Today I feel full of random thoughts, with a lot of them focusing on expiring interest rates. I realize that these deadlines cause me a lot of stress. One would think that given how far we’ve come on our journey to conquer our debt, it would get easier. But (at least for me), it hasn’t. I continue to scrutinize every account, every dollar, every scenario…you get the drift. My mind won’t let me coast along with the ride. I need to feel that I’m doing something…anything…to keep moving it along, even if it is just thinking about it! Poor Hubs gets tired of hearing about it, so having my blog to vent is a good thing.
One of the things that for me is a hidden blessing is that Hubs lets me handle the logistics of getting us to the finish line. For the most part, he doesn’t care about how we get there, just that we do get there! He is good with seeing our debt go down. Do I feel unsupported or that we aren’t on the same page? Not in the least. Hubs is more than doing his part in bringing home consistently good paychecks. I’m happy that he trusts me to make sure that every dime he brings home screams for mercy. I’ve always had a bit of an independent nature (okay, perhaps slightly controlling) so, for me, telling these dimes where to go is right up my alley.
So what about those expiring interest rates? With the Citi rate expiring in a little over two months, I’m feeling the pressure to get it paid ASAP. I have another payment scheduled for Tuesday, which will bring the amount we owe down to $2,500. Once our tax refund is received, We will hit it with yet another $1,000. Could we get it paid off by the end of April? Doing so would be a push, and it would also mean we would put less towards our savings goal. But at this point, I think it is worth entertaining. After a completely crappy first quarter, a win would be a huge psychological boost for both of us.
Looking even further ahead, I already know May is going to be expensive as we have a lot of extra bills coming our way, all auto related. I feel we could tackle these bills as they come up by reducing our snowball — not the first time we’ve had to do this. Meanwhile, I’ll try to squirrel away money in our envelopes to help offset wherever I can.
Our savings goal is another thing that has been on my mind. To an extent, I feel it is holding us back. Should we go back to trying to work on both savings and debt reduction? I don’t know. I’m pretty sure our $6,500 furnace ordeal scared us into blizzard mode. Perhaps we could go back to throwing random weekly amounts into our savings. Hmm, I’ll need to give more thought to this and discuss it with the Hubs.
Shoot, I’m not finished with my random thoughts, but duty calls. Ugh. Hate it when work gets in the way of my creative thinking. Lol
You made me chuckle about being controlling. I like “independent” better, too!
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…Getting in the Zone
It’s all a matter of perspective. Lol
I feel the same way – dh doesn’t want to know HOW or WHY it is doing down, but does a happy dance (well, not as happy as mine, but….) when something is paid off. He is the one who MAKES the money and I am the one that MANAGES it, so it works out really well for us. It isn’t that he doesn’t care, he just isn’t interested in that sort of thing while I actually enjoy it….well, I enjoy the process, not the debt part. And I’m just going to say it – I AM controlling 🙂
I think if you put your mind to getting Citi paid off by the end if April, you will, plain and simple. You are so gazelle intense about this nothing is going to stand in your way. While we are doing really well, we are STILL having an issue with eating out – it is our biggest vice and one that we don’t seem to be able to change. Any suggestions????
Makes the situation a win-win! There will come a day when we are counting our savings increase and not our debt decrease!
No good suggestions in the eating out department. I guess I have an advantage in that Hubs eats out so much when he is away that when he comes home, he prefers to eat at home.
I don’t know how much you have in saving so it is hard to answer. If it were me, I would try to pay it off. Sell extra stuff, work extra if I can. It is only a m 5 weeks. You sound like you are leaning towards paying it off.
Sue: Do you work full time? Are you eating out because you don’t have time to cook or you don’t like to cook. Could you bulk cook on the weekend. Crock pots are a must for working long days. If you are eating out twice a week, try cutting it down to once a week. We you get that done then go for once every other week. Instead of going out to eat, get take out and share a meal. Chinese and pizza are cheaper then most sit down restaurants. Also easy meals count as dinner. Everything does not have to be a 5 course meal. I did a post about quick dinners if you are interested. https://mcoia.blogspot.com/2018/05/dinner-in-20-minutes-or-less.html
After recent additional expenses (furnace pipe/deck issue, plowing, lost keys) we are at almost $3,000. I am working all the hours offered and now that I can drive to my house, am also working on doing more with my business. In my world, Citi needs to be paid off by the end of April!
Quick and easy meals are my favorite, especially since I hate to cook! I’ll also check your post out. I’d love to add a little more variety. Good tips for Sue as well!
I’m NOT too busy to cook, I just absolutely hate it. I would rather scrub toilets with a toothbrush that cook and clean up!! We are working on it though – trying to get better each month like you suggested. I will definitely check out that post – thank you!!!!!
I am right there with you! My saving grace is that Hubs is away so much that I rarely need to. What’s for dinner tonight? I’m thinking yogurt. Lol
Yea…..that would not fly in my house 🙂 Since dh takes sandwiches for lunch every day, he doesn’t really like them for dinner so that is out. He does do some of the cooking and so does dd, so I really shouldn’t complain….but I will anyways, lol 🙂
Perhaps your dd and dh could each choose a day of the week to cook (and make sure there are leftovers!) and that could eliminate some of the cooking you have to do. Hubs like to grill (even in the winter) so that also helps me.