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Archive for August, 2008

First day back and paid on a CC

August 21st, 2008 at 03:22 pm

OK First things first! I'm back from Hawaii and the best thing about it is my debt tracker gets to DROP after this trip (NO NEW DEBT!) I paid minimum on Card 2 (you know my drill...hammer out Card 3 and pay minimum on 2 and 1 until 3 is gone...rinse and repeat!)

Card 3 hit me with its interest charge (thank you sir may I have another) of $145.25 this morning. So the number there has gone up a little bit. Card 3 will be getting a huge amount of money paid on it in the next month (I'll get into that in a later blog post) so for now they get to grow a little bit for nothing. Here come the new numbers:

Debt tracker 08/21/08
Card 1: $42750.68 (8.99%)
Card 2: $29662.67 (9.99%)
Card 3: $13888.36 (11.24%)

Bring it on!

Back from Hawaii

August 20th, 2008 at 01:51 pm

Well we're back! What an amazing place to visit. We had a fantastic time and the best part about it was we were able to 100 percent cash flow the entire thing! Not only that but today (my first day back to work) is payday with my NEW paycheck! I'm excited to sit down today (or tonight) and budget the next couple of weeks out.

It's good to be back but I miss Hawaii already! Now we're even more motivated to get all our credit card debt obliterated to be able to take another trip like that. It was beautiful to say the least.

Whoo hoo! Good to be back.

Big day for me and the Mrs.

August 8th, 2008 at 06:20 pm

I got a raise and promotion! I had proposed this to my bosses six months ago and after long, long, long deliberations (did I say long?!!) they have decided to bump my pay 20 percent and have me report directly to the CFO (I'm in IT.) This is a huge positive step for me one day before we are going out of town so I feel great about it. Look out debt reduction tracker!

The Mrs. also has a meeting today with her CEO about a raise so hopefully we both end up bumping up the income ladder. This will make getting out of debt even more fun!

Thanks to all who read my diatribe and post comments. It's really keeping me going in the right direction.

Airline fees are everywhere!

August 8th, 2008 at 01:21 pm

Well I checked everyone in today for our flights to Hawaii tomorrow and took a look at the latest airline fee listings. Holy moly! They want $15 for the first checked bag under 50 lbs, if it's 50-70 lbs it's $65 and 71-100 is $115. Yikes. My wife and I are flying in first class because I was a dope and bought us first class tickets awhile back (when I was charging myself into submission.) The kids and my daughter's boyfriend are in coach and it's now $2 for all drinks on board, $7 for a meal and $5 for a snack box (US Airways.) Ugh! Well I did find a loophole since we're flying first class. We get to check up to two bags each under 50 lbs for no charge so we're both going to do that to save us on the fees. Of course we paid more for the flights so we didn't really save any money but at least we will not get hit again with more fees. Food and drinks are also free in first but who knows how much longer even that will be the case the way they are tacking everything on.

Ugh!

Aloha on the horizon

August 6th, 2008 at 03:42 pm

Well it's finally here! We leave for Hawaii on Saturday and will be there a total of 10 days. We will be flying from Philadelphia to Phoenix to Kona and staying on the Kona coast on the big island. We have been working discounts (AAA is our friend) and coupons and booking everything in advance. Big tip for anyone going to Hawaii...book the big stuff in advance and reap the discounts!

We had budgeted $5500 for five people but thanks to some extra ebay/stubhub sales we've been able to sock away close to $7500 for this trip. The plan is to try to keep our expenses down to the $5500 we budgeted. I think it's definately doable and without sacrificing the fun factor. We have a condo with a nice sized kitchen so we'll be able to eat most breakfasts and lunches at the place (we'll be beaching it most of the time anyways.)

Gas will be on the company card (the company also paid for the car rental) and they're paying for car service to and from the airport in Philadelphia so we're in good shape there. We've also already paid for the condo and the airfare (obviously) so those expenses will not come out of this budget.

We found out as well that they have a Costco not too far from us and a Wal-Mart on the island as well (my wife is dead set against ever stepping foot in a Wal-Mart due to her opinion of their business practices so that probably would never happen but it's a thought.) We're bringing coupons for basic stuff and we're thinking buying some breakfast/lunch stuff there would be a good idea. We'll see when we get there though.

We're excited! I would so rather be out of credit card debt before going on this trip but the condo and airfare weren't refundable and this really is the last family vacation we'll be able to have before our daughter goes off to college so we're going to go and enjoy it as much as we can. The main thing is the debt will be right where it is when we get back (no credit cards will be travelling on this trip with us) and the best part is we don't have one payment due until 10 days after we get back (and we'll be getting a paycheck the day after we get back...yippie.)

Hawaii here we come.

Sold some more items

August 6th, 2008 at 03:30 pm

Well August has brought some more ebay sales as I've sold computer parts and hockey jerseys and I have one item left listed to sell for now. Here are the totals for August:

5 items sold for $492.98

Not a bad start to the month!