Yeah for Me!!

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.

This week ...

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.

Starting ... Again

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.

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.