Rolling Over

I am in the process of rolling over my Roth IRA into a fund with Fidelity. It is called Fidelity's Emerging Market Income Fund. I have a friend who is in this fund and loves it. The fund pays a monthly dividend of $.065 a share it has also grown an average of 12% a year, not too bad. If I were to buy into this fund today, I would make $30 a month in dividends, which is $360 a year just on dividends, not including capital gains or growth. Pretty awesome.

I am looking to do this because I somehow lost $400 in my Roth with USAA last year. I am not quite sure how and I am going to call about it to see what is going on. I am hoping that we will see a real nice return being in this fund this year.

I made a mistake in yesterday's update. We paid off $1,081 in principal last month. I forgot I updated my loan payment earlier in the month.

This loan payment will not have a lot go to principal. Since we focused so much on my wife's loans, my interest has accumulated to $200. Ugh!

Really? $.09?

Just went through to see how we did this month. We paid exactly $700 to principle this month. Not too bad, but not as much as I thought we did. I really hate interest. Have I said that before?

Anyway, when I logged into to our accounts, I noticed we owed $.09 on one of the loans. Really? $.09?! I am thinking of mailing them a dime for this loan. It would cost more for the postage than the loan. We are going to end up paying them about $40,000 on $30,000 of loans. They wont let go of $.09? Ridiculous.

I did get excited when I updated our percentage paid. We are getting close to 20%! Woo-hoo! We should reach 20% paid long before our first year trying to get out of debt. Not too bad.

I will be posting an update tomorrow on some opportunities that have arisen where we can make some extra cash.

Hope you are all having a good week!

Use Your Resources

When we set out on this journey of debt reduction, I had no idea how much we would have to scrimp and save, even more so now that we bought a house.  Don't worry, we aren't living in poverty, but there certainly is no room for shopping trips to the mall, spa treatments (not that I did much of those anyway), or fancy dinners out (fancy for us is less than $30!). One thing I've tried to do more and more is to take advantage of are the resources around us. Recently, a friend from college came over to look at our yard and give us her professional opinion.  She is a landscape architect and is planning to provide us with a long term vision for our yard as well as tips on pruning, drainage, plant types etc.  Best part about it... she's free!  Depending on how in-depth her plans go, we may pay for her services eventually, but for now her consultation is free.  Another example of using our resources is buying furniture from people who have nicer things than you.  If they are looking for an upgrade, chances are that their cast offs are a good thing for you.  We have gotten a free desk, coffee table and $130 leather loveseat this way, just by asking.

Another example of using resources around us... tax preparation.  For the past few years, we've used a family friend for our taxes.  Our rate is great, and we've received a pretty decent tax refund each time. My point is, that chances are the people around you have something great to offer.  Whether it's an extra couch, or some free advice, I suggest you ask around for help!  No, I don't mean begging and pleading on someone's doorstep, but there's nothing wrong with being smart, and calling on those who have different talents than yours.

Finally, something that has saved us money is coupons.  No, I'm not the crazy coupon lady on Extreme Couponing, but every little bit helps.  Even if it means switching brands for an extra $1 of savings, it's worth it, just to apply to loans.  Yes, I've become that person who wants to squeeze every dollar into debt that I can... because I'm tired of this black cloud hanging over me!

MLK Day Update

I was going to post last night, but found myself too depressed from the Falcons loss yesterday. Tough game.

Anyway, it looks like we have about $800 extra this month. I think we are going to payoff the smallest loan which is about $490 and we will put the rest in savings. We have to keep on saving to for the upcoming exterior paint job. Taking care of that $490 is a small victory, but it will clear up about $8 a month. It is really irritating that $151 of that $490 is capitalized interest. Bah!

This morning we went and moved some boxes at the mother in-law's work place for $30. It was only 20 boxes, so it breaks down to a little over a dollar a box. I wish they had more for us to move. This money will also be applied to debt.

So, I was checking out some different types of investments the other day. I came across this website called Lending Club. It is a peer-to-peer platform where people apply for loans and individual people can fund the loan with small investments. It may seem dangerous, but it is not a scam. When you look for a loan to invest in they range in APR from 6% all the way to 24%. Obviously, the 24% will be the riskiest. But, you are able to see all of the financial information of people vying for loans. You can see their income, credit score, buy/rent home, number of delinquencies, defaults, and so on. It makes me feel very comfortable knowing you have the power to choose which loan to invest in. When you log in, you are able to see your interest accumulate on a daily basis. It makes me feel better being on the other side.

It is just an experiment for us, but I have already put in $75 and I am waiting on the money to clear so that I can purchase two more loans.

I will post some more updates on this very soon!

Using Groceries to Pay Down Debt?!

Each week, we have an $80 budget to spend at the grocery store. Usually, we spend right around the $80 mark. However, the past two weeks we have only spent $65 each week. We decided that any money we had left in our grocery budget would be applied to our smallest student loan. also, this has encouraged us to find some extra coupons.

Now, we go around the store and ask ourselves do we really need to spend that $2 on potato chips or that $4 on coke? Or, do we want to put that $6 to debt? I think this could potentially become a healthy idea not only for our budget, but our waistlines as well. Woo-hoo!

So far, we have been able to apply $30 to loans in addition to what we have been paying extra already. I am shooting for an additional $300 payment coming up this week. I hope life does not happen and we have an extra $300 to do that. I will keep you guys updated!

Bank of America Blues

I really dislike BOA. I have never liked them. I swore I would never bank with them. They are too big and they do not care about the little people, like me.

Many people have had some problems with them, especially with student loans. We have a couple of friends that are unable to pay them their minimum monthly payment. BOA refuses to negotiate a new monthly payment with them and extend the life of the loan. I cannot understand this. Why would they not? That is more money for them in the long run, granted the risk of default is higher.

Recently, they bought out one of my old credit card companies and my card converted to a BOA card. I was extremely irritated by this. I knew it would be trouble before it ever started. I made a $16 purchase on my old card the month before BOA bought them out. I paid this balance off the next month and called to cancel the card because of the BOA buyout. The lady said she would close the account once the funds were received. However, I just got a bill from them for a $1.50. They call this a "minimum interest charge". Why would there be a minimum interest charge when I paid the balance in full and closed the account?! I really, really, really, dislike them. I am going to have to call them and pay a stupid buck-fifty for some ridiculous charge when I paid the card off. Ugh!

The One Car Life

So, it has been a little over 4 months since we sold the Honda.

We get some strange comments. People really don't believe that you have one car and ask "why would you do that to yourself?". I commonly respond by saying, "why would you put yourself through two car payments when you really only need one car".

It really has not been too difficult on one car. It just takes some careful planning to make sure we can both do things that we need to.

The best part is not paying a car payment every month! Also, no insurance payment, no ad valorem tax on the car, gas to put in the tank, maintenance, and you get the picture. This has really been awesome. It has saved us so much money. However, we are not executing that payment ($320) and paying to the loans. This is a must. We will start doing that this month.

Many thanks to my wife posting the other day. She is the best.

I would love to hear if anyone has ever encountered anyone like her boss that believes debt is a part of life.

Have a great day!