Sitting in my desk drawer is a check from Toyota Financial Services. That's right, Toyota owes us money. A whole $1.88. We'll take it. Last month, we made our FINAL car loan payment. The wonderful machine sitting in our driveway finally belongs to us! After paying off our student loans and credit card debt, we … Continue reading We are FREE!!!
Author: Stella
Hello! I'm Stella. My husband and I are paying off about $17,000 in credit card debt and student loans. We have one income, and also run a small produce farm. We're on a "budget lockdown," putting as much as we can toward debt until we've reached our goal.
Where we stand today
It's been almost exactly a year since my last post. What a different world we live in now. Let me start by saying, we're safe and healthy here, and I hope that you are, too. This pandemic has broken a lot of hearts, and if yours was one of them, I'm so very sorry. Here, … Continue reading Where we stand today
My Oda Mae moment
In "Ghost," there's a scene were the character Oda Mae needs to rid herself of 4 million dollars in "blood money" before the bad guy comes looking for her. Patrick Swayze's ghost character points her toward a nun on the street. Wearing the greatest hot pink, shoulder-padded skirt suit and hat ensemble in cinema history, … Continue reading My Oda Mae moment
The strange things that happened this Christmas
Organizing while I listen to Christmas music and wear sweatpants. This is my perfect day. Christmas is a week and a half away, and instead of scrambling around for presents, or running from place to place, sucking up as much Yuletide fun as humanly possible, we're decluttering our house. We've got family and friends coming … Continue reading The strange things that happened this Christmas
My list
In an interview about his documentary, “Playing with FIRE,” Scott Rieckens said he asked his wife to make a list of things that make her happy during the week. I haven’t had the opportunity to watch the documentary yet, so I’m not sure if they go into her list, but, according to Scott, it included … Continue reading My list
Last taste of summer
In early spring, we declared the need for an ice cream budget. It was actually a line item. Health insurance. Groceries. Electric. Ice cream. It's actually a smart idea to budget for fun stuff in your life. But we quickly decided that driving about THIRTY MINUTES, paying a big mark-up, and driving home another THIRTY … Continue reading Last taste of summer
October’s budget
It's the middle of September, and all September bills are paid. One of our paychecks has already been distributed to our different October sinking funds, and our October credit card payment. The next September check will be used to pay all October bills. Before diving into October numbers, I wanted to mention our new bank … Continue reading October’s budget
A word about this last *bleeping* credit card
And then there was one. Our last personal credit card. Is it a giant sum? That's a relative question. To some, like my frugal-minded parents, the total would make their jaws drop. Many others will snort and say, "Is that all?" or, "Oh, that's not that bad." And neither opinion matters to us. It's our … Continue reading A word about this last *bleeping* credit card
Summer update
It's been so long since my last post, it took 10 minutes to remember how to get back into my own blog. Speaking of slow but eventual progress, we've almost reached the half-way point to paying off our student loan/credit card debt. With the student loans paid off, and a couple of "small" (no such … Continue reading Summer update
Balance transfer? Nah.
After crunching the numbers for how long it would take us to smash our last personal credit card to smithereens, I panicked. The card has about $10,000 on it. It has a minimum payment of about $300 per month. Currently, we're racking up about $170 dollars in interest every month. I messaged my husband, telling … Continue reading Balance transfer? Nah.
freshMint 