Archive results for “March 2009f 2009”

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Do You Enter Sweepstakes?

When I am in a store, if I see a box with entry forms next to it – you can bet that I’ll take a few minutes to fill out a form, fold it a certain way that I think will increase the chances that it will be picked and drop it in the box. I haven’t won anything yet from local sweepstakes.

But I have received things won in sweepstakes. My mom won a men’s 10 speed bike and a big Easter bunny. She gave both of them to me and I was tickled pink. I didn’t care that it was a men’s bike and I didn’t care that the Easter bunny was almost as tall as me and a little scary looking. It was free!

I have thought about trying our luck with sweepstakes that I find online. Then I start to wonder if the time spent filling out forms is worth it. Online sweepstakes probably have many more entrants than local sweepstakes. You can’t win if you don’t participate – so I thought I would ask if anyone reading participates in sweepstakes. If so, have you won anything?

Posted by Tricia on March 29, 2009 at 10:27 PM in Life Experiences | 15 Comments »
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It’s That Time Again…Catching Up on Emails

I was so embarrassingly behind on emails, so today I sat down and went through almost all of them. That means that I have some interesting stories to share.

Jen sent me an article at Boston.com about a woman who survived debt. She just happens to be a nationally known authority on networking. I never get tired of stories about people who dug themselves out of debt!

Beverly sent me an article at Reader’s Digest. It’s a question and answer with Jean Chatzsky. I like the way she tells people to face their finances even though they are ugly. I really believe that getting a handle on your finances is one of the key steps to getting out of debt.

I also have an interesting blog post to share from another blogger. $165K in debt got a text message (that cost money to read) from a local politician and decided to ask that politician for reimbursement. It wasn’t that much money, but it was the principle behind receiving spam text messages. The politician did reply.

Lastly, I have to say thanks to a few people. First up is Danielle. She gave me three cheers when we reached the credit card debt is less than savings level. I’d also like to thank Lucy Lou from MoneySavingGuide.com for including me in her list of 10 Female Bloggers Who Paid Off Big Debt.

Posted by Tricia on March 28, 2009 at 10:48 PM in General Personal Finance | 4 Comments »
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It’s Sinking In…

I received a new credit card yesterday to replace an older one. I always dread calling to activate new cards because I always seem to get someone who talks really fast and tries to sell additional services. You say no and then they read another script worded a little differently to try to seal the deal.

I didn’t get a fast talker this time but I did get a persistent person trying to sell me a program that would make my monthly payment if I lose my job, etc. The charge for this program depends on the balance on your card and this card is the one with the last of our credit card debt.

I’m not interested in a program like that and told the woman, “No thank you.” She went on again. I said, “No.” Then she got a little personal. “Do you have anything that will pay off your balance if you happen to lose your job?”

I am not a quick thinker. If my fifth grade teacher hadn’t of zapped the word, “Um…” from my vocabulary, I would be saying it all of the time (thanks, Mrs. R!). I don’t know where it came from, but I had a quick answer for her…

“My emergency fund.”

Dead silence on her end. I don’t think she expected to hear that. I didn’t expect to myself to say that! After a few seconds, she said, “Ok.” She didn’t discuss the program again and our call ended shortly after that.

I know we have more in savings than credit card debt. The whole thing is still a little surreal even though I’ve written about it on here and discussed it with my husband. Saying it out loud to someone else other than my husband made it really sink in. I can definitely understand why some people who have paid off their debt call into a radio show to yell that they are debt free.

Posted by Tricia on March 26, 2009 at 11:28 PM in General Debt | 20 Comments »
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Buy Your Groceries at Auction

I read an interesting article on Yahoo earlier tonight. I had no idea that you could purchase groceries at auction!

As consumers seek relief from the recession and spiraling food prices, grocery auctions are gaining in popularity as an easy way to cut costs.

[Via Yahoo.com]

I have worked in the grocery business, and I have had to throw out perfectly good food that was only a day past their use by date. It made me feel sick to my stomach – it was good food going to waste. It seemed like there could be a place for that food to go instead of the dumpster. Hearing about these auctions gives me hope about that practice. The store makes some money and people get discounted food – it’s a win-win!

The story also got me thinking about waste in general. I have heard stories about retail stores that throw out perfectly good products that they no longer wish to have on their shelves. Although I am not happy we are in a recession…perhaps there will be some positives that come from it. I hope stores decide to go the auction route with products that were going to end up in the dumpster.

Posted by Tricia on March 25, 2009 at 8:13 PM in General Personal Finance | 10 Comments »
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Sometimes I Feel Like Our Timing is Off

I have had bangs all of my life up until a few years ago. I decided that I was going to tough out the awkward stage and finally have long hair across the board. Bangs were not in-style so it seemed like a perfect time to try to grow them out just to do something different (I’ve had pretty much the same hairstyle since high school).

I grow them out, and what comes back? Bangs. I’m not big on style, but the whole thing makes me chuckle. I seem to have horrible timing sometimes.

It spans over to our finances too. Right now if you have the money, you have some great bargaining power when it comes to real estate. I still regularly check real estate in the area even though we can’t buy anything right now. Wouldn’t you know it…there is a house that has many of the things we are looking for. It’s small, has a nice open layout and has a nice yard for a big garden. Alas, we aren’t in a financial position to pursue the purchase of that home.

We also can’t afford to buy stocks right now. When the markets dip like they have, some say it’s time to buy. I don’t know a lot about the stock market yet, but part of me feels like we are missing out on this.

I try to look on the bright side of things so deep down I know that even though it seems like our timing is off sometimes – things will work themselves out. There will be other opportunities and at some point we will be in a better position to be able to take advantage of them. I just need to have patience (which is tough sometimes!).

Posted by Tricia on March 23, 2009 at 11:56 PM in Life Experiences | 14 Comments »
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My Guilty Pleasure – Wife Swap

The Lifetime television network runs weekday Wife Swap episodes and I really enjoy watching that show. There’s something very interesting to see how other families live and how the wives interact with their new families. Who knows how much of it is skewed by the magic of editing, but there are some things that can’t be skewed.

There was a show on the other day where the new wife reprimanded the husband of a family because he was putting in a minimum of 40 hours a week at his job. Part of her new rules was for him to work overtime. The dad came home from work after the kids were already asleep and it hurt him deeply. He missed not being there to say good night.

I teared up at that point. I’ve been there. At the time we didn’t have much of a choice due to our financial situation. Even though my working hours are different now and I do get a hug and a kiss good night from our son every night – I still find myself telling our sleeping son good night when I go to bed…just like I did way back when.

Priorities. I think that is the root of most of the drama on the show. It’s also one thing that seems to change the most with many of the families after the swap. The experience opens their eyes, and I love watching the end when the cameras come back to visit the families a few weeks after the swap.

I think because we have gone through a priorities shift in our family (thanks to our debt reduction journey) – I enjoy watching others go through it as well. It also doesn’t hurt that they sometimes have some great frugal families on there

Posted by Tricia on March 23, 2009 at 12:17 AM in Life Experiences | 4 Comments »
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Credit Card Debt Update – It’s a Biggie!

Our credit card debt as of today is $2,499!!

Our savings is $3,800.

We are past that very sweet point where we could technically be credit card debt-free since we have enough in our savings to cover our credit card debt. Yay!

As tempting as it is, we are not going to use our savings to pay off the last of our debt. At least not right now. We do have a tax refund coming that will pay off some more. If all goes well with our business we will be able to take some more income from that next month (it contributed to this latest chunk of debt-payoff).

We are in the home stretch so we are going to push hard for this. We may end up using some of our savings to meet our goal date of May 2009. We’ll see what happens in the next 41 days.

Posted by Tricia on March 20, 2009 at 10:15 PM in Debt Updates | 24 Comments »
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