Friday, October 31, 2008

Friday Funk

I am unmotivated to be at work today. The only reason I showed up at all is they pay me to do so. So sad.
So I have been looking for articles about paying down debt. Then I realized I can read about it all I want to but I still have to DO it. I even ran across someone who was whining about getting started. The thing is if you whine about it you will never start. Just DO it. Get started. Begin today. Don't buy the cup of coffee you want and send the credit card company the $5 instead. Then you have accomplished something to be proud of.

I am at almost 30% and yet I realize that means another two years minimum to go. It feels good to make progress don't misunderstand. I need to know I am moving forward and I check my NCN Chart to keep me in line. I even print it out for my desk to keep me from buying too many cross stitch projects. because it is more important to me to be out of debt then to have another project waiting for me to accomplish. It is a far greater accomplishment to be out of debt. And I choose every day to take any action I can to that end. But. I still realize it is three years of discipline. three! and with baby maybe longer. Yet what else can I do???

DH has been awesome. He has picked up so much slack I am stunned about how my grocery bill has dropped. I am staying within my budget for the first time in October in 10 years. that in and of itself is a reflection of the Major change of idea sets I have under gone. I am proud of all I am doing. I am proud that I have paid off 11K in CC debt. Worthless interest that I have done nothing but accrue. I even know that all the balances on my cards are not from actual purchases. The 28K left is all interest. Let THAT be a warning to you kids... Don't fall into the trap of I need it now. I can pay for it tomorrow.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Waiting and Hobbies

Well I am playing the waiting game now. I am waiting for my baby to be ready to be born. I am waiting for the end of the month so I can pay my bills. I am waiting to be out of debt so I can use my money on other things. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. I HATE to wait. So I do two things to keep myself calm and focused while I am waiting. One I listen to my ipod. I listen in the Hospital waiting room, I listen before I go to bed I listen when I feel anxious. I also do cross stitch. I choose a small project to work on for the fall because I knew I would be distracted and absent minded about things. I take it with me where ever I think I will have to wait. And I am making progress on it...

I was a little reluctant to re-invest in cross stitch again. This project 5.00 for the pattern, 10.50 for the fabric and 2.00 for the thread. Its not that much money but I am enjoying it so much I think it was worth it. I am really really trying to keep my expenses low. I think this will be the first October in 5 years where I did not blow my budget. That is primarily due to the fact that my daughter is away at college and



Today I went through my mail and cleaned off my desk it took about 40 minutes to shred all the papers I did not need, and organize those that need action to be taken. But I feel calmer about it now. When you know what needs to be done its so much easier to ignore... Ha ha ha Just kidding. Sort of. If you don't know what is important and might be hiding in the mail there is a certain level of anxiety builds up. If you know what you have to attend to you know if you can afford to give it a few more days or not. thats where you can make choices. If you don't have any idea whats in the pile thats when it bites you. Its important to me in my later stages of pregnancy to stay on top of things like ANY outstanding bills because they will not be on the top of the list when the king arrives.

Spending indulgences

I really get irritated when I read pf blogs who talks about nothing but shopping. I dont mean a random indulgence or a whim of a n old habit. But there is one young girl that loves to purchase shoes. I

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Ups and Downs of a Down Market

I have read a ton of blog posts recently about things to do in a down market. So I am going to write about my ongoing plans too...

Income:

I work for an educational institution. My job is sort of stable but there are no guarantees. I want to keep up to date on training and learning new skills so If I end up looking for another job I will have the ability to do so at an increase or at least the same.

I try to make myself valuable to my current employer by not complaining and doing as much as possible around the office. I am not very popular as I am going out on Maternity leave. I try to make sure that all the bases are covered and I will still have a job when I get back. It is not easy.

I have been thinking about a second job but the numbers of hours in a day always seem to limit me. I am skilled at website design but I have no idea how to find clients that would hire me to do that. There are TONS of scams on the internet to get a web site built for $250.00. That is not a very large budget for a site that will represent you. I have looked at elance and the prices are really low for the amount of service needed. And you are competing with those over seas. I am a skeptic. BUT I am also still thinking about it I will let you know if I choose to make a leap of faith there.

Expenses:

Reduce Spending.

Being a gestational diabetic has been a very hard learning curve for me. I have found it is a little hard on my sugars to eat rice and beans. As my doctor put it skip the rice eat the cow. So Lunches have been expensive. My husband on the other hand wonderful man that he is has really done an outstanding job on the dinners front. He looks for bargains and keeps us in line there. I see it as my job to try and reduce my lunches out. I need to eat more meals from a brown bag and keep the sugar and the expense down.

I need to keep on getting out of debt. As of today I have paid down 28.39% of my debt. That is a lot of progress. Don"t be fooled it is also a lot of debt to go. It will take time to get out from under $30k of debt.

A couple of years ago the interest rates kept going up and a few points meant the difference between being able to pay the MINIMUM payments of being short. These days I am putting about $450 to principal in addition to paying off the minimum payments. The snowball works!!! I did carefully evaluate transfering balances - O% offers are not free, nor are reduced rate offers. Make sure you are going to save money in interest before you transfer. I did, so I accepted some decent offers. But even still I was not able to move all of my credit to the lowest amounts. Thus Card#2 is the latest focus. At 15.99% I am working to have it paid off by March. If I cant do that I will at least have it completed by this time next year. And then on to Card #3. Currently at 12.9%. It is actually funny because the fed rates are down somewhat I am better off in what interest is accruing on my cards. My plan for the long term. Get out of debt. I just no longer want this lifestyle of can I make the minimum payment this month. It makes me sick to my stomach that I cant go maternity shopping whenever I want because I need to watch every penny so carefully. I robbed yesterday from my life today. I will not continue to do that.

Retirement... I do have about 30 years left to go. Even at 41 I see myself working until 70. I don't believe Social Security will be around for me. I have to be relying on myself. What does that mean during this down turn??? Well...
1.) I am earning more stocks per share in my 403b plan.
2.) I need to roll over a retirement plan from my previous employer. This would purchase EVEN MORE shares at a lower rate. And then when the market rebounds in 10 years or so I will have a big gain.

I am concerned but not worried. Here is why... This is the first time in my life that I have EVER had a 403b plan. My employer contributes to it at a very reasonable rate. I am contributing nothing at all and I still have more money in the 403b then I have ever held in my life. (Keep in mind it is less then 10K) So I feel hope for the future. Once I am out of debt in 3-4 years I will change my contribution to 3% or more Depending on our finances at the time. Always evaluating. Always checking.


Saving and Investing:

Our emergency fund is fully funded. Phew big sigh. I am sure that the need to dip into it is coming though.

We also have $3500 for a down payment on a home. I really want to transfer that money out of my low interest savings to a money market fund. I am investigating cheep ways to transfer the money.

Insurance:

I believe in us as a married couple. I know that we can do it together. I have life insurance, Both long and short term disability, and health insurance. I carry car insurance, and we have renters insurance. We evaluate the plans and make sure they are current and fit our changing life styles. Open enrollment for health insurance is coming to my employer and it is time to evaluate it again. We will take a look at the costs for baby and mama & hubby to see what makes the most economic sense without jeopardizing our care.

Investments:

Once I am out of debt I would like to go and get my masters. I might start before I am out of debt but I question splitting my focus. I will evaluate after the baby comes.


I am looking forward to the times when I am no longer focused on saving every penny to debt and instead shopping for solid investing tactics.

Here are some links that discuss that topic...

http://www.ncnblog.com/2008/02/25/10-things-to-do-after-you-get-out-of-debt/

http://www.gatherlittlebylittle.com/2008/10/18/debt-to-investing/


Other things to do in tough times

1. Keep communication open with your spouse
2. Evaluate your resources. Each other - and your incomes, Could I get a second job now at 8 months prego??? Debatable
3. Do you really need it? is it a savings?
4. Pack a lunch - really.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Fun Friday

I got to work from home today because of a Dr.s appointment. So I am reading and catching up on information I have not had tome to take a look at. One of my Favorite blogs is No Credit Needed. He wrote a post on his Savings account allocation. Wow. I really admire his commitment to not ever using credit again. Currently having diabetes and not having sugar is a tough commitment and sometimes I slip. To plan for the future so you do not have to use a bank. NICE. I really admire his persistence, and planning. So using a little inspiration from his own post I have added new categories to my budget. I have set aside $3500 for a down payment on a home. This is mixed in With my fully funded emergency fund. I have been sweating how to move the money to a money market account at another bank because I was afraid I might touch the money. Or I might confuse what category I was pulling it from because it is sitting in one lump sum in a savings account. The answer is so obvious TRACK IT. Duh! So By creating a break down and tracking the money I spend if I need to I fight the demon to spend from the house down payment. If I need to use money from my emergency fund I have it available. I know exactly what I need to pay back and what is allocated to a Home down payment. This way I am not going to rob my future for some crisis I am having today. I have done that enough in my life I stole yesterday from my today and I am mad that I made those choices. Compassionate with myself but I wish I had looked harder at solving the issues sooner. I don't regret the cards. They have taught me a valuable lesson and It is painful enough I am committed to not using credit cards in the same way again. My goals are along the line of NCN's I want to have enough cash in my bank account that if I need to use it I can. I expect this to take me about 10 years to accomplish given good times. If we have a few Murphy's law moments then It will just take longer. I am realistic and experienced enough to know that Murphy will call back.

So I am using the following categories for my savings...

Emerg. Fund $2000.00
Short term goals (Home Down Payment) $15000.00

They were reflected in the side bar on my blog but they were not line items on my budget.
For now I have no long term goals. Really The only other financial goal I want to focus on is paying off the credit cards. All raises and any extra cash will be snowballed to debt. The longest term goals are retirement. I am not ignoring it but I am primarily focused on debt. Once the debt is gone I will put more towards retirement and education. I want the intensity of the goal to work for me and the only way I can stay on track is to stay with it and keep paying on those bloody cards. One at a time. I have kicked one to the curb and I am praying that I will have card #2 done by March.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Sept Review

I like going over my budget numbers and having no surprises. For September I spent a whole lot less then I thought I did. I was still over my budget by about $ 200.00. The reason... I bought maternity clothes. I needed a few new items to make it easier to go to work in. I have so few options and my nesting hormones are in overdrive. I am trying to curb those emotions though. My food budget was decreased significantly by my daughter being away in college and my gas consumption is about half of what it was between teen driving and commuting with a neighbor. I actually did not think commuting would make such a huge difference but it really has. Plus the price of gas being generally down is also a plus. I saved somewhere between $50 to $60. Thats a lot.

On another positive note... We had an offer from a friend of the family for a high chair and a few other baby items. I told her we would be happy to accept any donations she cared to give us. Her baby is only 14 months old so anything she wants to give away is my gain. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on baby gear. They are such warm and wonderful people. I cant imagine any one more giving.

So over all the picture to close September is good. I have a few concerns for October. Car Insurance is due and I really want to purchase a few things for baby. I did pay a little extra to the credit card snowball. I had re budgeted to make it 900 per month because I have been feeling a budget squeeze but I really want to make progress before baby is born so I redirected any savings on food and gas to the credit cards. I want that card balance DOWN! I would be so happy if card #2 could be paid off by the time we need to put baby into Daycare. So Onward we go ...