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End of Month Review

June 7th, 2020 at 10:23 pm


Refinancing my house and it’s estimated that I should be saving about $200 a month, I’m hoping for $300 but either way I’ll be saving.

I opted not to go with the 15 year, because I’ve created a habit of paying extra anyway even as I pay down debt. I’ve always paid extra on the principal, and given the uncertain times, it’s easier to come up with $400 than $800, if anything happens,that’s why I went with the 30. The new rate is 3 percentage points less than my current rate. Right now it’s all about cash flow for me.

The goal is to continue to pay my current mortgage payment after refinancing, that would be $200 extra towards the principal a month and to pay an extra $500 - $1,000 a month on the student loans. If I continue on this path, I should be debt free including the house, within 5-7 years. Fingers crossed.

Closed out my budget for May.
Once again the numbers are very high for food and household items. I’ve got to get this back under control. Though both are a low percentage of my take home pay, less than 1%, it’s still too much compared to what I use to pay.

I was able to save 21% of my take home pay, that I’m happy with. Not to mention I paid off the credit card debt also in May, so May was a good month.

Other news, my blood pressure has been high, the doctor put me on meds 💊, something I did not want to do but hey. I’ve made some minor adjustments to my diet, purchasing low sodium 🧂 food items. I exercise any way, so I’ll continue with this regiment. I’m keeping a health/food journal in hopes of getting this thing under control.

Lastly, SO called someone tested positive for COVID -19 at his daughter’s job. I’m so glad he does not live with me, I would have been going nuts. I told him, they both should be tested and practice social distancing while in the home. I pray all is well, there’s a young kid and a senior in the home.

That’s in a nut shell.

6 Responses to “End of Month Review ”

  1. Wink Says:
    1591565670

    You are doing great! 5-7 years may seem like a long time but how exciting to think of that day when you will be totally debt free!!

  2. Lots of Ideas Says:
    1591579032

    Amber, you are doing a great job.
    When you start to focus on the food and household items category, I think you might find that you aren’t buying that much more - the prices have gone up! If you were already being frugal, it gets harder to bring these costs down.

    I buy mostly the same things to eat, and I sort of ‘know’ the price I ‘should’ pay. It is time consuming to start, but it’s worth starting a list of what you buy regularly and writing down what you paid. Then watch the sales at the stores you go to and when items go on sale, buy then instead of when you run out. You’ll eventually see a pattern to the sales. I go to one grocery store only, because I don’t have a lot of options. If I had more, I might vary, but I wouldn’t go from store to store every week. I also have alternative sources of food.

    One place where I save is that I buy some food at CVS. With their coupons, sales and rewards, I often do very well there on canned soup, eggs, peanut butter, pasta sauce, tuna fish, fried fruit, nuts. At my grocery store, they cull through the produce on Mondays, and I can usually get apples, tomatoes, sometimes squash on the ‘destressed produce’ section that afternoon. They seem to do meat on Wednesday, and I buy and freeze that. I always checked the clearance section - I don’t care if my oatmeal box is crushed, but I don’t buy dented cans. But I know what the price ‘should be’ and sometimes half off isn’t as good as the ‘sale’ price.

    Another source for me is Walmart.com. I use them in part because some things I cannot get at my grocery store - it is small. But I also find good prices on crackers, cookie and cake mixes, honey, salad dressing, canned vegetables. I order every few minutes mtgs, and shipping is free with a $35/or more order.

    I enjoy ‘the hunt’ and think you might too.

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    1591618527

    You had a great month!! 5-7 years is a fantastic time line.

  4. LivingAlmostLarge Says:
    1591635686

    That's an amazing time frame!

  5. LifeBalance Says:
    1591667401

    Good for you on the refinance! I may evaluate one myself.

    It's also good that you haven't given up on addressing your blood pressure with diet even though you've got meds for now.

  6. rob62521 Says:
    1591820578

    You are continuing to do a great job.

    Glad you aren't around SO anymore for so many reasons.

    I think you are wise to refinance for the 30 and then pay more so you don't put yourself in a bind.

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