Archive results for “April 2006f 2006”

On this page you will find the search results for the search term that you queried.

Ouch – A Forgotten Loan Appears

Back when we purchased our home, we took a loan from my in-laws. I completely forgot about it, and my mother-in-law recently mentioned the loan after 2 and a half years.

If she just mentioned it now out of the blue, so it must mean that they need it. It is a chunk of change ($1,775). I did have the money set to go to the credit cards, but I think I’d rather just pay the loan in full. Sure, it’s interest-free but it’s family.

Ouch, another big bump in the road and just a few days after announcing the goal date. I think I will leave the goal date intact for the time being because time is limited to run all the scenarios again.

And really, I already set it – let’s see what can happen. The worst that could happen is we don’t make it, but I bet a heck of a lot of progress will be made trying to make it – more so than if no goal was set :)

Tags: bank, loan

Posted by Tricia on April 30, 2006 at 8:45 PM in Loans | 4 Comments »
You can leave a response or trackback from your site. |

Eight Ideas to Make a Few Extra Bucks

A great way to help reduce your debt faster is to find extra income. Here are some ideas for making a few extra bucks (remember – every little bit counts!):

1.) Are you good with word processing and spreadsheets? Ask around local businesses and see if they could use some temporary help on an outsourced basis. Do a great job with one business and word can spread like wildfire.

2.) Are you artistic? Ask area businesses if they would like their storefront windows painted for the holidays.

3.) Are you a budding shutterbug? Ask area realtors if they need photos taken of houses for sale. It could be as easy as taking 3-4 shots per house and you could earn around $9.00/photo (depending on area).

4.) Are you good in the kitchen? Why not ask area restaurants to try some of your goodies and see if they would be willing to purchase some from you?

5.) Are you a pet lover? Offer pet-sitting services if you have the room and someone home during the day.

6.) Are you crafty? Make up some of your crafty items and sell them at area craft shows or flea markets.

7.) Are you organized? Offer organizational services to businesses and residences, which may include doing the organization yourself or merely consulting.

8.) Are you a neat & tidy? Offer cleaning services to businesses and residential areas. A great market to get into is to clean newly constructed homes.

There are many other ideas out there, just remember to think outside of the box and to keep your eyes open. When it comes to reducing your debt, even an extra $20/week turns into an extra $1040 a year :)

Post included in the Carnival of Debt Reduction #33 at Free Money Finance.
Tags: extra+income, debt

Posted by Tricia on April 30, 2006 at 12:44 PM in Making Money | 7 Comments »
You can leave a response or trackback from your site. |

I am Blushing!!

In this huge world of the internet, I see that I have visitors to my blog and it is so great to have others reading my words. The comments have sometimes brought me to tears, cause, well…someone out there understands or someone else is finding my words useful. It is so flattering, and what can I say? Besides a heart-felt thank you.

Then I realize that others are linking to me within their blog. Maybe I am being over debt-emotional, but I can’t help it. In this world of hustle and bustle – someone took the time to read my blog and took the time to discuss my blog within their blog.

So who has been making my ears itch?

There’s the AOL Money and Finance Editor’s Blog, where my blog is listed in the article “Time to Act on ‘Save vs. Debt’”. I’m featured with other great personal finance bloggers and I am honored.

Then I discovered that Dawn from Frugal for Life expressed that she enjoyed my article on Keeping Motivated to Become Debt-Free. That meant so much to me that I went and submitted my post to Ezine Articles and it was just accepted to be published :)

My post on Keeping Motivated also struck a chord with a fellow personal finance blogger at Debt $ense. Check it out for some more tips on how to keep motivated.

To everyone, all I can say is thank you, and I’ll try not to get mushy on everyone too often. It’s just the more I blog – the more I see my goal as becoming a reality. And that’s pretty darn cool :)

Posted by Tricia on April 29, 2006 at 1:52 PM in Blogging Buddies | 3 Comments »
You can leave a response or trackback from your site. |

Better Check Your Pennies!

Surfing the web is often how I spend my Friday nights, and tonight I came across a really neat story about a man named Scott A. Travers. He’s a coin collector and decided to mark National Coin Week by deliberately spending some valuable pennies.

Wow. How cool is that!! :)

Tags: pennies, coin+collector

Posted by Tricia on April 29, 2006 at 12:07 AM in Misc | Comment First »
You can leave a response or trackback from your site. |

Mechanic Woes…

Well, as I’ve posted before, my car’s check engine light came on and it went to the mechanic today. He said it could take a couple hours to diagnose. Understandable. But here’s the problem…

I trust this mechanic with all of my heart, but he hasn’t worked with my car model other than mine and he’s been quite frank with me about that. I have used his services before when my car had problems and sometimes it has been fixed. But, there was one problem that he couldn’t fix and it sort of went away (but then came back again).

Do I spend the money for him to diagnose it, and then find that he just doesn’t know what’s wrong and can’t fix it like before?

It is so hard because I have been taken by mechanics before and it’s not a good feeling. I just trust him so much – but I think my car is just out of his expertise.

I could go to a dealer, but the nearest one is hours away. I don’t know if I should drive that far with something wrong with my car.

Deep down, I knew that perhaps the check engine light wouldn’t be very specific. But I guess I was just really hoping that the problem would be very straight-forward and there wouldn’t be a question as to what is wrong.

With everything else going on, I just feel like shutting down for a while. I think I better so I can recoup myself.

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Posted by Tricia on April 28, 2006 at 5:31 PM in Life Experiences | 7 Comments »
You can leave a response or trackback from your site. |

Big Announcement – The Goal Date is Set

Goals scare me, because I don’t like to fail. I have been toying with naming a date to be credit card debt-free by and I have decided to just go for it.

Thanks to the debt calcuator at CNNMoney.com, it was determined that I could be debt-free in 3 years. Just imagine…$37K of credit card debt gone in three years. I like the sound of that :)

The amount I have to pay monthly is a little over $1050/month (just for the credit cards – not counting other debt). That is a large chunk of our net monthly income, but it can definitely be done. Let me rephrase that…it WILL be done.

So, without further ado …

Target Date to be Free of Credit Card Debt: May 1, 2009

My game face is on, and I am ready to show my credit cards a thing or two ;)

Tags: card+card, debt

Posted by Tricia on April 28, 2006 at 8:07 AM in Debt Updates | 14 Comments »
You can leave a response or trackback from your site. |

27 Years, 8 Months – Sounds Like a Prison Term

It will take me 27 years and 8 months to pay off my credit cards if I only pay the minimum payments.

Oh my….

That means I would be 56 years old before my credit cards are paid off!!!

Going further with that scenario, I will pay $26,024.44 in interest if I only pay the minimum.

That’s not funny, it’s pretty darn serious. And it is adding more fuel to the fire to become debt-free!

Need some motivation? Get your credit card balances, interest rates and minimum payments ready and use the calculator at CNNMoney.com Debt Planner.

Tags: debt+reduction, debt, credit+card

Posted by Tricia on April 27, 2006 at 3:00 PM in Keeping Motivated | 5 Comments »
You can leave a response or trackback from your site. |

Older Archives »

About This Site

My Debt

  • Original Debt: $38,495.86
  • Paid: $19,149.13
  • Remaining: $19,346.73
  •  
  • Broken Down
  • Auto Loan 1: $0
  • Credit Card: $0 Woo Hoo!
  • Student Loan: $9,501.52
  • Auto Loan 2: $9,845.21

Categories

  • Supporting Sites

    Note: This is the end of the usable page. The image(s) below are preloaded for performance only.

    Offset header image Offset header image