2009 - Our Year on the Cheap

I still have to download our photos from our quickie trip to NYC the day after Christmas. But til then, here's the down low on our ambitious 2009 financial goal.

We want to pay off our 2nd mortgage on our house this year - 15% of our house. Since most of the houses in our neighborhood are being sold for 78% of what we bought our house for, we think it's best to get our mortgage to match the going rate - that way when we do decide to move (not anytime soon) we'll at least not owe anything.

This means that we are going to have to cut spending everywhere to meet our goal. Those of you who are already familiar with our spending habits may wonder where we could possibly make cuts, we wondered too. But we are determined to make this goal. What expenses are on the chopping block?

Eating out, for one. We don't do it much anyway. But we aren't going to do it all this year. Zilch, nada, nothing. No baja fresh, no dinners in the city to meet up with dad, nothing.

The date fund - zeroed out. We are still going to have dates - every week in fact. But we are spending nothing on them. Completely cost free.

No new clothes - now inevitably Ellie is going to need some new clothes this year, as she is still growing. But we are only going to buy what is absolutely necessary and find all of the bargains we can. As for Ann, she gets to enjoy Ellie's old clothes.

Those are just some of the cuts. Others are more subjective, making sure we only buy what we need whether it's during a trip to Walmart or the grocery store; turning off the lights; nothing is above a cut. At least we are still putting money in the girls' college funds.

If we stick to our plan, I think we will have a decent shot at killing the debt by the end of the year. It's going to take a lot of discipline and as the principle purchaser of the household, a lot of the responsibility falls on me. But we can do it. Over the past couple of years we've payed off two of the three private education loans from Matt's law school. If we do everything according to plan, we will hopefully pay off not only the 2nd mortgage but the last private loan by next May (2010) and have our 1st mortgage as our only debt - well, except for our government loans for Matt's law school which we'll have until we're 60.

So here's to massive frugality. Wish us luck!