Rewarding Yourself for Goals Reached

I'm getting close to knocking out that last student loan!  A few years ago I had 4 student loans.  This happened because when I was going to school the banks and government couldn't figure out who was going to take on the responsibility.  I started out with one bank and then the next year a different bank had taken over.  Then the next time the National Student Loan Centre took over plus the provincial and federal loans.  That resulted in 4 different payments on student loans!  Let me tell you, I will be glad to be done with them!!!  This upcoming pay I will be dropping a $200.00 payment which will leave $412.00 owing.

Lots of times I tend to be the type of person who likes to get all the hard work done before I allow myself a break or reward.   I do recall allowing myself to purchase a subway sandwich after I paid off my credit card.  I'm happy with a small reward like that since spending any large sum of money on something while I still have debt would just feel very wrong.

I'm curious what you do?  Do you reward yourself at your different steps or at points along the way?  If you are debt free, did you reward yourself along the way?  What is/was your criteria for allowing yourself a reward?  How do/did your reward yourself?

Debt Free By Thirty is having a Give Away!!!

A great inspirational blog I love to visit is Debt Free By Thirty.  Niki and her family are recently debt free!!!  And even did it well before their goal time line was up.   Today is also her 1 Year Anniversary of blogging and to celebrate she is having a giveaway.  So stop on over, enter the give away and read all about her journey to debt free!

6 Months into this Journey

I started blogging about my journey to become debt free about 6 months ago.  In that time I have established a $2000.00 emergency fund, paid off a student loan and a credit card.

To be able to do this I sold somethings I had around my house that I didn't really need.  I have received many blessings from friends and family that have helped me greatly.  The biggest thing that I did was change the way I viewed and spent money.  Changing the way I view money is an ongoing process.  To tell you the truth I am a little worried about what will happen once I am debt free.  So I continue to read and learn so I can educate myself so I don't make the same mistakes that got me in the debt mess in the first place.

Part of the changes I have made include basically a shopping ban (of sorts) on things I know I don't need.  That is a huge thing, by the way,  identifying needs vs wants.  

Things I spend money on at the moment include necessities such as food, regular household bills, gas for the car, pet food and healthy treats, and I also allow myself a little extra for entertainment.  Entertainment can include coffee or other "treats", outing with friends, race fees (for running) or other such activities.

Things I am doing to be able to put everything extra towards my debt include using up all the extra shampoos, body washes and such that have been hanging around, not purchasing any clothing (I have made one exception to this - see below), cutting back on regular household bills, saying no to outings that don't fit in the budget, reducing driving, using the clothesline instead of the dryer when possible, reducing gift giving and be conscious of spending. 

The one exception I made to not purchasing clothing was buying this cute skirt at the thrift store the other day.  It was $1.00.

I was at the thrift store to try to find some curtains for when my relatives come to visit.  I found some for $2.00.  I was also able to pick up a lamp that wasn't needed but will certainly be useful to them for $2.00. 

What are you doing/did you do to help you pay off your debt?

Checking In

Well not too much going on for me on the financial side of things.  My brother wasn't impressed that I gave him extra money when he opened the card I gave him.  He said he didn't want anything for the work he did but I am happy that I gave it too him.  I paid the majority of the car repair expenses I put on my credit card off and will pay the remainder of them with the end of month pay.

I have my budget worked out so that I should be able to pay off the student loan at the end of September.  This only puts me 1/2 month behind what I was planning on and still within my original goal time-frame.  And in the big picture puts me ahead of my long term planning.  Since the work my brother did for me was going to cost WAY more at the dealer, I no longer have to budget for this specific expense. 

I am looking forward to having some family come visit from back home in a few weeks.  I have budgeted a bit extra for this which will cut a little from my debt repayment but not too much.  It will also be a welcome break from work.  I have taken a few long weekends but nothing more then a couple of days at a time.

I also received news that I am one of the Canadians that have been chosen to be a medal-bearer in the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay.  I am very excited about this and really looking forward to it. 

I have been reading all of your blogs and if I haven't commented please accept my apologies.  I am having trouble commenting from one of the computer's I used and have been quite busy in spare time lately. 

Car Repairs and Budget

Well my car has been with my brother, the mechanic, for 3 days now.  Here's the scoop.  He is fairly confident the issue is the battery (which will be replaced for free once I get my car back here).  Since he can't recreate the issue (it's sporadic)  he can't be 100% sure.   He fixed an issue that I had with the door ajar light staying on.  This meant replacing the entire locking mechanism on the door.  Cost of that part was $98.00.  He also did some normal maintenance for me and the cost for parts on that was $20.  He bought replacement batteries for my key fobs which were $12.00.   Total cost is $130.00.  I am planning on giving him $100.00 for doing all the work for me.  He also cleaned the inside and wash and waxed the outside. 

I'm sure having the work done at the dealership would have cost me well over $600 plus the parts. 

Please be honest... do you think I am being too cheap by giving him $100.00?   What is a reasonable thank you amount?

And now on to the budget.  I had been planning on using everything extra in my budget to make another payment on my student loan.  But since the car issues have surfaced, I am going to shift that money to pay my brother for the work and parts.  Since I have been using his car, I will return it with a full tank of gas.  I will also need more gas for my car to get it back home.  I also made a purchase, on the recommendation of my brother,  of a battery booster pack.  It was on sale for $60.00 and will save me if the battery happens to get drained again.  I'm thinking all of this will cost about $400.00  I have about $300 in my budget and will need to pay the addition $100 on my credit card that I used to purchase some gas for the trip up and the battery booster. 

My plan is to cover these expenses and not touch my emergency fund.  It will mean that I won't be able to make much, if any, of an extra payment on my student loan.  This will push the pay off date back about a month. 

What do you think about this?  Good decision or not?

My 1/2 Dozen Daily - Missing Blog!

Well if any of you are like me, you look forward to reading Carla's daily posts.  Today was disappointing when I went looking to read all about her 17th Wedding Anniversary and got the dreaded page that her blog was deactivated.  WHAT?!, I cried.  This has to be a mistake!  I quickly sent of an email to Carla to find out what was going on!  Sadly, Carla was a bad girl!  Apparently she didn't follow all the terms and conditions she agreed to.  Bad, bad Carla! 

The good news is that you can now find her here, My 1/2 Dozen Daily new site.  So now you know where to find her and you can get your daily coffee, err I mean Carla fix.  If you haven't been following her, I highly recommend dropping by.  And remember to update your blog roll with her new address.

Happy Anniversary Carla and welcome back! 

Car again...

Remember last week when I blogged about the car issue that was resolved?  Well exactly a week to the day, same issue!  Took it to have it looked at and they are puzzled at the problem.  That can only mean one thing....  exploring at one million dollars an hour!  Eeeekkkk.  So I called my brother who is a mechanic.  He lives an hour and a half away from me.  I asked if we could switch cars so he can see if he can figure out the problem for me. 

Much to my delight he said no problem.  I love my family, they are awesome.  I'm not just saying that, they really are.  They would all go out of their way to help a friend or anyone in need really. 

So I'm heading to his house to change cars and hope he can find the problem easily and that its an easy, cheap fix. 

There's a Little Song in My Heart Today

So check out Student Loan # 2 over in my side bar!  Did you see it?  Yep, I made a $300 payment.  YAY!!! 

That's all for today!  Just a short, happy post!

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!!

Thankful

Today started out that any other day after a long weekend.  Get up, get ready and head out to work.  I was leaving a few minutes early because I was excited to stop at Timmies (I know bad PF Blogger!).  I pressed the unlock button on my key fob and nothing.  No beep to tell me the car unlocked.  Weird.  But I know the batteries in the key fob have been needing to be replaced for quite sometime now.  They are expensive so I have been putting it off.  Ok, mental note to self, budget for batteries.  Unlock the door manually, get in and start car.... nothing!  No click, no dash lights, nothing.  Oh no, how did I drain the battery?!  I went out to put the car windows up last night, maybe I left a light on?  I'm 95% sure I didn't.

OK, troubleshoot.  Call a guy I work with to see if he can come jump my car.  Yep, he's on his way.  Yay!  Or not, car still won't start!  Could be your starter... maybe it's your alternator... or it might be....  UGH!!!  Ok, off to work, I'll have to deal with this later.  I called a friend who was kind enough to stop by at lunch time with a battery booster pack and my car started right away!!!  Oh, thank you so much, Lord!  I spent the morning trying not to stress but it was still there.  I am happy to say my car has started numerous other times since the lunch time jump start.  I must have drained the battery but I still don't know quite how.  It's a new battery that I just purchased in January.  I am just thankful it was anything more serious and that it was resolved so quickly.

I think I will be saving and watching for a good sale on a battery booster pack!!!

Another thing I am thankful for is a monetary gift that I will be applying to my student loan.  I am trying have this debt knocked off by mid September!

Lots to be thankful for, those are just two from my day.