Debt Free Vacation, almost

I've been wanting to take the kids on a Disney Cruise for awhile now.  I was planning to save up the cash first before booking the cruise, BUT to get a Disney Cruise you need to book in advance! Yesterday I booked our January 2013 cruise.  The cost of the cruise plus insurance was a little of $2400.  We opted for an inside stateroom to save money and figuring we wouldn't spend much time in there.  I did use a Disney Visa card to book it, which means I'll get $50 on board credit and I have 6 months of no interest.  I plan to get it paid off within just a few months and if we don't get it paid off before the interest starts on it, then we'll take the money from the emergency fund.  I know it's not an emergency, BUT we have a little more than 6 months expenses in their now.  Baby Step 2.1, part of the expanded TMMO steps is take a vacation, if you can pay for it in cash.  This step actually comes before the fully funded emergency fund, so we're still doing pretty good if we do have to take money from the FFEF.

Payday!

Today was my first paycheck after increasing my pre-tax retirement contribution from 5 to 15%, which isn't near as scary as I thought it was gonna be.  It's also the first month I don't have to pay Verizon or Blue Cross.  The insurance company gave us some credit back on the car when we canceled the insurance, so that made a big difference in the bill this month!      

Baby Step #4

I just spoke with my Retirement financial adviser and upped my Contributions to my pension to 15%!  I also got information on college savings plans, which I will probably start putting money in next month when he returns.  College savings is one thing I have NO idea what amount to invest in.  It's also something my husband and I have very different views on.  He doesn't think we should save for college and make the kids pay their own way.  Can you guess which one of us actually went to college???  I do want them to work hard and help pay for their own college, but I also don't want them to graduate with a HUGE amount of debt when they're just starting out in the real world.  

Baby Step #3

We are now officially at Baby step #3 of the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover!!!  My car left over the weekend and we made a big deposit into the Emergency Fund.  6 months of expenses for us is approx. $10,000 and we're about 800 away from being there!  My husband already has some paintless dent repair jobs lined up, so by the end of the month our Emergency fund WILL be full funded AND our vacation account will be looking pretty good too :)

Gift Cards Redeemed!

I've posted before about using swagbucks to earn amazon gift cards, but I also use Bing Rewards!  Bing is probably easier but a little more limited in the amount you can earn per day.  The results aren't random like swagbucks.  You automatically earn 1 bing reward for every 2 searches up to a certain number.  My number has been 44 lately.  I make sure to do this every day and it adds up pretty quick.

Today I used my combination of gift cards from BING and Swagbucks and bought my son's 3rd bday gift.  It was 69.99 and I didn't pay a dime for it!  I even got free 2 day shipping!  He's getting a little tykes work bench that has a motor to work on attached to it.

GROCERY DEAL!

This week Knorr sides are on sale 10 for $10, I usually pick up 10 of these when there's a deal like this.  This week is even better and you get a FREE 3 lb back of best choice chicken with it!!!  Of course last night when I went to take advantage of the sale the chicken was already gone :(  They did give me a rain check for it though!

I do not NEED...

an IPHONE, but I really really really WANT one!  I almost ordered one once but didn't.  I'm not getting one because my verizon contract is over tomorrow!  I've been planning on canceling it once the contract is up and switching to straight talk.  It will save me about $55 a month on the cell phone bill!  Today while at the zoo my camera battery died, but my little sister happened to be with us and have her awesome IPhone 4, so I used it to take pics the rest the morning, which only made me want one even more!  Not only could I take great pics with it, I was able to upload them straight to shutterfly.  I was pretty impressed that I was able to type on the touchscreen pretty quick too!  I don't need it. I don't need it. I don't need it.  Just reminding myself!  That $55/month I'm gonna be saving will be great to add onto the mortgage or to save for a replacement vehicle, or some home remodeling projects, etc.!