So we got the discover paid off. But the Amex min payment went up.... so instead of being able to devote $200 from the discover to pay off the citi bill quicker, we had to move $200 over to pay toward the Amex. I think there was some sort of grace period going that I didn't realize. So I'm glad I paid attention to the increase of payment or we could have been up a creek.
I have guesstimated that we will have the citi balance paid off by 11/11/16 unless we have to slow a bit for medical bills for some reason.
Man I am feeling so anxious and fired up to get this citi card out of lives and off the sign hanging on my fridge.... you just have no idea!
I wanted to try to put $250 away toward Halloween, Christmas and Birthdays, per month but it slowed the citi snowball far too much. So I've made it more conservative and we are trying to put about $50 to $75 per month aside instead. Christmas won't be a glorious gift adventure this year that's for sure.... especially as that AMEX bill still contains Christmas and Birthday gifts we purchased for at least the last 3 years.... Ugh that's a sobering thought isn't it?
I'm happy to report that my spending habits have changed. I am reformed. I can only say a huge thanks to God for changing my heart about spending and our budget. I have kept a written budget for many years... however I never ever stayed within it. I would use my debit card to spend and just replace the money from the next check that I spent prior, but that kept us from getting out of debt and clearly my spending was out of control to do that because if I was an employee running a business so badly I would have fired me for sure. And the funny thing is.... I would never run anyone's money the way I was running ours.... um hello.... can you say duh?!
When the cash in our envelopes is gone.... it's just gone... and then no more spending.... that's it. I am not even a lil tempted to cheat at this. We have been putting gold stars on the calendar each day we stay in budget. I think Bry is super proud of me.... the feeling of being able to be trusted and know I won't slip up... that feels great to me for sure!
I also canceled my SAMs credit card. That felt good. The man asked "Do you mind my asking why you are cancelling your card?" I replied "Honestly... I want to be debt free and not use credit cards anymore for anything." His response "Well we are sorry to lose your business but that's an admirable goal"
Thank you sir.... I think so too! Yay!
Oh I can't recall if I wrote about this.... my parents are now living on a budget. They are in their mid 60's and this is their first time on a budget... we talked about cash and how you feel spending it. I think my Mom was hesitant at first until we began going through their credit card statements. We spent an entire weekend on video calls getting a workable budget for them to use - spending money for her and my Dad, envelopes for groceries and gas. I felt really excited that my Mom was so open with me and let me into their finances in this way. This past week they used their grocery cash in their grocery envelope for the first time to buy groceries and this is the first time they felt it (having used credit cards for this prior). And I could totally hear the pride in my Mom's voice that she used cash and that she walked out with money - cold hard cash in her pocket and that she scored 6 bags of groceries at Aldi's for like $26! Way to go Mom and Dad! I am so so proud of you guys!
C'mon let's all be debt free!
~Have a blessed evening~
