So many thoughts, only one post
One of my great fears of this blogging thing is staying on topic. There has been so much that has happened in the last week – personally, professionally, politically – that I had to take a personal straw poll to determine the topic and have brought in extra mental security to stay on said-decided subject.

Week one is in the books for my diligent budgeting process. It still has some novelty to it, but I have also seen some wonderful gains. I have closed February’s books and it has allowed our household to set some realistic budget expectations for future months. We have tighten up and eliminated some things in the margin – dropping HD and a TV from the DirecTV bill, cutting out buying lunch and dinner so often, going to a barber for half the cost of a salon and making weekly shopping list after looking at ads then going to the store.

My daughter and I opened a new savings account. It is where we will keep money for our incidental expenses and our emergency fund and deposited close to $100. She rolled about $57 in change – $25 was hers that she put into her own savings fund for a new Wii system – the rest was added to the family savings account.

At our staff meeting this week, we talked about how everyone is adjusting. While many are still working on setting up their individual systems, we talked about the challenge of making sure we accounted for all the little things that pop up. We discussed some strategies for saving, planning and reducing debt. One member of our staff has been on a diligent budgeting plan for a couple years now. She shared some of her experiences and planning tools.

We all agree that it is surprising how quickly little things can add up as well as how many times you just spend money without thinking. We feel good about what we are taking on and that it is good to have a group to talk about things.

In a rare happy story that includes the word “mortgage” –

After our tax bills FINALLY (sorry was that too political) arrived
back in the olden days (3-years ago and before) this would be the time we would be receiving our tax bills to be paid in May and November for the prior year. This time we were receiving the final statement for 2007 taxes payable in May and November 2008, stunning; that’s not political enough.

Any hoo, I called US Bank, my mortgage holder, to ask when they adjust the escrow portion of my payment as my taxes were much less than what was expected – as well as to adjust out a make-up cost they added because of a screw up during my refi closing. Since they had the recent copy on hand and understanding my taxes may even go lower, they were able to give me a reduction right away with the annual evaluation in June – dropped by almost $100 for April. That’s more money toward pay-downs or emergency fund.

The momentum is starting to get rolling.

Now about that Indiana’s Good Government Reform plan that's getting shredded in Indy this year...
maybe next time.