less shopping

Update on Finances April 2016

declutteringthestuff financial simplification , , ,

From our original financial simplification post:

Of course, there are certain “purchases” we strongly feel were necessary and must pay for:  home/mortgage ($128,152.60), cars and RV ($16,653.62), college education for our children ($93,628.93).

Grand total: $238,435.15 as of April 1, 2015.  Our goal is to be debt free in 5 years.  Each of these 3 categories were “necessary” in our mind to give our children a stable environment and educational/professional opportunities.  We wouldn’t do anything different in these areas.

A year has passed since we started this blog and we have some financial updates!  We are close to living on one income to speed this along!

  • Cars and RV $9571.89 (decreased balance by $7,081.73)
  • Mortgage $116,445.85 (decreased balance by $11,706.77)
  • Student loans $70,275.14 (decreased balance by $23,353.79)

    Total Debt Reduction = $42,142.29

    Our goal was $47,687.03  John is happy with our current total since we also paid for a wedding last summer for kiddo#1.  Barb is happy with any reduction knowing we had a wedding last summer!!

  • We’ve also been trying to put some into savings each month – right now we have $15,881.84
  •  Last year we had $1,827.58  
  • Total savings in one year = $14,054.26!!  It’s hard to believe we were spending that much extra on “nothing”!!

Weird Shopping Realization Today

declutteringthestuff simplify, The 6 R's

Several years ago:  I have an hour before the hair salon opens while out doing errands.  It is in Target shopping center.  No worries – I’ll spend an hour in Target.  I’ll have to limit how much time I spend hahaha right!

Today:  I have an hour before the hair salon opens.  Silly me thought they opened at 9 but it is actually 10.  It is in Target shopping center.  No worries – I’ll spend an hour in Target – but it was!  I had a few things to pick up at Target (laundry detergent and dental floss)  Picked up what was needed, looked at my phone clock and it was 9:10.  So now what do I do for 45 minutes???  I wandered around for about 15 minutes, didn’t see anything that “sparked joy” in my loop around the store and said to myself “I’m going to pay and go outside and enjoy the sunshine and warm weather.”  By the way, it was in the mid 80’s here today.

I didn’t realize how much my shopping habits have changed until today.  I knew I wasn’t shopping as often, but this was a really weird experience!  Instead of wandering longer in the store (and spending on unnecessary items), I went outside and enjoyed the sun and warmth!  And “reduced” the amount entering our home!