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Progress on Feb. debt goal & big picture

February 1st, 2013 at 09:29 pm

Phew, I feel a bit better after my vent! I think Sallie Mae will be a much better administrator; we've had loans through them for AS for the past 15 years or so (first her undergrad and then grad school) and never had a problem with either their website or their customer service. Just hoping the transfer happens soon so I can stop checking in with both companies!

Anyway, I can't post any student loan debt progress as I was hoping, but all of our mortgage payments hit:
US: $439 to principal
UK1: $215
UK2: $45
UK3: $47
All told, that's $746 down, $1214 to go on the February debt repayment goal. Which we won't hit unless A) the Direct Loan-to-Sallie Mae thing happens and today's payment hits the account or B) some of AS's expected freelance money comes in.

I also transferred the money left over from the UK rental payment after paying the UK mortgages: US$536 to the house/moving fund. So that takes us to $2778.61 of big-picture progress, $1679.39 to go for February. Which we won't meet unless [see above].

I had a couple of other recent troubles I was all up in arms about, but the student loan debacle makes them all pale in comparison:

- Our cable/internet bill is going up by nearly $5 per month. No notice or explanation, of course. We're looking into our options. We'll probably either try switching to a slightly cheaper G4 type service or take money from either spending money or groceries to pay the overage. I'm sure as heck not taking the money from any of my saving or debt-repayment line items! I don't care how small an amount, it's the principle for me.

- I haven't heard back from this immigration lawyer since I outlined our situation and asked if he would feel qualified to consult with us or would rather refer us to a lawyer in London (which he offered in his first email). I'll email him next week if I don't hear from him soon.

- Trying to get a dentist to agree to a free consultation to tell me whether they would qualify my cleaning/checkup appointment as regular or periodontal, and to run the numbers with MetLife to get an accurate picture of how much it will cost. I'm way overdue for a cleaning, but I was so burned by the last dentist's exorbitant fees and confusing follow-up that I just want my ducks in a row. Not sure I'll find anyone willing to do this, but if this current place I called won't, I plan to ask around some more. I don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to know how much my appointment will cost before I agree to it!

- I expect our grocery spending is going to be a bit more than I wanted this week because we ran out of several staple condiments and need to stock up. We'll have to do it sooner or later, so we'll just do it this week. I'm still trying to be smart about the rest of the food shopping. At least AA is down to 1 or 2 pull-ups per day, and SL is less than 2 months away from going off formula! Her consumption is way up; I think she's going through one $22 carton a week at least, so when she's on to much cheaper milk, we'll be freeing up probably $75 per month in the grocery budget!

- We meet with the prospective housesitter this Tuesday; if he seems all right and agrees to watch our cat for free in return for free lodging, that will be a load off our minds for our May trip to England!

2 Responses to “Progress on Feb. debt goal & big picture”

  1. mjrube94 Says:
    1359757171

    Call the cable company. Let them know you're a long-time customer in good standing, and that you're concerned about this increase. You don't want to leave, but this would require you to look into alternatives given the competitive industry, etc. My guess is that they'll take the $5 off or incentivize you to stay some other way. Good luck!

  2. Homebody Says:
    1359822714

    My internet went from $24.95 to $49.95. Ugh! Good luck with housesitter.

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