Debt Effects

I am about to lose my head!

2010-08-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

All these changes!

It ends up, I couldn't stand living away from the man. And he wasn't too fond of being away from us, either. So, we packed up and moved yet to ANOTHER state to live together again. Deployments be damned.

Now, the issue is finding a job. I haven't been called into ONE interview. I am getting kinda worried. I even got turned down for a job at Target. Really? I can't really understand why I am not good enough to work at the Target. But, it is what it is, I suppose.

I have resumes out at a few places here, including the school district for an administrative support position. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I am going to go get all the paperwork done in order to be a substitute teacher. It may not be everyday, but any little bit of income will really help us out.

And although the money issue IS stressful, it is nice to be all together again. Even though he has to leave in a couple months for this deployment, it is much better to be at "home".

Stay-Cation

2010-07-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well, the man and his son came down to where the girls and I are last week. For them, it was a vacation (meaning they had to travel to get here!) - for us, a Stay-Cation.

OK - so although it is obvisouly cheaper to have a vacation in your own hometown (I don't know how this works in a small town - but where we are is pretty big) it still ended up costing some $$ bills ya'll!!!

I think the average was $150 a day for the 5 of us. Which I guess really isn't that bad - and it did include food, beverages and some touristy souveniors for the kids.

$150 x 5 days = $750

Holy Cripes!!!!!!!!!!

But, we had a lot of fun and did things that the kids will remember FOREVER. Like PLAYING with baby ALLIGATORS. Literally picking them up out of their baby pool and holding them. Yep. That was fun. Those baby alligators felt like really terrific purses. :)

But, the man and boy had to leave, which involved a lot of crying on my part. LOTS. Enough for me to consider packing up the car and going to where they are.

I mean, it isn't like I have a job yet. I am still waiting..... I can wait anywhere, right?

And, I miss them. I miss him. I am really sad without him.

I was sad before, but them coming here for a week made it worse. So now, I am thinking about spending another couple hundred in gas and an overnight hotel to go to where they are.

Even if the man will be at work ALL DAY.

Even if realistically I will see him for about 3 hours a day, IF I am lucky.

Sigh.

Happy Happy Birthday America!!!!!

2010-07-03T21:21:00.000-07:00

In honor of this wonderous birth, the girls and I went to a friend's house for the customary bar b que. (Yes, it is a day early, but it is what it is)

I have kept in touch with the friend throughout many many years. Since like, the 6th grade.

She has kept in touch with many many people from high school. Because, well, she never moved away.

I never kept in touch with hardly anyone from high school. And a whole bunch of them were going to be at this bar b que.

Funny how time changes people. People who I never got to know really well (because of our different social status' - and trust me, my status was not the lowest, but certainly lower than many of these people) are actually NICE now! Who would have thought!?! I mean, maybe they were nice back then.... ha.

Then there were the people I didn't like back then. Some of them have improved, some of them I still don't like, but I think that is just personality differences.

It was nice to get to know these people a little bit. Even if I went to school with them, I never really knew THEM. It was nice to see them with their husbands and wives and kids - to see the human side of them and not the vision I see of a bunch of High School kids high on ego trips.

It was a nice day. But I will say, even if they were the most popular and all that jazz, I am skinner than all of them!!!! HAHA!!!!!!!!

YOU SUCK letters, well, SUCK

2010-07-02T23:19:00.000-07:00

I have decided that I am slowly going insane. (Or, maybe I am just slowly realizing that I AM insane. Either way)

And I think it is because I still do not have a job.

Oh, I know it isn't as easy as, "Hey! I graduated college and now I am living here! Hire me!" (Although I really really really do think that it should be!)

But really - I shouldn't get the nice version of "YOU SUCK" letters at this rate. Really. I shouldn't.

Like, really, Dollar General SHOULD NOT have sent me a nice version of "YOU SUCK AND WE AREN'T GOING TO HIRE YOU" letter. They should have sent me a "OMG! YOU ARE THE ANSWER TO OUR PRAYERS" letter, because really, I AM.

So, for every "YOU SUCK" letter I am receiving, I have decided that it is more like a break-up letter. A break-up from a relationship I never had, but still. So I can tell myself things like:

Its their loss
They don't know what they are throwing away
I am too good for them anyway
I didn't like how they (insert whatever here)
They get all their crap from China anyway!

or whatever else fits the bill.

One day I will find the one (job) for me. Until then, I am stuck trying to find SOMEONE to go out with me on Friday nights. Without looking TOO desperate.

Because LOOKING desperate might actually be worse than BEING desperate.

And I am getting desperate.

Networking

2010-06-26T17:00:00.001-07:00

Either I have the best mother in the world, or she is tired of my being in her house. (I'll go with the best mother in the world!!!!)

Today she was talking to a woman she knows. A woman who works for a politician. A woman who works for a politician whose assistant just gave notice.

Momma said, "Oh, so you are hiring? Because my daughter just graduated college and is looking for a job."

Politician worker lady who is about to lose her assistant asks what my degree is in. Momma says Communications. Worker lady gives momma her card and tells her to have me call her Monday morning.

Of course that doesn't mean anything. But it is a contact. It is a possibility. It is SOMETHING, and it is all thanks to my wonderful momma mia. I heart her!

Good Intentions

2010-06-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

As I am cleaning out all the crap - I mean, wonderful things - out of what used to be my bedroom, I am finding all sorts of good intentions.

Baby shower, Christmas, Birthday, Christening would be gifts are all shoved in whatever place my mother managed to find. And then forgotten that they were even purchased.

Organization can really save someone the time, money and hassle of purchasing items multiple times!

I am happy to report that I probably only need about 2 more weeks in my old bedroom to make it completely organized and user friendly.

But it may take me another 10 years working on the entire house. Maybe I should call in "Clean Sweep" or "Hoarders" - except my mother would never forgive me if I invited cameras into her house to show the world.

She keeps making the excuse that there just "isn't enough room". Well, no, there isn't. There is NOT enough room to keep everything. I mean, I found a babywipes container (it had sewing needles and thread in it, you know. She was green before green was cool) from when I was a BABY. That was over 30 years ago! She hasn't sewn a thing in the last 25 YEARS. Time to GET RID OF THAT CRAP!!!!!!!!!

8 years later....

2010-06-22T19:52:00.001-07:00

the state actually starts garnishing for Child Support payments!

Yipppeeeee!!!!!!!!

My ex-husband has never been what you would call timely, current, or even concerned about his child support payments. Some months he sends full amounts, months go by with lessor amounts, even more months go by with zero amounts. But finally, the State has heard my call to enforce the child support order! (I bet they finally cashed that flashy $25 check I wrote them to actually ENFORCE the order as well! Imagine that! Have a deadbeat dad? Not on welfare? You better pay up some money to get the State to enforce that court order! Just be prepared to wait 8 plus years!!!!!!!)

The good news is that not only am I now getting weekly amounts, I also got what would have been his federal tax return - all 638 wonderful dollars of it!

I should be feeling so bad for him, losing out on his federal return and all. Except I am not. He is over 60 thousand dollars behind on child support payments, so excuse me if I don't give a rip whether or not he gets his federal tax return.

I just hope the State doesn't send him to jail for being so far behind. If they do that, we go back to nothing. I pray that he doesn't quit his job because they are garnishing his wages. He would be one to do something like that.... especially now that he has himself a new girlfriend who just moved in who, in his words, "has a really good job and is going to help pay the bills".

Lord help her. At least I can say I was 19 and stupid when I hooked up with that guy. I can say at 23 I thought maybe I needed to make it work for the kids. But at 31? That's just plain RETARDED.

What to do....

2010-06-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

I have applied for quite a few jobs, actually. I have applied for jobs that I am not even qualified for. I mean, the worst they can do is ignore me or tell me after review of my qualifications, other people are better qualified. (I am trying to be optimistic here!)

I do have about 5 resumes that are "under review" right now - which I suppose is better than they 20 I got back saying I wasn't qualified or there were better people out there. (I got turned down by the Dollar General. THE. DOLLAR. GENERAL.)

I did just put in for an events coordinator job in London. How fantabulous would THAT be?!? Well, only if it pays enough to actually LIVE in London with the children.

We have lived in Germany before and loved it and I always have been drawn to London as a romantic type of place. Why? I don't know. It isn't because of Jack of the Ripper, I tell you that!

But, anyways, in the meantime, I am really just hanging out with my family and helping my mom organize what used to be my bedroom which has turned into a closet. It is backbreaking labor. I should have taken a photo of what it originally looked like, but I didnt. I will post a photo once it is all done though.

Moving is not what it was supposed to be....

2010-06-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

Well, we have moved.

Kinda.

It is not what it was supposed to be.

Since he has found out that he will have to leave the country for about 18 months basically a month after we were due to arrive, we have not moved to where his duty assignment will be.

The kids and I have come back home for an undetermined amount of time and are staying with my father for the time being.

I couldn't move back into my house because the renters are in it until Aug 1st. Had to get out of the house that we were living in because it is getting sold (can't afford the mortgage payment on that house PLUS another house at the duty station - yet another reason why we decided for us to come home right now)

So, I am job hunting. I have something in the works back were we came from and if it works out, we will be going back. If that becomes the case, the kids will stay with grandma and grandpa until the renters are out of my house and we move back into it and in the meantime I will sleep on a friends sofa.

I also have resumes out all over the country, so I could end up anywhere. My resume is under review for a position here at "home" - if that works out, I will sell my house and get a rental here.

All of our furniture and stuff is in storage back at the duty station - so if we end up here or anywhere else in the country, we will have to get it shipped to us. I looked into a U-Haul, but there is no way I can drive that thing. besides, I will find the extra grand so someone else has to load and carry all that stuff. Even though I made over 30 trips to the Goodwill, the storage area is packed and two other people and myself moved it all and it about killed me.

So, as much as I try to be better about updating the blog, there always seems to be stuff happening that takes my focus off of updating!

Update

2010-05-14T09:04:00.001-07:00

I know it is has been a month since I have posted! Bad bad me! But a lot has been going on!

*We will be moving to another state June 20th. Last minute orders, thank you Army! This has caused quite a commotion around here.

*Got his house up on the market and ready to sell, because of the move. This included installing new flooring in the hall bathroom and kitchen. The old vinyl flooring was very dated and torn in some spots. Also planted some spring flowers in the garden for curb appeal. Spent a total of $300 on these improvements, which keeps the house in line with the asking price.

*Looked into selling my house. Renters lease is not up until July 31st though, so I really can't do anything about it until the renters are out. Urgh.

*My family came into town for a week for Commencement. They brought up a sack of live crawfish and we had a crawfish boil. It was so yummy. Brought my mother to the girls' school for a Mother's Day event, which was a lot of fun. Spent a lot of time just hanging out with th folks.

*Had to wrap up the semester for school - final projects and finals themselves. Thankfully, I got it all done!

*I graduated from College! Walked across the stage and all!

*Dealing with some issues at work. Not about me, but it does affect me. Starting next week, I will be working a heck of a lot more until I leave - one of the employees is getting fired for stealing. Not a good time dealing with that, but it will be much better once this employee is gone.

*After trying, unsucessfully, four time to get Chase to lower my interest rate, (when they bought out WaMu, they raised the rate from 10% to 27.99% just because. No real reason, other than they could) I decided to enroll in CCCS. It was a very painful choice for me, but I was making zero headway having to pay $280 a month just in interest payments. I put two of the last three debts on the program - for a total of $16,000. My interest rates went from 19.99% to 6.99% and from 27.99% to 6.00%. I still plan on paying the same amount I was paying before - but with the reduced interest rates, I can actually make progress.

* Submitted my resume online to a job posting that I am interested in at the new duty station. Hopefully I will hear something back.

* Posted some things on Craigslist to sell - already got two items sold and gone, another item to be picked up tomorrow and some interest in two more items. Hopefully they will all sell. The total asking price for everything is $850 - which will really help out a ton.

I am sure there is more, but that is the basic top heavy stuff that has being going on around here!

Getting out of Debt: Step Four

2010-04-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

It's time for the "B" word - creating the Budget!

Take a piece of paper. Create an Excel spreadsheet. Get some budgeting software. Which ever way is easiest for YOU. It is YOUR budget, after all. I personally built an Excel spreadsheet for myself - designed to my own desires. I love my budget, too, even if I don't always like what the numbers show me. Simply because with MY budget, designed for me, I can see everything I want to see simply by opening the thing up.

You obvisouly need to have an income category (ies). You may do either Gross income or Net income. I personally only use my net income. It is easier for me to deal with. My income categories are as follows:

Previous Month's ending Bank Balance (Because I never know how much I am going to make, I do not zero balance out each month. For me, this allows me to see where my financial picture looks like for the future)

Tips (Tips change from month to month)

Paychecks

GI Bill (its income!)

Child Support (just in case I get it!)

Rent (from my rent house)

Misc Income (sometimes I get money I wasn't expecting as a gift!)

Add all of those amounts together and I have how much money I have to work with during the course of a month. Fun Fun!

Next, you need categories for your expenses. Everything you pay each month needs to be addressed. Start with things like:

Mortgage (Rent)
Electric
Natural Gas
Water
Cable/Telephone/Internet
Vehicle Payments
Insurance
Child Care
Credit Card 1
Credit Card 2
Credit Card 3 (and so on)
Loan 1
Loan 2 (and so on)

Add these amounts up, and you know how much money you HAVE to spend each month. Subtract this amount from the income amount, and you have what's left over.

If you see a big red number after doing this, you have a problem. For starters, you haven't yet bought food, household products or put gasoline in your car. Those are things you kinda need. You need to immediately look at ways of slashing some of those above costs and increasing your income. You may need to get a second job, sell A LOT of your stuff, or cut the cable. But you need the number after subtracting expenses from income to be in the black. If the net amount is zero, you still need to increase income and find a way to slash expenses, because you still have some expenses to add into the budget!

Now it is time to add in your varible monthly expenses. Like:

Groceries
Household Products
Gasoline
Clothing
Entertainment
Christmas Savings
Medical Savings
Car Maint/Repair

You have already tracked everything you buy, so you have a good idea of how much you actually spend in all of these categories. Just put those numbers into this category. Add up the first set of expenses with this set of expenses and subtract from income. This number tells you how much money you truly have left at the end of the month.

Again, if you see big red numbers, you are going to have to adjust the amounts you are spending in the varible categories. If you can't go out to eat this month, so be it. If you have to slash your grocery bill by a few dollars, do it. A number of Zero means that you are flush even between income and expenses, but that isn't going to help you get out of debt. You may still have to sell some stuff, get a second job, and slash expenses.

If you have a number above zero, congratulations! You have something to work with for the next step of getting out of debt!

Getting out of Debt: Step Three

2010-03-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

Now it is time to start tracking where all your income goes.

And I mean every last penny.

Start by writing down all the money that you have to spend each month - i.e. - your debts. These things have to be paid, so you subtract those amounts from your income.

After that, you should see how much money you really have to spend each month on discretionary items. Track how you spend that money. Each time you stop to get a coffee, write it down!

After one month of tracking down how you are spending your money, you can add up each expense into a certain category, such as, Clothing, Movies, Groceries, Eating Out, Coffee, etc.

After you get your amounts, you can start lumping like things together. Movies and Eating Out, for example, are part of the overall "Entertainment" category.

Once you have all these categories tracked and figured out, you can see how much you are spending in each category.

If you haven't realized it yet, you are at the point of having all the data needed to set up your wonderful budget!!!!

*It is very important that during this period you only spend CASH and DO NOT USE CREDIT CARDS! Using Credit Cards will completely change the integrity of your category spending, which will make the data useless for the next step - CREATING A BUDGET!

Getting out of Debt: Step Two

2010-03-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

Now that you have assumed responsibility for your debts, you are ready to get rolling. But roll to where?

FIGURING OUT YOUR "NUMBERS"

You have assumed the responsibility - but the responsibility for what? It is now time to gather all your financial info and I mean ALL of it.

You have got to know exactly where you stand. Get all those debt statements, to include the house and the car. Write them all down and get that ugly total number. It will probably be shocking, but you need to do it!

You also need to get all your paystubs. Figure out how much you actually MAKE each month.

If you have any open savings or checkings accounts with balances in them - you know, assests - get that information together as well. Heck, you can even get together any stocks, retirement accounts and/or savings bonds together as well, so you can have a clear total of how much money you have at your disposable.

Once you get all of this information together, written down, and filed in a system that works for you, you should be ready for the next step.

But don't be suprised if it takes you a couple of weeks to complete this step. Some of us just don't keep good financial records (which would make sense considering we are in debt!) and it takes some time to get all of those records together. Just do it as quickly as you can, since time is a wastin'!

Getting out of Debt:Step One

2010-03-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

Step one of getting of debt is (insert drumroll here) ASSUMING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE DEBT.

Which is NOT the same as "Admitting you are in debt", or "Accepting the fact that you are in debt".

Of course, you have to admit and accept the fact that you are in debt before you can assume responsibility, but those two things to not necessarily mean you will do anything about it. I admitted I was in debt years and years ago and I accepted the fact that I was in debt for just about as long. It wasn't until I assumed responsibility of my debts that I started making changes in my life in order to kick the debt out.

Assuming responsibility for your debts means that you understand WHY you are in debt in the first place. Of course, it is because you spent more than earned, but WHY did you spend and WHAT were you spending on? Keeping up with the "in" crowd? Overcompensating by buying things for children or spouses? Deciding you "Deserved" or "needed" new clothing all the time, dinners out, movies, concerts, travel, etc?

Assuming responsibility means that you are logically looking at what you have done to yourself and are acknowledging that other steps must happen in order to break the cycle that you have started for yourself. It also means that you are realizing your own shortcomings and placing the blame exactly where it belongs - on yourself. Not the Ad Campaigns, Department Stores or Credit Card companies.

If you do not know WHY you are in debt and WHAT you bought that put you there in the first place, you are not going to be able to change anything.

Getting out of Debt

2010-03-25T09:24:00.001-07:00

Getting out of debt, as you know, is not an easy task. It takes a lot of discipline, desire and honestly, an overall change in your behavior. Although some people are in debt due to severe circumstances, most of us are in debt by simply spending more money than we have.

There are steps to get out of debt. You can find differences in the steps depending on who is speaking about the subject, but they all pretty much boil down to spend less than you earn, save for purchases, use cash, and increase your income.

The next few days I am going to discuss steps to getting out of debt from my own mind.

I am also starting a "NO SPEND" week - which I will attempt each and every month to not spend a penny of money for 7 straight days. Although I believe I have my expenditures down quite a bit from where they were, I believe I can still find some more money each month to apply towards my debts - which I can get from simply NOT SPENDING!

$392

2010-03-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Only $392 until my debt is at $16,999!!! SIXTEEN THOUSANDS BABY!!!!!!!

I have been so down in the dumps about NOT making a lot of headway these past few months, that I forgot to be excited about the fact that I am almost in the SIXTEEN THOUSANDS!!

Now, off to pay $392 towards a bill so I can actually BE in the SIXTEEN THOUSANDS!!!

Current Debt Balances

2010-03-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

I have received my tax return and applied about half of it to debt already. As it stands, here are my current debt balances:

Capital One: $1283
Discover: $4468
Providian: $11620

My goal this year is to get my credit card balances at $12,000 or below. Selling the house should help me get to this point fairly quickly, but if I can not or ultimately choose to not sell the house, I am going to have to get creative in how that is going to happen.

Mainly because the Providian card (bought out by Chase) upped the interest rate to 26%. Only $144 of the payment is going towards principle. Why did they up the rate? I have no idea. I called and attempted to get the rate lowered, but to no avail.

So now I am questioning paying down the lowest amounts first, because it seems as though I make ZERO progress on the Providian debt.

What to do? Paying down the lowest balances first does indeed give a much needed boost to the brain with the "I PAID THAT OFF!" exclaimations. Seeing that the highest balance isn't moving really makes me angry. It should make me angry enough to get the other balances out of the way in order to attack it; but it only makes me want to do things out of order.

Disability Claim

2010-03-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well, three years after I got out of the Army, I finally went in and started my disability claim.

I know, I am late. Yes, I should have gone earlier. But I didn't and I can't change that.

In any case, I claimed my knees (pretty much torn to shreds after falling in a ditch with 80 pounds on my back - oh, I was such a graceful Soldier!) migraines (started to occur after the 7th Anthrax shot. Don't get those. I wouldn't have, except that they made me. And yes, they can make you.) My lower back (partial sacralization of the 5th lumbar - whatever that means, I don't really know. But that was the diagnosis from the back doctor) and some various other things.

I have no idea what things will be covered and what will not (although I am pretty sure the knees, migraines and back will be covered) and I have no idea how much I will be awarded.

Although the money will help, I am more interested in being able to go to the doctor for the back, knees and headaches.

Hopefully I will get some type of monetary compensation, though. Only because my income is about to go down again with the end of my GI Bill and I do need something to make up the difference.

Selling the house? long post... typing out my thoughts!

2010-03-10T23:45:00.000-08:00

The plan, when I moved in with my boyfriend, was to rent out my house. No, I'm not really making any money on the rent - enough to pay the mortgage and the siding loan is about all I am raking in. Okay, you got me - I am making $24 a month on the rent!

The thing was, with the house rented, I still had the house and at some point it *could* or *would* become basically a passive stream of income. Since I no longer had to pay a babysitter to watch the children while I worked all the freaking time (yes, the boyfriend could have watched them. No, I would not allow it. Call me silly, but I refused to *use* him for that without more of a committment than we were going out on dates and were not seeing anyone else but each other) and because I was not going to have all the other bills associated with the house (utilities, ect.) I was going to have a boatload more money to throw at the debt. Technically, with the plan I had, I would have been credit card debt free in May, the same time I graduate.

I got the house rented right before I lost my job. Which really is/was a great thing, because at least the mortgage was taken care of. At the time I lost my job, I stated that come March I would revisit the idea of either renting the house or actually selling it. I wanted to give myself time to adjust to the new income levels and see how things were progressing before making a major choice to unload the house off of my spreadsheets.

Well, March has come around and it is time to revisit the question, Sell or keep renting it out?

I have had the same renters since August. Their lease was up last month so now they are on a month to month basis. I have had no major issues with the renters. Actually, I haven't had any issues with the renters, really, except for their not maintaining the garden that I planted a few months before I moved out. But, that wasn't in the lease, so I really can't say much. They pay rent in full and on time every month and when I did enter the house in December over the hot water replacement issue, nothing was falling down or severely damaged. Yes, they hung a television on the wall which is going to require a repair job, but it isn't thousands upon thousands of dollars. If they don't fix it when they do leave, the security deposit will cover the repair.

I say all of this just to quantify the fact that I am not having issues with the renters or keeping my house rented. The income comes every month.

But here is the issue - I am graduating in May. My GI Bill, which has already been slashed in half last month due to not needing full time enrollment this semester to graduate, is going to be gone. That is $684 that I will no longer have coming into my checking account.

With the current economy, I am not sure if I will be able to obtain employment in the general vincitity of where I live in my field of study. Sure, people say just move to where the jobs are, but I have the wonderful boyfriend who I am going to marry, so I can't just up and move away when he is basically stuck here for a few more years due to his job.

So that means that I have to be open to employment that may very well have nothing to do what I went to school for. Which is okay. It's life. I get it.

But - again with the economy thing - I don't know if I will be able to get solid employment in ANY field. I may very well have to bartend for a bit after graduation, riding out the storm, if you will.

Now, I have made some pretty good money bartending, so I am not knocking it. And the bar I am working at now has been good to me. Not as good as my last bartending job, but I have been able to pay all my bills, not touch my buffer, paid cash for tuition and even got one debt paid off! But I have also had the benefit of a full GI Bill from August until January, a $900 GI Bill check in February and will have half benefits until June, which is $684 a month. After June, that money is gone.

And I will still have $16,000 in credit card debt. Which terrifies me to no end.

Chances are I will not make up that $684 difference every month. Especially not starting in July - the middle of summer- the slowest season for bars. So what happens when the bills come and I don't have the money to pay them?

I have worked hard at getting the debts paid down. My starting debt when I started this blog is NOT the debt I started with. I have gotten my debt down from around the $70,000 mark to where it is now. I have worked hard to do it. The idea that all that work would be for basically nothing if I couldn't pay the bills - have my credit score tank - late fees - still owe the money, but more of it in fees and interest- makes me feel sick to my stomach. I may not have made the most progress the last 8 months in getting the darn things dwindle down, but I have paid them on time, every month. Not paying them on time is not an option for me, even if it could become reality.

But, that is one option I have. Just pay what I can and to hell with whatever I can't.

Another option I have is to seriously consider and file for bankruptcy. But again, the idea makes me sick to my stomach. I could have just done that 7 years ago and saved myself over six figures in payments when you include interest payments and it would be off my credit report by now. I didn't do that because I felt that it was my responsibility and duty to pay back the money that was borrowed. So, although it is *an* option, I really do not consider it an option for *me*.

The third option I have available to me is to sell the house. Which is painful to think about. I know it is just a structure - but it is *MY* house! I brought both of my babies home from the hospital to that house! I put my blood, sweat and tears into that house! It is a safety net - a place where we can always go!

And this is where I need to let go of the emotion and really think about what is best for my family.

I could net between $12,000 and $17,000 with the sale of the house after realtor's fees, which when combined with the $5,000 I am applying towards debt with my federal tax refund, leaves me anywhere from $4,000 left in credit card debt to having money left over to put towards my Fully Funded Emergency Fund.

Not having any credit card payments would certainly relieve stress, worry or concern with the current economic situation. Only having $4,000 left of credit card debt still leaves some bit of concern, but nowhere near the same magnitude.

Either way, it is preferable or at least highly manageable for me. If I have to keep bartending for a period of time, all the work I have done will not become for naught.

I have another issue with selling the house - I hate the thought of having owned it for 11 years and having nothing to show for it when it is all said and done because every dime of the profits go towards debt payments. It really irks me. Of course, none of that should matter. I needed shelter no matter what - and debt free or close to it is what is going to help me sleep at night. I need to get over myself.

So, okay, say I have decided to sell the house. What do I do with the renters? Do I leave them renting the house until it sells? Expect them to keep the house show ready when there is nothing in it for them whatsoever? Or should I end their lease and keep the house vacant for showings?

If the house is vacant, will I be able to afford the mortgage without that rent check? Honestly, at this point in time, I could cover it for two months, MAYBE. More likely just one month.

So now comes into the quandrum of using my tax return to cover the possible months it may take to sell the house, instead of sending it straight towards the debts. Which, in the long run, keeps my overall debt totals higher after the house does sell.

Now, some people may worry that the house won't sell because of the housing market and people having houses listed for over a year. I feel pretty confident that my house will sell for the following reasons:

1. The area in which I live, although affected by the housing crisis, has not been demolished by it
2. I live right next to a military base. Soldiers buy houses all the time and have the advantage in these times to have the VA back their home loan. Less risk for the banks when lending money.
3. My house is not a McMansion. It is a 50's style bungalow house. It is small, but a perfect "starter" home or a "downgrading" home.
4. Price - the price of my house is one of the best features of the place! Listing prices in my neighborhood are anywhere between $35 - $65,000. I am figuring my house would sell for anywhere between $45,000 and $50,000. It could potentially go for higher, but I don't know. But anywhere in that range is a REALLY good price for a 3 bedroom/1 bath brick home with a attached garage pretty much ANYWHERE you go. It isn't in the ghetto - housing prices have always been pretty low here. When I bought the house in '98, it was only $36,000. (And silly me, with my 30 year mortgage, was paying just what the note said. So I owe $30,000 - 11 years later. Urgh!)
5. The house has had the roof and siding replaced 5 years ago - so no big repair there. The stove/oven, washer and dryer (which would stay with the house) were purchased in 2007. The Fridge was purchased last February and the hot water heater was replaced in December. The kitchen floors were redone (beautiful hardwood flooring!) the summer of 2008. So, there are a lot of new and newer things that come with the house.

On the flip side, there are some things that could be done to the house that I never had the ability to get around to. The bathroom needs a cosmetic update. It could be done for about $2,000 if we did it ourselves. I am not talking about plumbing work - all the fixtures in the bathroom (except for the tub itself) were actually replaced in 2006. Just things like ripping out the pink tile that goes around the entire bathroom and replacing it with sheetrock and installing a new tub surround and flooring. The house could stand for some new carpeting. The carpet currently there isn't torn or worn (completely) out - but it does look a bit dated. The house has new kitchen cabinet hardware and the cabinets themselves have been sanded and painted, but it could use a new sink and countertop.

Which is why I estimate the house selling for $45-$50,000. Perhaps if I put the $5-$7,000 into the house on those issues I could get $65,000 for it - but there is no guarentee of that. Besides, I don't have the 5-7 thousand dollars available to do the work anyway.

So, if you have read this entire post, I thank you and hope that you can make sense of what I am saying! LOL!

I know that selling the house is the right thing to do financially for family. I know that getting the proceeds from the house can really help the purse strings. It will allow for more breathing room into the budget. With the uncertainity that is looming closer and closer to us, it will bring more security.

So why, even after everything that I wrote, do I want to stomp my feet and scream that I am not going to do it and no one can make me?

I am going to set up a meeting with the current property managers though for next week. When I used them to manage the property I had to sign a contract which states that if I were to sell the house within 6 months of their involvement with the property, I had to use them to sell the property. I don't feel like getting into a legal deal with them over it and hey, it's Remax.

Hopefully they will have some really good news for me. Like, list it for $65,000 even with the imperfectations because someone will bid $54,000 for it and I will end up with 4-9 thousand more than I originally thought.

Planning....

2010-03-09T11:19:00.000-08:00

Today I am writing out the rest of my March Meal Plan. I had done up until tomorrow with things that we already had around the house.... allowing myself some time to wait before hitting the stores *right* at payday. I hate the crowds, what can I say? Actually, I pretty much hate the grocery store. I don't know why. Maybe it's because right when you walk in they have a damn "cold part" as I used to call it when younger and I don't like COLD!

Anyway, last month the planning of the menu's actually WORKED! We stayed well within our budget, had lower stress levels, and didn't starve. Sounds awesome to me! Let's do it again!

Ah... planning. I see now that planning can probably save me lots of stress, time and money overall if I just settle down and do it, other than flying by the seat of my pants. Growing up is hard.

Credit Report Check

2010-03-04T09:48:00.000-08:00

Today I checked my credit report, just to make sure everything was the way it is supposed to be.

Imagine my suprise when I see that I am past due on two debts - debts that have been given to collection agencies.

So, I called to find out what I supposedly owed money for. One of them is a supposed Old Navy debt - $58 -yeah right. I paid that sucker in full in 2004. Now I have to get the bank to get me a copy of the cleared check if I can't find it through the online banking machine.

Second debt in collections is for BMG. $157.00. Um. Right. The dates associated with that account is when I was in Germany. (Being in Germany seems to have been bad for me!) I never received one music CD or anything else associated with that company - nor have I had a BMG account since I was a teenager. So, I have to dispute that one as well. The company said I just dispute it online with the credit bureaus.

Both customer service people I spoke to were pleasant. No nasty yelling or anything about my not having paid them money. But to be honest, I don't think they were even looking for me. I mean, these debts date back to 2005/2006. They weren't on my credit report last year when I checked. I haven't received any letters in the mail from these companies.

Now, the Old Navy debt people asked for my address. I refused to give it to them. Then they asked for my phone number. I told the girl, "Sorry, but I am not giving out that information. I do not want to start getting phone calls all the time over something I don't even owe."

I mean, if they want my address, the credit bureaus have the current one. They could have sent me a darn letter. But no way am I giving up my phone number.

Of course, they probably had caller id and I will start getting calls anyway. Urgh.

Other than that, one thing was missing from my credit report - one of the debts. It was for siding on my house that I got back in 2004. I financed it on installment over 10 years. It isn't being reported. Which is odd because it was being reported last year, but all of a sudden, it isn't on my report anymore.

I tried to call that company to find out what the payoff balance is and I got a recording asking me to leave a message and someone would call me back with the information within 5 business days. Wow. Leave a message? Um, where is the customer service department? I didn't even get transferred to India.

But, I am trying to make sure everything gets wrapped up and in order. Check your credit report, you may be suprised at what you see!

State Tax Commission

2010-03-02T09:13:00.000-08:00

Back in November/December, I had received a letter from my State's Tax Commission, stating that I owed them $3,800 in taxes for the year of 2006.

Right. 2006. The year I was living in Germany because I was a member of the United States Army. The year BEFORE I moved to this State. The year I was still paying taxes to the State of Louisiana - where my permenant address was.

So, I send in the copy of my 2006 tax form to get this mess straightened out. ( I still have no idea why they even *thought* I owed them money - urgh) It was supposed to be taken care of.

Until last Thursday, when I got another letter saying that they were taking my State tax refund and applying it to my 2006 tax debt.

Needless to say, I was on the phone in nanoseconds. After 2 days, I get told that the appropriate steps had now been taken to close my case and that I should be getting my state tax return in approximately a week. Also, a letter absolving me from this debt is in the mail for me.

I really hope this time it is all straightened out. But I really want to know why they thought I owed them money in the first place.

Moving along

2010-02-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

Well, things are sorta becoming pretty routine. Housewise, anyways.

We are still using the monthly menu. We had to go to the store last week for milk, some fruits, and bread... and only spent $20. That was awesome! We still have $25 left in the grocery budget for the remainder of this month and it looks like we are going to be right on target.

Still waiting on my tax return, which I will probably be waiting on for a while. Oh well. When it comes, I already have a plan for what to do with it!

Now I am planning on attacking the next bill in the pile, which is Target. Only $777 left on that card and it is done! My plan for this debt is to send in a $50 payment each week, on top of my minimum payment and my "snowball" payments from the smaller two debts that I just killed. It should take somewhere between 2-3 months to get this debt killed as well. I feel up to the challenge!

Taxes

2010-02-18T20:53:00.001-08:00

Well, I am happy to report that I have finished my taxes!

Unfortunately, when I was attempting to E-File, I used the wrong signature PIN. I know what my PIN is supposed to be, but I think that I accidently typed in my PIN to my online information for college. Which, of course, means that my E-File was rejected.

When I attempted to go back and fix my misguided PIN, H&R Block online would not allow me back to the signature page. Oh, the frustration!

So, I had to actually get a shiny new stamp and MAIL my tax forms to the IRS. Which means, instead of receiving my refund in about 10 days, I get to wait about 5-7 weeks. Urgh.

But, I am happy to report that I will be receiving approximately $6,700 from the oh-so-wonderful federal government.

Before anyone yells at me about not paying enough throughout the year, let me just say that I qualify for the Earned Income Credit and Child Credits and Dependent Care Credits (or are they called something else? I don't know!) which means that this is all money that I NEVER paid into "the system". And the Government wonders why it's broke? Well, I am sure there are a lot of reasons, but giving people thousands of dollars that they never paid to the tax man to begin with may have a *little* something to do with it.

But, oh well. I didn't write the tax code or the tax law, so, well, I will be receiving the funds.

Which, of course, I already have plans for.

For starters, I need to go back to the dentist. So $600 of those funds are being diverted to my dental fund to finish my dental work I got started a year ago. Before I ran out of money in the fund and then lost my job. YaY! What fun!

Next, it is getting to be Spring/Summer time, which means the children are going to need appropriate attire to wear that actually fits them. So, there goes another $500.

The rest will go towards paying off the debts, smallest balance to largest balance. I can get two more debts paid off in full, and part of the third debt on the list. That will leave me only two debts left.

Yes, I could take the money I am using for clothing and apply it towards debt, but one, the children do need clothes and two, even though $500 is not that much to pump back into the economy, at least it is something to put back in the coffers of the retail industry which needs money just like every other business.

I am hoping that by using the snowball method, (using the minimum payments on the 4 dead debts towards the next on the kill list) and paying my extra $200 on top of that, I should be on track to having all this debt paid off next year at tax time (with the hopes of getting a decent tax return like this year). Then all the non-secured debts will be paid off - then I can get to work on paying off my vehicle. Oh joy.

But, there is a potential end in sight! I love when I can see light at the end of this long, dark tunnel! There may be a future out there for me financially after all!

Saints win the Superbowl!!!!!

2010-02-10T13:16:00.000-08:00

And I paid off another bill!!!!!

To be technical, I already posted my debt balance with the bill paid early in the month. However, the check has cleared, (or the online bill pay system has finally hit my account) so it is official!

These two bills I have paid off are "minimal" to my overall debt load... each being under $250. But they certainly did not start off at that amount.

When I lost my job, debt snowballing kinda came to a standstill for me. I was fearful of not making enough money to pay even the minimums, so I was paying the minimums and holding onto the extra cash I had each month in case the income the following month wasn't enough.

In November, I decided to put an extra $200 a month towards one of the debts. Was it as high as I could have snowballed? NO. But it was as high as I was willing to go with my always changing monthly income.

So, although I still have a long way to go, these two victories are sweet.

But nothing is sweeter this week than the New Orleans Saints winning the Superbowl!

Being born and raised in New Orleans, being a Saints fan was not even a question. Of course I am a Saints fan. Year after year... with some good seasons and a lot of bad seasons, I still rooted for my team no matter what. There was still a belief that THIS year, (year after year after year) was the year that everything would come together.

Well, THIS YEAR IT DID!

And perhaps I am seeing more into it than simply a football team winning a championship.

I am seeing, and witnessing, first hand that with a game plan, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

Head Coach Sean Payton said in an interview that when he came to the Saints organization, he had a four year plan to get to the Superbowl. And that they were right on track.

It didn't matter that for 38 years the team had stumbled. What mattered was that he envisioned a brighter path for the organization, and went about making changes to make it happen.

With patience and discipline and, let's face it, some gutsy play-calls, the entire team has shown that you CAN do it.

With a team filled with a lot much like the Land of Misfit Toys - tons a free agents that no one wanted - players coming off of injuries that should have never played again - players that were shunned by other organizations - the Saints focused on what they COULD do and do WELL.

It doesn't matter that in my financial past I have stumbled. What matters is that with a game plan that focuses on the things I CAN do - things that I CAN control - I, too, can arrive on top.

I can persevere. I can overcome my own obstacles. It may take time, dedication, discipline and sacrifice (even head coach Payton took a paycut so he could get the Defensive Coordinator he wanted) I can become debt free.

Perhaps that is as far from football as you can get. But the Saints have shown the world a very important lesson that we can all take and shape to fit our own circumstances.

For now, I will enjoy my city's celebration of being "Champions". All while I work and strive to become victorious over my seemingly defeated past financial blunders to become my own "Super Financial" Champion.

Menu Planning

2010-02-05T13:24:00.001-08:00

So far this month... (Yes, I realize that we are only 5 days into the month, lol!) our menu planning has worked out well. We have stuck to the menu, ate the left overs on left over night and have grocery shopped according to the list that was made from..... the MENU!

Another great part of the menu is that the last couple of days, we have lost the "What are we going to eat for dinner?" stress. The night before I take out the meat to defrost for the next night. When we get home from school and work, the menu is right there, telling me what it is that I am making. Because I wrote the menu with our school/work/extra-curricular activities in mind, I am not trying to cook something that takes 2 hours when I only have 30 minutes.

So, although we have only been doing it for 5 days, it seems to be working out well for my family. The children love being able to look on the fridge door and see what they are having for dinner. It is something that I plan on doing every month from here on out.

Who Dat!?!?

2010-02-03T12:54:00.001-08:00

The check cleared today for one of the bills. Which means one of the bills is dead and gone!!!!! Excited!!!!!!!

I'll post another update later this evening! WHO DAT!?!?!

Paying bills, Paying bills....

2010-02-01T19:41:00.001-08:00

I just got finished paying the bills for the month of February. Yuck. But, at least it is done!

Good news is that I have enough buffer in my checking account currently to cover all the bills until the end of March. Which is totally groovy with me!

Yesterday I sat down and made a dinner menu for the entire month of February. Then I went through the cupboards and made a list based off of what I actually needed. Today I went to the grocery store and got practically everything on the list for $110.42. Now, I didn't purchase any of the meats that are on the menu (save for the hotdogs for hotdog night and sausages to put in the Jambaylaya) because we get meat from the commissary where it is a bit cheaper.

My overall goal for the menu planning was to keep dinners to $2.00 per person per meal or less. I am happy to report that with the menu planning, I have been able to do that! (Of course, some nights may be more than 2 dollars per person - but other nights are way under 2 dollars.... so it all averages out!)

Other than that, not too much else going on. Oh, except for the fact that the New Orleans Saints are in the Superbowl. Yes. I am so excited I can barely stand it! WHO DAT!?!?!?!?

Its a New Year

2010-01-27T22:48:00.001-08:00

The past few weeks, I have been thinking about the fact that it is a new year. A new year: new goals (albeit some continue from before): new circumstances.

Although my progress slowed considerably last year after my job change, there are a few things I am quite proud of:

1. I kept $1,000 buffer in my checking account at all times
2. I was still able to pay all of my bills, even if just minimums, each month.
3. I still paid all tuition and fees for the entire year in cash.

There are others, of course, but those are the ones on the short list.

For the new year, I have a few goals:

1. Pay off four of my credit card debts.
2. Pay a total of 10,000 dollars towards my debt.

The first goal will actually be a freebie, since my tax return will cover the first four debts. The second goal means I need to come up with $5,000 dollars during the course of the year towards debts. Although $5,000 may not seem like a lot, right now it will be challenging. Hopefully once I graduate (IN MAY!!!!!!) I get a job that pays a bit more than I am earning currently. Even if I don't, I am going to strive to get that $5,000 done.

My other goal is to blog more. I realize I come and I go, but if I am gone it is usually because I am stuck in life. (Like when the hot water heater blew at the rental house a week before Christmas - after I had sent in payment to pay off a bill.) I will be better this upcoming year on blogging my progress. I do think I was doing better when blogging everyday or so. It seemed to keep me in check.

$430

2009-11-16T22:09:00.000-08:00

That is all I need to make by the end of this month in order to pay off one of my smaller debts....

Not the smallest debt, though. That one is 0% interest until March. As long as I make MY minimum payment to that debt, it will be gone before the interest kicks in.

And, I would really rather take the money and use it to pay off an interest charging account, even if it is minimal (9% a month at $880 balance)

I should be able to make this goal while still paying $180 more towards the 0% debt for the month of December.

All while still making Thanksgiving and Christmas happen!

Getting back on the getridofdebt bandwagon feels good. Really good. Seeing that I can make progress even with a tighter pursestring does wonders for my spirit.

For a while there I was thinking that there was again, no way out of the mess. But I am starting to see a twinkling of light at the end of the (very long) road.

Of course, one of the reasons why I will be able to make such progress in December will be because I do not have to withhold any of my income towards tuition. So, before I get ahead of myself, let me state that every month will not be able to have these kinds of results, which I am very well aware of. January starts having to withhold $500 a month for three months towards tuition.

Because I only need 8 credits to graduate, I will not be going to school full time. Which means that I will receive less GI Bill money each month. But it also means that my GI Bill will last until I graduate, instead of ending in March. So, although I will get a couple hundred less each month, I will receive payments until graduation which means I receive funds for a couple more months. (Actually, I come out getting a few hundred more)

I am also estimating about $4,000 back in taxes (hey, don't blame for the tax laws!) which should take care of the next two debts in line.

And then here is the kicker - I am thinking about selling my house. If I can sell it for $60,000 (property values are pretty low in this area - that is a decent estimate of what I could get for it) I will be able to pay off the mortgage, pay realtor fees, the last three debts and still have almost ten grand left over to start the Fully Funded Emergency Fund!

Which would be timely, since the projected date between selling the house and graduating would be right about the same time. So, even if it takes a while to get a job in my field of study, or even if I do get an entry level position (which is NOT going to be a high paying gig!) it really won't matter because I will be debt free!

But, before I get too far ahead of myself in this quest, I need to come up with $430 by the end of this month.

I am pretty sure that I will be able to get it, since I should make $400 just in paychecks alone, not counting tips!

How is that for awesome!?!?!?

A little bit of sunshine....

2009-11-12T21:50:00.000-08:00

Well, only halfway through the month and I have a bit of sunshine in the budget!

I currently have $246 left over for the month of December after paying all the bills including the snowball I have built in for my smallest debt!

If I average my low averages from the last 4 months and get full child support, I will be able to get rid of one debt and still have about $700 to budget for food, household products, and Christmas. (I have $450 saved up for Christmas, but with 3 kids, the man, parents, grandparents, etc, I always go over the budget, no matter how hard I try! One year I only went over by $75, I was pretty stoked about that!)

I have started my Christmas shopping and have spent $248 of the $450 so far. Haven't gotten anything big, mainly just some "little" things that I know the kids will love. Starting early may really help me stay on budget because I have more time to browse and decide whether I really want to purchase an item or not. I say "little" meaning not expensive, not because of size.

In anycase, I am quite happy about this progress. Why does it always seem that when I stray from trying to make progress I always feel like I don't have enough money but when I stick to the budget and commit myself to making progress, I always seem to have more?

Even if by the end of this month I don't have the low average or the full child support, I am still ahead for the month and will be able to make more progress in the month that usually means more spending than I have in the last 4 put together.

And that, my friends, is AWESOME!

Fear

2009-11-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

My biggest problem right now dealing my finances is not the reduced income that I am still adjusting to, although that is a pretty big problem.

It is fear.

Fear of not being able to pay my bills. Fear of what happens if I make my budget zero balanced and I don't make enough this month to cover everything next month.

The fear is almost paralyzing.

I know that I have some money left over after paying everything. Before I lost my previous job, I would be sending that money straight to a debt, no problem. But now things seem to have taken on a new color which is making me want to just save the little bit I have just in case.

This just in case fear is not without a price. I am paying more in interest because of it. I am keeping debts around longer than I need to because of it. I am awake well past midnight when I don't have to work because of it.

I am not awake stressing about the debts themselves, which is odd. I am awake stressing about whether or not to submit a payment, worrying about whether I need to keep the money on hand - just in case.

Now, I do have a $1,000 Baby Emergency fund. I also have a $1,000 buffer in my checking account, which at one point was my just in case money. Now, it is sitting there because I have to be able to cover the bills that are due before I get the rent check from my house and my GI Bill is deposited. So, my just in case money has become a necessity because of my depositing schedule compared to my due date schedules.

That $200 payment I made? The one towards the debt with only a $36 minimum payment? I almost didn't send it - just in case. Technically, I had written down in the budget to only send $165 towards this debt - written in the budget so I would send the payment regardless of my just in case syndrome. I upped the amount to $200 because of the just in case syndrome, telling myself that I need to calm down and trust not only myself, but in the Lord as well.

I have yet to have a month where I was unable to pay the debts. Which is not only a testament to myself and how my behavior towards budgeting, spending, and overall money management has changed, but also a testament to the fact that He helps those who help themselves.

I have to let go of this fear of not having enough money. Truth be told, with the money that I am earning, even on a lowball estimate with the buffer, I have enough to cover the bills that are due before the other deposits are made. I need to simply decide how I am going to budget the remaining money I have available for the rest of this month and trust in the fact that although life is not easy street right now, I will have enough at the beginning of next month.

I need to budget the money and then follow through on that budget. I have always made pretty good progress when I have had a plan. This is no different, even if the numbers on the spreadsheet are.

November budget...

2009-11-04T18:22:00.000-08:00

The November budget is getting underway. I have all the bills paid and I did send extra to one of my debts, which is a zero percent card until March of 2010. The minimum payment is $36 and I sent $200 to the debt. After this payment, the balance of that debt is $628. It is my hope to have it paid off by the end of this year, although that seems a little daunting giving the current financial situation along with the holiday season.

I also went and paid my Fall tuition - $1, 668.66. Ouch. It did hurt to write that check, but at least I was able to save the money up and pay my tuition with cash. Certainly a positive point.

So after, the minimum bills, tuition, and the small snoball that I sent in, I have $337.27 left in my checking account for the rest of the month. (Technically, I have $1, 337.27, but that $1,000 is my buffer which I am not supposed to touch)

The budget is not finished yet because I have yet to decide how I am going to split the remaining funds. I do have some money saved up for Christmas, although not as much as I had originally intended due to the loss of the job. I may take some of it and use it towards Christmas funds. Some of it will undoubtably go towards Thanksgiving dinner. I would like to send a bit more towards the debt, but I am fearful again of not having enough money to last me the entire month.

Ah. Fear. I had just started to come away from that fear when I lost my job.

Putting it into the budget

2009-10-30T01:09:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I have not been snowballing is that I failed to put a snowball amount into my budget. Bad me. Of course, my reasons for not putting a snowball amount into the budget are based around the fact that I am earning about 50% less than I was at my last job.

That is no excuse.

Since I am still focused on all the money earned in one month being used for the next month's bills, there is no reason why I can not project an amount for a snowball in the budget and if I have not earned enough to cover that by the next month, just readjust the snowball category in the budget.

I may not have a whole lot to work with right now, but one thing is for certain: when I put the numbers in the budget I make better progress than when I leave that number at zero!

I am further behind in my debt payoff schedule than I projected not only due to losing my last job, but also because of my failure to stay committed to paying SOMETHING towards the snowball each and every month!

For the month of November, I have included a snowball payment of $130. As it stands now, I have that covered and still have two more shifts to work this month. Everything I make these next two nights will be used towards gasoline, food, and contributing to the household expenses (lights, water, heat).

Here is to planning for a brighter future!

Well, it has been a while....

2009-10-30T00:59:00.001-07:00

a long while, at that.

I really don't even know what to say about my financial life. So I will just list things out....

GOOD

1. I have not incurred any new debt.
2. I still have my $1,000 buffer in my checking account
3. I haven't touched the $450 in my local savings account.
4. I haven't touched the $1,000 in my BEF account
5. I have managed to save the close to $1700 for fall tuition with cash.
6. I have been able to pay at least the minimums on all of my debts. Not necessarily making good progress, but not falling behind is good.
7. We haven't gotten anywhere close to hungry. Actually, I think we are eating better now than before, mainly because I know I have no choice but to cook everynight. (Which I should have been doing before... we were pretty good about it, but still got take-out a couple of times per month.) *I know we are no where close to hungry because I have gained almost 15 pounds! That would be horrible, but I was probably too skinny before anyway.

NOT SO GOOD
1. My income was cut by more than 50%. Stressful.
2. I have not been able to really contribute to the household bills. Boyfriend taking care of everything. Which is wonderful of him and it is wonderful that he is not resentful of this fact. But I am. I hate not being able to contribute.
3. I have not been able to snowball anything. Which is heartbreaking considering the excellent progress I was making earlier this year.
4. The stress of earning 50% less is compounded by the fact that March will be my last GI Bill payment, although I will not graduate until May. That is another $1300 I will not see each month as income.

And then there is good.....

2009-08-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

Good news is that we have not incurred any new debt through all of these unexpected life changes. Which is awesome. I can't even explain how awesome it feels to have not incurred new debt, to have (so far) met the financial challenges and to have started changing our lifestyle to be in line with our income!

School started for me last week which means I am feeling more productive. The girls have started cheerleading which is four nights a week for practice right now. They love it and the parents of the other girls on the team are awesome. Both mom's and dad's come out to practices and we all sit together and laugh and talk and we are even learning all the cheers as well.

I talked with my advisor and it looks like I am on course to graduate in May which is both a wonderful feeling and a scary one. With the way things are in this "economy", it is a scary thought to go out and find a job in my field of study. Most of the people I know who graduated this past May are having trouble finding employment, so I have some reservations about it. However, graduating with a four year degree in three and half years is a wonderful feeling! I haven't even finished yet, but the sense of accomplishment that I am feeling is awesome! Even better is that I can use this feeling to motivate me towards becoming debt free. It may take a few years, but earning a degree takes a few years as well and I am doing that, so I should be able to do anything that simply takes time!

Although I have made considerably less at the new bar than I did at my old bar, I have made enough money to make it through, at least for the month of September. As it stands, I have $32 after paying all the bills and thats before taking into account my hourly pay for the last three shifts I have worked plus the last two I have before the end of the month and before the tips I will make these last two shifts. This also takes into account paying a third of my tuition in the month of September with cash. As long as things stay constant, I should be able to pay all of my tuition with cash.

I also still have my buffer in my checking account intact for yet another month which I am very excited about.

So, although not much has been done in the way of debt reduction, there are still things to be excited about and to be proud of. One day at a time I will get this done. It is just going to take a little patience and, of course, budgeting!

There is the bad....

2009-08-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

My last employer has banned me from her establishment. Why, I wonder? It seems that all I do is "Talk S&*T and steal her customers". Well, I never talked smack about the place and as for "stealing customers" I suppose I can see how she feels that way since some of my regular customers have started coming over to my new bar about one night a week to see me.

However, reality shows that they still go to the other bar 90% of the time. Going to another bar one night a week is their choice, not something that I could force to happen.

It does hurt my feelings a bit. I worked for this woman for two and half years. Being treated and spoken to in such a manner really does upset me, but I have come to the conclusion that I just need to let it go. Yes, I worked there a long time (although two and half years is not really a long time, in the bar world it is a lifetime) and yes, I was a good worker for her, but the drama is not doing me any good.

Other bad news: The man's ex-wife filed for modification of child support. Which in of itself is not a bad thing. Child Support is an important thing which I understand. What I do not understand is why when she filed for modification she did not submit his mailing address through her State.

The Child Support Order originated in one state; the state where they both lived during their divorce. Since then, both have moved to different states. He has paid the his child support through the original state every month directly from his paycheck. It is set up to where the money comes out before he is even paid.

Well, when the modification process was started from her state to the state we currently live, since they (the state) did not have his mailing address, he was not notified. The current state got a statement from the original state that he has paid through the month of March, which is the month when the current state requested the statement. Since he did not know to pay through the current state, they have been tracking him since April as not paying child support.

Fast forward to two weeks ago when he finally got served papers at his place of employment (they finally found him) and he goes to see the Child Support Enforcement people and consequently a judge. Not only has his month child support gone up $215 a month (Now paying $1,400 a month for ONE child) the current state is going to garnish his wages for his "Owed" child support from April until August. Even though he has paid and has PROOF that he has paid, everyone says there is nothing they can do because it is "in the system".

It is absolutely ridiculous! Being on both sides of the Child Support Spectrum (as in, being with the man who is legally responsible for paying child support and being a parent who is legally entitled to child support) I see nothing but problems with this system.

Here is a man who has always paid. A father who calls his son everyday. A father who, although half a country away from his son, utilizes every block of visitation he has with his son EVERY YEAR. Even if it is for two days, he will pay to fly his son out here for visitation. A man who very much wants a relationship with his son and who wants to care for his son.

Then there is my ex-husband. He went 3 and half years without paying child support. Now he pays half of what he is legally required to pay each month. He has gone years without seeing his children (which was his choice). He goes months without calling his children or answering their phone calls. Oh, and if something comes up in his life financially, he just either skips a child support payment or pays late. Because somehow, if his car breaks down or whatnot, it becomes MY and his CHILDREN's problem to come up with the money that he is supposed to have sent.

I have gone to Child Support Enforcement and PAID THEM MONEY to enforce the child support order to no avail.

So, the father that tries to do right gets slammed up the rear and the father that really doesn't give a poop just skates on by. How in the hell is this even possible!?!

I know life isn't fair, but really, this goes beyond that. It is just wrong.

So, in the next few months, not only will we be losing an additional $215 in income towards the larger child support payment, we will also be losing $1200 a month in back child support that isn't even rightfully owed!

Of course, the ex-wife knew that this could happen if she didn't submit the address when she filed for modification.

What makes it even more laughable is that she makes only $200 a month less than he does, but they are using the percentile rates for support from the date of the divorce, when she made far less. So, if his income goes up he pays more but if her income goes up it doesn't matter - again, how in the hell is this even POSSIBLE?

Update

2009-08-26T08:02:00.001-07:00

I need to change my debt total. It is not accurate. I actually owe more than what I was reporting. I don't know why, but for months I was not counting certain bills as debt. Like, when I had to get the siding replaced on my house five years ago. I certainly did not have the money to pay for that in cash, so I had to finance the replacement. I had put off getting the siding replaced for years as it were at the time; the boards were literally falling off the house.

The financed amount was not through a Home Equity Loan, but it was a financed through terms that make the payoff in about ten years from the date of orgination. I need to put the remaining amount on the sidebar to accurately reflect how much I owe.

I am also thinking about adding what I owe on my vehicle to the sidebar as well, since that is debt that should be paid in Baby Step 2. The only reason I hesitate is because once I have that big of a number to look at, I am not sure if that will really motivate me or if it will just because overwhelming.

Looking up

2009-08-03T11:30:00.001-07:00

Well, my first night at the new bar went pretty well. My people did indeed come in and that did make me feel really good, personally.

I did okay considering I had no idea where anything was kept nor did I know the prices of any of the drinks, lol. I started to get in a groove by the end of the night, however.

My new schedule will be Friday nights, Saturdays 1-6 pm, and Tuesday nights. I am not sure how that will work out monetarily, but I do think for family time and school work those hours will allow me more time to focus on those other things.

Also, the house has been rented!!!!!!!! I should get the first rent check by the 20th.... which is very good news for the budget!

Hopefully by the end of this month I get back to paying down some of this debt! I haven't been able to make extra payment since May, which has really put a stint in my progress!

New Job

2009-07-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

I start working at that other bar tomorrow night! Whoo hooo!

This seriously makes me feel better. Much better.

Now, I don't know how much I will make in tips (only time will tell that) so I really can't project any budgets, but since I have all the August bills covered this will give me a whole month to save every penny I make so I will know how much money I will have in September for the bills.

I do know that I will be making $7.25 an hour, which is the highest hourly wage for a server in this town. So, even if tips are not as much, I am getting paid a bit more. Every bit helps, yes?

I do not have an actual schedule this week. The owner has her schedules set out 2 weeks in advance. Even so, she told me to come in Friday to bartend and next week she will give me my schedule for the following week. So I still have basically another week without pay, but that is ok. I do have the buffer in my account so I should be alright.

While talking to the owner, she told me that her business is a little slow right now (summertime is usually slow for most bars) and that I probably wouldn't make as much as I was making at my last bar. She was trying to be as honest as possible with me, which I appreciate very much. Of course, I have already talked to pretty much all of my regular customers telling them that I am starting at the new place tomorrow night and they have all decided that tomorrow night they are going to the new place to have a "New Job" party for me - in which I get to serve them drinks and they get to give me money. Oh, my regulars make me laugh so much.

They make me laugh and they make my eyes fill with tears of gratitude. I don't expect any of them to leave the old bar to become regulars at a new bar - people are kinda funny about their drinking establishments. But the fact that they have decided to come in on my first night really means a lot to me.

Hopefully, they will like the new place enough to come in every once in a while. (Perferably when I am working) It certainly can not hurt if people come in because I am working there. Besides, more business tends to create more business.

So, it would be safe to say that my spirits are up, even if there are some unknowns. Just knowing that people are there for me has really shown me how fortunate I truly am.

Also, I got a phone call yesterday afternoon from the Housing Division on post. A Soldier wanted to look at my house (it is being listed for rent) and asked if I could meet them there in 30 minutes. Of course I could, and did. The Soldier told me that he really liked the house and the housing manager told the Soldier that she thought my house was "the one" and then they stated that they were going to go to the rental management company listing the house to see about renting it.

The house will be available on the 1st (still have a couple more things to get done in the house) and hopefully it will be rented before then! But at the very least, hearing someone say that they really liked my house and that it was really cute did make me feel pretty good. For whatever reasons, I have a really big emotional tie to that property. It is like an extension of myself so hearing that was like someone complimenting me.

So here says the wonderful boyfriend, "I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING WOULD BE OK!"

Debt Effects...

2009-07-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

The last two nights I have basically cried myself to sleep. My dear sweet boyfriend holds me and doesn't say much, because there really isn't much he can say. Of course he has told me that things will be alright; that we will make it through this; that for every door that closes another one opens.

And truthfully, although he is saying all the right things, I really don't even want to hear them.

I want to cry. I want to feel the pain that I am feeling. I want this pain to motivate me even more to get my financial life in order.

But then I want to feel sorry for myself. Or at least be angry. I am not a bad person, I say. I went to work like I was supposed to. I did my job. I finally got a decent budget in order and had a buffer in my checking account and I was paying down my debts! I had finally gotten to a place where I thought things were going to be in some sense of order! I even finally got my GI Bill money deposited into my account and with that and the money that I would have made my last 4 working shifts this month I was going to be able to not only pay my tuition with CASH, but I was actually going to be able to pay OFF Capital One and still have a couple hundred dollars to pay towards the next debt!

My plan has gone to crap!

I wake up in the morning and I have nothing to do. Of course, I have things I can do, but I have nothing that is pressing. Classes are out until the middle of August. The kids are at their fathers until the middle of August. There is only so much laundry a person can do and I can only dust and vaccum so much until there is no point anymore.

We have an eliptical machine (well, it is his) that he has moved into the living room for me so I can catch up on some exercise. More like just trying to give me an outlet of something to do.

I have never felt this way before. It is hard to describe. I have been broke before. I have lived work shift to work shift before. But I always had a job. Since the day I turned 16 I have had a job. This is a very odd feeling for me.

He kisses me on the forehead and tells me, once again, that it is going to be alright. We aren't going to starve. We aren't going to be homeless. Which is true and I am very fortunate for that.

It could be worse. I have to tell myself that it could be worse. But today, in my world, it feels about almost as bad as I can stand it right it.

I think I am going to watch the Pursuit of Happyness. Because that movie just seems to be uplifting and I think I need that right now.

Job Interview

2009-07-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

I have a job interview tomorrow night at another bar in town. It is a decent place, although the customer traffic is no where near what my previous bar has. The upside is that the hourly wage is a lot more than what I received at the last bar, so it may work itself out.

There is another place in town that has pretty decent buisness until about the end of November (they have a huge patio) but after that it kinda dies out because it is just too cold to hang out outside. But, if it doesn't work out at this first place, I will go talk to the other place.

I hope it all works out. I really do need income.

Worse than I thought....

2009-07-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

About a year and a half ago, the police came into the bar undercover with an underage person with them. I ended up getting a ticket for serving a minor. Which really sucked, because one, I don't normally serve underage kids; two, I practically ALWAYS check ID's (they caught me on one of the few times I didn't check); and three - I didn't even drink until I was 21 so everyone else should have to wait too!

So, I went to court and I paid my $360 fine and thought that was the end of it.

This past May, I renewed my liquor liscense, and since there was no issue in doing that, I really thought the ticket was behind me.

Well, here I go on Friday, walking into work. My boss wants to talk to me. Seems the Alcohol commission in my state is trying to shut her bar down because the bar has gotten 4 tickets in 2 years. (One of those tickets was not for underage drinking but for some other reason). I am the only person still working there that has received a ticket. My boss's lawyer thinks it will be easier for him to fight the suit if I don't work at the bar anymore.

END RESULT: I NO LONGER HAVE A JOB. FOR SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED A YEAR AND A HALF AGO. FOR SOMETHING I ALREADY PAID A FINE FOR.

I am more than distraught right now. I really have no idea what I am going to do. This totally stinks. After close to two and half years working for this place, this is what happens. Great.

Stagnant

2009-07-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

I feel like things have just gone stagnant.

I am still waiting on my GI Bill money from the VA. Urgh.

I did manage to get the Cheerleading uniforms paid (everything except the warm-ups which we don't need until October) and the remaining of my dental work got split into two different appointments, so I am able to stall having to pay the full amount right now (only having to pay for one of the procedures instead of both yesterday) and the procedure I had done yesterday actually ended up costing less than originally thought, which does help with the money.

But without this GI Bill money, I am really just hanging on by a thread.

I have to average $150 a night for the rest of the shifts I work to cover all the bills in August if I don't get the GI Bill in time. So no extra debt payments projected at the current moment.

Plus, I still have to pay tuition for this summer, and without the GI Bill being deposited, I don't know how I am going to pay that. (I am still waiting for the rest of May and full June payments)

Hopefully the GI Bill money will be deposited soon!

Still waiting...

2009-07-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

I am still waiting for my GI Bill payments. My paperwork is showing being processed. Oh, I really can't wait to get the payment, though! Luckily, I had enough enough money to pay all the bills this month and I still have close to $800 in my checking account buffer, but I would feel much better having the rest of my money! Mainly because I do still need to pay $900 towards tuition and I have to go back to the dentist later in this month and I need that money in order to do those things!

In other financial news, I got a letter from HSBC today saying that they have lowered my credit limit from $2,000 to $300. I already paid off that debt, so the amount they have for me doesn't really matter. What does matter is that this will impact my credit score which can potential impact the interest rates my other debts will charge me! I guess when you pay your bills on time every month, you are the one that gets screwed. I mean, I know I owe quite a bit of money, but I am paying it back and I have never missed a payment. I am a bit perturbed about this. Chase lowered my credit limit by close to $800 last month, so it looks like this could be a domino effect. I really just hope the Providian/WaMu/now Chase card doesn't lower the limit since I am so close to the limit as it is. I may really have to look into putting the smaller cards on hold while I concentrate on the largest balance just so I don't get the limit lowered and owe more than the limit and then get stuck with all the fees and the inability to ever get out of that mess.

I will be so happy when I am out of credit card debt. I have no desire to ever use a credit card again after all of this mess. Just goes to show, everything you need to learn you did learn in Kindergarten - "The good suffer for the bad". I may not have been pristine, but I have always made my payments on time, have always paid my mortgage, car loans, utilities - everything - on time. It really stinks that after getting bailed out by the taxpayer, these companies are screwing the very people who bailed them out. Perhaps we should have just let them fail.

Been way to long....

2009-06-29T22:34:00.000-07:00

It has been way too long since I have posted. And you know what I have realized? Not posting goes hand in hand with not being proactive towards my debt! When I was posting everyday, I was making considerable progress. I have made hardly any progress except normal minimum payments since I stopped posting daily!

One good thing that I did do in the "blogging hiatus" was paying for my dental services with cash. My medical envelope is empty now, but I did not charge a dime. YaY for that.

Bad news: I still have about $500 of dental work that still needs to be done. I am scheduled to have it done in the later part of July, but I am not sure that I will have the funds available. So, I am calling to re-schedule my appointment for a later date.

We had to get the A/C fixed as well. The man had it working, but then the blower motor went out. Because of the way it was installed, there was no way to replace the motor. You couldn't even get to where it was. We did get it fixed for a lot less than the $10-$12 thousand dollars one man estimated for us. We found a place that replaced the entire inside unit (not the outside compressor, just the inside unit) for $3,600. Luckily, the man was able to pay this with cash as well from his emergency fund.

Work has also been a bit slow the last month. Thankfully I have the buffer in my checking account, otherwise I would be short close to $400. But, this is also in part because:

For some reason, I had forgotten to go to the VA office with my summer and fall school schedules. So, in June I only received $382 from the GI Bill - instead of the full $1321 payment. (I only got paid for the dates school was in session for the month of May instead of the full payment for not having a break in cycle) I did get to the VA office the first week I was back from Florida and turned in my paperwork, and the paperwork is at the Regional VA office. As soon as it is processed, I can get payment for the rest of the May amount as well as the full June amount. I am hoping that the paperwork gets processed this week so I can get payment next week. Yes, I still have money in the bank because of the buffer, but I would feel so much better having the full buffer back in there plus with the GI Bill payments I will have quite a bit more money available to use for things like:

Summer tuition. $892 which I need to pay ASAP. Technically, I can pay it anytime before Fall semester starts, but I would like to get it paid off as soon as I get the GI Bill money deposited into my account. Then I do not have to worry about it any longer.

My children are also getting ready to go to their dad's for a month this summer in two weeks. Of course, he couldn't afford the entire amount of the plane tickets, so I agreed to pay half the cost. I really would rather use that money towards debt, but it is for the kids so I am trying not to be too upset about it.

Which leaves cheerleading uniforms to pay for. The team is doing bake sales to help lower the costs, but if they are not at the bake sale, they do not get credit towards their uniforms. So far the team has only had one bake sale and both girls attended, but they only made $120, which will be split between the six girls that participated. Every little bit helps, but I still have to come up with $460 for uniforms. Of course, dear dad can't afford to help pay for this. My mother said that she would help me with it, so hopefully that works out.

My house is still not rented out, for a lot of reasons, most of which have to do with the man being out of town quite a bit the last month. There are some things we still need to do to get it ready, and with the kids, school, and work, it was almost impossible for me to get the things done. (Besides the fact that I have no idea how to hang a door or other things of that nature) The house is getting listed as ready to rent next week though. Hopefully it will get rented out quickly so I can at least have the mortgage covered via rent so that will be one less thing for me to worry about.

One thing that I am actually happy about is that I kept my $1000 buffer in my checking account. For a while I was thinking about using half of it towards debt, but since the GI Bill money hasn't come in yet, I am very happy that I decided to keep the entire $1000 in the bank. If I had not done that, I would have been in a very big bind, having to use part of the Emergency Fund to cover bills, groceries, and gasoline.

I had really thought that I would be able to get Capital One paid off by the end of July, but with the way things are looking, I am not sure if that is really going to be a possibility. If work picks up a bit, I may still be able to knock out a pretty big chunk and if my mom can help with the cheer uniforms it may happen, but I am looking at my projection moving out to August.

Which just brings up more issues since August is back to school and the girls will need school supplies and other back to school shopping essentials. They do not necessarily need a ton of new clothes for the start of the school, but they will need new fall clothing shortly thereafter, so it might be better to buy the clothes during the back to school sales and tax free days rather than waiting.

Well, I have rambled on enough for one night. I promise I will post more often. When I post, I seem to keep myself more accountable. As it stands, the month of July is a broke month where I have no money to do anything other than go to work, school, and stay at home. Which may not be a bad thing, but I would prefer to have had some money available for extra debt payments and the dentist.

Update

2009-06-07T02:49:00.000-07:00

Whew... it has been a whirlwind since I have returned from Florida. School started back up, started back at work and spending time with the man, children and unpacking has taken up a lot of time. Throw into the mix that we are also preparing for his son to come for the summer and a lot is going on!

I didn't make my goal of total unsecured debt being below $19,000 in the month of May which is a little disappointing, but I have to take into account that I had the car accident. I did get Mohawk (flooring) paid off in the month of May when the original payoff date was July 21st. (Well, that is when it had to be paid off before the interest started to accrue so paying it off before that date was my goal)

I should still be on track to have Capital One paid off by the end of July. I had hoped to have it paid off in June, a month earlier than my projection, but I am looking at the numbers and I have to tell you, I don't think that is going to happen. However, as long as I make my goal of paying it off in the month of July, I will be tickled pink.

Other than that, not too much going on. I did get my day shift back, at least for this upcoming week, so that is good news financially. Especially since it is the summer and that means work slows down quite a bit and I need all the shifts I can manage just to keep some money in my pocket.

Back from Vacation

2009-06-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

Now that I am back from vacation, I have some things to do. Its time to get back down to doing business!

I am happy to report that Mohawk (my kitchen floors) has been paid off. I had gotten the 12 months, zero interest option and it was up on July 21st. I paid it off May 30th, basically a month and a half before schedule. YaY!

Now it is onto getting rid of this Capital One card. I had hoped to have the balance gone by the end of June. I may still be able to make that happen, but it is looking more like July before it will be gone. Of course, that information is not going to deter me from doing everything I can to get the balance gone this month!

Oh, Vacation....

2009-05-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

Just taking a break from the vacation fun to post. Exactly what, I am not sure, but I feel the desire to watch the letters form on the screen as I type, so here we are.

The weather is beautiful down here, although it was raining yesterday. Raining until we finally went to the store to buy some board games for the kids to play who were stuck inside. After we bought the games, wouldn't you know the clouds broke apart, the sun started to shine, and not a sprinkle since? It's all cool though. We bought CLUE and that is a game we can totally take with us back home and play. Oh, and Hannah Montana UNO. You do get the best of both worlds that way, you know.

The beach is great - although the little one decided today she isn't getting back into the water ever again because it is TOO SALTY. Oh, the horror of salt water in your mouth! Precisely why momma hasn't gotten into the water. That and the fact that it is only 71 degrees. (The water, not the air)

The pool, however, is great no matter how much water gets into your mouth. You can jump off the side and take a noodle into the deep end, even though at 7 years old you still don't know how to really swim because your mother must be neglecting your development. I mean, it doesn't matter that you live in the WIDE. OPEN. PLAINS. Or that there isn't a pool available to teach you how to swim. Mommy dearest is ruining your life by not teaching you how to swim, thus making it impossible for you to get to the deep side without the aid of a floatation device. As the mother, I am totally oblivous to how this is truly affecting you. Hey, I didn't teach your 10 year old sister how to swim either, and she seemed to have learned how just fine all by herself.

Also, both children believe that their mother is trying to rub their precious skin off of their bodies with this horrible invention called sunscreen. It doesn't matter that you see all these people around you with horrifically red skin. Or that your mother says repeatly, "It isn't skin cancer that I am worried about! I don't want to hear you complaining for the rest of the trip about your skin hurting!" This thing called sun screen needs to just go away and you should be allowed to get as burnt as you wish. This is America, after all. You are a free people! (Yes, the 10 year old did tell me this. Oh, if I weren't her mother I would have just laughed and laughed. Instead, I got grandma to hold her down as I lathered the sunscreen on even more. We thought about using restraints, but figured if we did the cops would be knocking on the door)

But really, we are having a great time. It is nice to spend time with my parents and the girls all at once.

Even if on the drive down here my mother called me on my cell phone to tell me that they were not going to try to keep up with me because they didn't want to get a speeding ticket.

I was going 69 miles an hour in a 70 miles per hour zone. On the interstate.

Tomorrow we are going to go watch the sun rise on the beach. It's sure to be beautiful, but that is really way to early for me. Is 7 a.m. too early to take a nap? I sure hope not.........

Leaving for vacation

2009-05-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

Got the rental car. A Mazda 5. It is like a mini-mini van. It's OK and I am sure happy to have a set of wheels I can drive around, but it sure makes me look like a soccer mom. Which is good fun for everyone else to tease me about, but on June 5th, when I get my sexy mom car back I will all the happier.

In other news, I am leaving today for Florida. Actually, I should be leaving in about an hour. Everything is packed, just waiting for the girls to get out of school.

Lucky for me, I don't watch the weather channel, so no, I don't know that it is raining in Florida and its forecasted to rain the first three days we are there. Since it is sunny here, that means it is sunny everywhere, right? Right.

DO NOT! I REPEAT DO NOT!!!!!!!!!

2009-05-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

Get into a car accident. Ever. Especially when trying to get out of debt.

Thankfully everyone is okay and no one even sustained minor injuries. But the car? Poor baby.

So, it'll cost me $500 for the deductible. The rental car coverage only covers 80% and only up to $500, so I should have to come out of pocket no more than $150 for that.

Oh and that pesky citation I got from the friendly police officer who was most kind to not mention my awesome High School Musical pajama pants. (Hey, I was just running the kids to school! I had already dropped them off, thank goodness!)

Not really sure how the wreck happened. I applied the brake. The brakes did not stop the car in time. I started to apply them in what should have been ample time to stop the car. When the car wasn't stopping, I pumped them harder. I heard the tires squeeling. At that moment, I knew I was going to hit someone's car - either the one stopped in front of me or the one coming towards me in the oncoming traffic lane. I guess you could say I choose to hit the car in front as opposed to swirving into oncoming traffic.

In the big scheme of things, the damage is not too terrible. My car will go into the shop June 1st (the fastest they can get to it) and should be available for pickup on the 5th.

What really sucks is that I am leaving Thursday for the vacation with the parents and I am going to have to drive a rental car down there. I did get unlimited mileage, I would just prefer to drive my own car. But alas, I can't due to the thing being all bent up. So I will stop my whining. I am darn lucky I was on a residential street to start with and that I am not a speed demon. It could have been a lot worse. (I hit the stopped car at about 7 miles an hour. Doesn't sound really fast, does it? Well, 7 miles an hour damages the hood, grill, bumper and the left headlight.)

Oh me oh my. What is a girl going to do? I was hoping to be able to make it into the $18,000's by the end of this month, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen now. :( Bummer. At least I don't have to add to the debt, though. Which is always a great thing.

Getting my house ready to rent...

2009-05-16T01:39:00.000-07:00

Since I have moved out of my house and into my boyfriend's house, which is now refered to as "our" house, I need to do something with MY house. I have decided to rent it out. I would say it is because of the current housing market, but really, it is more to do with the sentimental attachement I have to my house. It was the first house I ever owned. It was the house I brought my babies home from the hospital to nestle in their cribs. It is the house that has had 7 different kitchen colors since I purchased it in 1998.

Yeah, I kinda miss living in that house. :( Although, fortunate for my boyfriend, I don't miss it enough to keep living there.

So, we have decided that instead of selling the house, we will just rent it out. Which actually could be a great financial move. The house is structurally sound, and most major repairs have been done within the last 5 years. (New roof, siding, A/C work, Appliances)

My mortgage on this house is only $345 a month, which includes taxes and insurance. (I bought the house in 1998, when housing was super duper cheap in this area. It is appraised for almost triple what my purchase price was 11 years ago.) But, as with all things, time has increased not only the cost of owning a home, but rent prices as well. Homes in my neighborhood that are being rented are being rented for between $600-$700 a month.

But, this means that all those minor repairs that I have been putting off because I can live with them and some cosmetic work that needed to be done needs to happen before I can rent out the house. Its nothing minor, really. Actually, watching HGTV shows such as "Design to Sell" has shown me that for a mere $2,000, you can honestly make a huge difference in price. Of course, I am not selling nor do I need to stage the home in order to rent it, but you get the idea.

To be honest, when I moved back into the house after returning from Germany (I rented the house out during that time as well) there were some things I just hadn't gotten around to. Like repainting the bedrooms. Yes, I lived with nail hole patches on my bedroom walls for 2 and half years. No big deal.

So, the last 3 days I have been painting. It looks good. I picked a lovely almond neutral color. Instead of replacing the doors which took a major beating while I was in Germany, I am doing some patching work and painting them all white, to include the closet doors. It is amazing how much better it all looks. I am kinda sorry I put off all the work until now.

But, so far I have spent $200 in paint and supplies. Oh, and carpet cleaning solution. I already own a carpet cleaner, so I am cleaning the carpets myself. I did an outstanding job if I do say so myself!

I am thinking that with about $200 more put into the house, I should be able to rent the house out for $700 fairly easily.

So that is the plan.

* I say I have spent, but I should say my boyfriend has spent. He is such a doll. Now, if he could only spend some money on getting the A/C Fixed!!!!!

$12,000

2009-05-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

That's the estimated cost of repairing this A/C unit. Urgh.

Come to find out though, after TWO licensed A/C guys from different companies came out to look at it, the unit was improperly installed. Oh, and the home inspector guy? Yeah, he should have totally wrote on the Home Inspection "IMPROPERLY INSTALLED UNIT" or "IMPROPER CLEARANCE" or something to that effect.... not "Water in pan". Duh, that is what the pan is there for!

I am so upset about this I feel like I am about to cry. Although it is not MY house, (meaning, my name is not on the mortgage as of yet) we JUST moved in less than 3 weeks ago. Actually, we are still moving stuff from my house into this house. (Sure, it is taking longer to move, but we aren't paying for a moving truck, moving men, or having tons of boxes once we are done. We are using plastic tubs that we already have, loading them up and emptying them and repeating the process. Not totally fun, but the cost is minimal and we aren't using thousands of trees)

But anyway - neither myself nor my boyfriend have 12 grand to pay for this. Even together, we don't have the money for this. And, with his son coming next month, we are going to have increased expenses of food and daycare for the summer months.

This is just poop. Absolute poop. I guess we need more in our Emergency Funds.

Not even totally moved in yet...

2009-05-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

and we are having an Air Conditioning problem.

Now, I don't know if you have ever been to Southwest Oklahoma at this time of year, but I am here to tell you, it is HOT. As in, it is the first week of May and it was 95 degrees today. I don't care how many windows you open, it is freaking HOT. Ditto for fans. I mean, they help, but it is still miserable.

So, the guy from the Home Warranty place comes out to look at the unit. Oh yeah, he says, this is the house that was DENIED A/C Warranty coverage with the previous owner because of the placement of the A/C unit. (It is in the attic, it can't drain properly and you can't get to it to work on it because of the rafters/placement. Whoever put it in was an idiot!)

He continues to talk to us.... about how the last people who owned the house knew about the problem, were told how much it would cost to correct the problem - who exclaimed there was no way they were paying that much when they were getting ready to move!

So OK... here we go.... there was a home inspection, done through the real estate company. Boyfriend was out of state at time of inspection/sale at a military school. Real Estate company told him everything was fixed. I looked through all of the mortgage paperwork today, and it states that no repairs are needed on the dwelling. No repairs needed my ass.

The unit is leaking. Through the ceiling. The technican guy said last time he came into this house, the ceiling was on the FLOOR. Oh great.

He said something about the quote for the last people was about 12 grand to fix the problem.

Now, I don't know what happened when the house was bought. He needs to look through some more paperwork. He says he does not recall anything about the A/C needing repairs. That is something you kinda remember. Hell, I bought my house 11 years ago and I still remember what three things the inspector said needed to be fixed.

In the meantime, I am sitting in the dark, with two fans blowing on me. I am sure we will figure something out, but this being hot really sucks.

Vacation

2009-05-06T16:15:00.000-07:00

I have decided to take the girls to Florida with my parents for vacation. Since we live 700 miles away from my parents and rarely get to see them, I feel that is important to make the trip, even if it does interfer a bit with my debt payoff plans. People first, right?

Luckily, I just received $345 in child support from my ex-husband's garnished tax return. This greatly helps me meet my required earnings for the expenses of the month of June, since I will be taking off of work some days and won't have any income.

Also, since I am moving, I went ahead and shut off the cable. This means I won't get billed in the month of May, since my billing date is on the 18th. Actually, I should get some of that money back from the last bill. I have the utilities set to shut off on the 15th, that way we can still see when we are moving, have water and power and steam clean carpets and clean, and have some AC because it is freaking HOT.

But still, this means that my utilities should be lower than what I have budgeted, which would be a huge help as well.

In all, things are still going in the right direction. I may have to slow down speed a little bit, but perhaps not. It really all depends on how much I make the rest of my shifts this month. I am still working towards having my total credit card debt balance down to $18,999. I am just going to have to be more creative than originally thought!

Still moving....

2009-05-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

We have been moving about two loads a day for the last few days. Things are coming together. We have the big stuff and most of the kitchen stuff moved in, as well as the majority of the girls' things. (Well, what they want. The rest of it is probably getting pitched out somewhere) We also moved all the Holiday decorations. YaY! Because that is important... having Christmas decorations moved in May. (Really, since they were already boxed and all, it was easy to just grab them and go....)

One of the benefits of moving at a slower pace like this is that we are not living either A) out of boxes or B) with boxes all around. Every time we make a moving trip, everything we bring gets put in its new place before we move on to another load. It is nice to not walk around tripping over boxes.

Plus, since it is a slower process, my mental state can keep up. It isn't as overwhelming. I am not going to lie, Saturday I started having some panic attacks. This is the first time in my entire adult life that where I am living is not MINE.

So, off I go to pack a couple more boxes to move over this afternoon before the big load this evening. (We will move a truck plus a car load after he gets off of work this evening)

Did I mention that I now have a walk-in closet? Yes. How fabulous!!!!!!!!

Starting to move...

2009-05-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

Slowly we are starting to move.

Meaning, I have brought some clothes over to the house, as well as some of the girls clothes and toys.

I am remembering how much I hate to move. It is such a non-fun thing to do. And, in reality, this would be my first true move the entire house on my own move. Every other time, the military paid people to come pack everything up, box it, move it to the truck and then bring it all back into the house on the other end of the move. Sure, I unpacked all the boxes, but that isn't so horrible when you haven't seen your stuff for months....

But anyway.... onto the moving. We are not going to be using a packing service, because we don't want to spend the money on moving things a half mile down the road. Which makes sense, but I am wondering if he is going to be able to deal with my whining when it comes down to it.

I certainly hope so.

So now, onto moving a few more things before it is time to get ready to go to work. Blah!

Tips for being successful

2009-04-30T01:24:00.000-07:00

Today in my Television Field Production class, we went over attributes that an inspiring broadcaster/independent film producer must have in order to be successful.

I got to thinking about them, and most of these are things that anyone must have in order to be successful at, well, anything.

1. Continous motivation - You have to want to do it!

2. Personality - a sense of professionalism.

3. Creativity - generating good ideas on demand. Otherwise known as brainstorming

4. Knowledge and Skills - You have to have knowledge about what it is that you are doing and the skills to make it happen

5. Willingness to sacrifice for your goals

6. Realibility and Ability to make deadlines

7. Ability to adapt to new technology

The more I think of it, the more I believe that in order to be successful at anything, you must have these traits. The same is true for debt payoff.

As with everything, visualizing the end result IS the beginning. It is part of reverse planning. It is asking the question, "How do I get there (where you want to be) from here?"

Work schedule change

2009-04-30T01:13:00.000-07:00

Well, some things are changing at my place of employment.

My normal schedule was three nights (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday - all big nights) and a Tuesday day shift (nothing spectacular, but I usually pulled in about $100 each Tuesday)

For some reason, my boss is cutting everyone's shifts down from four shifts a week to three shifts a week. I personally think she (the boss) is trying to keep people from wearing down so fast. (The bar business isn't as easy as one may think. It is oh-so-very-easy to get burnt out)

For me, that means that I am losing one shift a week, basically 4 to 5 shifts (depending on the month) a month.

I am still keeping all my night shifts, just losing the day shift. But that does mean that I am losing out on $400 to $500 a month.

On the bright side, I will have more time available to me for school and the girls. Which is actually pretty nice. It means that the girls may actually be able to participate in some school sports and I might actually get to see a school play once in a while.

But the thought of losing $400-$500 a month is kinda scaring me. I have to relook at the budget and see where else I am going to cut back. This also means that I have to look at my debt repayment goals and readjust them to be more realistic yet still challenging. It may push my projected credit card debt freedom back, which is very disappointing.

Of course, I could just look at this as another challenge. I like challenges. I like to compete. Most of all, I like to win. One of the tips of being successful is the willingness to sacrifice some things NOW for the completion of your goals.

I need to look at what I am going to sacrifice. There are still things in the budget that could be cut. I need to get to cutting them.

Projection

2009-04-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

By the end of May, my total credit card debt will be down to $19,336.

That's OK.

I would prefer it to be down to $18,999. That's in the EIGHTEEN THOUSANDS BABY!

I am challenging myself to come up with an extra $337 in the month of May. Of course, my budget is already set at a zero balance for the month, but there are still things that may come in that I do not include in the budget until I actually receive them.

Like child support, for instance. I would love to say that I receive each and every month in a certain amount on a certain date, but the fact is that I do not. Therefore, I do not include any child support in the budget until I actually receive it.

I am also hopeful that what I have budgeted for utilities is more than the actual amount like last month. It may not be a whole heck of a lot of difference, but each and every dollar will make a difference.

Plus, with some time off of school between Spring and Summer semesters, I can go through some of this crap (I mean, wonderful things taking up all the space in my garage!) and start listing them for sale via Ebay, cosignment shops, and possibly a garage sale, although they may have to wait until June.

So, today I start the challenge of finding an extra $337 this month to get that total debt down to $18,999!!!

Grocery Trip

2009-04-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went grocery shopping. Since he is Active Duty, he decided to take me to the commissary instead of the usual grocery store.

Let me just say that somehow I had forgotten how much cheaper the commissary really is compared to other stores. When I started looking at prices, I was seriously raising my hands to the sky.

The bill was $195. We got more food than we would have gotten at the usual grocery store for less than what the normal grocery bill would have been at the usual grocery store.

I am pretty excited that not only did I spend less money than I normally would have, but I also got almost twice as much food.

$19,933!!!!!!

2009-04-26T01:08:00.000-07:00

As of tonight, my total credit card debt sits below $20,000!

That's right, my credit card debt is ONLY (Cough cough) $19,933!!!

I never thought I would be so excited about this, but man, I am doing happy dances all around the house!!!

Only $934 until that number goes below $19,000.

Can you feel the excitement?!?

Ebay, cosignment shop, or Yard Sale?

2009-04-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

As I am looking through all of my belongings, I am realizing like most people that I have way more than I need. I have way more than I really want. I certainly have more than I can effectively store in the space I have available.

So, I have been thinking of the Big three - Ebay, Cosignment Shops, and Yard Sales.

I reach the biggest potential auidence at Ebay - but also get stuck with paying fees if items do not sell. That is not very inticing to me.

Cosignment shops - There is one "upscale" cosignment shop in the town I live in. It is actually a very nice place. The owners basically made it into a boutique of cosigned brand name Women's clothing. It is an adorable place that gets high traffic patterns. The only fee you pay is when an item sells, but it is half the selling price. Oh, and you don't get to price your items, the manager does all the pricing. Still, since I have tons of brand name clothing in perfect condition (a good portion with the tags still attached - urgh) I could potentially still make a decent amount of money even with the 50/50 split. Certainly have a better chance selling the clothing there then I do at choice number three which is:

Yard Sale/Garage Sale - What can I say about these? There is a lot of work involved in having a yard sale. More importantly, in order to have a yard sale on a weekend, I would have to take a night off of work. Which means that I would end up losing money. Unless I can get the wonderful boyfriend to wake up early with the yard sale on a Saturday morning, letting me sleep in until about 11, and then I get up and let him go take a nap. That would be so awesome of him. If that is possible, then it may be worth the effort of having a yard sale to get rid of things OTHER than clothing. (In my opinion, the only clothing worth having out at a yard sale is children's clothing)

Most likely I will use all three of these options for different items to maximize my results.

Only $67 until...

2009-04-25T01:05:00.000-07:00

My total credit card debt gets below $20,000!

I still have three working shifts left in this month, so hopefully I can get the total debt down closer to $18,000 than $20,000.

I will have to say that I am pleased with my progress, although I would like to be doing better. But, I still do have a budget, and as of right now, my May budget is zero balanced. (I went ahead and submitted a payment to Capital One after I zero balanced the funds I currently have, after all the other bills, minimum debt payments, and sinking funds were funded. I have the money deposited into my checking account already, so there is no reason to keep the money there when I am paying interest to Capital One)

Since everything else is funded, everything I make the next three working shifts is going straight towards the Capital One Debt.

Since I am so close, I am considering what debt to attack next. I know the basic principle would be the next smallest debt, to keep the momentum going. But I keep looking at this Providian debt, which is costing me over $200 a month in interest alone and I really feel ill. I don't want to pay over $200 in interest to one freaking credit card!

If I go with the smallest to largest balance, my next debt would be Chase Disney, currently sitting at $2,485. If everything goes according to my projected plans, I could have that debt paid off by the end of July. That is a pretty big goal and to be honest, not one that I am quite sure I can make. But it would be a challenge and part of this process is to keep challenging myself to reach higher.

When the weather turns warm....

2009-04-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

I end up at Home Depot.

I know not why I do this. But it seems to be a pattern. For years, when the weather ends up being warm for about 2 weeks, signaling to my inner self that Spring really is here, I end up in the Garden section of the Home Depot.

Today was that day.

I looked and touched everything. I looked at trees, shrubs, flowers, mulch, soil, retaining walls, pavers, fountains, yard decor, picnic tables, cushions, flower bed edging, bamboo bundles (You can use them to cover up chainlinked fences! They are 6 feet tall! They not only cover the yucky chainlink fence, but hide the view of the neighbors gross yards! And they come 16 feet long... all for about $16 a bundle!)

I got a bit of a sunburn, I was outside for so long!

I purchased NOTHING.

I am shocked.

And Proud of myself!

There is so much I want to do with this house. But frankly, as much as the warm weather makes me want to do things outside, I have some things I need to take care of in the INSIDE first.

Like replacing all the broken doors.

Doing something with the bathroom.

Carpets that are 20 years old really do need to go.

And before I can get to any of that, I need to get rid of this debt.

I'm not going to lie, I am throwing a temper tantrum to myself. My inner child is not liking this "You can't buy pretty shrubs, flowers, and bamboo bundles because you racked up credit card debt and now you need to pay it off!"

Plus, I try to tell my inner child, you may be moving within the next 6 months. Why invest all that work and money into something that you aren't even going to enjoy for that long?

My inner child is a brat and says "CAUSE I WANNA! CAUSE I WILL ENJOY IT FOR A LITTLE BIT! BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE!"

Ultimately, I have placed my inner child in time out. Since time out gurus suggest one minute for each year of age, she is in time out for 30 minutes right now. In the meantime, the grown up me is enjoying the sun shining on my face and the smell of the cedar mulch that I *do* have.

Maybe I will get myself a mint julip as well. Nothing beats a mint Julip when you are basically arguing with yourself.

Out Loud.

In front of people.

*shrug*

Confession

2009-04-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

I am probably not as "gazelle" as I could be.

There are most likely a few things in my budget that I could eliminate for a period of time and I am sure that I could cut costs back in a few areas.

I am looking at these things and deciding exactly what I am comfortable with in "losing" for the overall goal of debt freedom.

I guess I am kinda like Obama; using a magnifying glass and a scapel with a finetooth comb to get rid of expenses that are not really "working".

I feel that slowly vamping up my "gazelle-ness" will be more effective over the long term, rather than cutting everything not necessary all at once. There is only so much any one person can take and getting frustrated with the system is a surefire way of setting yourself up for failure.

This month I am cutting out my landline. I don't use it. Ever. All of my family has the same cell phone company as I do, so mobile to mobile calls are free. Cutting the phone out of my cable bill will save me $23.99 a month. Is that a huge amount of money? Not by any means. But it does add up. $23.99 x 12 = $287.88 per year.

I am also going to be joining the reformed smokers club. Starting in May, I will quit smoking $180 a month via cigarettes. $180 x 12 = $2,160. That is a lot of money. Money that I have been simply wasting, not to mention the horrible health effects. Hell, $2,160 pays off one of my debts!

So, just with those two eliminations next month, I will be having a net savings of $2,447.88 in a 12 month period. Not too shabby.

I plan on also eliminating soda from my grocery budget starting in June. I estimate that I spend about $50 a month in soda products. $50 x 12 = $600. The amount of soda I drink is not only bad for my budget, it is also bad for my teeth and the potential of getting diabetes. My step father is an insulin-dependent diabetic. Has been my entire life. Although he still lives an active life, I know first hand that if I can do anything to prevent getting that disease, I should.

And, that brings the total amount of savings (in a 13 month period, since I am starting a month later with the soda elimination) to $3,251.87.

Looking at the numbers this way certainly does change my perception of how I am spending my money. By simply eliminating these three things from my budget, I will have an extra $3,251.87 to apply towards debt in the next 13 months. Not only will I be financially healthier, I will be physically heathier as well. Which is quite important since I don't have insurance.

In the upcoming months, I am sure I will find a few more things I could live without. Perhaps permenantly, perhaps just for the duration of my debt payoff.

Getting the "I WANT" bug...

2009-04-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

I have become ill. I have self diagnosed myself with "IWANTITIS".

It is a horrible disease to have. Some causes of this condition include, but are not limited to:

*Seeing your neighbors newly redone garden and realizing that it is better than your garden.

*Sitting in your backyard and realizing that you really do not like your next door neighbor's backyard decor. (Either of them)

*Watching HGTV home improvement/decorating shows.

*Seeing a cover of Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens, or any other home/garden magazine.

*Opening your closet and realizing that it would be so much better to have a closet organization system.

*After steam-cleaning the 20 year old carpets, you realize that some stains are simply there for eternity.

*Looking at your functional, yet asethically displeasing bathroom, and realizing that no matter how hard you previously tried to make it asethically pleasing, the only way it is actually going to happen is to rip everything out and start from scratch.

*Looking into your children's rooms and seeing that there is truly no style, rhyme or reason to the decor. Deciding immediately that this is very sad that your children must sleep in such conditions.

*Since your living room does not have an overhead light, you must use lamps (many of them) to illuminate said living room. After turning on 2 floor lamps, which are, of course, placed behind furniture, you really miss having a light that works via a switch.

*Listening to your 10 year old daughter sing Taylor Swift songs for hours because she does not have a door to close. Instead, she has a curtain rod with hot pink curtains for visual privacy because her door was taken off the hinges due to the fact that the renters tore up the carpet in her room, making use of a door impossible without tearing up the carpet even further.

*Going to get the wet mail out of the mailbox because the mailbox door is broken. So is the stake, for that matter, which causes the mailbox to lean either left, right, forward or backwards, depending on the direction of the wind.

Symptoms of "IWANTITIS" include, but again, are not limited to:

*Nausea
*Headaches
*Mild depression
*Restless body syndrome
*Compulsive window shopping via the internet with the helps of Lowes and Home Depot.com
*Telling your child for the 1384749857834 time that you have a headache and to please keep it down
*Tearing out pages of home/garden magazines to start your own portfolio of wants
*Contemplating calling the producers of "Clean Sweep" to come take care of your neighbors unsightly yards
*Looking at your budget and seeing if there is anyway you can create a "Home Improvement"fund without extending your debt payoff goals
*Laying wet mail out to dry on a flat surface

A cure for this disease has yet to be found. Some things that can help include:

*Revisiting the budget
*Acknowledging the reasons why you can't immediately purchase the things you want is due to previous carlessness with finances
*Actually create a "Home Improvement" line item in the budget and deciding how much will be allocated to this newly created sinking fund each month
*Actually pricing the things that you want from various sources via the internet
*Prioritizing your list of wants from most important want to least important want
*Giving yourself a pat on the back for not immediately grabbing a credit card and buying what you want
*Congratulating yourself for actually taking time to think things through and creating some type of plan on how you plan on getting the things you want

As you can see, "IWANTITIS" could hit anyone, at anytime. It can be a very dangerous condition in which you spend money that you don't have. If you think you are coming down with "IWANTITIS", it is best that you stay home, or at the very least, out of any place where you could be tempted to buy anything for a while. Hopefully, researches will one day find a cure for this disease which seems to be running rampant among humans.

To vacation or not vacation..that IS the question....

2009-04-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

My parents are such wonderful and lovely people. I love them dearly.

They want to take a vacation. They want me and the girls to go with them. Everything would be paid for, since my wonderful parents have decided that I am not to pay for anything regarding a vacation with them. Unless I really, truly, absolutely feel that I must pay for something, in which case I will be allowed to take everyone out to dinner one night. But even then, if the bill is more than $75, they will pay anything over that amount.

Gasoline getting there? No Problem. Mom will write a check.

What if I need to stop overnight (since it is an 11 hour drive with two children, 10 and 7)? No problem, mom will include that in the check.

Sounds divine, doesn't it?

A week at the beach, paid for, sand between my toes, enjoying watching my children building sandcastles and burying grandpa in the sand.... drinking daiquiri's with my mom after the girls go to bed, enjoying the sea breezes.....

But, I don't get paid vacation.

If I take time off, I LOSE income.

At the current pace of business at my bar, a week off could mean a loss of up to $1400. For ONE WEEK. (Well, 10 days - and that includes two Fridays and two Saturdays)

I really do want to go enjoy time with my parents. I want my children to spend time with their grandparents. They aren't always going to be around. I want my children to have memories with their grandparents.

Of course, I also do not want to lose income. I don't want my debt payment schedule to be pushed back because of a vacation.

I am not really sure what to do in the scenerio. Last year we went, and my mother also included some money in a check to off set my not working. I am pretty sure she would do the same thing this year.

It is something I have to think about. I also have to check with my boss to see if I can even take the time off, due to personnel issues.

I shouldn't be thinking too hard about this. I should just go and enjoy the time with my family.

But darnit, I am looking at this debt and I want it GONE!

Living situation (arrangements)

2009-04-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend and I currently live in two seperate houses.

Scratch that. Currently my boyfriend and I pay mortgages on two seperate houses, but we seem to spend all of our time in MY house.

Which is fine with me. It's my house! I love my house! It's mine! (Well, the bank's, but still.....)

Lately we have been discussing moving in together. His house is larger than mine and by larger than mine I mean larger by about 1,500 square feet. Whereas I have 950 square feet of living space (living room, kitchen/dining area, 3 smaller bedrooms, one bathroom, and a one car garage) his house is about 3,000 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 and half bathrooms, two 2 car garages, laundry room, office, 2 living areas and two dining areas.

I have two daughters and he has one son. If (when) we move in together, it will most likely be moving into his house. His son doesn't live with him full time, but he does come every summer and all holidays. It is really important to both of us for his son to have his own space at Dad's house.

Of course, with having two houses, we also have two (or three or FOUR) of, well, everything.

While talking about possibly moving in together, we discussed a bit about what furniture would go and what would stay. I am pretty adament about keeping all of my furniture. Every. Single. Piece. I don't care if it has to stay in a storage unit.

For the most part, he likes my furnishings and has no issues with anything I own. Except for my bed. He wouldn't want me to get rid of the bed, but I have a queen and he has a king and he wants to be a king or something. So fine, my queen bed would just become one of my daughters beds. (He has a queen bed that would be for the other daughter so everything would be 'Fair')

Of course, the biggest part of this would be financially. Although we would be merging households, a bigger house does mean a bigger mortgage and higher utility bills.

I also would not sell my house. I would rent it out. For some reason, I am very attached to this house. It is my 'safe' place. Even when I was not living in it for 2 years due to being assigned to Germany, I still felt safe having this house. I think it is feelings left over from my divorce. Knowing that no matter what, I have a place to go - to live - is a very wonderful feeling. I can't really define it, but I think after the end of that relationship I decided that I would always be able to take care of me and mine.

But anyhoo, as of right now we are just talking about it. Which is good. It is good that we are taking our time and talking about how, if we do this, it is going to work. In the meantime, everytime I do go to his house, I take my shoes off and throw them in his closet. Just to see how something of mine looks there. :)

Holy Smokes!

2009-04-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

I went to the dentist this afternoon. I don't have dental insurance, so I have to pay out of pocket totally for dental care. Because of not having insurance, I haven't gone to the dentist in 2 years, since I last had dental coverage.

I expected it cost a pretty penny. But for a cleaning, x-rays, and the dentist basically looking at the x-rays and peeping into my mouth, it was $300!

Not to mention, since I drink soda (tons of it) I have some, shall we say, problem spots. No fear, the dentist says. My bone density is great. I have no decaying between my teeth. It seems I am pretty good at the oral hygeine thing. (I mean, heck, I don't have dental insurance! I brush like 5 times a day!) But, I do have some problem areas.

These problem areas will cost $975 to fix.

NINE HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS.

Well, good news is that I still have $700 in the dental account. So although I am short, I still have enough to start "phasing" this dental work. The first phase will cost $595. The second phase will cost $380.

Which means, as of right now, I am $275 short of getting all the work done that needs to be done. The second phase won't start until July, so I do have some time to save up the money needed.

Of course, this probably will effect my debt repayment schedule. Unless I can find some creative ways to slash more from my budget, receive some cash money as a gift (or win the lottery!), or find some things to sell in a hurry.

Membership Fee

2009-04-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

I checked my Capital One online statement last night and to my suprise, I see a $19 charge for a Capital One "Membership" fee.

Now, I have never had a membership fee with this account, nor do I recall receiving anything in the mail stating that I would start having one.

I am a bit upset about this. I am already paying interest, now they want to get more money from me? Really?

I sent them a message via the website inquiring about this. Since it was about 4 in the morning when I saw the charge, (after I got home from work) I really didn't feel like calling and being put on hold for who knows how long.

I will be calling tomorrow to talk to a live person so they can explain this charge to me.

Thankfully, this debt should be gone no later than July, so if the charge is a monthly one, I will not pay more than 3 months of this fee.

The whole thought of this is making me look at my budget even closer, seeing if there is anyway I can get rid of this debt even faster. There are some things I could look into selling, although I don't know if I can come up with an extra $800 by selling things. But I really want Capital One gone now, more than I did before.

Another payment towards Mohawk

2009-04-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

I made my May payment towards Mohawk yesterday. This brings the balance down to $261.28.

This also means I am still on track to have this debt paid off before the interest sets in.

Because it was 0% interest until July 17, 2009, I decided to concentrate on Capital One as my target debt. I know it isn't a "math" problem, but I feel better in throwing money towards a debt that is costing me money in interest as long as I get the 0% debt paid off before the interest sets in.

My current balance on Capital One is $1,362. If things go according to plan, I should be able to have this debt killed during the month of June.

This would mean that I would have both Mohawk and Capital One dead by the end of June 2007.

I am getting quite excited about this prospect. I am looking deeper into my budget, seeing if there is any other items I could cut or reduce to try to make this happen faster.

University Debit Card

2009-04-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

My university is starting its own debit card. Called the "OneCard" it is supposedly a great way for students to manage their finances.

It is not a credit card. It is a debit card, with a MasterCard logo so it is universally accepted. Instead of waiting for University refunds to be mailed to a student, refunds will automatically just be placed into the student's OneCard account.

Family members can load more money into the account online. All they need is the students ID number and email address.

I am pretty sure this makes things a bit easier for the University. Financial Aid money, book refunds, class refunds and the like will simply be placed into the OneCard account.

This is a no fee checking account - except there are no checks. Debit only. The account has no minimum balance requirements.

At the website, there is actually a page titled "It's my budget and that's that!". On this page, there is a sample budget and an excel spreadsheet you can download to start your budgeting journey. There are other tips and information regarding finances. Although it doesn't go into great detail, it is better than nothing.

I don't know how I truly feel about this. The University is sending one out to all students automatically. If I get any refunds or financial aid, the money will be placed directly into my OneCard account. If I want to get cash out, I must use an ATM and pay the fees associated with that machine. The webpage does not say whether or not the OneCard has its own fees associated with ATM withdrawls.

One thing that I am kinda interested in seeing is how to transfer funds onto the card. In this regard, instead of bringing in thousands of dollars in cash to pay my tuition, I could just transfer the funds onto the card and use the card to pay tuition. (I don't write checks for this purpose because they take a long time to clear - and while waiting to clear, you still can get tuition holds onto your account which makes registering or withdrawing from classes a nightmare)

I guess I will see how this card works for me, personally. I am not really sure how I would use it, unless they have plans to institute a bank on campus for these accounts.

Overplanning

2009-04-16T01:18:00.000-07:00

I think I am an overplanner. After years of just paying bills but never really having a spending plan, getting in a lot of debt for not planning ahead for things I knew were coming, I have become a planning queen.

Some of the things I have sinking funds for could probably be cash flowed when the time arises. That is money that I could be applying towards debt, now. However, I am fearful that when the time arises, I will not have the same income I currently have.

I have run numbers through March of next year. If my current income levels stay intact, I could be totally credit card debt free by March of 2010. This would be ideal since my projected graduation date is May 2010. That will be a huge life change.

I don't know how the job market will look a year from now. Hopefully the economy will be growing again. But there is a good possibility that it will not be.

Which brings me to a question. Should I concentrate on becoming debt free before graduation, or at some point should I start beefing up savings in order to survive while looking for employment in my degree field?

This is not a question that I can easily answer. I would like both to happen; be rid of the debt AND have a healthy savings account for when that time comes.

Of course, without the load of credit card debt, it would be easier to survive, even if I had to continue bartending while breaking into the job market in my desired field. Having a healthy savings account would make my new found security gland more peaceful.

For now, I am going to concentrate on paying off debt. I will monitor the economy and as the time draws nearer for graduation, I will determine whether I need to change my focus.

Gift Cards

2009-04-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

Out of the blue some family members of mine sent us $150 worth of gift cards to Old Navy and Aeropostale. I am very happy to have received these gifts.

Because of this unexpected suprise, I am dropping my clothing sinking fund from the May budget. That's $70 I do not have to concern myself with for the month.

Also, since I budget $70 a month for clothing and I received $150, I am dropping the clothing from the June budget as well.

This month I did spend the $70 I had allocated towards clothing for 3 pairs of shorts and 4 tops for each child. For Easter, my mother sent the girls 2 pairs of shorts and 5 tops plus new bathing suits for the summer as well as a check to buy them some summer shoes. (Shoes are cerainly something that MUST be tried on) So, these gift cards may end up sitting around for a while because the girls don't really need anything right now. As long as I can hold onto them, the more money I can divert to other uses.

Every little bit helps!

Outlook

2009-04-14T19:33:00.001-07:00

I ran some numbers and I need to average $195 a shift to make my May budget goals. This, of course, includes my debt "snowball" I would like to send.

I should be able to average this amount for the rest of my working shifts. If I am off a bit, it will mean that I will not be able to send as much as a snowball. I will pay my four walls first, then fund my sinking funds, then apply the rest towards debt.

As long as I have the budget sinking funds funded, it should stem any reason to potentially need to use the credit cards. Perhaps my snowball will not be as large as I like, but at least I will not be adding to the debt.

Of course, I certainly hope that I make enough to meet my goals.

Going in to pay Tuition

2009-04-13T10:54:00.001-07:00

Today I am going in to pay my tuition... with cash.

I saved up the $1,959 I need in order to pay this semesters tuition within the last 2.5 months. This will be the first time I paid tuition in full with cash.

I am a bit excited that I actually managed to save so much money in such a short period of time. Makes me wonder why I needed credit in the first place....

Electric Bill

2009-04-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

Well, this month I had budgeted $60 for my electric bill. This was a good estimate based on past billing cycles for this month in this house.

Imagine my suprise when I got the bill and it was only $47 dollars!

Granted, I have been walking around, turning lights off. I also had to get a new fridge last month (mine went BOOM) so a newer model probably is more energy efficient than my 15 year model. I also have been changing out my lightbulbs as they burn out to the energy saving versions. (Saving energy is cool - but not having to change a lightbulb for years is even cooler! I have some I changed out 2 years ago that are still going strong!)

So, that is even more extra money I now have.

Today I went ahead and sent $150 more towards Capital One. I really wanted to send more, but I am being cautious. It does me no good to send all the eggs just to have to borrow them back!

Happy Easter everyone!

Adjusting....

2009-04-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

I am having to make some adjustments to the April budget. Not because of overspending, but because I have received some extra funds this month I wasn't expecting, to the tune of $215.

Part of it was a child support payment I was not expecting (I receive child support sporadically so I do not include it in my budget until I actually receive it), part of it was from the GI Bill (last month my payment was $55 less than it should have been), and another $10 or so is from having my actual amounts on household bills being less than the budgeted amounts.

So now I get to decide what I am going to do with some extra money. I am torn between wanting to save it and wanting to throw it straight to debt.

I am thinking about sending half towards debt and keeping the other half to replenish what I had to spend at the doctor last week.

It is rather nice to have some unexpected funds. Especially when I have everything already set up for the month so I don't have to rely on getting unexpected money to meet my obligations and needs.

May Debt payback goals

2009-04-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

So, I am about a month ahead with posting these goals, but since everything I make this month is being saved for next month, I decided to go ahead and write down some goals I have for my money in the month of May. As this month progresses, I will know I am doing towards my goals.

Besides my normal expenses and funding of my envelopes, I have set some Debt payback goals.

Chase: $60
Providian: $307
Discover: $120
Mohawk: $133
Capital One: $700

The first four debts are my normal monthly payments, so no real change there. Mohawk has o% interest until July so paying $133 a month every month brings me to a zero balance in the month of July. So, the debt will be paid and I will have not paid 23% interest on the balance.

The last debt, Capital One, well, that is a pretty hefty goal. I really do not know if I am going to be able to make it. I used earnings numbers from last month to get to that number. However, I have decided that I need to be more specific than "Pay off debt". Sure, I want to pay off debt, but I need something to reach for.

I need specifics. I am more likely to reach a goal if I know *exactly* what I am reaching for, not a general overall goal.

I have decided that if I am going to actually dig myself out of the debt I am in, I am going to have to do this each and every month. I am going to have to challenge myself.

Car Salesmen

2009-04-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, I received an interesting call from a car salesman from the dealership where I purchased my last vehicle (which was April of 2008).

Here is the gist of the conversation after introductions:

Him: "How is your Altima doing?"

Me: "Great! I love it!"

Him: "That's good. Have you thought about upgrading?"

Me: "My car isn't even a year old yet."

Him: "True, but this year's models are pretty awesome if you would like to take a look at them."

Me: "I am really not thinking about upgrading anytime in the next three years. Last year, the rising fuel and insurance costs brought me in to see about trading in my Pathfinder and the only reason I did end up trading it in is because what I owed on it was less than what trade-in value was, basically giving me a $2,000 down-payment on the Altima. Which means that right now I am wayyyy upside down on the Altima and I have no desire to roll negative equity into a new car loan."

Him: "Well, we are offering dealer incentives that you qualify for since you are such a great customer." (Oh - I love to hear I am a great customer!)

Me: "Are the incentives paying off whatever is owed, no matter what the amount, without rolling over negative equity into the new car loan?"

Him: "Well, no - "

Me: "Are any of the incentives paying tags, title and liscense upfront, NOT rolling it into the car loan? Cause last year I had to pay $1800 for T, T&L."

Him: "Well, no - "

Me: "Then, no, I am really not interested. Sorry!"

Hang up phone.

I know car dealerships are hurting for business right now, but calling someone who has a brand new car already is probably NOT the best way to drum up business. I really do love my car. When I traded in my much loved Pathfinder, I was in tears. But I picked out a car that I would love to drive for at least the next four years.

I know I should keep cars longer than I do. I have a habit of trading in vehicles every three years or so. Actually, the Pathfinder was the vehicle I held onto the longest... 4 years.

But even someone who turns vehicles over at such a rate doesn't do it every year!

Spending

2009-04-03T15:26:00.000-07:00

Today I did some spending at the Dollar General Store. Since I have my envelopes funded seperately, I had two differect transactions at the store. Sure, the people behind me may have been irriated at the extra 1.5 minutes this took; however, my budget is more important that having people wait an extra 1.5 minutes.

Today's trip was to buy some soda pop (totally not good for me, but I am going to buy it anyway, so I may as well get it at the best price!) and some snacks for munching on. This came out of the Grocery fund and the total came to:

$30.62

The second transaction was for Easter stuff. I just budgeted Easter/Birthday into the Christmas fund. Actually I am going to rename this fund simply to "gifts" since that is what it is, essentially. I got everything that I am giving for Easter, including baskets (I can never find baskets year to year. I really need to be more organized about that this year!) and the total for Easter came to:

$29.80

That breaks down to a little less than $15.00 per child, including baskets. All of this was not candy, either. They got Hannah Montana Sports Water bottles, jumpropes, High School Musical and Hannah Montana sunglasses to go along with some candy.

So basically I spent $60 today. The rest of this weekend is designated as "NO SPEND DAYS". Each day that I am sucessful, I will budget myself $5 more into the savings category next month. Perhaps I shouldn't be bribing myself, but this early in the game, I know I need something to motivate myself into the right direction!

2009-04-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

In relation to what I actually owe, these are the percents in which I owe each creditor. Using the same amount that I owe TODAY, at the beginning of each month I will post the previous month's graph and compare it to the current month's graph. Just another visual reminder that should help me along in my quest.

Children need new clothes

2009-04-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

My children are adorable girls, ages 10 and 6 (although the 6 year old will be 7 on April 11th). I wouldn't change a thing about them, except for the fact that they are BOTH hitting growth spurts AT THE SAME TIME.

Clothing can be and has been a huge budget buster for me. For some reason, I believe people, all people, need more clothing than they actually do. Looking into my closet alone can attest to this fact. (In the past six months, I have gotten rid of 10 30 gallon trashbags of clothing and probably still have 10 more to go although I am finding it pretty hard at this point to let go of any more of my clothes. I MIGHT WEAR THAT AGAIN ONE DAY!)

One good thing that I have always done is keep clothes from season to season and keep clothes that the oldest has outgrown for the youngest. One bad thing I have always done is managed to forget which tub clothing is in and get frustrated and just say screw it.

Well, a few months back, I finally cleaned out my garage a good two years after moving into the house. Well, to be honest, my boyfriend started cleaning it up because it was bothering the heck out of him, so I got my butt up off the couch and helped. In doing so, I found all the tubs from years past.

I went through and labeled tubs with sizes and seasons put the tubs in a specific place so I would know exactly where they were.

So, now we are changing seasons. The girls need clothing that is in keeping with the tempertures. In anticipation of this, I had the girls go through the clothing that is in their room and bring out anything that doesn't fit. Clothes that no longer fit the oldest are being put in a tub for use later with the younger child.

Next on the list is taking the clothing that has been stored for this season and having the girls try things on. I have a feeling that not much is going to fit the oldest since she has gone up a size from last summer, but you never know. A lot of it has to do with the cut of clothing, so I am still going to have her try things on. I have a slew of clothing in the youngest's size stored from years past, so I should be good in that department.

After I take full stock of what I have on hand, I will begin the purchasing cycle. Except this time, instead of just looking at retail stores, I am going to look at thrift stores as well. Depending on retail store sales, it may be cheaper to buy clothing brand new than to buy used clothing. I am going to comparison shop to get the most for my money.

As far as what to do with the clothing that does not and will never again fit the youngest, I am still unsure of what I will do with it. I could simply give the clothing to a charity, or I could attempt to sell it via Craigslist or cosignment shop. If I go with Craigslist, I plan on selling it all in a bundle. Even if I get a mere $50 for it all, that is $50 more than I had previously.

I have funded my clothing envelope with $70 this month to supplement the girl's wardrobes. I realize when it comes to clothing that this is not a lot of money, but at least I budgeted something towards the known expense than nothing at all. That is progress. Also, since I am at a zero based budget, I have to work within the $70 amount. By comparison shopping, purchasing only things that are needed and utilizing what I already have, I should have enough set aside.

3 days into the month...

2009-04-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

It has only been 3 days into the month of April, but so far, everything is going as planned.

I have yet to whip out a credit card for any type of purchase, as I have funded envelopes for everything I could possibly go purchase as a day to day transaction.

All the bills are covered via the checking account balance, so I have no need to run to the bank in a panic, depositing funds.

In all, things are pretty much just going along.

I went to the grocery store for my beginning of the month big trip and still have $120 left in my grocery envelope for midmonth shopping, which should be more than enough.

I have spent some of my entertainment money. I have $25 left, which means I need to be a bit more careful for the rest of the month. It also means that I need to relook this number and possibly up the amount next month. The last thing I want is Entertainment to be a budget buster, but I also don't want to get carried away in this category, either. I need to find a happy medium.

My youngest daughter's birthday is this month and I have budgeted $60 for gifts and a cake. I am thinking about making the cake at home with her, kinda like a mom/daughter project we can do together. It will certainly be cheaper than buying a cake and it will give us some precious time together! I haven't decided yet what I will be getting her for a present, but I am doing some cost comparisons for certain items. I am trying my best to get the best deal for my money AND not over doing the gift giving.

Cost of not having Health Insurance

2009-04-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I developed a headache. Not your average "Oh, my head freaking hurts" headache. It felt like my brain was entirely too big for my skull and was trying to bust free.

I have had migraines before in my life. The last two years I was on Active Duty, I experienced migraine headaches almost on a weekly basis. But, for the last two years (since I got out of the Military) I have not experienced a migraine.

I thought I was through was those pesky things.

Until today.

When I woke up this morning to bring the girls to school, my head was still throbbing. By noon, it felt like someone was stabbing my head with a knife. Unable to take the pain any longer, I asked my boyfriend to take me to the Minor Care Clinic in town.

Cost: $127.20

The cost break-down is as follows:

$93 for walking into the door

$29 for administering injection

$15 for Phenergan injection

$22 for Nubain injection

Total: $$159

I received a 20% discount, which brought the total down to $127.20. I am really not sure why I got a discount. Perhaps it was because I was paying in cash? In anycase, I am thankful for the $30 savings.

Before I went to the clinic, I called and asked how much an estimated charge would be for going in for a migraine. They told me over the phone that there was the $93 charge and up to the first $100 would be due the same day as treatment and anything over that amount would be billed.

Once the doctor realized I was paying out of pocket, he did some magic tricks on the paperwork, turning my 15mg of Nubain that I actually did receive into 5mg of Nubain so I wouldn't have to pay for the entire amount. Pretty nice doctor. At first he was really concerned about my costs being too high. I told him as long as it was something I truly needed to stop the pain, I would pay. I just didn't want to pay for things that were unnecessary and that wouldn't stop the pain.

I have looked into health insurance before. Unfortunately, insurance is much more than I could afford at the times when I was looking. Approximately $300 a month and then the insurance not stepping in to pay anything until after the first $5,000 a year was just not something I could afford. That would mean that I would have to pay $8,600 in a year before insurance stepped in.

Of course, something catastrophic could happen. In case of an auto accident, I do have a medical rider on my car insurance, since that is the most likely event to occur given my age and health condition. Really, outside of the migraine history and knee issues (incurred during service) I have excellent health.

I paid for the visit out of my "buffer" fund. I will have to replace those funds in the May budget. I already have a "dental" fund; in May I will also develope a "medical" fund. My goal is to have $1000 funded in the medical fund by the October 2009 budget.

This will take away from my debt snowball, but it is important that I have some type of "buffer" fund put in place in case of medical events.

Last working shift of March

2009-03-30T21:32:00.000-07:00

Today was the last working shift I had for the month of March. It was a slow shift, earning me $65 which I used to fund my entertainment envelope for the month of April.

This completes the April budget. Everything is accounted for. All mandatory expenses are covered; all sinking funds and envelopes are funded. Now it is up to me to keep myself within budget. Since I have assigned every dollar earned in March to a category for April, there is no room for deviation.

Before, this would have scared me. Now, it doesn't. Perhaps it is because I budgeted specifically for expenses such as food, gasoline, entertainment, clothing, and gifts. Since I have money set aside for these expenses, I am not concerned about what happens if I need to go to the grocery or if I need to fill my tank up with gasoline or buy a birthday present. I know that I have funds available specifically for these purposes, which alleviates any fears I would have in having no room for deviation of the budget.

So, for the month of April I have two main goals. One, save every dime I earn in the month to apply as income for the month of May and keep myself at budget for all categories funded.

Since I have everything covered for the month of April and also have a checking account buffer and an Emergency fund, it should't be a problem in accomplishing goal one.

Goal two has been made a bit easier because of the cash funded system. All fixed expenses are covered via the checking account and all discretionary type expenses are covered via funded envelopes. Once I am out of money in an envelope, I am out. There is no more money to be had.

I am anxious to see how the month goes. I have a good feeling that it is going to be a very positive experience.

Grocery Funds

2009-03-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

I went to the grocery store today for my "First of the month" shopping trip. Yes, I am a day early, but I am paying in cash via my funded envelopes and I don't think one day ahead of the month is really going to effect my grocery budget.

I spent $179 at the grocery and still have some items that I would like left to buy. The reason? The prices of those items at the grocery store was more than what I can purchase the items for at the Dollar General store and at Walmart. (Although I really dispise Walmart and really would rather not walking into the door of the place. But, if it is going to give me realized savings for things I will buy anyway, since the store is directly on my way to and from work, I will go into the store.)

Of course, the things that I want to buy are NOT necessary items. Like Coca Cola. It was priced at $1.59 at the grocery store on sale. I can buy the same item at the Dollar General for $1.25. Chips (Doritos; Potato) were $3.59 at the grocery and they are only $2.50 for the same size at Walmart.

Now, these types of items may be things that I look into cutting from my food budget in the months ahead, but realistically, I WANT Coca Cola and I love chips. Especially at lunchtime to go along with a sandwhich. So, as of right now, they are staying in the budget, as long as I purchase them at the lowest price I can.

I plan on spending about $20 on soda and chips. That should last me the entire month.

Which will leave me with $101 to replenish things such as milk, eggs, bread, and fresh fruit midway through the month. $101 should be more than enough for these things.

Gardening

2009-03-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was such a beautiful day outside that I got the "garden" bug.

Of course, I am on a budget. I do not have hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to spend upgrading my garden right now.

So, I decided to work with what I have, plus $30 worth of materials. (Supplement Garden Soil for the window boxes, Pansies for the window boxes and for the garden for a splash of color, Cedar mulch, a flowering tree bush thing, and a new garden shovel because mine went missing)

*The $30 was spent using a gift card that I received as a Christmas Gift.

I had a lot of Mums planted from way back in October of 2007 that are still going strong and two bushes that I planted in 2002. The problem was I didn't like the way the mums were planted and one of the two bushes died last summer.

So, I dug up everything that was planted in the garden and then went to town digging up weeds, turning the soil in the garden and putting new soil in the window boxes.

Then I planted pansies in the window boxes and put the boxes back up.

Then I took a break and went into my back yard to just look around.

While looking around in my backyard, I found a rock. I liked the rock. I have no idea how the rock got into my backyard, but there it was. I decided to place the rock in the front garden.

After determining placement of the rock, I replanted the mums, planted the flowering shrub and remaining pansies and replanted the one bush that was still alive.

Then I took another break and went into my garage, where I found eight solar panel garden lights and three garden Gnomes. I do know where these came from. The solar panel lights I purchased about 4 months ago - they were on sale for $3 a piece. The Gnomes I received as a Christmas present.

So, I took those items and placed them in the garden.

After that, I put the mulch down. Cedar mulch smells so delicious.

There are some other things I would like to do to the garden. Such as extending it out the full length of the house and removing the wooden board border and putting up a new, pretty border. But for right now, this will have to work for my "curb appeal".

At least until I find a way to put some money into the "garden" line item on the budget. Of course, the budget for April is already done, so the earliest I would even be looking at that would be for May.

Which actually gives me time to think about what I really want and gives me time to research prices. Instead of buying things out of impulse and emotion, I will instead buy after being informed and deciding exactly how much money I want to spend.

Budgets. They are changing the way I live my life.

Tuition update

2009-03-29T02:13:00.000-07:00

As of today, I have $1500 saved towards my $2000 tuition for this semester.

$1000 of that was saved this month alone.

Of course, work has been really, really good the last few months. And, since I am saving all earnings during the course of the month to use the following month, I have a precise look at my actual financial picture and see exactly where my money is going.

Also by planning this way, I am keeping myself from blowing money on things I don't even remember.

So, I am giving my budgeting system a gold star. YaY for the budgeting system!

I can't even expain how great it feels that I actually have saved so much for my tuition. The last two years I have saved a little bit but usually used credit cards to pay the majority of it. (Which is part of the reason why the Providian card is so high)

It also feels great to be plugging my spending leaks and to see exactly where my money is going and actually TELLING my money where it is going to go. I think I have just sold myself on budgets.

Conference Opportunity

2009-03-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

As I have stated, I am currently a full-time student. My major is in Communications, specifically Radio/Television. April 16-17th I have an opportunity to attend a Broadcasting Conference with my University.

The problem is the conference is four hours away and there is no guarentee that I will be back in time in order to be at work on time. The day we are coming back is a Friday, basically a mandatory work night for me (I am a bartender).

I could tell my boss that I will be coming in about an hour late - but I would hate to not be back in time to be at work at the time I said I would be. I could take the night off, but Friday nights are a big money night and I would be losing potentially 300-400 dollars to take the night off for the conference.

There is no cost to attend the conference. Hotel, meals, fees and travel expenses are all paid by the University.

Attending the conference has a lot of benefits as well. Networking, for one. This is not a University/College conference - it is a National Broadcasting conference. It offers a unique opportunity to attend seminars with people who actually work in the industry - thus helping making a first impression of myself before sending out a resume. (I should be graduating next Spring, so I am not too far out from looking for employment.)

It is an opportunity I really do not want to pass up, but I also do not want to lose income.

I will talk to my boss this evening and see if we can work out a situation in which I can either work an extra shift to make up for the losses if I take the night off, or if she will be alright with my coming into work two hours later than usual. I am trying to have my cake and eat it too right now, but I am pretty sure I am going to have to choose either keeping the cake or eating it.

First month of using the envelope system

2009-03-26T13:33:00.001-07:00

The month of April will be the first month that I am using the envelope system. My categories being funded are:

Daycare 200.00
Gasoline 80.00
Groceries 300.00
Tuition 500.00
Savings 40.00
Christmas 120.00 *UPDATED* I upped the funding for this category for the month of April due to Easter and my youngest daughter's birthday being in April. I have decided to change this envelope to include birthdays and other holidays, not just Christmas. Christmas savings are still $60.00 per month. The added $60 to the category is for Easter and her birthday.
Clothing 70.00

Savings and Christmas are really more of a sinking fund than an everyday expense, but I am funded the envelopes and then taking the envelopes to the bank where I hold my savings account for depositing. (Since I get paid in cash, it helps me to sort out where I am depositing which funds. I do not use the same bank for savings as I do for checking. There is a story behind this, which I may explain at a later date.)

The tuition envelope and the Day caren envelope are also just a storing place until I take the funds to the university and the daycare.

The rest of the envelopes are for everyday expenses. I am a bit nervous about using this system. Not because I think the system doesn't work - but because I am nervous that I may try to cheat the system. It is going to take a lot of self-discipline on my part to spend the money exactly the way it has been categorized and to keep myself within the monetary limitations I have placed on myself.

I have tracked my spending patterns for a while now, so I am pretty confident that I have given myself realistic amounts. I will have to be prudent, there is not much room for error, although I will admit I have given myself some wiggle room. It is a process that I may have to tweak for the next few months until I have it down, but we all have to start somewhere.

My goal is to come under budget for all of the everyday expense categories. Every cent I do not spend will be redirected to debt repayment at the end of the month. So, the less I spend, the more I can send towards debt! I can't think of a better motivator!

A self-imposed budget meeting

2009-03-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

Techinically, I still have three more working shifts until I call the month of March closed and begin to save all earnings for April. However, instead of waiting until April 1st to comprise my April budget, I sat down today and starting working out all the kinks.

So here it goes:

Current Bank Balance: 1775.00
Child Support Deposit: 175.00
GI Bill Deposit: 1320.00
Cash on Hand: 1250.00

Total: 4520.00

Debits from Checking Account for the month of April:

Mortgage: 355.00
Electric: 60.00
Natural Gas: 67.00
Water: 71.57
Cable: 105.00 (includes internet, phone, and extended basic cable)
NMAC: 600.00
Insurance: 104.15 (Car insurance and life insurance)
Old Republic: 132.00
Chase: 60.00
Providian: 307.00
Discover: 120.00
Target: 20.00
Capital One: 100.00
Cell Phone: 80.00
*Mohawk: 133.00 - have already paid this amount and it has already cleared the bank and is reflected in the current bank balance, thus is not added to this total amount*
Total: 2181.72

Cash funded Envelopes:

Daycare: 200.00
Gasoline: 80.00
Groceries: 300.00
Tuition: 500.00
Savings: 40.00
Christmas: 60.00
Clothing: 70.00

Total: 1250.00

Total Expenses: 3431.72

Income minus Expenses= 1088.28

Before this month of earnings is actually closed, I have already earned enough to pay all the bills and fund the envelopes.

I have decided to use the money I earn these last three working shifts towards tuition rather than towards Mohawk. Currently, I have $1000 saved towards my tuition which is $2000 this semester. It is very unlikely that I will earn $1000 in three shifts, but since two of the shifts are a Friday and Saturday night, it is quite possible that I could potentially earn about $600-$700. If I do indeed make that much, I will dip into the buffer fund to cover the difference on tuition and replace the funds with earnings from April which will end up being deducted from available funds in May.

But that would get this semester's tuition completed and I will be able to enroll in summer and fall classes during regular enrollment instead of late enrollment due to a tuition hold.

Balance Update

2009-03-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

Providian: 11,298
Discover: 4,773
Chase: 2,526
Capital 1: 1,793
HSBC: 0.00
Mohawk: 394
Target Visa: 0.00

Total: $20,784

Providian Balance has gone up, right after Chase took over my Providian (or WAMU) account. My interest rate has gone from 9% to 24% and my minimum payment (which was coming directly out of my checking account) was not even covering the interest. I have corrected this issue and am now paying $315 a month towards this debt so at least I am paying more than just interest.

Mohawk and Capital One are the next two debts on my kill list. As I said earlier, I was just going to pay $133 per month until July and have Mohawk paid off right at the time the 0% interest went away - but I am now thinking about just killing it during the month of April. It really all depends on how the last four shifts I work this month go. If they go really well, I will kill the debt in April. But I also have to save another $1000 for tuition which I have to have paid by the end of April, so I may have to redirect funds from snowballing into tuition payments. I have saved $1,000 towards tuition within the last two months as well as paid off HSBC ($1200), so I have made progress.

Update

2009-03-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since I have entered a post. I do apologize for this. Life has gotten very hectic between school, work, interning and being a single mother of two very energetic little girls. Still, that is no excuse when posting takes literally just minutes of my day and will help keep myself in line.

As far as debt goes, I have paid off my HSBC credit card 3 weeks ahead of my projected pay off date. I am quite excited about this!

I am projected to have Mohawk and Capital One paid off by July 2009. I am thinking about just killing Mohawk now, since the balance is under $400. (The only reason I haven't yet is because that line of credit is at 0%interest until August.) I was just going to pay $133 a month until July to have it paid off, but I am really thinking about just killing it.

I was lucky enough to be able to cash flow a major purchase last month; a new fridge. Mine went out and I just can't live without a fridge. The total cost for the appliance was $778. It is energy efficient, but most importantly, it is the size I need to be able to grocery shop once a month and freeze meals for when I am having hectic days.

I do have a fully funded dentist fund (well, it may not be as much as the work will cost... we will have to see. But I had a capped amount for that envelope and it is fully funded to $1,000) My appointment is April 20th. At that point I will at least get Xrays and a cleaning, which I should have more than enough for. IF I need any more work, I will get estimates from the Dentist to make sure that I add that amount within my budget.

I also have saved $1000 towards my tuition so far, which means I still have $1000 to go.

I have been successful in my endeavors of having a buffer fund in my checking account and with saving everything I earn in one month to use the following month. February was the first month where everything I earned I saved for March, and it has worked out well. This month I have saved everything for the month of April. I actually like this method a lot more than a week to week budgeting method. I know exactly how much I have to spend at the beginning of the month, and I can plan accordingly.

I do plan on updating more often. Hopefully this lapse was just a temporary thing!

Costly week

2009-01-21T18:35:00.000-08:00

This week has been hectic for me, between classes, working at my revenue producing job, working my internship at the radio station, church, and the children/house activities.

With this, I have spent $45 in eating out so far this week. Not having a plan for the weeks that are this hectic costs me money that I could be sending in towards debt repayments.

I sincerely do not have the time the rest of this week to do anything about my oversight. However, I do not have work or school on Sunday and I plan on cooking some things that I can freeze (Spaghetti, for instance) so in the event that I am entirely too busy to stand in the kitchen and actually cook dinner I have something already pre-made at home that doesn't take a considerable amount of time.

2009 Goals

2009-01-15T16:34:00.001-08:00

Part of my problem is that I never had any written goals or direction. To be quite honest, for the better part of the last 6 years I have been kinda going with the flow, doing whatever I felt like doing at the time. While this may be considered a good thing (my 40 things to do before I turn 40 list only has three things left on the list to be crossed off and I just turned 30 last October) it has not aided my financial security. This year I am prepared to change the tide of my easy come/easy go mentality and be more, ah, grown up regarding my finances.

2009 Goals

1. STOP USING CREDIT CARDS
Of course, this is a no brainer. I have paid cards off before only to have the balances back because I never stopped using the cards. There is nothing I need a credit card for. If I can not afford it with cash, I will just have to wait until I have the money available to purchase it.

2. FOLLOW MY BUDGET
For the last two years, I have had a budget. The problem is that I have been back budgeting. After I spent money, I would ensure that I recorded it properly so I knew how much money I had. Well, let's face it, I was basically using my budget as a checking account register and not much else. This year I have changed my budget into weekly columns. Each expense that I have is entered into the appropriate week it is due. I am in tip based employment, so it is imperitive that I track my earnings each week. It is a bit harder to budget without a set income, but it is not impossible.

3. HAVE ONE MONTH'S WORTH OF EXPENSES IN CHECKING ACCOUNT
Instead of living week to week off of tips, I instead want to have a month's worth of expenses already in my checking account on the first of each month. This will mean that I will be living on the previous month's income, which also means that everything I make in the current month I have to save for the next month. This will be quite helpful for me because I will know exactly how much money I have available after paying expenses each month and I do not have to hope and pray that I make enough money in any certain week to cover my expenses. It also means that I will know how much extra money I have to apply towards debts at the first of each month. My snowball may not be consistent, but at least I will know exactly where it is that I stand.

4. SET UP SINKING FUNDS
There are things that I know I have to pay for that are not monthly expenses. Clothing, oil changes, tag fees, school supplies, birthdays, tuition, and Christmas gifts are just a few examples of these items for me. I have in the past not seen the forest for the trees, paying every dime I had available towards debt only to take out the card and charge for these types of things. Having sinking funds set up will alleviate the "need" of using credit cards, which I am not allowed to do anyway because of goal one.

5. PAY $10,000 WORTH OF DEBT OFF IN 2009
This includes minimum payments. I believe that this goal is doable considering my income situation and other financial obligations, but it will take my paying attention to the pennies.

6. SPECIFIC PAYOFF GOAL DATES
Target Visa/end of February 2009
HSBC/end of April 2009
Mohawk/end of June 2009

The reason I bumped HSBC before Mohawk even though I owe less on Mohawk (baby steps, anyone? :) ) is because I have 0% intro rates on those debts. HSBC's intro rate expires at the end of April and Mohawk expires at the end of June. The amounts are not overly large, but I really do not want to pay 23% interest when the rates reset. I know it seems kind of illogical considering I have the Providian card past $10,000 which does accrue interest and paying that card down faster would amount to less interest paid, but I am looking for the "victories" to keep my motivation on the upswing.

7. VACATION IN AUGUST
Again, another expense that probably should not be taken on while I am getting myself out of debt. I do not expect anyone else to understand my justification for this expense. I will give a back story for why I want and will go, however. I spent ten years in the military and have what I consider best friends who live all around the globe. Once every two years we all get together somewhere to reunite (with the exception of those who are deployed at the time). We rent a house in the location we chose and all stay in the same place. We split the total cost between 15 people, which makes it more affordable for everyone. With two wars going on, I will not miss a chance to see my friends only to have something happen and regret not seeing them when I had the opportunity. I will, however, cash flow my trip.

8. FIND ACTIVITIES I ENJOY THAT ARE FREE/LOW COST
This will not only help my bottom line, it will also open up the creative side of my brain. There are zillion of things to do that are free or low cost. This may interfere with number 40 on the list, go to Tahiti, but I still have 10 more years to accomplish that goal.

Those are my financial goals for 2009. I believe they meet the SMART criteria. As long as I stay focused and diligent, there is no reason why I should not be able to meet all of these.

A year for change

2009-01-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

For years, I have been telling myself that I need to get out of debt. I have paid down quite a bit of credit card debt, only to accumulate it all back. The last 6 months, I have been working quite hard to change my mindset about money and more importantly, the accumulation of things.

Understanding why I spend money, I believe, was the first step in changing my financial outlook. Of course I buy things I need, but I also bought because I wanted (instant gratification syndrome), because I was trying to impress people (keeping up with the Jones'), and because of depression (shop therapy).

I am really tired of the cycle. I am tired of being so wrapped up in what other people think of me. I am tired of worrying if I am going to have enough money to pay my bills, feed my children, and still somehow provide the quality of life I want for my family. I understand that my spending now and paying later behavior has impacted the quality of life for my family now. The only way I can ensure that our future is secure is by making the sacrifices necessary short term for the long term benefit.

The following list comprises all of my credit card debt. This does not include my auto loan or mortgage.

Providian: 10,561
Discover: 4,993
Chase: 2,658
Capital 1: 1,980
HSBC: 1,332
Mohawk: 960
Target Visa: 819

TOTAL: $23,303

Debt Effects

I am about to lose my head!

Stay-Cation

Happy Happy Birthday America!!!!!

YOU SUCK letters, well, SUCK

Networking

Good Intentions

8 years later....

What to do....

Moving is not what it was supposed to be....

Update

Getting out of Debt: Step Four

Getting out of Debt: Step Three

Getting out of Debt: Step Two

Getting out of Debt:Step One

Getting out of Debt

$392

Current Debt Balances

Disability Claim

Selling the house? *long post... typing out my thoughts!*

Planning....

Credit Report Check

State Tax Commission

Moving along

Taxes

Saints win the Superbowl!!!!!

Menu Planning

Who Dat!?!?

Paying bills, Paying bills....

Its a New Year

$430

A little bit of sunshine....

Fear

November budget...

Putting it into the budget

Well, it has been a while....

And then there is good.....

There is the bad....

Update

Looking up

New Job

Debt Effects...

Job Interview

Worse than I thought....

Stagnant

Still waiting...

Been way to long....

Update

Back from Vacation

Oh, Vacation....

Leaving for vacation

DO NOT! I REPEAT DO NOT!!!!!!!!!

Getting my house ready to rent...

$12,000

Not even totally moved in yet...

Vacation

Still moving....

Starting to move...

Tips for being successful

Work schedule change

Projection

Grocery Trip

$19,933!!!!!!

Ebay, cosignment shop, or Yard Sale?

Only $67 until...

When the weather turns warm....

Confession

Getting the "I WANT" bug...

To vacation or not vacation..that IS the question....

Living situation (arrangements)

Holy Smokes!

Membership Fee

Another payment towards Mohawk

University Debit Card

Overplanning

Gift Cards

Outlook

Going in to pay Tuition

Electric Bill

Adjusting....

Selling the house? long post... typing out my thoughts!