are here today to bring me my May flowers!! Unfortunately, some of the rain came with some severe weather, so I'm staying in today instead of shopping.

The cleaning tasks went very well this week. Here's my final update:

[x]clean inside kitchen cabinets
[ ]clean outside kitchen cabinets
[ ]touch up paint kitchen cabinets
[x]dust intake vents
[x]wash out large trash can
[x]wash van (I'll probably go to a car wash)
[x]vacuum van floor & scrub floor mats
[x]hose out the garage floor

My kitchen cabinets are painted white. We bought the house this way. Unfortunately, white cabinets do not stay clean and develop a residue that more grime sticks to. Ugh! I clean them at least twice a year, probably more. It is a chore that does pay off in beauty, but it very hard to get myself going on. Honestly, right now I can't say when I will get to them. I'm that unmotivated.

I earned another $3 from Pinecone Research! It seems since I signed up to have them direct deposit my payment into paypal that I get more surveys. Or maybe it is just coincidence and surveys are just picking up in general. Any thoughts on my theory?

I now have over $10 in my paypal account. Once we get our mid month paycheck, I will include this with our emergency fund contribution. Maybe I'll have another survey or two before then!

I took a quick look at my capris and shorts. I have sizes for current weight and my lower weight from a couple years ago. I kept just one of each of the old size, and tossed the rest in the garage sale pile. I'd much rather be the lighter weight...but it is what it is!

I'm adding in some extra funds today to the emergency fund. A majority is some left over from today's paycheck. I'm also adding in interest from our money market account.

Old Balance = $857
New Funds = $206
New Balance = $1063

We have exceeded our first milestone of $1000. Yipee!! I'm excited, but it does feel like the progress on this goal is going slow. Darn. But we will keep plugging away.

Only $5,937 to go.

I randomly log in and track our retirement accounts. I especially like to log in on a day when the markets are up!

With market appreciation and three months of regular investments our accounts are up nearly $8500 since the end of 2009! And come to think of it less than half of that is contributions. It seems once you hit 6 figures the money is amplified. Fun to watch.

My husband is 40 and has been contributing to retirement accounts since he was 21. I have always contributed when I worked outside the home. We also now are able to fund a Roth IRA in my name and have for several years. Regular investing does add up, markets do bounce back, income generally increases over time leading to increased contributions. It has definitely been worth it to watch those accounts rise...and fall and rise again!

If you aren't contributing to retirement in anyway, I would highly encourage you to start doing so on a regular basis. Find an amount you can set aside and in time increase it. The habit of doing it regularly is hard to beat!!

I have $37 to add to the emergency fund. The money is a combination of a store return, survey payment and ebay proceeds. The little amounts add up!

Old Balance: $820
Add Funds: $37
New Balance: $857

The next paycheck will be smaller because we were overpaid last time. However, I think I can find some money to add to the emergency fund. Enough to get us to $1000? I hope so!

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 $6,180 to go to the goal!

I definitely found some things to sell at the garage sale in the spring when going through the girls closets yesterday. We still need to go through their dresser drawers. Maybe today? I have a cold virus that is wearing me out.

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 the interest the emergency fund earns each month too. Cool.

Ebay update: both auctions have bids!

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 like a reinvention on the Creditcardfree Personal Finance Blog!

The next stop on the journey is savings. Emergencies and college. And that college one is hard to look at. I'm not entirely sure what the goal is, but we are just going to save what we can. We only have about 5 years until our oldest daughter graduates high school. In savings terms, that really isn't long.

We do have an emergency fund, but we just feel the need to add to it. The job is stable, but the location changes. A larger EF helps cushion the move. Like bubble wrap!

The college savings will be automated. We will put $167 per month into each daughter's Educational Savings Account (ESA). These are already established and previously funded. I won't talk much about this goal, because like retirement they will be on autopilot starting this month. I like autopilot!!

I will keep you updated with the amounts that I add to our emergency fund over the remainder of the year. Our 2010 goal is to add $7000. Expect to see a ticker soon.

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 less than usual. In the end, it really is an advance!!

I will just add some money to the emergency fund early. No complaints here!

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!!

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 for college = $3,300
We are scheduled to start contributions in March. I hope to automate these as well
5) Add money to emergency fund = $7,000
I expect we can start adding money in April
6) Pay off van beginning balance = $19,444
Balance is now at $18,579.87 from regular contibutions only. We will begin adding extra in June
7) Convert IRA's to Roth IRA's
Approximately 65% of our IRA's were converted in February. May not convert the rest until later in the year.

I'd say we are on track so far in meeting all goals. Yipee!!

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 that the rates are still so low. I look forward to the day when they start to rise again!!

I read an article about saving today in our newspaper. The most important thing is to start, if you haven't already. Even a few dollars a month that you save for a goal can add up. Just don't dip into those funds until your goal is reached!! Trust me. It is much more satisfying to reach a goal than drink a mocha or eat a hamburger.

The interest on your savings is a bonus, even if it is a small one right now!

My parents paid for nearly my entire college education. There was a year where we did qualify for Pell grants because my Dad had been laid off from a job the prior year and he had two kids in college! We did take out student loans. I remember paying my loans off within the first year of graduating. I'm guessing the amount was less than $2,000. It's hard to remember now.

I did work part time for at least 2 of the 4 years I went to college, but I believe this was for things like food, entertainment, clothing, auto fuel and all other expenses. My parents paid my rent, and car insurance.

Honestly, at the time, I took the amount my parents paid to send me to college for granted. I probably still do. I do have the appreciation for the cost of college, as we did have to pay some of my huband's college expenses. Luckily, the Army and his full time job paid for a large portion. Those student loans were paid off several years ago.

My parents had saved some money for my sister and I for college in UGMA accounts, invested in mutual funds. I remember pretty distinctly, writing a letter every semester requesting a certain amount be withdrawn. When I received the check, I used it only for tuition. I never thought to pull more money for myself. I knew that it was for education expenses only.

I know of several people my age who took out the maximum student loan amounts every year. The used part of it for tuition and books, but the remainder was "fun" money. Guess what? They are still paying their student loans! Ugh. Of course, for all I know my parents are still paying on our student loans. I sure hope not!

I bring all this up, because I was talking to my sister about the fact that my oldest daughter will be starting college in 5.5 years. And it doesn't feel that far away. Yikes!! Yes, we have some money saved. Both girls get good grades, so may qualify for some scholarship money. I really need to start crunching some numbers to see how much more I might want to save, or be able to save.

I have thought all along that the girls should have their hand in paying for some of the expenses. I think they should also work some, part time at least. I also think we can cash flow part of it, as well.

Any insights? How was your college education paid for? Are you currently paying for a child's college education? How is that going? I'd love to hear!

If you haven't already discovered the freedom or escrow account for paying bills, you are missing out. A freedom account allows you to save up to pay for semiannual or annual expenses. You could even use it to save up for unexpected and expected auto repairs.

On my sidebar you can look at 'Our Escrow Account' to see the things we save up for and pay out of our freedom account. Often, it can be difficult to start this type of account because you need to fund it with a beginning amount, so that when the first bill comes in you have the money ready to pay. This is especially true, if your auto registrations are two months away and would only have a month or so of funding available.

If you want to start one, you might consider starting yours with your tax refund. Or part of your tax refund. I find it is helpful to keep these funds in a second checking account. Ours is mixed in with some other funds, but I keep track of our freedom account balance in an Excel spreadsheet.

Just something to think about. It really does wonders for your finances.

Our auto insurance increased six months ago and now has decreased. We will save about $5/month or $30 for six months. It gets confusing when they make changes to premiums even though we did not make any changes ourselves.

When the policy renewal came, it was mentioned that we could sign up for accident forgiveness for less than $1/month. Turns out for us, it is $0.24 per month or $2.88 per year. I decided to sign up. The benefits outway the costs!

We pay for our auto insurance every six months, but save for it each pay day in our escrow account. Right now I put $78 away each payday towards auto insurance and other non monthly bills. You can see our details on Escrow Account page on my sidebar. I'm not going to adjust the savings because of this auto premium change. It just means there will be a little extra available should any other items increase.

How often do you pay for auto insurance? Monthly? Semiannually?

I converted two thirds of our Traditional IRA accounts to Roth IRA's today. It's a bit scary to pull the trigger, when you know it is a taxable event.

I'm have already looked into the tax consequences and they are quite favorable for us as most of our earned income will not be taxed this year due to the combat zone exclusion. Of course, we still have to pay taxes, but not much different than a normal year for us.

I will decide about the remainder of the IRA balances later.

is becoming flush with funds! I usually don't hold any money in there, but with the ongoing ebay sales the funds are accumulating.

Yesterday, Powell's books deposited my proceeds from the books I sent them. They did reject one small paperback and deducted $0.50 for it. I'm okay with that.

I also decided to let Pinecone Research start depositing my survey payments in my paypal account as well. I look forward to getting paid more quickly! Now, I just need them to send me another survey. It seems like they have dried up a bit. My last paid survey with them was early January and before that it was in October.

Right now, I'm thinking I will just hold on to my paypal funds. I might designate it the Christmas fund or at some point cash out and send it to the home equity loan. The latter is probably the best idea. We'll see if I need it to make my mid March goal.

In light of my previous post, where my husband and I determined that we will pay off our van loan before saving for a truck, I revised the 2010 goals.

1) Max out our Roth IRA's = $10,000
2) Save 7% of basic pay in TSP
3) Pay off home equity loan
4) Save money for college = $3,300
5) Add money to emergency fund = $7,000
6) Pay off van beginning balance = $19,444
7) Convert IRA's to Roth IRA's

I have deleted the goal to save for the truck in 2010. We will end up being able to save quite a bit of cash at the beginning of 2011 for the truck.

Since, I have already made one regular van payment in 2010, our current balance is now, $19,012.14. I will start a ticker on the side once this becomes our primary goal. This will not occur until at least June of this year.

It is good to have goals and know what you want to accomplish. I'm looking forward to working on this new plan!

I updated our 2010 financial goals on my page to the left. Previously, I had left the amounts blank. I did not know at the time what amounts I could allocate to each area. Now I know.

1) Max out our Roth IRA's = $10,000
2) Save 7% of basic pay in TSP
3) Pay off home equity loan
4) Save money for college = $3,300
5) Add money to our emergency fund = $7,000
6) Pay down van loan = $7,500
7) Save cash for a truck = $7,350
8) Convert IRA's to Roth IRA's

I'm not entirely decided about paying extra on the van loan. It is at 3.9% interest rate. The next truck loan will probably be higher, so it may be better to simply save for the truck, to reduce the amount we would need to borrow. It's hard to decide when it is over a year away.

I'm just realizing that most of our goals are saving! Cool.

As expected, my husband's net check has increased. Specifically, $100.86. He is paid twice a month. Can't complain about an extra $200 a month, right?

Although I can see the deposit amount, I can't yet see how the pay breaks down. A little frustrating since I thought the net increase would be about $105! I have to wait two more weeks for details.

The extra $200 will help fund college contributions for this year. We hope to send in about $2000 for each of them in 2010. I'm going to pay off the home equity loan first!

I just finished cutting my Christmas cards into small gift tags for next years holiday gifts. I often use sticky gift tags I find on clearance or even blank address labels. Next year I won't need these. I will write on the back of the card tags I just made, punch a hole in the top and tie it to the gift.

My sister actually did this for this past Christmas and they turned out great. The holiday colors of the cards coordinate with the wrapping paper. I realize this isn't an original idea. It's been around. One can just write on the wrapping paper with marker to avoid the gift tag altogether.

It took me all of five minutes to make over 36 gift tags. I recycled the remainder of the cards and scraps. I will toss the tags in with my holiday wrap so I can find them next year.

I really am thrilled with this. I almost bought a package of sticky gift tags for $0.99 just before Christmas. The tags were wrapped in plastic, so I decided not to buy them. The cut up cards will be a great free and plastic free alternative.

You could find a pair of sissors and cut up your cards, too!

Our basic goals for 2010 break down like this:

1) Max out our Roth IRA's
2) Save 7% of basic pay in TSP
3) Pay off home equity loan
4) Save money for college
5) Add money to our emergency fund
6) Pay down/off van loan
7) Save cash for a truck
8) Convert IRA's (if feasible)

I plan to flesh these goals out with exact numbers soon. These goals will take us into 2011 when we expect my husband to return from overseas.

The retirement goals are automated, so these will be easy. The home equity loan is top on my list with an expected payoff at the end of February!

We often have focused goals. One or two big ones at a time. My husband's deployment will bring in extra cash so we are going to tackle several goals at a time.

Our financial picture of 2009 wraps up like this:

Retirement contributions: $14,147.00
Retirement accounts increased: $33,219.29
Retirement accounts exceeded $100K

Total debt decreased: $17,011.21
Nearly $10K paid on HEL!!

Our net worth increased by approximately $50,230.50, which does not include any increase or decrease in our home's value.

We paid cash for a trip to Disney World and our daughter's braces. Yipee!!

I returned a gift today that I bought for my daughter. It's just not HER. While I was returning the item to Target, I asked and received a price adjustment on another gift. The result: $22.26 back in our account!!

I've decided after the holidays to return an outfit I bought back in November for a dressy occassion that was cancelled. That return will net us $34.22 to our account! It just doesn't make sense to have it sit in my closet with tags on it. I have no idea when I would wear it.

Right now, all I'm really thinking about finances is: try not to spend anymore money until payday! We will get paid on December 30th because of the holidays.

December is a spendy month. It's not just the gifts, but the food, the gas for traveling and batteries!

Okay. You know me to well. I am looking ahead financially, too! I'm looking forward to making our next big dent in the home equity loan and updating our final numbers for 2009. The stock market seems to want to go up the last couple days and I want to include any gains!!

On a tax note: I think I will total up the value of our thrift store donations today and enter it into the tax program.

The military posted the rates for basic allowance for housing early by at least a day. The website appears to have been updated yesterday. I wasn't expecting to see the rates until tomorrow. Our housing allowance is going up by $92 per month.

Anyone out there know what the BAS rates are for 2010? I added 3.8% to last the 2009 amount to get an estimated amount based on something I read.

I estimated our net paycheck on paycheckcity.com. If you are military and do this, make sure to only tax the basic pay portion and add BAH and BAS into the net pay the website provides. We will be getting an additional $105 each pay period. That's an additional $210 per month or $2520 per year!!

Of course, that money will help us meet all the goals we have for 2010. Yipee!!

We are officially snowed in in the creditcardfree household. I think we got 14 inches at least. The snow is expected to blow at blizzard speed until this evening. Even if we wanted out, the 5 foot drift that blocks our garage is standing in the way. I sure don't want to dig it out in this wind!

Luckily, we still have power, heat and internet! I received an email from our bank (USAA) that they paid us $24.55 as a subscriber's account distribution. I think that means we are members and investors in some way. This is more than double what we received last year. The bank had a good year! I think the longer we remain with them the bigger the distributions are. We'll take it!

The snow day is going well. We've made peanut butter cookies, cleaned one bedroom and are about to start wrapping gifts. One child, who can't wait, is tugging on my sleeve right now! It's a good snow day.

I'm thinking the next few days will be no spend days. The snow is about to hit us hard here. We have two inches on the ground as of this morning and up to 12 inches more to arrive tomorrow. Ugh!

In the meantime, we will stay warm inside, play games, address Christmas cards, wrap gifts, listen to music, bake a goodie, drink warm beverages and enjoy each others company.

I'm looking forward to it!

The water bill came today. It was about $20 under it's normal amount. I think they read the meter earlier than usual, which means next months bill may be higher.

I'm going to stash the extra $20 in our second checking account to cover Christmas expenditures.

It's official. Today, November 25, 2009 our retirement accounts have officially exceeded six figures!!

I hope the next $100K arrives faster than the first! My husband has contributed to his retirement since age 21. Obviously, he makes considerably more now than when he was younger. I contributed to my 401k when I did work outside the home. Now, we are fortunate to be able to max out our Roth IRA's each year and a little extra to my husband's TSP, which equals about 16% of our gross income.

Yipee!! Just another thing to be grateful for.

The stock market rise this year has me tracking and checking our retirement account balances pretty frequently. Turns out we are VERY close to hitting a milestone. Our combined retirement accounts are about to hit 6 figures for the first time. We are less $1K away.

It feels great to have almost obtained this milestone. Unless the market drops quite a bit, we should actually hit the milestone by the end of the month.

Yipee!!!