Archive results for “March 2007f 2007”

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End of the Month Updates

Today is the last day if I want to put more money towards our savings account. I had wanted to get to $2,500 by the end of this month. Unfortunately, it isn’t going to happen. In fact, as the clock clicks closer to midnight, it’s become clear that I won’t be able to put any more money towards our savings for a while.

My husband’s temporary job has hit a lull and he didn’t have any work last week and he only had eight hours the week before. That was bringing in around $1,000/month when he was working the max hours/week on a project. It hurts to see it drying up. It should start back up again shortly once his boss has the time to get him going on another project. But his boss is a busy, busy man and now we are at his mercy.

I also thought we were going to get a refund this year from our taxes. I was very wrong. This is the first year where we do not qualify for the earned income credit and man…that hurt. The withholding on my job is actually taking out more than it should and I thought it would cover the smaller jobs that my husband is doing and the income from this blog. I still have to finalize the numbers and file so I’m not sure of the exact damage yet. It’s definitely in the hundreds range and thankfully not in the thousands.

Then, there is the major financial setback. Again, I am still finalizing that one and when I know more I’ll give more information. This one will add to our debt load.

There is a lot here that isn’t good news. That’s life, and there are bound to be bad times. We had a great 2006 with paying off our debt and if it means we have to take a few steps backwards before we start heading forward again, so be it. It adds to the fuel to get my idea from the other day going.

At this point, I’m not sure what else I can do.

Posted by Tricia on March 31, 2007 at 11:09 PM in Debt Updates, Life Experiences | 2 Comments »
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Lessons to Learn from Mae Laborde

I’ve never heard of 97 year-old Mae Laborde before today. She was highlighted in a Yahoo article and I couldn’t help but smile the entire time I was reading it. What an amazing woman.

Mae Laborde via Yahoo.com.

There’s much to be said about life and what you can do with it. Since this is a personal finance blog, I’ll highlight a tidbit related to finance I found in the article:

“A Girl Scout leader for her daughter’s troop, she has kept in touch with most of her daughter’s friends. Now in their 70s, they’ll ask her for secrets to living a long life. She’ll tell them to never retire.

When she was 89 Laborde took a police training course just for fun, and she still cooks for herself, paints and raises tomatoes in her garden that she sells to a local restaurant.”

A police training course when she was 89? She’s amazing.

I’m still smiling…what more can I say?

Posted by Tricia on March 30, 2007 at 1:57 PM in Keeping Motivated, Misc | 5 Comments »
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Sometimes Fate Nudges You On

On Wednesday, I discussed that I had an idea. A major problem that I have is finding the time to devote to the idea to bring it to life. I have the ambition and I have the knowledge, I just need that time.

Anyways, I was feeling ho-hum yesterday. I still had my green sheet of construction paper at my desk as I worked and still jotted down ideas that came to me. There were no major developments, but at least the idea was still there. It didn’t go away and I’m not so sure it will.

Maybe I need something to help nudge me on. Something that tells me that, “Tricia…you are meant to bring this idea to life.”

Well, I received something. Actually, I received two things.

The first thing was a book that I received to read and review (and then give away on here ). The book is about attracting the job you want. In itself, the book doesn’t fit my idea and I already have a great job and I’m very happy with it. It was a quote in the beginning of the book that struck me:

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them” – Albert Einstein

I have been less than optimistic lately. I’ve found myself writing about the horrible stories of credit cards. While I think it’s good to discuss those things, I seemed to be writing about them a lot. Where did my optimism go? Yes, I have had some difficult times lately, but I know I need that positive outlook to make things happen. I need that back. I want it back.

The second thing was a resource that I will need to bring my idea to life. Talk about timing! And it wasn’t even something that you can order and it’s not something you think of arriving at your doorstep at a certain time.

Two nudges in one day. I can’t ignore them. It’s time to get my game face back on, kick some debt booty and get my idea going. I still need time, but I have a feeling if I work hard and work efficiently the time might be there.

Correct that…it will be there!

Posted by Tricia on March 30, 2007 at 1:01 PM in Keeping Motivated, Life Experiences | 6 Comments »
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Friday Blog Highlight and Free Goodies!

Basil and Bianca Bizzaro have posted their February income and expense report.

Debt Blitzkrieg shares her dream. Those dreams can help keep the debt reduction going strong.

Terri is wondering if there’s anyone else out there 45+ who’s just beginning their journey to financial responsibility?. If that describes you, stop on over there and introduce yourself.

Sparing Change, a NCN Network Member, has a completed chart! As NCN would say…Sparing Change…you rock!

This one isn’t a blog, but it’s a cartoon inspired by a political cartoonist that reads this blog.

FREE STUFF

Walmart has some new goodies!

Pledge Wipes

Naturals Cat Food

Enjoy!

Posted by Tricia on March 30, 2007 at 9:05 AM in Blogging Buddies, Free Stuff | 1 Comment »
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Subscribing to My Feed Via Email

I took a look at the program that is delivering my posts to you via email, and I see quite a few of you haven’t verified your email address. If you thought you signed up to receive email updates but haven’t been receiving them, this may be why.

When you subscribe to my feed via email, you will receive an email after you sign up. You will need to locate that email and click on a link to verify your email address. Once that is completed, you will begin receiving updates.

I subscribe to my own email feed to make sure things are running fine, and sometimes it gets filtered to my junk folder. I’m not sure why it does that, but you can add my email address to your “safe” list if you have that ability. The emails will show that they are coming from bloggingawaydebt [at] yahoo [dot] com, even though they are coming from the company (Feedburner). It’s crazy what they can do now a days.

As a reminder, I can see your email address, but I will not do anything with it. I will never sell your address or start sending spam. I also will not send you emails on a whim. The only time I will personally email you at that address is if you contact me first (which some people do by replying to the “Latest from Blogging Away Debt” email).

Posted by Tricia on March 29, 2007 at 1:06 PM in Misc | Comment First »
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Some Interesting Hospital Bill Tips from a Reader

A reader sent me an email about some of the things that he has learned when dealing with hospitals and billings. Since it’s good info, I really wanted to pass it on. He was very kind and gave me permission to share with all of you.

“The hospital is required to take any form of payment you can offer. If your bill is $1,000 and all you can afford is $100 a month then they have to accept it. The key is as long as you are trying to work with them on a payment plan they have to work with you. Sometimes the hospital will offer a “discount” if you pay it all at once. (They may not want to deal with the paperwork of the monthly payment or they want as much money as they can get now.) So they would say if you pay it all now it’ll be $700. So try the payment option first and see if they will counter with the “discount” offer.

Sidenote: A coworker told this incredible story. He had a high hospital bill, too high for a single, broke guy in his 20s. So he said he could pay $50 bucks a month. So for the next few years he paid his $50 a month religiously. Never missed the payment and had documentation for it all. Around the second year the hospital told him to forget about it. They just told him he didn’t need to worry about the payments anymore. Talk about crazy!!

Ask if they have any sort of assistance plan. If you qualify they have money that is set aside to help out people who can’t pay the bills. We had to go through quite a process and a lot of paper work but it helped us out. We had to fax in copies of all of our monthly bills and pay stubs to show that our end monthly balance was no where near the amount their bill was. In the end our bill went from a couple of thousand dollars to under a grand.

So don’t be afraid to ask questions and see if their are any other ways to help.“

Posted by Tricia on March 29, 2007 at 8:14 AM in Saving Money | 13 Comments »
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You Need a Car to Get a Job, But You Need a Job to Buy a Car

The events of the past week have taken a toll on me and I hit a low point yesterday. Sometimes, when it rains it pours and that has been what this past week has been like. I won’t bore you with the details right now, but along with grieving we will be dealing with a financial blow shortly. A one-two punch was more than I could handle.

Today when I woke up, I still felt a little depressed although the sleep did do me some good. Later in the day, I was outside smoking when an idea hit me like a freight train. An idea similar to this one had been floating around in my head for a while, but nothing as detailed as what hit me today. When I think about how my life is and how I want it to be, this idea can get me there. All of a sudden I had a huge smile on my face and I was singing along to tunes while working. That’s how I love to feel. Motivated… inspired… full of hope. It’s the best “high” you can get. Unfortunately, it wore off.

I’m still excited about my idea and I wrote it down on a piece of my son’s green construction paper so I won’t forget it. As I’m typing I’m glancing over at my scribbles. My “high” wore off because reality had set in and now I’m wondering where I’ll find the time to bring my idea to life.

That’s the thing. It seems like I have a million things I need to do and a million things I’d like to do. My idea can get me the time I need to be able to do the things I’d like to do. It can work and I know I can get it to work if only I had the time.

It is sort of like that saying…You need a car to get a job, but you need a job to buy a car.

How do you get by that? Honestly, at this point I’m not sure.

I need time to figure it out