Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Paid off another debt!
As of today we have paid off our car! This means that both of our cars are now bought and paid for! This will free up about $400 a month for us, although some of it will go towards paying for preschool for my daughter. She will be turning 3 next month, so it's time to get her into a preschool a few days a week.
We ended up paying off our car sooner than expected because every month we always paid about $10-$20 more on each payment and it might not sound like a lot, but it really did add up! So except for a few medical bills which should be paid off in a few months, we will be officially debt free!
I haven't written in a long time, because there wasn't much I could update about and quite frankly, I sort of forgot about this blog! We love where we live and I'm finally able to have my vegetable garden! This will save us lots of money as I plan on freezing a lot of it and making my own tomato sauce and freezing that as well. We even bought a small chest freezer in the basement to hold all the surplus and stuff I get free or super cheap from triple coupon shopping!
As far as making money online, I still get a little bit of income from Associated Content and about every other month I get a check from Cashcrate! I haven't done offers in awhile, but all my work getting referrals has really paid off!
Maybe I'll try to update more, probably to talk more about saving money and living frugally than paying off debt, since we don't have that much left!
We ended up paying off our car sooner than expected because every month we always paid about $10-$20 more on each payment and it might not sound like a lot, but it really did add up! So except for a few medical bills which should be paid off in a few months, we will be officially debt free!
I haven't written in a long time, because there wasn't much I could update about and quite frankly, I sort of forgot about this blog! We love where we live and I'm finally able to have my vegetable garden! This will save us lots of money as I plan on freezing a lot of it and making my own tomato sauce and freezing that as well. We even bought a small chest freezer in the basement to hold all the surplus and stuff I get free or super cheap from triple coupon shopping!
As far as making money online, I still get a little bit of income from Associated Content and about every other month I get a check from Cashcrate! I haven't done offers in awhile, but all my work getting referrals has really paid off!
Maybe I'll try to update more, probably to talk more about saving money and living frugally than paying off debt, since we don't have that much left!
Monday, September 1, 2008
CashCrate now accepts PAYPAL!
This is some awesome news! I've been wanting Cash Crate to offer Paypal for payment for awhile and I am so happy that they now are!
I've still been making some money every month from Cash Crate ever since I signed up last year! It's one of the best GPT sites out there and they're always adding new offers and contests!
I've still been making some money every month from Cash Crate ever since I signed up last year! It's one of the best GPT sites out there and they're always adding new offers and contests!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Still doing good
Since we've paid off our credit card debt, things have been good. We are now in our new house and we're really enjoying it. My kids really deserved to have their own room and a place where they can play. It's so great to be in a nice, quiet, safe area.
The phone calls and letters from collection companies have finally stopped and there's a lot to look forward to. The car loan is almost paid off and we're slowly paying off medical bills and once things settle from our move, we're going to start saving for a down payment for a house.
I've gotten a few comments in my previous post about paying off our debt by taking out some money from my husband's savings fund. I completely expected to receive the comments I did and I know that most people wouldn't understand our decision. I do want to say though, that it was not a 401k and it was not a loan. We do have to pay some penalty taxes next April, but we are already prepared for that.
When we settled some of our previous debt last year, we knew the amount "forgiven" would be considered income, we received the necessary tax forms for them and it was taken care of. We are also fully prepared for any money we might owe the IRS for the amount of debt that was forgiven.
My husband and I gave our decision a lot of thought. I guess we did take an easy way out, but it was what we felt we needed to do in order to make a better life for our children. Just to make the record clear, I've never used a credit card in my entire life. All of our debt was from my husband's previous marriage and we haven't charged a single thing in 5 years. All of the credit card accounts are closed, the cards are cut up and we both are looking forward to a better financial future.
But this doesn't mean we are completely out of debt! We are still working hard to pay off those medical bills, we still live a very frugal life. I cook as much as I can, pack my son and husband's lunches, line dry our clothes, go to the library, live within our means, among many other things. We don't go on vacations, buy new clothes or buy frivolous items.
Our mission isn't over, but it does feel damn good to be free of credit cards. I've seen what harm they can do and my husband has learned his lesson. We both made a vow over a year ago that this is a new start and it will never happen again.
The phone calls and letters from collection companies have finally stopped and there's a lot to look forward to. The car loan is almost paid off and we're slowly paying off medical bills and once things settle from our move, we're going to start saving for a down payment for a house.
I've gotten a few comments in my previous post about paying off our debt by taking out some money from my husband's savings fund. I completely expected to receive the comments I did and I know that most people wouldn't understand our decision. I do want to say though, that it was not a 401k and it was not a loan. We do have to pay some penalty taxes next April, but we are already prepared for that.
When we settled some of our previous debt last year, we knew the amount "forgiven" would be considered income, we received the necessary tax forms for them and it was taken care of. We are also fully prepared for any money we might owe the IRS for the amount of debt that was forgiven.
My husband and I gave our decision a lot of thought. I guess we did take an easy way out, but it was what we felt we needed to do in order to make a better life for our children. Just to make the record clear, I've never used a credit card in my entire life. All of our debt was from my husband's previous marriage and we haven't charged a single thing in 5 years. All of the credit card accounts are closed, the cards are cut up and we both are looking forward to a better financial future.
But this doesn't mean we are completely out of debt! We are still working hard to pay off those medical bills, we still live a very frugal life. I cook as much as I can, pack my son and husband's lunches, line dry our clothes, go to the library, live within our means, among many other things. We don't go on vacations, buy new clothes or buy frivolous items.
Our mission isn't over, but it does feel damn good to be free of credit cards. I've seen what harm they can do and my husband has learned his lesson. We both made a vow over a year ago that this is a new start and it will never happen again.
Friday, August 15, 2008
We're Credit Card DEBT FREE!
Yes, that's right! After a year of trying to pay off our credit cards, it's finally happened, we are now credit card debt free! I know I've been neglecting this blog, but believe me, a LOT has been going on. First I'll explain how we were able to finally get it all paid off.
Well, we found a house for rent in a gorgeous area of Solebury Township of Pennsylvania. It's an old house, but that's how I like 'em! We'll finally have a back yard for the kids and it's right across the street from the school my son will be going to!
In order for us to afford to move to this house, we needed some money. We didn't have enough saved but we needed to move out of our apartment. Rosemary needs her own room and we were tired of the area we were living in. Plus, this house is actually cheaper than our apartment! So, we decided to take some money out of my husband's savings fund at work.
At first we tried to come up with other ways to get money to move, but there were no other alternatives. We realized that this could actually be a new start for us, so we took out enough to pay off the credit cards in addition to the amount we needed to move. We got some good settlement offers from the credit card companies and we are now officially credit card debt free!
We still owe some money for medical bills, but those should be paid off in a few months. In other good news, we only have a few months left on our car loan! Once that is paid off, we'll have over $400 a month left over!
I know you're probably thinking it wasn't smart to take money out of my husband's savings fund, but we agreed that once we are settled in the new house and get an idea of what our bills will be like there, we are going to increase the amount being taken out of his pay check that goes towards his retirement. We also justified taken the money out, because those credit cards were a lot of baggage from his first marriage and we really needed a fresh start.
But this doesn't mean that I won't continue with this blog. We are now more determined than ever to pay off the rest of our debt, save money and ultimately move a lot closer to my family. It feels wonderful to be free of those credit cards and we really did work hard to pay off most of them. There were only 2 left that we paid off with the money we took out, yet there was a total of 7 all together.
Next weekend is when we're moving to our new house, but I promise I'll update the rest of my blog, with our new totals for the medical bills debt and post more regularly. :)
Well, we found a house for rent in a gorgeous area of Solebury Township of Pennsylvania. It's an old house, but that's how I like 'em! We'll finally have a back yard for the kids and it's right across the street from the school my son will be going to!
In order for us to afford to move to this house, we needed some money. We didn't have enough saved but we needed to move out of our apartment. Rosemary needs her own room and we were tired of the area we were living in. Plus, this house is actually cheaper than our apartment! So, we decided to take some money out of my husband's savings fund at work.
At first we tried to come up with other ways to get money to move, but there were no other alternatives. We realized that this could actually be a new start for us, so we took out enough to pay off the credit cards in addition to the amount we needed to move. We got some good settlement offers from the credit card companies and we are now officially credit card debt free!
We still owe some money for medical bills, but those should be paid off in a few months. In other good news, we only have a few months left on our car loan! Once that is paid off, we'll have over $400 a month left over!
I know you're probably thinking it wasn't smart to take money out of my husband's savings fund, but we agreed that once we are settled in the new house and get an idea of what our bills will be like there, we are going to increase the amount being taken out of his pay check that goes towards his retirement. We also justified taken the money out, because those credit cards were a lot of baggage from his first marriage and we really needed a fresh start.
But this doesn't mean that I won't continue with this blog. We are now more determined than ever to pay off the rest of our debt, save money and ultimately move a lot closer to my family. It feels wonderful to be free of those credit cards and we really did work hard to pay off most of them. There were only 2 left that we paid off with the money we took out, yet there was a total of 7 all together.
Next weekend is when we're moving to our new house, but I promise I'll update the rest of my blog, with our new totals for the medical bills debt and post more regularly. :)
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Tough times
For 2 months now finances have been really tough for us. I haven't been blogging as much because I'm depressed about money and not being able to update our debt payments on the left there. We haven't paid off anything and are just barely getting out Baby Emergency Fund back to $1,000.
Just the other day my husband's car needed 2 new back tires. It couldn't have come at a worse time, the first of the month which is when we have to pay rent and our gas bill. It was $224 for the 2 tires and an oil change. Now we are left with only $90 to last for 2 weeks. We made sure to budget plenty for groceries, but I'm afraid we might end up dipping into our grocery budget to pay for things like gas, copayments at Dr's, etc.
One of the things that's been hitting us hard is doctor appointments. My daughter had to get tubes in her ears and had to have a lot of doctor's visits. Next week is her follow up appt. to her surgery and it's $25 for that visit. I hope we won't need to dip into our emergency fund!
I've also been selling things like crazy on eBay and on July 12 our apartment complex is having a yard sale, so tomorrow and all this weekend we'll be going through our place gathering stuff to sell at the yard sale and what's left will go on Craigslist and ebay.
Things are real hard for us right now, I hope it starts to get better soon!
Just the other day my husband's car needed 2 new back tires. It couldn't have come at a worse time, the first of the month which is when we have to pay rent and our gas bill. It was $224 for the 2 tires and an oil change. Now we are left with only $90 to last for 2 weeks. We made sure to budget plenty for groceries, but I'm afraid we might end up dipping into our grocery budget to pay for things like gas, copayments at Dr's, etc.
One of the things that's been hitting us hard is doctor appointments. My daughter had to get tubes in her ears and had to have a lot of doctor's visits. Next week is her follow up appt. to her surgery and it's $25 for that visit. I hope we won't need to dip into our emergency fund!
I've also been selling things like crazy on eBay and on July 12 our apartment complex is having a yard sale, so tomorrow and all this weekend we'll be going through our place gathering stuff to sell at the yard sale and what's left will go on Craigslist and ebay.
Things are real hard for us right now, I hope it starts to get better soon!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Under budget!
A few weeks ago I made an entry called: Grocery Budget Challenge. I was going to challenge myself to get the most out of our grocery budget and have enough left over to transfer to savings, which will then go to pay off debt.
Our budget for groceries was $300 and I was under budget by $56.04! I was able to do this by shopping at Aldi's and taking advantage of triple coupon days at Superfresh! I went to Superfresh 2 times to do triple coupon shopping. The first time I spent $72 but got groceries worth $200. Some people can do better than that, but I did buy a few things during that trip that were on sale but I didn't have coupons for (ex. blueberries, hummus, salad).
My next trip I spent $20 but got $156.00 worth of groceries! I then only had to stop at the store a few more times for things that were on sale at certain stores, like flour, chicken breast and produce.
Our budget for the next few weeks is $350, but I know I will come under that. We have to stretch it out for awhile though because of the way my husband gets paid next month. I still have plenty of things stockpiled and I bought a bunch of meat on special today. I plan to go back to Aldi's and one of my missions is to try and find a local farmer's market. Wish me luck!
Our budget for groceries was $300 and I was under budget by $56.04! I was able to do this by shopping at Aldi's and taking advantage of triple coupon days at Superfresh! I went to Superfresh 2 times to do triple coupon shopping. The first time I spent $72 but got groceries worth $200. Some people can do better than that, but I did buy a few things during that trip that were on sale but I didn't have coupons for (ex. blueberries, hummus, salad).
My next trip I spent $20 but got $156.00 worth of groceries! I then only had to stop at the store a few more times for things that were on sale at certain stores, like flour, chicken breast and produce.
Our budget for the next few weeks is $350, but I know I will come under that. We have to stretch it out for awhile though because of the way my husband gets paid next month. I still have plenty of things stockpiled and I bought a bunch of meat on special today. I plan to go back to Aldi's and one of my missions is to try and find a local farmer's market. Wish me luck!
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