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I went this morning and deposited the rest of the 'spare' money into the account for the new vehicle downpayment. It's very exciting that this goal is only two months old and I am already at 48.8% fulfilled.

I am very fortunate to have that money to add to things and make it move faster. I will feel so much better knowing that WHEN the time is right/necessary to buy a new (to me) vehicle, that the downpayment is there.

I am also fortunate nothing OMG unforseen has come along (knock on wood) to change my plans. This goal will be met by end of June and at that point I will be putting that money towards my Lump Sum Payments.

woo hoo

a bit of a nerd

I've been having a grand time on google docs playing what if with scenarios for meeting the downpayment goal and working towards the lump sum goal. Plug in such and such and oohhhhh look at that total. Plug in this over here and juggle this money and ohhhhh watch that number change. Or what if my snowflake could be THIS much instead of THIS much.....how would that change how quickly I could take care of things?

lol
sadness

I think....

...that I will go ahead with putting all of the $700 plus any snowflake down on the new vehicle downpayment.

Barring any unforeseen events and basing it on $700/month disposible cash and a hypothesized $100 a month snowflake (which I was able to meet last month), I would have the $2500 downpayment done by end of June paycheck, leaving some left over that month to begin my Loan Lump Sum Payment.

I guess I just worry that WHEN I get/need the new vehicle, I may not have that cash there ready for the downpayment. I'm almost 40 and I've never had a downpayment to use when I have bought a vehicle. Time to grow up methinks.

Of course any extra snowflakes would speed things up and more of the June money could go towards the Lump Sum. It will be exciting to watch that one go down.

anyhoo...that's what I've decided.

Rethinking the plan

Ok for my end of March pay day I had decided that I ws going to take the $700 I had to put towards debt and savings....divide it in two...and put half towards saving a downpayment towards a new vehicle..and half as lump sum towards my personal loan.

I am really torn on what to do for a vehicle. Mine could probably last until the end of the calendar year without needed repairs, but prices are really really good right now for new and used vehicles and that is tempting too.

If I continue with this half and half...I would have the target of $2500 downpayment by the end of August and my personal loan would be somewhere just under $10,000

If I rethought this and put all of the $700 towards the downpayment target...I would have reached that $2500 target using my April, May and part of my June paycheck money. Then that downpayment would be ready to go and I could spend the rest of June's check and as many future monthly $700 plus snowflake until I decide to buy the new vehicle.

I have no idea if that made sense to anyone outside of my head. LOL

I know that logically I should be whapping everything down towards the loan as that gathers interest, but by putting some/all of my extra $ towards the downpayment, I actually WILL have a downpayment when the time comes.


Thoughts???????

I think (and I use that word loosely) that either way, keeping up with this extra $ down, I could have the loan paid off by December 31st of this year. It's hard to tell as even though my loan period was 30 months....and even though I pay $570 a month towards it..........the amount actually coming off the loan principal varies each month from low $400 to higher $400s. I will confess I don't fully understand, but I am working on learning.

CATS was fantastic

We drove down last night in part snowstorm and part fog, but not the worst we've driven in. It was a wonderful time. My younger son loves music and plays in concert band so he thought it was great. The older one thought it was just a wee bit too 'dancie' for him. "It's ok, I guess but it was nothing compared to Phantom", says he. Their father had never been to a musical before so it was interesting for him.

I, myself, cried when she sang Memory. I sang that as a child in musical theater, not truly having a clue what the whole production was about. Her voice was amazing and it gave me goosebumps. When that song was over, I realized I was crying. Tis good that something can provoke a strong reaction like that.

It was definitely an expensive evening. Tickets for four, gas there and back and fast food en route as we were short of time.

I loved it thought and hope more productions like this come to our prairie province so I can take the boys and add a wee bit of culture to their lives.