Payoff: Month 11

October:

cc 1,2,3,4,5: 0

Loan 1: 0
Loan 2: 8431.85
Loan 3: 9474.24

Debt: 17906.09
Paid: 750.66


November:

cc 1,2,3,4,5: 0

Loan 1: 0
Loan 2: 7871.85
Loan 3: 9264.81

Debt: 17136.66
Paid: 769.43

Total Paid: 26771.22

Added to savings: 1750
Total Savings: ~7250

As you can see from the last couple of posts, we have scaled back on our debt repayment. I am currently paying $560 to loan 2 and $250 to loan 3. Anything else which would go to these loans are going into savings. Our savings should start building quickly. I will have the OB paid in January, but I still don't know what the hospital will cost or how my maternity will work out. Once all that is taken care of, we will pay the debt again with whatever is left.

Payoff: Month 10

September

cc 1,2,3,4,5: 0

Loan 1: 0
Loan 2: 8991.85
Loan 3: 9664.90

Debt: 18656.75
Paid: 1995.93

October:

cc 1,2,3,4,5: 0

Loan 1: 0
Loan 2: 8431.85
Loan 3: 9474.24

Debt: 17906.09
Paid: 750.66

Total Paid: 26001.79

Added to savings: 2000
Total Savings: ~5500

September Budget

September

Hi, yes, I know what month it is.

Things, as always, are crazy. My mother had major foot surgery over a month ago and I have been staying with her to help take care of her. Time at home has been intermittent and filled with laundry and not much else.

We are also slowly trying to prepare for Baby so, while I am home this weekend, we have been cleaning out the garage and the office, into which I am (hoping) going to move all the doll stuff, as the baby is going to go in the doll room. We have so much crap. I don't want to tell you how many HUGE boxes of packing peanuts I took out of my garage. Not to mention all the cardboard, aluminum and paper. By the time we got to actual boxes with actual stuff in it, we were beat and called it a day. I put the stuff on freecycle, and what isn't taken will go into recycling over the next few weeks. We had a crappy curbside recycling program until this summer, so we used to haul it ourselves. We stopped doing that regularly, and it started piling up. When our trash service got changed to one that would take these things, we were just putting out what we were actually accumulating on a weekly basis and never got to the stores of stuff in the garage.

So, anyway....

Income: as normal

Fixed Expenses: Power has been high. No Termite or insurance this month, so extra money in other areas.

Debt: Just down to the last two. Large payment to the student loan.

Variable: I finally have a clothing fund. We had our convention, so I had some money for that. Smugmug renewal. I cut the amount for our lawn boy, as we probably won't be seeing him again til spring.

Our account balances were getting low, so I set some money aside to build them back up again. Somehow, that didn't work out quite as I planned, as my account is still reconciling negative. Hoping to float til the holidays, when we should see some extra money.

Payoff: Month 9

August:

cc 1,2,3,4,5: 0

Loan 1: 0
Loan 2: 11100.83
Loan 3: 9551.85

Debt: 20652.68
Paid: 2592.48

September

cc 1,2,3,4,5: 0

Loan 1: 0
Loan 2: 8991.85
Loan 3: 9664.90

Debt: 18656.75
Paid: 1995.93


Total Paid: 25251.13

I think I flipped what is loan "2" and "3" again. We paid less this month in order to bring up our waning bank balances. We also had an event over labor day weekend that I budgeted money for. We have crossed 25,000 paid ! We paid off the small loan! We have two loans and less than 20,000 left! This would all be very exciting, however, with the baby on the way we will not be seeing much movement in the debt in the coming months. I will start keeping a tally of our savings now. The goal before was to have all debts paid by April (my 35th bday). Now, we will save that money instead, and should be able to pay my dad off right after the baby is born, and pay the last loan by next December, depending on costs associated with having and daycareing the baby.

This changes everything.

Wondering where I've been?




Quite the surprise. This is me hoping no one I actually know reads this. It took three months. While they were happening, it was starting to feel long and tedious and like it was going to go on forever. I am sure helping that along was my belief that I was not going to be able to get pregnant on my own. It is really really early. I haven't even gotten in to a doctor yet. But the tests keep getting darker and darker, and there hasn't been any blood, so I am cautiously optimistic.

Even though we had been trying for a few months, this is really the first month I was comfortable with it happening, as we are past the halfway point and have only the two debts left. Each month it took meant more debt paid off. I've been recalculating and I think we can still be debt free by the end of 2011. That is really hard for me, since we were making such progress, and it is scary adding this new, expensive, person, so late in life, with no safety nets or fabulous retirement accounts. All I can do is hope that we know enough now to make good choices and let everyone else buy us the expensive stuff :) and give up our toys. Priorities change.

We are going to finish out the month on paper as it is (with a big payment to the student loan), but I am afraid after that the debt repayment is going to stagnante for a while. We will start building up our emergency and hospital fund instead. Hopefully after the baby comes, we can make a large lump sum payment to one of the loans.

No one knows. It is really hard keeping my mouth shut.

Payoff: Month 8

July

cc 1,2,3,4,5: 0

Loan 1: 1961.64
Loan 2: 10111.85
Loan 3: 11171.67

Debt:23245.16
Paid: 2399.61



August:

cc 1,2,3,4,5: 0

Loan 1: 0
Loan 2: 11100.83
Loan 3: 9551.85

Debt: 20652.68
Paid: 2592.48

Total Paid: 23255.20

All credit cards are done. We paid off the small student loan. I readjusted the loan to my dad back to the full length payoff amount. Will readjust when we know better when it will be paid. Excited to start hitting the student loan hard. Passed the halfway mark!! Just shy of the $20,000 mark.

August Budget

Revenue:

I had an extra paycheck this month.

Fixed Expenses:

I was being ridiculously optimistic about power. Termite due this month.

Debt Repayment:

Pay off Student loan #1! Minimum payments to #2 and my dad.

Variable Expenses:

I gave us raises on our personal amounts this month. I put in a clothing budget (finally!!). I am desperate for new underwear. My panties all have holes and are unravelling. My underwire has popped out of my bra and is giving my bruises in my arm. Also, as we approach fall and winter, I desperately need work appropriate winter clothes. I wore the same four sweaters from November - March last year.

Funds:

Lowered our repair amount to help cover our trip and the clothing. I wanted to put all of my extra paycheck into savings, but gave some of it to cover other things.

Trip Summary

Back from our trip.

While we didn't meet the individual budget goals, we came out under overall.

There was $415 in the travel fund in August. We added $100 of the August grocery money to that. I budgeted that money as above for gas, groceries, eating out, and a buffer.

Our stay was free, as it is a family home. We had to clean the place before we left and do some minor repairs and checking while there. We did spend some of our money (grocery) on these tasks. We only ate out once, at my favorite restaurant. Other spending in the restaurant category was for food on the road to and from. I grossly overestimated the gas spending. I think the last time I drove down there was when the gas prices were really high, and I was going off what I remembered spending that time. I also expected us to putter around more while there and need a fillup during the week. We only had to fill up at the beginning and midway each way, for under $50 each direction. I had to mail some packages while there, and that is my "other" expense. (Most of these are rounded up, by the way).

The big hit was groceries. I was shocked at the prices there, and almost no sales. We had to shop Publix, and it was freaking expensive, and like I said, no good sales. I think all the prices were inflated. Even with coupons, it was painful. Later in the week we went out to Walmart (which is much further away) but the deals there were so much better.

We still came in under budget, though I do feel I was a bit of a tightwad about it, but I don't think we suffered for it. We aren't big eater-outters anyway. $74 back into the travel jar.

Plugging others~

This is a fellow blogger on a TTC message board I am on. She is giving away a care package including a really cool cup and some ic's. She also makes beautiful graphics. Check her out.

In related news.... We are on our 5th anniversary (non-Hawaiian) trip. I am relaxing and enjoying some time away from work drama. I love my job, but there is some petty juvenile I'm-not-your-friend stuff going on that is wearing on me, so I am glad to be away. Additionally, I should be ovulating next week, so I am hoping to give this my undivided attention this month. It would be really cool to come back with a little anniversary souvenir. I hope the stress free relaxation and copious free time will be good for our mission.

I have all my budget stuff with me. I do not have a scanner here, so posting will have to wait til I get back. We have our August budget and also a trip budget for our trip. I am going to work on the June income statement (which is mostly done) and have that ready to post when I get home. By then I should have what I need to do July too. We will be paying off the little student loan next week, so I am in a really good place with getting pregnant now. The last two loans are going to take a while, but will be doable even if we do get pregnant at this point.

Payoff: Month 7

June:

cc 1,2,3,4: 0
cc5: 1702.95

Loan 1: 3960.03
Loan 2: 10413.44
Loan 3: 11271.30

Debt: 27347.72
Paid: 2941.27

July

cc 1,2,3,4,5: 0

Loan 1: 1961.64
Loan 2: 10111.85
Loan 3: 11171.67

Debt:23245.16
Paid: 2399.61

Total Paid: 20662.72

Yay no credit cards!! My husband made the comment when he got his statement that he didn't think he had ever seen a 0 interest amount on a statement. We also crossed the $20,000 debt paid mark and are a couple thousand from the halfway mark. On the one hand, that makes it feel much more doable, but it still seems really daunting. Is it possible that the first half is easier than the second half? Maybe because the two debts left are so large and we aren't going to see as fast results. The little loan will be paid off in a couple of weeks. I think I have recommitted to paying the student loan before my dad, which means we won't see another payoff til February, at the earliest. I also readjusted the amount due to my dad to reflect this change.