Journey Towards Financial Freedom

Hey, everyone. I was just doing a little surfing and decided to look up a debt payoff calculator. This one is for credit cards. Would the same principal apply to mortgages? I plugged in my mortgage numbers and it said I would be paid off in 15 years, which would definitely be a blessing. This is the url for the debt calculator.

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/debtplanner/debtplanner.jsp

Well, our bank account is getting a little skinny, so I am doing a Pantry Challenge, trying to make do as much as I can with what we already have. Fortunately, my husband is on a juice fast diet for the next week or so, and the only things I have to get for him are produce items. Here are the meals I have planned for me.

1) green salad with chicken, nuts, oranges, olive oil, and sea salt - 3 meals (using chicken and sea salt I already have)

2) chicken cacciatore and a side salad with sea salt and olive oil - 4 meals (using chicken, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, sea salt, and olive oil I already have)

3) potato salad with eggs, side of cucumbers and tomatoes salad - 4 meals (using mayonnaise, onion, and bacon I already have)

4) chicken curry salad with sides of apples and carrots - 6 servings (using carrots and curry powder I already have)

5) oatmeal with raisins, cinnamon, almond milk, and honey and a smoothie with flaxseeds, almond milk, peanut butter, and banana - 3 meals (using flaxseeds, cinnamon, honey, and peanut butter I already have)

6) eggs and ham - 2 meals (using ham I already have)

7) leftover soup - 1 meal

8) lunch out on payday!

My meals for the coming week include:

1) Chicken Waldorf Salad (the recipe in the source below is for turkey waldorf salad, but I used chicken) - 3 meals

2) Chicken/Turkey Soup with rice, carrots, ginger, garlic, sea salt, pepper, and turmeric (yummy!) - I modified the soup recipe a friend gave to include ginger, garlic, and turmeric for an Indian flavor. - 5 meals - 1 Done at lunch!

3) Curry Spiced Noodles with chicken, carrots, curry, turmeric, and peppers. Since I gluten intolerant, I am going to make noodles using squash that you cut up really skinny like noodles and then boil for a few minutes. - 4 meals

4) Oatmeal with raisins, cinnamon, flaxseeds, almond milk, and honey. Smoothy with almond milk, carrot, banana, stevia, and cocoa on the side. - 3 meals

5) Eggs and ham or pork cutlet. Smoothy with almond milk, carrot, banana, stevia, and cocoa on the side. - 3 meals

6) Green salad with chicken and olive oil and apple cider vinegar for dressing. - 2 meals

7) Leftover Barbecue Chicken, side of veggies and rice - 1 meal

8) Chicken, rice, and tomatoes with chili seasoning. - 1 meal

Recipe for Chicken Soup is here:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/greek-lemon-chicken-soup/detail.aspx

Recipes for Waldorf Salad and Curry Spiced Noodles are here: http://www.boarshead.com/pdf/DeliciousDishes.pdf

Hi, everyone. I suppose I have turned into an ultra-planner, but for some reason, I feel the need to take stock of my progress on my 2011 Goals.

Here are my 2011 Goals.

2011 Financial Goals
1. Pay off Hospital Debt #2 PAID OFF!
2. Pay off Hospital Debt #1 PAID OFF!!
3. CAR REPAIR DONE 3-21-11!
4. Pay off lawn mower PAID OFF
5. Accumulate $2000 in regular savings by Dec. 2011 - Currently at $1038.62
6. Accumulate $1000 in house savings account by Dec. 2011 - Currently at $253.59
7. Pay off $500 in credit card debt by Dec. 2011
8. Complete some minor maintenance on house

Here is my progress as of today.
1. Hospital Debt #2 was paid off 3/19/2011! Woo-Hoo!
2. Hospital Debt #1 was paid off 6/6/2011! Woo-Hoo! So far, 2 for 2!
3. Car repairs, which included an engine replacement, were complete on my car 3/21/2011. I would have liked to have replaced the car, but I did not want to subject our budget to a monthly outlay of a car payment if I could avoid it.
4. The loan on the lawn mower was paid off 6/25/2011.
5. I modified goal #5. After the savings broke $1000.00, I decided my goal to pay off the credit card was going nowhere without paying twice as much as I was paying. See #7 for what I did.
6. I have made miserable progress on accumulating the house savings to $1000.00. No excuses, though.
7. I have not made altogether great progress on credit card payoff, either. The balance is currently $1694.00. I modified Goal #5 to make it possible to pay it off next October. In addition to paying the normal payment I was doing of $40.00 per paycheck, I am also sending all future savings deposits to the credit card until paid off to $300.00. I am estimating the payoff date will be next October.
8. We have completed some maintenance on the house.
- replaced flapper on the toilet - helped some, but need to replace the toilet eventually
- gutters cleaned and sealed
- yard mowed regularly through season
- trees trimmed, unsightly, annoying bushes removed
- electric spider repellent installed
- mailbox properly installed

That being said, I still have a long way to go. Here are my 2012 Goals.

2012 Goals
1. Pay Down Credit Card to $300.00 by 10/31/2012

As of 11-26-2011, this debt is $1694.00. I am paying normal payments of $40.00 out of each paycheck, plus an additional $40.00 per paycheck that I used to send to savings. I get paid every 2 weeks, which is usually twice a month. Two times a year, I get 3 paychecks in a month. For those paychecks, I will allocate $100.00 to debt payoff.

2. Bring car savings account up to $2000.00 by 12/31/2012

This account is currently $601.31. I deposit all extra money, such as survey checks, rebates, money from cash4books.net, and spare change from my wallet monthly into this account. My goal is to have enough to buy a car with cash when I need to replace the current car.

3. Complete some minor, and major, maintenance on the house. See the Home Maintenance Challenge list for details on this.

4. Increase house savings account to $500.00 by 12/31/2012.

5. Reduce unnecessary spending.
- Think about purchases carefully. Do I need this? How will I use it? What will I wear it with? Do I really need to go out to eat? Can I get it free or borrow it?
- Think twice before buying sodas/iced tea, because I take my own tea bags and stevia with me to work and have free access to hot water.
- Take lunch to work almost every day, but splurge on payday.

Well, I got paid again. The gas, electric, credit card, and car insurance have all been paid for. I have also allocated for 1/2 of the mortgage. Those are all the bills I have due until next payday. Because of the upcoming holiday, my next payday will be 11/23 instead of 11/25. I have also bought groceries, health supplements, put money aside for replacing my car, and got the gutters cleaned out. You might also notice that my regular savings balance is not going up. That is because after my balance broke $1000, I started sending that money to the credit card instead of keeping it in savings. I am planning on allocating a total of $160.00 per month between my normal payment out of checking and the reallocated savings deposit towards paying off the credit card then starting putting money into savings again. My tentative schedule shows the target payoff date as next October. While I would like to allocate all extra money to the credit card, I also absolutely have to set aside money to replace the card in the next couple of years, as it has several things wrong with it. Most are some minor and just annoying, but the big one is that the heating/ac switch does not work right. Our mechanic said he could replace the switch, but Pontiac does not make them anymore and he was not able to find one from a salvage yard. He manually switched us over from cooling to heat, so we will be good until it gets warm next summer when we could try again to replace the switch. We would like to get a new car or certified preowned car and have the money set aside be equal to at least 1/2 the cost of the car. I don't want us to be locked into huge car payments, so I am doing my best to come up with as much as possible.

I did pretty well with my paleo challenge last week. I ate oatmeal one time when I sort of woke up late and didn't have time to make any eggs. Oh, well, I will do better this next week. I feel really amazing and have a lot more energy. Since I have been eating gluten free for over a year, it was not that big of a challenge. I just eliminated oatmeal, bread, and crackers. Apparently, brown, wild rice is okay in small amounts, though.

Here are my meals for next week:

1) Meatloaf - 2 meals

2) Top Round Roast - 3 meals

3) Eggs and Ham, Smoothie with almond milk, cocoa, stevia, flaxseeds, banana - 3 meals

4) Almond Butter on an Apple, Carrots, Trail Mix - 1 meal

5) Beef Stew w/ onions, carrots, mushrooms - 3 meals

6) Chicken Soup w/ brown rice, Rice, Onions - 3 meals

7) Green Salad w/ chicken, Avocado, Tomato - 3 meals 1 Done Tonight

8) Chicken Leg Quarter, Steamed Veggies - 3 meals

Due to a minor miscalculation, I had to move a little bit of money from a savings account to checking. It is not any of the savings accounts on my sidebar, but one where the dh hoards $ for video games and other stuff he wants to buy. I hated to do it, but we might be overdrawn by Friday if I didn't. I have already set up an automatic transfer from checking to savings for the same amount to make sure the money gets back there.

Oh, well. On to other news. Here are my meals for the coming weak. You might notice I am not planning to eat oatmeal this week. I think grains are becoming a little problematic for me, so I am going to cease eating them for at least a week to see what happens. It's going to be a little weird, but I will probably be eating stuff like pot roast, beef stew, and stir fry for breakfast in order to go grain free. I will also eat eggs, but can't eat them every day.

1) Pot Roast - will make at least 2 meals

2) Beef Stew - will probably make 3 meals - 1 Done Tonight!

3) Eggs and ham - 2 meals

4) Spaghetti Sauce - 1 meal - I may subsitute some broccoli or something for the noodles.

5) Chili - 3 meals

6) Chicken salad and carrot sticks - 1 meal

7) Green salad with chicken, onions, and tomato - 3 meals

8) Chicken stir fry - 2 meals

9) Almond butter on carrot sticks and apples - 1 meal

10) Leftover 13 bean soup w/ ham - 2 meals - 1 Done!

When I did this recently, it was so successful I decided to do it again. If you would like an easy way to make a little extra money for savings, paying off debt, buying Christmas presents, or whatever, just click here. It's easy and there is absolutely no cost.

http://superpoints.com/wrpgs/u8a5m6

Full disclosure: I will get a 25 points bonus for recruiting someone.

I have been using my "spare" money from rebates and surveys to save for a new car.

Well, I made it to payday. My challenge was to make it without using the debit card or credit card. The credit card stayed safe and snug, but my husband was sick and I had to take him to the doctor, so I did use the debit card. I think I did use it for a couple of other small things, too, but I used cash for everything else. Woo-Hoo!

I am going to take my pocket change to Coinstar tomorrow. It should be around $3.00 or so. I will add it to my car account. I will also add another $20 to the same account and $20 to the house account.

Now that my regular savings is up over $1000, I decided to divert the normal $40 I have been putting in there every payday to paying down the credit card. I fought very hard to get it up over $1000 and plan on maintaining that.

My retirement is also up. Woo-hoo!
My husband will go to make our mortgage payment on Tuesday. Yea!

Here is what I would like my retirement to be like.

Thanks to saving4rainyday, I found this new mantra about money. It's funny that I have thought this all my life, but Will Smith put it so succinctly that I can't help but to quote it here.

"Many people spend money they don't own, to buy things they don't need, to ask acceptance from people they don't know." Will Smith

If you are interested in making a little extra money doing surveys, etc., click on this link. There is absolutely no cost to join and earning points is fast and easy.

http://superpoints.com/wrpgs/a5dbcf

Full disclosure: I will get 25 points for a friend signing up, but mostly I just wanted to pass along a good opportunity to earn a little extra money.

I have been putting my extra dollars towards paying off the credit card and beefing up my car account. My car account will enable us to replace our car in 1-2 years with a used or new car.

By the way, if they link above does not work for you, post a comment and I will get another token. The tokens can only be used once.

Well, we are a little low on cash. Counting the $273.31 allocation for 1/2 of the mortgage and Netflix, we have $.08 left in checking. Neither have been actually debited from our account, just allocated for. Making the house payment is easier for me if I allocate 1/2 in the first paycheck and 1/2 in the second. If I have a third paycheck, then I pay a little extra. My challenge this week is to get through the week without using my debit or credit card once.

Here are my meals planned out for the week:

1) meatloaf - 2 meals, one meal with baked potatoes made only 1 meal!

2) Omelets or scrambled eggs, side of chicken or ham - 3 meals 1 Down, 2 to go

3) 13 bean soup with ham, onion, tomatoes, and spices - 4 meals 1 Down, 3 to go

4) oatmeal - 3 meals 1 Down, 2 to go

5) leftover chili spaghetti casserole - 3 meals 1 Down, 2 to go

6) spaghetti over rice - 1 meal

7) salad with a side of leftover chili - 1 meal

8) chicken salad w/ side of crackers and carrots - 1 meal Done

9) gluten free lunchmeat sandwiches

10) lunch out on 10-28-2011!

I have been off sick today with my asthma and allergies bothering me. While sitting at home drinking my tea and taking medicine, I have planning next week's meals. This is what I have come up with and will likely have some left over.

1) Chili with ground beef, tomatoes, onion, spices - 3 meals

2) Roast beef - will likely make 3 meals, including roast beef sandwiches

3) Spaghetti with ground beef, canned tomatoes, beans, onion, spices. I will eat mine with rice. 1 meal

4) Chili Spaghetti Casserole with ground beef, canned tomatoes, onion, black beans, spices, and noodles baked in a pan. This is a great, easy to fix meal when you add sour cream and the cheese of your choice. I will add a side of carrots, apple, and water from home. 4 meals

5) Gluten Free Ham Sandwich, carrots, apple, water from home 1 meal

6) Oatmeal with Cinnamon, Almond Milk, Honey, and Raisins 3 meals

7) Scrambled Eggs with Gluten Free Ham 1 meal

8) Almond Butter Sandwich, carrots, apple, water from home 1 meal

9) Dinty Moore Beef Stew, apple, water from home 2 meals

10) Salad with tuna, carrots, onions, apple, water from home 1 meal

11) Chicken Salad Sandwich, carrots, apple, water from home 1 meal

Hi, everyone.

I have heard over and over again that one of the keys to financial success is spending less than what you earn. My logical mind knows this fact inside and out. Recently, I met with the retirement planning counselor for my plan. He asked a lot of questions about my finances in general (amount in savings, insurance, budget, etc.). When I told him that for my regular savings account, I had only around $750 in it, he gently said that I need at least 6 months of expenses in savings. I actually had a copy of my budget in my hand and know that it takes approximately $2000 to meet all normal bills. He said, "Well then you need $12,000 minimum in savings." Like I said, my logical brain knows this, but it really helped to get my butt in gear by hearing it from a financial planning counselor. Since then, I have been really watching my spending by taking out $20.00 cash for snacks and stuff. I pretty well stick to my guns and don't really spend outside that, allowing me to set aside a little extra for savings. I have also been putting my "found money" from surveys and rebates into the car account. $12,000. Wow. Well, I will get there somehow. I will break $1000 in my main savings account on Friday. I have also been adding to the house account, which we are planning to use for buying new windows for the house. Woo-Hoo!

Hey, everyone. It has a been a bit of a crappy day here in my house. It was the beginning of a great deal until I grabbed my purse and lunch and was ready to leave for work. When I looked out the front door, I saw that the mailbox was not on the post where it should be but on the ground. I immediately said an expletive. Not characteristic of me, but I was so frustrated since we just replaced the mailbox post barely 3 months ago. This time they bashed in the mailbox, too. My husband, who was half asleep at the time said heard me and asked what's wrong. I told him and he immediately came running to verify it. He grabbed his cell phone to call the cops. I had to leave for work, so I let him handle the cops. Tonight, we went to Home Depot to buy a better mailbox. When we talked to the folks at Home Depot, they recommended the following mailbox and also a heavy duty steel post:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDi...

How do you respond when you go to a store (Best Buy, JC Penney) and they tell you they need your phone number, zip code, address, email address, etc. for a "survey"? Now, keep in mind I am not talking about information for if you are buying an extended warranty, applying for a credit card, or other service. I am talking about just going into the store to buy something and someone demands your phone number and/or zip code.

I personally decline and tell them if such information is required for a sale, they can either call a manager or lose a sale, because that information is not required to do a sale. They generally do give in, but I have had to get store management involved a couple of times.

I just get really uptight whenever people ask for my phone number, social security number, address, etc. for no good reason. I won't even give my social security number to a doctor's office, because even the insurance company does not have it. Obviously, the doctor needs my phone number and address, though. I must be in the minority on this issue because most of the time, they look at me like I have just grown three heads.

Why won't I give out such innocuous information as a zip code or phone number when it is not really needed, you might ask? Well, it's a privacy issue. I come into a store usually to buy a specific thing, not to apply for a home loan or credit card. And I don't need to be told whatever "wonderful" products they have, so I don't need spam or junk mail. I am an adult capable of dialing a phone or getting on the internet to find out what they do have, but they don't seem to understand that.

I think the only thing that I hate worse is when I go into a store and they want to sell me a credit card to save me some money. Yea, right, a 25% interest credit card is going to "save" me money.

I was just wondering how many other people there are out there like me.

I don't especially seek out no spend days, but when they happen, I do celebrate. I am trying to trim our expenses where it is possible in order to save more to buy a replacement car. I don't want to go into debt to buy a car, unless necessary. I am also trying to get the credit card paid down. I would not mind using it for every day expenses and paying it off immediately, but I am not that disciplined yet.

Yesterday, I was at the grocery store wondering what to buy to eat. My hubby is a little picky and whiny. He grumbles about "how I never fix anything different" but is not specific about what he wants. So, it's like finding a needle in a haystack. Anyway, I saw this top round roast (2.09 pounds) for $2.99 a pound on sale. What a bargain! I thought I could cook it in the oven first and eat probably about 1/3 of it with some cooked cabbage and green beans. Then, we could eat some on sandwiches. Any small amounts left over we could toss into omelets or stir fry. Yum. I can't wait until the roast is done. I can already smell garlic all over the house.

This coming Thursday I am supposed to show up for jury duty, but I hope I don't have to go. I won't know until the night before on that, though. It is a big inconvenience for me to POSSIBLY be gone from work for a day but not to know whether I really will be or not. I know it is my duty to serve, but I think they ought to be able to organize it better than this. Arrgh!

For those of you who saw an earlier entry I wrote, we were having trouble with the toilet running all the time. We replaced the black bubble thing with the copper tubing on the end. Sorry, I don't know the correct term, but that's what we were told was causing the problem. It sort of helped, but the toilet still runs to some extent. We think we need a new toilet and the hubster thinks we should be able to get a decent one with some water saving ability for around $100 or thereabouts. Upon looking at Homedepot.com for just a guesstimate on this, the cheapest ones I could find were around $200 and go up to nearly $600. Ouch! For those of you who have bought new toilets, is this normal?

I get paid every two weeks. Two months out of every year, I have 3 paychecks in a month. With September, I have 3 paychecks. I am planning now what I plan to do with it.

$1228.12 (total amount of paycheck)
-20 mortgage extra payment
-60 emergency savings deposit I am changing this one to 100
-50 car account I am changing this one to 100
-50 house account
-20 towards chest freezer
-50 water bill
-200 groceries
-40 stock up on staple grocery items
-100 credit card pmt
-50 towards eyeglasses I am changing this to 75
628.12

I am not sure what to do with the rest, but I think this is a good start. Per the ads on Home Depot, I will need around $700 for a chest freezer, so this is just a mere start. I will likely need around $150-$175 for new eyeglasses.

Update on 9-5-2011: I have updated a few numbers above and added one. I changed the eyeglasses one, because I really need new eyeglasses. Mine are falling apart. I already have $63.00 set aside for this and will set aside $50.00 more on September 16th. After that, I only need probably $25.00 more than originally allocated to get a new pair. I also decided to stock up on some staple grocery items, such as canned tomatoes, dried beans, bread, toilet paper, spices, and paper towels. I may also add another category to stock up on some health supplements, but will need to check my supply first. But before doing any of this, I will make sure ALL bills get paid first.

Well, I finally got my salary letter with what my salary will be for this fiscal year. After doing the math, I realized I have about a 6.59% raise, way better than I was expecting!

Also, because the raise was supposed to begin with the first July paycheck, I got a catchup paycheck that included my extra pay for July and August. I made a list of what I wanted to do with it. It included:

1) Buying a copy of the book Traditional Thai Yoga. $4.98 with shipping - http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork=10475825&matches=13&.... DONE

2) depositing $50 into the car savings account - DONE

3) making an extra $20 payment to the credit card - DONE

4) making an extra $20 payment to the mortgage - WILL BE DONE SEPT 1

5) buying chair cushions at Home Depot for the chair my husband sits in - ~ $30 - DONE

6) replacing our defunct wireless router at Best Buy - ~$59 - DONE

7) buying a few replacement clothing items for the hubby and I - ~ $20 DONE - I found a great thrift store over the weekend, so I will be doing more of this on Saturday.

8) $40 out of any paycheck gets automatically deposited to my regular savings, so that account increased also - DONE

9) my retirement account went up a little too, but I don't know how much - DONE

10) buy some needed health supplements - ~$40.00 - DONE

Unfortunately, the rest got absorbed into the grocery budget and other stuff, but I got some great stuff accomplished.

Also, I have made my lunches to take to work and suppers for the week. Here they are:

1) Stir Fry with chicken, green peppers, canned tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, leftover frozen veggies, Chinese hot chili sauce, and rice. 4 meals

2) Tuna Salad sandwich on gluten free bread, cucumbers, carrots, apples, and filtered water from home. 3 meals

3) Almond butter sandwich on gluten free bread, cucumbers, sliced tomato, apples, and filtered water from home 2 meals

4) Gluten free lunchmeat on gluten free bread, cucumbers, carrots, peaches, and filtered water from water. 4 meals

Well, howdy everyone. I got paid again today. Still no raise, but I am still plugging right along with my goals. I increased my regular savings (emergency, although I don't really like to say that) to $708.02. I am increasing my car savings by $20.00. I wish I could do more, but we had to have work done on our car's air conditioner that cost $150 and I did not want to go into debt over that. I got a $5.00 survey check. As soon as I got it, I deposited it and paid the cc by the same amount. No survey money does not waste time lingering in my checking account or it would get spent on something when I want to spend it gaining financial freedom. I also paid extra to the cc today, bringing the balance to probably about $1797.06. I will pay more later when I scrounge up some other funds.

I am going to Coinstar tomorrow and will deposit the funds into my car account. It will probably be around $2 to $3. Update: I had $3.00 in change, bringing my car account to $296.49.

We got our latest mortgage statement. It is no surprise to us that it is going down, because we pay every time on time. It feels great to know we are building equity.

I am going thrift store shopping tomorrow for 2 pairs of slacks (1 preferably black and then other khaki). I also need some new socks. I will check Big Lots for those.

Just saw this link referenced on a listserv. I thought you all might like to see it, too.

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/financialhealth/index.html

I only got a C+, so it's looks like I have a lot of work to do!

Well, the latest in our household is that last weekend, our mailbox was vandalized. We called the police and they filled out a report on it. We knew that since the mailbox only cost about $50.00, that we could not file insurance on it. So, we set about trying to figure out what our options are. We don't want to have to buy a new mailbox and/or post every 6 months, so we were willing to buy something a little more sturdy. My hubby talked to a few friends online who made some suggestions. We also did some online shopping on the Home Depot website. We even investigated the possibility of moving the mailbox to where it was originally located about 1/2 way between the street and the house. No go on that one by the way, as the post offices nationwide are trying to move everyone's mailboxes to the street for safety and limitation of liability. After talking with the postmaster, they came up with an idea the post office is happy with and will also hopefully eliminate future vandalism issues. It involves: 1) mountaing the mailbox on a new post where the box is screwed into a hard metal plate, 2) setting the post in quik crete, and building a sort of cage made of rebar around the mailbox. It is bound to be the most unusual and ugly mailboxes in our town, but if it will keep people from knocking it over, I am all for it. Will post more on this later.

The second issue we are dealing with is ants. Ants by our microwave, in our kitchen cabinets, by the stove, and on the floor. We have been trying for weeks to stave them off by keeping the counters meticulously clean, washing all dishes as soon as we are done with them, and sweeping and mopping the floor often. That has not been working, as they seem to come back anyway. Well, today we decided we had had enough. I did some searching online for anything we could do that did not involve calling an exterminator or spraying awful chemicals into the air.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4744027_kill-ants-household-remedies...

We went out and bought the boric acid and I put it where the online instructions said. Then, my husband went out and looked around the house. He said he found hundreds of ants in our yard and so he put some of the boric acid on them. Hopefully, this will do the trick.

There is other stuff in our house we definitely want to change. Here is a picture of the closet doors in our bedroom. Yes, they are actually an icky color somewhere between pink and lavender. Yuck.



Here is a picture of the bathroom looking towards the bathtub and a small cabinet Notice the weird colors? Yes, we have a harvest gold bathtub and tiles, but that lavender/pink paint on the inside of the cabinet above the bathtub on the wall. I think whoever painted must have been color blind!



We also want to install some kind of insulation in the attic. Some I know was commenting how they had recently installed radiant barrier in their attic and that it made a huge difference. They described it as looking kind of like big pieces of aluminum foil. I am not sure if it is considered a replacement or a complement to regular insulation. Have any of you heard of it or used it?

I knew that home ownership would be different than renting, but this has not been much fun. It certainly hasn't been boring, though.

Well, I got paid again today, so there's more money in savings and retirement. I have already set aside car insurance and 1/2 of the mortgage payment for August.

I work at a university and have a contract. The union has ratified the contract for this year, but it has to go to the Board of Regents in the state for approval. In the meantime, the salary increase I was supposed to get beginning today, I will not get til the Board of Regents approves it. When will that be? It's anyone's guess.

I really wanted to go to HR today and increase my amount going to retirement and savings, but don't want to until the raise comes through.

Don't get me wrong. I count myself lucky I have a job and a salaried job at that. Some people in my field are unemployed and have been for a couple of years. Others are underpayed. I am doing alright salary wise, but I have been promoted and want to be recognized for that in my salary. I worked hard for it for the last 6 years at my current job and 15 years overall in my field.

Here is the dispersal of my reimbursement as it stands now:

$1241.38 (total of reimbursement)
-$200.00 (payment to credit card)
- $90.00 (balance payment on lawn mower)
-$200.00 (deposit to car savings account for eventual replacement of car)
- $33.93 (ordering health supplements)
- $56.25 (ordering new water filter cartridge 7/4/2011)
- $50.00 (second payment to credit card 7/4/2011)
-$325.64 (replacing dying PS3)
-------------------
$285.29 balance as of 7/4/2011

I would have sent a larger portion to the credit card, but the bank balance is a little wonky right now and I need to clear that up before sending more. Our PS3 is our primary source of entertainment, as we do not have cable tv or satellite. My husband plays some of the PS3 games and we both watch tv episodes and movies on Netflix instant viewing. So, that's why we wanted to replace our dying PS3. After I get the bank balance straightened out, I will likely make another payment to the credit card and put more in regular and car savings.

Oh, and if you need to order any health supplements and certain health food stuff, try http://www.vitacost.com. They are having a 4th of July sale today with a lot of things heavily discounted and no shipping charge on any order over $49.00.

Here is my progress so far with the reimbursement.

$1241.38 (total reimbursement)
-$200.00 (payment to credit card)
-$200.00 (deposit to car savings to eventually replace the car)
-$90.00 (pay off the balance on the lawn mower)
-$325.64 (bought a new PS3 because our old one is about to die)
__________
Balance $425.74

I will make at least one more deposit to the savings and payment on the credit card next week.

The other thing we need to get is a new filter for the water filter connected to our kitchen faucet. That will probably be around $75-$80.

http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=231719&catid=...

A computer geek we know has basically offered to buy our old PS3 because he fixes old ones and sells them. We don't know how much yet, but it should help some.

The note about my credit card balance at the left is correct for the first time in a long time. I had not put the actual number up there because it was so embarassing. Now, I will be putting the correct, and declining, number there. I am getting a pretty good raise in July and that should help a lot in enabling me to: 1) increasing regular savings, 2) increase retirement, 3) pay down the credit card, and 4) put away more for house upkeep and eventual car replacement. Woo-hoo!

My reimbursement for my travel expenses has arrived. Normally, I only get $500 per year, but if there is any travel money left at the end of the year in my organization because someone didn't use their travel money, someone gets the benefit of that. So, it is being deposited and once it clears, I will begin the process of dolling it out. The first amounts to go out will be: 1) $90.00 for the lawn mower, 2) $250.00 to the credit card, and 3) $250.00 to savings. That is just the beginning of my plan, but it gets better than that. This is gonna be FUN to pay off debts and bring up savings balances!

Well, I just got $10.00 in survey money, so I immediately set up a payment in equal amount to the credit card for Thursday. By then, I should also have my reimbursement money and can alter this amount to include what I was going to pay out of it on to the credit card.

Anyone know what's happening with Netflix? We cannot log into our account or watch instant movies.

I did pretty good with the Food Challenge this week. I only bought an occasional iced tea or soda and lunch on Friday. I had to buy lunch then because the floor in our break room was being cleaned and waxed, making the only refrigerator in the building inaccessible.

Here is something I am trying in order to get away from drinking soda and also to drink cold tea in the summer. I just cannot stand drinking hot tea right now. http://www.vitacost.com/To-Go-Brands-Green-Tea-Energy-Fusion

Well, here are my meals for the next week:

- Oatmeal, raisins, almond milk, flaxseeds, and honey, 6 servings

- Gluten free pasta salad with tuna, 2 servings

- Poverty meal (a.k.a. beefaroni) with elbow macaroni, ground beef, tomatoes, tomato sauce, spices, onion http://www.food.com/recipe/poverty-meal-27520, 6 meals

I don't know why they call it poverty meal, because I have been eating stuff like that nearly all my life.

- Beef stew with hamburger, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, spices, rice, black beans, carrots, onion, 6 services

Well, I survived with no major catastrophes. However, while ironing clothes in my hotel room last Friday morning, I burned myself with the iron. It will probably take a couple of weeks to heal, but it's okay and does not even hurt. It itches a lot, though. I also managed to something get my neck vertebrae out of place and had to go see the chiropractor. I sounded a lot like a popcorn machine when he put them back in.

As for the financial news, you will note in my list of the debts to the left, hospital bill #1 is PAID OFF. After I got back from my trip, I found that I had some money in checking that I had allocated for the trip left over. So, I immediately wrote a check to pay off the hospital debt. It feels great. I had planned on paying it off with part of my reimbursement from the trip, but this is even better. It's like found money.

I also had $6.00 in cash left over from the trip. That money went to the regular emergency savings account, bringing the balance to $522.43! I am loving this!

Also, I got a $20.00 survey check in the mail today, so I deposited it to checking without delay and scheduled a credit card payment for the same amount.

I managed to do fine with eating on my trip. I was a little bit afraid I would not be able to find gluten free food to eat, but there was a market close to the hotel where I bought cereal, bagels, almond milk, fresh fruit, lunchmeat, peanut butter, and bottled water to eat. It cost a whole lot less than going out to eat. Most of the cash I took with me went for food at that grocery store. I am so proud that I never whipped out the credit card and only used the debit card 4 times, so I was way under budget.