Layout:
Home > Little Snowflakes.....

Little Snowflakes.....

July 17th, 2008 at 04:52 pm

Yesterday, DD deposited a refund check from her MRI/Cat scans, and today it's cleared. I transferred out our money to our account and left her bill money intact. Now, to apply it to some credit cards. She put the payments on her credit card, so logically, I should use it for her card. But, I have others with bigger interest rates. So, I went to figure out what to do next.

I've been snowflaking along this month. I finally set up a revised chart showing what we owe and to whom and the interest rates. Daunting to say the least. I also set up a chart to log my snowflaking and see if I can excelerate the process a little. I thought if I could see the progress, I might make more of an effort. I've paid almost an additional 400 dollars this month toward things. I hope to increase that and get things really rolling. A true snowball.

One of my problems is that we are heading deep into hurricane season. Do I go ahead and pay things off, or do I keep the money for a possible hit and displacement from another storm. We've gotten two recently--2005 and 2007. We feel we've bought most of our supplies, but we have to replenish things as we go along because some things get used like toilet paper. We try to stay ahead so that we won't be buying a lot of things at once. But, you also have the repairs and expenses after one of those things clobbers you. So, I am going around in circles with the decision. I would rather have less on our shoulders, but would like to retain a bit for the next couple of months until our part of the season is over around sometime in October. And, this looks like to be a busy season. I hate this indecision.

So, I suppose I will snowflake for awhile longer. Keep chipping away at things. Keep to the budget if I can and when the season is over, hit the cards really hard with what I have. The problem with that is that last year we used the money for medical purposes. But, at least we had it. I am so tired of having the debts. I am fed up with dealing with it.

I have also set up a chart of money needed for an emergency fund. Short term, six months, and a year. That will keep in focus my savings goals. I included stuff like cable and cell phones for now. And, the credit card bills. My emergency fund needs will change when we pay off those darn cards.

I included good loans like the mortgage. I am also snowflaking a bit on that. I put an additional small amount on the principal every month. I know I should be applying that to the cards, but it is so satisfying watching the mortgage go down a little. We've shaved at least five years off. We're trying to get our mortgage paid off before we reach retirement age.

Sigh. I've tried to work with this for three years. I've gotten used to a budget. Used to saving some. Used to watching what I am doing. The credit cards remain the last stronghold. And, they are going to be history. Just rather slowly....

1 Responses to “Little Snowflakes.....”

  1. nance Says:
    1216328162

    Love the expression, "snowflaking"! Those little snowflakes do build up though, so hang in there!

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]