Back on Track.

Debts to Pay	October 17, 2016
Doctor Bill A	0.00
Doctor Bill B	0.00
Doctor Bill C	0.00
Credit Card	1,866.58
Doctor Bill D	0.00
Student Loan D	2,823.75
Student Loan B	2,846.58
Student Loan F	2,998.40
Student Loan A	3,517.61
Student Loan C	4,495.04
Student Loan PX	7,903.00
Student Loan G	8,258.99
Student Loan E	8,320.70
Car Loan	12,610.50
Mortgage	51,829.41
Total	107,470.56

Amount Paid Off Since Last Post: $192.00
*Current chart shows adjustments for interest, pay downs, and pay offs.*


After a rough couple of months, we are finally getting back on track to paying down our debts! A few things have happened that made this possible. First, I got a small raise at work. It’s not much, but it does help! Next, I found a better option for health insurance for my husband (mine is covered by my job, so we are only out on my husband) which gave us about $200 more each month! Last, I started using and selling Plexus products. This has helped with our budget majorly!

I didn’t make the decision to use Plexus lightly. We talked it out, prayed over, and made it work with our budget before all the increases. What’s so cool is that I’ve only been using it for a month and have already made a little money from it! It has also helped me not spend so much money on junk food and fast food, so automatic savings right there! I’ll put my Plexus link at the bottom for anyone interested in checking it out!

This month, we paid $400 onto our credit card because of all the money we have saved and the increases we have had. We still use our credit card for groceries, so that’s why the difference shown above doesn’t reflect what we have paid off. Also, our card gives us points for every dollar spent and I traded in 5000 points for $50 account credit, so that’s a sweet little bonus!

I am beyond thrilled about seeing the numbers above decrease. It’s such a blessing that we are able to do this. My goal is that we would be debt free within the next 10 years. I think that this is reasonable, realistic, and totally doable!

--chloe.

http://shopmyplexus.com/chloerichards/

Negatives.

Debts to Pay	September 19, 2016
Doctor Bill A	0.00
Doctor Bill B	0.00
Doctor Bill C	0.00
Credit Card	1,961.71
Doctor Bill D	0.00
Student Loan D	2,810.71
Student Loan B	2,833.43
Student Loan F	2,998.40
Student Loan A	3,517.61
Student Loan C	4,495.04
Student Loan PX	7,890.00
Student Loan G	8,237.18
Student Loan E	8,320.70
Car Loan	12,677.91
Mortgage	51,919.87
Total	107,662.56

Amount Paid Off Since Last Post: $-220.52
*Current chart shows adjustments for interest, pay downs, and pay offs.*


Let’s talk about something real today. Negatives. Lately, there have been a lot of negatives in our life. We have hit a wall of having too much debt and not enough money. This is a problem for so many people. As you can see from our total, we actually added more debt since my last post. What?!  

It’s not all bad though. I managed to pull in a little extra income with my essential oil game this month, and that is all going right towards paying down our credit card. The credit card we have is one that we use strictly for groceries and emergencies (which we had several of those in the last few weeks). That is part of the responsibility that comes with having a credit card. We stayed on top of it until we were hit with two home repairs that could not wait, as well as a legal fee we needed to cover (no worries, we are good here!).  

I’ve learned that being an adult is hard—especially in terms of money. I think our next step after paying off our credit card will be to build our savings account up to a couple thousand. This may seem like a bad idea, considering how much debt we still have. But when emergencies hit, I would much rather pay them off right then, rather than scrape by for months until it’s all paid off.  

In the meantime, we are pinching pennies even harder. We are finding things to sell, looking for ways to earn money, and working towards our goal of being debt free! 


--chloe.

A Comment.

Something happened earlier this week that both disturbed and offended me. I've thought about it and the more I do, the more bothered I am. Let's talk about it today.

Let me preface by saying that I'm not the type of person to get easily offended. That's a rarity in today's world, I know. But generally speaking, I am not one to be bothered by the things people say. But I was told something earlier this week that, in light of the efforts I am making towards paying off my debts, truly disturbed me. As you all know, I paid off the remainder of my doctors' bills this week. It was a huge relief and I am so excited to be done with this part of my debt.

As I went to the hospital to pay my bill, cash in hand, I was met with strange looks by the clerks handling my account. I told them I was there to pay my bill in full and that I was looking forward to not having this burden anymore. One of the ladies said to me: "Most people just let this sort of thing go to their credit. That's what you should have done." Hold up. Did I just hear these words come from a person who was taking money from me? I was not pleased to hear this. I told her that I am not most people, I don't enjoy having debt, and I have excellent credit and refuse to ruin it. My husband chimed in too, saying that eventually we want to buy another house, and something like this could wreck that for us.

Guys, this type of thinking is toxic when it comes to paying off debt. I know that not everyone can afford to do what we did, but there is no reason to ruin your credit by dismissing your bills. I live in a part of the country where poverty is high and people take on more than they can handle financially. Sometimes it is the only option, but often it isn't. Your health is important, and by all means if something is wrong you should tend to it. But be smart. Work out a payment plan if that's what it takes. But please, don't set yourself up for financial ruin by allowing your credit to be wrecked. That doesn't help in the long run.

I realize that not everyone has this mindset, and that's fine. Going debt-free is not an easy road, and not a decision that many care to make. But regardless of what your opinion is, please don't encourage others to go further into debt.

This is really all I have on the matter. I hope it gives you something to think about and I hope that you all are making steps to reach a debt-free life as well!

--chloe.

Major Progress.

Debts to Pay	August 22, 2016
Doctor Bill A	0.00
Doctor Bill B	0.00
Doctor Bill C	0.00
Credit Card	1546.58
Doctor Bill D	0.00
Student Loan D	2,791.60
Student Loan B	2,814.17
Student Loan F	2,998.40
Student Loan A	3,517.61
Student Loan C	4,495.04
Student Loan PX	7,890.00
Student Loan G	8,205.25
Student Loan E	8,320.70
Car Loan	12,852.66
Mortgage	52,010.03
Total	107,442.04

Amount Paid Off This Week: $2358.21
*Current chart shows adjustments for interest, pay downs, and pay offs.*

Life happens. Things break. The unexpected comes along. This is something I am learning a lot about lately. As you may notice on my debt chart, there is a new line: Credit Card. This is where life has happened for us in the last few weeks. We had to make a large charge to our credit card. It was a tough decision, and one that we didn’t make lightly. We weighed our options and this was truly the best choice. So now we are working toward paying this off. The good thing is that our particular credit card is also a rewards card, so we at least get some benefits from making such a large purchase. And, bonus points to us: we have already paid half of it off thanks to a generous donation from our family!

You may also notice that we paid off our hospital bills this week too!!! I am BEYOND thrilled about this! We had some extra money come our way specifically for hospital/doctor bills, so this was a welcome relief!  That gives us an extra $175 in our budget to add to debt payoff! This is also joined in by our Student Loan budget of $75, so we have $250 budgeted for debt payoff now. I recently was re-approved for $0 payments on my student loans for a year, as was my husband. Once we have our credit card paid off, we will be able to work on knocking out our student loans!

I'm thankful that we are finally making some real progress on this whole debt-free journey.  I know that we have a long road, but it's amazing to see how far we have come since starting this.  God has been good to us, and my hope is that this journey will continue to be blessed by Him.

--chloe.

Christmas.

 Let's talk about Christmas today! I'm one of the most annoying people when it comes to Christmas. I LOVE THIS HOLIDAY! Although Halloween is my favorite, Christmas is just the most heartwarming time of year in my opinion. I love how the world becomes a bit more magical, the food more comforting, and people a lot more kind. You're probably thinking, "Chloe, it's August. We're 4 months away from Christmas!" Uh, yeah. That's why we need to talk about it.

Our first Christmas as a married couple, we kind of went overboard at the last minute. We were just so excited that we couldn't help but buy a bunch of stuff for each other! I don't remember exactly how much my husband and I spent, but it was definitely way outside of our budget. This will our 5th Christmas together and I think we finally have a good system figured out!

We have two children and need to buy for them, plus our parents, my siblings, my mom's brother's and my younger cousin. This is who we typically spend the holidays with. So we have 12 people, not including each other! I definitely don't want to be caught in December trying to buy for a baker's dozen of people; plus I have a weird fear of being late for anything. So we start early with the Christmas shopping.

Doing this helps in several ways:

• We aren't spending all of our money all at once.
• It's more budget friendly as we can spread the spending over several months.
• We can shop end of season/pre-season and score some awesome deals.
• When December rolls around, we won't be stressed as much.

With all this in mind, we do have to set a limit. We decided to spend no more that $25 on each of our family members, $100 for each of our kids, and $75 on each other. So in all, we will have a budget of $600 for Christmas. Yeah, that's a lot. Definitely would not want to spend that all in one month. So we start buying in August, getting a few things here and there. I'm happy to say that I bought two gifts today and spent under $20 on each (thank you Amazon.com)!

Something else that is handy is that I have been saving up for Amazon.com rewards all year via various rewards apps and our Amazon credit card. So although we have a $600 budget, we definitely won't be spending that much from our own pockets. Another win!

So if you see me out and about, buying weird stuff, just know that I am preparing for Christmas. I would love to hear some of your budgeting/money saving tips for holidays! If you have something cool to share with the class, let me know in the comments!


--chloe.

Negotiating.

Debts to Pay	July 7, 2016
Doctor Bill A	111.97
Doctor Bill B	204.82
Doctor Bill C	231.20
Doctor Bill D	2,309.64
Student Loan D	2,776.23
Student Loan B	2,798.68
Student Loan F	2,998.40
Student Loan A	3,517.61
Student Loan C	4,495.04
Student Loan PX	7,861.52
Student Loan G	8,179.55
Student Loan E	8,320.70
Car Loan	13,215.71
Mortgage	52,099.43
Total	108,803.71

Amount Paid Off This Week: $333.55
*Current chart shows adjustments for interest, pay downs, and pay offs.*

Let’s talk about negotiating bills today. As you can see from the chart above, I owe a lot for doctor bills. However, I am pleased to say that I managed to negotiate a lesser amount on Doctor Bill B! How did I do that, you ask? All it took was a simple phone call to the company that is handling this particular bill. Now keep in mind that my insurance has already been processed for this bill, so it was at its “lowest” already. But I have found that when it comes to bills like these, a lot of times if you are able to pay a full amount, many companies will give you an additional percentage off. This is something I have done in several instances, especially in regards to hospital bills. Today, I was given an additional 15% off my total, making my payment for Doctor Bill B just $174.09! To some, that may not seem like much; just over $30. But to me, it’s huge. To someone who is scrapping pennies together to pay off debts, it adds up quick. I am beyond thrilled to pay $30 less on a bill that I will be done with forever! It never hurts to ask, you guys! If you have doctor’s bills, ALWAYS ask about discounts for paying in full. Even if there isn’t a discount, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Especially if you let the company know that you are on a tight budget. Often those can be the magic words to settling a debt!
--chloe.

Budgeting.

Budgeting is hard.  Growing up, it wasn't necessarily something I had to do.  My bills were all paid for and if I wanted something, I saved up for it using money from my job.  But I didn't have to budget.  And goodness, do I wish I had known how back then!  Life would be much simpler now.  Adulting is not fun.  Moving on...

Click to Enlarge

Last fall, I started a new job and my husband and I decided it was time to really start budgeting.  Before, we kind of just kept tabs on what our bank account looked like and if we got into trouble, we would dig into our savings. Not the best method for living, but we were a young married couple with no idea how to manage our income and expenses. So after about 2 months at my new job, I discovered a handy little tool on Microsoft Excel 2013. Excel has different kinds of budget spreadsheet templates! What?! I was so thankful to have found these because it has made a huge difference in how we manage our money.


This is what a typical month on our budget looks like. Now I know that some of the lines seem high. Who needs $150 allowance each month? Our family apparently. My husband is really good about only using a portion of his allowance, and saving the rest for later in the year for gifts and things. I'm a little more of a wild card and can guarantee that I always go over my allowance. That is why I added a separate line this month for food allowance. I am always grabbing lunch or breakfast at work, so rather than cracking into my fun money, this will help me to stay under budget. As for the other items, we typically go over on our Family/Date Night fund. Let's face it, grabbing dinner to go is much easier than cooking when you have two little ones. This is an area we need to work on as a family. As for the other lines, we rarely exceed. This is because we "over-budgeted" for everything. This may seem odd, but you really just never know what is going to happen. Our cell phone bill could be more one month than it was previously. I personally would rather be prepared with wiggle room than caught without it.


One line that is up for negotiation is the Debt Payoff line. The amount depends on how much extra income we have come in. Previously I wrote about getting extra money for mileage from our jobs. This is where that money would go, depending on what else we were looking at for the month. We set a reasonable amount to pay off extra, and just go for it!


I really hope you all will look into these budget spreadsheets on Excel. They are so handy and they give you a better idea of what you have coming in and going out each month. The one we use lets us compare our Actual Income vs. Projected Income. This tool alone makes a huge difference! Our projected is always less than our actual, which makes keeping our budget in check much easier. Take a look if you have Excel on your computer! 

--chloe.

App of the Week: Ibotta.

Ok I LOVE Ibotta! It is such a handy little app! Basically it’s an app that gives you a bunch of coupons for different stores. Some coupons you have to watch a short video in order to claim, but it’s totally worth it! Some of my favorite coupons are for diapers, and with two kids, I need all the diaper coupons I can get! 

Here’s how Ibotta works: you go through the list of items that have coupons available and you claim the ones you want to use. Then you go do your shopping and all that fun stuff. When you have made your purchase, you upload your receipt and Ibotta will give you rebates back. For instance, if you have a $2 coupon for pizza, after you scan your receipt into the app, Ibotta will “reimburse” you the money! Easy! Sometimes you may have to scan the barcode for the item itself, but that’s not a hard task. Ibotta also gives you chances to earn bonus dollars if you redeem multiple coupons!

To get the money that you have been reimbursed, you have several options. You can link your PayPal or VenMo account, or you can choose different gift cards for stores like Amazon.com, Best Buy, or even Starbucks! How cool! For our family, we are going to do Amazon.com gift cards to help pay for Christmas gifts (you guys will learn just how obsessed we are with Amazon over here)!

If you don’t have the Ibotta app, you have to get it! It’s so simple and it really adds up quick when you have a lot of grocery shopping to do! Here’s a cool thing too: If you sign up for Ibotta using my code (nclbxgp), you will get an extra $10 when you redeem your first rebate and I will get an extra $5! What?! So let’s help each other out on this money saving adventure! Happy rebating!

--chloe.

Extra Income.

Debts to Pay	June 14, 2016
Doctor Bill A	111.97
Doctor Bill B	204.82
Doctor Bill C	231.20
Doctor Bill D	2,422.48
Student Loan D	2,765.51
Student Loan B	2,787.87
Student Loan F	2,998.40
Student Loan A	3,517.61
Student Loan C	4,495.04
Student Loan PX	7,861.52
Student Loan G	8,161.63
Student Loan E	8,320.70
Car Loan	13,181.02
Mortgage	52,189.46
Total	109,137.26

 Amount Paid Off This Week: $408.37
*Current chart shows adjustments for interest, pay downs, and pay offs.*

Today I want to talk about extra “income” and how that works in our home. The way our budget is set up, we can enter our projected income, or a rough estimate of what we will bring in for the month, and our actual income which is the solid numbers. We tend to underestimate on our projected income because it helps to build a tighter budget. However, with that in mind, our projected expenses still exceeds this number. But that’s ok. As long as we aren’t going over our actual budget, this is fine for us.

My husband and I both have jobs that will pay us for travel. It isn’t much, but when we are both traveling a few times a month, it will add up. Of course we use this money firstly for maintenance on our vehicles, but since our cars are both reliable and we take good care of them anyway, there isn’t much that needs to go into this particular fund. And we also budget these sort of things anyway, so that gets us a little ahead of the game. So what do we do with the remainder? We have a separate line in our budget just for additional debt payoff!

Our budget already has lines for the bills and debts we currently owe on, but with extra money coming in, we can pay these off much quicker by designating extra money this way. So for the month of June, so far we have $160 of extra income in the debt payoff fund. Using this money, I have paid off one bill entirely, as well as paid $40 extra on Doctor Bill C! So just this week alone, we have been able to pay off $408.37 (minus adjustments for interest on loans)! That is so exciting!