Random Comments

• I started another spreadsheet to track my electricity usage.  My electric company had the last three years worth of bills on their web site, so I was able to compile a lot of past data to compare our current (no pun intended) usage against.  I just recently installed a programmable thermostat and my February bill was $100 less than my February bill was in 2008 and $109 less than the three-year average bill for February!  Is it a coincidence or is this thermostat going to save me a bundle?  I can’t wait to see what the March bill looks like to find out.  Wait a minute, I used to dread the bills coming.  What’s happening to me?

• We paid off another credit card on our debt snowball.  It wasn’t the top item, but the balance was small enough that my wife decided to pay it off when she got paid.  We aren’t following the debt snowball approach exactly as it’s written, but we are making progress and that’s all that matters to me.

• The item at the top of my debt snowball is our Care Credit card we opened when our daughter got braces on her teeth.  The balance is $1000 and I have enough money in the bank to pay it off right now.  As long as it is paid by July we won’t be charged any interest.  I’ve been real tempted to pay it off now, but something is telling me it might be better to leave the $1000 in the bank (making our emergency fund $2000) in case an emergency comes up.  Then again, I’m afraid we may spend it on a non-emergency and then it’ll be a struggle to pay it off in time.