Weekly update (Feb. 11)
Made the minimum payment on my one credit card due this past week.
But the bigger/biggest news is we got our taxes filed. We have enough to completely pay off our loan shark loan and have a little left over for us to spend together (we want some new cookware because we've had the same set since we got married in 2005 and we also want to make a down payment on our next Disney trip for December of this year or spring 2025). We would have enough to do all of that.
However, the wife doesn't want to fully pay off the loan. She wants to pay $500 on it (to leave about $300 left to pay) then take the extra, buy what was discussed in the last paragraph then put whatever extra is leftover into a savings account in case something happens (washing machine goes out, need new tires, other emergencies). I'm still trying to talk her into paying the loan completely off and then that would give us approximately $170 every 2 weeks to bank into savings, but I may not win that one. But I can also see her point because it would start the savings account immediately.
We did well with eating out this past week as we cooked at home every night and took lunches every day. Only ate out on Friday night and Sunday after church. Then we ordered pizza on Sunday night (for the Super Bowl). However, we were both able to eat dinner Sunday and lunch today, so got 4 meals out of $16. Win there.
Sold a few items from around the house to try and declutter. Sold 2 video games on eBay that I hadn't played in more than a year. Also sold some baseball cards. So all that came in handy this week to try and be able to survive until our next payday (rent ate up our last check). I also gathered some books to take to Half Price Books and sell. I also want to take some DVDs that we haven't watched in 2-3 years. But wife wants to keep them for sentimental value.
So some positives this week. Now we just have to buckle down and stay focused and try and get an emergency fund started. That's the next goal.