I want a new car really bad!

This is my current Tahoe...2001....had it since it was new. Great, great car! I am comfortable in this car...it always starts. Its the only car the kids have ever known. But, the bumper is crunched due to a small collision with a tree when I was backing up one day..no big deal, right? My kids now call me the 'Five-Mile menace' because ALL of my collisions are when I am going slow...hey, I have a lot on my mind! And..that's only three MINOR fender benders..

So, anyway, this tahoe has seen it all..throw-up, dirty diapers, car seats (and the stuff that grew under  the car seats :-)..plastic moldings broken..scuffed paint..dirty seats. You know how these cars get abused with kids. It's yucky.

However, new cars cost outrageous amounts right now. I test drove this Acadia..very sweet car! Love the dual sunroofs, third-row seats, back-up camera, and mpg. However, to get one of these awesome vehicles..even a used one..is like $30,000. Whaaaaaaat??? And to make matters worse, I have actually been comtemplating it..and financing as well! I know, Dave Ramsey is screaming in my head right now.

I am working furiously to sell stuff on Ebay and raise the money before I buy..so hard!! I need inspiration! I am not even close to being able to buy..Tahoe isn't worth much..only about $3800 on a good day. So, I don't think I am getting the Acadia...still working on that one.

So..I'm back to couponing..haven't done much of it in a while. I got sick of buying nothing but processed foods for my family. I am going to work very hard to only buy stuff we will actually use that is GOOD for us!

Fingers crossed...

OKAY..SO ITS BEEN AWHILE..BUT CHECK OUT THE PROGRESS!!

Hi guys..I know its been a long time since I blogged about the mortgage, but we have never left the fight..not even when I wanted to. Tom is truly single-minded about getting this thing paid off...much to my chagrin sometimes... :-)

So here's the recap of life since we last met.

Mortgage Balance (as of March 2010) $220,269
Mortgage Balance (as of June 15, 2011) $165,000 - WOWSA!!

That is just about every spare dime going into this debt, mind you. We aren't suffering, we could be doing better. This is with a bonus check and more than a year of budgeting to see this change.

The biggest change has been using the a heloc to pay on the principal payments. It's a complicated plan, but we are saving interest by using equity in the house to make huge principal payments, then Tom's paycheck is sent to the heloc to keep its interest down. Its a very time consuming and intense plan, but its working.