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.
Fallen off the Face of the Earth
April 1st, 2008 at 01:17 am
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How's Rose doing?
April 1st, 2008 at 11:56 pm 1207090560
April 2nd, 2008 at 02:53 am 1207101181
Lux--Rose is doing great, growing like a weed and is almost as tall as me now, 2 inches to go. She and her brother are both playing soccer this season and having a great time of it.
April 2nd, 2008 at 04:41 pm 1207150862
So is it OK if I offer some mild criticism? Buying a gently used car is great, as is going with a hybrid that will keep emissions and gas use down. But only putting $2000 down and financing the rest? Why not find a larger chunk to use for a down payment, and then pay off the balance as quickly as possible rather than spreading out the payments?
I'm going to be in your position in another year or so (God willing that my 1999 Dodge Caravan with 150,000 miles on it LASTS another year!) and I'm trying to accumulate as much as I can for a down payment.
April 3rd, 2008 at 08:38 am 1207208287
Because we don't have another chunk of money and I don't want to raid our emergency fund. We're already paying $2500 a month to aggressively repay medical debt. Both of our cars are dead or dying and we will drive this one as long as we have driven those, the Ford is a '92 and the Blazer is a '96.
It's a trade off. We have to have a four wheel drive because we live in the mountains and we'll get snowed in without it. We want a hybrid because we are on the road a lot. And we want something newer so that we don't have to deal with umpteen repairs like we've been doing for the last several years. Of course, if we'd known this was going to happen we would have held off on buying the TV and had a larger down payment, but them's the breaks.
We will be paying off the balance as quickly as possible though.