Finally...

I have never been so happy to see a pay period get here!  OK...that's not exactly true because all pay periods are good...more money always helps!  But this time with DH's mistake I was really looking forward to this one.  

And there are NO BILLS due for these next 2 weeks!  I can really put some money aside for DH's tires and hopefully he'll be able to get them really soon!  I've already replaced all the money I've "borrowed" from the other accounts.  Plus the normal transfer of $442.60 into the savings account for our mortgage payment.  

Getting into the routine of transferring 1/2 the mortgage payment every two weeks into the savings account it automatically gets pulled from was a great idea!  The mortgage is the first thing I "pay" every pay period.  I have never made a late payment or missed a payment!  And I know the money is always in the account when it's time for it to come out.

I don't expect to have any problems paying my bills, but if I did I would pay my mortgage and heloc first because I would never want to lose my home.  Second, I would make the truck payment because DH needs to get to and from work (though if we were really that bad off we would probably sell the truck and get a cheap, reliable vehicle--unless it was already paid off).  Lastly, I would pay the credit card.  Of course mixed in all that would be buying food, prescriptions, and paying for utilities.  Those would also be before the credit card.  

Of course all of this really doesn't matter if you plan well.  That's why we have an emergency fund.  If DH loses his job we don't have to make decisions on what to pay and what to not pay.  

And someday our plan is to not ever worry about it at all!  Our plan to payoff all our debt including our mortgage is a long term one for now, but once I can go back to work that will turn into a short term plan.  

• Everything I make will go towards debt!  
• Anything over what we've been currently living on from DH's paycheck will go towards savings.  

Right now it's just send whatever we can to pay down or off our debt.  Living below our means definitely helps though we don't deny ourselves either.  I have 2 more years (Spring, Summer, and Fall terms) of college to complete my B.S. degree along with my double minor and 3 certificates.  Once that is done I'll volunteer for a few years to get my foot in the door of my new career and still be available for my youngest son, who will still be in elementary school.  I'll be able to get a job again when he gets into middle school (my oldest will be in high school by then).

I can't wait to see how fast the debt disappears once I'm working again!  I almost want to see about getting a job sooner because of it, but I know I have to concentrate on my schooling and children first. Though if the right opportunity came along that still allowed me to do all the things I do with my boys, then I would consider it.

Payoff Date Goals

Things have been kind of busy here dealing with storms, college classes, the boys going back to school, and their activities starting back up.  But at the same time the finances have been kind of slow going.  There just hasn't been anything much to talk about.  So I was looking over my posts here and realized that I never gave any dates of when I'd like to get everything paid off.  

I guess I do have something to talk about now!

1. Pay off truck loan early: My goal on this is to completely pay it off by December 2009.  The original maturity date is October 2011.  Once it is paid off, then I'll also be downgrading the insurance coverage so I'll be saving some money there, too.

 

2. Start paying down Heloc until student loans come due: This will be done from January 2010 through June 2011, which is when I should have to start paying on my student loans.

3. Pay off student loans as quickly as possible:  I do not have an actual payoff goal on this as yet until I see the final damage.  I'll have a better idea around the summer/fall of 2010.  But know it will be paid off early.

4. Finish paying off Heloc:  This will also depend on other factors like how much I paid off prior to student loans coming due and what my work situation is like once I start paying it off again.

5. Work on paying off mortgage early:  The original maturity date on our mortgage was January 2034, but we knocked it down to August 2032 with an employee loan through the bank as I worked with them at the time we bought the home.  We paid that loan off a long time ago!  My ultimate goal would be to pay off the mortgage somewhere between 2020 and 2022 or sooner.  Again it will all depend on paying off the other debt, my employment situation, and any other things that happen to pop up.

2-Week Pay Period: August 14, 2008

Yesterday was the end of the last 2-week pay period so I did all the normal things.  I had $6.00 left over so I transferred that over to the Loan Payoff Savings.  Plus I transferred over the $125 that usually went towards the Heloc payment.  I now have $226.03 in there--$6.73 more to go before I can make another extra payment to the truck loan, which should be December's payment.

Been kind of lax...

...with everything!

Good thing I have all my bills paid right now.  I guess it's because I'm on "vacation" until school starts back up.  I need a regular schedule even if it is only at home.  

Luckily there haven't been any major expenses these past couple of days. *knocks on wood*

I'm waiting for the end of this 2-week pay period, which ends this Thursday night.  I'm hoping to see that I've stayed on budget.  We're cutting it kind of close this 2-week pay period.  I've already "paid" all my bills for the next 2-week pay period through bill pay -- well I've scheduled them anyway.  I decided to only pay the interest on the Heloc this month (plus extra just to round it up to the next dollar) and try paying by bill pay this time (usually I send a check).  We'll see how it goes.  I'll be putting the extra money towards paying off the truck loan.  I really want that truck loan gone!  Technically my next payment isn't due until November, but I'll be continuing to make payments anyway.

So here is my plan:

• Pay off truck loan early
• Start paying down Heloc until student loans come due
• Pay off student loans as quickly as possible
• Finish paying off Heloc
• Work on paying off mortgage early

The last two should be easier because I should be working again by then.  The student loan payoff will take a while at the beginning since I won't be working right away, but should take off once I'm ready to get a job.

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.  :-)

Heloc rates

Today I went to get the mail and found a letter from the company that lent our Heloc.  I got immediate visions of them saying something unlikely such as "We are sorry we've decided we want immediate payment in full."  Or something like that.  Yeah I know it's unlikely.

I opened it up and it says they are raising our interest by 0.50% because my husband no longer works for the company that gave us the Heloc and so the employee discount no longer applies.  

To be honest I was wondering what took them so long.  I mean it's been almost a year since my husband has worked for them.

Regardless it's not really a big deal right now.  Our heloc orginally started out at 7.50%, we got the employee discount of 0.50% and it went down to 7.00%, and since then it has worked its way down to 4.00%.  That means we'll be up to 4.50%.  Still not too bad.  

We don't use the Heloc that much anymore.  The balance remaining is currently like an emergency fund while we rebuild ours from when my husband was out of work.  

The only thing that will happen is that the principal amount I pay every month will be lower than usual.  I pay $300 every month.  Usually the interest is in the $100s and the rest goes to principal.  Though I've been considering only paying the interest for a while and putting the extra towards the truck payment to get it paid off even faster.  I soooo want that truck payment gone!