Just a 46-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). The weather has been gorgeous and the trees are starting to bloom.
Makes me VERY happy. Did I mention I Was so over winter???
I can't believe Easter is in 4 weeks!!! It's always a fun family event. We don't host but it is in OUR city which makes it nice. & I have 2 new baby nieces to enjoy this year.
Dh spent a lot of money this week. He has been a bit depressed. I think I see a pattern. Depressed = spending. Just more crap for the kids. Like the NEED more crap. Ugh, I have to update my list big time.
I had an epithany when it comes to our medical insurance situation. I had totally forgotten that our deductible was $1500 per person. So even if we do get an insane/over blown bill, it will be $1500 max. It's $1500 per person, but $3k for the family. Which is much more reasonable. I had just forgotten about that part. As long as we have a boring week, I'll have a good $1k for the medical bill by march. Going to try to deposit an extra $250 since February is a short month. Our expenses have been low this month. We'll see. No medical bill yet. Buys me time.
Well, my first balance transfer is due back next month. It's due in April, so I am paying it back in March with the March payment. It's the shortest one. IT was 9 months. So at about $50/month interest, we will have earned $400. That was EASY money. This one was in dh's name. We'll pay it back and just have him close the card.
IT leaves 2 outstanding in my name. One I just started and will replace dh's money in our 5.7% CD.
I have a few thousand due back in June/July. It's with WAMU though and they send me my FICO score every month. As long as I get my FICO for "free," I am going to keep the card open. But the other one is due come December and I will close it when I am done.
HAving a good score, we always close old cards. I Don't care how old they are or how big the limits. IT has never made a noticeable difference to our scores. I mean it may have dropped from 800 to 780 or something, when I did close my oldest card because they started charging an annual fee. I think we'll survive. IF nothing else I don't like having old cards opened, rife for theft. Or unnoticed fees. Likewise, since they are old cards I Don't use or pay attention too, I am likely to not notice if there was some weird activity or fees, etc. That makes me nervous. I have always just closed all my cards, but kept open one extra one for backup.
Likewise, though it was easy money, I think we'll take a break from the balance transfer game. IT was very helpful to our emergency fund and all that. But it was a lot of juggling with the 3 cards, and I think it will be nice to give our credit scores a break for a while. Well, dh's score will get a break. My 0% is still good for another year. We'll see how I feel in a year I guess. I admit it was easy money and it will be tempting to keep playing the game...
Spring is in the Air...
February 26th, 2008 at 05:33 pm
February 26th, 2008 at 06:18 pm 1204049883
Hmmmmmm . . . . . :::runs over to window:::
Grey/cloudy skies, snow everywhere and still some coming down . . . . . .
Oh yeah, spring is in the air alright. LOL
February 26th, 2008 at 07:16 pm 1204053414
February 26th, 2008 at 10:08 pm 1204063728
But considering that our city is in severe drought, any rain is a good thing!
February 26th, 2008 at 10:29 pm 1204064998
Way to stay on top of the balance transfers ... I've been way to chicken to do that!
February 27th, 2008 at 08:08 am 1204099687
If you pay the cards off at the end of the month and you aren't planning to buy a house, the diff between 700 - 800 is minimal. I just prefer to close them.
February 28th, 2008 at 01:06 am 1204160795