I can't believe we are 5 months into this year already, almost halfway through it! Where does the time go? I am quite pleased with the rate at which my debt is dropping off, I resolved to make some changes this year to free up some more money so that I could pay off my debt quicker and I am continuing to do that. Today I am having my landline shut off, after evaluating it, I was only getting 2-3 calls a week on it and they were mainly from family who are all the same cell phone plan as me and we have free mobile to mobile, so what did I need the land line for anyway? This will free up another $28/month to put in savings or pay down debt with. And I won't get calls from telemarketers or wrong numbers late at night anymore. :)
~leanne
I almost forgot to mention that I have paid off $6156.87 of my debt total this year already!
"Life doesn't just happen to us - we actively live it every day"
Well said Danni!! I noticed a lot lately that people tend to think of themselves a victims unable to control their circumstance. Or perhaps it jsut that a lot of the young people who work for my company are realizing life doesn't always play by their rules.
2005 is going fairly well for us. The car will be paid off this month. Now its just the mortgage. We refinanced it at a great rate and discovered our credit scores were 746 and 768! They were in the 600's when we bought our car a year and a half ago. DH & I decided to scale back debt repayment to really build up savings. I want to have 5 months salary in the bank. Right now, we have about 1 month saved up.
Just don't start counting the days until Christmas!
It's going better than expected. I did make a detour off track with spending in the first quarter of the year, but got caught up. We continue to pay our bills on time. I was promoted, which means more money starting in Sept., and we are buying a house. Actually, I think I'm further ahead than expected!
Unforseen/unbudgeted expenses have wrecked my plans this year. Car repairs & new tires, dental problem-no insurance, lawyer bills...it never ends. Savings are depleted and summer vacation is in jeopardy--definitely will be scaled back if not eliminated altogether. boo-hoo
Right now my strategy (June 1 resolution) is to get some cash built back up before getting aggressive with debt reduction.
On a positive note, I am tracking spending better now and am taking some steps to eliminate unnecessary spending.
I think it is hard to evaluate. I seemed to have taken a different pasth than I thought I was going to. I took a new job and move back to my hometown in January. The plan was to sell our house and use that money to pay off our debt. We planned ot rent for a couple of years and build a new house. That plan got shot to smitereens! It took us forever to sell our house. There were no decent rental properties avialable, whic h was a signifigant change from when we researched in fall. We ended up lioving with my Mom. UGGH! What has happened is that we purchased new house (Closed today!) We have paind our bill on time. We have $ 1000 emergency fund. We have no new CC debt. Balances are slowly comng down. SLOWLY! Not what we had planned but we are pleased .......
I can honestly say that this year has not gone quite the way i would have hoped. so far, total, our debt is only down about 5K (counting car payments), credit card debt is only down about $2500. The most expensive months of the year are already behind us. We just started contributing to dh's 401K plan. We all but wiped out our emergency fund ($111 left) this past month, but it was for a good cause. The good news is that I am making more money than i was at the beginning of the year, and we are focused on doing what needs to be done. We aren't going on any more family vacations this year. (though dh and I are going to NY for an autism conference in September). our cc debt goes down about $600-$800 each month, depending on what other expenses we have. My original goal I made at the beginning of this year was to get cc debt under $20,00 by the end of the year. I don't know if that will happen, because we owe 26,200 yet. But we will keep plugging away at it. We are at least making an effort to save now, something we weren't doing before. thanks for asking, Danni!! Heather
I'm glad you asked! I keep a Word document on my computer with my goals for the year and go back to them occassionally to see how I'm doing and write down my progress.
Here are the goals I listed back in January and my progress so far:
Pay off Express store card DONE! Accumulate $1000 savings Have $350 saved Rework budget DONE! Increase savings to $50/pay Haven't yet, still at $30/pay Negotiate interest rates Tried, but creditors won't budge! Improve credit score Score has gone up 60 points this year!
We are doing pretty well: 1. stay cc debt free - DONE 2. keep emergency fund above $2000 - DONE 3. stick to budget - DONE - budget has changed as DH quit job in March, but we are sticking to new budget 4. keep cushion in checkbook - allowing house payment to be mailed early therefore gaining on the princ pd off each month - DONE for 3 months 5. reading financial books, listening to Dave Ramsey, posting & reading DSG daily - DONE 6. lose 10+ lbs and keep it off - DONE (lost 14 lbs and have kept it off for 3 mths) New goals: 1. Add to emergency fund monthly - even if its only $10/mth 2. Cut grocery bill back to $350/mth - currently spending $400/mth 3. Support DH in new job/business venture, stay POSITIVE 4. Sell 52 willys pu and pay off Dodge Ram pu
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I can't believe we are 5 months into this year already, almost halfway through it! Where does the time go? I am quite pleased with the rate at which my debt is dropping off, I resolved to make some changes this year to free up some more money so that I could pay off my debt quicker and I am continuing to do that. Today I am having my landline shut off, after evaluating it, I was only getting 2-3 calls a week on it and they were mainly from family who are all the same cell phone plan as me and we have free mobile to mobile, so what did I need the land line for anyway? This will free up another $28/month to put in savings or pay down debt with. And I won't get calls from telemarketers or wrong numbers late at night anymore. :)
~leanne
I almost forgot to mention that I have paid off $6156.87 of my debt total this year already!
~leanne
deciding to be happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect, but that you had decided to look beyond the imp
"Life doesn't just happen to us - we actively live it every day"
Well said Danni!! I noticed a lot lately that people tend to think of themselves a victims unable to control their circumstance. Or perhaps it jsut that a lot of the young people who work for my company are realizing life doesn't always play by their rules.
2005 is going fairly well for us. The car will be paid off this month. Now its just the mortgage. We refinanced it at a great rate and discovered our credit scores were 746 and 768! They were in the 600's when we bought our car a year and a half ago. DH & I decided to scale back debt repayment to really build up savings. I want to have 5 months salary in the bank. Right now, we have about 1 month saved up.
Just don't start counting the days until Christmas!
Sandra
It's going better than expected. I did make a detour off track with spending in the first quarter of the year, but got caught up. We continue to pay our bills on time. I was promoted, which means more money starting in Sept., and we are buying a house. Actually, I think I'm further ahead than expected!
Kelly
I definitely need to get back on course...
Unforseen/unbudgeted expenses have wrecked my plans this year. Car repairs & new tires, dental problem-no insurance, lawyer bills...it never ends. Savings are depleted and summer vacation is in jeopardy--definitely will be scaled back if not eliminated altogether. boo-hoo
Right now my strategy (June 1 resolution) is to get some cash built back up before getting aggressive with debt reduction.
On a positive note, I am tracking spending better now and am taking some steps to eliminate unnecessary spending.
A very frustrated cupcake!
Ah, well, business as usual for us.
I'm glad you asked! I keep a Word document on my computer with my goals for the year and go back to them occassionally to see how I'm doing and write down my progress.
Here are the goals I listed back in January and my progress so far:
Pay off Express store card DONE!
Accumulate $1000 savings Have $350 saved
Rework budget DONE!
Increase savings to $50/pay Haven't yet, still at $30/pay
Negotiate interest rates Tried, but creditors won't budge!
Improve credit score Score has gone up 60 points this year!
Glad I could share!
Cheryl
Wow everyone!
All my best,
Danni
We are doing pretty well:
1. stay cc debt free - DONE
2. keep emergency fund above $2000 - DONE
3. stick to budget - DONE - budget has changed as DH quit job in March, but we are sticking to new budget
4. keep cushion in checkbook - allowing house payment to be mailed early therefore gaining on the princ pd off each month - DONE for 3 months
5. reading financial books, listening to Dave Ramsey, posting & reading DSG daily - DONE
6. lose 10+ lbs and keep it off - DONE (lost 14 lbs and have kept it off for 3 mths)
New goals:
1. Add to emergency fund monthly - even if its only $10/mth
2. Cut grocery bill back to $350/mth - currently spending $400/mth
3. Support DH in new job/business venture, stay POSITIVE
4. Sell 52 willys pu and pay off Dodge Ram pu
Good Luck Everyone
cindylee
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