It's Pay Day

Pay day used to bring a certain amount of dread and stress to my life. This is how it used to be:

Look at direct deposit (knowing all well all the money is gone and then some).
Look at number of bills needing to be paid
Pay bills and have no money left by next day (except for cash waiting for bills to clear).

This is what pay day looks like now:

Look at direct deposit
Transfer money into savings
Pay bills (less envelopes in the mail box now)
Checking account cushion of at least $25

Change is good! slow and steady wins the race.

ING Savings Account

The APR is now 1.5%. Oh how times have changed.

I am quite certain that I will be credit card debt free before the end of 2009.

Insurance Premiums Vent

It seems as if every year my health insurance premium goes up. However, every year less and less services and prescriptions are covered.

What to do with the part-time check...updates

Hours at the part-time job has suddenly picked up. This means that my paycheck will go back to its pre 2009 amount. However, for the last few months I've learnt how to adjust without it. So I will be using that amount to get rid of my debt now that my savings goal has been achieved.

My 6 month car insurance premium is due today. I will be paying it all at once, and I didn't even panic. This blog has really helped to improve my finances. I'd like to think all my readers, all 2 or 3 of you. LOL

My savings goal of $5,000 is almost 50/50 in CD's and a regular savings account at the credit union. Using CD's was a critical tool in achieving my savings goal. The threat of loosing the interest before the CD matures was enough for me to keep it there. This may not work for some people but it sure works for me. As for the money in the regular savings account, I like seeing the comma (,) so I won't be touching that either. For someone who is just now leaving the check to check crowd and joining the savings crowd, a comma is a huge thing.