In other news, Mr. Savvy bought me Rosetta Stone.  Yay!  I’ve been waiting to learn Spanish for years so I’m glad he bought it.  He purchased levels 1-5 so I know it wasn’t cheap but I’m not going to worry about it because it’s been on the list of ’stuff I want’ for quite a while.  When’s the last time you splurged on something you really wanted?

Happy Independence Day!

We bought our current home in 2006 so we’re only four years into a 30 year mortgage.  While we’ve been putting a little extra to the mortgage every month, lowering the interest rate will make a big difference.  So we decided to refinance.  However, like most people, the housing values in our area have dropped.  There are two foreclosures in our neighborhood, one right next door to us.  I’m sure that our house isn’t worth what we paid for it.  We don’t plan to move so that isn’t a major concern.  The issue is how much less.  Based on my estimates, we’ll be subject to PMI if we refinance but I’ve crunched the numbers and it’s still worth it financially.  That said, the next few posts will be a timeline of our refinance process.

While we’re members of a local credit union, I’ve heard great things about PenFed.  Their rates/terms beat our credit and the closing costs are lower so we decided to apply with them.  Tuesday evening after work, I went online and completed a membership application.  There was a slight glitch with the website but I was able to call and immediately get it resolved (even though it was probably well after 7pm).  Next I completed the mortgage application.  It asked the usual questions – loan amount, income, assets – and didn’t take long to complete.

Yesterday I received what appeared to be a form email from PenFed stating that they’d received our application but due to the large volume, refis are currently taking 45-60 days.  It went on to say that a loan officer would call us but not to call them until that time.  Based on that, I didn’t expect to hear from anyone anytime soon but that’s not a problem for us.

Imagine my surprise when I received a call from a loan officer this afternoon.  She said that she’d reviewed our application and everything looked good.  I expected that would be the case because our only debt other than the mortgage is my student loan, which is currently in deferment since I’m in school.  We have a good income, good credit and a low debt to income ratio.  She said she’d be e-mailing some forms that we need to sign and return.  She also confirmed that we’d locked in the rate, would be using them for escrow and were paying closing costs from our savings (vs rolling into the loan).

Hopefully the rest of the process will be as quick and easy.  Has anyone else refinanced their mortgage lately?

I just finished reading this book by Sheila Roberts.  I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It’s enjoying on its own but it includes money tips in order to help readers save money.  It was very well-written and I really felt like the main character was speaking to me.  So much, in fact, that I kind of wonder if it’s at least semi-autobiographical.  So all that said, I’m giving away a copy of the book (gently read).  To enter the giveaway, leave your best money saving tip in the comments.  A winner will be chosen by random next Friday.

photo credit: smemon87

Three years and two months after we purchased my car, it is finally paid for!  Needless to say, I’m starting to save for the next car NOW.  Seriously and literally.  The plan was to have the car paid off by next month but I received THREE expected sums of money last week (hallelujah) and took ~$200 out of savings to just be done with it.  I looked through my records (I track our finances with MS Money) and the total interest over the life of the loan was $2599.xx.  So $2600 down the drain as penance for not buying a car for cash.  The only bright side is that I have never been upside down on the loan (purchased it used and put $2500 down) and KBB says my car is still worth $16K.  Even though it’s six years old, it only has 37K miles and should last for years to come.

Of course, now that the car is paid off, things decided to start breaking around the house.  My flat iron died Monday so I need to get a new one.  Perhaps this time I’ll invest in a quality iron instead of the $29.99 Target cheapies that break or die every few years.  Also, my digital camera is on its last leg.  The screen has been glitchy for a while but now it only takes pics when it feels like it.  I want to research/buy a new one before this one completely dies.

Not to mention I just realized that both our anniversary and Father’s day are happening in the next month.  Ack!  Not only have I not planned for these purchases, I don’t have any gift ideas…

However, all that said, life is still good.  The next target in my sights is the dreaded Direct Loan.  I’m ashamed to admit that 11 whole years since I finished grad school, I’m still paying this.  Deferring the loans my first few years out of college was a BAD idea but I didn’t realize it at the time.  The interest that accrued was added back into the principle!  Combine that with attending private universities for both undergrad and grad school and I owe the government A LOT of money.  My plan is to have it paid off by May 31, 2014, a little more than 4 years from now and 15 years after graduation.  Gulp!

photo credit: dview.us

I’m so close I can taste it.  Today is payday so I sent a chunk of money to the car loan.  God willing, I should make the last payment in two weeks.  Though I haven’t been as good as I could be (still don’t bring my lunch to work), I’ve done a pretty good job of eliminating frivolous spending.

As soon as the loan is paid, I will restart automatic transfers to my IRA.  In addition, I’ll set up an auto transfer to a ‘car fund’.  My car is only six years old and has low miles so I’m not planning to buy another one for at least four years.  However, it would be nice to pay for the next car with cash.  The only problem is that I hate letting savings (other than our emergency fund) accumulate.  I always think the money would be better used to accelerate our mortgage payments.  One of my goals/criteria for early retirement is to have the house paid off.  It’s much easier to retire when your expenses are low.  How do you balance savings vs debt repayment?

We have a few trips planned (both business and pleasure) over the next few months so I need to be careful not to go overboard.  I’m also realizing that there a few things that will be convenient now that I’ve started running.  I want some earphones that wrap behind the ear since the earbuds I have fall out when I run.  Also, I want some type of armband or pouch to hold my iPod.  Mr. Savvy and I registered for a 5k in June so that’s a running expense as well.  We won’t even talk about the cost of Mr. Savvy’s newfound hobby, road racing (bicycling).  He plans to do the Tour de Cure later this month and has been some items to prepare for that.

All in all, we’re making progress albeit slowly.  We’ve also got some other stuff going on so things should smooth out in the next month or so.  What’s new with you guys?

photo credit: graywolfx47

I’ve been out of town more often than not since the end of February.  It’s wreaked havoc on my sleep schedule, energy level and wallet.  First, there was the $30 late fee for not renewing my car’s registration on time.  For some reason, I thought you had until the end of your birth month to renew, not until your birthday.  Then there was the $100 change fee I paid so Mr. Savvy and I wouldn’t have to spend hours in the airport waiting to go home.

Unfortunately, once you start leaking money, it’s easy to just keep on going.  Next was the expensive, but fabulous, facial I treated myself to on my last business trip.  Once I got home, I couldn’t resist taking advantage of a ’spa week’ deal on massages…and some cute wine charms at TJMaxx that I ‘needed’ for a wine tasting at my house…and some running shoes since I’m going to do a 5K this summer…and a spa appointment at the fancy place we’re going anyway to attend a wedding next month.  I think you get the picture.  Not to mention, we just dropped a bundle getting Mr. Savvy’s car fixed yesterday and paid a chunk of money to the IRS.

Quite frankly, it’s a bit depressing.  But not to worry, I’m still on track to get the car paid off in June.  And we setup auto debits for Mr. Savvy’s IRA contributions.  We have a lot of expenses in the upcoming months but at least it’s two steps forward for every one step back.

I’ve been considering leaving ShareBuilder for a while (still debating because you can’t beat the $4 purchases) because I don’t like the $25 annual fee for IRAs.  This might just push me over the edge.