Struggling to be debt free

Yesterday was International Women's Day.  On twitter I read several threads about women lawyers dealing with inappropriate male bosses, yet overcoming their situations and continuing on into their legal careers. I thought these stories were inspiring and many were shared by very strong women.  These women were no shrinking violets, but they were overwhelmed with the situations that they found themselves in. I thought I would share my experiences here. When I first started practicing law, I worked for an older man (somewhere around 50).  He previously had been an entertainment lawyer in Miami, Florida.  I don't even know how to describe this man.  He was scum. We worked in an area of the law dominated by women.  Most of our state contacts were women. He hit on women that he was attracted to, yet he was married with a kid.  He was probably more than twice the age of the women (just fresh out of college) that he was hitting on.  One girl repor...

It's March, which means that it is almost Spring!! I cannot wait for longer days and more sunshine.  I hope to get back to more (and longer) walks after work. I have a few goals for March 1. Fertilize the lawn 2. Put at least $750 towards retirement 3. Get passport paperwork completed 4. Put $1,000 towards furniture bill. 5. Treat the lawn for ants/insects 6. Get some filing done in the office 7. Go on a trip to a city I have never been to before. 8 Book a cruise. 9. Donate money to charity. I am going to count #9 as completed as I donated $50 to the local legal aide organization on Thursday, but it did not process until Friday (March 1st). Happy Monday, Everyone!

Hey Everyone, it has been awhile!  I have been having some internet problems and computer problems and by the end of the day, I just don't have the energy to fool around with computers.   Everything is back up and working now! Does anyone have any interesting weekend plans?  I plan to work in the yard.  I need to clear out the flower beds, etc. There are lots of weeds and bugs to deal with here in Florida.  I may even cut the grass this weekend.  The temperatures are supposed to reach the 80s this weekend.  I also need to clean the garage and the shed and the back porch and and and..... On to the finances. I contributed $500 to my Roth IRA this month.  This was only half of what I contributed last month.  However, I only have $4,500 left to contribute for the year.  Don't forget the contribution limit increased to $6,000 this year!  Once I max out my Roth I will move on to my taxable account.  I paid $1,000 toward...

                    I filed my income taxes early last week and I will be getting a $112 refund.   I am so incredibly excited that I don't owe any money!! I looked back through my bank statements last year to see the amount of my tax refund.  Last year I received a $1,184 refund.  That's over a $1,000 drop from my tax refund last year.  The only reason I have received a refund over the last few years is because of my mortgage/home ownership. Previously, I was pretty much breaking even.  However, due to the changes in the tax code, I took home an extra $2,400 last year.  That plus the $112 refund results in approximately $2,500 more take home pay for me!! That's approximately an extra $1,300 in take home pay (after subtracting out my $1,184 over payment) as compared to previous years.  Happy Tuesday!!

It's January 18, we are half way through the month!! I figured I would do a mid- month check in on some of my goals.  I am plugging away at the retirement funds, I added $1,000 to retirement from my 1/15 paycheck and it felt good. Only, $10,000 more to go for the year.   I love putting money away for the future and I know that I am extremely fortunate to be able to do so.  I feel so much for the federal workers who are not getting paid right now, due to the government shutdown.  I have contributed $100 to charity this year.  I gave $50 to my law school and $50 to St. Jude's.  My goal is to give $400 this year, I am already a quarter of the way there!!  I hope to be able to make a charitable contribution every month. Even if it is only $1.  I should probably try to take some clothes to goodwill every month too.    My escrow review statement arrived via email this morning and, of course, there is a almost $200 shortage.  The p...

Here's where the numbers stand. Savings- $12,916 Emergency Fund  $12,487 Online Savings Account/$8,947 of that amount is for my Car Replacement Fund/$5k is for my EF $1,946 Online Savings Account #2  $23,585 Retirement- Roth IRA  $6,666Taxable Brokerage (Retirement) $788 Travel Fund (Work) $800 pet fund  $5 medical fund $2,096 furniture fund $73 Slush fund Home- $308,598-per zillow               Total (not including home): $61,362               Total (including home): $369,960 Liabilities- Mortgage $198,399 Furniture (0% financing) $4,300                                  Total (not including mortgage): -$4,300                     Total (including mortgage): -$202,699         ...

  At the beginning of 2018, I set some goals for myself.  Let's see how I did. 1. Add $10,500 to retirement savings with the goal of having $35,000 saved for retirement by the end of the year.  $5,500 will go into my roth ira and $5,000 will go into a taxable account. Come on stock market growth and no recession! Last year I contributed $9,500 so this will be an  increase of $1,000.  PASS.  I contributed $10,760 total.  My balance did not reach $35,000, due to the uncooperative stock market.  2.Increase EF to $18,500. PASSISH.  My E-Fund ended the year with a total of $17,916 3. Pay an extra $290/month toward principal on the mortgage.  My easily reachable goal is to have the mortgage paid down to $200,000 by the end of the year.  The ultimate goal is to have the balance paid down to $197,500 by the end of the year so that the PMI will drop off the mortgage. PASS!  I actually added about $400 extra to the mort...