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Apr 21, 2013    |       24 comments

Revised Budget

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With new tax adjustments on my paycheck my take home pay is $2930 every two weeks.  I have consistently made at least $200 in Pampered Chef commission bringing my total net pay $6,060.00.

Here is what I pay that is NOT debt related:

Rent:  $1075

Insurance (car and rental): $80

Orthodontist: $65

Verizon: $100

Piano: $90

Life Ins (this is a separate policy from what I have through work): $30

Utilities: $75

Water: $40

Afterschool Care: $190

Netflix/Hulu: $20

Gym:  $25

TOTAL of known monthly expenses:  $1790

REMAINING: $4,270

Groceries:  $300

Gas:  $100

Dogs: $50

Entertainment: $50

Drycleaning: $25

Kids School Fees/Supplies: $25

Health/Beauty (hair, skin, etc) $30

Additional Items Total: $530

REMAINING: $3,690

 

My minimum payments on the remaining debt total $1,100.  This leaves me an extra $2,590 to put toward debt each month!  I look at that number and I am amazed!  I have had to make some very uncomfortable and humbling decisions over the last 8 months but to see that number and know what it means makes it all worth it.  Wow.  I’ll pay off that villain Bank of America in the  month of May (I’ll be about $165 short for a total payoff but I am hoping for some found money that month either via PC or taking more kids’ clothing to the resale shop…something…) and then that whopping $520 can be sent to the card with the $12,770 balance making a huge dent in that one.  I should be able to knock that out in 4 months.  At that point a full $3,680 will go toward the final $19,000 signature loan.  Can you believe it?!

I’m more comfortable with my budget now b/c I’ve paid attention to what I spend on these categories and for the last few months this has worked.  Budgeting is such a fluid thing and the danger for someone like me is that when things go off track I want to go completely off track and give up.  That isn’t how this can ever work and when I think about that I get tired.  Then I remember that with each passing day I am simplifying my life and if my income maintains (and hopefully increases) this will get easier SO LONG AS I keep my focus.  Whew.  It’s daunting to think about but I am in such a better place that I was a year ago.

Using some debt payoff calculators, I’m looking at roughly 6-8 months to be debt free.  I think I’m gonna cry.  No, really…and I am not a crier!  I am holding my breath though as I type that out because if I have learned nothing else from this journey I have learned that having a plan doesn’t always mean much.  Life comes at you non-stop with the unexpected.  I am very proud that I once predicted (when I was married) that we’d be debt free by December 2013.  If things go really well I might very well be finishing before that date!

Apr 20, 2013    |       11 comments

This is what happens when I don’t plan…and when I make excuses

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I  had to go out of town for business on Thursday and came home yesterday.  I had a Pampered Chef party at 7 pm and planned ahead and packed all of the supplies I needed for the show.  I really keep it simple so the packing wasn’t a huge ordeal.  I knew I would be tight on time with a 2.5 hour drive back home.  I took only a suit and some bad work out clothes with me on this overnight trip.  I managed to get everything I needed for PC but failed to pack something to wear to the event!  I had zero time to come back home and get to the party on time so…I did a bad thing…I stopped and bought something comfortable to wear!  I hit San Antonio and pulled into the first Marshall’s I saw–although that makes it sound like it wasn’t premeditated.  It was very premeditated.  I mapped out the first clothing store I could find on google.  Sigh.  I ran in and within about 10 minutes I managed to spend $75.  Just like that–total impulse shopping that was the result of poor planning.

I had about an hour left on the road after the shop stop to get to my party.  Thankfully there was a LOT of traffic and I had a LOT of time to think.  I thought about the fact that I would be just fine in my suit, minus the coat, as I talked to these gals about food.  I talk to juries about all sorts of random things while wearing a suit.  Two more hours in a suit in front of 10 women was not going to kill me.  But boy did I want out of those work clothes!  I sucked it up though and left the clothing with the tags on in the car.  As of this afternoon they have been returned.

Yes, that’s progress I suppose.  I didn’t keep the items.  Too bad I had to go through the craziness of the stop and then the stress of the thought process though.  I hope one day to be strong always but I am human after all.

The PC real food thing is still going pretty well.  I bring in at least a two hundred dollars each month and all of my friends are still speaking to me.  🙂  I don’t nag for parties but do keep the product in their thinking with just simple emails and texts letting them know when I order.  All very non-threatening and I find it helps for both friends and strangers to know that I am an attorney who is not making my sole income from this venture. It puts everyone at ease I’ve noticed.  I encourage people to make their wish list and then contact me as they budget for the purchase.  Yes, I am now preaching what I practice.  Two of the gals at the party last night paid in cash which prompted me to discuss what a great habit that was to practice.  I never want to be party to someone getting into debt for cooking products!

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