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2019 Financial Plan Progress

1) Purchase a used car with saved funds and tax refund by the end of February.

2)Pay down balance on cc #1 to $2000.00 by December 31st.

3) Continue to eat super healthy by growing some of my own food and buy some at the farmer’s market and stores.

4) Contribute any coupon or sales savings to credit card payoff.

5) I will also contribute any funds I get from rebates to credit card payoff also.

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2020 Financial Plan

1)...
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It's that time of year when Patient Saver likes to analyze her total spending for the year, which of course couldn't be possible without her careful expense tracking all year long!

The big picture: My total spending for the year was $39,530. Of my 30 or so expense categories, expenses increased from last year in 12 categories, including my top 3 biggest expenses, unfortunately. Expenses stayed about even with last year in another 6 categories, and expenses actually decreased...
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Well final cost to repair my car $776.26
The funds actually came out of the sinking fund that I save for car repair and a new car. I sort of feel defeated but I am thankful for being able to pay cash for the repair. I literally knocked my car sinking fund down to zero. I went ahead and got my headlights cleaned, cost was $80. It had become increasingly difficult to see at night. I’d tried the toothpaste remedy and other stuff but nothing cleaned them. Pray fully I can the...
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1.) Save $1,000 in HSA
We exceeded this number by double and paid a lot of medical bills out of pocket.

2.) Pay off $7,500 in Debt
We paid off over $10,000 in debt this year! Sadly we added more debt as well, but we are still below what we started with at the beginning of the year.

3.) Add $1,000 in Car Fund
We did not complete this. Well sort of. We did save over $1,000 in the car fund. But we had to raid it several times for car and/or home fixes. So we are finishing...
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1.) Pay off $3,100 Credit Card
This is the last remaining debt from our home remodel. It is 0% interest until August so it needs to be paid in full by then.

2.) Pay off $3,950 Construction Loan
0% interest debt from waterproofing our addition. Expires in October so it needs to be paid in full by then.

3.) Pay off $1,900 Medical Bill
Not really a huge deal since it is 0% interest for two more years. But it would be nice to be debt free again.

4.) Save $2,000 for Vacation
We...
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Debts
Mortgage -$112,886.90 (-$155.54)
0% CC -$3,100 (-$400)
Helitech Loan -$3,950 (-$50)
Medical Loan -$1,900 (-$100)

Savings
Roth IRAs +$16,217‬ (+$496)
401K +$26,208 (+$1,005)
Emergency Fund +$2,229 (-$199)
Animal Fund +$105 (+$0)
Truck Fund +$1,665 (-$190)
HSA +$506 (-$45)

Overall: +$1,772.54

Average month, but I'm actually surprised it is not worse with all the Christmas shopping! I did not make my goal of paying $400 on the Helitech loan this month....
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My 2 paychecks hit the bank this morning so I wrote a check for my property taxes & to repay a small loan to my mom for the new A/C. I also sent $500 to my Roth IRA. I have until April to max out my 2019 contributions. I have $1500 remaining.
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Christmas Day was great! Loved the movie, "Little Women," and we found a Chinese restaurant that was open. I had some lo mein which, even though advertised as "small," was big enough for three meals. Spent $7 at the movie and $11 for dinner.

Another friend joined us and we played games and just had a really good time together.

The following morning we went out for breakfast to a diner that was so cheap! And good, too. I spent $4 for the meal and left $1 for the waitress....
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I've spent several months using the online version of YNAB. It works fine. There are some things that are just different, such as not letting categories go negative into the next month. I get why they do this, but we have a lot fluff in our account, so I'm definitely not really going to have an issue. I can't make notes on each category without them rolling over into the next month. I'd like each month to have it's own notes. I do love being able to link the accounts. I only have...
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We got our performance awards this paycheck. What a nice surprise. I was not expecting them before January. My pay stub noted that I netted $597.15 from my $900 award. So basically 1/3 went towards taxes. This & 2.5 hours OT will go towards my property taxes.

With this last paycheck I completed my max contributions for the year for my TSP. I have increased my contributions to meet the max next year. I still have $2k to contribute to my IRA for the year. I’m behind due to...
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I hope everyone had a nice holiday. I did, but truth be told, I always look forward to the start of a new year and new beginnings.

I was invited to join my friend's Christmas dinner with her family, which I did. There were about 10 adults. I enjoyed it, but after coffee and dessert and just before they were going to start opening presents, I chose to leave; the gift giving is such a family-oriented thing and I didn't want to get in the way of that.

Today we walked friend's...
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Have your heard about this new company Trademore? Text is https://www.trademore.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz_bP37HU5gIVkYbACh0CKwHqEAAYASAAEgKDL_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds and Link is https://www.trademore.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz_bP37HU5gIVkY...

They buy and sell used phones. I have a couple lying around; if they will buy them at any price, I will be happy to mail them off in prepaid mailers and have them out of my hair. I wouldn't mind having an extra dollar or two either (for debt repayment purposes, of course).

I don't buy expensive phones, so I'm not certain if they will want mine. But, we shall see.

Tomorrow is payday; since I know I want to pay an additional $572.87 towards my 5th wheel loan and since the funds are available, I pulled the trigger a day early. I lost $69.61 to interest leaving $503.26 to reduce the balance down to $42,170.90. I have now paid off 10% of the original principal balance.


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Another year of keeping it simple. We met our OOP Max for our health insurance in 2019 and I am sure we will meet it again for 2020, so main goal is to not add any more debt and to stay on top of medical bills. In order to do this we will just be paying minimums on our current debts.

2020 Goals

Savings
-Pay in cash for Laughlin trip in January
-Keep savings at/above $5K by end of year

Debt
-Store Loan (From $978.74 to $0)
-Mom Loan #3 (From $30,012.24 to...
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Overall I am super happy with how we did on our goals for 2019! Everyday that I am still breathing is a win for me, everything else is just gravy.


Here are our 2019 goals and how we did on them:

We are keeping it really simple for 2019 goals. Keep breathing, pay minimums on our current debts, and don't accrue any new debt (with our HSA fund pretty depleted we need to make sure we aren't acquiring any medical debt).

2019 Goals

Savings
-Pay in cash for Laughlin...
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Here is the last update of 2019! Our debt went down $23,313.71 this year! I am very happy we were able to stay on top of our medical bills this year and not completely drain our savings.

FB Sales were madness the last few weeks of the year...it shows in my savings account as well as the tornado known as my house! I had PTO left to use up so I am off of work from 12/24 through 1/2 and am excited to get my office clean as well as get my inventory organized. I love having...
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Celebrations for this update:
-$669.32 paid off in the last 2 weeks!!
-Total Debt went under the next $1000 mark for the 2nd update in a row!!

Student Loan $0
Payback Savings $0
David's Bridal $0
Scheel's Card $0
Total Rewards $0
LOC - US Bank $0
Ring Iddeal $0
Best Buy $0
HELOC $0
Store Loan $1,099.09
Mom Loan #2/#3 $30,012.24
MO Mortgage $77,741.31
My Mortgage $141,400.00
Our Mortgage $237,247.92
Total = $487,500.56

Down $669.32 in the last two weeks!

Starting...
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Well 2019 is coming to a close...christmas was great we didn't host this year so cost us barely nothing in food, has a nice kinda quiet day...everyone got what they wanted for christmas and some money (I always give the kids money)...went to the boxing day sales and bought a dress...really didn't find anything we wanted or needed but a new dress sounded nice...so I splurged. I was going to do the 52 week challenge but decided that money would be better in the bank earning interest...
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I hope that a Christmas was especially merry & bright this year!
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If you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas to you. Happy Holidays for all others. In just another hour, we will be hosting a get together with family and friends. We had our Christmas breakfast with our sons and DS#1's girlfriend (I think soon to be fiance). Very simple: biscuit casserole, bacon and orange juice. The casserole contained eggs, cheese and sausage. We exchanged gifts, laughed and get together preparations began.

We definitely cash flowed Christmas, about $500...
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Wishing each of you SA readers and bloggers peace and joy this season of holy days!

Our Christmas has been wonderful with our girls home! We received a gift of an Escape Room in Box. We are looking forward to the challenge later today!!

I hope to get some time to reflect on 2020 financial goals soon!


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