January Update

February is nearly over, and this is me finally updating for the month of January.  Two positive things of note as of late:

1.  We just transferred the balance of one (of two) of our cards with balances from a 16% APR to 2.9%.  If all goes well, it should be completely paid off in five months anyway, but the savings in interest will be huge, and will give our payments more power, and

2.  Our tax return was the exact amount needed for the deposit on my yoga teacher training.  The rest does not have to be paid until July, and while it will of course slow down our debt repayment for a month or two, it is going to be money very well spent.

February will show a very modest decrease (if at all), but March should get us back on track.

Total Debt for January:
Down by $340.24

A much overdue update...

It's been brought to my attention that I have been woefully ignoring this blog.  And it's true... it's been months, and it's embarrassing.  But take heart, faithful readers (all three of you):  I have not forgotten about this blog, and I have definitely not forgotten about its mission.  Paying off our debt is still a hugely important part of our life, and will continue to be for a long time to come.

So, for that update...

2011 was a good year.  I am thankful and humbled that even when the country as a whole was still having a terrible time financially, we were personally finally starting to feel an upswing (the depressingly sinking value of our house notwithstanding).  All told, our total debt went down $12,565.83 in 2011, and we hit a very cool milestone when we dropped below 300K - including house, cars, and other debt.  And that was with taking a 3-week, cross-country road trip.  Now, one could argue that it wasn't very smart or responsible to spend so much money on a vacation when we still owe 5 figures to credit cards alone.  And hey, that may very well be the case.  But having done it, having taken a family adventure like that, a trip that was literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience, would we do it again?

Yes, yes, a million times yes.

Did it slow down our debt repayment for the year?  Of course.  Was it worth it?  Yes!

We're cautiously optimistic about an even better 2012.  There won't be any three week vacations this year, but there will be a week to ten day trip to San Diego this fall, and starting in April I will be doing something I've wanted to do for years now, and start the process to get certified to teach yoga.  Those two big expenses aside, our "extra" money will again be earmarked for debt.

A couple of tangible goals for the year:

1)  Pay off another credit card, leaving us with just ONE remaining card with a balance.
2)  Pay off my car, leaving us with ZERO car payments, and two outright-owned vehicles!  We'll keep putting money aside, so that when the time comes, we can pay cash for our next used car. 
2)  Refinance our house.  Like lots of people, we are ridiculously ridiculously upside down on our mortgage, and there is finally a refinance option that may show some benefits for us.
4)  Bring in some additional income.  This one is all on me.  And I don't really want to bring in an income for the sake of bringing in an income.... but as a side effect of finally allowing myself to pursue some of my own passions:  writing, blogging, and teaching yoga.  And I am SO EXCITED about all of the above.

As for this blog, I want to commit to updating it at least a few times a month again, both for those of you reading, and for myself.

Happy, healthy, and abundant New Year, just a couple of weeks late.

September Update & Naysayers

I have been keeping this blog for three years this month, and for the vast majority of that time, everyone has been extremely supportive and kind. In fact, it took almost this entire time before I received even one negative comment about my writings about money. It wasn't even here; it happened when I took the - rather uncomfortable - step to talk about one of my shortcomings when it comes to money on my main blog. I think it's interesting that it's practically commonplace for people to brag about money, and it's completely socially acceptable to complain about money... but somehow saying the hard things and admitting an area where I might have need for improvement, and I'm ripe for ridicule.  And you know what?  Go right ahead, be cruel.  Make fun of me, throw my vulnerability in my face, try to make me feel bad. I'll pick myself up, remind myself of Dave Ramsey's words, "live like no one else so you can live like no one else", and shake it off. While it would be nice to be debt-free and, therefore, free of the need for the blog in the first place... it isn't happening in the near (or not as near) future. So, I'll keep plugging and I'll keep blogging... naysayers be damned.

Total debt for September:
Down by 2020.11

August Update

I spent a good portion of last month extremely stressed out about money... feeling the impact of a three week cross country vacation, and anticipating another 4 day, 4 figure jaunt to San Diego for a conference. What on earth were we thinking spending that kind of money? Was it a responsible thing to do, given that we should be focused on getting out of debt? But I don't regret it, on either front. It's paid for. And this month, I'm once again feeling hopeful and positive, because 1) we have no more vacations or extra big expenses planned for a good long while, and 2) we just took advantage of a great transfer interest rate and paid off one of our existing cards... which means that we're down to just two cards, our payments will have much more spending power and our balance will come down even faster. Yes!

Total Debt for August:
Down by $1263.16

Updates, Vacations, and Staying on Budget

It has come to my attention that I skipped an entire month of updating. I thought about going back and doing an update for June too.... but ultimately decided that I'd just consider my hand slapped and move right along into July.

Our three week vacation has come and gone, and if you read my main blog, you'll know that it could not have possibly gone any better. Truly. We've been home for almost three weeks now, and I'm still a little awed by it (and still a little tired by it.) In hindsight, was it really the best idea to take such an expensive vacation when we're trying to pay off so much debt? Probably not. Was it 100% worth it anyway? Absolutely. And the great part - financially speaking - was that it held no unpleasant surprises when it came to money. Husband worked for weeks and weeks on a budget... figuring gas money, hotel money, food money, entertainment money. Over and over he'd make these little tweaks here and there until he finally pronounced it finished.

Anyway, when all was said and done, and we'd visited all our people and gone all our places and bought all the souvenirs... we added up all the receipts. And we were over his proposed budget by barely $200 ($80 of which was an unplanned nose piercing) Pretty amazing really. I couldn't even begin to make a budget like that, but he did it well, and even seemed to enjoy it (which might have something to do with the fact that he is involved in making budgets for a living, and I am not)

Of course, facing expenses now that we're home is another story. There are suddenly a lot of them, from Cub Scout and basketball and gymnastics registrations, to Diamondbacks games and birthdays and an unschooling conference. It'll work out, and we'll get there. Of this I'm sure. And I am very, very thankful that we're able to do all the things we do with not only not going further into debt, but also continuing to pull ourselves out - however slow it may seem at the time. Still, it is frustrating to have that constant feeling of, "Next month we'll get back on track."

I need to say it though: Next month we'll get back on track.

Total debt for July (only because our most recent payments for the trip are not yet reflected):
Up by $1334.69

May Numbers and Car Repairs

It's been a bad couple of weeks to be a vehicle in this household. First was husband's brakes. Next was a pricey timing belt (and some other things I can't remember) on mine. This past weekend husband's transmission went, and yesterday mine decided to simply not go after it had been stopped at a red light.

Some of it has been paid for, and some of it has not. Coupled with trying to prepare for nearly a month long vacation, it's made for a financially stressful spring. Still, we're making (slow) progress, even if it's of the two-steps-forward, one-step-back variety.


Total debt for May:
Down by $586.10

Upgrades, Downgrades, and April Numbers

Wow, what a month we had. Lots of financial ups and downs in a short period of time. And in the span of just a few days, we traded in my Sequoia for an older (but nicer) Land Cruiser, which netted us around a $3000 savings in car loans, and spent $2500 on a host of repairs for Mike's truck.

I keep thinking, "next month will be a calmer month", but we have an upcoming conference to pay for, and of course our nearly month-long trip this summer. Clothes to buy, car maintenance to be done, hotels to book. Lots of little details that I'm trying not to stress about just yet.

All told, our total debt still went down for the month, and I have hopes for at least a modest reduction next month as well.

Total debt for April:
Down by $715.01