I am so glad we did this spending freeze and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! One of my main goals, as I mentioned earlier this month, was to stop paying bank fees and late fees on our bills. The good news is I went from paying $187.50 in fees to the bank last month to $35 this month. I wish I could say it was zero but... Joel wanted to sign up for Amazon Prime, we agreed it was worth $80 for the year and there was a 30 day trial period. Well, I totally forgot that the 30 days were ending in February and our bank account would be automatically debited. So the money wasn't available when Amazon submitted the payment and we were charged an overdraft fee. I am still very proud of our progress. Plus I got caught up on a few bills that we were falling behind on. I also adjusted some monthly payment dates to a more convenient time for us to pay them eliminating late fees.
What I am looking forward to is paying my car off this September. Then I plan on making bigger payments on our one and only credit card to pay that off too. Currently when I look at our monthly budget, our biggest bill is our rent but almost equal to that bill is money going to education. Not for me but for our kids and my husband. My husband went to Heald College and earned his AA. He took out student loans and we owe about $25,000. This is a touchy subject for me as I did not get involved when he was going through the loan/tuition process(my bad). My kids go to Catholic School which costs about $4000 per child per year. We were given a $1000 scholarship last year which helped lower our monthly payments down to $600 per month. In addition to the tuition we have to purchase uniforms with logos($20 shirts/$45 sweaters), a yearly registration fee, school building fund, there are 2 mandatory fundraisers that are $500 (if we don't raise the money from friends and family we are required to pay ourselves) and school supplies. They do not have reduced or free lunches. They offer a hot lunch for around $5. Which is why I pack their lunches everyday. This upcoming year Leo will be in 8th grade. It will be his final year there. He really wants to go our local Catholic High School. The tuition there is double what we pay now. Obviously we are going to have to evaluate which direction to go. When all is said and done and Leo graduates next year we will have paid $36,000 in tuition for grades K-8. Our daughter Annabelle is only in first grade this year. I am seriously looking at other options for her. We haven't made any final decisions but I am doing a lot of research and weighing the pros and cons. I am reassured to know that if we go in another direction for her education that she can still attend Catholic religious education for children at our church.
Obviously we have some big decisions to make in the near future. And we will have to do what is best for all of us, as a family.
What I am looking forward to is paying my car off this September. Then I plan on making bigger payments on our one and only credit card to pay that off too. Currently when I look at our monthly budget, our biggest bill is our rent but almost equal to that bill is money going to education. Not for me but for our kids and my husband. My husband went to Heald College and earned his AA. He took out student loans and we owe about $25,000. This is a touchy subject for me as I did not get involved when he was going through the loan/tuition process(my bad). My kids go to Catholic School which costs about $4000 per child per year. We were given a $1000 scholarship last year which helped lower our monthly payments down to $600 per month. In addition to the tuition we have to purchase uniforms with logos($20 shirts/$45 sweaters), a yearly registration fee, school building fund, there are 2 mandatory fundraisers that are $500 (if we don't raise the money from friends and family we are required to pay ourselves) and school supplies. They do not have reduced or free lunches. They offer a hot lunch for around $5. Which is why I pack their lunches everyday. This upcoming year Leo will be in 8th grade. It will be his final year there. He really wants to go our local Catholic High School. The tuition there is double what we pay now. Obviously we are going to have to evaluate which direction to go. When all is said and done and Leo graduates next year we will have paid $36,000 in tuition for grades K-8. Our daughter Annabelle is only in first grade this year. I am seriously looking at other options for her. We haven't made any final decisions but I am doing a lot of research and weighing the pros and cons. I am reassured to know that if we go in another direction for her education that she can still attend Catholic religious education for children at our church.
Obviously we have some big decisions to make in the near future. And we will have to do what is best for all of us, as a family.
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