Army Amy's Amazing Personal Finance Blog (wow!

small update...back to saving, but missing my husband.

(Amy) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:03:05 PST

Well, my DH deployed to Iraq a fews ago. It's sad not having him here and I hate not being able to call him or see him. But I'm trying to be positive and view this time apart as a time where we can save money and one day better our lives because of it.

Being deployed he gets...

Has it been that long?

(Amy) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 17:38:59 PST

I just realized that I haven't posted on here in almost 2 months!

Well here's a quick update. I'm in school and doing pretty well so far which is exciting. I guess part of the reason that I haven't been keeping up w/ this blog is besides being so busy, I'm not saving any money....

July Net Worth... $20,550.

(Amy) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 10:04:38 PST

http://www.networthiq.com/people/ArmyAmy/2007/07

Our networth over the past year and a half has been steadily increasing. This will soon end as I go back to college and try to pay for that in installment payments instead of saving $1,000 a month for our future house. I still want to take out a student loan but haven't applied or had a chance to research it. School starts soon, and that first installment payment for tuition is coming up. It will be almost $2,000 due on August 20th...yikes! College truely is expensive.

Quote of the Day

(Amy) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:39:03 PST

A fool and his money are soon parted.

New Category...Keeping up with the Jones

(Amy) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:14:29 PST

The military community is an interesting place. Where else can you go online and find out exactly how much money your co-worker or neighbor makes? http://www.militaryfactory.com/military_pay_scale.asp The pay is fixed too, so no matter how many hours you put in, you get the same salary. The only thing that's variable in a military couple's finances is what the wife earns.

There's a couple that we're friendly with...I'll call them the Jones. We all get together and bbq on the weekends. Well the Mr. Jones is of the same rank as my husband and so recieves the same pay as my husband. Mrs. Jones is currently looking for work, so we know that we're making a little more than them since I have a job. Only a little more though, since my job doesn't pay much and is part-time. Basically they make the same amount of money as we do.

That by itself isn't all that interesting. What's interesting about it is that the Jones seem to be doing much better than we are! They both drive new cars (one is only a few months old and the other is a year old). Our cars are 8-10 yrs old. They live in a nicer house, in a nicer neighborhood. Mrs. Jones is always out shopping for clothes, while my wardrobe hasn't seen a new addition in months!

So this new category will basically document what we do, versus what they do. Both our husbands are deploying within the next few months and while I'm planning on going back to school and saving the extra deployment pay, Mrs. Jones is already talking about the new furniture and new car she will buy!

Net Worth Report for June 2007 ... $19,480

(Amy) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:21:00 PST

http://www.networthiq.com/people/ArmyAmy/2007/06

I promised to post our networth on the 1st of every month, but this month has been pretty hectic and I've not been online lately. But here it is! I took everyone's advice to pay off the high interest cards before they got out of control, and next will be tackling the 0% interest card...afterall that 0% won't last forever!

19 months of saving money. House down payment here we come!

Finishing school during DH's deployment

(Amy) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:41:20 PST

My DH will be deployed for 15 months and I have 2 years left to finish my degree. What to do? I guess go back to school anyways and finish as much as I can. Is it worth it to almost finish? Is it even worth it to finish at all, if we keep moving around (due to DH being in Army)...

The D word

(Amy) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:41:44 PST

Nope, not divorce...deployment. My DH is supposed to be deploying in a few months to some far off country and will be gone for 15 months. Tours of duty overseas used to be 12 months but they've recently been extended. Very upsetting!

I would be so lonely here, so I think...

The end of Spendometer

(Amy) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:24:35 PST

Well, this is the end of my daily spending journal. I decided to put an end to it because, well, it was boring! I guess that's a good thing though.

We're still using cash only and being very frugal for the next couple of weeks. Overall, it's not too bad. The only time it's truely...

Spendometer - June 9, 2007

(Amy) — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 19:25:35 PST

I had a no spend day but my husband bough beer. I wasn't very happy about it...I hate beer and I kind of consider it a non-neccessity, but he bought some anyways...

Spent
$20 beer

Spendometer - June 8, 2007

(Amy) — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 19:23:25 PST

Spent
$30 on gas

Hopefully that will last me a while!

Spendometer - June 7, 2007

(Amy) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 12:07:26 PST

No spend day!

Spendometer - June 6, 2007

(Amy) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:07:34 PST

I tried to break the cash-only plan again today! Funny how hard it is to change old ways... Well the reason was that I pulled into the gas station early in the morning, on empty, and the station wasn't open yet so i could only use a card.

I drove to the next station that was...

Spendometer - June 5, 2007

(Amy) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 00:39:34 PST

Well already I've broken the cash-only plan! Curse! I went to the groccery store today and was short $7 so had to swipe the debit card. Also my husband bought and ink cartrige since we were out.

Spent
$47 on grocceries
$18 on ink cartrige for printer

Total $65

Spendometer - June 4, 2007

(Amy) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 20:39:23 PST

I'm adding a new category called Spendometer which will be a daily tracking of what I spend my cash on. I think it'll help keep me honest and also help show where our money goes now that we're on a cash-only plan.

Spent
$14 on gas

On a debt diet

(Amy) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:56:15 PST

After talking over the finances w/ my husband, we have decided to go on a cash-only diet. That means all 3 of the credit cards have been kicked out of our wallets, and our debit card is taking a vactation in the back of the wallet. For now, cash is king.

It's a big change, but...

Net Worth Report for May 2007 ... $18,509

(Amy) — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 19:47:52 PST

http://www.networthiq.com/people/ArmyAmy/2007/05

I edited our net worth to put in the exact figures and that raised it a little. It's going to change dramaticaly tommorow or so when I pay a couple thousand dollars on our credit card bills, thanks to the advice of everyone on here!

Tommorow I'll post our networth

(Amy) — Thu, 31 May 2007 23:17:33 PST

Tommorow I'm going to post our networth and a look at our finances for this past month. Since I'm taking the advice you all gave about using money in savings to pay off credit card debt, it will actually be a little different in a few days (after I make a large credit card payment)...

Does it make sense to anyone other than me?

(Amy) — Wed, 30 May 2007 23:12:08 PST

Well my husband and I got in a little arguement about money today. Our credit card debt is at about $6000 (you don't want to ask...) and that drives him crazy since neither of us have ever had that much on credit cards before and it just seems to keep going higher.

I'm not as...

fixed! or so they say...

(Amy) — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:46:13 PST

Well after talking to several customer service reps they said that my apr rate would stay at the original rate, 7.99%. But to be honest I don't believe them. According to the letter they sent in the mail I could deny the charges but the account would be closed to new charges, and...