Oh I am still saving for the ring for my hunny..... and mine was waaay cheaper....LOL... only $350 and actually she was the one who wanted to buy it.

I have thought of alot of things I could do...I have a line on a truck for $18,000, (2004 Dodge 2500 3/4 Deisel) Which surprisingly gets the close to the same MPG as the jeep (17-21 MPG) as far as I have read online. (But why do I need a truck THAAAT Big if I am not pulling a 5th wheel or something)

I know people are going to say "why dont you buy a car that is good on gas" well that is a good option, but when you live in Northern Ontario you need a 4x4 truck. I Guess I could keep shopping to find a better deal. For any examples I'll base it all on the $18,000

I did call my bank, and I am "pre-approved" if you will, for a loan that would cover the remaining balance on my current car loan, above the value of the jeep, plus "$40,000"

This is at a lower interest rate than my CC debt....So if I add things up:

$18,000 for the truck
$5,000 for the CC debt
$14,000 for the mistake of buying a kia
-----------------
$37,000 loan amount. (Instant savings of at least $17,000-$18,000)

This would allow me to put $500 a week onto the loan rather than the Credit card, and keep my $771 a month payment for something else, IE: ring for the hunny.

I have so many things going through my head right now, and this is all on the hopes that they write off the Jeep.


I am not even going to re-read this, I am tired....and stressed. gaaah!

Just an update:

Jeep was a write off, been through hassle after hassle....


4,553.00 owed on the CC
I wont know the figures on the new vehicle until sometime this weekend, or next monday.


Found out that my employer is changing the rules for my pension, so instead of allowing me to contribute 5% while they match it, plus 2... (7%) I am only alowed to contribute 2%!!!!!!!

Totally ripping me off in my opinion, as I am young............ I should be allowed to max out everything.

So I got the new vehicle over the weekend, and the bottom line is that it's saving me $100 a month in my payment.

So I am going to add that $100 a month to the credit card to help pay it off faster.

Now that things are back to normal, and I dont have all these hidden expenses with dealing with the insurance etc, I am able to really focus on paying down debt.

So you did get a NEW vehicle?? What did you get?

This was your big chance to get a nice vehicle for a reasonable price. I hope when you say new, you mean new to you. If you are really serious about getting out of debt, you can't keep spending. That is the basis of being fiscally responsible/independent.

Well the only way my insurance would give me the money was if a dealership sent them a bill of sale of a replacement vehicle, which is the same as my last one.

Trust me, I tried to get the money.....and after everything is finalized, I am reporting my insurance company. It's BS that they couldnt just cut the cheque. (and it took exactly one month to the day to get this done, that is also BS....)

So, to answer you're question, yes it is NEW (2008 Jeep Rubicon), and I havn't kept spending....I dont think? I am saving money out of this deal (from hell). I know it's still a payment, and I still have my CC debt.... but i have an extra $100 a month to put onto the CC until it's paid off. I am then going to call the bank and have them take out weekly payments on the vehicle to pay it down faster.

My utilities company had over charged us, so we have a credit of $250 on our hydro bill.....So the extra money I have in our budget is going to the CC as well, for the next few months, so that's a nice bonus.

Just a CC balance update really....

because of the jeep deal, and I had saved for a payment which normally would have come out on the 28th, and now it's every second friday (which starts tomorrow) i had an extra $400 in the account.

So I put that on the CC.

balance left is $3800

there are 4 more thursdays until 2009....so my goal to have that paid off by the new year wont happen, but it will be down to $1800 (oh man, christmas gifts too....so maybe not...)

but by Feb. 1st we should have that paid off, and I will then speed up my vehicle payments.

Well, Credit cards are now paid off....

thats awesome!!

And I just opened up the new Tax Free Savings account, well we both opened up accounts.... as we're allowed to contribute $5000 a year to it.....

So our accounts are as this:

Emerg. Fund: $800

My RRSP: $1200 (contribute $100 a month as of now....and an additional $200 a month into a high interest savings account until December, where we will decide where to put the money, in TFSA / RRSP etc... and the reason I am doing this, is because there is a change I will get a second job in the next month, raising my income by $20,000, and I migth need to max out my RRSP's .....but we wanted to wait and see......this also might be used to pay down that HUGE jeep debt.)

Her RRSP: $0 .... this is $0 because last year her income was very low.....this has changed this year, and she is putting aside $100 - $200 a month for this.

As we just opened our TFSA's they are both at $0 but we are also putting in $50 a week in there. [Edit: EACH]

Things are finally looking good in my mind, as that last quarter in 2008 was terrible with the jeep burning.....

That's great that you finally paid off your credit cards.
Now to the Jeep and retirement. Keep up the good work!!

Looks like I have not posted in a long time....Mar 06, 2009......

Lots has happened since then.


My mother was killed in an auto accident in april....which set me back a few 000's....with losing time at work, and driving 4 hours to visit dad often.

But Finally today....Debt is paid off, and we're sticking to a strict budget....we should have approx. 1060 in our emerg. fund....another $850 in another savings account (which might move over to our emerg. fund in November, as we're totally unsure about my job.) which should get us by for about another 3 months....with her income.


In any case, all is going well.... but still have to get over the mental issues with spending habbits, which is really tough... but I am getting better at saying "Wait a minute..."


Will post an update again soon, hopfully not 7 months later!! hah.

I'm sorry to hear about your mom. How sad.
Sounds like you're still on track though, so keep saying 'wait a minute' and you'll get over your bad habits in time.
My fingers are crossed that you are able to keep your job.

Mine too....I mean, our mill is a low cost mill, but if we cant snap out of this slump, who knows what will happen. But we are preparing for the worst of it, and it actually is helping us realize what our needs/wants are. We'll be cuttin out a few bills as they were strictly wants at the time, which makes them feel line needs now.

If there has been any good in my moms passing, its that it forced my dad to care about his finances. He never took care of any of the bills, and now, he too reads GRS and uses some of the methods I used for paying down debt!

Wow, sledward, my sympathy. That's rough.

In regards to wants vs. needs, check out "All Your Worth" from the library. There's a very good discussion in that book about how to "balance" you money, so that 50% is spent on needs, 20% is spent on savings & retirement, and 30% on wants. Once your fixed expenses and obligations are trimmed to ~ 50%, everything else gets easier. There's a good summary of it here:

http://www.mdmproofing.com/iym/BMF.shtml

Good luck with your goals, and I hope the job settles out.

Sandi

Thanks Sandi, for both the kind words and the advise!!

It's getting easier to cope with, the loss, and the finances! And I am sure once I get a system down, it will be good to go!!

I have to learn to plan ahead too....which I have never realy done before....for example I donate every year to the Shriners Hospitals for Children........never did I budget that, but thats changing too.

I always seemed to forget the "yearly one time fees" rather than cutting it up into a monthly payment so to speak.

Anyways, thanks again.

So your jeep is paid off now?

Also, your emergency fund is nowhere near sufficient. That's not even a month of expenses for you.

No the Jeep is not paid off yet.

ANd I realize that it is not a months worth of expenses....however there is no change of my other half losing her job.

However, our monthly expenses have dropped to about $2250 per month....down from $2730. (give or take $100)

My other halfs income per month is approx: $2383.

We have worked out a budget to build up our emerg. fund quickly, while still having our fun.