A day in the life of Kidd Fresh

Rent

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:20:00 +0000

Ever had a moment of clarity, where it just all comes to be crystal clear. Or is it just that I'm slow?

My rent is currently 1360 (got rid of my parking space). Right now I pay it out of my end of month check, since I get paid "semi-monthly" (dumbest idea ever) it usually leaves me a little short at the end of the month. Then it dawned on me why not just take half the rent out of my first check and half the rent out of my second check.

Wow that was really so complicated, I see why I didn't think of this before (sarcasim)

I've also come to realize that I have paying rent. When this lease is up, by hook, snook or crook I have GOT to get a house.

Back, Back, Forth and Forth

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:27:00 +0000

Side note: Just as I was beginning to type this I could suddenly taste Shrimp and Candied Walnuts from P. F. Chang. I mean literally I could taste it in my mouth. But I will resist.

I've recently been going back and forth about building my "emergency fund" vs. paying off my debt with the money. Although I would love to have a cushion around me I think I'm going to use the money to pay down more debt so I can just get it over with. I honestly hate receiving bills in the mail I mean just plan ole hate it.

This is my thinking, since any immediate emergency I have can be more than covered with a single paycheck, I'll pay off my credit cards and use them as a temporary emergency fund until my bills are paid off. I'll just pay the balance on the card at the end of the month. I know this probably isn't the recommended way of doing it but I think it will work for me.

Eating Out

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:03:00 +0000

Although I've managed to do better with treating others to eat out. I still have not curved MY eating out as much as I would like. I've managed to begin bringing my lunch to work, but I find myself still going to get something while my lunch sits in the fridge. I'm thinking about just not bringing any money to work. But then I'd hate to not have anything in case of emergency.

Life is to hard.

Wants vs. Needs

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:47:00 +0000

My next paycheck will be almost completely mine*.

I WANT to go to Atlantic City but I NEED to pay off my credit cards.

I WANT to buy 2 pair of Nike's but I NEED to get a oil change and alignment.

I WANT to go to Timothy Dean's restaurant but I NEED to buy groceries and eat in.

I want a new Nikkon watch but I need to find a way to lower my bills (especially BG&E)

*Besides my $160 T-mobile bill which will have to be reviewed.

Help Yourself First....PLEASE

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:55:00 +0000

I officially refuse to spoon feed anyone who does not do their own due diligence. I have a friend who is attempting to get into the investing world who basically just jumped in head first. Now they have constant questions as to what they should do, and when. Literally using a service without researching all that it has to offer. No idea about fees, how to reduce the fees, or alternate services.

I officially rebuke you!

Flex Spending Account

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:52:00 +0000

I have got to do a better job with this. I read to much not to have anything to talk about.

Anyway I digress. Apparently they have a "grace period" with my flex spending account. I'm glad because there was almost no way I would have been able to send $500 in under 4 days (not on medical stuff anyway). So thankfully I get an additional 75 days pass the end day to incur expenses. WHEW!!

Do what I have to do, so I can do what I want to do

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:37:00 +0000

"More money more checks I’m addicted to fresh 6 pairs of kicks is my definition to twelve steps" - Jay -Z

Ah I love that line.

I also stole the title from Single Ma, which she got from the move The Great Debators.

But right now I feel like I'm in a "Twelve Step Program". I've come up with 6 steps to help me move toward my goal with "Real" attainable goals. Basically I have 9 months to determine which way I'll go. Will I try to make it in the workforce without one of my top assets or will I utilize it and continue to use it as a crutch.

The 6 steps I've broken it down into is as follows:

Step 1. Bills

Prioritize - I need to do this so that I'll no I'm going the best possible way to get to step 4.
most people would say that I should pay off credit cards first but if I do that I wouldn't meet my time line for step 2. Since I don't have that much credit card debt ($1200) I don't think that necessarily needs to be at the top of my list.

Pay off by Dec 31 - I know this blows my goals from before but this time I'm actually motivated to do it. Besides if something does happen at least I'll be DEBT FREE!!!

Step 2. School

Re-enroll - I've been pushing this off also but the only reason being step #1. I have school bills I have to pay before they allow me to re-enroll.

Enroll in 3 Classes in Sept - I plan on using my company's reimbursement program to pay for school. if I stay with them it's covered if not I'll just have to pay them back, in either case I'll be in a better position to do that when and if this happens.

Step 3. Savings
Down Payment - I need to save a minimum of $9000 by April '09. That will mean increasing my current savings by $300 a month.

Emergency Fund - $30,000 ( a years worth of expenses) . This depends on Step 4 heavily as most of that is housing and slightly on step 1. I would love to get a second job but step 2 won't afford much time for that.

Step 4. Housing

Purchase - I DO NOT plan on renewing my lease come next year. Not because the place isn't nice, but purely because I refuse to pay the amount of rent that I'm paying. Hopefully if all goes well with step 1 & 3 getting into a house won't be a problem. I've even got a plan for the house I want, some people may call my crazy but it's logical to me. I'll discuss it at a later date.

Step 5. Certifications

In my line of work certifications can really increase your work potential. I plan on having 1 certification by the end of the year. Based on how that works out I may have two. My first certification I want to go for is Sun Certified System Administrator. The class is around 2k, I've decided to purchase the book and do it on my own. My job affords me the hands on experience needed so setting in a class wouldn't really help me with this one.

Hopefully after that I can go for the Sun Certified Security Administrator. This would lead me up to getting 2 other certs that I'm looking at.

Step 6. Job

Hopefully if all goes well and according to plan with this I'll be in a better position to go either way with my job. If I decide to stay it will give me enough time to finish up school on my company's dime, and make myself more marketable. If I decide to go it will put me in a position to be approved to do the job I want to do.

Either way it will get me started on something I should have take more serious along time ago. Everything won't be in order for instance I'll be saving while I'm in school, and housing will happen at the same time I'm getting certifications. But it just helps to prioritize things so I'll know this is the best way for me to get where I want to be.

I partied for a while now it's back to the block

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:54:00 +0000

This may sound crazy but I've always tracked my "career" based on salary not on actual title or position. the more money I made the better I felt I was doing. Yesterday I realized that although I have progressed financially that this position is the first actual position change that I may have experienced.

In my current position I'm completly on my own. There is no backup or support if I can't figure out a problem. I have to decide when to do patches, backup systems, or how things will run. Everything is left up to my discretion, I do have to let someone know what's going on but that's only for informational purposes. Now I've come to the cross road of "What do I do next?". In about 1 1/2 years One aspect of my job that I've used heavily could possibly disappear. It has been the single most important thing that has allowed me to move from job to job taking bigger pay raises. I found out when I first got here that I make significantly more than the last guy who had this position and just may make more than my immediate supervisor.

So I've come to a point where I HAVE to make a plan and execute it or possibly face a severe reduction in pay in the future or be completely without a job. My position affords me a lot of what I like to call "maneuverable time". Short definition I can push things off here and there to accomplish other task. My plan has to be all inclusive, meaning it has to plan for:

Debt Reduction
Housing
Savings
Career

all in one swoop. For some reason this doesn't seem like that big of a deal to a friend of mine. He figures that I'll be able to find a job even if it's a lower paying one. Yes, I do make a good living, but NO, I can't survive on much less. The problem being with each new raise I raised my living standard. For me to take that much of a cut would cause me to be ridiculously strapped for money.

I don't think I really realized how serious this was until it caused my worst fear to come to my mind. something that I could not live with, something that would cause me heartache and stress beyond belief......The thought of maybe...just maybe...I could possibly be forced to move back home.....FAILURE IS NOT A OPTION.

Stop...Evaluate...Plan...Re-evaluate...Execute

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:00:00 +0000

Lately I've felt like I'm running around with my head cut off. I want to do to much at once and I think it's becoming a problem. I have a very big decision to make and I need to make, it doesn't affect me this very moment but it will in a year or so. If I don't decide what I'm going to do now it will possibly be the last minute in which case I won't have as many options.

Failure is mos def NOT one of the options.

I refuse to take steps backwards, I can't and I won't. Sometimes I'm content with just being in one place and riding the flow. But today I realized that if I do that for the next year I'll be up the creak with no paddle. After reading Single Ma's blog about a holding pattern, It really got me to thinking. Can I afford to put things on hold right now? In 18 months when one of my best career options has possibly ran out, can I still make it? I've sat around and tried to put this on hold and now it may be getting down to the wire. I have to come up with three possible scenario's and quick or else I may sink my own battle ship.

Stimulus check

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:17:00 +0000

So I received my "receipt" for my "stimulus check". I got back $596.05, didn't see a dime of it. Well not really it went to the $173 in taxes I owed in 2007, and the rest went to my tax debt from before which now leaves me with $743 or so to pay off. I guess it sorta worked out.

Gotta learn to live with these regrets

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:55:00 +0000

I been gone for a minute now I'm back with the jump off, all we wanna do is party and buy everybody at the bar Bacardi..... (well maybe not the last part)

To describe my hiatus from blogging I will use 3 words

Broke
Mismanagement
Foolishness

Now see what had happend was.......well I decided that I wanted to be foolish. It appeared that I had some extra money, so in turn I went out and spent it. Needless to say it wasn't extra. That along with the fact that I'm adjusting to the new pay schedule of "semi-monthly" has left in up a creek lately.

I'm now starting to get things back on track but won't be back completly on the horse until 2 pays from now. To make matters worse I've managed to acrue bank charges for overdraft. Why you may ask, well I'll tell you. Trying to do the right thing and have my bills paid ahead I scheduled my bill pay to kick in. Suppsoedly my second pay check was suppose to be direct deposit. Was it you may ask, well I'll tell you. NO!! So in turn the money wasn't there and ta-da there are the fee's. Things can't continue to go this way.

I've stepped back and re-evaluated the situation and will be updating my goals as I've hit my half year review.

Trimming the fat on my "trimmings"

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:13:00 +0000

Usually I go to the barbershop every week. I've gotten accustomed to it because I hate having to shave my own face. I just realized that I spend more on haircuts then some women. It's $25 each time I sit in the chair. And although Kidd Fresh likes to stay that way, I'm no longer going to spend that money. Just because Right now It feels ridiculous.

Vacay Delay and the benefits

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:14:00 +0000

So since I won't be going on my Vacay to Hawaii this month I decided that I needed to pay on some bills. I've also realized that I need to stop packing my budget so tight. I haven't been accounting for gas and it's been costing me.

I have not even come close to completing my goals for this year. My "trimming the fat" has gone flat, I don't know why I'm not motivated. I think procrastination is my middle name. I'm setting a new goal of September 12th to get me through this.

I have a few things on auto so they should get accomplished. My 401k is set and I'm putting in 10% of my pay. My IRA is set to be fully funded and since I know I'm to lazy to go change it I'm pretty sure that money will make it in there. My Inetta fund and Emergency savings fund is on auto pilot so I just need to wait for that to build. I'm going to pay off one of my past due bills in June, and hopefully the other by September. I'm actually doing better than I thought. Now I just have to stick to it.

Couldn't stop laughin.....

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:14:00 +0000

But why does it make soooooooooo much sense? I read this over at Single Ma and it's the total truth.

Being single with no kids I honestly only see the strain in my pocket when it comes to gas. Other than that it's a perfect time to buy stocks and invest.....unless there's a crash coming that I haven't been told about.

Organization

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:05:00 +0000

I've come to realize that one of my biggest problems is that in some area's I am not Organized!! For instance, on any given day when I'm feeling good enough to clean off my desk, I may find any amount of unopened mail. In them I may find any number of bills that should have been paid. Luckily these aren't bills that I would get late charges for, but still bills that need to be paid before they get out of hand.

So tonight when I get home I'm going to finally organize ALL of my bills. Since I've changed banks I'm going to have everything set up to go on auto-pilot. I think I'm going to have my "allowance" sent to another bank account, that way I don't even have to carry around the bank card to my main account.

I am determined to win this war.

Investment companys

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:02:00 +0000

I'm trying to get back into investing again. I use to use Zecco for my investments but now you have to have $2500 in order to trade with no fees. I do plan on investing that much..EVENTUALLY, but I'm not willing to spend the money until I reach that. So I'm thinking of going with Sharebuilder again. I had them once before and I know there was something that I just didn't like, or as a blog I read somewhere said "something in the milk just isn't clean". So I'm going to have to research it again.

***update*** I figured out why I didn't like sharebuilder. It was the ridiculous amount they charged you to liquidate your account.

After doing some more research I've determined that Zecco is the better of the two for ME. It doesn't matter how much money you spend with sharebuilder your always going to have to pay fees. At least with Zecco once I reach a certain dollar amount I'll be done with them.

Holdbacks

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:13:00 +0000

This is how I feel when it comes to my credit report. It's as if I get this great start and then blam something starts hendering my forward progression.

401k

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:18:00 +0000

So my 401k is finally setup for my new place of work. I put in 10% which I guess is pretty good, the company matches up to 3%. I read somewhere that not signing up is like giving away free money. I was doing the math and depending on what my net pay is looking like I'm going to bump it up to 16% in the next 2 months. So between fully funding that and my IRA I should be well on my way to a secure financial future....hopefully. I'm also going to look into getting back into investing in stocks.

I've decided that I need my "Inetta the Mood Setta" fund to be at 30k. that's a pretty heafty goal but we will see what I can do as time goes on.

yooooddddlllleeeeeeee

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:19:00 +0000

Thanks to Single MA, I've found the program I was looking for. I previously did a post on Mint, but it didn't offer the features I wanted. Mainly I could only add 4 accounts from what I could tell. Well Yodlee has solved my woes. Thanks again Single Ma.

Try Try Again

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:31:00 +0000

I've done really poorly at keeping this updated so hopefully I can get back on track. My financial house is in RUINS. I'm so over spent I'm back to feeling helpless! It's going to take me until June before I can get back on track. I used my emergency fund, because otherwise I would not have been able to cover my bills. I wouldn't have been able to cover my bills not because I didn't have the money but because I chose to spend the money. Now I have to come up with enough to go on the trip that was ALREADY planned at the end of the month. Plus still be able to cover my bills. On top of that the new job I took gets paid on the weirdest days. Not every 2 weeks or ever week like I was previously getting paid. It's actually set days, like welfare!

I did test out this new website I found called Mint. It was cool for what it was but not really something that my Quicken doesn't already do. It was appealing to the eye though. Anyway, the numbers off to the side are completely off. One of my cards is totally maxed out and the others aren't far behind. I don't know what happened I was so close.

On top of all of that I need to have work done on my car, and a few other things. Come June I'm really going to have to be on the grind it's as if I'm starting from square one!

Falling off the horse

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:43:00 +0000

It's been a while since I posted to this. Mostly because well....I've been bad and i didn't want to talk about it. Along with doing things I shouldn't have a few things of have gone well.

Dwelling

Well I did it, I moved into a bigger apartment so that my brother would have his own space. It's actually nice, I found out it use to be a "club" and black folk weren't allowed. Maybe that's why it's so nice, trying to change the view of it, who knows? I had movers move me in, which is where my emergency fund dwindling came into play. In the end it was worth it, personally I hate having to move my own stuff. I’m kind of sad now because after some happnins I sent my brother back home. Had I known this was going to happen I would have stayed in my previous apartment. I LOVED….wait let me rephrase….LOVED that apartment. It was like living in New York without leaving Bmore. Yea I was pretty upset about that

Job

Well, my “6 month probation” is up soon and it was not looking good for the kid. So I decided to find another job, found one that was MUCH closer to home and the current job offered me something better. I know I shouldn’t take it but the position I would have been moving to was more of a rush choice and not really what I wanted. I got a slight raise so….well….we’ll see.

Finances……..

Lets just say I’ll blog about that tomorrow. Hopefully I can get one of those charts like other people have on there blogs….until then

Peace

They pray and pray for my downfall

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:16:00 +0000

So I've been slipping this pass week. I've been using my credit cards. Since I don't have my computer and therefore my quicken up and running right now I can't really look at where my money is. I know that's a lame excuse for my absolutely RECKLESS spending but hey that's the one I'm sticking to. I have decided that I'm most def going to be clipping coupons from this point forward. I'm thinking of getting rid of cable also. I think I'm going to decide what has to go by the end of May. really nothing has to absolutely go but I'm just feeling.....well....BROKE!

These credit card company's are praying for my DOWNFALL

You get.....

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:38:00 +0000

What you pay for. I usually chose my apartments by looks, not so much neighborhoods. I've seen some bad apartments in some really nice places and vice versa. I've lived in both the county and the city and I can honestly say you have the same fools there that you have here for the same price. This new apartment I've moved into is the priciest I've stayed in but I am HIGHLY impressed.

From the gated parking to the door system, on down to the friendliness of the people I've met so far. J Rock likes his room, I have my own suite. I really can't complain at this point. As the McDonald's commercial says.....

I'M LOVING IT!!!

80,000

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 03:35:00 +0000

FINALLY!!! After what seemed like an eternity we get financing for a investment property. Luckily in Baltimore, that will be enough to purchase a house to rent out. I'm figuring that if we can get through with our first house, from there is should be easy since we will then have collateral. We're looking to get something that already has a tenant in it for 50k, but there is also another good deal not far from the up and coming bio park at Johns Hopkins. I'm really excited by this news.

Well back to packing!

Trimming the Fat

noreply@blogger.com (K Breezy) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:45:00 +0000

Monday is my move day, I'm going from a 1bd 1ba to a 2bd 2.5ba. My rent will increase by $435, I have really got to get my credit situation together so I can get a house. The house I want is way cheaper than my rent. So I'm now looking for ways to "trim the fat" to minimize my expensese. I've already gotten rid of the chief, and the maid. I'm going to look into changing my cell phone plan, and I may get rid of the cable TV. I have 2 bills that I want to pay off completely, then I want to increase my payments on my car by $900 a month. That would get my car payed off in less than 6 months. Once I do that I can change my insurance policy which will further save some money.

I should be able to pay off the 2 bills in question by the end of April. This should put me in a really good position credit wise and financially. So my new updated goals are going to be as follows:

Increase my credit score to 650
Have a $1000 Emergency fund & increase it to $2500 once I pay down bills
Have at least $5000 in my "Inetta" fund
Fully fund my IRA
Fully Fund my 401K
Pay off All Past Due Debt
Pay off my car