03silvS2K

Thanks for looking out about mint.com. I should have read the fine print a bit carefully, but who does that now a days? It'll be a good feeling having your debt paid down. Sell the explorer and throw the wifey in a cheap gas saving honda and use the equity, if there is any from the trade off, to pay off debt ......I am in the process of looking for a cheap honda civic $2-4k to use for the upcoming Alaska winter :/

Anyways, shoot me a pm with your email address and I'll send the spreadsheet over to you. Don't worry, it won't be a spam attachment, nor will I share your email address

cinaibur

Yea. Mint.com is a fantastic service. Or I should say was when they were an independant company. I wish I could convince the wife to drive a car. She only feels safe in an SUV. We live in a city with once of the worst driving records in the country and a ton of people without insurance. I will probably be shooting for a Nissan or like SUV when hers finally kicks the bucket. That is another reason we are looking to move. We both commute a long ways. She is a teacher so we are trying to move in the area of her school. To rent a house out there is would cost $1600/month, so much cheaper to buy. If we can move out there, I don't care what she drives because we will be within a mile of where she works.

Heyitsgary

I'm not sure of the exact situation with rental properties and utilities in your area. What's included, what's not. But, I would guess that it would likely go UP once you own. Anything that was included in your rent will no longer be.

I can't imagine anywhere in the country where basic TV/internet/phone, even on special deals is less than $100 /month. And I can't imagine anywhere that just another $50 /month would cover gas/electric unless you live in the dark all day long and never cook or heat anything. Don't forget to do that research as you look into housing as well.

Good Luck! At least your thinking about the things you need to do to prepare to do them. Thats a good start in itself.