Making Some Extra Room...

On the $100 amonth plan I have made a reasonable start. I sold a bunch of my maternity clothes to a reseller for $35. I would have made more, but I had a lot of winter stuff that they aren't buying for a few more months. It's a start.

A Date with Our Debt...

Talked to the husband the other day about the state of our debt. From our conversation we have decided that it is time to go to the bank for some assistance. I whined on about the needing to learn our lesson, and my level of embarassment for trying for our fourth consolidation loan, but he had some good points and I gave in.

First off, one of the home equity loans was not a consol loan (which I had always thought it was). It was a loan to buy our car, and our banker suggested this loan as opposed to a conventional car loan or financing. That was on our prior homes mortgage so it was eliminated when we moved.

Consol loan #1: 6 years ago $17000 - was a result of my final year of school and our first year in our new home. Yeah I had some credit card debt, but no student loans. Loan was taken out for 5 years, repaid in 1.5.

Consol loan #2: 2 years ago $60,000 (home equity)- this was a result of costs associated with our new home (ie. appliances, building upgrades, etc.) which we were told that we could add to our mortgage once the home was finished (I seemed to have forgotten that point). Granted there was some consumer debt in there (about $15,000), but the majority was house stuff.

Potential Loan: Looks to be about $90,000 when all is said and done - however, hubby made me tally up all the costs (both credit card and cash paid) to determine what money we have still sunk into our new home for landscaping and other improvements that increase the equity in our home. I am not completely finished going through the files, but I am currently at about $50,000 and I know that there is about $10,000 more in "cash" transactions where no receipt was given or my husband traded product for services. The consumer portion still exists, but it's making me a little less apprehensive about talking to the bank.

We have devised our plan of attack and have decided the following:

a.) We present the debt as equity expenses, and fess up that we should have persude a loan instead of our own "financing" efforts. Ask for a loan for the entire amount. Due to the dollar value, we are not expecting a positive response, but if you don't ask you'll never know.

b.) Propose that the debt associated with our home (the $60,000 or so) be added to our mortgage. Which is reasonable as our home was assessed last year (without any landscaping or driveway - which have since been added) at even higher than our mortgage plus the additional $60,000. I know what you are thinking, the market sucks right now, but where I am from it's still pretty solid and I have researched five houses for sale on the street over from my house (built the same year, and similar amenities) and they are listed for over $100,000 more than the 2007 appraised value of our home. We figure this way we can save on appraisal fees, and hopefully get a quicker answer. For the balance we were going to request an increase in our credit line. Yeah I know, this is dangerous, but if we have other projects, which we expect in the future I would much rather use a lower interest credit line and eliminate our credit cards all together.

c.) If this isn't feasible, see what we can get our credit line increased to and put the rest on our home equity.

d.) No dice - try b.) and c.) again with home equity and a conventional loan. The interest rate may be a little higher, but the overall interest will be lower due to a shorter amortization period.

e.) Go full boar on the home equity and work to pay down the priniciple as quick as possible.

f.) Go home.


Wish me luck!!

At Least My Kitchen Was Clean...

Last night was officially the third time that I had take out that I paid for (when other people treat I don't count it as eating out - This is a debt issue, not a diet one), since about the 27th of December. I think this is a pretty considerable feat considering we would eat out more often then eating at home in an average week. Yeah me.

One complaint though; my kitchen is a disaster! No matter what I do I just can't seem to get my kitchen clean. Between my life and kids I barely get everything reasonable clean and then I am cooking another meal, causing yet another mess. I'll admit, I am not the tidiest person anyway, but the constant state of gross in my kitchen is just that: gross! I'm saving money, but my messy kitchen is starting to drive me mental.

Save Money Through Your Mail...

I came across a great website a few weeks ago for getting coupons (there is no shame in using coupons). It's called www.save.ca and has helped me save a few extra dollars. The site lists coupons for a bunch of name brand products, and all you do is click on the ones you are interested in and the company will ship you a sheet (or more) of the coupons you want for FREE!!! Granted a printable option may be better, but I am always nervous about redeeming coupons I print myself.

The only catch is that the site asks that you redeem your coupons (usually about 60 days), and if you don't redeem a decent amount of the ones you order they reserve the right to cut you off.

Happy shopping!!

Inadvertant Credit Card Payment...

If you have been reading I have rambled on about points rewards quite a bit lately. However, I came across something by accident. I purchased something on points recently and had to return it as I purchased the wrong size. Normally I assumed that the purchase would simply replace the points on my card, but apparently I was wrong. The purchase came off my credit card in cash. Therefore, $55 came off my credit card principal. Very exciting!

The Cheque is in the Mail...

Wooohooo!!!! I opened the mailbox today and found a $300 cheque from my gas station for a rebate on the gas I paid during the year. I guess I found my $100 for the month.

Unfortunately, as I had indicated before, February was not going to be a better month than January, so yes I have another $100 on my debt, but I can only swing minimum payments this month so I still have a shortfall.

Coming Up a Little Short...

February will not be any better. I found a shortfall in our budget for the month based on my husband's income and could only make minimum payments on our debt, and my monthly accruals (insurance, etc.) could not get covered.

Unfortunately, I received his pay statement for February and it's better, but still short. The even worse thing is that when the income does start coming in, we will need to cover the shortfall from the prior months, leaving no surplus when we should have some "extra" funds.

My plans are well intentioned, but if I don't have the money in the bank to cover it what do you do. I'm trying to make some extra cash, but it's very frustrating.

New Month - New Start (again)...

So January was not so good. I thought we were doing okay, but a little business trip from the hubby and the fact that our fax machine and printer gave up in the same month has made some significant steps backwards. I am so sick of this!!!!

Back to the drawing board (again). Hopefully this month will be better.