Welcome to Owning Burton Farm, Covid 19 Edition. Just kidding. Despite the governor’s shelter-in-place orders for April, not much has really changed for us, and I’m extremely grateful to not know anyone personally at this time who has contracted the coronavirus. I’m very thankful for a steady job and a faithful paycheck. We’re still both working all week, staying home all weekend, and I’m still doing the bulk of the grocery shopping weekly. If we need anything else, Amazon can still get it to us in two days, thanks to our trusty United States Postal Service.
Homeschooling, though, has presented some challenges, but the boys are getting through it, even finishing extra work (though mostly out of boredom, which is good for them). They’ve also been helping out feeding animals and watering plants on the farm.
Clint and I planted some seeds in February, but most of them damped off when we started taking them outside to harden off in the sun. It’s going to be a wet season, I’m sure, but once we get the plants going, I think it’s going to be a great year for a garden.
Speaking of gardens, I got my first case of poison ivy in my garden planting a couple of times this month. I have some sugar snap peas coming up, but I’m still waiting on the cucumbers, corn, cantaloupe and patty pan squash. Clint is going to till the garden so we can plant some more seeds this weekend with the boys, which should be a fun family activity.
In addition to getting excited about the summer garden, I’ve been listening to Dave Ramsey and Chris Hogan podcasts and have rebirthed the ambitious goal of paying off the house super-early. It’s still looking like another 10 years by paying biweekly and sending in an extra payment each month, but I’m looking for things to sell and any extra opportunity to send more on the principal. I dream about the day we have no mortgage payment and wonder just how early we could retire.
How much would it take? $50,000? $60,000 a year for each year I retire early? Could we live on that ten years from now, considering inflation, like we want to, and with no house payment? Living on less starts now, as I’ve bumped up retirement savings from 10% to 12% this month (with a 5% match) just to see if I can swing it in the budget. The goal is to max out my retirement savings. In 2020, that’s $19,500 per year.
Ah yes, retirement savings…I just received my quarterly statement in the mail and was devastated to learn we lost $75,000 this quarter. What a kick in the gut! It’s hard to not make any knee-jerk changes, knowing I’ve got to get us over a million dollars for retirement in 15 years or less, but we’re just going to sit tight, like we did in 2008, and let the market do what it do: rally.
Rally. That’s what we’re all going to do when this pandemic passes. Hope you and yours are staying safe.
Stay positive.
Erica
Here’s our chart forthe end of April. Clint and I took a hard look at our budget this month and realized it was already pretty lean once all the sinking funds (replacement vehicle, vehicle maintenance, Christmas savings, college savings, etc.) are figured into it. We’re not cutting anything, but I do have some things on eBay for sale that I’m clearing out of the house to earn money toward this mortgage.
| Assets | Value | Owed | Totals |
| Farmhouse | $228,998.00 | $154,978.10 | $74,019.90 |
| Credit Cards | $0.00 | $306.99 | -$306.99 |
| Family Car | $2,000.00 | $0.00 | $2,000.00 |
| Truck | $1,500.00 | $0.00 | $1,500.00 |
| Savings | $29,945.06 | $0.00 | $29,945.06 |
| $262,443.06 | $155,285.09 | $107,157.97 | |
| Assets | Liabilities | Net Worth | |
| Total Debt Payoff Percentage: | 43.79% | ||
| 04/26/20 |
