It's been a while ...

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!

Another month gone, another step forward

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.

How Having the Flu Saved Me Money

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

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"

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!

11%

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.

Updates

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.

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.

Not Zero Technically ...

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.

Trying to figure out my debt snowball ...

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

It came very sloooooowwwwwllllllyyyyyy ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is my to-do list ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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