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December 6, 2017 · Leave a Comment

October & November 2017 Debt Update

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Budget· Debt Free· Our Journey· Our Monthly Budget

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October and November brought the end of soccer season, the beginning of fall, a few holidays, and the ceremonious start of band and chorus craziness for Bookworm.  Budget wise, November was an extra pay month for us.  At first, I was looking forward to making a pretty hefty payment on our snowball with the extra pay, but we had medical bills come in at the end of October making our snowball payment no where near what I was initially hoping for.

That’s okay though.  The money is better off keeping us current so we don’t accumulate more debt.

October November 2017 Debt Update

If you’re interested in other debt updates I’ve done this year, you can check out these:

  • July – September 2017 Debt Update
  • April – June 2017 Debt Update
  • March 2017 Debt Update
  • February 2017 Debt Update
  • January 2017 Debt Update

 

October Debt Update

In October, we paid $1,120.07 on debt.

Credit Card:  $390.07
Student Loans:  $180
Mortgage:  $500

October’s debt snowball is lower this month because we started receiving medical bills for procedures that were done in August and the beginning of September, along with one of two dental bills for the month of October.  In mid October we also had an EOB arrive for Monkey’s methacholine challenge.  Being asthmatic myself, I knew pulmonary function tests were expensive, but this one absolutely floored me.

October November 2017 Debt Update

And that’s only one of the EOB’s we received for this test!  There was also the facilities charge and the doctor’s charge.

Overall this whole year has been like a whole new world for me as far as our medical expenses go.  At the beginning of the year, I posted about how our income was changing because Hubs’ employer was modifying their insurance plan offerings.  It left us with 250% higher deductible, co-pays at every visit, some remarkably high co-pays for some services, and higher paycheck deductions.

While we did prepare by opening a to cover our deductible and an extra amount, the reality is that the FSA wasn’t enough for the year we had.  By June, the FSA money for the year was gone, and so we started paying out of pocket for medical bills.  Smaller expenses like co-pays and prescriptions were no big deal, but larger bills we had to start taking out of our monthly budget.

But it’s also been a really weird year where we’ve had more doctor’s appointments than usual.  Between three rounds of Lyme disease treatment, an ER visit, two MedExpress visits for possible fractured bones, non-routine blood work… that methacholine challenge just added the icing to an already very expensive cake.

 

November Debt Update

Throughout November, we paid $1,460.68 on debt.

Credit Card:  $730.68
Student Loans:  $180
Mortgage:  $500

November for us was a 5 paycheck month, and normally that means that we can have a looser than normal monthly budget, or we make a larger payment to our debts.   I was looking forward to knocking down a large chunk of debt this month, but as I explained with October, November had some other medical bills come in.  I did a no spend month throughout November, and it really helped keep my miscellaneous spending down so we could pay off more on the card.

October November 2017 Debt Update

My September laryngitis/pharyntigis visit left us with a $100 bill towards the deductible, and Monkey’s methacholine challenge in September left us with owing $550 of a nearly $9000 bill.  We also had one more dental bill arrive, with us owing another $42 for Hubs’ most recent visit.  Since I was determined to not let the medical bills become more debt, and rather than taking money from our emergency fund {I don’t see medical bills as true emergencies}, we lowered our debt snowball for the month to cover the costs.  Thankfully it was an extra paycheck month, so it didn’t reduce our debt snowball by too much.

I also want to note that throughout October we had a few more medical related expenses crop up that I didn’t owe any additional money, beyond co-pays, for.  The first was for Lady Bug who had a sinus infection in the middle of October, and the second was for Monkey who sprained his thumb during his second to last soccer practice for the fall season.  The copay’s were the normal $15 and $35 respectively at the time of service.  But when I got the EOB’s in the mail in November, I didn’t have to pay the full co-pay amount.  Now we have a credit at the two offices for those visits.

The EOB’s had noted at the bottom that since we hit our family maximum throughout the year, the insurance company now had a higher payment threshold.  I was pleasantly surprised at that fact, but it didn’t last long when I saw we have paid over $2,000 out of pocket in medical expenses this year.  I’ll touch base on this a little more in a later post because it directly affects what we’re doing to prepare for our finances in 2018.

 

Last two month’s we’ve paid $2,580.75 on our debts, putting our grand total debt paid off at $80,624.44.

I want you to remember this is life.  There will absolutely be months where you’re crushing it, and months where life happens and you’re just getting through.  In the end, all of that is completely okay!  The end game is all about changing your spending habits, and getting yourself set up for a secure financial future.  To do that, you need to spend within your means, save for the known, and have a little on hand for the unknown.

October November 2017 Debt Update

With just one month left to 2017, how is your debt repayment going?  On track, making slow progress, or did you hit a wall?

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makingcentsmatter

makingcentsmatter
Only you can determine what your financial goals a Only you can determine what your financial goals are. If that means you're adding money to your savings account, or contributing to your retirement, while you are paying off debt, then so be it!⁠
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Do what looks right for you and your personal finances.⁠
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The trick to meal planning is to make it predictab The trick to meal planning is to make it predictable. But predictable doesn't mean the same thing week to week. You could have a chicken meal, a soup meal, a pasta meal, a leftovers meal, a family favorite meal, and so on.⁠
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We always try to go with themed days, but some weeks are so hectic the theme is literally "fast". Thankfully that hasn't been the case lately.⁠
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I can only hear about my extended warranty I never I can only hear about my extended warranty I never purchased so many times. 😣⁠
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March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠ .⁠ House: $51 March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠
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House: $511.13⁠
Citi: $0 – this has a residual $3 in interest charges since payoff, due in April⁠
D NelNet: $100⁠
K NelNet: $100⁠
K Chase: $600⁠
Explorer: $336.27⁠
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Total Paid in 2021: $8,258.84⁠
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Extra Payment: There isn’t one this month since we were $25 away from zeroing out the budget for our February 15th monthly paycheck. That $25, and monies left from our January 15th paycheck, covered our OOP costs for Hubs’ filling. We also have some savings goals coming up that need to be met, making our debt payments a little lower for the time begin.⁠
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The battle for who can charge what tonight is abou The battle for who can charge what tonight is about to begin. 😬⁠
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My kids run off with my charger, plug it into one outlet 5 feet from where they found it like that particular outlet is the only one in this house, and then proceed to fight over who can charge their device first at night.⁠
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Then they get grumpy when it's their turn and it's not the proper input cable. #itwasmychargerfirst #dontlikeitgofindyourown⁠
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A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a bit in our February Budget Check-In about how much of this I think we'll owe, and you can check that out on my YouTube channel if you're interested, but I wanted to say here...⁠
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To the mother with little kids struggling to get your finances in order, it will get better. I wish I could have heard those words years ago.⁠
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Nearly 10 years ago we were facing a $1,400 out-of-pocket portion for A's Phase 1 orthodontic work (I looked it up after I uploaded the video... we had a $1,400 portion).⁠
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It was a lot of money for us at the time. Our kids were 6, 2, and 3 months old. I don't think we even had $500 in savings, and I just left a part-time teaching job because it wasn't paying the part-time daycare bill, so paying our portion in full was just a dream I didn't think was achievable.⁠
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I was even stressing about the monthly $100 payments. We were so strapped. It was our breaking moment to start cutting costs and budgeting more effectively. We've learned a lot in that time period.⁠
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What we've learned is that it does no good to stress about it all the time. Life happens. All you can do is try to plan ahead, and if it's something that's unplanned, readjust. It won't always be easy, especially at first, but it will be worth it.⁠
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Nearly 10 years later, we are still paying off our debts. Student loans suck. But I see this bill as a reminder of how far we have come. Seeing a bill like this doesn't stress me out like it used to, and I know we can easily create a plan that can get it done and out of the way.⁠
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Will it delay our debt-free date more? Yes. But it's not worth stressing over. Life happens, readjust, and continue on down the path. It's called a journey for a reason.⁠
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It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budget It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budgeting categories are working out for the pay month.⁠
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Food is looking good this far into our paycheck, probably because miscellaneous - which includes eating out - took a hit with unexpected purchases. Pet is low for this time of the month, and Household is spot on.⁠
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Fuel looks like it'll be lower than last month (yay for weeks of snow days & delayed school starts), and Therapy had one more appointment than initially planned.⁠
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Garden, Dental, Medical & Propane are not included in these estimates so far because those expenses are coming from sinking funds. Once we're done with the month and review the budget, I'll move over the total amount spent from those sinking funds.⁠
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How's your paycheck budget coming along?⁠
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Automating your finances makes saving money and bu Automating your finances makes saving money and budgeting more convenient, and therefore easier on you. Out of sight, out of mind, right?⁠
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What's one thing you can automate this week to make your finances easier?⁠
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Me? I'm going to set up our sinking fund transfers to automate every payday (the 15th of every month). Our bank set up a feature on their app where we can schedule savings transfers now, and I'm going to take advantage of it!⁠
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Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone a smidgen overboard this month!⁠
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I foresee a goal for March's paycheck to at out less than twice. That's where this category went awry. $99.16 of it went to eating out. 😑 Some of it was avoidable, but not all of it. Having to drive to multiple appointments in one day during snow squalls and rearranging our whole day was one of those unavoidable instances.⁠
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Tracking our expenses - much like a budget review - is vital to sticking to your budget!⁠
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#makingcentsmatter #debt #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #budgetcategories #monthlyincome #savingmoney #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom #expensetracking #budgetfail
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