I can not believe we are 72 days into trying to dig our way out of this mess. The days just blend together, and it feels like we're making no progress. I know we're making progress, because the numbers are obviously going down, but it's such small progress that it almost feels pointless.
I got our monthly statement for the Target card, which we transferred half the balance from. It was kind of disheartening to see that the minimum payment was still over $100 and we still paid $88+ in interest. I know they use an average daily balance method for computing interest, so we still paid interest on the huge balance for a third of the month, but it was a little discouraging. The fact that the minimum payment only went down $28 was kind of discouraging too. Hopefully September's statements give us a much better picture of what our new monthly payments will look like.
I got some advice about our mortgage, so I'm going to have to contact our lender this week to discuss some refinance or modification options with regards to our loans and the governmental programs that are in place. It looks like our mortgage is held by Fannie Mae, which opens up some new options for us. It looks like one of the options allows up to a 125% LTV refinance option, but it only makes sense if there aren't astronomical fees associated with it.
And one of the biggest things that has happened to help our financial picture? My husband quit smoking. He's going on day five without a cigarette. Eliminating that expense will make a pretty substantial ($350-$400) difference to our budget, not to mention he will be healthier and the kids won't see him smoking. He's angry with me right now, because of the way he quit smoking, but hopefully in the future he will realize that I only did it because I love him, and the good reasons (health, kids) weren't working, so fighting about money did. If he's healthier in the long run, I think I can deal with him resenting me for now.
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