January: had 20 grand in personal debt(a credit line with my ex husband with all MY Debt on it), no efund, land & building was 20 grand, a business credit line was full, and I needed more money to get through the rest of the winter(thank goodness I got a refund on my corp and personal taxes!) I was able to keep my business and personal credit cards at zero and pay all my bills which is good.
February: I was paying down my personal credit line but over whelmed with my business credit line and trying to juggle everything. Personally bf and I were trying to save to upgrade a car. I got a refund on my personal taxes, & corporate taxes. Then a little bit of an inheritance from a distant uncle.
March: Coasting just trying to pay things, business credit line still really high
April: Coasting but sales picked up for the store and the credit line started to get less stressful. I really started to amp up the personal credit line payments.
May: Coasting, business credit line doing funny things and rising again. Still trying to make bigger payments on the personal credit line.
June: Needed to take advantage of a deal for a car upgrade we had been planning. Instead of taking the savings and getting a lower car payment we decided to take that money and dump it on my personal credit line because the car deal turned out to be zero interest.
July: Personal credit line all paid off, huge stress gone. Higher car payments but very doable. Goal reassessment--pay down the bf's student loan quicker and pay down my land and building quicker so it doesn't draw on my business credit line anymore. Then after those two goals, save for kids education and start saving to build a house.
August: A good month, coast on paying lots on land and building, started to get a lump sum payment together for student loan.
Sept: Realizing I am going to have to pay corporate taxes(an expense I did not have last year) and my credit line will likely be as high if not higher going in to the winter which unnerves me a little. Credit line is pretty good level at the moment.
Oct: credit line inching up. I am not comfortable. But, I am in a better position than last year this time with an efund, and an empty personal credit line. Saving like crazy to top up efund in case I need it. I probably will. Boo.
I give my self a 4.5 because I still owe soooo much. My BF and I have a land mortgage and have not even built the house we want(at least 3-5 years in the future) so we are not even close to being done getting more credit. We have a car loan and student loan. Both of those will be gone before we do the house because we will save and pay those off at the same time. We have no cash retirement savings but we have land equity and business equity which I think is the same thing we are building on. We will do cash retirement savings after we build the house. My business is doing ok but I am in danger of going over on my credit line again this year and maybe next year because my land and building loan draws every month from my credit line. That will be gone in Aug 2009 for sure. So I was hoping the 2011 winter might be better.
I have come a long way but have a long way to go. The next 5 years are going to be really interesting.....
Lord knows my memory isn't good enough to go month to month.....
I'd say RIGHT NOW in my life I am at about a 6.5.
Our emergency fund is $4,700 but we will be withdrawing about $700 soon to buy a computer. Our final c/c owed is at $1,700. I will be paying $400 to that when we get paid this week. :)
We are doing well now - xmas has been paid in cash but it seems like we still live "paycheck to paycheck" with no great money to save. I know right now we are putting at least $400-500 towards our final c/c until its gone but I just feel like once we are done paying off the final c/c and my car (owe about $5,000) that will be when my unemployment will end and we won't be banking money like we were.
I am in a MUCH better place then I was a year ago so I am thankful.
January: Put on will call status at the bookstore. Adjusting to less income.
February: Still no Bookstore hours and dh takes a chance and ups our investments. Making take home pay even less.
March: Use tax return to get bills ahead by one month. So now on the last Friday of a month I have enough to pay all the bills for the following month.
April: Daycare mom has a baby and decides to stay home. Down to one kid and less income.
May: Refinance the mortgage to get a 4.87% interest rate. Kept length terms the same as they were before refi. Daycare dad looses job.
June: Manage to get grocery money and gas money set aside one month ahead of time as well. Daycare mom (same family looses job, but they keep me on so they can look for work).
July: Start working on getting sinking funds in place. Not sure if I'll have a job after this summer.
August: Too many bills and expenses to do anything but get by this month. Daycare parents both find work.
September: Have to cancel son's music lessons. Bookstore, after 9 months of giving me zero hours, finally sends official notice that my job has been terminated. Bookstore job paid for extras like music lessons.
October: Son has unexpected surgery and so lots of medical bills. Son's birthday tomorrow. Still paying cash for everything.
No debt besides the mortgage, 4 mo of living expenses in E-fund, Investments have doubled since February. Cash still going into sinking funds to cover major expenses for upcoming year.
Oh Dear..........
I don't know about a 4.5 or a 5 maybe??
January: had 20 grand in personal debt(a credit line with my ex husband with all MY Debt on it), no efund, land & building was 20 grand, a business credit line was full, and I needed more money to get through the rest of the winter(thank goodness I got a refund on my corp and personal taxes!) I was able to keep my business and personal credit cards at zero and pay all my bills which is good.
February: I was paying down my personal credit line but over whelmed with my business credit line and trying to juggle everything. Personally bf and I were trying to save to upgrade a car. I got a refund on my personal taxes, & corporate taxes. Then a little bit of an inheritance from a distant uncle.
March: Coasting just trying to pay things, business credit line still really high
April: Coasting but sales picked up for the store and the credit line started to get less stressful. I really started to amp up the personal credit line payments.
May: Coasting, business credit line doing funny things and rising again. Still trying to make bigger payments on the personal credit line.
June: Needed to take advantage of a deal for a car upgrade we had been planning. Instead of taking the savings and getting a lower car payment we decided to take that money and dump it on my personal credit line because the car deal turned out to be zero interest.
July: Personal credit line all paid off, huge stress gone. Higher car payments but very doable. Goal reassessment--pay down the bf's student loan quicker and pay down my land and building quicker so it doesn't draw on my business credit line anymore. Then after those two goals, save for kids education and start saving to build a house.
August: A good month, coast on paying lots on land and building, started to get a lump sum payment together for student loan.
Sept: Realizing I am going to have to pay corporate taxes(an expense I did not have last year) and my credit line will likely be as high if not higher going in to the winter which unnerves me a little. Credit line is pretty good level at the moment.
Oct: credit line inching up. I am not comfortable. But, I am in a better position than last year this time with an efund, and an empty personal credit line. Saving like crazy to top up efund in case I need it. I probably will. Boo.
I give my self a 4.5 because I still owe soooo much. My BF and I have a land mortgage and have not even built the house we want(at least 3-5 years in the future) so we are not even close to being done getting more credit. We have a car loan and student loan. Both of those will be gone before we do the house because we will save and pay those off at the same time. We have no cash retirement savings but we have land equity and business equity which I think is the same thing we are building on. We will do cash retirement savings after we build the house. My business is doing ok but I am in danger of going over on my credit line again this year and maybe next year because my land and building loan draws every month from my credit line. That will be gone in Aug 2009 for sure. So I was hoping the 2011 winter might be better.
I have come a long way but have a long way to go. The next 5 years are going to be really interesting.....
OK, I will try this....
January thru May-1
Norma
"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus
Lord knows my memory isn't good enough to go month to month.....
I'd say RIGHT NOW in my life I am at about a 6.5.
Our emergency fund is $4,700 but we will be withdrawing about $700 soon to buy a computer. Our final c/c owed is at $1,700. I will be paying $400 to that when we get paid this week. :)
We are doing well now - xmas has been paid in cash but it seems like we still live "paycheck to paycheck" with no great money to save. I know right now we are putting at least $400-500 towards our final c/c until its gone but I just feel like once we are done paying off the final c/c and my car (owe about $5,000) that will be when my unemployment will end and we won't be banking money like we were.
I am in a MUCH better place then I was a year ago so I am thankful.
January: Put on will call status at the bookstore. Adjusting to less income.
February: Still no Bookstore hours and dh takes a chance and ups our investments. Making take home pay even less.
March: Use tax return to get bills ahead by one month. So now on the last Friday of a month I have enough to pay all the bills for the following month.
April: Daycare mom has a baby and decides to stay home. Down to one kid and less income.
May: Refinance the mortgage to get a 4.87% interest rate. Kept length terms the same as they were before refi. Daycare dad looses job.
June: Manage to get grocery money and gas money set aside one month ahead of time as well. Daycare mom (same family looses job, but they keep me on so they can look for work).
July: Start working on getting sinking funds in place. Not sure if I'll have a job after this summer.
August: Too many bills and expenses to do anything but get by this month. Daycare parents both find work.
September: Have to cancel son's music lessons. Bookstore, after 9 months of giving me zero hours, finally sends official notice that my job has been terminated. Bookstore job paid for extras like music lessons.
October: Son has unexpected surgery and so lots of medical bills. Son's birthday tomorrow. Still paying cash for everything.
No debt besides the mortgage, 4 mo of living expenses in E-fund, Investments have doubled since February. Cash still going into sinking funds to cover major expenses for upcoming year.
Looking at a 6.5 rating right now.
stacy
Norma
"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus
Hmmm -
Jan - 4, know where my debts are, have a budget, DH and I have secure jobs, paying things down
Feb 4.5 - paying things down pretty well, went on a vacation and we won some money that paid for expenses, making progress
March 5 - got my second job, paying down more rapidly, DH is paying down
April 4 - Got hit with $3k more in taxes, stopped paying down as fast, thank gosh for second job
May 5 - doing much better, 3 paycheck month, paid down a lot, but car had issues
June 6 - debt payment got really rapid, second job going great, diverting all extra money to debt, living on cash only
July - 6 continuing to pay down, extra job good
August 5 - DH wants money for our start-up, slower debt payments
September 4.5 - BTS expenses hit hard, DH wants property tax money, slowered debt repayment to a crawl.