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Where do I start??

November 10th, 2012 at 09:59 pm

Wow, what a week and a half it's been! Lots has been happening, and my sleep has been messed up. I got up before 6:30 am to vote before work Tuesday, then stayed up past 1:30 hoping to see whether our two horrible proposed amendments passed. (I finally went to bed when I heard they were doing a hand recount of some precincts -- I missed the good news that they'd both been voted down until I asked NT the next morning!) Then SL has been teething and restless, and she woke us up in the middle of the night a time or two this week.

So, I guess I'll start with the bad news and then get to the good!

The bad news is that I've majorly FAILED on my goal to work on a novel and my fitness goal to do weight training. I wrote about 1325 words before I realized it was just too hard with a toddler, an infant, a spouse in college and another who has to bring work home all the time. Any bits of time I found, I found it impossible to concentrate. I gave up by about Nov. 4.

And working out, I just keep honestly forgetting to do until it's late and I'm tired. I've got to remember not to make a bunch of ambitious goals in November! There are only about two and a half weeks between election day and Thanksgiving which are both BIG days in our home, and then after turkey day it's time to start getting ready for Christmas.

But, I don't mind too much about my goals because of all the good news!

First, I went ahead and booked my plane tickets to visit my parents in December, and I'm over halfway to paying for them through random windfall money. I found extra money in the haircut fund, won a $10 and a $25 gift card at work, got $82 profit sharing from our grocery co-op, AND I did a credit card deal when I booked the airfare. It's a $100 after first purchase deal, but with a $69 annual fee I'll only net $31. Still, for $366 worth of plane tickets, that's nearly 10% off the price. With all these random windfalls coming, I'm sure I can find another $160 here and there and fully fund the tickets without taking money from another budget item.

Next, the HUGE good news. We got a letter from our mortgage company that they canceled our private mortgage insurance! I didn't know this, but as part of Dodd-Frank, banks are required to cancel PMI once you pay your mortgage down to 78% of the original property value. We're still underwater, but apparently we met that other requirement! I checked and it's about $127 less per month. So that's a BIG boost to our budget. I can put it toward any of our goals, like our emergency fund or our house/moving fund.

It also means that over 50% of our regular debt payments now go to principal! Because of PMI, mortgage, escrow and of course because we're paying interest-only on a couple of the student loans, our minimum payments have always had less than 50% going to principal. (A great motivator for all my extra debt payment, believe me!) But eliminating PMI finally takes us below the 50% line.

We've had some other bits of good money news, but those are the best. I've got to go now; more minutes slipped by since I started this entry, and now we have to get ready to go to a potluck party!

6 Responses to “Where do I start??”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1352587473

    That great! More than 50% to principal is awesome. And I knew you would be able to find your extra funds for the airline ticket, too.

  2. PNW Mom Says:
    1352602572

    Congratulations! That is great news indeed! Smile

  3. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1352615198

    That's fantastic! Could you maybe use some of the first month savings towards your plane tickets? It is kind of like found money, right? Big Grin

  4. scottish girl Says:
    1352630471

    That's great!
    Hope SL is better this week, SG has been the same recently.

  5. ceejay74 Says:
    1352648589

    Thanks guys! FT, I completely forgot to mention in my original post that there's a pending refund of $254 in my mortgage account -- maybe they were supposed to cancel PMI two months ago and are refunding the difference? Anyway, if THAT unexpected money hits my checking account before I finish paying for my trip, I'll definitely use it to pay the rest off!

  6. Looking Forward Says:
    1352662582

    Great news!!!

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