Howdy, neighbors and money savvy friends! Well, I got paid again today and so I have already paid the internet/phone bill, gas bill, electric bill, put some money into savings, and made a credit card payment.

Old Challenge Balance: $783.48

Regular Savings Deposit $40.00
Professional Savings Deposit $100.00
Payment on cc #1 $40.00

New Challenge Balance: $963.48

Because I have had such a challenging couple of weeks, I am going to use the current paycheck to get caught up.

Hi, everyone. I have just had the most amazing experience involving my car. A couple of weeks ago, my car started making a flapping kind of noise when sitting idle and I started smelling either a oil or plastic burning smell. Uh-oh. First, I took it to our usual mechanic, who told me that 2 belts, the power steering pump, and power steering rack needed to be replaced for a total of $2500. What I did not understand at the time, and still don't, is what power steering has to do with a flapping noise. After all, the car was sitting still. All of that did not seem to make sense, so I took the car to the Auto Tech department of the local college. They did a really amazing job of diagnosing it. While the power steering is causing a problem, because it is leaking, the flapping noise came from a piece of a belt that was hanging down and flapping against something else. Also, the alternator was about to die. So, to replace 2 belts, the alternator, and add some oil was estimated to be $409. Big difference. I had to give them $200 up front to purchase parts. Yesterday, I was told the car was finished and the total balance due was $181. This morning, when I went to pick it up, the balance due was $160. I was happy and a little surprised, but did not question it. I was also given some advice by one of the instructors and some students on how to keep the car running better longer. To top it off, I also had the money for the repair in savings so I did not go into any debt to fix it! I felt as if I had won the lottery!

It's official, everybody! My mortgage is under $67,000! Woo-hoo!

Prior 52 Week Challenge Balance: $783.48

$22.00 deposit to slush fund
$40.00 deposit to regular savings
$40.00 deposit to house savings
$100.00 deposit to professional savings
$37.48 dh's payment to cc #1
$20.00 regular payment to cc #1

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $1042.96

One of my new games this year has been to use all my change in my purse for my one big, regular purchase of the week. And that is grocery shopping. I go through the self checkout and bag all my groceries myself. I use as many coupons as possible. To limit the amount coming directly out of checking, I use all my pocket change and any bills I have in my purse. Usually, it is only a couple of dollars, but one week, it was about $20 I had leftover. Woo-hoo! I have also really been trying to evaluate each purchase I make and to use cash I take out of the ATM for impulse purchases, so that when the cash runs out, I stop buying stuff.

Old Challenge Balance: $773.48

I found myself with some extra money in the checking, so I sent it to the cc #1.

New Challenge Balance: $783.48

Hi, everyone. I get paid tomorrow. I have already allocated for 1/2 the mortgage and paid the gas and electric bills.

Prior Challenge Balance: $521.48

Regular Savings $40.00
Slush Fund $22.00
House Savings $10.00
Car Savings $10.00
Professional Savings $140.00
Payment to Credit Card $30.00

New Challenge Balance: $773.48

Prior Challenge Balance: $501.48

Transfer From Slush to cc #1: $20.00

New Challenge Balance: $521.48

I have allocated for nearly all of the upcoming expenses and find myself with some money left over. So, I decided to send an extra $5.00 to the cc#1.

Old 52 Week Challenge Balance: $496.48

Add $5.00

New Balance: $501.48

So far, this is shaping up to be a repeat of last year with not having to look very hard to find the funds to pay off debt. Cheers to my progress. I will start putting the pedal to the metal.

Woo-Hoo!

Previous Balance: $407.00

Today I paid several payments to the credit card from different sources.

$37.48 (dh's payment to the credit card)
$40.00 (regular cc payment - I will pay more)
$12.00 (dividend from my savings account)

New Balance: $496.48

Also, on Thursday, we had window installers at our house to install another new window. Woo-Hoo! It is wonderful to have new windows, but not go into debt to pay for them. We already have enough money to pay for another window, but we may wait for a little while on the next one.

Hi, everyone. I get paid tomorrow and am trying to make a go of the 52 week challenge, but am getting a late start. So, I went through my records to get an idea of all my stuff that qualifies for my challenge.

1/2 paycheck
$17.00 deposit to car savings
$17.00 deposit to house savings
$100.00 deposit to professional savings
$1.00 deposit to AAA/car tax savings
$5.00 deposit to escrow savings
$40.00 deposit to regular savings

1/30 paycheck
$10.00 deposit to house savings
$10.00 deposit to car savings
$40.00 deposit to regular savings
$145.00 deposit to professional savings
$22.00 deposit to slush

That means my 52 Week Challenge Balance is $407.00.

While my real goal with the 52 Week Challenge is to pay off cc #1, I have not put any payments on this list. The balance on the margin is not the real balance because I had to use it again recently, so the balance is higher. I also have a goal to attend a professional conference in June this year, so I am ramping up what I am setting aside for that. I plan on doing lots of surveys, buying and selling used books, and whatever else I can do to raise the extra cash I need to accomplish my goals.

Cheers to the 52 Week Challenge!

Hi, everyone. As the year 2014 draws to a close, I feel the desire to reflect on my amazing progress for 2014 and make goals for 2015.

Progress:
1) Made steady progress on paying off cc #2 and have kept it paid off since early November. Woo-hoo!
2) Have funneled that same energy towards paying off cc #1. Have not made it there yet, though.
3) Retirement account has increased significant, but I don't remember how much.
4) All of my savings accounts have increased significantly as a result of regular deposits and also deposits of found money. Several of the savings accounts are "sinking funds" that are for a specific goal. They have served me well this year and resulted in helping to meet those goals without going into debt to do it. I get really weird looks from one of my friends when I tell her I have 7 savings accounts, though, but I don't care. When I told that it is helping me to get out of debt, she seemed to think that was good. Woo-Hoo!
5) Refinanced our mortgage in July from 5.23% to 4.75%, lowering our regular payment about $27.00. We have continued to make the same payment, though.

Goals for 2015:
1) Continue to make steady progress on cc #1 and pay it off by 12/31/2016. I plan to pay a regular payment of $100 per month and also make extra payments when possible.
2) My boss has told me that I may be getting a bump in regular pay level next July. I don't know how much, but I plan to make use of it by bumping up my retirement contribution by 1%. I also plan to increase savings deposits and debt payoff with these funds.
3) We have already paid a deposit on another new window for our house and it will be installed in January, I think. We will continue to set aside funds for more work on the house, including more tuckpointing and some basic maintenance.

Hi, everyone. I just finished a pinecone survey and will be getting $3.00 from that in a few days. That money will go directly to cc #1. Woo-Hoo! I also finished a survey at epoll.com, which gave me enough points to be able to cash out for $5.00. That will also be going to cc #1, but it will probably take a few weeks at least to get here. That ought to put cc #1's balance at somewhere around $3424.82. The $5.85 payment to cc #1 has not yet gone through, but will on Friday. I am loving this. Even though I still have a ways to go yet in adding to the regular savings (emergency) and paying off cc #1, I no longer feel like the guy in the picture below.

I was under budget for my shopping today and so the leftover $20.00 is going to my slush fund. Also, an extra $20.00 is going to cc #1. Also, when we refied our house in July, it seems the mortgage company figured some fee incorrectly and today we got a check for a grand total of $5.85. As soon as that check clears, I will send it to cc #1.

I am reporting the actual balance of cc #1 and it is lower now than it has been in over a year. I am ashamed to say that I have not reported the accurate balance in at least than long. With several big and small payments lately, I now have the balance much lower. Woo-Hoo1

Hi, everyone. More debt has been paid and more money has been saved. It is becoming more second nature to me now. That feels good that I don't have to struggle so much. So far, I have allocated for 1/2 of the mortgage, paid the gas bill, internet/phone bill, bought gas for the car, and bought groceries. I also deposited to savings, but lost my note as to how I allocated it, so this is my best recollection.

$40 regular savings deposit
$40 car savings deposit
$40 house savings deposit
$70 professional savings deposit
$20 AAA/car tax savings deposit
$5 escrow savings deposit
$1 self improvement savings deposit

On December 1st, I got a rebate deposit from mrrebates. I sent it directly to cc #1.
I also paid $50 to cc #1. cc #2 is still at $0.00!!!

Hi, everyone.

My cc #2 balance is still $0! Woo-Hoo! I get paid tomorrow. I have already allocated for 1/2 of the mortgage payment, gas for the car, slush fund, groceries, and the purchase of health supplements. I have also paid the water/sewer bill and put money into savings.

I will be putting the balance of my work reimbursement into my professional account. That's where it came from and I want to go to another conference next summer, so I figured the $231.00 would be a nice beginning to the approximately $1500 I will likely need.

I will be getting 2 payments of $3.00 each for Pinecone surveys in a couple of days. They will be going straight to cc #1. That feels good to say.

Hi, everyone. We just got our first statement on our mortgage since we re-fied. It's weird because, unless I forgot to record the balance on SS for several months, the balance went down by about $1179, but the regular principal plus extra principal is $151.00. Hmm...

I also got some found money in the mail, $3.00 for a Pinecone survey and $6.77 in a reimbursement check for a work related party. The whole $9.77 is going to cc #1 once the check clears.

I finally paid off the balance on cc #2! Woo-Hoo! I did this with some of the rest of my work trip reimbursement. I also authorized a $50.00 payment to cc #1. From this point, I am going to seriously step up payments on cc #1. I am so happy I can hardly speak. I am blessed.

Hi, everyone. I am so blessed. Today is a wonderful day. I remembered a couple of days ago that my cc #2 has with its rewards system a way to "erase" travel purchases. So, since I recently had to travel out of town for work, I decided to see how it would work for that. I was able to erase part of the cost of my hotel stay to the tune of $30.41! That was after I had already paid that part off for myself. Woo-Hoo! The credit for that hit today, which brought the balance of cc #2 to $185.59. Awesome. I also received the reimbursement payment for the trip from my work. I paid $100.00 to cc #2, bringing the balance of cc #2 to $85.59! Awesome. I feel so blessed. I will probably pay off the rest before next payday out of the same funds. I can't stop smiling.

Hi, everyone. It's payday here in the midwest and so more money has gone to savings, debt, and retirement. Here is my progress so far.

$21.00 Deposit to slush fund
$40.00 Deposit to regular savings
$40.00 Deposit to car account
$40.00 Deposit to house account
$20.00 Deposit to professional account
$20.00 Deposit to aaa/tax savings account
$ 6.00 Deposit to escrow account
$ 3.00 Deposit to self account

The best news is that before I even got paid this time, I discovered I had about $40.00 left over in my checking, so today I sent it to credit card #1. In about 2 weeks or so, I should get my reimbursement for attending a conference. I will pay off cc #2 completely and put $50.00 of it towards cc #1. The rest I will put back into my professional account for attendance at another conference next spring or summer. I also have $3.00 coming for Pinecone surveys, but I don't know when I will receive it. I will put it towards cc #1. On December 1st, I will get about $11.00 from mrrebates that I will put towards cc #1.

I have today and tomorrow off. I probably will not be going anywhere or spending much money, so I decided to allocate some extra towards payoff of cc #2. Woo-Hoo! That brings the balance to $245.25.

I have cc #2 to a much lower balance now. I plan to have it paid off by the end of the year. I am going to use survey money, rebate money, regular payments, and not so regular payments. Woo-Hoo!

Hi, everyone. It's payday again for me, so more money has come in and gone out and I am blessed. I have put more money into nearly all my savings accounts, retirement, and towards debt. The dh and I refi-ed our house this week. Woo-hoo! That lowered our payment by $40.00, $40.00 which we will now be putting towards set asides for more new windows. Eventually, I will go back to using it for paying more on the mortgage principle and credit card debt. Right now, in order to avoid freezing in the winters and roasting in the winters, we need new windows. We are so blessed and have no idea how we managed to bring all this greatness into our universe because we did not even seek out doing a re-fi. The dh called the mortgage company about something else and they wanted to talk to him about a NO COSTS OUT OF POCKET re-fi. Woo-hoo!

Also, I count on my list of things successfully done this week is paying our annual registration and car tax. I saved up since last July for doing so and on Sunday discovered I was only lacking $10.00 in the AAA/tax savings account from being able to pay for it. I had $10.00 in checking and it is due next week, so I paid it. It feels great knowing that it was not a problem to pay it, because I saved up for it rather than HOPING I would be able to pay for it when it came due.

I will be attending a conference soon. I have also saved up for months to attend it. I have to pay for it up front myself, but got special funding at work to reimburse my expenses. My professional savings account is down $200 because I just paid for the conference registration in full.

Hi, everyone. It's payday again for me. More money has gone to debt, savings, and retirement. I have lost track of my challenge amount, so I am not counting that here, but here is what I have done so far.

$40.00 Deposit to regular savings
$21.00 Deposit to slush fund
$40.00 Deposit to Car Account
$40.00 Deposit to House Account
$40.00 Deposit to Professional Account
$20.00 Deposit to AAA/Car Tax Savings Account
$1.00 Deposit to self Account
$1.00 Deposit to Escrow Account

Also, my retirement account up! Good news. I also sold 2 books on cash4books and will be getting $3.20 for them in a couple of weeks. I will put that money towards cc #2.

Hi, everyone. It is payday once again. I had an adventurous month of July, which required a lot of patience, gritting of teeth, and some money. I also have some good stuff to report. First, the good stuff:

1) I have opened two new savings accounts, one for escrow on my house, and one for self improvement. I created the escrow one when we received the notice of shortage on our escrow account (mentioned below) and I thought if I could save up over the entire year for this expense, then it would not be such a hardship when I do have to make a payment. The self improvement is not work related, but personal.

2) Today is payday, so more money went towards debt, savings, and retirement. Specifically, I have added $40.00 to regular savings, $40.00 to car savings, $40.00 to house savings, $5.00 to AAA/car tax savings, $3.00 to Escrow, and $1.00 to self improvement.

Now the bad news. The following stuff all happened to my husband and I in the last month:

1)June 23rd - The battery in our car went dead and we had to have it replaced. I put the cost on cc #2 so I could get points, but then paid off the charge, partially with a transfer from regular savings and other funds I had. amount ca. $171.94.

2)July 24th - our house air conditioner was not keeping up with the demand so we had it serviced. I absorbed this cost into the checking account. $96.00.

3) Also sometime in July, our house computer needed a new hard drive. This amount was charged to cc #1. amount ca. $113.00

4) Also sometime in July, we received a notice from our mortgage provider that our escrow account for the mortgage had a shortage and we could either pay the shortage now or have a higher normal payment. We used primarily cash we had on hand to handle this payment. I did not want a higher payment, so I paid the charge. $173.84.

5) July 26th - the starter on our car died and we had to have it replaced. I personally thought the cost was a little outrageous. I was also outraged that on the day I had the battery replaced, they said the starter and alternator were both "fine." My dh said that it is possible for the starter to be "fine" one day and just dead the next. I even used a coupon which got me $40.00 off of what the charge would have been. Arrgh. ca. $336.00

After #5 above, I felt just exhausted and ready to quit. Because August has 3 paydays for me, I am using this current paycheck to try to put things back in order and then get back to normal bills next payday. It will take several paydays to get the credit card #2 paid back down, though. How do you all deal with situations like this when they all happen around the same time?

Hi, everyone. I have good news and bad news on my 52 Week Challenge. The good news is that I am still doing good on my challenge, but the bad news is that I had to make a couple of steps backward. I had to replace the battery in my car because it went dead. We were not sure if it was the alternator or battery at the time it happened. Between the diagnosis and the battery installation, it was $171.49 or something like that. And that was with a $20 coupon I had earlier printed off the internet, anticipating needing to replace two more tires on the car. I put it on cc #2 to get the rewards points. I made payments to it from both checking and savings to avoid the balance getting out of control. I am not letting that slow me down and am forging ahead.

Previous 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2652.67

Car Savings Deposit $40.00
House Savings Deposit $40.00
Professional Savings Deposit $20.00
AAA/Car tax savings Deposit $5.00
Medical Savings Deposit $5.00
Credit Card #1 Payment $40.00
Credit Card #2 Payment $10.03 (from mrrebates)
Credit Card #2 Payment $58.28 (dh's payment)

New 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2870.98

I have more progress to report on the Challenge front. I got paid today and so more money went to debt, savings, and retirement.

Prior 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2468.74

$20.00 paid to cc #1
$40.00 regular savings deposit (automatic)
$40.00 car savings deposit
$40.00 house savings deposit
$20.00 professional savings deposit
$9.00 AAA/tax savings deposit
$1.00 medical savings deposit
$13.93 paid to cc #2

New 52 Week Challenge Deposit: $2652.67

On another note, the mortgage is down even more, and retirement is up. In fact, the retirement is more than my mortgage for the first time.

Hi, everyone. It's Friday and payday! Wheee!

I have more progress to report on the Challenge front. I got paid today and so more money went to debt, savings, and retirement.

Prior 52 Week Challenge Balance: $2278.74

$40.00 paid to cc #1
$40.00 regular savings deposit (automatic)
$40.00 car savings deposit
$40.00 house savings deposit
$20.00 professional savings deposit
$9.00 AAA/tax savings deposit
$1.00 medical savings deposit

New 52 Week Challenge Deposit: $2468.74

I have also cashed in my rebates in the amount $10.03, but I won't see the deposit until about July 1st.

The saddest thing I have heard about in my universe this week is that my nephew, still a young adult, died in an accident. He was a passenger at the time. Police are still investigating to find out who was at fault. Fortunately, he had health and life insurance which is paying for all of his expenses. I think his parents were kind of worried about how to pay for his funeral, but are relieved of that at least.

My dh's regular check came today. I allocated some of it for regular expenses. I also paid $58.28 (from my dh) and $7.00 from something we were going to buy and didn't to cc #2, bringing the cc #2 balance to a whopping $99.52!

Prior Challenge Balance: 2213.46

$58.28 payment to cc #2
$7.00 from something we allocated money for, but did not buy

New Challenge Balance: $2278.74

Hi, everyone. I made a payment to cc #1. The balance is actually a little different than it is in my sidebar. Ugh. I also cashed in a winning lottery ticket. I cashed in my pocket change at the Coinstar. I took the money from both and deposited it to checking and set up a payment to cc #2.

Prior Challenge Balance: $2162.46

$40.00 payment to cc #1.
$8.00 cashed in lottery ticket, paid to cc #2
$3.00 cashed in all my pocket change, mostly pennies, at the Coinstar, deposited to checking, sent payment to cc #2

New Challenge Balance: $2213.46