Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I don't know about you but I am mighty happy that 2014 is behind me. It wasn't my greatest year by far. There was lots of sadness and plenty of lessons learned. I'm very excited about the new year and a fresh start. I haven't been on here much but I'm hoping to change that in 2015. It would be in my best interest to start blogging again as our debt is now back at an all time high. We've got exciting things to look forward to this year, such as our 40th birthdays, a trip, family coming to visit, my hubby will graduate from school and we'll celebrate our 5 year anniversary. Lots of happy things to look forward to this year! I'm hoping to remain focused and positive as we enter this new year. May 2015 be a wonderful year for those out there who still read this blog occasionally.

Cheers!

Pinterest Challenge - #1

Taco Cupcakes!

The first thing I decided to make off of Pinterest for my self-imposed challenge is taco cupcakes! I decided to try a new recipe for dinner and they turned out quite well. The hubby agreed! He even asked me to make them again so I'll be sure to put them in the dinner rotation. They'd even be cute for a get together appetizer since they are so compact. 

Here's the recipe if anyone wants to give them a try. The only thing that I did differently was that I only made one layer of each ingredient. I'm not sure if my cupcake pans are smaller than normal or if my layers were a bit thick, but there was definitely not enough room to be able to put another layer of all the ingredients. They still turned out great though and I'm sure I'll make them again :)

Next item in the challenge will be a home craft project! Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend. 

My Pinterest Challenge!

Just an update that I started my new job this past week and it's going great so far! I feel I made the right decision and I'm in a good place. On to new things!

So, lately I've started reading personal finance blogs again in an effort to motivate myself. I was over on Budgets are Sexy, reading some older posts and I found this one called, Want to Stop Spending Money? Get Busy. It got me thinking about that old saying, "Idle time is the devil's playground." That can be true sometimes. In an effort to fill up my spare time, I have decided to try some of the pins I saved on Pinterest.

I think many of us are in the same boat, where we go online to Pinterest to kill some time and we pin projects and things to do for another day but that day rarely ever comes. Well, I'm going to make that time now. I'm not going to push myself like crazy to get them done, but I'm going to enjoy my down time and try some new things. I'd love to try one new thing per week, if my schedule and finances allow. It's very important to me that I don't spend a lot trying these new things. I'm thinking several of them will be food related, so I'm hopeful that I will be able to use my current food budget for those items. Some of my other pin ideas are house related projects. Since we moved into our place in March, we haven't done much to personalize it. I'm hopeful this challenge will help me start to do that!

Feel free to join in on the challenge or if you have done something similar and would like to share how it worked for you and any pins you'd recommend, I'd be open to hearing about them. Here's something funny to get me started -

New Job!

I got a new job and I start next week!

As I shared in a previous post, I had been contacted about a new employment opportunity. I was on the fence about whether I should even consider a new job offer since I'd be leaving my current 401K match on the table. After much consideration and the new company coming in with a 10% salary increase, in addition to several thousand stock options, I decided that I'd take a chance and make the move. I accepted the new job offer and I start next week.

It was a stressful few weeks as my current employer counter-offered in both salary and position. While this was a bit tempting, I went with my gut and I'm going to go back to a small company where I can make more of a difference and report directly to the CEO. This is exciting to me and I look forward to new beginnings.

As many of you who also balance the budget can understand, I'm dying to know what my new take home pay will be so I can figure out our debt repayment plan! I've been toying with a few options (aggressive versus more relaxed payment plan) and I'm dying to see what we can do. I'll likely get one check in August, but that won't be my true new take home pay amount, as the insurance money won't be taken out until September.

So, expect to hear about the new debt repayment plan sometime in September! I'm leaning towards the aggressive plan which will hopefully allow us to pay off all debt by December 2015.

Zero Interest Balance Transfer

I use the Mint app on my phone for my finances. 

I think it's a helpful tool to get a quick snapshot as to where our finances stand. Occasionally Mint alerts you about suggestions as to how you can save money and they show you offers for credit cards and stuff. A recent offer was for the Chase Slate card. Chase was offering not only a zero interest balance transfer but there was no balance transfer fee (which can typically run 3-5%)! So I applied and was approved. I quickly transferred some of the balance from my highest interest card to this new one. I'm really looking forward to paying less interest on that card going forward!

It may be a baby step, but it's a step in the right direction... one day at a time! Hope you all have a cheap weekend planned ahead ;-)

24,000 Reasons to Stay at a Job You Don't Love!

I don't LOVE my job. 

Phhhhewww, it felt good to say that! Sure, when I took this job, it seemed like the right "next step" in my career and it made sense at the time. It pays well and I've learned a few new things, but I'm just not able to contribute at the level I want to. In this role, I'm one of many instead of the "go-to" one. I've realized that I want to be able to make more of a contribution.

I feel like Goldilocks, but I'm trying different sized companies to see what's the best fit for me, instead of trying different sized chairs. At this point, I believe a smaller company is my next step.

I've been contacted about another opportunity and I'm pretty far in the interview process. It would be a similar role to one that I had before. It would be at a start up company and I'd be the go-to person running the show. This is interesting to me. In this new role, I would also likely get a $6,000 pay increase, but they only offer a very small 401K match.

The thing that is mentally weighing me down is that if I stay at my current job, which has a nice 401K match, I'd be potentially leaving $24,000+ behind if I leave before I'm vested. Ouch! This is a large amount of money to walk away from. Given that our retirement accounts aren't where we'd like them to be, I kind of feel like I need to suck it up and stick it out with my current company.

What would you do in this situation?

I'm open to your thoughts on staying until after I've vested versus getting out now and going to the other job where I can contribute more and get a pay increase. Thanks!

Blog Makeover!

As I restart this journey to climb back out of debt, I felt that I needed to freshen up my blog and give it a makeover. I wanted to give it a clean, fresh look. During this process, I debated switching from Blogger to WordPress, as it offers way more creative options, but I figured that this has worked for me so far, so I'm going to stick with it for now. So, I hope you like the changes and if you can't find where something went, just let me know :)

Free San Diego Harbor Cruise!

This week my hubby and I were selected by a local radio station to be able to attend a free listener concert. Neither of us were too interested in the band playing, but I love live music and even more than that...

I love free stuff, 

so we decided to go! It also happened to be on a cruise that goes around the beautiful San Diego harbor at sunset. You can't beat that! Parking was free, so we only had to worry about dinner. We picked up some sushi and had that on the way there. It was great! I even brought my camera (something I'm trying to do more often) so I could share some pics from the night. Enjoy!

Radio Winnings - Update!

On Sunday, I posted that I had won a $125 gift certificate to a local nursery. The hubby and I went to check out the nursery but we didn't see anything we loved. I debated just holding on to the gift card and maybe getting a nice Christmas tree later this year but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I should just sell it and use the cash to pay down debt. 

This nursery tends to overprice their items so I'm sure a tree would cost us a bundle! I'm just as happy going to pick out a cheap one. Here's a picture of our cheap tree last year. I thought it looked pretty good :)

So, I'm off to post that the gift card is for sale. I'm hoping to get $100 out of it, but I'll let you guys know!

Radio Winnings!

I've been lucky over the years to win free stuff from time to time on the radio. The items have varied from CD's to concert tickets to amusement park tickets, but normally it's nothing too expensive. It's always a treat though to win something and hear myself on the radio.

Last week I won a $125.00 gift card to a local nursery!

We just moved into our condo and our place could use some plants or something but I wasn't about to spend money on that. Now that we have the free gift card, it feels like this may be a good way to spruce things up a bit without us having to pay for it ourselves.

On the other hand... I've been considering selling the gift card online for a discounted price ($100?) and using those funds to pay down our debt. I'm still on the fence about it. I think the hubby and I will go check out the nursery later today and if nothing jumps out at us, we'll do just that. No sense in buying something we don't really like just to spend the money.

So, there it is, if we don't fall in love with anything, we're going to sell the gift card and use the cash for debt repayment. I'll let you all know what we end up doing! Enjoy the rest of this sunny Sunday afternoon. It's a beautiful one :)

It's Time for an Update...

Hi again! Why does it seem like time goes so fast as you get older? It seems like just yesterday that I posted "Happy 2014." That was two months ago, in March. I was so excited to get on here to share my news. Then I blinked and two months went by. Crazy!

Anyway, it's been an interesting ride since I last updated you guys. Here's what we've been up to - 

• May 2013 - My hubby went back to school to finish his bachelor's degree! It's an online program that takes up most of his free time, but by this time next year, I know we'll think it was all worth it.
• September 2013 - We added a new member to our family and rescued our first dog, Daisy! She's a beautiful black and white cockapoo. She is a very social dog with an old soul and a mean jealous streak. She loves to stare into our eyes until we acknowledge her presence and then she wants nothing to do with us. She's a lazy dog at heart and would lay for hours if she wasn't constantly interrupted (see below).
• December 2013 - We adopted a companion for Daisy, our second dog, Rosie. (Can you tell I love flowers?) She's a pretty cream colored maltipoo. She has an endless amount of energy, is obsessed with chasing her ball, and is extremely protective of her family. At the end of a long day of ball chasing and barking at strangers, she knows just how to come up and sit on your lap for cuddle time. 

• December 2013 - We put an offer in on our first home! It was a beautiful single family home with a large backyard for the dogs to run around until they collapse of exhaustion. It seemed like it would fit our needs and give us plenty of space.
• January 2014 - We rescinded our offer on that home after the inspection scared us off. Turns out it was a good decision. Although the house seemed great and was priced right, we were a bit concerned about committing to an hour commute each way for both of us.
• February 2014 - We found a great condo which was close to both of our jobs and put an offer in on it. It was quickly accepted! We needed to put all of our savings into it as the down payment (5%).
• March 2014 - We closed on our condo and moved in. Ahhhh, homeowners, finally! 
• May 2014 - I wake up and realize we've gotten ourselves back in the same mess were were in in 2010 when things first started. I finally sit down and write down our status so the recovery can begin. 

I try to always be the kind of gal that sees the glass half full. I'm pretty optimistic most of the time. But I must be an idiot to have gotten us back in this mess again. I'll be honest, it's hard to see the glass as half full right now. We took a major step backwards instead of forward. The only thing that's helping me stay positive is knowing that we now have the skills we need to fix this. The last time we were here, we didn't know where to start. 

I know some of you are curious about how we could end up here again. It's a combination of the cost of schooling, a trip back East to see family, and a bunch of other stupid decisions! At the end of the day it doesn't really matter "how" I guess, just that we're here.

Here's a breakdown of our current numbers. I included our investments, even though we're not fully vested yet in the 401k balances. 

Original Debt $60,555.72

Original Debt Paid Off $49,748.55

____________________________________

Current Debt as of 4/19/14 = $54,096

CC # 1 : $13,875 (Average 15% Interest Rate)

CC # 2 : $19,978 (4.99% Interest Rate)

CC # 3 : $1,020 (0% Interest Rate until 3/2015)

Car # 1 : $5,792

Car # 2 : $13,431

Investments = $33,919 (Not fully vested yet)

401K #1 : $6,000

401K #2 : $22,205

401K #3 : $5,073

Lending Club : $641

So, that's our update. I know some of you may have some choice words for us and our current situation. I'm fully expecting to hear them. This is the first step to our recovery and I'm happy to be taking it. 

Happy 2014!

Hey all!

I have soooo many things to update you on. I plan to provide an update in the next few days. I hope everyone who is still checking this site out is doing fine! I'm excited about 2014 and I look forward to sharing my news with you in the very near future.

Until then,
Take care!

Loaning Money through Lending Club!

My, how times have changed! I remember a few years back when I was contemplating different quick fixes to get out of debt. There were a few options I looked into at the time. One was a Discover Personal Loan. Another was a loan through Lending Club. After doing tons of reading, something hit me... getting more loans to get myself out of debt wasn't really fixing the problem.

I needed to change my ways and learn how to not spend more than I earn. Duh!

It took some time, some ups and downs, but I did it! We're now in a much better position financially. (Believe me, we're not rolling in dough or anything, but we're not drowning either - which is a very nice feeling.)

My hubby and I each get an allowance. I tend to use mine for a massage or a new outfit. He just started using his to invest in Lending Club. He loves the idea of helping people and also having the opportunity to earn a large interest rate. There is a bit of a gamble there, but he enjoys taking the risk and investing his extra spending money that way. Whatever rocks his boat!

Extra Money for Retirement!

(Photo Credit)

As you may know, I started a new job recently. I knew that the company matched 4% towards a 401K plan, if you put in 8%. So, I decided to contribute 8% so I could get the full company match.

Well... imagine my surprise when I noticed they were actually contributing a full 8% into my retirement account!

I thought it may be a mistake and waited until it happened again on my second paycheck, then I looked through all of my new hire paperwork and benefits information I was given and this wonderful extra payment isn't mentioned anywhere. Then I phoned our benefits department and got some more information.

It turns out that the company used to have a pension for employees and since they no longer offer that for new hires, they offer an additional 4% match which goes into the 401K plan. This was great news and a benefit that should have been mentioned somewhere as an extra recruiting perk that would have helped seal the deal.

So now instead of just 12% going in, I have a full 16% which brings me close to maxing out. I'll be fully vested in these employer contributions in 3 years. Just another incentive to stick around there at least 3 years  :-)

Our New Plan!

(Photo Credit)

I think it's important to have a plan.

We look at our plan from time to time and tweak it as needed. We've done this quite a bit since we started on our debt repayment journey, about 2.5 years ago now.

We've had some recent changes in our lives that made us decide to re-evaluate our plan... we finished paying off our credit card debt, bought a new car, and I started a new job which gave me a sign-on bonus. Our previous thoughts were to use the sign-on bonus to pay for the new car, then budget about 1k per month to have it paid off in full within a few months. We also planned on taking a few vacations this year, while saving up for a house.

Well, the new job has some uncertainties that make us feel a bit uneasy. There is talk of furloughs, layoffs and restructuring. Without having a safety net (aka - a good sized savings account) to fall back on if these things happen, my husband suggested we hold off on paying off the car and save the sign-on bonus instead.

I had a hard time seeing how this would be a good idea at first because whatever savings account we put the money into we would not get interest higher than we were paying for the car. After being focused on reducing or eliminating our interest payments for so long, I couldn't imagine willingly paying interest on something. Plus, when we got the car, we planned on it being paid off fast, so we didn't haggle for a super low rate. The dealership gave us 5.49%. They said this was the best they could offer since we were taking advantage of some other discounts they were having. We figured over the course of a few months, our interest payments really wouldn't add up to too much. But, if our plan was to now save the bonus and pay the car off slowly, then those interest payments would surely add up fast!

I knew that the only way I could get on board with slowly paying off the car, would be if we could get the interest rate lowered. Well my new company has a credit union which offers a much lower rate, 1.69% if you have an account with them. I decided to apply for the loan and was approved. This helped me get on board with the change in plan and to reduce our payments a bit.

So, we now have two car payments (gulp), but they are doable. We also now have a savings account. We have decided to reconsider the trips we we thinking of taking later this year. We want to be smart and be prepared in the event that something bad happens at work. This is progress for us. This is especially progress for my hubby. He's a guy that lives in the moment and figures "it will all work out somehow." For him to be the one pushing for us to have a safety net and be thinking of the "what if's" says a lot.

My, how far we've come!

No More Credit Card Debt!

This is how pumped up I feel right now!

I made the final payment to our no interest credit card today, since that expires in April. It felt A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! I can not believe we have no more credit card debt. Any charges we make are now paid in full each month. It's a great feeling.

I actually enjoy paying in cash more than charging stuff but since we get miles, we kind of enjoy going on free flights, so we find ourselves charging our gas and miscellaneous expenses and then just paying it off in full each month. It's sometimes scary to charge, thinking we may slip back in to a bad place, but we haven't. We have willpower, focus and commitment now. We didn't have those things a few years ago. My, what progress we've made!

Yes, we still have a car loan. Two to be accurate. I'll update more on those at a later time. We also have a savings account now. I still need to post the balance on here so I can visually see it growing and use that as motivation. I know I'm lacking with my updates, but I did want to get on here and let you guys know this big one! Today is a good day : )

We Bought a New Car!

So... the hubby and I bought another car this weekend! We were so torn on leasing vs. buying used vs. buying new and by the time we did all our research and everything, we decided to go with a new car.

There was a used car that the hubby liked, but the sticker price at Carmax was $16,998. For those of you who don't know, Carmax doesn't negotiate the price of their cars, so that was what we'd have to pay. It was a 2012 with over 30,000 miles on it. I did a little looking around online and found that we could get a 2013, for less than that price. The models may have been slightly different, but we didn't notice.

We went with a Ford for the first time because we've read great reviews lately and the mileage is terrific. Because it was President's Day Weekend and there were tons of sales and rebates, we ended up getting the car for $15,300ish! Not bad given the sticker price was almost $21,000! We felt pretty good about the purchase.

We would have loved to pay cash but weren't in the place to do so, so we have a self-imposed aggressive payment schedule and plan to pay it off in August. I need to update some of the side bars to reflect our new bills and savings goals.

As an added perk, the car has Sirius radio, which I really wanted for some long work trips I'll have in the near future, so I'm excited. It's free for a while, so we'll take full advantage of that. For those of you who don't know, I love Howard Stern and have been going through withdrawals for the last few years, so it was nice to hear his voice on the drive in this morning.

Hope you're all having a good week and if you went car shopping (as it seems many people did!) that you got a great deal too. Enjoy the week!

I got a new job!

2013  is proving to be a good year so far!

I got a new job! I'm super excited about it too. With the exception of a longer commute (part of the week), I think I'm going to love almost everything about this new job. It's closer to home (when I'm working in town), it pays a little more, has a couple more days of vacation, every other Friday off, more 401k match and definitely more challenges and opportunities for growth!

I start my new job in 2 weeks and I can't wait!

Although I'm very excited, I'm also nervous (I suffer from a small, self-diagnosed case of "social anxiety") and there is also a bit of stress associated with us needing another car. Right now we are in the midst of figuring out exactly how we're going to do that.

We've been a "one-car couple" for years now and we've been able to make it work. This new job requires me to drive up to LA a couple of times per week which I'll need another car to do. I debated just getting a rental car for those days but unfortunately I'll also need one when I'm at the office close to home as there are many buildings that I'll need to drive between. Also, since I will have every other Friday off, I need to work longer hours which don't quite match up with my hubby's work schedule.

I'm okay with the car idea and actually negotiated a sign on bonus which will help us a bit with the costs (yay me!), and the hubby is excited because he'll finally have a bit of independence. What freaks us out a bit are all the options. New car, used car, and leasing!?!

We know that buying a new car is kind of a silly thing to do. The costs are so high and we're still paying down the one we bought in 2010. A used car is a good idea but since we don't want to get a lemon, it seems as though we should buy a "certified used" one so that it at least has a warranty. We are both not mechanically inclined, plus we don't have a trusted auto repair person. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though the costs between a certified used car and a new car are that far apart. I've heard that the used car market prices are up right now for some reason. Lastly, all of my life, I've been told how bad leasing a car is. You own nothing at the end of it, so why bother?

On the other hand, I've done my research and a leased car may be our best option. The hubby isn't the type to want to keep a car for 5-10 years. He loves new, bright, shiney things. I've done the math and if I were to bank the whole sign on bonus, I may be able to lease a car for the hubby for 2-3 years and have it completely covered. Minus the cost of gas, but that's okay.

We go back and forth on the topic. We found some pretty good lease deals and think they may even get lower next weekend when they have their President's Day sales. I keep telling myself that this may be the way to go but I'm really not sure. I want to make the decision that is right for us, but since I don't have a ton of experience in this area, I'm definitely open to suggestions!

Question? : Have you leased a car before? What are your thoughts on it? Any advice? Would you do it again?

2013 Goals

My goals for 2013 are as follows... 

 -Write more! Whether that be in this blog or somewhere else, I just really want to get my words out. My hubby gave me a great present for Christmas to jump start the writer in me and I plan to use it shortly.  I also started another blog to track my fitness journey. It's called "A P90X Woman". Please check it out if you're interested in seeing how that goes.

 -Complete P90X. We started our P90X challenge on January 1st and we are scheduled to end it on March 31st. As I stated above, I even started a new blog to document this journey. I am hopeful that it will keep us on track with our exercising and eating healthy, just like this blog did with our finances.

 -Learn Spanish. The hubby and I love vacationing in Mexico and have grand visions of possibly moving there someday down the road. I am a firm believer that you should be educated in the language of whichever country you plan to spend a good amount of time in and therefore, learning Spanish is a goal for me. Not to mention, that several jobs I've looked into here in CA have required the person to be bilingual. This would open more doors on the job front in the future.

 -Take more pictures. I bought a camera this past year and would love to actually use it more! There is a photo a day challenge for each month that gives you ideas of things to shoot. I have been wanting to do it for a while now and just haven't gotten around to it. I would like to do so this year!

-Pay off our final credit card. Our zero interest credit card expires at the end of April and I don't want to WILL NOT get stuck paying interest on it. Therefore, it will be paid off before the deadline. I am targeting around my birthday in March. A nice, little present to give myself :)

 -Save money for a house/condo. Although we have a hard time making up our minds about buying a house or condo, relocating or staying put, etc., we know that having a hefty savings account will be crucial to whichever decision we make. Although numbers may change after we get our new paychecks for 2013, we are targeting saving around $20K this year.

-Take a minimum of two trips this year. I plan to attend my niece's graduation in May in New England, so that's one trip. The hubby and I are anxious to get back to Mexico this year, which would be a second. In addition, it looks like we may join my parents on their first trip to Hawaii. It's been on their bucket list for several years and since CA is on the way, they'd like us to join them if possible. I'm hoping at least two of those trips pan out. We will pay for these trips in cash of course!

-Shoot a gun. This has been on our bucket list for a while now and we'd both really like to learn how to shoot a gun. The hubby and I are determined to do it this year!

That's all I'm going to list at this point. I debated pushing for "13 in 2013" but decided to keep it realistic and go for the big ones I'm anxious to achieve. Here's hoping 2013 goes great!

2012 Goals Update

(One of my favorite pics from our trip to Mexico in 2012)

It's finally time to look back at my 2012 goals and reflect on my progress attempt at progress, while I start to outline my goals for 2013. I'm really excited and looking forward to this new year. I believe it will be my best year yet!

1. Pay off all credit card debt by June 30th! 

Update - PARTIAL SUCCESS! We succeeded in paying off most of our credit card debt this year, with the exception of our zero interest credit card which expires in April 2013. The plan is to pay it off by then. I never want to put another penny towards credit card interest ever again.

2. Save $20K for a down payment on a condo. 

Update - FAIL! This didn't happen. Due to several issues, including discovering that we weren't paying enough in taxes, we ended up changing plans and moving this goal out into the new year. 

3. Buy our first home together.

Update - FAIL! Again, the house buying goal has been moved out a bit.  

4. Succeed in 10-pound weight loss challenge.

Update - SUCCESS! Yes, I so kicked butt in this challenge that Newlyweds on a Budget held. I actually ended up winning a prize, which was an added bonus. Thanks Erika!

5. Indulge in my love for movies more. 

Update - SUCCESS! I have definitely done this in 2012! I actually kept a log of all most of the movies I've seen and it's up around 50. I feel as though I've indulged this passion successfully :) Using the cheap (and sometimes free!) rentals from RedBox, helped make this goal easier to achieve.

6. Blog more often.

Update - FAIL! I had such a great routine going where I was able to get some daily blog time in during the day at work and since that changed, I haven't come up with a new routine that works. 

7. Take a vacation. 

Update - SUCCESS! We got to spend a week in Mexico in 2012. It was glorious! The pic above is one I took while lounging on the beach. I keep it as my desktop pic and it's daily visual reminder of the relaxing trip we had. I can't wait to go back!

8. Finish "What Color is Your Parachute" book. 

Update - FAIL! We moved and this book ended up in storage. 

9. Give yoga a try. 

Update - FAIL! I didn't get around to trying yoga in 2012, but I did already in 2013!

10. Play piano more often. 

Update - PARTIAL SUCCESS! I did play our keyboard a bit before we moved and it got packed up and put in storage.

11. Get on the water! 

Update - FAIL! I didn't get on the water in 2012. Wow, I'm picking up a theme here :(

12. Read 12 books. 

Update - SUCCESS! I am happy to say that I was able to read 12 books this year, including the Hunger Games and Fifty Shades series. I also found a new author I enjoy, Adele Parks.. I look forward to continuing to read more books in 2013. 

Looking back on this year, I wasn't very successful in the goals I outlined. I'm a firm believer in this quote though - 

I guess some of the goals I thought were important, actually weren't so important to me when it came down it. Hopefully I'll do a better job creating my goals for 2013!