July Finance Review: The Month That Was

The smell of firecrackers are gone, and the first whiffs of "Back to School" are in the air. The month that was is, is was and will be is now! (say that 3 times fast!). Great month even with the Evil Ninja fair popping up and spending too much there, we still did pretty darn well with an increase of $2, 093 to our Net Worth!

Highlights:

• Lowered a few Bills - Made an effort to kill a bunch of these $5-10 nagging monthly charges from various accounts. A few more to go, but we also killed a few bigger quarterly ones as well. This will save us over $1000 a yr!
• Net Worth up by $2,093 - Still mostly debt reduction, but better to kill a 12.99% credit card debt than earn 3% in a savings account!
• Reached the 1/3rd pay off point in our consumer debt! (OK 32.73%...close enough to celebrate!) Original number: $68,897.23 - Now: $46,344.81 - Paid off since 10/07: $22,522.42

Points to Work on:

• Property Taxes Coming in October - Need to step up savings if not gonna touch Emergency Fund. $3,040 in ETrade Account right now for it, probably need another $1500!
• Weekly updates op MS Money and Excel charts - Daily too much bi-weekly to long. Today took 2hrs to get everything to my love OCD-esque level.
• All of us to pull reins in tighter when envelopes are empty...No more robiing Paul to pay Peter!

Goals:

• Pay Off StateFarm CC - $2836 - Down to $1920! #1 Snowball debt getting payments of $280!
• Pay Off Car - $4594.87 - Down to $2474, Coming down quick!
• Pay Off CC CitiBank Platinum - $8989 - Now $8345 This is still getting Minimum payment as we snowball the State Farm Card
• Pay off all CC Debt - Paid off $1600 since beginning of tracking
• Save 100% 2008 Property Taxes - $4500 - $3040 Saved in E*Trade Account. Back to working this amount. Whatever not achieved will come out of Emergency fund, but would rather not tap it.
• Keep Snowball 100% Intact - $308.43 Is the Current. Once StateFarm is paid off, it will be $654.72!
• No CC Use - For the TENTH month! Getting close to the 1-year mark! 60 more Days!
• Increase Average FICO-Score to 720- Without CC payoff not gonna happen this year, but still getting better. Now average 7001.7 over the three agencies!
• Stick to Cash Budget System - Yep!
• Net Worth increased by $20,000 - $12,000 so far!

Baby Steps:

• Baby Step #2 - As stated above, now at nearly 1/3rd paid off!

That's it!

June Finance and Goal Review

 

 

Well June is done, stick a fork in the first half of the year as well. The days are getting shorter already as we head into the Fourth of July holiday, but as the sun sets on one month it is a great time to take stock of where we are as well as look at the missing few months.

 

With out further ado..

 

Highlights:

• Stuck to most of plan - Used cash for cash bills, didn't use Cards and survived some Ninja Bills!
• Improved Net Worth by $3455! - Mostly debt reduction, but still!
• Back to blogging! - Missed you all. But keeping it in perspective! Moderation in all things, including moderation

Points to work on:

• Still need to rebuild MS Money file after last computer failure...again!
• Check mail more frequently - Avoidance doesn't work
• Began saving for something - Need a good medium term goal that we can save for as starvation spending is grating on all of our nerves. Just feels like more tunnel is in front of tunnel!

Goals: 

• Pay Off StateFarm CC - $2836 - Down to $2228 or $608 less! Need to pick up pace to do it...iffy
• Pay Off Car - $4594.87 - Down to $2706,  $1888 less than the beginning of the year! Less and Less interest per payment...looking probable
• Pay Off CC CitiBank Platinum - $8989 - Now $8749, $240 less than the beginning of the year. Not using it, still making progress, but given no bonus...no way.
• Pay off all CC Debt - Paid off $848 since beginning of the year, another bonus causualty!
• Save 100% 2008 Property Taxes - $4500 - $3024 Saved in E*Trade Account. Back to working this amount. Whatever not achieved will come out of Emergency fund, but would rather not tap it.
• Keep Snowball 100% Intact - $308.43 Is the Current. Once StateFarm is paid off, it will be $654.72! Back at it in July!
• No CC Use - For the Ninth month! Getting close to the 1-year mark!
• Increase Average FICO-Score to 720- Without CC payoff not gonna happen this year, but Sstill getting better. Now average 700.7 over the three agencies!
• Stick to Cash Budget System - Yep!
• Net Worth increased by $20,000 - $9,932 so far! Halfway there. Broke the Negative $20K mark (small things are happy things!)

So goal-wise with no bonus or opportunity this year it is really gonna be hard to hit these payoff goals. All I can do is at least work my snowball, but a good lesson for my self-image...won't count chickens...

Baby Step Progress:

• Baby Step 2 - We have paid off $20,057 worth of non-mortgage debt putting us at 29% complete. Don't know whether  to cry or cheer about that!

That's it, warts and all! Hope to do better, but god knows I have done much worse!

Thanks for all of the support!

February Financial Month in Review

End of a longer then usual February, and pretty good progress this month. Not too many Ninja Bills, out side of taxes but still OK there. We got our high yield E*Trade Savings Account (currently 4.1%) going and we have now funded half of our 2008 Property Taxes already!

Here are some highlights:

• Net Worth Increased $5019 - Huge Increase! $3000 was from Tax Return, rest from debt reduction. Take that out and still a good month!
• Debt Reduction of $1692! - Included over $500 off of Credit Card Debt!
• Tax Return - Direct to our E*Trade Complete Savings Account. Not one Dime spent. This is a big deal here as we always "talked" ourselves into a little here a little there.

Went to dinner and a movie to celebrate last night (used our allowance! Not Breaking any rules! Semi-Pro!) and we both commented how far we have come over the last few months. We are really trying to move forward on these goals and look forward to completing Baby Step #2 - The Elimination of Consumer debt.

Points to work on:

• Focusing on the Negative - Let the whole Tax Refund debacle get us under for awhile. Bounced back after refocus on progress
• Time Management - Not allocating enough time to certain areas. Work is very heavy right now with a launch of a major project. Lots of late nights...Need to remember to breathe sometimes!

Goals:

• Pay Off StateFarm CC - $2836.22 - Down to $2369 or $470 Less! Will be close to under $2K this month!
• Pay Off Car - $4594.87 - Down to $4033, $561 less than the beginning of the year!
• Pay Off CC CitiBank Platinum - $8989.16 - Now $8806, $183 less than the beginning of the year. Not the snowball debt, yet still making progress.
• Pay off all CC Debt - Getting closer everyday!
• Save 100% 2008 Property Taxes - $5000 - $3000 Saved in E*Trade Account. Saving $225 per month toward goal moving forward.
• Keep Snowball 100% Intact - Still growing! $308.43 Is the Current. Once StateFarm is paid off, it will be $654.72!
• No CC Use - For the Fifth month! Getting close to the 1/2 year mark!
• Increase Average FICO-Score to 720- No real change this month. Equifax moved from 716 to 715. Average over all three is 698.7.
• Stick to Cash Budget System - Gas is the only issue as the cheapest gas station makes it a pain to pay with cash. Paid with debit twice, but then removed cash from envelope.
• Net Worth increased by $20,000 - $5019 movement means $6156 movement for the first 1/6th of the year...Real Progress!

Baby Step Progress:

• Baby Step #2 - Paid $16,143 so far, or 23.43% done! Lot of progress!

Overall great month. Still no word on my review, but I do know that I will be retro-ed for any amount back to my due date. It is all going to the snowball, but it would be great to push the accelerator even more.

That's It! 2 down, 10 to go!

(Photo from Calendar available from Amazon)

January Month In Review

January is over and it is time to fess up and do a little review.

It was actually a good month with some challenges, a crop of Ninja Bills and staying on track with all of my goals, I even got some great news last night!

High Points:

• Net Worth Increased $1,217 - This is from the debt reduction, got below my minimum that I keep in checking, but this was really artificially low as I was paid Friday and checking is back to normal levels
• Debt Decreased $1,310 - Car come down a chunk and this is the next Snowball debt after my State Farm CC. I am looking forward to no more car payment!
• Did my taxes Friday Night - My rebate is way better then I thought it would be. Between State and Federal I will get back $8037.15! This is good and bad news. The money will go to fully fund Property Taxes for 2008 (due in October) and Christmas 2008. The remainder will go towards Snowball #6 effectively cutting it in half! The bad part is I gave the government a non-interest loan of $8037.15! It was our first year in the house and we had unexpected medical bills as well that we could deduct, so I won't beat myself to bad.

A quick funny story; after I finished the taxes and e-filed then I went to my wife and said with a long face "well, guess how much..." as I poured a cocktail..."Looking that you are pouring a drink, we owe, huh"...I say, "How much do you think?" She says, "Well we have $2200 in savings, so $2300." I say "No, it is a much bigger number..."

"Great" she pauses, "not so much it will make us use our credit cards, we've been so good... (what a turn-around BTW)" I say, "it is $8037.15..." She goes completely white..."What are we gonna do..." I say, well first we are gonna put our 2008 property taxes and Christmas money away and pay off half of debt three :)"

She hits me smiling!..and calls me a jerk...then asks me to run it again :) I pour her one too, and we toast!

Points to Work on:

• Ninja's of my Own Making - Besides two of the kids needing new winter coats, we had a really high Gas bill and Electric Bill. We cut Entertainment and Dining to help pay them, everyone is more motivated to do better! However, I didn't plan for the following...my Mother-in-laws birthday, My step-Fathers Birthday or...my birthday, doh! We did a great job at planning the girls birthday funds in completely slipped my mind to build their gift amounts in to Microsoft Money...Won't make that mistake again. We all chipped in to cover the amounts, but we did go over budget there, effectively erasing other gains.
• Balancing out Payment between check - A bunch of my payments are due when our house payment is, and given that takes most of my check I need to do a better job planning when to pay debts and bills. Built a little tool into my master sheet in Excel to help!
• Got over zealous - Moving money into saving that looked like extra...not so fast Hoss...had to move it back due to NinjaBills and poor income allocation...Doh!

Goals:

• Pay Off StateFarm CC - $2836.22 - Payment is due 2/10 you'll see a good drop next month along with extra payment due to taxes
• Pay Off Car - $4594.87 - Down to $4316, or $280 less!
• Pay Off CC CitiBank Platinum - $8989.16 - Minimums here until the Snowball show comes to town
• Pay off all CC Debt - Working it!
• Save 100% 2008 PropertyTaxes - $5000 - w00t! Should be checked off by the end of the month...ahead of time!
• Keep Snowball 100% Intact - Yo Joe!
• No CC Use - For the Fourth month! Never thought it was possible! Now can't believe it wasn't!
• Increase Average FICO-Score to 720 - Moved from an average of 692.7 across the major three to 699.0, so close to my short-term goal. At one point 5 years ago we had a 510 score! You CAN repair your score, believe me. I check this every month through www.truecredit.com (I am NOT and affiliate - just like the service) For $14.95 a month they monitor and email me any issues with my credit report. In addition I can a report with FICO for each whenever I want, even multiple times a month. For a stat junkie like me it is awesome.
• Stick to Cash Budget System - Yep, and loving it!
• Net Worth increased by $20,000 - Only up $1200 this month, but a lot of pluses coming down the pike. 2008 Tax rebate, Tax Stimulus money (hopefully the Senate doesn't kill it!), my review is Monday and bonus in April...It will be tight, but I believe we can do it!

Well, that is about as full disclosure as I can get. I guess if I am gonna spew advice, the least you can do is see where I am. I am not a financial adviser, just a marketing slub trying to get out of debt and build a bright future just like you using our budget, debt reduction and basic money management to get there...it is a marathon, not a sprint!

(BTW - That pic is a calendar available from Barnes and Noble -thought it fit the article!)