Adventures of Flip

It's been a while ...

2008-05-09T17:39:00.005-05:00

It's been a while since I last posted, over a month. Sorry.

But things are going well for the most part.

The weather is finally warming up and all of our flowers are blooming, trees are sprouting leaves and we're already mowing the lawn. I love it!

My sports team wrapped up its last week of practice yesterday. Our last game is tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the break. We have a last team meeting next Tuesday to discuss our summer and next fall's plans, then I'll also be helping coach one of our men's teams as they continue training for their games. But my own team is done for a while and that is a weight off of my sometimes overly-burdened shoulders. I do it to myself, I know. But looking forward to some downtime.

More exciting, my boyfriend offered to take me on vacation for my birthday last fall. So I'm cashing in that trip next week to go to Austin, Texas. He's already bought us tickets. Best of all, his sports team qualified for the national sweet 16s of our sport for his team's division down there. So I get a vacation and get to be a fan to boot! So excited! And I've only got to pay for food and fun. :)

It's been in the 90s down in Austin this past week. Yeah!

On the career front, that job I'd heard about from my old boss opened up and I applied for it. Without going into more detail, it's a much bigger job that I initially expected, but I'm definitely capable of handling it and am now waiting - trying to be patient - for the calls to interview. A good friend also applied for it, so he would be competition, but I know that my old boss never meshed personality-wise with my friend (who also worked there), so that gives me an advantage I believe. Although I'm staying away from any pettiness and we both just wished each other the best of luck and have been checking in with updates when we've heard them.

I've heard my old boss has been busy and is hiring his interns first before he starts the hiring process for the full-time position. It's hard to wait though. I have to think I'll get in for an interview. I've got the experience, more than most for education and I'm ready to hit the ground running, in addition to great references including the blessing of my current boss.

In addition, a well-to-do alumni of my boyfriend's sports team also put in a good word for me with one of his professional contacts at my old company, with directions for his contact to pass along a great recommendation to my old boss on my behalf. I'm hoping it lights a fire and keeps me in the front of the line for my old boss as he sorts through the applicants.

Keep your fingers crossed.

On the debt front, I'm still plugging away. Although I will confess to slacking off and spending too much money lately on lunches at work and some shopping, going out. Ugh. I know. I just updated a big chunk of my balances on the sidebar and as soon as some pending payments post this weekend, I'll update it again.

Okay, it's nearly 6 on a Friday and it's time to go home and relax.

Have a great weekend!

Tulips and Crocuses

2008-04-01T10:58:00.001-05:00

There is still some leftover snow piled up in our yard, but I saw our tulips and the new crocuses I planted last spring starting to sprout up.

Yeah for Spring! It inspires me to keep growing too.

April 1st!

2008-04-01T10:51:00.002-05:00

Happy April Fool's Day!

I only tried one joke today and it backfired. I e-mailed my boyfriend to tell him I thought I was pregnant. I then e-mailed him a second time and said "April Fools!". But rats, he got the second one first!

Oh well.

I'm waiting for my auto loan auto payment to go through tonight before I update my sidebar again. I did add the $2.55 in interest I earned to my emergency fund though. I'm just letting it sit there and be happy.

My sports team starts outdoor practices tonight. And it's cold and soggy. And I'm not doing well at my running goals, still feeling quite tired from the flu and what not. We have our first games this weekend, but I'm not too worried.

On the career front, no word yet on the new position at my old employer. But I think I did a good job at the volunteer work this weekend, so I feel positive about that and interacting with my old boss in a positive and hard-working situation.

I'm struggling at the current job because I'm daydreaming about the new job. Besides setting myself up if I'm not hired (sad!), I'm procrastinating on my current work load. It's just so boring. But I'll buckle down and get stuff taken care of here. New job or not, I'll be in a better place if I've got less hanging over my head.

30.5

2008-03-28T15:11:00.002-05:00

I didn't even think about it on the 25th, but I'm now 30.5 years old. My half birthday was Tuesday.

Two and one-half years to pay down all my bad debt!!

I'm ready. :)

Keep Your Fingers Crossed - Career Update

2008-03-28T14:59:00.002-05:00

Good news on the career front.

The job that I hoped would be approved at my old employer has been approved. My old boss just let me know it will be posted in the "next week or so".

I like my current job. Been here 3.5 years, but I feel a bit stagnant and I don't see a place to grow here. I would just remain in the same position, getting salary bumps and wouldn't be able to grow into any higher position without going back to school for a further advance degree in either business or science. My boss is only 10 years older than me, so that's not an option either.

I like the people I work with here, they are all very nice people and overall, it's a good place to work. Just not for me anymore. I miss my old job and the idea of being there full-time would be a dream. I was previously a full-time intern for two years after being a part-time student worker in grad school for one year, three years total. I'm also sure I'd be picking up similar and much-loved work as I had when I finished there. Which would be awesome!

So I'll be applying for that as soon as it opens. My competition could be fierce, but I know I have a great shot. And I'm ready to negotiate a better salary as well.

It won't be very fun to tell my boss here that I'm considering leaving, but I know she'll understand.

And good timing, but I'll be doing some fun volunteer work with my old boss and coworkers this weekend so I can remind everyone about how hard I work, good attitude, and gain some crucial place in their minds when it comes to hiring time.

So keep your fingers crossed!

Another month gone, another step forward

2008-03-28T14:27:00.005-05:00

It's hard to believe it's nearly April.

And supposedly it's also spring, but we've still got weather forecasts for snow. A surprise six inches fell late last week, but it's nearly gone again. We broke a record for snowfall this season in our city. Over 100 inches. We can see the lawn now, but the leftover snowbanks where we had to dig out could be there until May.

I'm eagerly awaiting the grass greening up and our spring flowers starting to poke their little heads out of the ground. I hope the crocuses I planted last fall made it.

I updated my sidebar today, except for my car (because that payment doesn't drop until the first of each month) and I'll wait until the first also for to update my networth.

I stretched my tax refund quite a bit. As I already mentioned, I paid off my Credit Card B and have moved Card D into my sights (Pow! Pow!). I jumped on my payments the other day when I got paid, using my snowball plan with minimums on all of my cards and then hitting Card D with my remaining debt payoff. I have yet to call Card B and threaten to close it (so they give me a non-business version and a really good rate for later transfer-game options), so I checked it just to verify it's paid off in my head. And what did I find? They knocked me for $8.61 as a finance charge, calculated off my past balance from last month. I was pissed, but hey, $8.61 I can handle. I'm calling them this weekend though. Grrr.

Confession time. For Easter, I had a breakdown at Target and spent some unnecessary money on unneccessary stuff. I got to the checkout, realized my idiocy and that my balance on my debit card wouldn't cover the total. So, I had to use my "emergency" card out of my wallet. And I immediately had buyer's remorse and beat myself up emotionally. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. Now I didn't purchase anything rediculous or anything that I can't use or won't use, but I did buy myself some treats that I don't really need. But I went home and as soon as I had a chance, I paid off that charge on my card from my last stash of my tax refund. That money should've been used to pay off in my snowball. So I tripped. I'm back up again and I'm back on track.

Overall, I did knock all of my cards down a bit!

In other good news, my boyfriend and I signed up for our CSA subscription! We each paid $157 towards an every-other week produce delivery for June through October. I'm really excited to see all the organic and farm-raised yummy goodness we'll have. Plus we each get $75 of that back from reimbursements from our health insurance companies!! And I know we'll save more than $75 in not having to purchase produce at the grocery store (less healthy and delicious) and the farmer's market (more expensive). I'm really excited about this.

Also, we picked up a few inexpensive seed starter kits. We've got baby tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, petunias and coleus plants sprouting for our little vegetable garden and flower gardens. This will save us money since we won't need to purchase potted plants.

This week I also received my new "designer envelope system" that I ordered from the Dave Ramsey store. I listen to his show often at work. It's funny, but the stories inspire me, sometimes they break my heart. Anyway, this month I was trying to work on truly implementing my budget, zeroing out and keeping my cash-spending for food, etc., down and kept track of well.

My struggles with this are that I have a hard time (read here: too busy and somewhat lazy) to get to the bank to get real cash out. I'm a paperless girl! Everything I do financially is online, outside from writing a check each month to my boyfriend for rent (and if I could do this electronically, I totally would!). So I was trying to use my debit card. I even have a sticker on it with my two-week totals for what I should be spending (I get paid bimonthly).

Worth noting - people kept commenting on my sticker. The bartender at my team's club bar/restaurant where we have our socials and meetings commented how smart I was. :) A barista at Starbucks (I have a weakness for White Chocolate Mochas ... only 1-2 times a month!) said it was the first time she'd seen that broken down into two weeks. :)

Anyway, I decided it was worth the $20 cost ($10 S&H sadly) to purchase the envelope system. I'm going to likely try to use my debit card, but keep track on the handy log sheets. If that doesn't work, I'll make the switch to just cash. I do like the "system" though. It's actually a nice red wallet. There's room for my checkbook and register, card slots for my debit card, etc., a zippered coin pocket and the envelopes with logs on each to write down your balances. I had a nice red wallet and a little coin purse before, so I've combined and pared down everything into my new wallet. I like it so far. I'll admit that I hide the imprinted side where it says "Financial Peace University" though. I don't want to explain this to my boyfriend ... yet, anyway.

Our team season is starting, so I'm getting busy busy. And I really need to get my butt moving and running. I am so out of shape and I'm still fighting the remnants of my flu.

All in all, I'm pretty good though.

Kinda of neat

2008-03-13T15:51:00.001-05:00

I have a facebook account which I use to keep in touch with a lot of my old friends and teammates. My boyfriend and I also have a running scrabble game on it.

But this week, I found Dave Ramsey on it and there is even a Dave Ramsey "Baby Steps"Application. Kind of fun. In my own geeked out paying down my debt way.

How Having the Flu Saved Me Money

2008-03-13T15:38:00.002-05:00

Last Wednesday, I got to work and felt fine. Then within a few hours, knew I was coming down with something because I got very tired, achey and developed a sore throat. By Wednesday night, I was nearly out for the count.

I got up Thursday morning so I wouldn't miss this important four-hour work meeting, then went home for the rest of the day and from then until Tuesday, I was basically in a flu-induced stupor quasi-coma. Five total days of out and out and influenza. ugh.

I'm not a napper, but I was putting in a full nine hours of sleep per night (my usual's 7ish) and two naps during the daytimes.

My sports team traveled to Chicago for a tournament, so I was too sick to play and didn't even bother to try to be there on the sidelines, since I could barely get out of my pyjamas.

Now that I'm feeling a bit better, just congested and fighting a cough, I realized how much money the flu saved me. I didn't have to spend any money on gas, tournament costs, socializing with my team or the hotel in Chicago, and since I also was too sick to leave my house and my very awesome boyfriend stayed home to take care of me, we just stayed in and watched movies all weekend, so no additionally weekend expenditures.

Thankfully, my team had enough players to handle the tournament without me, and although I missed some fun, I can't even imagine the nightmare it would've been trying to battle through it with the flu. Not happening.

And now I have some extra money to put towards the next card in my debt snowball sights. Pow! Cough! Cough!

$0.00

2008-03-04T10:31:00.001-06:00

Card B is paid off!

It didn't have much left on it, only $432, but it's at $0.00 this morning.

TAKE THAT CARD B!

A "Yippee!" and a big "Sigh"

2008-03-03T17:41:00.003-06:00

Been busy, busy, busy, but staying on the plan. Actually, getting more on the plan than ever before I think.

My sidebar is majorly updated with achievements.

Most importantly, the initial $1000.00 Emergency Fund is all set. With a bit of extra at 1026.34 and growing in my new ING account. It's over there and I won't touch except for real emergencies.

My taxes are all done and I got a nice refund of $1200, so that finished up the emergency fund, took care of a few extra bills (sports team dues of $75) and I've paid off my first credit card. It hasn't hit yet on my checking account, so I haven't crossed it off the sidebar, but very soon.

Then I'm going to call that particular company and find out what better card I can get if they want to keep me as a customer. For some reason, I'm on a "business" card despite not being a business in any capacity. I want to get back to a basic card with good rates and then when I need to use it for any zero transfers, it'll be ready to help me rock out this debt. Using the tools available to me.

I also updated my financials and sat down and figured out my full budget for the month, which would be the first time I've ever done this. I think I'm in a pretty good place to start though. I have also established how my debt snowball will work and in what current order. My only debate is if I should go after my car loan in the mix of my credit cards or if I should go after first my cards, then my car. But it's smaller than some and it's still debt, so there you go. It's all in together.

I also got paid for two of my extra jobs, one for that part-time job I found for $60 and then some work for my brother. So I'm working it.

The only challenge that's been disconcerting is that I blanked out on the fact that even though I'm paying debt off, that debt is still accruing interest, so it's two steps forward and one step back.

I also will admit that in the end of January, I also add some new credit card charges because I needed to purchase something for $150 but didn't have the cash. And last week, I put $17 on one card I left on my wallet because I wasn't sure I had enough in my account. This last one stemmed from me running out of space in my checkbook register, not having a new one then not getting organized. But I'm back on track and I've removed the credit cards from my wallet. I'd still like to freeze them in the freezer, so I won't be tempted.

So, yeah. Forward!

This Week

2008-02-08T10:30:00.000-06:00

A kind of slow week this week and so much snow!

We're less than two inches from our snowiest season ever on record for my city. And that's a lot of snow here in my area of the country. But hey, it's kind of like a personal best for Old Man Winter, you know. And all that moisture is good for the earth and our plants when spring finally rolls around.

And even though I don't like Winter (outside of the holidays), I don't mind it as much when it's all white and pretty, versus gray and depressing.

So the snow is cool for me.

What else?

I transferred an additional $75 to my ING Emergency Fund and it was taken out of my normal account's E-Fund today. Again, I figure it's a touch bit harder to mess with (but not completely out of reach), I'm better off. So, I'm up to $600 over there.

I finally sat down and filled out my budget book last Saturday night. I'm going to update it for this week, then I'll attempt to actually "budget" myself for my next two paychecks. Good stuff.

My brother and I also told my mom about our ideas for our personal finance and our Dad. She's in agreeance and we're moving forward with this. I also gave her my Dave Ramsey book. I do like that book, even though I'm not completely drinking the koolaid with him. Well, I am for Steps 1-3. But when ever I reach step 4, I'm pretty sure I'll be so happy and excited, I'll be fine with figuring out the next best steps.

I do thoroughly enjoy his radio show though. I listen to it every day, in addition to reading all of my favorite blogs on here.

On the workout front, we're not doing our second round of our workouts and we're all increasing the weights we're using and dropping the time it takes. So, stronger and faster. Awesome.

This weekend, a garden show in Madison to think about spring. But not buy anything!

Have a good weekend!

Yeah for Me!!

2008-01-31T10:20:00.000-06:00

I got paid today and it's my extra check in the pay cycle, so it gives me some extra money to kick towards my emergency fund!!

I took care of all of my necessities, so all of my bills are paid, I have a fresh rent check for February ready for the boyfriend (he's my "landlord") and the last half of my gym class payment all set.

I also set aside $25 in my regular expenses savings account (basically where I transfer money that I know is going out soon, so it's not just sitting in my checking account). This is 1/3 of my spring fee for my sport, so I'm ahead of the ball there and won't get hit by some big $75 ping in two months.

But more awesomely, I took $500 and using a referral from Paid Twice (who I read all the time and totally dig snowflaking!), I opened my first ING savings account for my emergency fund. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Plus, I got a $25 bonus for opening it due to the referral and because I opened it with over $250. So I made an extra $25 today on top of everything! So excited. Plus Paid Twice then gets $10 from her referral for her son's college fund. Quadruple yeah!

My plan is to fully fund my emergency fund at ING and let that money do it's thing and build interest, then move on to my debt snowball and hit my debts hard. Plus, it takes a few days to transfer any money from ING to my checking, so I'm less inclined to dip into my emergency fund for non-emergencies, but it's still there and liquid for emergencies.

I updated my savings and my net worth on the sidebar. My networth increased a positive 1.2% today to 3.2% ...

So, today is a good day. Sweet. Quadruple sweet.

Itchin' to Do Something ...

2008-01-30T12:06:00.000-06:00

The downside to having your paychecks every two weeks and wanting to get rollin' on your personal finance plan is that it's a lot of hurry up and wait sometimes.

Some good things for this week ... I think I'll be getting an extra paycheck working into my finances. Which will help my Emergency Fund a lot.

I'm planning on protecting my Emergency Fund from myself by putting a big chunk of into a new ING account, so I can earn some interest on it too. I can start a new one for $250 and use somebody's referral that I've seen out there in PF land.

I've not got a new habit of listening to Dave Ramsey's day-old online show while I work. I like to hear the stories - good and bad - and it kind of keeps me motivated to keep working even when my usual tendencies of procrastination and surfing try to kick in.

Tonight, I'll go work for my brother and we'll get started on our plan.

Good stuff ...

Fitty

2008-01-26T15:48:00.000-06:00

In my office on a Saturday, taking care of some paperwork before I go work that freelance job for $60.

Look at my checking account, realized I'm in good shape for less than the next week until I get paid again, so I transferred another $50 to my emergency fund.

Little by little ...

Good Karma?

2008-01-24T15:11:00.001-06:00

A lot of people say that if you start moving forward in a positive manner and moving towards positive health, good things will happen to you more often.

They say that if you start paying off your debt, more money will its way to you too.

So it's pretty cool that just as I was updating all of my bills and feeling calm that I had paid off my bills for this month and tucked away some money to my emergency fund, I just got an e-mail giving me some part-time hours doing something fun AND it'll pay me $60 for just a few hours of work.

Sweet!

11%

2008-01-24T14:56:00.000-06:00

So, part of updating my debt payoff totals for this month was figuring out the percentages of my payoffs. I have - in just two payments - paid off 11% of my remaining car loan.

That's much more motivating than 2% or less on the others. But even with 2%, I think "Wow, only 50 more updates to go at that rate!".

Kind of cool.

Part of my discussion with my brother was telling him how I'm educating myself by reading different books, writers and PF blogs, specifically Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey. As it turns out, one of his close friends also mentioned Dave Ramsey. So I explained Dave's methods with the baby steps, snowball method and that I've been listening to Dave's shows online at work while I work on projects. Much like it did for me, what I talked about struck a chord with my brother too. So he's going to listen to some of Dave's shows too and I'm going to bring him my copy of The Total Money Makeover.

It's nice and reassuring to have someone close and important to me walking alongside me in this journey.

So, right now I'm listening to Dave's show from yesterday. I have to admit that a small part of me gains solace from hearing some of the callers call in with much worse situations than I have. And I really enjoy Dave giving them No Bullshit answers.

Brother

2008-01-24T14:39:00.000-06:00

I'm going to make a commitment to go work for my brother at least one night a week - Wednesdays. Hopefully twice a week, maybe on Sundays or Mondays?

But last night, I went over there and while he didn't have any work for me, we did start talking about money, our finances, how we're trying to fix our personal finances and then our family situation.

After some real heartfelt conversation for a few hours, we decided that we can work together and use each other as sounding boards for improving our financial health (which will improve our mental, emotional and physical health too!).

We're also going to sit down with a plan and talk with my mom about our lives and then about how she is doing. We want her to know that she doesn't have to be there for us, but that we can be there for her too.

After this, we plan to bring our younger sister into the planning. And then we're going to tackle our dad.

My father has been an alcoholic as far back as I can remember. Until just a few years ago, the four of us had moved away and left him because he would not stop drinking and all of the negative behavior that went with his drinking.

Three years ago, he finally decided to become sober. He moved here and we took him back into the family and he's been sober ever since then. He's found a full-time job and is - in some aspects - a much healthier person.

But my brother and I both agreed last night that while some aspects are okay, our father hasn't changed his mentality and respect level for the people in his lives. It's often like dealing with a beligerent 16-year-old asshole instead of the 60-year-old television Dad we wish we had (Bill Cosby would be my choice!).

He lives with my mom (who divorced him before he got sober) and pays her rent. But he's taken over her house with his hobbies and has created a pretty negative and depressing environment for our mom. We think it's reaching a peak for her mental health in dealing with this everyday. She basically hides up in her room - of her own house - with our family's dogs, rather than dealing with him every day.

So, that is our next step in the planning. My brother and I are going to sit down with our dad and explain that if he wants to stay part of this family, he's got to not only be sober, but he's got to treat people better and be an adult.

The good thing we kept saying to each other, my brother and I, is that overall - big picture - we're doing pretty well. We have good lives, even with all of our debt. And we have our family. And we have lots of blessings. And that this stuff we're dealing with now is going to be much easier than a lot of the crap we've dealt with before (brother also staying sober, his girlfriend getting sober, our parents divorcing, our family falling apart, bad relationships, etc.).

So, in that way, I'm feeling pretty positive about all of this.

I think also that once we get farther along in our sharing process, I will share this blog with my brother and possibly my mom. They know I have debt, but sharing the totals with them would be coming completely clean and help me accomplish part of my goal for 2008 of being honest with myself and others.

Updates

2008-01-24T14:31:00.001-06:00

I paid all of my bills this week. Yeah!

I updated all of my sidebar totals with these payoffs.

I also went back in and updated my net worth. It was getting confused, since I tried to update a January with new info. So I changed the old one to December 2007 and updated the new one to January 2008. I also changed my asset total for cash in December to zero, so it more accurately reflected my positive cash on hand. Since I'm pretty much working with a zero budget, this made sense. I'm just including the positive balances in my checking account after all of my bills are paid for each month and then my various savings balances.

I'll also update my car value annually, so that number will stay consistent for 2008.

I am still waiting to find out what my retirement assets are within my job's retirement system. I believe we get some report in spring of each year. I couldn't find a way to access this online unfortunately.

I haven't started my 403b yet. I am going to focus on my emergency fund ($1000!) and then my debt payoff first. Depending on what happens with my job, I'll either wait for my next salary increase at my current job or if I do happen to get the new job I'm hoping for later in this year which hopefully gives me a salary increase as well, then I'll get that 403b started.

Day Off

2008-01-22T11:41:00.000-06:00

I had a three-day weekend thanks to MLK day yesterday. It was very nice and relaxing, plus I accomplished a few things.

- I took my cat to the vet for the first time in a few years. He's in good health and has his two vaccines which are good for three years.

- I cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed and straighted up the house. Staying on top of the cat hair so the boyfriend's allergies don't kick in.

- I made stuffed shells with yummy (and lower-fat) cheesy and fresh spinach filling (not frozen) with sauce. Enough for us to eat all week. Plus I used up some old bananas and made banana bread, which turned out awesome.

- I worked out at home for the first in a I can't even remember. Boyfriend's basement is half-finished and provides a great workout space. So Mr. Cat and went downstairs to work out and modified some of my gym class workout to fit the basement. Which actually ended up being pretty tough. I did a similar warmup, even running some short down-and-backs (yeah for a long empty basement), jumproped (although I have to be careful to keep it low and not hit the ceiling) and then did four exercises counting down from 10 sets to 1 set of each in a series. Mr. Cat did chase me and swat me a few times, so we took a slight break to go get him a toy to chase around instead.

- I didn't get to my money day, but I'll be working on my finances later today.

- I also shoveled the whole driveway (my second time in a week!) and our sidewalks. We got a lot of snow yesterday, so I helped boyfriend a bit with having less overall snow this morning. I let him shovel our next door lady's house though (we help her out), because I did that the first time earlier this week.

- I keep reading about this tax rebate thing that Bush might give everyone. Mine would fund my emergency fund! I will not spend it, unless it doesn't come through for a few months in which case, I would pay off some credit card bills b/c my emergency fund will be already funded.

- Oh and I'd like to note that I went grocery shopping yesterday for the second time this weekend (which I know is bad and has become my little vice), but I stopped to see what Whole Foods was like because I had never been there. And even though it was gorgeous and healthy and full of samples and so much I would love to buy at it's rediculously overpriced prices, I walked out with absolutely nothing and went to my favorite and least expensive grocery store. A battle at a time, you know?

Late at work

2008-01-11T17:59:00.001-06:00

Sitting here late at my office on Friday night because I need to wait 15 minutes before braving the cold for the next bus home.

Am going to a party of an alum from my sport tonight. And also going to see bull riding! My mom won two tickets to a local event on the radio, so free bull riding for me and my boyfriend. Good stuff.

Am very sore from workout last night. Really tough. Walking like a crippled old lady, but not as bad as I thought. Hopefully tomorrow is better and not worse.

Looking forward to this weekend to just sit home and get the new digs organized. I'm still living out of a laundry basket since I haven't made the boyfriend commit to a set-up for our now communcal living arrangements.

Also, I have to trim my cat's claws. They're getting long again and he's misbehaving for attention and going after boyfriend's nice furniture. Will have to set some money aside and look into declawing possibly if this keeps up, but he's really being a bad little guy. Last night I had to lock him in our basement (with all of his necessities) because he was waking us up by chewing on electrical cords and using the nearly new couch as his new personal scratching post. Can't take the chance that his bad behavior makes boyfriend want him out, so looking into options.

So happy it's Friday. Have a good weekend.

Total Money Makeover

2008-01-10T14:45:00.001-06:00

Still reading Total Money Makeover on my daily bus rides. So far, I like it a lot and will likely follow it to get out of debt.

I'm working on developing my "gazelle intensity".

A lot of this applies to my health goals as well. About 90 minutes of sprinting last night, so I'm worn out and now finally a tad sore from Tuesday's fitness testing. Tonight is the first hard workout at the gym. And I need to start drinking more water every day.

Do gazelle's get sore?

Gym Class Day 1

2008-01-09T11:49:00.000-06:00

This is my third year of taking these winter gym classes. Day one we always do fitness testing to set the bar, if you will, for improvement.

I did better than I thought I would in some aspects. I am a weakling in others. All in all, I was slightly surprised that I had my natural strength considering I have been a very lazy butt since October.

I ran a surprisingly decent 14.92 second 60-yard shuttle. The slower girls were running 16-second times while our fastest were in the 13-second range (who are both awesomely fit and gifted athletes). My time was only slightly slower than one of our speedier players, so I was kind of happy.

My balance tests were awful. We have to stand on one leg, with our arms crossed over our chest and our eyes closed (hard to do!) for 60 seconds. If you wiggle too much, lose your balance at all or touch your foot down, you get a point. You count all of your points at the end. My left leg had a 4, while my right had an 8.

I was not so bad in the pull-ups, but I did the 90-degree pull-ups from the ground versus the full-weight hanging style. I know I couldn't get even one on those, but I had 14 in the 90-degree.

Push-ups were my worst. My full plank was only 7. That said, they were full plank and not on my knees. Later, I used the power-wheel to do pike-ups and had a 6.5. I fell attempting my 7th, because I didn't keep decent form (which means I'm done).

We had to do a weighted-throw with 20-kg balls. My chest and my backwards throws were decent, a 17 and a 15 or 16 I think. Not too weak, but could be better.

And my walking lunges holding a 12-kg weight in each hand sucked horribly. I only made it about 12 yards before I was done. But that's a bigger weight than I initially wanted to use, so that's pretty good considering. My knees were bothered, but boy were my legs not happy. They did not want to move up.

So, tonight, we have our team indoor sessions. Lots of running and ball-handling. I need that cardio badly, but I know I will be sucking wind. Worth pointing out, it will only cost me $5 for all eight indoor winter sessions. $5!

Thursday, I'm back at the gym and I'm not looking forward to the big workout, but the sadistic inner fitness babe in me says bring it on.

Suckola

2008-01-09T11:45:00.000-06:00

I started a Networth IQ profile last March. Haven't bothered with it since then. So I updated it today finally.

Mine's private, but I posted the newest total on the sidebar.

It's very ugly. And sad.

I look forward to making it pretty. And happy.

About the only thing that I have any positive net worth from is my car. And then it's only worth about $5620 according to Kelley Blue Book in good condition. And I still owe 4404 on it. But I'll take the positive $1200 on it.

$1.36

2008-01-08T15:47:00.000-06:00

My boyfriend's parents gave me a $25 gift card to Borders for Christmas.

I invested it by purchasing Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. Which I've heard so much about, but was never willing to spend the money on (it costs $24.99!) and couldn't find at the library when I looked.

I know a lot of people preach Dave as gospel. But I just like to read as much as possible. So it's my new bus book for reading to and from work. So far, I like it. He's preachy and I don't totally agree with everything, but I kind of like his attitude. And I like the stories about other people.

I'm not a strict practicing Christian, but I'm spiritual and I identify with the scripture passages he uses too.

I only had to pay $1.36 for the book after taxes too.

Job Lead

2008-01-08T15:41:00.000-06:00

Today my friend N messaged me with a potential job offer down on the north side of Chicago.

One back in my previous career route in athletics, basically saying it could be mine if I wanted it (he's a good old friend from college and we both know I have 3 job pluses of education, experience and networking) plus I'd likely be handling a major client that would likely win a major championship this year.

Definitely thought about it for five seconds ...

But I said no because not only have I just moved in with my boyfriend to his great newer house (he's just had it one year), but I've got pokers in the fire for a potential return to that same career route here in my town.

Plus, Chicago ... I know I couldn't afford it. It would likely ruin my killing off debt plans. And I miss everything up here too much. My boyfriend is even from Chicago (college and after anyway), but he wouldn't move back down there.

It's nice to know I'm thought of though. And I just think, offers like this will come up again if I keep moving forward down the right path.

This week ...

2008-01-08T15:03:00.000-06:00

The holidays are officially over. Sad.

I love the holidays so much so I hate seeing everyone take down their christmas trees and seeing them laying in the snowbanks by the roads.

This week is also the first work week in four weeks that I'll be here all five days. I had some vacation time and then all of my holiday time off as well. It was fun while it lasted. But there is the MLK day off in two weeks, so yay! I've decided that that day will be my personal organization day at home - my finances, setting up my new office space (with all of my old stuff), all kinds of fulfilling goodness.

Tonight we start our gym workouts for my sports team. I am an amateur athlete and part of a sports club team. This is our offseason, but we start our conditioning and organizing for the spring now. I have been very lazy since we finished up our last games and practices way back in October. I haven't done much of anything fitness-wise. So these classes will be painful, but exactly what I need to jump back into my fitness.

These gym classes are twice per week with a certified trainer in a class of my teammates for 8 weeks at just $15 per week. And I don't have to join the gym. It's really a very good bargain and one I feel is a important investment in my health and fitness each winter (physical and mental!), not just for my sport. Additionally, I have set it up so I can pay for my 8 weeks in two smaller payments of $60 each tonight and again in four weeks. I set aside money on my last payday into my irregular expenses to cover this, so I'm square on my budget.

I clarified two of my goals for 2008 in my sidebar and added a new one.

I said originally I wanted to lose 15 pounds. For the record, I am a genetically-blessed 5-7 woman (actually like 5-6.8, but hey still a few inches taller than the average American woman at 5-4) who's natural body shape is thinner and athletic. My sport and genetics keeps me in the healthy Body Mass Index range even when I know I'm out of shape. Currently I weight 150 pounds. This puts me at the higher end of "Normal Weight".

But I don't take care of myself very well and am pretty lazy. I know that my healthy weight should be 135 and I could maintain this by eating better (than I already do), drinking more water to stay hydrated (I'm a diet soda addict) and exercising regularly on my own (not just with my team schedule).

So the clarifcations are that I will lose at least 10 of those 15 pounds by March 1 and I will learn to like running and run at least 20 minutes 3 (or more) times per week by March 1.

I've already started trying to incorporate less meat and more fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes into my diet. Which isn't too hard since I love my veggies!

I'm not going cold turkey on the soda. If I focus on improving my health and fitness, my unhealthy pounds will decrease, my muscle and cardio will increase and I will naturally want to not drink soda (it's happened before).

And I figure all of this along with my finance goals (which take priority) are already enough for big goals.

Additionally, staying busy with fitness and healthy eating means I'm not out there spending money, falling prey to all the media messages telling me to spend, spend, spend and in general, getting healthier and stronger to build that big snowball.

Oh and I added two new blogs I like - I've Paid for this Twice Already and Generation X Finances.

The Big Freeze?

2008-01-04T14:44:00.000-06:00

I was doing really well in not using my credit cards all of this fall. Which the companies hate, but hey, I kind of hate them back. :)

But Christmas threw that out the window. It doesn't help that everything is so expensive. Gas, food, presents ... Again, my lack of self-discipline aided and abetted my idiocy.

So to force myself to not use my credit cards at all ... even in an Emergency (hence the Emergency Fund!), I made the decision that I would put them in the deep freeze. I'm going to get a tupperware container, fill it full of water and freeze the bastards.

Because I just moved in with my boyfriend though, and don't want to have to explain why I need to freeze my credit cards, I'm going to ask my mom to freeze them for me at her house. Just back in some dark corner of the freezer.

This will accomplish several things ...
1. I won't be able to access my cards instantly from my wallet
2. Knowing I don't have my cards to fall back on, I will have to plan any spending according to my available finances.
3. If after this, I still feel the need to use them, I will have all of the time it takes me to travel to my mom's house and thaw out the card before I actually use them, thereby having enough time to realize how stupid that is and not doing it.

I plan to do this this weekend. This is an important step, I believe.

A Hope and a Goal for 2008

2008-01-04T14:26:00.000-06:00

I have a "good" job.

I work 40 hours a week, barring a major emergency (which hasn't happened in the three years and three months I've been here). I have weekends and major holidays off. Pretty good benefits. And last fall, I asked for a salary adjustment and my boss worked hard to give it to me.

All of that said, I'm feeling pretty stagnant. I don't respect this job the majority of the time. I often arrive late and sometimes I leave early. I always procrastinate. I think some people realize I'm a slacker. But I get away with it. And because of this, I am sad and disappointed in myself.

I believe most of this is my fault. I don't have any self-discipline. Well, not much anyway. I don't find ways to challenge myself or work to be an "achiever". I'm definitely an underachiever who's gotten through life on being intelligent and personable. I know this about myself. I can remember very few instances in my life where I ever worked hard - and worked hard the right way - to achieve something and accomplished it. I think a lot of people out there are like me, but I don't want to be like me anymore.

I want to be known as a hard worker. I want to be known as a person who accomplishes. Who people remember first when opportunities arise. I had a manager at a bar where I was a bartender tell me once that if we were on Survivor, he wouldn't throw me off the island. I want every person in my life to think like that.

I also believe that I have created these issues at my job because I don't feel challenged naturally by the job. It's becoming stagnant and I know I don't have a future here - at least one I truly want and see myself in. If my job was a person, it would feel the same about me I think.

Prior to this job, I had a two-year fulltime internship in a similar field. It was longer hours, less pay, but ultimately more challenging and satisfying. I talked to my old boss a while back and mentioned to him that if something should open up there to please let me know. He said that actually they might be adding another new fulltime position and he would keep me in the loop.

I had been considering returning to school in a few years to become a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Sometime I know I would enjoy and something that would challenge me, etc. I still am interested in this, but when my old boss mentioned the possible new position, that really clicked for me.

I see that possible opportunity as a means to be challenged more and move forward. In turn, I know that if I'm going to leave this job, I need to leave it in a much better state than I have it right now.

I truly hope that this new job happens. And then that I have a real shot at it and I get it. But even if I don't, I know that it's time for me to move on to something new before 2009 rolls around. And I have a lot of work to do ...

Not Zero Technically ...

2008-01-04T14:13:00.000-06:00

Just for the record, my start dates on my sidebar are by no means my actual start dates of my overall debt repayment. Just where I'm keep tracking of it on here and for the "record".

It's an important distinction for me, anyway.

I'm going to be using the whole Debt Snowball method of paying down my debt.

Starting ... Again

2008-01-04T13:34:00.000-06:00

I deleted my old version of this blog. I didn't like it. I hadn't written on it since August. But I wanted to. And I wanted a cleaner, fresher start. So here we go.

I'm in a much better place than I was two years ago. 18 months ago. One year ago. Six months ago. Even one month ago. Moving Forward. Just keep swimming ...

Today I faced facts. I have $79,070.74 of debt. $42,688.07 of that is on credit cards or what my FICO report refers to as revolving debt. Yes, I know how it happened. But no, I have no excuses or reasoning. It is what it is.

$4404.04 of that is also my car which I only have 18 of 84 payments remaining (no need to point out 84 payments wasn't a smart loan). The remaining $31,978.63 of my debt is my consolidated student loans. Both of these amounts are considered installment debts.

In rank of "Worst" to "If you have to have debt, it's okay to have this":

Worst = Credit Card Debt of 42K
Not As Bad = Car Loan Debt of 4K
Better than Bad = Student Loan Debt of 32K

Using the DOLP idea - Dead on Last Payment - based on my current amounts, rates, etc., I have 18 payments left for my car. I have roughly 50 payments left for all of my credit cards. I have 141 payments left for my student loans.

I am 30 years old. My car will be paid off when I am 31 and a half. I have set a goal that I will my try my hardest to pay off all of my credit card debt by my 33rd birthday in September of 2010. This is two years and nine months away. Which is less than my DOLP number of 50 (just over 4 years). I feel this is a goal I can reach for. After I pay off my credit card debt and car loan debt, I will redirect more money to my student loan debt so I have this paid off before I turn 40. Actually, let's say before I turn 37.

I also paid $7 today to get my credit score while I got one of my three free credit reports (whoever's idea that was for free reports - THANK YOU!). Surprisingly, I ranked a "Fair" with a low 700. This was a pretty big surprise. I was fairly sure I was failing.

I saw that FICO will be changing their scoring system this spring. I can only assume my number will decrease.

I also noticed that one of my credit cards does not show up on the report. I don't know why. It's a long story, but that card gave me a "Business" version, even though I don't own a business. I think that might be why it doesn't show up. That is the card I had the worst history with. I have recently transferred the majority of that card's balance to others with zero percent balances and only have $425 left on it to pay off. I want to pay that off as soon as possible and then ask them to switch me back to a non-business card. I plan to leave it open, but without a balance in case down the road I need it to transfer back for a better interest rate.

I am using balance transfer deals to get ahead. I know this is risky. I didn't really have a choice. I hope to pay off enough in the next year (by 2009) to get improved rates on the cards, so I can consolidate better or possibly even take out a good personal loan from a bank and get it all off the cards.

I also have a handy little budget book I bought at one of our local bookstores. I want to start maintaining a better budget and recording my daily expenses. I started it in November, dropped it a bit and plan on starting that over too.

I am leaving this blog as anonymous as possible. For now anyway. Flip is a nickname I made up as a kid while playing with my sister. Nobody but me calls me Flip. I am also not posting an e-mail address on here. This will be a journal just for me, but I will be accountable to myself and to the anonymous world.

At this point, only my mom has a rough idea of my debt. And I don't think she knows for sure how bad it is. She struggles with her own debt (as do my sister, my brother and probably most everyone I know). One of the secondary - and most important - reasons I want to pay off my debt is so I can help my family be free of debt someday too.

I have a really wonderful boyfriend. He owns a house and I just moved in with him on New Year's Day. He only knows that I have a lot of student loans. He does too. But outside of his mortgage and a car loan, he has no bad debt and a very well-paying job. For him, "Debt" is a very evil word.

The other morning on the news, there was a story about a family that had $38,000 worth of credit card debt. My boyfriend was absolutely floored. He was already in shock that the average consumer allegedly has $10,000 worth of credit card debt. The good news was that that family paid off their massive debt in five years and I said "Wow, that is good to hear." He was still talking about that family even yesterday. I just quietly nod my head and then change the subject.

At this time, my debt is a secret that only I will know about until I have some real goals accomplished. I have lived with my shame for a long time. A while longer won't hurt me any worse.

Debt Breakdown

2007-12-03T16:25:00.005-06:00

Total Credit Card (Plus Car)
01/04/2008 - $42,688.07 ($47,092.11)
03/03/2008 - $42,012.20 ($45,945.01)
03/04/2008 - $41,579.81 ($45,512.62)
03/28/2008 - $40,763.51 ($44,696.32)
05/09/2008 - $40,560.75 ($44,017.62)

------------------------------
Listed in Order of Debt Snowball (as of May 9, 2008)

Card B (?%)
01/04/2008 - $425.27
03/04/2008 - $0.00
03/27/2008 - $8.61 (They got me for a final finance charge!)
03/28/2008 - $0.00
PAID OFF!

Card D (0%)
01/04/2008 - $4100.00
03/03/2008 - $3937.00
03/28/2008 - $3637.00
04/30/2008 - $3437.00

Auto Loan (5.39%)
01/04/2008 - $4404.04
03/03/2008 - $3932.81
05/09/2008 - $3456.87

Card T (0%)
01/04/2008 - $6453.11
03/03/2008 - $6512.49
03/28/2008 - $6382.49
05/09/2008 - $6255.49

Card R (0%)
01/04/2008 - $7327.00
03/03/2008 - $7182.00
03/28/2008 - $7111.00
05/09/2008 - $7040.00

Card U (9.9%)
01/04/2008 - $9727.41
03/03/2008 - $9690.85
03/28/2008 - $9575.28
05/09/2008 - $9964.29 (pending payments)

Card A (5.9%/14.49%)
01/04/2008 - $14655.28
03/03/2008 - $14257.47
03/28/2008 - $14057.74
05/09/2008 - $13863.97

----------------------------------

Student Loan (3.875%)
01/04/2008 - $31978.63
03/03/2008 - $31733.09
03/28/2008 - $31602.98
05/09/2007 - $31479.17

Goods vs. Bads

2007-08-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

I am hesitant to post on here when I don't really accomplish anything, but I guess that's the point of this blog ... accountability to myself and my goals.

Today is my last day of work before I fly out to the East Coast for a mini-vacation with my parents. My parents split my airline ticket out, which was something I asked them not to do, but they did anyway. My mom will also likely be picking up all of the hotel costs. She has already been out there for work and has her car, so we are driving back home.

My plan is to encourage my parents to enjoy our time out there together, but enjoying it in ways we don't spend a lot of money on. Like I'm going to suggest we hit up a grocery store for food/snacks for the weekend, rather than always hitting up restaurants and fast food the whole trip. Do more sightseeing that doesn't cost a lot, than stuff that does. I think it will be good. And I hope to pitch in when I can for gas and what not.

Outside of this, I haven't accomplished a lot since I last posted. I'm going to list of goods and bads ...

GOODS
- My goal to quit drinking soda is going very well! And my caffeine level of intake has also dropped off, since I'm just drinking a cup or two of hot tea, not 3-4 cans of soda in a day. This also saves me money!!

- I've been getting up early and out of bed, so I'm not rushed in the morning

- I've started organizing some of the big projects at work

- I didn't go out and buy lunch yesterday when I thought about it, instead I spread out the things I had brought with throughout the day and wasn't hungry.

- I'll get three paychecks this month. That is really good and wil help me fund my emergency fund.

- I got more organized for my sports team, in terms of checking on our player availability.

- I went over my cell phone bill, divied it up between our family members (5 of us share one plan, in my name) and everyone's transferring me their cut.

BADS
- I haven't taken care of calling for a lower interest on my card. I also haven't figured out what to do with the other card. I stay up awake at night worrying it to death. I'm going to spend some travel down time working this out and writing down my zero-based budget.

- Despite getting up early every other day, yesterday I hit the snooze button too long, had to rush through my morning and arrived last at my office. But today was much better.

- Finding new players for my sports team is proving difficult. The more new players I find, the less stress I'll have come fall. I need to get more of my teammates involved, but everybody has something better to do (except when it's time to complain). I'm going to send an e-mail out today asking people to hang fliers while I'm on vacation with my parents.

- I had a bad weekend of spending money. I went out with my boyfriend for a few beers, than we had a baby shower an hour away, so I had to buy a gift for our friends, pay for part of the gas, and bought my boyfriend dinner since he had bought me dinner on Friday night. I also bought two expensive drinks at the shower (at a fancy brewery restaurant on a river). That said, my boyfriend chipped in some for the gift and I opted to drink water when I could. But I need to be more aware of buying the least expensive options when I'm out with friends or drinking water, non-alcoholic beverages. It's just hard when you want to have fun and everyone else is too. I wonder what all of their debt is like though?

So I have had some bad days, but I'm still chugging along. Learning lessons every moment. I'll update my sidebar next week after I pay some bills. I think I need to simplify it too ... maybe just a graph or something.

2007-07-25T12:27:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-25T12:26:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-20T12:25:00.000-05:00

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 ...

2007-07-20T12:23:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-19T12:20:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-19T12:19:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-18T12:17:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-07-16T12:15:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-16T12:14:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-13T12:11:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-12T12:10:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-11T12:07:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-11T05:29:00.000-05:00

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 ...