My Debt Blog

A two days ago my wife and I hit the two year mark on our marriage. She is essentially working a job and a half this week, school in the morning and training for her summer job after that. With that being said, we decided it would be better to celebrate this time on the weekend. I think we’re going to go downtown Chicago and visit the Museum of Science and Industry which we haven’t been to in years. Best of all is she can get us in for free, along with some other places, as a perk of her new job. That evening we’re going out to dinner at the Olive Garden.

I remember last year the first anniversary was a huge stressful deal. We had to buy each other gifts, got a suite in a hotel, and ate at a very pricey restaurant. Last year the grand total of everything was probably over $500 and it just totally busted the month along with the car insurance bill. This year though we agreed that our home entertainment upgrade to HDTV was our gift to each other. So this weekend I’m estimating it will run at most $100, which still allows breathing room to deal with the car insurance bill this month.

When we started dating in college, every time we hit a year we would go out to a nice dinner. Six and a half years we’ve been together (two married) later I don’t see why it should be any different. I do think that when we hit a milestone, our ten year anniversary, we will take a vacation somewhere nice. What would be even better is to be debt free before that day comes. Most likely other things will happen along the way but it’s good to have a long term goal. We’ll stay DINKs for now though because neither of us desire family expansion right now. Two years married though and I think we have grown stronger than we were last year.

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The month of May had some rough patches with having to deal with a car repair. On the bright side we got the stimulus payment to help us roll through the month. After looking at the numbers our debt went down by $600 for May. My retirement contributions are finally picking back up which does help us offset the asset and liability factor when it comes to net worth.

I have debated the idea of stopping my 401k contributions to take that money and pay it directly towards debt. Even though I don’t save a large chunk of my income for retirement yet, it seems like I could get out of debt faster if I stopped this for a year or two, at least until the credit card debt is gone. The credit card debt bugs me because since I’ve paid off all the smaller balances, having the larger ones left makes it feel like I’m not making progress.

Now that we’re in the month of June we have to really watch the spending. I received the dreaded car insurance bill this weekend and we’re going to roll this along with the budget. On top of that I had a dentist appointment this weekend to have a root canal done. Both of these things are about $1500 extra that we have to squeeze into June. Depending on how things go I may need help from the EF to slide into July. It would be much easier to just handle one or the other in a given month, but life doesn’t always happen that way. I’ll see where things stand regarding this later in the month.

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Buying a new car or even a new used vehicle is at some point necessary, as long as you can afford it. Instead of dumping your current ride for something different, regular maintenance can provide a much longer life for the car. The seasons are changing and for those of us in cooler climate are feeling a transition from bitter freezing to hot. Here are 10 things you can keep in mind when it comes to your car:

1. Oil Change Most cars today have a sensor in them that does help remind us when to have the oil changed. Best rule of thumb is every 3-5k miles or 3 months. Keep in mind that the oil doesn’t get old, it gets dirty which will cause a problem if you keep putting it off.
2. Air Filter Most people who at least have the first maintenance tip down, but what about helping the car breathe easier? The air filter sits in front of the engines air intake and prevents dirt and particles from getting in the engine. If it gets clogged it can reduce the air flow which hurts the engine and fuel economy.
3. Other fluids The cooling system also needs to have the proper amount of coolant and the hoses should be inspected for wear and fit. Making sure the car stays cool will keep the engine from melting.
4. Under Pressure Those tires that the car sits on have air in them, but the pressure they contain is very important. Many people neglect to check or pay attention to make sure they’re properly inflated. Low pressure isn’t good for the car, tires, fuel economy, or your personal safety if there’s a blowout. If you have never done this in your life, go buy a tire pressure gauge and then a gas station where it says “AIR”, it costs very little to do this for your car.
5. Lights Out It is a fact that light bulbs eventually will burn out. Take a moment to check that all your lights are in working order. Ask a friend to help you check your break lights, reverse, and turn signals and in exchange do the same for them. The cost to replace a burned out bulb is much cheaper than a ticket from a cop. Check the owner’s manual for the bulb and how to go about replacing them.
6. Regular Maintenance Some problems might be beyond the average driver’s ability. Find an automotive shop that can do an inspection on your car based on your maintenance schedule in your owner’s manual. I personally trust the smaller self owned shops rather than large retail chains, they are honest with you because they need your business and want you to come back.
7. Look and Listen Take time to pop the hood and look at the engine of your car. If something looks like it is out of place or a fluid looks low, do something about it. If you are driving and hear some ambient noise coming from the car, find the source of it or have it checked out. A small problem can turn into a larger expensive one sooner than later.
8. Cleaning It is important to wash and wax the exterior of the vehicle on a regular basis for vanity and longevity of the value. An overlooked area is the interior. Keep the inside clean by vacuuming the carpet on a regular basis and find the source of a smell rather than hiding it. Spills in a car need to be cleaned up immediately otherwise they can stain and become difficult to remove. Car air fresheners create an illusion of a clean car.
9. Drive Better With gas prices being the way they are, the way you drive does have an effect on the life of your car. Accelerating quickly and coming to a hard stop is really bad on a car, reduce fuel economy, the engine, tires, and breaks. Come to a stop by sneaking up on it to minimize the wear on your tires and breaks.
10. Park Smart Keeping the car out of direct sunlight, bird droppings, or tree sap will help the exterior stay nice. Also keep in mind of the vehicles around you to avoid things like dings and dents in your car.

The maintenance of your car makes it last longer and avoid having to pay for another car. If the car stays clean and working it makes it nicer to drive and want to take care of it. The condition of a car is directly related to the value of the vehicle. Keeping everything in presentable working condition will maximize the value of the car if you do choose to sell it some day. It is also a fact that a car drives better when you don’t have to make payments on it.

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Today is my birthday and normally I am excited because another year has gone by and I’m that much closer to something happening. What is supposed to happen at 26 though? Last year I was excited about my birthday because I saved money on my car insurance (not by switching to Geico). It is kind of a down feeling that I am getting older and closer to 30 and still have so much debt hanging around. It would be nice to have all this debt paid off before I am 30, but I don’t think my wife would be up for it.

Just for fun though here’s the math on how much dedication it would take to pay off $151k worth of debt. We would have to pay somewhere in the vicinity of $3200 a month towards debt alone for 4 years. Instead, a more realistic goal would be to get down to 5 figures in the 4 years. That would average around $1000 a month in payments on debt, which we could do with focus. I am not figuring in salary increase, bonus, tax refunds, or anything extra so at some point we could increase 1k to 3k along the way.

Debt freedom is a distant dream right now for us. These credit cards and student loans got us right where we are, deep in debt. It is very nice to pay off a credit card and know it will never impact my life again. Avoiding the use of credit and having no debt will allow us to live much better than we can now.

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This was the first three day weekend I have had so far this year. It was really nice to have this past Monday off for Memorial Day so we can remember those who have served our country so that we can live in freedom. Beer and barbeque outside in the really nice weather makes a lot of things we stress over just melt away. On top of that we even went out to the movie theater to see the new Indiana Jones movie.

I should have an update to our debt reduction effort in a few days when I crunch the numbers. While our debt didn’t go up this month, it didn’t really go down much either. The concern coming up here is my wife’s student loans payments will be starting up here soon. Since she doesn’t have a full teaching job yet we might try to defer those off because the payment on them alone would consume the income she currently brings in. This why I am eager to pay off credit cards quickly so it will free up the payments to tackle student loans. While it may seem daunting right now if we throw 1-2k a month at them, they will go away in a couple years easily.

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Recently a federal court has ruled that the US currency discriminates against the blind by through paper money. This ruling will now spur a redesign by the Treasury department. They are considering raised ink or even printing them in different sizes. The real question is why has this now become an issue?

It seems like if there’s something that could be changed, why not make the change if it improves things? Paper money has undergone many changes over time. Counterfeiters have always tried to find the flaws that would allow them to copy a bill and pass it as authentic currency. To make a change to paper money to help the blind could take years before we actually have them in circulation.

The most recent and noticeable changes to our paper bills was offsetting and enlarging the US Presidents head and adding a purple color into the design. Most bills also have the numerical value of the bill printed larger on the lower right corner on the back of the bill. These kinds of things help people with poor or low vision at least have an idea of the value a paper bill has, but currently offers no aid to blind people.

As far as solutions to this issue it’s hard to say what will happen. Paper money should probably stay paper and relatively the same size, so changes in material may be out of the question. Raised ink could be a possibility because Braille could be printed on the edge of a bill. They might have to revisit an old idea and consider printing Roman numerals in raised ink (I for 1, V for 5, X for 10, XX for 20, L for 50, and C for 100) large enough so they know the value of the bill. A lot of blind people currently fold their bills in a unique way to allow them to separate the differences between them.

I could pose the question of how much longer we will have paper money around. Technology is really taking hold and a lot of people are using debit cards instead of cash. There is a difference in spending $100 at a store on a debit card and actually putting down a crisp Benjamin Franklin. You feel more emotion from the transaction when you can feel and see the money leaving your hands. Should someone have them add glue to the ink printed on money so it’s not so easy to spend?

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I finally had my dentist appointment to have a tooth looked at that has been a major pain for some time. Part of the tooth had cracked and the fissure in it wasn’t helping things. The dentist did some testing on the tooth to check the nerve, things seemed positive. After a bit of drilling away I guess the decay was into the nerve and the news is I have to have a root canal done on the tooth. One thing that is for certain, after that is done there won’t be any more pain from it since the nerve will be gone.

Financially speaking I’m probably looking at a significant bill just for the root canal. I will more than likely wait a few months after that before having a crown put on the tooth. From what I figured out it will be at least $500 out of pocket which I will try to roll into the budget, maybe slide along with help from the EF to spread the cost over 3 months. At least my dental insurance will pick up the other half of the cost. This is the last major dental work I must have done, then all I need to worry about is cleanings. My going to the dentist lapsed quite a bit while I was gone at college, otherwise a lot of issues I’ve had over the past 3 years could have been avoided. It’s very important to go to the dentist twice a year for cleaning and inspection.

My wife on the other hand also has to have some dental work done this summer. Her wisdom teeth have been a problem for quite some time and need to be removed. I think that might be a medical procedure so we’ll have to see what our cost will be for that. When I had my wisdom teeth removed it was a really bad experience. When a blood clot doesn’t form where the tooth was, it’s called dry socket. My jaw bone was exposed to my mouth which is really painful and prone to infections. I had migraine headaches, sinus infection, and some other stuff. This is why I keep telling her to have it done this summer so she has time to recover if things are rough.

Question for my readers: Have you had any major dental work done like root canal? What was it like and did you have insurance to help pay for it?

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