I blogged about this earlier here and had decided that I should get a 403b started even with a small minimum amount.

But now I'm not so sure, after reading this discussion over at NCN. Specifically, should you have a 401k (or in my case, a 403b) if your employer is not matching funds and you need to pay down debt?

Part of me feels like if I can squeeze it out of my budget somewhere, even a small amount in my 403b would be smart to get going while I work my butt off to pay down the rest of my debt.

But then the other part worries that I'll need that money each month.

I left a comment over there looking for NCN's thoughts. I'll wait to see what they say and then make the decision. I'm leaning towards getting it, signing up for the minimum and then just figuring out some more ways to bring more money in to make up that difference. It makes more sense to me to have a nestegg of something, no matter how small, when I get rid of all of my debt, than nothing at all, you know?

Feeling Down ... Quitting Soda

But I just keep telling myself, hey, at least I'm not Lindsay Lohan today.

I now know my balance on my last credit card. It's worse - much worse - than I thought. And I'm behind on it. I've been working hard to catch up on everything else and get organized, but ignoring this one.

But I'm going to take care of it soon somehow. Then I'll update the sidebar again.

At least I'm not dead. At least I'm not facing jail time. I'm healthy. I have a good life. I can make this work. Somehow.

Today's step towards getting out of debt, and improving my personal health as well, is that I quit drinking soda yesterday. Cold turkey. I'm now on day 2. I'm most definitely a soda junkie, but then Monday night when I realized I was out of soda and trying to figure out how I could go buy more, I further realized I only wanted the soda, I didn't need it. I don't need most of the stuff I have bought in the past, much less this crappy artificial beverage.

So, this morning I'm drinking hot tea. Gives me a bit of caffeine, plus it's green tea. And I can keep reusing the bag for a few drinks. And I have my trusty water bottle too. Free!!

Hopefully in a few days, I'll start feeling better too as my body cleanses all the soda residuals out.

Every little bit helps right? Right.

$70,000

A woman paid off $70,000 worth of debt in 19 months ... that's less than two years!!

I don't know how she did it exactly, but that is AWESOME. And it gives me a lot of hope and excitement that I can do this.

Trying to figure out my debt snowball ...

Prior to starting this blog, I'd been working for several months ... almost a year actually ... to find ways to pare down my budget and expenses, while chiseling away at my debt.

It came very sloooooowwwwwllllllyyyyyy ...

Obviously things like cutting out cable TV were easy. I only missed Project Runway for about a week (I still miss the entire food network though). I'm actually a pretty big fan of PBS now too.

I bit the bullet and went to a credit counselor here in town. One of the actual "good guys" not some skeezoid jerk who would charge me 99% interest. Or those horrid commercials I always hear on the radio. They make my skin crawl. But I'm meandering here ...

I had the number for the credit counselor in my town for probably 18 months before I actually called. I think I might have even called earlier, left a message and than never called back. Until last fall. That's when I realized I was drowning. So I actually called, made an appointment, waited out the few weeks I had to wait to get in, then took off from work for a "doctor's appointment" (the money doctor) to go.

It was awful. Or more honestly, I felt awful for going there and taking up somebody's valuable time. Yes, I need help with my debt. But I sure as hell am not helpless or a single mom trying to figure out her welfare, supporting her kids and her bills. I'm a young late 20-something professional with two college degrees who tried to fill the holes in her life and her confusion over life's path with crap like vacations, parties, clothes and shoes (actually later, it was just to cover my rent and groceries ... shame spiral here I come). But I went to my appointments there twice. Feeling like a piece of crap, irresponsible bitch the whole time.

A very nice woman, a "mom" type, was my counselor. She helped me sort out some basic information, gave me kleenex and a hug when I couldn't help balling my eyes out (ride that shame spiral, wooooo!) and instructed me to get all of my debt down on paper and start logging all of my spending to start my budget.

The second appointment was much of the same, I had my spending log (which I had not filled out until like the day before, but was 99% accurate b/c I rarely use cash thankfully ... we can tackle my procrastination later) and she discussed all of my options for my credit cards and discussed the work I had done asking my credit cards at that time for better rates. Only one had given me a better rate, dropping from something poisonous like 30% to 15%.

As it turned out, through my discussions with her, is that the credit counselor would just ask my cards for a certain locked in rate (which actually in my case weren't much better than what I already had), then I would pay them my payment all at once, then they take out a small fee for handling it, and I'm just responsible for paying the counselor for X amount of years until it's all paid off.

But the thing is, they weren't going to be able to help me much better than I was already helping myself. Plus they couldn't help me with my car loan or my student loans. She was telling me things I already knew too ... Cut your spending, make positive life changes to improve your money coming in versus going out, clean up your messes, balance your checkbook, call your credit cards and ask for better rates, etc., etc., etc. Basically, the credit counselor said you keep coming here and we'll watch over you while you learn how to help yourself.

But that's all I wanted. Just to help myself. Not to have someone help me help myself.

[I should note that I think this service was really great for someone who needs help with their credit. And I'm not saying I didn't need help, but just for me, it wasn't a good fit.]

I cancelled my next appointment. I had applied for some job I was sure I had a shot at some computer company in town that would overpay me to be a mindless droid and had already realized I needed to get rid of my single apartment. That new job would mean I would make a crapload of more money.

This was right before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was really nice. I ate a lot. I spent the whole day with my family. And then I got home, checked my mail and received a big fat rejection letter. Dear Flip, thanks for applying, but ...

I think my mom thought I might hurt myself that night or worse. I'm by no means a suicidal or mentally unstable person. But that was the tipping point to rock bottom. Right there. I was so far in debt I didn't know which way was up. I couldn't afford my apartment. I couldn't even get a job that less intelligent people I know with zero personality were hired for. What the hell was I going to do?

Have you ever woken up from a dream and been so disoriented you didn't know where you were and it scared the everliving hell out of you? It felt like that. It felt like when I was learning to scuba dive and I was underwater in the ocean by myself and I wasn't paying attention, then turned around, lost my sense of direction and panicked because I couldn't swim right and I couldn't find the other divers. I was alone. In the middle of the ocean underwater. I did not know which way was up.

So that pretty much sucked. Plus my mom was in full-blown protective mom stage. She was the only person I felt I could talk to about it, and trust me, I probably wouldn't have if given the option. I'm stubbornly independent to a fault.

But it got better. I didn't die. The world definitely didn't end. I realized I would've hated that job and only wanted it for the better salary. My current job was better for me and I realized that rather than sneaking around for a better-paying job, why couldn't I just admit to my boss I needed a better salary, one that was competitive for my work/education level anyway. And I started to figure out how to sublet my apartment. Sometime in here is also when I discovered the world of personal finance blogs ...

Which brings me back to figuring out my debt snowball. I now have a better salary (yeah!!), my budget is pretty picked-clean, but I admit that I don't have a written budget yet and I don't know exactly what my debt snowball would be. I also need to figure out what's happening with the last of my four credit cards. I've spent the past few months getting back on track, but now I need to fully commit myself to kicking debt's ass and taking names. I can do it. I'm tough. Debt does not want to meet me in a dark alley.

I've been paying all of my stuff on time, but have been paying my credit card minimums plus a little extra. So I'm not hitting one card with a big snowball, I've been just throwing little wussie snowballs to each one. So now I need to figure out how to put all my firepower into a bigger, better snowball.

Here is my to-do list ...

1. Actually build myself a written budget. This should be very simple. I think I'm just letting my fear of failure let me procrastinate.

2. Start my 403b, and make sure it's budgeted in. Ignorance is not bliss.

3. Figure out the last of my four credit cards. I would like to find a good 0% balance transfer for this one, get that squared away and part of my plan. Again ... fear of failure creates procrastination.

4. Attack the card with the least amount with a kamikazi debt snowball. Because clearly attacking the card with the highest interest rate would take forever because it's also my biggest amount, I'm going the least amount route. I'll also work on requesting a better rate on that high card.

5. Build additional income through my sports blog, selling unneeded possessions, picking up odd jobs, etc.

So I got paid this week and my payments for my car, CC2 and CC4, plus my car insurance and money for rent to my sister and part of her utility bill are now either paid/awaiting their automatic transfers. I'm current for right now and will work on my to-do list over the next two weeks before my next paycheck comes in.

August is also looking excellent because I'll get three paychecks and I think I get the yearly annual raise due to my union membership.

403b

On my major to-do list has been figuring out what a 401k is, if I need one and how I can get one.

Everything I read says you need one if you're going to be financially smart and savvy for retirement. And that you need to start one as soon as possible.

I kept reading about them, all the different vocabulary words out there and it was just gobbley-gook to me.

Additionally, the Human Resource ladies at my job often seem more confused by my questions than helpful.

So I decided to ask my boss, as she's been quite knowledgeable about other aspects of my employment, despite our differing career paths and designations within our place of employment (I'm union, she's non-union).

And man, did I stike gold with that decision. Turns out she has a special love for her Tax-Sheltered Annuities and really believes that women need to take care of their money and educate themselves in these areas as much as possible.

So I learned that I actually want a 403b, not a 401k, because I work at a public institution. And she showed me how I could start one, where she would start out investing her money in what funds and how to start learning more. This rookie is very thankful for this conversation today.

I also learned a bit about what a Roth IRA is, how over time I can better "diversify" where my investments are and helpful websites where I can keep learning. I'll post those in my resource area on the sidebar.

So there is my new goal. To start my 403b, no matter how small I have to start it, as I pay off my debt.

I just wish I would've asked these questions years ago. However, it's never too late. Right? Right!

Car Insurance

I recently worked with my car insurance company to improve my rate and drop my monthly payments (I can't yet afford to do the 6-month payoff all at once).

I had always just figured it wasn't up for negotiations, but then realized if I never asked, I would never know.

I started by getting a quote from a different national insurance company (the little gecko) as a bargaining chip. I never intended to leave my insurance because I like them and the local people are really nice (a "family"). The woman who helped me was great and worked through all of the options with me and also suggested shortening my current term to help me best drop some of the expenses when an old accident (snowy roads) will fall off my plan early next year.

I was hesitant to increase my deductible from the current $250, because I was afraid I might not be able to then afford it if I did have a problem.

But since I made the initial big changes, I've been acutely aware of my driving so I can avoid any tickets and accidents. And this week, I decided that now with my emergency fund plan and my improved driving attitude/behavior that increasing my deductible to $500 would be a smart plan to help me save money overall.

So, I just talked to the Insurance Agent again and adjusted my deductible up, which will save me $50 over the six months. Every little bit counts. And I'm super excited for next year when that accident finally falls completely off, saving me even more money.

Mental Health Day

Yesterday, I woke up and decided to use a sick day from work to get some stuff done. As it turns out, my boss also was out sick, so that worked out pretty well.

I wasn't actually sick, but I needed a mental health day. Sometimes you need those days.

I did spend some money, but it was on things I needed and I think I shopped for all the best bargains I could.

I hit up the school supplies for a 40-cent notebook to better keep track of my financial info, a pencil case for my backpack so I stop losing all pens/pencils that cost 90 cents, detergent for laundry, a loaf of bread, among other things on my to-do list. I also stopped at our local home-improvement store to buy two six-foot shelves and the brackets, screws, etc., to add the two shelves to my wall in my bedroom. I don't have much space to work with, so I'm going vertical. I also needed a bottle of motor oil for my car and I bought my boyfriend a $7 sprinkler for our vegetable garden. It hasn't rained here in a few weeks and stuff is getting dry. This way, he can let the garden get good and soaked at night and our hard work in our veggies will pay off in all kinds of good eats.

I feel bad about the money I spent ... but other than a coffee for myself and my brother (who I hadn't seen in a few weeks), all items I will use right now or in the long-term.

I visited with my brother for a while, then dropped off the sprinkler at my boyfriend's house and picked some cilantro for my house, then stopped by my parent's house to check on their cat and three dogs, including nice long walks for the dogs (so excited!). Then I went home, ate some lunch and tackled my shelves by hand.

My sister came home and was at first a tad peeved that the shelves were a sign of me moving in permanently - I'm more of a "transient" roommate in status and our co-habitation is more of a stopover until I either feel like I should get my own place or my boyfriend and I decide to live together. But I explained that the shelves were easy to remove whenever I left or she could keep them for herself. She was also impressed that I installed them by hand. I'm awesome. :) One bracket didn't fit right, so I tried to force it in with a hammer, thereby denting it a little, still not fitting. So I have to buy one more at the store that fits, but thankfully they were only like $2.

Now I have a lot of stuff off my floor and up out of the way, thereby creating more space and making it easier to keep clean.

I could use another day off today, but alas, work is more important. I'm going to buckle down now and stay off the grid for hopefully the rest of the day.

Baby Carrots ... No Thanks!

I routinely purchase the bags of the baby carrots at the grocery store. I'm a big fruit and vegatable eater, plus I like carrots as munchies and in sauces, stir frys and salads.

The baby carrots always seemed like a better option because they were conveniently cut down, ready to go. Until I read this post - Baby Carrots - The Frugal Idea than Isn't - at Wisebread via The Simple Dollar. Another example of why I love personal finance blogs, I'm saying no to baby carrots. And saving money!!

In a nutshell, baby carrots are just the too ugly to sell, then peeled, cut and marked up triple the price versions of regular carrots. And all of us our buying them. What a crock!! (Also ... too bad I'm not a carrot farmer!)

I'm never buying baby carrots again. And yesterday at the grocery store, I explained this to my boyfriend and he put back his bag and we both bought ourselves the regular bags of carrots and saved ourselves over a dollar each.

This morning, I took two of my less expensive pretty carrots, washed them, sliced them up and was good to go in just a matter of a minute. They are part of my lunch brough to work today and I won't be spending any money today. Good stuff!

A Good Weekend

This weekend I stayed home, buckled down and accomplished quite a lot. I'm feeling pretty good about myself this morning, actually.

I spent some time hanging out with my sister, something I don't do enough of even though we live together. We walked up to our city's Farmer's Market Saturday morning and I even walked around an art fair. And I only spent $4 on a coffee with her.

By noon, I was home and dived into fixing up my bedroom. Which was in desperate need of organization and cleaning!!

Backing up just a bit, my sister and I used to live together in a rented house near our parents after we both finished grad school. This place was nice, but expensive for me and I had yet to face facts about my poor financial decisions. After that house, we split up and got our own places to rent. Even a bigger mistake as I started to hit rock bottom financially due to the higher rent! Thankfully, my boyfriend ended up living with me for three of those six months as he looked to buy his own house (he's a money smarty) so that helped a bit. And I finally started realizing I needed to dig out, cut back on everything (no cable!) and thankfully subleased my apartment right away in January (just five months into my lease). I put almost all of my stuff into my family's storage unit and then my sister let me move into her extra bedroom.

Her apartment is really small, but two bedrooms. I have my bed, a full closet, a dresser and a ton of boxes of stuff I thought I wanted to keep handy. And that's about it. Since I moved in, I hadn't really bothered to take the time to organize much other than booost up my bed (about 2.5 feet off the ground) to store all my boxes underneath. All in all, I used it to just sleep and store stuff. And it was on the brink of being declared a disaster area. Oh and I also keep my cat's litter box and food/water in there, so it's not in my sister's way and her little dog doesn't eat my cat's food. Naturally, my cat and I are very crowded, plus we don't like being messy. So time to organize!!

So Saturday, I moved out everything but the bed and dresser (minus just closing the closet door). I swept, vacuumed and mopped the hardwood floors, cleaned the window, swept out any little cobwebs and worked my butt off to make it shine. Then I moved my bed out of the corner and into a better location that allows me to walk around it better and see the window better. My mattress, boxspring and metal frame are pretty heavy and also measure out to an extra-long full size (courtesy of a 6-4 ex-boyfriend who swapped up to a queen). I then put my bed up on those floor cones to boost it, plus I boost it again with milkcrates and flat pieces of wood my father and sawed to fit the crates. This allows me to fit nearly all of my storage boxes underneath it with clearance.

I moved it all around by myself ... thank god, I'm not a weakling. :)

I set up my dresser on the opposite corner and a tall shelf/nightstand near my bed for reading and the things I use often, like make-up, books, important mail. I don't have a desk anymore, but I have a laptop, so my bed and nightstand are now pulling double-duty as my office zone.

After putting everything away and keeping things which still need sorting through out in the open in my view, I cleaned up the floors again, organized my laundry loads to take to our laundromat (I miss our own washer/dryer!!) and still had enough energy to scrub our bathroom floor on my hands/knees, vacuum up our little hallway, our living room and part of our kitchen, then wash all of our dishes in the kitchen and make us dinner. WHEW!!

After nine hours of cleaning, then dinner, I was both filthy and exhausted. My boyfriend came home from the tournament and I stayed at his house.

Sunday, we relaxed with my sister in the morning, then visited my father and fixed the vegetable garden in my boyfriend's backyard that we dug up and planted. We had to build our "snap pea prison" even taller and then stake our green peppers. After that, a trip to the grocery store (my favorite less expensive one!) and then I finally made it to the laundromat where I spent nearly 2.5 hours washing clothes, sheets and blankets.

I got home, happy in my near exhaustion again (isn't clean laundry wonderful?) and then somehow still had energy to organize my dresser for a lot of my clothes, organize our hall closet to fit all of my sister and my towels, sheets, extra blankets and bathroom stuff, then even cleaned out two boxes of bathroom stuff from when I moved, plus my backpack for work before finally going to sleep.

It was so nice to wake up this morning to a clean bedroom, knowing that I had my work clothes where I needed them and my lunch all set.

Most importantly, it was nice knowing that instead of putting this stuff off like I would normally do for the weekend and having a crappy Monday, I was ready to roll this morning.

I get paid this week, one of my salary adjustments is fully kicked in, and I'm ready to jump into sorting/organizing the rest of my paperwork and financials this week too.

Sacrifice

I play a sport that I'm very involved in. Some call it passionately. My ex-boyfriend said I was obsessed. Naturally, we're not dating anymore. ;)

My team is competitive and our players run the club as officers and do all of the work to keep our team going. I'm an officer as well as a starting player. Beyond this, there are our twice-weekly practices in the fall and spring, games almost every Saturday and in the summer, pretty much a tournament every weekend.

And while I still love my sport, there are many days where it just zaps me. And I know I spend too much time - and too much money on it. So I've realized that part of my journey to becoming debt-free and getting my life back is taking more control of my schedule. Learning to say No to some of my commitments. Learning to take time for myself and get/stay organized.

This weekend is a fun tournament a few hours north of here. All of my friends are going, including my boyfriend and his team. They will all play all day, probably win the tournament and party it up. Someone even dragged a kiddie pool up there last year, so we had a pool party on the sidelines.

So, needless to say they are very confused why I said I wasn't going. Am I sick? Do I have to work? Do I have a wedding or family event? No, no and no. I'm staying home to clean up my house, organize my life and save money. I'm sure I would've spent at least $30-40 by going. So that will stay in my pocket. And yes, I'm a bit sad I'm missing the fun. But in the big picture, I know it's more important for me to stay home and take care of my life.

There will always be another day for fun and sports. But like the ants told the grasshopper, you need to work in the summer, so you're ready for the winter. And I don't like snow.

A good mistake

After years of only balancing my checkbook at the end of the month - a habit finely honed since I was a silly 16-year-old receiving her first hint of financial responsibility ... YOU MEAN I GET MY OWN CHECKBOOK?! - I've started balancing my checkbook on a nearly daily basis over the past six months.

With much great thanks to my dear friend the Internet and the handy little free registers I pick up from my bank, there is a certain joy and calmness in knowing exactly where you stand with your money.

I've even gotten better at marking down my outgoing items, not right when I do it yet, but at least within the next 12 hours for sure. If I don't have the receipt immediately on me, the timeliness of my habit helps me remember how much I had to spend. And I always round up if I'm unsure. Which means I get to then add back in some change when the outgoing item clears and I can verify how much I spent.

This just happened this morning. My sister and I went to go see the new Transformers movie. The ticket cost me $9.00 - I won't tell you how many times I stood there gaping at the rediculous cost and then the snacks too (Thank god I don't really go to movies anymore!) - but the next morning, I couldn't remember so I recorded $9.50. This morning, I did a little a happy dance over the fifty cents I just got back. Sweet.

And no ... I don't feel one bit rediculous over saving myself fifty cents. And yes, I still pick up pennies on the street. :)

Lurking No More

I started my other blog nearly two years ago and have been an avid blog reader ever since. I mostly lurk. Every so often I comment.

I can't remember how I started reading personal finance blogs, but they inspire me, give me hope and I often read these blogs before I do anything else.

I'm also an internet and news junkie. Something I need to work on, but I digress.

I started this blog because I have already had a lot of success with my sports blog and realized how much of a useful tool this would be in helping me reach my goals.

I just want to say Thank You to all of the personal finance and productivity blogs I have listed on my sidebar. Seriously, all of you inspire me every time I visit your blogs.

I am Flip

When you are attempting to summarize your life, where do you begin?

This blog is just for me. I hope others enjoy visiting it, but I'm starting it just for me. This will be my online journal in my adventures to reclaim my life. A life I let slip out of my hands for a while. But now I have a grip on it. And I'm not letting go.

Flip is a nickname that I gave myself in a conversation with my younger sister when we were kids. We were trying to think of good adventurous nicknames. I've had plenty of other names, but I always liked Flip the best.

I have been a blogger since October of 2006. I have a popular niche blog about my favorite sport somewhere else in the universe. It - surprisingly - gets over 14,000 hits a month and climbing now. I won't likely ever let my two blogs meet.

I will be 30 in two months and 14 days. A few years ago, I promised myself that by my 30th birthday I would take back my life.

I have a good job with good benefits that I only sometimes enjoy. I am not married. I have a boyfriend. And a cat. I live with my younger sister.

I would like to go back to school to become a Doctor of Physical Therapy. I would like to one day get married and have children without constantly worrying about money, hiding my shame and feeling like a failure.

I am in debt. I have credit card debt, a car loan and student loans. Only my mom, my sister and my brother know this. And now you.

Debt is a prison. I believed it when I told myself that playing now and paying later would work out. I believed it when I thought clothes, an ipod, trips, or partying would make me feel better. I lied to myself. I lied to everyone. I was wrong. I blame no one else but myself. And now I am taking it back. I'm taking it all back.

I want to be the person everyone else seems to think I am. Here I go ...