Archive for February 26th, 2008
$340.50 Middle of the Month Payment
My husband’s company usually gives a hefty annual bonus to employees (several thousand dollars); 2007 wasn’t the best year for the company so we weren’t expecting a bonus. Well the company felt bad so we ended up with a small bonus - $340.50 after tax. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth we were thankful. The money hit the checking account today and I just got done paying $340.50 on my Venetian Card. I tell ya, it feels good to know that I’m really making a positive change in our lives.
Dave Ramsey comments about people changing the family tree from the roots on up. That is what I’m doing. Well my sister isn’t a spendy gal, she’s actually a tightwad. Looks like I got all the spending genes in our family hehe.
NCN Blog’s Festival of Frugality
When you have a spare minute, take the time to read one of the articles posted today on the No Credit Need Blog’s Festival of Frugality. I’ve been reading the NCN Blog for a few months and always find very useful information posted. I think the reason I like it so much is that the owner of the site is a *real* person who has walked the get out of debt journey with his own two feet. He’s a dad (and sounds like a great dad based on the NCN Podcasts I’ve listened to), a hard worker, a down-to-earth kinda guy. Yes I’ve made all of these assumptions based on a blog and a podcast. Even if I’m wrong (as a woman, I reserve the right to be wrong from time-to-time) he still helps motivate me and that is important.
Okay back to the main topic - the Festival of Frugality. Take a few minutes of spare time and read an article, next time you have a few spare minutes read another one. These are fantastic posts made by REAL people like you and me. I’m not done reading all of them yet but so far a few of them have stood out - here are my favorites:
Saving Strategy: Eat Before You Go Out - This sounds like a good idea, why haven’t I thought of it? hehe I know when I have a day of errands planned, especially if I have two children in tow, it is easy to just stop off for a ‘bite to eat.’ Eating at home, before the errands, is not only going to save money but I’ll have less cranky kids - hungry kids are not conducive to productive errand-running. Thanks for the great tip from the Million Dollar Journey blog.
10 Common Expenses To Avoid If You Want To Really Save Money posted over at Money Blue Book has some great and easy to implement ideas to help cut excessive spending. I’ve taken notes!
We’ve had some good news in the Six Figures and Broke house, hubby had his annual review and is getting about a 5% raise. The company he works for absorbed the increased health care costs for 2008 so we didn’t see an increase in insurance on our part. So yay, a 5% raise - more money for our debt snowball.