Another Quick Update - Payday!

Payday for J and I were yesterday and today, and more payments were made.
Just a quick update!
I hope to post about the cruise in the Western Caribbean from Jan 15 - 22.

Loans
Navy Federal Auto Loan $8376 (0)
Navy Federal Signature Loan $9381 (1950)
Canadian Cards
MBNA MC $15,319 (0)
RBC Visa $3428 (1500)

Green - payments minus interest
Red - interest or added debt
Black - no change

100th Post! And Some Number Updates

Wow! I made it to my 100th Post!  It's been an amazing journey this past year.  Almost $30,000 in Credit Card debt was paid off.  Our savings account has grown a lot so that if there is an emergency we have cash available. We have a pending house purchase (Come on seller's bank!) and we're still paying down debt.

In life, J has been in Afghanistan for 8 months total, I was promoted at work and am making more money to go towards debt and we can actually afford the more expensive, but BETTER health insurance from my employer, and we're finally not living paycheck to paycheck.

What a great year we had :)

This new year, will hold new debt paydowns and payoffs. 
For work, I found out while I was on my cruise from my supervisor that our yearly bonus had been approved by our Board of Directors.  Normally there is a range from 90% - 110% depending on how well we did with the goals that were set out and your bonus is based on your yearly review, also in a percentage.  My percentage would be for an 'Exceeds Expectations' this year. The last 2 years we had been approved at the 110% and based on the numbers that had been updated throughout the year, we were thinking that it would be 110% again.  With that, I would get 9% of the gross income for 2011.  I would get about $2500 after taxes.  A nice in between bonus I'd say! Considering last year it was only about $750.
Well, we didn't get 110%.  We got approved at 116%!!!! Which means MORE in bonus money for me!  The 9% of my income became 10.8% which will be closer to $3000 after taxes :)

I was going to put all of it towards debt, but since we're doing so well, I am going to put it into our ING Savings and use it for our next vacation. And since I have fallen in love with cruising, J and I will book that here shortly (as soon as we can decide on where and when we want to go).

Speaking of doing well on debt, I thought I should update the numbers. I didn't realize that the last update was in September!  So here's a shorter list (no need for the CCs anymore) and I will have to update them again tomorrow since that's when I get paid.

Loans (the amount in parathensis is the amount since the last payment, not since September when they were last posted)
Navy Federal Auto Loan  $8376 (381) - This loan originated at $19,768 in April 2008
Navy Federal Signature Loan $11,331 (218) - This loan originated at $12,000 in September 2011


Canadian Cards (amount in paranthesis is the amount paid since my last update in September)
MBNA MC $15,319 (2973)
RBC Visa $4928 (862)

Balances Update (September)

Wow!  I can't believe I'm late on this.  I guess with J coming home and everything else that has been going on (which I will explain in a later post) I just plain forgot.  My bad!

As you know from my post about the WWII Jeep, we added $12,000 of debt, which will be paid off in about 3-4 months.  This was a planned expense, just not this early!  Things come up and sometimes you have to take advantage of them.  Pictures to come soon :)

Balances (current as of August 31, 2011)


Macy's 0.00 Closed
Revolution Card 0.00
Target CC 0.00
Target Visa 0.00
Walmart CC 0.00
Best Buy MC 0.00
JCPenney 0.00
REI Visa 0.00
Walmart Discover 0.00
Discover 0.00
USAA MC 0.00
Care Credit 0.00 (750.07)
Home Depot 0.00
Firestone 0.00 (1017.79)
Dell 0.00 (886.95)
Navy Federal Visa J 0.00 (1106.93)
Navy Federal MC J 0.00 (948.05)
Navy Federal Visa K 0.00
Navy Federal MC K 0.00
Navy Federal Signature Loan 0.00
Navy Federal Signature Loan 12,000 (12,000)

Canadian Cards
MBNA MC 18,292 (780)
RBC Visa 5790 (197)

Green - payments minus interest
Red - interest or added debt
Black - no change

Balances Update (August)

Balances (current as of August 31, 2011)


Macy's 0.00 Closed
Revolution Card 0.00
Target CC 0.00
Target Visa 0.00
Walmart CC 0.00
Best Buy MC 0.00
JCPenney 0.00
REI Visa 0.00
Walmart Discover 0.00
Discover 0.00
USAA MC 0.00
Care Credit 750.07 (50)
Home Depot 0.00 (534.22)
Firestone 1017.79 (150)
Dell 886.95 (23)
Navy Federal Visa J 1106.93 (1761.07)
Navy Federal MC J 948.05 (1758.16)
Navy Federal Visa K 0.00 (1477.03)
Navy Federal MC K 0.00 (1408.69)
Navy Federal Signature Loan 0.00

Canadian Cards
MBNA MC 19,072.04 (391.91)
RBC Visa 5987.11 (352.20)

Green - payments minus interest
Red - interest or added debt
Black - no change

August Recap and September Goals

August Recap

August was a good month.

15 No Spend Days SUCCESS! I had exactly 15.
Pay In Full 3 Credit Cards SUCCESS! PIF Home Depot, and My Navy Federal Visa and Mastercard
WORK OUT - Semi Success I worked out extra hard at TaeKwonDo and Did work out at the gym at work.  This month I hope to continue what I have started.

September Goals

I think I have a handle on the No Spends, so I am not going to make it a goal any longer.  It will be a goal in my every day life.

Pay In Full 5 Credit Cards
Become US Credit Card Debt Free
Work on my TKD form and Prepare for Black Belt testing
Clean My House Top to Bottom

With John coming home in 50 days I would like to have this house clean and organized.  Since we will be waiting to buy a house when John comes home from his second deployment, I need to look for a storage unit and get things moved out that don't need to be here.  Thus, giving us more room and ready to move when the time comes.

Updated numbers will be posted tomorrow!

July Recap and August Goals

July, like July was a good month.


July Recap


12 No Spend Days - SUCCESS! I currently have 12, but today should be 13 :)

Pay In Full 3 Credit Cards - SUCCESS! I paid in full the Discover, USAA and Walmart Discover :)
Get off my Butt and Work out and Get back to Weight Watchers! EPIC FAIL!  I am so disappointed in myself.  I MUST get back to this. :(

August Goals

15 No Spend Days (I probably would have had 15 in July if I hadn't given in to lunch on a few occasions)
Pay In Full 3 Credit Cards
WORK OUT

Right now I am probably sitting on the beach, with my feet in the sand, my kindle in hand and getting baked by the sun.  Hope you all have a great Sunday! :)

Balances Update

Balances (current as of July 30, 2011)

Macy's 0.00 Closed
Revolution Card 0.00
Target CC 0.00
Target Visa 0.00
Walmart CC 0.00
Best Buy MC 0.00
JCPenney 0.00
REI Visa 0.00
Walmart Discover 0.00 (503)
Discover 0.00 (511)
USAA MC 0.00 (812)
Care Credit 800.07 (30)
Home Depot 534.22 (50)
Firestone 1167.79 (50)
Dell 909.95 (27)
Navy Federal Visa J 2868.00 (1444.68)
Navy Federal MC J 2706.21 (1438.58)
Navy Federal Visa K 1458.54 (604.20)
Navy Federal MC K 1386.40 (721.87)
Navy Federal Signature Loan 0.00

Canadian Cards
MBNA MC 19,463.95 (474.84)
RBC Visa 6339.31 (100.01)

Green - payments minus interest
Red - interest or added debt
Black - no change

Paydays and Balance Updates Eh!

Being on vacation is SO NICE!!! I've forgotten how nice it is to not have to go to work, although when it gets close to go home, I'll get all depressed again haha.

So yesterday was J's payday and today was mine.  Here's what was paid.  Since we're getting close to being credit card debt free, they are higher payments to some of the bigger balances (minus the 0% offers we have right now).

Navy Federal Visa J - $1000
Navy Federal MC J - $1000
Navy Federal Visa Krystin - $500
Navy Federal MC Krystin - $500

Since I won't be here for the end of the month I will do my updates and goals before I leave the internet.

Balance Update

Balances (current as of July 2, 2011)

Macy's 0.00 Closed
Revolution Card 0.00
Target CC 0.00
Target Visa 0.00
Walmart CC 0.00
Best Buy MC 0.00
JCPenney 0.00 (480.06)
REI Visa 0.00 (922.07)
Walmart Discover 471.05 (1900)
Discover 511.82 (976.81)
USAA MC 812.35 (976.25)
Care Credit 832.07 (50)
Home Depot 584.22 (50)
Firestone 1117.79 (50)
Dell 939.95 (24.21)
Navy Federal Visa J 4159.96 (468.28)
Navy Federal MC J 4144.80 (434.81)
Navy Federal Visa K 2062.74 (58.13)
Navy Federal MC K 2108.27 (71.04)
Navy Federal Signature Loan 0.00 (820.03)

Canadian Cards
MBNA MC 19,938.79 (504)
RBC Visa 6239.30 (406.50)

Green - payments minus interest
Red - interest or added debt
Black - no change

Money Comes In, Money Goes Out

Today is J's Payday. It's sad that I sit with my laptop waiting for 11:30am to hit because that is when his Credit Union memo posts his paycheck and I start paying bills.

So far I have set up payments for the Walmart Discover $1000, Discover $500, USAA $500 and NFCU Loan $300. I have also set up the pay off for the REI Visa $922.07.

Those will post tonight.

In other news, we finally got a decision from the VA regarding J's request for disability benefits. He never filed them when he got out of the Navy back in 1997. We were told by lots of people "plan to wait a long time!" or "You won't get anything from them, it's been too long".
Well, it can't hurt to just file. The worst that would happen is they would say is no. It took a year, but he 'qualifies' for 10% which is $123/month. They back dated to last June, so a nice deposit of $1476 showed up in the account last week.
Problem is, he should qualify for more. 'Apparently' he missed a VA medical appointment for his shoulder, which he injured and had to have surgery on when he was doing PT. We NEVER received an appointment letter for that. So we will appeal. This supposedly happens all of the time when veterans file for disability benefits, which I think is disgusting.

So, we'll take the 10% for now, and file the appeal, which he should get a new appointment, and hopefully he will qualify for more.

The really good news about this, is that when we go for our mortgage, which will be a VA Loan since we qualify for it, we won't have to pay any funding fees for it. A friend at work who takes mortgage applications, and has done many VA loans for her own mortgages has been really helpful in answering questions about it all. Hopefully by the end of this year we will have pictures of our new home :)

Update on the no spends is 2 so far this month. The next couple of weeks will definitely have to be strict for me!

Update(s)

It's only a small update, but my Canadian Debt is now $28,401. Not huge by any standards, especially when you compare it to the balance! But, it's a reduction and that's the important thing.

My other Update is that I will be going on a little trip to visit my parents. Total cost for the flight? $0. It was my Christmas present from my parents. I'll only need spending money, which I have a little of. I don't plan on doing much shopping anyway.

Things are going well right now. With Hubby bringing in the extra money, it's nice to not have to worry about some things; which brings me to another update. Remember when I had mentioned about possibly paying my engagement ring off early by calling the loan and asking for Pay Off Statement? Well, that didn't happen, and rather than have something happen in miscommunication, I just sent the check for the amount this month, and will pay it off next month. Our luck, they would send it, and charge me with a late fee because it wouldn't get here before it was due. No biggie. I hate the fact that we'll pay interest on it, but what's one more month compared to the 16 we've already paid.

I have to say that while we're trying to pay down this debt, and live below our means, I'm not the most frugal person in the world, and don't really expect to be. I save where I can, and get deals when I can, but I'm not going to spend my days trying to find out how I can feed my family (me, hubby and our two cats) for pennies a day. It's just not going to happen.

But anyway, there some news for you.

Update & Tools I Use

So I have a tiny update to add. My CDN CC is now $28,539CDN. Now, I have to be honest…since my CDN CC has such a high limit, I do sometimes use it to make purchases. This is one of the things that I am working on is not using the cards, or using them responsibly.

Husband and I have only been married for just over 2 years, and we are still renting, which is nice (we only pay $850 a month in Northern VA) but I have been dreaming of owning our own home. We are hoping to be able to do this sooner rather than later. The earliest we could buy would be Dec. 1 as that is when our lease is up.

We have 3 problems though:
#1: We don't have much in savings for a down payment yet.
#2: We need to pay down a lot of our CC Debt (not including the CDN debt)
#3: Our credit scores aren't that high (which will change with the reduction in CC Debt)

If we can knock out #2 while adding to #1, #3 should improve. No problem right? Easier said than done!

But, we're not giving up, and we know that we will get there. It just might not be as quick as we want.

One thing I have found that helps with our finances, is having a personal software to help crunch and keep track of the numbers. I use Quicken, and have found that I am able to know exactly how much money we have at any moment, which wasn't the case when we first got married.
Husband is terrible with money. TERRIBLE. Which is why his credit isn't as good as it can be. While he likes to know what's going on, I'm the one who takes care of all of the bills, making sure that nothing gets lost, or behind, or late.
One thing I have to be very proud of is that I have NEVER been late on a payment. And I plan on keeping that way.

Hopefully a better update soon! :)