Before I get to the main part of the post, an update -- everything is done on the refinancing through ING Direct except the closing, which hopefully will take place in the next week. So far it all looks good, so now it's just a matter of finishing up the fiddling paperwork. Fun.
Now, to the main thrust of this post ...
At least on the surface, what I have to talk about today doesn't appear to have much to do with finances, but watch my literary legerdemain and see how I tie it all back in....
Every year, Amazon.com runs the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest (ABNA). I have a young adult novel -- "The Coming of the Heroes" -- I've been working on for the better part of eight or nine years, so I submitted it to the contest back in January. From an initial pool of 5,000 young adult entries, my novel is now one of the top 250.
I'm inviting anyone and everyone to check out my excerpt (the prologue and first chapter) and, if the mood takes you, to rate it and leave me a review. The more reviews I can get, the better the novel will look overall, which is always a good thing.
So, how do you rate it, you ask? Simple...
1. Click here.
2. If you have a Kindle device, skip to step 3. If you don't, look at the right side of the screen, and there you'll see some options to download a free Kindle reader to your device -- PC, MAC, iPhone, Blackberry, etc. Click the one you want, and then install the software.
3. Now, go back to the page you went to in step 1. Over at the right side of the screen, click on the "Buy now with 1-click" button. Don't worry, it's free.
4. Read it. Then, down at the bottom of the page, click on "Create your own review" to rate and review the excerpt. This won't help me through to the next level of the contest, but if I progress far enough, these reviews will effect the hearts and minds of people who could potentially put me on even further.
So what does this all have to do with finances, you ask? I could take the easy route and say, "Well, if I win the contest, there's a publishing contract on the line, with a $15,000 advance against royalties." You see, there's a dollar sign in that sentence, so it must have to do with money, right?
But I won't take the easy route. Instead, I'll get philosophical for a moment...
Why do we want money? The simple answer is that we want money so we can do what we want to do, what we love to do, what we were born to do (or, if you're a Lost fan, what we're destined to do). Now, I don't claim any sort of divinely-given purpose, but I do know that I love to create things. I'm already a composer and arranger with many pieces in print, and no matter how many pieces I write, I'm always excited to get to the next piece.
The same is true of writing. I haven't had the success yet with writing that I've had with composing, but I love to do it just as much. Progressing in this contest just gets me closer to my dream, which is to live my life doing nothing but creating. More than the creating, though, is being able to share what I create with others, not out of a selfish "look at me!" purpose, but because I hope that what I've made will touch peoples' lives, and perhaps make those lives just a bit better. Even if I don't win the contest, the farther I progress, the more marketable my work becomes, and the more likely I'll be able to get my book out there where I'll have a real chance to share it with others.
So, a big thank you in advance for taking the time and effort to look at my excerpt, and if you feel called to rate and review it, so much the better. With spring break starting tomorrow, hopefully it'll be easier to find the time to write here more. In the meantime, enjoy the weather spring has to offer.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Answers to Reader Questions
A couple of our readers have asked some questions about our ongoing refinancing, so I thought I'd address them here:
Honestly, the only documents which aren't "within our reach" are all forms they sent for us to fill out and return (which we've got and are easy to fill out). All they needed form-wise were recent pay stubs (most recent for each of us), last 2 years of W-2s (fairly easy as it's tax time), and the declaration page from our homeowner's insurance (not sure exactly what they want, but I think I've got something close). Yeah, if we needed the number of items most mortgages require, we might balk, as well.
As for the adjustable rate, the mortgage we've got doesn't adjust at all during the 5 years we have it, and as our plan and goal is to be rid of the blasted thing before the 5 years are up, we're considering that we've got a 3.75% rate for the effective remaining life of the loan. If we weren't planning on killing the thing off before the 5 years were up, we'd never refi.
If we don't make it and still have some balance left at the end of 5 years, even if that remaining balance is at a higher rate, we still win. If we only pay the minimum payment (about $225 every two weeks), we'll have somewhere over $80,000 left after 5 years. Even paying twice that monthly payment takes a huge bite out of the remaining balance. With the amounts we'll be putting toward it, if we do have to roll over for another 5 years, we should have a nice manageable balance left, so even at a higher rate, it won't break the bank.
Thanks so much to SlyGly and RLOusley for the comments and questions -- keep them coming!
Brief refinancing update: we got the paperwork from ING Direct -- a bunch of papers to sign, no real surprise there. I'm going to wait until this weekend to get our most recent pay stubs (since it's pay week -- yeah!) and send those in along with everything else, probably electronically (I can scan and email all the documents in -- I love the digital age). As part of the packet, they also gave us a copy of our credit scores -- mine is 809, and Ellen's is 799 (probably because I have a credit card I've had since college, giving me a longer credit history than her). I've used calculators and other things online to guestimate our scores, but seeing exactly what they are is really good to see.
I'll be sure to let you all know how refinancing is going. In the meantime, keep the questions coming!
"You make it sound so easy! I am seriously considering refinancing. But every time I learn that I need to find some document that isn't immediately within my reach, I think, ugh, this can certainly wait until a later time..."
Honestly, the only documents which aren't "within our reach" are all forms they sent for us to fill out and return (which we've got and are easy to fill out). All they needed form-wise were recent pay stubs (most recent for each of us), last 2 years of W-2s (fairly easy as it's tax time), and the declaration page from our homeowner's insurance (not sure exactly what they want, but I think I've got something close). Yeah, if we needed the number of items most mortgages require, we might balk, as well.
"Based on the information I learned on your blog, my husband and I looked into refinancing with ING. Their 3.75% rate is great, but the adjustable factor scared us a bit. Thoughts?"
As for the adjustable rate, the mortgage we've got doesn't adjust at all during the 5 years we have it, and as our plan and goal is to be rid of the blasted thing before the 5 years are up, we're considering that we've got a 3.75% rate for the effective remaining life of the loan. If we weren't planning on killing the thing off before the 5 years were up, we'd never refi.
If we don't make it and still have some balance left at the end of 5 years, even if that remaining balance is at a higher rate, we still win. If we only pay the minimum payment (about $225 every two weeks), we'll have somewhere over $80,000 left after 5 years. Even paying twice that monthly payment takes a huge bite out of the remaining balance. With the amounts we'll be putting toward it, if we do have to roll over for another 5 years, we should have a nice manageable balance left, so even at a higher rate, it won't break the bank.
Thanks so much to SlyGly and RLOusley for the comments and questions -- keep them coming!
Brief refinancing update: we got the paperwork from ING Direct -- a bunch of papers to sign, no real surprise there. I'm going to wait until this weekend to get our most recent pay stubs (since it's pay week -- yeah!) and send those in along with everything else, probably electronically (I can scan and email all the documents in -- I love the digital age). As part of the packet, they also gave us a copy of our credit scores -- mine is 809, and Ellen's is 799 (probably because I have a credit card I've had since college, giving me a longer credit history than her). I've used calculators and other things online to guestimate our scores, but seeing exactly what they are is really good to see.
I'll be sure to let you all know how refinancing is going. In the meantime, keep the questions coming!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Starting "The Ball" Rolling
And just what is "the ball"? Why, the big orange ball of ING Direct (www.ingdirect.com). I went online yesterday, filled out all the necessary screens, and clicked "submit" to start our application to refinance our mortgage.
Nothing happened.
So I clicked "submit" again. Again nothing, save a nice error message telling me to wait and try again, and if the problem persisted, I should call ING Direct.
Now, I hate talking to people on the phone -- always have, likely always will. I prefer to think in words and text instead of speech. But we'd put the process off for too long, so I called. God bless a bank which has customer service people in on a Sunday (even if they're in Los Angeles and likely have far nicer weather than we do here).
I worked with the gentleman (sadly, I don't remember his name) and in about a half hour we had everything approved, rolling, and moving along. Our rate is locked in at 3.75% (it dropped since our last post here), and now we just need to get some documents from them, sign them, and send them copies of some of our information (homeowners insurance declaration page, two years' worth of W-2s, and recent paystubs -- very normal-type things). After that, they process the whole thing, then someone from a title company comes to our house, we sign things, and badda-bing, badda-boom (yeah, I can't believe I used words like "badda-bing" either) we're refinanced. Our payment will be $225.77 every two weeks, which we'll electronically debit from our Electric Orange checking account at ING Direct. Couldn't be any simpler.
Not only does this drastically reduce the interest we'll be paying every month, but the amount we absolutely need to have on hand every month to pay the regular bills drops by about $650. I'm not a big fan of bureaucracy, and I'll be a much happier camper once the whole closing process is done, but I'm just a little giddy that we're just that much closer to our financial goals.
Anyone else refinanced lately, or thinking of refinancing? Feel free to share in the comments section. And, as always, if you've got any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Nothing happened.
So I clicked "submit" again. Again nothing, save a nice error message telling me to wait and try again, and if the problem persisted, I should call ING Direct.
Now, I hate talking to people on the phone -- always have, likely always will. I prefer to think in words and text instead of speech. But we'd put the process off for too long, so I called. God bless a bank which has customer service people in on a Sunday (even if they're in Los Angeles and likely have far nicer weather than we do here).
I worked with the gentleman (sadly, I don't remember his name) and in about a half hour we had everything approved, rolling, and moving along. Our rate is locked in at 3.75% (it dropped since our last post here), and now we just need to get some documents from them, sign them, and send them copies of some of our information (homeowners insurance declaration page, two years' worth of W-2s, and recent paystubs -- very normal-type things). After that, they process the whole thing, then someone from a title company comes to our house, we sign things, and badda-bing, badda-boom (yeah, I can't believe I used words like "badda-bing" either) we're refinanced. Our payment will be $225.77 every two weeks, which we'll electronically debit from our Electric Orange checking account at ING Direct. Couldn't be any simpler.
Not only does this drastically reduce the interest we'll be paying every month, but the amount we absolutely need to have on hand every month to pay the regular bills drops by about $650. I'm not a big fan of bureaucracy, and I'll be a much happier camper once the whole closing process is done, but I'm just a little giddy that we're just that much closer to our financial goals.
Anyone else refinanced lately, or thinking of refinancing? Feel free to share in the comments section. And, as always, if you've got any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Taxman ... Yeah, The Taxman ...
With all apologies to the Beatles, it's starting to be that time of year when we all look at our W-2s and fill out our form 1040s. I've used TurboTax for the past several years, and it makes life so much simpler. I won't say it makes the task of doing taxes fun, but it does take some of the sting out of it.
One thing that does sting -- at least on the surface -- is that number that pops out when it's done. Now, the whole thing is just preliminary right now, since I need to go back and verify a few things before I send it off to Uncle Sam, but the numbers are only going to change a few dollars either way.
The results? I owe Uncle Sam about $1,566, and Indiana owes me about $140.
Ouch.
This has happened ever since I started working for myself teaching piano lessons and composing music. That number gets a little bigger every year, and as it does so does the smile on my face.
Huh?
That $1,566 I owe Uncle Sam is money which has been in my hands, in my bank account, working for me, lowering my debts, saving me or making me interest, instead of helping out the government. Oh, they'll still get their portion -- give to Caesar what is Caesar's and all that -- but not before it's due them, and in the meantime, it'll be doing me all manner of good.
When you do get finished with your taxes this year, take a critical look. If you got a refund -- especially of the "whopping" variety -- have your withholding changed so that money is yours all year long, not just when April rolls around. If you're worried you won't have the money to pay when the time comes, put it aside in an interest-bearing account until you need it.
(On a more personal note, now that the taxes are done, I think it's about time to get that mortgage refinancing underway. Rates dropped an eighth of a point in the past couple of weeks, so if we act fast, we can knock over two percent off our mortgage, and quite a bit off our monthly payment.)
Anyone else want to share your thoughts about taxes? Comment section is below -- share away!
One thing that does sting -- at least on the surface -- is that number that pops out when it's done. Now, the whole thing is just preliminary right now, since I need to go back and verify a few things before I send it off to Uncle Sam, but the numbers are only going to change a few dollars either way.
The results? I owe Uncle Sam about $1,566, and Indiana owes me about $140.
Ouch.
This has happened ever since I started working for myself teaching piano lessons and composing music. That number gets a little bigger every year, and as it does so does the smile on my face.
Huh?
That $1,566 I owe Uncle Sam is money which has been in my hands, in my bank account, working for me, lowering my debts, saving me or making me interest, instead of helping out the government. Oh, they'll still get their portion -- give to Caesar what is Caesar's and all that -- but not before it's due them, and in the meantime, it'll be doing me all manner of good.
When you do get finished with your taxes this year, take a critical look. If you got a refund -- especially of the "whopping" variety -- have your withholding changed so that money is yours all year long, not just when April rolls around. If you're worried you won't have the money to pay when the time comes, put it aside in an interest-bearing account until you need it.
(On a more personal note, now that the taxes are done, I think it's about time to get that mortgage refinancing underway. Rates dropped an eighth of a point in the past couple of weeks, so if we act fast, we can knock over two percent off our mortgage, and quite a bit off our monthly payment.)
Anyone else want to share your thoughts about taxes? Comment section is below -- share away!
Monday, February 15, 2010
The End of the Great Pantry Experiment
Yes, our posts are getting less and less frequent. In my wife's defense, she's also taking grad school classes online which are taking up much of her time. In my defense, I have none.
Well, like all good things, the Great Pantry Experiment has come to a close with the end of our credit card statement on February 10. (Yes, I know it's the 15th. Tough.) Here is our final grocery break-down:
Bananas -- $1.73
Yogurt -- $2.40
Green Pepper -- $.90
Taco Saure -- $2.12
Milk -- $2.29
Potatoes -- $2.79
Bread -- $2.99 (but it was buy one get two free, so we got three loaves of really good bread for that price)
Ice Cream -- $2.99 (more on this later)
Pasta Sauce -- $2.06 (ditto)
Salad -- $2.00
Avocados -- $2.00
Total: $24.27
Experiment total: $74.28
We had a couple of my piano students over for the day and sort of splurged on ice cream and pasta sauce for a dinner to celebrate their successes at contest. Totally worth the extra few bucks.
So, was the Great Pantry Experiment a success? I would say so. We spent about $75 on a month and a half's worth of food (longer with some things like the extra two loaves of bread thrown in). Our credit card statement for January 10 through February 10 was right at $1900. Sounds like a lot, but when you take into account the following:
Grad School payment for my wife: $1275
Grad School books for my wife: $58
Oil change: $42
it's not so much, especially knowing that out of that credit card bill comes our home and cell phone bills, plus about $100 in gas every month. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than it would have been otherwise? Well, since there were no restaurant meals on there at all, I'd say that in and of itself makes it a success.
In other news ...
Well, there really isn't any "other news", except for the fact that the latest rumors we're hearing around the school district make it seem like both my wife and I will still be gainfully employed next year, which is a huge burden off our shoulders. What does that mean for our finances?
1) We're still going to keep adding to our Rainy Day account instead of paying off debt, at least until we have written confirmation that all will be well for the 2010-2011 school year.
2) We will probably go ahead and refinance our mortgage. We're paying 5.875% interest right now, and we can refinance through ING Direct (where we have many of our accounts) at about 3.875%. Not only that, but it drops our monthly payment from $1079 to about $500 (although we have to pay insurance and taxes ourselves, but that money may as well be earning interest for us instead of the mortgage company). The upshot of this is that, if our financial picture does drastically change, the amount per-month we need to pay out of pocket drops drastically, too, which will let that Rainy Day fund last us just that much longer.
3) Once we feel like we're in the clear job-wise, we will begin accelerating debt payments again, although our current thinking is that we'll put that extra money toward the student loan instead of the mortgage. Why? The difference in interest rates (after we refinance) will be minimal (3.25% vs. 3.875%), and we can pay off the student loans in much less time than we can pay off the mortgage. Once that loan is gone, that's $128 less we need to have on hand every month to make ends meet.
Regardless of the final outcome of this job "scare", we are being a little less cavalier about our finances. We're making sure we have our safety nets in order, and doing what we can to make sure that the amount we have to pay out every month is as low as possible, so that should the unforeseen happen, we're just that much more likely to be able to stay out of the poorhouse.
We still haven't given up on our goal of being debt free in 40 months; we're just taking a different path to get there. Same destination; different route.
I'll close with this ... I'm curious -- is anyone else out there doing anything different based on what they've read here? I've already heard of one of our readers who forewent (is that the past tense of forego?) buying a piano because of what we're trying to do here. Anyone else joining the debt-free bandwagon? If so, let us know!
Well, like all good things, the Great Pantry Experiment has come to a close with the end of our credit card statement on February 10. (Yes, I know it's the 15th. Tough.) Here is our final grocery break-down:
Bananas -- $1.73
Yogurt -- $2.40
Green Pepper -- $.90
Taco Saure -- $2.12
Milk -- $2.29
Potatoes -- $2.79
Bread -- $2.99 (but it was buy one get two free, so we got three loaves of really good bread for that price)
Ice Cream -- $2.99 (more on this later)
Pasta Sauce -- $2.06 (ditto)
Salad -- $2.00
Avocados -- $2.00
Total: $24.27
Experiment total: $74.28
We had a couple of my piano students over for the day and sort of splurged on ice cream and pasta sauce for a dinner to celebrate their successes at contest. Totally worth the extra few bucks.
So, was the Great Pantry Experiment a success? I would say so. We spent about $75 on a month and a half's worth of food (longer with some things like the extra two loaves of bread thrown in). Our credit card statement for January 10 through February 10 was right at $1900. Sounds like a lot, but when you take into account the following:
Grad School payment for my wife: $1275
Grad School books for my wife: $58
Oil change: $42
it's not so much, especially knowing that out of that credit card bill comes our home and cell phone bills, plus about $100 in gas every month. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than it would have been otherwise? Well, since there were no restaurant meals on there at all, I'd say that in and of itself makes it a success.
In other news ...
Well, there really isn't any "other news", except for the fact that the latest rumors we're hearing around the school district make it seem like both my wife and I will still be gainfully employed next year, which is a huge burden off our shoulders. What does that mean for our finances?
1) We're still going to keep adding to our Rainy Day account instead of paying off debt, at least until we have written confirmation that all will be well for the 2010-2011 school year.
2) We will probably go ahead and refinance our mortgage. We're paying 5.875% interest right now, and we can refinance through ING Direct (where we have many of our accounts) at about 3.875%. Not only that, but it drops our monthly payment from $1079 to about $500 (although we have to pay insurance and taxes ourselves, but that money may as well be earning interest for us instead of the mortgage company). The upshot of this is that, if our financial picture does drastically change, the amount per-month we need to pay out of pocket drops drastically, too, which will let that Rainy Day fund last us just that much longer.
3) Once we feel like we're in the clear job-wise, we will begin accelerating debt payments again, although our current thinking is that we'll put that extra money toward the student loan instead of the mortgage. Why? The difference in interest rates (after we refinance) will be minimal (3.25% vs. 3.875%), and we can pay off the student loans in much less time than we can pay off the mortgage. Once that loan is gone, that's $128 less we need to have on hand every month to make ends meet.
Regardless of the final outcome of this job "scare", we are being a little less cavalier about our finances. We're making sure we have our safety nets in order, and doing what we can to make sure that the amount we have to pay out every month is as low as possible, so that should the unforeseen happen, we're just that much more likely to be able to stay out of the poorhouse.
We still haven't given up on our goal of being debt free in 40 months; we're just taking a different path to get there. Same destination; different route.
I'll close with this ... I'm curious -- is anyone else out there doing anything different based on what they've read here? I've already heard of one of our readers who forewent (is that the past tense of forego?) buying a piano because of what we're trying to do here. Anyone else joining the debt-free bandwagon? If so, let us know!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Unexpected Rewards
Unexpectedly, I have been having a blast making meals from what we already had in our pantry and freezer. Today, I noticed we had some frozen blueberries that probably wouldn't be good for much longer. So, I took two cups of it and made homemade blueberry jam in our bread machine. Then, I took the last cup and made blueberry scones. I used the leftover blueberry juice from making the jam to flavor the tea we had with the scones. Would I have made these if we weren't trying to clear out the freezer? No way!
Because I can't just jot something on the grocery list every time I think of a meal idea for the week, I have to turn a critical eye toward what I already have. It's brought out the creative side of my cooking that's been dormant for quite some time.
Want to see what I mean? If you're not ready to try a month-long experiment like Jason and I, try a one night experiment. Look in your pantry and grab something at random. Then, see if you can't figure out something to mix with the item that you wouldn't normally try. You might be surprised how good the final product will be! Let us know how it goes in the comment section below.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Pantry Update and Dark Clouds
First, a hundred apologies for the lack of posts recently. In addition to the usual Lack of Time, there was the fun 48-hour period earlier this week where our DSL went belly-up.
Second, you can see from the numbers on the right that our mortgage has gone down some more (YAY!). Just how much it's gone down depends on when the last time was you looked at it.
Third, the past two weeks' worth of grocery updates. Here's what we bought:
January 22:
Meijer -- $3.18 (including an "illegal" bottle of store-brand diet soda. So sue me.)
Aldi -- $11.48 (including canned corn, milk, salad, green pepper, tortilla chips for all of our Mexican meals, and granola bars for Ellen's Wednesday-morning-rush breakfasts)
January 29:
Meijer -- $5.34 (bread, bananas, yogurt)
Aldi -- $7.44 (green pepper, milk, two types of crackers for all the soup we've been having)
Grand total: $27.44 for two weeks' worth of food.
I can also say that our freezers are looking barren, and all of our pizza-related foods (pizza rolls, frozen pizzas, etc.) are gone. I can see the back wall of the pantry in places where I couldn't before. We've had soup as a meal for at least 50% of our dinners the past three weeks, but Ellen comes up with such wonderful variations, that it doesn't get old. Not sure what she'll cook up this week, but surely it'll be warm, filling, and unexpected.
Fourth, the bad news ...
You all know what a rainy day account is, right? It's that money you have set aside so when you get that proverbial "rainy day" in your life (transmission dies, need a new furnace, or, God forbid, you lose your job), you've got some money to live on until the storm passes and the sun shines again in your life ... metaphorically speaking.
Well, at least for Ellen and I, we're starting to see storm clouds on the horizon. If you live in Indiana, you know our government has drastically cut funding to schools in what is quite possibly an attempt to just plain get them to fail. In the district where we both work, they're already facing a $1.4 million deficit, and it's only going to get worse. We know there are cuts coming, and that they'll be announced in the next couple of weeks. What we don't know is where those cuts will come, or how deep they'll be. There's a very real chance that one or the other of us (or both) will lose our jobs. My wife, at least, is guaranteed employment until August because of her contract. With me being non-certified, they can cut me at, literally, a moment's notice.
It doesn't help that I'm the librarian and my wife is the music teacher, some of the first things to go when times are tight.
For that reason, I've temporarily stopped putting all our extra money toward the mortgage, and am now throwing it all toward our Rainy Day account, which is, thankfully, just over $5,700. It's not a ton of money, but as we continue socking the money away, it will provide a greater and greater cushion. Plus, if we've judged wrong and this storm blows right on past us, the money is still sitting there, just waiting to take a hefty knock out of one of our debts.
Therein lies the problem with our plan (or a problem, however you want to look at it) -- if we put our extra money toward our debts, it's locked; we can't get it out again. If we put it into a savings account, it's accessible, but we're still paying on our debts month in and month out. Quite the catch-22.
So for now, our posts will change somewhat. We'll still post about frugality. We'll still talk about our money-saving tips. We'll still let you know what color the back wall of our pantry is (there's a rumor it's white, but once I can see it clearly, I'll let you know for sure). But we'll also let you know how our rainy day account is going, and how any potential change in employment will impact our plan to be debt free within the next 38 months. Because, while the road to being debt-free may have taken an unexpected turn, we know that the road we're on still leads inexorably to that destination, and that we will get there if we stay on the road. It may take an extra ten or twenty months, or even longer, but our goal is the same; only the circumstances have changed.
As always, we are thrilled to have all of you along for the ride with us. If you have any comments (or know where our school district can raise an immediate $1.4 million), please leave them below.
Second, you can see from the numbers on the right that our mortgage has gone down some more (YAY!). Just how much it's gone down depends on when the last time was you looked at it.
Third, the past two weeks' worth of grocery updates. Here's what we bought:
January 22:
Meijer -- $3.18 (including an "illegal" bottle of store-brand diet soda. So sue me.)
Aldi -- $11.48 (including canned corn, milk, salad, green pepper, tortilla chips for all of our Mexican meals, and granola bars for Ellen's Wednesday-morning-rush breakfasts)
January 29:
Meijer -- $5.34 (bread, bananas, yogurt)
Aldi -- $7.44 (green pepper, milk, two types of crackers for all the soup we've been having)
Grand total: $27.44 for two weeks' worth of food.
I can also say that our freezers are looking barren, and all of our pizza-related foods (pizza rolls, frozen pizzas, etc.) are gone. I can see the back wall of the pantry in places where I couldn't before. We've had soup as a meal for at least 50% of our dinners the past three weeks, but Ellen comes up with such wonderful variations, that it doesn't get old. Not sure what she'll cook up this week, but surely it'll be warm, filling, and unexpected.
Fourth, the bad news ...
You all know what a rainy day account is, right? It's that money you have set aside so when you get that proverbial "rainy day" in your life (transmission dies, need a new furnace, or, God forbid, you lose your job), you've got some money to live on until the storm passes and the sun shines again in your life ... metaphorically speaking.
Well, at least for Ellen and I, we're starting to see storm clouds on the horizon. If you live in Indiana, you know our government has drastically cut funding to schools in what is quite possibly an attempt to just plain get them to fail. In the district where we both work, they're already facing a $1.4 million deficit, and it's only going to get worse. We know there are cuts coming, and that they'll be announced in the next couple of weeks. What we don't know is where those cuts will come, or how deep they'll be. There's a very real chance that one or the other of us (or both) will lose our jobs. My wife, at least, is guaranteed employment until August because of her contract. With me being non-certified, they can cut me at, literally, a moment's notice.
It doesn't help that I'm the librarian and my wife is the music teacher, some of the first things to go when times are tight.
For that reason, I've temporarily stopped putting all our extra money toward the mortgage, and am now throwing it all toward our Rainy Day account, which is, thankfully, just over $5,700. It's not a ton of money, but as we continue socking the money away, it will provide a greater and greater cushion. Plus, if we've judged wrong and this storm blows right on past us, the money is still sitting there, just waiting to take a hefty knock out of one of our debts.
Therein lies the problem with our plan (or a problem, however you want to look at it) -- if we put our extra money toward our debts, it's locked; we can't get it out again. If we put it into a savings account, it's accessible, but we're still paying on our debts month in and month out. Quite the catch-22.
So for now, our posts will change somewhat. We'll still post about frugality. We'll still talk about our money-saving tips. We'll still let you know what color the back wall of our pantry is (there's a rumor it's white, but once I can see it clearly, I'll let you know for sure). But we'll also let you know how our rainy day account is going, and how any potential change in employment will impact our plan to be debt free within the next 38 months. Because, while the road to being debt-free may have taken an unexpected turn, we know that the road we're on still leads inexorably to that destination, and that we will get there if we stay on the road. It may take an extra ten or twenty months, or even longer, but our goal is the same; only the circumstances have changed.
As always, we are thrilled to have all of you along for the ride with us. If you have any comments (or know where our school district can raise an immediate $1.4 million), please leave them below.
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