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| Fri, 10-24-2008 - 10:40am |
Well, I finally have enough money in my savings account to pay off the credit cards. Woo-Hoo. I am just going to keep the money in there for now, as both CCs are currently 0%, so I might as well earn some interest until they are due. Now, on to new goals. They seem more overwhelming to me than paying off the credit cards as they are more long term.
1. To pay off my car. I leased a new car a few years ago. The lease will expire in May of 2011. At that time, I plan to buy the car, and want to pay cash for it. So, I need to start saving for that. It's about $9,000.
2. To get going on home improvements, but pay CASH. It's going to be hard to do, but I am determined. DH is on board. The first purchase will be a new couch, then painting, then new flooring. In the past we have been suckers for "buy now, pay later".
3. Start saving more. I really want to work towards having 6 months of expenses in the bank. I can't quite get my head around how to do it yet, but I will get there. Just going to keep putting money in the savings account for now.
Thanks for listening. It helps to write down the goals.
Tara


Great news! Good job and how nice to be able to game the system a bit and make some money.
On the home improvement side, you might consider painting first. The cost is actually pretty low and you might get that 'buzz' from saving and paying cash. Also, I always wind up with paint somewhere it wasn't intended so I figure do it first so you protect all the new stuff.
Peg
Good for you! Congratulations on achieving some goals and working on new ones!
DH and I are now in the mode of "we'll buy this when..." I get most of my income on a quarterly basis, which gives us a point in the future when we know when can afford something. We have been doing this for the last year, looking ahead 6 quarters and saying, "this is what we're going to do with the money that is over and above regular living expenses." This quarter, we put a 40% down payment on a new SUV to replace DH's 9yo minivan (and got a 3-year loan with 0.9% interest for the rest), bought new bedroom furniture, and installed built-in bookcases in the living room. Next quarter, we'll be paying for DD#1's school tuition and setting aside some savings, and if there's enough left over, we'll buy bedroom furniture for DD#2 and a dining room set.
It is nice to look at the new things and know that everything is PAID FOR. I will warn you that once you buy one or two things, you'll start seeing other things you want to upgrade, but if you stick to your guns and wait til you have the money, you will appreciate it so much more!
And I agree with Peg's suggestion about painting - we have been adding COLOR to our house for the last three years, and it makes us so much happier!
Kelly
great job
Mary Ann
PS watch when you buy a new couch the new ones are not as good as the old ones were. I got screwed on our new couch the cloth seems to be dry rotted on it. It looks after a year worse then the one I had for 30 years. Consider if you got a great frame having it recovered. It is many time cheaper then a whole new one.
Thanks for all of your replies. Some great suggestions that I will consider. For now though I'm just going to work on saving some money. We don't want to buy anything before the holidays anyways.
Robyn, you made a good point about new furniture being crappy. Unfortunately, the one we have was purchased 13 years ago on a shoe-string budget. It's long over due for a replacement, and it's not worth trying to do anything as far as recovering.
Tara