Almost forgot!

2013 Financial Goals:

Pay down mortgage to $35,000. This will be a huge stretch for us without a roommate and with buying a nused car. But if we can make it, that will just be less work to do to finish slaying the beast in 2014!

Fill up both IRAs ($11,000) and begin funding 401k when eligible in April to get 1% match.

Buy a reliable used car ($6,000) and sell old car ($500 - haha).

Big news: We did it! We bought a car with cash! We spent $6,000 on a '05 Honda Civic. I am very happy, its a cute little car that will hopefully last us a good number of years while we continue to pay off the house.

So our Car Fund is drained but we're still hoping to make it to half the mortgage (68.5) by the end of February. We'll see.

Current Balance: $72,763.

Congratulations, Samantha! Enjoy the new-to-you car -- you're setting a great example of success in using a car replacement fund! It's also nice that you're staying on track for the mortgage.

Current Mortgage Balance: $68,191

We did it! We hit the halfway point!!! We are right on track to pay it off next year.

I have been on a shopping spree recently, it feels like. I got a really nice necklace for Valentine's day, and we bought new sheets and a few new bathroom accessories. When you are living a no-shopping lifestyle, anything feels like a splurge, haha.

Super excited to go on our celebratory date night this weekend! Fancy seafood... yummy!

So the next goal is for 2/3 to be paid off, which would be $45,667, and we are hoping to hit that by the end of September. And if we can make it to $35k by the end of the year, I'll feel confident we can pay it off by the end of next year. We are throwing half of our household income on this each year!!!

I wanted to record our awesome date night. It was pretty great. Wine, filet, and scallops -- our go-to expensive meal, haha. I guess we are predictable.

I am very excited to be halfway done. Although... measuring by time, we are waaaay more than halfway! We bought the house in 2007... so we've been paying on it for 6 years and have less than 2 to go! Amazing!

All of our future mortgage goals:
$45,667: September 2013 (2/3 paid off)
$35,000: December 2013 (3/4 paid off)
$23,000: April 2014 (5/6 paid off)
$ 9,999: August 2014 (into four digits!)
$ 0: By December 2014 (WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!)

When we do payoff the mortgage... I'm going to be lost. We haven't planned beyond this monster even though its only next year. We've talked vaguely about a big vacation, a kitchen remodel, and giving much more.

Current mortgage balance: $64,900.

Dropping, dropping....

Current mortgage balance: $59,267 !

Woo hoo, finally out of the 60s!

I cannot wait until we hit the 50k mark. I am going to be so psyched. I'll need to change my password to most of my accounts because that was the benchmark I've been looking at for quite some time, haha.

I'll need a new focus, which I think will be the $35k at the end of the year. That will be the best Christmas present I get, if we make it there.

We have also finally made it into the territory where we officially have more cash (savings and retirement) than we have in debt. IF we liquidated everything today, which we won't, just saying hypothetically... we could walk away with a little cash in our pockets.

Yay!!! Welcome to positive net worth.

Congrats on positive net worth!

Congratulations! To me, it's always more fun to watch positive numbers grow than to watch negative numbers shrink (that brings more a feeling of relief than of fun). So now the fun begins!

Awesome job! Keep up the great work! Positive net worth feels fantastic, and so does watching the mortgage shrink. You should take yourselves out for a nice dinner or something when you hit 35K in December!