Friday, June 25, 2010

more of details matter...

So after waiting a few days for my DD's school to get the paperwork I decided to follow up...

Where is the grant money not showing up in the billing statement?
Where is the PLUS loan information I have applied for?
Why is the PLUS loan not showing up on the billing statement?

Oh.... You have another form that needs to be filled out that never got sent to me???? How silly of me. Of course I can sign that paper. Why didnt you email me in the first place..

Well after that email (and it is #11) finally the grant is being reflected in my daughter's account. Lets see how many emails the PLUS loan takes. We are waiting on the government. I am sure they will move quickly... Oh wait ;) LOL what am I thinking?

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Details matter

Today I did a little bit of follow up to make sure a grant my daughter is entitled to was being processed. Its a good thing I did. It turns out that the university had not completed a detailed listing of fees and the grant was going to be $750 less then it could have been. Thankfully I contacted the DD's university and they provided more information. Hopefully this will be enough. It did not look like a lot of documentation but perhaps it will do. If not we will be back in touch with both places for round 3. Getting funding this year has been a beast. I need a third job.... Sigh. I am just trying to take it one day at a time and it is not okay to have to come up with an additional $750.00

EVERYONE is becoming so tight with every detail simple transactions seem to be much more complicated. Everyone is watching every dime. I guess that includes me too. Details matter and I don't have a spare $750 anywhere.

Monday, June 21, 2010

good news bad news

The good news is I got a raise. The bad news its $15.00 per week. I am not belittling the amount. Every single bit will make a difference. The panic I am feeling lately about minimum payments is important enough to re-evaluate how the money is allocated.

Last month when I got the news about my raise I had decided to add the $30 bi monthly amount to my automatic savings. Currently I have an automatic transfer to my savings account that takes place twice a month for $105. I think I came up with that amount based on auto insurance costs and contact lenses costs for my daughter. I realized I was not putting any money aside for known expenses. this is a foolish practice and I added the automatic payments to compensate.

In the past few months that ole Murphy he has come to visit in waves. There have been a ton of expenses that I was not prepared to pay for. I have depleted my "emergency" or back up fund quite a bit. Currently it stands at $1384.24. Which means I need to allow it to build back up to the $2000.00 level. I think I can make it by October which is when the auto insurance will be due. and of course our newest dd. 210*3= $630 puts us just over $2014. Now If I increase the amount of the automatic deposit to include my raise I will be able to "add up some snow flaking" and any funds paid over the 2k amount I can then send to pay off one credit card. Impressively the difference in 3 months is 270 *3 or $810 That's $194 to pay down debt. Nice. Lets do that!

I could pay the $30.00 directly to debt but I think at this point its really important for me to be in the habit of paying myself just like a bill. Once that emergency fund is fully funded I can put anything extra towards debt. But If I cant keep that 2000 in the savings account I may never be ready to purchase a house. So I want to practice good sound finances and keep it moving forward.

One other side note. I should get about $300 for some expenses at work paid back to me. All of that will be going to CC#3. Its current balance is 2622.54 and I made a payment in June of $465 so that card is moving in the right direction (2157.54). I want to get down from 5 cards to 4 so that the minimum payments is a bit more manageable. The PLUS loans will start to kick in and I will need to put more of my available cash to them and less to credit card debt. It just cant be helped. My dd is the most important thing.

As a result of the latest ex-husband financial entanglement it will be really important to get out finances in order for the next three months. I keep telling myself one day at a time but Phew.... I am tired of Murphy. Can someone kick him off my porch?


I notice my side bar needs to be updated. That will keep. Its not really good news and it moves in the wrong direction so I did not want to make the changes :-( But I will to keep it on the straight and narrow. The money facts are just that facts and I can face it.

In between poverty and madness

This was a long financial weekend. And it continues today. Here is the low down so far....

The DD's dad is no longer making payments to college directly. Instead he is giving DD $500 per month for expenses. While that sounds like a lot its about 1/3 of his share of tuition. She as a 20 year old has been spending a goodly amount of it. Boy oh boy did she have some open eye moments this weekend as to what that money needs to buy.

Here is a breakdown of the numbers:

Her tuition for the fall is $17,700 Plus a housing element of $1050

Total owed to educational institution: $18,750

Less payments so far totaling 5962.50
Less an outstanding balance of$63.56

Current balance therefore stands at $12,723.94


My work will give her a grant of $6125 (possibly 6500) which leaves $6598.94 to be funded.

We have been taking out loans from a certain institution that has a solid reputation and with which I know many people who have loans with them. To our distress because of changes in the law we can no longer borrow money from the same place.

On Tuesday, March 30, 2010, President Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 into law. This Reconciliation Act ends the Federal Family Education Loan (FFELP) Program and requires all schools to begin awarding loans through the Federal Direct Loan Programs (FDLP).

So we applied for a private loan. This was very humbling, I have a decent credit score. But I also have $26,834.32 in debt (June's number) so OF COURSE all my money goes into credit card payments and I have a high debt to income ratio. I knew that but did not really care... till I needed to borrow money from a bank... Sigh It was very humbling to be rejected to fast. The fellow asked how much the rent was. Because rent includes my husbands salary and he pays half the rent it is out of scale for my salary alone. I knew as soon as he asked it wouldn't work. They wanted my husband to co sign the loan. Nope. we were done. So now instead of my daughter borrowing the money for her school I have to take out a plus loan. Here is to hoping it goes well because if I am again rejected she will have to hit up her grandmother for the cash. With times being tight this is not the way to go.

I even crunched the numbers of going to a local state school. (She would hate it but on the surface it looks cheaper) Appearances are deceiving, Guess how much we would have to pony up per year? Yep $13402 about the same amount despite the fact that her school seems on the surface to be more expensive the room & board is cheaper and the tuition reimbursement would be less. I still would have the same costs out of pocket. Crunching those numbers does make me feel better about her choices for school. I am still sick about coming up with the cash but I do feel better.

Onwards......
I am tired of people who do not live up to their financial responsibilities. How come I choose to be responsible and not him? He is such a dope.

The reason for my title is how hard we have to swim to be in the middle. Because I re married I have to include my current husbands income when applying for financial aid. Even though he contributes only to her well being in spirit not financially. So we never will qualify for a financial need scholarship. My daughter applied for over 10 grants and scholarships we were awarded none. As for academic grants she is a good student she has a 3.4 GPA its not enough for an academic scholarship they all require 3.6 and above. So there again we are just close enough to be screwed. I am tired of being so close and getting nothing for my efforts. In the end what I will have is a well rounded wonderfully educated daughter who can now gain employment. Its a big deal and I believe the degree is worth it. And if you read what others have to go through to finance their educations having $30K in loans is not a lot when you graduate. It sucks and is hard but still plenty of people end up with in the 60's and 70's so perhaps I should not whine. But you know 30K is a lot of money to me and I am sooo tired of being in debt. I don't care about the rest of the world. This burden is heavy! and I am carrying it alone. I am completely depressed.