Last week, I did a wallet sweep and had $3 to apply to my car loan. A client who usually sends me a holiday card with a crisp $100 inside came through yet again. I applied that $100 to my car loan too.

So, my first scheduled car payment has finally posted. My extra principal payments thus far have eliminated 3 payments from the end. All told, that is 4 down with 68 to go.

I have updated my Car Note Page, if you care to take a peek.

And I had an unexpected surprise. According to my statement, my loan rate is 3.49%. My contract plainly says 3.697%. So I guess the 3.697 quoted includes the $99 fee which was tacked on? That is the only thing I can think of. Not that I am complaining, mind you.

If they want to reduce my rate further, I am OK with that.

I have been enjoying the holiday shots of people's children so much, I thought I would post one from when mine were little. Of course, my pics from this era were not digital, so I had to scan this in. I am afraid I do not have a color scanner. (The kids are dressed in red and white). And of course, it looks like a newspaper photo, which detracts from their cuteness.

But here are my kiddos at Xmas time, 1996. MrsM180 was 6 and J was 1. MrsM180 is making a face because I kept telling her to smile. If I had just let her be, she probably would have smiled beautifully. But I had to keep saying "smile", and she kept trying. J is very suspicious of the entire affair.



I miss the little people days.

If anyone has any tips as to how I could get this looking like a photo, please share!

Update: Still not picture perfect, but so much better! Thank you for the technical help, Starfishy!

Just plodding along with the car loan.

I did a wallet sweep on payday and had $17 to throw at the principal.

I redeemed another $15.15 in rewards from Capital One Quicksilver, and threw that too.

New balance is $15,526.45. Still 17 days away from my first scheduled payment.

I have made my scheduled mortgage payment, along with an extra $14.73. My new balance is $171,075.00.

Chips to date: $1,550.17

Interest savings this month: $5.44

Interest savings to date: $52.17

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $3,399.23, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

Cash is down.
Debt is up.
Investments are up.
Home value estimate is down.

(It's just a grading system. I'm actually not unhappy!)




Wells Fargo valued my "new" car at 15.8k on 11/1. I started there, but intend to write it down $300 per month for now.