Epic Mickey Debt Count Down- Month 30!

Say WHAT?! "You ARE actually still doing this?!" some might ask. 

Well. Yes. Yes we are. Of course, it has been ohhhh... like 9 months or so since I lasted posted about it. Since June actually. Sorry about that. It might have been the new baby, or the selling our old condo, moving twice, a new church calling, school, termites, and a million other things that kept us from getting back into the routine of Epic Mickey but excuses no more!

It has been a financial adjustment, to say the least, since selling our condo and buying a new home- a real home more than 3 times the size of our teeny tiny condo. Some might say, "But you are going against what Dave Ramsey teaches..." And you would be partially right. But that is another post to to come in the future. Keep your eyes peeled!

So without further ado... we jumped from month 21 to month 30! With not much progress on Mickey but LOTS of progress elsewhere. We DID pay 20% down in the new place which would have been more than enough to finish off Epic Mickey. It just made more sense to put it on the house and avoid PMI while simultaneously lowering our mortgage payment. PMI(Private Mortgage Insurance) would have been $240 more a month on top of the mortgage...what a a joke!

This does push our Student debt payoff back a bit but we have done our calculations and we *should* be on track to have it paid off by Feb 2015- JUST ONE MORE YEAR. We can make it!

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Debt is Fun! HA!

I ran across this on FB and thought it was hilarious considering my feelings towards debt! 

I hate hate hate it!!!!!

Here's to being able to scream "We're debt FREE!!!!!!!!" on of these days!

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While you are here, be sure to enter the Mickey Mouse Halloween Giveaway!

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2012 Financial Goals: UPDATE

October 1, 2012 UPDATE:
I like looking back at this post from the beginning of the year. It sure helps to reevaluate where we are and what we need to do moving forward!

APRIL 9, 2012 UPDATE:

2012 Financial Goals at our household!

Of course, we have had some unexpected expenses and probably a bit of a relapse in focus with these goals. I will be soo happy to have just one ear completed by year end... even better if we have both but looking at our current situation, both will be extremely difficult.

(THIS ONE IS GOING TO BE COMPLETED FOR SURE AND THE RIGHT EAR WILL TOO!!!)

 My husband says he will fill in the left ear of Mickey while I work on the rest. Mickey should be at least 1/3 the way filled in by the end of the year.

THIS ONE WAS A COMPLETE FAILURE, MAYBE RATHER NOT THOUGHT THROUGH ENOUGH... MY HUBBY ADMITTED I AM ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD WITH OUR BUDGET, LOL... THIS IS A COMPLETE 180% OF MY PRE-MARITAL FINANCIAL SKILLS.

My husband and I are switching roles in the finance department, he's taking over the bills and budget so I can focus more on the family and the house.

I'm SURE GLAD we accomplished this one waaayyy back in February! CHECK!

WE ACTUALLY HAD THIS PAID OFF IN MID FEBRUARY!!! I GUESS WE NEED SOME MORE AGGRESSIVE FINANCIAL GOALS!

We will have Home Depot paid off by the end of March and the car paid off by the end of the year. That's a lot to pay off but we'll do our best!

I HAVE TO SAY, LOOKING BACK AT THIS QUICK LITTLE SCRAMBLED POST THAT WE HAVE PRETTY MUCH ROCKED IT WITH OUR GOALS AND LEARNED THAT WORKING TOGETHER IN OUR FINANCES IS BEST (SOMETHING WE ALWAYS ASSUMED BUT I GUESS WE THOUGHT WE'D TEST IT TO MAKE SURE... SILLY US.)

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Epic Mickey Debt Countdown Month 9

HOW IN THE WORLD DID I MISS POSTING THIS?!!!

I try to post this at the 1st of every month and so thought I did it for the month of June... but I was just sitting here going hmm... it just feels like it has been a long time since I posted that... lets just look. Oops. Sorry.

It wasn't terribly eventful but we did pay off a bit and color in some squares.

Here it is! 

(After a little bit of camera drama... I almost thought I was going to need a new one... phew... it worked)

Check out past Epic Mickey's HERE.

How do you fuel your debt payoff?

**As a family we decided to change our lives by paying off debt. We needed motivation to keep us going. This Epic Mickey represents how much debt we owe. Each filled in square represents a dollar amount paid off. Once the entire Mickey is filled in, we will be debt free besides our home. Then we'll party in style with Disney to celebrate! We have included a monthly plan to have the savings set aside to pay for the trip too so we won't be back tracking just to celebrate. Take the journey with us as we share tips and tricks to save money, generate more money, free ourselves from the chains of debt and create a better future for our family and yours!

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Epic Mickey Debt Countdown- Month 8

I promised the month of April would be another Epic one and it has been for sure! 

We filled in a total of 178 squares! On a normal month from here on out we'll be able to mark off about 18-20 squares a month. Each square represents $75... yes, that is a lot of moola we still owe! And A LOT of moola we paid off this month. 

It has been incredible how much of a difference selling our second car has made. 

Selling our second car, of course, brought down our total debt but also freed up a lot of extra monthly cash... and most importantly, our attitudes have changed greatly about our goal of getting out of debt. We were gung ho before selling it but somehow we are like 10 times more aggressive about it now. 

And, if something pops up(like having to replace the car brakes, yes this just happened... getting it done this week) we don't stress... we know we can do it easily  in one paycheck and still pay off debt. It feels great.

Check out past Epic Mickey's HERE.

How do you fuel your debt payoff?


**As a family we decided to change our lives by paying off debt. We needed motivation to keep us going. This Epic Mickey represents how much debt we owe. Each filled in square represents a dollar amount paid off. Once the entire Mickey is filled in, we will be debt free besides our home. Then we'll party in style with Disney to celebrate! We have included a monthly plan to have the savings set aside to pay for the trip too so we won't be back tracking just to celebrate. Take the journey with us as we share tips and tricks to save money, generate more money, free ourselves from the chains of debt and create a better future for our family and yours!

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Financial Stress...

This is a post I began to write on February 16th. I had forgotten about this draft post and now looking back on it, I realize much has changed for the positive since then. It's amazing that just about two months later... I feel WAY more positive about our circumstances because we kept trying to find ways to improve. Self reflection is often one of the best ways to learn and grow... and also to see that you HAVE BEEN learning and growing!!!

February 16, 2012


"Truth be told here, as much as I talk about budgeting and trying to keep it fun and less stressful, there are times that it gets to me. "Budget Burnout" as I recently saw someone call it. Even those of us who base so much of our time into becoming better and helping others understand budgeting and finances can really hate it sometimes. Last night was one of those times.


My husband and I began re-reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. As much as I felt I could relate to all the emotions of being stuck in debt and getting nowhere the first time I read it, this time around, I could feel it SOOO much more!


Why? Well, we really didn't have much debt the first time I read the book, so we just simply paid it off, cut up our credit cards and went on to saving money. We did it well. But we knew we were saving for more schooling for my husband. I had high hopes of being able to be a SAHM and a WAHM to keep us from needing student loans. Well, long story short. That was quickly revealed as impossible... I'll give myself credit for being a SAHM and a WAHM but with tuition hikes and unforeseen expenses we had no other option accept to take out student loans.


So now, the second time we are reading The Total Money Makeover(my husband reading it aloud), I had a feeling of being in WAY over my head. I feel hypocritical to be honest. I have tried ever since the first time of reading the book to live off of cash and cash only... I teach others how to live off of cash and cash only. I sold Cash Budget Books to help motivate others and myself. I coupon shop for all the necessities of life... and I do it well. And while I still feel as though I am now naturally more budget conscious than many, I am NO WHERE NEAR where I think my family should be financially. Depressing. Yes.


We plan our financial lives and budget super frequently, I'm beginning to think we do it too frequently. Where are we going wrong? Why aren't we getting ANYWHERE?


Well, I'm still trying to work through these feelings and maybe this post is a bit presumptive but we are getting SOMEWHERE. It is just not happening overnight like we want. There have been some flaws in our planning and we are trying to recover. BUT we want to be PAST the recovery stage and onto the debt free stage... and NOW. Good news is at the end of this month... we will be much closer."

The "much closer" I was talking about at the time was paying off Home Depot... but funny how we have now paid off 3, almost 4 loans!!! Home Depot, a small student loan, our car, and our loan to my in-laws. 

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Quote of the Day- Dave Ramsey

"I have been broke. I know how scared I felt, and I know how fast I wanted to get out of debt. I know how you feel, and I have learned that what really works is unbelievably fierce, focused intensity." 

-Dave Ramsey

This is soo true! Gazelle intensity is the way to go!

During my husband's schooling I had high ambitions to make it through debt free. Well, apparently that was just not meant to be... as soon as we moved to our new destination and my husband was in his first week of school, they "so kindly" announced a MAJOR 50% HIKE in tuition. THAT was NOT planned for!


We had to use student loans and lots of them. :( 


We did our BEST to live on the savings we had on hand, which was originally going to get us about a year through school and living expenses. NOT EVEN CLOSE!

Close to $36,000 in student loans later and $7500 out of pocket(not to mention living expenses) for a summer semester (to avoid even higher tuition hikes in the upcoming year) my husband had his MBA certificate.

Was it worth it? YES! 

There may have been some debate on that and even some regrets as to WHERE he got his MBA. But overall, we know that was the path we had taken, meant to be or not, it is what it is. And now we have the wonderful journey of paying off a HUGE amount of debt as a family! LOL... just wonderful!

We regularly have open conversations in our household with our children about how to save, how to plan, and how to set and reach goals. Yes, it is is worth it when we look at what we have accomplished so far, and even more worth it when we see what our children are learning too!

On a side note, I may be a bit too crazy with coupons at times because my oldest daughter often says funny things at the store.

Some quotes from my thrifty little girl...

"No we can't buy that, it's not on sale."

or...

"Sorry, we don't have a coupon for it. Not today."

or my all time favorite...

"We don't buy anything unless it's FREE!" 

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Epic Mickey Debt Countdown in Review

**As a family we decided to change our lives by paying off debt. We needed motivation to keep us going. This Epic Mickey represents how much debt we owe. Each filled in square represents a dollar amount paid off. Once the entire Mickey is filled in, we will be debt free besides our home. Then we'll party in style with Disney to celebrate! We have included a monthly plan to have the savings set aside to pay for the trip too so we won't be back tracking just to celebrate. Take the journey with us as we share tips and tricks to save money, generate more money, free ourselves from the chains of debt and create a better future for our family and yours! Tweet Pin It

Budget Tip: Auto Pay!

 

Now that we are snowballing like crazy... I wanted to share with you something that helps me TONS! 

I love to shop and I can find numerous ways to spend any cash in our accounts. Since I know this is my down fall I have to prepare for it like crazy. That's why we chose to AUTO PAY extra debt payments! Not just once a month... twice! 

We have one HUGE student loan we are trying to get rid of next so it has an auto pay for the minimum amount no matter what! We are paying lots more than the minimum BUT my husband gets paid twice a month.  

If we waited until the second paycheck to send one extra payment... it would be dwindled down(yes because I love to shop) a little more than we planned. BUT IF we send one auto payment right after each paycheck.... it's GONE before I can get my hands on it, lol! Then I am just working off of the cash that's left. Which, by the way, using cash is best- or at least use a debit card that gives you perks or a combination of both!

So my point is, for those of us who lack a certain amount of self control in the finance department, the key is to avoid the situation. (Just like those that are alcoholics need to stay away from alcohol) In my case, I just need to spend as little time at the stores as possible and force myself to do things like paying off debt right after we get paid.

So if you are like me, try out auto pay... see just how much more you can pay off by doing it right after payday!

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