PNW Mama's Personal Finance Blog

May was a bit of a spendy month. Other than regular expenses, this is what was spent.

1. Storage racks for garage $1100

2. 3 family b-days $75 (3 gc's at $25 each)

3. $140 for a gps for DD2 graduation gift

4. $220 for a new spring for the garage door opener that broke on Memorial Day.

5. $160 on Friday to have furnace and a/c unit cleaned and tuned up.

6. $156 for luau for upcoming vacation.

June is looking to be a little spendy also. DD2's 18th b-day is next Saturday. We are having a family lunch and still need to get her a gift. She wants to take 3 friends downtown for part of the day to Saturday market. We will give her money for lunch and also treat her friends. She is graduating on the 13th and we will also host a small graduation party for her soon after.

In July, my sister and I are hosting a 50th anniversary party for my parents. We already have the venue reserved and my sister has already paid me back for her half. We will have to pay for coffee and punch as they will not allow us to bring in our own. We will split the cost of that, plus a nice cake. She has purchased some decorations and such so I will owe her for that. Her bday is also in July, so we will need to get her a gift card for that (she prefers gift cards for b-day's and Christmas). Vacation is almost paid for (last payment due on the 7th), so we will just need to mainly worry about food and maybe a few small trinkets. We are thinking of doing a cave tubing excursion, but are not completely sure. If we do, we will book that online and pay with the Wells Fargo cc, which will give us points.

Luckily, most of this has been planned, and we have had the funds to cover it, but I try to always be aware of those surprises that seem to pop up!

Another $500 to the Focus loan...that takes us down to $3475.00.

It's exciting to think next month we will be under 3K!

It's looking good to have this paid off in December

Here are some pic's of our new storage racks.







DH found a place called Safe Racks and we had them out a few weeks ago to install.

I have to say, it was expensive...about $1000.

But it is so nice to have that stuff up and out of the way. I finally have the closet back in our 4th bedroom...it is nice to be able to open the doors and not have stuff fall out on me. It mainly now holds my scrapbooking supplies and my wrapping paper/gift bags. I can actually get to the stuff without having to pull almost everything out and then put it all back.

It is mainly for large items, such as our luggage, tote along chairs, 1 bin of fall decorations, and a few storage bins of memorabilia from before kids (old albums, yearbooks, letters).

We actually have quite a bit of nice storage in the house...meaning drawers and cupboards...but for things like luggage and such, as you know, those take up alot of space in closets.

Not that we will get our money back or anything, but I think extra storage is attractive when you go to sell your house. Hopefully it will be a nice "extra".

I really don't want it to end!

Friday night, DD2 and I went to see The Great Gatsby, for free since most of you know that DD2 works at the theater. It was a pretty good movie, and free makes it even better. DH got me some beautiful tulips for Mother's Day.

Saturday, DD2 and I went to grab a hold from the library, grabbed coffee (BOGO) and then my sweet girl treated me to a pedicure. It was so nice! DH and I headed out for dinner and a treat at Baskin Robbins after. DD2 came home for a quick overnight visit as she was in town for a volunteer event that she had to do. She walked in with tulips for me. Now I have 2 lovely vases to enjoy all week.

Sunday, DH made french toast for breakfast and I popped over to see my mom and took her some flowers and her favorite coffee drink. We got pizza for an early dinner before DD1 headed back to college. Unfortunately, DD2 had to work from 11 to 8, so I was missing her today.

The weather on Friday and Saturday was sunny and WARM....in the high 80's. So very unusual for our neck of the woods this time of year. No complaints though! Sunday was cloudy and humid...again very unusual as we do not get a lot of humidity here. It did rain a bit, but it is not cold. Next week the forecast is for clouds and maybe some rain and definately cooler weather. That's ok though, that is why it is so green around here

All in all, it was a bit of a spendy weekend (more than usual for us) and I felt very spoiled and pampered.

Next week it is back to business though!

Hope everyone had a very nice weekend!

On the Focus loan...barely...but still under at $3975.00. It's so great to see that balance go down! We continue to pay $500 a month and that means it will be paid off in December as planned. It also means that this loan will have been paid off in under 2 years.

We are also just under $125K on the mortgage too!

Love seeing the numbers go DOWN

I added an extra $39 principal to the mortgage payment today....total paid...$950.00

I had our travel agent charge 1/2 of the remaining balance due on our upcoming vacation...the rest will be due on June 7th.

We have been having unusually gorgeous weather around here! Last week was sunny and in the 70's....had a couple of days of gray/light rain...and yesterday started back with the gorgeous weather again....it may hit the mid 80's this weekend! So nice after a very wet Spring last year.

Towards the mortgage principal. This is the 2nd rebate we have earned!

It's funny, because we have never been "big" credit card users. This is mainly the result of Christmas spending and pre-paying our July vacation. We also have our Dish bill on there. Any time we do want to use credit, we are using that card, rather than the Capital One. We also pay it off every month.

Might as well get something out of it!

Well...kind of. One of the gal's that was on the TLC show Extreme Couponers, was in our area recently. Our local paper was a sponsor and they were offering a coupon class for free. I didn't actually meet her, but she was there along with a more local gal that was on the show also, and does a local coupon class. My mom really wanted to go and I thought why not? Might learn something.

I really didn't learn anything new, but the speaker was really entertaining and funny....seemed like a very sweet gal.

The whole idea behind all of this extreme couponing, is subscribing and having multiple copies of your local Sunday paper. That way, when something goes on sale, you can really stock up. By the time you use your "stock" up, another sale will hit. They were offering additional copies of the Sunday through Tuesday at a very reduced rate (up to 4 for subscribers and up to 5 for non subscribers). I was tempted, but didn't bite.

Now, I do use coupons whenever I can. I think that is just smart shopping. Little bits do add up. My problem is, that for one, we have no stores that double. We also do not have a CVS...jealous of those that do! , so it seems sometimes I just can't get major awesome deals that I see other people getting. Of course, anything cheaper than full price is always a bonus, and if something is on sale, even better.

They had some gift cards they were raffling off, but we didn't win.

All in all, it was a fun time....and it was FREE!

Sent $500 to the Focus loan yesterday...that will take us below $4K!

Also sent some receipts to FSA...$45 (misc: co-pay, prescriptions, and a small lab bill) and $160 for contacts. Now I wish I would have done more. I will be done soon with my FSA as I only did $300 this year....now I wish I would have done more. It always seems to work like that....one year I almost didn't use it all up as expenses were low. This year isn't particularly expensive, but I just realized I have been wanting a new pair of glasses and I should have planned better as I could have put what wasn't covered by the insurance towards that. Bummer

Paid the dreaded (and unexpected) taxes yesterday to the tune of almost $2000.

Tomorrow I will be sending $500 to the Focus loan...that will take us under $5000!

The Visa bill will be due on Friday (which I pay online) of about $800. That is the payment I had our travel agent charge at the beginning of the month. One more $800 charge and payment and our Kauai trip will be paid for in full (air, resort-including breakfast everyday, car, and trip insurance).

Even though it is money going OUT, it is a good feeling knowing that car loan will be paid off in December, and that our trip is also paid for. Paying the bulk of the trip expenses AHEAD of time, definately makes for a more enjoyable vacation in my opinion.

I will start with the ugly....we owe taxes...to the tune of approx $2000 between federal and state. The main reason is we lost DD1 as a dependent, due to accounts she has to pay her college expenses....a UGTMA and a trust....we also lost the education credit and the american opportunity act credit. Add to the fact our with-holdings were out of whack. This is the first time in years we have owed. Bummer.

The bad....the savings account will take a hit

The good.....we have the money to pay for it!

To avoid this in the future....we have adjusted our with-holdings and increased our 401K/SEP IRA's.

We may get a couple of those credits back next year (for 2013) as DD2 will be entering college this fall.

We will see.

Another very important reason to have an emergency fund.....I am thankful we do!

CC Free got me thinking after she posted her 1st quarter progress.

I didn't have a lot of financial goals for 2013, but, for the ones we do have, here's how we have been doing:

Paid off SUV loan
Increased DH's 401 contribution to 14%
Increased my SEP IRA contribution also (although that doesn't appear on my sidebar).

Already thinking ahead to 2014. Our house will be 16 years old this June.

We imagine next year and in the next few years, needing a new roof, possibly replacing the hot water tank, and possibly replacing the furnace and air conditioner. Our house has been painted...that will not need to be done.

Also, we will need to replace the carpets at some point. All 4 bedrooms have carpet, as well as the family room, and living/dining room. We will hold off on this for a while though, mainly because the carpets are in pretty darn good shape for being 16 years old. We don't wear shoes in the house, and I think that helps. We also want to wait as our cat (who is 14) vomits sometimes, and almost always on the carpets instead of the hardwoods...go figure. We used to get the carpets professionally cleaned once a year, but last year, decided to invest in our own carpet cleaner. I think it has been well worth the cost (a couple of hundred bucks). We also have a hand held smaller carpet cleaner for spot cleaning. I also think that was a good investment.

So another goal, I think, is to start a seperate account for the household maintenance that is going to be coming up. I really don't want to tap into the home equity line. To me, that is just too tempting to go hog wild and just get it all done at once and be done with it.

No thanks, think we will try to save cash for it!

DD1 has been home for college this past week for Spring Break and it has been so nice having her home!

DD2 was also on Spring Break and worked quite a bit...she is so excited to see what her next check will be.

We didn't go any where, but just enjoyed having some time together as a family. We took the girls to pizza and frozen yogurt last weekend, and this past weekend we all went to see Olympus Has Fallen, courtesy of DD2...parents get in free when we are with her, and she had a free pass for selling candy when she works the concession stand so that got DD1 in free. We did spring for popcorn and soda though....we all really liked the movie.

We had a quiet Easter...DD2 had to work 11:30 to 8:30 today My parents invited us over for dinner along with my sister, so DH and I along with DD1 went...DD1 only stayed about an hour as she had almost a 2 hour drive back to school. DD2 received her last Easter basket (they get one through senior year of high school), and I sprung for a chocolate bunny for DD1

We were lucky to have BEAUTIFUL weather this weekend...in the mid 70's and sunny....very unusual for this time of year, but we will take it.

Wrapping up the weekend with Monday off from work! Planning to galavant around with my mom and have lunch. DH is heading out to lunch with his mom too.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Made our regular payment to the Focus loan....9 more payments and it will be ours free and clear!

Made the regular payment of $918 to the mortgage today and did an extra $82 towards the principal for a total of $1000.

We also received notice from our Wells Fargo credit card that our first $25 rebate will be applied to the principal payment in about 4 weeks.

We applied for this card when we refinanced back in Sept. They give us 1% of every purchase and when you reach $25, they will make a principal payment to your loan.

We have reached this first rebate rather quickly as we have a few re-occuring bills on the card, bought DD2 her graduation present at Christmas time (holding it until graduation)and we have charged our airline tickets, rental car, travel insurance, and a partial deposit for our Kauai trip in July. We will continue to charge a bit of the remaining vacation balance on it each month until June (when any remaining balance will be due in full).

We figure why not use the card when we want to charge something and get something back? As long as we pay it off in full each month, I think it is great!

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.

Except for the mortgage!

My car will be paid off in the middle of February.

We have been paying extra every month on DH's car, but, in February, will start sending $500 a month. This is more than double the actual payment required per month.

With my car being paid off, we are pondering what to do with the extra money every month.

Some idea's

More to savings
Extra to mortgage
Increase contributions to DH's 401K and/or my SEP IRA through work.

More than likely we will do a combo of these.

We will however, need to be thinking ahead about our vacation to Kauai at the end of July. We will put the vacation expenses on our Wells Fargo card to earn points towards principal mortgage rewards, but will definately want to pay the card off as we are booking hotel/condo, air, and car rental in the next few months.

Good news regarding DH's work shut down. Originally they were told 1 week in Jan and Feb...then told a couple of days each month...then told if they had projects to work on, they wouldn't have to take any time off. DH said he and his co-worker's in his department had plenty of things to work on..whew! Then he finds out today that it looks like for Jan, there is not going to be a shut down after all.

DH and I were also talking about vacation this year....we discussed many things (Alaska cruise, Carribean cruise, Cabo/Cancun, DC). For various reasons, none of these were working for us...so....we decided to go to Kauai! We have been to Maui and I have been to Ohau...DH thought it would be fun to go to an island we haven't been to.

We are in the early stages of planning it...air is high right now, but there is a possibility my parents might be giving us or selling us their air miles (for cheap). Trying to decided where to stay was so overwhelming, we decided to have our travel agent help us.

We will be going at the end of July....I can't go any earlier in the summer, as DD2 is graduating high school June 13th, and my co-worker (who does the same job as me), is going back to her home country for 4 weeks...she will be gone from 6/24 and coming back to work on 7/22, so I will be the only one in the billing department for that time period.

I think I will be more than ready to get away at that point!

Today I had my annual review. It went well. I was surprised to receive a raise....only 1%....I wasn't expecting anything, especially since they put a freeze on raises for everyone last year.

We had a lot of changes at the office last year, most of which was good, but are still feeling things out and I think they are just being careful. Dr felt bad he couldn't offer more and said it just didn't seem right (I've been there 14 years)...in this day and age, I am just happy to have a job...a job that I get to go to every day with NO drama what so ever and no backstabbing co-workers...I count myself blessed!

We did receive a bonus at Christmas (which we always do) and it was $200 more than 2011...that certainly helps a bit to make up for the small raise.

DH also received his $750 perfect attendance bonus. That went straight into savings for now.

And the SUV loan will be paid OFF!

I sent $500 to Ford on Saturday.

SO looking forward to mid February when I send the last $500 to them.

Since we have paid more on this loan, than was actually due, this means we paid this loan off in under 3 years (SUV was purchased May 2010)

Next up....hoping to pay DH's car loan off by the end of the year....that one would be paid off even quicker than mine. His car was purchased in March 2012.

On a tip at my coffee drive through .I had filled my punch card up and was due a free drink, so I put a $1 into the tip jar.

Well I feel silly! Don't know how we ever managed to not have AOL free...lol...anyway, as soon as DD2 gets her contacts switched over tonight, it is goodbye AOL. And it was actually $17.95 a month...so saving closer to $18 now.

When DH was switching our DISH billing from Capital One over to Wells Fargo (might as well get that 1% rebate), he noticed that he still had Starz at $13 a month. A while back, he really wanted it, but now that we have streaming Netflix, it seems a waste of money. He canceleld it yesterday. So all in all, we are now saving an additional $31 a month.

We also received our statement from the credit union for DH's car loan. Turns out, it was lower than expected. We are now at $5665. If we can send $475 a month, we can have this paid off at the end of the year! That would mean being debt free except for our mortgage.

Yipee!