From Zero to $10,000 in less than a year...

Cool! Today was payday and I was able to pay off one entire credit card... ok, seriously - my credit card debt is NOT huge by any means. My limits are small, and this one as only $500 regardless though it's a HUGE relief to have one card completely paid off!

Bonus news is that we're recieving a substantial amount back from our tax refund. Enough so that we can put a down payment on a newer SUV and get rid of the the two other crappy cars that we have.

I only ever take the bus to work or walk to the gym so I don't really need a car until we move and the weather is getting nicer so the kids walk to school.

This is excellent news - so I'm paying off a credit card and hubby is paying part of one credit card; two thirds at least - so that's good.

The plan for April is to now pay down our minimal debt. (Really it's only about $1500) but it's just hanging over our heads hindering everythng that we do.

In May we'll start saving for the move - and we've pushed the move date out by a month and a half or so to accomodate getting the new SUV and paying off debts.

So, one step ahead one half step back but I'm focusing on the fact that we are at least getting ahead!!!

The plan now is to NOT USE THE CREDIT CARDS!!! I hope I can stick to that; actually I HAVE to stick to that - I don't have a choice.

Ok, the plan is to save... I know that...
I guess that's probably why I feel SOOOO guilty when I spend a little money.

This morning I told my husband how much we had in the bank and how much of it was 'already spent' in terms of rent and bills..

After everything, including groceries we had about $250 left (we're not counting any savings into this payperiod because, well, we're just not)

So, I went to CVS today and purchased 2 bottles of juice (small ones for work) at buy one get one free.

A lean cuisine for $3.39 and a box of Special K strawberry bars for snacking at work...

It came to $7.77 - this was at lunch time at work...

On the walk home from the bus stop I'm chatting w/ hubby on my cell phone who proceeds to tell me that he and a friend went out for lunch...

That's fine, so I ask how much he spent - he says he has to pay the friend back $10 (which is FINE, really) I don't care - what bugs me though is NOT ONE OUNCE OF GUILT from this man... blah!

Why do I feel guilty and he doesn't?

He's the unemployed one...

grumble, grumble...

So today is payday for me but none of that money will be saved.

I may try to take at least $20 and put it aside to include in savings but considering this is the end of the month, the bulk of my pay goes to rent.

I have an outstanding gas bill that will be getting $200 of my pay; that covers a little less than HALF of the gas bill, but at least it's dwindling...

The rest of the money will go towards groceries and random piddly checks we've written for school lunches and our Girl Scout Cookie order..

That's it... in for a minute and OUT OUT OUT it went...

Ok... this one's for the non-believers..

I guess I should say that I have allowed myself a minimum of $1000 (two weeks worth of work for me) a month from April to June, then in July we're taking $2000 (all of my income) and applying that to the $10,000 goal.

So it's not like I'm only going to be putting away $10 here and there, I do have a plan to save larger amounts...

The rest of the money will come from online auctions and the cutbacks and freebies here and there...

That's all. Carry on...

Don't laugh!!

Really...STOP. Laughing. NOW!!

I have $5 towards my goal thanks to getting paid for a survey with Pinecone Research.

The survey check is currently sitting on my desk waiting for me to deposit it into a new savings account.

I also have $5 in an account with ING Direct.

I put the money in last week just to get SOMETHING back into my ING account.

Ultimately I'm going to have to transfer whatever is in ING to another account or vice versa...we'll see how that pans out.

If you're interested in opening an account with ING Direct, send me an email or leave a comment; you can earn 3.80% Annual Percentage Yield on an FDIC-insured savings account!!

Ok, so I'm a bzz agent!!

Jealous???

Or do you not know what a bzz agent is??

If you want to know, send me an email and I'll tell you ALL about it!

Today in the mail I got a DEEELLLIIICIOUS full sized jar of Nutella for FREE!


YUM YUM YUM..

Before I left for my night job I spread some on a lightly toasted sesame seed bagel and let me just say...

HEAVEN!

Check out the Nutella website where you can enter the monthly case sweepstakes, learn the delicious fact of the month, purchase Nutella merchandise and read more Nutella history.

Yippy Skippy a comprehensive place to track our savings.

As noted in my blog title, I have a savings goal - hopefully this will help me track it in a more comprehensive way.

First and foremost, I've decided to create get rid of our cable and phone service. We use the cell phones regularly anyway, so having a land-line isn't necessary; not to mention that I can get online at work.

So, we have joined Netflix to keep us in movies for the next few months.

That should satisfy our tv tooth... Instead of paying about $100 month for internet, cable and phone, we'll be paying $17.99 for an unlimited amount of movies each month!!

Here's hopin'