Financial Goals for the Next Few Months

If you've been following along with our debt payoff journey, you'll remember that we had paid off our major credit cards and are now at work on paying off two store cards and one medical card.

Over here you can find my latest update, which leaves our August end of the month total balance at $2,075. 

We're paying a total of $300 a month to these cards, paying the minimums of $25 each to two cards and $250 to another card.  Once we knock out one card, all money will then be rerouted to the next card to continue our debt snowball.

With this plan we should easily knock out two credit cards by the end of this year. This is super important to accomplish because in the next few weeks we'll be buying a new car and will soon have a car payment to add into the mix.

Hubby is driving a 2000 Focus and it's going downhill. We need to replace that, as we've been putting it off for awhile now and we don't want to have to invest alot into an old car for repairs and such.

So once we pay off those two cards, that extra money will be rerouted to put towards our car payment.  And then we'll gradually knock down and pay off that last card.  It has 0% interest on it until August 2013, so we'll pay it off by then.  Obviously the sooner the better, so we have less debt to tie us down and to worry about it.

We're also in the midst of hiring someone to replace our driveway with concrete.  We have an old blacktop driveway that has seen it's sad last days.  It was put in wrong by the previous homeowner 10 years ago or so, and it's in bad shape.  We have already paid a deposit for the work and materials and we have the balance in savings.  Yay, for not going into debt for a much needed project!

So our goals for the next few months include:

1.  Saving up for a down payment on our new car (to go along with a possible trade-in)
2.  Paying off two credit cards (#2, then #1) by the end of the year
3.  Continue to purchase Christmas gifts (a few at a time to make it more affordable)
4.  Use saved up cash to have a new driveway installed

Nothing too crazy difficult, just alot going on around here. We'll see how the next few months go for us!  How about you?  Do you have any financial goals planned for the next few months?

Financial Goals for the Next Few Months

July & August Credit Card Debt Recap

Time to catch up on the past few months of our debt payoff journey!  I may have taken a little bloggy break, but fortunately our debt repayments didn't take a break and we've been making steady progress.

Here's my recap for July and August of our three store credit cards that carry a balance.

At the beginning of July, our credit card totals looked like this:

Card 1 (0%) - $1,050
Card 2 (0%) - $545
Card 3 (0%) - $1,040
_____________________
Total - $2,635

And then at the end of August our totals looked like this:

Card 1 (0%) - $650.00
Card 2 (0%) - $450.00
Card 3 (0%) - $975.00
_____________________
Total - $2,075

So in July and August we paid off a total of $560!  Wooo, gotta love good progress!  Check back soon, as I'll post our goals for the upcoming months! 

To see my previous posts about our debt payoff journey, go here.

July & August Credit Card Debt Recap

New Pampers Gifts to Grow Code - Worth 10 points!

Are you collecting Pampers Gifts to Grow codes to redeem for great rewards? If so, I've got a brand new code for you!

FB8THXHAXTW7412

This code is worth 10 points and is valid through 8/19/12.

If you're not familiar with the Pampers Gifts to Grow program, here's a quick idea of how it works. Pampers has unique codes on each of their diaper and wipes products. You can also get other codes on Facebook and elsewhere around the net. So even if you're not diapering any children, you can still participate!

Codes are worth a various amount of points and points can be redeemed for great prizes (gift cards, sweepstakes entries, coupons, toys, etc.)!

Sign up for the Gifts to Grow program - it's free and you'll get 100 free bonus points just for registering!

New Pampers Gifts to Grow Code - Worth 10 points!

June Credit Card Debt Recap

In May we were fortunate enough to finally payoff the debt on our major credit cards.  It took us about a year and a half to pay off over $13,000.  Sooo incredibly grateful that it's over with and we hope to never be in that situation again.

Now, to get to work on tackling our remaining debt.  We have two store credit cards with a balance and one medical card with a balance.  Luckily, they all have a 0% interest rate.

The 0% interest offers all end in 2013, but in different months.  Our plan is to start with the card that the 0% ends the soonest (Card 1) and pay any extra money to that one, while paying minimums to the other two cards.

Here's my first monthly recap of our store credit cards.

At the beginning of June, our credit card totals looked like this:

Card 1 (0%) - $1,100
Card 2 (0%) - $570
Card 3 (0%) - $1,065
_____________________
Total - $2,735

And then at the end of June, our totals looked like this:

Card 1 (0%) - $1,050
Card 2 (0%) - $545
Card 3 (0%) - $1,040
_____________________
Total - $2,635

So in June, we paid off a total of $100.  Not so great, I know.  But, considering the Hubby had lost his job in mid-May and we were just getting by on unemployment, we were happy with what little progress we made on these cards.

Check back soon, as I'll post our goals for the upcoming months!

To see my previous posts about our debt payoff journey, go here.

June Credit Card Debt Recap

Library Freebies

I love summer time.  I love having the kiddos home with me, even if they do drive me insane sometimes. 

We try to plan lots of fun stuff to do and places to go all summer.  Of course, planning so much to do gets pretty expensive.  So we often look for free events in our area.  I figure, if we can take part in enough free events, it sort of balances out when we have to shell out lots of cash for other things.

My kiddos love to read or be read to.  So we visit our library every week or two.  It's nice just to be somewhere with free air conditioning! Besides looking for books to checkout, we also hang out for awhile.  The kids sit and read books or I read to them and they do puzzles. Oh and our library just got a puppet theatre, so the kids love playing with that.

We are lucky in that our library does many activites and hosts many events for kids... and they recently just started hosting even more!  So super excited about that... because it's all free! 

In the past few weeks we've taken advantage of several of their children's activities.  We met a children's book author and the dog that her books are based on, while they put on a little show.  And even had snacks that were provided as well! 

We also went to an activity time at the library where the kids got to color pictures, play games, do puzzles and then had ice cream donated by Cold Stone Creamery.  So much fun! 

Then another day, we went to a picnic at the library with story time and free lunch donated by Chick-fil-A!  They also got a goody bag with a snack, stickers and coupons to local places!  One of the coupons that they each received was for a free kids' meal at Applebees!  Score!

It's also great that right across the street from our library, is a little playground.  So we usually end our library visit with a trip to the playground for some outdoor fun!  It's also a great incentive to keep them quiet while in the library ;)

Our library also offers weekly storytime at a local Chick-fil-A. We haven't done that one yet, but may do that one of these days. I just wish they had the storytime right at the library instead since it's closer and I don't want to feel like we need to buy lunch from there just because we're there. You know?

So excited about these new opportunities!  It's great to have lots of fun, local stuff to keep the kids busy.  And of course, all of it being free makes it that much better!

What does your library have to offer?  What other fun free stuff do you take part in during the summer?

Library Freebies

Finding Freebies Online

I'm always on the lookout for freebies all over the internet.  It's fun to try new products and, it's even better when they're free, right?

Anyway, previously I had always posted those freebies right here on the blog.  But, life is busy these days and I'm not always able to do a whole blog post for each freebie in a timely manner.

I figure the best way to pass along the free sample offers that I find, is to post them to Facebook.  This way I can do it quickly and it should be much more helpful to my readers.  If you aren't following Tips & Treasures on Facebook yet, then you can do that now!  Thanks!

Also, I try to keep all the current freebie offers listed on my sidebar.  So you can always check there if you're stopping by!

Finding Freebies Online