“$20K Here I Come”
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $$20,736.85
Chutes:
Since the last time I posted I have had few negative impacts.
- My car insurance went up by $260 per 6 month period.
Ladders:
- My income tax return come in and the majority went to my student loan.
- Report Card (progress bars). Only 38% of student loan to go!
- 80% of my total debt has been paid ~ 20% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- Being a Bridesmaid…I have only been a bridesmaid one other time in my life and it was for a destination wedding. This time was my first time to fill the stereotypical bridesmaid role. My bride was very generous, she paid for hair, make up, manicure, pedicure, jewelry, food, hotel and dress. All I paid for was my shoes, plane ticket and a gift that will come at a later date. When I get married I hope to be in a financial situation where I can take a note out of her book of generosity.
- Feelings on Debt…Debt is debt and it can be a nucence, but really is it just a big challenge. As I think about it I haven’t been in a situation where it really hindered my lifestyle (since I started working in 2007). Most sacrifices where self imposed because I wanted to win the challenge. As I prepare to pay down this last $20K, I find myself becoming more and more competitive and willing to push myself to generate more money. What am I going to do when the debt is paid? I will start over at $15K and build my 6 month emergency fund. It isn’t until baby step 4 that the disposable income is going to increase.
- Student Loans: There has been alot of thought out there about student loans, the student loan relief program and what to do about loans. I plan to do an analysis of my loan and see how it could have worked itself out. There is nothing like knowing the truth.
What is new and good with you?
“75% Complete”
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $25,441.01
Chutes:
- I haven’t been donating my plasma like I had intended. I don’t have a good reason, just don’t feel like getting up in the morning.
Ladders:
- My brother paid me back.
- My Dad gave me the other half the money for an iPad, but I got a Acer A500 instead. Saved a couple hundered dollars.
- Report Card (progress bars). Only 47% of student loan to go!
- 75% of my total debt has been paid ~ 25% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- EBAY
I have 31 items listed on eBay and I have have another 30 to list. If I sell everything for the asking price I will get $800, $600 will be profit. How exciting! I can’t wait for the next free posting day so I can relist some of my older inventory. One thing I have learned from eBay is that things will sell eventually, all I have to do it keep listing.
- ALDIs
I have been shopping at Aldi’s since the beginning of the year. Each trip I like it more, mostly because I have a better undertanding of what they offer. I hope to do a whole post on my savings. This one requires a bit of time.
- TABLET Purchase
I have been on the quest to get an iPad for the longest. I saved and received all the money I needed. I had $700 in cash, but I now had trouble parting with it. All of a sudden it seemed like a waste of money to buy an iPad when I could purchase a cheaper tablet to meet my needs. There were so many options I almost put the money in my piggy bank and bought nothing. My friend’s mom who is a expert technology research got the Acer A500 and highly recommended it. I found it at Amazon.com and purchased it today. For less than $300 I got a table, leather cover and 3 screen protectors. I am relieved that the decision has been made and I look forward to getting my tablet in the mail. I will put most of the remaining money towards my debt, but first I need to replace the battery and power cord for my laptop. 
What is new and good with you?
“311 Days and Counting”
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $26,281.99
Chutes:
- Purchased ticke to friends wedding
- Let my brother borrow money….such a bad idea, I’m sure.
Ladders:
- Traveling for work helps me come underbudget on FOOD and GAS
- Report Card (progress bars). Only 52% of student loan to go!
- 73% of my total debt has been paid ~ 27% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- WORK
I have only been at my desk for 2 weeks since the beginning of the year and a few Mondays and Fridays. I am schedule to be in the office for a full week in two weeks. I am looking forward to it as a vacation. The airports, hotels and resurants are getting old.
- 21 DAY FINANCIAL FAST
The Financial Fast was interesting and went well until I gave my book away.
- EBAY
This is going well, rules have change and money is being made. As of this very moment, I have:
What is new and good with you?
“MIA”
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $28,215.83
Chutes:
Ladders:
- I was way under budget on Gas and Food, so I had a little bonus to rebuild my eFund. I still need about $500. I have another check for $300 coming from the Sweet Treat company, so it won’t take too long.
- Report Card (progress bars). Only 52% of student loan to go!
- 73% of my total debt has been paid ~ 27% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- WORK
I am going to be working in Texas for the next two weeks, so I most likely be MIA in the blogosphere.
- BANKRUPTCY
Rumor has it that we are potentially facing a 10-20% pay cut, specifically 18%. Possibly losing 5 vacation days, 5 holidays and all accrued sick time. Even if you are luckily enough to come out of the layoff with a job, the consolation prize isn’t great. I have dusted off the old resume and will begin circulating it.
- 21 DAY FINANCIAL FAST
The Financial Fast has been interesting. Even though I have been managing my finances pretty well for the past 4 years, I am still learn more about myself & money. Today is Day 12 and things aren’t terrible. I realize that we go to the store alot because we can, not because we need too. One of my resolutions is to go to Wal-Mart only 52 times this year for my household. (Occasionally I have to make trips for the business) Since the beginning of the year, i have become alot better about making my list and taking it with me. At the end of the past two pay cycles I had grocery money left in my budget.
Since I am not doing anything for entertainment or eating out. I have made some new recipes to entertain myself and treat myself to something different. This weekend it is CrockPot Lasagna.
- EBAY
This is going well, rules have change and money is being made. As of this very moment, I have:
— $167.64 in my PayPal account
— $ 20.36 pending on eBay from closed auctions
— $229.68 in my eBay checking account
GRAND TOTAL = $417.68 (and a good size inventory)
New Rules:
-Post after work or on Saturday Mornings, because auction end times are important.
-List clothes above breakeven point, just in case it only gets one bidder
-Transfer money from paypal to bank account on Mondays
-order padded USPS envelopes every Monday
-Relist everything that doesn’t sell on the days that they let you list a million things for free. This can be done easily from my phone if necessary. (I had to do it in the DFW airport last Thursday)
-Get everything post once before I buy more clothes.
What is new and good with you?
“Goodbye Quicken”
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $29,374.01
Chutes:
- Paid $2432 for car repairs. $1013.45 was my total out of pocket cost. I need $801.32 to refill my eFund.
Ladders:
- Refund check for $12.99 and reimbursment check from FSA for $45 arrived this week and went straight to the eFund. Except $6.01 to cover the extra amount for my car repairs.
- Getting reimbursed by the Sweet Treat company for my initia investment of $575.25.
- Report Card (progress bars). Only 55% of student loan to go!
- 71% of my total debt has been paid ~ 29% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- QUICKEN:
At the beginning of 2011 I decided I was going to use quicken to track all my expenses. This has been an interesting and challenging experience all at the same time. I like what I can do in terms of tracking the money, but I recognize that it takes a good amount of time to reconcile all the accounts. This is a tedious task because of the way that the information is downloaded from the banks. At this time I feel that it would be easier and less time consuming to keep a track manually
I have many personal (4 checking and 3 savings) accounts with is sometimes silly, but it works for what I have going on. My primary checking and savings have the most transactions to manage and they normally happen near the payday. Managing them manually won’t be any more difficult than keeping a checkbook
I will keep using Quicken auto updates in 2012 for my business and eBay accounts. There is not doubt that I will miss it for personal accounts but for now I think going back to the basics will be quicker for me.
- 21 DAY FINANCIAL FAST
Yesturday I started the 21 Day Financial Fast outlined in Michelle Singletery’s book “Power to Prosper”. I don’t know it entails, but there is a daily assignment. I hope to do this with my money group during Financial Literacy Month in April.
What is new and good with you? What are your thoughts on Quicken or any other money management tool?
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $29,374.01
Chutes:
- The car battery cost $74
- I am renting a car because my car was not finished while I was on vaction, another $70.
- I will have to take money out of my eFund to pay the repairs on my car. Estimated $700.
- Now, I will have to refill the eFund. Estimated $700
Ladders:
- While on vacation my mom and friend (this was a surprise) took care of all expenses.
- Report Card (progress bars). Only 55% of student loan to go!
- 71% of my total debt has been paid ~ 29% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- I hope this is the first of the last 52 post I will do about my debt. Then I will move onto the big eFund.
- My mom gave me a money journal for christmas so I committed to journal for one minute each night about my finances. (I forget where/when I found out about 1 minute journaling).
- eBay stuff is going well but I have a surplus of clothes at my house. I will be taking time off from shopping for ebay untill this surplus is posted and depleted. However, I will be buying baby & kids clothes to participate in Just Between Friends (JBF) events that are taking place this spring.
What is new and good with you?
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $29,906.72
Oh how long the journey to pay this debt has been!
Chutes:
- My car battery is dying.
- I was going to be 4.22 short of reaching the goal of starting 2012 with less than $30K in debt.
Ladders:
- I didn’t use all my gas or food money from last pay period. Not really sure why, maybe some impact from being away for thanksgiving. I was able to funnel an addition $120 or so to my student loan which brought the balace down.
- Report Card (progress bars). Only 55% of student loan to go!
- 71% of my total debt has been paid ~ 29% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- Happy Holidays!!!
- I can’t even begin to describe how I felt this morning when I checked my student loan balance to find that it fell below the $30,000 mark. Eventhough it is a lot of money I feel so close to the end of the tunnel and I can see the light. I wish other in my life (outside of PF bloggers) can understand how fantastic this is. I guess I will relax for the next 17 days. I don’t have money to spend and I don’t expect to be getting any surprise income.
- For the holidays I will be traveling to the east coast. I sure hope they don’t get hit with a ton of snow.
How are you doing on reaching your goals?
“Season’s Greetings”
Source: goodcents.pocketsmith.com
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $31,838.45
Chutes:
- My chiropractor bill came for $315. It was for all my appointments for the past 4 months.
- Edfinancial website isn’t coming up so I can’t calculate any changes and update progress bars.
Ladders:
- My insurance company sent me a check from my FSA for $315. First time ever that the check came before the bill was due.
- Report Card (progress bars). Only 59% of student loan to go!
- 70% of my total debt has been paid ~ 30% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- Happy Holidays!!!
- I am starting a money group at my church. Wish me luck!!!! Once I figure out how to set it up, I will report back.
How are you doing on reaching your goals? What are you thoughts on 2012
“Season’s Greetings”
- Source: goodcents.pocketsmith.com
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $31,838.45
Chutes:
- Nothing to report in this area.
Ladders:
- Nothing to report in this area.
- Report Card (progress bars). Only 59% of student loan to go!
- 70% of my total debt has been paid ~ 30% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
I am ready for the new year and the end of 2011. It is quite amazing how everyone and everything moves just a little slower as the year wraps ups. I like to think of new goals, interesting challenges and/or unique ways to make a difference in my life for the upcoming year. Some of my thoughts are below…
- Turn in my running shoes for a yoga mat and towels. This came about after a long (17 years) relationship with came to a point were I needed a break.
- Volunteer somewhere where I am an individual contributor not an organizer or faciliator. This came about when my desire to give back met my desire to not be responsible for so many things.
- Learn to eat healthy and get the right amount of physical exercise. This came about with my desire to not get fat. I am currently 20 lbs overweight. I want to have a balance life so that there isn’t a need to sacrifice or over indulge. Also, my dad was diagnosed with diabetes a couple months ago.
- Pay off the remaineder of my debt. This is a given.
- Focus on my financial coaching company. I want to start doing workshops, focus groups and plan something for financial literacy month.
Bankruptcy, is still in the air. No changes have been made to impact me. I have been advised that it should be calm for a while then the other shoe will drop. The time of this is not great given that we are in the holiday season, but I guess business waits for noone or holidays. I know that I would be fine if I am laid off, but I am not sure what direction I would take. I have considered applying to the Air Force, Teach for America, looking for another strategic sourcing or supply chain job, really focus on groing my business. My conflict with growing my business is that I want to move from my current city. I am so afraid I will get stuck here forever.
How are you doing on reaching your goals? What are you thoughts on 2012
“Happy Thanksgiving”
Source: clipartheaven.com
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $31,838.45
Chutes:
- I took 3 pair of pants to get hemmed and one to get the waist taken in. I though it would be in the neighborhood of $32, but is was $53.50. I had to use some of my plasma money to cover it.
Ladders:
- Updated my Report Card (progress bars). Only 59% of student loan to go!
- 70% of my total debt has been paid ~ 30% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
In honor of Thanksgiving I will ramble off a list of things that I am greatful for. I am thankful for
- my family
- my friends
- having a steady job during the changes in the economy
- the discipline to stick to the plan I have create
- the opportunity go visit my hometown for Thanksgiving
- the food, shelter and clothing that I have
- the opportunity to give to other via church and local organizations.
How are you doing on reaching your goals? What are you thankful for?
