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The Equity Goal

August 9th, 2013 at 08:04 pm

I do have an equity goal. It just hasn't been firmed up in my brain or written here on my blog. The goal is $63,045 (or more!) The ideal goal will be to reach this by June 2015, which is 22.5 months away. This is the next possible move date, although we would like to stretch it out as far as we can. The Army dictates that so we'll see.

We have about $24,500 in cash. We have paid off $6,304 in principal since last year. I expect we will pay another $9,900 by the goal date with regular payments. This leaves $22,341 to meet the goal. On average we will need $1,015.50 per month.

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I'm sending in all the extra funds (i.e. snowflakes) to the mortgage. Right now for 2013, I'm averaging $233 per month in snowflakes. That means we are still short $782.50.

I made a list of possible places to find some of this shortfall: lower our cell phone bill/plan, eliminate our home phone, eliminate the cable bill which allows us only local channels, find and actually move cash on hand to an account(s) with higher interest rates, sell more stuff on hand, and get a job.

I think finding a job will be easier once my daughter starts to drive. She has lots of places to be and they are always conducive to work hours. I also know my husband WILL get a raise next year. So while I may not be able to average $1000 this year, I will be able to easily exceed that next year.

And if home values in this area continue to rise, then I expect some of our equity will come from appreciation. Some online sites state this area should rise by 2%...not much, but something!

I also want to apply some money from our regular income to this goal. I have made a good effort. I know the money is there. I think I'll start with just $50 a pay period and gradually increase it each month.

I need to get moving to make the changes to the cell phones, home phone and tv. The sooner I get the changes made the more I can save towards the goal. And I need to start moving money around too to get the higher interest rates.

Yikes! This is really daunting. I know it's not a perfect plan, but it is a start. Any comments or thoughts on my plan?

Posted in Saving, Home Equity Payoff | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “The Equity Goal”

  1. MonkeyMama Says:
    August 9th, 2013 at 08:46 pm 1376081181
    1376081181

    My only question is, how did you come up with $63,045 for your goal. ?? Big Grin

  2. creditcardfree Says:
    August 9th, 2013 at 08:59 pm 1376081942
    1376081942

    Ahh...you noticed I was a bit vague in explaining that amount. It has to do with leaving the property with a percentage of the original sales price and enough to cover a realtor fee if we chose to use one. I'm not disclosing our purchase price thus the reason for being vague.

  3. MonkeyMama Says:
    August 9th, 2013 at 09:47 pm 1376084833
    1376084833

    Okay. I just thought I missed something! & it seemed so exact (I am such a rounder...).

    That makes sense.

  4. PNW Mom Says:
    August 9th, 2013 at 10:19 pm 1376086763
    1376086763

    I think you have some really good idea's for lowering your expenses. Cell phones certainly are one of them. Does everyone in the family have one? Are they smartphones? Cutting the home was phone for us was no problem. Nobody ever used it....it saved us approximately $30 a month.

  5. creditcardfree Says:
    August 10th, 2013 at 03:14 am 1376104458
    1376104458

    @PNW, all four of us have cell phones. DH has a smartphone, the rest of us do not. I want to upgrade to one though. We pay $150/mo for service right now. The only way to lower it is to buy the phones upfront and go with a no contract plan. It will take several months to breakeven.

  6. snafu Says:
    August 10th, 2013 at 03:27 pm 1376148427
    1376148427

    We too discontinued the land phone several years ago at a point where two of us had smart phones, two had older flip cell phones. When that contract expired I bought a gently used smart ph whose SIM card was part of our carrier's service. I hardy use the internet capacity preferring my MacAir laptop but texting is terrific. It's very important to know how each participant on your plan uses their ph. as going over any of the limits or roaming is gawd-awful expensive.

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