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!

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.

Goods vs. Bads

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.

$70,000

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

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

Car Insurance

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

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

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

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

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

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