Creditcardfree's Personal Finance Blog

On Thursday, I sewed my sister a tote bag. She loves the black/white combo, so I made her this:


I included a few Horrible Harry books that didn't sell at our garage sale. She's an elementary school teacher, so I knew they would come in handy!

It was a surprise. But after I gave it to her, I couldn't help telling her about making it and buying the fabric, since I had so much fun doing it.

The fabric cost $4.65 and took a few hours of my time. Guess what? She paid me $5 to cover the cost of the fabric. She said she almost bought a similar bag at Target for $10!

So, I broke even on that one. It really was a gift. Thanks, sis!

I'm such a nerd. Last night I estimated our income tax refunds for 2009.

It appears I'm finally getting us closer to zero, since the military started withholding the correct state amount from DH's paycheck. They were withholding almost more than $70/mo than the state tax tables allowed.

This is what I expect for the spring:

Federal: $300
State: $400

Not bad. But, of course, no windfall either. That's okay. I don't need a government agency borrowing too much of our money!

We recently changed DH's contribution to the TSP to 7%. That is up from 4%. We also max out our roth ira's every year. I wanted to figure what percentage of our gross pay we are saving for retirement.

In order to do the calculation I needed to know the gross pay. Turns out we are saving 16.7% of our gross income towards retirement. Yea!!

Funny thing is: His gross pay is about 7% more than I thought it was. I had no idea!!

Funnier: He knew but I didn't! Crazy considering I handle most of the finances. But I guess he likes to know what he's working for!

We earn points on our debit card purchases. I was able to redeem enough points to get $25 cash back.

That should show up in my account tomorrow. I will add this to the Disney World savings.

New Total = $992

We are almost halfway there!! Most of the savings for this trip won't be added until mid June and early July...just before we leave! But it will happen.

My daughter is in sixth grade and has achieved all A's!! There was an honor awards breakfast at school this morning. Yummy rolls and juice provided free.

Of course, I'm much more excited about her achievement. The certificate was signed by the president, too! Pretty cool. I think DD was very pleased as well.

spending!!

I've made my DH wait to buy fertilizer and weed killer. I put off buying flower for my pots and vegetables for my garden. We need a new cover...maybe an unbrella, for our deck. It's on the south side. Trees aren't big yet. And we still have yet to buy the new kitchen sink.

The hardware stores offer 10% off for military personnel this weekend, so we can get all of our project stuff at once and on a discount. Since, I knew when and what we were going to buy I was able to budget this. Any extra cash, gets allotted to the vacation fund.

Oh, we're not just spending. We will be visiting family this weekend, too! Can't wait.

We have saved for college. Just not a lot at this point. Maybe $4K each. I'm sure it's a bit less now!

I even have college funding on hold for this year because of the home equity loan payoff. Of course, we probably shouldn't be doing a Disney vacation instead of funding college. But we are. Dave Ramsey would be soooo mad at me!

College saving is just a bit foggy to me. The costs are increasing so fast. How do I keep up? How do I know they will go to college or even where? We'll be moving a couple times before college starts for our oldest. Should I save a set percentage? Do I come up with a dollar figure to shoot for and hopefully exceed?

Retirement saving seems easier. Save as much as you can or pick a percentage. When you get to retirement...spend less than you have. Isn't the recommended amount to spend about 4% of your accumulated balance?

Of couse, my kids do well in school, so I think some scholarships will be available. I'm not opposed to them having jobs. I'm also willing to use cash available at the time to pay to assist them.

And now, with the market the way it is...do I even save in the stock market? My oldest only has 6 more years of schooling before college.

Hmm...as I write this I realize that because college is closer than retirement, I'm feeling the inadequacy of my planning and saving. I hope I don't get this feeling in retirment.

Next years plan WILL include college. I just need to decide if the amount we were saving last year is enough and where it should go. Wish me luck!

I did end up going to the grocery store today. I just needed to get it off my list. I spent $61.01 on our groceries through next Monday. It helps that I am using quite a few things from the pantry.

Of course, I'm looking back at my grocery list and realize...I forgot to buy the fish and the marinade!! Ugh. I was trying to shop too fast.

I'm sure those remaining items won't cost more than $10, but now I need to make another trip. Don't ya just hate when that happens?

I've been doing better at making my grocery list based on what we have in the freezer and pantry. I skipped going to the store today because I realized I had chicken, lettuce, cantalope and flour. I made salads with chicken, cantalope and homemade cloverleaf rolls. It's the first time I've made the rolls and they turned our really well. The whole family loved them!!

Later in the week I will make a homemade sausage pizza, since I have all the ingredients. We are also having a breakfast night. The girls will probably have waffles or pancakes, while DH and I will have eggs. So, three nights of dinner withoug going shopping!! Hmm...just realizing I should make these earlier in the week and I can avoid going to the store until Wednesday. I was going to go tomorrow. I'll decide that tomorrow. Sometimes it is nice just to get that errand out of the way!!

I've planned dinners all the way through Monday, which is Memorial Day. After that, I will only need six more meals through the end of the month.

requires some extra planning and a little more spending. At least at our house!

Our oldest daughter plays the flute. She is just about to finish her second year. School lessons are free and we are renting to own the flute. It will finally be ours in 4 months. I'm going to shell out $90 to pay for 4 weeks of lessons in June. It will be good for her. She'll keep practicing and have 'fun' music to work on.

DD2 needs to take some more swimming lessons. At a minimum I will need to pay $35, unless I pick a private teacher. In that case, it might be more. I think the private teacher may be worth it since the school programs don't quite ever seem to get her to enjoy going under the water!! She's almost 9!

Every year, I say I want to plan our summer out with activities, but I don't really seem to get it done. We wing it. I don't want it overscheduled, but a few things to look forward to are important, too!

What activities are you paying for this summer?

Today is pay day. I have some more money to add to our Disney Vacation fund.

I added $328.

Yipee!!

New vacation total = $965.75.

The goal is to have $2K by the time we leave, but I think I'll exceed that. Whatever we don't spend on vacation goes to the home equity loan!! As a result, I have an incentive to save as much as possible.

P.S. I found $1.25 in my purse. I've now added it to my vacation savings!

This is the first month in several that I'm only making the regular payment on our home equity loan.

Regular payment is $118.01.
Principal portion was $75.72.

New HEL balance = $6,923.28

Hey, I'll take it!

We're in a much better place than we were at the beginning of the year AND I get to go to Disney World on CASH!!

Just a reminder: Normally, I wouldn't even condone a vacation, especially one of Disney proportions while in debt. However, DH may be deployed overseas in the next year, so I feel that an exception can be made.

Happy memories and family time: priceless.

Don't worry...we're still going!!

While we got a great military rate for the Disney properties, we decided to stay off site this time. I cancelled our reservation with them this morning. We're saving $116 in actual room cost.

The new reservation is with Marriott Courtyard at $99/night and we get free hot breakfast. We also get queen size beds. The double beds on the Disney property we stayed at last time were so small, DH and I split up and each slept with a child just to have room!! Oh, and we get a $25/night credit towards the on site food court. We would have easily spent $20-$25 on breakfast at the Disney property. Yikes!!

I could get an even lower rate at Marriott, but then the breakfast and evening food credits go away. I figure the credits are worth at least $45-50/day and the lower rate is $26 less...so better to keep the higher rate with what is included. Time is valuable when you are at Disney, too. Breakfast on site is very convenient.

I expect to have some money to add to our savings tomorrow...payday!

Today, I started thinking of some of you lurkers out there. I don't know who you are, or what your situation is. I'm guessing you are here for some reason. If you are struggling and looking for answers this is a great site, with plenty of opinions and advice.

I have to tell you that starting an emergency fund was one of our first steps as a married couple. We had our $1000 in gifts from our wedding. Sure we could have spent it, but we saved it. I guess after getting so many gifts, it didn't seem that we needed to buy anything!!

We weren't big credit card users, since my husband had just ended a business started on credit cards. We had plenty to pay off let alone adding money to it! And, boy did I want to get that debt paid off as quick as possible!! It wasn't even mine...well, until the 'I do's', but I wanted it gone.

So, if you are struggling where to start here's my simple advice since it worked for us.

1)Establish a small emergency fund.
2)Stop using credit cards.
3)Pay off debt

Okay, there are some things you need to do to be able to even make those three things work. It's really important to save small amounts of money. Did you get $20 from your mom as a gift? Save it. Did you get a tax refund? Save it. Did you get rebate in the mail? Save it. Get the point?

You also need to go through your spending. Everything you spend money on. Magazines. Caller id. Newspapers. Coffee. Insurance deductibles. Beer. Wine. Cable TV. Do you buy your clothes at the mall? Stop. And stop going to the mall for entertainment. Look at EVERYTHING! Maybe there's an alternative. Maybe you stop an expense for a period of time, until you reach a financial goal. Maybe you need to call your credit card, phone or insuance company for a new rate? Maybe. You won't know unless you call. Lower your spending and save it.

So, you went through your expenses. You have made some changes. Great!! But now, do it again. Really. Keep looking at what you can change. You can change more than you think you can. Think outside the box.
But, remember, SAVE the money from these changes. This money is your safety net in hard times. You have to have it.

Once this money is saved up from your emergency fund you can start applying this new found money towards debt. Yes, even that birthday money...the credit card company gets that too.

Start saving, make a plan, and tweak it. You can do this. You can save money for an emergency fund. You can pay off debt. The feeling of paying off debt is freeing. Really freeing. Just how bad do you want it?

Good luck!! I'm rooting for you.

My daughters have their dance/tumbling recital this Saturday. DVD's are available to purchase. Last year I bought one for $28. It was worth it. They have watched it numerous times.

This year...another story. The studio has hired another company to produce the show. The quality is suppose to be significantly better. Each DVD is now $45!
Okay, not terrible, but not great. Here's where it get's crazy for us: our daughters are in two different shows, we need 2 DVD's. Each DVD will be approximately 1.5 hours long and will feature my daughter for 3 minutes!

I will get a $20 discount for buying two DVD's, making my total $70! I absolutely realize this isn't a necessity. If I didn't have the money I would refuse to buy one.

I suppose if I had skipped the DVD last year, I might not be buying these this year!!

I'm adding my garage sale proceeds to the ebay challenge. So far, I have not even listed anything on ebay this month. I do have a few things I could sell, so I will try to get those up this week.

May Total = $197.75
April Total = $22.22
March Total = $83.13
February Total = $66.50
January Total = $4.95

My monthly average is now $74.91. I'm still not to my goal of $100/month. However, I have plenty of time to work on it!!

DH is on his way home from working on a Saturday morning just to catch up on things. I think we will go bike shopping for our oldest daughter. We sold her bike at the garage sale on Thursday and have promised her an upgrade.

By upgrade, I mean, quality. The last $50 bike was not quality. The chain shouldn't keep falling off. We had BIL look at since he know a lot about bikes. He said you get what you pay for.

DH and I bought bikes that were over $400 a piece last year. They are perfect. So, our oldest daughter may just be getting a matching bike. I'm hoping to spend a little less, if possible.

I have the cash set aside for this purpose, I hope we can find a nice one that will be under my budgeted amount of $400.

The garage sale is officially over. Thank goodness. Two days gets to be long!!

Today I only brought in $31.75...

Total for two days $197.75!!

I'm thrilled. I didn't think I had enough to clear $100, but I made it close to $200.

I'm putting all the money to the Disney Vacation Fund! The new total there will be $637.75.

The garage is cleaned up, but now I have bins to go through. I still have a few possible ebay items, the rest will be donated to charity.

Day one garage sale results: $166.00

I'm very pleased. I almost wrote last night that I hoped to clear $100, but I just wasn't sure about my stuff. But, as it turns out, I did clear that and then some!!

Guess what we have one more day tomorrow, too!! Three of us neighbors are doing this together. This is actually our forth sale together in the last two years. We have quite a good system down and we love to chat while we work. The three of us pulled in $575 in one day...WOW!!

Tune in tomorrow evening for the final installment of creditcardfree's garage sale report!

Tomorrow is the first day of our sale. Everything is set out in my garage, marked and organized. Signs are up, and ads are placed.

May the garage sale fairies shine down on us, with excellent sales and great weather!! It's been raining on and off all week.

One neighbor has been ill, so her stuff will arrive when and if she feels better. Sometimes one just has to go with the flow, right!

I'll let you know how much I net after its over.

We received our bill today for our gas and electric usage for April. It's all good news!!

Our budget billing is $127/month, but we came in under budget at $79.07! Comparing the usage to last year, we are even using less per day. It sure helps when the prices drop, too.

Last year, electric was an average of $1.62/day compared to $1.25/day this year. Gas was so much higher last year at $3.33/day versus the $1.29 we are paying this year!

The extra funds get set aside for the summer months, it would be nice not to need them, but it does get hot & humid here in the midwest!

Sometimes the money stuff seems to come from all directions.

Today, I had to call FedEx about a charge on one of our checking accounts. A charge that was not legitimate for $17.80. I saw this charge pending late last week, however, our bank couldn't do anything about it until I spoke with the merchant. FedEx was helpful and is in the process of crediting our account. Seems that a hotel we stayed out a few weeks ago, sent a package to another guest with a similar last name...charged our debit card rather than theirs. Oops!

I mentioned yesterday that I was entertaining changing our hotel reservation. Well, I went ahead and made the reservation. We will be off Disney property, saving money on the room, breakfast and dinner. Yes, we'll have to pay to park at the theme parks ($12/day), but the savings offset this significantly. I will cancel the other one later in the month, once I positive that I'm sticking with this new reservation.

Today, I'm preparing for a garage sale with a couple neighbors. I need to price all my stuff. The lower the better...so as to move it all out of my basement!

I just got wind of a great hotel deal outside of Disney property that would provide us free breakfast AND $25/night resort credit towards food and drink. The savings is $352 to $470, depending on the property!

The question is if the rest of the family will go for it. There are pros and cons to both. I guess it will be a debate at dinner tonight!!

Has anyone stayed at the Marriott Village in Lake Buena Vista and on Disney property that could give an opinion? The last time we went we stayed on site, so I know how that 'feels'.

I'm creating a ticker to track the extra funds in my second checking account. This is where I will hold the money we have set aside for Disney.

In full disclosure, this account may decrease at times. It will decrease as I buy things we need prior to our Disney World vacation, such as clothing. Before we leave, I expect there will be a good chunk of change in the account to pay for our theme park tickets, rental car, food and hotel balance.

Beginning balance is: $440.13

I hope to add some more later this week, since we are having a garage sale on Thursday and Friday!

I would have $980 to send to the home equity loan today. Oh, that would be so nice!! It would have put me less than $20 away from the under $6K mark.

However, we ARE going on a vacation. Today, I paid myself back for the airline tickets to the tune of $900. The other $80 will be saved for other vacation expenses.

Although, I'm really looking forward to going on this Disney World trip with my family, it is hard not to see what the money could have done to our home equity payoff. I hope to make this my last post about this because....

I need to maintain my focus on cash accumulation for the car rental, hotel, theme park tickets, food and clothing. I will most likely start a little ticker on the cash I've accumulated for this. Look for it sometime this month!

My DH travels quite a bit and recieves per diem for food. Lately, he hasn't been using the full allotted per diem, as a result we've built up a little extra in funds that will be coming our way.

I expect a deposit some time next week of about $205. Okay, not so little.

We'll use it towards the expenses of our Disney World vacation in July. Right now, I'm focusing on purchasing clothing. We need light breathable fabrics, swimwear and supportive shoes. I went to Disney in my Teva's last time and it worked out perfect!

Our mortgage is now with Bank of America. No, we didn't refinance. But our mortgage is held with Countrywide Financial who was bought by BoA awhile bank.

Two days ago I received our welcome letter in the mail. Wow! I'm so excited.

Not really. I could care less who holds my mortgage as long as they provide me the customer service I need in an accurate and timely manner. Our payment is automatic, so all should continue normally.

Here's fingers crossed that they don't mess anything up!!

I received an email from my bank, USAA. They are an online for military members and their families. The bank is offering a 2 year CD at 3.25%. Sounds great, huh?

But, is it for me? I'm sure a could put a portion of our emergency fund in there, but not all. I don't like the idea of the money being tied up and unavailable in the event of an emergency.

We might have the opportunity to take advantage of a 10% savings rate in the next year or so. This is available to deployed military. So, do I tie up the funds leaving them unavailable for this opportunity?

Will rates go up higher in that two year time frame? Is two years too long?

We have just over $10K...how much should I tie up at that rate, if I do take the deal?

Anyone with any thoughts? Right now the money is only earning 1.9% in an online money market account.

The blogs, I mean. It just doesn't seem that too many of us are around. It's probably the wonderful weather we are starting to have because of spring.

I've started working on a project that I started in the fall. I'm refinishing a small dresser. The fall work consisted of stripping the stain off. Recently, I added wood putty to some areas, sanded and primed.

Today, I started painting the drawers a nice black!! I hope to complete this project by the end of the week. I'll post some pictures then.

I've had to buy two cans of stripper, a stripping brush, wood putty, sandpaper and the black paint. I had the primer and brushes! It's not exactly a inexpensive project, but it feels like it when done over time.

hassle with your child? Oh, boy! My youngest was a little more than irritated today getting ready for dance pictures this morning. It worked out in the end, but she sure didn't like the fuss I made with her hair or her costume.

It doesn't help that she doesn't like her costume either. She's in a hip hop class and will dance to 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun.' The Miley Cyrus version. So the costume is layers...like from the 80's!! Think Cindy Lauper and Madonna. She has two tops, two skirts, and leggings on top of tights. Ugh...it looks hot and uncomfortable!!

So, this year I opted for the least dollars out of pocket. I chose a 5x7 with 4 wallets. One pose. Eleven dollars for each daughter. Last year I spent a dollar more and received a 5x7 of the whole class and a 4x6 of my child. I decided it didn't really make a difference to have the whole class and bigger in size at that!! I'd rather have the the larger pic of my child and a few extras for grandparents. I think they will appreciate that.

Turns out both girls may be done with dance and tumbling. They don't seem interested in continuing this next year. Fine with me, more free time, less money...unless they find something else they want to do!