When I last wrote about our two- or three-year plan to pay off all credit card debt, we were struggling up Mount Savings, frequently buffeted by the winds of unpredictable expenses.
At that time, the goal was a cushion of $5,000 in savings — a base camp, if you will, from which to mount a demolition [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Budgeting'
Budget 2010: Progress on the Debt Front
December 1st, 2009 No Comments
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Fahrvergnügen? Nein
July 28th, 2009 2 Comments
Image by clevercupcakes via Flickr
Our car took a week-long convalescence last week, and the bill came to about what you’d expect for a stay at a swanky spa: $1,258.04.
Clunk, indeed. Except that’s the sound of our wallets hitting the floor.
The total is about 9 car payments; of course we finished paying off the car about [...]
Tags: repair bill · Volkswagen
Budget, Meet Exceptions: Irregular Expenses Are Gonna Get Ya
June 17th, 2009 3 Comments
Cash Husband writes:
There comes a point in any grand plan when circumstances conspire to deliver a seemingly karmic smackdown.
June is that point for our budget. So far in June, we’ve racked up the following irregular expenses:
$588 car repair (with a note about potential future repairs totaling $2,500)
$300 window unit air conditioner
$275 [...]
Tags: Budgeting · irregular expenses
Where We Are Now, and How We Got Here
May 27th, 2009 No Comments
If you’ve got a little time, I have seen no better example that encapsulates, in one man’s story, the mania that preceded the housing bubble and its very painful aftermath.
His story is jaw-dropping. A financial correspondent for the NY Times Washington bureau, Edmund L. Andrews’s $120,000 salary was never going to support $4,000 in monthly [...]
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Budget Buzz: Getting Over ‘I Don’t Know’
May 5th, 2009 4 Comments
Budgeting gets a bad rap as a giant drag. If you’re not someone who’s inherently organized, as I’m not, first thinking about the process feels like trying to corral the very air.
“Money? I don’t know, I just, you know, wing it.”
But winging it always left me uneasy. I’d think, “I must be overspending. But I [...]
Tags: Budgeting · money psychology
