The check I sent last week cleared last night....we are now at $4957.91.

The plan is to send $500 a month and have it paid off in December.

Fingers crossed we can do it!

Yipee! The check finally shows online as pending...should clear tonight!

As you most of you know, I sent the final $500 payment to the SUV loan on Tuesday...the check still hasn't cleared. It never takes this long, and now, since Monday is a holiday, I won't know until at least Tuesday if the check even got there.

I just want to be completely done...I wonder if they are holding it because it is a long weekend....or because it was the final payment?

Anyway, I am sure it will be done next week.....I was just hoping to have it done THIS week.

I made a payment of $375 yesterday to the Focus loan. This now takes us down to under 5K!

I am hoping the final payment for the SUV loan processes tonight. Then we are officially done with that!

Happy Friday everyone!

Sent the remaining $500 on Tuesday to the SUV loan...hopefully by the end of the week it will post....and then I can post the loan is actually paid off! Yahoo!

Yes...it will be very exciting as we are paying my car off! I plan to send the payment on Tuesday and it should take just a couple of days for it to process.

Then...on to DH's car loan! For Feb, I plan to send about $350. This will put us at just under $5000. Then the plan is to send $500 per month and that should have the car paid off at the end of 2013.

With the extra money we will be saving, we plan to send extra on the mortgage...our current payment is $918, so we will make additional principal payment starting in March that will make it an even $1000 per month for now. Perhaps in 2014 after DH's car is paid off, we can send even more.

We would also like to increase retirement savings. We will be evaluating that too.

My gift to myself? Better health this year....AND.... being debt free except for the mortgage by the end of the year...I am so excited for next week. We will be paying my car off!

Oh...and we had a no spend day yesterday!

Hardly EVER happens....hope it is going to happen more now that I have given up my daily iced coffee....honestly...not so much for financial reasons...more just to lose some weight! Ugh...the calories! I am on day 4 of my "no more coffee"...and it's going well, but I still miss it. It's funny...I have NEVER owned a coffee pot...not in 25 years of marriage. I am one of those "fancy schmancy" coffee drinkers and have taken to visiting various coffee shops over the last couple of years for my daily fix. I don't like regular brewed coffee....just shots with all of the extra goodies (except whip) Staying strong and not going to give in!

Had a nice and relaxing weekend. We saw 2 movies...Impossible...highly recommend this one! We also saw Silver Linings Playbook....got into this one free since DD2 was working

Speaking of DD2, she is really enjoying her job at the theater! She is also enjoying the money A proud mom moment....DD said her friend (who has worked there for a while now), overheard the managers talking about DD and how much they liked her. Warms my heart. She is pretty much getting 10-13 hours a week...mostly weekends, but that is how it is when you are low man on the totem pole.

Working on planning our Kauai trip...we have paid the air fare, rental car, trip insurance, and a deposit. We are now just trying to narrow down where we want to stay. Pretty much think we are going to do a condo. There is one "resort" type place we are considering, where if you pay extra, you can get a buffet breakfast every morning. However, that is an extra $160 than if you don't get it... a condo has always been in the running, and I am quite sure we can do breakfast for 7 days cheaper than $160! Hoping there will be a cooler in the condo so we can pack a lunch everyday while we are out exploring, or just eating at the condo if we want pool time. I'm not going to cook dinner...that's my one thing I put my foot down on. I don't however, mind getting a pizza one night, or even doing fast food one night...that will help cut the cost down too. Trying to stay frugal while planning a spendy vacation is going to take a little planning...I don't mind though...I'm up for it! Just happy and blessed we are able to go.