Creditcardfree's Personal Finance Blog

Craigslist and Sales

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 06:27:30 PST

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I did a little cleaning up in our basement yesterday. I found two things to give away for free. One to sell. I posted them on craiglist. And the responses? Geez, I've never had so many emails arrive in my inbox at once!!

The free items were a non working...

Goal Update, Garage Sale

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:38:56 PST

I'm adding $41 to the emergency fund goal. This is from ebay sales primarily.

Old Balance: $779
Add Funds: $41
New Balance: $820

Right now this money is sitting in a checking account. I intend to move the money to our money market account each time we have $1000 saved.

Only...

Two Sold at Auction

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:06:46 PST

I had two auctions end last night on Ebay. The sales were $40.50! I'm pretty happy with that. One item is a collection of toys from my girls younger days. Now I have a whole empty bin to use elsewhere in the house!

2010 Ebay Challenge Total
January: $201.89
February: $46.40
March:...

Didn't See That Coming

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:18:25 PST

In our household, I handle all the finances. Yes. My DH does get a debit card to buy things, but I pay all the bills, make investments and so forth.

He asked to see where our finances stand. No problem. I pulled out spreadsheets with balances and cashflow charts. We spent about...

First Deposit

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:17:04 PST

I'm adding $779 to the emergency fund today. The advance from the Army sure helps!

Old Balance: $0
New Funds: $779
New Balance: $779

Only $6221 left to meet this goal! I hope to find myself adding little amounts from time to time as well. As I write that, I realize I can add...

A New Focus

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:24:10 PST

It does feel weird to not be so focused on the home equity loan. It's just gone. Ashes to ashes. Poof!

Now, it is time to refocus. At least I have other goals and know where to go. I'm not lost. Part of refocusing will be updating the blog sidebar with a new ticker, maybe two....

It's Paid Off!!

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:41:53 PST

The home equity loan is PAID OFF!!

I have tried to log into our account with the mortgage company and it seems not to exist any longer...so I'm taking that as the official sign!!

The loan was taken out 3 years 5 months ago when we purchased our current home. We made a plan January...

Oops! Bigger Paycheck

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:13:27 PST

Payday is just around the corner! My husband's paycheck is larger than usual by over $400. It is a mistake.

The Army didn't realize he left the combat zone and kept paying some special pays! They are aware of it now, so the following check at the beginning of April will be $400...

Payoff Check in the Mail

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:51:56 PST

The certified check that I ordered for our home equity loan payoff arrived in the mail yesterday. Today it is going back out in the mail to the mortgage company!! The processing center is less than two miles down the road from my house, so I expect they will receive it tomorrow. Maybe...

Start Your Engines!

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:40:52 PST

I'm back listing on ebay this week. Only two listings. My goal is an average of $100 per month. Since January was a good month, I was able to slack off a bit in February. I need at least $52 in sales this month to keep pace with the goal.

Wish me luck!!

2010 Ebay Challenge Totals
January:...

Travel = Money

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:43:57 PST

My husband traveled quite a bit this last month for the Army. He spent less than his per diem for both trips. We are now expecting about $235 next week.

The money will be saved since we are using the next few months to add to our emergency fund. Yipee!!

Waiting on Certified Check

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:22:24 PST

We are still waiting to receive the certified check we ordered earlier this week. Maybe today in the mail? Please.

The check is to pay off the final amount on our home equity loan. So, we are still in waiting mode. Wait. Wait. Wait.

Update: No check in the mail.

Paid Our Own Real Estate Taxes

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:58:27 PST

About 5 months ago, I inquired with our mortgage company about deleting our escrow account. We were eligible!

I have been saving money on a monthly basis towards our real estate tax bill ever since. They are due this month, and I just made the payment without the mortgage middleman...

Just Organizing

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:07:29 PST

Spring cleaning gets me into organizing! Although, I didn't plan this one.

Yesterday, I went looking for a specific photo of my daughters that I would like to get up on the wall. I found it! In the process, I realized I should get the photos from 2003-2006 a little better organized....

Other Updates

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:04:56 PST

I typed an entry and lost it. Here's the condensed version:

1) Pinecone survey payment $3.00. Paid by Paypal. Love how quick it is.
2) Shopped for shoes. Bought nothing. Now two no spend days in a row.
3) As part of my spring cleaning: cleaned my washer with bleach and washed...

Update: Home Equity Loan Payoff

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:09:27 PST

Our regular payment did go through with the mortgage company yesterday and our new balance is $82.19. Yipee.

Um...not sure why the ticker on my sidebar is not cooperating. I even tried making a new one and it did the same thing. Ugh!!

I called for our payoff amount which is...

According to Plan

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:48:08 PST

I did make our final regular payment on our home equity loan today in the amount of $118.01!! Never again will I have to make this payment.

I'm waiting for the mortgage company website to update our balance in order to update the sidebar here. I expect that $116.81 will go towards...

Two Notes About 'Bucks'

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:04:02 PST

I received 10 bucks in the mail yesterday from NFO MySurvey. It arrived very quick considering I requested it on February 13th. Two weeks.

I haven't been attending to my SwagBucks account. I had an email about their anniversary with a code to obtain 10 swagbucks. When I redeemed...

Progress: 2010 Financial Goals

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:49:48 PST

Our basic goals for 2010 break down like this:

1) Max out our Roth IRA's = $10,000
We make monthly contributions that are automated
2) Save 7% of basic pay in TSP
Automatically taken from paycheck
3) Pay off home equity loan
Only $199 plus interest to go!
4) Save money...

Only 1.25% Interest

carriefinn@yahoo.com (Creditcardfree) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:44:49 PST

Our money market account is now only paying us 1.25% interest. Last month we earned $11.39.

The money market holds our emergency fund and savings for our real estate taxes and homeowner's insurance, so it really isn't money I'm expecting a large return on.

I'm just disappointed...