I just realized that I have enough money in my checking and my wallet to pay off cc3: Gardner White without touching my EF or Freedom Account.

My only problem with this - cc3 is sitting at a 0% while cc1 is setting at a 19.99%. Should I drain my Freedom Account to add to what is in my checking and wallet to pay off cc1 or pay off cc3 and then put the extra each month to cc1 for the snowball effect.

Dave says to pay off the smallest amount first, but I think I should be paying off cc1, then snowballing to cc2 until paid, then cc3 and so on.

Anyone else have an opinion. Trying to stay Gazelle Intense to being Debt Free.

I do also need to live on some money and pay for DS's dentist appointment the beginning of June and pay for my drywall to be mudded and taped, but I start my Beach job next weekend and will have another check by then. Hmmm. I might be able to manage it if I pay off cc1 and snowball to the next cc. I will know more the beginning of June, so stayed tuned as to what I decided. I am getting really excited about paying off another cc, no matter which one it is.

Wow, where did April go. I swear that was the fastest month ever.

*Groceries: $530.95 (my grocery total is still higher than normal. It must be that I am either not cutting enough coupons, or prices have just gone up that much)

*Eating Out: $52.07 (much lower this month that normal. Odd, normally when I eat out, I am paying for 3 to 5 people, so this is really good)

*Gas: $282.41 (Gas is more expensive due to the prices. I fill up my gas tank about once a week to every 8 or 9 days. That hasn't changed, but it is still about $60 to $80 more than a year ago)

*Still working on paying off debts.

*Still adding money to my EF and Freedom Account.

*Worked outside on the landscaping after taking down two trees last year. I needed to replant and replace the stones in the walkway and distribute the top soil around, rake leaves and weed other gardens. Done that and all Free.

Now, on to May. I start my summer job Memorial weekend at the Beach. I am also now the head person there, so I got a raise of $50 more a week in my check. Sweet. I am really going to try to use that for a few different things.
--Paying down debt
--Christmas money
--Vacation money
I just need to figure out how to allocate it into those categories.

I am getting somewhere between $1200 and $1600 back. Can't quite figure it out.

But, here is where it is going:

*$250 to open an ING Account for my 23yo son as a Christmas Present. He will get a $25 bonus, I will get a $10 bonus and he will see how compounding interest works when I give him a printout of the account to him for Christmas. Hey, you can never start Christmas shopping to early.

*$300 to my husband, cause that is all he would get if he filed on his own with his income level. (And, he is really rotten with money) It could be $3.00 or $300, it all spends the same to him. "Save something, what's that."

$400-$500 for new tires for my Jeep. I said I would keep my Jeep for a few more years. The only thing I am wondering is: with interest rates being so low, maybe I could get a newer model and have it all average out to what I am paying for my Jeep now. My current Jeep is at a 7.5% interest rate and I owe around $7,500. I might check into seeing how much I would get for a trade-in and what a newer one would cost and the interest I would pay on a newer one before putting tires on.

The remaining amount will either go towards debt or go to my ING Savings Account. Can't decide. I will see how much we actually get and then decide.

I think that is a good plan. Okay, I'm ready for my direct deposit.

March was quite the expensive month. I thought January and February were challenging, but March gave me a run for my money, literally.

Anyhow, here it goes. It seems the month went by much quicker than January and February and here it is April.

*Groceries: $563.60 ($100 more than I usually spend. Why, I don't know)
*Eating Out: $220.79 ($100 more than I usually spend. Why, Again, I don't know)
*Gas: $261.95 ($80.00 more than I usually spend. Why, who knows)

*Paid off two debts.
*Signed my youngest boy up for Baseball and had to buy all new stuff - $200.00.
*Got a lot more done on my cottage - like ripping out walls and some drywalling.
*Had to buy a new CPU unit and also broke down and bought a digital camera.

Now, on to April. It is only April 3rd and I am already broke after paying all the bills and funding my savings and ING accounts. Another challenging month ahead, but it is a little warmer. Good things come with sunshine.

So I paid off the attorney bill and the Lowes CC.

But, I had to add to my Chase Visa CC for a new CPU unit. Mine died again for the third time in two months. And, of course, there was a sale on a CPU unit this week, before I get my income tax return next week. Go figure.

Working on snowballing the previous paid off credit cards, debts and loans to the next in line.

I am three months in to my "Two years until debt free plan" and so far I have

Paid off/for:
Two of my kids schooling
Triad International
POH Doctor bill
Property Taxes (the rest of the summer and all of the winter)
Got income taxes done
Attorney bill
Lowes Credit Card
Baseball registration
Purchased 1/4 cow/beef
Paid our State taxes

All regular bills and other debts have been paid and I have added money back to my EF and Freedom Acct. Talk about Gazelle Intensity. Yee Haw.

So here are my January totals

*1/4 Organic Beef $228.00
Processing fee for Beef $56.52
*Gas Usage $235.02
*Groceries and all household items (other than 1/4 cow) $397.11
*Eating Out $106.71

All bills were paid and paid off Triad Vacation and POH Doctor bill.


February Totals

Gas Usage $188.56
Groceries and all household items $453.89
Eating Out $117.56

All bills were paid and paid off Comcast and paid for Baseball registration, getting taxes done and Property taxes ($871.39)

Now I am working on March

Got another check for $25.00 in the mail for turning in my Visa Points. Adding that to the challenge.

Prev. Balance $1038.96
Check $25.00
New Balance $1063.96

I was just realizing that there are about 3 different areas where I am getting great bonus points and free stuff.

Mypoints.com. I have been using these points acquired for gas cards. These points add up fairly quickly. I normally just do the e-mail click throughs.

Mary Kay Visa Card earns points. Right now I more than enough points to get either $25.00 cash; or should I get it in a $25.00 gas card. Hmmmm.

And Visa Extras Points. This is from my debit card, which I use for putting gas in my car. But, I am thinking if I call in my bills and pay with the debit card, instead of doing it off my account, it would rack up points real quickly. Right now I have enough points for a $5.00 Panera Bread card. They don't offer cash back like the others do, but they do offer a gas card. But Panera Bread would be a way to offer myself a treat.

I am going on Friday to pay all of my taxes. The rest of the Summer taxes and the Winter taxes, which are actually due on the 14th of February. So a total of around $870 will pay off that debt on Friday. That gives me 7 months to save for the Summer 2008 taxes.

Then I am paying off the attorney and Lowes the beginning of March.

On my way to being debt free.

So me and my youngest son share a cell phone. He is 13. We have had this cell phone for about 2 years and have a really low monthly plan. Now, even when we got really chatty, it has never been over $60.00.

But recently, I had it added to my AT&T bill. My AT&T bill covers satellite, land-line, internet and cell phone. Well, I just got the bill and when they added the cell phone to my bill plan, they somehow took off all of my blocks (internet, texting, etc.) which we don't use on the cell phone.

So my bill was $163.00 just for the cell phone part. I about croaked. I call customer service and stated that I didn't understand the bill. She pointed out that there was over 400 text messages and quite a few downloads to MySpace. What. You see, every little cute girl thinks that my 13 year old is the cutest boy and they keep e-mailing and calling him, plus they wanted some pictures of him downloaded onto myspace, so they could always look at him. He really is very adorable.

So, I told the lady at customer service, that this phone used to have a block on it, just for those reasons. She said she could help me. Perfect. She re-instated the blocks and took $113.00 off my bill.

As for my son, he said he was sorry. I mentioned that he needed to let all these girls know that they are limited on how many times they can communicate with him.

As we joked about it, I said, to give them all a different day and tell them, they can only talk to you twice a month. Sorry, but you are too young to date and you have way too many girls wanting your attention. He, of course, just giggled. I am in trouble, but at least the blocks are re-instated until I decide on a different plan when he gets a little older.

Does anyone here have a UPromise account. I just went to check mine and it states that the account has been closed.

I tried the "contact us" link, so I could inquire about why it was closed; and still got the same screen that my account had been closed.

Does anyone know anything about what happened to UPromise. I didn't have a lot in that account, but I am curious.

I have an ING account, but the interest rate right now is down to 3.65%. I was noticing that Shore Bank is offering 5.00% and a $25.00 bonus. I like the bonuses. I just got a bonus from E*Trade for $25.00 for opening an account with $1.00.

Is anyone else jumping around to different online accounts, or staying the course with the Online Bank they already have.

Just so I can get them off my sidebar, I am putting some totals in my blog.

Past Property Taxes:
Winter'06 $310.30 pd 2/14/07
Sum '06 $883.76 pd. 9/13/06
Winter'05 $355.52 pd. 2/6/06

Past Beach Job Totals:
2006 $1280
2005 $1100

Is it a good idea? I figured that if I transfer a credit card balance, drawing high interest, to another credit card where the interest is deferred until February 2008, that I can save so much more by not paying interest and put it towards paying off the new credit card.

Then, closing the old credit card, so I am not having so much credit available. I know that my credit score will be lowered a little by closing a credit card, but should rebound fairly quickly, because I am never late on any of my credit cards, loans or mortgage.

Anyone have any comments or concerns, please advise.

So I totalled up all of my categories.

My electric and natural gas usage/bills went down from a year ago. That is good news considering that prices have went up.

Groceries for the 2007 year totalled $5,316.41. I am working on bringing that down. I don't think that is bad considering it is for two adults, two always-eating teenagers and two cats. That does include all household items, including water softener salt, laundry supplies, etc.

Eating Out totalled $1,864.94 for the year.

My gas usage in my 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee was $2,301.52 for 2007

I spent $1,408.00 on Christmas 2007

I got a raise of $66.00 per month, which I have added to my ING direct deposit, starting January 2008.

Homeschooling costs were around $1200 for the school year. We do a lot of museums and field trips which causes our eating out bill to be higher. My kids also take private classes in Algebra, Science, Literature and Music, plus buying books, equipment and musical instrument maintenance added to the cost. I also put one son (now 22) through 3 years of college.

Big purchases for 2007 were new livingroom furniture, a small chest freezer ($75.00) and a 1/4 cow (which is to help in my grocery budget)

The 1/4 cow cost me $285 (including processing) and gave me 49 packages of beef (steaks (Porterhouse, T-bone, Sirloin, Chuck-eye, Rib and cubed), roasts, ground beef and stew meat). We only eat beef about 3 times a week, so this should last about 4 months. I am now looking into purchasing organic poultry to add to our meat stock.

Started my $20.00 challenge with a settlement check of $750.00 and looking forward to more rebates and ways to add to this challenge.

Goals:

*To save more in my ING account

*Rebuild my "Freedom Account" to add additional categories from $200/month to $400/month starting March 2008

*Not make any stupid financial mistakes in 2008

*Pay off 5 to 6 debts this year, so that I can be totally debt free (except mortgage) in two years. Starting debt for 2008 is $22,696.29.

*No new debt

*Finish foyer, outside siding on cottage and new deck.

Happy New Year 2008

I paid off the vacation Loan and the clinic visit. I am going to pay off the Lowes Credit Card on January 3rd, 2008 and work my way down the line.

I have been accepted at Pinecone, so any monies from there will go into my $20.00 challenge.

Also, my computer got a virus, so I am at the Library checking my e-mail and updating my blog. I did do most of my year-end totals and will post them to the blog as soon as my computer is home from the doctor.

It was a pretty good 2007. A lot of my expenses went down. Can't wait to share.

I broke down and bought new furniture yesterday. It will be delivered today. I am really excited. We have been living without livingroom furniture for so long. I have been looking at used, but I just decided that I didn't need anyone else's beat up old pieces. I have a fairly small livingroom (I live in a cottage), so just a loveseat and matching oversized chair is what I bought. I did have the fabric treated. The total came to around $1150.00. I have a year to pay it off. I already have the t.v. armoire and end tables, so today I will have a livingroom.

I do have a house that I am helping a friend sell and she is giving me $1000, so that money will be added to my $20 Challenge and then I will pay off the furniture.

Yes I did. I got a $66.00 a month raise, so I added that to my ING account direct deposit. I figured I can live off my old salary, so why not just let that extra $66.00 go to my high yield savings account. Yee Haw.

Plus, I opened an E-Trade account for $1.00 and in 30 days, I will get a $25.00 bonus. Yee Haw. Of course that will go towards my $20 Challenge.

I have a lot of extra cash coming in January to start off my $20.00 Challenge, while paying down my debt. Can't wait to see what the total is from all my rebates. Yee Haw.

So, what is everyone's avenues of income for saving for the $20.00 challenge. I think mine will be:

*Rebates
*Change Jar
*Possibly the difference I save using coupons at the Grocery Store.

Any other ideas or suggestions from my friends here at the PF Blogs are always helpful and useful.

Spent $9.20 on participating items and the stamp to mail in my rebate and recieved 4 - $25.00 gift certificates to a full-line spa.

Got a Coach I-Pod Shuffle Case with the tags still on it from E-bay. Originally $68.00, total for me $7.98. So cute. My daughter is going to love this.

Clothes for my oldest son, on sale, totalling $21.00 and a pair of Vintage Vans Shoes from e-bay for $19.95. These are way cool. I missed out on another pair cause I wasn't home to bid on it.

Large Box of Dale and Thomas Popcorn for $8.00 shipped.

This is just the tip of the ice berg. I am having so much fun getting awesome gifts and saving money at the same time. Let's see if I can beat last year's total for Christmas and still have a great year.

I do have some large totals coming up to purchase, but hopefully, I will find codes for $$$ off, free shipping and I am using all my coupons.

Merry Christmas and Happy No New Debt Year

Two of my Christmas Shopping deals of the week.

Victorias Secret.com. I bought a sweater on sale, and got a hat, scarf, gloves, lip gloss and another makeup item (can't remember)for free. Total cost of my order was $21.15, using different codes.

And, I just got a MP3 player for $27.98, shipped. Here is the link. http://www.graveyardmall.com/. It should be the deal of the day.

I have also clipped all my coupons and combined them with the sales for an eventful run-around spending, but actually savings day. My shopping will take place at Walgreens, CVS, Rite-aid, Meijers and Kroger. I will post how much I spent and how much I saved.

My totals for October are as follows:

Grocery's $437.81
Eating Out $161.65
Gas $$160.00

All regular bills and debts were paid.

My trees were taken down, cost $300.00

Worked on the Foyer - looking good.

Worked on some expenses.
*Switched Television, internet and land-line over from one service to another, saving myself around $660/year.

*Cancelled blockbuster.com and am now using the library, saving myself $127.08/year.

Car insurance went down saving myself $168.84/year.

Total savings of $955.92/year, just for a few calls and 5 hours of my time for the cable/satellite guy.

Charities given to:

*Kids Wish Network - This charity grants wishes to ill children stricken with cancer and certain other diseases.

*Sound Nation (this is a charity once a year that gives a scholarship to a kid who wants to go to college in the music industry). It started when a friend of my oldest son died and he put together a concert fundraiser for him, which in turn turned into giving out a yearly scholarship in music. My son has his own band and goes to college for music, so this is how he knew how to give back. I am so proud of him.

We also give to certain charities in November and December:
*Paws for a Cause
*Horses Haven
*Toys for Tots
*Hats/Gloves Christmas Tree at Church
*a Local Food Drive to keep our area pantry filled.

Oh No. Well, it is not that bad. I put together a Halloween Party for the members of our little country club. My budget is $175.00, but I ended up spending $196.15. I was over by $21.15.

I did end up with extra cake and brownie mixes for my own shelf, a bag of powdered sugar, and some opened baking items like chocolate chips, Hot Chocolate and butter. Also, I had planned for cooking 80 hot dogs along with 8 bags of Doritos. If there is any left over of those unopened, they will come home with me.

So all in all, I did pretty well putting together a Halloween Party with food, games with prizes (money) and a really cool centerpiece.

Our family Pumpkin Patch outing costs us $19.75 and our costumes cost us $67.00.

So with my overage for the Halloween party, our pumpkins patch outing and costumes, my out of pocket costs are $107.90.

Everything is done and paid for; and I am going to have a good time tonight. Let the ghoul times roll.

I am giving myself a 6 month goal. There are to-do's I need to accomplish that are costly, but worth it.

1. To get through Halloween. I have a lot of baking, cooking, decorating and hayride planning left to do for our community Halloween Party.

2. A Surprise Sweet Sixteen Birthday Party coming in early December for my daughter in our small cottage. Need to work on guest list.

3. My new foyer needs to be close to being finished and presentable before that time so that I can decorate for the B-day party and Christmas; and get my Livingroom put back together.

4. Another B-day party in late December.

5. Getting Christmas bought and paid for in cash.

6. I would like to have the first four debts repaid by May 1st, at the latest.

7. Have the rest of my summer taxes paid and the winter taxes due on February 14, paid in full.

8. There will also be one more debt added in November for my son's dental visit.

All-together, I need around $5,000 to $6,000 to get it all done.

Breakdown:
October: $60.00 for Halloween Party while still paying on debt; and foyer
November: $600.00 for Christmas and part of birthday party while still paying on debt, foyer and livingroom.
December: $600.00 for Christmas, late December birthday party while still paying on debt.
January: Re-evaluate debt, pay off 2007 summer taxes while still paying on other debt.
February: pay off 2008 winter taxes while still paying on other debt.
March and April: Pay off the rest of the remaining first four debts after re-evaluating how much I owe.
May 1st, snowball debt's paid off money onto the next debt, whichever that is after re-evaluating debts.
WISH: Not to incur any more new debt and start working on paying off the rest of my debt. Set new 6 month goals.

So I cancelled my blocbuster.com membership. They wanted me to upgrade (pay more money) so that I could keep my once a month e-coupon for a free in-store movie and I didn't want to upgrade. I don't feel I need to pay more. The plan I was on was working just fine for me. Apparently, it wasn't working for them. I told them that they will loose a customer over one free game every month. She didn't budge, so I did. Bye, Bye Blockbuster. That was $10.59/month, totalling $127.08 per year savings. We found a library that we are by every week that has just about every movie and game we could ever want to watch or play for free, even Guitar Hero (my son's favorite). And, you can keep them for a week and then renew.

I also check with Comcast about adding my land-line phone to their plan. I already have cable tv and dsl with them, but they didn't want to give me the $99.00/month plan, because I was already a member. I pay around $150/$160 a month for a land-line, cable and internet right now. So, guess what, they lost a customer. I switched to AT&T, who gave me all three for $96.00/month, saving me around $720.00 a year.

Or Does It End, that is the question.

I got a bill in the mail from my attorney. I had to be appointed conservator over my kids money (per our state law), which should have only been a one-time thing, but every time I turn around, they are sending me stuff in the mail, that I already get from the court and then charging me for it.

I called them today to tell them not to send me anything else or charge me if they even sneeze my name. I told them that when I needed them, I would call and that I can handle what is needed to be done. I appreciate that they are doing their job, but I don't need the extra expenses. My attorney was very kind. I have known him for almost 30 years. I used to work for him, so he understood totally, but I still have a $307.00 bill that needs to be paid.

On top of that, my 12yo youngest child got a toothache. Mind you, every day I tell him to brush his teeth and say "Jamee - did you brush your teeth" over and over and over. So, today, we went to see our family dentist. Sure enough, my kid needs more major work done to his teeth. Seems he is not brushing well enough or flossing. He has such a beautiful smile. All his teeth are straight and white, but he gets a cavity and it just runs rampant. He is just not brushing and flossing well enough.

I made my dentist tell him how important it was to maintain his smile. Dr. Dan was so funny. He said "Jamee, I know you are only 12, but you need to grow up about your teeth." We all started laughing. Anyways, he did make a deal with Jameson and now we go back next week. This is going to be costly.

I have added the Attorney bill to my debt area, and will add the dental bill next week, once I see how much it is going to cost. I can't pay cash for the dentist, so it will go on my Care Credit Card and be paid back monthly. The only good thing is - if it is over a certain amount, Care Credit will not charge any interest for 12 months. That helps.

But, really, the whole things sucks.

So September is finally over and here are my totals and goals met.

All regular bills paid. Added to my savings accounts then drained them for services; and paid the amounts set for my debt.

Paid $400 to my property taxes. I still owe $576, which will get paid this month (October)

Trees came down and it cost $300, to be paid on October 3rd.

Paid for foundation for new foyer $365.

Put $344.40 on my Lowe's card for the wood materials to the new foyer. Will pay a portion of that in October.

Groceries: $349.50
Eating Out: $154.91
Gas: $200

Kids classes and son's college paid for.

Entertainment for the month of September. Labor Day Parade and Picnic, Bean Bag Tournament, three birthday parties, Annual Fundraiser Pig Roast, Scrapbooking party and Renaissance Festival, costing me around $200 for all of the above. We had fun.

Wow, this has been a great challenge.

So far, I have paid for all of my regular bills and debts.

A new foundation for my new foyer $386.00

My oldest child's college for this semester $365.00

My kids school classes which will be paid in three seperate checks over the next three months. This month $100.00.

Registration for Odyssey of the Mind $40.00

All of those added extras above doesn't leave me enough to pay my property taxes in full today. I am paying $400.00 on them today and the rest as I get it over the next couple of months. I have never done this. I have always paid my property taxes in full when due.

I will have to account in my budget for those extra items I forgot about (college, school classes, Odyssey of the Mind, and I think I need a house fund). I use to just use what my husband gives me as rent for my house fund, but his work has been slow, and I have not been getting very much extra cash from him. Such is Michigan's economy.

One thing I would like to add to my budget is tithing and giving more. I use to do this more often, but have found that I wasn't able to afford it, but the gratification and rewards are much greater than not doing it.

I usually re-write my budget in January, but it looks like I have to do it now, as Christmas, two of my kids birthdays are approaching and I need to add those items above and still stay on track for my Rapid Debt Reduction Plan.

Here's off to the table with a pen and paper.

I paid off one credit card - But I had to transfer money from my ING account and Savings account to do this.

I Spent:

$270.41 on gas, which includes the $100 I spent on gas for our vacation.

$495.34 on Groceries
$111.60 on Fast Food/Eating Out

Extras:
Giving my husband a budget B-day party at the Club $50.00 (this included a gift, pizza, pop, watermelon, cake and tableware)
Three other B-day gifts ($43.95)

Starting from scratch. I had to drain my savings account (Freedom Account) to go towards paying my taxes.

I also had to give my husband all of my change until he gets paid on Friday.

But, at least the bills are paid and I will catch up again.