Challenging Debt

Annual Pocket Violating Time

2009-11-12T02:38:00.001-05:00

Yep, it is that time. Time for the insurance company to rape your pockets. You all know this one. I am talking about annual enrollment. Whew Who!!! Let's see what we have here. Ah yes! The Medical Deductible just went up from $350 to $450 (oooh bend over for it). And what else do we have here. Well looky here Dental has gone up $50 more dollars to $100 now for the deductible. OOOhhh and specialist visits have gone up $25 to $50 per visit. Wonderful!!!! I am sure I will be more willing to see my specialist knowing that I gotta come out the pocket $50 every visit. Nothing like isurance plans. Oh yeah, let's hear it for the $150 prescription deductible.

I'm sorry, did I see a salary increase. Let me look here. Uhm no, no not there. No it doesn't look like my paycheck has changed. No not clearing $50K or better. Nope nowhere near that. Uhm yeah!

But, you can pay with your pretax dollars through your flexible spending card. Oh is this the card that when I use it you try to dispute the usage of my own money to pay for medical and dental expenses? Is this the one where you ask for my first born and a blood oath for? Oh yes that one. Yeah that is wonderful. I love keeping all the documents from my medical bills past just in case in the next three years you get the itch to ask about them so that I can produce them for you.

Anyone else think this healthcare market has lost its f*$#ing mind?

Charge us more ever year and cover us less every year. It's a win win situation.

Uhhh. Pocket rape should be a crime!

Whew who thank you Veteran's

2009-11-11T20:29:00.000-05:00

It is a bank holiday. I will be spending a piece of it at the Apple store. My phone decided to die on me when I was in the mountains (Definitely not cool). I charged the phone the whole way up. Then when I got there I made two phone calls. Tried to send a picture to my sweety to let him know about the gravel road we traveled up to get to the cabin. The minute I hit send and placed the phone on the bed it died. I tried from 10 p.m until 2 a.m. to get something out of my phone a light, a glimmer of hope, a go to hell D.C. leave me alone. But all I got was an f.u. with it's middle finger up. The car charger didn't work, the home wall charger didn't work, computer charger (nada), car charger plug attached to the wall charger (zip), the car charger cord attached to the computer (zilch). So I am freaking out because, I am in the middle of bumble f*&^ and I have no service. I have to make it down these gravel road without careening off the mountain. Then I have to make it back to the city without any car trouble or we're screwed because, everyone else came a different way from us (they live in another part of GA). So at 2:14 a.m. I said to myself "let me give this one more try" and the apple emblem comes up (choir singing a long ahhhhhhh!). Ooh thank you Jesus we will live! So of course I am taking that bad boy to apple today. We are not playing this game again. I need answers. My fiance spent too much on this phone for it to be flaking out on me whenever it feels like it. Okay, getting off my soapbox now.

D.C. Out

What Tha?

2009-11-11T07:24:00.003-05:00

So I thought that I was taking the iPhone in to Apple to have it looked at. WRONG!!! I got up yesterday and got ready as usual. Went to the car and oh my freggin gosh. I know I am holding an umbrella in my left hand but, what is this water on my console from. Oh s*(^ my seal has completely gone on my windshield. Apparently the gravel road coming out of the mountain this past weekend completely released it. The water was coming off of my rear view and dripping down on my gear shift. I asked the fiance if I could borrow his car for the day and I had him cover the leak and went to work.

I tried to call auto glass company after auto glass company. They phones were all disconnected. I finally just called the car dealership I use for my car service and asked for their body shop. I asked if they could tell me who they outsource their glass work to. They gladly gave me the name of the company and I called them. The guy told me that he could reseal the windshield for $69 but, he did not guarantee his work. He told me that if he replaced the windshield it would be $260 and he would guarantee it for life. I said heck yeah replace it. I have had nothing but problems from this piece of s#$% car since I bought it at the insistence of my last boyfriend (okay so the car isn't a complete piece of S@%# but, it gets frustrating sometimes). I had to sue the dealership I bought it from because, they sold me a wrecked car as certified pre-owed WTF! I won the suit but, the money I spent to prove I didn't do it was all that I got back. Anyway, I replaced half of the undercarriage of my car and now I am having to replace the darn windshield. I feel like I am slowly replacing this whole damn thing. Whatever, I am just frustrated and I will stop venting.

The upside is that I will be getting the money from my e-fund. No new charges on my cc. Whew who! That is what it is there for. Go me!

Back To Reality

2009-11-10T06:57:00.000-05:00

Back from the mountains and back to the daily grind. We spent the weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains scrapbooking. I am all scrapped out. I made a cute iphone frame for our engagement page. You can see it over on my other blog page Challenging Creations. I love the way it came out. Granted that I don't measure anything because I am too impatient. It was pretty much done free hand. The people were great. I am glad I went. I got to know some pretty cool people and try out their scrapbooking tools. The cabin was fabulous. It is going to be a six bedroom when it is completely finished but, for right now it was a four bedroom with two pull out couches. All the bedrooms had king sized beds. I loved every minute of it.

This hair of mine

2009-11-09T06:18:00.004-05:00

I have been waiting anywhere from 3 weeks to entire months before I get my hair done. The last time I went it cost me $90 (what the hell!?). I mean, I know you are a celebrity stylist and all but, this piece up here is natural. No perm, no texturizer, nada. Why did I just pay $85 to get a trim and press and $5 for a wash? OMG! People are always so impressed when my hairdresser does my hair but, I am not impressed with the price. I am stuck with a dilemma. I need to find more affordable hair care. Granted that I pay $65 when I don't trim my hair but once again Natural people! Just wash, dryer, blow dry straighten, a little product bam! I'm out the door. I don't need a fancy hair doo none of that. Why do I feel like my pocket is raped every time I go to get my hair done. Last time I went (the $90 trip), the hairdresser actually thought I was kidding when I said that I needed to leave and I would be back to pay. I had to say, "no seriously, I don't have enough money to pay you. I need to go to the bank."

So! What does an asthmatic with no sense of hair maintenance do with her hair in the winter when natural is not an option? Let me tell you why it is not an option for me. Natural hair for me has to be washed first thing in the morning, product added, scarf put on, heat applied around the scarf to prevent big hair (hate it with a passion), then head to work with wet hair. I have asthma now mix wet hair with 43 or lower temperatures and tell me what you get?! That's right pneumonia ladies and gentlemen. So again I ask: What does a budget balling diva do about her natural hair in the winter since natural is not an option?

I know I am not supposed to complain

2009-11-08T22:24:00.001-05:00

I have asthma. So being here in these hear mountains kind of hurts. Okay well it really hurts. I asked before and I'll say it again. Who gets asthma at 25?! Really? I've never had it in my life. I grew up in a smoker's household for 21 whole years. Now for the past five years I have become an asthmatic. No clubs, used to be no restaurants, definitely no pool halls. I just could not breathe. I honestly believe that it has to be all the pollution that I breathe on a day to day basis that started all of this. I just recently started being dependent on an inhaler, which I hate more than ever. Can I not have to deal with this? It's an expensive condition to have. Too rich for my blood. Does someone else want to volunteer to take this from me? Anyone? Anyone? No?! Well alright.

D.C. Out

Mini Vacay

2009-11-06T17:00:00.000-05:00

So I am about to hit the mountains. I am taking a trip up with a friend of my fiance and her friends. We are going a scrapbooking trip. Have a great weekend everyone. Don't worry it is already paid for $86 per person. I just had to get garlic bread and salad as part of my dinner share my partner in crime is making the spaghetti. Every meal is broken into two people each bringing something to cook. Talk about a budget trip. I am loving it already. I will take my camera and take lots of pics. I hope the trees are still changing when we get there.

Where my money goes

2009-11-06T07:14:00.003-05:00

A commenter asked how I split my paycheck up.

I told them that I would give you a glimpse into the complex world of my brain so here it goes.

I get paid twice a month so this is how I divide it

$100 to Gas Money/Car Repair Account

$513 to Bill Paying Account

$162 to Groceries and Incidentals Account

$50 for whatever I want and if I don't spend the whole $50 then I only take what I need to replenish to $50 and save the rest.

$400 for Wedding

$21 to Gift account

whatever is left into $6K E-fund.

Well I think that outlines where my funds go. Usually I would put money into my Insurance Fund but that is fully funded so I have backed off of that.

Quick Debt Repayment Update

2009-11-05T08:04:00.000-05:00

I paid another $50 to my Citbank card. That brings the balance down to $2,061.71. Taking it one day at a time. Paying these bad boys off. Flame rolling through these bills! Whew who

How Financially Versed are You?

2009-11-05T08:00:00.002-05:00

I always wonder how I compare to my peers on financial knowledge. I know a little bit about finance. I am not perfect though. I know! I know! I work in banking how can I not be versed in everything financial? The answer is easy I am on the operations side of banking and I dabble in different realms of operations (codename peon). You name it I've probably done it. With the exception of proof. That department would make me bald. I understand credit cards. I understand bank accounts and fees. I understand the basic cornerstone of personal finance but, there is still alot that I don't know. Through all of my financial books, websites, radio shows and tv shows over the years I am a bit wiser about my finances when it comes to debt but, outside of that I need a little help.

I do have lots of room for improvement. I know what a stock is. I just do not know how to follow it or better yet how to read a prospectus without going cross eyed. I get my 401K statement and stare at it blankly hoping that if I put it under my pillow osmosis will make it seep into my brain and make sense. I don't know what funds I was invested in half the time. Recently I invested into an international fund, index fund and a retirement 2045 fund. I left my old investments where they were and changed my allocations to these funds. I know the index is chosen by a computer and it follows the stock market but, that is the most I know about that.

I am unaware of what the max is that I can put into a 401K or a Roth every year. I don't know if I should even be investing in my 401K since my job no longer matches our contributions.

There is alot I do not know. I am interested in learning but, I don't know when I should focus on it.

Should I be worried about my 401K while I am still in debt?
Should I have a Roth IRA already (I am not getting any younger)?
How much of an E Fund do I need? I put away money but, have no e-fund set goal. Here is another instance that I hear experts throw out numbers and we are supposed to figure it out ($1000, 3 to 6 months living expenses, 8 to 9 months living expenses). What do you do with yours? Is your E fund just for that ? Are other funds mixed in with your e fund?

I have lots of financial questions swimming in my head that have yet to surface as I am writing this e-mail. I will have to follow up with these questions as they come to me.

Joneses what

2009-11-04T06:51:00.001-05:00

I know people who try to keep up with the Joneses' every day. And why wouldn't they want to? It seems like we all want to be like them in one way or another. The Joneses' seem to have a limitless amount of money. They seem to have all the buying power. They have all of their ducks in a row. Perfect family life with all their American Dreams fulfilled. Polo this, Jimmy Choo that, Maserati pushing, perfect teeth having (actually don't most people's veneers make them look like they stole Mr. Ed's teeth or is that just me), 2.5 kids with a dog in a quarter to a half million dollar house people.(*this is just for those Joneses' out there. There are some people who can legitimately afford a house like this and all of the accouterments with no worries. Well Hakunah Matata to you and I hope to be you one day but, today is not the day to pretend).

Of course we know the truth. The Joneses' are broke. They are conned into believing this image of the fabulous life you can achieve if you just have one of these phones and one of those cars etc. They are in a perpetual cycle of living paycheck to paycheck trying to attain the unattainable. They gotta have the latest, the new new, the you ain't got deez, the you ain't up on this. However; the must haves keep the Joneses' must broke.

I am not saying this to say that I am above being a Jones. I am by far not the opposite of the Joneses'. It's hard to tell myself no. When I am angry the first thing that comes to mind is "go to the mall". The second thing is "Barnes N Noble." Third is "Ah hell go to DSW." To which I have to tell my demons "yes I could go there but, I am wasting gas and I can't buy anything because I am broke."

I see my coworkers come in with fly new shirts or nice shoes. I make a mental notes to try to find some just like that. I know I can't afford it but, the Joneses' I want disease is a potent little bastard. I get e-mails on my phone showing the most beautiful shoes and I have to immediately show my coworker who has similar taste in fashion to myself. I know I shouldn't show her because, I am perpetuating her Jonesing but, it's the evil in me (muha ha ha ha). I figure if I can't have them I'd rather watch someone else rock them. She still lives under the Jones condition that I am fighting to claw my way out of. I know I should help her see the light but, you know the saying that you can't show anyone anything they aren't ready to hear.

Well hear me now Bloggers. The Joneses' are a strong ass family and they need to kick the bucket. Every single one of them. I am rebuking you Joneses'. I am riding my car till the wheels fall off. Which might not be long from now considering I keep accidentally putting the car in 2nd gear and trying to accelerate. Anyone, who has done this understand my pain. My clothes are old and raggedy and I can't wait until the day that I can buy quality clothes without using a piece of plastic with an interest rate attached. That day is coming. I can feel it. I am not above shopping or by any means an anti-consumerist. I am against accumulating more debt. Debt is the most handicapping feeling out there. I feel stuck when it comes to debt. I look forward to saying "F U Joneses I'm free," or as Sincaid said in Amistad "Give us, us free Biyatch" (okay so maybe not the last word but, you understand where I am coming from).

"Sexual Chocolate!" dropping the mic. Exit stage right (ahhh memories Coming to America)

D.C. leaving her soap box

What are my savings goals

2009-11-03T07:00:00.006-05:00

I told you all that I have goals for everything from e fund to taking over the world. Well here are a few of them for your viewing pleasure:

1. $6K E Fund currently at a pissy $1,345

2. Gift Account (I do not currently have a goal set for this but, I am hoping to set one for next year. This year I just put $21 a pay period in and used it for b'day's) $23

3. Wedding account current at $1,509 long way to go.

4. Car Insurance account currently at $448 fully funded (alright Giggidy)

5. I have a Way to Save account that has accumulated $198. (You know the account that puts a dollar away for your POS Point of Sale transactions and bill payments) I have no idea what I am going to do with that this year. Last year I put it in my E Fund. I may do the same this year. I just have to make sure that I wait until the full anniversary comes around for the full interest.

6. Oh and I have $53 sitting in my account at Paypal from all of the surveys I have done. (I try not to look at this account too much because, I get the urge to splurge when I know it is there).

When I say I have money everywhere, I have money everywhere. If I bring it together it might make more of an impact huh? I find co mingling funds causes confusion in my mind. I accidentally spend money that was meant for something else.

Information Overload

2009-11-02T07:00:00.001-05:00

When I finally decided that I needed to dig myself out from under my debt I started reading every book I could get my hands on. I have learned about debt repayment through reading Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, David Bach, Glinda Bridgeforth, Michelle Singletary and the list goes on and on and on. My focus has pretty much stayed on the debt repayment portion of personal finance because, I was living it and it spoke to me and my situation the most. For the longest I suffered from information overload and did nothing with my finances:

"Pay off your highest interest rate first and then the next..."

"Pay off your smallest debt for the quickest gratification..."

"Close out your account to prevent charging more and pay off the account"

"Pay off the debt and shut down the account"

"Pay off the debt and leave the account open"

"wonk wonk wonk wonk" Yes ma'am ( sorry I just went Peanuts on you)

This time around I finally decided to attack the highest interest rate. My debt repayment has been a blend of trial and error through the years. I tried the immediate gratification way only to find myself charging the same card right back up right after paying it off and getting down to two cards. It felt like a self destructive pattern that I had made for myself. I even did the pay off and close method with my Limited card (oh it's back by the way. I bought a suit, used the discount and paid it in full. Have not charged on it since), Target Card, Express Card sheeeettt if a store was giving a card I took it. When I decided debt wasn't cute I shut those biyaiches down as soon as I paid them off. That still didn't help me with the major credit cards though. That took years and years of fighting with myself and balance transfers to decided "okay this is it! I am done."

I have noticed that lately I have been more focused on the debt more than I have ever been in the past 10 years of repayment. I have actually made it to the last two cards with the lowest interest rates. I almost don't want to say it because, I feel like somehow that self destructive 20 something chick I used to be will pop back up. Almost like I would be jinxing myself just by saying that I made it that far and then backsliding down a sliding board full of razors naked into a pool of alcohol (yeah that is how painful debt is to me). But, I do think that with age has come this level of maturity. I am finally ready to be serious about getting the debt monkey off my back. This primate has been DDTing my ass long enough. I felt like he was climbing up the highest tree possible and then jumping off while he slapped his elbow so that he could land with it planted directly in my back with the next charged item.

I have implemented E Funds, Car Repair Funds, Gift Funds any and every fund I can think of that in the past would have made me go charge (thinking of that side note I need a Yay You Did It fund when this is over).

The way I see it. I should be down to one credit card balance by the end of February 2010. Whew who! I will need to run the numbers further to see when I completely finish paying off my credit card debt altogether. Then comes "THE CAR!" Awh Yeah! Can't wait to pay that bad boy off.

Debt Repayment Update

2009-11-01T11:25:00.002-05:00

Here we go! I am getting there slowly but surely. I just need to knock this Citibank out then the AT&T then the car. Whew Who!

Citibank 2,111.71

AT&T Universal $4,235.63

Total Owed $6,347.34

Wedding

2009-11-01T07:00:00.001-05:00

Where the hell is my wedding? Right now nowhere! We need money to have a wedding and right now we just don't have it. Initially I wanted to just go to the Justice of the Peace to get married but, it's been done before (he has). I want to do something different. I am trying to figure out what would be a good blend between what my family wants of me and what we want. So for now, what we are doing, is stacking cheese, cheddar, moola, dinero, benjy's (however many other ways you can say money).

Why do I set goals?

2009-10-30T08:15:00.000-04:00

I set goals for 2 months straight and have failed to meet them both times. Why do I set goals? I need to find what works for me. I have a little budget book that I keep with me during the week. I have worked that into my life over years and years of debt repayment. It actually keeps me focused on my debt goals but, nothing past that.
(See the Shih Tzu trying to get my attention over the budget book)

I am already thinking of how I can set more saving goals for the new year. I always make the necessary goals like the car insurance ones and other savings goals of that sort. I want to grow my E Fund and my FU Fund (now that bad boy needs to be off the meter)! Not to mention I need to get married one day. I am kind of engaged ya know. We need to save for that (if you wanna know where I am with the planning stay tuned it's coming). I would also like to start a Roth IRA before I turn 40 (sorry that is the sarcasm in me. I just turned 30). My gift fund needs to include birthdays as well as holidays (I have no idea how I am going to do Christmas this year. I think it will be gift cards courtesy of my credit cards rewards points).

Sometimes I wonder if I am trying to juggle too much with all these goals. My mind has really bad A.D.D. and so I wind up being all over the place with goals. I have to write down things immediately and I wind up with post its with my budget goals on it, songs for our wedding, goals for next year etc. It is pretty crazy opening my budget book and post its falling all over the place.

Speaking of which here is

OCTOBER GOALS (how I did)
I get a Boo You for September and October goals.

I only made one hat so that was a fail

I photographed the jewelry which was my goal for October but, have not shown them to people to sell.

I need something to motivate me. Otherwise I just feel like I am wasting my time every month. Any suggestions? Maybe a reward at the end of month? 60 Minute Massage? New boots? New shoes (ooohhh shiny :O)? What can I do to motivate myself to do more than just enough to get by?

A welcomed surprise

2009-10-29T10:44:00.000-04:00

Lately I have been feeling

2009-10-29T08:09:00.001-04:00

Lately I have been feeling kind of blah about the work week. My days have become a series of countdowns. I go to work, take care of what needs to be done and count down the hours until 5 o'clock. Then I hightail it out of there to sit in traffic for another hour to travel a couple exits. I need to break out of these blahs. I need to break this routine somehow someway.

Just one more day between me and my 3 day weekend! Counting down the hours

*************BUDGET UPDATE COMING SOON*****************************************

Photo Test

2009-10-26T19:56:00.001-04:00

Testing out my photo upload ability on my phone

I am changing my paycheck allotments

2009-10-23T11:39:00.000-04:00

I am changing my paycheck allotments. I am putting $100 into my car
repair account. I am keeping pretty much everything else the same with
the exception of my ING deposits. I am moving it to the Electric
Orange account. This is because, I moved too much money out of the
Emergency Fund savings account last month an got a warning. So if I
run it through my electric orange then I can transfer until my heart
is content.

I am using car repair account for gas and repairs going forward so I
won't use the e fund to cover car expenses. I know eventually I will
need repairs. Whether it is an oil change or new tires. It just
doesn't make any sense to use my e fund for things I know are regular
maintenance items.

So next Friday will be the first run of the new allotments. Let's see
how this goes!

Sent from my iPhone

Debt Repayment Update (the no frills edition)

2009-10-17T09:29:00.001-04:00

Here is my update:

Citibank $2,337.71
AT&T Universal $4,228.64
Total CC Debt Left $6,566.35

Oh the audacity of people

2009-10-16T23:06:00.001-04:00

My friend lives in D.C. And I was on the phone today while she stocked
up on junk food for the weekend. She was stocking up for a big time
study fest so she was buying kit Kats, wine just all the bad stuff.
Well ad she is checking out the bag girl eyes her 8 pack of kit kats.
The girl then proceeds to ask her for her kit kat while I am on the
phone waiting for her to finish. I hear her say yes then she (my
friend) lowers her voice so that I can only hear "I got something to
tell you" she says. She proceeds to tell me how this random bag girl
has asked for her candy and being caught off guard she says yes. The
bag girl takes 3 of her 8 kit kats out of the pack and walks away
without finishing bagging her purchase. The audacity of some people.
It amazes me to no end.

Damn it man!

2009-10-14T17:17:00.002-04:00

Why oh why did forget to make the transfer to my checking account.
That ish cost me $30 arghhhhh!!!!!

Sent from my iPhone

A lazy day off

2009-10-12T16:27:00.001-04:00

Fun Money Fund

2009-10-11T13:57:00.000-04:00

After blog commenting with Fabulously Broke, I decided to give myself some blow money. (Room in my budget to allow me a little fun so that I won't go and self sabotage this time around. ) I set aside $50 per pay period for me. Well with $18 of those dollars I bought these beauties. I found them at Target. I told my friend that I shouldn't have bought them on the freeze. I think I am too strict on myself. I don't know? Maybe I shouldn't have bought them.

I have two expenses I have designated this month. 1) My baby cousin's birthday (gift card) and 2) my best friends last part of her gift from her b'day (the spa day). Other than that I should not have any out of the ordinary spending.