It’s been awhile since I’ve updated on our car loan and student loan balances.  As you can see by the nifty tracker on the right side of my blog, as of today we’ve paid off 67% of our student loan and 44.8% of our car loan.  Add those together, and it looks like we’ve paid off 111.8% of our debt.  Too bad we’re not over 100% on one of those!  I can’t wait until that day!! Remember when I thought I was going to lose my job? The company says they are not going to lay off anyone in the branches from the branch manager level down, so I’m feeling semi comfortable as far as my job goes.  I’ve come to the realization that I’ve got a pretty good emergency fund set up, so any extra funds can go towards these two debts. I’m shooting towards paying off the student loan by the end of the year.  I think that’s definitely doable.  How is your debt payoff coming along?  

 This is a guest post from my friend Miss M at M is for Money.  Be sure to check out her blog! Hi, I’m one of those underwater homeowners you keep hearing about. No I’m not here to ask for a handout, a bailout or any other way out. I don’t have any grand wisdom on how to fix the situation for me or any of the millions of homeowners just like me. Like a lot of my peers I can afford the payments, but the four walls and a roof are an anchor around my neck, dragging me under. It’s a cautionary tale of bubbles and busts, an American dream gone wrong. The story starts back in 2004 when Mr. M moved into my studio apartment in West Hollywood. It was a great area to be in as a young single, but the party life and cramped quarters didn’t fit with our current lifestyle. We needed more space and Mr. M wanted a place he could do artwork or messy projects. Rents in Los Angeles aren’t cheap, it’s not [...]

I am truly seeing the benefits of hang drying all my laundry, being a cheapskate on the heat/air conditioning, and unplugging appliances when not in use. This month our electric bill was only $53.57. Yes, you read that right. I thought it was a mistake when I logged into the online bill payment system for our electric company. Our bill has never been this low and we’ve lived in this house for over two years! I was completely ecstatic and paid right away. I had budgeted about $150 for this month’s electric bill, so I have $100 extra to do something with this month! I’m going to keep it set aside for our vacation, but I am hoping that we won’t have to tap into that and I can use it for debt reduction when we get home. I’m not too worried about it though because I’m still glowing from our $53.57 electric bill! It’s times like these when all the crazy green things I do make it worth it. Sometimes I think I’m crazy for doing the things that [...]