The cost of the trip?

$3,000 each.

I could say no but… I have decided to go.

Our tax refund covers the entire expense so we won’t fall behind on our debt free date.

I’m sorry to disappoint you, and I’m sure I have, but this is an opportunity I can’t turn down. Spending time with my family discovering our history across the sea, walking the same steps our grandfathers did, is important to me.

I looked down at my doughy fresh sandwich and immediately felt guilty.

I forget that sometimes, weight gain is a blessing.

The first of the month is around the corner. I can hear the collective groan. Bills are due. Stress is high.

Be thankful for what you have. There are those who would trade you in an instant.

The truth is…

I didn’t.

I have two simple choices when it comes to reducing my debt. I can sprint or I can marathon.

I am currently sprinting. I’m pushing, giving it my all, and taking no breaks. Unemployment is forcing me to take a hard look at every dollar. There is no dinner with friends, no movies at theaters, no new clothes, no dental insurance, no doctor’s appointments, nothing. There is no waste.

Sure I could even go further. I could eat bread and water and be debt free faster. I could sell my car and bike to my bus stop in the dark and be debt free faster. I could stop wearing make-up, shower once weekly, and leave my electricity off and be debt free faster.

But my weariness would grow at the same sprinting pace and I would burn out before my balances ever read zero.

I can’t sprint forever and once my husband is employed again, I plan on slowing my pace to what is was before his layoff. Every once in a while, I think it’s OK to buy a $6 burger during happy hour at a nice restaurant. Once every few months, I like to buy my husband a bag of his favorite coffee.

This is my marathon. Sure, some folks will be faster and others will be slower but I’m running this debt marathon to finish – not to burn out before I see the finish line.

Are you sprinting or marathoning?

And yes, I know I ended the above sentence with a preposition but sometimes, ending sentences with prepositions is the only way to not sound like Yoda.

Anyway – She is upper management and comes from a wealthy family. It didn’t cross her mind that, in a company full of employees who have been on a salary freeze for two years, it’s inappropriate to ask for six car seats. Yes. Six.

Heck, it’s probably inappropriate in any crowd.

She said she needed one for each of her cars… and then threw in that she needed six cars because she has six houses.

Financially, she’s where I want to be. Wait… she’s way past where I want to be. But the reality is, she keeps talking about being ‘happy tomorrow’. She’ll be happy when ‘this’ happens or happy when ‘that’ happens. Those things come and go yet her anger and resentment stay.

I wanted to shake the unhappy look off her face and scream ‘Lady! You’ve got money, a husband, and a healthy baby. What are you waiting for to be happy?!?!’

Hmm.

What am I waiting for to make me happy? Will being debt free be the one thing that puts a permanent grin on my face?

I know the answer to that and yet I still place my happiness in tomorrow.

Perhaps that’s something I need to work on.

and applying for the Making Home Affordable program.

Yesterday, I left work early and made THE call. My call started at 5:07 p.m. and ended at 5:57 p.m.

I called the Making Home Affordable number on my Bank of America mortgage website and waited 17 minutes on hold. Someone answered and transferred my call since my mortgage used to be a Countrywide mortgage and they had a separate division.

I’m fairly certain they routed my call around the world because really, what else can explain the 24 minute hold time and the gentleman who sounded like had lunch in Bangladesh. He asked for my name, account number, checked my account, thanked me for paying on time, and told me I would be transferred yet again to a representative. 9 minutes later, a message said, ‘Our office is now closed. Please call back another time.’

I would give you advice on dealing with the Making Home Affordable program but since I didn’t talk to anyone, I will tell you this… you need more than an hour.

Dear Bank of America… I had far better things to do than spend 50 minutes of my life listening to Kenny G. and the recorded reminder that someone will be with me shortly. Obviously you and I have VERY different definitions of ‘shortly’ AND, I had to drink three glasses of Chianti just to keep my ears from bleeding.
Ugh. Kenny G.

I’ll let you know how it goes… if I ever get through.

‘SEEMED’ being the operative word here.

Would you like a towel to use at the pool? Sure, that will be $22.99 – and he didn’t get to keep the towel. He didn’t realize the towels had to be returned by 9:30 at night and was fined the full $22.99.

Endless soda with your meal? $4.99

Oh, and let’s not forget the mandatory gratuity of $150 per cabin.

What started as a ‘cheap’ bachelor party turned out to be quite a zinger to the pocket book… a $230 zinger to be specific.

Be very careful when cruising and be aware of any rental fees and times. You can check your tab at any time to see what you are being charged for, so it’s a good idea to check it daily.

I was hit with some unexpected expenses.

Friday, we were invited to a club by a promoter. Our drinks and cover charge were free. Woo Hoo for night one!

Saturday, the bridesmaid/ trip planner took us to a nice dinner at the Palms. None of the prices were on the menu but she had told us we would pay $75 for the dinner and for an all access wrist band to the clubs. After the meal was finished, the bill arrived and I was quite surprised when I was asked to pay double and pitch in for the bride to be (the bridesmaid/trip planner had told us she would pay for the bride to be but then decided not to pay).

I was really upset, especially since the bridesmaid had known the full price but had accidentally added incorrectly when telling us the individual price a few days earlier. Plus, when she decided to not cover the bride to be for anything but instead, divide it among us, I felt deceived. Had I known in advance, I could have made a better decision about going or staying home.

Yes, I could have made a huge scene and demanded more money from the bridesmaid but…

This bride to be is my future sister in law and it just wasn’t worth it to ruin the trip.

So…

I paid way too much and we’re not going to make any progress this month.

Sometimes we just make bad decisions.

Ugh.

Sure I could stay home and skip the expense, but it means a lot to me to be a part of the events leading up to her marriage to my brother.

I promise to be good.

Have a good weekend.

My husband is attending a bachelor party this weekend and the event required one credit card to book the trip for all five attendees (the bill could not be split). Most of our friends know about our recent credit card payoff (maybe shouting that fact from my roof and breaking into song was a clear sign) and naturally suggested that since we ‘had the room’ on our card (as if it were free), that my husband pay for the entire trip and be reimbursed later.

I’m not going to lie. I am upset.

Perhaps I’d be more trusting if this hadn’t happened before with concert and event tickets and in the end, we were always short. People conveniently ‘forget’ to pay or promise to pay later and then get annoyed when reminded. Plus, the credit card will be kept on file in case there are damages to the room or if alcohol is consumed.

When I asked why someone else couldn’t pony up a credit card, he told me it was because everyone is nearly maxed out but us. Um… isn’t that a good reason NOT to loan these people our credit card?

My husband and I rarely fight but this is a sensitive issue for me and I feel like we are opening ourselves up to a lot of potential debt.

Am I overreacting?

We paid off our credit card last week.

We’re still working on my husband’s truck loan and the student loan but we promised ourselves little rewards for each payoff. It’s a good way to stay motivated when finishing a long stretch before starting yet another long stretch.

Surprisingly, my husband suggested a night out (surprising because I expected him to suggest something more along the lines of a macho flat screen TV or a beefy new grill). We purchased tickets to see Spamalot at the Civic Theater downtown. The tickets were $17 each (we sit in the nosebleed seats) and with dinner, we’ll likely spend a total of $100.

We get a one night break and it’s off to frugality again.

My first summer out of college, I flew to visit my sister living in Ireland. I had no money and no job, but this was my first opportunity to see my sister who I hadn’t seen in a few years.

We drank pints of Guinness in dodgy bars, ate Irish/Chinese food, explored the entire island, and somehow crashed her car into a fence. We sat on the edge of the Cliffs of Moher while David Gray sang ‘This Years Love’ from our cheap speakers. I had just started dating someone new (I later married that same fabulous man) and couldn’t imagine a world happier than mine at that moment. I had the most memorable trip of my life… and my MasterCard footed the $1,500 bill.

I know there are many more memorable trips in my future (trips I will save up CASH to pay for) but I don’t regret that ‘foolish’ spending. As I’m paying down my credit card, I try to remember that at least part of that payment is going toward one of the best times in my life. It takes a little bit of the angry bite out of those payments.

Is there something you don’t regret pulling out your Visa buy?

…
So who’s to worry
If our hearts get torn
When that hurt gets thrown
Don’t you know this life goes on
And won’t you kiss me
On that midnight street
Sweep me off my feet
Singing ain’t this life so sweet
…

I am very disappointed.

This event led to the following changes:

1. More involvement by both of us. Often in relationships, one person manages the finances. When things don’t go well and money is too tight, this person feels the stress, the pressure, and the responsibility for the mess. We have both decided to dedicate and hour each week to review each transaction. Now we have more checks and balances on each others spending – otherwise, we’ll have another bad month.

2. We are refocusing our goals and setting rewards. Our next payoff is still a ways away and we’re getting frustrated and bored. We decided to give ourselves something to look forward to after our next payoff. It’s nothing huge, maybe a dinner out or a trip to the theater, but rewards between payoffs has become something we need to stay motivated.

3. Reconsidering our numbers. We went back to make sure our numbers were working for our ever changing budget. We’ve been underspending on gas and overspending on miscellaneous necessities (car repairs, house repairs, etc.). We decided to adjust our numbers and perhaps pay a little less on our credit card so we can stop panicking when things aren’t balancing. Leaving the numbers the same would be great, but it’s obviously not working and it’s causing frustration.

4. We have decided to spread our focus. It’s easy to let finances consume our thoughts and lives. Rather than let this stress grow, we decided to let ourselves enjoy other things in life. Running, swimming, yoga, gardening groups, and organizing the garage help to keep our mind free of the finance clutter in our brains.

When there are long distances between payoffs, it’s important to work at what is frustrating you. You can’t solve everything, and it will be painful, but taking steps to at least reduce stress will help to prevent burnout. I’d rather take things a bit more slowly than give up entirely.

What have you done to motivate yourself and prevent burnout?

We went over budget by $90 this weekend.

I wish I could say it was on something important like an investment, a donation to the cancer society, or giving to help a military family but…

The $90 was spent on 5 flats of chicken thighs, 3 bags of charcoal, 4 fruit pies, green salad… and a round of golf.

My husband threw two hefty BBQ’s this weekend and went golfing with his brothers.

Fortunately, we both worked extra hours last week so we didn’t fall behind – in fact, we still came out ahead. Sometimes, inviting friends over to enjoy smoked chicken and homemade pies is worth it – especially when your BBQ is interrupted by an unexpected 20 minute fireworks show.

We sang Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Joni while playing Rock Band late into the night.

I’ve been wonderfully budget conscious for months; I hope you can forgive this exception.

How was your holiday? Any budget hiccups?

My husband loves this system. He turns on the hose for a few minutes while he eats breakfast and turns it off before he leaves for work.

Or should I say… he lovED this system.

I came home from work on Thursday and heard water running. Confused, I headed to the backyard and was greeted with a mass of water and a geyser like spray erupting from our hose bibb.

Turns out, hubby darling forgot to turn the system off and the pressure built until the backflow device exploded. This water mistake will likely add $150 to our water bill.

To make matters worse, my ever so annoying dogs like to kill every living thing in their territory. The new lake in my backyard caused dead, tailless, lizard and mice carcasses to float to the surface. I guess I can be grateful my dogs aren’t bigger. I don’t think I could have held my gag reflex quite so well at the sight of bucktoothed bloated squirrels.

To the state of California – I am sorry for wasting our precious resource. I have decided to make amends and cut my already short 5 minute showers to 3 minutes. So, when you see me… and I stink… remember, I had a choice to assault your nose or assault my wallet. In these desperate economic times, I chose your nose. Please forgive me.

And yes, we learned from this. Thanks to a $30 timer, this won’t happen again.

What was your biggest home accident?

No, I am not going to reveal my housing costs. Asking a San Diegan to reveal her mortgage payment is like asking a New York housewife to reveal her age. The only thing likely to happen is a giant string of lies.

I’m also not going to reveal our charitable giving amounts. What we decide to give is a very personal decision and it’s not an amount I’m willing to change just to pay more on bills.

Savings: $50
Electricity/Gas: $105
Cell Phones: $100
Cable/Internet/Phone: $100
Grocery: $300
Gas: $260
Laundry: $10
Toiletries: $11
Clothing/House Repairs/Animal Care/Spending Money: $200
Water: $70
Trash: $18

All remaining money is used to pay our mortgage, our credit card, our student loans, and my husband’s truck.

So. Am I normal by the numbers? What does your budget look like?

I’m not 27 as stated in my first post…

I’m 28.

I don’t lie about my age because I want people to think I’m younger. I lie about my age because I can’t remember how old I am. I honestly forgot I was 28.

Isn’t this supposed to happen MUCH later in life?

Why does this come up? My co-workers talk about my age a lot. They all assume I’m 21 or 22 and they act shocked when I break the news that I’m 27… er… 28. I guess the assumption is natural. I work for slightly above minimum wage and I’m surrounded by 18 year olds.

It could also be because, thanks to the greasy hot dog burner, I’m breaking out like a pubescent teenager.

Is it just me or does everyone feel 21 regardless of the emerging fine wrinkles and stray gray hairs?

It’s this mentality that continues to make me struggle financially. It’s OK to make stupid financial mistakes in your early 20’s. It’s not OK to continue those mistakes for the next 8 years. I guess I’ve always felt young so I always assumed that I’d live forever – and conveniently, that’s how long it would take to pay off my debts… including those club cover charges… from my freshman year in college.

But the reality is, if I want to retire before say… 2078, I need to take care of my responsibilities. I need a sense of urgency.

My financial class gives me that sense once a week but I find it wears away after a few days. By the following Tuesday I’m debating the necessity of Enya’s greatest hits or a discount cashmere sweater (fortunately I decided those were both non-necessities… for now anyway…).

Any ideas on how to keep that urgency? Other than someone poking me with a stiff cattle prod whenever I pull out my debit card?

How do you stay motivated?

I had great intentions and was pumped and ready when I went to sleep last night. When I woke up, it was a different story. The need for nicotine was right there and I couldn’t quit thinking about cigarettes. So I had half a cigarette.

As I was trying to work, having a cigarette was constantly on my mind. It was driving me crazy. After a while, even the click of my mouse started sounding like my lighter clicking. I always knew I was addicted; it became even more obvious with what was going on through my mind.

Before long, I was back downstairs and getting ready to go outside. I told my husband, “Well, I already blew it bigtime.” He suggested that I try to cut down and for the rest of the day I’ve only had half-cigarettes. True, cutting down is an option and I did that before when I was pregnant with my son. The thought was that while I was in the hospital I would give up the cigarettes completely. Well, didn’t work. As soon as I could leave my room without having the nurses yell at me I was out and about looking for where I could smoke. In fact, I almost was locked out of the hospital in the process!

This time, I want to quit and I want to quit for good. Maybe I should try weaning myself off of cigarettes instead of quitting cold turkey. Or maybe I should discuss this with my doctor when I visit him/her. Perhaps there is something I can take that is safe during pregnancy that will help. Maybe they might have some suggestions or can point me to a smoking cessation group.

Learning that I was pregnant put an urgency to quitting smoking, so I gave it a shot today. I feel very frustrated that I didn’t last very long. I recognize this feeling, and it’s lead to giving up before. I don’t want to give up. I think I need a plan, just like we have a plan for our debt reduction.

Thanks again to everyone that wished me well with quitting smoking. I feel horrible that I couldn’t do it today, but I’m not going to give up. I will become a non-smoker.

Now for the embarassing part. If you look to the right you will see that my savings total is down to $1,147. Just a few days ago, I was excited to let everyone know that we had reached $1,600 in savings.

What happened?

I’m not sure if I made the transfer! The money should have been withdrawn from my checking account by now and it hasn’t been done. Looking at my savings account, they money is not there and it doesn’t show a pending transfer. Usually I print or note confirmations and I couldn’t find one. So, it appears that I started to do the transfer because I remember filling everything out. Perhaps I didn’t hit the final button to seal the deal. I am so embarassed.

Add to that the fact that my math is horrible! The transfer was for $503. If you take the savings balance before ($1,147) and add them together, you get $1,650 NOT $1,600.

There’s a part of me that is saying to wait a few more days before trying the transfer again, just in case. My checking account is run so low that it would not survive two transfers of $503. Until I know about the transfer for sure, the best thing to do is to decrease the amount under savings.

I’m really surprised at myself that this happened because I am usually very detailed. I check and double check things – one might even say that I check things too many times. I almost have to wonder if this was meant to happen for some reason. That perhaps I am going to need that money for something else (like a bill I happened to forget about).

I guess time will tell, and hopefully sooner than later I my savings will increase again.

One of Meredeth’s closest friends, Christina, was watching and waiting to hear something about her friend. After a while, Chistina said that she couldn’t do this (wait for news) and left the hospital. We later see her shopping and a little bit later she’s visiting the bar showing the bartender what you can buy for 99 cents. She plopped a yellow plastic child’s chair on the counter (Christina has no children) to show the bartender her great find.

Christina is an emotional shopper…I was an emotional shopper.

More often than I would like, when I was feeling down about things I would go shopping. Interesting enough, most of the time it occurred when I was feeling down about not having money so I would turn around and go shopping. Like Christina, I wouldn’t go and buy glitzy expensive things, I would buy less expensive things that we really didn’t need. How about purchasing a cute picture frame even though I had no idea what to put in it? Or some new shirt that looks nice, but I probably won’t wear because it’s not “my style.” I wouldn’t spend a lot with each trip, but the trips add up.

Did the shopping make me feel better? Not really. I realize that now so I fight the urge whenever it arises. I’ve taken the need to go shopping and I either go online and write on my blog, or I clean the house. I’m replacing shopping with other things and so far it is working. There could always be a relapse and I could go overboard with buying expensive things, but I don’t think that will happen.

I feel much better now that I admit what was happening and I’m taking steps to stop it. Our checkbook is thanking me too, but the credit cards aren’t

I gave up soft drinks months ago and things were going great. I slipped a little when we went on a trip to visit our parents and I drank some Sprite. Water just doesn’t taste as good while on a trip and I don’t like buying bottled water. Once we got back home, it was hard to go back to water and kool-aid. Carbonated beverages were creeping their way back into my life.

Granted, it wasn’t as much as before. A two liter would last a few days, and I still was refraining from caffeine. Then Christmas came.

I received a gift of some tea and I’m not a tea drinker. I decided to try it, and to my amazement it was very good. It became a morning drink for me while working (I’m not a coffee drinker). I enjoyed the warmth and the taste and became excited while waiting for my water to boil for my daily cup of tea.

That was a mistake for the tea had caffeine in it. While not a large amount, it was still there. With every sip I was getting hooked on caffeine again. After I ran out of the tea, I went to the store and before I knew it I had a Mountain Dew 2 liter in my cart. I needed a fix.

What this means is that I will have to wean myself off of caffeine again so I can try to quit drinking soft drinks again. I won’t give up quitting because each time I do quit it means money saved.

Here’s the Dirty Dozen:

1.) It takes money to make money, and I don’t have any.
2.) I’m poor, always was, and always will be.
3.) I’m middle class, always was, and always will be.
4.) It takes too much time and effort to be rich.
5.) I’m just not smart enough to become rich.
6.) Money is bad.
7.) Rich people are low down, bad people.
8.) To become rich, you have to take on huge risks.
9.) People won’t like me if I am rich, or worse – they’d like me only for my money.
10.) It isn’t possible for me to become wealthy.
11.) My spouse or significant other doesn’t support me enough.
12.) I’m not good enough. I don’t deserve it.

This isn’t easy for me to talk about, so please bear with me if some of my thoughts seem scattered. I’m just going to blurt it out and hopefully it makes sense because if I think about it too much, I will never hit the publish button on this post. I can tell you where I spend my money, but when it comes to talking about personal issues I have…well, that’s another story.

#12 really hits home with me (”I’m not good enough. I don’t deserve it.”). For some reason, thoughout my life I have had the thought that I am not good enough and I don’t deserve things. It happens all the time when someone asks me if I do something. For example, someone asks me if I play bass guitar. I say, “Yes, but I’m not that good.” Someone asks about how my job is going. I say, “Good, but I’m still learning and catching up with things.”

When I landed my current job, I was so close to quitting that I am sure all of you would have commented and voiced your opinion. This happened when I first started blogging and I was still getting comfortable with blogging so I didn’t mention it. Like I said, this is a real personal issue with me. Anyways, the biggest thing making me want to quit was that I was making more money than I ever had and I didn’t think I deserved it. I could name many reasons why they should hire someone else. I didn’t have much experience…I didn’t have much education…etc, etc. When someone was passing out self-confidence, I think they skipped me.

I did stick with my job, and slowly I am gaining some confidence and starting to realize that maybe I do deserve that job. It has definitely been a slow process. And the confidence I lack is affecting our financial momentum. I know deep inside, I have a fire to possibly eliminate our debt quicker by making more money, but something is holding me back. It’s not the attitude, because I believe I’m pretty positive. I know it has to do with my confidence and believing that I deserve it.

That’s something that I need to work on.

What I found in my closet while cleaning over the holiday was amazing. I found old clothes from years ago that were stained and torn and for some reason I was holding onto them. We are not talking about a few things. We’re talking about two big garbage bags full of clothes that would not even be accepted by Goodwill.

For example, eleven years ago my brother came to visit me and he bought me a shirt. I wore that shirt as much as I could so it has definitely has seen its day and there is no way I would wear it out of the house. But I still kept it.

Then there are the holy holey (Edited: Thanks mapgirl for the correction ) pants. They have those holes in places where it’s difficult to fix by sewing and you can’t wear them in public. I had a stash of those tucked away.

Perhaps at one time I thought that I could make something new out of the old so I kept them. But I know most of those clothes have been there for years. It’s time to let go.

My garbage man is going to love me this week!

Probably the biggest problem is my financial files for the year. They are in shambles. I normally keep ALL of my receipts and file them nicely in little divided organizers. It’s in my nature to want to do this. Well, I confessed a while ago that this year has went down the drain in terms of keeping things organized. My solution…throw all of the older receipts away except for the ones I may need to return items. So far tonight I have divided the receipts up into a keep and a toss/shred pile.

As for the other files that I am going to keep, I am just going to mark a box with “2006″ and toss everything in there. If I happen to have a rainy day I can go through it. I’m not going to try to beat myself up trying to make it happen now.

I’m not sure how to proceed with my financial files for 2007. I am thinking about possibly going electronic. I have a decent scanner and my computer can print to .pdf so that is an option.

Wow. Just writing what I am about to do made me feel better. Now I better put my plan into action

Oh, I did find the receipts I needed so I can get November’s income and expense report done. I’ll post it tomorrow

I’m happy to report that our engine appears to be fine. Now, the oil was thick and my mechanic believes it might have clogged up the oil filter, causing the oil light to come on (or something like that – my husband actually picked up the car and talked to him). My mechanic did an oil change and also flushed the engine with Sea Foam. When he test drove it, everything seemed fine. Total cost of the bill was $36.

Now, here’s the not so easy part of blogging…the confession. We haven’t taken care of our car as well as we should have. Before this happened, the last oil change was due in July. I am embarassed about that. We were very fortunate and the whole ordeal only cost $42 for an oil change, the sea foam and the towing. It could have been a lot worse.

I feel like we dodged a big costly bullet. I think that car of ours is going to get an oil change every three months like clockwork now.

This one I am REALLY embarassed about. I think with working so much I had to let things fall through the cracks and this was one of them.

If you asked me to find a receipt to return something – I would be looking for hours. My paper files are an absolute mess for this year. I have about three places around the house where there are piles of papers that are just waiting for their homes.

Filing is definitely one of those things where it helps to keep up with it daily. If you don’t, you have a huge project on your hands. For me, it’s hard to get motivated as well as find the time to tackle it and get it done. I’ve let it go far too long.

Like I said, I’m pretty ashamed of this one. It doesn’t stop at the paperwork, either. My house is cluttered as well.

I feel a little better confessing, but at the same time I am so glad this blog is basically anonymous

I sleep with a fan on every night of the year. It doesn’t matter if it’s 50 degrees in the house I still have my fan on. I need that hum to drown out other sounds. I’ve tried a radio to replace the fan but it just doesn’t work.

I’m sure if I really forced myself to break my fan habit I could and I would save money with electricity. But, I don’t want to. Not yet, anyways.

I have bigger fish to fry…like quitting smoking that is next on my list.

Oh, and an update…I am still caffeine free

DATE ~ Balance / Credit Limit ~ $ Away from Credit Limit

1/22/2002 ~ $7484 / $7550 ~ $66
2/20/2002 ~ $7432 / $8050 ~ $618
8/21/2002 ~ $7713 / $9450 ~ $1737
2/14/2003 ~ $8924 / $9450 ~ $526
3/17/2003 ~ $8746 /$11650 ~ $2904

What I find interesting is that they seemed to raise my credit limit when I was close to the credit limit. They gave me plenty of rope, and I took it.

I put this under the Bad Money Decision Category because I could have called the credit card companies and requested that they lower my credit limit. I was in no way obligated to accept the raise but I didn’t complain. For me, that was dangerous because once they raised the limit, I would max the card out again. Then they’d raise it…and I’d max it. It was a viscious cycle and that’s how my balance grew to over $23,000.

Once the credit cards are paid off, I will probably keep most of them open. Some of them my husband and I have had for a long time and that is good for your length of credit history. But I will call to reduce the credit limits. I can’t think of a reason why we need such a high total credit limit ($57,000) for our income.

Most are about love and relationships, but here’s a few that are personal finance related:

This one doesn’t surprise me at all, it’s about a CEO that doesn’t like her job http://www.secret.com/share/secrets.asp?id=6.

I have done this one in the past. I’ve since learned that when I am just being me I am acting more like a millionaire than I previously realized http://www.secret.com/share/secrets.asp?id=15.

This one I know too well http://www.secret.com/share/secrets.asp?id=581.

I haven’t posted a secret yet, but I will soon. I think it is cleansing to get secrets and I have a few that I would like to anonymously declare. And part of me says…why not do it to just do it and live a little dangerously

When I do things I like to do it BIG. My husband is the same way. Meaning, when I make a payment to my credit cards, I like to pay a huge chunk at once. Why is that bad? Because I am actually saving money in my checking account in order to make a BIG payment. So I pay one $600 payment monthly but I could be paying $300 every two weeks.

One benefit of paying every two weeks is that on a yearly basis I would make more total payments!

Paying $300 times 26 weeks = $7,800
Paying $600 times 12 months = $7,200

That’s a whole extra monthly payment that I would be making if I paid my card every two weeks.

I’ve somewhat started doing things that way last month. I sent a few hundred to one of my credit cards one week, then a few hundred a few weeks later. I wouldn’t say that I am on 2-week schedule just yet but I am working on it. When you are used to paying things a certain way (and making sure there is enough money in the bank to do so), it can be hard to change.

But I am working on it

I have been very aggressively paying extra money towards our debt and I really didn’t leave much room for other things until payday. This lead to a little disagreement between my husband and I (one of the things I am trying to write about).

Well, we went shopping yesterday and I’m not very happy to report this…but the credit card came out. Total bill – $104.00. It hurt like you wouldn’t believe to do it and I saw my past coming back to haunt me. I know after payday I will be able to pay it right back, but that hasn’t helped how I feel. I couldn’t even swipe it – I had my husband swipe his card on one of our joint accounts.

I’ll get over having to use it, I know I will. It’s just hard to have done it and hard to have to come on here and write it. I could try to justify the use many different ways, but I don’t want to.

As I often say many times, I just have to pick myself up and keep going. I can’t let one mistake derail the progress that has been made. Just learn from what happened and keep going.

Sure, it was just buying something minor (matching dishes and silverware) but they way I reasoned the purchase can be a little dangerous. In my words, I said I purchased them as a “mood-booster.”

Thinking back through the years, I have bought other things as “mood-boosters” when I was feeling down or depressed. Do I feel that material possessions create happiness? If someone had asked me that question last week, I would have told you that happiness is not created by material possessions. But now I realize that my thoughts and my past actions do not equal one another.

Now that this has been brought to light, how do I go about re-mapping my way of thinking? That’s a tough question that I do not have the answer to at the moment, but it is an answer that I will be searching for. When I find it, I will be sure to share with everyone.

Wow, another eye-opener in the past few days. My response, let’s keep ‘em coming!

I bet by the title of my post you already know my answer. I don’t have one. I don’t have life insurance either (but my husband has a small policy on him thanks to his parents long ago).

Both things I better get cracking on and get done. I think the biggest reason I have dragged my feet was because of the mortality issue. I hate thinking about death in all regards. I’m not done with what I have to do here on Earth just yet. But if the unthinkable happens, I don’t want my husband and son drowning in debt.

That leads to the next dilemma. How much life insurance to get?

I don’t want to go too high, because costs need to be kept low at the moment. I think $100,000 policies (at least) should be taken out on each of us so at least the other spouse can try to get their life back together with no debt.

Gosh, this is so depressing to even think about. But I guess it’s a fact of life that has to be done. I don’t want my son paying for mistakes that I made if I have the ability to avoid them. And I don’t want the court deciding who should raise him.

With that said – writing up a will and shopping for life insurance is my goal for the next week. This is too important of a matter to let keep sliding by. A thanks to It’s Just Money for bringing the topic up.

I’ve heard that alot, and here’s my latest one:

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve goofed up on my road so far to become debt free, I’d be a millionaire.

Okay, so I haven’t goofed up that much – but I have made some blunders.

Like the time I initiated a balance transfer to the wrong credit card.

Or, like the time I paid my credit card late by one day.

Or, like the time my husband received an inheritance and it was spent unwisely.

The point I’m trying to make is that we ALL make mistakes. Just learn from those mistakes and don’t make them again. Reducing your debt is not an easy thing to do. If it was, there wouldn’t be so many of us blogging to track our progress to get rid of it. Just pick your head back up, look straight ahead at your goal, and reach it.

Now, will I ever enter in the wrong credit card number when doing a balance transfer again? You bet yer britches I won’t!

*Article included at the Carnival of Debt Reduction #31 at Canadian Capitalist
Technorati Tags: debt, credit+cards, debt+reduction

Bad Money Decision #2

Two words…I smoke. Not only is it unhealthy for my finances – it is unhealthy period. I started smoking when I was fourteen, a young girl looking for a way to rebel. I found it in smoking, but now I can hear my lungs rattle when I breathe and I have a cough that lingers.

I want to quit so bad. Gosh knows I’ve tried. But the addiction is so strong and my stress level – well, my crutch for handling stressful times are my smokes. I joke because some of the best ideas that I have had have come to me while standing outside smoking. I guess you can call them my killer thinkin’ sticks.

I don’t like spending so much for a pack of cigarettes. I think it costs over $5.00 a pack now. If you noticed – I said “I think”. That’s because I found a way to be a frugal smoker. I’ve been rolling my own cigarettes since 2003. Instead of spending over $150/month I am only spending around $30/month.

Boy, I just re-read the above and it sounds like I am just full of excuses. Any habit, whether good or bad, is so darn hard to break.

Technorati Tags: smoking, quit+smoking, money

My husband was left with a $40,000 inheritance from his grandmother. His grandparents were very knowledgeable in the stock market and made a bit of money.

To this day, I wonder where it all went. I know $10,000 was given to his mother to pay off the loans that she took out to help my husband with college costs. We also used some to pay for summer school. We bought a 27″ TV and we bought a $3,500 computer because my husband is into videography and needed a good computer for it. I also remember that one credit card was paid off completely ($1600) and I think some more money went to another one.

But really – at least $10,000 of it I have NO IDEA where it went. That’s not good. But we were young (both were 21) and naive about money. I think probably most of it went to eating out and spending the money on frivolous items.

If I had known then what I have known now, that money would have been spent so much wiser.

But as they say…you live, and you learn.

Anyone else care to confess a bad money decision?

Technorati Tags: inheritance, money

AHHHHH!!!

So, instead of being at zero percent – it is at 5.9%. As Homer Simpson would say….. DOH!

Not only that, but there is a huge credit on that card now. This has really put a little crimp in my plan to rid my debt. I have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what do to now. This weekend I will be posting my game plan.

It’s a setback – but with determination it can be overcome

Technorati Tags: balance+transfer, credit+card, debt