Another One Bites the Dust!

Woohoo! I paid off another credit card today!!

My disability payment finally cleared this morning, and I went right onto my bill pay, checked the credit card balance, and paid that thing off! I have really tried since the first of the year to re-evaluate my budget and financial goals. These past few months I tightened my belt a little more and really thought about where every dollar went. While it is hard to reign myself in, I know that life will be so much better when I don't have to worry about my debts. So, four more to go! I know that these next ones will be a lot harder and take a little longer to pay off, however, I have a bigger "snowball" to put towards them. I also need to start putting money away for the summer - DD wants to go to an art class and then of course we have daycare for two - an extra $500 a month. Will have to wait and see...

InBox Dollars Pays!

So, it took almost two months to come in, but I finally got my check from Inbox Dollars for $27.07! I was so excited to see it come in because two months is almost long enough to forget about it! But, it finally came!

DH is still not so interested, he saw the check and said "oooh...$27.00...big spender!!" Yeah, you know what? $27.00 is a lot now that I know how to make my money work for me. It went straight into my checking which I went home and transferred to my current "snow ball" project...now I have just $799.11 remaining on this CC and it will be knocked out!!! So excited!

Clixsense

Happiness!! Today in the mailbox was my Clixsense paycheck!! Not a million dollars but $17.02! I'm happy. Of course, I'm adding it to my snowball (no worries there!) I'm hoping to pay off another new medical bill shortly.

Ah, just had to share!

My Debt Snowball - Repacked

Okay, so like I said earlier, my world has been going through some transitions. Thankfully, I've made it through. DH decided that he was done with the troubles at his old job and quit. Just like that. I know that I need to be supportive of his decision, and I am, however, I really wish that he would have discussed the situation more with me. I know that it wouldn't have made his situation at work any better, however, if we had discussed it we could have planned and prepared for the situations that followed. Thankfully, he was able to find a position with a competing company and there is not as much stress as the first week of our transition. He also seems very happy at this new place, a lot calmer, not so stressed.

So now that we have started to move forward with our lives, I have had to take on the health insurance for the family, which means that I had to re-draft my budget. At first thought, I did not want to and dreaded it. However, after a little contemplation, I am now excited. This means that there is a change in my snowball rut and it allows me to review my situation, debt, and begin an attack with a new perspective.

Unfortunately, I have built up quite a stack of medical bills in recent months, trying to get an old situation diagnosed and taken cared of. I sat down at the kitchen table, called and got current balances on all of my bills, and wrote them down, smallest to largest with minimum required payment and due dates. I then took out my budget, reduced it by the new insurance deduction, and practically cried. Right now I am still paying daycare fees for two. I know it is temporary, DD starts school in a week and I am hoping that I get her into a free program available at her school. Which will free up a little over a quarter of my income AND some much needed breathing room. But like I said, my budget is actually TO THE LAST CENT. Thank goodness I have my emergency fund and a small savings (I've been hoping to start school soon). So I will be okay until DD starts school. But still, I need to figure out ways to save as much money as humanly possible AND bring more in.

I now have a new grip on my debt, and with the new transition, I know that I will be able to move a little bit faster with my snowball. Not only have I made it by paying for two in daycare, but I am now paying for insurance. I am taking this new transition in life as a lesson. I should have done this a long time ago, but I have realized that I should have been working harder on my debt. Hindsight is 20/20, right?

I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there. Richard Feynman