Monthly Update

May as well do it a couple days early since interest rates are so sad and I get peanuts these days.

Pay off car loan - 27.3% (Up 1.9%)
Pay off student loan - 11% (Up .3%)
House down payment - 88.9% (Up 5.5%)

Build emergency fund to 6 mo expenses -still full

And one more month till the interest rate on the student loan goes down. Woohoo!!

How Wealthy Are You?

So I've been tracking this little figure since I first read the Millionaire Next Door. In January I was at 6.1% of my desired net worth for my age and income. Today I'm at 14%. Woohoo!! I'm making some nice progress catching up. Still an underaccumulator though :)

Lawn Mowing Money

I take care of my great aunt's lawn. It's good for me 'cause I get to venture outside my apartment once a week and dream of my own yard. It's also good 'cause she slips me a $20. I had been feeling overpaid, but this year it's been one problem after another so I don't feel bad taking the money. Last year it just kind of slipped into my cashflow. This year I decided I wanted to do something with it. So every time I get paid for mowing the lawn I'm sending an extra $10 for the car loan. It's not much, but again, every bit helps. I'm mulling over the other half. I haven't bought myself any luxury sock yarn in several months, so it may be time. Life is good.

Patiently Waiting

One of the "borrower benefits" of my student loan is that after 3 years of on time payments, there's a little relief on the interest rate. I may have mentioned this before. In less than a month and a half the rate will go from 4.75 to 3.75%. Way cool. Not that it was bad before, or that it will make a huge difference, but every little bit counts. Part of me wishes they would adjust the payment to reflect the new rate, but part of me is glad to see the balance go down more quickly. According to my spreadsheet, the payoff date will go from January of 2026 to July of 2024. I was a little surprised to see it's only a year and a half difference, but I suppose I've paid a big chunk of the interest already.

This is a little more motivation to pay off my car loan early. Once the rate drops on the student loan, my car loan will be at the highest rate. The interest also isn't tax deductible and the collateral is a depreciating asset. Plus, once I knock out the car loan, I can fixate on the student loan. I have no idea anymore where the Roth IRA fits in this plan. I've been so concentrated on getting my down payment together for a house.

Monthly Update

Pay off car loan - 25.4% (Up 1.6%)
Pay off student loan - 10.7% (Up .3%)
House down payment - 83.4% (Up 5.6%)

Build emergency fund to 6 mo expenses -104.1% (woohoo!)

Yes, it was another good month here :)

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Okay, I admit to watching the show. On top of that it usually has me shedding tears. Last night was really bad. But I'm always left wondering who absorbs the extra costs.

They build these large homes in place of smaller homes so I assume that the property taxes go up as well as the heating and cooling costs. In all fairness they seem to be conscious of conserving energy but still, if you more than double the size of a home, the costs must go up, no? Especially when you put in 27 foot ceilings. What?! If nothing else, they're going to have hire someone to clean the cobwebs from up there. I would assume the homeowner's insurance goes up as well since there is now more to insure. All of this is fine if the people have extra money flying around but these people are in this position because they're strapped to being with. Then they put stupid things in the bedrooms. Like a train bed for a 10 year old or a school house for some little girls. What happens when these kids turn into teens and they don't want a stupid train in their room? This single mom is going to find herself trying to scrape together some funds to replace the bed, no? Bleh. I just hope they sit down ahead of time and figure these things out. It doesn't seem fair to the families not to discuss the financial ramifications of making their house huge and highly specialized.

Monthly Update

Pay off car loan - 23.8% (Up 2.4%)
Pay off student loan - 10.4% (Up .3%)
House down payment - 77.8% (Up5.5%)

Build emergency fund to 6 mo expenses -101.5% (it's back)

It was a good month again. Well, technically it's not over yet but I don't expect any huge changes today :)