A Couple Sidebar Changes and Some Money Updates

I did a little fiddling with my sidebar changes. I lumped together the ING, Credit Union and Emergency fund as one account. For all intents and purposes, it is one Emergency Fund, just broken down into separate accounts. Plus I needed the psychological lift of seeing me so close to my E-fund goal of $2,000. I have a $50 check from my elderly friend that she gave me for Poochies vet care (I will just roll Poochies upcoming visit into my dog care fund) and I have $50 coming into me for some photo shoots. That will put me over the goal of $2,000 in the E-fund (provided I don't keep my debit card in my wallet and er, have an "emergency").

I also added in my horrendous car note and my mortgage. In a few months, I think I'll be able to go to my credit union to refinance the car (which gets paid early each month) and hopefully get a better rate. I got a letter from my bank with an escrow account update and it looks like for the rest of 2008 and until this time in 2009, my mortgage payment will be reduced by $10 a month. I've been paying an additional $2 (yup that's $2) to my mortgage each month, that $2 rounds me up to a nice number of $555 each month for my mortgage. I will continue to pay the $555 each month with the additional marked towards my principle.

If I add up the house, car and student loan, I have about $85,000 worth of total debt. I consider my student loan good debt, I would have never been able to afford my college education unless I had a loan. I've actually worked in the field I went to school for, unlike some of my friends. I'm not thrilled with the car loan debt, mainly due to the interest rate, but I knew going into the car loan process that my rate post BK was going to be high. I still consider myself lucky that I got a car loan period.

I will continue to fund my emergency account once past the $2,000 mark. I won't make it an official goal, but I'll work towards socking away three months of basic expenses, which would be about $4,500. I'd like to make a big dent in the Student Loan or ramp up the Emergency Fund, but I have some home DIY things I need to do and will be budgeting out some funds in the next couple months for that. The needs/must do list is starting to grow....