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Home > Archive: May, 2014

Archive for May, 2014

Change Jar Update

May 27th, 2014 at 07:34 pm

I cashed in the change over lunch. It totaled to $77.53. So just a couple dollars under my guess. I added $75 to our trip fund, and the rest I just put back in the change jar for next time.

Just found out that the neighbor wants to be paid for cutting my hay, instead of the trade we had. So now I will have to come up with money for that.

So between that and the goat refund it looks like I need around $300. I have no idea where I am going to scrounge up that much money. In hind sight, I should have probably applied the extra payday to this, but I am still glad to pay down debt, and I am sure the Lord will provide.

Extra Payday!

May 27th, 2014 at 03:22 pm

While doing bills I realized that this week was an extra payday! Whoot!

So I put another $50 in the trip fund, paid down my credit card from $300 to $30 and also put back $250 for my next car payment!! *happy dance*

I was going to do a half car payment this month and next, but now I can do the full $500 this month.

I only need another $50 and I will be done with the money for goats I bought. (Part of trip fund)

I am rearranging my sidebar to match what goals & funds I have changed.

Part of the animal fund money was actually for my trip.

I need $1,150 for my trip at the end of June, and right now we are sitting at $640. Hoping to scrape up enough before then, but it is going to be hard.

I am going to cash in one of my change jars today, and put that towards the trip. I am guessing it will be around $80.

Good News & Payday

May 26th, 2014 at 04:28 pm

Payday today. Bank is closed, so cant actually deposit until tomorrow but I know all the numbers.

$50 to Animal Fund
$40 to Trip Fund
$50 to Car Payment

With the rest I am trying to pay down the credit card, after several needed shopping trips, and eating out with friends too many times. It is not due until July. But I just hate seeing a large balance on there.

Someone contacted me out of the blue, wanting to buy the goat that I have to give a refund on! They are only paying half price due to other circumstances, but I thought I was going to have to eat him, so I am thrilled to be getting any amount of money out of him.

Also finally got a word back on my last freelance job estimate I did a couple months ago. I got the job! I have no idea when I start, so it might be months, but I am so happy to have the extra income I could do a dance.

Not sure if I will put it towards my car, or towards fencing yet. Putting it towards the fencing would be the wisest financially, but I really want to get out of this car loan even if its interest free. So we will see if my emotional side or logical side wins.

Bad News

May 23rd, 2014 at 03:53 pm

Well the good news is I think I have sold another goat. (Wont get the money until end of June.)

The bad news is, another goat which I had already sold, the buyer backed out. She had already paid, and now I owe her $200. Frown

Darn it. There goes everything I saved this month. It feels like I will never catch up.

I can not wait until this trip is over, and the car is paid off. I will be so less stressed about money!

Payday, Propane & Paint

May 19th, 2014 at 04:08 pm

Put $50 towards goat payment and I forgot the lady owed me $50 so I only need to come up with another $150 and that will be all covered!

Put back $50 for car payment.

Paid all the utility bills, and also paid an extra payment on the propane.

We signed up for budget billing this year to lock in a lower rate per gallon. Instead of being hit with the $3-$4 per gallon rate over the winter, now we are locked in so the rate cant exceed $2 I believe. Hurray!

They figured up how much we would use based on our first year though, which was like 800 gallons because we didnt have drywall up so most of it was leaking out. This past year we only used around 400 gallons.

So I talked them into lower payments based on the smaller amount, and told them if I happened to use more than that I would just pay the balance up front. The payments arent suppose to start until June, but I always put the money back monthly, so I just sent my normal budget amount to them as an extra payment this month. That way I will have a buffer in case we do use more than I expect.

Ace Hardware was running a buy 1 get 1 free on paint.

We went and got 4 gallons. So we spent $100 but saved $100, and we were going to have to buy the paint soon anyway, so Im thankful for the savings.

Payday Progress

May 12th, 2014 at 04:22 pm

Not much progress here. Went shopping the last 2 weekends, and trying to play catch up.

I did get some AWESOME deals shopping on Saturday though. Got over $120 worth of clothes at Kohls for $30, and got back $10 in Kohls cash. So $20 total really.

Put $50 in animal fund.
Put $50 back for car payment.



Mortgage Payment & House Chart

May 6th, 2014 at 03:37 pm

Payment posted today bring my total mortgage down to $50,431.08!

Getting close to my goal of $50,000. I am sure I am going to go way past it by the end of the year, which is great.

Borrowing an idea from another blogger on here I created my own house chart to be a visual motivator on how much I have left.

Click on the picture to make it larger.

Text is and Link is http://imgur.com/wlUGNCK


I am not 100% sure I did it right, or if the math is right. lol. But I am going to trust it is for now. It will be fun to watch the squares fill up and see the years tick down!

Please note the percentage done is the percentage of payments, not the percentage of the balance.

Window guy is going to fix the window, and we can go ahead and put our trim up. Praise the Lord!

Cars & Windows

May 5th, 2014 at 03:45 pm

I have a $500 payment to give to grandpa when I see him on Wednesday. Bringing my total owed to $2,000 on the Neon.

Father-in-law found an engine for my Cobalt finally. It is $900 with 100k miles on it. Which is not as good as I had hoped, but we are having trouble finding engines, so we may just buy it and be done with it.

We are FINALLY putting up trim in our house. We are making it ourselves, and we stained the first couple pieces on Saturday and I must say they are quite beautiful. I am impressed.

But atlas when we were measuring the windows I noticed that one of our new windows has a crack in it. GR. I called the installer today and told him I want it fixed. He is suppose to call me back. But it is probably going to slow down putting our trim up. I was hoping to get it up tomorrow. Frown

Paid mortgage today. I will update numbers when it goes through tomorrow.

May Goals

May 2nd, 2014 at 07:28 pm

Two posts in one day. Sorry!

Currently I just have my 4 big goals for the year. I think to help keep my motivated I am going to start breaking them up into monthly goals so I can make sure I stay on track, and have little victories.

Recently my focus has been putting every dollar towards car payments, but I think I need to change a bit. I would like the car payment gone, but realistically once I get the Cobalt fixed and sell it, it will pay off my current car loan on the Neon anyway. Besides the car loan is interest free, and has no real scheduled payment, although I was trying to pay $500 a month.

I have other things that are needing attention that are more pressing. Our trip is at the end of June. I have to come up with another $300 to pay for the goats I bought, and we also need $500 for gas and spending money.

We just got our LOC so Im going to have to start making payments on that as well. Plus my savings have been lacking. So Im going to cut back on the car payment. I still have my next $500 to pay him on Wednesday, but my June payment will most likely be smaller.

So for the month of May here are my goals!

1.) Put $250 towards car loan.
2.) Save $150+ for goat purchases.
3.) Save $250 for our trip.
4.) Any extra goes to LOC or Animal Fund.

Spending Splurge

May 2nd, 2014 at 03:40 pm

I spent a lot yesterday. I took my mom out for dinner and shopping for her birthday. I had a big list of stuff I needed to buy. But I did thrifty shopping, and it was all needed stuff so Im trying not to worry about it too much.

I bought 4 shirts for a total of $30. (All resale)

I bought mom a Bluetooth for her birthday for $50 but dad pitched in $20, so total $30.

Both sets of our sheets had holes in them, a new set like we had was $50. So instead I went to Ross and got 2 sets for $15 each.

Bought all the stuff we need to start working on our trim. Sand paper, brushes, clothes, stain, poly, etc. It cost $125 after I used a 10% off coupon. Will be put on the LOC.

Bought a $3 vase at a thrift store.

Used $25 of our grocery money and went to Sams and got some items. (We have been going under grocery budget lately, hurray!)

The good news is, another goat had kids, completing our unexpected spring kidding. I counted them yesterday and all told I have $1,200 worth of goats that are sold right now, plus 3 babies that I am keeping. And perhaps another goat or two I am considering selling. Not bad!

Now I need to hurry up and get the other bred for more fall babies.