The farm and farmhouse

Debts
Mortgage -$113,811 (-$151.09)
0% CC -$6,843 (-$580)

Savings
Roth IRAs +$14,877 (+$653)
401K +$20,955 (+$1,129)
Emergency Fund +$3,575 (+$481)
Animal Fund +$623 (-$819)
Truck Fund +$1,615 (+$105)
HSA +$780 (+$240)

Overall: +$2,520.09

Markets recovered this month and everything moved up slowly but surely except for the animal fund which was wiped pretty low after the purchase of hay and a new goat.

Credit card progress is slowing down as expected since my hours are significantly slower.

Mortgage -$113,962.90 (-$151.30)
0% CC -$7,423 (-$1,061)


Roth IRAs +$14,224 (-$641)
401K +$19,826 (-$665)
Emergency Fund +$3,094 (+$446)
Animal Fund +$1,442 (+$1,242)
Truck Fund +$1,510 (+$250)
HSA +$540 (+$301)

Overall: +$2,145.30

Made bigger progress this month but it was offset in the market drop of our retirement funds.

I thought it would take until August for our net worth to hit zero but I am at $-600 right now and will be positive as soon as I get my web design check this week!!

Here are the April Numbers:

Mortgage -$114,114.20 (-$150.70)
0% CC -$8,484 (-$414)


Roth IRAs +$14,865 (+$485)
401K +$20,491 (+1,013)
Emergency Fund +$2,648 (+$530)
Animal Fund +$200 (-$300)
Truck Fund +$1,260 (-$160)
HSA +$239 (+$239)

Overall: +$2,371.70
Not huge progress from last month but still in the right direction. May is already looking like it will be a much better month.

Well both the bonus and the health insurance came through. We decided to put back the $500 bonus for our vacation. Since it's already past time to buy plane tickets and such. The dirt pile can wait.


We have already deposited $60 into the HSA, but I have no idea where it is, or how to access it. So we will have to find that information out.

Paid my mortgage today, new balance is $114,114.20.

Had to buy more hay and pay for a vet bill so my animal fund is dwindling again. I can't wait to sell some goats and fully bulk that fund up so I don't have to keep pulling from my regular income.

We went wild crazy and spent over $600 this weekend of husband's overtime money. We got lots of stuff for the house including our remaining doors, door knobs, some decor, and we even printed and hung some pictures of us for the first time since we have been married... (Nearly 7 years. ) I guess it just goes to show that we are finally settling in. It is SO FUN to actually get to decorate and style things, rather than make do with hand me downs and unfinished spaces. We are pushing hard to finish most of our in-progress projects because we are having several guests this month. We've been working every night on something.

We are about to completely finish the hallway and is it weird if I say it might be my favorite room in the house? I built a bookshelf that fits perfectly, and hanging above it is our personalized map with pins to all the places we have traveled. We both love travel and outdoors, so the room is adventure themed and we are going to cover it in pictures of us on all our vacations, and it has some mementos we have picked up along the way. Such as a bottle of sand from the desert, and a yellow rock from Yellowstone. Husband is an amateur photographer so we are printing his favorite landscapes to hang as well. It's nice to walk to our bedroom and remember all the good trips and fun we have had together.

Husband got a couple of good surprises.

His job deposited 2% of his 2018 salary into his 401K as an additional annual contribution. It wasn't a ton since he only worked a few months last year and he was at the lower trainee rate, but it was still about $300 dollars extra. I am wondering (hoping) if this is a yearly thing. That would be sweet.

Also they are supposed to be receiving a bonus for a year of being accident free. Word on the street it is $500, but not 100% on that yet.

Unfortunately he also found out he has to work all weekend. Which is a bummer, but good for our finances. Between that and the bonus we should have enough money to grade our yard. Except a neighbor stopped by yesterday and offered to help us do it for free... But it would probably take several months since it would be in his free time. So now we have to decide if delaying it would be worth saving around $1,000. Or if we would rather get it done ASAP so we can plant grass, and start landscaping. I'm fine waiting, but I'll let my husband decide.

Our driveway finally got rocked yesterday, so that is big progress. It looks so much better. It is exciting to have enough money to be able to finish some projects. I'm picking up a door today for our basement. We are rushing to tie up some loose ends because we are having quite a bit of company next month and would love to have the house "done."

I'd like to start doing a monthly check in at the end of each month with numbers so I can keep track of my progress.

Here is where I stand for March:

Mortgage -$114,264.90
0% CC -$8,898


Roth IRAs +$14,380
401K +$19,478
Emergency Fund +$2,118
Animal Fund +$500
Truck Fund +$1,420

I think we broke about even this month as far as net worth. Had a lot of expenses and not as much income. I still managed to get my CC under the next thousand but I didn't meet my monthly goal.

HSA should start automatically withdrawing next week, so there will be steady progress on that goal.

We also did an "adult thing." We went ahead and signed up for life insurance through husband's job. It was only a couple bucks a check and now we will both be covered if anything happens.

April will be spent paying myself back and saving for my mini vacation in May.

Well we finally got signed up for health insurance. It's not accepted yet, but it should kick in on April 1st as long as all the paperwork goes through. Final amount was $360 a month minus his $160 raise. So $200 a month out of pocket, or $50 a check. (weekly)

This includes putting $1,000 into an HSA this year. His employer will also put in $1,250 I think. In the future I would like to up this number, but it will work for now until we pay off our debt.

Our driveway was finally bladed and it looks great. Now I just need to get the new rock delivered. Been busy working on the house.

On the financial front, not much progress. Paid a couple hundred on the CC, and have been paying myself back after all the expenses. Thankful that this is an extra paycheck month for us.

Ugh after a great January and February, March is already kicking my tail a week in, even worse than expected. So many holes I am trying to plug but I can't stop the bleeding.

So many big expenses popped up this week, just when I was feeling on top of everything.

1. I FINALLY got my car titled in my name ($315)
2. Had to buy hay ($315)
3. Husband's birthday present ($200)
4. Car insurance went up more than expected ($670)
5. Propane tank ran out and had to refill in addition to my normal budget billing ($400)
6. Received a bill from the vet I'd been waiting on ($60)

On top of this my mom decided she wants to go on a short vacation with me for her birthday so I need to come up with around $500 in the next two months.

Ehhhh. Thankfully I had money put back for the present, hay, and car insurance. But I still need to come up with over $700 for the propane and car title fees. That plus my smaller web design month, my debt payoff is going to be really down. Booo.

This month my husband and I have to start paying our own health insurance which will suck $300 a month out of our the budget. But he will get a $160 raise next week, so really only need to come up with $140ish extra.

Oh well. It shall pass. Lots of year left.

Home remodel is at least going well. We got some more trim up, and we are hopefully getting the driveway graded this weekend. Then we can finally purchase new rock.

Paid my mortgage today, new balance is $114,264.90!

I reviewed my net worth since starting YNAB again 6 months ago. In the last six months my net worth (if I exclude my mortgage and retirement accounts) has increased by 70%!! I've increased savings and decreased debt by over $8,000 in 6 months. Which means we have been saving/paying debt with over 30% of our monthly income.

If I include our mortgage debt and retirement accounts we have increased out net worth by 12%.

We are still about $4,500 negative in our net worth (excluding mortgage and retirement) but I am positive we will be in the positive by the year end and most likely sooner. Then it will be a longer marathon to be positive in our entire net worth.

If we count our house value as an asset we are already there, but I prefer not to include it since we have no plans on selling. I dream of a day of more money in the bank than I have in debt.

Onward and upwards.

Well I went to the DMV with the new originals they said I needed, and now they are saying I need something else!? I started crying in the DMV and left.

Now my relative is driving the 3 hours to me this weekend with all the papers again. I am beyond frustrated. Ugh.

I got half of my payment for a website I am doing and added $500 to the animal fund. The other $400 I left in my checking account to pay for the next couple months of animal expenses. I need to sell a minimum of 11 goats this year to pay for all their expenses.

I am unsure if I will be able to pay my goal of $1,000 worth of debt in March. It's husband's birthday month and also I will have to pay to transfer the new car to my name (plates, taxes, etc) which will be over $300. I'm receiving a smaller web design check this month as well. So we'll see how it goes.

First the good car news. My father in law was kind enough to wash and clean out my old car, and park it in his driveway for sale yesterday. Well we already have someone seriously interested. It is at the mechanic today getting inspected and if it looks good it will be sold. That is the fastest I've ever seen a car sold! Unfortunately I will be getting about $200 less than I wanted for it. Father in law offered a lower price than I wanted to start with, but at least it will be off my hands and I will be able to cancel the insurance which is due to renew for the year in the next two weeks.

Then the bad news. I am having a terrible time trying to get my new van changed over to my name. It belonged to a relative who passed away and left it to her daughter. Who is selling it to me. I live right on a state line and the daughter lives in a different state than the deceased relative and I do.

Well we drove the 3 hours to her house and went with her to the DMV with all the multiple papers in hand. After waiting we were told sorry but we had to go the other states DMV. So we hop in the car and drive the 45 minutes and wait all over again. Only to be told no, we need to go back to the old one. By then it was already closed for the day...

So then she goes back alone another day and they tell her, NO they were right the first time we have to go back to the other state...

So then she mails me the title and all the necessary paperwork (will, trust, affidavit, death certificate, etc) Well I went again yesterday and FINALLY they say I have everything I need, except she had mailed me a copied death certificate and I need the original. ARRRRG.

So now she is mailing me the original and hopefully I will be able to go back in next week and get it taken care of. I'm not kidding we have been to 3 different DMVs, 4 times, with over 10 hours of driving and waiting. I can't believe it is this complicated. Ugh. Every person we talked to gave us a different answer. I just think they don't know what they are doing since it involves 3 parties and 2 states.

Things are still going pretty well. We got our tax refund back so I went ahead and sent it to the IRA for 2018. With that and the market gains we are up to $32,489 in our retirement accounts.

I'm about to sign a new web design contract and will get $1,000 this week or next to put towards the animal fund.

I paid another $230 on the credit card. New balance is $9,592.36.

I received one of my web design checks and sent the amount to the credit card. It is now down to five digits!! $9,822!

It's hard to believe that in a little over a month I have already hit over 1/3 of my debt paying goal for the year. I'm knocking it out of the park, I hope it keeps up!

We went through our closets and dressers and managed to pull out 2 trash bags full of clothes to sell, donate, or trash. Then we went shopping and I got 3 pairs of pants and 5 shirts for less than $75.

I had a coupon and a gift card for Lowes so we purchased two lamps for our bedroom nightstands. It is so nice to finally have lights close to the bed. Still need to find shades.

We did a couple small fun projects around the house this week. We built an awesome clock out of a large metal plate and hung a bird feeder outside our bathroom window. I also went through all my paperwork and organized/de-cluttered my desk. Trying to organize the house a bit at a time.

It's really time to start cracking on the house again so we can tie up some loose ends. It's hard to always have everything half finished and in disarray.

I can't believe it. I was surprised to received a $1,000 gift yesterday!

We decided we are going to put $500 into our EF, I am giving $100 as a gift to someone else needy I know, and the other $400 I will pay on the credit card. It's going down way faster than I imagined!

Husband gets paid tomorrow for the first time and we should be back on a normal budget. He has about 20 hours of overtime this week, so we are going to both go through our entire wardrobes and donate/trash all the clothes that we don't wear. Then figure out what items we badly need.

I finally got all the forms I needed so I submitted my taxes this morning. After paying the state and for the tax software I will net about $750. Which will be sent to the IRA. Glad it's over!

The balance transfer to the new 0% credit card is finalized so I paid my first payment of $526. Bringing the total debt remaining to $10,803.

I can not wait to see that number fall to 4 digits!

I have decided to put $1,000 into my Roth IRA for the 2018 year. Which actually completes one of my 2018 goals!

I went ahead and put $250 in today, and the other $750 will be from our tax refund. (the entire amount)

I think I have pretty much decided to keep the van. I've been driving it every day and I really like it. Hoping it lasts a while and is a reliable vehicle.

My credit card balance transfer is now finally showing as pending. I already have $500 to pay on the new card as soon as it goes through!

We got the first check from husband's disability and I paid $849 on the two credit cards! I can't pay anymore until the balance transfer goes through. Hopefully soon.

I may be getting a new car. A relative passed away and my family is offering their car to me. I am test driving it around to see if I like it. It's a much nicer car, that is newer, with fewer miles. But it's a lot bigger and gets bad gas mileage. So I have to decide if the space/luxury is worth paying more for gas.

I only drive to work 2 days a week. But my car is the main driver when we go on trips, or errands.

Basically I have a cheapo old Dodge Neon. The new car is a Buick Terraza. So a minivan/cross over. It would be nice for driving around future kiddos and for our road trips. (We usually borrow my mom's van) It is also AWD which is nice for the snow. I haven't been able to get my car out of the driveway since Friday...

So we'll see. Still mulling it over.

Well we got some good news today.

#1 I was able to pay $510 on the credit cards.

#2 I applied for a new 0% interest credit card for 18 months. And was approved for enough to cover the ENTIRE remaining amount we have on two cards now. So woo hoo. We'll be down to one card and have a good long while to pay it off. Still hoping for the end of the year. I will update my balances once the transfer goes through.

#3 We got a letter in the mail that says we were approved for short term disability for husband's month off work! It looks like they have already mailed the check. Although there is a mistake. Originally we had him going back after 3 weeks, but we just got the release for 4 weeks. So the payment is missing a week. We have already submitted the forms with the correct date on them, so if they haven't fixed it in a couple days I will give them a call.

Very thankful for this. It will still be 2 1/2 weeks until he receives his normal paychecks again. But since I've put money back we should be able to pay most of the STD on the credit cards.

My husband saw his surgeon this week and was told he could go back to work in two weeks... So we turned in his work release at his job.

And then his primary doctor said no way, that's not enough time. She wants to extend it another two weeks. Eek. The doctors are meeting today to decide, but fingers crossed he doesn't have to wait another month. Ugh.

We don't want to go back to his boss and tell him that his leave has to extend. Also the disability company is such a major pain. They won't even approved our claim until we have a work release date.

If his time off does get extended that will be 6 weeks off. Yikes. We were originally told 2 weeks, then it was 3, then 4, now possibly 6. This is because his job is so physical. If he had a desk job or could go on light duty he could go back now. Thankfully our church gave us a gift this week which covers a week of bills.

Hoping the doctors agree 4 weeks off is enough, and that the disability comes through.

Paid my mortgage today bringing the balance to $114,564.53.

Escrow/EF savings is still automatic so our weekly $75 was deposited. I am thankful that even during tough times I can still continue to save something. Once we are back on track it would be nice to up that weekly deposit to $100. If this ordeal has shown me anything it is that we need a bigger emergency fund.

I found out that I did in fact get the large web design job I was hoping for. I will be paid $2,000 and I was planning on putting that towards animal savings but I'll wait and see how this month goes.

This is the month that I need apply for new 0% credit cards to transfer our balances to. I'll do that as soon as the statement balance hits next week. It would be really nice if I got one card with a high enough limit to put the entire amount on, but I'm guessing it will probably be two cards again. The current cards' promotional rate don't actually expire until March. So I may leave some on there that I am reasonably able pay off before March to avoid the balance transfer fee on as much as possible.

A couple days late, but I wanted to write out all our year end financial numbers.

Cash/Liquid Savings:

$590 Animal Fund
$690 Escrow Fund
$1,000 EF
$1,205 Car Fund

$3,486 Total Liquid Savings

Retirement:

$16,930 DH's 401K
$3,400 DH's IRA
$8,630 My IRA

$28,960 Total Retirement

Liabilities:

-$114,713 Mortgage
-$6,818 Home CC #1
-$5,542 Home CC #2

-$127,073 Total Liabilities / -$12,360 Non-Mortgage Debt

Our retirement accounts actually went down this year despite contributions, due to the bad market.

Our mortgage and debt went way up because of the home remodel.

Goal is to be back to no non-mortgage debt by April 2020. But it would be REALLY amazing to pay off the credits cards by the end of the year... We'll see. It would be tough, especially since we are missing the entire month of January pay from husband.

My last post was about how I felt so financially secure... And then the boom dropped.

My husband had severe stomach pain all day yesterday and finally went to the ER. He had an appendicitis and had to have an emergency appendectomy today... Thankfully we caught it before it ruptured, and the surgery went well. He is very tired and sore but home now resting.

The bad news. He is off work for 3 weeks. Thankfully his work was very nice and understanding. I have already submitted a claim for short term disability which would pay him 70% of his base pay. BUT he has only worked there a little over 3 months so we aren't sure if he qualifies yet. We have to wait a week to receive the packet and then submit more forms, etc. Could be a while before we even know something. I do know he doesn't qualify for FML (you have to work a year). So I am a little scared he could lose his job, although his boss didn't indicate that.


Besides just his normal missing pay, this week was Christmas and he was off 2 days. Which was supposed to be a paid holiday, but per the employee rules you have to work at least one day in the holiday week to get paid. And now since he is off work he won't qualify for Christmas, or New Years either. On top of that he was supposed to be working 12 hour days these two weeks, and also Saturdays. So I don't even want to think about the amount of money we are going to be missing.


Major bummer. I know we will be okay. We always are. But it just stinks that instead of paying a large chunk of debt off, now we are going to be scrambling just to pay our bulls. I am very thankful we are in as good as a position as we are.

Hoping and praying that he doesn't lose his job, and that STD goes through so we can at least squeak by for the next 3 weeks. I would appreciate it if you kept us in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks!

I've been complaining a lot about stressing and being over busy with web design this month. The good news is that I have hit my monthly hour goal already and still have 11 days in the month left! I've never done that. Honestly it's usually a struggle to hit my goal.

Also I have caught up enough that I am only going to have to work one day next week on web design and the rest of the week I will be able to relax and enjoy family time. Sometimes hard work pays off!

With all this work + my raise I should have over $700 just from my side income to put towards the CC next month. Also husband has a couple hundred ear marked for me from overtime. We might be able to pay $1,000 on the debt in one month! I never thought it would be possible.

My car is fixed, our bills are paid, our savings are on auto pilot, we have increased our EF, we have purchased all our needs... Don't want to jinx it, but right now I am feeling very financially secure. Hope this trend continues into next year!

I had $95 left over from my paycheck today after paying all bills and putting back money for next week's expenses. I sent that extra to the credit cards, which brought my total debt payoff for the year to $5,066!

This completes my 3rd 2018 goal!

That will be the last goal I finish this year. But I am still hoping to send some money to the Roth IRA before the April deadline.

My car was done at the mechanic today. It was $130 which I had enough put back for. I just hope this really fixes it. *fingers crossed*

Husband's overtime is still every week. We are going to up the EF and then put some towards the CCs.

Goat is sold and gone.


Web design is still swallowing me. I've been having to play catch up on the weekends and been staying up to about midnight most nights. Both husband and I are worn to a frazzle. Our house is a wreck, and we have been eating a lot of crap food.

I really hope life slows down after the holidays.

I made a $513 payment towards my home CC with my web design check. That brought my balance under the next thousand mark and I am only $29 from completing my payoff goal for the year!

CC balances are $6,922 & $5,637 for a total of $12,559.

Paid the mortgage and the balance is now $114,713.47.

I've been really down this week. With the car problems, major website emergencies, sickness, etc. Just feeling exhausted and want to hide and forget about my responsibilities. Husband is feeling it too. We had about a million things to do this weekend and he just found out he has to work 12 hour days. We are both just wiped.

BUT I was surprised that in my web design check I got a $5 a hour raise across the board. Before I was getting paid two different rates depending on the job, if I was working through the company or freelance, etc. Now I am going to be making the same on everything. That will be so much simpler to keep track of and also the extra money is nice.

Kitty is still at the vet and I'm told she did fine. I get to pick her up when I get off work. I'm so excited. I can't believe how empty the house felt without her, even for one day. She brings such joy to our life.

I have another goat sold next week, but I need to get some vet care done on my horse so it comes out to a wash.

All bills and personal credit cards are paid, money is put back for this week's normal expenditures, and I have $7 left!

Bad news is that the new car battery did NOT fix my car like expected which means it has a much more expensive problem than we thought. I could not start it at all today and had to take my husband's car to work. Ugh. Looks like it will be going in the shop.

Also my kitten is getting fixed tomorrow, so I will need to come up with the money for that. That will be no problem when I get paid on Monday. I am really worried for her though, she had a terrible reaction to her first set of shots and almost died. We have no idea how she will do with the rabies vaccine and/or anesthesia. So I'm nervous. I will discuss my concerns with the vet before surgery.

I received an even better offer for the credit card I was planning on transferring our big balances to in January. Last month the offer was 14 months interest free, they sent me a new one for 18 months interest free. We will definitely still try to pay the balance within 14 months or sooner, but it's nice to have a bit more wiggle room.

Web design is overflowing right now. But so much so that it is stressing me out. Hoping I get the time to sit down and work a lot of hours to cut down on some of the projects hanging over my head. The income will certainly be nice!

I have all my Christmas shopping done!

Husband's 401K is successfully moved over into one account now. Yay. One less thing to worry about.

My bathroom mirror also finally got fixed at the welder after a couple months, so I am calling the addition officially done! Well sort of. We still have closet doors and some trim in the hallway to do, but our master suite is finished which is good enough for me. Another goal off our list.

I am only $542 short of my debt payoff goal for the year. It looks like I will right around that for my November Web Design income so I should be able to complete this goal no problem!! Also husband is going to start contributing overtime money towards the debt as well, so that will help us jumps start the 2019 goals.

I finally caved and bought a car battery. Mine has needed replaced for several months now but I just kept jumping it to delay spending the money. On cyber Monday the auto shop was having 25% off online, but I talked them into accepting it in store too, so I got my battery about $35 off.

My goats are going to be picked up this weekend and I will make about $500. I am about done selling goats for the year and I am happy that I was able to thin my herd some before winter. I would like to sell about 4 more but it's not critical.

We have quite a shopping list this year. As per usual I always purchase everything possible online. Usually the deals start days before Thanksgiving.

So far we have already purchased a tool set and a new tv and mount. Today I just purchased both my parent's Christmas presents. Just waiting on husband's gifts to go on sale tomorrow and I will purchase them as well.

We still like to go Black Friday shopping at the stores but since all our "needs" are already done it is much more fun to look for smaller items like clothes, household supplies, towels, etc, without worrying about fighting other people for the big items like electronics. It makes for a more relaxing experience and there are some great deals on things you wouldn't normally consider on Black Friday.

I sold some goats and was able to add $250 to the animal fund. Have a couple more sale pending as well but it will be a few weeks before payment/pick up.

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to accomplish financially in 2019. I think 2019 will bring a lot of life changes, and our main goal overall is to put ourselves in a more comfortable living position.

Now that we aren't scrapping by, we want to save and pay off debt. We want to get ahead and improve our future.

Starting in March we will have to start paying our own health insurance which is going to add about $200 a month to our budget. Ew.

My goals do not fit into our budget on paper, but I am hopeful that with husband's overtime money we will be able to accomplish at least some/most of them.

1.) Save $1,000 in HSA
Since we will have to start paying our own insurance and it's a high deductible we need to begin putting back money in the HSA.

2.) Pay off $7,500 in Debt
Our stretch goal, but a necessary evil if we want to pay off the credit cards before they start to accrue interest.

3.) Add $1,000 in Car Fund
An easier goal since we automatically save for this each paycheck. Our cars are currently hanging in there, but I know it's only a matter of time before we will need to purchase a new one.

4.)Save $1,500 for Vacation
We had to skip a vacation this year due to husband's job change, so we are definitely going to take one next year. Planning for Yellowstone again, which last time cost us right around $1,500.

Save $4,500 in Animal Fund
Another stretch goal, but very doable if I put back all the goat money I get. This amount would pay for all animal related expenses for an entire year.

All this totals $14,500. Or over $1,200 a month. It's going to be tough but I think it's best to push yourself and aim for the stars.


I paid all my bills today including my annual home insurance premium. It feels good! My web design check came and I was able to pay off all my personal credit cards, and I actually have about $30 left over that is just siting in my account waiting for me to earmark it. Probably towards Christmas presents or a new car battery. I'm still YNABing faithfully and it is so nice to see GREEN.