Well, I got a $7.00 survey check in the mail. It will be deposited tomorrow. On Friday, I will write a check with my regular $20.00 payment plus the $7.00 Spare Change Challenge money. This will bring the balance of hospital debt #1 to $454.58. Yes! I will meet my original goal of less than $400.00 on this debt before June even!

I just scheduled a credit card payment to go through on Saturday. Tomorrow is my next payday. I will go to the credit union and draw out my Spare Change Challenge funds of $28.00, combine it with $20.00, and send it to pay a big hunk off of Hospital Bill #1. This brings the balance to $481.58. Yea!

Well, I am well on my way to meeting my 2010 goals. My hospital bill #1 is now $529.58. I paid off $120.00 of it with $100.00 from my tax refund plus my regular $20.00 payment. I will be getting some survey money and other found money soon that I will also funnel towards that bill. I get paid tomorrow and my savings will increase by $40.00 to $598.91.

Well, I got paid again yesterday. I have already paid the gas and electric bills and the AAA membership. My auto/renter's insurance is on automatic withdrawal and will occur later in the month. I also made a payment on the credit card. I bought replacement pages for my planner yesterday. Last year, I was carrying a big, heavy planner that was like a large notebook. I bought another smaller, lightweight one at a yard sale. I am much happier with it, as my back was starting to hurt carrying the old one around. Later today, I will be going to the credit union to deposit some money into my car account, house account, and professional account. I already updated the balances, though. I will be getting updated statements for hospital bills #1 and #2 soon. I will pay those then.

Oh, recently I saw a post on another forum about unclaimed property. Just out of curiosity, I checked to see if any money was available for me in the several states I have lived in. Supposedly, the amount I am getting is between $1-$5, so it's not huge, but it is something. Check this website for your name:

http://www.unclaimed.org/default.asp. There might be money there for you, too! You do have to fill out a form and provide some proof of identification, but it seems so worth it.

I was curious how much my net worth had changed in 2009, so I looked it up on networthiq.com. I was very surprised to find my networth has changed to the tune of a positive $10,227!!! Wow. I knew it was better, but that is amazing.

net worth in Dec 2008 - $9,335
total hospital debt $2,900
credit card debt $1,882
no savings account
retirement account $13,054

net worth in Dec 2009 - $19,562
total hospital debt $1,772
credit card debt $1,682
emergency savings account $462
house downpayment account $135
car replacement account $150
retirement account $20,759


I updated this on 12/27/2009 because I did some calculations based on my payment schedule and discovered that my payoff dates for these debts are different than I thought.

2010 Financial Goals
1. Pay Hospital Debt #1 Down to Under $400
2. Pay Hospital Debt #2 Down to $400
3. Establish $1000 Emergency Savings Balance by June and Maintain it

In February, I plan to start paying another $20 per month more on hospital debt #1. This will accelerate the debt payoff.

Well, I got paid again. Savings is up. Retirement is up. Debt is down. The scales are starting to tip in my favor. I bought groceries today and spent more than I had planned, but I was out of practically everything. I also increased the amount automatically deposited to my savings, which is my EF. Anyway, just checking in with you guys. I'm doing good now and better than yesterday! Well, I decided to try something new. As far as the household expenses, like utilities, rent, etc., it seemed like the were out of balance. I did a little figuring and found that yes they were out of balance. The beginning of the month's paycheck seemed to go farther because I had less fewer dollars going for household expenses. So, this time, I evened it out a little by transferring $100 to savings for the purpose of going towards rent later in the month. This should help a lot. Let's see how it goes. By the way, the "Other Real Estate" Category on my networth iq profile is not really real estate. It is a separate savings account I have at another credit union. It is a join account with my husband.

Well, I have changed the account that my paypal deposits go to. They will now go directly to my savings, which is my EF. This will help me to get it built up and ward off Murphy at all costs. I just recently got a survey payment delivered to me by paypal. I had it deposited to the savings and it felt so good knowing exactly where it was going.

Debt is Down. Savings is Up. Retirement is up, so networth is up. Yahoo! Well, I got paid again on Friday. I paid the gas bill, electric bill, cell phone bill, hospital debt #2, credit card bill, and bought gas and groceries. I averted a minor financial disaster last week when someone stole my debit card number and made a large charge to my account, resulting in me being overdrawn. As a result, my card was cancelled. Don't worry. After about 5 phone calls, I think everything has been taken care of and when I do get a new card, I will be using it much more selectively. When I went out to do shopping last Saturday and today, I cashed a check for my budgeted amount. Last Saturday when all shopping was done, I still had 1/3 of my cash left. Yahoo! This Saturday, after finishing, I had only about $3.00 left because I was out of a lot of stuff, but that's still in the black. I did have to write a check at Walgreens, though. Heads up, if you are coupon shopper and get Dollar General's emails, watch for a special coupon to use. It gives you 20% extra off some things and 10% off of others. I combined that with some other coupons and saved over $5.00 just at that store. Cool.

And today, I decided to give back to our men and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. A group at my work is collecting stuff to send there and so I bought a few things to send. They only wanted baby wipes, granola bars, razors, toilet paper, and socks. I really wanted to send toothpaste, shampoo, soap, and toothbrushes, but they told me they only wanted certain things. What gives? I don't know, but that sounded kind of weird, like who would refuse a donation like that?

Last minute update: I just opened the mail and received a reimbursement check from work for $5.40. This goes right to savings. I also received a statement for hospital bill #1, so a check for it is off in the mail now.

Well, I got paid again Friday. I decided to start building up my emergency fund to $1000 again and then start hitting the debt really hard. So, my savings is up to $838.43. Yippee. My cc is down about $20.00. I also saved an astounding $22.42 doing my shopping this weekend. I am planning on directing it to the cc. I think that may be a record for me. I have already paid the rent, internet bill, bought groceries and household stuff, put more money in savings, and set aside $165.00 for dh to take a CPR trainor course. My husband says he is supportive of getting out of debt, but does not seem to want to do the work and always wants to buy what I like to call "shinies." In other words, he would rather buy some useless crap we don't need rather than buy financial security. Hmm... I haven't really decided how to feel about that, but I have figured out a way to circumvent the buying of the shinies. Instead of waiting until payday arrives to write checks for bills, I write them on Wednesday, two days before. That makes sure that household bills and debts get paid. If I don't have any money left after that, I just don't have it. I have decided that that's exactly what I will tell him if it happens.

I had a couple of things going on last week that necessitated eating out two days, so I have leftover frugal lunches for this week.

I have:
2 bowls chicken/vegetable soup with rice
1 chicken salad with crackers packet
2 refrigerated chicken strips packages
2 bowls chinese noodles
frozen vegetables
2 applies
5 banannas
pretzels
trail mix
6 bottles water

Lunch 1:
1 bowl chinese noodles
1/2 cup frozen vegetables
1/2 pkg refrigerated chicken strips
1 apple
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 2:
1 chicken salad with crackers packet
1 apple
1 bananna (more fruit here because chicken salad packet kind of skimpy)
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 3:
1 bowl chicken and veg soup with rice
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 4:
1 bowl chinese noodles
1/2 cup frozen vegetables
1/2 pkg refrigerated chicken strips
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 5:
1 bowl chicken and veg soup with rice
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Well, I got paid again Friday. I have already paid the bills for gas, electric, cell phone, trash, water/sewer, and hospital bills #1 and #2. I have bought groceries, some of which was on sale. The meat and frozen veggies I bought should last well into next week. My retirement account is way up and my debts are down. I am pleased about that.

My finances have yo-yoed a little bit lately. I feel like I made significant progress and then something happens that makes me feel like I am back at step one again. I had $1000 in my savings and then I had to take out $140 to get the starter on my car replaced. Something else happened, too, but I can't remember what. Anyway, I am getting savings slowly built back up and debt paid down. I am also slowly getting my car replacement account and house account built up. Hospital Bills #1 and #2 are also down some. I will be paying more on #2 on Friday. Also, I will be leaving on Thursday for a conference and will be back on Friday. About 10-15 days later, I will get a reimbursement of about $120, which will immediately be directed to the credit card. It will not be spent on shinies, dinner out, etc., as those things don't contribute to my financial freedom. I got a copy of Dave Ramsey's book at the library and copied the budget forms from the back. I adapted them for my situation and made a spreadsheet based on them. I am not sure if they envelope thing will work for me, as predicting how much groceries will cost is impossible. I am going to try it for awhile without envelopes.

Well, I got paid again on Friday. I have paid the utility bills and the credit card bill, and bought groceries and other items we needed. I am putting as much extra money on the credit card as I can. If it is halfway between paydays and I see that still have $400 in my checking, I send some more to the cc. I am also putting all found money, such as survey money, rebates, etc., towards the cc. I just got a $10 survey check on Friday and it is now on its way to the cc. It is an approach that seems to be working.

Well, the dear hubby bought new reader glasses the other day and absentmindedly paid with the credit card instead of the debit card. Well, he did own up to his mistake and is paying for the bill of $95.00. Also, I just got a survey check in the mail today for $7.60. So, tomorrow after I verify the $102.60 deposit has cleared, I will zip it off to the credit card straight away. No, this money will not stay long in my wallet or it may risk getting spent on shinies. I will post an update of the credit card balance then.

Howdy, everyone. Wow, I really feel like I have hit a milestone. My emergency savings is FINALLY over $1000 and I just made a $100 payment to the credit card without even blinking. The payment did not feeling have a tooth pulled. It was more like paying a phone bill, which is not on my Top 10 List of Things I Love to Do, but it is not all that bad. I don't know exactly what is occurring, except that I am slowly crawling out from the debt hole I was in. In addition to that $100 regular credit card payment, I also took the $16.00 that was left in checking before I got paid and sent it to the credit card, too. I sent $75.00 to hospital debt #2, bring down the balance to less than $1500. My retirement account actually went down a tiny amount, but that's okay. I feel like I am on a roll!

Well, today I had to pay my rent and I also logged into my bank account to reconcile my account and made the discovery that I had $361.94. And that was after paying the rent. This is kind of unusual, as halfway between my paydays I usually get down to about $100.00. Things seem to looking up. I'm not sure what I am doing different, except that I acknowledge that if I have a surplus in my account, I am sending some to the credit card company, even if it is only $5.00. So I logged into the cc website and sent an extra $20 payment, bringing my cc balance to $1652. Wow. I think I have paid off about $300 just in the last month. Some of that was leftover travel money I set aside for going to my conference. So my checking balance is now $341.94 and my savings balance is close to $1000.00. By next payday, it will be $1000.00. Woo-hoo!

Well, I feel much more relaxed and at ease with my financial situation. I don't know why, but it seems like things have eased up a little bit lately. I did not get the amount of reimbursement for my work trip that I was hoping for, but I did not let that stop me from making huge progress. I had to replace my portable dishwasher (we have to have a portable because we don't own our house), which took $461.38. I took $400.00 and put it into savings, bringing my balance to $975.89. Almost $1000. Wow. I am using the rest to get some work done on my car. With all the "extra" money I had been pumping into the Conference Challenge, I am going to use to pay off the credit card and medical debt. I don't know exactly how long it will take me, but if apply the same intensity I did with the Conference Challenge, I would say 1.5 years.

Well, I went shopping today for groceries and a few other things. I also made a deposit into my savings account. I just recently got two survey checks for $5.00 and $8.80. I also had $2.00 leftover from this week's spending money. I have also been saving my spare change in a small purse. I cashed that all in and added in $100 to make a deposit of $115.80 to my savings account. Woo-hoo! I want to get my savings up to $1000 and then start slamming the debt real hard.

As you can see on the left side of the screen, I have a new profile photo. It was taken at a resort called Crest Mountain outside Asheville, N.C. I had a great time and it wasn't as expensive as what I thought it would be. I am still trying to figure out the specifics, but when I get figured out exactly how much I have left, I will immediately pay it to the credit card.

So, that's the end of the Conference Challenge and the beginning of the Debt Payoff Challenge. I am going to use survey money, coupon savings, as well as half of my work reimbursement, etc. to increase the amount I have in savings. I already have a survey check coming from Opinion Outpost and another from Lightspeed Panel. Then, I will start hitting my debt really hard.