A third of the year is gone already...

Where does the time go?  I can't believe we've already finished up 1/3 of the year!  While I'm not where I want to be with my goals, I'm making progress and all things are pointing to the bottom line looking SO much better by the time we are 2/3 of the way done with the year.  We're coming up on my favorite time of year and the one in which I tend to spend the least amount of money!  April always hits me hard because I have several big expenses to pay for, now it's smooth sailing for me until we get closer to the holidays.  The longer days are such a great thing, I can spend more time outside and relaxing with a good book or by the pool at my condo that I pay for regardless of whether I use it or not, might as well use it.  :)  I'm looking forward to seeing how little I can spend, while still having some fun.  I plan to be a tourist this summer in my own town and finally see several places here that I've never been to, even though I've lived here my entire 40 years.  Should be fun to get out and explore some new areas.  I have so much vacation time to use up and if I don't use it, I lose it.  That's not going to happen!  I'm looking forward to May 1st and seeing the change in my spending and how I'm looking at each and every purchase I make.  My goal is to have my car and credit card paid off by 12/31/13.  That will leave me with only my mortgage and the remainder of my debt to my parents, which they refuse to take more than $2,000/year in payments for, so I'll put the extra toward retirement and my mortgage.  :) 

I hope you are all having a wonderful spring! 

Current debt:  $243,615.69

Ever tried Advocare???

I have been wanting to do an herbal cleanse for quite some time now and I've been really slow about getting on it.  When I was discussing this with a friend of mine, she mentioned that she's a distributor for Advocare and recommended that I try theirs.  I was a little reluctant, but thought what the heck, I'll give it a try.  She mentioned that if I became a distributor, I'd get the products at a discount, not to mention with signing up, I would get a lot of their drinks as well with my starter kit.  So far, I've been thrilled with all of the products I've tried.  I even ventured in to the skin care a bit, something I rarely do because I have very dry and sensitive skin.  The Advocare has been GREAT, very subtle and non irritating.  My skin has never been so soft and feels wonderful!  I'm thrilled with all the products thus far.  Does anyone else have experience with Advocare? 

If you're interested, check it out.  https://www.advocare.com/120424311

Current debt:  $243,565.24 

Refinance complete...

So, just yesterday I was able to complete the refinance on my condo and lowered my interested rate a full 2%!!  Up until now, I had a 5/1 Interest only ARM and it was due to shift rates.  While this would have been fine, it was only going to stay the current rate for 12 months and then it could shift every 12 months for the remaining 24 years.  That is a stress that I do not need to have on my head.  So, I've locked in now for 30 years at 4.125% and will finally be making payments toward reducing the principal as well.  Although, all along, I've been paying extra to reduce the principal, it's just that it was an interest only loan.  Something I would not recommend, but as we all do, we learn some lessons the hard way.  But, now that I know what it's going to cost me to pay it off and there won't be any surprises, I feel like I can really start to make progress on the mortgage and other debt and really see the big picture. 

Current debt:  $243,565.24

Pretty inexpensive weekend...

We finally had some GREAT spring weather around here and I spent most of the weekend outside enjoying it! Saturday started with a 5 mile walk and ended watching a baseball game, both totally free things to do. Sunday was a little overcast in the morning, but not bad enough to not get out for a walk, so out I went. Then a trip to Ikea. I don't think I've ever gotten out of there so cheaply!! Only $20.15!! Sure, I could have spent several hundred $$, but I'm trying something new...I am going to think about several of the things I saw and wanted and I will save up the money to buy them. I figure this will either make me take my time buying something, or I will decide I didn't really want/need it to begin with. I'm working really hard on not using my credit card and slowly paying it off. I've been in the vicious cycle for too long of making a large payment, then coming up short of cash for things and pulling the card out. NO MORE!! I've also been writing down EVERY single penny I am spending and this is making me very aware of the way I tend to nickel and dime my way further in to debt all the time. No more! If I don't have the cash to pay for it, I don't need it. Wish me luck!

Current debt: $240,686.82 (seems to be stuck here...)

Updating net worth...

Wow! That was depressing! I just updated my net worth with real values for things and my house plummeted, just like most everyone else and it really makes for an ugly bottom line. Oh well! At least I still have my house and I am in a good position to work on getting it paid down and hopefully values will turn around soon. I'm not looking at it as a short term investment, so I've got plenty of time for it to regain it's value.

Anyone else looking at real values?

Current debt: $240,686.82

No news is good news...

Not much to report from around here, just plugging along. My refinance is all set and moving along well, should close next week and I've paid one of my big April expenses, one more to go, but I'm not transferring the money from savings until it is closer to being due. I have to make my annual loan payment to my parents on April 27th, so I'll transfer the money right before that in to my checking account.

I had a nice quiet weekend at home alone, the former BF, now currently my roommate, was out of town and I enjoyed the peace and quiet and the solitude. :) Friday night I stayed home and did laundry, cleaned, watch what I wanted on TV and puttered around. Saturday I went to a friend's son's baseball game then did a little shopping and came home to enjoy the rest of the day reading and watching a movie. Got all of my Easter stuff put together and ready for Sunday, then spend Easter out at my parents with my brother and his family. It was a lovely weekend. Very mellow and relaxing!

This upcoming weekend is looking to be much the same, not too much going on and I'm looking forward to it. These kinds of weekends are much needed, both for their relaxing potential and the minimal spending that happens. I'm looking forward to the weather continuing to get nicer and being able to be outside more and more.

I have some vacation time coming up next month with little planned other than some down time and my mom and I have a few day trips planned. Looking forward to that.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter holiday and are enjoying this spring!

Current debt: $240,686.82

The end of March already...

Oh my! Where has the first quarter of 2012 gone?! I feel like I'm a hamster on a wheel, spinning spinning spinning, but not really getting anywhere. While I've been busy putting money aside for my big April expenses, I don't feel like I'm making any progress on my credit card debt. I've had to slow down the payments to set the money aside for next month, but once I make those payments, I will have depleted my savings and will be back to working on the credit card debt and building up the savings again. Feels like it's a cycle that never really ends.

I've sold a number of things on eBay lately and have netted over $800, so that is great and it's been nice to declutter. I'm also getting ready to take several nice dresses, shoes and purses to the consignment shop in town and hoping that will help bring in some extra cash.

I'm also in the process of refinancing my condo. I've been in it 5 years and the 5/1 ARM is up for adjustment next month. Luckily for me, I think, I qualify for the HARP program and it looks like I should be able to lock in a 30 year rate of 4.125%. That would be great as I'm currently paying 6.125%. That 2% reduction,while keeping my payments the same will do a lot to reduce my principal much quicker. Is anyone else looking in to this?

The BF is still looking for a place to live and has paid me back 1/2 of the $1500.00 he borrowed from me and he's working on finding a place, but it's taking awhile as most places are expensive in the Seattle area. I'm hoping he'll find something shortly as I think it's going to be crucial to our relationship that we each have our own space. My 750' condo is much too small for the 2 of us and I really like living on my own. So, good thoughts please that he'll find something soon! :)

Looking forward to spring and much better weather, I think it will put me in a sunnier mood!

Current debt: $241,094.10

VERY slowwwwlllyyy paying stuff down

Ugh! How is it that it takes SO long to get debt paid off, but racking it up is no trouble at all?! I'm not making as much progress as I'd like at the moment, but that's because I've been putting all my eBay sales money in to my savings account for my 2 bigger expenses coming up next month. I've got to pay $2,000 to my parents for my annual loan payment and I have my season football ticket renewal coming up at the beginning of the month. I have the money in savings for both and I feel good about that, but I don't want to stop adding to savings for a bit until I know I'll have a good cushion once I pay those bills. I also have payments coming in monthly from the BF as he pays down the amount that I loaned him back in November, so that helps too. I'm thinking I'd like to have a cushion of about $1,000 after paying the big bills next month, then I can focus solely on paying down the credit card. I'm excited that I haven't used the credit card for quite some time now and I don't plan on using it any time soon either. I've been making good money on my eBay sales and I'm finding out what sells and what doesn't. I also am having 3 dresses and a coat dry cleaned right now to take down to the hoity toity consignment shop in town to see what I can get for them. :) As I peruse eBay a little bit more, I'm shocked at what I am seeing that sells and it's giving me more ideas of what I have that I can sell. I love, love, love the thought of decluttering too. Yay!

The BF is moving out on his own soon, which will be great! I am not good at living with someone and I can't wait to have my whole place back to myself. We're still going to be dating, but just stepping things back and we'll see what happens. He wants to get married and I have no idea if I EVER want to get married again. I got burned pretty bad last time and I'm just not sure I want to go through that again. I'm seeing a counselor that is helping me through a lot of this, but we'll see how it goes. I'm perfectly content being on my own.

Not too much else to report from here, things have been quiet lately.

Current debt: $242,809.84

eBay sales are going well...

Wow! I'm surprised that in just a week I've earned over $350 from the items I listed on eBay!! While I know this isn't going to be something I can sustain, it feels great to have cleared out a bit of clutter and to have made some cash on it. I'm amazed at what some people are willing to pay for some things. Oh well, it's all good for me!

Other than the eBay sales things have been cruising right along lately. We had a big family birthday party this past weekend, we have 4 birthdays in February and 3 of us were hitting milestones. 10-40-70!! YAY!!

The BF's mother suddenly passed away yesterday without any warning and he's having a tough time with it. They weren't especially close, but the suddenness of this has really shaken him up. Since I never met her, I'm somewhat at a loss as to how to support him, but we're working through it and we'll head to her funeral later this week and it will be nice for him to see all of his family.

That's about all from here, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend...

Current debt: $243,358.85

Is February 1/2 over already???

Where is this month going? My goodness it's flying by!!! I'm doing fairly well on my eBay listings and am happy so far with the things I'm selling. Several of my items have quickly met the reserve bid and are rapidly increasing, so that's cool. I went through my storage unit at my condo and was pleasantly surprised to find several more still new in the box items that I could list. Yay! I'm not sure how people do this for a living, but it's fun to clean up some of my closets and sell off a few things to make a little extra cash.

I've been a lot more diligent about taking all the survey offers that come my way and so far this year, I've earned an extra $352 taking surveys. Not bad! There really is money to be made in surveys, you just have to know what to do and be patient, I've been doing them for years and I'm really starting to see it pay off.

I received my tax return deposited in to my account yesterday and I've put that money away in savings until it's time to renew my football season tickets, then I'll use the remainder of it toward debt reduction. Most of the big expenses for the moment are done, so I'll be able to refocus on the debt reduction. At least I've gotten the spending in check again, so the bleeding has stopped, not it's time to work on reducing the debt. I'll keep you posted.

Can't wait to see what the final eBay sales are when these auctions end. :)

Current debt: $243,359.85