Category: Every Day

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Every Day

Saving By Using Our Air Fryer

We love our air fryer. It has seen a lot of use over the past year. It has saved us lots of energy.

Rather than heat up our big oven or even the toaster oven, we use it to do lots of meals. It doesn’t heat up the kitchen when it is hot or you have the A/C on. Bonus is that it takes less energy than the ovens. Sometimes, I even cook with it out on the patio.

I bought a rack for ours that allows us to cook an entire meal in it. We put the meat in the basket and layer the veggies on the rack. 


We have done pork chops, chicken, hamburgers, and even pizza in it. I make French fries and onion rings for Hubby in it. Hubby has made haddock that he breads in it.


There is a huge number of recipes online to use it. Just google “air fryer recipes”.

You could do frozen fried chicken, fish, chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks, pizza rolls, etc. in it. I just wish they would put air fryer directions on those boxes. Just the temperature and time would be a big help. Maybe as more people use them, the manufacturers will eventually do that. When I do pizza rolls or any of the other frozen items for Hubby, I use the temp for an oven but cut the amount of cooking time back. 


So if you are looking to save energy, this is a good choice to cook with.


Do you have an air fryer? Do you cook anything special in it?

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Every Day

Frugal Things This Past Week

These are the things that we have done frugally this past week.

We purchased a dining set (table and four chairs) for our patio that was 30% off. Home Depot said they would come and put it together for $ 99.00. Hubby put it together in about 2 hours time. That was an easy $50. an hour savings. 

We were able to use the umbrella from our old patio dining set on this new one. 

All meals were cooked and eaten at home from our stockpile.

Hubby purchased me a Little Giant Step Ladder with a safety bar. It was on sale and we are getting 1% back through Rakuten and credit card rewards. I think I was making him very nervous climbing on that little stool(like kids use at the sink) to reach the high shelves in my cupboards. I actually could not reach the top shelves with it. So I will be much safer using this.

I needed some G Hughes SF Honey Mustard sauce. Amazon had the best price this time so that is where I bought it. It is so good with chicken.

I will be depositing $65.22 in miscellaneous checks into our savings very shortly.  

Hubby mowed our lawn and did the weed whacking.

I read our meters for the electric and gas company.

The landscape company when they were here told Hubby that they don’t think the tree that is half dead is going to make it. Hubby had figured that out. So he trimmed most of the branches off of it so that we could put it down by the road for the brush pickup by the town this week. He and my son will dig it out when my son has time. We have a beautiful peony bush that we are going to transplant from the backyard to that area. 

Hubby had to go to the gas station that is close to us to fill up the lawn mower container. He ran some errands in the area for me while he was out. That saves on gasoline. 

I made a batch of muffins and a batch of cookies today as a gift.  

I returned some library books and got a couple more. 

It was warm yesterday but we still didn’t use the A/C. We used cross ventilation and the ceiling fans. Hubby finally took the glass out of the storm door in the breakfast room and replaced it with the full length screen. It was lovely to have the fresh air while we were eating dinner.  

We have been too busy to get up to the gym this past week. So I have been riding the recumbent bike and doing lots of walking. 

We still have not had to turn on our sprinkler system. But Hubby has been hand watering all of the flowers. 

The hummingbirds are back so Hubby has been filling the feeder with his homemade sugar water for them.

I used some Amazon reward points to order some ear drops. I have been bothered by an earache. 


I ironed quite a few tops and shirts for me that I had washed in cold water and didn’t want to put in the dryer. I hung them to dry.  It is cheaper to use the iron than the dryer. 


I cut open the toothpaste tube to get all of the paste out. When we have squeezed as much out with the key that we can, there is still about 3-4 days worth left. I paid for it so I am going to use it all. 


I made homemade taco seasoning.


That was it for this week. What did you do frugally this past week?

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Every Day

Grocery Shopping and What We Ate

There was very little that I needed to get at the grocery store this week. So I did a quick shop at Top’s because of their sale prices.

We are very short on meats for Sunday breakfasts. Oscar Mayer was on B1G1F so I got 2 packages. I got the last two of three sale cartons of eggs that they had in the store. I actually had to wait in line in dairy to get them. Everyone was loading up because 18 eggs for $ .99 is cheap here. 

My BabyBel’s were $ 5.99 so I got one. Hubby was running out of Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea so I stocked on 4. We seem to always need creamer. And they finally restocked the SF Cool Whip which I love on SF Jello and SF Pudding. It was on sale for $1.99 so I got 3.

My total shopping this week came to $ 39.42. 

Here are the seven dinners we had this week. The first night we had a second night of Egg Roll in a Bowl. The next night I roasted a turkey tenderloin in the toaster oven. We had that sliced with mashed cauliflower for me and corn on the cob for Hubby. We had the same on the third night. On the fifth night we chunked up the remainder of the turkey and ate it on a big salad.

The sixth night, I roasted 4 chicken thighs. We had those with steamed broccoli. 

The last night I roasted BBQ pork chops in the toaster oven and Hubby had corn on the cob and I had tomatoes and cucumbers.

Did you get any good deals this past week at the grocery store? 

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Every Day

Stop Caring What Other People Think

Is it important to you what other people think? Did you purchase that brand new car so that your neighbors will see it in the driveway?   

Did you put in an in ground pool so that it would be the first one in the neighborhood? 

Did you send your children to an expensive college because that is what all of your friends are doing? 

Are you or your children walking around in $200. sneakers and designer jeans because of the label? Do you spend $500. or more on your purses?

Do you shop at Whole Foods because it is the in thing? Are you buying organic because all of your friends are? 

I could ask a ton of these questions but you get the idea. I have seen so many people get into serious debt and even lose possessions or their homes because they did all of these things when they couldn’t afford it. Many of them kept up with their friends and neighbors because they cared about what they thought.

Stop caring about what other people think of you. Don’t ruin your budget because you are trying to impress someone else. No one’s opinion is more important than your own family finances.

If you can’t afford all of those luxuries that is okay. If you have the cash then go for it. But do it for you and your family. Don’t do it to impress a friend or neighbor. Chances are that many of those friends and neighbors who have those things are in debt up to their eyeballs. 

You don’t need designer clothes to look nice. You only need to be clean and neat. But if you just must have them, shop the thrift stores and consignment shops.

You can also have a beautiful home by keeping it neat and clean. You don’t need every decor they have at Pier One or even Home Goods.

We are guilty of always buying brand new cars but we keep them for 10-15 years and maintain them well. However I think the next car we buy will be 2 years old or more. Let someone else pay the big depreciation on it. 

We put in the in ground pool because we had saved the cash to pay for it. Our children got many years of enjoyment out of it. We didn’t purchase it for some kind of status symbol. We actually thought it was a frugal way for them to have enjoyable summers in their own backyard. We didn’t see a need to spend thousands of dollars on vacationing somewhere else. When we did do vacations they were frugal and well thought out like renting a camp.  

My sons had the choice to go to a state college or mid range tuition room and board college. One son chose to go to community college. We paid cash. One son chose to go away to a more expensive college. We paid cash with the exception that he took the unsubsidized Fafsa loan every year. Would we have gone into debt for them to do it? No, plain and simple. Could my one son have gone to a 4 year school from community college? Yes, but he chose not to. Just in recent years as his career has progressed, he decided to go for the 4 year degree. I am very proud to say that he has one more course to take and he graduates. Hubby and I paid for our own college. 

Your children don’t have to go to expensive colleges to get a good education. I have seen kids go to community college only. And I have seen some then transfer to a 4 year state university. They are making out well in life. The degree will get your foot in the door for a job. But years of experience I believe are more valuable once you are doing the job.

So many kids are getting out of college with thousands of dollars of debt that it will take them years to pay off. So many of them are living with their parents because they can’t afford to live out on their own. You have to ask the question “Would they have been better off learning a trade and working in in those years they spent in college?”  How far ahead would they be if they hadn’t incurred thousands of dollars in debt? 

Believe me when I say that my kids did not wear expensive jeans nor did we. Levi’s were cheap and wore like iron. I do have to admit that I had a $250. purse but it was a gift. Would I buy one today? Nope.

If you can afford to pay cash to shop at Whole Foods or buy organic food, go for it. But if doing that is causing you to pay with your credit card or is being done to impress someone else, you are being foolish with your money.  

Always do what is right for your family! Don’t get into a financial bind because you want to impress someone else.

So right this minute, STOP caring what other people think of you.

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Every Day

Do You Buy Things That You Don’t Need Because They Are Cheap?

I would bet that all of us has been caught in that “good deal” trap. I know that I have when it came to food. But then I realized that I had to hustle to use up food by expiration dates. I look at good deals on food a little differently now.

When I make my list I always check my inventory to see how much of an item I have. If I am buying something we need, I make sure to buy no more than we can use. For example, I bought 6 bags of fresh salads recently. They were a good deal on B1G1F. I knew that we could easily eat those salads in the next week to 10 days. I also made sure that the expiration dates were good during that period.


I do the same with every food item now. Anything fresh has to be used up quickly so I buy no more than what we can eat during that period. 


I check my meat chart to see how long things will last in the freezer. I am trying to get down to just three months worth of meat and we are really working at doing that. Most sales run on a 3 month cycle so that will work great for us.

How many baked items like bread( I am thinking of the clearance bread rack at Walmart.)  have you purchased and then they ended up in the garbage because they got moldy? Only buy what you can really use up. I only buy bread for Hubby now. So I buy one loaf at a time and freeze most of it. I just take out a few slices at a time.


The same applies to clothing. We only really need a week or 10 days of clothing. I can wash our clothes during that period. How many of us bought clothes on clearance because you just couldn’t pass up that deal? In my old wardrobe that I donated, I had way too many clothes.

Shoes are another issue. How many of you have 20+ pairs of shoes?  I only have 10 plus a pair of boots. However that is way too many! The reason why is that I really only wear 2 pair all of the time. Sure I have some dress shoes for when I dress up. But what happened to me is that when I lost weight, my feet also shrunk. I now have a pair of loafers that have never been worn. Fortunately, my DIL wears that size so I will see if she can wear them.  

Oh and while we are at it, let’s think about all of the clutter that is around our homes. How many pieces of decor did you buy because it was on clearance? It was such a great price that you just couldn’t pass it up. Now it is a a pain to move every time you have to dust and you really don’t like it anymore anyhow. How many of us read a fiction book and then leave it on a bookshelf to collect dust? Unless it is a signed copy that may be worth something some day, pass it along to someone else to read or to your public library. There is nothing worse to dust than full bookshelves.


The same goes for 40 bottles of shampoo and 10 of cleaning wipes. Do you really need that much? There is always a sale. So bring your inventories down to manageable quantities that won’t get wasted. Why let your money languish on a shelf. Put your money to work for you by letting it make more money. Don’t let it just sit in the form of products that you won’t use for the next 3 years. 

So the next time you purchase something that is a cheap deal, ask yourself if you really need it. Will it enhance your life or just sit around your home? Do this with every purchase and you just may realize you don’t need a tenth of those great deals that you now think you need. As a bonus, you may end up with more savings.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with your families.

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Every Day

Saving On Air Conditioning

As you all know, the cost of air conditioning is not cheap. Anything that we can do to keep the cost down is well worth the time.

The best way to save on A/C is obvious. Don’t use it. With temps in the 90’s to 100’s and humidity in many places in the US, that is not really an option. Even here in the Northeast, the temps and humidity can eventually make us very uncomfortable.

We have not turned on our A/C yet but that day will come. Right now, when we have an 80 degree day, our ceiling fans take care of it. But only turn those fans on when you are under them. They don’t lower the temp. They just make you feel more comfortable. We also don’t open our windows if it is going to be hot and humid.  If it cools down at night, we will open them to cool off the house and then close them up early morning.

In the summer, run your ceiling fans in the counter clockwise direction. You want that air to come straight down. 

Close your shades, curtains and blinds when the sun is shining on them. I follow the sun around the house opening and closing what needs to be.

Don’t use your dryer on those hot humid days. Hang it outside. 

When you do turn on the A/C, keep the temp at 78-79. We even kept it that temp when we lived in AZ. It was very comfortable. At night if you can set it up a degree or two without being uncomfortable, do it. Everyone’s comfort zone is going to be different.


If you only have a room A/C, choose what room you want that in. In the first year of our marriage, we lived in an attic apartment. It would get very hot. We put  a big window fan in the living room window and it would keep the entire apartment pretty cool.

When we moved into our first house, we went without A/C for many years and then purchased a room A/C which we put in our bedroom. On very hot days, we would spend our time watching TV in there or in our family room which was in the bottom floor of our raised ranch and was the coolest place in the house. In this house and the two prior to this one, we have had central air conditioning.

If you don’t have a programmable thermostat, install one.

We have vents in our unfinished basement and always keep them closed summer and winter. It would be a big waste of energy to heat or cool that.

Make sure to keep your a/c or heat pump in good running order by having it maintained at least once a year. Hose out the outside unit to get any bugs or grass or anything else that might get in there out. 

Plant bushes or trees to shade the unit but not so that they interfere with it. 

We change our air filter once a month to keep the air flow efficient. We use the cheapest filters(on the advice of our heat and A/C maintenance people) which I buy in bulk. 

Rearrange any furniture that obstructs your vents. Our vents are in the floor in this house so we would never put any furniture on top of them or in front of them.

Keeping your lights off(they produce heat) during the day will reduce your A/C and your lighting costs. But keeping in mind closing and opening window coverings will also help significantly. So do what you have to in rooms that don’t have the curtains closed if you need light.

If you are not home during the day or are going out for a significant number of hours, turn the A/C up to 85. If you live in the northern states and you go away, turn the A/C off while you are gone. If you live in the hottest states, turn your thermostat up to 85 or more.

Insulate worn door and window seals. If your attic isn’t insulated, do it. 

When you are building a home, make sure they put the thermostat on a wall that doesn’t have sun shining on it all day or not next to a hot window. 

If you get hot with the A/C on, use the ceiling fans in 
conjunction with the A/C. That will help you prevent turning the A/C down.

Don’t use your oven when the A/C is on. I cook outside on the grill or use small appliances on the patio or in the garage on rainy days.

I hope these help you stay cool. How do you stay cool? Please share with us your ideas so that we can all benefit from your knowledge.

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Every Day

Frugal Things This Past Week

These are the frugal things we did last week to save a bit of money.

I cooked a 10 lb. ham that I purchased around Thanksgiving for $.89 a lb. We had 3 dinners from it and I used the food saver to package and freeze 12 more meals for us. There is also a package in the refrigerator for sandwiches and to fry for breakfast. That will save us on breakfast meats and cold cuts.

Hubby had worn a hole in one pair of his LL Bean jeans. We patched it for him to wear around the yard. But he needed to order more jeans. So I went through Rakuten(formerly Ebates) to Raise.com and purchased a $50. LL Bean gift card after discount and coupon code for $43.82. I will get $ .45 back from Rakuten. 

My son and grandson came to breakfast on Saturday this past weekend. My son and Hubby went outside to remove the tree and got a surprise. There is new growth on it. We are hoping that because spring was so late this year that it will grow and bloom. So they will wait another three weeks to see. If not then they will dig it out.

My lilac bushes are in full bloom. The smell is wonderful. I have been cutting some to put in a vase in the house. No purchased flowers for me once everything starts blooming.


We needed cushions for the chairs of our new patio set that we purchased on a 30% off sale. Since we had $ 250. in Lowe’s gift cards that were discounted ($50. off)on a Top’s deal last Nov.-Dec., we used some of those to purchase them yesterday.

I have been doing something new. I am curious to see how much extra income we accumulate because of coupons, random checks that come in the mail that we weren’t expecting, my senior discounts, Kohl’s cash, Raise.com discounted gift card amounts, Ibotta, Fetch, Checkout 51 amounts, Rakuten, gas savings from points, cash back from our credit cards, etc. You get the idea. I am treating all of these amounts as extra income because without doing these things we would have had to spend our income. I used to track this a few years ago but got bored with it. But I have decided to do it again. Grocery coupons don’t give me much because I don’t use many. But other retail store coupons do.  I do not include bottle returns because I put money out for the deposits to begin with. I also do not include the grocery savings that they show on my receipts which is the difference between the retail and sale price. They show it as savings. I don’t consider it savings unless I get to keep money in my pocket right away. I rarely pay full price for anything. This past week’s amount was $ 53.41.

I hand washed a shirt that is bright red because I didn’t trust that it wouldn’t turn my other laundry red. I am also hand washing underwear to make it last longer. All of my new tops are also being hand washed. I don’t want them to shrink right now. Everything is hung to dry and then I iron what needs to be. 

I only did 3 loads of wash in the washer these past couple of weeks: one was towels, one was sheets and one was clothing. I hung all to dry but the towels. We don’t like crunchy towels.

We have not turned on the A/C even on the really warm days because I am hoping for a lower utility bill. This bill will have partial heat on it too.

We have not had to turn on our sprinkler system at all because we have had enough rain to keep everything green. 


I signed up for the Hilton Honors Rewards Program.

I have been trying to use up the small bottles of body wash, shampoo, and hand lotion that I got from my two hospital stays this year. 

The landscape company wanted an additional $ 750. to put mulch down in our gardens. Hubby said it was just too expensive compared to doing it ourselves. However, he has not even ordered the mulch and our gardens badly need it. So I convinced him to contact the company and order it. He also ordered 4 more flowering bushes. He is negotiating with the company manager to bring the price down on the mulch and labor to put it in. UPDATE: Hubby got the company down to $500. for the mulch. Plus they are doing it tomorrow. Win, win!

What have you done this past week to save a buck or two?
 

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Every Day

What We Ate and The Grocery Shopping

Our dinner plans this past week included a 10 lb. ham that I cooked. We had ham and salad or veggies three nights.

Sunday night we had grilled steak with mushrooms and mashed cauliflower. Half of that steak got eaten for breakfast the next morning.  I made Spanish rice for Hubby to have with his. One night we had a Chef’s salad.  Friday night we went out to dinner with friends.

Last night I made Egg Roll in a Bowl.  We loved this but since it makes a lot we will be eating it for two more dinners. 

Breakfasts were ham and eggs, Canadian bacon and eggs, steak and eggs, and for our family breakfast on Saturday we had scrambled eggs, chicken breakfast sausage, and green grapes. Hubby did have ham salad on Ritz crackers for one of his brunches. I get these breakfast sausage at Aldi’s and we love them.

I did a lot of grocery shopping this past week. I went to both Walmart and Top’s. I am stocking on some things for when my grandchildren come to visit and for a trip later in the summer plus things we needed. 

The 2 pizzas, 5 boxes of ice cream bars, Tostitos, and popcorn are for Hubby and the grandchildren. The Skinny Pop, Diet Snapple, and little snack items are for our trip. The Snapple was on sale B1G1F. The 2nd one isn’t pictured because I dropped it when I was trying to set up the picture. Crash and I could hear glass breaking. What a mess I had in my kitchen. But after it was all cleaned up, we had only 3 bottles that broke.

The gallon of milk was only $ 1.49 at Walmart which was a nice surprise. The salads were on B1G1F plus one had a reduced price sticker and will get eaten today. I needed the 2 coleslaw for the recipe last night and for Hubby to make himself some coleslaw. He loves it. The corn on the cob were only $ .10 an ear so I bought 2 for Hubby. 

The crackers are something new I am trying. They are low carb and would be good with hummus on them. The root beer was free after coupon and it made Hubby very happy.

I needed the green onions, sweet onion, rice vinegar, and ground turkey to make the Egg Roll in a Bowl.

The bacon bits, eggs, mustard, cheeses, celery, Softsoap refill, deodorant and light bulb were all badly needed. 

I spent $ 78.96 at Top’s and $57.98 at Walmart. I also found a cute top for me at Walmart. I am finally done with shopping for this size. When I lose more weight and need clothes again, I will sell all that I have purchased recently.

Have you gotten any good deals this past week? How much is a gallon of milk where you live? I am wondering if this is a fluke or a sign that milk prices are coming down. Please feel free to comment and share with us.  

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Every Day

Tracking Your Assets

Tracking your income and your expenses is a necessity so that you can see how you are spending your money and where you need to make changes to be able to accumulate wealth. Then you work to make those changes.

Why is that important you ask? Is it to see where you stand compared to the Joneses? No! It is so that you can see how you can pay for the necessities in life, enjoy the luxuries that are important to you, and to some day retire with enough money to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor in a healthy and long retirement. 

Sometimes, we forget some assets that really are cash. I have been guilty of this! So this weekend, I gathered those assets and made a list so that I know where we stand with those. I was quite surprised at the total of those assets.


I am talking about gift cards. I knew I had a few hanging around in my wallet, in my desk, etc. But I had forgotten how many I had and what their value was. So I found them all and made a list so that we can incorporate them into our budget the next few months. I also took the time to check all of their balances so that I knew the worth of each of them.

Here is my list of gift cards:

Amazon                                      $  14.60

Lowe’s                                          250.00

Panera Bread                                184.87

Gap                                               10.00

LL Bean                                         50.00

Tom’s Diner                                    30.00

Russell’s                                       150.00

They totaled $ 689.47. That is a significant amount of money to have hanging around. I would not treat my cash so casually as to have it spread around the house.

So here is my plan. The Amazon and Gap I can use for clothing the next time I need to buy smaller sizes.
Hubby buys all of his clothes at LL Bean. He just wore a hole in a pair of jeans so they need replacing. I will patch the ones with the hole so that he can use them for yard work. 

We need to buy cushions for the chairs of a new patio set so we will shop at Lowe’s to get them. 

Panera Bread is not on my diet these days. However, Hubby likes their sandwiches and soup. So I can use them for meals for him. I will also use them to buy the bread, rolls, or bagels for his sandwiches. Bagels are often on our Sunday breakfast menu along with eggs and some kind of meat. My family all loves their bagels. I can also use them for gifts.

Tom’s Diner has wonderful breakfasts so perhaps we will take my granddaughter there when she visits this summer. 

And last but not least, we love Russell’s Steakhouse.
It is our very favorite restaurant. We have a celebration in mind to use that gift certificate.

So now that we have a plan, they will get used and not just languish in a drawer somewhere. They will be used the same as cash the next few months. 

Do you have gift cards just hanging around? Incorporate them into your budget!

We had the most glorious weekend. On Friday night, we went with good friends to a favorite restaurant for dinner. It was the very first time that we have eaten out since my surgery. I was concerned that they wouldn’t have anything that was on my diet. So I pulled up their menu online and found three things I could eat. I ordered a taco salad which came in a fried shell which I did not eat. I added grilled chicken to the salad but asked them to serve the dressing on the side which I didn’t even touch. It was mainly lettuce, veggies, the chicken, jalapenos, a little bit of shredded cheese and I asked for a little sour cream and some salsa. It was huge but delicious. I ate half of it. Next time I would share one with Hubby. I drank unsweetened iced tea. It all worked out and we had a fabulous time.

The weather was perfect…sunny and warm. We have still not turned on the A/C. We just kept the windows and window coverings closed all day until it cooled off at night and then we would open them for some fresh air.

On Saturday, my son and grandson came for breakfast. I always enjoy seeing them. My grandson is getting so tall.

The rest of the weekend we just relaxed and enjoyed it. I took a walk around our yard enjoying the beautiful lilacs that are now in full bloom along with the iris. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too. 

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Every Day

What Would You Do With A Lump Sum Of Money?

If a lump sum of money all of a sudden came your way, what would you do with it? A lump sum could be $100., $300., $1000., or even $ 10,000. It really doesn’t matter how much or where it came from. It could be a small amount up to thousands. Do you ever dream about winning the lottery when there is a large jackpot? I am sure most everyone has at one time or another.

Would you blow the money on eating out, going to the movies, on a shopping spree, or on a vacation? Or would you put all of it on your credit card debt, an extra principal payment on your mortgage, or pay off your car loan?


We have been there many times in our life. Whether it was a small inheritance, or a tax refund, overtime pay, or any check that we were not expecting.

We have lived it so we know what we did. We gifted some, we gave some to various charities, and we invested the rest. We were able to because we had no credit card debt or car loans when the money came our way. Our mortgages had all been paid and our last two homes we paid cash for. We also had a good size emergency fund and plenty of investments.  

Why were we in such good shape? Because we spent the majority of our lives making extra principal payments on our homes to pay them off quickly. If we got an extra $50., or $100.(use your imagination), it got sent as a principal payment on the mortgage or sent to pay off our car loans we had  25 years ago. We saved and invested regularly also. 


We always had our eye on the future. You should too because let me tell you, life goes really fast. Before you know it, it’s time to retire. I know some people work till they die but I don’t think anyone really wants to do that unless they really love their job. 

Here is a calculator for you to use. Play with it to find out how many years you could cut off your mortgage and how much interest you would save if you made extra principal payments every month:

Mortgage Calculator 

And here is one for paying off your auto loan early by making extra principal payments: 

Auto Loan Calculator  

Lastly, here is one for your credit card debt:

Credit Card Calculator 


Now what would I do if I had all three debt payments to make every month and I got a lump sum or many lump sums?  I would build at least a $1500. emergency fund if I didn’t have one. That would give me some money to pay for a broken appliance or a repair. If every time you have something go wrong, you put it on your credit card you will never get out of debt.


Next I would never again charge anything on credit cards. I would work to pay off the credit card debt as quickly as possible by making extra payments. I know people say “But I had to use it(the CC), it was an emergency”. The problem with that is there will always be an emergency in their mind. Buying new clothes, going out to eat, going to the movies, etc. are not emergencies. Then I would work at putting extra payments on the credit card debt I owe.


When the credit card debt is paid, start paying extra on the car loan or student loans.


When those are paid, use all of your extra lump sums of extra money to make extra monthly principal payments on your mortgage.


Then when all your debt is gone, start saving for your next car. Put money into retirement accounts if you haven’t been doing it already. And then book a vacation or any other fun you want to have.

I have heard so much whining in my lifetime about how people will never get their debt paid off. I don’t make enough money. Well, then take another job temporarily until you do have the credit card debt or auto loan paid off. Oh I hear more whining about that!


The bottom line here is you created the debt so you have to pay it off. It is up to you as to whether that will take a couple of years or a lifetime. I know which way I would go.

So please don’t waste your lump sums on consumables that you won’t even remember a year down the road. Put them on your debt. You will be so much happier in the long run if you don’t owe debt that is stressing you out.