The thing that REALLY impresses me is that people have other financial goals then getting out of debt. I have a complete focus on getting out of credit card debt right now. I don’t want to be a slave for those banks any more. It was a painful lesson to learn in my mid life years. I am resolved to try and teach my daughter better habits. The thing that really impresses me though is the focus on having a good retirement. On relaxing and working towards other things - owning property or investing in a retirement fund. Saving for the possibility that you can’t work. They have become my future goals. I no longer just want to be debt free I also want my savings to grow. I want to have 3, make that 6 months of living expenses in a CD or mutual fund that we'd have access to easily. I want to pay off my mortgage early. I want to retire comfortably. I want to be able to make a down payment on my a retirement home if I needed to. In short I have learned so much about "common sense" goals by reading the pf blogs I do. I am so grateful to all those who share their lives with the rest of us. Thanks. Let’s make 08 great together :-)

Some links...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119836036944047243.html?mod=money_page_left_hs

Finance Gets Personal By SHELLY BANJO
December 23, 2007


Look for money owed to you on www.missingmoney.com

http://www.bripblap.com/2007/spend-less-than-you-earn-the-wrong-way-to-think/

Things to earn you more money. I need to add this to my 101 things b/c I know I have some small amounts of money being held for me in PA. I will establish this as one of my goals for my work from home day. There are a couple of higher priorities like sign on to FAFSA web site get a pin # work on financial aid etc

Persistence at a goal pays you its own reward.

Update on Credit Card

I posted earlier about a charge being made to my account. It has been credited and I do not owe anything on that card. Persistence and follow up reap huge rewards. No stupid tax!

The Emergency fund saved college dreams

$500 for college from savings,How the emerg fund saved her college dreams

I posted earlier about spending the money in my emergency account before the tax refund comes in. Then, I listened to the Dave Ramsey show. He stated how foolish that idea was. Even if you know you can pay back the emerg fund it is foolish to take money out of there for the Holidays. The fund is for an event that is unexpected. Emerg fund is for surprises not Christmas. Hmmm, okay, I will accept he makes sense even if I don't buy it... I will not take any money out. Over this weekend I am SO glad I did not take money out of there for gifts. I have TWO reasons

1) On Friday we were out at a school function and the Check engine light came on in my car. I was highly stressed nut I knew I had back up in my savings account and it would be okay. My fiancee took the car to auto zone and looked at the codes. He determined thankfully the car is okay and the light may have come on due to the rapid change in the weather. It was resolved to "Keep an eye" on it but the car could be driven. BIG SIGH of relief! No money out of pocket but boy was it wise to have not spent it on gifts.

2) On Saturday my daughter was accepted to college! They needed a check for $500.00 to confirm her reservation in the class of 2012. Total relief. I was able to pay for the deposit with cash. No credit card fees needed. So my refund will be re-allocated. When I get it I will replace the $500.00 from the emerg fund. Just to be clear, It was important to have your room reservation in as early as you possibly can. I could have waited for the refund to come in and then paid the deposit but she would be MUCH lower on the housing cue and it was important to her, and so to me, to have as much of our first choice for housing as we possibly could. I will put $700.00 towards Christmas gifts and I will pay $500.00 to paying off debt. It is less to paying off my debt, however I save big time by not increasing my deb load. The emerg fund has saved my daughters dreams. She is so excited! She sings as she goes from room to room it was totally worth it. If I had to I would spend it again and again to make her that happy.

As an aside we also had a teachable moment. I was able to have a quick conversation about the value of money and the idea that if you take care of your money it will take care of you. Its good to plant debt & financial wisdom seeds now. I will have more conversations with her in the future. For today we talked about choices I make about spending money and the value of having an emergency fund. It was good for me to be able to plan that seed in her mind for the future.

I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Mad Money Mondays

I get so much done when I work from home. there are fewer distractions and I am able to focus in a better way. However a good part of my job involves helping people and that is hard to do from home. I think that is why I get so frustrated with customer service and how people do their jobs. I do believe in service excellence and I try every day to make someone elses life easier and better. So when I have to ARGUE - which I hate to do - to get what I need. I have to wonder is this what a corporation views as service excellence?

Down to 2 1 tax folders to scan into my computer. As I do my regular work I strive to eliminate the DIS-organization that has held me back from becoming financially free. If you don't know where your stuff is how can you move forward. I have 2 TONS of paper in my office and I think it was weighing me down. Right now I am focused on saving only what I need to move forward in my life. That includes making sure Old tax returns are findable by date. I am sure we will be applying to FASA and for student loans next year. Oh yes... My daughter has been accepted to college! I am sooo proud of her. Now I just have to pay for it. I have a few plans. We'll see what happens.

And now down to 1 scanning folder. Man it feels good to get rid of the financial paperwork that weighs you down! It is a little time consuming today though and I needed to turn my attention to other things. More scanning later.

I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Money transfers and clutter

Today I realized that I had stopped seeing the mess. My office has been lifted of a massive amount of clutter. I have been sitting on a project of Christmas Ornaments for an entire year. Of course when I wanted to decorate our Christmas tree I had to get on the ball. And I did. I collected all the ornaments we have and photographed them. This does two things. I actually over the years have acquired many beautiful collectible ornaments. My aunt also sends my daughter an ornament or seven every year so needless to say our collection if added up together could be worth quite a bit. How would we know what we have if we needed to .... A database. I have written one in PHP for a class project. I am going to convert it to house all the ornament photos. I am actually looking forward to that part. It was opening each and every box. Photographing them and then hanging them on the tree that was super time consuming. *** Gold Star moment *** I have completed the task! I am really happy about that. The tree looks awesome and I have an empty desk. Well almost. I have 3 tax folders left to scan but today is a work at home day :-).


Trying to track every $ I have become happier now that My finances are organized. It is total satisfaction to know I am not missing something. I have created quite a few to do lists and One of my favorite links to help me rewind Questions to trigger to dos on your list (http://www.orgcoach.net/pdf/ram_dump.pdf). I have never in my life had so much time to work on it. And I always am waiting for the other shoe to drop. It will but because I have taken the time to start the organization process. I am really proud of myself. My next goal with organization is to work with my daughter on her finances. I do not want her to fall into the places I have gone.

I have cut every expense I can - except lunches. That is going to be one of my goals for 2008.

I am excited. I should be getting a IRS refund of ~ $1700 dollars. I am going to use $700 on Christmas and $1000 towards the debt. I wont have to touch my savings/emerg fund for Christmas much at all. The only question is how fast can I get the refund? And I am sure I will be getting a nice refund next year too. I maxed out my deductions. Before you tisk tisk me it was because too many things in my life were changing. Moving to another state getting a new job with a higher salary. I just could not guess how much I was going to owe. Plus my daughter turns 18 this year so I was not sure what the implications would be of that.

Bills one bite at a time. I still feel discouraged despite all my progress financially that it takes so long to pay off cards. I moved my $ around to help with interest rates - It feels awful to not be able to pay the balance in full. But when you are looking at such large amounts interest rates really add up and it matters a lot. SO... I have shuffled the balances around a bit. I will have paid one credit card at 29.9% in full. A 3.9% interest rate till the balance is paid is making the money go further and pay off the debt faster. It is still a big hole and I am a bit overwhelmed. I rant he rough numbers and by transferring the balance I will save $3000.00 this year. WOW. I cant wait to send $1000 to pay off a chunk of it. Ahhh and I should tell you the wonderfulness of requesting the balance transfer online without having to talk to a judgmental person. So Awesome. I don't love talking to customer service. There is too much service lacking and they view their job as saying no. Making a logical transfer to which I had been sent an offer in the mail sooo easy. Always leave them wanting more. I want better customer service from someone who takes such a large proportion of my salary. The borrower is the servant to the lender to be sure. This just serves to reaffirm my goals to get out of debt.


I will probably use savings to tide me over and replace it when the refund comes. Big sigh of relief that I have over $700 in my savings to cover the lag AND I can afford gifts without increasing the debt. Good news. This is the proof that the plan is working.


I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Pricing battles save money

Battling for the correct pricing...

Why is guarding your wealth so much work? How much does it cost us if you don't? Over the weekend I did a lot of Christmas Shopping. One of the things I had promised to follow up on was to complete my daughters gift from last year and get her the matching pieces to a suitcase we bought this summer. There was some confusion when I made the purchase for her about the right sizes. I was thinking she needed two large suitcases But my fiancee felt she needed the set of graduated bags. He of course was right(as usual). She will need an occasional weekend bag for traveling and not always the super huge size. Well... So The suitcases were on sale. It was a very good price. Not really for Christmas but at the right time to buy. So I went ahead to this store's online web site and made a purchase. BUT I forgot to enter the online purchase code. So I called Customer service to let them know. I had called to soon. They could not see my order yet. Okay, I'll call back later. Today I called again. Now my order has shipped. The lady on the phone said she put the info in on my account but I don't have confidence that she was telling the truth. So I will have to follow up this afternoon and call again to verify the shipping charges were credited. $30.00 is not a lot of money but its MY money.

I also saved myself $129.99 last Monday. Sometimes I forget that there is satisfaction in what you don't spend. I was charged for privacy protection on one of my credit cards. Seeing a charge on a card which had $ 0.00 balance at first caused me to feel waves of panic. I had paid for this service before. I thought it would be worse to pay for it then to fight it. (Before I started reading pf blogs I would have paid the charges and hoped to close the account. Now I know better.) Man was it hard to break out the sword and shield. I hate confrontation. But I did it. I called the credit card company... the wait for customer service is 10 minutes. ...UGH... Wonderful daughter bring me your cell phone. I called the privacy guard phone number. (While on hold with the credit card company)
I don't want this service please.
But all the wonderful benefits. Blah blah blah
No I don't want this service please.
But we have so much to offer.. blah blah blah
I do not want your service thank you.
Okay the cancellation number is xxxxx

All the while I am STILL on hold with the credit card bank. Now you see why I paid this card off first. 10 minutes to talk to a real live person! AGH. That and a 29% interest rate. so I have defended my money. I saved myself $129.99 in fees I did not want. All it took was two phone calls. Now please know that I do believe there is a good service to be had in privacy protection. I just cant afford that service right now while I dig myself out of debt. And $129.99 Really??? I don't think so.

I also saved $30.00 at the grocery store. seems like a lot right??? I think so too. There were a few items that were on sale that typically are not on sale. Couscous & stash tea. So I did spend over my weekly food budget by $35 but I think the savings helped to make it worth it. I love cous cous. and I saved $6.50 on that item alone.


I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Progress

I have scanned in 4 years of Tax returns. I feel so much better about that.

Today I paid my bills. Painful. The happy news was that I had a surplus for the month of November. One of the main reasons was that My wonderful mother sent me $500.00 for the college weekend trips. AND my awesome fiancee paid for quite a bit of our travels to NC & Mass. I sat down and used the where did my money go spreadsheet. I am working up to budgeting. Well thats not true. I have a budget but I find my extraordinary expenses keep popping up their weary heads.

The college trip expenses were 215.17 + hotels
Sr year expenses were 273.46 for this month.

Where was that money to come from? I need a better plan...

11/19/07

I did it. I got rid of all 19 magazines. Its one of those very small things that matters to only me. But its about having a clean and workable space. I need to have some more peace in my life. I want to be free of the emotional debt. Then I will be free of the actual debt as well. One day at a time.

Did I mention that I took a credit card out of my wallet? I did only debit card goes with me. I am trying very hard to live on cash only. In some ways it is harder then I though. In others Awesome fiancee is picking up some slack. He treated us to dinner out during our last college exploration trip. It helps a lot because the other expense in addition to traveling was $350 for the eye do

Next focus. Financial documents on top of my desk.

There are two things at play here. One Eliminate clutter. This will save me money when we move next summer. I will not have to pay to store the magazines. (We are planning to move into a smaller space to save money.) Second to get rid of that which emotionally weighs you down.

Get smart about space & place...

I am consolidating my papers down to 3 total file drawers.

Streamline your system....

I pay bills online.
I dont like automatic payments because if your timing is a little off you can end up paying bank fees. I always sit down the weekend before the first of the month and look ahead to figure out how short I will be and stratagize how to juggle the bills for the upcoming month.

I have started using an excel spreadsheet looking at my spending every month and For the first time I brought my lunch 4/5 days last week.

I dont know what to do with all the medical information. It feels like I should record it somehow and it should be organized in some way but I cant begin to know what would be helpful. I have not seen any blogs about that. What would matter to a doctors office or hospital. How important is a full medical history. Do you need origional paperwork or is a scanned copy of stuff okay?

HMO vs PPO

Big decision. Here is what is going into my planning...

Cost

Ease of use

Potential health issues in my future

State retirement

1361.17 2006 contribution
2162.10 2005 contribution
1935.55 2004 contribution
----------
5458.82 total contributions

there is currently 6k in there. I am so glad I have some record of my contributions. I thought there was so much more interest. But If 5500 is mine I can roll it into another fund and be on my merry way

Happy days

Post Thanksgiving Accomplishments

Goals.

I work better when I have a check list of things to accomplish. When I made it a contest to get rid & eliminate the 19 magazines I had a focus. And I did it. I have another magazine on my desk and I cant bear it. I want to accomplish something else. When I ask myself... Accomplish what? I am not certain. The clutter in my office is a distraction and keeps me from focusing on my work. I know I have 4 home & work days before Christmas. I can definitely accomplish something with that amount of time. But I need a check list so I stay on course.

Last Friday I created a huge to do list. Then I forgot where I wrote the list down. I guess I have Vacation Brain (or turkey sleepiness...) Here is a good link on questions to ask when you cant remember all that you know. Its a pretty comprehensive list. I enjoyed clearing my head of all the nattering s that were swimming around and Feeling like Finally there was order to all I had to do. I dragged things around and categorized them. Now I just need time to do them. http://www.orgcoach.net/pdf/ram_dump.pdf


Today was rough getting started (I couldn't find the list.) So I did my standard set of three. I allowed myself to look around the room and I picked three things that jumped out at me that needed doing. Once I started moving the Chaos was a little more under control and I could relax and go with the flow. The key is to start moving.

So the three things for today....

I moved the winter sweater box into the middle of the room. I need to put it back into the closet so I can walk - Done!
I took out the computer boxes to get to the sweater box they must also be returned. - Done!
I will find a home for the card basket. Its one thing that is really bugging me cause I don't know what to do with it. Done! (It was harder then it sounds. This is where all useless items I did not know where to put during the last move ended up. And man there were some strange things in there...)


Then I will scan some taxes. Which will bring me happily up to lunch I will make a new plan for the afternoon :-)

Benefits to clearing the clutter....

I found my pen I had been looking for.
I can now easily walk in my office.
I feel like I am not forgetting stuff....

Progress is seeing my desk again.

Update:

The taxes were a little tough. I get very uptight when I even look at the forms. I am proud of Myself. I have scanned in 2004 and all of 2005. There were a few interruptions. But I have kept on it and persevered.

I am still missing a list I made of how much money I invested in a retirement plan. I know I made a list last Monday and now its gone. It is in a file somewhere on this silly computer... I did find other paper to scan & purge. I knew I would. Ahhh the threat of the sole magazine inspired a whole days accomplishment & work.


Just do three things is my moving mantra. Every new apartment When I am sick of unpacking I tell myself Just open three boxes and then you can sit down and rest. I have converted it to be my clutter mantra - Just find three things in the room you want to throw out and then go about your day. It seems to work. Once I am in the mode I can sometimes keep going and sometimes I let myself stop and give myself a break. Either way just do three things.

Clutter free the way to be.

Manage your time like your debt. Care for it and it will care for you

Money Monday

Magazine update 4 3 LEFT!!!! I am not the only one who archives stuff this way... http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/10/27/preserving-the-things-that-money-cant-buy/

Getting things ready to sell is a lot of work. I hate that it is so time consuming to prepare something to sell. Why I just want to get something out of having all this JUNK! otherwise it would be soooo much faster to just give it to the salvation army.

What would I do today if I HAD no debt? Max out 403b contribution. You can contribute up to $15,500 per year. Right now I am putting away $5500. I could still invest DOUBLE and be much better off for retirement. I want freedom options not just to be comfortable! College. A few new pants. I have been desperately putting off buying any clothes. And a down payment on a home of our own. New laptop for fiancee would not be a bad thing either.

Tread & re-tread

I have to re fill out a form that someone did not date correctly. Its not a lot. But its time consuming. I have trouble with forms. (I know they serve a purpose and people who don't have forms are even harder to work with...) but I seem to resist the formality of being trapped by a form. When I have to re do steps I have already taken I fear things may go wrong. But in truth they already did and I am correcting it. Why do I fear so much? Why does it take so much COURAGE? Why does it take so much effort to be correct. Attention to detail. I flubbed that one two weeks ago. If I had checked the form when I was standing in the office I would not have to re do this extra set of steps.

On a plus note. I get to update my Savings today! I will pass the $840.00 mark. I am sooo happy about that! 42% complete.

October Budget.......

I kept my food shopping in line. Eating out was high but It is good to see where the hemorrhages happen. Cash is a huge issue. Eating out and child lines blur there. I have to have some cash though... I cant just give my daughter my debit card. I always need to have a little something to be able to go out to the movies with friends or make sure she has back up money on a date with a boy.... Anyone else have a daughter they give money to? I always tell her its nice if the boy pays but you have to be able to take care of yourself. Independence. Otherwise you never know what may happen right??? So I make sure if she is on a "date" then she has some money with her. I rarely see it come back.

Speaking of independence.... I keep $100.00 in my wallet folded and hidden in case of emergency. I used it for a urgent haircut Saturday and I went to the bank today and replaced it immediately. Do you think that counts towards the emergency fund? I keep the money there in case I get stuck somewhere (Out to dinner with friends and they want to split the check....) I guess it doesn't count towards your e fund. Your emergency fund is for unexpected expenditures. This is for surprises. Maybe they are different.

It is also time for open enrollment in my health care. I have decided to go with a more expensive health plan. I have a very very hard time paying lab fees and Dr fees after the insurance does not cover stuff. It kills me. I cant plan to use all the "medical spending" because I never have any idea how much I need to spend and you loose the money if you don't spend it. What good is that? I hate dealing with health care. So I have decided what is right for me to do is go with the more expensive plan. Because I will stop avoiding going to the doctor. I avoid going to the Dr totally. Not because I am afraid of going but because I am afraid of the bills. If I am not taking care of myself. It is not a savings. And It only took 7 years for me to figure that out. The difference in dollars is $1200 per year or $50.00 per pay period. Which is essentially my raise for next year which I will see in Jan when the new benefits start. So. I think its a wash. Its a little frustrating that I cant teach myself new habits. Maybe I will re-evaluate when digging out of debt is done because I will then be out of debt and I should have more cash in a medical fund therefore I will be able to cut costs. So see what debt does it costs you more everywhere. SIGH.....


I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Clutter update

I can see my desk. Well half of it anyway...

Magazine De Clutter tally and some thoughts.... 8 left in this pile (What??? there are more piles?!) Yes. Like credit cards I decided to take small bites out of them so I don't feel overwhelmed!

These mags were my friends when I lived in Spain. I was so lonely at that time. Not only did I struggle with my first husband but I was so isolated and far away from my friends and family. Don't get me wrong there were a lot of positives from that time too. But the reason I hold on to the magazines is just in case... If I feel that isolated and alone again I will have my cross stitch friends. I should realize I am 40 now and my skills with friends have come a long long way and If I am lonely I just need to reach out. Still its why I scan the magazines before I throw them out I am afraid of letting go without a safety net. The scans are the safety net.

The first magazine I scanned has a project I made for my cousin. It was 19 years agp! I think I have held on to this stuff for too long! I was finishing up my last semester of college. It was over the summer and no one was on campus but a few other bums and me. Man was I lonely and moody! I had WAY too much time on my hands. All the times in my life when I have felt that low. I always turn to cross stitch. I miss having the amount of time I had then to keep working on the projects I love to do now. I still stitch every chance I get but the time slips away from me. And with a sceond job that time will be even more rare.

So even now there are..... Only.... 7 left in the pile YAH!!! progress

I always tell my mom If I ever get stuck in a hospital or prison slip me a needle so I dont go insane. I can do cross stitch. (Is that nuts already??)


I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Financial fitness checklist

After reading A Complete Framework for Financial Planning I wanted to see how I was doing....

1) Set Up a “Budget” and Make Saving Automatic

* I try to set aside a little money into the Emerg fund Every month. It usually happens on the mid month paycheck.
* My percentages are out of wack. But I am getting better. I am not outspending as much every month. I have also created a Food budget. I am working at sticking with it. A little hard this month with lots of travel.

2) Pay off debt

* Mortgages/student loans - I do not have either. I only have HIGH BAD Debt. :-(
* I am working on paying off as much debt as possible. I am also looking at second jobs. I found some new resources thatnks to Boston Gal and I am looking at that further.

3) Establish/Maintain an “Emergency” Reserve Fund

* I have tons of unexpected things come up. I do see the value and I have begun building a balance. Based on my History I think I need $2000.00 saved. See side bar.
* Where? I have a savings account attached to my checking account. Once I have $2000.00 Saved I will begin saving in my Credit Union Account. It has higher interest.
* How much? Keep 3-6 months worth of expenses... This is very very hard. If I were to lose my job I would have to temp to maintain & fill in the gaps. This for me is a longer term goal.

4) Save for Retirement

* Why? Obviously, no one wants to work forever! I went to a retirement seminar last week. I am behind BUT not so badly that I cant make it back. The good news is that I have 25 years or so to work. My 401k from NC needs to be moved into my 403b. I will work on that in Oct/Nov.
* Where? I have a 403b through my employer who contributes 12% without my contributing anything. That is AWESOME!!!
* How much? Once the Debt is gone My goal is to contribute5% to the 403B and 5% to my 3-6 months savings. Until I have 3-6 months savings then I will put 10% into the 403b. Its do-able.

5) Establish Funds for other Goals

* Short term goals: I am adding to my emergency fund. And paying off debt.
* Long term goals: Down payment on a home. $40K (possibly 50k)
* Special goals: My daughter will be in college next year so a 529 is not possible. However, I want to help her pay off as much of the student debt as I can so she does not start off life in debt.

6) Additional steps to take:

* Establish good credit; I have decent credit and I continue to maintain it.
* Maintain excellent insurance coverage...
* Health - I need to upgrade my health ins.
* Work covers disability insurance.
* I have life insurance that will cover my daughter's college if anything were to happen.
* Car ins is paid for the fall, as well as rental.

*** I need to have a will ***

* Give generously; I gave to my school this year. it made me feel really good. Education is important to me and I wanted to give something back. So I did :-)


I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Magazines

Courage - getting rid of clutter

Saying good by to friends - My magazines I started this morning with 19 in a pile. Now I am down to 12. It feels good. I guess it is some strange representation of my life that I need to get rid of all the magazines. Somehow it represented a good quality life. If My life contained one Positive thing from those glossy images (living or real simple, Cooking light, Country living) Somehow then My life would be successful. I have come to realize that contained in those pages are snippets of a moment in time but to have a well balanced life I need to do less not more, I need a clean home not a cluttered home. Financial security is more important to me then those images. They are in a studio and dont show what is behind the scenes to have a home look like that. I have a well lived life. I can be happy with that. And all the cross stitch projects that await me? well one at a time, take em one at a time.


Creating a want or designing a life with inspiration...

Twelve months from now, what five specific things would you need to have accomplished in order to feel you have made great financial progress in your life?

1. I want my financial aid paperwork submitted to my daughters schools of choice (And right now there are 8 schools) I want her to be in school by next October.

2. I want to have a working monthly budget. That I can live within

3. I want to have completed getting my financial house in order
I have started this one and I am well on my way...
- I tracked down a pension that I had from a company I worked for 8 years ago.
- I have gathered all my banking information in one place. Soon they will all have my current address.
- I have mailed one 401k plan of my new address I need to follow up to see if it was changed.
- I would like to change the distribution of my contributions in my 403B to a more aggressive mix.

4. I would like to have paid down my credit card debt by 5000.00 With an achievable plan to do more.

5. I want to live a debt free life. I want to own a home. I think I need to be free of debt before I am able to save for a downpayment...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What de-cluttering teaches me...

Even though you are getting better and you can see the end there is still work to be done.

Small thins can be valuable.

Space is a personal thing. It is ever changing just like the person who uses the space.

Small bites makes a big task manageable.

Perseverance does pay off

Ideas come from many places

Keep up your inspiration it will keep you on track when you dont "want" to do the work

Learn from others expertise

Enjoy the sense of peace that comes with a job well done.

Reward yourself

September Spending

Mortgage or Rent	850.00
Telephone	80.00
Groceries	1119.00
Eating Out, Lunches, Snacks	64.48
Gasoline/Oil	123.42
Credit Cards	1070.00
Cable TV/Videos/Movies	165.33
Miscellaneous Expense	261.10
Cash Withdrawals	300.00

Well there it is. I have not analyzed my spending in 8 years. It was easier to do then I thought. I went straight down my bank statement and filled in the categories based on the withdrawal amounts. I used a basic spreadsheet from About.com and filled in amounts. It was pretty easy. The next step is guessing what the budget should be. I exceeded my income this month. But I also received back child support payments so I knew I could afford to do that. I also paid medical expenses which I had planned to withdraw from my emerg. fund but ended up not needing to because I had the support payments. I am going to set up a budget based on the book.... Girl, Get your credit Straight by Glinda Bridgforth. She has some pretty common sense approaches that I like.



So how did I do....


Well on Housing I am under the 35% guideline - SAFE
Other Expenses are WAY out of whack Almost double what they should be!
Transportation - under 15% - SAFE
DEBT WELL.....almost 2.5 times where it should be but thats why I am blogging about getting out of debt so duh
Savings - Well because I spent so much this month 0 - FAIL.

I was able to preserve the 700 I have set aside for car insurance coming in Oct and Medical. So balance wise where I needed the most work is Food. It was bothering me this month but I am a little surprised how far out of whack it is. I have really been struggling with food. We are all picky eaters in the house and on any given night one person will be out of luck. My fiancee is going through the most changes. He is allergic to milk. It is very very hard to have a casserole for someone who cant have milk. I have been looking for acceptable substitutes but it is expensive! Plus I have noticed we usually share some of the shopping and this month he did not share any of the food bills. I guess we will have to talk about some solutions.

This is the fist day and the budgeting day. The mountain is huge but I believe we can get out from under.

enGuarde!

Guarding your wealth. http://guardingyourwealth.com/

Just the title of the blog inspired me to take care of a few things nagging at me. I am finally focused and calm enough to be able to gather my “WA” as my mom puts it. What I mean by that is I have moved three times in the last three years. This is the first summer we have not spent schlepping boxes from here to yhe ends of the earth.

Today was a rough morning but possibly something good can still come out of. Although I feel like the tide started turning yesterday.

But let me start at the beginning......

A few weeks ago my ex husband told my daughter he would stop paying support when she turns 18. He was goading me and it worked. The legal agreement is that he should continue support until she graduates from high school which is not until June. I was trying to ignore the pain in the neck it is to chase down the paperwork and transfer the agreement to the state I currently live in...... Well I have no choice now. How can you think that just because the agreement is over that the need goes away? She is a good kid. She needs his financial support even if he supports her in no other way. So I began the process again. It made me think of the knight in shining armor. I am the knight looking out for my child's interests. I am guarding her wealth.... So then I thought where is my wealth? And I looked at the 101 financial things I want to accomplish. Guarding my wealth... I saw that I needed to contact a prior employer to find out what finances I had left with that company. Now this was 8 years ago and the company has since changed owners a few times. I had attempted before to find an HR person who might be able to point me in the right direction with no success. Yesterday I started dialing for dollars again. Well, I did it I tracked down the pension. It is not a lot of money. BUT it is MY money and I want to make sure I guard well what I have.

The other thing I have done to guard my wealth was to create a RSS feed to track part time employment in my local area through Craigslist. (See the Getting Finances Done blog on how to set it up) Best thing I have seen in a long time! You can get notification/alerts for anything. I am using it to get alerts for a second job. Today I saw a position for a part time bookkeeper. Now this would pay more than working in retail and would be totally worth my time so I sent my resume. I don’t know if anything will come of it but I really need to get a second job. I have my fingers crossed. Just the fact that the alert worked in the way it was designed made me feel so empowered. Like a knight with his big honkin’ sword ready to take on the debt dollars. A financial Hero.

Thats what I need to take on the debt because today..... I spent the morning at the car dealer. Luckily I did not have to burn an entire sick day for a car issue. But $330 dollars later I realize I do need to get a second job... Like NOW!

Harry Potter

DONE! Awesome book! Thanks JKR!!!

Increase in Savings

I have over $700 in savings!!! I was able to increase my savings from 29% to 35% I am so excited!~ and proud. I have been feeling as though it is impossible for me to make any financial progress. But I did. I am starting to feel it. That is such good good news!!! I am looking forward to the day when I am looking for more stuff to pay off!!! like these guys have... I never thought I could do it! I get paid twice a month and on the middle of the month paycheck I am putting 10% into savings. I will have to take some $ out for car insurance when it comes due but as long as I put away one paycheck's 10% I will reach my goal in one year. A LOT faster then I ever thought possible! It seemed so unlikely that I would be able to save because I feel as though I have so many "demands" on my money. But the truth is it is not so hard. On the day after I get paid I just go online and transfer the funds over. Then I forget about savings and just work with my checking account. I am so excited. - and for all you vetrans out there yes I know this is the recommended way to go and actually I am setting aside less then I actually should bet these are MY baby steps and I am feeling the glow of accomplishment! I can feel the drive to save & be debt free!!!

You know people on diets often will say I will do anything to lose weight. and when someone says how about exercise 30 minutes a day 5 days a week the reply is except that. Thats how I feel about the progress I have made. Its like seeing those first five pounds come off the scale. PRIDE!

I also got rid of 3 4 magazines today. I am a clutter bug and I felt that the clutter is holding me back. I looked at selling old archives of all my cross stitch magazines on eBay but in truth it is not worth it there are plenty of copies of these old issues out there and I don't need the pounds of paper anywhere near me when I move again next year. So I scanned in the patterns I wanted to keep and TOSSED the rest away!!!! Clean out the clutter! I want a pretty home office and I can see the vision!

I came across a new to me blog today, this blogger reinforced a principle that I agree with completely.... Visualizing! If you can see it you can do it! and I am going to be debt free!

The fact my daughter is going to college next year makes me realize how fast time goes by. I cant believe that it slips away so quickly. Why doesn't this work on debt? and then I thought but it does. In three years I plan to be credit card debt free. Just three years S will be a junior in college. I can do that. I just need a workable plan! I have already begun baby steps for the savings. Thats good and I cant believe it has not been more painful!

I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

well I have not posted in a while. I was discouraged that no one had found the blog. But in reality I need to just blog for myself. I believed when I was getting a divorce that no one should have to go through this and If I told the story someone would learn from it. But as I have aged and seen quite a few people part ways I realize thsat no matter how loud you yell you cant change what other peop[le want to believe. It is important to keep a record of where I have been though. It matters to me what the journed was like so here I type again with renewed efforts.

I found a note I wrote to myself diligence and faithfulness to pay off debt. I think it came from the dave ramsey show. I am not really a fan but I do think he gives some pretty good advice. The thing that is hard for me is that my expenses are so varied each month. Its why I upped the emerg fund to $2000 instead of $1000 I just think I am going to need that extra cushion. The way I am currently building the fund is one pay check a month (and I get paid bi monthly) I put aside ten percent of my paycheck. The primary beginning of the month I try have money left over but it does not happen often. Letting my fiancee cover every day items is so hard for me. I really need to fight over each item less. If he picks up the check then he feels like he can and I need to let him. He makes so much more then I do I need to chill!!!

The borrower is the slave for the lender I feel like a slave to the credit companies for sure. Everything I do is is this worth it? The answer is always NO. I want to break the bonds. I think a second job is reasonable. It will help to move things forward. One day at a time diligence and faithfulness I can do it.

Just for today the healthful money steps I have chosen to take are: I scanned in old bank statements and then shredded them. I filed my credit card statements and gave myself a peaceful calm place to work. I suspect I will need to do some overtime this week so I needed to make sure all the clutter was out of the way.

Keep it peaceful!

I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Clutter

I feel really good today. I had to stay home from work in order to prevent everyone from getting my cold. It was a doozy. I have been feeling grumpy. So I read my blogs today. I decided to step by step catch up.

Yesterday I was grumping about the health insurance. Well I have resolved ONE of the three things I needed to do. I also started to track down my old financial information from a company I used to work for. I have some documentation but not enough information. And I have a TON of useless information I don't need. It will take me some time to track it all down. I am not sure where to start looking but I have begun the hunt. One blog I read had a post Applying GTD principles to your personal finances It was very good. It made me really stop and think. So I began to accumulate data from the past which lead right into finding my old folder where I had kept the benefit information. It is only partial but head and shoulders over health care info I had and did not need.

I was also able to clean off my desk. I took every single paper that was on top of the desk and either threw it out or found a home for it. I feel so much better. The room looks much more peaceful too. I want to develop a positive attitude about my bills. I want it to be a freeing experience. Stand up and be free from debt. I want to feel good when I pay down the card. And mostly I do. Some days the grumpy turkeys get me.

I have developed a better system. A system needs to be logical and one you trust. Something I have been lacking is trust. Today I know where all the current bills are. I know what needs I have pending. I know I need to create a budget.

I have been reading Girl get your credit straight by Glinda Bridgforth. She has some basic ratios for budgeting. If I had known about these before I might have pulled the credit cards sooner. Questionable. But it turns out I am a very good budgeter and spender. I am under her percentages in all categories..... Care to guess....... Yep that's the one... Credit cards. I pay DOUBLE what average debt is manageable to carry. What a big honkin' hole. So I suppose that is the purpose of these exercises. I am struggling greatly this month. The number of extraordinary expenses is mounting and I feel overwhelmed. May should be better and June will be the summer program for my daughter. She is so excited. We finally got the acceptance letter in the mail today. No financial aid though. How can they do that? But with help from Grand parents she will be able to go. Way to go kiddo! I still have hope, but I am daunted by how hard it really is to cut back. I brought my lunch to work today. I will again tomorrow and Friday it is being provided. So I will maintain low cost for the end of the week. Good thing too as my funds are very low.

More to come...

I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Changing times

Changing times.... We have had to make a lot of adjustments this month. There were solid reasons for all the choices we made as a family and I made on my own. It makes me realize that as an adult I have come a long way. I probably still have a long way to go.....

First we had to change our plans for my daughters spring break. A devastating choice for her. Then she was traveling for a week. Her last week in her winter sport ended quickly with not feeling well and a drive to go and rescue her. (That's what parents do....) And now this weekend is Prom. I remember my first Prom and I wish for her a much better time then I had. I also do not wish to spend an arm and a leg for her to have that good time. Nails, hair, dress, prom bid... Mom does not mean made of money. If she had a job of her own I would encourage her to pay for the special things she wants. I have instead encouraged her to pursue sports and arts to develop independence for going on to college. In a way I got what I wished for. So now I just have to fund it.

Goals.... Paperwork. I am feeling frozen again. Whenever there is something I do not want to do I drag my heels and move more slowly then I should. I do not want to fill out some Insurance forms. And tracking down a 401k from two jobs ago seems useless. But I think its worth it. My logical good sense mind knows I need to do these things for me. My child inside is frozen and I don't know why. I cannot voice what I am afraid of but I know its fear. The consequences will be worse by not taking action. I did one thing today. I have two left to fill out and a phone call to make. I can do it. Even writing it here seems so silly to me to say what on earth is holding you back? Step up! you can do it.... and I will now that I have said it out loud.

My other goal is stop buying lunch at work. Its not too bad $5.00 per day. But I think I can save more by taking a frozen meal, soup and crackers, that type of thing. Plus soda is a big expense and I need to buy more effectively. I'll bet I could save about $25.00 a month if I brought in my own from home instead of buying sodas at work. And please don't tell me not to drink them at all I am too addicted and way to old to change that habit.

Inspiration today came from this article on MSN and here at the No credit needed podcast. The phrase debt burden keeps ringing in my head today. I will get out. I will get out I will get out from all this debt. This month is proving to be a bigger challenge then I thought. However.... I have hope for May. And who knows maybe Fed ex could use a box loader for a short time.

On the Major positive side... Work has promised me a laptop and a desktop computer. Way to go! It will be a lot nicer to use that then this old PII and I have. I am running out of memory and disk space!


I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Good news Bad news and inspiration

I love reading other peoples finance blogs. I didn't think I would. But every day I break out my blog reader and look for the new posts. I find inspiration in many places. I feel as though I am starting a new journey. And Change is never something I easily do. But with this change there are a few things that keep me moving forward....

Inspiration - http://wereindebt.com/ for the side bar which it turns out is from... a word press plug in Although, you'll see I adapted it to my own colors.

I love the No Credit Needed blog & network. Every time I realize that there are many people in my position. Of course that's the good news and the bad news.

I saw this link in another blog and I am re posting the link (MSN article) I just turned 40 and I have felt VERY very behind my friends. Big sigh of relief perhaps I am really somewhere in the middle. I just got a new job that will be contributing 10% of my income to a retirement plan. I feel like not just a better salary but a raise too... Using the calculators on the MSN site I determined I can die at age 95. That's good news since my grand mother is 89. I can now think happily about debt elimination and college.

The choices I made to get myself here were mine. But every day I read about the choices people are making to better themselves and I feel liberated. I have made a few small changes of my own. I am going to start the second job process sooner... I have asked for help from my fiancee to do some driving for my daughter which will allow me an extra evening to work. Inspired by another Single mom I talked honestly with my daughter about what is reasonable for some choices she has coming up. We laid out a cost analysis of the things she wanted to do I told her what I could afford and discussed options with her. It was a breakthrough moment for me. For a woman who likes to keep it all inside, I finally said halt this is too much. I am proud of my daughter to see how far her decision making has come and I am proud of myself for having the courage to change my ways and teach her good spending habits. I don't want to pass along my debt-ing habits.


I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Saturdays

Today is supposed to be a play day. Its hard to play at something. I am so disciplined about going to work and and cleaning the house and taking care of my daughter I don't "budget" in time to play. I think it would help me to relax. I do sewing and cross stitch which is a frugal hobby if you allow it to be. You can spend Tons of money on that stuff but It will take me a year to finish the project I am currently working on (Song of Christmas) I love Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum's Designs. Even linking this page I see she has a new design. I will need to resist temptation to pay down debt first and then spend money on Hobbies. Although like I said It is pretty frugal project. I think I spent about $50 between floss, fabric, the pattern, and I did buy a plastic frame to help with the stitching. Maybe more like $45. So divide that cost with the pleasure for the year I will spend working on it..... it costs 12 cents per day. Ah not to shabby at all. I'll post a picture when my daughter returns from her trip.

So Money. I sat down and calculated my daughters summer expenses today. About $6500. Its a lot. The ex husband did Offer Quite a bit as a partial payment and like I said I am getting a second job to pay off debts in just 4 more weekends. Thankfully the season is coming to a close. They did take third in a regional!!! Way to go kiddo!!! :-)

I look at ways I could even earn more money by consulting. It is a little scary putting out a consulting shingle. I feel as though it will be easier to work at a department store. Then you get the store discount and you don't have to think much. I think enough at my day job. But you do have to wait on the public which is not my favorite thing to do. And sometimes it shows. - I will let you know which path I choose......

Goals for this blog:

• I will put up a graphic quantifying my debt. (Have to create it first) Done

• I will post my 1001 things in 101 days. (I have done more then I thought I would) Done
  

• I will create a list of financial goals to hold myself accountable.

I have done this week paying attention to my finances. I took care of a medical bill, I took care of a tax bill, and a requested for the THIRD time that my W2 be sent. So I feel accomplished. I have a few items on the to do list:
Convert old bonds to cash
Contact previous employees about 401K
Contact Current employer and confirm paperwork was rec'd
Do some 403b research to determine which funds would be good for me.
Fill in Debt spreadsheet from book.

Well that's a start. I think I will work on those while my daughter does her homework tomorrow.
Its a beginning. and It feels like progress which makes me happy.

I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Confession

I have debt. I have big huge honkin debt hanging over my head. It is an anchor to my heart and I am scared. It goes back to being a young single mom. I really would have gotten into debt regardless of my daughter. Perhaps she saved me from digging a bigger hole for myself.

Ahhh de nial aint just a river in egypt......

The lies: The debt grew because I kept telling myself I will have a better job someday. I had enough in savings to pay it off and I can at any time cash that out (That made it seem safe. HA HA HA) I lived like I already had the next bigger job. I lived like I wanted my daughter to see and not by what I could afford to do. The funny thing is If I had conserved I probably would have been able to buy all that I wanted I just felt like I was starting off in the red. Then because I was in the red who cared if the amount grew. Who cared if the debt got bigger. Its just a noose you learn to live with. We as humans live with so much adversity it is amazing what we are willing to live with. Well I am not willing any more.

Other lies: In the life journey I have also moved a lot. I dont own a home so I have been paying rent for 15+ years - that adds up to $0 fast. There have also been some poor choices. I worked for a person I should not have. I also, after the business fell apart, was unemployeed for a eighteen months. I was very very depressed. I still shudder at that. I never never want to be unemployeed again. At least one third to one half of the current debt I have is from that year and a half. It makes me so mad at myself. I am never mad at the 16 year old in me but if I could go back and shake the 32 year old I would like to shaker her and say WAKE UP dont you see what you are doing to yourself???

And more lies: Health insurance, Car maintenance and clothing. Three expenses that do happen and I almost always ignored. I thought if I didnt have money for those things I wouldn't have to deal with them. They will go away. And that is true. If you ignore your car it will break down and someone will tow it away and then what will you do to get to work???

No more head in the sand. Today there is bright sunny daylight and I am on a journey to be debt free. My daughter just informed me that we do not owe the youth guard any more it is paid in full!!! Wa hoo - only 5 more weekends to go and I will be free to get a second job. There is light at the end of the tunnel and the journey is going to be fun. I will shake off the debt and go forward with retirement savings.

I an not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Change

I've accepted that I'm going to be making lots of changes in my life. I have spent time taking care of other people's budgets but not my own. Well it’s my turn. I know what needs to be done. Now that I have this great resolve to get out of debt and there is a lull. I can’t take action until I get paid again. I hate to wait. I have conflicts with looking for a second job. I think I need to look into consulting. I am worried about being able to pay off this debt. Yet here I am waiting and stuck. I hate that feeling. The tension of two opposing forces tugging and pulling at yourself.

So inspiration:

After reading the NY times articles and exploring lots of financial blogs I decided an on-line journal was the way to go. I am ready. I have examined my debt before - never with any belief that it could end. But now I believe. Previously I thought that some "magic" event would come and get me out. I thought that Some event like getting married or getting a dream job would take care of the debt. But it never happened. I thought the medical charges should be a part of the insurance plan so why was I accountable for them? I thought I would get a better job in the future and my expenses would decrease and I would be able to pay it all off. (Laughing LOUDLY at myself here) I thought an investment I made would come through and I'd be able to pay it all off and still be able to purchase a home out right. Agghhh that special magical thinking. The light is on. The fairy dust is gone and it’s just me. And now I am ready to pay it off!!!!

There were a few ways I got into debt. I was a young single mother. I had a decent job, but I needed the income of a middle aged family. I thought my ex-husband would be supportive. HA. I always thought I was on a journey to being rich. I believed I could be a CEO (more magical thinking) the next big chance was just around the corner.

At least I had a college degree going for me. I am grateful for that. It could have ended up a LOT worse. But then because I believed in the degree that played into what I thought I could spend. I never thought the highest I would go is middle management - and it would be a good opportunity. I had some savings. I had no college loans. That’s probably what spoiled me a bit. I never lived on my own just me I was either a daughter or mother. It was a big and rough transition. I had no idea. I learned over time. To make a casseroles for lunch, to not go to Target on payday, to be careful what I say yes to. To need less Stuff and value what I am and can do. It was a journey to get here and it will be a journey to get out. Come with me if you want to............................ The future starts now...

On the road again

I will be posting here Soon!!!!