Captain in the mountains Personal Finance Blog

So far so good. My EF is up to $1345, which is $95 over goal.

I've managed to pay off $2360 in debt. Since I get paid again on 3/31 I should be able to paying off another $1120 for a total of $3480. That is $480 over my goal. God it feels great to see those balances go down.

I started walking to or from work (or sometimes both). It's about 2.1 miles one way. DH and I work at the same location but of course different schedules. I was driving back and forth a few times at day. Now we are saving gas by not driving as much and I've lost about 5 lbs. DH is getting inspired and wants to lose weight also.

Another thing I've done to cut expenses is air drying some of my clothes to save on electric. We pay a ridiculous amount in electric (34 cents a kwh). DH does not like air dried clothes, but I figure every little bit helps.

I was able to talk DH into getting rid of Showtime movie channel. He insisted we keep HBO... Want to know why? The NY Jets are going to be featured on this season's Hard Knocks.... ::rolls eyes::. At least I was able to get rid of something and we will be saving another $14 month.

I keep telling myself it's all about baby steps. We are going in the right direction and I'm feeling good so far about the process.

Things are good here in the islands. The weather has been great, the boat is back up and running. I only lost one day of work, but I made a lot of money on Saturday to make up for it.

I've had 3 no spending days (in a row too). With any luck I will have another one tomorrow. I started a new book and made my first ever cake from scratch. It was really good and moist. DH was pretty impressed. I also made up a batch of mini-meatballs and frozen them for future use. Finally my freezer is looking good food wise. Knowing I have good food in the freezer is keeping me from eating out.

I have a pretty busy week. DH is off with me on Wednesday. We do not get many days off together, so I'm looking forward to that. I just need get him onboard with making it a cheap day off. Wish me luck on that one.

Good news so far I've paid off $1240 in debt of my goal of $3000. Yay. I also got my e-fund up to $1048 and car insurance fund up to $95.

Bad news is the boat I work on is down for repairs on one of the busiest weekends of the year. We are hoping it will be back tomorrow, but if the rudder is not fixed in the next few hours we might be down until Monday or Tuesday because the Coast Guard needs to do an inspection. With it being a holiday weekend and people work on island time, well it does not look good. No work means no pay.

I just spent $90 on 2 bags of food. Food is just so expensive here. I could eat only rice and beans, but if I did that I know I would not stay motivated. Plus DH is a chef, food is very important to him. I'm almost done filling the pantry with some core ingredients, so hopfully I can get that down a little.

I did find a 'bargin' though. I was able to get DH's favorite cereal on sale for $3.99 (and the expiration is in Aug) instead of the normal $6.99. I bought up the last 3 boxes. Too bad the milk is still $4.50 for a half gallon.

Have a great weekend.

Well considering I did not start until the last part of the month I think I did okay.

During the month I paid off $2200 in debt, started an e-fund, read a book, tried out 3 new recipes and lost 2 lbs.

I'm feeling much better about myself. Everything is connected. Not eating out not only saves money, but I'm eating healthier, which in turn is making me lose weight. Which is helping me keep motivated.

We did go out to the bar 2 nights. One night was free because it was at a friend's place and they comped the check for us. The other I only spent $20 not the normal $40+ and I did not order late night fried food. I'm still under budget for food/going out for the month, so it's all good.

I just received a $327 check from my escrow account. Some will go into the e-fund and the rest towards debt.

April goals - It's the first month with a lower mortgage payment. I'm going to put a little towards the e-fund and the rest towards debt.

It's a 3 month check for me, so I hope to be able to pay off $3000 in debt and get my efund up to $1250. I also want to read at least 2 books, try 3 recipes, walk 3 mornings a week and lose 4 lbs.

Everyone seems so nice here.. Thank you for for the warm welcome.

I took a few baby steps today. One is I didn't go to the bar after work. I do not have M-F 9-5 job. So my 'friday' can be anyday of the week. I'm off tomorrow and I would normally go out for happy hour. But I was good and came home.

The other baby step was I ate leftovers tonight. I'm sure for all you frugal people that is not a big deal. But honestly I hate leftovers. Normally I have good intentions, but they end up science projects instead. I could never find a way to reheat them properly. I also work odd hours and might not be home for a meal for a couple of days.

Anyway, I tried a new recipe last night (pineapple chicken tenders served over rice). I'm not really a fan of next day rice, it always turned out hard and crunchy. So I took the minute or so to research how to reheat it and it was good. I'm glad I took the time to do some research.

Tomorrow should be a no spending day. I'm off and have enough food in the house. I can walk to the beach, so I might just go there and do some snorkeling/swimming to help with my goal of losing 15lbs.

It's all about baby steps.

I do not really expect anyone to read this. Because of where I live I'm unable to do the normally things people can do saving money by using coupons or stocking up when stores have sales. Because well you can't use coupons here nor do the stores have specials very often if they do it's because the items is expiring that day. I can't even get a free checking account or even an ING (you must live in the 50 states)

So I'm just using it to keep myself in check. We are in debt yet make good money. I'm trying to find anyway possible to help me stick to my goals.

Some things I did today was call my mortgage company to audit my escrow. I had a feeling we were putting too much into there because the taxes are not has high as they thought (good news right), also they had been taking out for flood insurance even after many attempts to prove I already have the coverage (been resolved but I know it will be revisited again in the fall like always). The audit produced a $60 per month reduction and a check for $340. Yay.

I also made my first banana bread today and found a new chicken recipe. I'm not a cook, that is DH's department. Plus our hours are so all over the place it's seems like it's easier to just go out. But I'm going to try. My thought is if I cook more at home I will cut back on going to the bars and eating fried foods and drinking too much beer. That should help save money, eating better and losing weight, or at least one would hope.

We have only eaten out once in the last 10 days. Not bad for us, normally it was a 2-4 times a week.

It's all about baby steps hopefully we will not fall down too much in the process.


Thanks for reading and helping us get on a better financial track.