It was Wednesday. It was payday. And my Hubby had transferred money to my account. Guess what I did this morning before breakfast? I paid bills, of course!
That made me think about my goals for the year. How am I doing with those? What should I work on this month?
Overall, I'm doing well with the money. Both the Home Depot payment plans are history. That's just over $1,500 worth of debt we've paid off between about November and now. I have post-dated cheques for another debt we're chewing away at and I'm on track with that. I've opened a TFSA and there's already $150 in it. I have $10/week going into my ING Emergency Fund. No, that's not a lot but it's going in there nice and regular. The IKEA account is all paid off and can no longer be used because they changed companies that provide the credit card services. As of today, I think I'm current on all my bills. The one thing I still need to do for this pay period is to go to the credit union, take out $45 in cash and then deposit it into my other credit union via the ATM. That's the set-aside money each payday for my electric bill, garbage, property taxes and fuel oil at our rural home. Next winter, when it's time for a fuel oil delivery, I'll have the money all saved up.
On the other hand, I've been charging stuff for the city house on my MasterCard. In fact, Capital One put a fraud hold on my card after the third time I used it in 2 days! What did I buy? I spent $20.11 at IKEA on 4 D cell batteries, 10 votive candle holders and a pair of sheer drapes (2 panels). I bought $129.37 worth of DriCore (including a levelling kit) at one Home Depot and, the next day at a different Home Depot, I spent $229.75 on tiles for the foyer and 3rd bedroom, as well as concealing film for the bedroom windows, a closet pole that will fit Dear Child's closet at the rural house (it's an odd size) and a grouting sponge. Bad? Not really. I had to buy the reno supplies before the end of January to be able to cash in on the home renovation tax credit. And I needed the supplies to finish important projects that will make our part of the house a lot better looking. Plus, I've paid down $149.48 of that already today.
The fraud thing was actually pretty funny. I've barely used the card over the past year or more, so 3 transactions in 2 days was obviously suspicious! I got that all straightened out with a quick phone call.
What are my goals for February?
1. Pay for Dear Child's birthday party.
2. Pay at least $229.75 to MasterCard
3. Stay current with all the other bills.
4. Get the treatment plan for DC's dental surgery and figure out how to pay for that.
5. Make arrangements for Dog's Passover vacation and pay at least $100 towards that.
Got any goals for February that you'd like to share?
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6 comments:
Arrgh! My goal is just to survive February! But I'm glad it's going well for you.
err. why r u charging batteries? :D
(sorry to be a lurker)
@Grace
Well, moneywise it's okay. Pretty much everything else in my life is going sideways at this point. Way too overcommitted, problems with Dear Child's room getting finished, etc. But that's when the money usually suffers too, so I'm relieved that those ducks are at least in the right pond, if not all lined up.....
@aml
LOL, when you wrote "charging batteries" I was thinking about charging my laptop or my cell phone. (My laptop keeps saying "Your battery is charging normally but is reaching the end of its expected life...." whenever I turn it on.)
Why did I buy batteries at IKEA on my MasterCard? I didn't have any money accessible on my debit cards that night and don't carry cash. But I paid that amount (along with one of the Home Depot bills) on Wednesday when the money came into my account. So the IKEA charge was only on the MC for a couple of days.
Why did I go to IKEA when I didn't have any money? Because my Eldest Daughter needed to go and she doesn't drive. Plus she's nine months pregnant and getting together the last things she needs for the baby. It made more sense to go when she wanted to and buy what I needed then.
And lurking is fine. It's just more fun for me when people comment and interact.
OK. I'll comment. Best of luck on your goals!
My husband and I got rid of all of our credit cards three years ago. We've been living on cash only since then, and paying off the enormous debt we got ourselves into during grad school. We'll have the cards paid off in another year-and-a-half. And the cars too. We still don't have a good cash reserve and I like that you're putting money in an ING account. We could certainly do that. In fact, I think I'll go open an account right now. Thanks for the inspiration.
Sounds like you've got a good plan in place to pay off your debt... We don't use any cc's... I used one way too much for Xmas last year, and it should be paid off in the next few months. Then that's it... The interest rates are just too high... I'd rather save my pennies for what I need! lol!
Thanks for the comments! It's nice to know I inspired someone to do something and I like knowing where folks are in the process themselves.
All we have to do is keep moving in the right direction!
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