A "Yippee!" and a big "Sigh"

Been busy, busy, busy, but staying on the plan. Actually, getting more on the plan than ever before I think.

My sidebar is majorly updated with achievements.

Most importantly, the initial $1000.00 Emergency Fund is all set. With a bit of extra at 1026.34 and growing in my new ING account. It's over there and I won't touch except for real emergencies.

My taxes are all done and I got a nice refund of $1200, so that finished up the emergency fund, took care of a few extra bills (sports team dues of $75) and I've paid off my first credit card. It hasn't hit yet on my checking account, so I haven't crossed it off the sidebar, but very soon.

Then I'm going to call that particular company and find out what better card I can get if they want to keep me as a customer. For some reason, I'm on a "business" card despite not being a business in any capacity. I want to get back to a basic card with good rates and then when I need to use it for any zero transfers, it'll be ready to help me rock out this debt. Using the tools available to me.

I also updated my financials and sat down and figured out my full budget for the month, which would be the first time I've ever done this. I think I'm in a pretty good place to start though. I have also established how my debt snowball will work and in what current order. My only debate is if I should go after my car loan in the mix of my credit cards or if I should go after first my cards, then my car. But it's smaller than some and it's still debt, so there you go. It's all in together.

I also got paid for two of my extra jobs, one for that part-time job I found for $60 and then some work for my brother. So I'm working it.

The only challenge that's been disconcerting is that I blanked out on the fact that even though I'm paying debt off, that debt is still accruing interest, so it's two steps forward and one step back.

I also will admit that in the end of January, I also add some new credit card charges because I needed to purchase something for $150 but didn't have the cash. And last week, I put $17 on one card I left on my wallet because I wasn't sure I had enough in my account. This last one stemmed from me running out of space in my checkbook register, not having a new one then not getting organized. But I'm back on track and I've removed the credit cards from my wallet. I'd still like to freeze them in the freezer, so I won't be tempted.

So, yeah. Forward!

This Week

A kind of slow week this week and so much snow!

We're less than two inches from our snowiest season ever on record for my city. And that's a lot of snow here in my area of the country. But hey, it's kind of like a personal best for Old Man Winter, you know. And all that moisture is good for the earth and our plants when spring finally rolls around.

And even though I don't like Winter (outside of the holidays), I don't mind it as much when it's all white and pretty, versus gray and depressing.

So the snow is cool for me.

What else?

I transferred an additional $75 to my ING Emergency Fund and it was taken out of my normal account's E-Fund today. Again, I figure it's a touch bit harder to mess with (but not completely out of reach), I'm better off. So, I'm up to $600 over there.

I finally sat down and filled out my budget book last Saturday night. I'm going to update it for this week, then I'll attempt to actually "budget" myself for my next two paychecks. Good stuff.

My brother and I also told my mom about our ideas for our personal finance and our Dad. She's in agreeance and we're moving forward with this. I also gave her my Dave Ramsey book. I do like that book, even though I'm not completely drinking the koolaid with him. Well, I am for Steps 1-3. But when ever I reach step 4, I'm pretty sure I'll be so happy and excited, I'll be fine with figuring out the next best steps.

I do thoroughly enjoy his radio show though. I listen to it every day, in addition to reading all of my favorite blogs on here.

On the workout front, we're not doing our second round of our workouts and we're all increasing the weights we're using and dropping the time it takes. So, stronger and faster. Awesome.

This weekend, a garden show in Madison to think about spring. But not buy anything!

Have a good weekend!

Yeah for Me!!

I got paid today and it's my extra check in the pay cycle, so it gives me some extra money to kick towards my emergency fund!!

I took care of all of my necessities, so all of my bills are paid, I have a fresh rent check for February ready for the boyfriend (he's my "landlord") and the last half of my gym class payment all set.

I also set aside $25 in my regular expenses savings account (basically where I transfer money that I know is going out soon, so it's not just sitting in my checking account). This is 1/3 of my spring fee for my sport, so I'm ahead of the ball there and won't get hit by some big $75 ping in two months.

But more awesomely, I took $500 and using a referral from Paid Twice (who I read all the time and totally dig snowflaking!), I opened my first ING savings account for my emergency fund. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Plus, I got a $25 bonus for opening it due to the referral and because I opened it with over $250. So I made an extra $25 today on top of everything! So excited. Plus Paid Twice then gets $10 from her referral for her son's college fund. Quadruple yeah!

My plan is to fully fund my emergency fund at ING and let that money do it's thing and build interest, then move on to my debt snowball and hit my debts hard. Plus, it takes a few days to transfer any money from ING to my checking, so I'm less inclined to dip into my emergency fund for non-emergencies, but it's still there and liquid for emergencies.

I updated my savings and my net worth on the sidebar. My networth increased a positive 1.2% today to 3.2% ...

So, today is a good day. Sweet. Quadruple sweet.

Itchin' to Do Something ...

The downside to having your paychecks every two weeks and wanting to get rollin' on your personal finance plan is that it's a lot of hurry up and wait sometimes.

Some good things for this week ... I think I'll be getting an extra paycheck working into my finances. Which will help my Emergency Fund a lot.

I'm planning on protecting my Emergency Fund from myself by putting a big chunk of into a new ING account, so I can earn some interest on it too. I can start a new one for $250 and use somebody's referral that I've seen out there in PF land.

I've not got a new habit of listening to Dave Ramsey's day-old online show while I work. I like to hear the stories - good and bad - and it kind of keeps me motivated to keep working even when my usual tendencies of procrastination and surfing try to kick in.

Tonight, I'll go work for my brother and we'll get started on our plan.

Good stuff ...

Fitty

In my office on a Saturday, taking care of some paperwork before I go work that freelance job for $60.

Look at my checking account, realized I'm in good shape for less than the next week until I get paid again, so I transferred another $50 to my emergency fund.

Little by little ...

Good Karma?

A lot of people say that if you start moving forward in a positive manner and moving towards positive health, good things will happen to you more often.

They say that if you start paying off your debt, more money will its way to you too.

So it's pretty cool that just as I was updating all of my bills and feeling calm that I had paid off my bills for this month and tucked away some money to my emergency fund, I just got an e-mail giving me some part-time hours doing something fun AND it'll pay me $60 for just a few hours of work.

Sweet!

11%

So, part of updating my debt payoff totals for this month was figuring out the percentages of my payoffs. I have - in just two payments - paid off 11% of my remaining car loan.

That's much more motivating than 2% or less on the others. But even with 2%, I think "Wow, only 50 more updates to go at that rate!".

Kind of cool.

Part of my discussion with my brother was telling him how I'm educating myself by reading different books, writers and PF blogs, specifically Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey. As it turns out, one of his close friends also mentioned Dave Ramsey. So I explained Dave's methods with the baby steps, snowball method and that I've been listening to Dave's shows online at work while I work on projects. Much like it did for me, what I talked about struck a chord with my brother too. So he's going to listen to some of Dave's shows too and I'm going to bring him my copy of The Total Money Makeover.

It's nice and reassuring to have someone close and important to me walking alongside me in this journey.

So, right now I'm listening to Dave's show from yesterday. I have to admit that a small part of me gains solace from hearing some of the callers call in with much worse situations than I have. And I really enjoy Dave giving them No Bullshit answers.