Economic Stimu-Less

I wanted to update on the state of financial affairs. My refinance is almost complete. I got dicked around for a bit, but I think everything is back on track (knocking on wood). All of this happened towards the tail end of a potential fiscal disaster for me (read: Completely fuckin' broke). Luckily that all worked out and I'm hopefully back on track today.

I got my Income tax refund back. I also have the Eco-Stimulus check to add to that soon. I've gotten everything worked out so that all of that money can go back into my depleted savings. I had put a hurting on my savings the past few months buying necessities that any home-owner should have.

Now that things are starting to get straightened out, I can now get an update on my state of affairs:

- Credit Card balance = $0. This was the most important thing for me. I hate paying interest and credit cards are the worst. I'm saving myself maybe $50-75/month in interest by paying this card off.

- Appliances = $0 balance. I'm pretty sure this balance is close to $0. If not, I'll pay it off at the beginning of next month. This was the 1 year same as cash deal I took when I bought my appliances for my kitchen.

- Bank Line of credit = $0 balance. This is a floating line of credit I have with my bank that had about an $1700 balance. That is now $0.

- Lawn Mower = $3200 balance. I have 1 year same as cash on this thing and then it goes into a 1.9% APR loan. So I'm in no hurry here. I'll still pay off as much as I can during this same as cash period.

That's basically all of my debt. So I have a mortgage payment and a lawn mower payment along with my standard bills. I feel like a man getting ready to be paroled from prison after a 10 year sentence.

The best part of all of this is that it frees up some cash so I can invest it instead of spend it. I'm going to set aside a bit for later. I'm also going to set aside a small percentage for a side business and the expenses that go along with that.

I feel like I'm at the stage in my life where I can start building wealth. It's like step 2 in this process has finally come. Now what?