WOMEN IN RED RACERS

[bankergurl]

Update!

December 2014 Mortgage Payment

Balance $167,400.00
+$505.69 Interest
-$768.45 Regular Payment
-$237.24 Principle Payment
New Balance $166,900.00

Definitely not where I expected to be for my last payment of 2014. But it is what it is....and it IS going down...again...SIGH...

I am close to being back to over $25K in savings again (currently at $24,500 and this does not include the $10K I have in my HSA, or $48K in retirement), once there I really want to focus on putting all my extra funds, especially my FB sales money towards the mortgage balance.

My goal for 2015 is to keep savings at or above $25K, and to get my mortgage under $160K, which would require me to make about $3650 in principle payments throughout the year.  This is doable.

Banker Gurl 12/11/14 $166,900.00 (9/17/07 $250,514.73)

[dizzyintellectual]

Small update for now; things are usually a little tighter around Christmas. Starting working out on Monday; waking up at 5AM...Yuk. Oh well, I'm already feeling better. I've also starting bringing my lunch to work everyday which is not only healthier, but is saving me a lot of money. We were just getting out of control with our eating out spending. Thought I'd get an early start on my New Year's Resolutions.

UPDATE	1/31/2013	11/12/2014	12/10/2014	Diff Last Post	Total Diff
Amazon	751.39	-	-	-	751.39
Kohls	910.64	-	-	-	910.64
Dell	995.46	-	-	-	995.46
Dodge	1,532.46	-	-	-	1,532.46
Furniture	1,952.12	-	-	-	1,952.12
Citi Card	5,428.26	-	-	-	5,428.26
BOA	2,586.06	-	-	-	2,586.06
Discover Card	6,842.42	4,609.83	4,234.27	375.56	2,608.15
Home Depot	8,030.54	-	-	-	8,030.54
SFFCU	4,445.70	4,635.41	4,531.71	103.70	(86.01)
MBNA	9,676.32	7,625.04	7,582.15	42.89	2,094.17
WF Student	4,970.26	3,882.38	3,829.84	52.54	1,140.42
AES	12,909.86	11,937.92	11,898.87	39.05	1,010.99
Citi/Discover Ln	25,917.64	21,049.38	20,819.66	229.72	5,097.98
Mohela/Direct	62,579.10	60,439.33	60,423.48	15.85	2,155.62
Medical Bills	2,531.58	1,636.14	1,627.30	8.84	904.28
TOTAL	152,059.81	115,815.43	114,947.28	868.15	37,112.53

DizzyIntellectual 12/10/2014 $114,947.28 (1/31/13 $152,059.81, MPT275 South Dakota)

[scrgrl47]

Dec 9, 2014 7:13:24 GMT -5 forwardwego said:

WIRRfriends What are your hopes and goals for 2015?  In a situation like mine now, what would you do? How do you keep focused? 

QUESTION Who has their win in their sites for 2015? 

@forward - first of all, thanks for all of the individual shot-outs.  It's contributions like yours that keep people engaged and coming back. 

Secondly, great questions.  I'm grappling with similar decisions.  Searching back a bit, I had trouble finding exactly what your race #2 would be or how much it would impact your 2015 savings goals.  Could you lay everything out including what you feel like your choices are? 

Regarding keeping focused - this board keeps me more focused than anything else.  I'm an intense planner and get hyper excited to create goals, plans to reach the goals, spreadsheet modification, etc.  This modus operandi cuts across multiple facets of my life, including work projects, and it gets really (really) hard to keep focus on "old" goals when exciting new ones I can spend time intensely planning come up!  Balancing my priorities is a general life thing I'm continuing work on.

Left to my own devices, I lose financial focus sometime around April.  Yes, every year, haha.  Reading the boards and knowing I'm not alone keeps me going, as does watching other peoples' successes.  Just one of the many reasons I'm excited about the consolidation.  Frankly, I probably need to make an effort to participate in the monthly challenge boards as well.  One day at a time... 

No major wins for me in 2015 but definitely some incremental ones!  :-D  You?

[sealy]

I tried to make my last payment but they wouldn't let me. An alert popped up that stated I had exceeded my limit. I only needed to pay $50. ?

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

To answer scrgrl47's question:  I didn't really 'prioritize' one or the other.  I built a strategy that fed both debt paydown and savings/sinking fund buildup at the same time, in roughly equal amounts as I recall.  I think the idea that we must do things "all or nothing" financially gets us into a lot of trouble. 

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Dec 10, 2014 13:40:24 GMT -5 sealy said:

I tried to make my last payment but they wouldn't let me. An alert popped up that stated I had exceeded my limit. I only needed to pay $50. ?

What does that alert mean?  That you've paid too much this cycle, or that your card is maxxed?  I'm also . 

[nidena]

Dec 10, 2014 13:48:10 GMT -5 Rocky Mtn Saver said:

To answer scrgrl47's question:  I didn't really 'prioritize' one or the other.  I built a strategy that fed both debt paydown and savings/sinking fund buildup at the same time, in roughly equal amounts as I recall.  I think the idea that we must do things "all or nothing" financially gets us into a lot of trouble. 

I'll be doing the same thing...balancing the two.  However, the more often that I say that I will be paying off my $19k in CC debt and maxing out my Roth for 2015, I'm more likely to stay on track.  I also have my vacation for birthday #39 in May to budget for.  I take myself away every year to get away from the every day stuff.  I go only two hours away but it seems worlds away.  

[gidgetc13]

Debt vs Saving - I tend to switch back and forth between the two.  Right now we are focusing more on saving.  We recently paid off our largest SL, which also happened to be the one I hated the most.  Our savings is not where I would like it to be, so I'm taking a break from focusing on debt payoff to build our savings up some.  I would love to just dive right in to our last SL, but I don't feel comfortable with where our savings are at right now so that is our current priority.  I've also done it where I try to balance the two, but I find I do better when I focus on one or the other.   

[forwardwego]

Dec 10, 2014 11:53:22 GMT -5 scrgrl47 said:

Dec 9, 2014 7:13:24 GMT -5 forwardwego said:

WIRRfriends What are your hopes and goals for 2015?  In a situation like mine now, what would you do? How do you keep focused? 

QUESTION Who has their win in their sites for 2015? 

@forward - first of all, thanks for all of the individual shot-outs.  It's contributions like yours that keep people engaged and coming back. 

Secondly, great questions.  I'm grappling with similar decisions.  Searching back a bit, I had trouble finding exactly what your race #2 would be or how much it would impact your 2015 savings goals.  Could you lay everything out including what you feel like your choices are? 

Regarding keeping focused - this board keeps me more focused than anything else.  I'm an intense planner and get hyper excited to create goals, plans to reach the goals, spreadsheet modification, etc.  This modus operandi cuts across multiple facets of my life, including work projects, and it gets really (really) hard to keep focus on "old" goals when exciting new ones I can spend time intensely planning come up!  Balancing my priorities is a general life thing I'm continuing work on.

Left to my own devices, I lose financial focus sometime around April.  Yes, every year, haha.  Reading the boards and knowing I'm not alone keeps me going, as does watching other peoples' successes.  Just one of the many reasons I'm excited about the consolidation.  Frankly, I probably need to make an effort to participate in the monthly challenge boards as well.  One day at a time... 

No major wins for me in 2015 but definitely some incremental ones!  :-D  You?

Good evening  . My race #2 started Jun 2011 and was DH's and my vehicle loans total @ $26K. I was hoping 2-2.5 years to payoff. At the end of 2012, balance was under $9K, but both DH and I needed extensive dental work (total was @$12K) $10K of which we charged and added to this race. In 2014 added to the race total again @$2K. Presently the balance remaining is my car $10987 at 2.5%. The scheduled payment is $325 which would pay it off in 35 months. I plan to at least pay $500 which would pay it off in 22.5 months. In a good month I could pay $1000, which has me thinking/wishing I could zap the loan this year. It would probably be wiser to stick with the $500 car payment, saving the possible other $500 per month. But, this race is feeling like an "old goal", as you mentioned  , and I want rid of it. My present savings is $2580, spread across 3 EF accounts, and is growing @$340 per month. (No credit card debt, paid that off in race #1).




 

[sealy]

I paid too much during the cycle. I have to wait a couple of days till my next statement comes out. I will also update once The balance is cleared. I plan to add it to my debt chart as CC #2 again.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Dec 10, 2014 21:26:26 GMT -5 sealy said:

I paid too much during the cycle. I have to wait a couple of days till my next statement comes out. I will also update once The balance is cleared. I plan to add it to my debt chart as CC #2 again.

As I recall, you owed $2500 on that card about a month ago.  That's a very impressive payoff, especially since you weren't going to use your emergency fund! 

[mikosmommy]

Well, I paid my bills a couple of days ago. Hoping to start my snowballing next month. Need to double check it though. Here's the update after that. Another $430 done. Of course when they update they'll be back up because of the interest, but I am trying!

[wudnit]

I do plan to have a WIN in 2015!!!  As long as I stick to my current payment plan, I will FINALLY win this race in August!!  It has been a long, hard road!!!  Seems the closer that I get to my win, the harder doing this every month seems to be!!!

As far as what will take my priority for 2015, I guess I've already answered that, although from August - December, it will be a mix of savings and possibly a vacation!!!  I've been at this for a very long time and feel like we deserve a reward for all our hard work.  Thanks to an unexpected windfall, we were able to certainly put $$ aside for our savings AND paid down a bit more debt than we had planned for 2014. 

I have always struggled with:  Do I deplete savings to pay off the remainder of my debt.  I have yet to do this, but as the amount I owe dwindles, it becomes more and more tempting!!!

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Dec 11, 2014 14:20:43 GMT -5 wudnit said:

I have always struggled with:  Do I deplete savings to pay off the remainder of my debt.  I have yet to do this, but as the amount I owe dwindles, it becomes more and more tempting!!!

There are two problems with using much/all of savings to pay off debt:  (1) it makes it easier to wrack up the debt again because we make it a little less 'hard' to pay it off and (b) what if an emergency happens the day after you use that money for debt?  I firmly believe in doing it the hard way, to make sure we don't screw it up again. 

[runmarathons]

Good Afternoon everyone!

It's a rainy day in California today, hope you are all staying warm and dry! I was motivated by scrgrl47 to take a closer look at my expenses and savings to see how I can be more efficient and successful. Take a look and let me know what I should do with the extra funds sitting in my checking account.

**I will need to spend about $8000 for a new roof for my rental within the next month. I also have tenants in Rental 1 but they have not been paying the rent so I need to either get new tenants or sell the house (current mortgage is $49K and is not in my current race, interest is 4.5%).

Thanks for any thoughts/ideas/input/suggestions!

~Runmarathons


The current dollars and cents:

	Total	Interest
Checking	41,034.96
Savings	7,351.88	0.75%
Prosper	188.68	0-8%
SmartyPig	1,166.08	1%
Retirement	20,770.01
HSA	1,500

Income:

Job	2,586.32
Rental 1	0
Rental 2	1,600
	4,186.32

Bills:

Student loan	121.97
Rental 1 mortgage	426.30
Rental 2 mortgage	1,123.19
Storage 1	65
Storage 2	137
Office Fees	120
Water/Sewer/etc	350
Food & Misc	750
Rent	500
Phone	80
Savings	130
	3,803.46

Leftover $ per month = $382.86

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Your retirement number seems a bit low, so you might consider making a 2014 IRA or HSA contribution with some of your excess.  It'll reduce taxes, too. 

[bankergurl]

Debt vs. Savings Debate

I think this is something everyone has to find their own balance with.  If I had any debt other then my mortgage I would for sure blast that completely before I tried to get anything more then an EF.  I just hate debt too much to have it running around in my head!  But with just the house I am constantly debating on how much to put in savings and how much on the house.  A big part of that is because I will need a new car sooner than later (hoping to get a few more years out of it...but I only paid $4K for it and that was 6 years ago.....so not sure how much longer it will roll) and I for sure will be paying for that in cash, and I dont' want to be scraping the bottom of the savings barrel after I buy a new (used) car.

I like to pick one goal for savings, meet that, then go for a debt goal, meet that, then switch back etc.  For example, Save for a new specific home improvement, once that goal is met, then try to get the mortgage under the next $5000 mark, then save for a vacation, then back to the mortgage etc.  Now that I am learing how to prioritize on a one income budget I am not sure what I will do.

I also like what I have seen other do (I think Red Racer Ris was one) where when you get discretionary funds, you divide it by set percentages to put say 40% to debt, 40% to savings, and 20% to fun, or something similar.  But for me personally, I like the victory!  So attacking one specific goal at a time works better for me.

[sealy]

Rocky I had to use it for something else so rather than slowly depleting it. I decided to pay as much on my card as possible. Then I was able to pay a huge chunk this month now I only owe $50.

[nidena]

Dec 11, 2014 17:15:03 GMT -5 runmarathons said:

Good Afternoon everyone!

It's a rainy day in California today, hope you are all staying warm and dry! I was motivated by scrgrl47 to take a closer look at my expenses and savings to see how I can be more efficient and successful. Take a look and let me know what I should do with the extra funds sitting in my checking account.

**I will need to spend about $8000 for a new roof for my rental within the next month. I also have tenants in Rental 1 but they have not been paying the rent so I need to either get new tenants or sell the house (current mortgage is $49K and is not in my current race, interest is 4.5%).

Thanks for any thoughts/ideas/input/suggestions!

~Runmarathons


The current dollars and cents:

	Total	Interest
Checking	41,034.96
Savings	7,351.88	0.75%
Prosper	188.68	0-8%
SmartyPig	1,166.08	1%
Retirement	20,770.01
HSA	1,500

Income:

Job	2,586.32
Rental 1	0
Rental 2	1,600
	4,186.32

Bills:

Student loan	121.97
Rental 1 mortgage	426.30
Rental 2 mortgage	1,123.19
Storage 1	65
Storage 2	137
Office Fees	120
Water/Sewer/etc	350
Food & Misc	750
Rent	500
Phone	80
Savings	130
	3,803.46

Leftover $ per month = $382.86

Two storage facilities?  Questions to ask yourself:
When were you last in them? 
What's in them?
Why are you keeping each item?
Can you consolidate?
Do you really NEED everything that you're storing?
Are you storing things that were given to you that you'd feel guilty getting rid of?  
Have you ever used them?  If so, when was the last time it was used?

[nikiz628]

Well I am extremely glad we semi-planned ahead for Christmas this year. If you were on the MW board, you might remember a few months ago that we found out that my husband's Christmas bonus could get nixed this year. So, i started socking away extra cash in October and picking up great deals on gifts here and there. It's a good thing I did...because we got word today that the bonus is officially not coming this year. Merry 2 weeks before Christmas notice (the other employees did not get the heads up a few months ago and I know at least one of them relied solely on it for Christmas for his family).

I actually finished my Christmas shopping last week. Without paying full price for a single item, and I basically got everyone exactly what they wanted. Couponing/Discount searching for the win!

[nidena]

In the interest of really good deals, there is one from my part time at VS, that I have to share: Yesterday began a sale on VSX sports bras--$30 each.  They're normally $60 each and, if you buy two, you get a pair of VSX yoga shorts for free.  This is even better than our Semi Annual Sale deals and better than my employee discount.  If you know someone who is a runner or who does a lot of cardio, the VSX Incredible is an awesome high-impact bra.  I give it the large chested testimonial.  

On a separate note, it looks like Congress decided on our pay...finally...so I can make my budget for the upcoming months.  The pay scale is released and posted so that makes me able to see what I'll be making come January 1st.  Good stuff.   

[snapdragon]

I will finally have my update on monday and I'm pretty sure I will be happy with it for my year end total.

I actually call my money tracking a Money Journal--because I track what I spend and I have my regular totals as my base than I just go off that. I don't do the zero dollar budget because I end up having to put money into several different areas depending on where I am at. Like upcoming in the next few months is my car insurance in January and paying my CPA for my taxes in Feb or March. Also, I need some money free for when I have to visit my mom out of state. That always costs about $300 or so.

I have a fairly good plan that I am sticking with and when my HELOC is done I know where most of the money that was being paid on it is going --- I know this won't be for 2+ years but I am always attempting to get the amount down more.

I would like to have paid $7000 next year on the HELOC. I am pushing for that and I will see how it works out during the year. 

Debt vs. Saving --

I am more into paying debt but I do put money into saving for several things -- A trip to Scotland (my parents have gifted me the miles all I need to do is pick a date .) My insurance, car repairs and deductible in case of a accident, and I am slowly working on building up 3 months expenses --- but that is on the back burner for now. I REALLY am trying to get the 2nd mortgage paid off in a reasonable amount of time. I have a older car 20+ years and I know that it will not run forever.

[sealy]

I made my final payment on CC #2 and have my car payment down to $999. I want to pay it off at the end of the month. Downside my EF only has $13 in it. I would like to restart in 2015. Hopefully I'll only have CC #1 and mortgage left then. I'm praying Murphy leaves me alone.

[teachermom]

Great job Sealy!! Do what I am doing....see what you can sell to get that $1000 in your EF. I am at $830 for the month. Woohoo!!

I know all about Murphy though. My car was hit and run on Halloween. Had to pay $200 deductible there. They had for 26 days. My rental wasn't covered 100% by the insurance....another $100. Got it back and had nail in tire. Took in and they said the steel belts were coming through.....2 new tires....$400. Now Thursday.....horrible winds in WA.....tons of tiles off my roof. Dang it!!

Keep plugging away! That's all I can do.

Teachermom

[sealy]

Teacher thanks for your encouragement. I have a quilt I finished that will make me about $200. I really should charge more but I didnt. It's nice though and I enjoyed working on it. I'm Going to see if I can sell some. I have lots of fabric I could use to make more.

[teachermom]

There you go....Sealy! You got this!!! We all have tons of things just sitting around our house that someone else my need or enjoy! Might as well sell it to them! Also, it is really freeing to see the clutter disappear!!

Teachermom

[nikiz628]

I am so ready for the post holiday cleanse I do in the house. Its when I go through and make room for the new things we get. But I organize and purge before anything gets put away. I know I have so much to sell!

[forwardwego]

chelsea727 $10K payoff goal for 2015 is nice, congratulations on the raises  
When it comes to buying gifts, remember that people who love you do not want you to spend money on them that will cause you debt or difficulty. 


nidena yea for congress getting things pinned down so you can make your plans! Nice goal for you nixing the final $19K in CC in 2015!

kcladyjane Congratulations on your update...soon you'll be under $15K 

Sam_2.0 Good job being ready with your EF, HSA, and irregular expense plan for 2015. It will be really exciting to get the clear title on your DH's car!

munjoyhill Congrats on the success you are having with your business, & building up your savings 

runmarathons I hope you're doing okay in spite of the severe weather   It's nice to meet you. Congratulations on your progress (from struggling then to crusing along now) and welcome back. Seems that your checking balance is nice and high, is there any reason not to accelerate your student loan payoff? 

ses Kudos on being blizzard-ready, and getting your EF back on track ahead of plan. 

nikiz628 Good job getting that EF growing automatically. Good thinking on having the EF at CapOne... available, but not TOO availaible 

[chelsea727]

ACCOUNT	MIN PAYMENT	STARTING BAL	CURRENT BAL
Slumberland	$60.00	$289.07	$0.00
Quick Cash (10.1%)	$20.00	$300.24	$280.24
Citi (16.99%)	$30.00	$955.23	$930.23
Chase (22.9%)	$45.00	$1562.67	$1593.27
Q. Cash (10.1%)	$72.00	$1,741.38	$1,683.10
Slate (0%)	$25.00	1,743.16	$1,758.46
Discover (18.99%)	$50.00	$2,421.63	$2,383.27
Capital One (0%)	$25.00	$2,450.26	$2,450.26
Barclay (24.99%)	$85.00	$2,521.49	$2,521.49
Discover (11.24%)	$80.00	$3,885.88	$3,841.69
TOTAL:	$432.00	$17,871.01	$17,442.01

Chelsea727 12/14/14 $17,442.01 (Nov 14' $17,871.01)

[chelsea727]

I've got the remaining payments scheduled for Slumberland so it'll be officially paid off January 16th, but since all payments are set, I'm counting it as my first $0!!!  I'm hoping to have the Q. Cash ($280.24) paid off by end of January or mid February at the latest, which will free up a total of $80/month. Once taxes come in, I'm going to pay off the Barclay since the interest rate is ridiculously high...plus it's $85/month.  At that point I will re-assess but I'm def looking forward to making some headway!!