Day 170: No Good

I didn’t want to post this entry this month. I kind of want to beat myself after looking at it, honestly. Here is our debt for this month, including the money we’ve spent on Christmas so far.

So what can we discern from this image?

I am lousy at paying off debt. We have added over $17,000 in debt since June. We have added over $3000 in credit card debt since June. We have added over $2500 of that credit card debt in just the past month. From last month to this month, we have added nearly $2000 in overall debt.

Taking stock in our current financial picture, I think it suffices to say that I am not meant to be a debt counselor. Our balance transfer from our Target card did us no good. Not only did it max out our credit union card, but the Target card is now nearly maxed out again.

We are foolish. We are never going to get out of this debt trap. I’m ready to return my washer and dryer. My husband is using that purchase as an excuse to go out and buy himself an expensive Christmas gift, even though the conversation we had when we bought the washer and dryer was “If we buy this, then we’ll just buy small gifts for each other.” I should have known that he’d want everything to be “fair and equal.”

This is why I don’t let my husband know the state of our financial affairs if we get extra money. He will never know how much of a bonus I bring in. He won’t know how big our tax return is. He won’t know anything about money I’m putting into savings. Is it horrible that I’m thinking about withdrawing our kid’s savings accounts to pay off our debt? I feel like, if I do that and I’m not paying interest on credit card debt, that we can replenish their savings accounts quickly.

Does it make me a bad mom for withdrawing their savings when they’ve earned less than a dollar of interest YTD on either account? I just kind of think that’s the only way we’re going to get rid of our debt. But what if that doesn’t work either? I feel like we’re drowning.

On a slightly less desperate note, I joined Swagbucks three weeks ago and have since earned enough swag bucks for three $5 Amazon gift cards. If you're interested in doing things to earn Swagbucks (which can ultimately be cashed in for real gifts), please click the button to the right to sign up using me as a referral. I also cashed out all of my survey winnings last week so I can put that towards paying off Christmas. It was only about $60, but $60 is better than nothing, right?

Day 159: Why?

Why do we keep doing these things?

We went and bought a washer and dryer last week. To be fair, it was an amazing price. A Samsung steam washer and steam dryer, king sized capacity, for about $1300, plus we got a $130 gift card back on the purchase. I love the set, and I’ve been looking at upgrading our washer and dryer for about three and a half years now (since we bought the house), and like I said, phenomenal price! We put them on our Best Buy credit card at 18 months with 0% interest and justified it because of the no interest financing.

To be honest, I also justified it because of the Energy Star price tag that says it uses $12 a year to operate based on a $0.10/kilowatt energy rate, versus our old washer that used $77 per year based on a $0.07/kilowatt hour energy rate. The sales man also told us that while traditional washers use close to 50 gallons of water per wash, the set we bought is probably closer to 16. Given that we were doing probably 8 loads of laundry a week, that’s a substantial savings. Oh, and since this is a king capacity set, we’re not doing as many loads as we were before. Well, we are this week, because I’m so in love with the set that I can’t stop washing laundry, but once the novelty wears off, we’ll probably be down to four loads a week, maybe five. I’m anxious to see next month’s electric bill, just to see if the cost savings are that substantial, and then our water bill in two months.

I’ve seen a difference in our electric bill since I hung blinds and curtains in our daughter’s bedroom last month, but I don’t know if it’s because the weather is warmer than this time last year, or if it’s because the heavy curtains legitimately make a difference. I should have hung the heavy curtains in my son’s room too, so maybe I’ll see if I can find the liner that you attach to the back of existing panels. The true test will be in January, which has traditionally been our highest energy month over the three and a half years we’ve lived in this house. I signed us up for the budget payment plan in May for our electric, and right now we’re running a surplus of over $170 for the past six months. If the energy efficient measures we’ve taken do what they’re supposed to, perhaps our electric bill will be closer to $120 a month next year, instead of $160. Hopefully, it will be even lower than that.

In good news, I found out that my bonus next year actually comes the second pay day in February, instead of April as I had thought. I will actually receive two bonuses next year, a large one in February, and a significantly smaller one in April, because I changed jobs three months into the year and I get bonuses from both departments. We should see our reimbursement from the county in the next month, the bonus in February, the tax return in March, and the second bonus in April, then my husband should receive his bonus in June, and I should receive a pay increase in March, so hopefully in four or five months, I can stop obsessing over where the money is going to come from and instead obsess over how we’re never getting back to this place again.

Also, I signed up for swagbucks. If you're interested in doing random things like using a search engine, taking surveys, answering polls, and watching videos for points that can be redeemed for prizes, please consider signing up using my referal. I have been doing it for less than a week and have already earned enough points for a $5 gift card from Amazon. I appreciate your help. http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/justaname