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Archive for October, 2010

Interest Towards Emergency Fund Goal

October 31st, 2010 at 04:34 pm

We earned a mere $3.39 in our money market account this month. I'm adding it to our emergency fund goal.

New Balance: $6330.29

Generally, this time of month (payday) I would add $215 to this goal as well. This pay period I'm skipping that to put the money towards the van, since we earned around $225 from the SDP account.

We are still on track to meet our goal by the end of the year! Yipee. Smile

Overdrawn

October 29th, 2010 at 04:02 pm

I spent too much out of my checking account this month by $40. I'm not sure how it happened, yet. Likely, I forgot to record something and then spent money I didn't have! This NEVER happens to me. I'm so diligent with recording and know what is available to spend. Apparently not this time.

I have been doing a lot of buying for this evenings Halloween party...so I'm guess the error is there somewhere. I will investigate when party festivies are over.

Boo!!

Done!!

October 27th, 2010 at 05:01 pm

I'm finally done sewing the costume! Princess Daisy will get to dress up for our party on Friday and beg for candy on Saturday. (Umm...Halloween is different here.)



The things we mothers do for our children huh?

Now the party spending begins. I'm really trying to keep the costs down, but things add up. Luckily many of them can be used again. I'm also providing dinner for the group. It will be lots of fun and we are all looking forward to it.



Almost Done....

October 27th, 2010 at 03:54 am

Okay, an update is needed. I am almost done with the Princess Daisy costume. I just need to hem the bottom. But I'm too tired tonight to do a good job.

Today I did very little because I realized my girls needed to stay home for a head lice treatment! Ugh!! Sounds easy, but lots of combing. They both have very long hair. Of course, I had to wash bedding, too. Luckily, one of them was caught VERY early it seems. The other...not so much. I think I missed diagnosing it over the weekend. I thought it was just a dry scalp. She has that too, but it interferred in understanding the itchy problem.

So...nothing financial, except buying head lice treatments! We are approaching payday and I expect to make another large payment on the van loan!!

Still Sewing

October 25th, 2010 at 03:34 am

We made an out of town trip this weekend. As a result I spent some money. Gas, snacks, food for the event we attended and money for Princess Daisy's wig!

Now that I'm back, the sewing contines on the Princess Daisy costume. I am getting closer to finishing, but I bet I need several more hours. Until you see the completed costume pictures, you'll know where I am. Smile

From Scratch

October 22nd, 2010 at 04:27 pm

Sewing!

I'm sewing a princess daisy (from Mario Kart) costumef from Mario Kart for my daughter. We couldn't find one that even exists premade...so I winging it by sewing from a 99 cent pattern and sale fabric. I think I spent less than $10 total. However the hours that I spent on this costume are crazy!! I feel like I have been working on it for days and I'm not done yet.

I'll post a picture when it is complete. I can say it has kept me from browsing garage sales or surfing the net or spending too much money!

Insurance Refund

October 20th, 2010 at 02:14 pm

We sold our car on Sunday, so I cancelled the insurance that I had just renewed earlier this month. The refund was $159.54. Can't complain!

Right now I'm working out whether or not I should send this in to the van loan. It may need to be saved for other things.

I do have to return the plates and registration to the county, but I do not expect a refund. The registration was due this month and I simply did not pay it.


More to the Emergency Fund Goal

October 19th, 2010 at 02:25 pm

Finally, I get to share that we have earned $225 in our SDP (Savings Deposit Program)!! We deposited funds back in July and at the end of September were credited with the interest. Unfortunately, until today I could not see the statement showing the interest. But now I can, so it is official!!

I will add this to our emergency fund goal of $7,000.

New Balance: $6,326.90

I just know we are going to meet this goal by the end of the year. Very happy about that!!

Note: The SDP is available to those serving in a combat zone. It pays 10% interest.

Sold the Car!!

October 17th, 2010 at 08:25 pm

I just sold our car to our neice. We now have $2500 to deposit into the emergency fund.

New Balance: $6101.90

Less than $900 to go to the goal of $7K.

Van Loan Officially Lower

October 17th, 2010 at 01:04 am

As I mentioned in my previous post, the regular payment on our van loan was deducted from our checking account but not showing on the lenders site. But I checked again this evening and the payment is now official.

The principal portion of the payment was $462.09. Therefore, the new balance is $8,190. Plus or minus a few cents!

If only I could get the balance down faster, I'd be even happier. I am happy. But I'd be happy-er!

I Wanted to Update

October 16th, 2010 at 05:07 pm

I wanted to update our van loan balance to reflect our regular payment, but the online balance isn't showing our payment yet. It has been deducted from our checking account. Customer service isn't open again until Monday. Darn.

So...I'll just say that our balance has to be under $8,200 with our regular payment. Yip. Ee.

I'll update the sidebar and post again when it is confirmed online.

On a side note, I think I need to get back to my ebay challenge this week. I have several things that would be good to sell now. And the cash would be nice. Smile

Deposit to Savings

October 15th, 2010 at 04:18 pm

I made our regular deposit to our emergency fund goal in the amount of $215. The balance just keeps growing!

New Balance: $3601.90

Goal is still $7,000. We expect to meet or exceed this by the end of the year. Smile

Smaller Principal Payment - Milestone Reached

October 14th, 2010 at 08:25 pm

I made another pricipal payment to our van loan today in the amount of $515. (See I added the $15 mentioned yesterday here!) This payment is smaller than the last one, but it all counts.

New Van Balance: $8,652

We are now under $9,000. Yipee! Another milestone. The regular payment should pull very soon, so I'll be updating again soon.

Squirreling Away Cash

October 13th, 2010 at 01:01 pm

I'm painting our master bedroom today. I hope to get it done quickly. The nice thing is the rebate for the paint arrived yesterday. The check is for $15.

Crazy as it sounds, I need to decided where to put the $15. Right now it feels like I'm squirreling away bits of cash for different reasons: holidays, van loan, money for clothes. I guess it is a good problem to have. Decisions,decisions.

Do you ever have indecision over small amounts of money? Or is it just me?

Peeked at the Retirement Accounts

October 12th, 2010 at 03:30 pm

Someone mentioned the Dow was over 11,000 which made me curious enough to look at our retirement accounts. I was pleasantly surprised! They are all up...even the ones we don't contribute to. Yipee!!

Have you checked in on your investments lately? How are you doing?

After THE Loan

October 10th, 2010 at 08:46 pm

In case you are curious about what the plan is after the van loan is paid off, here's the scoop. We are saving as much cash as possible to purchase DH a vehicle. It seems likely it will be a truck. Hopefully, we can find a great deal on used and take out a very small loan.

From there our plans are a bit up in the air. We may be moving, or not. We need to keep cash available for a move. If it appears the move is further away, then we would pay off the small truck loan (if we have one). After that, I would really need to evaluate. College will be getting closer for our oldest. Overall, the goal will simply be to keep improving our financial situation, through saving, investing and mortgage paydown (if we have one at the next location).

I know. It's a bit vague. It even bothers me a bit. So it goes as a military family. I will just do the best we can with what we know at the time.

October is Expensive

October 9th, 2010 at 03:12 pm

I always forget that October is an expensive month for us. Auto insurance renewal. Car registrations. Homeowner's insurance renewal. Hubby's birthday. Birthdays of four relatives. Halloween. It also seems to be the month where we really need to buy the warmer clothes.

It's definitely an outflow month for us. I save all year for the insurance and registrations...so no big deal. Halloween, we just minimize as best we can. I'm on the look out for some good clothing buys. Old Navy seems to be the go to place for us. Sales galore right now.

How is October for you?

Van Balance Falls Again

October 7th, 2010 at 01:03 pm

I cancelled the gap insurance on our van. The refund of $258.47 was finally received and applied to our loan balance.

New Balance = $9,167

Getting closer to another milestone. Expect that next week when our regular payment hits the account!

Utility Bill Going Down!!

October 6th, 2010 at 02:02 pm

I use budget billing for our gas and electric. Currently, we pay $119 per month. And we have a $240 credit!! So, the utility company has nicely adjusted our bill to reflect our lower usage.

The new payment will now be $98! Ah...under $100. That feels good. Saving $21 per month. Can't complain.

Christmas Saving Thoughts

October 5th, 2010 at 04:02 pm

I have never been great about saving ahead for Christmas. Surprising. It comes at the same time every year. I save for other yearly expenses on a monthly basis, but not Christmas or Birthdays.

I might change. I might not. I usually just spend what I have on hand. Can't go wrong there. I also start shopping for some things early.

Right now I actually have a little stash that I have accumulated for Christmas:

Target Gift Cards $80
Cash $160
Paypal $19.61
Cash Rewards $75
Amazon Gift Card $5

Total = $339.61

I'm guessing I need another $400, which can easily come out of cash on hand as I buy. I plan to keep earning rewards and holding on to the paypal balance. It will all help take the sting out of the Christmas spending. Oh and I do intend to scale back a bit on gifts. I'm thinking some homemade items are in order!

Under $10K

October 4th, 2010 at 09:09 pm

I made a large payment to our van loan today that brought our balance below $10K. The payment was $1175. This is an extra payment, so the full amount reduces the principal.

New van balance: $9,425

Yipee!! I'm happy dancin' over here.

Garage Sale Proceeds

October 3rd, 2010 at 01:13 am

After three days of selling, my profit was $217. I do wish we had skipped Saturday, just because the time spent was cold and not overly productive. However, I like all $217!!

Here are the updated challenge numbers:

2010 Ebay Challenge Totals
January: $201.89
February: $46.40
March: $55.50
April: $4.74
May: $265.99
June: $0
July: $0
August: $3.04
September:$23.95
October: $217.00
Monthly average: $81.85

I have a little ways to go to get my average to $100 per month. A few nice things didn't sell, so I will try craigslist or ebay.

Increased Emergency Fund...Again!!

October 2nd, 2010 at 03:41 am

I made our regular deposit of $215 to our emergency fund goal. I will also add in the interest on our money market account of $2.54.

I was hoping for more. And there should be more interest to add, but the Army isn't displaying the statement for the Savings Deposit Program online for my husband yet. And it should be a chunck of change! Obviously, I will update that when I have access to the information. (Does anyone with SDP experience know when I should see the statement if we put our money in July? I thought quarterly, thus end of September.)

New Emergency Goal Balance: $3,386.90

Later in October should bring a big boost to this goal. I can't wait!!