Checked my bank online, and my state refund is listing as a pending deposit. Woo-Hoo!! It should be reconciled into Monday night when they reconcile the accounts.
So, in anticipation, I went online and scheduled to pay off my next account (CareCredit). It won't actually pay off until 3/1 on the payment due date, but the payment is already deducted out of my checkbook in Quicken.
I also scheduled a payment for 3/9 using most of my federal refund to make a big payment on my next account. It will pay off about half of that one, which means that when I move my snowball to it in April, I can pay it off just using my snowball in 3 more payments.
I also scheduled my next couple of payments to my gas credit card, boosting them by $150 over the normal weekly payment. This will pay down that card - which is the one that I will have to use on my Spring Break trip. I pay this card each week after I get paid from my 2nd job, so I went ahead and scheduled the 2/22 payment from my check this past Friday, and the 2/29 payment based on what I should get for having worked yesterday. Total, I will boost the payment to this CC by $150 a week for 6 total payments. That should keep me ahead of what I will wind up charging for gas and on my trip, but probably won't decrease the overall total on it by much.
And all of that takes care of my refund for this year.
Well, I got the one cc paid off so that's good news! I'm also getting paid a bit more for the article I wrote than I originally thought, so that will all go toward the second cc on my list.
Congratulations!!! Don't you love getting rid of a debt? I know I do. And way to go getting extra on the payment!!
Also, I changed my retirement contributions to zero. I feel like I'm throwing my money away with it at this point since it's lost so much and is continuing to lose money every month. I feel like the funds will be better used in getting my debt down to zero at this point. My employer still contributes so at least there's that. From what I've read, the stock market will continue to suffer this year. Hoping this is a good decision.
Way to go paying off one of your CC!!
I recently did the same thing. Stopped retirement contributions. It seemed pointless to do it when I had CC debt. Now that my CC debt is paid off, I'm not sure if I should start contributing again, or maybe put extra money on my mortgage if I can. I feel like the economy is on a downward spiral. Might be a good idea to sit down with an investment advisor.
It's really hard to know what to do...
It never hurts to talk to an adviser. I still have a bit under 20 years til retirement, so in my thought now is a good time to invest. Prices are down, and may go lower, but as long as I'm investing in solid stocks & bonds & funds, they will eventually bounce back and will be worth a lot more, and I'll have more of them. I managed to do the same thing about 8 years ago when the economy crashed. Bought a whole bunch of Ford stock for under $10 each, when I finally sold them in 2013, they were in the $50-$60 range. I think I had managed to average 350% return on the stuff I bought.