Financial plans are changing for me.  Changes are going on at my husband's company, and it is very likely that he will be laid off sometime this spring.  The rumor is that layoffs will be announced in about a month and will be effective in April.  Not sure how accurate that is, but we are planning for it and he is job searching.  In the meantime, I am going to put all the money I would be paying on the target card into our ING savings account along with the $20 automatic draft that goes there anyway.  At the point where he has a secure job, I will withdraw the money and use it to pay down the card (minus the $20 a week).  I am going to try putting "found" money towards the credit card, because I still want to make some progress on that, even though it won't be as much.  Right now, I have about $50 from my eBay auctions being transferred to my bank account, and I'll send that to the credit card once it goes through.

 

Good job, Gina!  Every little bit gets you closer to that debt-free goal. 

 

Well, dh made it past the first round of layoffs, so our income is secure at least until May or early summer when the next round of layoffs begins.  He is looking for a job elsewhere in the meantime, and I am still saving what I can.  The Grocery Game has been a financial blessing, and I have been able to get a lot more for our money each week.  We have a decent stockpile going as well.  Our tax refund arrived a few days ago, and I have put $1,000 of it into savings to join the $20 that goes there each week and the rest we have saved.  With the $400 we have left, I think I want to buy an upright freezer to help with stockpiling meats and frozen food when there is a good deal.

 

 

 

• kelcies school
• LTD
• Home Depot
• Dh's Lowes
• a small dr. bill
• My Cap 1 card

I've been lurking around this thread.

Thanks to the group, I am sending in my final credit card payment.  The card had a balance of $2000.00 when I started.  I also have nearly $300.00 of found money put back.

Yea!!!!

 Doesn't it feel great to pay off something like that.. I've been working on this for some time.. I forgot one .. gonna update my list..what is so awful, alot of them are just small amounts, but when you get too many they sure do add up.. keep up the great work & Congrats on your found money as well.. ~ gina

 

• kelcies school
• LTD
• Home Depot
• Dh's Lowes
• a small dr. bill
• My Cap 1 card
• Discover card

Great job, ladies!  We are really getting the debt paid down this year!  It's nice to have some company on reaching financial goals. 

 

 

Dh has not found a new job, but he is doing some work for a new team that will likely not be hit by the layoffs, so we are hopeful.  He was also just approved for overtime, so that should help.  One of the big bosses told him that layoffs at the end of summer will likely be very light, and a larger round of layoffs most likely won't happen again until November.  By then, I will be weeks away from graduating, and we'll have more options open to us.

 

I did end up using the extra left from our tax refund to get an upright freezer, and I feel good about that purchase.  I'm ready to start selling some more stuff on eBay.  I will be getting financial aid for school soon, and what is left over after paying tuition (which is being hiked up by a huge amount) and buying books will all go into the savings account so we will be better prepared if the job situation changes.  The stimulus rebates should show up pretty soon in our account.  The latest update is that rebates will start going out on Monday, so we might even get ours this upcoming week.  I'm not sure how much it will be or what we will do with it.  The air conditioner in the car has started leaking inside the car and onto the floorboards, so we need to get that fixed.  We only have about $1500 left to pay on the car note, so I'm hoping we can just run it into the ground and put the money from the car payment into credit cards.

 

 

 

 

Gina, I'm so sorry I just now saw your message.  Thank you for the wb.  I am in and out intermittently.  I am so busy these days with school.  Went right from finals at the end of April into one week of a break, and now finishing up an intenstive 2-week semseter course this week only to go right into 2 more classes and an internship next week.  Have I won the lottery yet? 

 

I sell Wii games when we are done with them, and I sell quite a bit of stuff from Bath and Body Works that I get for a bargain during their semi-annual clearance sells with the intention of reselling.  I've also tried my hand at selling coupons since I have so may extra left overs from the Sunday paper after doing my Grocery Game shops.  I might do that from time to time.  Making a few bucks from something I would otherwise toss into recycling is a pretty good deal.  Selling on eBay is not a stable income for us by any means, but a few hundred dollars here and there makes a difference.  Others do make a stable income on eBay, though, so it can definitely be done.  If you have never sold on eBay before, I would start by looking around the house for small items you want to get rid of (books, movies, CDs, etc), and then do searches on eBay for current and completed listings to see what those same or similar items are selling for.  You have to take into account costs for postage, too.  I had some auctions going and forgot about the rate increases, so I lost a few dollars here and there for postage.  Oh, well.  I am rambling on. 

 

In finance news, dh has worked a bit of overtime this past month, and I've been selling a bit on eBay, and we got our stimulus rebate.  We've redirected our focus to a different credit card with a higher monthly payment and have paid down $1700 on that this month.

 

Also, sorry if there's some confusion, but he was never laid off and has been working continuously.  There was just a danger of not making it past the summer layoffs, which he has now, so we can relax a bit.

definitely not there yet - but I will be!

Shifted our focus back to the original Target Card at the end of August (after paying extra to a different card since April), and have made some very good progress.

 

Moving right along with this.  I think we can have it paid off by the end of the year if we don't spend too much on our upcoming vacation and keep it a cash Christmas.  We're on track.  I can't believe we've paid off over $3,000 in about 5 weeks.  I wish we had been this disciplined with our money 2 years ago, but this goes to show what we're able to do when we budget for extra payments and stick with it.