Hi, everyone.

Yesterday in the mail, we got a refund check. Woo-Hoo!

So, with this refund, I have a plan to put a small amount in DH's savings he uses for video games, etc. With the rest, I plant to pay off a debt and I will save the rest. So, that's one piece of good news. Woo-hoo!

We also got our house painted. Our house is nearly 100 years old, brick, and was somewhat run down when we bought it 10 years ago. So, we have been gradually fixing it up, replacing windows, replacing aged appliances and HVAC, etc. The painters also replaced some cracked mortar. The original brick was a traditional red brick color and it is now painted a light beige. The paint has improved the appearance and we hope the lighter color will help to repel heat in the summer.

I have been successfully accumulating a small stash of canned goods, extra frozen foods, and meats starting about March when the shutdown happened. This has helped up greatly to continue to eat well and stay healthy while not going into debt or having to order everything online. Stores here have been good about keeping most things stocked, but I have not been able to buy paper towels for over a month. So, it's a good thing I stocked up at Big Lots before that.

I have also been putting any extra funds we have onto debts, into savings, or stocking up on extra supplies.

I also bought supplies to donate to the food bank at the college I work at. It breaks my heart to know that college students could have to choose between buying textbooks or eating, so I help students out a little here and there. I check the clearance aisles at the stores and use coupons or sales to buy canned goods, hygiene supplies, and school supplies. Today, I got a package of Bic pens for free because they were on sale for $1.00 and I had a $1.00 coupon for Bic products. I also went to the only thrift store open in my town today where I bought a new, large box of pencils for 50 cents. I will have quite the haul to take to the college food bank on Monday. It feels really awesome to help others, and I actually get a great deal out of it emotionally when I see the look on the face of the workers there when I donate items like canned tuna.

Well, it's another payday here for me. Whee!!

So, I have already paid all bills due. I have deposited money into savings. I have allocated for the mortgage and car insurance.

I also allocated $100.00 for the upcoming car maintenance to be done early next month. That is part of my UFM Challenge, figuring out how to pay for it without going into debt to do it.

I know I have some pocket change leftover. I am going to use that to pay for part of the grocery bill and make an equal deposit to the UFM Challenge.

I don't know about you, but it is a struggle to maintain ourselves and our stuff. Going into huge debt would be easier on the front end, but I know from being there that the other side is not easy. As they say, "onward and upward!"

And speaking of stuff, I think I will try to declutter my house by getting rid of some stuff I don't need anymore this weekend. What are your plans this weekend?

Since starting my UFM on January 3rd, I have made considerable progress on my UFM goals.

1. Car maintenance - ca. $400 - I have not decided on the plan for this yet, but it will probably be a combination of setting some money aside and using the credit card

2. Road Trip #1 - have some money set aside, but need about $200 more, probably

3. Road Trip #2 - have some money already set aside, but need about $1100 more

4. AAA membership - paid in full tomorrow, 1/10, with funds set aside in a sinking fun plus $39 from checking

Hi, everyone. I have a number of current things and things happening in the future that will require money. I don't want to go into credit card debt to pay for it all, so I am doing a UFM, or maybe UF several months. LOL

I am going to limit my purchases for the next few months to essential purchases. Specifically, I am going to cease trips to convenience stores for the time being and make my own tea with my tea bags. I will also use pocket change to help pay for my grocery purchases. I will set aside equal amounts of money as well as money saved from coupons and saved towards the needed purchases. Here are the expenses I have coming up.

1. Car maintenance - ca. $400 - this is a guesstimate on cost. I will have to contact the shop to get a better estimate. Target Date: 2/15?

2. Road Trip #1 - have some money already set aside, but need about $500 more. Target Date: 4/30

3. Road Trip #2 - have some money already set aside, but need about $1200 more. Target Date: 5/31

4. AAA membership - have some money already set aside for this annual expense, but need $39 more. Target date 1/24

It's time to get to work and find $2139.00.

Update to the above: I just got a rebate from mrrebates for $10.80. This is going towards the total. Woo-Hoo!

2019 Financial Plan Progress

1) Purchase a used car with saved funds and tax refund by the end of February. It took me 6 years to accomplish this goal, but I did find a used car in good condition, get it inspected by my mechanic, and get the carfax report.

2)Pay down balance on cc #1 to $2000.00 by December 31st. I did not quite that close, but the number is much better.

3) Continue to eat super healthy by growing some of my own food and buy some at the farmer’s market and stores. I have grown some of my own food and bought some from local farmers.

4) Contribute any coupon or sales savings to credit card payoff. I have redirected sales and coupon savings toward the car savings project, and after buying the car, the credit card.

5) I will also contribute any funds I get from rebates to credit card payoff also. I did the same thing with this that I did with #4.

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2020 Financial Plan

1) Pay down cc #1 to by $1,000.00 by 12/31.

3) Continue to eat super healthy through gardening and buying from local farmers.

4) Contribute any coupon or sales savings to credit card payoff. This is a money game I play.

5) I will also contribute any funds I get from rebates to credit card payoff also.

6) Save up for vacation. (Target 4/30)

7) Save up for work trip. (Target 05/31)

Hi, everyone.

I have had some significant improvement on the financial improvement front this month. I thought I would not be getting paid until Friday, but I got paid yesterday. I still had $59.11 leftover in checking before getting paid, so I divided it up between house savings and cc1. After adding in my pay, I went to look for my bills to pay. So far, I have paid the electric bill, which is not even due until December 19th! I have also allocated for the mortgage and I will be doing my savings deposit tomorrow. Now, except for groceries and gas, I don't have much else that needs to be paid for. I already paid the gas bill earlier this month, on the 15th. I also already paid the water/sewer bill, but it was not due until December 5th. I will have the phone/internet bill to pay soon. I will be buying some items for donation, including gifts for teenage foster kids, a college students' food bank, and toys for tots, at Black Friday sales. Life is amazing when get enough debt paid off that you don't have a lot of bills to pay. I feel so blessed and thankful for my blessings.

ADDENDUM: I should add that other big progress of note is that I paid off around $300.00 of credit card debt in October and so far around $200.00 in November. I will be doing another $97.62 payment to cc 1 on Friday. Every time I have gotten a bill of any type in October and November I have been able to pay it early by around 2 to 4 weeks. This is really big for me, as I usually wind up paying bills on the payday right before the are due.

Hi, everyone.

Today is my payday, so I have already allocated funds for bills. I have sent money to debt, mortgage, and savings. I sent $50.00 to cc1.

We are also saving money like mad for a couple of house maintenance projects we have coming up. I sent the leftovers of $41.31 from checking to house savings. I also recently received a reimbursement for having attended a work related conference. I had already paid off most of the charges for attending the conference out of checking. That is, except for the hotel bill. After paying off the hotel bill with part of the reimbursement, I sent the balance of $189.06 to house savings. House savings is now at about $1400.

I got a survey payment of $3.00 today. I sent it off to cc #1. Woo-hoo!

So, I realized today that I can send more money to cc #1, so I sent more.

I am also depositing funds to the car tax/aaa savings, escrow savings, and tax preparation savings.

This completes my savings and debt payoff goals for this month, but because I still have some money left, I will be sending more soon.

I paid $50.00 more to cc #1 today. Woo-hoo!

I did some more shopping today for much needed items.

Furnace Filters. I buy our furnace filters online because we have an odd size of 16 x 25 x 2. Hardware stores in my area do not carry this size. The ones I buy are better filters and cheaper by the filter than buying at a store. I bought 4 filters for $47.00.

Supplements. I bought some more supplements online for $47.00.

I will get rebates on all of these because I ordered by going through mrrebates. I also had coupons for most of what I ordered. Woo-Hoo!

So, my pay raise finally kicked in yesterday and I had a couple of things I have been needing to buy.

One of them is an entertainment center that is open on the back, making it easy to get to cords, etc. Our old unit is an old kitchen cabinet that someone gave to us about 15 years ago! So, one has been ordered and will be here in a week or so.

The second thing I bought was a Serta perfect sleeper memory foam mattress topper. These things are so good that putting one on top of a regular, good mattress is better than buying a really expensive mattress in my opinion. I am sleeping like a baby now and even my chiropractor commented about she could see an improvement.

I also bought groceries, gas, and paid all the regular bills, credit cards, and made savings deposits.

This is my first update in awhile and I think that was way before the hacking incident.

Today is my payday. Woo-Hoo! The other thing I am celebrating is that my raise has finally kicked in and I have back pay in that paycheck from July to now. Yay! So, for this payday, I have stepped up the debt payoff and savings deposits. I am also planning on buying a couple of things I have been needing for awhile.

That's all for now. Now to make my shopping list.

Hi, everyone.

I am creating a Financial Plan for 2019, not a resolution. I have found resolutions to be too wishy-washy and not specific enough. For example, a lot of people say they want to lose weight or get out of debt, but there is no follow up or plan behind that. The goals must be achievable, measurable, and have a date or “ongoing” attached. So, here is my plan with notes on the steps needed to accomplish it.

1) Purchase a used car with saved funds and tax refund by the end of February. I need about $7000.00 to buy a car in decent shape and pay tax and registration. I have about $5937.00. My tax refund should be at least $1000.00 and I will be putting in at least another $210.00 in savings from payday savings. I also estimate I may get around $100.00 (yes, it’s in that bad of shape) for a trade in. All of that should put my balance over $7300.

2)Pay down balance on cc #1 to $2000.00 by December 31st. To that, I need to pay $228.00 per month on this debt. I currently pay about $200.00, so this will be a bit of a stretch.

3) Continue to eat super healthy by growing some of my own food and buy some at the farmer’s market and stores. Doing this, especially growing my own vegetables, makes a considerable difference in food expenses overall. I will contribute the estimate on what I would save to credit card payoff. Ongoing.

4) Contribute any coupon or sales savings to credit card payoff. This is a money game I play. Ongoing.

5) I will also contribute any funds I get from rebates to credit card payoff also. Ongoing

Hi, everyone. I got paid today.

Retirement and savings are up. Debt is down. Here is my update of retirement, savings, and debt. Woo-hoo!

Slush Fund $20.00
Regular Savings $1595.10
Car Account $4307.93
House Account $579.70
Professional Account $318.38
Medical Savings $140.26
AAA/Car Tax Savings $43.01
2018 Tax Prep $18.03
Escrow Account $43.00
Appliances Replacement $27.00
Retirement account $121,033.90

Hi, everyone. I got paid today.

My car savings fund is up to $4212.43! My goal is to have at least $7K when I go to buy a car.

cc #1 is at $5483.62.

The car replacement fund is at $4,062.25. This is not counting future anticipated funds or the value of selling or trading in my car.


cc #1 is at 5597.43!

Okay, so I have hit a major snag in my plan to pay off cc #1 this year. So, the story goes that last Thursday, the water heater officially died, hence the removal of $500.00 from the house account. It wasn't something I wanted to do, but by the time the plumber arrived, my husband said it was spewing water out the top of the unit. I have not written the check to cover it yet, but it is covered. Fast forward to Wednesday this week when it was 36 degrees outside and our very old furnace was blowing cold air. My husband called a local company to come out and work on it. They "fixed" it, but told us it has a max life of 5 years left. So, we made a mental note to step up the game on saving for the hvac right away. He scheduled a visit with the same company to come out and do a free in home estimate to replace the furnace and a/c. It was basically window shopping so we would know what to shoot for in our savings plan. That same day the furnace quit again, so we began to look more seriously at the quote. The quote is $4564.00 to replace a/c, furnace, thermostat, and a concrete pad for it to rest on. I still had 94% of the tax refund sitting in savings, as we used $95.00 of it to get a new yard/security light installed. When we finally made our minds to accept the quote, we transferred the rest of the tax refund to pay off a large portion of cc #1 in order to cover the cost of the repair. I am definitely going to step up the game of surveys and rebates and not buying non-essentials, like right now!

I am not doing the Uber challenge, but I am doing a challenge to pay off cc #1 THIS YEAR! Yes, this is the year I go debt free of cc #1.

Tomorrow, I get paid again. I have already allocated for the mortgage, cc #1 payment, paid the water/sewer bill, and made a deposit to savings. I still have to buy gas for the car, groceries, some replacement kitchen items, and health supplements.

$3.00 to cc #1 from pinecone check
$79.00 to cc #1 from my pay
$119.00 deposit to savings ($30 to car, $30 to house, $30 to professional, and $29 to medical)

I indicated in my last blog that I removed my husband from my health insurance because the rate went up so high. He is a vet, so he does have access to care, but we won't have health insurance on him anymore. I am saving $29.00 per payday to the medical savings to allow for any significant medical expenses (not co-pays).

I found $.03 on the ground this week. I will use that at the store on Saturday and make a payment equal to the store savings and cash to cc #1. See you later.

1) Pay off cc #1 by 12/31/2017. To do this, make at least $225.10 in payments monthly ($79.00 per payday from my paychecks and $67.10 from my husband).

I made some significant changes in my health insurance enrollment at work because health insurance premiums for myself and my husband went from $111.00 to $163.00 per payday and my dental went from $0.00 to $6.00 per payday. So, my husband asked me to take him off of my health insurance. This will result in about $80.00 less being taken from my pay each payday. My plan for this "extra" $80.00 is to send $40.00 to cc #1 and put $40.00 in medical savings for any out of pocket potential medical expenses.

2) Continuing contributing to savings as normal.

3) Contribute any survey money, rebates, coupon savings, and credit card rewards to cc #1 payoff.

4) Grow as much of my own food as I can. Buy as much other food from organic local sources. This will help me to eat as clean as I can.

5) I will continue to use a refill fountain cup as a way to challenge myself to spend as little as possible on beverages. I will funnel my savings to cc #1.

6) I will continue to use my pocket change as a way to pay part of my grocery store bill.

After years of searching, I have finally found something that works to help stabilize my budget so I don't run out of money before I run out of month. It's so simple that it's scary. It works for me anyway. I think each person has to find what works for them.

I have a skeleton budget on a 4x6 index card for the entire month with all usual expenses: mortgage, electric, gas for car, gas heat, groceries, insurance, cat food, savings deposit, and credit card payment, etc. Whenever a new payday rolls around, I use a new index card for the budget for that payday with the expenses and amounts for the next two weeks based on the skeleton budget referred to above. For each item, I have an amount budgeted for that item. Whenever each one gets paid, I mark through it and add the date paid. If I only use part of the allotted amount, I mark through it and add a note with the amount left in that category. If I am at a store and want to buy something out of the ordinary, I can check my card to see how much I have left and what I need to leave room for so that I know if I can afford to buy the item I want. It is for this reason that the budget be on an index card so that it is portable. I can keep it at all times in my purse. I found it does not help to have a budget on my computer because I can't see it when I really need it.

I have been doing this for about 6 months. At first, it was difficult, because I would want to buy something and see based on my card that I could not afford it. It helped me to really distinguish my wants from my needs and make better choices. I have also paid down my cc #1 from nearly $5000 to about $2900 in just around two years in a two adult, one income household.

Another cool thing I have been doing is to use the amount I save at the grocery store and make an equal payment to cc #1. I also use pocket change to pay part of the grocery bill and so I also make a payment to cc #1 equal to the pocket change amount. Sometimes, I don't really save anything, so I don't make a payment.

Hi, everyone. I have been doing really well with unplanned spending and also using cash for purchases like iced tea at the convenience store. Because I am doing so well, I am sending an extra $5.00 to cc #1.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2818.93

$5.00 extra payment to cc #1

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2823.93


The cc #1 balance is now $2963.30!!

Hi, everyone. I get paid tomorrow and so I am sending more money to debt, savings, retirement, and regular expenses. I have already written a check for deposit to savings reference below, paid the gas bill, allocated for 1/3 of the mortgage, and made a payment to credit card #1. I also wrote a check for payment on plumbing work we had done, but that is not a debt.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2583.93

$40.00 regular savings deposit
$25.00 car savings deposit
$25.00 car savings deposit
$20.00 slush deposit
$5.00 escrow savings deposit
$5.00 medical savings deposit
$5.00 hvac savings deposit
$5.00 professional savings deposit
$5.00 AAA/car tax savings deposit
$100.00 cc #1 payment

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2818.93

I forgot to say that this month is a 3 paycheck month for me, so I have allocated extra funds towards savings and debt repayment. After buying groceries and other necessities, I will contribute more to debt repayment.

Hi, everyone. I got paid today, so I am sending more money to debt, savings, and retirement.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2367.23

Regular Savings Deposit $40.00
House Savings Deposit $25.00
Car Savings Deposit $25.00
HVAC Savings Deposit $5.00
Medical Savings Deposit $5.00
AAA/Car Tax Savings Deposit $5.00
Escrow Savings $5.00
Extra Left in Slush From Last Payday Sent to cc #1 $20.00
DH's Payment to cc #1 $66.70
addendum: Slush Deposit $20.00

cc #1 balance is now $3067.30!!!

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2583.93

Hi, everyone. My credit card payment came due again on Friday and despite all the hard work I did at paying a good off, about $30.00 in finance charges were added. It's not even close to maxxed out. I think I need to verify the interest rate, because it's supposed to 12.9%, so the interest amount seems high. This interest brings the balance to $3157.00. Ugh!!!

Anyway, I recently got a Pinecone check of $3.00, so I sent it directly to cc #1.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance $2364.23

$3.00 Pinecone payment applied to cc #1

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2367.23


After the payment, the cc #1 balance is $3154.00.

I should add to the above that no recent purchases were made to cc #1 which did not get immediately paid for.

Hi, everyone. I get paid tomorrow, so I am sending more money to savings, debt, and retirement.

Old 52 Week Challenge: $2229.23

$40.00 regular savings deposit
$20.00 car savings deposit
$20.00 house savings deposit
$5.00 hvac savings deposit
$5.00 medical savings deposit
$5.00 tax/aaa savings deposit
$5.00 tax prep savings deposit
$5.00 escrow savings deposit
$50.00 cc #1 payment
$20.00 xfer to cc #1 from last payday's slush

New 52 Week Challenge: $2364.23

This brings cc #1 down to $3123.75!!!

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2224.23

payment to cc #1 $5.00

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $3193.75