Debt and Money

So, we paid off the Discover card this week!  I had planned it to be paid off in Feb 2011, so I am a little ahead of the game!  The Citicard will take...until 2012 to be paid off-though it's been canceled for a year now.  December of 2012 on my current budget.  *sigh*  The van will be paid off by then and Jake's braces will be paid for by April of 2011.  Slowly but surely...

I was able to score some clothes at the thrift store yesterday at a great deal.  I am not sure what was going on with my luck, but nearly everything Ben agreed to was marked down when I got to the register!  I still need more pants for him and more for Chan, she needs a good jacket and Ben still needs shoes.  I am going to pop back in next week and see if I have any more luck.  They prefer thrift store clothes because they are not stiff or scratchy, so that works out very well!

We canceled our Christmas travel plans.  If I am going to dip into savings, it's going toward house repairs, a newer couch, a better mattress for Chan-SOMETHING I will be able to lay my hands on.  We have made a list of things we need to repair or replace around the house-like the toilet seat in the hall bathroom.  Eep!  We want to do some day hikes and maybe take a quick camping trip.  Matt has 10 days off.

I have paid ahead on the van loan, so I decided today that I can skip it in January and that will nearly make up for the days Matt will not get paid for over Christmas.  I am glad to have that to tide us over, I just am not thrilled about using up my slack that way.  Matt has a couple gigs as well, so it will be okay.  I REALLY hope that's the only forced time off we will have to juggle.  That was so stressful last year, but boy howdy did it ever whip me into shape to stick to my budget and get rid of our debt.  That debt is like a soul suck.

So, in February when they announce the September dates, I will make our Disney reservations and buy the tickets and pay for the campsite, in April I will be able to report the braces are paid off,  that gives me May-August to funnel the Discover and braces payments into savings specifically for the trip.  That's $1000!  Gah, I hate there is that much money leaving our bank account and going to pay for stuff we could not wait to get.  I truly hope to never be back in that situation again.  It's nearly all-other than braces and the van-things we did not need, just wanted, even the van is a stretch to say we needed a $16k vehicle, though after several cars in a row with multi-hundred dollar repair bills, it HAS been nice just paying for oil changes and tires and little $40 tinkering repairs for a few years.  

I hope, from now on, to be much wiser with our money!