Ktmarvels's Personal Finance Blog

Debt free?

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:50:36 PST

Is it bad that I consider us to be debt free?

In reality we have a mortgage ($149K) and my school loans ($30K), but I don't really think about them. DH and I closed on our house in August, so we have a mortgage, but the only real change is that rather than paying rent to a landlord,...

How it paid to go to Lowe's everyday

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:44:23 PST

So DH and I closed on our house a week and a half ago. Since that day we have gone to Lowe's nearly everyday...I think I've only missed 2 of the last 12 days.

Thankfully most have just been little trips for paint and brushes. However one of those trips was a big weekend where we...

Closing on Friday!

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:26:46 PST

DH and I will close on our house on Friday!! I feel like I've been talking to our mortgage company every day, but I think it's all coming together.

Today I was informed that the sellers agreed to pay more money than was allowed due to the particular circumstances. We had the sellers...

Offer was accepted!

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:58:04 PST

Well DH came home and we were leaning towards our condo right up until the time that he saw the house. The resale (and ability to rent) is better with the house. So Monday we put in a verbal offer to which they countered. So yesterday we put in another offer (written this time) and...

Full Circle

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:16:51 PST

So I've been house hunting for a couple months now, mostly because the condo I've been renting from was going through foreclosure. The manager called it "loan modification," but the paperwork I was served with said foreclosure. I think I'll believe the courts.

Anyway that notice...

Searching for a house

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:36:26 PST

I've now been out with the agent twice and have looked at a total of 8 houses. The first time I met with her the very first house we looked at I was hooked. It was beautiful with all hardwood floors and very large with both a living room and family room. My only hesitations were that...

Housing situation

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:06:35 PST

We found out in January that the condo we are renting is going through foreclosure. We've been paying (and continued to pay) our rent on time, but it is going through the process nonetheless. They say it is only going through Loan Modification, not foreclosure, but really it's all...

Retirement revelations

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:30:14 PST

DH and I opened our Roth's in 2007. For our 2007 and 2008 contributions we did lump-sum contributions, working under the theory that that longer the money was in the account, the longer the money could grow tax-free. Well the market of 2008 certainly nixed that plan, so this year we...

Whoops! Expensive lesson.

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:23:34 PST

So I knew diamonds were just about the hardest thing on earth, and the only thing that could really cut or scratch them were other diamonds. What I didn't realize how big a factor this would play in my wedding ring.

My mom and I were at the mall and she suggested having my ring...

Retirement lessons learned

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:33:20 PST

Last night at dinner DH and I were discussing our finances. For the first time DH expressed that he was worried about our retirement. Honestly, I couldn�t have been more pleased! Now, let me preface all of this by saying DH and I are 25 and we currently have about $17,000 in our Roth...

It�s about that time of year again�

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:39:11 PST

It�s about that time of year again�student loan time, that is. I am starting my second year in pharmacy school and I�m still pretty new to dealing with student loans. Between my scholarship and parents, I escaped my 5 years of undergraduate work without any student loans. Pharmacy...

$3028 to rent and counting

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:11:46 PST

What a crazy time! While all of our expenses have been crazy this summer, rent has been the worst, by far. Dh's rent is 690. My rent is 644. So we are used to paying 1334. However this month, when I return to Florida, I will be moving apartments. So I have to pay 644 lease termination...

update

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Wed, 07 May 2008 07:57:40 PST

Wow, I can�t believe it�s been two months since I last wrote here. Well I sort of can, the last couple months of school were horribly busy, not leaving me time for hardly anything! But now that�s over with and summer is here.

We�ve had some big changes financially here. First...

Saving account swap

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:45:45 PST

Today I transferred nearly all of our money out of our bank's saving account to my ING account. A year and a half ago, we did the opposite when our bank's saving acocunt was at a higher rate then ING's, but with the recent economy the rate has been steadily declining. So back to ING...

Taxes

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 09:17:56 PST

I just finished up our taxes last night. I started doing them at the beginning of February, but we kept getting more 1099s that I had forgotten about and my tuition forms hadn't been posted. This weekend I checked and they were finally up. Thank goodness I waited, our refund nearly...

Just plugging along

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:21:55 PST

So I haven't written in almost a month, mostly because nothing has really been happening on the financial front. We maxed out our 2008 Roth contributions the end of last month, so that was exciting. Unfortunately it left us $300 shy of the highest tier of interest in our savings account....

Took the plunge...

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:27:38 PST

Ok, now I have been paying attention and know that the stock market has been falling lately. However, I decided to take the plunge anyway and max out our 2008 Roth IRAs today (well, technically Monday). I'm sort of figuring that sometime in the next 40 years before we retire the stock...

challenge addition

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:38:11 PST

Recieved $47 from Survey Spot and $40 for tutoring last month which will be added to the challenge.

And in other news the simulators up in Maine are closed so DH is coming to Florida to work...and see me!! He has to work part of Friday and most of the day Saturday, but we have tonight...

grocery savings

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:38:50 PST

Went grocery shopping today and the store was having some good buy 1 get 1 free sales on some of the items I wanted. I ended up saving $12.41 with my store card, which I'll add to the challenge.

New addition: $12.41
Previous total: $319.51
Total: $331.92

shopping spree=savings spree?

katylauderdale@gmail.com (Katy) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:10:42 PST

I got some clothes for Christmas that didn't fit so I needed to return them. I went to return them and found that the mall was having some really great sales! I have been needing some nicer clothes, particularly collared shirts. Well JCPenney was having a 40% off the clearance price...