It's hard to believe but it's been six months since my last entry. We're doing well here financially now and it's harder to blog when you have enough money it seems, than when you don't.

In the past year my husband's income has almost doubled. It made things get easy, but it also brought along with it some very bad habits that I want to stop. Because despite the extra income, we've only upped our debt repayment by a couple hundred dollars a month. And it's time to really buckle down and get going again. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Thing is I don't really want to. I like having the extra money around. It's nice not to have to scrimp and save every little extra bit of cash that comes into my hands or funnel it all into debt repayment. But I know I need to, because I'm still tired of having all that debt hanging over our heads.

Our emergency fund is far lower than I want it to be at $1000. That's certainly not anywhere close to even a month's salary anymore. So I'm working on building that back up. And I'm starting to save up $1000 more for our vacation in February. I have $500 currently saved for it.

We're going to Disneyland. Our airfare is free from DH's miles. We're staying in my parent's travel condo for free, except for the $50 one time fee for end of stay cleaning. We're just needing to pay for the entry tickets, car rental for 2 days, and food while we're there. It has a full kitchen and there is a Costco close by so we will make and eat all of our breakfasts and one other meal a day and only have one meal out at the park each day.

The kids are saving up their allowances, birthday, and Christmas monies and will buy their own souvenirs.

As for the rest of our finances, we've raised our 401K 1% for the last two pay raises so it is now at 5%. On the next pay raise it'll be up to 6%, the full amount the company matches 50% of contributions on.

The mortgage on the house just went under $30,000 at $29,956.07. Our medical debt repayment is down to $142,623.81. Our unsecured debt is down to around $45,000. The website for that one is down at the moment so I don't have the exact numbers. So we've still managed to make significant progress. But there's so much more we could have made and I'd like to really get out from under this debt.

We can pay at least another $300 a month towards debt repayment that we are currently wasting on eating out. So that's my goal for now, to try to stop wasteful spending and put it onto debt.

We'll be cooking at home a lot more, but that's a good thing. Healthier, too. And it won't be so hard now, either. I just took my son out of public school and will be homeschooling him for the rest of third grade. He was being bullied pretty severely this year and it had totally turned his personality bitter and sad and he was behaving horribly. Two days at home and he's back to being the sweet kid he used to be back when school went well and he was popular.

I gave the school several weeks to sort this out but I just couldn't give them any more time. It was sucking the life out of my child and I couldn't bear it. The difference is like night and day. I wish I still had the curriculum from when I homeschooled my daughter for third grade, but I don't, so I'm starting all over again. I'll be spending about $300 to get started, but fortunately I have that money at the moment.

His math is above grade level but his reading is significantly behind. They don't really teach phonics at his school and it shows. So I'll be starting almost at the beginning with phonics for him but I saw what a difference it made when I did that for my daughter, so that'll be okay.

He's been bored out of his mind at school, too, insisting that they are teaching either "baby" stuff or stuff that his dad and I have already taught him about ages ago in science and history. I think we'll all be happier.

And my son loves to cook with me, so being able to save money by not eating out and cooking at home will be easier, because I'll have a helper in the kitchen and not a strung out child who wants nothing to do with me or anyone else, standing by my side.

My daughter, on the other hand, is thriving at the junior high. She's doing really well. It's funny because she's the one I was so worried about at the start of the school year. Life can be so unexpected sometimes.

So, it's been a little over two months since I last posted an entry. Things have really changed so much for us in that time period. DH was given yet another raise of $50 per day with the new contract. This puts our income at a level I never thought I'd see while we were still in our 30's.

The raise did not go into effect until this month, so we won't hit $117,000 for a yearly income this year, but that's what it'll be next year. I cannot even fathom this amount of money. I know there is a huge chunk of that going for taxes, but our liveable income has gone up so far in the last 8 months it's almost ridiculous.

The first thing we did was raise our 401K by 1%. I'd like to do more but we have to buy a new car and until I know what the payments will be I don't want to do anything more.

If all goes well, by the end of the week we will be the proud new owners of a fully loaded 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid with 21,000 miles on it. We have $2000 for a down payment and will be financing the rest.

I'm currently using my mother's car because I'm afraid to drive mine. Especially after an $805 car repair to my '92 Crown Vic that still didn't fix it all the way, I'm not putting anymore money into that car. And Blazer needs the transmission fixed and I just don't want to spend that kind of money on a '96.

We've made some large purchases so far this year. The first was a new couch that seats six and came with an ottoman for $1387.94 which included delivery. The old one has been moved into the playroom which never had one before and is horribly broken down and offers no support at all. It took us several months to save up for that.

Then last month we bought a new TV with my husband's yearly safety bonus. We spent a lot of money on that, but I figure it's a long-term investment for us since we don't go to movies or out to do anything much (besides eat) entertainmentwise. We just watch movies from Netflix. So we got a big screen HD plasma from Costco and it's fabulous. 50 inches. $1300.07.

Our entire tax return of just over $3600 went to pay down debt, which we still have far too much of. I'm currently working on making up a new budget to reflect the new income.

We will qualify for the entire tax refund coming out in May for two adults filing jointly with two children and when that check comes it's going straight into the emergency fund.

I really wish we had not gotten so far into debt in the past. I know that it was mostly medical debt but when I think that we'd have over $2000 a month from this point on now that wasn't allocated to something if we didn't have debt, it would be amazing. That's $24,000 of net income that could be going into retirement and stocks and vacation planning. Oh, how I wish.

I'm going to try to keep this blog going better now. I need to stay on top of the budget now with the new numbers and a new payment that will be coming into the mix. Other things, our 401K is still above $50,000 and our mortgage is almost down to $30,000, so progress is being made. Always a good thing.

I made several deposits to the EF last week. I took interest money made on my safety net and temporary savings accounts and transferred it to ING along with the regular weekly $10, and a refund check from the orthodontist, for a total of $302.57.

$2291.10 Old Total EF Balance
5.77 Interest
286.80 Refund Check
10.00 Auto Deposit
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$2593.67 New Total EF Balance

The last payment on my mortgage posted finally bringing the total left on my house to $32,014.98. Slowly but surely we're getting there.

My last mortgage payment, which I made Monday, just posted to my account, so the remaining balance on it is $33,559.10.

My last mortgage payment was finally posted to my account and the new balance is $33,804.16. It is so nice to have gotten under $34,000! I like it when those numbers roll down.

DH recently went to Zillo and said they are listing our house as worth $137,000. To put this in perspective we bought the house in 1998 for $69,000. That's just $1000 short of having doubled in price. And this is just a country house. The city houses have tripled. It seems so crazy to me.

I am finally getting around to posting the bills I paid from last week's paycheck.

$910.37 Medical Mortgage
$400.00 House Mortgage
$282.22 Propane
$201.89 Comcast (installation charges on top of cable/phone/internet)
$ 44.58 Garbage (2 months)
$ 71.36 Cell phone
$ 84.00 Herald
$445.00 MBNA MC#1
$110.00 Power
$ 50.00 Physical Therapy
$185.50 Car insurance (3 months)

A fair chunk of change going out, there. Tomorrow is payday again, but not like this one. This is the big one for the month and has a full seven days of wages on it. Tomorrow's pay usually only has one and a half days on it. This time it will be two and a half days on it with the new schedule change, and it will be like that from now on. The first payday will have 4.5 days on it instead of 5.5 days, so the difference is at both ends of the cycle. Then we have one week where he doesn't get paid at all, out of every four.

I'm glad the vacation money is taken care of now. And the association dues, which I thought were due at the end of June are actually due at the end of July, so that makes me happy.

My last mortgage payment has now been posted to my account bringing the total still owed down to $34,048.11. It will be good to see that first four turn into a three next month. It always feels like a little victory when that happens, and of course it will be a big victory when that three turns into a two but that is a ways to go yet. Slowly but surely it comes down and I get that much closer to having full title on my house again. I do look forward to that day.

My last mortgage payment has posted to my account leaving me with a balance of $34,290.94 left to pay it off. That leaves me with just under 9 years and 11 months of payments to go.

I paid my mortgage on the house earlier this week and it posted today. I am officially into year six of a fifteen year mortgage. I have paid 60.75 months worth so far.

My new mortgage total is $34,532.67. 1.5 more payments worth and I will be below $34,000! Exciting. For me anyway.

Bills paid so far today:

$400.00 MC credit card
$400.00 House mortgage
$ 93.00 Power bill
$ 72.00 Cell phone
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$965.00 total

I still have to round up some other bills and deduct the upcoming auto payments for Life Insurance and the security system.

Not really much to talk of today. The doctor did start me on thyroid medication, so we'll see how that goes for the next six weeks. Well, I hope. I'm tired of being exhausted so much of the time. That was $21.99 for the new prescription.

The mortgage numbers posted today. New total left on our house mortgage: $34,773.29. Slightly less than 122 payments to go. That works out to 10 years and just under 2 months.

I paid the mortgage last week and the CU's computer is now up to date. My remaining balance is $35,012.81.

I have 10 years and 2 months worth of payments left. Or 122 payments. Slightly under that actually as I have about $40 less than that.

I do like seeing that number keep going down and I really like the fact that next payment that 35 is going to drop to a 34!

Lau posted a link to an amortization template and I downloaded it and have been playing with it for about 20 minutes.

If I continue at the rate I am going with making an extra principal payment of $24.14 each month I will finish the loan in 8.4 years.

If I bump it up to $74.14 extra each month, I can finish the loan in 7 years, 3 months.

If I bump it up to $124.14 extra each month, I will finish the loan in 6.5 years.

If I bump it up to $224.14 extra each month, I can finish the loan in 5 years and 2 months.

Not sure what I'll do about any of it yet but its fun to play with it and see the possibilities.

Thanks for posting the link, Lau.

I made the mortgage payment today of:

$375.86 regular payment
+ 24.14 extra principal payment
--------
$400.00

Mortgage balance is now at $32,251.24.
I am just short of having made the 71st payment by $62.16.

That means I have 109 payments to go plus $62.16.

I have 9 years, 1 month and $62.16 left to payoff my mortgage.

I always pay $24.14 extra, and on occasion will pay $124.14 extra over the years, so it will be less time than that, actually. But putting it out like this helps me keep track.

If I never made another extra principal payment between now and the end of the loan I should have it paid off by 2016. I am planning to have it paid off earlier than that of course, my daughter starts college in the fall of 2014 and it should be paid off well before then.

Today was payday so of course, I paid some bills and we went grocery shopping.

Bills paid:

$260.00 Medical
$ 20.00 Rose's Lunch Account
$ 20.00 Tobias' Lunch Account
$ 93.00 Puget Sound Energy
$400.00 House Mortgage
--------
$793.00 Bills Paid

Groceries bought:

@ Terra Organica:

$ 7.98 2 5 lb bags of organic 100% whole wheat bread flour
$ 3.38 2 packages of organic 100%whole wheat tortillas
$ 3.39 1 box of Wheatines organic crackers
$ 5.09 1 jar of Spectrum Omega-3 Flaxseed Oil Mayonnaise
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$19.84 Total at Terra Organica

@ Fred Meyer:

$12.40 for 7.2 pounds leanest hamburger
$11.98 2 packages organic uncured ham
$ 2.10 for 5.53 pounds navel oranges
$ 1.99 1 gallon 2% milk
$ 4.99 1 gallon organic non-fat milk
$ 3.29 Organic Yogi Ginger Tea
-------
$36.75

$56.59 Total grocery spending

@ Fred Meyer non-grocery spending

$ 1.98 2 packs key sorters
$ 3.29 bottle of Rolaids
$12.98 2 bottles Vicks Sinex nasal spray
-------
$18.25
$ 1.87 sales tax
-------
$20.12 Total non-grocery spending

Meal Out for 2 at Cinco de Mayo

$21.13 cost of meal
$ 1.96 sales tax
-------
$23.09
$ 5.00 tip
-------
$28.09

$897.80 Total spending today

I still have some bills to pay and $300 or so to do it with but have will not sit down and do those until this weekend.

The hamburger was the leanest they make and was all in the reduced bin so it went straight into the freezer when we got home.

The oranges were on sale for 38 cents a pound, really great price.

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Edited to add:

I forgot we got $20 worth of gas today, too.

$897.80
+ 20.00
--------
$917.80 Total payday spending.

It has really been bothering me that I wasn't able to send in extra principle on the medical mortgage this month. The regular payment is $910 and change but I always, since the beginning have sent in $1000. So after the tough month of January is over, I am going to make mortgage payments of $1010 for the next year. Not just for the next 9 months which would be the $90, but for twelve, because I imagine not paying the $90 extra this month makes more damage than replacing it $10 at a time can make up for. I wish I could make up for it next month by adding an additional $100 but that's not an option.

I will have to make the straight payment on my house mortgage, too this month I think. But that is only a difference of almost $25. If I can, I will squeak it out, if I can't, I will add it onto the next payment.

More of the boring...

Money left to pay off on the house mortgage--$35,724.84.

Time left: 10 years, 6 months, and $25 left to payoff date. But I pay a little extra each month, so sooner than that really.

...that DH's 401K has more money in it than our mortgage has left to pay off. I've been watching the amounts come closer to meeting for awhile, but this last month just blew it right past it. It's a good feeling.

I forgot to do this after making the mortgage payment so I'll do it now.

Ending Balance is now at $35,724.84. I have 10 years, 5 months + $21.05 worth of payments left to make. Obviously this will be paid off faster than that as I always pay extra on the principal, even if it is only $24.14 extra each month consistently, sometimes anywhere from $50 to $100 extra, depending on finances at the time.

That puts us on a path to have our mortgage paid of by 2017 if I were to never make another extra payment. I would like to see it paid off by 2012, as Rose starts college in 2014 and Tobias in 2018. If DH gets the promised raise in January, we ought to be able to abolish our credit card debt by 2010 or 2011. If he gets the promised promtion in 18 months with even bigger raise, I have no doubt we will reach all of our goals by those dates. But life is funny and a promise is not money in the bank.

I ran the numbers on my house mortgage today. Right now the balance is at $35,960, which means if I were to make no extra payments, just regular payments, I would have just under 11 years and 7 months worth of payments to make.

Of course, I always pay an extra $24.14 each month for a grand total of $400 each month. So I know it will be less. I wish I could find an amortization calculator that would show the difference of making that extra principal payment each month. I'd like to know just how much sooner it will be paid off.