March 17 Spring has come to the Pacific Northwest and we are beginning to spend more time outdoors. Following the purchase of our kids’ secondhand kayaks, Nate had a long and frustrating process of loading the 2 smaller water crafts into the back of the Pilot, and trying to tie 2 of them safely to the roof with ratchet straps (we don’t have a roof rack). We then had a harrowing drive to the river on the highway, driving in the slow lane with the hazards on at about 40 MPH as we worried the paddleboard was going to go flying off the top of the car. This is actually not new – it’s what we did for years with our old Coleman canoe. Over the past 7 years, we have often bemoaned the lack of a roof rack on our 2006 Honda Pilot, which we purchased for $9500 in cash back in 2017. It’s been a great car for our family trips, and we finally made the decision to find an after market rack. Nate went to a local store and bought a used Thule rack for $469 – about $700 if purchased new. Again, not on our Approved Purchase List, but it solved a long standing problem we contend with every summer and in retrospect, we could have saved ourselves a lot of stress with this purchase years ago.
March 18 I unsubscribe from J. Crew emails, thereby reducing my junk email by about 50%. Why do they send so many??
March 19 With some calculations, I figure out that our savings rate for the past 3 years has averaged about 15%. And, our debt payments have averaged about 14%. So my short term goal for the month of March will be to put fully one third of our income towards debts and savings. On average, our monthly income is around $8,100 so 1/3 would be $2,700. This is doable. I have $2,074 of credit card payments scheduled, $110 going to the kids’ college funds, $168 going into my 403b, $50 going into my Roth, $50 into regular savings. I just need an additional $248 to get to to 33%. My employer will match up to $290 per check with a 403b match, so I decide to increase my 403b contribution by $122. An extra $126 credit card payment gets me to 33%. I will see how much strain this puts on our regular expenses in March.
I decreased my savings contributions a few months ago to have more cash to pay down our credit cards. My company’s employer match makes this a tricky proposition. There are lots of loud voices in personal finance that say “Your debt is an emergency! You must aggressively pay it down at the expense of everything but the barest essentials!” And there are some that say, “You should always take advantage of your employer match! Never leave free money on the table!” I love the idea of being debt free, but I also feel more secure knowing I’m investing for the future. So for now, I’ll settle for setting aside 6.5% of my income to get that $290 in employer match money, and putting 27% towards debt freedom. My spreadsheet tells me at that will rid us of credit card debt in 20 months, and pay down our 8% interest home equity line in 27 months.
March 20 In the morning I virtuously pack a healthy lunch. As I am about to hop in the car, Courtney texts and invites me to lunch. I put my lunch back in the fridge. As I drive into work I am tempted to buy a latte, but I abstain.
March 21 I eat my lunch from the day before. My daughter’s first track meet is tonight. The first thing we see as we walk into the teeming field (every high school in the district must have hundreds of kids & families here!) the first thing we see is the Stoopid Burger food cart. Of course my 9 year-old asks if we can get some fries and I say no, we’re going to eat the snacks we packed from home. Sigh. The burgers and fries smell really good. After my daughter finishes her race she asks Nate if she can get some candy. Ugh. I feel like I want to reward her (and I’m sure she’s famished) so I spend $12 on 2 packages of Girl Scout cookies a mom is selling in the bleachers. It reminds me of when Sylvie was in Girl Scouts and I feel good about contributing to the cause. Sylvie shares out the cookies with her friends and they look happy together in their black and green track jerzees.
March 22 We are closing in on April and I’ve made it 23% through the year. Some days it feels easy, but making the more frugal decision over and over every day is challenging. It’s pushing me out of my comfort zone.
Today is the last day of school before Spring Break in our school district. In typical fashion, we have disussed taking a weekend trip somewhere, but can’t decide between Bend, Seattle, the Oregon Coast or Long Beach, WA. We look halfheartedly at Airbnbs for days without committing, until finally we book a cottage in Long Beach, and look forward to a lovely weekend at the coast.
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