Hello everyone!!
I hope everyone had a great Forth of July Weekend. I sure did. I’ve just returned from a wonderful 10 day vacation in Traverse City, MI. It turned out to be my best vacation ever. We rented a condo and were located across the street from the beach. We got to watch the Blue Angels practice for their July 4th air show, which was AWESOME. We’ve seen them before, but never over the water. We didn’t do a lot, just a ton of relaxing, talking, eating, biking, and sleeping. I was pretty cool to sleep in for a change.
401K:
Of course this isn’t a pretty story for most of us out there, but it’s not as bad as it could be (I guess). It’s a great thing that I never plan to retire anyway 
I think I would be too bored in retirement.
Car:
WOW!! This damn SUV is holding its value extremely well. I’m VERY surprised at this. Over the past year it’s only lost $1,000 of it’s value, take that you Toyota fans.
House:
The housing values in Michigan remain low. There have been many sales in my neighborhood, but these sales are killing our home values. Only two more months and my 2nd mortgage is paid off (Woot!!). Then it’s time to finish the snowball and stockpile some cash for next year. I’ll be selling the house next year and I’m sure I will need a large amount at closing.
Debt Snowball:
You’ll notice the snowball amount is a little light this month. We diverted some funds to finish paying for the vacation we just took. I’ve been very intense on the debt this year and decided to fund the vacation fund at one time. Instead of a little bit each month. Not the best practice to engage in but it worked for us. Knowing how I love to ride the wave of momentum, diverting funds away from the vacation fund to the debt snowball really kept it going. Now that I’m completely refreshed, the focus is even more intense. I’ve been challenged to complete the snowball by the end of the year, I have a few tricks up my sleeves so we’ll see how well I can do it
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
A 3.5% drop in your 401k isn’t too bad. Mine was closer to 5% – that was painful! Not as painful as your house I guess – sure hope prices go up in your area.
@Jacq you’re right 3.5% isn’t much, but it still hurts the ol’networth. Yeah that house is the worst. I live just outside Detroit and they are forecasting another 12 years of this before we see a recovery
I like the idea of posting the amount of debt that you are paying off monthly. Can I borrow that? I have been keeping a running total of different aspects, but hadn’t thought of that, it could be very encouraging.
I am paying off another debt this Friday, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. Can’t wait to see Bowflex bite the dust.
Great machine — that is if you buy one and pay cash — better yet buy a USED one. There are millions out there.
Wow, bummer about the house. 12 years? Sheesh. We’re still trying to sell ours down here in Dayton (suburbia). We’ve owned it less than three years, so right now all available cash is going into our simple savings and our snowball is on hold until we sell and close: we just don’t have any idea how much we may or may not have to bring to the table. Keep your fingers crossed.
We are doing the same thing with vacations. We cash-flow them, but just in the month we take them, not setting aside anything before hand: we just [put less in savings right now in our case] during the month we travel. The important thing is that we’re cash flowing it and not putting anything on a credit card! I think it depends on how much excess income you typically have over expenses each month. This works for us.
You are an honorable man to highlight a decline in house value. Most people would just keep it flat.
Keep the faith man. I don’t believe that 12 year number for one bit. Maybe 5 more years, but not 12!
@FS Yeah, I’m not happy about the decline but facts are facts. Knowing an actuate estimate will help prepare me for the amount required to move on. It much better to low ball a little and come out ahead, then to be shocked and not have enough money saved to cover any shortage.
I believe that Michigan is going to take longer than most areas. We’ve lost a ton of middle class jobs here and they are never coming back. Our wonderful leader (State Gov) is banking on windmills to pull us out of the slump. I think we’ll need everyone in the state to being eating baked beans so we can all continously fart non-stop to turn the blades of the eye sores.