Monday Medley: Bring It On 2016

The New Year is a time of reflection for most people.  We consider our successes and failures, and make plans for the future.  Mr. Smith and I spent New Year’s Eve at home, because Tornado came down with the stomach flu (yes, another illness).  I had already prepared a cannoli cheeseball for the party we’d planned to attend, before she started complaining that her tummy hurt.  We were able to enjoy a little quiet time, this delicious snack, and a few adult beverages once the children were in bed. It was a quiet, frugal celebration. We allowed ourselves a few moments to relax, as a reward for our diligence over the past year. Now, we are recharged and ready to go even further in 2016.

We did not pay off all of our consumer debt in 2015. We still owe thousands of dollars on our credit cards. However, last year was a huge year for us in implementing the changes necessary to enable financial success. We switched our cell phones to Republic Wireless, which cost us in buying new phones, but now is saving us close to $100 every month. We made a similar change with our internet service. We are still saving money on food by eating canned and frozen vegetables harvested from the garden this past summer. I’m enjoying lunches at work that include peanut butter and crabapple jelly sandwiches, on fresh bread.  The heat bill has been very low for this time of year, thanks to warm weather and lots of fires with the wood collected by Mr. Smith. And with every credit card payment, the interest charges continue to decrease.

We took care of big expenses last year. It cost several thousand dollars to put a new roof on our home (although Mr. Smith’s hard labor helped decrease the expense). Also, we welcomed our third child into the family. I took an extended maternity leave of approximately four months. Mr. Smith stayed at home for a month after I returned to work so we could save on daycare for Goofball (who started Kindergarten in September). The time spent at home with our family was priceless, but did stall some of our forward progress.

We are looking at 2016 as the year that we will finally pay off the credit cards. Our plan of action is a hybrid snowball/highest-interest-rate-first method. We consolidated a number of the higher interest cards into one loan (with a 14% interest rate). Now, we can concentrate on paying off the remaining small balances, one at a time. This is our chart to track progress on the first card that we will pay off this year.

In other news, this past weekend I made rolls and spaghetti from scratch. It was a frugal experiment; also motivated by my reluctance to venture out to the grocery store. We used the rolls for sandwiches at lunchtime. The pasta was paired with some thawed hamburger from the freezer and a jar of tomato sauce that we canned over the summer. I was surprised how good they turned out!

My plans for 2016 include continued blogging about our journey to financial semi-independence. I have upcoming posts about saving money on pets, a new upcycle/refashion project, more hacks for InstaGC and Swagbucks, and an update on our debt-payoff progress. The best way to stay up to date with this site is by subscribing via “Follow Our Journey” on the right sidebar. I only send emails about new posts, which come out once or twice per week. Staying accountable to my readers has been a huge motivator. Also, I like to think that the things we’ve learned help others who are on their own journey. Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year!

What are your plans for 2016?

PS – Be sure to stop by Red Debted Stepchild to read my guest post, “Creating a New Normal, Without Debt.”