Archive for February, 2008

5th Paycheck of the Month

By: Green Panda | Date posted: February 29, 2008 (12:14 pm)
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Having a goal for your money can be a huge win for your personal finances.

 

There are five Fridays in March, so I got an “extra” paycheck this month. How will I spend it? After chatting it over with my husband, here’s what we decided to do:

  • 54% will go towards my emergency fund/snowflake account (I’m also putting my extra car payments here)
  • 18% will go to my Roth 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 paying off this car loan early. 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 to let me do some work from home.

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 you trying to ‘kill’ this year? What’s your strategy?

Photo Credit: bnhsu

Our Federal Refund was Delayed

By: Green Panda | Date posted: February 28, 2008 (7:02 pm)

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We filed our taxes a couple of weeks ago and got our state refund back.  That money 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:

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?

Photo Credit: Phillip

Carnival Sightings

By: Green Panda | Date posted: February 27, 2008 (4:31 pm)

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:

The second Carnival was the 1st 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.

•·        Don’t Be Tempted to Save 10% Be Thrifty Like Us warns us. Those store cards can eat you alive with interest rates
•·        Money Blue Book looked up  Top 0% No Fee Balance Transfer Offers .

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:

I hope everyone has a great day.

How We Eat: A Look at Our Groceries

By: Green Panda | Date posted: February 25, 2008 (2:33 pm)

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Photo Credit: striatic

I try to save money with the grocery bill. We usually spend $200 a month for two people.

My husband I do a major grocery shop a Wal-Mart about once a month. While the prices can be good, the parking and crowds can be a turn-off.

Just last week a friend introduced us to their Dollar Tree. I’ve been there before and browsed some of their groceries, but wasn’t too excited. This Dollar Tree was larger and had a reasonable grocery area. I shopped there last week and was able to get some deals that were cheaper than Wal-Mart.

This lasts us for the month, with the exception of milk and bread. We just pick that up on our way home.

Since we finished our grocery shopping yesterday, here’s a general list of what we bought and where:

Dollar Tree (all prices are $1 unless otherwise noted)

Bread

  • (Honey Wheat @ Wal-Mart is $2.29/loaf)

Frozen Section

  • Pizza Bites
  • Italian Icees

Juice

  • 3-4 Sips (Wal-Mart’s comparable juice is about $1.29 now and they don’t have a lot of variety of flavors)

Spices

  • Lemon Pepper
  • Garlic Salt

Misc

  • Rice
  • Green Tea Bags

Wal-Mart

Meats (I buy the big packs and split them up into 4-6 meal sizes)

  • Ground Beef
  • Pork Chops (I prefer center cut)
  • Fish (Tilapia, Whiting, Salmon)
  • Pork Shoulder for Roast
  • Lunch Meats (Honey Ham)

Frozen Foods

  • 8 Bags of Different Stir-frys
  • Spinach
  • Green Beans
  • *My aunt gives me some vegetables like sweet potatoes or carrots. She’s always looking out for us. *
  • Pizza (for the’ too tired to chew days)

Juice/Drinks:

  • Orange Juice
  • Lime-Ade
  • 100% Juices (Cranberry, Grape, Apple, etc)
  • What’s on Sale Juices (Sometimes we find some good deals) This week we got Pineapple Juice.
  • Milk

Misc.

  • 8 Yogurts (Vanilla, Strawberry, and I think Key Lime Pie.)
  • Ice Cream (Cookies and Cream to Be Exact)
  • Cheddar Cheese
  • 2 Salad in a Bag (Mixed Greens)
  • 1 Bag of Red Potatoes
  • Red Beans
  • Soups (Tomato, Chicken and Rice)

I guess I should’ve changed this post to ‘How We Shop’. The total came out to $150. I know I forgot some things, so I’ll probably update it later. I’m so tired and from this cold/flu/whatever it is, that I’ll leave it be right now.

What does your grocery list look like? Where do you get your groceries? How often do you shop?

Extra Car Loan Payments

By: admin | Date posted: February 22, 2008 (1:45 pm)

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I’ve been trying to pay down my car loan faster, so I’ve been making extra payments. I use my local credit union’s online bill pay which let’s me put a memo on my ‘checks’. I write that the extra payment is supposed to all go into the principal. Apparently that is not the case.

I called customer service and I was informed that I couldn’t make a payment directly towards principal.

Every payment I make goes towards the interest accrued from the last payment and the principal.  She suggested that I just put the extra money with my regular payments. I don’t want to do this for a couple reasons:

  • The extra $40-50/week (snowflake money) that I save I want to immediately put it towards the loan to make sure I don’t spend it.
  • I’m worried about the interest accruing between monthly payments.

I guess I’ll spend this weekend and see if I can find the cheapest route with this. I’ll being digging around Paid Twice to learn more about snowflaking.

Photo Credit: Rojer

Welcome New Readers!

By: Green Panda | Date posted: February 21, 2008 (4:35 pm)

I noticed a lot of new visitors this week, so I wanted to say thanks for coming! I organized some of my best posts for you to poke around.

Here’s a quick guide to get started:

Banking

Budget & Savings

Credit Cards

Debt

Education

Life

Please feel free to sign up to get updates through your email. It’s fast and easy.  Thanks again for coming!

Green Panda is in the Carnival of Personal Finance

By: Green Panda | Date posted: February 20, 2008 (11:07 am)

This week’s edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance is hosted by  The Financial Blogger. Since Prison Break  is one of my favorite shows, I love the theme this week. Besides my post on Emergency Funds 101, there are a lot of helpful posts.

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Check Engine Light is On

By: Green Panda | Date posted: February 20, 2008 (8:48 am)

This is not a good morning for me. I’m sick with this flu that’s been going around and now my check engine light is on. I was heading to work, which is about 45 minutes away from home this morning. The light was on, the car smelled funny, and I swear it feels different.

I did put more oil yesterday, so that could have contributed to the smell. The car felt a bit off, like a little bit of rattling. *sighs*

I called work and they understand. No need for me to take the chance and possibly get stranded somewhere. I work in a rural area, so I’m a bit more leery of the drive. Less people to see me if I break down.

I’m taking the car to the mechanics as soon as they open today. Let’s hope it’s nothing major.

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