I-78 Commute's Financial Ramblings

Putting the paychecks to work

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:44:03 PST

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:...

September Budget Part I

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:25:36 PST

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...

First cool debt free expense

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:17:05 PST

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...

A thank you to everyone who followed our road to debt freedom

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:41:30 PST

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...

We finally did it...debt is all paid off!

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:43:47 PST

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...

Less than a month to debt freedom

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:28:21 PST

I can't believe we're less than one month away from having paid off ALL of our non-mortgage debts! $117k and change will FINALLY be gone after all this time (about 16 months of really cutting back and staying focused!)

We made a payment today of $2800+ on the last card and our...

Almost out of July!

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:52:33 PST

Well we are just about through the end of July and we were able to cash flow the trip to the Outer Banks with family for around $1500 all tolled. The house and the car rental were taken care of by relatives so we just had to pay for activities and food during the week (when you have...

Under $9k to go!

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:47:53 PST

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...

$9073.83 from being totally out of debt

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:15:47 PST

Well other than the mortgage of course. We made a payment of just under $1500 today to knock our last card down to just over $9000. So since 4/30/08 we've paid off $108,217 of credit card debt!!! So close to getting completely rid of all of our debt! It's a great feeling.

Here's...

More damage to the final number

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:15:37 PST

I'm out of town all week for work after being out of town since last Weds for play (Father's Day, wife's birthday and more) but we received a $1600 bonus I was able to apply to this last card.

So a pleasant update to the reduction planner:

Debt Tracker (06/22/09)
Card 1: $10570.26...

An extra $20 on the remaining balance

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:07:10 PST

What does an extra $20 do for me on a $12,190 balance? It makes the balance go to $12,170.

There are a lot of people out there that would say that putting $20 on this last card is a waste of time. Well anytime a credit card balance's interest is calculated on the average daily...

A sad day for Microsoft Money users like me

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:52:52 PST

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...

One month later...so close to being out of debt!

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:38:39 PST

Well I had hoped we would be under $20,000 in total debt left to pay off (minus the mortgage of course) and lo and behold we're there! As of today we have paid off over $105,000 worth of credit card debt in about 13.5 months. We are getting really close to being completely debt free...

Slowly but surely...

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Thu, 14 May 2009 07:25:29 PST

Well another payday goes by and another chunk comes off the last card in thd debt reduction game! We were able to fork over around $3300 onto Card 1 so here comes the new update:

Debt Tracker (05/14/09)
Card 1: $22222.70 (8.99)

We should be under $20k by this time next month....

Another little nick off the last card to payoff

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:22:59 PST

Well today is my favorite day (payday!) so even though evil CC1 decided to throw a $226 interest charge my way I fought back with a payment of $955 to knock it down a notch. Still a ways to go with this one but I hope to be done with it soon enough!

Debt Tracker (04/29/09)
Card...

Finally over $90,000 in cc debt paid off in less than one year!

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:44:36 PST

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...

New Update! Below $30,000 left from $110,000 start last April

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:31:15 PST

Today we got our tax return back and after paying our first estimates for 2009 to the IRS, PA and NJ we were able to knock Card 1 below $30,000! We're really excited knowing we've still got a couple of paychecks yet to come in April and we're really looking forward to making more...

Hooray for Payday

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:01:05 PST

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...

One credit card left!

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:32:55 PST

Well I am happy to announce that Card 2 is officially paid off as of today. The card at its peak had a balance of nearly $32,000 on it but now it has a zero balance! The debt reduction tracker has ONE card left on it now and I was able to make a $2000+ dollar payment on it today...

Another nibble!

justinpsu@hotmail.com (I-78 Commute) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:12:11 PST

Well as predicted the check for $4500 was deposited and posted and I immediately took $4410 of that (had to put $90 to good use elsewhere) and hammererd it on Card 2! So now it's official...as of March 4th, 2009 (next payday!) we will be down to one account with one big, hefty balance...