“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?
“I broke the $33K threshold”
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $32,955.95
Chutes:
Ladders:
- I realized that I have been charged income tax for my friend who uses my benefits. This came to a total of $81.93, so my budget is back in the black.
- Updated my Report Card (progress bars). Only 61% of student loan to go!
- 78% of my total debt has been paid ~ 22% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- WEDDINGS:Today I looked at my 2012 vacation, because our boss likes us to plan this stuff as far in advance as possible. As you know I have limited my vacation to the 2 weeks that I get and 1 week that I get to borrow for 2012 and no major international trip or just because trips.I have two weddings one in AZ and one in NV. It didn’t hit me until today that I better start thinking about how this is all going to fit into 2012 budget. I am going to be a bridesmaid in one of the weddings, but the bride is very generous and is paying for the dress.
- EBAY: I know I have been promising to write a post about eBay since I started, but I just now got to a point where I think I have it under control. It is a vicious cycle that it always moving and hard to lock down. In November I started inventory and tracking sales in a spreadsheet. In early December, I will compare this to my Quicken numbers and give you the first of many post to come that have actually numbers so you can see.I have to admit, I have grown to like this ebay thing alot. I don’t normally like shopping, but I love to go shopping for eBay. It is fun. I think mostly because the money that I have to shop with is specifically for clothes. As long as I don’t go over budget I can pick up whatever I want without any worries.
- CHRISTMAS: I have only purchased one give and it is for my mom. Now I have to find something for my dad, brother on nieces. I have decided not to participate in all the little gift exchanges at the office and at little parties. Part of the decision was made on finances, but most of all it was made on the stress and pressure that comes with it all. I just want to show up, eat and be merry this year.
- GIVING: Giving is something that has really been on my mind lately. I want to give more of my time to something that I don’t directly benefit from and I want to do it on a regular basis. I am thinking the Salvation Army soup kitchen or maybe the food bank. I don’t know what it is but it is weighing on my heart right now.
- DANIEL FAST: I have heard may things about the Daniel Fast from a few friends, but I haven’t participated. It is a 21 day fast and I was thinking of doing it between Thanksgiving and Christmas, two holidays that are filled with an abundance of food. I may or may not blog about my personal experience, but I may blog about the fast itself. Of course I will post at least once on how its financial implications.
How are you doing on reaching your goals? Have you participated in the Daniel Fast? If so, please share.
“Breakin’ the Rules”
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $33,025.07
Chutes:
- No plasma money this week.
- Kind disappointed I didn’t break the $33K threshold into $32K
Ladders:
- A friend reimbursed me $81.73 for a work benefit that she used. Already submitted payment to student loan
- My brother reimbursed me $23 for some misc. household items I purchased a few weeks back. Already submitted payment to student loan.
- Updated my Report Card (progress bars). Only 61% of student loan to go!
- 78% of my total debt has been paid ~ 22% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- If you have been reading my recent post you know I have done some analysis on What Would Dave Ramsey Do? in relation to my financial situation. The 7 Baby Steps have worked out well for me and I am comfortable with the direction I am headed.Drafting the post got me think about where I would be if I hadn’t fall of the wagon 25 months of the last 52. I was nervous at what I might find out, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that iI am only $3275.52 behind where I would be if I stayed on the wagon. I guess this means I was really on the GAZELLE wagon during the other 27 months. I full expected to be more than $10k behind.
- In relation to my post on WWDRD? I am interested to look at my current financial situation and future using other personal finance experts(Suze Orman, David Back, Gail Vaz Oxlade, Jean Chatzky, Michelle Singleterry)f recommended plans. If there is a specific plan you want to see me apply to my situation let me know and I will crunch the numbers.
How are you doing on reaching your goals?
“Movin’ on Up”
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $33,540.15 (no change since last post)
Chutes:
- There is a possiblity that I will have to cut back or stop the plasma donations. I will be taking a break during the month of November. Reason enought to stay on the eBay grind.
Ladders:
- Updated my Report Card (progress bars). Only 62% of student loan to go!
- 78% of my total debt has been paid ~ 22% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- A major magazine is considering me for an article on being financially fit.
- I have been contacted about being listed as a financial coach for my region.
- I purchase my first christmas gift yesturday. It was a 35mm film to digital picture convertor for my mom. Over Christmas I will be visiting her and converting as many pictures as I can. Now our family picture can be share with my Dad, brother, myself and generations to come. My mom is very excited for this. I bet she forgot after I told her about it. I have to figure out what my Dad, brother and nieces may want.
- I have started thinking about what next year will bring and what goals I would like to set. Nothing final yet, just thinking.
- Financially the debt is not going away fast enough, but progess is being made. I have attached graphs of my progress below.
As of November 1st
Last Debt Standing ~ Student Loan
Since the Beginning
How are you doing on reaching your goals?
“Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired”
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
- Source: littlethingsmatter.com
Current Balance: $33,540.15
Chutes:
Ladders:
- I am over my cold, so I am back at the plasma donation center.
- Updated my Report Card (progress bars). Only 62% of student loan to go!
- 78% of my total debt has been paid ~ 22% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- There really hasn’t been much of a change in the past week.
- I am quite exhausted with finding ways to pay down debt.
- I have found something that I really want, but will have to put on hold. I want to take up Bikram Yoga and I found a place in town. It is out of my price range right now. I will just add it to my wish list.
How are you doing on reaching your goals?
Source: howstuffworks.com
Current Baby Step: #2 Debt Snowball
Current Balance: $33,540.15
Chutes:
- I had to buy a ton of household stuff (trash bags, laundry detergent, dish soap, dishwasher detergent & toilet paper) to the tune of about $70.
- My accounts were a little out of wack and I suffered a $30 overdraft fee
Ladders:
- I had $100 left on my food card so when I add $100 this payday I had $200. This made paying for the above household stuff easier.
- My brother will give me half the money for the household stuff.
- My eBay auctions closed at $297.58 and I still have stuff to post.
- Updated my Report Card (progress bars). Only 62% of student loan to go!
- 78% of my total debt has been paid ~ 32% left. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ramblings:
- CELL PHONE: I ordered the Sprint EVO which I blogged about. It should arrive any day now. I am really excited to use as many functions as I can. I am committed to using it to make my life easier. My purse is already less full and lighter without my todo list (mini composition book) and mini planner.
- RUNNING: Normally this isn’t such a costly hobby, but lately I have had some pain in my legs so I have a few doctor’s bills coming my way. Good news is they will be covered by the money in my flex spending account.
- EBAY: This is working out for me. Like the exponential value of money the profit is going to take a little time to compound. I am still working on streamlining the process. The most annoying part is that people don’t pay right away, so I can’t ship right away. I will keep doing this.
On another note, I gave this woman $500 in September of 2010 to help keep her mom’s house from being forclosed on. She considers this a debt and has told me a million times that she is going to get me the money. Eventhough I saw she doesn’t have to pay me back she insist. It has been over a year and she has been commenting on it the entire time which is annoying to me. Either pay the money or accept the gift, but enough with the empty promises. I know she is just trying to make herself feel at peace with this.
I told her about my eBay endeavors and she said she would give me some clothes (she has really nice name brand clothes) that she hasn’t worn much due to weight fluctuations. Sounds good…right!?!? No, she wanted me to sell them and then take the money and deduct it from the $500 that she believes she owes me. In a round about way she was going to have me put in the leg work to pay on her “debt”. Not so fast, missy.
- FAMILY:
This week my dad told me that he went to the doctor and the doctor said he was a heart attack waiting to happen. The only reason he went to the doctor was because he was denied for life insurance. He said to me “I feel fine”…let’s be honest my dad was a smoker up until last month, he has the “old man” belly and he eats terribly. All these are ingredients to be unhealthy, I don’t care how you feel. Let this be a lesson to all of us that we can pay the price to be healthy now or pay the bigger price to be unhealthy later.
My dad’s step daughter has a daughter that needs to be test for ADD or ADHD or something along those lines. She believes that they do not have health insurance, but I know the dad carries health insurance on the little girl. I know this because he complains about it all the time. The step daughter just asked her mom (my dad’s wife) to pay for it out right. I told my dad that he needs to have the step daugheter contact her ex-husband to get the insurance information. My dad said “I will tell her”. Really, why would anyone want to pay full price for something that isn’t even their responsiblity. I don’t get these people at all.
- PLASMA: These past two month have been slow since I have been sick. I am feeling good and will go back tomorrow morning. Right now there is $150 needing to be transfered.
How are you doing on reaching your goals?
>After Christmas last year I decided to take birthday gift shopping for 2010 off. I am just tired of buying stuff. Each birthday or gift giving holiday I would rack my brain to figure out what gift do I want to give. This took alot of time to pick out just the right ‘stuff’.
This year I wanted to focus on giving something that mattered to the person and myself, but did not require an money. Whether we want to admit it or not the monetary value of a gift plays into our subconscious decision making. I wanted to remove this part all together. For example: I could drive home and spend the day with my dad or invite my mom to visit me or agree to go with my brother on a sky diving adventure. Even though money is spent by one or both parties, the gift is the time I spend with them.
My current dilemma is that I recently started dating this guy, which I have been acquainted with for 2 years now and his birthday in on Wednesday. Normally I would make a big fuss, but this goes against the agreement I made with Me, Myself & I. We really enjoy spending time together, but this time I want to do something unique or different to celebrate his birthday with him.
Please help me if you have any ideas!
>As you all know one of my roommates is my brother. We have a lot of similarities, but at times we are drastically different. Personal finanace is one of those areas.
Currently he is 28, collecting unemployement and going to school full time. His tuition and books are paid for and he qualifies for money above and beyond that he lives off of. I on the other hand work full-time and am paying back my student loans.
Yesturday, on our way home from a friends house, he told me that I am paying my debt off in vain. This started a huge discussion. His kept saying “What if you die the day after you pay it off?”. If you don’t get to live debt free everything you are doing now is in vain. I disagreed with him, because I feel that I have learned alot from this process, met people, helped others, applied the principles to other aspects of my life where I wanted to see different results, etc. I do not regret anything I have done in my journey so far and I do not feel like I have acted in vain.
I know there is a possibility that I may die the day after my debt is paid off, but I am smart enough to know that it is not likely. Therefore paying off my debt is a caluclated risk that I am willing to take.
Sometimes these types of interactions make me wish that my battle against debt was less public with my friends and family. As I move in to paying down my student loans, I hope to make it a little more private by talking about it less.
What are your thoughts? What kind of reactions have you had from your friends and family?
>Today was a day of good things happening to good people.
- First: My friend, Avita*, decided to accept a job that would move her to more desirable geographic location.
- Second: My friend & roomie, Bianca*, was offered a job within her company that would move her to a new city. I hate to see her go, but I am so excited for her. She is a hard worker and deserves the best of opportunities.
- Third: My friend, Celia*, set a date for her wedding.
To celebrate, I went with Celia & Bianca to Penn Square* for coffee. While we were waiting in line Bianca asked to see the location that Celia chose for her wedding. At that moment, Celia said lets go and we realized noone really wanted coffee. We were gonna spend our money on something we didn’t want. (no money lost…yes!)
On the way out we grabbed on of those free entertainment papers and inside I found the Spring Entertainment Guide. As we were driving I found a 50% coupon for an ice cream shop. I love, Love, LOve, LOVe, LOVE ice cream, so I recommended that we try it out sometime. Then I realized it was located in the same square where we had left our cars.
It was the cutest little ice cream shop I have every seen. I couldn’t have been more than 10 feet wide with 3 little tables. They only had vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Not so bad, when you see how many mix-ins they offered. We each got a small serving (2-3 scoops) for $2.08.
Oh, what a great find. Those guides are all over town. I will be getting more coupons.
Today I am greatful for other peoples blessings and deals on Ice Cream
>I am not catholic, but many of my friends are. So, they talked me into giving up something for lent. I gave up facebook. So far so good. Now, I am bored and want to check my account. I guess I will have to find something else to do that is free. Any suggestions?
What are you or your friends giving up?
