Archive results for “February 2008f 2008”

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Jacking a Credit Card, Ways to Save Money and Cutting Up Some Credit Cards

Thankfully I am starting to feel a little bit more like myself. The flu bug that I had was pretty icky. Now that I’m feeling better, that means I can get caught up on things. A few things to come: finishing that huge post of tips on how to save money with groceries, a book review, some thoughts about Craigslist and eBay and some stories from my credit card past.

For now, here’s some articles that caught my eye this week:

Over at We’re In Debt, someone tried to jack their credit card. Scary!

Cleverdude is running a series on ways to save money. He even mentioned one that we are trying, blocking off unused rooms. Which reminds me, it’s probably a good time to see how our electric/gas costs are doing this year compared to last year.

Jesse is holding a credit card cut-up contest. Top prize? An iPod nano (plus some other neat things).

Posted by Tricia on February 29, 2008 at 11:10 AM in General Debt, Saving Money | 10 Comments »
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I’m In That State of Mind

The financial stars aligned again this week with a few different checks arriving from my husband’s side jobs. I love it when it happens like this because I can send a huge chunk of cash towards our debt. While I don’t mind chipping away at our debt, nothing quite gets my blood flowing like making those big payments.

For one, it really shows how much money we aren’t spending. We are doing something right to have that much money as “extra” money. Secondly, I can give a “take that!” to my credit card. That always feels a little good.

I’m happy to report that we have broken down below the $14,000 mark. Our credit card debt is now at $13,699.

It’s hard to describe how I feel right now. I think one of my favorite quotes helps to sum it up:

“What this power is, I cannot say. All I know is that it exists, and it becomes available only when you are in that state of mind in which you know exactly what you want, and are fully determined not to quit until you get it.”

- Alexander Graham Bell

I’m in that state of mind. I want our credit card debt paid off!

Posted by Tricia on February 28, 2008 at 10:25 PM in Credit Cards, General Debt | 20 Comments »
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Musings on Snow Removal

Free Money Finance had a pretty interesting article breaking down the economics of snow removal. I know a lot of you chuckle when I mention our snow amounts. Trust me, this time of year I am about ready to have some 60 or 70 degree weather

Last year, I was very tempted to buy a snow blower. We didn’t end up getting one. A snow blower would have come in handy this year. We have already received over 200 inches!

We’ve thought about hiring someone to plow our driveway but in the end we decided against it. We’ve also thought about getting a front end loader to come out to remove some of the huge snowpiles. But again we decided against it. Both of those options cost money that could be put towards our debt reduction.

It’s snow. It will melt in a few months. It’s a little inconvenient because we have no yard and we sometimes feel trapped because we are surrounded by snow. But we’ve survived over 8 winters with only our shovels so what’s another year.

Once our debt is paid off, maybe then we’ll think about getting one

Posted by Tricia on February 27, 2008 at 10:00 PM in Saving Money | 12 Comments »
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Still Working on Selling More Stuff

A while ago I was able to sell a few things on Craiglist. So I listed some more things. I haven’t been able to sell anything else. Granted, the things I listed are probably better suited for a garage sale but I gave it a shot. I may try listing a few more things on there, but I think I should be more selective with what I list. Once I try a few more things, I’ll let you know what I discover.

Some things that I have are probably better suited for selling on eBay. There’s nothing quite like having buyers get into a bidding war. I should know…I’ve been a buyer caught up in that before and I ended up spending a little more than I was planning to on an item. I just read today that there is an eBay boycott going on. I guess some sellers are very unhappy with the listing fees and changes to the feedback system. I’m not in the loop, so before I list anything I better research what this is all about.

There is always the option of having another garage sale. In less than two months, enough snow should be melted to have one. I still think that is the best bet for selling many of the things we have. Even though we had a lot of credit card debt, we do not have many brand name or high-demand items.

Even if we don’t bring in a lot of money, it still feels good to get rid of things! Reducing clutter is awesome!

Posted by Tricia on February 25, 2008 at 11:15 PM in Making Money | 13 Comments »
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Obtain a Copy of Your Credit Report for Free

I’ve discussed this before, but I happened to remember to obtain our credit reports last night so I thought I would give a little reminder on here.

Every year, you are entitiled to one free annual credit report from one of the three major credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion & Equifax). You can opt to get all three at one time yearly, or you can space them out over a few months. For example, you can get Experian now, then in four months get the TransUnion and then in another four months you can get Equifax. With doing that, you can check your report out three times a year.

To get started, all you have to do is visit annualcreditreport.com. There are a few imitation sites out there that even charge you money! But annualcreditreport.com is the authorized site and it’s the best price of all…free.

I’m happy to report that everything seemed in order on our reports. In the past, we have had to clear up accounts showing as open, but were closed. We almost didn’t get our mortgage because of an extra auto payment showing up. Mistakes are sometimes made, so it’s best to check things out to make sure everything is in order. It’s also important to check everything out for suspicious activity.

Posted by Tricia on February 24, 2008 at 8:45 PM in Credit Reports/FICO | 11 Comments »
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Bad Habits & Bad Debt, Celebrating One Year, Job Searching and Simplifying Finances

Oh boy. I think I’m paying for it today for my wonderful day yesterday. Perhaps I did too much too soon after being sick, because today I feel like I tank has run over me. Thankfully I was able to rest for a few extra hours and even my cat ~~layed~~ slept by my side the entire time. My cat is usually not one to do that. It makes you wonder what animals are thinking sometimes.

As for me, the rest wasn’t all that restful. I kept waking up and I was dreaming of a project I’m working on going haywire at work. It almost makes me wonder what lies there for me tomorrow morning. As suspected, I was running a fever and I always have some horrible dreams when I have a fever.

I hope I feel better tomorrow. As horrible as I feel right now…it was worth it for yesterday

I am a little late in sharing some articles that caught my eye this week. Being sick has put me a bit behind with everything.

Cody shares that bad habits = bad debt. I’d have to agree.

JW celebrates one year of paying off their debt. Congrats, JW! I know you wanted it all paid off by this time, but you guys are doing awesome!!

For those in the job market, you may want to check out Matt’s ongoing series about job searching.

Lastly, Jim has an article on simplifying your personal finances. I’m thinking of doing this shortly by closing some of our credit cards.

Posted by Tricia on February 24, 2008 at 8:10 PM in General Debt, General Personal Finance | 10 Comments »
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What a Wonderful Day

Friday was not a very good day. I still wasn’t feeling well and after work I took things easy and went to bed early again. I wanted to be well-rested for a very fun day today (well, now yesterday). My goal was to go outside and enjoy a nice winter day.

What a great winter day it was. The sun was shining and the temps were in the low 30s. My husband was busy shoveling snow off of the roof and my son and I worked on a snow fort. There was a pile of snow just waiting to be dug into.

We both ended up giving up about three feet into it, because a brief thaw during the winter left a layer of ice that was difficult to dig into. So my son grabbed his sled and had some fun sledding down the pile. Our dog also joined in on the fun.

We even fit in a nap and after the sun went down we played some games together.

It was a very wonderful day

Posted by Tricia on February 24, 2008 at 1:10 AM in Life Experiences | 4 Comments »
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