I think that we will actually make it to pay day (midnight tonight) without overdrafting! This is HUGE. With all the craziness and unexpected expenses, we won't overdraft. This is the first time in what feels like forever, so I'm going to celebrate a little bit. We currently have $55.68 in the account. I know that I have a student loan payment pending (could come out today or tomorrow after we get paid) in the amount of $54.89. Even if it comes out today, we'll have .79 in the bank! Yeah!

Now, I guess I really shouldn't be too excited, because we did have unexpected money come our way and I still had to transfer $37 from our Freedom Account to cover things, so I guess, when I really think about it, we were over budget and would have overdrafted if we didn't have a little savings. Well, I'll still celebrate a little in that we got closer to achieving our goal of living our budget and at least we did have something in the Freedom Account to rely on. Next goal - truly getting through a payperiod on budget without pulling from anywhere else.

Here are the September 2009 totals.

September 2009

Student Loan 1: $1,658

Student Loan 2: $914

Bank of America 1: $7,862

Bank of America 2: $7,039

Bank of America 3: $4,985

Chase 1: $4,313

Chase 2: $2,695

Citi: $2,236

Target: $2,441

Overdraft: $2,999

401K Loan 1: $2,822.94 (Pay off 07/16/2011)

Car Loan: $12,747


DEBT TOTALS

Credit cards & Overdraft: $34,570
Student Loans: $2,572
401K Loans: $2,823
Car Loan: $12,747


THE BIG DEBT TOTAL: $52,712

Total Freedom Account: $74
Total Emergency Fund: $0
Total Retirement: $55,453

All in all, it's about $200 more debt than in April, but looking closely, our credit card/overdraft debt went up to the tune of about $2700! UGH! I hate thinking about that.

Our retirement has gone up about $5k since April. That's always nice to see.

Also, I blogged earlier about getting $150 for Amazon.com from our insurance and that I was going to use that for a food processor. That's not the case anymore. That's too much of a luxury right now. Instead, we'll use the money to get a new radio for our car as well as a few other things we need. I know I'll feel better in the end. Perhaps once we're out of debt, I can reward myself with the food processor. We'll see.

So, the goals for the fourth quarter of 2009 as the same as all of 2009, but I have lowered my expectations as some of them would not be possible with all the things that have come up (debt, furlough, etc.).

2009 Quarter 4 Goals

1. Get our CC/overdraft debt to under $33K.
2. Start an emergency fund.
3. Be consistent in living our budget - no more overdraft!

I am so frustrated! I HATE, absolutely HATE, the situation we are in. The surprises keep coming. We have already paid $240 this pay period (since April 30) from our paycheck to surprises and another $70 or so in money we made off of Craigslist. I am so frustrated. Our budget is doable without these surprises.

Now, we only have $39 in our account to last until the 15th so I had to transfer money from our Freedom Account which I just recently started contributing to again. AARGH!! We can never win! When will this all be over?!!

I totaled all the surprises up as best I could since last May and it's about $15,310! Can you believe that?! (And that's not even counting it all! There's quite a bit I know I can't track for certain so haven't counted it.) $15,310 is just $608 short of being exactly HALF of our credit card debt. $15,310 in addition to the money we HAVE paid towards cards this past year would have definitely put us over half done. I just can't believe the situation we're in. It feels like it'll never end. Over $15,000; that's a good down payment on a house...oh, it just hurts. I know it hurts my husband too and it's causing him health issues. It's got to stop at some point! We started paying these surprises over a year ago! How can they keep popping up?! We're NEVER going to be able to reach our goals of paying off overdraft, "consistently living our budget", much less paying off this debt this way.

I just want to cry and throw up my hands, but what good will that do? It makes me sick that I spent $426 on plane tickets to visit home (haven't been home in over a year) to have surprises continue to come up. I feel almost physically sick to my stomach. Anyway...there's really nothing I can do except try to be optimistic and do the best I can with the money that's left. I really really just hate this all.

Sorry for the rant. It's better to write and rant than cry in front of my family.

I just had to pay $752 in taxes. Not too bad since I had estimated that we'd owe $1000. The original plan had been to not have taxes withheld throughout 2008 in order to have the money in our paycheck to pay down debt. When it became painfully obvious in August that that was not happening (too many "surprises" and not enough going to debt), I changed our withholdings so this day of reckoning wouldn't be too painful. I had also planned to then save a little via the Freedom Account each paycheck in order to have $1000 saved to pay the estimated taxes, but again that didn't happen (for the same reason). Anyway, we were "lucky" that our older car died a few weeks ago and we are not willing to revive it. We sold it for $1000 and took it off our insurance (every little bit helps!).

I am so grateful that that car died! We are down to one car, which I don't mind one bit, and plan to stay that way for awhile. We used the $1000 to cover taxes which was a HUGE relief as well as cover the last payment for my crown (dental). We have more dental work next month, but we should be fine if these surprises would just stop. My husband thinks they will soon...my fingers are crossed that he is right. He wants this so badly, as do I, and it's got to stop at some point.

Anyway, again we had a heart to heart and seem to be on better ground in terms of our plans financially and how we view our action plan.

Just thought I'd join the conversation again and give an update.

Again, it's been awhile. I sound like a broken record sometimes. Things are starting to look up a bit. I started a blog in November and was just approached the other day about advertising. I just sold my first advertising! I'm getting $45 for 3 months, yeah! I'm excited. Every little bit helps.

I'm also feeling good, because my husband and I are in a better place right now. We have our "money meeting" tonight where we'll talk about the upcoming paycheck (Friday) and the bills that will be paid out of it. We'll go over the budget and talk about our goals. We are trying to be more consistent with this and I'm happy, because HE brought it up.

As far as the unexpected debts (aka "surprises") go, we have still had some, but they are definitely slowing down. Also, my husband is doing what he can to try and ask anyone and everyone he can think of that he may have borrowed from if he still owes anything. That'll help, but honestly, the only thing that will bring peace of mind to me is as more and more time passes without another surprise popping up.

Really, the only yucky thing right now is I have to have a root canal. UGH! I have never had one before and luckily it isn't too painful (I'm about halfway through the process.). I'm also grateful we have dental insurance and should only be about $600 out of pocket for the root canal, crown and everything.

I'll end on a good note. Even with all this craziness and more debt (about $2k in credit cards and $900 in medical) since November, if can stick to our budget and repayment plan that I set up for us, we should be out of credit card debt, overdraft debt, medical debt, 401k loans paid back and have some EF in just under two years from now. How awesome would THAT be?! Oh, also, my first forays into couponing at the grocery store has gone well. I'm definitely going to keep it up.

As always, thanks for all the support!

I am still alive, but I am still in debt and dealing with those "surprises" I told you about earlier. My husband is currently running an "errand" as I write this post. I am so over this! It is causing problems in our marriage and I am just sick and tired of trying to deal with it all. I got a check (YEAH!) from CafePress with some commissions and was excited that that was only $12 less than what I'd need to buy a new booster seat for my son (on sale this week, otherwise it'd be $15 more) and now I'm hesitant to do that. It's more of a want than a need so I guess that'll be put on the backburner. It's just all so frustrating! I cannot seem to get ahead and I feel like I have done everything I can. I know he's trying and it's not fair for me to get so upset when new things come up since it's all past borrowing that is now rearing it's ugly head, but I do. I just don't know how much more I can take.

I'm changing the 2008 goals in the sidebar to read 2009 since they are all the same and still apply. Any progress we made last year has been undone, other than having baby #2 and getting our life documents (will, advanced directive, etc.) in order. So, here we go, hoping for a new beginning again soon and trying to keep the faith. Oh, I'm also going to try my hand at using coupons while grocery shopping and see if we can't save some money that way to put towards debt.

I still draw strength from y'all even if I'm not actively posting. Thanks for everything!

I just set up our Freedom Account with ING today (an ING savings account). I think I will keep our Emergency Fund as another subcategory, for the time being at least. I have set up two automatic payments a month to coincide with our paychecks. It will deposit $153 each time to cover the $262/month for auto, clothing, date night/family activities, vacation and gifts as I mentioned in my last entry as well as $44/month to the EF. I know it's not much to the EF right now, but it'll add up and it's a start.

I will also add a $20 Challenge subcategory and add any leftover money from each payperiod (basically, any unused "cushion" that's built into the budget) as well as any "extra" money we get. Adding the $20 Challenge category completes another goal for 2008! Our $20 challenge is officially started! It feels good to have taken some steps in improving our future.

I made an initial deposit of $446. Our health insurance reimbursed us this amount from our FSA, but we haven't paid it out of pocket to the hospital (for baby #2's birth) yet so moving it to this account will ensure we don't touch it until we need it.

Well, my husband and I had another heart-to-heart last night and it went really well. I think we'd both gotten frustrated with each other over finances. I have just finished reading Debt-Proof Living by Mary Hunt that I'd seen mentioned on the blogs several times and told him about some of the things she discusses. I liked her system for dealing with the unexpected expenses throughout the year and we've decided to start our own Freedom Account this next pay period (Sept. 30th). We'll have the following sub-categories to start with:

Auto Maintenance & Repair - $1,000/year
Date Night/Family Activities - $360/year
Gift - $360/year
Clothing - $360/year
Vacation (airline tickets home) - $900/year

This will require a deposit of $262/month which I will automate into an account that is NOT affiliated with my current bank. I do not want to see the balance everytime we log in. I think it will be easier for us if it's out of sight. I have already set up the Excel spreadsheet as the book suggests and am ready to start; it's exciting and feels very empowering to be taking such proactive steps in our financial management.

Oh, my husband also agreed to staying in the apartment for an additional year (to January 2011) in order to achieve our goals of paying off ALL credit card debts and building up a downpayment fund before buying a house. This is a HUGE step for us. I have worried for months about how I'd feel and what we'd do when fall 2009 came and we were still in debt facing the decision to buy a house or not. With our current plan, I project we'll make our last credit card payment in May 2010. Then we can sock away all the money currently going to debt repayment to a downpayment fund June-December 2010.

Any suggestions on creating this second bank account for our Freedom Account? Is it wise to go to a different bank? I'd love to hear any advice from those already doing this; thanks!

I can't believe it, but it looks like I have hit another goal that I set in August. I had hoped to get the credit card debt to under $26k and after looking at this month's numbers, that goal has been achieved! I usually use the current month's statements (before any payments) for the monthly overview, but decided to factor in last week's extra payments this time. (I was too excited to see how that $1,000 payment would affect things!) Anyway, I was very pleased to see that goal achieved.

I don't have my most recent car loan info in front of me and my student loan #2 info is "temporarily unavailable" online, so I just kept the balances from last month. What does this mean? It means my total debt is, in actuality, even less that what appears below. Oh how nice that is!

Current Debt: September 2008

Student loan #1: $2,372

Student loan #2: $1,575

Bank of America #1: $10,281 (Paid $1,000 towards it last week!)

Bank of America #2: $10,084

0% Bank of America #3: $4,579

Chase #1: $269 (Paid off last week!)

Chase #2: $11 (Paid off this month!)

0% Citi: $2,020

Target: $445 (Paid off last week!)

Overdraft: $2,509 (Paid off last week!)

401K Loan 1: $862 (Pay off 07/31/2009)
401K Loan 2: $4,128 (Pay off 07/16/2011)

Car loan: $15,944


DEBT TOTALS

Credit cards & Overdraft: $25,964 after last week's payments!
Student Loans: $3,947
401K Loans: $4,990
Car Loan: $15,944

THE BIG DEBT TOTAL: $50,828

Well, this is how we've used our bonus so far...

1. Paid off our overdraft - $2500 (we can now check off that goal!)
2. Paid off Chase - $269
3. Paid off Target - $242
4. Extra payment to Bank of America 1 - $1000
5. Charitable contribution

Out of our paycheck we made the following payments...

1. Citicard - $40 (minimum + $10)
2. Bank of America #3 - $65 (0%, minimum + $20)

I still have a cushion in the budget of about $500 which I'll put towards credit cards and savings if it's still available at the end of the pay period. We have a few car issues to find out about before I use it for debt payments, I really don't want to overdraft again.

Today is a happy day!

Well, I can check off this "goal" as of the first week of September. I have taken about a two week hiatus from the internet as guests have been here and I just haven't felt like getting on. Hopefully, I'll do better as things settle down here with our toddler and newborn.

Tomorrow we should see my husband's new raise in the paycheck as well as his bonus check. We found out Friday the gross amount of his bonus and we expect to see more than we'd budgeted for. Unfortunately, we've had more unexpected debt in the last two weeks. I'm trying to look on the bright side though and that is that the bonus should cover it, we just won't see the "extra" in our budget. Oh well....

I'll also look at the bright side in that both baby and I are happy, healthy and doing well.

I just got back from my husband's office where we got our wills, advanced directive and durable power of attorney for health care documents notarized. YEAH - I can now check off one of my goals on the sidebar. I'm glad we've gotten that done; it brings such peace of mind.

We also have most of the paperwork for a living revocable trust done, but we need to ask someone to be the successor trustee (we have a person in mind, just need to talk to them). We also need to take it to an attorney and have it looked over. Once all that is done, we will feel completely set (for now) with having those important life documents in order.

I figured that even though I just started blogging about our finances, I'd post the goals for the rest of 2008. I think goals that you can measure progress against are important so here we go...

1. Pay off overdraft.
2. Get our CC debt to under $26K.
3. Start the $20 Challenge.
4. Be consistent in living our budget - no more overdraft!
5. Get our important life documents in order (will, advanced directive, etc.).
6. Have baby #2. This is one goal I know I'll achieve since I only have 3 weeks left!

I think I'll add these to the sidebar so I see them everytime I get on. I need to post them around the house too for my husband and I to see all the time.