I recently wrote a post about what our savings goals are for this year. That is, we hope to be able to transfer $1,000.00/month into our savings account each month. As I said in my previous post, we had an unexpected $800.00 medical bill from my husband's surgery that we had to pay, so we were really hoping to transfer $200.00 this month.

Well, after getting paid on Monday, we're going to be able to transfer a whopping $1,060.00 this month! We are turning around and paying $540.00 of that for our phone plans sinking fund. We also just paid $28.00 for school pictures because our daughter has her pictures today.

So, the total amount we need to save for our sinking funds this year (it's changed a little bit) is $6,914.00
The amount we have already saved and spent is $1,233.19
The amount we have in savings as of 3/4/15 is $3,441.84
Our amount left to save is $2,238.97!!!

At the rate we have been going, we just might be able to knock that out after April's savings transfer and our tax refund of $800.00 that we will hopefully receive this month and about half of May's transfer!! As long as the hubs is able to get his 8 hours/week of overtime we should be set. The only scary thing is that his work keeps saying that they are cutting overtime for the week and then they for some reason end up allowing him to work overtime. So fingers crossed that he'll be able to get his overtime for a while.

Right now our mortgage is solely in my husband's name as he bought it before we got married, which is fine. The interest rate is 5.25%, which stinks! He took his loan out a little over 5 years ago now as a 30 year term. We want to refinance our mortgage and this is the information we have gotten so far.

Hubby did something online and got a quote (I guess) of 3.75% and approximate closing costs of $3,300.00. He wants another 30 year term.

I called a few companies in our state and got quotes of 4% to 4.125% and approximate closing costs of $1,500.00-$2,000.00

I'm actually okay with doing a 30 year term and paying it off as a 15 year term. This way we could extra toward the principal when we can and if anything ever came up then we could stop and plan for it. I really looked at refinancing as a way to save a lot on interest and get the house paid off. Then, when our oldest child graduates high school then we would be completely debt free and able to save for whatever, with an additional $1,000.00 on top of our monthly surplus now.

Husband is looking at it as a way to invest. He wants to invest the money that we will be saving. This is unsettling to me, but I would rather do that then not refinance and not have that extra money each month to do with what we choose. Although, it just extends the loan an additional 5 years and we'd basically be paying the same in interest.

I feel stuck in this situation. Ugh!

When we wanted to pay off our $4,000.00 debt with 0% interest I had a hard time convincing him that we should just pay it. He did finally give in to that, though. I was thinking that maybe talking to a financial advisor would be beneficial for both of us, more settling to the person the advisor doesn't agree with and an actual plan laid out.

I guess I'll just keep praying about it.

I have seen a lot of people doing the No Spend {Month} and always think to myself, Pff… I don’t need to do that! Well, this month I have had a change of heart. I don’t plan to have a complete month of no spending, but I want to limit the days that I do spend. No spend to me does not include our groceries, fuel, and bills. What is in our budget and will count is our entertainment, if we eat out as a family, and my spend money.

I’m doing this because I suddenly realized that I don’t think I have had a day yet this year that I haven’t spent money – unless I don’t leave the house! That is RIDICULOUS!!!! So, it’s definitely time for a change. I eat out for lunch – a LOT, like way too much! Taking food to work with me, whether it be a quick sandwich or leftovers, will help me watch what I’m eating. I’m also hoping that it will keep me from becoming desperate for money in the last ten days of the month.

Sunday was a no spend day for me. Hubby went to the store and bought all of our groceries and then my getting out for the day was taking a walk as a family (including our two dogs). Yesterday (Monday) I had to work and that’s usually when I cave and go get something for lunch. I made it through the day yesterday without even buying anything to drink! Drank water all day!

If figure I’m off to a good start, so I might as well continue with it! My goal is to have 15 no spend days… and I’ve already had two! I usually like to go buy a soda and drink about half of it. That will probably be something I fight myself on this month, but we’ll see!

Hope you all have a fabulous March!