Going like a Gazelle!

Right now I'm squeezing every penny to become debt free. In FPU we call that Gazelle Intensity. At the beginning of the year I had about $4,500 in credit card debt which was kicking my ass. I also have a mortgage which I pay an extra $40/month towards principal.

I have my baby emergency fund of $1000 and have reduced my 401k to free up cash... about $70/month. I am couponing and following sales more at the grocery stores, using envelopes and eating out much less. Yesterday my brother met me for lunch at work and he brought some pulled pork he made in the crockpot and a couple cans of soda. I bought two fries and it was lunch out for two for $3. Normally, we would go out and spend about $15 for lunch and go out once a week. He is now on medical leave, battling cancer and cooking more so this was a special treat.

For my turnaround since the beginning of the year the total is $1631... $1041 paid and $590 saved. Yes it is painful but I paid off the last $161 from Macy's (my winter coat and accessories) and about $600 is mortgage principal reduction. I still have over 25 years left so the principal is not going down very fast. When I added it up and saw $1631, I was amazed. Yes, I am still saving for college for my boy who is a high school senior and because I am pushing 50, I don't want to cut retirement savings completely. This does deviate slightly from the Ramsey plan, which is perfect when you are 30. I hope to be out of the credit card hole by next fall and am watching my accounts closely.

In other news, I caught an automatic charge to my checking account for $67 from Angie's list to automatically renew my subscription. No warning... just boom! Snatched it out of my bank. I saw red. I got on chat and had them reverse it. I subscribed a couple years ago for, I think, $30 because I was doing some work on the house. I don't like these automatic renewing things and will be more watchful in the future. BEWARE: You touch my money and you will be pimp-slapped on my blog!