Paying Off the Debt

Giving YNAB Another Try

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:30:31 PST

I found my access key to download YNAB to my laptop. I thought I'd give this another try. I like the concept of it, but just never stuck with it long enough to make it work.

I have my budget entered and now I guess I need to go back and enter in my transactions for at least...

Bad Day

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:21:35 PST

Today was not my day. It started out by me forgetting to take my lunch to work so I had to end up buying a slice of pizza while I was on the road doing a delivery.

Got to the library. Got out of the car and slipped on the ice and fell flat on my left side. Both hands were full...

Priorities

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:28:31 PST

As I was working in Quicken tonight with DH's profit share check I was listening to my songs I've bought on ITunes and Casting Crowns song, "American Dream", came on. I had to put aside what I was doing for a while and listen to it.

What we discuss here about personal finance...

Profit Share Check

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:30:31 PST

Today DH received his spring profit share check. I am sending half of it to our gift savings account to cover gifts for the year and the rest is going in the house repair fund toward the new roof.

I would much rather apply the entire thing to the mortgage, but I know that we...

E-mealz Review

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:44:01 PST

I had mentioned e-mealz in a previous post. It is a site that, for $5 a month, provides you with menus and a grocery list for your dinners for a week. You pay for 3 months at a time and a new meal plan is posted once a week. My plan is available on Friday so when I log in I...

Think I Finally Figured It Out

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 09:09:58 PST

I think I finally figured out DH's retirement website. What a pain that thing is! I see when I logged on that they are in the process of developing a new site. Thank goodness!!!

I have been wanting to reallocate his investments for ages, but each time I finally managed to log...

Upgraded

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:41:48 PST

Last night I took the plunge and upgraded to Quicken 2008. I had been using the 2006 version. It's going to take me some time to get used to the newer version, but so far I really like it. I like to be able to access different pages through the tabs. Reports are easier to access.It...

Yet Another Home Repair

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:45:43 PST

2 days ago the motor for our coal stove's exhaust fan seized up. So last night after work DH stopped by to pick up another. Almost $300 later we now have a functioning coal stove again without fear of a houseful of smoke.

I can't complain because it's the first repair we've...

Weight Loss Update

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:03:06 PST

As of tonight, I have officially lost exactly (and I mean to the 10th of a pound!)......35 pounds!!! I needed to lose .6 this week to get there and that's exactly what I've lost. I have gone from a size 18W to a size 8/10, depending on the make of the pants. I still have 22 pounds...

Getting a Little Nervous

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:07:47 PST

I'm getting a little nervous about only having $1000 in my emergency fund. I know the reason that Dave Ramsey recommends that amount is because most emergencies will be under $1000. But with the car repairs (if the insurance hadn't covered them) being over $500 just for struts,...

Tax Return is Finished

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:14:31 PST

Last weekend I worked on ours and the 4 kids' taxes so that we can get our refunds back. Each of the kids, except DD#1 made out well and are getting quite a bit back. DD#1 owes more than her federal return will be because she worked in one state, but lives in another. They didn't...

Good News for Once

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:15:55 PST

I called and talked to the car repair shop today and my part is in and it IS the correct one this time. The claims adjustor from our car insurance company also came out and looked at the damaged parts today and they will cover both struts and the bent strut plate. Yippee!!! That's...

Car Repairs

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:59:08 PST

I have had my Equinox to the shop at least 5 times over the past 3 weeks. It has a bad strut that they believe is a result of my accident several months ago. Well, each time I've taken it up and left it, the strut that they are going to put on it hasn't fit. After trying to force...

Suze's Advice on Stimulus Package

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:09:46 PST

I have Suze Orman's Yahoo column listed on my homepage so that I can see whenever she writes a new article. Today's column is Stash it, Don't Cash It. She advises using that check the government is sending you to either pay off high interest credit card debt, build your emergency...

e-mealz

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:29:28 PST

I am trying something new for our meal planning that should benefit my Weight Watchers lifestlye and our family time.

While listening to Dave Ramsey early mornings in the office, I've heard ads for e-mealz. I decided on Friday to check into it and see what it was all about....

$8.00 in Change

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:22:39 PST

I still have my change box in which I collect any change I receive. That includes change back from purchases, any coins found around the house, and most important of all, my "pay" for doing laundry from those who aren't wise enough to empty their pockets.

I rolled change yesterday...

A Sense of Urgency

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:10:28 PST

The past few weeks I have felt a sense of urgency to get out of debt that I have not felt before.

I have been working on it steadily for about a year and a half now, but the crisis in the housing market and other economic indicators have really gotten me focused on getting...

Helpful Personal Finance Calculator

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 04:40:46 PST

I found this personal finance calculator interesting this morning. According to it my budget is WAY off.

According to their percentage allotments, our housing & debt costs are fine. They recommend 30% and ours are at 24.34%.

Our insurance costs are slightly over what...

Little Expenses Add Up

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 04:17:25 PST

It seems to me that it's really not the big expenses that break my budget so much as it is the little ones that eat away at it bit by bit. This morning I had to write a check for DS#3's field trip for environmental science that he wants to go on. Only $25, but that's $25 that...

Getting Lost in Lost

rduell@gmail.com (rduell) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:15:47 PST

I've spent way too much time the past 2 days watching repeats of Lost. I had watched it when it first began but didn't see any of last year's episodes. I decided I wanted to get back into it again, especially when I saw that you can watch all of the previous episodes on-line...