DEBT FREEDOM...how many see it as the first step to SS?
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me&thegals
A Major Squash & Pumpkin Lover
Just refinanced and knocked down our interest rate to 4.375 and 15 years. Yay! Now I have to do the math to figure out how much interest that will save me. Wouldn't it be great to have no debt? But, I'm excited enough to have our land (which we could not have purchased in cash) and home that allow us such a great level of sufficiency. And excited to be out of all debt by the age of 49, if everything goes okay and nobody is permanently disabled (uggh!)
YW, so imagine PAYING for that advice!!FarmerChick said:
That is why it is NOT for me! I do not have enough discipline! The last few months we have taken our checking account balance down to the penny so that would sort of defeat the whole purpose of slowly paying the HELOC down every month. Being that we take it down to the penny right now with it being a checking imagine what it we would do if there was $3K open on the HELOC to use!!
Things ARE going to get better for us though because we should be getting the first land contract payment from our apartment sale in the mail today or tomorrow. So, that should cover that morgage payment that was originally coming out of our pocket every month plus be a couple hundred over what we owe. By the end of March when we have our income tax return back and our HELOC paid off (with our income tax return) and that payment coming in we should actually have some major breathing room in our monthly budget! Now, if one of my stocks would go thru the roof I could buy a bigger place and move or pay our house off!!
annmarie
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That's a great rate me&thegals! Can you explain a little about what you had to do and what it cost you to refinance? My husband and I are wondering if we should be trying to but we don't even know where to begin!me&thegals said:
FarmerChick
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wow me&thgals
that is great you got a nice low rate. and being younger you sure can have it all paid off. well, don't worry about what ifs cause everyone has them in life right? so it is more what if I didn't do this and have to pay til the day I die.....so you took a great option to ensure paying that sucker off at an early age!!!!
that is great you got a nice low rate. and being younger you sure can have it all paid off. well, don't worry about what ifs cause everyone has them in life right? so it is more what if I didn't do this and have to pay til the day I die.....so you took a great option to ensure paying that sucker off at an early age!!!!
FarmerChick
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yea I wish my stocks would go thru the roof also...lol..but I am lucky they didn't take a nose dive and my financials are doing well actually. fingers crossed they stay that way!!!
one of the things that stinks is paying off big money. it isn't like we can say, oh if I put every dime to this payment it will be done in 8 months or something...ya know..it is big money on mortgages and you gotta just stay the course.
yea I am a closet spender and having an open home equity line of credit is a nightmare for a person like me....been there done that and OW big time in the process..HA HA
I do so well, then boom I spend. So best for me to not have it available...not even think about it..HA HA
but I do know as I age and do pay things off....that will to never get into big debt again is stronger and stronger and I know when I am debt free, it ain't happening again. There isn't anything in this life worth buying and getting in big debt again cause I want a stress free older life with no debt. That is what I am striving for....I want that..LOL
one of the things that stinks is paying off big money. it isn't like we can say, oh if I put every dime to this payment it will be done in 8 months or something...ya know..it is big money on mortgages and you gotta just stay the course.
yea I am a closet spender and having an open home equity line of credit is a nightmare for a person like me....been there done that and OW big time in the process..HA HA
I do so well, then boom I spend. So best for me to not have it available...not even think about it..HA HA
but I do know as I age and do pay things off....that will to never get into big debt again is stronger and stronger and I know when I am debt free, it ain't happening again. There isn't anything in this life worth buying and getting in big debt again cause I want a stress free older life with no debt. That is what I am striving for....I want that..LOL
Thankfully I have never been a closet spender! I have always been a closet saver!! For a while (about a year and a half) I was obsessed with putting every extra dime in my stock accounts. Just before that we bought an investment property. Found out we are NOT good at being landlords and that chasing down renters and DH having to go fix stuff all the time is just not for us!! I have not put $$ in our stocks lately because I told myself if we have an extra $1K then it is going on our HELOC and not into our stock. Once the heloc is paid off then I can start putting more $$ into stocks.
We had one our stocks pay off (Nov of 2007 exactly when our old van died) and we paid over $20K cash for my van. Did some recyclables and paid $5K cash for DH's car a few months ago.
But, if you look as us you would never know!! My boys all wear hand me downs...I just can not justify paying store prices for clothes!!! I make sure they dress nice...nothing worn out or with holes in it. They have enough that most of the time I can not justify dropping a bunch of $$ at garage sales on them either! I make all of DD's clothes that she wears out in 'public'. The only thing I have bought for the baby so far is material to make cloth diapers and for all of the boutique items I want to make. I did buy an outfit at the consignment store and one at Walmart....they were to cute to pass up!! Other than that I am waiting until after my shower to buy anything else. Then I figure I can hold out another couple of months until it is garage sale season and load up on anything that I might still want for the baby.
If you look at our kitchen you could never tell either because it is in SERIOUS need of remodeling but, I know my marriage would not survive a remodeling project so it is not done! Our carpets...still usable...but stained badly could really use replaced but the kids are just so darn hard on them that I can not justify replacing them either!! I would love to have new furniture in the living room but again the kids are just so darn hard on them that I can not justify the $$ to buy new and have them ruin it!
I make my own laundry soap and tp (for myself). We have only one income, 5 (almost 6) kiddos, get WIC, rarely eat out, that people think we are 'poor' because I choose not to spend my $$ the same way they do! My goal is to be debt free!! Theirs is usually to take a vacation! We are perfectly content to pick up a bucket of fried chicken and take it to the lake and spend the day be wiped out and then go back home to our own comfy beds! It costs us under $30 to take the whole family...and my mom and brother... to rent canoes, get a chicken bucket, go to the lake and swim and spend the whole day and we feel like we went on a mini vacation for the day! We don't have to go to Disney to have fun....just being out of the house is a treat!! We have done all of that and then got ice cream and went to the drive in and saw two movies for just a little more $$!
We had one our stocks pay off (Nov of 2007 exactly when our old van died) and we paid over $20K cash for my van. Did some recyclables and paid $5K cash for DH's car a few months ago.
But, if you look as us you would never know!! My boys all wear hand me downs...I just can not justify paying store prices for clothes!!! I make sure they dress nice...nothing worn out or with holes in it. They have enough that most of the time I can not justify dropping a bunch of $$ at garage sales on them either! I make all of DD's clothes that she wears out in 'public'. The only thing I have bought for the baby so far is material to make cloth diapers and for all of the boutique items I want to make. I did buy an outfit at the consignment store and one at Walmart....they were to cute to pass up!! Other than that I am waiting until after my shower to buy anything else. Then I figure I can hold out another couple of months until it is garage sale season and load up on anything that I might still want for the baby.
If you look at our kitchen you could never tell either because it is in SERIOUS need of remodeling but, I know my marriage would not survive a remodeling project so it is not done! Our carpets...still usable...but stained badly could really use replaced but the kids are just so darn hard on them that I can not justify replacing them either!! I would love to have new furniture in the living room but again the kids are just so darn hard on them that I can not justify the $$ to buy new and have them ruin it!
I make my own laundry soap and tp (for myself). We have only one income, 5 (almost 6) kiddos, get WIC, rarely eat out, that people think we are 'poor' because I choose not to spend my $$ the same way they do! My goal is to be debt free!! Theirs is usually to take a vacation! We are perfectly content to pick up a bucket of fried chicken and take it to the lake and spend the day be wiped out and then go back home to our own comfy beds! It costs us under $30 to take the whole family...and my mom and brother... to rent canoes, get a chicken bucket, go to the lake and swim and spend the whole day and we feel like we went on a mini vacation for the day! We don't have to go to Disney to have fun....just being out of the house is a treat!! We have done all of that and then got ice cream and went to the drive in and saw two movies for just a little more $$!
FarmerChick
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yea that is great you have that saving tendency. I do too, but then I get that itch to spend.....lol....which is becoming less and less as I realize what I truly want is debt free later.
and ya know it gets easier to say no the more you say it..HA HA
you said a key thing there.....you have money to buy things in cash etc. when needed and have nice stocks and such BECAUSE you choose to be very frugal elsewhere. People don't understand that....just cause we might look poor, lol, we have money in the bank where they look rich and have no money in the bank...it takes money to look the part.
Yea my LR carpet needs replacing cause of 1 kid! I know what you mean....but am I? heck no, not yet. I need some new things too and I am not doing it til she is in college..HA HA...why replace when you know the problem will still be there. I am going to get a good shampoo on the carpet and just hope for the best.
yup, where we spend our money truly means how easy or hard we live our lives.
I hate money is so wrapped up in most things we do in life....just the way it is I guess.
I do that also. Day trips. You are right, I sure don't want or need Disneyland (well a $5K vacation I would never do....I ain't got it in my to spend that kind of money on a mouse...lol)
but there are tons of things to do that give us the mini break. like hitting a park with a lake and swim and relax and just enjoy life without costing a fortune. I hear ya on that one!!
and ya know it gets easier to say no the more you say it..HA HA
you said a key thing there.....you have money to buy things in cash etc. when needed and have nice stocks and such BECAUSE you choose to be very frugal elsewhere. People don't understand that....just cause we might look poor, lol, we have money in the bank where they look rich and have no money in the bank...it takes money to look the part.
Yea my LR carpet needs replacing cause of 1 kid! I know what you mean....but am I? heck no, not yet. I need some new things too and I am not doing it til she is in college..HA HA...why replace when you know the problem will still be there. I am going to get a good shampoo on the carpet and just hope for the best.
yup, where we spend our money truly means how easy or hard we live our lives.
I hate money is so wrapped up in most things we do in life....just the way it is I guess.
I do that also. Day trips. You are right, I sure don't want or need Disneyland (well a $5K vacation I would never do....I ain't got it in my to spend that kind of money on a mouse...lol)
but there are tons of things to do that give us the mini break. like hitting a park with a lake and swim and relax and just enjoy life without costing a fortune. I hear ya on that one!!
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