September 2009 Weddings
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So, it's been a while since we all checked in -- how's the spending/saving going?
Accidental Smiles
updated 10.03.12


Re: SF: Roll Call
Not having my store CCs has proven to be a PITA, but the not spending while paying them off has proven to be very effective in cutting back my debt. Who knew?
I haven't truly bought anything for myself lately... of course part of this is because I only had $0.85 in my bank account til Friday. Anything I've spent money on has been for Sam, and that's ok, right?
And though my student loan has technically been deferred, and they told me my next payment wasn't due until July 2013, I made this month's payment anyway, and will continue to do so. So there.
updated 10.03.12
If you read my blog you know that things suck right now and that there is no spending going on. At all.
Sigh. I wanna be Team Poison. They look like they're having more fun...
Stand up for something you believe in.
Dx: Hashimoto's Hypothyroidism After 2 years TTC & failed IUs,we have our IVF baby born 9/24/11
LO#2 aka 'Miracle Baby' Orig. EDD= 9/28 EDD moved to 10/3/13
"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." -- Dale Carnegie
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." --Thomas A. Edison
Ok, sounds like I'm alone here, but we're rocking it out. Since the beginning of the year, we've paid of around $8K in credit card debt. Which is all of it. I've transferred two of our little private student loans to 2 different credit cards, because we got 0% offers. So now we still have around $6K on 2 different credit cards, but it's SL debt, not CC deb, if that makes sense.
My federal SLs are in forbearance for one year, so that $370 is being put directly towards those SLs on CC. Plus the $300 we were paying monthly towards back CC debt we no longer have, we should have those paid off in plenty of time before the 0% runs out. Depending on when that happens, we're going to try to pay off my car with the extra cash before by forbearance runs out and I have to start paying on my federal loans again.
Since we've been rockstars, we are treating ourselves a little. We found a Groupon for a half price weekend up in Estes Park at a mountain/lakeside resort. So we're treating ourselves a little. The whole weekend will cost us less than $500 (meals, etc included), so still not too big of a splurge. We aren't going to be able to do any big vacations this year (H's vacation time sucks for one more year), so we're doing a few weekend getaways.
Well... now that I wrote out my Poison first, it looks like my savings sucks. Most of it in my defense, was due to severe retail therapy and the fact that we were planning for these purchases.
That being said, we have barely any credit card debt now and paid cash for all of our recent big purchases. Almost 2 full paychecks a month are going into our savings. I guess everything kind of balances out.
Our baby boy,Logan, was born still at 19w3d on 7/1/2011
Our 2nd baby boy, Mason, was born still at 20w3d on 1/31/2012
"Every life, no matter how brief, forever changes the world"
*~PGAL/PAL Welcome~*
We paid off 1 credit card, 2k off our largest balance, and 1 student loan.
We started having $50 from my check auto deducted into our savings account and we haven't noticed it gone.
1 medical bill will be paid off next month finally after 3 years of paying on it.
We won't be going to St. Louis or any vacations this year since we really want the debt down or gone before we have a baby so we are really putting all our extra money towards that.
We have gone out to eat a few times, but are trying to really cut back on it.
updated 10.03.12
I have been doing well with it. I did spend $30 on a couple pictures for my office and two pictures for Alex. I also bought Alex a back up blanket since this is becoming his security item so we have two of the same blanket to rotate and a finger paint set for him totally $30. We also went to Red Lobster an spent $70 but it was worth satisfying my craving and seeing Alex eat his own plate of pasta. A couple weeks ago I spent $100 at home depot for paint and garden supplies since we're working on the outside of the jouse this spring/summer. Overall not bad.
We consolidated all my CC debt onto a personal loan with a lower interest rate and one of Joel's CC. We also refinanced my car through the same local Credit Union. Having all my debt into one payment has made it so I pay well over the minimum payment due which feels great. Begining in May I'll be paying the min again an putting the extra to help payoff joel's remaining CC because the promo on that one expires then and we'll need to really buckel down on it.
The extra paycheck from this month went right into savings for when I'm out on leave putting my current savings at $1600. Which feels awesome.
Overall I feel really good with were where we're at. I was disappointed to find out that Joel's remaining CC had way more on it than I knew, but we'll make it work. I havent charged anything to a CC since the week before Alex's bday inFebruary so I'm doing great with that.