I was pretty happy to begin the month of June with $47 in my checking account and nearly half a tank of fuel left in my car and a third of a tank left in my truck. Now that the house has been refinanced and I have paid of nearly all of my debt I find I am now able to take care of all of our financial obligations with one paycheck each month leaving the other one free and clear. I've decided to dump the paycheck I get on the 5th of each month directly into savings to put toward retirement and other savings goals while I use the one on the 20th to pay bill and the new mortgage.
As I did before I am paying my mortgage payment along with an additional amount to apply directly to the principal well ahead of the due date. It feels really good to see that most of my money goes to principal instead of just interest and that I'll be able to pay off my mortgage much faster as a result. I topped up the gas tank on my truck, paid the utility bills and picked up our groceries. I worked quite a bit of overtime so I was able to use those earnings to add several items to our Prepper Pantry as well as to order more vacuum sealer bags.
We embarked on a few projects around our house last month by sanding and refinishing our upper deck and adding a pergola. I was able to offset quite a bit of those expenses with part of the Home Depot gift card I had received after cashing in my credit card rewards points accumulated last year. The remaining costs were covered with the regular household budget. I was also able to use some lumber I already had in our garage which saved some money too. We pretty much used up all of the lumber we had purchased so no over buying there and we have plenty of screws leftover for future projects which will save us that expense when the time comes.
We did not dine out (can't remember the last time we did), go to the movies or anywhere else for entertainment, go to the mall or do any online shopping, except for the vacuum sealer bags I purchased from eBay. Other than a pair of chairs ($20) for my daughter from Facebook Marketplace, a little bit of thrifting, groceries and a couple trips to Home Depot that was pretty much the extent of my shopping. All in all, a pretty thrifty month and a lot to show for it I think.
I totally missed the part where you refinanced your home, but congrats!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is super you are able to pay everything with one check. I daresay most two income folks can't do that.
I hope you have a great fun July 4th!
Amazing what a difference 3.5% lower interest rate will do. HUGE savings.
DeleteHave a great holiday too!! :)
You have done well in June.
ReplyDeleteThank you. :)
DeleteI'm so happy for you! When we were able to get that kind of interest, we paid the loan in just 50 months as we kept up with the higher payment we had budgeted! You're on the homestretch of debt elimination!!!!
ReplyDeleteCheers :-)
Thank you Elle. This has been a real game changer!! I'm so excited!
DeleteI made it through my no spend June. There were a couple of surprise expenditures that I had to pay. And, towards the end , I didn't want to cook. But I still didn't use the credit cards for food or take Any money from the bank.
ReplyDeleteThe credit card balance due for July and the total amount I should owe in August is less than half of the previous two months when I did a lot of mindless online shopping and used Grub Hub more often than I care to admit.
I am looking forward to July. Staying on budget by controlling my spending.
Fantastic! Great work Connie. :o)
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