Budgeting Project: Refinancing my House

I meant to post this last month, but totally forgot! I've been working on refinancing my house since October. Every since I attended the Dave Ramsey Smart Conference last year, I've been trying to focus on my Budgeting Project and getting better with spending money.

The process to refinance my house took longer than I expected, but it also went more smoothly than I expected.

When I originally bought my house, I bought it before the market dropped. So I bought "high" AND my house loan was on a 5-year fixed ARM. When the market plummeted, I went quickly under water on my house. I refinanced my house after 2 years to get on a 30-year fixed loan. The ARM loan scared me after the housing market dropped. However, when I refinanced the interest rate wasn't at the lowest.

Once I heard that the Fed would be raising the interest rates, I knew I had to refinance while the rates were still low. So, I jumped right on it.

Since I'm trying to follow the Dave Ramsey plan, they were trying to get me on a 15 year house loan. The problem with the 15 year:

1. It would increase my current mortgage +$200. 
2. I would have to pay out-of-pocket for a house appraisal +$500 

The whole idea around refinancing my house was to save money monthly. It's not like the extra $200 would kill me... but, it defeats the point of trying to pay down my debt. That's money that could go towards my student loans + credit card debt. 

I quickly decided against that. 

Then, we looked into a 20 year house loan. Ran into the same problem. It would still increase my monthly mortgage and I would have to do a house appraisal. 

Now, the interest rate was LOW if I went with the 15- or 20- year house loans. Like, by a lot! But I really do have to focus on getting my debt down, so I opted to forgo these options. 

Then, it was looking at doing another 30 year fixed. The interest rate went down over a point and my monthly mortgage went down over $100/month. I did have some closing costs, some of which I paid out of pocket for, but it wasn't much. 

I expected to get a better interest rate than what I received, but it is what it is!

The paperwork wasn't painless... but it wasn't too crazy. The mortgage company did a lot electronically and I got to sign paperwork electronically as well.

For closing costs, someone came to my home and we signed all the paperwork and I received a CD with the paperwork as well. What was nice is: they printed it on 8.5x10 paper instead of legal paper! Easier filing!

All in all, it took me about 2 months to refinance my house. It would've went faster if I responded quicker to getting some of the requested paperwork. It was relatively painless.

I'm hoping that when I get to the Baby Step #6, I can actually pay off my mortgage. One step at a time though! For now, with the refinance of my house I can put the extra money towards paying off my other debt and continue working on Baby Step #2. Slowly but surely, I hope to make it through these baby steps.

It's almost like I can imagine being at Baby Step #7...! Focus-focus-focus!

FPU: Session #1

I bit the bullet and enrolled in a local Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University (FSU). I've been listening to Dave Ramsey's talk show on the radio for a few years now. I also attended his Smart Conference last year. However, I never really considered signing up and joining FSU.

Why?

I guess I thought "I could do it on my own!" and "Why pay extra money to take a class when I can read the book?"

Truth be told, even though I read his book and attended his conference - I haven't really made the necessary changes to get out of debt. Yes, I've made small changes and started really focusing on it with my budgeting project. But the small changes haven't really been cutting it.

The big change for me is my adoption of Little Guy. What I want for my son:

• Be smart about finances
• I want to be able to provide a college fund 
• I don't want to struggle with debt while he's growing up 

To help my son be smarter about finances, I realized *I* need to be smart about my finances. I picked up on a lot of bad money habits from my parents. 

I want to provide my son with a descent college fund. But how can I do that if I am forever paying MY student loans off and accumulating more credit card debt. 

I want to be able to provide experiences for my son. But I can't do that if I'm living paycheck to paycheck and struggling with my debt. 

That was my turning point where my finances were concerned. Being single, some of the challenges are: being held accountable and having discipline in my spending. I always knew this, but thought I would be able to "do it myself." But the truth is -- I haven't been successful and now, I need to make major changes! 

So, I enrolled in Financial Peace University (FSU) at my church. 

We had our first class last night. I really like it! I feel motivated, I feel like I can do this, and I have a VISION of what life can be like debt free. 

I know it's going to be a long journey, there will be ups and downs along the way. But I'm really going to FOCUS on one step at a time. Right now, I'm on Baby Step #2 - the Debt Snowball. I'll be here for awhile, I know. I just added up all my debts.... I have to say -- It's overwhelming! Like by a lot. But what was interesting is -- once I saw the NUMBER and the AMOUNT of debt that I have, it made me want to attack it quickly! 

With the motivation, right now the FOCUS. Before I can really tackle my debt snowball, I have to BUDGET. I've been pretty good about tracking expenses the last few months, but the budget has been a little variable. I haven't been really focusing on "sticking to the budget". I blame it on the holidays and such! But, what's the use of the budget if you're overspending in some categories? 

I'm happy I signed up for FSU and I'm hoping at the end of this, I can call Dave Ramsey and say that I'm debt free! 

Focus-focus-focus. Baby Step #2 - Debt Snowball. 

Gratitude List: Week of 10/18/15

A few years ago I was trying to focus on "positive" things and started a Gratitude List. I used to keep a hard-journal and would write a few things a day that I was grateful for. I've totally gotten away from that because I haven't kept up hand-writing for a few years now. To be honest, I miss hand-writing! But the truth is, it's very time consuming and I'm so busy lately. With my down time, I'd rather read a book -- or watch a show. I don't watch much TV, just a few hours/week. I do read almost every single day for at least an hour. These are kind of my "escape" from all my hard work for the day and my way of relaxing.

I attended Dave Ramsey's Smart Conference. When I have time, I'm going to be writing a blog entry on my experience. Also, I have a bunch of take-a-ways and things I want to implement/change in my life. I LOVED this event. 

One of the speakers was Dave Ramsey's daughter, Rachel Cruze. I have to admit, I wasn't that familiar with her prior to the conference. I was very impressed with her speaking ability and with the message that she was conveying (which I'll get into more when I write my blog about the Smart Conference). 

One of the things that resonated with me was that she mentioned she kept a "Gratitude List" on her smart phone in her Notes app. For some reason, it never dawned on me to keep my list on my phone... even though when I had another phone I did indeed keep a list of affirmations and gratitude's on there. I don't know why I got away from it! 

When I heard her speak about it, a light bulb went off for me -- I need to do this! Rachel Cruze said she kept a running list of things she was grateful for and she just kept adding to it. She would read through her list every morning and make sure she didn't have any "repeats". Rachel also mentioned that the longer you keep a list, it can be hard to keep adding to it because all the most noticeable stuff is at the top. So, you really had to think about it. 

After the conference, I started my very own Gratitude List on my iPhone in my Notes app. I thought it would be nice to share my list on my Blog, possibly on a weekly basis. Still thinking how it can all work out. I've started with adding 1-3 things a day. 

This week, I am Grateful for: 

• Little Guy 
• Sunday mornings cuddling with Little Guy 
• Baby Munchkin's smiles 
• Sleep (when I can get it!)  
• My House 
• Hearing Little Guy's voice first thing in the morning
• Hearing Little Guy say, "I lul lu" aka I love you :) 
• Working from home 
• Reading books 
• Listening to Audio books 
• 2nd Chances 
• Having the opportunity to improve my life 
• Being a foster parent
• Being a soon-to-be adoptive parent 

What are you grateful for in your life?