A native Californian transplanted in southern Illinois.No Spending
December 7th, 2010 at 02:16 amThis blog must be helping, because I did not spend a single cent either today or yesterday! Tracking is very easy when you have spent $0. 
My Credit Card Debt
December 5th, 2010 at 07:16 pmI have a Chase Freedom card which I use for day to day purchases such as gasoline. I also have a few recurring charges automatically billed to it, such as my newspaper subscription and Netflix. I try to keep the total charges to $500 or less each month. In each of the last 3 months, I have gone way over and had more charges than I could pay. In each of the 3 months, I transfered the unpaid balance to my Bank of America Visa, which offered me 1.99% until July 2011. When my promotional rate ends, my rate will be variable. At the moment, my variable rate is 7.24%. I really want to get this paid off. I owe $4,460.69 to Bank of America.
My Credit Card Debt
December 5th, 2010 at 07:07 pmI have a Chase Freedom card which I use for everyday purchases such as gasoline, and also have a few recurring charges billed. I try to keep my total charges to $500 or less each month. The past several months, I have charged more than I could pay, so I transfered the unpaid balance to my Bank of America Visa, which offered me 1.99% until July 2011. When the promotional rate ends, my rate will be variable. Currently, my rate would be 7.24%. I currently owe $4,460.69.
My Nest Egg
December 5th, 2010 at 06:54 pmMy retirement nest egg is in three different accounts: a traditional IRA, a Simple IRA (employer's plan), and a Roth IRA.
My plan is to eventually use my tax-deferred monies for regular monthly income, and to use my Roth for big-ticket items such as a new roof or vehicle replacement.
Here is my current situation:
Traditional IRA (held at Wells Fargo):
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF $38,257.36
Vanguard Small Value ETF $7,955.75
Vanguard All World Ex US ETF $29,988.00
Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF $20,150.00
iShares Tips Bond Fund ETF $9,985.68
cash $78.58
Total: $106,415.37
Simple IRA:
American Funds Target Ret 2030 $9,625.80
Roth IRA (held at Vanguard):
Vanguard Target Ret 2025 $7,663.43
Mortgage
December 5th, 2010 at 06:39 pmI currently owe $184,133.12 on my mortgage. I have a 30 year loan, fixed at 5.25%. The principal and interest portion is $1060.23. Most months, I round my payment up just a little. I have made 32 payments, and by prepaying have eliminated the very last scheduled payment, and have reduced the next to last scheduled payment to $783.02.
Like most people, my house is worth less than I owe on my mortgage.
Have Never Tracked My Cash
December 5th, 2010 at 06:26 pmI am somewhat embarrassed to admit, in all my adult years, I have never tracked my cash spending. I know I have to rectify this, as I have been overspending. 
I need to cut it out. In the past few months, I have taken on some credit card debt. There was a time in my life when I was swimming in credit card debt, but had been completely free of it for the last decade or so. However, I can no longer say that.
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