Archive results for “July 2006f 2006”
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Makingourway has posed a very good question, Do You Trust Your Spouse?
For my husband and I, we have a great deal of trust. I take care of all of the finances and he trusts me to pay the bills and make sure we have money. If we don’t have any, he knows that I will let him know. I trust him because I know for any purchase over $35 he will talk to me about it.
We actually combined our money a few years before we were married. He had a car payment to make and I had a checking account. Instead of getting a money order, he gave me cash to write a check for him. Before long, we just had his check direct deposited into my account. I wouldn’t advise pre-marriage joint accounts for everyone. In our case, it worked because we are still together.
Sometimes, though, I think he trusts me too much. I could easily hoard money for myself and he wouldn’t suspect a thing. He never looks at our financial file and he rarely even looks at his own paychecks (he hands them over to me still in the envelope). I have tried to get him involved in things but it just doesn’t interest him. One of my biggest concerns is his financial health if something happened to me. But it’s hard to show someone when they show no interest.
One thing I’ve thought about doing is making a little “manual” of how I do our finances. In it, I will list monthly recurring bills (e.g. phone, gas, cable) as well as all of our debt payments and when they are due. I will also list all accounts. In a separate document I will have all of the login information and account numbers. I think having something like that would help put my mind at ease a little.
Penny Nickel over at Money and Values did a really nifty thing for this week’s Festival of Frugality and put the entries in Limerick form.
Here’s mine:
“Tricia’s grocery bills are too high
So she’s found some new tips she can try
She lists some of the best
And then links to the rest
Giving many ideas to apply.”
Isn’t that cool!!
Make sure you check out the others (oh, and check out the articles too 
).
The Carnival I hold close to my heart (Carnival of Debt Reduction) is over at Money Under 30. As usual, lots of great information over there, but one article hit close to home.
When Car Debt Turns Really, Really Bad brought me back in time almost 5 years ago.
We were looking to trade in our truck and buy a new vehicle. I had looked at the Kelly Blue Book value of our truck and I couldn’t believe it. The value of our truck was less than the amount we still had to pay on our loan. It wasn’t a large amount, but enough to make you feel uneasy when you want to trade a vehicle in.
We found our current car, and waited for the trade-in offer on our truck. They would pay off our loan in full and that was it. Since I did the research I was happy with that. But part of me wishes we didn’t extend our financing on the truck for so long (6 years). The few extra dollars a month would have provided some downpayment on our current car. But at the time, you don’t really think about it. We learned a lesson, and we bought our car under a 5-year loan. Not the best, but definitely better than a 6-year loan.
In September, our car will be paid off and it will still has value! Part of it probably has to do with it being a car that is known to hold its value well, but another big part is that we didn’t go for a longer term loan even though they offered it.
Of course, I hope to pay cash the next time we buy a newer used vehicle, but if we can’t we are getting the shortest term loan we can (hopefully 3 years).
Darren Rowse at Problogger.net wants to know what we would do differently if we had to start our blogs again.
Honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing. Why? Because I am very happy with the progress I’ve made with my debt reduction and I am very thankful for every visitor I have had and every comment I’ve received. I never thought my credit card debt would be where it is at right now. It may only be one dollar under $30K, but it’s still under $30K 
If you think about it – if I changed one thing about how my blog developed, today would be different. I like the way my blog has progressed. I wish I had a screenshot, but my first template looked somewhat like this except the background was black. Looking back, it was sort of depressing and while I thought it was neat when I first had it, it soon didn’t fit “me.”
Then I went to a dark purple and dark green theme that I designed. Again, no screenshot. But, it was a little better than the first one in terms of a positive attitude. That one was soon replaced by my current theme which I was so glad to be able to reproduce in WordPress (I was on Blogger before).
At the moment I cannot see my theme changing but it probably will. As I learn and evolve, my blog will evolve. I think it’s great that I have this snapshot to look back upon years down the road. I believe that the human mind is complex and interesting as well as very powerful. I look at my blog as a way to understand myself a little more, and I slowly am.
So, I wouldn’t do anything differently
Why, Savvy Saver, of course!
I know…corny joke
Anyways, even though Blogger ate her first post with the entries for the Carnival of Personal Finance, she managed to put it all together for our reading enjoyment.
I always enjoy the posts that make me think a little, and I found one at Money and Values that asked, Save for Tomorrow or Live for Today?
Right now I am so focused on reducing debt that it scares me sometimes. I worry that with paying so much off and cutting so many corners that maybe we aren’t living for today. That’s where my husband comes in and keeps me in check so I am thankful for that.
But I know when the debt is gone, I want to start saving. If we put into savings what we are now putting into paying our debt – we would have a substantial amount for retirement. But do we want to keep a little bit back so we can live a little now instead of waiting for the future? Then, if you ask that question you need to ask how much you need to live a little now? Is it really the money that helps you live for today?
See what I mean – it makes you think.
My son’s mind is soaking up so much information that the “why” questions run one after the other. Some, of course, I can’t answer. But, we’ve set aside some time right before bed where he can unload all of his questions on me and I’d do my best to satisfy his curious mind.
The other night we talked about bats. I asked him what he would like to talk about next and he couldn’t think of anything. So I snuck in there, “Why don’t we talk about another word that starts with the letter “B”?” His eyes widened. “We’ll talk about banks.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said.
Good. He was excited. I asked him what he knew about banks. He said that you get money and suckers from them (our bank gives suckers to the kiddies).
I was a little nervous, because this was the first time I’ve really discussed this concept with my son. I approached it gradually. “You can also take money to the bank and they hold it for you. They put it in a big safe.”
Oh, he loved the idea of a safe. He said, “Me lock up my money at the bank so no bad guys can get it.”
I continued on. “And when you put your money in the bank, you can make money by doing that.” (it is so very hard to try to put everything in words that a four-year old would understand).
“You make money?” he asked.
“Yes, you make money. It’s called interest.”
He repeated what I had said, like he was explaining to me what banks were and he seemed to understand.
The next day, I prompted him to tell Daddy what he learned about banks. He said, “Me put my money in bank and they lock it in a safe so no bad guys get it.”
“Anything else?” I asked.
“Mmmm…no” he replied.
He did forget the whole part about interest and making money by saving money. But that’s okay. The door has been opened and we have many more bedtimes to discuss
I called my credit card because they raised my rate only a month after getting it lowered. The customer service representative stated that it was due to the prime rate raising. Ok, I understand that.
He took no time at all to try to lure me into a balance transfer offer (because the balance is zero right now on that card). The offer was 4.9% for the life of the balance. Not a bad offer. He tried to hurry me with making a decision because he wasn’t sure how long the offer would last. He even said they would send me a check in the mail and I’d have 90 days to use it for this balance transfer offer. If I decide not to do it I could just rip it up and toss it. And, the best part of all is that they would send me a check for a “little” more than I tell them to make it out for (a little sarcasm there).
Anytime someone hurries me to make a decision, that’s a red flag to just step away and say no. I like to think about things and this customer service rep tried his hardest to get me to say I wanted the check. I finally told him that would think about it and I’ll call back if I’m interested in it and he backed down. If I decide I want it and it expires by the time I call again – so be it. It probaby wasn’t meant to be.
BUT – I bet that check will come in the mail regardless – LOL.
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About This Site
My Debt
- Original Debt: $97,293.06
- Paid: $1,927.89
- Remaining: $95,365.17
- Emergency Fund: $1100
- Broken Down
- Line of Credit 2: $0.00
- Line of Credit 1: $0.00
- Credit Card 1: $0.00
- Credit Card 2: $245.00
- Credit Card 3: $405.00
- Credit Card 6: $1,785.00
- Credit Card 7: $2,381.17
- Consolidation Loan: $11,000.00
- Credit Card 10: $14,519.00
- Auto Loan 1: $16,093.00
- Credit Card 11: $23,873.00
- Auto Loan 2: $25,064.00
Finance Blogging Buddies
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- Becoming and Staying Debt Free
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- Everybody Loves Your Money
- Financial Hack
- Free Money Finance
- From the Brink of Bankruptcy
- Generation X Finance
- GRACEful Retirement
- Grad Money Matters
- It’s Your Money
- Josephsangl.com
- Kick Debt’s Butt
- Lazy Man and Money
- Low Income Life
- Make Love Not Debt
- Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge
- Mighty Bargain Hunter
- Money, Matter and More Musings
- My 1st Million at 33
- No Credit Needed
- One Million and Beyond
- Personal Finance Advice
- pfblogs.org
