Commitment to my 5 YEAR PLAN

[cadamsgis]

Hello everyone,

I've lurked on the forums long enough.

I want to make a public statement.

I have talked about begin debt-free over and over and over threw the years but then I would continue to make choices that did not sit with that idea. Mostly bad financial decisions. But I own those because I made them. Nothing you can do to change the past - just make better decisions in the future. I won't go into the reasons/ excuses as to why I did these things. It is what it is...

I recently downloaded all financial transactions from my bank account (opened in November 2008) and went about categorizing trying to figure where the money goes.... we won't go into all that... where the money went...let's just suffice to say it's gone

One thing I found out that is since February 2009 - I have paid down $22,755 in debts. Which is amazing!!!!! I'm very happy about that.

Another thing I found out is that there is lots more to go

1. 1000
2. 1035
3. 875
4. 2480
5. 24,521
6. 73,269
7. 19,715
8. 68,676

I want to publicly commit myself to my 5 YEAR PLAN.

If I stay with my budget - I can be complety debt-free in 5 YEARS during the year I turn 45. My birthday is October 7th and just turned 40. I have spoken with my husband and he is totally on board with the PLAN.

The PLAN is about me and what I want out of life. I am worth it!!!

Thanks for listening.

I'd love to hear of any commitments or plans you'd like to share
cathy

[khaski]

HI Cathy, glad you're no longer lukring and activally participating instead, I hope you'll keep us up to date on your triumphs (and stumbles) along the way. Sometimes the road feels long and impossible, but it's worth it in the end. Full steam ahead!

[dinah]

good luck! i would love to hear about your progress.

I have talked about begin debt-free over and over and over threw the years but then I would continue to make choices that did not sit with that idea.

this is me too. i know what we need to do and how to do it...i just can't seem to actually do it.

[Laney]

Hi from a fellow former-lurker

Good luck to you!! and please do keep us posted on your progress. I like reading other people's stories of becoming debt-free, they are very inspiring.

[Mojjo]

Great first step!!!

Have you figured out which plan you were thinking of using? I mean, are you going to snowball? Have you created a budget?

[cadamsgis]

yes I am going to use the snowball method. But I am doing it in the order listed (I know that is a little different then lowest balance first but that is how it's going).

I have a budget setup.

I use an excel spreadsheet with tabs for each paycheck (I get paid every 2 weeks). My issue is that in the past extra I would spend and have no idea where it went and now I'm gonna use that to snowball.

I made one master list with all the bills divided up in two parts (1st pay & 2nd pay). then I use this master list to copy to about 6 months worth of pay dates. I actually get 26 checks because of the every 2 week thing. And I have a list of all debts on another tab. It might sound a little confusing but it really works well for me.

I also like looking at everything in MINT. My number one issue with them is that after about a year all my old transactions disappeared. But I like the graphs and the overall feel and look so I check in there every so often.

Therefore I like to keep records in excel. I also can download transactions from my bank into excel also.

I found a great website costtodriveyou put in where you start where you are going and your car type and year and it tells you how much gas will cost for a trip.

I just bought my house last November and purposely found one within 5 miles from my office. It's a single family older house built in 1938, two bedrooms, and I love it. I got it on a short sale for $68,000. So I am paying less for my house then I was paying for rent.

You would be surprised by all the stupid comments I got from people about my house (location, size, neighborhood, cost) but I absolutely love it don't give a hoot what any of them have to say. I love little houses. I had thought about building a katrina cottage, but lucked into finding this house.

It takes .58 cents to drive to work and I go home for lunch so for 4 trips from my house and back is $2.32. I just figured this out yesterday. That is just one more reason to remind myself - stick with the budget. Eat at home - eating out is way more than gas back and forth.

About a year ago I was trying to save money on food so I did what alot of books and folks suggest and created a price book. I live in Maryland right outside of DC. I checked with sam's club, safeway, gaint, wegmann's, shoppers, aldi, save-a-lot, and mexican supermarket. And I found that my best prices are save-a-lot and mexican supermarket. So that's were I go with the very rare visit to one of the others if I need something specific that isn't in my favs. I made a huge impact on my food bill.

I want to encourage everyone to really look at price per ounce and find out your best places. It's worth it.

[Sumacaroni]

Wow, Cathy!! Great work!! Nice find on the house and I am proud and excited for you to start on this new 5-yr plan! Way to go! Can't wait to see your progress - I love watching and hearing of others' progress here at FV, it is so inspiring and great to know others are on the same page. There really isn't anyone in my family or group of friends that understands or can relate to what our family is trying to do.

I like your idea about the price book, would you mind starting another thread - maybe in the grocery area or household books - about how you went about doing that? Do you also coupon? I am very interested to know but don't want to hijack this great thread of yours.

[Debbie-cat]

Way to go Cathy!!! So glad you decided to jump in. Good luck and by the way, I LOVE small houses!!

[cadamsgis]

I want to thank everyone for the encourgement.

I don't coupon because the things I buy are store brands and even when I compared couponing and loss leader sales at the name brand stores - I still pay less at save-a-lot and the mexican market.

I was going to start a new thread but saw several already going. thanks for the idea.

also I am new to posting so I didn't realize that my first post should have gone under challenges. Sorry everyone....

[cadamsgis]

I was talking to my sister the other day and mentioned my 5 YEAR PLAN to be completely debt free. She sarcastically reminded me that I've talked about being debt free for the last 15 years and it’s a repeating record. I had to acknowledge that was correct but this time I actually have a PLAN not just talk. My sister did wish me good luck with the PLAN.

I had joined the 12/12/12 project posting that I had already paid off 1 and 2 and the goal for 12/12/12/ was the next three items on my initial list.

The other day someone at work asked me if I wanted to take a swim class and I said that it wasn’t in my budget. They asked me if the class was expensive and I said I had no idea. They looked at me like I had 3 heads. I added that I can do laps or aqua jog on my own (which I had started in December but got pretty sick and took 3 weeks off but have started again this week). Someone else overheard the whole conversation and said something teasing (I don’t remember what they said) but I sweetly told them don’t be jealous when I’m completely debt-free. I have a 5 YEAR PLAN.

[hmcart]

sounds like you are doing great! WTG!

[cadamsgis]

I'm super excited to report I paid off number 4 today.

My goal is to have number 3, 4, and 5 (listed in red) compelety paid off by 12/12/12.

1. 1000
2. 1035
3. 470
4. 2480
5. 24,521
6. 73,269
7. 19,715
8. 68,676

And I will have number 3 completely paid off next pay check in 2 weeks.

ps same post from 12/12/12 thread

[alotofgooddeals]

man i am so jealous....i to say i am gonn do it over and over and over again....maybe just maybe after reading your post i can get the motivation to stick to it...

[frugalnana]

I'm wishing you great success with your plan. It is so hard to do. Especially if little things get thrown in unexpectedly. It took us since 2004 to pay off all our medical, student loans and credit cards. I think I did a thread that we paid all this off last year. Now we have a 5 year plan like you to get the house paid off. I just recently had to tweek the budget because of all things I forgot to put in our grandsons pre-school payment.
Ignore the ones who are negative, when your sitting back debt free and smiling you know it was worth it. Then you can stash the money in your EF.

[cadamsgis]

I know what you mean about little things.

I had figured out my budget for the entire year adding 200 dollars every two weeks from my husband's check to the snowball.

A couple days they were sent home because of no materials. Well the last month and half he was only paid half of what was earned, with the last week of the year they tell him we aren't working this week. Then the following monday they tell him that they won't be working until further notice. I think the owner is having some cash flow issues.

I was a bit upset and we were talking. He's looked for some work but there are so many other construction workers out of work right now.

I've decided not to worry about it. Work will pick back up when it warms up and we will just double up when the money comes in towards the snowball. We have the money to pay our bills and food on the table and we have each other.