2 paychecks are in just waiting on that bonus pay right now. Checkbook is balanced and everything is ready. Hubby will be getting almost $5000 any day now and we have a few things to do. $2000 will go into savings. $1000 of that is for tires or other emergencies, the other $1000 is for holidays and birthdays. October through January is just about the most expensive time of the year for everyone and we are no exception. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and not just 1 but 4 birthdays. Normally, this is the time of the year, like most people, we get just enough of the credit cards paid off to max then all back out with the holiday spending. I'm sure this year would have been no exception of not for the $800 a month pay raise hubby just received. Another $1200 roughly will go to paying off 2 billers. 1 is a medical bill and the other is the first credit card we have been trying to pay off. About another $500 will going to finishing the flooring in our house, leaving roughly $1300 some for school clothes and some to take animals to the vet finally. But I promised hubby this is his money so the remainder is his to do as he wished, if there is any remaining ;-).
I'm still working on details, but the extra $800 a month will be spilt between the bills and personal use. But I've run the numbers between increasing our payment by only $100 more a month and all the way to increasing payment by $500 a month. Fact is in the end a few get paid off faster but overall I'm still looking at the same time line. Perhaps at least for the next few months a slight increase would provide more holiday funds and prevent us from using credit that we have worked so hard to pay off. But that last thing that I would want to happen is us getting accustomed to having the extra money at our disposal and getting into a habit of spending money that we should be using to pay off bills. I mean after all wer have gone from an income of just over 2 grand a month 8 years ago to note almost 6 grand a month. And to think of it weren't for the credit cards and extra spending we could actually live comfortably near 3 grand a month with the 3 kids included. Leaving potentially 3 grand a month to save towards the land we want for our family.
The very next morning the bonus came in. I set the savings aside made site my 2 pay offs were made than we went grocery shopping. I had spent about $100 early in the week just to get a few nessecary things like milk cheese and food for school lunches. Normal we spend right around $300 every 2 weeks. So of course with money in our pockets (so to speak) we stocked up on winter pantry items, vitamins and a few other things that we tend to not buy every month. Then we sat down. We have been working on the flooring in the house for over a year now and have been at a stand still becuase the base we need for the tile in the kitchen will cost almost $500. This hasn't been a purchase we could just make any given month. And we want to extend the counter top so the dishwasher sits in the cabinetry and not separate, and replace the dishwasher that has had a chronic but slight leak since we moved in. Looking at the totals, considering I already have the tile and grout and everything this last portion of the project will cost between 1000 and 1500 hundred dollars. Looks like the last of this bonus check is gone. But it's one more thing out of the way that we aren't trying to save for buy for or do. So this weekend we are going to get all of the items purchased in hopes that the first of next month our friend can take a few days off to help finish the project.
Ran into a snag on the kitchen floor. There is an issue of water damage to one of the cabinets from before we had bought the house. Yes we could just do the floor and not worry about it. But from a selling perspective my kitchen is uncomfortable and out dated. Goal, find the cheapest price we can for new cabinets and counter tops (probably another line of credit) remodel the kitchen and hopefully raise our selling piont.
It's the end of the month. I'm still pricing cabinets. But right now we will be focusing on payoffs first. I have increased our monthly payments but 400, which is just over half of the husband's additional income, and will still give us over an extra $300 spendable income. This will pull our payoff date about 6m closer. And the cabinetry will wait untill we can save the cash.
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