Budgeting and Debt Update: May 2014

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(*I am aware that this is personal. That people get squimish laying their money woes out for the world. For me, part of this process of having a healthier relationship with money, is being honest about where I am. To see my other posts on our money journey click here.) AND THEN THERE WERE THREE!

debt

This Best Buy card was at $2,536.13 when we started this FPU journey in September. The current balance is $0! ZIPPO! GONEZO! We have been working our butts off and really sticking to our spreadsheet.  I still can't believe we were able to do so much work on the house while still paying down this debt.

Without further delay, here is the full debt update and where we are at the start of May:

  • $1,000 ER fund
  • $240 Christmas Fund
  • $40 Home Repair Fund-- we used some of the fund for sheets and bedding last month as well as some gardening supplies, paint, and other housing goodness.
  • $40 Walter & Skip Fund
  • $80 car repair fund
  • AMEX PAID OFF! ($2,000 credit card).
  • BEST BUY CARD PAID OFF! ($2,500 credit card)
  • Next card is BOA with a balance of $1,966 (we were able to get a $150 payment on this guy this month as well)
  • Then it's Chase with $2,735 and then Southwest with (GULP) $4,728.
  • After those credit cards, we've got my small student loan (around $6,000).
  • All of this debt will be paid off in July/August 2015...

WE SOLD THE ROVER! We were able to make a few bucks on it to get me a bike to ride to the lightrail and back home during the work week.  We are doing pretty well as a one car family again and are going to try to wait at least a month until we buy a truck to assist with all things home, garden, and wedding. I can get pretty good rates through my work so we are going to run the numbers to see what works best for us. I know that Dave would say we should save up to pay cash for a truck, but that's not going to work for us long term. We will, however, add the truck to the debt snowball at the end of the list above and pay that sucker off as fast as possible.

  • We will be paying cash for the entire wedding and honeymoon (we are going to take a delayed honeymoon in February or March after the wedding so that we pay cash for it!). I opened a second checking account and our wedding budget goes straight into that account each paycheck.
  • LB and I's communication about money has gotten a little off track lately as the wedding gets closer and surprise costs are inevitable. But, we are getting going with our Saturday morning meetings again and are working at it.

Again, this is hard work y'all. Even now, seeing the progress we have made, I still get discouraged and overwhelmed. As soon as I start to beat myself up for the INSANE amounts of credit card debt I racked up, I just have to remember that what is done is done and no amount of being mean to myself is going to change that. I am making changes now and that is what matters. Please add us to your prayers (if you do that sort of thing)... we need all the good juju we can get!