Green Panda Treehouse

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Photo Credit: bnhsu

There are 5 Fridays in March, so I got an “extra” paycheck this month. How will I spend it?

• 54% will go towards my emergency fund/snowflake account (I’m also putting my extra car payments here)
• 18% will go to my IRA
• 14% will go for gasoline for the week
• 5% will go towards eating out (so far I’ve been under my budget this month)
• 9% left over will go towards padding my checking account

The credit union where I have my car loan isn’t budging, so I’ll send one large payment for March so the extra cash will go towards principal.

I’m going to get aggressive on killing this car loan. I’m seeing if I can work a few extra hours a week (from my home). I can do 5 of my reports from my computer at home and that would open up 4-6 hours of my office time for other projects that require my physical presence. Wish me well as I try to convince my manager next week.

I’m also getting more focused and organized on the site. As you noticed I have some ads and will try to increase my income with them without cluttering up the site. Please give me feedback. My intention is to make this a win-win situation where we pick up helpful financial information and I’m able to eliminate my debt.

Right now the pay-off total is $5,108.97. It grows each day with interest (something like $1.76).

If you have any suggestions for paying this loan off quicker, please let me know. What debt are trying to ‘kill’ this year? What’s your strategy?

Photo Credit: Phillip

We filed our taxes a couple of weeks ago and got our state refund back.  That will be added to the car payment in March as per our plan (commentors helped convince me along with my husband), so I can get the extra money applied towards principal. The bad news is we’re not getting the refund we expected. Whatever, onward we press!

If you’re federal refund is delayed and you want to check the status of it, go to the IRS official site. If you prefer to speak to someone on the phone, the number is 1(800)829-1040.

While still under the weather, I continue to look around the blogsphere and I found some good posts about taxes:

• Ramit has guest writer this week on taxes. The advice is for college students, twenty year olds, and newly married people.
• Get Rich Slowly has A Brief Overview of the Alternative Minimum Tax.
• The Simple Dollar has a Reader Ask About Tax Withholdings And Savings.
• TaxCut Online and 2007 Tax Law Changes was discussed by Moolanomy.

I hope this information helps you out.

Did you owe taxes this year or did you get a refund? How have you spent it if you got a refund?

I’m still recovering from this horrible flu. I had to spend a huge chunk of yesterday in bed. I feel better today, but I’m still drained.

My post on reducing and possibly eliminating ATM fees was included in the two carnivals. The Carnival of Personal Finance was hosted by Broke Grad Student. There were plenty of good posts, here’s what I liked:

• No Debt Plan examines The Savings Snowball.
• Tips for Getting First Mortgage is great for those thinking of getting a home.
• Daily Gratis slips where to get a Free Copy of TaxCut Basic 2007 .

The second Carnival was the 1^st ever Carnival of Money Hacks with Prime Time Money hosting. I’m excited about it and will try to participate as often as I can.

• Look Up The Facts About Your Neighborhood Rentals With Zilpy. posted at My Two Dollars.
• How Do You Negotiate Salary? I don’t have a system down, but Cash Money Life offers help.
• Pay All Your Bills at the Same Time: Change Your Payment Due Dates posted at Prime Time Money

The Carnival of Debt Reduction hosted by Being Frugal had my post on making extra car payments. Here are some posts that I found enjoyable:

• Pinyo knows his ABCs of wealth building and he shares it with us.
• Ana achieved a major goal and she tells us how she got out of consumer debt.
• Debbie made a whole list of things you can do to increase your income, so you can pay off your debt faster.

I hope everyone has a great day.