Woohoo!! The car loan is meeting it's death tomorrow. I was going to pay it off yesterday but I had already met my limit for transactions in a month. It's on a Citi card and apparently you can only make 4 payments in a month. Who knew? But tomorrow I will make my last payment. So exciting. Like a $200/month raise. Can't beat that.
I haven't decided what to do with my money. I was going to work on paying back my savings ($900) and putting some in my Roth ($700) but a preliminary look at my taxes suggests I'll have that covered no problem with my refunds. Hm. What will be next? I will aim to put half in my Roth but I think I will save the other half for perhaps a home improvement sorta goal. Not sure. The next ones are kind of big in terms of costs. Windows & fence are two of the next things I'd like to do.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Good-bye Chase Checking
It's been real. But your new rules are too much for me. At least $500 direct deposited per month or 5 debit card transactions per month are just not in the cards for me. I have 3 other checking accounts and I'm sure I'll find what I need somewhere else. Thanks!
Yearly Goals
2010
My one and only goal for 2010 was to pay off my car. Fail. I have $304 left. That's not too bad though. With a little luck I will whack the rest in January. Worst case I will take my tax refund and put the car debt to bed. But I don't think it will come to that :) Looking back I can think of a few purchases that derailed that goal, especially in the last month. In the last month I bought a cabinet for the bathroom ($113), a WII and Guitar Hero ($180), and a blu-ray player ($100). That's the rest of my car loan and extra right there. No regrets on the first two. The blu-ray player I bought before I decided I wanted a Wii, for the sole purpose of streaming Netflix. So really now it is not necessary. But I still love it for its purposes. I thought I may sell it on Craigslist or eBay to recoup some costs but now I think I will keep it.
2011
1. Net worth = $45,000.
I don't think this will be a struggle if the stock market continues to behave.
2. Pay back what I owe myself - around $700 to my Roth and around $900 to my savings. I didn't actually take money from my Roth but I had a deal with myself :) that I would put my homebuyer's tax credit into my Roth as I paid off my car. At some point I must have paid off my car without putting the same amount in my Roth. I honestly can't recall the circumstances but if my spreadsheet says it is so, I'm sure it is so.
My one and only goal for 2010 was to pay off my car. Fail. I have $304 left. That's not too bad though. With a little luck I will whack the rest in January. Worst case I will take my tax refund and put the car debt to bed. But I don't think it will come to that :) Looking back I can think of a few purchases that derailed that goal, especially in the last month. In the last month I bought a cabinet for the bathroom ($113), a WII and Guitar Hero ($180), and a blu-ray player ($100). That's the rest of my car loan and extra right there. No regrets on the first two. The blu-ray player I bought before I decided I wanted a Wii, for the sole purpose of streaming Netflix. So really now it is not necessary. But I still love it for its purposes. I thought I may sell it on Craigslist or eBay to recoup some costs but now I think I will keep it.
2011
1. Net worth = $45,000.
I don't think this will be a struggle if the stock market continues to behave.
2. Pay back what I owe myself - around $700 to my Roth and around $900 to my savings. I didn't actually take money from my Roth but I had a deal with myself :) that I would put my homebuyer's tax credit into my Roth as I paid off my car. At some point I must have paid off my car without putting the same amount in my Roth. I honestly can't recall the circumstances but if my spreadsheet says it is so, I'm sure it is so.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Dividend Time
It's dividend time, one of my favorite times of the year. My Schwab funds pay out once a year in December. My American Funds fund pays quarterly and one of the payments is in December. This year I received a total of $154.20. Not much but growing :)
Friday, December 24, 2010
My Favorite Rewards Credit Card
I can't remember if I wrote about my favorite rewards credit card ever but I've been thinking a lot about this card lately. It's from Pentagon Federal Credit Union. I will say straight away that they can be a little picky with credit. If you have a FICO score under 700, take a little time to work on that before you apply.
Why do I love it? Rewards are 5% on gas, 2% on groceries, and 1% on everything else. No tiers, no limits. They give you a credit on your statement every month so there's no waiting till you hit $50 to get your money. It's the easiest thing ever. They've also given me the most generous credit limit I have yet. My other cards are from Chase, Discover, and Citi. I honestly can't tell you what the APR is because I've never carried a balance.
To get this card you will need to be a member of a military family or you will need to join the National Military Family Association. It costs $20, it goes to a great cause, and you only need to join the first year. You will also need to open a free savings account at Penfed where you will need to deposit $5.00. So $25 the first year and that's it. Ever. I easily earn $10-20 a month in rewards so those costs are covered within two months for me. I'm not a huge spender, I don't have a big family or anything.
So if you prefer to use a rewards card and you would like a new one for your arsenal, check it out.
Why do I love it? Rewards are 5% on gas, 2% on groceries, and 1% on everything else. No tiers, no limits. They give you a credit on your statement every month so there's no waiting till you hit $50 to get your money. It's the easiest thing ever. They've also given me the most generous credit limit I have yet. My other cards are from Chase, Discover, and Citi. I honestly can't tell you what the APR is because I've never carried a balance.
To get this card you will need to be a member of a military family or you will need to join the National Military Family Association. It costs $20, it goes to a great cause, and you only need to join the first year. You will also need to open a free savings account at Penfed where you will need to deposit $5.00. So $25 the first year and that's it. Ever. I easily earn $10-20 a month in rewards so those costs are covered within two months for me. I'm not a huge spender, I don't have a big family or anything.
So if you prefer to use a rewards card and you would like a new one for your arsenal, check it out.
Merry Christmas
Just popping in to Merry Christmas! (If anyone's reading ;) )
I feel fortunate to have off today. I'm spending this morning with a present to self, a refurbished Wii ($99.99) and Guitar Hero ($69.99). I'm getting addicted. I will be running some errands and feasting with family today. I love this holiday :)
I feel fortunate to have off today. I'm spending this morning with a present to self, a refurbished Wii ($99.99) and Guitar Hero ($69.99). I'm getting addicted. I will be running some errands and feasting with family today. I love this holiday :)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monthly Update
Pay off car loan - 95% (Up .2%)
Pay off student loan - 14.9% (Up .2%)
E-fund 2 - 69.8% (Up 1.1%)
The two new ones..
Put $2500 back into house fund - 63.8% (no movement)
Put $768 into Roth IRA - 10.4% (no movement)
Yikes. Not much happening here. Still recovering from last month's blow. I'm hoping for good things in December. If nothing else it's a 3 pay check month. Yay :)
I just canceled my Scorewatch subscription. It's a cool product but I really don't need it anymore. I accomplished my goals, credit-wise. The only thing that will help now is time, since some of my accounts are still new. My main goal was to have my score where I needed it to get the best rate on my mortgage. Mission accomplished. As of this week, my Equifax FICO is 769. I have no idea where the other two are at. Experian is not available and I haven't bought Transunion for awhile. Maybe I will check TU soon.
Hope any readers had a great Thanksgiving! I imagine everyone is gearing up for Christmas now.
Pay off student loan - 14.9% (Up .2%)
E-fund 2 - 69.8% (Up 1.1%)
The two new ones..
Put $2500 back into house fund - 63.8% (no movement)
Put $768 into Roth IRA - 10.4% (no movement)
Yikes. Not much happening here. Still recovering from last month's blow. I'm hoping for good things in December. If nothing else it's a 3 pay check month. Yay :)
I just canceled my Scorewatch subscription. It's a cool product but I really don't need it anymore. I accomplished my goals, credit-wise. The only thing that will help now is time, since some of my accounts are still new. My main goal was to have my score where I needed it to get the best rate on my mortgage. Mission accomplished. As of this week, my Equifax FICO is 769. I have no idea where the other two are at. Experian is not available and I haven't bought Transunion for awhile. Maybe I will check TU soon.
Hope any readers had a great Thanksgiving! I imagine everyone is gearing up for Christmas now.
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