Where did the last year go?

Last time I looked up, it was summer time 2012, and now here it is, summertime 2013.

As I read back through my posts, it's obvious we haven't made the best financial decisions. Last summer, my hubby and I took on a huge renovation project that took all of our time, and all of our money.  We didn't plan well enough and we found ourselves back in the hole with a $12 000 line of credit.  Since our line of credit climbed that high, we've managed to pay it down to $6 600.

We also found ourselves in a position of owning a car that (due to an accident where we not at fault) was worth $6 000 and still owed $12 000.  We decided earlier this year to trade in both of our vehicles for what would could get and buy a new(er) vehicle.  At the time it seemed like a good idea, but now we have a $29 000 car loan to add onto our debt.  Hubby is still glad we bought a new(er) vehicle, and I am too, but I think it could have waited.  Our fuel consumption has gone down with this new vehicle, so we are at least saving money there.

We've gotten back on track and back on a budget and we will have the line of credit paid off by Halloween. We also plan to shorten our car loan to 2 years from 7 years and will hopefully have that paid off by spring 2015.

Every thing is a learning curve and while we were off track for awhile, I feel much better being on track again.