Funny Little Smile
I told my dad a few months back about my goal of getting debt free, and at the time, I could tell that he was relly pulling for me and that he was proud that I was doing so well. I saw him tonite and we all went out to eat. I whispered to him, “1000 left, that’s all” and he just turned his head and gave me this funny little smile. I could tell that he was really, really happy for me. My dad and I are very close, and he is the coolest guy ever. He is such a good dad and grand-dad. But, he has never really focused on his finances. He works hard, but he will always be a pay-check to pay-check kinda guy. It’s been cool talking to him a bit about money, since it’s something we rarely talked about when I was a kid. One of the coolest things he ever said to me, a few months ago, was, “Son, you are a good dad to your kids, and I am glad that you can talk to them the way that you can…” This was cool to hear, especially from my dad.
So, if you are a dad out there, young or old, start or continue talking to your children. I am almost 31 years old, and I still love hearing positive things from my dad. I have a new motivation for being debt free and saving piles of cash. I want to be able to help my dad retire and have some nice things when he gets older.
I am sappy…
Oh yeah, I had an email about my grocery price book…
Are any of you interested in seeing it? Would you like for me to post some of it here? If so, just let me know and I’ll share my method for getting the best prices…
I know, I know
There are ads here now.
1000 Dollars Left
I sent a payment for a little over 700 dollars today, leaving me with exactly 1000 dollars more to pay until I am debt free. That’s over 91 percent of our debt paid since April. Here is the updated chart.
| Account | 04/16/05 | Paid So Far | 11/07/05 |
| Auto 1 | 2656.33 | 2656.33 | 00.00 |
| Auto 2 | 3255.23 | 3255.23 | 00.00 |
| C Card | 5598.66 | 4598.66 | 1000.00 |
| Totals | 11510.22 | 10510.22 | 1000.00 |
Wow. 240 days to pay-off 10510.22. That is 43 dollars per day. Not to bad. Initially, I was trying to pay 100 dollars a day, but that was unreasonable. I did manage to pay 75 dollars a day for a long stretch of time. But I’ll take where I am at! Just 1000 dollars more to go. One more paycheck. This debt should be gone by the end of December or the first of January. Wow.
Wow. Wow.
Thanks for all of the support, and I hope you stick around to celebrate with me when I can finally say that I am debt free.
Online Banking Questions Answered
Okay, this post will not be for everyone, but I have a feeling that a few of you just might need this information. So, here is an online banking tutorial, for those of you who have never used an online bill-payment service.
- Choose your service. I use Wachovia.com, but most major banks now offer free online banking and bill-pay. You should not have to pay for this service, and if your bank charges you, then you need to change banks. (There ARE online banks, and you are free to use their services, but you will have to use direct deposit, mail a check, or transfer money from another account in order to fund your account).
- Now, you have your account, go to the online banking set-up page, and follow the steps. You will be asked for a username and a password, and you might even have to validate this information with an email address or phone call. If you have trouble with this stage, call your bank, and a customer service rep will help you.
- Now, assuming that you have money in your checking account, and you have managed to access it at your banks website, you are ready to pay bills online.
- There are 2 PRIMARY ways to set-up your bill payments. You can manually enter account information for each biller, or you can choose billers from an automatically generated list. You will probably find that only some of your billers, say a credit card or cable company, are available in the automatically generated list. You will need to enter account information for the rest of your accounts. This usually involves the biller address, phone number, your account number, and various other information. Enter the information for each of your billers, and verify that all of the information is correct.
- Now, you are ready to pay your bill. Go to the billpay section of your online banking site, and scroll to find the particular bill you would like to pay. With most online bill-pay, you will be asked to enter an amount, and a date for when you would like the payment to be received by the biller. Now, here is where there is some confusion. With some billers, an actual check will be written, and the date you enter will be the date that the biller will receive the actual check. For other billers, no actual check will be written, but a transfer, from your checking account to the biller will occur. The best idea is to schedule ALL payments so that a check is sent or a transfer occurs AT LEAST 3 days before a bill is actually due. DO not wait until the actual due date to schedule a bill-payment. While some bills can be paid in one day, most bills take at least 3 days to be entered and paid. (Read your banks method of payment carefully. Some indicate the date a payment will be “sent” and some indicate the date a payment will be “received”)
- Verify that the right amounts are going to the right billers, confirm that all information is correct, and click “enter”. Your bills will be paid on time, and you will have an online record of your transactions.
Now, there are several other “ways” to pay your bills online. Some companies offer e-bills, which are electronic versions of the regular printed bills, sent straight to your bank, instead of to your mailbox. You are notified, usually via email, that a new e-bill has arrived, and you can review it, and make payments accordingly. Some companies also offer online payment via debit card, credit card, or checking account. (I have found it “dangerous” to give credit card companies direct access to my checking account, and I personally refuse to do so.)
One last feature that I really like about online bill-pay is the ability to schedule recurring payments, like a car payment or mortgage.
Re-Design
A bit of a re-design, with use of ads from BannerBoxes.
I am thinking of designing a new budget, based around a calendar lay-out. I’ll update when I have finished thinking it through.
Here’s something amazing, that I just realized. When I get debt free, my recurring bills will be less than 1/4 of my take-home pay. Less than 1000 dollars a month. Wow! I will have 3000 dollars to spend on food, entertainment, saving and investing. That is going to be cool. I have not broken-down exactly how I am going to use this money, but it will be fun to know that none of it will be going to credit card companies. Yay!
Do you comment on the blogs you visit? I have decided to try to leave a comment on every blog I visit, every time I visit, just so the blogger knows that I have been there. It’s cool to check stats and all, but the comments just do it for me, ya know.. hint, hint…
I need to upgrade my term life insurance, and would like to lose my weight first, so that I will get a better deal. (More incentive!)
Grocery King
I found some really, really good deals at Kroger today. I stocked up on some items the kids like, and I was able to save some pretty good cash. Here are a few of the bargains I found. If you have a Kroger near you, go and stock up.
Tonys Pizzas 8 for 8.20. You buy 8 pizzas, you get 5.00 off at register.
Kroger crackers (Like Ritz or Town House) 1 Pound Boxes 1.00 dollar each.
Fresh Boneless Chicken 1.99 Per Pound
Kroger Potato Chips 1.00 Per Bag (This is a really good price, and these are good chips)
Anyway, it was a good day shopping. I had some coupons, and with all of my savings, I was able to get about 130 dollars worth of groceries for about 60 bucks. I have learned to “stock-pile” bargains, so our grocery bills are MUCH lower than they used to be. As for eating out… we used to eat out AT LEAST 1 meal a day, sometimes 2. Now, we eat out MAYBE twice a week, and then it’s usually Wendy’s or Subway. I have found that I actually enjoy cooking, and the time we save not driving to go out and eat, we can spend with the kids.
I am thinking about making a BIG lump sum debt re-payment in the next couple of days, but I am waiting. We are having a party for my mom’s b-day after Christmas, and I want to be sure that I have enough cash on hand to pay for the caterer. This will be her 50th b-day, so we (my sis and I) are going “all out”. I handle the food, she’s getting the gift. This will be expensive, but WELL worth it. My mom is going to FLIP. It is going to be awesome.
As for Christmas, we have just about rapped up (ba,doomp,doomp) our shopping. Out little girl has put in for a trampoline… I have heard that certain home-owner’s insurance policies are voided if you purchase a trampoline. (This may or may not be true. I don’t know.) Plus, our local doctor says that the week after Christmas is the busiest time of the year for broken bones, due to new trampoline purchases. Guess we’ll just have to buy her those rocket-powered skates instead… wow, I am on a roll…
Well, if you are still reading, this post has been about as informative as the label on a shampoo bottle. So, print this page, take it to your restroom, and you will have something NEW to read the next time you go potty. Come ON now, you KNOW you read the shampoo label… we all do… right… I mean… you know… Because we’re bored… and all… so…
God, the fever is getting to me.
Before you go…do this. Open a new browser page to your online bank, and schedule a five dollar payment towards your lowest debt balance. Do it now. Now, doesn’t that feel goooood. See, it’s that simple. A few extra dollars a day, every day, and you too can be on the road to debt freedom.
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