One of AS's student loans hit, with $112 going to principal. $1592 down, $73 to go. I set my credit card payment up to hit tomorrow, so hopefully it will have showed up in the CC account by the 30th, or else I will miss my first debt-repay goal!

On the other fronts, I surpassed my goal for eating 12 different kinds of fruits, but I've been kind of sick and draggy all month so I will fall short of my exercise goal. However, I've been doing pretty well with my crafts goals--I even thought of the winning name for AS's sewing business!

Speaking of her business, she's been getting a lot of business considering the only publicity has been a tiny bit of word-of-mouth and four flyers posted in different buildings. This week she made a significant enough profit to report to Unemployment--$168!

My regular biweekly savings deposit came through today, with $25 going toward the vacation fund. That means I've saved $700 this month for the vacation. It's going to be a relatively cheap vacation for us; I'm going to accumulate just $3000, and I think it will feel like much more than we need.

With our cottages coming in under $800 and the car (with gas and insurance) probably less than $500, that leaves quite a bit of mad money.

We'll definitely get some spa services (they're available both in Madison and in Door County). We may drive over to Wisconsin Dells, a waterpark heaven, rent boats and/or bikes when in Door County, take the ferry to Washington Island, buy some recreation equipment (we were thinking a bocce ball set). We'll probably eat out a couple times, but for the most part we'll be cooking our own meals. It's going to feel nice after our fun-but-excessive $5000 trip to Vegas!

I was able to put $525 toward our vacation savings, so I exceeded my April goal of $600 by saving $675.

Now some of it is going out almost immediately! We found some cute, affordable cottages in the two areas of Wisconsin we want to visit for our fall vacation, so I decided to book them now so we don't have to worry about the cheap ones being snapped up later on. We put 50% down payments down on a three-night cottage rental on Lake Kegonsa near Madison, and on a cottage in the town of Ephraim in Door County (a peninsula on Lake Michigan).

Payments hit:

AS student loan: $81 to principal
My personal loan: $557 to principal

Altogether, $638 toward the April debt-repayment goal, making it $1480 down, $185 to go. The principal paid on the student loan was less than expected, so I'm looking at missing my goal by about $12. Sigh. If I get my CC bill soon enough, I'll be able to surpass the goal. If not, maybe I'll pay a tiny bit on one of my debts to make sure I hit it; I haven't missed a debt goal yet!

On a happier note, my official CC/personal debt has dipped down below $30K!

Progress on my other goals: I walked home last night, which counts as exercise, and I had some grapes and an orange, so that's two more types of fruit this month. As for my environmental goal, I missed the condo board meeting! I'll have to try to make next month's. Also, my spending money has been slipping through my fingers lately, so I haven't had enough to donate to charities as planned. But I've still got the rest of the month, so hopefully I can at least make some small donations before the end. As for the crafts goal, we plan to pick up potting soil this weekend so we can plant some herbs.

I earned $0.28 in interest in my savings account. I guess I will put toward my baby/emergency fund, bringing it to $2954.07. I won't bother putting on my sidebar.

On another note, I totally forgot that my health savings account (HSA) will earn interest on the contributions that I don't withdraw. I've already earned $0.33 in there; not a ton, but heck, when's the last time health care gave me some money instead of bleeding me dry? Makes me think I should hold all my receipts and avoid reimbursing until the end of the year (or if I need the money for something) so I can earn a bit more interest.

I know, it's natural for people to move on in their interests and not feel like blogging anymore. It doesn't mean that something bad has happened. But I get attached sometimes, and it's sad when someone stops posting suddenly.

Anyone else have particular bloggers they miss and/or sometimes kinda worry about?

$150 went to the savings account today, starting the vacation fund for our September trip (exact details TBD). $150 down, $450 needed for the April savings goal!

NT and I put up flyers about AS's sewing services, and she already got a response from one of NT's co-workers who needs a dress taken in. If this goes well, she indicated she might have other things in her closet that need alterations!

Yesterday I paid a bunch of medical bills. As I was planning to go the the post office to buy stamps and mail them, I realized that two of the businesses were within a block or so of the post office. So NT and I walked in and hand-delivered those bills, saving about 75 cents! LOL. I felt like kind of a dork but neither receptionist batted an eyelid, so I guess it's not unheard-of.

I haven't been posting every time I take a step on some of my other goals, but I've been keeping the sidebar up-to-date. Doing pretty well on the fruit, but everything else is lagging a bit. Oh well, I've got tons of time.

I've been putting off several medical bills because I'd requested a replacement Visa card for my Health Savings Account and wanted to pay them directly from there, rather than going through the annoying reimbursement process. Card finally arrived, so I'm paying a bunch of bills today:

Allergy specialist: $15.00
Allergy specialist: $126.87
Dentist: $7.00
Emergency room: $256.32
OB/Gyn: $94.12
Urologist: $94.78

Total: $594.09

I checked my HSA (which doesn't fully fund at the first of the year like an FSA; you build it gradually with each paycheck) and I have $750.33 in there, so I can cover all these bills.

I have other health expenses from this year that I paid cash for, so as soon as I build up some more money in the HSA I'll get those reimbursed.

Phew! I'm so glad I put the maximum in the HSA--my small health problems are quite expensive under my work's new high-deductible plan.

Just got back from all-staff meeting. About six or seven people got cut, from a staff of about 60. I survived again, somehow, but I'm going to be asking around for work a lot more often when I'm slow. Someone with a new baby got cut, someone who'd been here over a decade, and the woman who started here the same day I did three years ago (we went through orientation together).

I feel guilty and sad, but I'm also relieved. I hope everyone who was cut has a contingency plan and knows how they'd survive on unemployment, as I do.

I'm sure everyone on SA has a plan, but if not, I'd recommend setting up an alternate, bare-bones budget, so you know how much you'd need to get by, and how long you could go without new income, if you lost your current source of income.

Without unemployment pay, we could only get by about a month and a half before things started to go downhill. But with unemployment, we could survive for six months without falling behind on bills. (After that, we'd need to consider selling things off, maybe even our house, and we'd have to stop paying on some of our debts). If even one of us could have a job that had benefits and paid more than unemployment, we could survive much longer.

Overall I think we have a good chance of surviving the meltdown without any permanent damage.

Sorry, just working through things. I'm still kind of shaken up; though each round does get less shocking, it also means there are fewer people for them to choose from should the necessity of more layoffs arise.

Wow, that was fast! My credit card and all four mortgage payments hit:
CC: $215 to principal
US Mtg: $275
UK Mtg #1: $245
UK Mtg #2: $55
UK Mtg #3: $52

That's $842 of debt paid off, which means we're halfway to meeting our April goal. $842 down, $823 to go.

It also means...

Total debt is at $399,838! We're under the $400,000 mark at last!!

No April Fool's joke here--we really did it!

1. Debt goal: Pay off at least $1665 of debt.

2. Savings goal: Save at least $600 for the vacation fund.

3. Health/fitness: Eat at least 12 different kinds of fruit this month. Work out at least 12 times.

4. Environmentalism: Go to a condo board meeting to see how it works, with the goal of presenting composting proposal in the future.

5. Creative/crafts: Plant herbs. Help AS start her sewing business.

6. Donate to cancer research and animal charity. Look for volunteer opportunities that fit my schedule.

Knowing we would be on vacation a third of the month, and that we'd be celebrating three birthdays, I didn't set any other goals beyond debt repayment and savings. Good thing, too: March felt like a very full and busy month, yet I did nothing very creative, fitnessy, philanthropic or environmental. I did keep up the green habits we have so far, and walked around a LOT in Vegas (6 miles one day!), and dropped off the food drive items I had already collected in February. So it wasn't a total wash in those areas, but I'm glad I didn't set any ambitious goals.

Debt- and savings-wise, I did great this month:

MARCH 2009 GOALS:
1. Pay off at least $2100 of debt
Balance as of 3/31: $400,680
Goal balance: $400,868
Progress: DONE! ($2,288 paid)

2. Save at least $540 for baby/emergency fund.
EF balance at 3/26: $2,953.79
Goal balance: $2,898.46
Progress: DONE! ($595.33 saved)

I didn't have to do any real work to reach these; the key is good budgeting and careful planning. I can look ahead to the next month and fairly accurately state the minimum I'll be able to pay off and save. Anything extra that comes in is gravy.

Yay March! It was a really fun month. Looking forward to coming up with goals for April.

One of AS's student loan payments hit just in time to be included in my March totals! $57 went to principal, so that wraps up March with $2288 of debt paid off. I'll do my end-of-month wrap-up later in the day, and hopefully my April goals (if I've settled on the specifics yet).

I've gotten all three of our phones switched to prepaid. T-Mobile only allows two prepaid accounts per household, so I had to switch one phone to Net10. I bought a Net10 phone for $26.83, and it came with 300 minutes and 60 days of service. We have to order more (at 10 cents a minute) before 60 days are up in order to keep the phone active.

Then I bought 1000 minutes each for my and AS's now-prepaid T-Mobile phones, at $107.40 each. Our numbers will stay active for 12 months before we need to buy more minutes (though I expect us both to need more before then).

So far, I've spent $241.63. I'm going to keep track and see what the cost averages out to over the course of a year. I'm hoping to get costs down to $50 per month. Our old plan cost anywhere from $84 to $91 per month (depending on the number of texts we sent), so anything better than that will be a savings. But I'm really shooting for $50. That would be an awesome savings.

One of AS's student loan payments hit, with $116 going to principal. So now we're at $2,231 of debt paid off for March. And we're edging excitingly closer to getting below $400,000!

That will be an exciting goal to hit, though after that, I know it will take years to hit another 100K milestone. I'll find other things to get excited about, though, such as when our non-mortgage debt dips below $100K (which should take no more than five months, and possibly less).

Today I deposited $345 into my baby/emergency fund, bringing my monthly savings total to $595.33 and my EF total to $2953.79. My goal was to save $540 this month, so I've reached it and then some!

I sent a payment off to NT's last credit card a few days ago, and AS confirmed it went through. In fact, they owe us 8 pounds 50! That means that NT is now completely free of credit card debt, joining the happy ranks with AS!

Happy dance, happy dance...whew! OK. So that means we've paid off $2115 of debt, exceeding my March goal of $2100.

AND I get to add to my Old Debt Graveyard page for the first time in ages!

Hooray! I'm so excited!!!

OK, it took me a while and I'm still not sure if it's exact, because some things needed to be cash and some had to be charged to the hotel room, while most I charged to my debit card. So you'll notice there's a large "miscellaneous" category that was just stuff we used our spending money for; I didn't keep receipts nor did I ask anyone to for those purchases.

Planned categories totaled $4,864.95, plus between us we brought $436.00 of our own spending money that we'd saved up, so we came to Vegas with $5,300.95 spent or available to spend. We came home with $174 between the three of us, which means our trip cost us $5,176.95. Whew!

The first few unplanned expenses: $15 each for two checked bags, there and back for a total of $60. And a $5 per day phone charge regardless of whether we used the room phone, so $45 total. (Grrr...just add it to the cost of the room upfront if it's required--it's not really an optional amenity then, IS IT???)

Right away when we got there I realized that my estimate of $150 per day for three people was naive at current Las Vegas prices. I resolved not to freak out about every cent but to try and keep it down to a reasonable level. I also realized that NT loves slots as much as me and AS, so we'd be spending more time (and thus more money) playing than previously considered. Lucky we'd all brought extra spending money along!

On the plus side, we ended up not doing a couple of the activities that would have cost money, and a few of my budget categories actually had surpluses, so this helped with the overspending on food.

So here's our spending, the best I could figure it out. Deviations from the planned budget are noted in parentheses.

Flight & hotel package $2,226.95
Food $1,446.20 (overshot goal of $1300)
Crazy Horse show $151.50
Comedy Stop show $0.00 (canceled; was going to be $65.85)
Liberace museum $40.00
Spa $275.00 (budgeted: $300)
Rollercoaster $0.00 (didn't do; was going to be $20)
Car rental & insurance $111.37 (budgeted: $200 for this plus gas)
Gas $21.77
Other transportation $65.00 (budgeted: $100)
Park entrance fees $43.00 (budgeted: $100)
Gambling $300.00
Baggage fees $60.00 (unexpected expense)
Hotel phone fees $45.00 (unexpected expense)
Misc. food, drinks, slots, etc. $391.16 (various things paid in cash and not tracked, mostly extra gambling)
TOTAL $5,176.95

For you math geeks out there, that averages $172.57 per person per day, if you count travel days (which you should, since the plane was one of the biggest expenses!).

So, without the extra money we'd all squirreled away out of our regular weekly allowance, we'd have really struggled to come in under budget, but with that money, we made it! Vegas tried its best to bust our budget, but with a little restraint and strategizing, it all worked out.

More about the vacay itself when I post some pics tonight or tomorrow!

I'm a sucker for quiz dealies.

(1a) What major financial hurdles do you face?

So, so many! Nearly $31K in CC debt, nearly $75K in student loans, and mortgages on two properties totaling nearly $300K. Insufficient retirement funds that keep falling, and very little in savings. An ARM that I can't refinance because I owe more than my home is worth. Taxes that are about to get very complicated as NT's flat in England starts to make more of a profit, and AS contemplates starting a business.

(1b) How do you think you got to this point, and what would you like to see change?

I got here by being underinformed, irresponsible and very gullible. I bought into the consumerist fever of the 1990s-2000s. Thought that since everyone else was buying whatever they wanted and putting it on credit cards, it must not be a problem. Believed the mortgage and real estate people when they assured me my home would rise in value so that I'd be able to refinance at the end of five years. Failed to really understand finances on any real level and didn't have any good information presented to me from those around me or the media.

(2) State your financial positives in terms of income, debt management, savings.

Household income is still close to $100K even with one laid-off family member. I've paid off over $50K of debt in two years, and two of my three household members are about to be free of credit card debt. Currently saving an emergency fund, with a goal of getting to $10,000; we hope to reach that this year.

(3) How well are you prepared for a financial emergency?

If NT and I were laid off and AS was still unemployed, we could cut back expenses enough to live on unemployment and savings for six months. That's if we continue to pay the minimum on all debt and we don't walk away from the house.

(4) Write it down now: The amount we have tucked away for a rainy day fund is:

$2608.79

(5) How is the topic of money addressed in your family: Emotionally or rationally?

Mostly rationally. If emotionally, it's usually the positive emotions of feeling safer, more in control of our spending, smarter. Occasionally one of us will feel a bit trapped by our regimented budget, but it hasn't caused us to break ranks yet, and I don't think there's any real danger of that.

(6) Who makes the financial decisions?

I make the financial decisions. I keep the family informed and ask their input on major decisions, but they're quite happy to let me take care of things since I actually enjoy it. It's one of my main hobbies as well as my main responsibility!

A couple months ago, I added another little widget to my total debt spreadsheet: It subtracts my monthly average amount going to principal(A) from my monthly average debt payments (mortgage payments included)(B) and divides it by my monthly payments. It looks like this: (B-A)/B. This gives me a sense of the percentage of my debt payments going to interest and fees. For the longest time, it was up over 50%.

Granted, there's the escrow and mortgage insurance and the fact that my 30-year mortgage is only in its sixth year, but still, that really sucked to see that more than half my payments were just going to maintaining my debt.

Now, with AS's newest student loan payment going to more than just interest, and with my personal loan's principal going up, it's down to 48.59%! That is a huge jump and makes me feel much better about my debt payments!

I don't look at that formula frequently, because it's just one line at the bottom of the spreadsheet and plus, it was depressing. So I just randomly noticed it while glancing at my spreadsheet after updating my numbers. I guess it's still a depressing percentage and will start bugging me in a couple days, but right now it's making me really happy because of how awful it was to see it up over 50% before!

Oh yeah, and I haven't even figured in the fact that NT's mortgage interest rate got dropped AGAIN, this time to 1.49%! That drop will be reflected at the first of the month, when I see what portion of his payments go to principal.

Hi everyone! I'm back from vacation, full of photos and stories to share. The pics are on my home computer, so that will have to wait. I did try to keep up with 365 days of dinner and I think I have most of our dinners and even a few lunches captured, though my eating schedule was a tad irregular. I did some money-tracking during the trip and am awaiting one more dollar amount before I post my totals.

Anyway, while I was gone two payments hit. One of AS's student loans hit, with $107 going to principal. I got a letter from them saying they were capitalizing some interest, but I didn't see that reflected, so I'm not sure what that's about. All I care about is that the principal went down by $107 from what I had recorded!

Also, my personal loan hit, with $549 going to principal. With my official CC debt under $31,000 (and keeping in mind the $4K or so I transferred into student-loan debt), I now declare us halfway to our Big-Picture Goal of no CC/personal loan debt!

All told, $1,553 down, $547 to go on the March goal. Woo hoo!

$250 went into the savings account today, all toward the baby/emergency fund, and 33 cents of interest was also applied toward the goal. So $289.67 to go on my March savings goal. EF balance is $2608.79.

My credit card payment hit: $219 went to principal.

$897 down, $1203 to go on my March goal.

And...drumroll please...with this payment, my own personal credit debt is less than $25,000! $24,983 to be exact. I also owe my dad $6,000 and I count it in my credit card/personal category, so my total personal debt in that area is $30,983. Within two months, I'll get that under $30K. It's not going away as fast as it once was, but it's going!

The U.S. mortgage hit, with $275 going to principal, and one of AS's student loan payments, with $55 to principal. $330 total.

$678 down, $1422 to go on my March goal.

I love the first few days of the month for all the little payments that chip away at my debt!

Our UK mortgage payments hit: US$348 went toward principal. NT's mortgage interest rates are at 1.99%! They keep lowering them. The payments keep getting smaller yet the amount going to principal keeps growing. It's kind of amazing. I wish my U.S. mortgage was that kind of variable.

$1752 to go on my March goal.

Today is my birthday! Along with Dr. Seuss, Sam Houston, Jon Bon Jovi and Lou Reed.

March has become a month of anniversaries of new beginnings. AS's birthday is this month, and NT's, and two of our moms'. It's also the month I started my current job, as well as the job I had before this one. And March is the month I really threw myself into decoding my financial mess and getting on a path to recovery for good.

This month looks like it's going to be especially festive: Dinner out tonight for my birthday, takeout at our friends' place Wednesday for AS's birthday, a party for AS (it's her 30th so we're making a big deal) on Saturday, leaving for Vegas on Friday the 13th, seeing our friend from New York for the first four days of the vacation, St. Patrick's Day that Tuesday, NT's birthday that Saturday, and--when we get back--sending out the packet to the government to ask them to lift the conditional status on NT's permanent U.S. residency.

That said, I've decided to give myself a freebie month in terms of goals. If I do healthy, green, craftsy or philanthropic things I will take note of them, but if I don't it's OK too.

For my debt-repayment goal, I want to pay off $2100 of debt again. And for my savings goal, a modest hope to save $540 toward the baby/emergency fund.

February was a partial success for my goals:

1. I exceeded my debt repayment goal by $53, for a total of $2153.

2. I exceeded my savings goal by $957.28, saving $1375.28.

3. I worked out 10 times (just 2 short of my goal), and ate fresh fruit 20 of the 28 days (I was going for every day).

4. So far, we've replaced every product we've run out of with something greener, whether it's a homemade product or something storebought. Our main focuses are reducing packaging and number of harsh ingredients.

5. I completed weaving a piece of fabric out of yarn on a cardboard loom. However, I decided to leave the planting of basil and cilantro to another month.

6. I didn't do much research on philanthropic opportunities, but I did start collecting food for this month's food drive, checked my eligibility for the blood drive (not eligible), and several people brought us more eyeglasses that we'll donate next time we go to the mall.

Overall, a partial success, but considering it was such a short month and I was sick for the first week, I feel good about my progress.

My automated biweekly savings deposit of $25 hit. I'm putting this into the baby/EF, bringing it to $2,358.46. Almost a quarter of the way toward our overall goal!

I realized today that once I pay off NT's UK credit card, I can start saving all the extra rental income in his UK savings account and count that toward the EF/baby goal. It's perfect, because we can get to it within a couple of days, but it's not so easily accessible that we'll be tempted to dip into it. Since my 2:1 savings ratio is a bit off (but I want to be consistent across all my record-keeping), I'm going to make my goal $11,000 instead of $10,000, and that should handle any shortfall from my outdated exchange rate calculations.

What that means is that soon, extra funds will be freed up in our U.S. account for saving toward a modest fall vacation and for paying off debt a little faster.

One of AS's student loan payments hit, and $114 went toward principal. My goal was to pay off $2100 in debt in February, and I paid $2153! It was touch-and-go because I forgot the month was only 28 days long and so some of my payments that I can squeak in on the 30th or 31st won't come due until March 2 or so. But I made some extra payments and we got there.

As for my other goals, I worked out last night, bringing my total to 10. I know I won't be able to today; we're rushing home to dinner and then rushing right out again to a party. And tomorrow is a full day of haircuts, grocery shopping and another party, so I don't know if I'll be able to get even one workout in. But, at least I tied my number of workouts from last month, and I was sick the first week in Feb., so I don't feel too bad.

The planting of basil and cilantro, I'm not going to get to. It's just been too cold and snowy recently to contemplate rooting through the balcony closet for soil and pots. NT pointed out it would be better to wait till after our vacation anyway, so they won't have to fend for themselves for 10 days early in their lives.

So of my six goals, it looks like I'll have three complete successes and three partial successes. I'll do a wrap-up this weekend to go over everything in more detail.

The regular payment to the UK credit card hit: $38 to principal. (That sucker is definitely getting paid off as soon as we get back from Vegas in late March!)

$2139 down, $61 to go. Soon, very soon! Time to go work out now. I think I'll try Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii and see if that gives me a good workout--I've never tried to play it for a full half hour before, but I hope it works up a sweat.