Gosh, it is crazy how often my plans change. I haven't been able to blog much due to all the projects I have been working on. Between becoming greener and re-evaluating my financial house to do what works for me.
The Greener Side:
Most all of the projects we have been working on has not cost us a thing. We used up extra wood, logs, nails, dirt, rocks or coupons to buy some items.
With my daughter becoming an Environmental Engineer and me, being a Home Economist, We have become our own project. We have cancelled garbage pickup and instead we recycle our own. I still have about a bag of garbage per week, but I do have a place where I take that without having a garbage bill.
We started a compost pile, which let me tell you, I have never had such awesome dirt, with so many worms.
We bought a Brita and safe drinking bottles, so we don't buy bottled water anymore (we do keep a case on hand for emergencies. We have a well, which is good spring water anyway, but the Brita makes it that more yummier. This project cost less than $20.00 by using coupons and combining with a sale and with cost comparison, this has already saved me money, due to not buying a case of water every week or so and filling our landfills with plastic.
We recycle all of our paper products, including junk mail, newspapers, food boxes, etc. and drop it in the Church paper recycler.
We are in the process of buying a rain catch barrel that attaches to our gutter down spout which we will use to water the gardens with. The rain barrel will cost some money, but saves me from turning on the water hose and using electricity. Rain water is much better for gardening anyways.
And, we have been planting our own food (potatoes, corn, green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, pumpkins, acorn squash, onions, mushrooms and many different herbs). We also have raspberries, grapes, apples, rhubarb and some strawberries. We will be doing a lot of canning, freezing and root cellaring this year. There ain't nothing like homemade pasta sauce. Yum. We cook most all of our meals from scratch and bake bread about every other day. We are learning about making our own yogurt, apple butter, regular butter and anything else that we would eat and buy on a regular basis. So far, I have spent around $40.00 and the bulk of that amount was for the organic mushroom pod.
Those areas above have saved us a great deal of money and I find that I am not in the grocery store as much.
The Financial Side:
In the past, usually January, I go through all of my expenses and make many phone calls to either cut out some expenses, to get different pricing from different companies and, lately, refinancing. But, due to refinancing and needing to live within the income I will be making come January, there are still areas that could be tweaked.
I am refinancing my mortgage down from a 30 year loan with 25 years left to pay at a 6.75% interest to a 15 year loan at 4.5% interest. This saves me a hugh amount of money in interest.
Next, I called both my gas and electric companies and had them switch me over to the budget plan, which allows me to pay the same amount every month, instead of fluctuating amounts each month. I mean, when it gets really cold around here in the winter, my gas bill can be almost $400. That is just too much to pay all at one time when trying to budget.
Now, what order to pay off debt, that is what I have been pondering. This is what I came up with: Due to the credit card companies trying to crack down on debt and raising interest rates, I have had two credit card's rates go up.
1. M.K. Visa. The interest rate on this card went from 13.24% to 18.24%. I owe $2,326.16 on this card. I think I should transfer money from my ING account along with next month's mortgage payment to pay this off. I won't have a mortgage payment in May, due to refinancing and then it is one more debt paid off.
2. I think after that, I should put everything extra on my Jeep to get it paid off next. Even though it's interest is 7.99%, it would free up $305.15 per month to go towards debt. It is actually not due to be paid off until July 2010, but it would help me not struggle with a mortgage payment and car payment after the end of the year.
3. Chase Visa: The interest here is at 19.99%. I will keep paying the minimum plus the extra that brings me up to the next rounded number.
4. Wamu Visa: The interest on this card went up from 12.99% to $15.60%. I will keep paying the minimum plus the extra that brings me up to the next rounded number.
I will have to re-evaluate these two cards after the others debts I have talked about have been paid off.
5. My son's debt. This card was the purchase of a computer to record bands on for his business. This is actually in both of our names, with his name being the primary. We will keep paying the minimum plus the extra to the next rounded number, even though the interest rate is high, just for a little while longer to build his credit. He actually makes the payment on this card, so I am not worried about it. We also did a school loan from the credit union in both of our names to help build his credit. That debt was paid off in March. All of his college has been paid for. He now has a "Digital Engineering Degree" and an "Associates in Music Theory and Composition".
So, as you can see, we have been taking steps to become greener and more financially stable.
