Celebrate your achievements!

[jamethiel]

I just paid of one of my credit cards entirely. The balance is now $0. I'm expecting less than $2 in interest, which I can clear as soon as they add it to my card.

\o/

If things go according to plan, I should have cleared the other credit card by the end of March.

I opened up a separate "bucket" or account for living expenses as opposed to bills. I'm only in my second paycheck of using this system, but the amount in bills is accruing quite satisfactorily and I have a little bit left over in living expenses.

Come and tell me the awesome things you've done for your finances and give yourselves a pat on the back!

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

Way to go!

Me, my student loans just started coming due, but I have my finances arranged such that I can both a) pay more than the minimum each month and b) have a cushion of a years worth of payments saved up, in case I can't get another job right away when my current contract is up in mid-August.

My current salary isn't large, but my health insurance, rent, and utilities are all part of the package, which makes a huge difference. (I have an apartment to live in rent-free as part of the deal. Which adds more value to the package than just the market-value of the apartment and the utilities I use, because I don't have to pay tax on it.) This makes saving a lot easier--all I have to pay is food, car insurance, gas, and sundries. So even though I've been kinda sandbagged by various car and computer woes in the last two months, I've been able to stay on track. (Two separate car problems, plus a really stupid part breaking on my laptop and needing a couple hundred bucks to replace it, which is still less than the cost of a new laptop).

So right now, things are going great. Let's see where things are after my contract here is done. Hopefully, by that point I'll have another job, although right now things are not looking up. If not, I'll be moving back into my parents basement while I look for work. Hopefully that won't last long, but if it does, well, that's what the cushion is for, yes?

[jamethiel]

Cushions are the best thing. I'm starting to slowly build one for the first time ever.

Good luck on the job!

[vass]

Congratulations!

I've increased my income a little, and I've nearly finished rebuilding my savings to where they were last year before I upgraded my iPhone and paid for a course I'm doing.

[jamethiel]

Well done!

[shihadchick]

Congrats! That is excellent news, bb!

I... am actually earning interest on my savings which is compounding monthly instead of annually, which is a pretty small thing but definitely an improvement!

[jamethiel]

Oh, well done! I don't have "savings" as such--but I am gradually building a buffer. By the end of April, I should have a month's rent spare. I'm gradually building more and more of a buffer in both my living account and my bills. Once my credit card is paid off, I can really concentrate on saving and get down some major expenses.

I... understand that to most people, my buffer would BE savings. But I can't think of it like that (I'll spend it), so I call it a buffer. Brains are weird.

Interest is GRATE

[beatrice_otter]

Brains are, indeed, weird, and cushions/bumpers/etc are an awesome thing. Go you!

[shihadchick]

Well, yeah, it's not so much that my savings are all that healthy either, I hear you on that. But that is an exccellent goal, I think.

<3

[iosonochesono]

Yay!

Last year I paid off one of my credit cards finally and the other one is about to go below $1k. I hope to pay it off before May! And I officially have twice as much money saved as I owe! \o/

(I'd pay off my debt with it, however, I've learned from past experience that emergency funds are not negligible while paying off debt.)

[jamethiel]

Oh god, yes on the emergency fund. I... don't have a true emergency fund in place right now, but I do have a buffer which is getting more and more comfortable all the time.

Well done on paying off one of your credit cards! \o/ Good luck on getting the other one paid off!

[iosonochesono]

Yeah for all I hear about paying debt off before saving money, doing that just made sure I had no money a few months between jobs at some point. Guess how fun that was on my credit score :S

[jamethiel]

Yep. I paid of my credit cards once, and then had to move. With no savings.

FINALLY getting that paid off a year later :(

[highlyeccentric]

Hmm. I... readjusted budget so that my cash-money-per-week no longer includes things like phone credit/hair cuts/medication, since I always end up paying those out of my spendings-account anyway. And lo, the money in my spendings account seems to be increasing!

Also I just threw a stack of my long-term savings into a six-month term deposit, in view of FALLING INTEREST RATES (deathdestructionanddespair!).

[jamethiel]

Fantastic! I've found shuffling things around to be really helpful.

(BOOO falling interest rates. I like my high interest, thankyouverymuch.)

[alexseanchai]

Better job! Raise not expected, but health benefits! So I don't have to pay $200 out of pocket every month anymore!

[jamethiel]

\o/ Sometimes benefits are the BEST thing! Well done you!

[sapote]

1) I got my credit card paid off completely; I haven't cancelled it in case I need it for an emergency, but it's just sitting there at zero, and I was responsible and checked if my credit union charges a fee for a zero balance (it does not)

2) I wound up moving to a one-bedroom apartment alone, so I'm now paying 100% of my housing costs instead of 50%, but I was able to use the deposit from the old shared place to establish a cushion so that I'm about a paycheck and a half ahead on bills. My budget outside of bills is incredibly tight ($10 gas, $40 groceries, that's it) but all of my bills are getting paid on time and I have separate emergency savings. It was a necessary housing change, even if it's expensive, so I'm pleased that I'm making it work.

3) There's a small chance I might get a raise this years, which would really help.

[jamethiel]

Yay! All good things! Congrats on paying the credit card off! (I may cancel one of mine, but tbh both of them provide good things and I don't pay a yearly fee for either, so we'll see which one I use more.)

Yay housing! I ended up living alone, and found it awesome

[all_adream]

I think you are in the UK/Australia?/not in the US, and I don't know if it pertains there, but our banker said to keep credit cards open and paid off or low for as long as possible, since length of account contributes greatly to the credit score.

[jamethiel]

Oh, absolutely but we'll see how i handle having the cards first. If I'm going to end up maxing out the card and having to get out of debt AGAIN again again, then it's probably better for my credit score not to have it :|

[kyrielle]

Not so much something I've done as something that has happened, but: The house we moved out of finally has an offer and has passed inspection. We may finally GET RID of that thing and its mortgage. Which, in turn, would mean our expenses per month will no longer be higher than our income (must. not. hyperventilate.) and we can start getting things built back up. (Why did we move? New house was a very good deal even given the market, and MUCH better for our kids. Not expecting to make money on the old place but would like it to Go Away Now Thankyouverymuch.)

And on the "something I've done" scale, I am now starting to track our expenses more carefully again. (Between pregnancy/new baby and the negative cashflow from carrying the second house, I was kinda...lax...about that. Like, 'trying not to see'. But I do know our degree of negative cash flow is not larger than the mortgage payment and utilities on that place, so if it will just go byebye, we'll be in 'ok' shape and I can start working on good. I don't think I'm going to LIKE the numbers I see, but they shouldn't cause panic.)

[jamethiel]

well done! For me, the scariest thing when I was getting out of debt was actually LOOKING at my finances. Because I knew I was in bad shape, but if I didn't know PRECISELY maybe it wouldn't freak me out as much! I'm glad you're back on track!

[delladea]

Yay!

We've been slowly going into the red due to me having to leave my job and then subsequently finding out I was pregnant. Things are starting to look better though: my husband got a large raise at work a couple of months ago, so now we can cover our monthly expenses in addition to the increased insurance premiums when the baby is born and have a tiny bit left to go into savings. (\o/) We have some farm equipment and an old truck we're going to sell as soon as we can do some maintenance on them. Right now my husband is working on the truck, and when it goes away our insurance will go down slightly. Some of the money will be used to pay down debt, and the rest will go into savings.

We started selling eggs from our chickens to neighbors, coworkers and friends. This almost totally covers our supply costs to keep our chickens.

As far as me personally, I've been working on ways to stretch our food and fuel budget, since it is the thing that always seems to throw us out of whack. I plan trips out of the house so I can maximize what I get done for the gas I've used. My husband and I have swapped vehicles, since he drives way more than I do and my car is much more fuel-efficient than his. I've also learned how to cook a lot more from scratch, shop sales, and make enough food during dinner so we have lunches already for the next day.

[jamethiel]

Oh fantastic! I'm glad the chickens are covering themselves and good luck with selling the truck!

[all_adream]

Good for you! I got two new credit cards, since I hadn't had any for years and wanted the credit improvement, and so far it's great: I follow their recommendations of charging less than 50% of the available credit, and I paid the first bill in full the day it came (I have great success with doing it like a debit card and writing down every expense of it in my check book, immediately deducting money that is then available for when the bill comes). I am trying to get a mortgage loan for a new house with my partner, and we are doing everything they say to make it happen, including trying to save a lot of cash. They said that it is much better, for buying a house, to have extra cash as opposed to owing less on the school loan--so he said that if I had $15,000.00 (which would be nice!) and put it all to the school loan, it would do NOTHING to get me a mortgage, since the monthly payments would still be the same for the loan and I would get much farther if I had that amount in cash instead.

[jamethiel]

Yes. When I get the balance down on these, I'm going to transfer money on to them as soon as I buy something with the credit cards. No more carrying a balance for me after this!

Good luck with the house!

[lassarina]

Congrats!

I am putting 3/4 of this month's extra paycheck (I'm paid biweekly, so twice a year I have a whole extra paycheck) onto my car loan, which will cut it neatly in half and I should have it paid off by June. (The other 1/4 is for my shiny, shiny new iPhone. Because I get a treat, dammit.)

[jamethiel]

Oh fantastic! Isn't that extra paycheck amazing? In two months time, I'm going to end up with a MONTH's extra rent. \o/ yay fortnightly pay!

And well done on the treat! Next fortnight I am buying myself a hockey jersey. BECAUSE I CAN.

[scheherezhad]

I'm thrilled that the car payment I make this month will be the last one! It was easily affordable when I was at my previous job, but when they laid me off, I ended up in retail with a significant cut in both pay and hours. Instead of my payment being roughly one week's pay, it was suddenly nearly what I made in two weeks. So once I make this payment, it'll essentially double what I'm bringing home. I'll finally be able to pay myself back all the money I borrowed from my savings account to cover various expenses over the past couple of years. \o/

[jamethiel]

\o/ isn't paying off expenses/loans the best thing?

[red_trillium]

Congratulations! I hope the bucket account works out for you.

We're still doing ok but I need to cut back the spending, we've been doing a bit too much of it still for where we're at. I'm also not doing well for doing my bills regularly which isn't a good habit.