2/28/2013
2009 Hosp Bill----------paid off-
Building Supply---------paid off-
Farm Supply-------------paid off-
Truck-------------------paid off-
Unsec Bank 1---------------84.43
MIL Nursing Home----------263.00
2012 Hosp Bill------------382.75
Anesthesiologist----------442.50
Tire Store----------------518.96
Loan from Work------------559.85
Unsec Bank 2--------------605.76
Property Taxes----------2,901.83
GE Credit---------------4,287.44
R Cap One---------------5,075.98
Annual Tractor----------5,880.00
Student Loan------------6,213.95
10 Acre Farm------------7,434.24
BOA---------------------7,560.33
K Cap One---------------8,020.07
Citi--------------------8,448.90
Jeep-------------------14,525.48
Tractor-Monthly--------16,211.08
Home Loan--------------18,546.42
Rental/Farm------------80,751.90
72 Acre Farm----------219,202.44

New Balance:-----------407,917.31
Paid in Feb:-------------4,556.61
Paid since Nov 1:-------18,463.49

I am accountant by trade

I often wonder how in the world I let us get in this mess. I just have to laugh to keep from crying sometimes. I worked in public accounting for many years and all was good...but after a couple years with no raise and no chance of moving up, I was getting very burned out. My health and mental well being began to take a hit from all the stress. After a complete hysterectomy (with a cancer scare) in 09, taking care of my ill mother in law, an incisional hernia surgery in 2010, I changed jobs. It was still in a financial capacity, but it was for just one company instead of 20 different ones. I was so tired of all that...and I let our own personal finances get out of control in the meantime. We let our DS put us in some very tough situations when we should have said no....many times, we should have said no! But we didn't. It didn't help him at all and it certainly hurt us. I could go through that list of debts and put a star next to several of them that are attributable to him and our not being able to tell him NO. Thankfully, he is much more settled now, but we are still paying for the mistakes we made with him by not saying NO. How I wish I had found Dave earlier....

February...sold 11 calves, filed the taxes the last week of the month. Actually got the state refund by the end of the month. Paid the payment on the 10 acre property, finished paying off the farm supply and the truck...whoooo hoooo!. Hubby has some money put back for farm operations. Paid off the building supply which was part farm and part expense for rental property. Paid the 2 months interest on our home loan for the modification...next payment due March 13th.

Had to have a repairman come out to the rental trailer and repair a cracked tub ($450 repair). Shew, it's always something. I am going to try again to persuade hubby to put that property on the market. I know it would help us in more ways than one.

Will have quite a bit of extra snowflake income the next month and half with the small tax prep client base I have. The Federal refund will be coming, too. We are two months behind on the Farm/Rental loan so first thing is to get that caught up, then the baby emergency fund and start a savings account for irregular bills that are due quarterly or annually (insurance, taxes, tires & maintenance, annual vet visit, Christmas and Meds and Medical co-pays) and the biggie....no more charges to the credit cards!!! As Phil Robertson would say..."now we're cooking with peanut oil"....getting some major traction.

This has been quite lengthy...sorry about that, but I think my blog is now up to date and I will come back and update again, at least by the first of April with figures for March.

Thanks for joining me so far on our Journey.

1/31/2013
GE Credit----------4,362.43
Tire Store-----------610.55
R Cap One----------4,976.62
BOA----------------7,480.12
Citi---------------8,637.62
Student Loan-------6,295.48
Home Loan---------18,546.42
Rental/Farm-------80,751.90
Jeep--------------14,799.16
K Cap One----------8,022.13
2009 Hosp Bill----paid off-
MIL Nursing Home-----315.60
2012 Hosp Bill-------459.30
Building Supply------142.97
Unsec Bank 1---------179.94
Unsec Bank 2---------717.05
Anesthesiologist-----509.00
Truck----------------459.11
Tractor-Monthly---16,500.56
Loan from Work-------207.07
Farm Supply--------1,170.93
10 Acre Farm-------9,349.68
72 Acre Farm-----219,202.44
Annual Tractor-----5,880.00
Property Taxes-----2,897.84

Balance-----------412,473.92
paid in Jan---------2,984.69
Paid since Nov 1---13,906.88

The weather in January was awful. It kept us from getting the cattle sold because the markets were closed and we couldn't get the cattle up anyway because the roads on the farm were dangerous to have a cattle trailer on. Hubby missed quite a few days of work because of the weather too. He is a carpenter and they didn't have a lot of inside work. IRS not accepting tax returns with depreciation until the end of February..so that has to wait. We did start the process of doing a 2 month modification on our home loan that will get us current. We have to pay the interest and a $21 recording fee by end of February. On a bright note, the truck will pay off in February!

12/31/2012
GE Credit------------4,426.73
Tire Store-------------700.79
R Cap One------------5,073.92
BOA------------------7,550.48
Citi-----------------8,834.09
Student Loan---------6,383.76
Home Loan-----------18,850.44
Rental/Farm---------80,970.00
Jeep----------------15,068.46
K Cap One------------8,020.65
2009 Hosp Bill-------paid off
MIL Nursing Home-------368.20
2012 Hosp Bill---------535.85
Building Supply--------274.68
Unsec Bank 1-----------309.69
Unsec Bank 2-----------950.10
Anesthesiologist-------575.50
Truck------------------918.22
Tractor-Monthly-----16,789.84
Loan from Work---------355.18
Farm Supply----------1,170.93
10 Acre Farm---------9,349.68
72 Acre Farm-------219,202.44
Annual Tractor-------5,880.00
Property Taxes-------2,898.98

Total: $415,458.61
Paid in Dec: 8,159.62
Total down: 10,922.19

Not too shabby....The crops were sold. Was a little short of paying all of the Farm Supply bill. The 31.75 from the paid off Hospital bill was rolled into the Building Supply payment. No new debt for Christmas. Still put part of TV and Phone bills on credit. Won't have to do this but another month or two when the truck will be paid off.
Goals for January...file taxes, sell calves for the 10 Acre farm loan due Jan 18.

11/30/2012
GE Credit 4,494.75
Tire Store 764.30
R Cap One 4,999.66
BOA 7,499.69
Citi 9,026.72
Student Loan 6,471.47
Home Loan 19,055.89
Rental/Farm 80,970.00
Jeep 15,335.66
K Cap One 7,997.01
2009 Hospital Bill -
MIL Nursing Home 368.20
2012 Hosp Bill 535.85
Building Supply 374.68
Unsec Bank 1 413.40
Unsec Bank 2 1,126.45
Anesthesiologist 642.00
Truck 1,377.33
Tractor-Monthly 17,079.32
Loan from Work 592.31
Farm Supply 7,162.44
10 Acre Farm 9,349.68
72 Acre Farm 219,202.44
Annual Tractor 5,880.00
Property Taxes 2,898.98

423,618.23
2,762.57 Down

We decided that we have to get all the small stuff out of the way regardless of interest rate for the sheer simplicity of the whole thing and after running the snowball figures in a spreadsheet I found on vertex42.com that there really wouldn't be much difference. I really needed to free up some breathing room in our budget just in case Murphy shows up. I knew I would need to file our taxes asap to be able to fund our baby emergency fund and get a couple of loans caught up to be current on everything, thus avoiding Late Charges. So the goal for December was to get the crops to market and get taxes ready for filing...and not go into debt for Christmas....