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Credit Card Debt Update: $4,249

We weren’t able to get our debt under $4K by the end of February, but it looks like it will definitely happen in March. If all goes well, our credit card debt will take a nice hit next month thanks to a tax return and some increased income from our business.

We still have a bit to go, but we are getting closer. The next big milestone for us is the day where our credit card debt equals what we have in our savings. Just knowing that we could pay it off right then and there will feel very nice. At this time, we aren’t planning on doing that. I enjoy having the savings there. That’s not to say we might use some of it to finish off our debt. It all depends on what is happening at the time.

Posted by Tricia on February 26, 2009 at 11:20 PM in Debt Updates | 9 Comments »
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The Long Winter is Getting To Me

Every winter the same thing happens…I start getting sick of it and start getting down in the dumps. I’m not sure if it is seasonal affective disorder related, but I did look into full spectrum lamps. In the winter we do not get that much sunlight so perhaps that could help perk up the whole family a bit.

The price tag kept me away from doing that. So I went low-tech and went shopping for house plants. Perhaps if we had a few green living plants in our house that would help. As luck would have it, one store had some on 50% off clearance so I snatched up 4 hanging plants. They cost $20, so I am going to consider it a reward for quitting caffeine.

It’s amazing what some plants can do to a home. It just perks up the place. When there is just a sea of white outside, having a little sanctuary of green in the home is just what I needed. This summer I am going to hit some garage sales to see if I can find more pots so I can split up the plants I got. Then we can see how next winter goes. I’ll probably still get sick of it, but hopefully won’t feel down in the dumps.

Posted by Tricia on February 26, 2009 at 12:50 AM in Life Experiences | 12 Comments »
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A Reader Saved $270 With a Phone Call

I received an email from Tabitha the other day. She wanted to share her awesome story on how she saved some serious money!

I have been with Qwest for my home line for over six years and my internet for the last eleven months. My contract price for my internet is about to expire, so I started doing my homework. Well, I checked into Charter and they were able to quote me $29.99 a month with no contract. I called Qwest and told them the deal that Charter offered me. They put me on hold for about 8 minutes. (I hung on, b/c it has to be good, right?). Finally, Rhonda from the Loyalty Department comes on and asks me what I need. She said to hold on a little longer…… Five minutes later, she comes on the line and says, “Erin, we really appreciate your business and want to keep you as a customer. We are going to offer you 6 MONTHS of FREE internet as long as you keep you basic landline for the next 6 months.” I said, “What’s the catch, really it’s free as in NO CHARGE free?” She said, “Yep, it is a special gift we’re offering b/c of your loyalty.” Of course, I said, “SIGN ME UP!” The 6 months of free internet will save me $270 in internet charges. I am so excited I just had to share it with you. You can feel free to share this story with your readers, too.

I have to thank Tabitha for sharing her story. I have tried a few times to call our phone/internet carrier to see if they have any deals we qualify for. I’d be on hold for about 10 minutes and then something would pull me away so I never got an operator. This success story is motivating me to lock myself in my room to finally get through to someone and wheel and deal. I’ll also have handy a flyer for phone/internet deals from another company

Anyone else have success stories like this to share?

Posted by Tricia on February 23, 2009 at 9:03 PM in Saving Money | 16 Comments »
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Eight Months of Spending

At last, here is our monthly spending from June through January. I put it all on one snapshot.

Here are my comments about the report.

Income – Our income category represents net income. It also includes any money received from selling stuff or any money received as a gift. One thing to note is that December included an extra paycheck so it was a very nice month. January was nice as well due to increased income from our business.

There have been questions about our income and how things have changed since my husband started working outside of our home, I went to part-time and our business started growing again. I have a post about that coming this week since I have a few thoughts about that.

Automobile – This category includes everything related to car ownership – gas, insurance, repair, registration, etc. Our repair costs were up, and some were due to routine things needed for an older car. One interesting thing to note – we only spent $27 dollars total for gas in December and January. With our snowy winters, we don’t travel very far.

Cigarettes – Cigarette spending was up June – Oct. It dropped in November. Coincidentally, that’s when I reduced my hours to part-time and it gets cold to smoke outside (I don’t smoke indoors). I have been working on quitting…I almost was ready to do it mentally one day but then couldn’t do it due to stress. I no longer smoke full cigarettes though. Since I roll my own, I just put in less tobacco and make a “mini cigarette.” That probably has helped with the cost.

Clothing – I was a bit surprised to see the clothing numbers. I knew I was picking up socks, undies, etc. here and there and it all added up. January’s spending is actually for winter coats for my husband and I. I usually get a cheap $25 or $30 coat that either gets a hole or the zipper breaks within a month of purchase. We spotted some name brand coats on sale and decided to get them. We knew it was a good brand since my husband had one that lasted 8 years before it got too ragged. The price was right (25% off) so we went for it. This was a big step for me since I tend to fall on the “cheap” side of the fence. I’m trying to be more mindful of paying a little bit more for quality since you save money in the long run.

Entertainment – Our entertainment category includes DVD rentals, DVD/video games purchased as well as board games. We’ve purchased a few learning-oriented board games and in November we bought the Star Wars trilogy. That brings our DVD collection to nine movies.

Finance Charges – While doing a balance transfer to get our credit card debt at 0%, we had to pay $240. Yuk. We do not want to pay any more finance charges from our credit cards. We won’t have to if we pay it off by May 2009 (our goal date).

Food – This category includes dining out and groceries. I haven’t mentioned this, but we have had an intermittent house guest for the last part of 2008. A friend needed us, and we were there. It did hit our pocketbook a little in the grocery department. As for the June grocery bill, I don’t recall what happened there. It was pretty darn high. I have a hunch of what it might be, but I’d have to look into it. January does show quite the difference – much of it thanks to my husband and I giving up caffeine.

Grooming – I’d like to think our grooming costs are pretty low. I’m pretty low maintenance and my husband is too except for dandruff shampoo. It won’t show up until February, but I did treat myself to an exfoliant cream. Oh my gosh. My skin was so soft. So we may be spending a little bit more for that treat unless I can make my own.

Holiday – Holiday spending is for any decorations or holiday related items. Usually I purchase things after a holiday for the deals

Household – This category includes a lot of different things that involve the running of the household. It even includes things for outside maintenance. After having to pay attention more to our diets, we purchased more things for the kitchen like a scale and a slicer. We also decided to buy a “steam” cleaner for our carpets. Toilet paper, sandwich bags and sponges to wash our dishes with all go in this category. And repairs go into this category. We’ve had a few of those pop up recently. The spending here will actually increase once our credit card debt is paid off since duct tape can only go so far. There are quite a few things needing attention but they aren’t serious so we have been able to “band-aid” them for now.

Insurance – This is our life insurance. I have so much more peace of mind now that we have that.

Interest Expense – This is what we are paying in interest for our mortgage and student loans – a necessary evil at this point. *shudder*

Medical – Wow. Medical sure went up (this also includes dental). We do not have employer sponsored health insurance so we have an individual plan. It costs us $400/month and doesn’t cover everything. We’ve had some health issues, which lead to office visits and test and prescriptions. It all adds up quickly. This is a depressing category to review. I knew it was high, but I didn’t think it was that high. Hopefully everything we are doing now with modifying our diets will help bring that spending back down.

Pets – This category includes everything pet-related – vet visits, food, litter. Our pets are still fairly young and healthy. In a few years our pet spending will probably increase as they age.

Recreation – This category pretty much includes anything outdoor related like camping or fishing. December had some big spending. We found a great deal on snowshoes for our son. My husband and I already had pairs, but our son didn’t. Now we all can go out as a family. Unfortunately we haven’t yet since the days we all have off haven’t been very nice days. I’ll discuss that more later. We also purchased sleeping bags for everyone after finding a great deal on those. Our son uses his to sleep in every night which is great since he likes to kick off his blankets. I also like having them for emergency use (they are 30 degree bags) as extra blankets during a power outage. Since they are normally purchased for camping, I put them here.

School – This category is for anything school-related. I don’t anticipate much spending here for the rest of the year unless I find some great deals on school supplies (specifically for my son or donated to the school).

Toys – Any time we spend money on our son for toys it goes here. We have been using a reward system for our son for completing certain home therapy for his disability. The spending for that is included here as well, since he earn a bigger prize at the end.

Travel – We do not travel often – maybe once a year. The costs here include a pet sitter, food and lodging. It comes out to a little more than $100/day. It’s worth it, though, to see family.

Utilities – December looks like an awesome month, but that is misleading. We were ahead with paying our gas bill the month before it was due. In December, we didn’t pay the payment due until January until January. So our December numbers do not have the gas bill. January looks pretty big on the other hand, but it only has one gas payment. It was just an expensive month!

Thoughts: I really should have done this earlier since there are a few areas of spending that surprised me. I knew that we were spending more money in certain areas, but it never seemed like that much. I do plan on keeping up with this on a more regular basis. However, I plan on modifying it a little and will no longer track some minor details. I don’t think it’s necessary to track toilet paper, for instance. We are still using a price book to get the best deals so we’ll just put that expense under household. That will save time when going through receipts.

We’ll see what February brings. Our gas bill already has come down (thank goodness) and our grocery spending is still on track to be lower than our 2008 spending. February is a hard month, though. I’ve already bought a few things we didn’t need related to the weather. A post about that is coming up too.

Posted by Tricia on February 23, 2009 at 9:05 AM in Monthly Spending | 11 Comments »
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A Stroll Around the Blogosphere

I decided to take a stroll around the blogosphere today. I’m glad I did! I found some interesting articles to share

First up, Matt at One Million and Beyond is wondering if you are scared of your money. In a way, I am scared of money when it comes to having lots of it. I’m not sure where that fear came from. Maybe it’s apprehension for how money can change things when you have more of it than you normally do.

Next up is Lazy Man and Money. He took a look at his rent versus buy situation. This was a timely article to read. My husband and I were just talking about this. We didn’t get into the meat of the conversation (he had to go to work), but I was leaning towards rent and he was leaning towards buy. Of course, this is talking about what we should have done since we did purchase our house.

Lastly, Mr. Plasectomy talks about the financial irresponsibility of a parent. It is tough to see anyone we care for be irresponsible with money.

Posted by Tricia on February 21, 2009 at 11:03 PM in General Personal Finance | 7 Comments »
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Long Overdue Net Worth Update

I’ve been a slacker since July with posting financial details. That’s when things got busy with life and I let the details slide. As long as our debt was going down and we spent less than we earned – in my mind we were doing alright. I’m almost done with our income and spending report and I hope to have that posted this weekend.

I do have an update for our net worth and the little graphic in the left sidebar is updated. It is so nice to still see that line going up. Our net worth as of January 31st is ($23,489). You can see all of the detail on my NetWorthIQ profile.

There are a few things to note. Our car has finally decreased in value to around $4K, probably due to the lower gas prices now. For quite a while, it was hovering comfortably above $5K. If gas prices go up again, there is a chance the value could go up since it is a fuel efficient car (not a hybrid, though).

During one of the last net worth updates I posted, I received a few comments about my retirement fund. I wasn’t updating it, even though the value was very likely changing. I’m sure it has lost value with everything that is going on right now. Since there wasn’t even $3K in it and I am no longer contributing to it, I decided to remove it from our net worth. It’s not money that I plan on pulling from anyways. The rest of our assets we can sell/pull from if we need to.

There is one other thing missing from our net worth. Back in October, I sold this blog to Jeffrey Strain (from SavingAdvice.com and FreeMicroLoan.com and other sites too). That is sitting in a separate savings account earning interest and I am pulling a salary from it monthly to equal the income I would normally make from this site. There is still money in account, but since the sale price is not public it is not on our net worth.

Part of the sale agreement was to keep blogging here for six months. That means that my commitment per the terms of sale ends March 31st. Our credit card debt will probably not be paid off by then, so I’ll be here for a while longer after that. Some of you have asked me to keep blogging. You will still see me around here because I am looking forward to following the next blogger and participating in the comments. You’ll also probably see me around other debt blogs as well. I haven’t had the time to read many of your blogs lately, and I’d like to get back into doing that. I’ve also thought about finding a blogging gig somewhere. If that doesn’t materialize, at the very least I will join a forum. If I do, I will announce on here. I’d like to thank those that shared your opinion about me still giving updates now and then – you’re right.

Everything still seems very surreal. By the end of this month, we should be able to get our credit card debt to close to $4K. Only a little bit more to pay off and we could technically use our savings to pay off the rest. It’s hard to describe, but I feel like asking my son to pinch me. After three years at reducing debt, so much of it has become second nature…extra money automatically went towards our credit cards. What will it be like without having credit card debt? I guess only time will tell.

Posted by Tricia on February 20, 2009 at 8:43 PM in Net Worth | 5 Comments »
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More Than Just the Numbers Has Changed

It’s always nice to see the numbers change. After all, our goal is to get our pesky credit card debt paid off. I think what I am finding the most interesting right now is how much we have changed. Don’t get me wrong, I love that our debt is going down. I really smile inside when I think about what we used to be like and what we are like now because I believe the change is for the better.

Stuff used to rule our life. A holiday coming up – well, gotta go buy some decorations. Fisher Price came out with a new Little People set today – well, that is a must have addition to our son’s toys that already fill his room. We didn’t have money in our checking account for it so on the credit cards it went.

We don’t put things like that on our card anymore. It’s not just because we are trying to reduce debt. It’s because we know that we don’t need all of that stuff for happiness. The book Debt is Slavery actually was a big eye-opener when it came to stuff (if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it – see if your library has a copy to borrow). I felt sad selling most of our stuff. It wasn’t because I was going to miss it – it was because we spent so much money on it.

An interesting change is one that I’ve tried writing about before, but couldn’t find the words. I still can’t quite seem to get it out. So I’ll give an example of what changed. We knew that reusable shopping bags were out there but never gave them a second thought. We’d get plastic bags and toss them in the trash (less a few we kept around the house for various uses – but we didn’t use many). It was really starting to bug the both of us so we paid the money to have some reusable bags.

It’s almost like since we were cutting the wasteful spending we were doing – we started cutting other waste from our lives as well. I wish I could convey this better – I’m not sure I fully understand it yet LOL.

Even though our goal was to pay off credit card debt, we have received so much more in return. We are a much happier family overall. That is a wonderful benefit

Posted by Tricia on February 18, 2009 at 12:24 AM in General Debt | 14 Comments »
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