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!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
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.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Memberships: Are they worth it?
Costco/Sam's Club - When Jason and I first got married, one of the first things we did (after the honeymoon) was borrow a guest card from his mom and check out our local Sam's club. We actually did this as we checked out just about every local grocery store we thought we might be visiting. We kept a notebook of items we'd probably purchase regularly, and wrote down the prices for each. We discovered that most of what we would buy we could get much cheaper at Aldi, and Aldi doesn't charge a membership fee. If we had 8 children, the bulk pricing might make sense for us. Until the octuplets arrive, however, we won't be spending money on membership fees for groceries.
Netflix - If you borrow movies from your local movie rental store regularly, Netflix might make sense to you. We're great friends with a family of five who live in a very small house. Finding room to store DVD's doesn't make a lot of sense for them, and Netflix is a very cost-effective entertainment source. For us, we get movies from the lbirary. If we really love a movie, we'll ask for it on our amazon wish list, and we'll probably get it for Christmas or our birthday.
Store Discount - Our favorite bookstore charges $25/year for their discount card. The card saves you at least 10% on most purchases, and more when they have a special going. However, we never spend that $250/year it would take to make it worth it for us. Again, we get most of our books at the library. If we really want something, we can usually get it at amazon for a cheaper price, with free shipping, and we don't even have to leave the house (or pay the membership fee).
AAA - A few years ago, our little old red car (which we still have) started having trouble. It would sometimes decide it was too cold or too tired to actually start when we needed to get somewhere. After that happened more than once, we decided it was time to get AAA. Between the towing service, the discounts, and the travel packages, we have definitely come out ahead on our membership fees. Like any insurance, part of what you pay for is the ability to not worry if something goes wrong. For us, this fee is definitely worth it.
Library - Okay, so the library isn't exactly a place you expect to pay money. However, it is well worth it to take advantage of this membership. If I see or hear about a book or film I'd like to know more about, I go to my library website, find it, put it on hold, and have it delivered to my local library. It's difficult for me to look around at the life I have now and try to find some aspect of it that hasn't been enriched by our library system in one way or another. This is not a request. It's a demand. If you haven't gone in a while, GO TO THE LIBRARY. You'll be glad you did.
To summarize, look at what you spend (or don't spend) in membership costs carefully. Don't just consider if it "might" save you money. Ask yourself, "Will this definitely save you money?"
Did a forget I membership worth considering? Let us know in the comment section below.
Monday, January 18, 2010
A Quick Experiment to Try On Your Own
Sitting here and thinking about our debt (as I often do), I got to wondering about a very basic question -- how much in interest do we pay every month?
Now, we all know about interest -- it's what gets paid for someone using someone else's money. The bank pays you interest (though not very much) for you leaving your money with them. But flip the interest coin over, and there's you, paying someone else (the mortgage company, the government, the credit card company) to use their money. Odds are you're paying much more out in interest than you're ever receiving.
But how much in interest, exactly, are you paying out every month? We all look at our "minimum monthly payment" or the total amount we pay, but rarely do we take the time to compute how much of that total amount is being paid just for the privilege of having borrowed someone else's money.
So, I decided to figure it out for us, looking at how much we've paid here in January 2010 because we were too impatient to save for some large expenses (because, let's face it, if we have the ability to pay off these debts, then instead, we could have waited and saved the money to pay cash in the first place -- we just didn't want to take the time to do so).
First is the mortgage. Going to the website (a great thing to do on a regular basis, just to keep tabs on things), I see that for our last regular mortgage payment on January 1, we paid $487.65 in interest. Now, if you consider that, as I write this, the balance is still somewhere north of $98,000, that's not a great amount, but if you look at that in every-day run-of-the-mill numbers, that's kind of scary. (What would your significant other/parent/sibling/friend say if they knew you went out and dropped almost $500 on something which vanished as soon as you paid for it?)
Now, the student loan. Thankfully, since the balance is lower (just a hair over $22,000), and the rate is lower, the interest paid is much less -- only $66.55. Still not great, but the amount of a really nice (at least for us) restaurant meal and movie ... but without the full stomach and feeling of satisfaction.
So, grand total we're paying in interest every month? $554.20.
Your turn. Go on and figure this out, exactly -- no guessing or assuming. Be honest with yourself -- you deserve that much. Go on, do your calculations. I'll wait ...
Good. Now that you've done that, it's time for the painful step -- put it into terms you can understand.
I just got my paycheck from church for being music director, and after taxes (and all those fun government fees) and other deductions, I got $557.55. What does that mean? It means that for the first two weeks of this year, I kept our church's music ministries alive, attended meetings, worked with soloists and groups, networked, tried to recruit people to the choir, selected music, practiced, performed -- and ended up with only $3.35. Nearly one whole paycheck went just to interest! It's even worse if I had chosen to use my paycheck from being a school librarian -- the interest would have swallowed one of those checks whole and still been hungry!
This then, my friends, is why my wife and I are so very anxious to get out of debt. Right now, I'm spending twenty-four weeks of the year working one of my jobs, just to pay the interest on our loans; I have to work even longer to pay the actual required payment with principal and interest (just over 34 weeks). This journey then is not just about money -- it's about freedom: the loans disappear, and so does this form of monetary bondage.
I urge you to try this for yourself, and then if you're so inclined, share your results with us in the comments section.
Now, we all know about interest -- it's what gets paid for someone using someone else's money. The bank pays you interest (though not very much) for you leaving your money with them. But flip the interest coin over, and there's you, paying someone else (the mortgage company, the government, the credit card company) to use their money. Odds are you're paying much more out in interest than you're ever receiving.But how much in interest, exactly, are you paying out every month? We all look at our "minimum monthly payment" or the total amount we pay, but rarely do we take the time to compute how much of that total amount is being paid just for the privilege of having borrowed someone else's money.
So, I decided to figure it out for us, looking at how much we've paid here in January 2010 because we were too impatient to save for some large expenses (because, let's face it, if we have the ability to pay off these debts, then instead, we could have waited and saved the money to pay cash in the first place -- we just didn't want to take the time to do so).
First is the mortgage. Going to the website (a great thing to do on a regular basis, just to keep tabs on things), I see that for our last regular mortgage payment on January 1, we paid $487.65 in interest. Now, if you consider that, as I write this, the balance is still somewhere north of $98,000, that's not a great amount, but if you look at that in every-day run-of-the-mill numbers, that's kind of scary. (What would your significant other/parent/sibling/friend say if they knew you went out and dropped almost $500 on something which vanished as soon as you paid for it?)
Now, the student loan. Thankfully, since the balance is lower (just a hair over $22,000), and the rate is lower, the interest paid is much less -- only $66.55. Still not great, but the amount of a really nice (at least for us) restaurant meal and movie ... but without the full stomach and feeling of satisfaction.
So, grand total we're paying in interest every month? $554.20.
Your turn. Go on and figure this out, exactly -- no guessing or assuming. Be honest with yourself -- you deserve that much. Go on, do your calculations. I'll wait ...
Good. Now that you've done that, it's time for the painful step -- put it into terms you can understand.
I just got my paycheck from church for being music director, and after taxes (and all those fun government fees) and other deductions, I got $557.55. What does that mean? It means that for the first two weeks of this year, I kept our church's music ministries alive, attended meetings, worked with soloists and groups, networked, tried to recruit people to the choir, selected music, practiced, performed -- and ended up with only $3.35. Nearly one whole paycheck went just to interest! It's even worse if I had chosen to use my paycheck from being a school librarian -- the interest would have swallowed one of those checks whole and still been hungry!
This then, my friends, is why my wife and I are so very anxious to get out of debt. Right now, I'm spending twenty-four weeks of the year working one of my jobs, just to pay the interest on our loans; I have to work even longer to pay the actual required payment with principal and interest (just over 34 weeks). This journey then is not just about money -- it's about freedom: the loans disappear, and so does this form of monetary bondage.
I urge you to try this for yourself, and then if you're so inclined, share your results with us in the comments section.
Friday, January 15, 2010
The Great Pantry Experiment, day 15
Fifteen days in, and we just finished off our second of three meals of pumpkin pancakes. This experiment has given us some very interesting new meals, and there's still plenty of food in the pantry and freezer. We made another stop at the grocery tonight and got the following:
4 avocados -- $4.00
1 bag of carrots -- $1.00
2 bags of salad -- $2.00
1 bag of potatoes -- $1.00
2 loaves of bread -- $2.00
1 bag of flour -- $1.74
1 bag of soup crackers -- $0.00
Total -- $11.74
Experiment total -- $22.57
Well, they were having a special -- 10 items for $10, and get the 11th item free, so we took the crackers free since we've got some soup meals coming up. We also got a few other non-grocery items (trash bags, deodorant, face lotion, and wet wipes for wiping down the cats' litter box). With the purchase tonight, we won't have to buy fruit, yogurt, or bread until February. It would have been nice to have that total be a little lower, but it still is far less than we usually would have spent on groceries in this same amount of time.
Also on the good news front, you can see that our debt amount dropped by around $500 or so between both the mortgage and student loans. There's another $210 which is wending its way through cyberspace to attack the mortgage, and another $556 or so will be following first thing next week. Chipping away at these loans in these small couple-hundred-dollar increments can sometimes make it feel like the loans will never go away completely, but deep down I know that this is the right way to get it done. I'm just anticipating the day when I can triumphantly announce here that we've payed off our first $5,000, our first $10,000.
So, for now, we'll celebrate passing the $3,300-paid-off mark, and look forward to more milestones in the near future. Anyone out there have some milestone, some accomplishment they want to share? By all means, post it in the comments section below and let us all share in your happiness!
4 avocados -- $4.00
1 bag of carrots -- $1.00
2 bags of salad -- $2.00
1 bag of potatoes -- $1.00
2 loaves of bread -- $2.00
1 bag of flour -- $1.74
1 bag of soup crackers -- $0.00
Total -- $11.74
Experiment total -- $22.57
Well, they were having a special -- 10 items for $10, and get the 11th item free, so we took the crackers free since we've got some soup meals coming up. We also got a few other non-grocery items (trash bags, deodorant, face lotion, and wet wipes for wiping down the cats' litter box). With the purchase tonight, we won't have to buy fruit, yogurt, or bread until February. It would have been nice to have that total be a little lower, but it still is far less than we usually would have spent on groceries in this same amount of time.
Also on the good news front, you can see that our debt amount dropped by around $500 or so between both the mortgage and student loans. There's another $210 which is wending its way through cyberspace to attack the mortgage, and another $556 or so will be following first thing next week. Chipping away at these loans in these small couple-hundred-dollar increments can sometimes make it feel like the loans will never go away completely, but deep down I know that this is the right way to get it done. I'm just anticipating the day when I can triumphantly announce here that we've payed off our first $5,000, our first $10,000.
So, for now, we'll celebrate passing the $3,300-paid-off mark, and look forward to more milestones in the near future. Anyone out there have some milestone, some accomplishment they want to share? By all means, post it in the comments section below and let us all share in your happiness!
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