ShellyBFree's Personal Finance Blog

Happy Friday!

So instead of my lightning fast plan to pay off the van, I decided yesterday to trade it in and buy a brand new car! I couldn't stand that van any longer and just knew I'd need to start putting money into it. The new car is so nice. And it actually puts us into a better financial spot anyway. Which sounds really weird.

And my daughter is thrilled that she won't have to learn how to drive in the van.

Good news is we have a month off from vehicle payments (for me).

And Aldi's saves the budget again with 5 bags of groceries plus 3 gallons of milk for $89!!!!

My husband and I have been to the same furniture twice to oogle at the same sectional. I would love to have this couch, it costs roughly $2300. Our current couch has reclining ends and because of the weird way it's constructed, the middle's springs have broken. We call the middle of the couch "the hole" because you sink. The best deal they had last time was only 6 months free financing...so that's almost 400 a month. Too high for me, while trying to have off the vehicle loans.

Monday, we received a preferred customer card from the same furniture store for 1/3 off anything and free finance (with monthly payments) until 2012. That's 11 payments of under 200 each. My husband said to just go buy the darn thing already.

Today I threw the card in the recycling. I will live with my broken couch until I can pay cash for the new one.

Doesn't mean I won't grumble about it...

I haven't posted in a while. It's been a little crazy around here with basketball, homework and trying to up the exercise. Anyways, today I finally sat down and made my plan of attack on roughly $20 K of vehicle loans and a boat loan to a family member. By my calculations by March of 2012, we should be all done!!!

At first I had it done way past March 2012, but then I remembered that I hadn't "snowballed" my payments...that took some months off!

That's also including putting money into savings every month.

I am SO SICK of thinking about debt and rearranging my budget to try to pay it off more quickly. I just want to be done!

Happy Wednesday Everyone

I've got the house to myself! The rest of them all ran off to do something else for the night. I plan to go to Aldi's (grocery store) for some cheap groceries and hit Walmart to get a few pairs of pants for the ever-growing and holes-in-the-knees of every pair he owns, teenage boy. Last night he looked like he was waiting for a flood. Time to get some pants!

We went to a Mexican restaurant last night for the hubby's bday and honestly I almost threw up when I got the bill...it was 85 DOLLARS for 4 of us! My hubby had 2 fish bowl size margaritas which made his drink total more than his food! Boy am I glad birthdays are only once a year. And we so rarely go out to eat that I guess it's ok. No more for a long time again.

Tomorrow I have Pilates and Sunday is Yoga. And I need to work on an eating plan. Otherwise I look for whatever's the fast when I'm starving and it's never anything good for me...

Have a great weekend

**Update: I only spent $60 at Aldi's! And I came home with 4 bags of food and 3 gallons of milk. I have $80 in my envelope still for groceries for the week. Awesome!

We didn't spend any money Monday or Tuesday and we shouldn't today either! Tomorrow we're going out to dinner for hubby's bday.

I tried yoga for the first time last night. I am not very flexible and I couldn't get my breathing right. I'll try it again Sunday! Tonight I'm trying Zumba.

I keep going back and forth on whether to pay off the van quickly or beef up our savings account. We have about $5600 left on the van and our savings is at about 1 month of our monthly income. After all bills and "variables"(groceries, gas, etc) we still have about $500 left.

What would you do?

Well, it seems like we spend alot this weekend! There was the grocery store (with a gift card for hubby's bday included), gas for the stupid van, then Saturday was a basketball tournament ($5 per adult per day-both Sat and Sun) and then hubby and I went on "date day" after bball Saturday. Went to movies ($30 including tix and snacks) then to dinner for $55! Came home to daughter and her friend asking us to take them for ice cream...12 more dollars! Then I open my electric/gas bill and it's over a hundred dollars more than last month. I don't recall using that much more. I'm going to call them Wednesday to see if they have any insight.

We talked about how date day/night will now be dinner/drinks at home with Netflix for a lot cheaper!

And I went to the cardio boxing class again on Saturday and I felt alot better afterwards-no sore legs.

The only expense I can think of this week is that the four of us are going to dinner for hubby's bday. This will be the 19th birthday of his that we've been together for. I feel old

I am about to sign my first child up for Driver's Education. I can't believe she is old enough. It makes me want to laugh, cry, and throw up all at the same time.

We haven't spent any money since Tuesday! We've been awfully busy, so not much time to shop. However, I need to go to the grocery store today since it's the only time I have this weekend. But the cupboards and freezer are pretty full still, so shouldn't need to spend more than $75(I hope). And I need to fill up the gas tank. It's freezing cold here and I don't like it to get too low. During the Halloween storm of '91 (I live in the Midwest), I ran out of gas in my driveway trying to heat the car up! I was just a teenager then and my mom was so mad at me! I remember that every winter now...

I am going back to the cardio boxing class tomorrow morning...my legs are finally a little better. I start to feel antsy if I don't exercise for a few days. And now I know what to expect from the class!

Have a good weekend

Last night and tonight in the quest to lose those last 20 pounds, I went to my new cardio place and did a kettlebell class Tuesday and then tonight I went to a cardio boxing class. My legs hurt so bad I can hardly stand from sitting.

It was also a no spend day. Gotta love those

Here's my balances that I want gone...like yesterday:

Van (used) loan: $5666.97
Truck loan: $9506.04
Boat (to a family member) $4560
We have zero credit card debt.

Savings account: $4884.17

I'll be trying like crazy to pay off the van since we've had all sorts of issues with it and the warranty expires in about 6 months. Right now I think I owe more than it's worth.

I also joined a group fitness classes studio. My first time going is tonight. And I'm writing down everything I eat in an attempt to make myself see how much junk I eat.

How do I do a sidebar to keep track of my balances? I've seen them on here but don't know how to add my own.

And thanks everyone for the welcome wishes

Today is my first day here! This is going to be the year that I get rid of some debt and add to my savings. Currently we had 2 vehicle loans which equal about $17,000 and a mortgage of about $239,000. Tomorrow is the day I will look up all the balances and hopefully post them here.

I am new to blogging. I read alot of personal finance blogs. Decided now was the time to have one of my own!

So I really have no idea what I'm doing but I'll give it a go!

Please be kind