I read this article in the NY times this morning. "Uncomfortable Answers to Questions on the Economy" By PETER S. GOODMAN It was very interesting and he covered the changes in the economy in a big picture kind of view. As I read There were a few things that gave me pause si I felt the need to write about it. After all what else is a blog for???
I graduated High School in 1985. The career counselors all said get a job in accounting there is always a need for an accountant. And I have held many bookkeeping positions. I am glad I had the skills. I have used them to get a job that paid the bills. When I graduated college the economy was so tight I didn't pursue getting a job. I was pregnant and We moved overseas. The economy was terrible and I was happy to be away from home.
In 1992 My then husband (now ex) and I returned from over seas. The economy was terrible. We questioned leaving the military life and finding jobs. Neither one of us had a lot of experience and we both floundered around for a year. Then our marriage fell apart and we went our separate ways. The economy had nothing to do with the marriage falling apart but I do think if it had been easier to find jobs when we returned to the US it would have shortened the suffering.
In 1999 I moved South to NC. I wanted a position more suited to my skill set. I had been working in purchasing. I enjoyed it a little, but I felt there had to be something more for me. So I went south to have family support while I returned to school in programming. My daughter and I arrived just as the technology bubble burst. I was in NC for 6 years and never found a job in Technology. Some of that was skill set. Some of that was I needed time flexibility to be a single parent. Some of that was the crash of the technology sector made positions harder to get.
I feel like I have seen a lot of downs. In the booms I was never in the right pace at the right time. I never benefited directly from a growing sector in the economy. I benefited generally by the economy being good enough I was able to find work. The grass has always been greener for a friend. Different friends who were able to make money based on the economy. I have never been able to ride the wave. So I find it ironic now that I am caught up in the momentum of the pay off your debts wave. I started realizing my debt was to high about 1 year ago. I didn't quite have a solid plan I just knew things needed to change. I knew when my debt started approaching my salary I was in deep trouble. It took me about six months to read enough blogs and to find Dave Ramsey to get the steps into place. Even now I still prefer a moderated approach then the extreme rice & beans every day. Still it was shocking to me to read that "Average household debt has swelled to 120 percent of annual income, up from 60 percent in 1984, according to the Federal Reserve." How can you do that? The madness must stop.
I was never able to buy a house when every one was rushing to do so. I was not in a financial position to do it. This year I have started allowing myself the hope that prices will fall enough and I will have my debt under control in such a way that I will be able to take advantage of the timing of the economy. I feel like its about time its my turn! It has to be my turn to be able to take advantage of the economy and to personally be financially balanced. To live within my means.
Actually I find it funny that we need the economy to be bad to do what we should have always done. Live within our means. To say "Long term, Americans may have no choice but to spend less, save more and reduce debts — in short, to live within their means." is so silly. It has always been true. Learning how to do it is hard. Doing it is hard. Living within your means during a down economy is even harder. Increase the income.
Now the economy will be slow because we are not spending. "it’s an adjustment we’re going to have to make.” I am comfortable with it because it was my own decision. How comfortable are you?
Showing posts with label finance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finance. Show all posts
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Finance Goals
I have a date. A get out of debt free date. Here it is.... are you ready??? October 2011. It seems so so so far away. But I am ready. My daughter will be a Senior in college and I will then be able to attack that college debt! I will be able to pay CASH for her 22 birthday. If I take a second job I will be out of debt even faster. I love having a date and hope. I love that I have hope again. If you have hope then you have it all. Oh baby, oh baby, oh baby! I just want to be out of slavery. I want to work for freedom. I want to be debt free. I can do it. We have a plan. I have a budgeted amount. Plus a few snow flakes... Hooray!!! I have hope again. I used the snowball calculator here to figure out the debt. I will be done with CC#1 Dec 2009. I am going to do my best to make that happen sooner. I hate that card with a passion. I hate that I have depended on it like a crutch. I hate paying 27.99% interest. What a sick sick sick choice I have made. But I now have a concrete plan. I have removed the card from my wallet. If I do not have the cash I do not spend money on things. It sounds easy but it is not. It is a struggle when you are surrounded by people who have stuff. But my dream is a home of my own. My dream is to buy a home of our own. And now I have hope that we'll be able to buy a home before I am 50. Hooray!
We also had some great financial news. My daughter gets her license Monday. My daughters car insurance is a LOT less then I imagined it would be. Good good news. So I am using the 2006 tax return I just rc'd to pay for the bill of ~600.00 From the 7++ return. The remaining $1++.00 will go into the emergency fund. I want it to be at least $2000 because I know my daughter will need contacts eventually too.
So... balance is the answer. To live a balanced life. To balance my dreams. Once the emergency fund is fully funded. (It will take about 7 months.) I will be setting aside the $130.00 I put away every month towards those planned expenses (Contacts and car insurance) After I budget correctly The rest will go towards Debt. Debt free by October 2011!!!
Hip Hip Hooray!
We also had some great financial news. My daughter gets her license Monday. My daughters car insurance is a LOT less then I imagined it would be. Good good news. So I am using the 2006 tax return I just rc'd to pay for the bill of ~600.00 From the 7++ return. The remaining $1++.00 will go into the emergency fund. I want it to be at least $2000 because I know my daughter will need contacts eventually too.
So... balance is the answer. To live a balanced life. To balance my dreams. Once the emergency fund is fully funded. (It will take about 7 months.) I will be setting aside the $130.00 I put away every month towards those planned expenses (Contacts and car insurance) After I budget correctly The rest will go towards Debt. Debt free by October 2011!!!
Hip Hip Hooray!
Monday, December 17, 2007
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......
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......
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......
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......
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......
Monday, July 16, 2007
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 of3 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......
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
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......
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