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Home > Light at end of tunnel coming sooner than I thought? We'll see

Light at end of tunnel coming sooner than I thought? We'll see

June 24th, 2014 at 03:33 am

So things are looking up a bit, but there are still too many variables for me to declare victory over my budget!

A couple of snowflakes came in:
- $25 Amex rewards
- $280 found in an old business checking account of AS's

I also moved things around in the budget quite a bit. Things are tight especially in July, August and September, when we have over $6K of tuition, $5K of renovation fees and other one-time expenses. So I had a mini-revelation today when looking at credit card statements; I typically pay the current balance twice a month, but had been looking at moving it to once a month. But I suddenly realized you don't need to pay the current balance to avoid paying interest: You just have to pay the full amount shown on the statement. So you can avoid interest for over a month. Yes, I'm kind of dumb about credit cards! When I was using them in debt I'd just pay the minimum every month, and after I paid them all off and started using them again, I'd pay them off every payday so I never felt like I was carrying a balance.

However, as long as I can avoid paying interest, I don't mind carrying balances for a little over a month.

By planning to pay credit card statement balances instead of current balances, I was finally able to get rid of the budget shortfalls June through October.

That's not to say there won't be other curveballs. I may have to bring more money to closing to cover the higher insurance cost; I have a $1400 surplus through the end of the year but if I had to pay it out in July, that would make things tight again. And the mortgage amounts are still just estimates; my mortgage may well end up a bit higher (or lower) than I'm currently budgeting for. And of course there are curveballs you can't predict until they happen.

I may have necessary repairs to the new home when we take ownership in August. There again I'd have to try and float credit card balances for an extra couple of months to pay that off in early 2015.

But it's not all potential expenses. I resolved this weekend to find more money; the main problem is there's not quite enough income in July-September to cover expenses. So I sent a few emails letting people know I'm available for freelance work. AS too is starting to tap her network for possible freelancing. Also, even though it appears the WV deal is in limbo, it sounds like they'll at least pay us each $250 soon to hold onto the option of a pipeline right-of-way. If we can bring in a bit more money before October, that would help considerably with not feeling so tight.

But I'm just happy there's a potential path where we won't have a shortfall for the next few months; we'd have had to take a reserve line loan, or pay interest on credit card balances, and I'm thrilled that we might avoid that!

4 Responses to “Light at end of tunnel coming sooner than I thought? We'll see”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1403578473

    It's good you realized you don't have to send as much cash as you thought to those credit cards. I'm like you, I pay our credit cards off twice a month when we are paid. I just want to avoid things getting off track. I spent it, so I should pay for it.

  2. BuckyBadger Says:
    1403611983

    Good job on realizing that you can use credit cards to your advantage. I had no idea that you paid the "current balance" off twice a month rather than the "statement balance" off when it was due. I'm often surprised by people who are anti-credit cards because they say they don't like to "carry debt" or "pay interest." I wonder if those people just don't realize how credit cards work...

    I hope that things are settled enough eventually for you to share some photos! I love real estate. We've been in our house for nearly 2 years and have no plans on moving, but I still love to look at the listings and floor plans of everything that comes up for sale around us.

  3. My English Castle Says:
    1403631442

    ceejay, did you guys end up doing any bathroom remodeling, or are you leaving it as is? Hope it's drying out there!

  4. ceejay74 Says:
    1403634255

    MEC, we've hired a contractor to spruce up the bathroom and kitchen, but reduced our scope dramatically. For the bathroom, it's basically:
    - Paint walls
    - Clean, seal/regrout existing tiles
    - Clean existing tub; replace shower head
    - Replace toilet seat
    - Replace mirror and light fixture
    - Stain/paint vanity, replace sink top and faucets
    - Replace towel racks, shower rod and shower curtain

    I'll definitely share "after" photos. The cost will be between $1500 and $2000.

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