We have a Care Credit Card which we got at our vet, It is 0% for 6 months, with a min. charge (not sure the amount). If you don't pay it off in 6 months it is 26.99%, we have always paid it off. We used it twice for 2 ER vet trips that each were almost $2000.00. We just make sure to pay it off before the interest starts.
I believe bcwife76 explained a bit about the program a few months back. I also make money through credit card reward programs, survey websites and receipt apps (checkout 51, snap by groupon) but it's pretty much chump change. Otherwise, my job is to make my husband's salary go as far as it can through frugal living. My money mostly goes to funding the vacation account...so the Europe trip is at least a couple of years away, but I like having goals to work towards.
Whew! It has taken me the better part of a week to get through this entire thread but...I did it!
I'm actually joining too late to do any debt dumping...we paid our car off at the end of June, so we have been debt free for a couple of months (feels ah-mazing!!) but now we need to work on building up our savings, so I'm joining in anyways!
I need to build up a short term emergency fund, a longer term emergency fund (the savings for this one starts once the short term one is fully funded), a vacation account (so I can take my family to London and Paris) and a down payment for a house.
I've only done some rough figures, but I need to build up something like this:
Short Term Emergency $4000
Longer Term Emergency $8000
Vacation Account $10000
Down payment $30000
I'm in Ontario, Canada and DH has a great job with a decent income, a pension plan and good health insurance coverage and I am also investing in an RESP (education savings) for the kids and an RRSP (retirement savings) for myself. At this point, the contributions are pretty small for those two but after we get the house, we'll be able to increase them, and they have been building for several years each so we have an okay-ish amount in there at present.
As my moniker states, I am a stay at home mom, so my income is a mere $269.64 a month...the money the government awards me for procreating!
We sort of took the summer off from actively saving and went on a nice long celebratory trip (debt freedom) at the end of August\beginning of September, so we've actually only been saving for about six weeks. The current balances look pretty paltry right now, but I know from experience that it builds up quick!
At present, here are how the accounts stand:
Short Term Emergency $250
Vacation Account $220.64
Down payment $1200
We don't actually NEED as much as I have calculated (by a lot probably--I am a big fan of overestimating) but we can revise better once we get closer to those goals. I think it will take about 2 years to pull together the house money and then we can really get cooking on everything else. Until then, we are going to be putting aside $100 every month for emergencies via an automatic bank transfer (from checking to savings) and I hope to match that contribution with savings managed from being under budget in other areas of the budget (groceries, gasoline, misc expenses, etc). And I mentioned earlier that the vacation savings only come from what I pull in (and not even all of it since some of it goes to charitable donations).
I'm still working on the particulars, so we will likely revise somewhat as we go but I thought I'd throw this up there for now!
Having just FINALLY reached the end of the tunnel after four years of debt repayment, I am here to testify that it CAN be done and it DOES get better and it's COMPLETELY worth all the hassle, tears, stress, frustration and wrestling with Murphy. Keep swimming my friends, just keeeeeep swimming! Financial freedom is indescribably sweet and I promise to be a fabulous cheerleader for those still on the journey!!
Awesome! I'm watching it so I can get updates when you post.
Whew! It has taken me the better part of a week to get through this entire thread but...I did it!
I'm actually joining too late to do any debt dumping...we paid our car off at the end of June, so we have been debt free for a couple of months (feels ah-mazing!!) but now we need to work on building up our savings, so I'm joining in anyways!
I need to build up a short term emergency fund, a longer term emergency fund (the savings for this one starts once the short term one is fully funded), a vacation account (so I can take my family to London and Paris) and a down payment for a house.
I've only done some rough figures, but I need to build up something like this:
Short Term Emergency $4000
Longer Term Emergency $8000
Vacation Account $10000
Down payment $30000
I'm in Ontario, Canada and DH has a great job with a decent income, a pension plan and good health insurance coverage and I am also investing in an RESP (education savings) for the kids and an RRSP (retirement savings) for myself. At this point, the contributions are pretty small for those two but after we get the house, we'll be able to increase them, and they have been building for several years each so we have an okay-ish amount in there at present.
As my moniker states, I am a stay at home mom, so my income is a mere $269.64 a month...the money the government awards me for procreating!
We sort of took the summer off from actively saving and went on a nice long celebratory trip (debt freedom) at the end of August\beginning of September, so we've actually only been saving for about six weeks. The current balances look pretty paltry right now, but I know from experience that it builds up quick!
At present, here are how the accounts stand:
Short Term Emergency $250
Vacation Account $220.64
Down payment $1200
We don't actually NEED as much as I have calculated (by a lot probably--I am a big fan of overestimating) but we can revise better once we get closer to those goals. I think it will take about 2 years to pull together the house money and then we can really get cooking on everything else. Until then, we are going to be putting aside $100 every month for emergencies via an automatic bank transfer (from checking to savings) and I hope to match that contribution with savings managed from being under budget in other areas of the budget (groceries, gasoline, misc expenses, etc). And I mentioned earlier that the vacation savings only come from what I pull in (and not even all of it since some of it goes to charitable donations).
I'm still working on the particulars, so we will likely revise somewhat as we go but I thought I'd throw this up there for now!
Having just FINALLY reached the end of the tunnel after four years of debt repayment, I am here to testify that it CAN be done and it DOES get better and it's COMPLETELY worth all the hassle, tears, stress, frustration and wrestling with Murphy. Keep swimming my friends, just keeeeeep swimming! Financial freedom is indescribably sweet and I promise to be a fabulous cheerleader for those still on the journey!!
Hello fellow-Canadian and fellow-stay-at-home-mom 
My dh and I were both born and raised in North Vancouver. We currently reside in Surrey, near the Surrey/Langley border
I still can't believe you moved right when I found out you were from Kamloops! It's still as amazing here as ever
