Today I wrote out the final check for one of my student loans. One down, three to go. That feels good. :) Also nice to see that the second one will be gone during the next year -- at the latest by October, according to my current payment schedule, but since I plan to up my loan payments because of my raise, it might disappear even sooner than expected! It's so nice to see progress being made. :)
Once loan B is gone I think I'm going to be shopping for a new car. I'll still have loans C and D to finish of course, and those are actually the biggest ones, but my poor car's age is really starting to show. We'll see how it's doing by next year, and whether it will last one more winter after this one, but at this point I'm figuring it's time to start looking. Which is also kind of exciting. :)
So... next year we start our IRA, and my number of loans drops from four to two, and I can realistically consider purchasing a new (NEW! not used!) vehicle, and maybe I'll even be able to put a little bit in savings. Gotta watch it before I spend all my newfound wealth, but... things are looking good. I feel like I can contribute a lot toward our future right now and it's a good feeling... I know that in a few short years, my financial contributions could be dropping down to zero and I'll be completely dependent. So while I have a chance to do a lot right now, I'm going to take advantage. :)
It has been fun pondering marriage with Joe recently. He just finished his first semester of grad school and is gearing up for student teaching this spring. I think it is setting in for both of us, but especially him, just how little there is left to go. A year from now he'll be out of school for good! We have a pretty good timetable for things at the moment, although he's not sure he likes that because it "ruins the surprise" for me. Personally, I like having a general idea of where things are heading and when. It makes a big difference in financial planning, for instance, if I am looking at 2007 vs 2006 or 2008. :P
Anyhow, over the past three days I have fallen big-time into my old procrastinating ways, and I really have some stuff I need to do... so, away. ;)