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Archive for September, 2014

Reworking the Savings Plan

October 1st, 2014 at 12:49 am

Financially, I'm still holding on. Still dealing with fatigue and burnout, but managing. My plans this year for 'super funding' the freedom account and the household account didn't work like I'd hoped, but I did my best. Both accounts got a super 'work-out' rather than the super-funding I'd hoped for.

Now that we're near the end of the year, I usually get motivated to rework the savings plans. So we're moving in a different direction -- to pay off the mortgage.

I withdrew $300 from the grandkids account (thanks for the advice, savingadvice friends) and deposited $83 of dimes collected over the years in my dime jar and put that plus a little extra to pay $450 extra toward the mortgage for 1 Oct. If I can pay an extra $500-$800 each month, I may be able to pay off the balance in 2 years or so.

I'll reduce my 401K contribution to free up about $120 every 2 weeks, or $240 each month. Plus I'll use part of my regular savings allotments to pay extra. Sounds good on paper, right??

I'll use our regular household checking account to pay the regular payment, then a different checking account (that I now use for household/major medical) to pay the extra payment. (I love credit unions!) That will help me keep things straight, budget-wise.

My only issue: higher taxes when I reduce the 401K contribution. I'll review the IRS calculator to check my withholding.

We'll see how it all pans out over the next few months. I'm excited. In the meantime, I'm still trying to come up with creative ideas to save even more.

Happy saving everyone!!