Undeniably, 2019 has not been off to a good start for us. In the past nine weeks or so, we have been hit with close to $8,000 of unexpected expenses. Not exactly fun when you are doing your best to pay down debt! Times such as these would likely make even the strongest of us start to feel defeated. Trust me; I’ve had many of those moments. While it is understandable to feel that way, allowing oneself to stay in that mode won’t make things better. And that is precisely why today I am choosing to look at the bigger financial picture! [Read more…]
$11.94. Yep, that is how much we reduced our debt by last week. Not good. Putting our snowball on hold to cover our escrow shortage of $798 did not sit well with me, and that is where the $11.94 came into play. I just had to reduce our debt by something, no matter how small! I cashed out what little I had in my Amazon M-Turks account and then sent exactly that amount to our Visa. Crazy, huh? 
As I close the books on my 2018 budget binder, I felt it only appropriate to take a moment and look back at some highlights of the year. While there were several highlights, I narrowed them down to my top three. 
Since I stayed home from work today due to coming down with a cold, I figured I’d write about one of our big “whys” for being so desperate to get out of debt. On a quick side note, I do realize that missing time from work doesn’t do a lot to help us reach this goal. The kiddo himself was sick this past week and likely passed it on to me. Sigh. If it were anyone else, I’d be tempted to give it back. Lol 
It’s going to happen! The Beast (aka our Discover card) is going to be taken out! No, we didn’t have a secret money stash, win the lotto, or receive an inheritance. What we did have, however, was an item up for sale that finally sold. 
A couple of days ago I was poking around A Dime at a Time and discovered a link which brought me to a post over on 
What’s happening in the world of A Dime at a Time? 
“Step one is the baby emergency fund. That is the one I am talking about, while people are trying to get out of debt(not mortgage). 
How many of you remember when grocery stores would ask whether you wanted paper or plastic? Surprising as it is, I now live in an area where most of the local stores still ask this question! I choose paper 99% of the time as I can, in turn, crumple it up and reuse it as dunnage for inventory I send to Amazon. 
$1,500. What does that amount mean to me? It is the approximate amount that will remain on our smallest debt after making our April $700ish snowball.