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Without further ado, here it is:

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It’s Halloween.  It’s also the day that those who are paid biweekly on Fridays get their 3rd paycheck for October!  That means for those of us who budget based on 2 paychecks a month, we have a bonus extra paycheck today.  Ours is going towards debt, giving us $1892.18 to pay towards debt, or $946.09 each. 

I will be posting October spending and income later today, or on Monday depending on how time goes.

I paid another $275 the other day so I have paid off 12%.  I really want this loan GONE.  I am consolidating all of my other loans with Direct Loans (and hopefully the consolidation will be completed by the estimated date of November 24).  If everything goes through OK, then instead of the multitude of different loans I have now, I will have just 2.  One will be this citibank private loan & the other will be a big giant Direct Loan that has all my other student loans.  

I’ll be putting the big giant loan into deferment (if I quality) or forebearance (if I don’t) and then throwing every cent to Citibank.  As far as I can see, there is no reason I can’t have it paid off within the next year.  I’d like to have it paid off within the next 6 months, and if I can generate a lot of extra income with my business then maybe that is a possibility.  I’ve also started to generate a tiny bit of income over here at this blog, and I’m hoping that income source will continue to grow a bit more over the next couple of months.  Also, we’re hoping DF gets a raise at Christmas time when he is up for his review.  

To have it paid off within 6 months, I would have to pay about $4000 a month.  Based on our regular income alone I have about $1600-$2000 a month to pay towards it.  So we’d have to have an extra $2000 a month… OK I’m realizing that this isn’t all that feasible… Oh well, I can still hope.  

I did a 4 part series on efficient couponing.  For those who missed it, heres is a cliff notes version:

• File your coupons instead of cutting them (Learn more here)
• Make a shopping list of good deals using online resources (Learn more here) 
• Shop at a few different stores & plan your shopping trips (Learn more here) 
• Keep track of good deals using a price book (Learn more here) 

I got a few comments in yesterday’s post that I wanted to reply to, and I figured I would clarify the point that I made for all of my readers.  In particular I wanted to apply to this portion of this comment, which I thought was insightful and well reasoned (I hope the commenter doesn’t mind): “Well, at least it [financial education] might give people a fighting chance against all of the bad info they get from parents, friends and the media. After all, educating teens about safe sex won’t prevent all pregnancies or diseases because teens will do what they do. But does that mean we decide it isn’t worth it to teach the facts? I would not have been able to claim shear ignorance had I gotten pregnant at 16, but I sure as hell could claim ignorance when I took every cent they would give me in student loans, as I had been taught absolutely nothing about finance.”

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I’ve made a few changes to the blog.  I’ve updated a list of Blogs I Love, so check them out.  I’ve also added sidebars that show my progress towards paying off debt and funding my IRA.  I’d like to find better progress bars that I can show the exact amount I have paid and the total, but after like an hour of searching these were the best I could find.  If anyone knows Wordpress and knows how to find better progress charts that allow me to show amounts, please comment and let me know. 

Every so often, I read an article or see a story about the United State’s dismal failure in the financial education department.  High school and college and beyond seem to offer no guidance as far as how to budget or invest or the value of compound interest or the risks of credit card debt.  However, I simply don’t believe that any form of financial education will be enough to change peoples habits or make any kind of difference. (more…)

When you are compiling your shopping list of good deals, it is helpful to have an idea of what you need and how many of each item you need.  It is also to have an idea of whether something is actually a good deal or not (this can help when you find that elusive clearance rack as well.)   (more…)

I signed on to check my credit card balance today, and the website listed my 10 most recent transactions.  In these transactions, there were little “ad” popups, that I was supposed to click on to use whatever it was they were advertising.  Has this happened to anyone else?  Its sort of strange and freaky that they can see my transactions and that they are using that to target ads directly to me when I sign on to look at my card balance.  

We filled the entire 17.0 cu foot freezer we bought a few weeks back.  It is too much to have our food and the dogs food in the one freezer.  We bought a chest freezer to store their stuff in, since it doesn’t have to be as organized (it just has to be sorted by type of meat).  Now, the upright can hold our stuff.  Good thing, because hunting season is coming up and we are hoping for some free meat!  

What do you think, wise purchase or extravagant to have 2 freezers?  I felt OK about this because it is extra-paycheck month, and because I am bringing in a lot of extra $ this month from various side work.  Plus, I think they will pay for themselves based on all the savings from buying in large bulk orders & getting stuff for free.  Besides, we’ll have them for 20 years (hopefully, knock on wood!)  My DF thinks I’m crazy because we now have over $1000 in freezers…