Navigating life and finances
Yikes! After playing the “what if” game probably more times than I should, I decided to go for it and let our checking account get a smidge lower than my usual comfort level. I went ahead and made one final payment for the month. I need to remind myself that all funds are accounted for, and aside from that, we do also have overdraft protection. [Read more…]
So, today my car is stuck. Yep. Thanks to 5 inches of wet slippery snow, it will not budge from where I ran off the driveway. Part of our driveway is very steep, and that is where I ran into trouble. Being a AAA member, in all reality, getting stuck should be merely an inconvenience. Ah, yeah. [Read more…]
Our final payment cleared and the account is now officially closed! Today was the day to make the call and say good riddance to American Express. They served their intended purpose (to reduce interest), but they were a major thorn in my side. If you recall, after taking advantage of their zero percent interest offer, I dealt with quite a headache to get them to honor their agreement. In addition to talking with several customer service reps and an online chat rep, it still took almost three months for them to fix their problem of charging interest. The apology I received for their error meant nothing. As for the card itself, I had no intention of keeping it anyway and the grief they gave me only added fuel to my fire to do just so. Good riddance indeed, American Express! [Read more…]
Time for the mid-month update. February sure has been a good month thus far. Thanks to an unexpected check, we were able to pay off a decent amount of debt. We cruised right past our monthly goal of $1,500, and with this update, have paid off $2,768.76! Our total debt payoff for 2018 now stands at $4,463.29. Looking ahead, by the end of the month, we should see over $3,000 in debt reduction. It could be even more if we receive our anticipated escrow refund. [Read more…]
Yes, tomorrow we are paying off our two smallest debts, and I am beyond excited! How is this possible? Well, before getting into that, I want first to say that I give thanks to God for the unexpected blessing. That being said, let me share the details. [Read more…]
$13.99 for my free month? I don’t think so! Remember me telling you about my free month of Netflix? It turns out that I wasn’t supposed to have been the recipient of the email toting this offer. Supposedly it is a glitch in their system, and (I guess) they figured they could get away with charging me for signing back up. Not so fast, Netflix! I only discovered the charge when reviewing my statement yesterday. First of all, I’ve never subscribed to anything above their $7.99 plan and secondly, I canceled immediately to avoid any future charges. After chatting with a representative and hearing numerous excuses why they couldn’t refund my money, I asked for a supervisor. Long story short, I am being credited that $13.99. I made sure to save a screenshot of the conversation and will watch for that refund! Will I miss Netflix? Not really. I still have Amazon Prime, and that gives me more than enough options. [Read more…]
More hours with the preemie.After not hearing from the mom of the preemie, I thought perhaps she had changed her mind. Having worked as a nurse for some 25+ years, I’ve seen the struggle a parent faces making this decision. While deep down they know they need the respite, they worry about leaving their child in someone else’s care. My last home care case was a child on a ventilator. I cared for this kiddo for over seven years. After I moved away, it took the family two years to find a replacement they felt comfortable with. Needless to say, trust issues are often huge with these families. [Read more…]
I’m tired of the cold weather and want to push our debt payment along. February has always been a difficult month for me. By this time of the year, I am over any love of winter (not that I had all that much for it to begin with) and am eager to see it come to an end. This morning our temperature was -13, and we barely made it into the double digits. I guess I should try and look on the bright side as at least it was sunny today. But I just wish it wasn’t so darn cold! Okay, whining over…for now! [Read more…]
Envelope spending totals.Happy February 1. Now with January in the books, I thought I should do a recap of our envelope spending. As I mentioned in another post, we currently have six categories. So, how did we do? Here is the breakdown. [Read more…]
Telling our money where to go.Hubs and I are still pinching ourselves that the refi on our house went through. With all of the delays we experienced, we were beginning to have a lot of doubts. My seasonal job created a bit of a headache with verifying employment and why I wasn’t currently working there. Um, it’s a seasonal position! Why was this so hard for them to understand? Another delay was the appraisal. Being that we are so remote, there aren’t a lot of appraisers in our area. Our personal biggest concern was our debt-to-income ratio. I feel like we still have a lot of debt (well, we do!) and wondered how we could ever get approved to go down to a much shorter term. Additionally, our credit scores weren’t as high as they were when we took out the original loan. Anyhow, the refi did go through so I guess this is now just water under the bridge. Now my biggest concern is making sure we are in a good position to keep making those payments! [Read more…]