I made a principal payment to our home equity loan today in the amount of $615! This is extra money we have available this pay period to apply to the loan.

The new balance of the loan is now under $9,000!!

New Balance = $8,800

My original goal was to get this loan under $7,000. I think we will actually get it paid off at the rate we are going. That makes me soooo happy!!

Next week, I will send in my ebay challenge money!

The interest rate on our money market has fallen for at least the 3rd, or maybe the fourth month in a row. We are down to 2.4% APY.

Is everyone else experiencing something similar?

I wish the rate on my mortgage or home equity loans would go down without me asking!! One can dream, right?

Yesterday, I baked homemade bread. The recipe is

Yep, there is dough sitting on my counter. I'm baking bread today!! This is the first time I have ever baked bread with yeast. The recipe seems simple enough, so I'm giving it a go.

I'm attempting bread making for several reasons. The main one is to get away from bread that comes in plastic bags. Along with reducing our plastic consumption, I'm looking to find healthier alternatives. Bread without preservatives is healthier, right? I haven't calculated the cost yet, but it may be slightly less expensive. I'm okay if it is not.

This particular recipe will make three loaves of bread!! I will update you all later with the results and the recipe if it turns out okay.

Wish me luck!!

I sold my gold. Gold jewelry. Two rings, only 10K gold. One was my high school class ring. Does anyone ever wear these after high school?

I decided with gold prices as high as they were, I'd rather have the cash than the jewelry. Both rings have been sitting in my jewelry box for 15 years or more.

Oh, you want to know how much cash I received? $31.50. I'm glad I waited because back in October or November I was quoted $25. So, it paid a little bit to wait.

I actually had to wait in line and they had three people working. All but one person was in there selling gold jewelry. All women, too! One woman was quoted $777! Another received over $250. They had some nice stuff, too. But, if you don't wear it, what is the point?

I also had to sign a police report and show my driver's license since I was technically pawning my gold!! Good thing mine wasn't stolen.

I will add this to the Ebay Challenge money.

February Total = $66.50
January Total = $4.95

I guess I'm impatient. I decided to take the items I had on half.com to the used book store. I sold it all for $13.

The items I had were generally going for $.75 a piece on half.com and there were hundreds listed. My chances of selling them at all were slim.

I'm not sure how many items I took because I threw in a fair number of recent magazines at the last minute. I'm sure it was less than $.50 an item, but I feel good about it.

I feel good because I have decluttered, put items back into the economy for purchase, kept items out of the landfill and best of all received a little cash.

I also went for a walk on this glorious day and picked up 15 cans/bottles that I can take in for redemption. That will add $0.75 to my wallet.

February Total $35.00
January Total $4.95

I do have three things to list on ebay, but they will have to be added to the total in March.

I did some digging at the irs site and found

We spent $66.67 on groceries this week. That is really good. That is for all four of us, too! We had several things in the cupboards and freezer that we can make for dinner.

I made the girls friendship bread from a starter I had in the freezer. This is a replacement for prepackaged preservative laden sweets. They will take a slice in their lunch each day this week.

Only 5 more days until payday! We have about $60 left. I will need to use a bit of it for a haircut! It just can't be put off any longer.

I'm going to use the rest of the week to start looking ahead to March. We have a birthday, school spring break, and a small out of town trip planned. I may also be purchasing some living room blinds since they are now on sale. These things will effect how much I send in to the home equity loan at the beginning of March. I'm sure I can get the balance under $9K!!!

There were only three things in the mail yesterday. No junk mail. I love that!

Item I ordered online arrived (Quick)
$3 Pinecone Check
TSP Year End Statement

The TSP statement showed a 45% decline so that is not exactly good news. Oh well, we are still young enough to make it through this! And we are buying tons of shares at rock bottom prices. Can't beat that!

Pinecone check will go in savings account for now. Eventually, I will put this money towards the home equity loan.

Today, we need to get groceries for the week and buy bedding for our pet mice and hamster. This is the most expensive part of having these types of pets.

I wrote a check for DD2 yearbook. It was $16! She's only in 3rd grade. I don't think that younger kids really need yearbooks, but it becomes an emotional issue if they feel left out by not having them. I found that out last year when I didn't buy them. We can afford it...so it will be purchased.

That's the news from here. Make it a great day!

I was talking to my sister today about how I budget and pay bills and find money to send towards our home equity loan.

We get two paychecks a month on the 1st and the 15th. They are virtually equal.

I first pay all bills and investments that are due during that time frame. Many of these are automatic, but I record them all in the checkbook.

Second, I mentally pull $700 from the remaining checkbook balance. This $700 is for auto fuel and groceries. We use it to pay clothing, kids lunches...whatever comes up during that pay period. Sometimes this isn't enough. I'll explain that later.

Finally, the remaining amount after bills, investments and our $700 is the amount I should have available to send in to our home equity loan.

This is the basic plan each pay period. We have a second checking account that holds our escrow funds (see my page on the right about that) and a small cushion of cash. This small cushion is not more than $500. Right now it is actually $250!

So, if the $700 runs out we attempt to curb spending or dip into the cushion in our 2nd checking account. We also can dip further into our emergency fund for large car repairs, ect. If we do borrow from the EF it gets paid back with the extra funds we get the following pay period, or as many pay periods as it takes.

If we know of expenses in the future, we simply put the cash aside ahead of time. For example, I expect to purchase a new sink for our kitchen at some point. When the time comes I will reduce the extra principal payment to the home equity loan by the amount I need for the sink.

So, clear as mud? Does that make sense? I hope it helps someone out there. It works for us. I already have a handle on most of our spending so that helps keeps things working smoothly.

Feel free to ask questions!

I received the annual bill in the mail for my life insurance. Same amount as expected!

I think it may revise sometime in the next year or two. It was a 10 year term policy. I kind of wish I bought a 20 year policy, the premium is pretty reasonable.

I pay money towards the premium each paycheck and put it in our own personal escrow account. So, the money is alreay to go. I decided to pay through bill pay to save the stamp and a trip to the post office to purchase one. I so rarely use postage stamps anymore.

Life Insurance: PAID

Lots of military families gripe about medical care. We have not had a bad experience yet. We are fortunate to have the ability to use local doctors that are on the plans list.

Today, we had to use that insurance. My youngest daughter did a cartwheel in the family room last night and landed her toes on a desk chair. Oops! She complained that it hurt last night, but we dismissed it a bit. The complaining was much louder this morning.

So, she missed school. We went to the doctor and then to another clinic for x-rays. Turns out the x-rays are clear. So, she'll just be sore for a few days.

Out of pocket cost: $0
Expected cost sharing: $0

Can't beat that! I'm very grateful that nothing is broken, too.

to the home equity loan. I sent in $504.27 today! I think that will be it for February.

New HEL Balance = $9,415.00

Total Principal Paid in February = $3,437

What a month!

I expect things to slow done a little for the next few months. There's a birthday, and spring projects that will take a bite out of our extra income. But there will still be progress!

How are the rest of you doing on your extra mortgage payments?

I've sold a book on half.com!

Okay, the book was only a dollar, so we don't need to get too excited. Since they give a shipping credit, I will receive a total of $3.92. The shipping cost will be $2.23. My net is $1.69. I will add it to my ebay challenge total.

February Total To Date $22.94
January Total $4.95

I will be listing two pairs of girls jeans to ebay this week. I think I have a few more items for half.com, too.

Reading Monkeymamas blog about Suze Orman and teaching kids about money, got me thinking about the allowance we give our girls.

Our girls get an allowance, paid at the beginning of each month, based on how old they are. My 11 year old gets $11. The 8 year old gets $8. It's about to go up by $1 as the oldest has a birthday next month.

They each have a ATM type bank they stash their money in. It helps count the money for them, even though they both know how to count it manually. The oldest has over $100 tucked away. The youngest just under $50. I think they like having large balances. Well, large to them.

The youngest doesn't seem to mind spending her money. In fact, she's donating $10 to a charity later today for a girl scout event. She decided the amount!

The oldest is more contemplative about her purchases. She tends to wait until she feels she has an excess. She's a bit like her me that way. She prefers not to have less than $100. Right now she is saving to accumulate $200. She will open a bank account when she does. She actually wants to start saving for a car!! It sure isn't too early for that.

They do spend some of their money. I've made them pay me back for candy or gum!! Those are luxuries I don't need to pay when they have stacks of bills at home.

Although their allowance amounts are fixed, they are expected to work around the house. They make their beds, clean their rodent cages, make their own lunches, put away laundry, clean up their toys and numerous other daily living tasks. Occassionally, we will offer to pay extra for extra chores. I remember last summer, we paid $2 for the oldest to vacuum out the minivan. She did a great job, too!

It works for us! What works for you?