Struggling to be debt free

I have been super busy the past few weekends working on home improvement projects.  My sister and I replaced a 2 X4 and all of the pickets on the fence on one side of the house.  We have not had a chance to get the other side done yet. I also stained and sealed the newly repaired portion of the fence.  It needed to be repaired badly, anytime you opened the door, the fence would pull apart.  It was very frustrating. I also replaced the dryer vent cap as the previous one was plastic and had cracked and had become weather worn.  We weeded the front flower beds, put down fresh pine straw and trimmed the trees and hedges. Lastly, we fertilized the front lawn,put down pesticide and cut the grass.  First lawn mowing of the year! Well of course all of these projects cost tons of money.  I never budget enough money for spring home improvements and I had to dip into my house/furniture fund.  I'm pretty sure I spent over $400 for everything, but I ha...

The mortgage is down to $216,127 and with my next payment it should fall down into the $215,000s! I'm trying so hard to get this beast down to a level that I feel more comfortable with seeing. My furniture debt is down to $3,219 (originally $6,909).  With my most recent paycheck (on 2/15) I made a payment of $2,537.  This is excellent, the first payment was not made until January and I am already down in the $3,000s.  If you will recall this is the furniture I financed (interest free for 1 year) to get a 20% discount on the price as the store would not offer such a large discount if I paid cash. One of my February goals is to get my taxes completed and I should get around $1,200 back.  That $1,200 will go towards the furniture and I also have $930 still saved specifically for the furniture (I split the money I saved into increments to make sure I could make the required payments in case of catastrophe.).  I will put the tax refund and the $930 on the furniture...

I'm finding it hard to stay motivated lately.  I feel completely overwhelmed at work and in my personal life.  I wonder how people with spouses, kids, jobs and a full social life make it work.  It's a struggle to budget, stick to the budget, keep the house clean and go to work.  I feel like I don't have time to work out, socialize or read.  I feel like I am wasting my 24 hours a day.  I have trouble staying focused and motivated on my life goals. So I have decided to plan and get more organized in order to make the most of my 24 hours a day.  I find I do the best when I only get about 6 hours of sleep a night.  So I plan to try to be in bed around 10:00pm and up at 4:00a.m.  Then I can wake up and exercise for an hour before I have to shower and get ready to go to work.  I also plan to try to read for an hour every night before bed. I need to take my time back.  I have so much to do and I 'm not making the best use of my time....

It's a new month.  I feel like I did not accomplish anything in January and I am very stressed.  January was a hard month, I had trouble staying on budget and seemed to be constantly over spending or adjusting my budget.  This was partly due to an ill family member and work concerns.  I did earn $5.40 on my savings account in January- that is the highest amount that I have earned since I have opened it.  I currently have $7,801 tucked away in my savings account.  Additionally, I have $11,000 in my emergency fund/bank account. Also, I am still up in my retirement account as compared against December 31, 2016.  That was surprising despite the turbulent stock market lately. Many of the news articles that I have read indicate that there may be a stock market sell off in February- I hope I have enough cash to get some great sales if that does happen.  I need to get to work on my mid- February budget. My mortgage is down to $216,172.  I reall...

Once again Wells Fargo has decided that I have an escrow shortage.  Not only do I have an escrow shortage, but my mortgage payment is also going up by $5 a month even if I pay the shortage.  (I already paid the $79.40 shortage).  Having a mortgage sucks.  I would really like to have enough money to pay off the entire mortgage, however, for now all I can go is pay an extra $110 a month on the principal. I have a 87.7% loan to value ratio.  My PMI is scheduled to drop off on 9/1/20.  I hoping to get under 80% by sometime next year. 

Well that didn't last long did it... :(  Fortunately, this isn't thousands of dollars like my student loan debt.  This is $6,909 for furniture.  Did anyone ever tell you that furniture is expensive?  It's pretty crazy expensive.  I have been saving up for new furniture and I have about $3,000 saved. Now let me tell you why I am in debt.  I went to look at furniture around Thanksgiving to take advantage of the early Black Friday sales..  I saw a few pieces that I liked so I asked the sales associate to give me an estimate of the cost for all of the pieces that I liked. It was over $8,000.  I told her I could pay in cash and asked what kind of discount I could get.  I believe she quoted me 5%.  I said that wasn't much and she immediately responded that if I agreed to do 1 year interest free financing I could get a 20% discount.  I asked if I could have the 20% discount if I paid in cash and she stated "no" her manager would not appr...

Last year at work was rough, to say the least.  However, at the very end of the year my firm issued bonuses! I received a $1000 bonus- after taxes.  After a little wavering, I finally decided to put the money into my emergency fund. (I first considered putting the money into my Roth IRA- but decided the extra cash on hand would be the better option). While this bonus was much less than what we have received in the past, it was very much appreciated! Now I only have to put $1,500 in my Emergency Fund to reach my goal of raising it up to $17,500 by the end of the year.