Is it just me, or does anyone else hate the way Bank of America structures their pending transactions? Instead of ordering them from date and time of transaction, they order them from largest to smallest so that the biggest transaction gets paid first.
Just kind of makes balancing our checking account annoying!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Balancing the Checking Account
Sat down this afternoon to enter receipts like I have been doing all week. Went to check the balance listed online against the register I have been keeping in Microsoft Money and discovered I was one penny off. Felt good to hunt down where that one penny went and know exactly where every dime we've spent this week has gone!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Paying Down Debt
$1,756.84
That's how much debt Amber and I paid off yesterday - 3 credit cards worth. And we are going to pay at least another $300 this month in debt. I also called TopGolf and cancelled our monthly family membership, which will allow us to put an additional $150 per month towards paying off our debt. It felt good to pay that debt down, and now I personally have an itch to get the rest paid off.
Part of that payment was made possibly because of some extra income I received this month, so we won't always be able to make those kinds of payments, but the plan is to pay $1000 per month, plus whatever extra money comes our way. I get the occasional wedding or church gig, and Amber gets incentive bonuses from work when she meets certain criteria, so that extra money is always welcome. We are also anticipating a decent tax return in March or April, and that will go towards reducing debt as well.
G'night.
That's how much debt Amber and I paid off yesterday - 3 credit cards worth. And we are going to pay at least another $300 this month in debt. I also called TopGolf and cancelled our monthly family membership, which will allow us to put an additional $150 per month towards paying off our debt. It felt good to pay that debt down, and now I personally have an itch to get the rest paid off.
Part of that payment was made possibly because of some extra income I received this month, so we won't always be able to make those kinds of payments, but the plan is to pay $1000 per month, plus whatever extra money comes our way. I get the occasional wedding or church gig, and Amber gets incentive bonuses from work when she meets certain criteria, so that extra money is always welcome. We are also anticipating a decent tax return in March or April, and that will go towards reducing debt as well.
G'night.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Hard Truths
My wife and I got married this summer (June 11th) after having been together for 6 years. We've both known that our finances are not where we want them for quiet some time, but getting married was a big priority for us, and we kind of sidelined getting our finances in order to get married.
Now that we are married, we both want to start a family. But we both realize that we have to make some pretty big strides financially before we can start down that road. With almost $16,000 in debt (not including car loans), we've got some work to do before we are ready to start a family. The first step is really admitting to ourselves what we've got ahead of us - paying off all this debt! It's time to buckle down and get to it. I'd like for us to use this blog to keep ourselves honest about getting our debt paid off, and to chronicle our journey towards financial peace.
I've known about the Dave Ramsey approach for a while now, and we've even tried it on a few occasions. We are basically going back to the envelope system - in theory anyways. No envelopes yet (mainly because I'd prefer not to always be carrying cash around), but we are committing to setting a budget, keeping all receipts, and reconciling and tracking our spending on a daily basis.
It's time to get serious about starting a family, which means it's time to get serious about getting our finances under control.
Brian
Now that we are married, we both want to start a family. But we both realize that we have to make some pretty big strides financially before we can start down that road. With almost $16,000 in debt (not including car loans), we've got some work to do before we are ready to start a family. The first step is really admitting to ourselves what we've got ahead of us - paying off all this debt! It's time to buckle down and get to it. I'd like for us to use this blog to keep ourselves honest about getting our debt paid off, and to chronicle our journey towards financial peace.
I've known about the Dave Ramsey approach for a while now, and we've even tried it on a few occasions. We are basically going back to the envelope system - in theory anyways. No envelopes yet (mainly because I'd prefer not to always be carrying cash around), but we are committing to setting a budget, keeping all receipts, and reconciling and tracking our spending on a daily basis.
It's time to get serious about starting a family, which means it's time to get serious about getting our finances under control.
Brian
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