with what little I did pick up for groceries and personal items guess what I ended up forgetting this time around? Shampoo! You can just imagine my horror yesterday morning getting ready for work and realizing we were out of this. I ended up coming up with the idea to use sunlight dish detergent which by the way I would not recommend lol, but in a pinch it does the trick as long as you have conditoner and I guess you could say my hair was "squeaky" clean. My payday is in 2 more days so I will only have to do this again once until then. I guess this would be called "making due" until then.
Again, trial and error will make us stronger :). I used up my last 2 eggs last night to make a double batch of sugar cookies with sprinkles for lunches over the next couple of days. I also still have 2 double packs of jello to make up along with some apples. I had gone back to store bought bread but will have to make up a few loaves of homemade this evening as we are almost out. I finally got the hot chocolate mix done up as well so I don't have to worry about snacks for everyones lunches.
I am thinking of taking $150 from my pay to spend on our groceries. I however won't be getting any convenience foods out of that as that takes up too many precious dollars,not that I have been doing that anyhow. I think that I will however divide that money up and grocery shop once a week with $75 opposed to shopping at one time for the two weeks. I find that I tend to run out of something or another when I spend it all up at once.
To help me stay accountable I will post my groceries on here and the price I have spent on them. I live in Canada some of the food will be priced higher then in the U.S.A. I should be doing this either Thursday evening or Friday afternoon.
So, there you have it. The good, the bad, the ugly and the future.
Dh and I will have paid out $3800 on our debt in 9 weeks by cutting back to the bare basics,becoming "Really" creative, me picking up a part time job and of course we did end up skipping one mortgage payment which we had never done before.
The Bad : Dh last week had to go on a business trip. He deposited 2 cheques into our bank account from his boss to travel with and our bank put a hold on one of them as it was deposited through our debit machine. What little bit of money I had set aside in our account dh needed to put gas in the truck his boss had rented.He didn't call his boss as it was late in the evening when he discovered this. I have been dipping into the change jar as I did not do a complete grocery shop, well, with what I had left over to work with.
The Ugly: Dh used the credit card to pay for his hotel while on his business trip because of the reason above. It was that or he would have been sleeping in the truck for the night. I have to change the total owing on the credit card now as soon as dh calls for the total balance. Dh has not finalized his claim for this last trip so whatever his boss owes him will go onto the credit card.
The Future : I can see us having the credit card paid off in full within 3 to 4 months and then we will be living debt free except for the mortgage and regular living expenses. I miss this way of living that is a given! We have had this taste of freedom and all I can say is We definately want it back! :)
Now, with what little I did pick up for groceries and personal items guess what I ended up forgetting this time around? Shampoo! You can just imagine my horror yesterday morning getting ready for work and realizing we were out of this. I ended up coming up with the idea to use sunlight dish detergent which by the way I would not recommend lol, but in a pinch it does the trick as long as you have conditoner and I guess you could say my hair was "squeaky" clean. My payday is in 2 more days so I will only have to do this again once until then. I guess this would be called "making due" until then.
Again, trial and error will make us stronger :). I used up my last 2 eggs last night to make a double batch of sugar cookies with sprinkles for lunches over the next couple of days. I also still have 2 double packs of jello to make up along with some apples. I had gone back to store bought bread but will have to make up a few loaves of homemade this evening as we are almost out. I finally got the hot chocolate mix done up as well so I don't have to worry about snacks for everyones lunches.
I am thinking of taking $150 from my pay to spend on our groceries. I however won't be getting any convenience foods out of that as that takes up too many precious dollars,not that I have been doing that anyhow. I think that I will however divide that money up and grocery shop once a week with $75 opposed to shopping at one time for the two weeks. I find that I tend to run out of something or another when I spend it all up at once.
To help me stay accountable I will post my groceries on here and the price I have spent on them. I live in Canada some of the food will be priced higher then in the U.S.A. I should be doing this either Thursday evening or Friday afternoon.
So, there you have it. The good, the bad, the ugly and the future.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Christmas is Coming, Ready or Not!
Christmas will soon be upon us! Lynnae whose blog is being frugal has a wonderful entry "50 Frugal Christmas Ideas"
Please check out her blog, I am sure that you will become as addicted to her frugal lifestyle and ideas as I have :)
Dh and I will be taking off the month of December from paying down debt to making minimum payments only...although, Dh will be getting a commission cheque from work which we are praying will pay off our investment property taxes in full!
Over the past couple of years I do a gift bag for my children opposed to using a basket. I will definately be doing this again this year. For dd 14 I will be doing up a book lovers gift bag. I will be buying her a couple of books from a website called bookcloseouts I will add a pretty, maybe even a homemade bookmark and a bag of her favorite candy fuzzy peaches, a book light possibly, and I think that I will include a stuffed animal (kitten) in there to keep her company while she reads lol. The reason being for the stuffed kitty is because she has mentioned that she would like a kitten but we already have two cats so that is out of the question :). I think that I will also include a notebook of sorts and pretty pen so that she can jot down any ideas for writing a book of her own :)
I also found a link "Fabulous Gift Basket Ideas" lots of great ideas there.
Now for dd 16. I will do her a salon pack gift bag. Which can be found at the above link for gift basket ideas #29.
Ds will receive a young mans survival bag. I could put cologne, socks, gloves, scarf,and a movie, all from the flea market along with a snack,and a phone card.
I will be doing dh a road trip gift bag idea #51, again found at the above link for gift basket ideas, I will not however be adding hotel coupons ,tire gauge as he already has one or a beaded seat cover.
Our kids each receive one more gift along with their stockings. Any money we receive from family members is divided up between the kids which they can use to shop for any boxing day sales if they choose.
Christmas isn't just about giving and receiving presents. I like to sit down with my family over the holidays and discuss the true meaning of Christmas. We are celebrating the birth of the Lord Jesus and how God gave us such a gift when he sent us his son.
Please check out her blog, I am sure that you will become as addicted to her frugal lifestyle and ideas as I have :)
Dh and I will be taking off the month of December from paying down debt to making minimum payments only...although, Dh will be getting a commission cheque from work which we are praying will pay off our investment property taxes in full!
Over the past couple of years I do a gift bag for my children opposed to using a basket. I will definately be doing this again this year. For dd 14 I will be doing up a book lovers gift bag. I will be buying her a couple of books from a website called bookcloseouts I will add a pretty, maybe even a homemade bookmark and a bag of her favorite candy fuzzy peaches, a book light possibly, and I think that I will include a stuffed animal (kitten) in there to keep her company while she reads lol. The reason being for the stuffed kitty is because she has mentioned that she would like a kitten but we already have two cats so that is out of the question :). I think that I will also include a notebook of sorts and pretty pen so that she can jot down any ideas for writing a book of her own :)
I also found a link "Fabulous Gift Basket Ideas" lots of great ideas there.
Now for dd 16. I will do her a salon pack gift bag. Which can be found at the above link for gift basket ideas #29.
Ds will receive a young mans survival bag. I could put cologne, socks, gloves, scarf,and a movie, all from the flea market along with a snack,and a phone card.
I will be doing dh a road trip gift bag idea #51, again found at the above link for gift basket ideas, I will not however be adding hotel coupons ,tire gauge as he already has one or a beaded seat cover.
Our kids each receive one more gift along with their stockings. Any money we receive from family members is divided up between the kids which they can use to shop for any boxing day sales if they choose.
Christmas isn't just about giving and receiving presents. I like to sit down with my family over the holidays and discuss the true meaning of Christmas. We are celebrating the birth of the Lord Jesus and how God gave us such a gift when he sent us his son.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Whoowhoooooo, I am soooooo excited!
I can't believe my luck! I was putting away some clothes on my dresser last evening ( dh did the laundry :) ) and guess what I came across????? a cheque from the cablevision company we were dealing with at our old address for $100! When we had joined their co-op each member paid $100 and they receive it whenever they move or cancel. I had seen it last week but was so preoccupied with everything I forgot all about it! I am usually on top of things like that, especially when it comes to placing our money.
Anyhow, our dds school pictures came in this past Friday and I hadn't put money aside for them , I had thought they would be due in another couple of weeks or something. That will be $30 total for both girls. I will take $20 for stockpiling and the remaining $50 will go towards our baby emergency fund.
I thought about putting the remaining $50 onto the credit card debt but then decided against it as right now we have only $10 in our emergency fund. With dh and I being use to having an emergency fund up until a few months ago it is a horrible feeling realizing that you now have nothing. I need to get the baby emergency fund up to $500 so I am thinking that this upcoming pay I will try to squeeze out $100 to put in there.
I really like Dave Ramseys babystep with having a baby emergency fund while getting out of debt :).
Well, time for me to get ready for work, I picked up an extra 2 hours and 35 minutes today as I am filling in for one of the ladies for after school. YaY! Go Me! :)
Anyhow, our dds school pictures came in this past Friday and I hadn't put money aside for them , I had thought they would be due in another couple of weeks or something. That will be $30 total for both girls. I will take $20 for stockpiling and the remaining $50 will go towards our baby emergency fund.
I thought about putting the remaining $50 onto the credit card debt but then decided against it as right now we have only $10 in our emergency fund. With dh and I being use to having an emergency fund up until a few months ago it is a horrible feeling realizing that you now have nothing. I need to get the baby emergency fund up to $500 so I am thinking that this upcoming pay I will try to squeeze out $100 to put in there.
I really like Dave Ramseys babystep with having a baby emergency fund while getting out of debt :).
Well, time for me to get ready for work, I picked up an extra 2 hours and 35 minutes today as I am filling in for one of the ladies for after school. YaY! Go Me! :)
Saturday, November 3, 2007
What I am Noticing About our Debt Paydown....
Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the amount of debt owing, I think we all do at times. I am however noticing that with our determination to pay down our debt in an intense way there is more money available then we realized.Whether it is to pick up a part time job, cut back on groceries the frugal way,selling books etc on ebay, making a batch of homemade soup to put in the freezer to have as an appetizer before dinner helps to limit those 2nd helpings of meat and potatoe :)
I did end up getting a part time job at our dds school which is bringing in roughly $450 extra a month durring the school year. It depends on how many extra shifts I can pick up besides my 80 minutes per day on what my take home pay is and whether there are school holidays etc but all in all that is what it will average out to, at least that is what I have figured.
I am just amazed however at how creative one can get. We use to have our chip and pop night on a friday or saturday night, now it is air popped popcorn with some melted butter and a glass of juice.We no longer rent cheap movies, we see what is schedualed on t.v that night or swap a movie with a friend. There is no more dreading walking to work for me anymore (well most times lol) now it is hey! it doesn't take me 30 to 35 minutes to walk to work now, instead it only takes me 20 minutes! :), yes I am even getting in shape! Although once the snow hits we will see how I feel lol.
Instead of focusing on what I "could" have I am focusing on what I "Do" have. I try to always stay cheerful and have a warm smile to offer.Have you ever noticed how this can be so contagious? Just one smile will put a smile on someone else :). Yes, sometimes I do have the feeling of being overwhelmed by debt and among other things but I am finding that they are becoming few and far between and I have this inner peace of appreciating the "little" things in life more than I ever have before.
I did end up getting a part time job at our dds school which is bringing in roughly $450 extra a month durring the school year. It depends on how many extra shifts I can pick up besides my 80 minutes per day on what my take home pay is and whether there are school holidays etc but all in all that is what it will average out to, at least that is what I have figured.
I am just amazed however at how creative one can get. We use to have our chip and pop night on a friday or saturday night, now it is air popped popcorn with some melted butter and a glass of juice.We no longer rent cheap movies, we see what is schedualed on t.v that night or swap a movie with a friend. There is no more dreading walking to work for me anymore (well most times lol) now it is hey! it doesn't take me 30 to 35 minutes to walk to work now, instead it only takes me 20 minutes! :), yes I am even getting in shape! Although once the snow hits we will see how I feel lol.
Instead of focusing on what I "could" have I am focusing on what I "Do" have. I try to always stay cheerful and have a warm smile to offer.Have you ever noticed how this can be so contagious? Just one smile will put a smile on someone else :). Yes, sometimes I do have the feeling of being overwhelmed by debt and among other things but I am finding that they are becoming few and far between and I have this inner peace of appreciating the "little" things in life more than I ever have before.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Well, the plan has changed, I don't know what else to do.
We owe our mortgage broker which we had made arrangements with him to pay him the money we owe him after the hotel was paid in full with this move and all. Our mortgage broker is a Great Guy :).
Dh received an email at work yesterday from our broker stating that he has a family emergency and needs his money ASAP. That is $1700. The only thing in which I could think of doing is to call our mortgage company and skip this months mortgage payment which is due on the 6th of November, we also asked them to please change our payment due dates from the 6th to the 1st of each month. We have never done this before with skipping a mortgage payment.
With my paycheque of $300 and dh pay of $900 that will give our mortgage broker $1200 and leave us with a balance of $500 left owing to our broker. We can then pay him off in full out of our next paycheques on the 16th of November.
I just think of the extra interest on the mortgage this is going to cost us in the long haul so I will have to make that up. Once our debt is paid off I want to start plugging away at the mortgage. Even if we put an extra $250 a month onto the principle that would be a start.
Well, I can foresee many more no spend days in our future :).
Dh received an email at work yesterday from our broker stating that he has a family emergency and needs his money ASAP. That is $1700. The only thing in which I could think of doing is to call our mortgage company and skip this months mortgage payment which is due on the 6th of November, we also asked them to please change our payment due dates from the 6th to the 1st of each month. We have never done this before with skipping a mortgage payment.
With my paycheque of $300 and dh pay of $900 that will give our mortgage broker $1200 and leave us with a balance of $500 left owing to our broker. We can then pay him off in full out of our next paycheques on the 16th of November.
I just think of the extra interest on the mortgage this is going to cost us in the long haul so I will have to make that up. Once our debt is paid off I want to start plugging away at the mortgage. Even if we put an extra $250 a month onto the principle that would be a start.
Well, I can foresee many more no spend days in our future :).
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