THINK BEFORE YOU RETIRE Tip #2

Today’s blog is following Think before you retire Tip #1 blog. Some of the FIRE (financial independence retire early) crowd that I follow and love haven’t thought everything through.  Some of them don’t own a house. That’s all fine and dandy for the time being but what happens when you have a heart problem (like …

SPENDING ON VALENTINE’S

So today I went to Albertson’s grocery store to buy some things that I couldn’t get at WalMart (they had no asparagus..my Walmart is usually out of everything, they don’t stock it very well) or at Aldi (amazingly, Aldi was also completely out of asparagus).  Albertson’s is one of your more expensive grocery stores here …

PAYING OFF MY HOME ONE MONTH AT A TIME (post #9)

Well Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!  How did everyone’s budget do??? Mine did good.  I did not go over my budget this year (I usually don’t).  This year I had actually stopped saving cash every paycheck and instead sent money to my Vanguard cash account every paycheck so I wouldn’t have all that cash sitting around …

HOW TO GET YOUR SPENDING UNDER CONTROL #2 or HOW TO USE THE ENVELOPE METHOD OF BUDGETING

In keeping with living below your means there are multiple ways to go about it.  I think the easiest to start with is to buy purchases using cash whenever possible. Think about it.  When you use your ATM or credit card do you really “think” about the money coming out of your checking account or …

CHRISTMAS BUDGETING; CHRISTMAS IS THE SAME TIME EVERY YEAR!

Well people it’s that time of year again.  It comes every year, at the same time. It doesn’t sneak up on you, it’s not an emergency.  Every year on December 25th Santa Clause comes to your house and it’s time for you to pay him.  I know some of you give him an IOU slip …

PAYING OFF MY HOME ONE MONTH AT A TIME (post #8)

Well here it is again, almost Christmas time and I managed to eek out another $600 and some odd dollars to put towards the principal only on my mortgage.  Actually it was exactly $635.04 which put my new balance down to $129,842.88! I am almost a full 4 years ahead of my mortgage.  Dave Ramsey …

LIVING LIFE

Well, well, what to do, what to do.  You know that sometimes you really need to live life.   BUT ONLY WHEN YOU CAN AFFORD IT!!! I don’t go out often, and don’t go out to eat often.  But one of my biggest downfalls is going to McDonald’s and getting a regular Ice Tea with lemon.  …

PAYING OFF MY HOME ONE MONTH AT A TIME (post #7)

On 11/4/19 I paid an extra $419.04 to my principal which puts my balance down to $130, 477.92. So far with regular monthly payments I have paid off almost $10,000.00 since my very first house payment in April 2019 (8 months).  If I wouldn’t have made extra payments, my balance would be $138,603.13 with still …

PAYING OFF MY HOME ONE MONTH AT A TIME (post #5)

It’s time again….here is the amortization chart.  It’s getting rough with Christmas on the way. Yes, you need to set aside money for Christmas.  No big spending. Do you even remember what you bought your brother or sister last year? How about the year before?  My family has a “Secret Santa” Christmas, so that helps …

HOW TO GET SPENDING UNDER CONTROL #1

BY USING DAVE RAMSEY’S ALLOCATED SPENDING PLAN  Dave Ramsey has a free app called “EveryDollar” that you can put on your phone and your computer.  It is a budgeting app that helps you tell your money where to go, instead of keeping track of where your money went.  What’s the difference? In my opinion it …