Rejected

We were denied our request to close our escrow and release the funds. We now have a $2,100 a month mortgage payment for the foreseeable future. This number will go down once November rolls around, but for the next 5 months it is going to suck. There is really no other way to say it. Apparently if you have an FHA loan and do not put down 20% on a home, you are stuck with an escrow until you get 20% paid off. Take home story here, do not buy a home until you have 20%! Why didn't someone tell me that?

Our debt payments will obviously slow down and I do not think we will be able to hit that 25% mark. As bad as I want it, I just don't see how it will happen. 

I have some payments waiting to be cleared out. We paid about $800 to principal this month and once the accounts reflect that, I will update the totals again. 

I read the greatest article this morning about a family that paid off their mortgage in less than 5 years. Pretty incredible article that details how they did it. It provides me with some encouragement and new ideas. Maybe it will provide some of you the encouragement to kick that small credit card bill or put you on a path to being debt-free. Here is the article is you would like to read it http://homes.yahoo.com/news/paid-off-mortgage-less-5-years-230600500.html. 

Hope everyone has a great day. Last day of school with the kids today! And, faculty bowling after work! Woo-hoo!! 

Debt Totals Updated

Our loans finally updated our $700 payment! It took nearly a month, but here we are. We are now 19% paid off. That is not too bad considering we started 9 months ago. I just paid an additional $595 plus our monthly payment of $353. So, we have $900 going to loans this week. I am starting to collect some tutoring checks as well, so that total will start decreasing rapidly in the next two months. Our goal is to be 25% paid by October. It is hard, but I know we can keep at it. We have been doing a relatively good job at keeping on track except for December.

More to come soon in a future update.

I won!

There was a local contest for teachers who work in our community for a chance to win a $500 gift card to the mall here in Atlanta. Some of the students' parents nominated me and I was selected as a finalist for the award. Then, whoever had the most votes would win and it turns out that was me! Woo hoo! I am really not sure what to do with this. I am not the person that buys clothes except at Goodwill because they are too much anywhere else. I have been wanting a Tony Gonzalez jersey, so I may indulge myself that, but I am out of options after that. I will certainly let you guys know what I decide.

On another note, I am really looking forward to this summer. I think being a counselor at the local nature center will prove to be extremely fun and rewarding. Not to mention the extra money that will come with it. It looks like it will be a busy summer, but we will certainly enjoy it and enjoy the lower student loans.

Hope everyone finishes their weeks strong!

Some Summer Money

So, I found out this week that I will be able to lead a couple weeks of summer camps at the local nature center. They pay $600 for the week and I will only work from 9:30-3:30. Not too bad. That will amount to $1200. There is a possibility that I will be able to work another week as well.

In addition, I will be doing some tutoring for students to prepare them for high school biology. It is pretty tough at the local high school, so some of the parents asked if I would lead the summer tutoring and I absolutely agreed. Since this is my first year, I figured I would charge $150 per student for 16 hours of tutoring. I am looking to have around 10 students, but could grow up to 20 students. So that should amount to $1,500 in extra income.

My wife will be working as a nanny for a family that we love. She will only work two days a week for a total of 8 hours, but that is about $100 a week, so $800 in extra income.

Altogether, we should be looking at about $3,500 in extra income, which will all go to the student loans. Lastly, my wife will get paid twice in August due to some contract changes at her school, so we will pay all of that to a loan as well. It looks like we will be able to pay off about $6,000 in total in student loans this summer. That is almost 10% of our loans! Not too bad. I am really looking forward to paying that off.

Once I update out debt totals, we should be about 20% of the way done! Woo hoo! I would like to be at 30% paid off by the time September rolls around. Hopefully we can make it!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Quick Posting

I have been bit by the poison ivy bug! Last time I caught poison ivy, I was about a day away from going to the emergency room. I have been taking my antihistamines that I need in order to survive. I think I am highly allergic to it.

On another note, some of our payments have gone through for loans. We are waiting for the 10th and the 21st for the rest to be paid. I am hesitant to pay extra with a $2100 mortgage payment screaming at me due on 6/1. I am really anxious about this and lose sleep about it.

We went to Chipotle yesterday for the teacher appreciation day! We ate at the restaurant for under $8! Woo hoo! I really wish we had discipline with the sweet tea that they brew up there. It is impossible to resist it, so we always get the sweet tea. If you are from the south, you will understand!

Hopefully next time I update, I am poison ivy free!

Hope every one has a strong finish to their week! 12 days until school is out! Pumped!

Rainy Blues

I don't think it has stopped raining in about 12 hours. It is a constant fall with a few rolls of thunder every now and then.

So, we got home yesterday after having a pretty good day at work until we opened our mailbox. Inside of it was a letter from Franklin-American Mortgage. Not the bank we applied for a mortgage with but bought our mortgage from our previous bank. Inside of the envelope read that we were short on our escrow and they bank did not anticipate our increased taxes and hazard insurance year-over-year. They said our new mortgage payment would be $2,120, which is almost $400 more than what we currently pay which is $1,754. Ridiculous! I called them and they apologized for making a mistake on the calculations and not charging us a balanced amount each month to cover the escrow's expenses. Ugh! How can they anticipate an average family can afford to spend an additional $400 month?! Not too many people can do that, including us.

We are drafting a letter to send to them to close our escrow and release the balance to us. I thought an escrow was a good idea when we bought the house, but it turns out it is not. I would like to have control over our payments and savings so that we can accrue interest and pay the bills ourselves. Our financial planner warned us about this, but we did not listen. Sorry if you are reading this! Should have listened to you!

Hopefully this will be taken care of by the end of the month. If not, we will have to pay that ridiculous high mortgage payment. I will not look forward to that. More importantly, we will not be able to pay much extra on our loans.

Hope you all are having a good weekend!

Random Thoughts

Good evening everyone...

On a daily basis I take my dogs on a walk for about 45 minutes. It gives me a chance to calm down from the day, get a little exercise, and do some thinking.

On this particular walk I started thinking about when I was 18 getting ready for college. I thought back to a specific conversation between my mom and I. I asked my mom if my college was going to be paid for and she told me not worry about it and "just have fun", it would all be taken care of. I did not question her because it sounded like it would be for in cash. I would regularly ask my mom about the payments and she told me she had a monthly payment plan to pay tuition. She never once mentioned that she was paying for school through student loans. I find myself wanting to go back to 18 and ask my mom to sit down with me and tell me the financial situation for college. I wish she would have told me you x dollars to spend. If you spend more than that amount, you will have to get student loans to cover the rest. Then, I wish she would have told me an estimate of my monthly payment to student loans once I graduated. I really wish she would have included me in the discussion for the financing of college.

Then, I started thinking about how many people in student loan debt did not have parents that did not tell their kids how college would be paid for; they simply responded "don't worry, it will be taken care of, go have fun". If you are a parent reading this please sit your high school senior down at the dinner table at the start of the school year and explain to them 1) how much money you have socked away to pay for college and 2) what student loans will be like if they need them. I feel like a lot of this could be avoided if parents just explained the college budget to their students.

On the other hand, why don't high school seniors have to take a personal finance/ adult life class? I know this sounds stupid, but if someone had told me what life would be like with student loan payments, I would have tried at all costs to avoid having them! I feel like high school seniors should be informed on student loans and debt in general before they go to college. Many of the kids will receive a credit card in their name and take out student loans. They must understand the "ins-and-outs" of these things before they get them. Most kids would look at this as a symbol of freedom, and to a point it is, but they are ultimately bound to whatever amount of debt they take on for the next 20 years and if they do income-based payments, 30 years! That is a good chunk of their life to carry this burden. I feel it is only fair to teach students about these and let them make the decision on their own.

Sorry for the random thoughts, but I go worked up on my walk about this.

We are pending about $1,000 in extra loan payments this month! Woo-hoo! I will update the debt totals as soon as I get the payments cleared and see the new balances.