Blogging Away Debt

Hope’s Debt – September, 2018

In NoIt’s time for another debt update. And I’m really excited about my progress. I’m less clear on what my plan is. I’m kind of flying by the seat of my pants right now.

When I know I have the bills for the next month covered, I start putting extra income towards debt. And I was able to make some extra payments this past week.

Current Debt Load as of 9/10/18

Creditor	Balance (as of 10/14/17)	Interest	Min. Payment
Student Loans	$34,587	2.88%	$0 (income based deferment)
Car	$6,162	7.00%	$0 (deferred until November)
Credit Card	$3,782	17.00%	$0
Collections 3 (Ex-husband)	$3,804	6.25%	$246
Collections 2 (Apartment)	$499		$0
Self Lender	$0	10.57%	$0
Total	$48.834		$246

Debt Notes

First off, I paid off my Self Lender loan last month. A month ahead of time – woohoo! And received my payout last month which funded my emergency fund! Even more exciting is that I’m receiving a $10 affiliate check from them shortly, someone else must have thought this was a good idea. I know the 10% interest is kind of high, but it was like a forced savings plan and that was really good for me! I would do it again (but I’m not.)
Because I have been able to pay extra every month on my car, I was offered a 2 month deferment (September and October.) I decided to take advantage of it and pay the extra towards some other debts the next couple of months. In November, I will return to paying $400 per month.
I haven’t made any more progress on my credit card. Last month, I dropped my on-going total right at $1,300. But that doesn’t mean I’m not paying on it. I continue to use it as a rolling credit line – use it and pay it. Here’s a screenshot of the payments made in the last 10 days. (Sea Cadet is an authorized user on this card as well, his only credit card access and also uses and pays it immediately.) While the balance hasn’t dropped any more, I do not have to designate a separate line item to make the month minimum.

Credit card payments made since Sept 1

As you can see, my largest debt payments this past month has been towards Collection #3. I’m thinking this is the debt I would like to target now. A change from my original plan to pay off the credit card first.

Just a side note, I did read the comment regarding my student loan, and while it is in deferment until next spring I am looking at starting to pay some on it.

I am now ready for your guidance. You can see my last debt update here. You are seeing my twice weekly anticipated and actual spending and income. I believe I’m getting back on stable ground and ready to make a plan of action to KILL my debt. WHAT should I target?

Meanwhile at work….

by Ashley

…I’m kicking ass and taking names.

Isn’t it so funny how things sometimes work – my life is falling to shit in one area, but at least another area is alive and thriving!

I’m so grateful to have a job where I feel so much personal fulfillment, I’m fairly compensated, I have a flexible schedule, I have great colleagues-turned-friends. I mean, just all around I like what I do, I’m good at it, and it feels meaningful and rewarding.

Good thing I like it so much, because I’ve been doing a lot more of it, too!

I was recently awarded this “Fellowship” thing.

That’s how I describe it to people because it feels so pretentious otherwise, lol.

Long story short, I got a high-ranking administrator to agree to fund a program I’ve designed (and will oversee), and he decided I needed a title to make it official so I’m a “fellow” now. 🙂

The problem is…..I’m not actually going to earn any more money for it. The administrator’s office will be paying for course releases (1 Fall, 1 Spring) so I have time to dedicate to the program, and the office will also pay for the direct costs related to the program as well. But I didn’t actually ask for any additional income for myself. I don’t even know how I’d approach that.

The thing is, I’m still an “early career” faculty member. And I’ve never had a real, true mentor. I mean, I had advisors in graduate school: people who I worked with on research and whatnot. But no one has ever been a more general “career guide” to help me in things like negotiations or making big decisions, etc. I’ve always just flown solo on that (and I feel like I’ve done pretty well, but it’d be nice to have a sounding board or someone with more life and institutional knowledge to help me out sometimes).

Sooooooo, I’ve committed to oversee and run this program for the 2018-2019 academic year. But if the program gets renewed for another year….I want to ask for more money, right? The weird thing is that I don’t think it can be salary. My salary is paid by my home department and this project is for another unit on campus. So my direct boss (my department head) isn’t going to give me a raise for work I’m doing for another unit. I think it’d have to be “supplemental compensation” or something???

Here’s the deal. I don’t even know! And I don’t have anyone to ask.

Right now I’m just crowdsourcing opinions from the BAD community. Anyone with higher ed experience? Maybe doesn’t even have to be higher ed experience. Just some better skill and know-how when it comes to negotiations and such. Is this a “thing” at public universities? And what would I even ask for? I already got course-release time. Would I continue that AND ask for more money? Should I ask my departments’ business manager?? Like, I literally don’t even know where to start. Any advice?