Plays Well With Others

Finances…

When we bought our place two years ago, the first thing I did was start putting money aside into my company’s stock purchase plan. It’s very little per paycheck, but by the end of the year there’s a hefty sum accumulated. It works very simply: You accumulate money for six month through auto deposits, at the end of six months, the money is used to purchase a lump of company stock at a VERY reduced price. Then you hold the money in an account for another year and a half and the company will match you 50%. So it’s an amazing deal, especially since our company stock has doubled in those two years.

Anyhow, the point is that this year will mark that second year and we’ll be able to start actually USING the money rather than just looking at it. It should be a few thousand dollars, twice this year. Not only that, but over the weekend I popped some estimates into our tax program and we should be getting a couple thousand back from that also. And finally, our broker called us to let us know of a way we could save some money with out monthly mortgage payments, and that by doing it we’d get a FREE month of payments—another couple thousand dollars. Sure, it all ends up getting paid in the end, but if you make house payments or rent payments you’ll understand what it would be like to have one free month without those payments.

So, all in all, we should have a decent year financially. It’s been a tight two years since we moved in and all that hard work and patience is finally starting to pay off.

So, what will we be doing with our windfall. Well, nothing too extreme, but at the top is a trip to see Wifey™’s parents in October. We haven’t been back since she moved here, and they’ve had one trip out here, so it’s really due. Ticket prices are fairly reasonable—about $500/person and we’ll probably spend a week and a half there. It should be a fun time.

Also, we’ll probably be buying some appliances. Our refrigerator is just old and doesn’t match anything else in the kitchen. It’s this almond/cream-like color and is smaller than the space allocated. So we’d like a white one that’s a big larger to fill the space, but counter-depth so it doesn’t stick out as much.. And our stove is just a mess. It’s a regular electric coil stove, but the entire metal top get’s REALLY hot when you cook, so anything that spills just immediately bakes on. Ugh. I hate it. I’ve never like electric stoves, but it’s what we have, so we’ll need to at least find one that it workable. The best part is that we found a Sears Outlet Clearance center nearby where they sell floor models and ding & dents for QUITE a discount. Some of them only have minor scratches on the sides, where no one will ever see them, so we’re going to look into that. Getting a new $2000 refrigerator for $700 is right up my alley. Most of the time the only problem with them is that the delivery guy tried to deliver it and the buyer noticed a small scratch on it and made him return it. They can’t sell it new anymore so it ends up at this place.

And then a lot of the money will just go to paying off credit cards. Since we’ve moved in, we’ve done a lot of projects around the house and so it’d be nice to pay it off. We only use one card for home repairs and it’s not even that bad, so we should be able to pay it right off.

Aside from that, there are small projects we might tend to, like some of the floors downstairs. It’d be nice to just get the downstairs completed and maybe next year, work on the bathroom upstairs.

Other than that, barring any unforeseen expenses, we should be in good shape financially this year. It’s nice when your financial planning actual starts to work out.

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