July Updates

1) my DD school has been resolved and I will be sending her off in August for the fall semester.

2) We took the cheapest vacation ever in our lives and I will have to crunch the numbers on that later. I am pleased

3) My DH is crunching numbers for daycare and a new car - enntire post coming on that

4) My raise came in. And there was an increase to the cost of my benefits. Result: my raise was $2.57 yep you read it right.

5) I am crunching numbers today and I will be posting the results of vacation, car payments, and daycare payments

June

After Reading this post on All Financial Matters I started thinking how true it was for me that there is a definite pattern to stuff I need and when the money is provided.

June has been bad. Financially. I have noticed that there has been a river of outflow on my checking account. There has been a change on the income. I see the drought happening and I am scared really really scared. But I know that I will work hard to find a solution. I do not want to bring this baby into a world where I cant send another child to school. No way. So in order to make sure we don't repeat with child no 2 what happened with child #1 I am on a mission to pay off my debts. I think I need to get a second job. I have hope I will be able to start right after vacation. I do have to work July 12 and I wont be able to work weekend of Aug 22nd but that mostly frees up my commitments for the summer and beyond. Once my daughter goes off to college I will be free most weekends. Dear fiancée will be frustrated by lack of me being around much but he knows how important financial stability is. He worked until 8:30 last night so he could earn some extra OT. I don't want him to get burned out though. Of course I don't want to get burned out either.

So here are some the related threads for all of these random thoughts...

My mom said she was planning on sharing her inheritance with me. I think she is being very generous. but now I feel like I know why the car has needed maintenance and why my checking account is pouring out of my account... Because I am going to receive money. Sigh. I want very much for the money to be used towards the down payment of a house. I want very much to be smarter then I have been in the past. I want to not be in debt. She has not told me how much she is sending. We have talked about amounts in the past and I am not sure how much it would be.

Here are my options for the windfall... Or maybe its just a list of financial needs I currently know about...

Contact lenses $350
Car $1000
Vacation $1000
Replacement of emergency Fund $600

Debt

$30,000


House down payment

Small 3% or $11,250 to $12,750

Med 10% or $ 37,500 to $42,500

Large 20% or $75,000 to $85,000


6-8 months of emergency Savings... $20,000



So the plan if its $10,000 then I will put $3000 towards Car, Vacation and replacement of emergency fund and find a mutual fund to earn decent interest on the 7k while we get ready to purchase a house It will also serve as a back up fund for emergency savings and down payment.

If she gifts me $20000 I will put an additional 2k towards my debt and I will put the remaining $15k into money market fund. At least thats what I think would be wise. That way I will be able to at lease make the 3% down in June if we are serious about the purchase of a home. I think Fiancée is. I know I am.


Grrr I cant remember my password to the debt snowball and as I am at work I have no way to look it up. Here is the deal. If I slow the progress of my payments from $1000.00 to 800 per month that would help me cope with the loss of child support. Rough numbers it only adds 8 months to the length of time before I am debt free. I am so calling Dave Ramsey to scream.

If I get a second job for 6 months and earn 350 per month 2150 additional dollars can be added to the debt. That will also help. For the terms of my permanent employer I cannot work while also on maternity leave and I should be able to get 12 weeks Its very generous. I do like the benefits of staying. Its one of the reasons why I do stay. Its certainly not salary. Its flexible time off and lots of generous leave. These are my choices.

So anyway...

If I were to take all 20K and roll it into my debt. would I be able to know it out in a year? Would I apply that money towards a down payment of a home. I cant truthfully answer that. I think the debt motivates me. I think the dog yipping at my heels is what keeps me focused. You saw how bad I am feeling this months and I did not know the money was coming. So wouldn't it be wise to keep on with the plan and use it for a home? Not sure I will have to include dear fiancée into the question.

The thing is... it was the crushing defeat I was felt when I thought about using a gift from my grandmother to pay off debt instead of a down payment for a home that gave me the willies enough to say NO MORE DEBT. It was the dividing line for me that was the moment of truth. So ... how can i ignore the gut wrenching telling me truly gut feel what to do with that money. I have to listen to that voice or what else do I have? I know in my heart I will pay down the debt. I have a plan. With 4 years is a long time. It is also a lot of debt. Accumulated over quite a few years. Most of what I purchased is gone. Most of what I paid for is long long gone. not its just interest on interest. I will not trade my 50s for debt. I cant do it.

Keeping up the Debt Lifestyle

The debt life style. I am trying very hard not to have a debt lifestyle. I have noticed subtle changes inn my life to this end. I enjoy getting the mail. I actually look forward to getting the mail and opening the bills to see that I have made progress on my debt reduction. Even though its slow it is monthly progress. I have a three year plan. I am not sure right now that it will happen but I do have a plan. I am trying to make it happen. Murphy's law - that ole Murphy he likes to visit though. I am starting to change how I handle things though.

I believe debt does not need to be a part of my life. I know that I promised my daughter a new ipod for her graduation gift. I also know that she needs a 6 month supply of contact lenses. I have most of that money set aside for the cost. I will have to take some from savings but that is why I am putting money into savings. Its a good plan. It works. Ant truth be told her needing contact lenses is not a Murphy expense it is a planned expense and I had a plan.

One of my wake up calls happened when I realized I could no longer make all the minimum payments on the cards I had. I knew then something had to change. Last month I put over $400.00 to principle. I have changed my ways. I used to feel like debt was just a part of my life because of the decisions I had made and the choices I made. It was just a burden I carried like a rock that comes with me everywhere I go. Well I choose to put down the rock. I choose today to be debt free.

Advertising is all around us every day. My daughter is so susceptible to it. She has these ideas of what she "needs" for college based on things she has seen. I keep encouraging her to wait and see what she truly needs. I want her to understand that spending money on stuff you don't need now robs tomorrow of what you may need then.

Using a credit card means that you don't have the money right now. It also means you will not have money for the next year while you pay down what you are using it for off. Are you really willing to trade tomorrow's spending money on a quick bite to eat in that restaurant. Is the peer pressure so great that you cant do with out it? Going into debt means you have to work at that job you don't like - for a little longer and it will take your youth.

Each Summer I go on vacation to the beach with friends. Keeping up with the Jones' has always been an issue. They allow their kids to pick out a sweatshirt or a t shirt or outfits that all match. I have mostly resisted. I tend to allow my daughter one item she would like to last for the year as a reminder of the fun week she had. She has always been mostly okay

They all make more money then I do. but I think I enjoy what I have more then they do. Does that sound weird? They run from place to place each day. I tend to be a bit more of a home body. I feel like I have more quiet moments with my daughter and my future baby.

Maybe it is just a matter of style

Time spent vs cost

Today I had a number of errands to do. I did not want to drive all the way to an office super store to send a fax. I tried the Drug store - no luck. I tried the post office - no luck. I then found a mail packaging store hidden in between a McDonalds and a HairCuttery. Score! It saved me 20 minutes and cost $ 5.00 to send the fax. I am sure it would have cost less to go to the office store... What is the cost of productivity? I would have lost 40 minutes round trip For my salary that would be more then $ 13.50. So Even though I paid more to purchase fax services I saved about $ 8.50 in time. Sometimes there are costs for doing things the long way & the cheep way. Now I have more time to spend on my job and working on the in box on my desk... Totally worth it.



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......

Year End workup or work out

Well I really don't want to sum up for the year. I feel as though I have failed. My Budget was way out of whack in December. I made a budget but I had many impulse spending items. I didn't spend where it was as important and I spent money on items that seemed pressing at the time but as I look at the list I am a little sickened as to where the money is going. A second job is in the worx for me. I really need to SLOW down the money out goes and pay off a credit card. I did transfer some balances down and I am counting on getting $1700 from my 06 taxes. But its not enough to compensate for the random things that have happened.

So how did I do? Sigh......


The Christmas budget was $1000.00 for gifts. I spent $1163.68 so I went over by $163.68
The unexpected expenses were $650.00

Sigh. Yep now its out there.

All on credit cards. I know not to keep them in my wallet but I also feel I want to hide my shame of not having a lot of money so I spent where I didn't need to to hide it. Some of it was gifts my daughter gave to her friends. Some was wrapping paper and cards. There was even a trip to Target. Some was Art class for school. If I was not paying down so much on debt I would be able to afford these items. However, Because I owe so much to the bank every month I really cant to have a single surprise expense. Sad really. so I am continuing on my journey to pay off the cards. Its going to be a Great 08. I am going to continue to be disciplined about spending. Get back on the wagon and increase my income.

I did not make any resolutions. I already have them Get out of Debt.

Happy New Year

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.