I just got my year end mortgage statement, and because taxes in my town have gone up, yet again, the mortgage will be increasing by $61/month. Since we bought the house in 2004 the payment has increased by $100. GRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!
If I want to pay the 'escrow cushion' of $167 it will lower the new mortgage payment by $13 or so....big deal.
The good news is that my principle balance went down by $3075, so the new balance is $197,378.84.
I have never made an additional principle payment on the mortgage, because I have always had too much other debt. But I wonder if it would be worth it to allocate some of the extra money (maybe $25 - $50) that I would have put toward the truck payment to the mortgage....what does everyone think?

I remember when I first made the decision to be more frugal. I challenged myself everyday to seek out new ways to save money. I reduced the grocery bill, miscellaneous expenses, lowered the cable bill, the electricity bill, the list goes on.
The hardest part for me was to stop shopping for the sake of shopping. I love to shop. I love to buy clothes and jewelry and shoes, etc. And for the past few months I have done well...very well.
Enter Christmas shopping. I have been forced to shop and look around in stores that I love. I have seen what I have been missing and it is HARD!!!!
For the most part I have been good. I have bought 2 shirts for myself (for a good price) and today I walmart while waiting in line I saw some new Aquafina lip hydration oil that I threw into the cart without even thinking about it.
I know these are not huge expenditures, but it got me thinking about how easy it can be to slip back into old habits.
I love the holidays, but now I can't wait for them to be over so I can stay away from the stores. I need to get back into the Frugal State of Mind!!!

I have been giving a lot of thought to what I would like to accomplish in 2007, and came up with the following goals.

My main priorities are 1) Writing a Will and 2) researching and purchasing life insurance.

I have almost panicked at the thought of what would happen to DS if something were t happen to DH and/or I . Doing these 2 things will help me sleep easier at night.

After the above items are taken care of, I plan to invest in some mutual funds. Before I found this site, I did not feel I knew enough about investing. Now I am much more comfortable with the idea.

And, of course, I will continue with my frugal-ish lifestyle to pay off debt and increase savings.