Friday, December 5, 2008

FPU = complete! (mostly)

We made it through our class...it was very good & informative. We missed the last 2 classes due to various illnesses. Thats okay.

During those 13 weeks we incurred NO NEW DEBT and paid down our debt over $4000. Our starting balance was almost $54K, so we are officially at $49,800. It is good.

Also during this time, my income from the daycare decreased about 1/3 (not good), our house payment went up 1/3, and an unexpected medical expense. We haven't had to hit the emergency fund, and so far have had at least some money to snowball every month. And in case you think we might have a big "shovel"...NOPE! Our take home pay for the month is only around 4000-4400/mo. Average.

What this means is that we were able to reduce our living expenses enough (1/3, so we are living on 67% of our take home pay), to be able to pay off debt equaling a month's worth of pay. Amazing.

To be honest, we are not funding some of our envelopes right now (clothing, classes for the kids, curriculum, housing wants). We have enough of those things for the better part year or even two years. So when we are done with the debt payoff, there are still items to be replaced/fixed/etc, that we are totally putting off for now. Still, those items will only add a couple hundred, at most, to the overall budget.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

We start FPU on Monday!

PFU = Financial Peace University.  "Dave" sanctioned and everything.  It is a 13 week class on Monday nights.  Totally takes balls to commit to something that long.  Well, Jason is on-board and enthusiastic, so who knows what the future may bring.  

So far our budgeting is going well.  We need to increase the fuel expense and medical....amazing how that money keeps going out.  Except for the house should be able to be debt free in 2-3 years (seems like forever!). We will get there!  Yes we will!  What a journey, though...

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Plan your work, then work the plan!

Okay....we are officially back into the game! We've got our budget created - and balanced! - and pending spouse's approval. For me, this is really the hardest step is laying out the budget. Following it should be okay as long as we don't get a "Murphy" visit. The Murphy of the famed Murphy's Law: "If anything can go wrong, it will".

We still have our Beginning Emergency Fund of $1000 in savings. We have sinking funds for various longer term items (twice yearly insurance, house repairs/upkeep, christmas fund) in an Orange account from ING Direct.

The kids have been commission style for a while---I have not paying much in allowances lately. Savings for me, disappointed they don't do their extra chores beyond the bare minimum. Humph.

We are planning on reading the Financial Peace or Total Money Makeover again, just to get motivated.  We are setting our long-term goals and try to fit all this into it.  

We are brainstorming ways to reduce expenses.  We had cut down expenses a long time ago and kept many frugal habits, but there is some fluff in the budget we could axe.  Next year, I can do a bit bigger garden. This is more for health than budget, but it works in both ways.  Double benefit!

Also brainstorming ways to increase income.  I think I am going to try to add a child to the daycare. I will be at capacity again.  I haven't filled the spot because I wanted some special times with my long-term kids before adding a new one to the mix. I actually like the chaos of a full house.   I may also make some things out of extra stuff around the house -- like scrap pages, activity quilts, jewelry, bookmarks.  We have the supplies just hanging around in our art cabinet.  Maybe income online: chacha guide,doing online surveys, associate content writing. I may do retail over the holidays as a short term gig.  Spouse is going to work OT as much as they let him.

So far so good...planning almost done.

Next step: implementation.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Over a year since I looked at my blog. I am a horrible blogger, I know. I am this way IRL, email, letters, calls back....

well, after a year 'off-plan', we are going to attempt the whole debt-elimination plan. Okay....we are going to succeed at getting out of under our debt-load.