February 2010 Autopsy

Looking back it's easy for me to feel like I actually accomplished something good in February! Finances were finally put in order, debt is getting paid off, and an actual plan is in place!!

Total Income                                  $11,715.71
Total Spending                               $11,026.08   
Excess (deficit)                               $     689.63

After paying all monthly bills and a few 'extras' (licensing fees for the ATV, parts for the pickup, a little bit of blow money for each of us, etc) there was actually money still left over! The best part is that the amount left over is almost as much as a regular paycheck!

Popular thought would be to take that extra $689 and put it towards our debt snowball. Well, I would like to be popular but prefer security over popularity right now! I simply advanced those dollars to March and began paying those bills. I scheduled the 'new' payment amounts based on the debt snowball calculation done earlier. It's amazing how much of a psychological job it is to stick to a plan!

Payday is this week and almost everything is already taken care of. Will I increase the debt snowball now?? Probably not. I'm likely to build a small cushion on top of the Baby Emergency Fund of $1000 already sitting in an online bank. If I'm still ahead of the game in April, then the snowball will reap the rewards.

It's funny about making larger than minimum payments towards debt. The "buyers remorse" I feel after hitting the submit button to make the payment is almost always gone before the confirmation page even loads! I feel anxious just at the thought of 'maybe just this time we can charge ~whatever~and it'll be different. ' I still get thoughts of, "Yes, I need this now...and if I wanted to save $15/month for 10 months so I can pay with cash I could...but I don't have to wait 10 months." Amazing that a princess like me can actually delay gratification!

If this keeps up, we can have our debt paid off much sooner than we had planned. I believe in our common goal. I believe in our ability to work together. I believe we are wonderful Stewards of God's Word and He is good.