CelticBuffy - Debt Slayer?

Not Quite What I Was Expecting in the Mail Today

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:20:00 +0000

The little corner of the world in which I live tends to be fairly insulated against the ups and downs of the coasts and large cities of the nation. We've seen some layoffs, a couple of our larger companies cut employees and a couple close altogether. Not enough to get anyone seriously worried. Especially me.

Apparently it's a little worse than I thought out here. The hospital for which I work informed everyone today that we are all receiving paycuts effective the next pay period. Mine will be 4.75% decrease in wages plus the loss of 5 days of sick leave (or paid time off as we call it) for the year. Talk about a sock in the gut. I never saw it coming and I've been recovering from it all day.

Granted I'm thankful I have a job, I truly am. I'm in this low paying job in an attempt to earn a spot in nursing school, not because I have to be there. But wow, is this going to hurt. This will shear about $150 per month off my gross pay. Not to mention that we're in a hiring freeze, so the employees that have resigned recently combined with the wages decrease means that I am now handling more patients for less money.

Seriously? I could make more working at McDonald's now.

If they were hiring that is.

A First Step

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:07:00 +0000

Well, I finally got off my butt and opened up an online saving account. So which did I choose? INGdirect of FNBO?

Actually my crummy credit made the choice for me. I initially tried FNBO but they turned me down for an online savings account. So to INGdirect I went with great fear and trepidation but apparently they like my money more than my credit and I was in! I moved $5000 out of my checking and into my new online account. 2.39% interest is much better than 0.05%.

On another front, I sat down last night with all of my tax information and entered it into TaxAct. I knew that withdrawing my retirement would bite me and it did, but not as badly as it could have. I won't have to pay any in and should actually get around $1900 back. That's a steep cut for someone who's used to getting around $4500 back each year. That retirement withdrawal kicked my adjusted gross income up to $48000 for 2008.

I wish I could have done things differently but that withdrawal saved my a** in 2008. I essentially went 4 months without a paycheck. Had it not been for that money I honestly don't know how I would have paid my bills. Yes I worked during some of those four months but I wound up making less than $1000 for the time I worked at the restaurant and didn't get paid until December for the hospital work I did in November. That retirement carried me through those months, paid for a few unpaid bills (still lots more of those to go through), saw me through Christmas, paid for this semester's college tuition and books, and what's left is in savings.

Where I'm at now?
~ $1000 in my brick and mortar bank savings
~ $5000 in online savings
~$500 cash savings
~ an average paycheck of $600 every two week
~ $600 per month in child support.

Bills:
~$1000 for mortgage/utilities/food
~$245 car payment
~$106 student loan payment
~$68 car insurance
~$75 automatic savings withdrawal
~$40 cell phone (teenage daughter's)
~$60 cell phone every 3 months (my prepaid and kid's prepaid) or $20/month
~$80 fuel for car

This leaves roughly $166 per month for miscellaneous/bill payments. I'm debating requesting a deferment on my current student loan payment as I'm now back in school again. I also have $50 from each paycheck withdrawn for my flex account to cover doctor co-pays and medicine. I know that once we start with the rheumatology appointments for Anime that money is going to go fast.

I started getting organized with my paperwork. Started being the key word. Things are sorted but I still have not written them all out on paper to total the amount of medical bills owed. Yes, I know that needs to get done asap.

At least through my job at the hospital we have health and dental insurance at an affordable rate. I also pay $10 a month for life insurance. My main worry right now is that Mr. Ex would not be able to pay his child support. I really hate being dependent upon that.

I think I need to sit down and write an About Me post to summarize where I've been financially in my life. But first I should total up that debt, don't you think?!

Financial Aid/Dependence

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:17:00 +0000

I am officially a college student once again. You can read about it over here. Since I am running behind, my financial aid package isn't processed yet. I wrote a check out on Friday for $1536 for 7 credits. OUCH! Add in the costs of textbooks to the tune of $402 for a total of $1938 spent in one day.

I'm debating now as to whether or not to take the full amount of the loan I'm offered. The preliminary figures suggest that I will be offered a subsidized loan somewhere around $5000 dollars with roughly a 6% interest rate. My initial plan was to take only what I needed to cover this semesters costs. However, Mr. Ex has recently informed me that he left his current job to open up a start-up company and that finances will be fairly tight for him for the next several months.

This puts me in a bind. I now depend upon his child support to make sure bills are paid and the kid's needs are met. If he were even to be late with his child support it would throw my finances into an even bigger mess. Now I'm wondering if I should take the full loan amount and bank the difference in the event the Mr. Ex has financial problems. This is part of my push to go back to school . . . so that I don't ever have to be dependent on someone else financially. I'd ultimately like to be able to take what he send for child support, split it by thirds, and bank the money for each child. Right now that isn't an option but my goal is to make it a reality.

A Very Untrained Slayer

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 05:09:00 +0000

I'm ashamed to say that the amount of debt slayage for 2008 equals zero.

The amount of debt increase is yet to be determined. Many medical bills were accrued throughout the latter part of 2008. Lack of health insurance and a sick child will do that to you.

Happily, we now have some health insurance in effect with my new job. I received the cards in today's mail! While that relieves some stress, it's not going to cover a whole lot of potential medical bills coming up. I've made the decision to apply for the Children's Health Insurance Plan that all states offer to qualifying families. Here's hoping that we qualify.

My mission, should I accept to choose it, is to face reality and quit playing ostrich, and total up the amount owed to all parties, medical and otherwise. I have to admit that this really scares me. If I don't do it, though, then I'm not being responsible with what money I do have, and I'm not setting a good example for my kids to follow.

I will be adding more debt in 2009. I will be taking out loans to go back, yet again, for another degree, this one in nursing. The big battle though, is facing my fear of money, and working through that fear. This is the year that I need to begin slaying those financial demons.

Do You Skype?

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:34:00 +0000

Now that I'm (almost) rid of a monthly cell phone bill I need a less expensive option for long distance calls than using our land line provider. Mr. Irony discovered Skype when we first started dating and switched over to this service for all long distance. He determined that it saved him several hundreds of dollars in long distance charges during the course of our long-distance relationship.

The vast majority of family that I care to talk to are now long distance for me to call. This is where Skype comes in. I have the option of paying as I go or paying a monthly fee of $2.95 to make computer to land line calls. If I were to call other Skype users it would be free of charge.

I'm downloading it today and we'll see how it goes. I'll keep you informed as I learn more about the service.

Avoiding the Early Termination Fee

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:08:00 +0000

About two weeks ago I decided to say goodbye to Alltel and pony up the $200 termination fee to rid myself of an expensive commitment (smart phone cell plan). I called the company to end the contract and was transferred over to a very nice young man by the name of Joseph. Joseph did his best to convince me not to end the contact. When he realized that wasn't going to work he pointed me in a different direction, one that I didn't know existed. He informed me that I could find someone to take over the existing contract, thus relieving myself of the monthly expense and circumventing the $200 termination fee.

I immediately placed (free) ads on a local site and craigslist. It didn't take long before I found someone willing to accept this exchange. So, long story short, as of yesterday I am out of the contract for no extra fees!

I still have the second line on the Alltel account. It would have been an additional $200 to terminate that line also. Since that contract expires at the beginning of December it is simply cheaper for me to continue that plan for another month and then cancel it for no cost. I dropped it to the lowest plan available and will say goodbye to Alltel for good come December.

It was surprisingly easily to transfer the phone line. I guess they're just happy that they'll be socking someone else for the ridiculous amount I was paying. I have purchased my new Net10 Phone (package deal of $25 for the phone, a case, headset, and car charger + 300 free minutes at W***mart) and feel a bit lighter knowing that this monthy cell phone bill will soon be gone. A big thanks to Joseph for showing me a no cost way of eliminating this expense!

MSN Money and Me

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:02:00 +0000

Who knew that a simple comment could drive site traffic so high?

The other day I commented on the blog Student Scrooge. The post was in regards to tipping and the practices used by servers to increase their tips. I don't comment a lot but this was one post I felt I had the knowledge with which to back up my comment. What I didn't know was that this post would be used by Karen Datko on MSN Money in her post dated October 21st. Or that she would choose my comment to be included as part of her post.

The lesson? Words are forever. You never know how they will be used, good or bad, so think about what you say (or write) before it comes out of your mouth.

While I'm tickled to be included in this article, I'm also happy that what I wrote was not something that could come back to haunt me. Not to mention that I enjoy looking at my site meter to see where all of these visitors to my little site are from.

Bloggers Like Me?

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:50:00 +0000

I have been perusing personal finance (PF) blogs for about 4 months now. I've found several ones that I enjoy reading and many that have achieved their goals to be debt-free or are close to it. So far I have only found one whose situation I can relate to. Single Mom, Single Money is just like the title, a single mother trying to achieve financial freedom on a single income while raising her child.

I'm happy for all of those who've scaled back their lifestyles and made the commitment to achieving a debt-free life. I love reading the posts that are written by those who have actually done it. I'm thankful for their advice as I begin my journey and glad they are sharing their knowledge so that I can learn from them.

However, I'd like to find more people like me. People who have a lower income, people going back to school mid-life, people who are already cutting back on extra's because they need to in order to survive. Where are these people? Are they just not out there blogging about it? Or is it next to impossible to become debt-free for those making less than $25,000 per year?

What's Your Normal?

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:31:00 +0000

I read a lot of blogs, many of them personal finance blogs (I really need to get around to update my blog roll on the side). A common theme in these PF blogs is to host a carnival or a round-up of posts. On Budgetsaresexy's Carnival of Personal Finance this week I found a blog post I could completely relate to. Stumbleforward.com hit the nail on the head in regards to where I'm at right now. I am in my comfort zone. I have been in debt and just getting by for so long now that I'm comfortable with it and in an odd way, I feel safe.

Safe? Comfortable? How the heck can anyone feel safe and comfortable knowing they're in debt (& not even knowing by how much)? How can anyone be comfortable not knowing what they're going to do when that next emergency pops up (and it does!)? How can you be okay with being broke you might ask?

My answer? I've been here for so long that this is my normal. Give almost anyone enough time in a certain way of life and they will become accustomed to it. It's their routine, their sense of "normal", be it right or wrong. I've been screwing up my finances for so long that this is where my "comfort zone" is. Messed up? Yes. Although it's absolutely true for the majority of people around us. We may moan and complain but few of us ever change our habits and behavior as we've fallen into what is normal for each of our lives.

This is where is takes drive and determination and the will to create a new "normal" for your life. This is the stumbling block that most people encounter. It's said that it takes 21 days to create or form a new habit. Unfortunately 21 days is longer than most of our "want it now" society is willing to put into the effort of change.

As for me, I'm tired of my "normal". If I have the will and determination to move my family across a state, change careers and go back to school when I'm almost forty, then I think I must have the drive and determination somewhere within me to change my idea of normal in regards to my finances. I need to be brave enough to leave my comfort zone and create a new reality for myself financially. Easier said than done, I know.

What is your normal?

An Expensive Lesson - Goodbye Alltel

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:35:00 +0000

It's time to start trimming the fat around here. I went to Alltel today to switch to a cheaper plan as I've determined that switching to a smart phone was a dumb thing for me to do. The plan is too expensive. Between the two phone (with a "family plan") I've been paying $145 per month. Ouch!

Apparently when you have a smart phone plan you are not allowed to switch back to a regular plan. Huh. I guess I missed that part when changing things around last July. The gal politely told me that there's nothing she can do and I have 21 months left on my plan. She looked a little stunned when I asked what the termination fee would be. The fee? $200.

Now I forgot to ask if that's per phone or for both. The kid's phone reaches it's 2 year plan end in December but I'm not sure if that changed when I mixed things up in July. I'm seriously thinking of paying the (insert cuss word here) termination fee and going with Net10 prepaid phones. I don't use mine much anymore so it won't be hard for me. It would be hard on Anime who has been sending an average of 2200 text messages a month and receiving roughly 2400 texts per month. Now it won't hurt my feelings at all if she can't text as much (or at all!) and if she has to use the home phone to make her phone calls on. (It's right outside her room where everyone can listen in. No cordless phones in this household.)

What I've learned? Stick with what you NEED over what you WANT. Internet on your phone is a luxury, we lived just fine before text messaging, don't get in over your head & cave to societal pressure to have the latest greatest toy (or in my case . . . phone). Keep your expenses as low as possible so that extra money can be going to either pay down debt or into something that will fund my retirement.

This is an expensive lesson for me, but a needed one, I guess. I'll pay the termination fee and put the pretty shiny PalmTreo up for sale on either craigslist or ebay.

I guess my decision is pretty much made. Bye-bye Alltel. Hello prepaid Net10.

What would you do?

INGDirect vs FNBO

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:43:00 +0000

Things are moving right along. Except at work. Business has been very slow at the restaurant and many shifts have been cut from the schedule. I have the whopping total of two, yep . . . count 'em . . . two, shifts next week. This doesn't exactly inspire me with any loyalty for the place. I know that this is a fickle business but I think the majority of it has to do with the fact that they have never advertised. So the job hunt continues.

I interviewed with one of the hospitals this past week and have another interview with a second hospital next week. If offered either of these jobs, I will accept. Although unemployment is low in our city and we are fairly insulated against major economic downfall (barring the crash of the medical community or the one really large bank/credit company in town) as we are "one of the states the world forgot". (By that I mean that our state tends to be a few years behind each of the coasts in trends)

The big question I have right now is where to put the money that I'm sitting on. Many of the personal finance blogs I read talk about INGDirect for savings, while a few have talked about FNBO. I've done a little research and it seems that FNBO has a bit better interest rate, so that makes me wonder . . . why do so many bloggers seem to prefer INGDirect? Any answers or even guesses? I'm interested in hearing your take on the differences between the two and which you prefer. . . or even if there's something better out there to put my emergency fund money into. Talk to me!

Searching for Job Security

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:28:00 +0000

Finally, finally, one of the local hospitals called to see if I'd be interested in interviewing for one of the eighteen thousand positions I've applied for over the last 5 weeks. Okay, maybe not quite that many but I have applied for at least twenty various positions between the three local hospitals. This interview was for a position as a therapy aide in the rehab department. (no that "rehab" but physical therapy rehab) I have been amazed that it's taken this long. I guess having that EMT certification didn't mean quite as much as I thought it would as far as when applying for a nurses' aide or patient care tech job. I hope that even if I don't get this position, having met the recruiter and putting a face to the name will get my foot in the door for interviews for other positions. Seriously people, I've never had as much trouble finding a job as I've had these past two months!

Ironically, an EMT position has opened up in the hospital nearest to the town from which I've just moved. This hospital is about an hour's drive from my new home. How desperate am I feeling to get into a hospital position (with insurance!)? Desperate enough that I've applied for the position. The kicker? Folks, this is the ER that I talked about when I did my EMT clinicals. (To refresh your memory click here) Yes, for the right amount of money and health insurance I am willing to go to work there and drive 2 hours round trip. Of course, considering the way my job hunt has gone thus far, I probably won't be called for an interview.

Why am I looking for something other than what I'm currently doing? Yes, I like my job at the restaurant and I like (most of) the people I work with. However, I'm scared of what's happening with our economy. I'm worried that even if I worked 8 serving shifts per week (the max that we are allowed) I still wouldn't make enough to support the kids. As people start to tighten their belts, restaurants are one of the areas that are going to feel the pinch. My perspectives has changed a lot over the past two weeks as I listen to the news and read the financial blogs. I'm strongly feeling the need to be in a somewhat secure industry. People are always going to need the healthcare industry. That being said . . .

What the heck does it take to get into an entry level hospital position?!

*crossposted at http://celticbuffy.blogspot.com

Money, Money, Money

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:47:00 +0000

Yesterday I called the office handling my retirement cash-out to see what kind of time line I was looking at in regards to receiving my money. They mailed it yesterday and I should be receiving it today or tomorrow. Woot!

Now the big question is what to do with it. I want to stash some of it away, thus providing me with a fully funded emergency account. I'll need to use some of it to carry me through the next two months until I'm up to speed and only working serving shifts and not hostessing shifts. Not to mention that there are a few big bills that need paying. Some of it needs to be put away for our basement remodeling as Mr. Irony and I are each contributing to that from our retirement accounts.

I guess that means I really need to sit down this weekend and figure out exactly what I owe and to whom. Time to be a responsible adult.

Retirement Account Decision

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:22:00 +0000

I am finally done with training and am able to work the restaurant floor. Saturday night was my first night. It was very quiet due to an in-town food event but thanks to the pooling of tips system that they run, I came home with $80. If that's a slow night I can't wait for a busy one! I have also been hostessing 4 days a week. That averages about $10 an hour but when you only work 2.5 hours at a time, it doesn't add up to much. I'm hoping to move away from the hostessing shifts and into more serving shifts.

I made the decision, probably a bad one, to pull out my retirement in cash and take the 20% hit in taxes. There are things I need to use it for and rolling it over into an investment account will cost me in administrative fees and fees for when I take money from the account. This way I have it and allot it where I need to. I do plan to put $2000 into an IRA and use some to fully-fund an emergency fund. I plan to purchase health and dental insurance for the kids and I and pay that for a full year with one payment.

Now I just wonder how long it will take before I actually receive the check from my retirement fund?!

Serving It Up Soon

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:41:00 +0000

After two (very long) weeks of job-hunting I was finally offered a job last weekend! Tonight will be my first night of training. I can't tell you the hourly pay because I don't know. Shocking! Yes, I know. I will be working as a server so the hourly pay really doesn't matter. It won't even be minimum wage, and in the restaurant industry the hourly pay is not what you're working for; you're just lucky if the hourly pay covers the taxes on the tips that you claim.

I'm hoping that the training will be intensive and short as I need to get on the floor as quickly as possible. My bank account has hit an all-time low and there are bills looming around the corner.

I'm down more than expected as school supplies hit the bank account hard and the unexpected funeral for my grandma necessitated some purchasing of funeral-worthy "good" clothes for Actress and dress shoes for Action. Not that I'm complaining. This is where an emergency fund would be useful. That is my first goal in my list of goals for financial responsibility.

Ideas On Cutting My Bills Down

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:49:00 +0000

In that lovely list of monthly bills I forgot the cell phone bill. I need to print that out and take it in with me to find out what some of these new charges are for. When I redid my plan I was told it should be about $20 cheaper than my previous plan. Instead it's $20 more! I may have to see how low I can take if for now and give up the luxury of having internet on my phone. Can you downgrade your plans, I wonder? I know you can always upgrade them.

On my list of to-do's is to get myself to Kinko's to fax in my last Alack claim for my medical savings account. That's about $400 worth of income that could be used right now. I also need to take a pic of my oven and get that listed to sell.

One other thing I'm considering is trying to sell my car. I owe roughly $10,500. If I could sell it for that, I could take some from my retirement fund that I'm liquidating and buy something less expensive and not have that payment each month. I do love my car. It's the first vehicle that I have ever purchased entirely on my own and it represents independence to me. But I need to put emotions aside and focus on cutting, saving, and being financially responsible. I guess the first step is to find the blue book value for it and see if it's actually worth what I owe.

Starting Over

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:06:00 +0000

No, I haven't forgotten about this blog, although I did have to dust a few cobwebs off the computer before sitting down.

Not much to update. We are moved in to our new house and will be heading out today to open our joint checking account. This is a little scary for me, sharing the responsibility with someone else. Our plan is to each contribute $1000 per month to the joint account for mortgage payments, utilities, and groceries. That leaves me with $240 car payment, $110 school loan payment, $63 for car insurance as other monthly bills. That's also not counting various medical bills that I'm trying to pay off.

I've just received the COBRA forms for carrying over our dental plan. That would be $100 per month. Plus I have the option to also carry over my life insurance plan. I haven't looked at the cost of that yet. I am still waiting to receive the COBRA forms for my health insurance, although I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to afford that. That's pretty scary.

I do receive $600 a month in child support but I have tried very hard to use that only for the kids expenses, not for bills.

I do have the option to pull out my state retirement now that I'm no longer with a school system. That account is just below $23000. I plan to pull it but the question is what to do with it? I can take a guaranteed 20% hit in taxes and take it in cash (and possibly pay another 10% in taxes at tax time, have to research that a bit more) or do I find something to roll it over into? Here's where I turn to you, my lovely readers, for any and all suggestions as to what to do with these funds.

In Need of a Lifeguard

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:11:00 +0000

And the drowning continues. I have to admit to seriously slacking and pretty much giving up for now. All expenses will be changing come next week. The move takes place next Thursday. I did manage to keep the truck rental costs down to about $200. I reserved a truck with Budget so that I was able to get 2 days with 128 miles included. I paid for an extra 30 miles to give myself some wiggle room. If I pay with a credit/debit card at pickup they will waive the $150 deposit on the truck.

That's all for now. Hope everyone else is doing better with their finances than I am. :)

Drowning

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Well yes, I should be called the Queen of Procrastination, thank you. I excel at it. I rule at procrastination.

This is not a good thing.

I have done zero towards getting a hold on my financial situation. Nada. Zip. Nothing.

Again, this is not a good thing.

Working at the restaurant has begun to consume my life. This is day seven out of ten. Then one day off and back at it for six more days. As of August 9th I'm unemployed.

I have one school paycheck left in August.

Time to get serious about job hunting.

Smartphone for a (dumb?) blonde

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:21:00 +0000

Well, I did something that was not frugal. The kids knocked my cell phone on the floor the other day and it broke. Completely. I don't have a landline (haven't had one for four years) so this is my only means of outside communication short of email. I depend on my phone and it goes more places with me than my debit card. :)

I have been long wanting to have internet access on my phone and I've long wanted a PDA. I love my planner (Franklin-Covey) but it is large and bulky and I get tired of carrying it everywhere, because I? Am not a purse person. So while I was at my friendly neighborhood cellphone store I inquired about the cost of changing my plan and upgrading my phone.

The customer service rep was very nice and after reviewing my plan, figured she could get me into a plan with 'net access and my two phone lines (one for the kids) for roughly $10 less than my current plan. It would mean downgrading from 1000 to 400 everyday minutes. But by using the lovely little MyCircle plan all calls to those numbers are free, all my mobile to mobile minutes within their company are free, and night/weekends would start at 7pm and be free. That makes the vast majority of my calls free and not ones that would use up the 400 minutes.

I had originally wanted a smartphone with Palm software. I let her talk me into trying the MotoQ. While it's a pretty good phone and there's really nothing wrong with it, it's not for me. It syncs up with Outlook and I'm a Palm girl. I'm returning it to get a phone with the Palm software. The MotoQ would have cost me $75 after the initial on-site rebates and the mail-in rebate. After doing some researching I figure the Palm Treo should be about the same. I also plan to upgrade the kids phone since it's a new two-year plan and there should be an upgrade period for both phone lines. The kid's phone is pretty much obsolete. It was a replacement from when their original phone quit working.

The frugal thing to do would have been to downgrade as much as possible. But considering the amount of time I've already logged on the smartphone I don't considere it to be a complete waste of money. We'll see.

The MotoQ goes back next week. We'll see how it goes with the Treo.

Terminal Blondness is Interfering With My Tracking

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:33:00 +0000

I am suffering from a tremendous attack of short-term amnesia or as I prefer to call it, terminal blondness (I can say this because I am a blond). I truly mean to write down what I'm spending. Seriously I have really good intentions. I just sort of . . . umm . . . forget. So this week I have switched to using my debit card only. This way I can view my account online and have a basic idea of where the money is going. This also means that I must start depositing my tips in the bank to keep track of where that money is going. Working part-time as a server means that I tend to generally have cash on hand. I'm finding it way too easy for that cash to just simply disappear. Milk from the store? No problem. Quick stop for ice cream? Sure. Drinks for the ball games? Of course. All of a sudden . . . hmmm . . . where did that cash from my last shift go?

My terminal blondness is getting in the way of accurately tracking what I'm spending. So we'll see how the debit card route goes.

Breakdown of expenses for last week (7/7/08-7/13/08):

Gas $95.48

Housing inspection (my share) $100

Electric/water/sewer $150

Groceries/household $240.81

Eating out: $100

Car insurance: $60

The car insurance and electric bill are constants, the housing inspection was planned for. Unexpected eating out occurred in delivering and picking up the kids from their dad. I do know that we've been eating out way too much lately. Things have been so busy and I have not planned properly to have quick meals ready to go before we leave. Definitely an area that needs revamping.

The gas expenses are quite high but that should drop some once we move. I have to go to the city at least once a week for moving/housing related things (not to mention seeing Mr. Irony). Now I also have the additional miles added on by meeting the kid's dad halfway twice a week for drop-off/pick-up. After we move we'll be within a few miles of each other so that will help a lot!

There will be a city-wide rummage sale where we currently live the weekend before we move. I'm debating whether or not to participate. I have a truckload of items that were earmarked for Goodwill. If I started now I could get them all marked for a sale and possibly make a little extra and cut down on the amount that I have to haul into Goodwill.

I'm trying to be more observant about my spending this week. Anyone know any cures for terminal blondness? :)

Procrastination

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:42:00 +0000

Okay, so I've been slacking here. I admit it.

I did order a free credit report from annualcreditreport.com. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be but I wonder what may be on the other two companies reports that maybe weren't on this one.

So way back a couple of weeks ago I completely intended to track my expenses. My "blondness" got in the way and I forgot to do it everyday. Was that my subliminal fear coming through, I wonder?

I did get an unexpected break on my student loan payment. I kept waiting for it to be withdrawn from my checking account. Every day I would log in and no payment had been taken out. After 10 days or so I called the company only to be redirected to a different company. It appears that my student loan has been "sold" to another educational loan corporation. Apparently a large chunk of loans have been sold and the transfer is taking place throughout the end of June/beginning of July. No payments will be withdrawn during this time period and the automatic withdrawals will start back up with my July payment. That's $110 for me to rollover into my "moving" fund. Wouldn't you know that I received the letter explaining this whole process the very afternoon after I had called the company?!

I have started tracking my cash flow again this week. We haven't been going too many places due to car problems. A trip to the tire place this week confirmed that the tires are balanced so they are not the cause of the vibrations that occur when accelerating between 40 and 50 mph. Next week will bring a trip to the dealer to have this checked out as there are still about 8000 miles left on the warranty. I'm hoping that whatever is wrong is covered by warranty and won't eat up my moving money.

This car problem is a prime example of why I need to learn to manage my money and start working towards a secure & debt free financial future. I HATE borrowing from Peter to pay Paul! I hate the worry of "how will I come up with that money". It's just another sign that I need to get serious about this NOW!

I'm about halfway through re-reading all of my Financial Peace material. I had planned to start and finish "Your Life or Your Money" but I can't find it! I'm not sure where it has gone because I thought I left it on the dining room table. Gremlins, I tell you, Gremlins!

I'm a great procrastinator and I still have not totalled up all of my debt or contacted a realtor about selling my lot in town.

I need to get myself in gear, don't I?! Any suggestions for motivation?

Tracking Your Expenses

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:19:00 +0000

Here is a pretty good post from Pennyjobs.com about why you should track your expenses. You need to have an idea of where the money is going in order to create a fairly realistic budget. I'm already seeing that I fritter away a lot of money and that's from only ONE DAY tracking expenses!

Initial Game Plan

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:52:00 +0000

Now that I've made the decision to become more financially responsible, how do I do that? I need some sort of game plan. To establish some accountability for myself I have set a list of goals for the week, to be accomplished by the end of Saturday.

Last year I had the opportunity to take the Financial Peace University course, designed by Dave Ramsey. I did not put it into practice at the time though. Why? I don't really have a good answer for that. I could say I was too overwhelmed by life at the time, but that would be just another excuse. The truth is that my financial situation scared me (it still does!) and it was easier for me to ignore the situation and continue being an ostrich with my head in the sand, than to actually face my finances and take care of them. I like the idea of "Baby Steps". I'm not ready to move too fast so baby steps are about my speed right now.

Goals for the week:

1. Reread all material from the Financial Peace University.

2. Order a credit report from freecreditreport.com

3. Total all outstanding debt and categorize. (Ex: student loan, car loan, medical, etc)

4. Contact a realtor and list lot for sale.

5. Use handy-dandy little notebook to keep a running list of all $ spent to see just where, exactly, my money is going.

I know that roughly my income right now is around $2350/month, not including tips from the restaurant. My monthly bills look like this:

Rent $400
Cell phone $150 (2 lines)
Auto ins $60
Cable/internet $120
Nat. Gas $15
Utilities $150
Car Payment $250
Student loans $120

Too be honest, I'm not exactly sure how much goes out each month for food. I know quite a bit is being spent on gas as I've been driving to the big city once or twice a week since mid-May (roughly 200 miles round trip). There are other bills but those listed above are the basics. They'll also be changing once we move in August. The only bills that will stay the same are the student loans and the car payment. I'd like to lower the cell phone bill but am not exactly sure how.

I need to be very diligent in tracking where the money is going. This should be interesting.

Swimming

noreply@blogger.com (CelticBuffy) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:45:00 +0000

My favorite saying in high school was my own version of “Life’s a b***h, then you die”; “Life’s a beach & then you swim”. Well, swimming is definitely what I’m doing now. Swimming in debt that is.

Of course, that’s my own fault. Bad choices, depression, and burying my head in the sand have all contributed to my pool of debt. I even went through Dave Ramsey’s Finding Financial Peace course last year, but chose to continue to keep my head buried. Why the change now, you ask? Good question. The change is in me. I’m tired of wondering where the money goes. I’m sick of worrying about how much I actually owe. I’m done with being scared of finances. Yes, I’ve been scared. I’m still scared. However, it’s time to face facts. I’m almost forty, raising three children, and there’s nothing to fall back on in an emergency. I’m also joining households with my significant other and if ever there was a time to get my finances in line, this is it.

How I should start, I wonder. Well to begin with I’m rereading all of the literature I received with the Financial Peace Course. I’ve begun reading “Your Money or Your Life” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. After that I’ll tackle the two Suze Ormon books I have sitting on the bookshelf but never quite got around to reading. While immersing myself in these books I also plan to write down in my trusty little notebook each and every expense that occurs daily to see where my money is going. I will also need to order a copy of my credit report (major scary here!) and compile a list of all debts and assets to form a complete profile of my financial situation. The next step after the fact-finding mission is to complete some form of budget. That will be a bit tricky as I will be changing cities, homes, and jobs over the next couple of months. First I want to see where the money is going so that I can determine an average needed for the different areas of my budget.

My guess right now is that I’m treading water in my pool of debt and I definitely don’t want to hit the point where I’m drowning. My goal is to be floating on the top of that pool, with the debt having gone down the drain and the pool refilled with financial freedom. I hope you’ll come along for the ride and be inspired to drain your own debt pool!