Struggling to be debt free

Since, it's pretty much the end of the first quarter of the year, I thought I would give an update on how I am doing with my 2016 goals. 1. Pay off student loan-DONE I paid off my final student loan in January!! 2. Increase emergency fund to $15,000- DONE I increased my emergency fund to $15,000 in Mid- February!! 3. Save $2,000 towards a new vehicle- IN PROGRESS I think I have saved $100 towards my new car. 4. Begin retirement contributions and save $5,500 towards retirement- IN PROGRESS I have saved $1,500 toward retirement this year. 6. Begin investing in mutual funds- FAIL I haven't started investing yet.  I plan to wait until I get my ROTH funded. 7. Maintain a $1,000 (work) travel fund- IN PROGRESS I have around $700 in here. This ebbs and flows though because I travel for work and it takes 2 to 3 months for reimbursements.  I just received a reimbursement for December travel this week. 8. Build a $1,000 car maintenance fund- FAIL I have been focusi...

Today is the first day of Spring!  I love this time of year.   It's warm, the sun is shining, flowers are blooming and plants are growing!  Since I don't do a Spring cleaning in my household, I figured a financial Spring cleaning is in order.  Below are the things I considered as part of my financial spring cleaning. 1. Check for unnecessary expenses.  Do you have any recurring, automatic charges that you no longer need? Magazine subscriptions? Credit card protection plans?  If so, cancel them.  The only thing I have is a pet plan that I need to cancel.  I can't cancel it until July for 1 cat and December for the other 2 cats.  I need to get on the ball about this and start saving for their medial expenses. 2.  Check for ways to save money on your monthly bills.  Is the contract up on your cable, telephone or internet service?  Maybe you can call and see if the company is willing to offer you a new lower rate.  If...

$240 utilities $100 groceries $100 gas $1000 retirement $367 pet expenses $200 spending $33 alarm monitoring $250 household items/furniture $250 Mom  So the best news of this budget is that I was able to put $1,000 towards retirement! Yay!  Retirement is becoming a reality.  I can't believe I'm actually at a point where I can save money for it.  My intention is to fully max out my Roth IRA this year.  Wish me luck. I also would like to put another $3,500 in mutual funds to save for retirement as well.  I had some unexpected pet expenses this month, but luckily I had room in the budget.  Hopefully, next month that money will go towards retirement. The faster I reach $5,500 the better. I am excited about the $250 to put towards my new furniture fund. Once I finally save enough for new furniture I plan to use this money to replace things around the house, a new fence, remodeling, etc. The last category is for my mother.  My mother is ...

As you all know, because I have exclaimed loudly, proudly and repeatedly, I finally paid off my student loan debt earlier this year.  It was a huge weight off of my shoulders.  However, I have always wondered if I was a fool for paying it all off. I have a friend who graduated with approximately $200,000 in student loan debt from law school! She is determined to utilize the Public Student Loan Forgiveness program to erase all of that debt.  She has to make payments on the loans for 10 years and work for, in her case, the State (or some other qualifying employer) for that entire 10 year time period.  She is on a income based repayment plan, which means her payments are about $700 a month.  All and all she had a pretty cushy job.  She makes about $70,000 a year, she has a retirement plan (to which the state contributes a portion) and she receives about 6 weeks of vacation time a year.  Her job is pretty secure.  The only uncertainty is, will the P...

Can you believe that February is over and March has begun?  It seems like it was just Christmas.  Time is flying by and I don't know where it has gone.  Two months ago I was frothing at the mouth to pay off the last bit of my student loan.  Now, it's all gone and I'm on to the next hill to climb.  Retirement and it's a big hill.  It's stressful to think about.  I need to save $9,000 this year for retirement.  Less, than half of what I put on my student loans for last year.  It should be easy to do, right? I just need to also save for a new car, pay extra on the mortgage, save for upgrades to the house, donate to charity, etc, etc.   It all seems a bit overwhelming.  I think I'm a bit tired of fighting. When I start feeling overwhelmed, I start looking back to see how far I've come.  Last year in March 2015, I had no money saved for retirement.  This year, I already have $500.  Last year in March, I had over $20...