Baby Step 2: Another Debt Bites the dust!

Well we have been plugging away on paying off debt. We were able to pay off another loan that we early with the debt snow ball. Now we can focus on paying off our final credit card and then saving to put a good chunk of money down on a house to buy in a year or so. We continue to pay cash for everything. This includes vacations we took this summer and vacations we plan to take next summer. What a great feeling it is to be able to pay for these things up front and not worry about how we'll pay our bills and such. Paying cash for everything has really helped us with this entire money make over! 

Here is a look at what we've paid off so far.

-Reliance Urgent Care: $151.34 PAID OFF 1/1/2011
-Sam's Club Credit Card: $809.44 PAID OFF 1/15/2011 & 2/15/2012
-Mercy Medical: $934.90 PAID OFF 2/28/2011
-My Parents: $2725.00 PAID OFF 2/28/2011
-Sister & Brother in law: $4,260.00 PAID OFF 1/12/2012
-Capitol One Credit Card: $450.00 PAID OFF 2/15/2012
-Dr. Ramos: $143.50 PAID OFF 2/23/2012 
-Lab Test Services: $182.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012 
-Midland Memorial Hospital: $250.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-Misc. Dr. Bills: $300.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012 
-NM Back Taxes: $460.50 PAID OFF 2/23/2012 
-Revised Mortgage: $1460.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-Odessa Regional: $4500.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-Barclay Credit: $4000.00 PAID OFF 4/16/2012
-American General: $3,541.56 PAID OFF 9/15/2012

Here is what we will be focusing on paying off now (with updated payoff amounts):

1-Wells Fargo Credit: $4,000.00

Check out our other Baby Step updates on previous posts!

Baby Step 2: Update 4

Jason has been hard at work and he received a slight pay raise recently so we are paying down on our debt more and more each month! Today I was able to pay off another credit card!! This only leaves us with three major debts until we are debt free!! With hard work and determination we could have the next two debts paid off over the next two months. Then we can focus on paying off our van (which will be a big relief because I'd like to start saving to trade it in and pay cash for a different vehicle with all the problems it has been having recently).


I want to add that we are blessed to have so many friends here in Texas that understand and live a frugal life making it easy for us to follow their great examples! We try to keep our fun/entertainment free or cheap, our grocery shopping as minimal as possible, working out free or cheap, and our friends help find good deals on clothes, shoes and extras for the family so we don't have to pay full price. Surrounding yourself with people that set good examples with their money has made us work harder to live a similar life!


Here is a look at what we've paid off so far. 

-Reliance Urgent Care: $151.34 PAID OFF 1/1/2011
-Sam's Club Credit Card: $809.44 PAID OFF 1/15/2011 & 2/15/2012
-Mercy Medical: $934.90 PAID OFF 2/28/2011
-My Parents: $2725.00 PAID OFF 2/28/2011
-Sister & Brother in law: $4,260.00 PAID OFF 1/12/2012
-Capitol One Credit Card: $450.00 PAID OFF 2/15/2012
-Dr. Ramos: $143.50 PAID OFF 2/23/2012 
-Lab Test Services: $182.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012 
-Midland Memorial Hospital: $250.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-Misc. Dr. Bills: $300.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012 
-NM Back Taxes: $460.50 PAID OFF 2/23/2012 
-Revised Mortgage: $1460.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-Odessa Regional: $4500.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-Barclay Credit: $4000.00 PAID OFF 4/16/2012


WOW THAT IS A LOT OF DEBT!! And to think of all the debt we've paid over the last 7 years we've been married. Oh what a relief it will be to live debt free!!


Here is what we will be focusing on paying off now (with updated payoff amounts):


1-American General: $3,541.56
2-Wells Fargo Credit: $4,741.53
3-Chrysler Financial: $18,410.01

Baby Step 2: Update 3

  Well after buckling down and pushing ourselves very hard the last several months we have made a huge dent in our debt! It is a huge relief to pay off so much debt as well as pay cash for the medical expenses we just ran into with Kaedyn getting RSV and Jason getting a vasectomy at the end of the month. We are so close to paying off all debt which we are so excited for (except for our mortgage but we have renters in it at this time). We pay cash for everything and are canceling and cutting up all credit cards so we can live deft free for the remainder of our lives!


  The last time I updated on our debt paid was before our huge speed bump of Jason loosing his job, our renters moving out and me giving birth to Kaedyn. To recap you can view the previous update here Baby Step 2: Second Update. During our road bump we sadly slipped and accumulated more debt but we are back on track and paying off our debt as quickly as possible. Not only have we really been pushing to put every penny we can towards debt but we also put our tax refund towards debt as well! I will say that a few months ago it was easy to feel buried in debt again. I wasn't sure when or if we'd ever live debt free but a few short months later I am feeling fancy free and ready to tackle the last of our debt!!


Here is a look at what we've paid off so far. 

-Reliance Urgent Care: $151.34 PAID OFF 1/1/2011
-Sam's Club Credit Card: $809.44 PAID OFF 1/15/2011 & 2/15/2012
-Mercy Medical: $934.90 PAID OFF 2/28/2011
-My Parents: $2725.00 PAID OFF 2/28/2011
-Sister & Brother in law: $4,260.00 PAID OFF 1/12/2012
-Capitol One Credit Card: $450.00 PAID OFF 2/15/2012
-Dr. Ramos: $143.50 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-Lab Test Services: $182.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-Midland Memorial Hospital: $250.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-Misc. Dr. Bills: $300.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-NM Back Taxes: $460.50 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-Revised Mortgage: $1460.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012
-Odessa Regional: $4500.00 PAID OFF 2/23/2012


1-Barclay Credit: $4000.00
2-American General: $4058.36
3-Wells Fargo Credit: $4800.00
4-Chrysler Financial: $20,480.28


  What a huge amount of debt we've acquired but more importantly that we've paid off in comparison to what we still have outstanding!


  These last four are the final debt bills we are working to pay. With our debt snowball in full swing we will be able to make a huge dent in these debts in coming months and **fingers crossed** we'll have them all paid off by years end! If we can do it, anyone can do it!! 


  I'll update when we pay off more debt!

Huge Speed Bump in our Makeover

If you have been following our blog you know that we have been working hard to use every extra penny we have to pay off our debt as we'd like to be debt free as soon as possible! Well, we hit a few large speed bumps over the last several months. It started with Jason loosing his job in March and being out of work for three weeks. We had to put Baby Step 2 on hold and even use our Emergency Fund to pay bills until Jason found work.

Thankfully Jason did find work however we hit a second speed bump when our tenants put in their 60 day notice at our house in Farmington, NM. They gave notice in April and moved out mid May. My mom so graciously offered to list and show our house for sale or rent during those sixty days and the days following. We had several serious inquiries however they have all fallen through along the way. This now puts us in the even more stressful situation of trying to carry two homes (rent/mortgage & utility bills for both homes). After months of stress about this house my sister contacted us about renting it when they move back home this fall. We couldn't be happier that they are wanting/willing to rent from us and we are relieved because we know they will take good care of our house.

Our last speed bump hit throughout this summer. Although Jason had found a job back in April it didn't pay nearly as much as his previous job had and to be honest the paychecks were barely enough to cover our bills but not our living expenses. My mom had offered to pay to me babysit my littlest brother this summer while we were in town visiting...it just turns out that we extended that stay to a two month trip (to enjoy camping, family, friends, a wedding, swim lessons, and more). This was a saving grace for us because it offered us the money we needed for living expenses and carried us through the end of July when we returned home. Jason stayed back in Texas (other than a week at the end of June and a week at the end of July) to work during these two months time.

This speed bump also includes the unexpected costs of having to replace the rotors, brakes, tires, and windshield on our mini van while visiting in New Mexico this summer. We had planned to take our van in to be serviced while visiting but in no way were we prepared for all those expenses. Plus we had a loan that we had forget a payment on and they took the remaining balance out of our checking account to pay off the loan while we were out of town, which was a huge unexpected expense.

Now with all this being said things are looking up...Jason was offered his job back with the company that fired him several months ago. With much hesitation we made the difficult decision to have him return to that company as it offers us adequate money to support our growing family as well as pay off our debt. With lots of help from our families to get caught up/current with our bills we are back on track with our money. Sadly we have acquired more debt since Jason lost his job but we will be working very hard over the next several months to pay our family members back as well as put our Emergency Fund back in savings and pay on our other debts.

This has been a huge learning experience for Jason and I, one that I hope we never have to repeat. Struggling to feed our family, pay bills, and get the necessities for our children is not a place that I'd like to ever see us in again. I hope to see us use all that we learned this year, move forward as quickly as possible and get to a place where we never have to worry/stress about these things again. On the plus side Jason and I are communicating much better these days.

We truly appreciate all the help that we have received! We never could have made it out of the huge hole we were in without our family providing for us in so many different ways. Thank you!!

For those of you that are working to become debt free remember we are all human, we will make mistakes, we will fall, but we can get back up, dust ourselves off and move forward!!

I hope to be able to update you all very soon with our progress on our baby steps!

Baby Step 2: Second Update

As we start another month I wanted to give an update on our how we are doing so far on Baby Step 2. You can read about our Baby Step 2: The Debt Snowball and Baby Step 2:Update on these links.

This month we received our tax return. (Woo Hoo!) We decided to use most of it to pay on debt and a small amount on purchasing new mattresses and bed (our old ones were Jason’s grandparents…springs popping through and all, lol). We also happen to come across a great new rental at the beginning of the month that we were able to get into the 1st of March so we used a portion of our tax return to pay for the deposit, get utilities turned on, and renting a Uhaul.

This brings us to the debt we paid in February, using some of our tax return along with our regular monthly budget we were able to pay off our Mercy Medical bill and pay my parents.  Here is an updated list of our debts....

-Reliance Urgent Care: $151.34 PAID OFF 1/1/2011
-Sam's Club Credit Card: $309.44 PAID OFF 1/15/2011
-Mercy Medical: $934.90 PAID OFF 2/28/2011
-My Parents: $2725.00 PAID OFF 2/28/2011
1-American General: $4058.36
2-Wells Fargo Credit: $4800.00
3-Chrysler Financial: $25,328.09

As you can see we are going to focus on paying our American General loan now. If all goes as planned we should pay that loan off in May. I will post another update when we have paid off more debt!!

Baby Step 2: Update

We are at the end of month one of working on Baby Step 2: The Debt Snowball and so far we are well on our way to paying off our debt. We were able to pay off our Reliance Urgent Care bill and Sam's Club Credit Card in January. This now moves Mercy Medical to number one, My Parents to number two and so on. I've also updated the totals to reflect what is due as of 2/1 for the remaining debt. Here is an updated list of our debts....

-Reliance Urgent Care: $151.34 PAID OFF 1/1/2011
-Sam's Club Credit Card: $309.44 PAID OFF 1/15/2011
1-Mercy Medical: $934.90
2-My Parents: $2725.00
3-American General: $4216.67
4-Wells Fargo Credit: $4900.00
5-Chrysler Financial: $25,859.83

We did have a minor set back this month when we had to purchase a used refrigerator for our house in Farmington for our renters because the old one went out. We dipped into budgeted money for debt instead of touching our savings because we didn't want to stop our debt snowball to get our Baby Step One: $1000 Emergency Savings back to where it should be. This worked out well overall!!

Quick update on our monthly budget:

We sold our gas dryer for $75 that had been sitting in storage since moving to Texas. We used that money to buy a $50 electric dryer from our neighbor/Jason's co-worker. This dryer has already paid for it's self with the the $10 a week we are saving from not paying to dry our clothes at the apartment laundry mat. =)

Money Saving Tips...

In an effort to become debt free I am always gathering ideas from friends and family to help save us money anyway I can.

This will be an ongoing post because I will add to it as we find new ways to cut down our monthly spending expenses and overall budget. Please feel free to post ideas below on how you save money each month!

Money Saving Tips:

1) Buy a pair of clippers to cut your husband and children's' hair. I bought a pair of clippers when we moved to Texas prior to that I had been borrowing clippers from my parents for several months. This has saved us a total of about $250 this past year. Just remember that practice makes perfect!!

2) Couponing!! This is a big one as it takes a little time and effort the first several months to learn to coupon. However we have went from spending $1200 a month in groceries to $300 this month on groceries and eating out!! That is a savings of $900! I started couponing a year and a half ago, since then I've kept a list of how much we've spent each month on food, diapers, and other household items. In one year we saved just under $7000.00 on groceries!!

3) Find a produce co-op in your area! We've just started participating in Bountiful Baskets here. This is a produce co-op that offers high quality produce for a fraction of the price. We buy one basket every two weeks for $16.50. We have priced the produce we receive at the store to see how much, if at all, we are saving. At the grocery store (with some produce on sale) the same basket of produce would cost us about $45!! So not only are we getting local grown produce that is fresh but we are paying much less than if we were to purchase it at the store! You can also go to your local farmers market or search google for a CSA in your area with a local farmer/rancher.

4) Locate an Angelfood Ministries in your town/city! They offer meal packages for families that will help save you money on your groceries. Their Bountiful Blessing Box will feed a family of 4 or 5, 10 dinners plus it has some breakfast and lunch items included as well, all for $41! Which works out to be about $3.50 for each dinner...can't beat that!! Use this with your produce from your co-op or farmers market and you will be serving hearty healthy meals to your family every night!

If you have questions about any of these tips please feel free to post them below or email me!