Well now that we're one day past payday and the budget has been implemented here's how it went down. Below is a copy of the budget I had created for the pay period from 9/2-9/15 with notes on how it was executed.

09/02 - 09/15
Income: $4741

Electric: $242 (PAID)
The Maids: $140 (9/8)
Netflix: $12 (9/8)
Equifax: $7 (9/13)

Cash: $500 (DONE ATM)
This covers food, clothing, entertainment, medical copays and any other discretionary expenses we have during the two weeks. We do this stuff in cash only because it works really well for us.

Son's birthday: $150 (DONE TXFR)
His 16th birthday was on August 25th and we need to deposit $100 to his checking account (was a gift from us.) We also are going to purchase him a dock for the car for his Ipod for $50.

Amazon: $10 (PAID)
This is for a replacement Tassimo filter.

HVAC Filters: $69 (PAID)
This buys us two replacement HVAC filters. I vac'd out the one we had in there but it is so bad I'm going to have to replace it. It's been in there for almost a year now so it's time.

Now for the other part. At this point we had $3611 left to spend and there were some important things to put the money towards.

Wedding Ring: $2911 (PAID)
I was able to get the ring back and it looks great. The wife was EXTREMELY HAPPY to get her ring back fully repaired (it had met an unhappy garbage disposal courtesy of our cat) and with a new diamond installed. Insurance did pay a portion of it but I still had to go out of pocket for nearly $3000. It was actually ready a couple of months back but we wanted to wait until the debt was gone before paying for it.

This left me with $700 to put to savings. We have a check coming next week for over $7000 which will be put to savings as well as we continue to bolster up the cash in the bank. I can safely say this was a fun budget to work through with no debt payments attached to it.

Oh and I almost forgot! I called our cable provider and was able to get a $16 discount on our monthly bill. All I had to do was ask! It's always a good idea to call up your utility providers like cable, phone and internet (even if you bundle) to see if they can do anything to help you save some money.

September is shaping up to be a great month in our household income wise so we should be able to do a lot of good with our money. We get paid biweekly on Weds so we're looking at 3 paydays in September and a bonus in the middle of the month to boost our income even more. I usually do our budgets per pay period and any bills that are due within the pay period get paid. We have a few things we need to pickup online so those will be budgeted into this pay period's budget.

Here's how it looks right now:

09/02 - 09/15
Income: $4741

Electric: $242
The Maids: $140
Netflix: $12
Equifax: $7

Cash: $500
This covers food, clothing, entertainment, medical copays and any other discretionary expenses we have during the two weeks. We do this stuff in cash only because it works really well for us.

Son's birthday: $150
His 16th birthday was on August 25th and we need to deposit $100 to his checking account (was a gift from us.) We also are going to purchase him a dock for the car for his Ipod for $50.

Amazon: $10
This is for a replacement Tassimo filter.

HVAC Filters: $69
This buys us two replacement HVAC filters. I vac'd out the one we had in there but it is so bad I'm going to have to replace it. It's been in there for almost a year now so it's time.

So far we've spent a total of $1130 and that leaves us with $3611 to use as we see fit.

What's really crazy is the only thing we actually HAVE to pay on this list is the electric bill. The rest of the list (other than the cash...which we could cut down in half) is wants. Now that we're debt free we feel we can open up the discretionary spending a bit more but we're still retaining 75 percent of this biweekly income. That's not a bad thing.

We still have some long term goals to work on as well. My wife's wedding ring is still at the jewelers and I believe it'll take $2700 to pick it up now that it's been repaired. FYI to everyone make sure you have a proper rider for jewelry on your homeowner's insurance policy. We only had a small reimbursement and we now have the rider but you have to get it appraised and get it on your insurance properly. Check with your agent as to what you need to do to do it right.

We also need to pay off our son's Spain Trip which I mentioned in an earlier post. That'll be exciting to see that gone.

We're also going to be funding Roth 401k's (15-20 percent of net income with a 25 percent match to a traditional 401k by the company), saving for cash flowing college (we start paying the piper in Fall 2010) and accelerating our mortgage payoff (increasing the amount to principal) so it's not like that money doesn't have anywhere to go. We have a long haul ahead of us but we're excited at the prospects of being able to knock all of this stuff out.

I just wanted to share the first cool thing we were able to do after clearing all of our non-mortgage debt. We were able to pay cash (well..debit card from our checking account) for our son (turns 16 tomorrow) to trek out of the USA to Europe in April with his classmates through a school trip. They'll be over there for 11 days total and the balance is due in full by December 19th. Well we've paid nearly $2000 out of the $3000 it cost already ($1750 of that $2000 in the last 4 days) and we'll be able to pay the remaining balance in full on September 2nd without batting an eye. A full three months + before the balance is due!

The best part is having the cash to do it instead of going into debt to do it. I can remember a time when that $1750 was going to minimum payments on credit cards. No more! Now it goes to things we WANT to do instead of obligations we HAVE to do. Yippie!

So for anyone mired in debt and wondering if it's worth the effort and sacrifice to bulldoze your way out...I can say absolutely! You can pay for a trip without paying more than the trip costs in credit card interest and fees.

I just wanted to send out a "thank you" for everyone here who gave us advice and ideas from the time I started this blog 2.5 years ago. We spent the last 4+ years wading around in over $75,000 of credit card debt and could never figure a way out (at its peak in April of 2008 it was at $110,000) and it took a lot of focus to finally just cut down the lifestyle and get it all paid off. I want to answer a few of the replies in the announcement here so here goes.

To everyone who sent congrats THANK YOU!! We really do appreciate it.

To crazyliblady: What we ended up doing to figure out how much we had to throw at our debt was to go line by line through each and every item we were spending money on and really decide if there was something we could do to cut it down. We ended up trimming out a lot of things we thought we couldn't live without and we basically used a zero based budget approach to make sure all the money was allocated before payday so there were no surprises. We did keep some money to the side for emergencies but not a lot because we didn't want to continue to get eaten up by interest. I would just list everything out and prioritize everything you spend money on each month and you can find all kinds of places to save. When it comes to credit cards make sure you don't use them (it's easier to pay them off when they're not nibbling back at you) and another thing we did to earn extra income was to sell little stuff around the house on ebay and craigslist. We made selling stuff we didn't need our 2nd job and were able to really help supplement our income that way (especially in the beginning.) Just try to focus as much of the extra $ as possible at the card and shut the card down so you don't incur any more payment than you have to.

fern: There wasn't really any trick to what we did. It was really just focusing as much extra income as possible at the lowest balance at the time. We had tried paying it off by interest rate before but really just kept spinning our wheels so we flipped to try lowest balance and that seemed to do the trick. We had three cards with $27,000+ balances but knocking them down one at a time really energized us to continue throwing as much disposable income at them as possible (we ended up putting about 50 percent of our income to the debt while we were working to pay it off. The really cool thing about that was we realized we could support the household on one income since my wife and I make around the same amount of money.) We did a lot of coupon shopping and sale shopping and cut out a lot of the stuff we did on cards before like vacations (we did go on one vacation but we had $10,000 in non-refundable reservations so we went and just used cash while we were away.) The cards went locked up in the drawer and then we closed a bunch of them down (we had way too many credit cards) because we were getting all kinds of fees (annual fees, monthly fees, etc) and it just didn't make sense to keep them open.

campfrugal: The synopsis is we paid off $117k in credit card debt over the last 15.5 months ($110k in APril 2008 + $7k in interest.) We did it by cutting down our lifestyle and just lining up the cards and paying them off one at a time. We availed ourselves of as much extra income as we could by cutting down lifestyle and budgeting our income to the last penny.

Don't worry I don't plan on leaving anytime soon now that the debt is gone. I'll continue to update the blog and try to add some words as to what we did and how we did it to get here. Again thank you everyone for the kudos and congrats as we are so happy to be done with debt!

Debt Tracker (08/14/09)
$0.00

Well we did it! We received a bonus deposit of $5000 on Friday and cleared the last $3815.04 from our debt. We are now debt free minus our mortgage! It's been a long battle between us and our debt load (which ended up being $117.5k) but we have finally climbed to the top of the mountain.

It's really nice to know that all of our income will be ours to keep. We're going to be able to pay cash on Weds for our son to go to Spain with his class a full three months before the payment is actually due. We paid cash and bought a patio table for our back patio (we had lost three due to wind) and this one has a heavy custom stone top so it'll be plenty heavy for the hilltop winds. We'll also be able to cash flow our daughter's college education starting next fall AND our son's in a couple of years. We are so excited!

All I can say is to anyone who is frustrated with debt just get on a budget and keep the faith! You can do this. If we can do it anyone can. Trust me on that.

WOO HOO!!!

This is the end of the debt reduction tracker! Not sorry to see it go at all.

Well you knew that Card 1 wasn't going quietly into the night so they did hit us with a $138.45 finance charge but we batted them back by selling some old computer stuff to a friend and now we're under $9k to go! Since July is going to be a slow month for us I'm doing what I can to generate a few extra bucks here and there and it starts with this $243 payment!

Debt Tracker (06/30/09)
Card 1: $8968.92 (8.99)

Soooooooooo close! July is going to be painful though. Normally I would make a $3000 payment (or so) on Card 1 with our first round of paychecks but I have to hold onto the majority of the money thanks to a preplanned vacation for the family to the Outer Banks. My mother rented the house and to cut down on costs we're driving the family down for the week. I'm going to keep as much of the $ as I can for the vacation and then once we get back throw everything left over that I can muster at the debt but I'm sure it'll be a lot less than $3000. SIGH...this is a battle I gave in on so I think I am doing the right thing. Everyone has been great about this whole process so I don't feel as badly about it and it doesn't change our debt free date of September (we will be getting a bonus check in Sept that will pretty much wipe out the remaining balance) but I still would have rather put it on this last card considering how close we really are.

Sometimes though you have to let off the reins a bit to keep the peace. I'd of course rather do no new debt than pay the card off and rack back up $2000 worth of expenses. That would really put a damper on the vacation.

Thanks for letting me vent!

Well as some of you probably know Microsoft has decided to discontinue the Microsoft Money software package. In an effort to cut costs up in Redmond they are doing away with certain software suites that they feel aren't as useful as they once were (like Encarta and Money) and software they haven't fully developed (like OneCare Antivirus.)

To me as a user of Money since March of 2000 this is a really dark day. In the past nine years I have purchased six different versions of the software and actually still have most of the versions on CD in my possession. The latest of which (Microsoft Money Plus Premium) I really enjoyed using and customizing to work best with what I need to get out of a comprehensive personal finance software suite. I really wish Redmond would reconsider the decision and plan on writing a letter stating my feelings but I know it will not do a lot of good.

I have dabbled in alternatives (Quicken being the obvious one, Mint, YNAB, etc.) and none of them really met my needs like Money did. Money was simple where it needed to be and was more complex where I wanted it to be (like with reporting) and that mix really made it fun to manipulate all of my numbers to play out different "what if" scenarios and things like that. Money's inventory module made me think and actually go room by room to track what we owned and made it easy to attach pictures to those lists. I use it daily (multiple times a day in fact) and have never had system problems or corruption of my data (something I've heard Quicken users really fight with right now.)

So now that I've rambled on about Money I wonder if there are others like me out there who are dismayed about this announcement and really will miss the product that we all "grew up with" over the years. It really is a sad day.

FYI you will have two years from the day you activated the Money Plus software packages to still get online updates to your accounts but after Jan 31, 2011 everyone's online access will be shut down. You can still manually update the software yourself beyond that date but you will not be able to use any of the online features. If you have a Money Plus software package and want to know when your copy will cease to work online click on Help and About Microsoft Money and you'll see the date there.

It's official...we're finally over the $90,000 paid level in our scramble to get rid of all of our non-mortgage debt asap.

Today is payday and we were able to throw an additional $3100+ at the last credit card. So here's the update:

Debt Tracker (04/15/09)
Card 1: $26204.24 (8.99)

Since April 30th, 2008 we've paid off $90,728.50 in credit card debt! It's the only debt we have/had other than our mortgage so the sooner we get to zero the better!

Just wanted to celebrate a little bit with everyone. Woo hoo!

Today is payday and we really didn't have a lot of bills to pay (yay!) Next month is really going to be fun with three checks on the 1st, 15th and 29th but for now I was able to take a big bite out of lonely Card 1. It's great that it is the ONLY card left to pay off because with the fewer number of bills coming in the easier it is to really track them (and once Card 1 is done then the only debt we will have to our names will be a mortgage. Yippie!)

I cash flowed my vehicle registration, took cash out for day-2-day expenses (we only use cash for food, entertainment, household stuff, etc.), put some money in the kids bank accounts (18 yo has checking and 15 yo has savings that will soon flip to checking) for work they did (they get $2 for every year of age per day), bought a programmable thermostat (checked consumer reports first to make sure it was a best buy and it was easy to program...looks like it) and some CFL bulbs from thebulb.com (they have pretty good prices and a portion of every bulb bought goes to help the environment...not to mention the bulbs themselves!)

Had $4600+ left over for Card 1. Yippie!

So since 4/30/08 we've paid off $76,271.80 in credit card debt and we have what's left below to go. It just feels like we're really starting to see the finish line.

Debt Tracker (03/18/09)
Card 1: $34090.02 (8.99)

Well I actually feel some sense of accomplishment today because for the first time in a LONG TIME Card 2 is under $10,000. I expect that once the statement closes next month that it will probably push it back over with the interest charge but for now I'm doing a happy dance (good thing no one can see that...it would be ugly!) So close to getting under $50k in total consumer debt and I can't tell you how excited I am to see the 40's (supposedly in temperature soon too!) Paid the mortgage (we have a $405k at a fixed 5.875 with about 400.7k left) this payday and I had about $500 in ebay money to help pay on Card 2. I've got carpet cleaners coming Friday for about $500 worth of work and I have to pay my ugly gas bill with the next check on 2/4 ($1450.00) but at least I only have to pay it twice a year and we will be cash flowing the whole thing (YAY!)

Debt Tracker (01/21/09)
Card 1: $40840.04 (8.99)
Card 2: $9959.69 (7.99)
Total: $50799.73

Just a reminder where we started:
5/1/08
$110,000 on NINE CC's. It's been a battle for the last 8.5 months but it's been worth it!

Well in the last 10 days we've managed to do some serious horror movie type slashing on some of our debt. Thanks to some bonus money and cutting back on plans to go from PA to AZ in March for my birthday we've made quite a little dent in Card 2 on the debt reduction planner.

As for why O Canada...I have been watching this show called "Til Debt Do Us Part" which is shown on the Canadian network Slice and it basically has these couples who are desperately buried in debt (a lot of consumer debt...but then a lot of total debt as well) and this woman comes and basically gives them a massive wakeup call and a plan they can move forward with to reign in their spending and excess. It's actually not that bad (and not dry at all...the challenges are not just based around $ but based on communication and working together in your relationship to get to the best result.) If they do all the challenges Gail sets forth for them they get $5000 to put towards their debt load. First step is always taking the credit cards AND debit cards away (and doing some Dave Ramsey Plasectomy-esque things to rid these people of their cc's) and then bringing back the debit cards back every week so they can refill the budget jars (glass jars with a category for each thing they would spend on discretionary wise...like food, clothing, transportation, etc.) If it's ever on here in the US I'd highly recommend it to people (though some of what she teaches is Canadian based most of the principles would work here for us.)

Just thought I'd share...now maybe if the Eagles could get their act together and win this game...! Here's the debt update:

Debt Tracker (01/18/09)
Card 1: $40840.04 (8.99)
Card 2: $10571.23 (7.99)
Total: $51411.27

Well that was some kind of crazy holiday madness we went through the last 30 days. I ended up having to go from PA to Chicago on Christmas Day and then down to Orlando through New Year's before coming back up. We got to Universal Studios in Orlando as well before going to relatives of mine on the east coast of Florida (north of West Palm Beach.) For the first time ever we budgeted and cash flowed all our gifts and we actually did really well. With all of this hectic moving and shaking and holiday meals and planning and gifts and decorations and everything we stuck to our guns and incurred NO NEW DEBT! It feels really good to know we have no payments on anything we bought for the holidays. We didn't get as much of a dent in our debt tracker as I would've liked but we are getting a bonus of over $6000 on Monday and a good chunk of that will go to Card 2. I think now that we're out of the most expensive holiday time of the year it's going to be all out war on the last two cards so we can be debt free for Xmas 2009!

Here is an updated tracker. When I last left it we were around $61k and change owed. We were able to nibble at them a bit and since 5/1/08 have knocked out over $51,000 off of the total owed. We feel really good about the prospects of getting out of this for good by the end of 2009. Here goes!

Debt Tracker (01/08/09)
Card 1: $40840.04 (8.99)
Card 2: $17494.31 (8.99)
Total: $58334.35

Well it's the day before the turkey day and we got paid today (yay!) so I went and paid a slew of bills including the mortgage (which dropped a few bucks thanks to an escrow adjustment) and electric. We're in great shape now with the money set aside for the holidays, my son's volleyball program and our landscaper (we had a soil analysis done by Penn State and we need a lime application to our lawn) PLUS I was able to pay most of what Card 1 took yesterday in interest on Card 2. It would've been a lot more than it was but I had to buy a plane ticket to Arizona for this weekend to see my brother (long story, he's getting divorced...family meeting of sorts down there) so I paid what I budgeted for minus the ticket. My mother did say she'd pay me back for the ticket but I'm even debating if I want her to have to do that (it's not like I couldn't afford it and I sure as heck would never have gone into debt for it. I paid with my debit card of course!) If she does that will go right to where it was going to...CARD 2.

Here's the update:

Debt Tracker (11/26/08)
Card 1: $41931.69 (8.99)
Card 2: $20815.56 (8.99)
Total: $62747.25

It's back below $63k at least! $2747.26 would be nice to be able to throw at it. We don't have another bill due until 12/22 (whoo hoo!) so I'm really confident we can be below $60k before New Year's Day. We'll see though!

Happy Thanksgiving (a day early) to the Saving Advice clan and your families!

Well it's time for another update! We were able to slash another $2500 off of our debt last week so I am just a basketcase in wanting to get Card 2 under $20,000 and get the total kit and kaboodle under $60,000 (it looks a lot more ugly with those zeroes than if I just used the letter k so I'm using zeroes for motivation. Ha ha!) I can't wait for Weds either (PAYDAY!) so I can make another dent in the numbers.

Oh and those people you hear about getting their limits reduced...I'm one of those people! I had one company reduce my limit on one card from $14,000 to $500! It had no balance and really gets no use so it's not bothering me that they cut it other than for my credit score (which I could care less about at this point. I just want to quit owing cc companies money...I'm fed up with it!) The sooner I get this paid off and I can start cash flowing my daughter's college education (it's on the horizon!) the better.

I'm just happy that our household hasn't felt the economic squeeze nearly as much as a lot of other people (especially in PA!) Though I still think the media drives a lot of the panic and fear and that if people got back to basics they would be a lot better off. OK off the soapbox...here's the skinny:

Debt Tracker (11/24/08)
Card 1: $41619.94 (8.99)
Card 2: $21076.69 (8.99)
Total: $62696.63

I posted yesterday about how we had gotten down to just above $65k on our road to getting all our debt out of our lives and this morning Card 2 reminded me it still owns us by posting a $187 finance charge. Darn you Card 2!

So here's today's updated numbers:

Debt Tracker (11/14/08)
Card 1: $41619.94 (8.99)
Card 2: $23568.74 (8.99)
Total: $65188.68

I can't wait for next week. We finally budgeted out all our holiday shopping so I know I'll be able to put at least $2500 on Card 2 by the end of next week. We're really trying to get under $20k on Card 2 before the end of the month but it's not an easy chore with the holiday season approaching!

It's always something!

Well I managed to pay down another $700 on Card 1 so we're sitting right at $65k left to pay off to have no debt but the house (I'm looking forward to it!) We had the garbage disposal quit on us so we had to replace it (ended up $589 for parts & labor...ugh) but we were able to cut a check for it without batting an eye (rather than charge it to a credit card and carry it...thus paying MORE than $588 for it!) I'll be doing a little wood chopping on Card 2 before the end of the month but the holidays are approaching so I need to budget for my anniversary, my daughter's 18th birthday, Thanksgiving AND Christmas. Yikes!

Here's where we sit:

Debt Tracker (11/13/08)
Card 1: $41619.94 (8.99)
Card 2: $23386.37 (8.99)
Total: $65006.31

Well I thought I'd update the debt tracker since I got an interest charge on Card 1 for $315.51 (ouch!) so the update looks like this:

Debt tracker 09/28/08
Card 1: $42694.47 (8.99%)
Card 2: $29891.21 (8.99%)
Card 3: $1970.14 (10.99%)

I also had a charge of $50 show up on Card 3 from Thrifty Car Rental in Chicago on Friday. I haven't rented a car from there since June of 2007 so I was needless to say a little concerned. I called the card issuer and they immediately froze the transaction and are investigating it. I was told I don't have to call the merchant (in this case Thrifty) because the issuer would handle it so I haven't pushed it any further. Anyone have thoughts on this? Thanks!

OK well I haven't updated this in a bit but I will now. My wife found out today she is getting a $20,000 raise from $60k to $80k. Obviously we're thrilled. Not only that but I found out I'll be getting $3334 in bonus money every four weeks starting in late September and going through November ($10,000 total) so we will be able to really kill the debt AND have some money for the holidays.

I wanted to update the tracker because I was able to put close to $10,000 on Card 3 while I was away. Here are the latest numbers hot off the press:

Debt tracker 07/28/08
Card 1: $42378.65 (8.99%)
Card 2: $29891.21 (8.99%)
Card 3: $5711.32 (10.99%)

Card 3 has a very short life to live! Adding her income boost and the bonus money I'll be able to pay off Card 3 and make a serious dent in Card 2 by the beginning of October. Not only that but we have THREE pay periods in October so I can pay the mortgage on the 29th and use the paydays from the 1st and the 15th AND the bonus money in October ALL on paying off these balances.

This is going to be one sweet 4th quarter! I thought I'd share the love since this place has been so good to me for so long. I'm glad we're finally getting a hold of this thing!

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.

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.

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!

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.

Well that felt great! I closed three credit cards today because two were going to charge me an annual fee within the next 7 days (I figured it based on the past annual fees) and the third one already had (and I called to see if they would waive it...they didn't so I closed it.)

It felt good! I was told I will get confirmation letters in the mail for the accounts so I'm going to wait for those but I'm all excited to shred the shackles.

I'm not going to be shy about who:

Goodbye AMEX Hilton Hhonors Plat
Goodbye AMEX Delta Skymiles Gold
Goodbye Household Bank Mastercard

I saved $134 in upcoming annual fees and $39 in additional annual fees so now I wait (all the cards were zero balanced for months on end so I'm not worried about getting charges...though I will look over the statements like a hawk!)

I also used up just about all my Sky Miles so nothing went to waste. The Hhonors points went into a Silver plan (I talked with Hilton before doing this and they verified the points will stay.) I'm just glad I got to avoid the annual fees. When you're $88k in debt like we are the last thing you need is ridiculous charges like this adding to the problem.

OK well I thought I'd post to celebrate. I'm waiting for the wife to come home so I can shred these suckers (she'll enjoy this.)

Well I ended up paying on some bills that were due. When I get paid on the 9th I'll be able to pay on some debt in the debt tracker and push that $5000 out to a savings account before we go to Hawaii.

Here's what got paid:
Maids $140
CC X $39 (Another Annual Fee!)
CC Y $60 (Another Annual Fee!)
Landscaper $130 (weed and fertilizer treatment for the grass)
Grass Cutting $79
Trash $84

So $100 wasted on annual fees (both cards will be closed right after the payments post) and $210 spent on the grass (it's growing and it does look good..but a ways to go.)

It's amazing how much money you can waste on fees. I'm loathing credit card companies more and more with each passing day.

Well I got my check that I thought was going to be $5401 and it ended up being $5590 so now I've got the Hawaii money in cash to use while we're out there. The Mrs. will be buying some luggage, some clothes and I may pay a bill or two in the next few days but I would like to earmark at least $5000 of it for the trip.

We get paid next Weds so 8 days away but this definately lets me rest easy knowing the funds are there to go. Hopefully we come away with some money but I'm not going to budget out any of it for anything other than this trip.

Well the weekend went well as we didn't spend much money! We did go see Get Smart and enjoyed it a lot (I was a big fan of the TV show back in the day.) That money came out of the budgeted cash we had so that was our entertainment for the weekend. This week we will be getting a check for $5401 which will go directly into the Hawaii fund. My wife is worried I'm going to pay off debt with it so I had to assure her I wasn't! She just wants to make sure everything we do in Hawaii is cash flowed and I am all for that.

We still need to buy some clothes, a gift for her nephew for graduating high school and a gift for our next store neighbor for having their 2nd child last week so the $5401 will get a chunk taken out of it (I'm hoping she spends $401 or less so we have $5000 to bring to the island) but hopefully not too big a chunk.

We don't get paid this week but all the bills are paid and she still has plenty of cash left over from the food budget so we're good there. I'm going to have to wait about a week to pay down more debt but I have a few items listed on Ebay as we speak and since I'm actually off starting Weds through the rest of the week (my anniversary at the company is Weds so my vacation reups and I'm taking the couple of days before the 4th off) I'm going to be listing some more stuff with the off time.

It'll be a fun week hopefully!

I ran an account balance history on one of the cards from my debt reduction tracker (Card 3) and it was pretty ridiculous to say the least. Take a look at this:

Opening balance on 7/1/07: $6866.01

Now each one of these is a net monthly total.

Jul 07: Spent $4092.28 ($10958.29)
Aug 07: Spent $2852.46 ($13810.75)
Sep 07: Spent $3489.31 ($17300.06)
Oct 07: Spent $3155.43 ($20455.49)
Nov 07: Spent $3401.77 ($23857.26)
Dec 07: Spent $3278.19 ($27135.45)
Jan 08: PAID $16188.60 ($10946.85)
Feb 08: Spent $2414.57 ($13361.42)
Mar 08: Spent $10725.13 ($24086.55)
Apr 08: Spent $2326.34 ($26412.89)
May 08: PAID $5707.52 ($20705.37)
Jun 08: PAID $3436.24 ($17269.13)

So out of the last 12 months I had 3 where I actually paid off more than I spent. The biggest key for me is that 2 of those 3 are the last 2 months. It's painful to see that Jan 08 balance (I had it!) but that's what I call a serious case of live and learn. I averaged spending just under $4k/month in the 9 months I spent. Sheesh!

I thought it would be interesting to run the Income and Spending Comparison report from June 2007 vs June 2008. Now I realize June 2008 hasn't closed out yet and I have more income and expenses coming BUT even as is you can be blown away by numbers "to date!" First the basics:

Income June 2007: $10540.17
vs
Income June 2008: $9915.52

Now again I'll be making another paycheck and I have some other income coming so I will end up making more in 2008 than 2007 (which I should be unless I really screwed up along the way IMO) but take a look at expenses:

Total Expenses June 2007: $18580.29
vs
Total Expenses June 2008: $5749.50

WHAT?!! Holy Toledo Batman! We spent over EIGHTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS in June 2007. We've been able to reduce expenses (to-date) by almost THIRTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS! The one thing is the expenses for 2008 includes the mortgage paid June 1st so that will add a chunk onto expenses but we really did slice it down. So the official totals:

2007: Spent $8387.99 more than we made.
2008: Saved $4166.02 more than we spent!

There were some monster culprits like vacation. We spent $8236.86 on vacation in June 07 and (ha!) $31.50 on travel/vacation in June 08 to date. Slight difference.

Entertainment we spent $1604.79 in June 07. Month-to-date we've spent ZERO!

Utilities were actually $260 MORE in 2007 than 2008 (and we don't have any left to pay out of June's paychecks.)

Talk about a difference in spending habits in one year vs the other!

Well I figured I'd sit down and actually figure out what I know is coming in and going out over the next few weeks so I can have some accountability for my money. Here's what I know:

INCOME
I started today with a balance of about $380.

I deposited a check for $304 so that puts me at $684.

I have a check coming in the next day or two for $490 so that'll put me at $1174.

Wednesday is payday so I will get a direct deposit of $3658. That'll put me at $4832.

July 1st I should be getting a bonus check for $1506. That'll add up to $6338.

July 9th is the next payday so I will get another direct deposit of $3658. That'll add up to $9996.

Sometime in July (hopefully EARLY but it could be anytime) I will be getting a retained earnings check for around $4600. That should add to $14596.

I'm not going to include July 23rd's paycheck since that will apply to August expenses. This $14596 (give or take a few bucks) will hopefully go a long way to paying bills and having a fully funded Hawaii va-CASH-ion. Of course there are plenty of expenses before then...so here goes:

Life Insurance due 6/28 ($143): This will be directly debited out. We both have plenty of term life because the thought process is get out of debt and put a ton of money away where the life insurance will not be needed. A long way to go on that though!

Maids due 7/1 and 7/15 ($140 ea): This is a big one for the wife so I don't argue it. They do an excellent job.

Mortgage due 7/1 ($2908): Yeah I think I need to pay this one darn it.

Sewer due 7/6 ($120): An estimate and this is a quarterly bill but it's up.

Long Distance due 7/8 ($44): This one I want to pay sooner rather than later. This is usually $15 but we spent a lot more than we thought this last month.

Card X due 7/8 ($45): This is that annual fee on that card I had paid off years ago. I'm waiting to hear back on whether they are going to waive this or not. They better but just in case I'll budget out.

Card 3 due 7/10 ($361): That's the minimum and I'm going to do what I can to pay more than that (figuring out how much I'll have helps!)

Electric due 7/13 ($204): It went up as we're playing A/C games but only until the programmable thermostat I ordered shows up! We also put in CFL's all over the house so hopefully we see a return.

Trash due 7/15 ($84): Another quarterly bill with a July due date.

Water due 7/20 ($92): Ditto from the trash comment. This is an estimate and I hope it's on target (Trash is fixed.)

Card 1 due 7/22 ($700): Another min payment for Card 1 until we get Cards 2 and 3 gone!

Cable due 7/29 ($161): I always pay this way early.

Daughter's contacts due ? ($150): She's going to need them at some point in the next week or two. She has an eye infection which is calming down but it has to be gone before she can get them.

Kid's paychecks due 6/25 & 7/9 ($100 ea): They each get paid $50/paycheck as long as they don't get docked for not keeping their rooms and the common areas clean or not doing chores.

ETA: The company I work for pays all auto expenses including gas, insurance and maintenace (all scheduled routine maintenance) for me, my wife and daughter so we have no auto expenses to budget for. They also pay all internet and local/regional phone bills. I pay the long distance out of pocket. They also pay all cell phone bills for me, my wife and the kids.

So I figure about $5342 (I apologize if the math is off. My flight got in around 1:30 AM EST this morning and I was up at 5:30 AM EST to go to work) for mostly fixed expenses. We try to run with a budget of $600/mo for food, clothes and entertainment (clothes and entertainment are just for us out of that...kid's paychecks pay for their stuff) so by adding that in you get a total of $5942.

So if you take the $14596 and subtract out the $5942 you're left with $8654. Now I hope to take $5000 of that to put towards Hawaii and leave me with $3654 to pay as an additional "hammer" on Card 3. It's just a question of when certain parts of that income stream show up in July but otherwise I think I have a pretty good plan of action!

I'll also continue to try to keep some kind of an ebay income coming in (I currently have about $120 in the Paypal account) to help with the cause. Hopefully that will all be gravy money to throw at Card 3 but we'll see.

I had a secured credit card that I opened back in 2000 that I recently closed (it was costing me $10/month to keep the TL) and to my surprise the credit card company actually sent me the check for the original secured amount plus interest. Not that it made anything but I did get $303.49 for closing the account (not to mention no more $10/mo for an account I never used with an $1100 limit) and deposited it into my checking account this am! Yay.