End of Month--October 2008

Wow!  Another month gone.  The holidays are coming up so fast!

I am amazed with the current gas prices!  Hubby stopped for gas the other day even though he wasn't totally empty yet because he saw it for $2.299!  It cost him $36 to fill up!  Let's hope the prices stay this low or lower.  At least for a little while!

I've updated the sidebar.  Not much to really update, but I did it.  I also updated the NetWorthIQ for October.

We finally ordered the tires for my husband's truck.  They were really needed.  I saved and transferred the money to the credit card and then used it to pay for the tires.  They should be here in a day or two, then we'll make an appointment to have them mounted.  The total cost for four tires was $675!  Ouch!  But it is a worthwhile expense.  His safety is more important than money.  We researched the tires on tirerack.com and were very pleased with the reviews.  These tires should last a lot longer than the ones that came with the truck.  

Other typical end of month tasks:

• I transferred $45.59 from my round up fund to my emergency fund
• I transferred my VA benefit to my emergency fund
• I added any interest given at the end of the month.  We earned $9.22 this month in the emergency fund!  

I also figured out that I should be at $5,000 in my emergency fund in 9 months or less.  If you remember that was the original amount I wanted to save, then I upped it to $10,000.  I'll just be happy to make it to the halfway point because that's where we were before my husband was out of work for 2 1/2 months last year.  It will make me a lot more comfortable knowing we have that money to pay the bills just in case.

I also paid two bills for next month in advance.  Well, I used billpay and set the date for after the next pay period.  At least I don't have to worry about paying them.  The first was a $65 cell phone bill (2 cell phones--family plan) and the second was our electric bill of $159, which just keeps going up no matter how many times I turn things off.  I think it may be because we are on the budget plan though.

How does your electric bill compare?  Do you find it always going up?  Or have you found a way to keep your electric costs low?  I cannot wait until we are debt free so we can afford to put in a solar system!  It is one of the first things I want to do!

September Update

I finally got around to taking care of end of month activities.  Phew!  This year is just flying by!

I've updated my sidebar including NetWorth IQ.  Did you notice the truck payment?  I'm now under $7,000!  My last two payments have posted and the remaining balance is at $6,697.32!  I AM SO EXCITED!!!!  Sorry for screaming, but I just cannot contain myself.

My emergency fund is trickling along, but at least it's moving up.  It's now at $3,273.04 and I earned a whopping $8.65 in interest last month!  This is the most I've ever made in interest.

I earned a measly $0.29 interest in my checking account, which I promptly put in my round up fund, and $0.71 interest in my "mortgage" savings account.

I've already paid most of my bills for this month.  The credit card, cell phones, water/sewer/garbage, and the electric bill (which was horribly high for us at $153 and some change) have now been paid.  I only have two bills left for the month--other than the mortgage, which is automatically taken out in a couple of days.

I seriously need to go through our food and set up a menu plan so I can use all the food we have efficiently.  I know I'll be running out of a few items soon, but for the most part we have a lot of food to eat if I would only start writing it down!  That will help me save money on running out for food I don't really need yet.

Attempt to Get Back on Track...

...Or at least I'm going to try.  

I've updated everything on the sidebar now as well as NetWorthIQ.  It's not looking good, but I didn't expect it to what with the student loans being added to it all.

I made several payments to the truck loan.  We are now down to $7,131.24 left on it and I don't owe them another payment until January.  Of course, I'll continue to send them in because I want it gone!  My extra loan payment "savings" is up to $145.69 so I'll only need $87.07 to send in another extra payment along with my regular payment.

I received my homeowner's insurance statement.  The payment is due in December and is paid through my mortgage escrow account.  I would love to not have a mortgage escrow account, but they are required on VA loans.  As usual the policy covers some pretty stupid things like volcanic eruption, which may be needed if I lived in Hawaii, but I live in a flat state with barely a hill; and grave markers (is there something I don't know about?).  The good thing is that it looks like it will be going down $14.97 from last year's premium.  It's not much, but it'll still lower my monthly mortgage payment.  That's $1.25 a month that I can put towards something else.  

I have all my monthly bills paid for the rest of the month and we still have another payday to go this month!  The next bill is not due until the 7th of next month and it's the only one for the next two pay periods!  I've already made sure I did a big grocery shopping.  We are set for food other than refrigerated items we go through quickly.  I spent over $215 so it better last!  So I think this is a good time for auto maintenance.  I need an oil change and new battery and DH needs an oil change, some other routine maintenance yet to be determined, and a couple of new tires.  We'll have to do some pricing.  For tires we like to check them out on Tire Rack to get reviews and pricing.  We bought my new ones on there earlier this year.  We had them delivered to a local shop to be put on and we couldn't be happier with them.

I believe that may bring me up to date for now.  If I think of anything else, I'll add another post later.

Doctor/Dentist Bills, Red Cross, End of Month

I received a bill from one of my doctor's for an appointment I went to in December.  I've actually had 2 other appointments since that appointment, but for some reason they messed this one all up by putting in the claim 3 times!  Pretty unorganized of them!  So now I have to fit in a payment of $125.32 to them.  I'll take care of that this weekend and get it out in the mail on Tuesday.

I've also received some more of the claim forms for my boys' dentist appointments.  So far it looks like I'll owe them $209.30 at least until I get the last claim form.  I underpaid on a couple of appointments and overpaid on one.  This is not as big as a deal because I was pretty much expecting it.  Plus the dentist office has not sent me a bill as yet either.  So we'll wait and see on that one, but I'll probably go in as soon as I've received the last claim form and settle up with them.

On the sidebar you'll notice a banner for the American Red Cross.  They are one of the few organizations that I support and believe in.  I do not in any way receive money or endorsement from the Red Cross for placing the banner on my blog.  

Since today is the last day of the month I'll probably be closing everything out.  It looks like I'll have $38.17 to transfer over to my emergency fund (other than the normal $117) from my round up fund from the checking account.

These are the final month end numbers:

Groceries: $379.07

Dining Out: $249.53

Gas: $540.41

DH's Work Lunches: $108.06

I'm not sure if I've missed anything.  The progression bars will be updated in a week or so when the mortgage, truck payments, and emergency savings are shown to be updated in their systems so I can get exact numbers.  Though I believe the emergency fund will be above $3,000 and the truck loan will maybe be close to $7,000.

Updates and What's Going On

Well, Tropical Storm Fay has now completely left us.  We still had a few (very few) remaining storms come through yesterday, though we were able to get out of the house for the afternoon.  No damage so that's very good!  One down; ?? to go.

I still got the mail during the storm...yes, the poor mailwoman still had to deliver the mail!  I received a letter from my 401K plan saying that I have under the minimum $1000 and if I do not call by a certain date a check will be cut minus all the many fees and penalties they take away from you.  I know I received a check for all the funds to roll them over to my new Vanguard IRA.  Or at least that's what they told me!  So I took a look online and it's a whopping $3.13 for company stock!  $3.13!  It was probably some dividend or something that got applied after the check was cut.  So fine...cut me a check.  I'll probably get like $2.00 or something.  It's just not worth my time calling them to have it rolled over to my IRA.  Let the IRS get the 20% penalty or  $0.62...LOL.  I could always put $3.13 into my IRA and then get my $0.62 back at tax time.  Maybe.

I also received the explanation of benefits sheets you get from the insurance company for the boys' first visits to the new dentist.  I'll probably owe them in the $200 range.  Not bad considering they only charged me $50.70 for those appointments at the time.  We'll see what happens with that when the bill comes in.  

I've started updating the sidebar and progression bars.  It still needs some tweaking here and there.  My classes start tomorrow so my time will be limited until I get myself on a schedule.

2-Week Pay Period: July 31, 2008 and End of Month

It isn't often that both the end of a 2-week pay period and the end of the month coincide.  This was also the end of a 3-check month.

End of 2-Week:

• The first thing I decided to do is to redirect my extra 1/2 mortgage payment transfer amount of $442.60 to my new extra loan payoff savings.  I just don't really need it for the mortgage so I figure it'll do me more good paying off some debt.  So along with some additional funds I managed to move over there, I was able to make two additional payments on the truck loan.  So this month I've made payments for August, September, and October.  And I still have $90.03 left in the extra loan payoff savings.  When it reaches another payment, then I'll send it in as an additional payment.
  

• I paid $100 for my August credit card payment.  I only owed $19.00, but I'm used to paying extra.  Besides I've had to use it more often lately because of the boys' dentist appointments.  
  

• I scheduled our cell phone bill for August in the amount of $63.75 (that's for two phones).
  

• I paid $99.91 on a doctor's bill for what was left after copay and insurance.
• I transferred the blow money for my husband and me; and the allowance for the boys.
  

End of Month:

• Groceries: $213.59
• Dining out: $184.31
• Husband's Work Lunches: $138.10 (can you tell bringing his lunch to work isn't working?)
• Gas: $570.21 (it's going down!)
• Prescriptions: $8.20
• Dental: $313.70

All our bills are now paid through the next pay period due on August 14th.  I may still need to update some of the numbers in the sidebar later because:

1. the mortgage payment hasn't gone through yet and I like to see the exact loan amount remaining after the payment.
2. interest in the savings accounts are not showing yet.
3. I always check the truck loan after the checks have cleared as the total amount due is usually lower (I tend to overestimate the interest and underestimate the principal).

I believe that about covers this last 2-weeks and last month.  Let's hope August is a good one!

Sidebar Figures

I see that today is going to be one of those days that I make multiple posts.  Either I've saved them all up or I'm stalling so I don't have to do my school work.  You decide which! ;-)

You may notice some changes in the sidebar.  I've added some progression bars for debt that I would like to pay off and I've removed my NCN Network thingamabob.

The debt I wish to pay off is my mortgage, heloc, truck loan, and student loans. 

The mortgage should go down gradually at first because it will be the last thing to pay off.  

The heloc is next and will probably cease to go down because of what I spoke about in my last post of putting the extra towards the truck loan.  

The truck loan is already at over 30% paid.  I'm really looking to see that get to 100% fast.  

The student loans are showing 0% paid and will continue to show 0% paid for the next several years.  It will also be increasing in size as I'm still going to college.

I've removed the NCN Network debt tracker thing because it just won't work right as long as I'm still racking up the student loan debt.

The one thing you will not notice on here is my one credit card.  That is constantly used.  I use it, I pay it down, I pay it off, I use it again.  I don't expect I'll ever get rid of it as we are not irresponsible with it.  I know a lot of people say the only way to be totally debt free is to get rid of all your debt and cut up your credit cards never to be used again, but I'm not one of them.  I believe that debt is bad, but I also believe that using a credit card is essential in certain circumstances as long as you know how to use them properly and don't go overboard.  With only a $5000 credit limit, I seriously doubt we would go very far into debt with it especially once we pay everything else off and have the extra cash every month.  Right now my credit card bill is around $59, but I always pay much more than that and have paid it off several times.  I do hope to get to the point of being able to pay it off every month, but right now getting the other debt paid off first is my big priority.  It's not what most people would do, but it works for us.

OK...so hopefully this is the last post for today.  :-)

Bill Taken Out Early

Grrrr (I seem to be doing that a lot lately) Dish Network took out their payment a day early, which messed up my 2-week plan a little.  I ended up transferring money back into the checking from my Miscellaneous Savings, Auto Insurance Savings, and Auto Purchase Savings.

I guess if I want to look on the positive side, then that's one less bill taken out of the check tomorrow!

2-Week Pay Period: June 4, 2008

I apologize for not being around much the past couple of days. Between the boys getting out of school for the summer, all their end of school activities, and my mountain of college school work, I really haven't had much time to close out the 2-week finances.

But I did them all tonight! And I had 2 days worth of receipts to take care of in my check ledger and Quicken. 

• I had $116 left at the end of the 2 weeks so I split them up among my various savings funds.  You'll notice the increase in some of my progression bars.  I split $23.30 among 5 different savings funds: Auto Purchase, Home, Investment Property, Vacation, and Yard Sale.
  
• I transferred $442.60 to my credit union savings account to cover 1/2 of the mortgage payment.
• I set up some additional future bill payments online using billpay.  The electric, water/sewer, and phone (landline) are all set up for the end of the month.
• I still need to take care of the heloc and AAA bills.  I'll be writing out checks for those.  The heloc interest is only $151.14 this month (and my interest rate went down to 4%!) so my principal payment will be $148.86 this month.  

Another thing you may notice over on the sidebar is the NetWorthIQ graph.  I've put in all the info I had to January.  I like seeing how it's gone up!

Oh and are gas prices going down?  My husband got gas today and paid $3.899!  He may have just gotten lucky, but I'll live in la-la land at least until he gets gas again...LOL.

Nearing End of Month

It's nearing the end of the month and it's just about time to look at the final numbers for the month. 

I haven't looked at the finances at all for the past couple of days.  So today I'll be updating some figures on the sidebar (though I may have to do it again in a couple of days, but that's OK).  And perhaps I'll look into balancing my checkbook ledger, look online to see what's going on in the accounts, etc.

Interest and my VA Benefit will start trickling in on the 31st, though with it being a Saturday I may not see it online right away even if it posts.  You'd think it was all automatic.

DH has to get gas today.  I can just imagine how much it costs now!  The interview for the closer job went well and the benefits look good, but they said they may want to do a second interview in a couple of weeks.  No big deal really, but it would be nice if he could work closer sooner rather than later.  Oh and perhaps make more money in the process?  That's not too much to ask is it?

Oh and I tried to get my blog to have three columns because I'm a stickler for wanting everything lined up just so.  But nooooo...I can't seem to make it work and I just don't have the time to figure it out.  I found the exact same template, but with 3 columns, but it'll mess up my widgets without a lot of tweaking first.  Oh well...maybe later.

Real Estate Investing

I'm currently reading Real Estate Investing for Dummies.  I just started it today so it'll be a while before I finish it up and give my impressions on it.  

Investing in real estate has always interested me.  I think it started during my 8 years working for a mortgage company, though I really cannot pinpoint the exact time I began thinking about it.  Unfortunately, I've never done anything to prepare myself in all these years to begin investing in it.  And that is such a shame because I wish I had the money to invest now when there are so many foreclosures available.  I feel bad for the people that had their homes taken away, but at the same time the opportunities are tremendous for those that can afford to buy them.

So even though I do not as yet have the money to purchase an investment property right now, I am doing my research for when I am able to afford it.  At some point in time you will probably see a progression bar slated for real estate investment funds, which will sit at $0.00 for quite some time as my emergency fund, debt, and retirement will come first.

Changes to Progression Bars

You may have noticed some changes to my progression bars...or not.  

I have decided to change my emergency fund bar directly to $10,000 instead of saving $5,000, then adding another $5,000 later.  Really, what is the point?  $10,000 is $10,000 and that is what I need to save for about 3 months worth of emergency funds.  I would eventually like 6 months worth, but 3 months is more than enough for now.

All this talk about rolling over my 401K and Pension had me thinking about them.  And so I added a retirement progression bar.  I would love to be able to save up to $1,000,000 combined with my husband.  Right now we are only at $49,723.11, which is only 4.9% of our ultimate goal.  We sure do have a long way to go!  But I am sure we can do it.  If not now, then we will catch up when I start contributing again.  Of course the big issue with saving this money is time and my husband has less time to save than I do since he is 9 years older than me.  I'm in my 30s and he is in his 40s, but we still have potentially over 20 years left to save.