Thursday, November 27, 2008
Preparing for Baby Step 3
By Lynn Forgy At the end of the year, I will once again take a look at my assets and liabilities. This information will be typed in a financial statement (very basic, of course, since I have not a lot of one and what seems like an over-abundance of the other) so that I can see my progress since the same time last year. Prior to this, however, I hope to have completed Baby Step 2. As you can see from the bar on the right, I have only $999 remaining to finish this step. The remainder is my student loan, and I hope to have it paid off by the end of December. In preparation of this wonderful event, I have been looking forward to Baby Step 3. At this step, I would be saving 3 to 6 months of living expenses. This would include my basics: mortgage, groceries, utilities, electricity, health insurance, life insurance, and tithing. I have been debating whether or not to include phone, cable, and other "necessities"; however, I think that it would cause me less stress if I were to just include those things that I shouldn't live without. I could live without cable, although probably not happily, and the same could be said of my cell phone. My total for monthly living expenses would be $1,500 per month, and I would need to have $4,500 to $9,000 in my fully funded emergency fund for Baby Step 3. Thinking about the length of time I would need to complete Baby Step 3 is not good for my digestion. Although if I put it into perspective, it will take a lot less time to accomplish this step than it did to finish Baby Step 2. I'd love to hear from others out there who are working on the steps! Labels: Account, Baby Step 2, Baby Step 3, Finance |
Saturday, November 01, 2008
How to Get Things for Free
| By Lynn Forgy With the cost of groceries, health insurance, and basically everything else going up these days, I thought it might be helpful to put together a small list of some things I've gotten for free. 1) Dental exams/cleaning - It's true! I received a free dental cleaning and exam ($177) by conducting a dental mystery shop. 2) Eye exam and new glasses - Again, through a mystery shop. 3) I'm not sure how I found this site, but they have movies available to watch for free: Watch-movies.net 4) Books - There are several sites where you can give away books and receive them, and only pay for the shipping cost. - Bookmooch - You can get a free Cookbook -This website has an article on how to get free books Creditpanda 5) HotCouponWorld.com - Lots of coupons, freebies, and more! |
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
| By Lynn Forgy I have been so busy working and homeschooling, that it seems like I never have enough time to do anything else (such as update the blog). I'm not left with enough energy at the end of the day to be creative, hence no new "wonderful" ideas on how to save money or increase income. I'm still on Baby Step #2 - the Debt Snowball (see DaveRamsey.com for commplete Baby Step listing. But I only have $2499 left to go on my student loan and I'm done! (*Note - Make that $1874, because I just made an online payment). I want to have this paid off by Christmas, BUT... Murphy keeps coming around, and each time I feel like I've taken a step forward I take another 1 or 2, sometimes even 3, back. Let's take an example from October, shall we? I had a root canal at the end of last year (which was almost $2000!), and although I didn't have any pain after the root canal I continued to have occasional slight swelling on my gum. I went back to the dentist last week, and of course Murphy had to tag along. I was told that I have a root fracture where the root canal was done, so I need to have this corrected by the oral surgeon. Guess how much that's going to cost - $1,000! After I left the dentist's office, I called the oral surgeon to get a quote. Once they told me the cost, I of course started tearing up and feeling sorry for myself. I can't get ahead, woe is me, yada yada. Long story short - my expected expenses for the month of November = $4600. My expected income for November equals about half of that. I will get some money from mystery shopping, which will probably leave me with a shortfall of about $1600 to $2000. If I don't pay the full $1250 I wanted to pay on my student loan but instead pay only $625, I'll have a shortage of about $1,000. Unfortunately, I'm all out of ideas on how to cut expenses - I don't think I can cut them anymore. My necessities are already cut to the bare minimum. Increasing my income I suppose is the only alternative. But again, I'm all out of ideas on how to do this. I don't have anything left to sell, and even if I did it doesn't seem like too many people are buying. Lots of people are in the same boat as me, right? So my prayer is that God provide for my needs. Which He has up to this point, and will continue to do. I just WANT to finish Baby Step #2, and I want to do this now! |
