Paying Off the Debt

I did remember to use my new cash back card when I got gas yesterday. I see when I got home though that they didn't charge me for the Coke I bought, so I need to tell the owner that when I go back in again. I know he saw I had it, must have just forgot to add it to the bill. I had mentioned to him that I had just activated the card, so I hoped it worked. He told me he wasn't worried because he knows where I live (one block away). Ha, ha. So when I sat down to enter things in Quicken last night I had to chuckle that I had inadvertently "shoplifted" the Coke.

Today's exercise was a 1 mile walk and some resistance band work.

Today is a day of doctor's appointments. DS#2 is going to work with me and then off to see the ENT at 10. His ears have been plugged for many months now. He just finished up an antibiotic for an ear infection about a month ago and the ENT said to come back if the ears were still plugged. They are.

After his appointment I'll take him to school and then come back to work until it's time to go to my annual checkup. Oh joy. The favorite day of the year for every woman, right? Ha! Well, best to get it over with.

So I'll probably get to come home a bit early because there's not much sense in heading back to the office for just an hour or so.

Then tonight is date night for DH and I. We usually go out for dinner and then get groceries. I know...terribly exciting and romantic. That's what you get after almost 22 years. :-) We like it though because it does give us a night out and also combines the trip for necessities, so I guess we're being frugal in that aspect.

There's not much in the grocery account because of paying for the Angel Food Ministries groceries I'm getting on Saturday. So my challenge today will be to keep us within our grocery money limits for the week.

I'm depositing the check today for our son's tuition that I put on our CC for him. I'll give that a few days to clear and then get that $963 off of our credit card. That will make me feel a lot better.

Spending amounts:

$16.00 for a haircut
$24.00 for gas for the car
$10.00 on DS#2's lunch account

I don't know which of you it was from Indiana that sent the Walmart gift card for my librarian friend that arrived in the mail today, but I wanted to say a huge thanks to you! I know your "real" name but don't want to post it here, for obvious reasons. Just know that your gift is going to be hugely appreciated and will be a real blessing to her. I know of a couple of other things coming for her so I'm going to wait until they arrive and then take them all at once.

Thanks again!

I called the gas company today and had them put us back on the budget. I had forgotten I was going to do that in September. That week that we had to use the ventless heater when our pellet stove was down really messed up my budget. Just using it one week doubled our gas bill! So I'm back to $83 a month for gas. I'd rather handle it that way than have it be all over the place.

Thought I'd start posting my exercise here each morning so that I'm somewhat more accountable to getting it done. I don't usually have that problem, but you never know...

So today I got up at 4:15 and did the Fluidity Beginner workout. Tough one. I haven't even tried the Intermediate workout yet and I've had them for months now.

I already know that today's expenses will include filling up the car with gas. I do get to use my new Chase Freedom card though, so that I can start working on that free $250! I just need to remember to use it when getting groceries too. I'm so used to using my debit card for that that I'll probably forget.

We should be hearing soon if we are accepted for the term insurance. The paramedic said that it would be about a week. If so, I need to begin figuring out how to cash in the whole life policies we have and cancel the other term insurance we're carrying on my husband which is much more expensive than what we've applied for.

My spending today amounted to $1.58 for a large Coke at McDonald's on my way to work. I woke up with a sore stomach and knew the Coke would make it feel better. The 2 cents of the change went into the cash box and the rest of it into the console in the car so I have change for parking meters.

My Chase Freedom card arrived today. I was hoping it would because I need to fill the car up tomorrow and wanted to begin using it. I will continue to put aside the money for gas and groceries just like I always do and then just pay the balance each month. I'm anxious to see how long it takes to earn the cash back. I plan on letting it build to $200 to get the extra $50.

I made the awful mistake this morning of wearing pants to work that are just a tad too snug to be comfortable. Why did I do that??? I know better.

So now here I sit feeling miserable. My boss is not here today and I really don't have much to do (obviously, since I'm blogging instead), so I could leave early and go change into something more comfortable.

I'm resisting the urge to go to the LLBean site and order myself some jeans. I know that that is not going to help the problem right now and I know that I have pants at home that fit just fine. So why am I tempted to pull that CC out of my wallet and order?

I think it would be cheaper to take half of a sick day and just go home...

Hmmm...sick of tight pants day?

Today was a no-spend day.

After church I took DD#2 back to school. DD#2 and DS#2 went with me. On the way back DS wanted to stop at Burger King for his dinner. I stayed in the car and let him spend his own money. I came home and had oatmeal. Tasted better since I didn't have to shell out any cash for it.

$34.88 at Dollar General for deoderant, cologne, milk, etc.

$298.98 for car payment

$29.95 on CC#1 for registry cleaner program

Spent most of the day yesterday, after taking my exam, on cleaning up the computer and trying to get it to work correctly. It has been EXTREMELY slow for ages. I did a search for a registry cleaner that had good reviews and found Advanced System Optimizer. I paid the $29.95 for it and downloaded it and got to work. Five hours later it was a different computer! There were so many duplicate files on it and all kinds errors. I had been using different registry cleaner and sypware/adware programs but obviously they weren't working up to par.

I hated to spend the $29.95, but it looks like it was worth it. I was seriously thinking we were going to have to buy a new computer. I have to have one that works in order to take my online courses to get my degree. Glad this worked and I hope it continues!

The exam went pretty well yesterday. Actually, I'm nervous because it only took me a little over an hour. We had 3 hours in which to take it. Usually the exams that I have no idea what I'm doing are the ones that I score in the 90s on. So I'm half afraid that I since I feel pretty good about this one, I must have really messed it up.

And one last subject for now...my change box. Remember I moved it so the kids would stay out of it? Well, I went to put 3 more pennies in it last night and discovered that all the quarters that were in it were gone! Turns out DS#2 took them to wash the car that he borrowed from a friend to go to the dance Friday night! So now I need to recount and start all over again! I think I made it pretty clear that everyone is to STAY OUT OF MY CHANGE BOX!!!

Today is my 3rd exam in Accounting 2. The test is actually here, not late like last time. I am having an extremely hard time making myself study for it because I've studied so much. I'm spending an average of 3 hours a night, after work, on this class. Can't wait for the end of the semester.

I woke up this morning with my carpal tunnel really bothering me so that will make it interesting for the test. As I type all the fingertips of my right hand are numb. Very annoying!

Quicken tells me that my car payment needs to be made today, so I have the check all written out and just need to subtract the total from my budget book and enter it in my spreadsheet as an expense for the month. This is my 2nd payment and we still haven't gotten our payment book! Guess I'll have to make a phone call on Monday. This payment takes the amount we owe below $16,000! Progress!

Don't panic! It will be paid next week. LOL!

DS#1 emailed that he owed that amount on his college tuition and couldn't do his scheduling on Monday if it wasn't paid by then. He hasn't gotten paid for his job on campus all semester because he's been slow about getting his direct deposit set up. So next week he'll be getting over $1,000. So I called the university and put the payment on our CC and he'll pay us back next week and I'll make the payment immediately.

I put it on the Amazon awards card so hopefully we'll at least get a $25 gift certificate to Amazon out of it along with the Christmas presents that have been purchased (and paid off) on it. This gift certificate is DH's to spend.

Thought that title might get some attention. LOL!

Part of my job is a sort of bookmobile/delivery service. One of those deliveries every quarter is to the county jail. Today was the day.

The jail only houses male inmates, so you can imagine that I get some interesting comments when I go in. But I also get many good comments. I usually have at least one inmate that will call out a thank you to me as I go by their rec room on my way to the library/conference room.

I actually don't really mind going there because I know that, for the most part, the service is appreciated. I am always saddened though as I go through the books that have been there for the quarter how many of the young adult titles have been read. Most of the faces I see are teenage/early 20s. What a way to start your adult life.

According to Quicken there are no bills that I have to pay today. So hopefully today will be a no-spend day. Of course, usually just the time I think that one of the kids needs lunch money.

Today I am forcing myself to get back out and start walking in the mornings. My mother made a comment to me yesterday that really hurt my feelings. She told me that I "used to look good". I know I've gained 40 pounds over the past few months, but I can't help that my thyroid decided to go on vacation. But after thinking about it I decided I can fight back. So I'm rearranging my schedule. (I am very much a schedule person.) I'm going to get in a good power walk at least 3 mornings a week and do toning on 3 days.

So new routine is up at 5, devotions, out for a half hour walk (about 2 miles) at 6 and then back home in time to start getting kids up and around for school.

I have been exercising faithfully with taped workouts but the aerobics just doesn't do it for me like a plain old walk does. I lost the 40 pounds before with walking and toning so I will do it again. I will get the weight back off.

My first goal is to get to 170 by my birthday in January. That averages to 1.5 pounds a week.

I opened up a free account with FitDay and have started to log in my foods. I know that I have an extra challenge with the thyroid issues but I'll do my best.

I spoke to my librarian friend on the phone yesterday. Her neighbor managed to temporarily fix her electrical problem. He thinks she'll be okay until spring and that to get it fixed properly then will be about $1,000. I would be nervous with a temporary fix.

The refrigerator is definitely dead. Too many power surges, I guess.

A friend from my other forum emailed me yesterday to say that she had sent a package out for me to give to my friend. I have never even personally met this forum friend, so this is really kind of her. Our women's group is going to figure out something to do for her when we meet next Tuesday. My husband has said that he will take the wood he has split and stacked that we aren't going to use this winter so that she has heat and doesn't have to worry about that.

I searched yesterday for grants and loans for my friend to get this problem fixed and found a loan through Rural Development that can be taken out for 20 years at only 1% interest. She definitely qualifies for it because the "very low income" limit was over $22,000 for a family of 3. I'm going to stop on my delivery today to drop that off to her and talk to her. My boss and I are both willing to help her through the process in any way we can. I think now she's just overwhelmed and it all seems too much.

Health exam for the term insurance is over. Yeah! We should hear in about a week if we can be covered or not. If we do get the insurance I'll have to decide what to do with the money we'll be getting from the whole life insurance cash value. I would like to take it and pay down the CCs. It would come within about $600 of paying them off. I have a feeling that DH will be wanting to use the money to fix the house up though.

I need to sit down today and figure out how much I need to pay extra on the CCs that has been added because of Christmas gifts. I have the money in savings just need to transfer it over and get the payment made.

Today is a delivery day for me at work so I'll be on the road. That probably means buying lunch. Sometimes I take a lunch with me. I'll have to see what I have available to pack. Get tired of PB&J all the time.

I'll be making an extra $40 this month from my side job as a bookkeeper for the library in town. They want me to come up with a budget for them for 2007. At first they wanted to pay me $20. I don't think so. DH told me to tell them $100. I knew that would never happen. Of course, I'm not going to count on the money until I actually see it. I was supposed to get paid extra for doing a salary projection for them because of the minimum wage increase and never saw that money after spending a few hours working it up for them.

Tonight's the paramedic exam for the term life insurance. I just finished my "lunch" (it's 10:30 a.m.) because we're supposed to fast for 12 hours, but the examiner told me since he's not meeting us until 5:30 to just stop eating as early as we can. So I ate my turkey sandwich extra-early. Now to get the water down so hopefully it's easier to take my blood. I do not bleed well for blood work. They've had to syphon it out of me before.

Got my weekly deposit into my Amboy account set up for Friday.

Made the last payment on DS#2's broken thumb from last October! Paid! Yeah! Just that little bit paid off is an encouragement.

Today is a paid day off for me that doesn't count against my vacation time! The library is the voting center so we are not allowed to be there. Okay with me! LOL!

So how am I going to spend my day? Sitting in the car dealership getting the things we've found wrong fixed before the warranty runs out! :-( But at least it will be done. They're also putting my snow tires on so I'm ready for the snowy, icy hills that will soon be mine to drive.

I'm going to take my book to read, my accounting to study, and if it's going to be too long I will ask for a loaner car to go do my Christmas stocking shopping and get it done.

On the change box, that is.

I've been ever so carefully adding up my savings as I've been adding to it only to find that DH and the kids are taking from it without my knowledge to buy treats at the convenience store 1 block over!

Oh well...guess they have to get dessert one way or another since I hardly ever bake anymore!

Well, the applications for the term life insurance are here and mostly done. The appointment has been made for the paramedical exam. That will happen on Wednesday after work. So we'll see if we're accepted or not. I just wonder how stringent their health guidelines are? Neither of us have major medical problems. Both of us do have high blood pressure though.

I hope we are accepted because it would sure ease my mind a lot!

No, not me, my son's, and actually it was over a year ago that it was broken. That's how long it's taken my to pay off what the insurance didn't cover. But when my husband gets his paycheck next week, that bill will be paid in full. Finally!

I've been thinking about what my financial goals are going to be for next year. By the time January 2007 rolls around I should have the small CC paid off with what's left of my husband's profit share check he'll get early next month. So I'll be concentrating mainly on the other CC for the year.

My plans for the profit share check are:

- tithe
- get EF up to $1,000
- will probably have to use some to finish paying for tires for my car
- remainder on CC#1

According to my Quicken Tax Center we will be getting about $1,900 back in our tax refund this year. Not my choice, but can't convince hubby to claim more dependents than what he already is. So that will also be applied to the CC.

So according to my calculations I should be able to have CC#2 paid off next year. Let's hope!

You know, just when you're feeling sorry for yourself and think you've got problems someone else comes along and makes you really thankful that you're not in their situation.

I have a librarian friend who is in a really tough position. Her husband has been in prison for as long as I've known her and she's raising 2 teenage girls on her own. The library board pays her $7.75 an hour for 30 hours a week. That's it. She's trying to make it on $232.50 gross a week! Last year she had no heat for a while until my boss took over a pickup load of wood for her. She has not had a car that works for well over a year now so she walks over a mile to the library and home in the dark. She has no phone because she has not been able to pay the bill.

This week the electricity in her house is not acting right. At first everything was extremely bright and then it browned out. She woke up in the night to the DVD player humming. So she woke her girls up and they got the things they would want to save if the house burned down and spent the rest of the night sleeping in the living room in case there was a fire so they could quickly escape. They've been sleeping in the living room all week now. She has brought her family pictures to the library in case her house burns while she is at work.

She called the electric company and they came out but told her it's something in her wiring so they're not responsible. Her neighbor has looked things over and found what he thinks the problem is, but said a certified electrician needs to do the work. She can't afford that. She already has bill collectors calling her at the library because she is behind on all payments.

This electrical problem has ruined her refrigerator.

Things like this sure make you thankful for the situation you're in. Things don't look so bad to me now. I wish I had a ton of money to help her out.

I've been feeling very overwhelmed by financial things the past few days.

My car needs 2 new tires for the winter driving here. We checked with our friend that we order tires from and found out the tire prices have jumped 30% lately and that these tires are not real common ones so they're even more expensive! They're going to be $135 each. We can just pay him monthly or weekly or whatever so that doesn't concern me too much, but just adds to expenses.

We've also been trying to get term insurance so that we know we're covered if anything happens to either of us. I see on the applications they sent us that they have marked annual premium and that we are to pay when the paramedical exam takes place. I definitely don't have that kind of money to give them up front right now. I'm going to call today, if I get a chance, and see if we can either do monthly payments (which is what I thought we were doing) or postpone the start of the insurance until my husband gets his profit sharing check in December.

The CC debt just doesn't seem to be going down as quickly as I thought it would either.

I just feel like I'm drowning in debt and not getting anywhere.

In Jane Bryant Quinn's book she recommends a Cushion Fund (a.k.a. Emergency Fund) of 3 months living expenses. This amount should include mortgage, groceries, car payment, gasoline, phone, utilities, insurance, minimum CC payments, health insurance, etc. Whatever bills you pay monthly should be figured into the amount you will need for 3 months.

She recommends not mixing this money in with other savings such as gifts, vacations, etc. because it's too easy to dip into.

Build up the cushion with automatic deposits from your checking account and any other bonuses or gifts you get.

She says for your own safety to build this account as fast as you can. If you have to tap into it, refill it as quickly as possible. This money should be kept in either a bank money-market deposit account or a money-market mutual fund.

I am doing this with my new account with Amboy. I am depositing $20 minimum into it each week. I would like to make it more, but until the kitchen addition is done I don't dare go over that amount. I want the addition paid for without adding to the CC debt.

Well, the exam is over with. By the time I took it I was so sick of the subject that I just wanted it done. LOL!

Now onto the next chapter which is about bonds and present and future value of money. That will be interesting and practical for me.

The only money I spent today was for gas. Had to fill the car up after running to work and doctor's appointments this week.

I got my term life insurance application in the mail today. Got most of it filled out. It's not too complicated. The only problem I have is under "Contingent Beneficiary". There's only room for 2 names and I wanted to put the 5 kids. I don't know if I can just attach a sheet with the names or not. I was just going to put "children" but they want names, SSNs, etc.

Tomorrow I take my accounting exam that I was supposed to take last weekend. It never arrived. Turns out my professor sent it to the wrong library for proctoring! So I've been studying like mad to keep all the info in my head so I can pass this thing. It just threw me all off when I couldn't take it the day I'd planned on.

So now I'm running behind on the next lesson and hope to catch up on that one after the exam tomorrow morning. Like this isn't a busy enough season as it is!

Just wanted to sum up Jane Bryant Quinn's money tips. This is the order she says to do things in:

1. Retirement: must put away 10 or 15% of your income

2. Reduce, then eliminate CC debt

3. Create a Cushion Fund (Emergency Fund). If still in CC debt start with a cushion to cover expenses for 1 month.

4. College savings for kids. This is optional and should not come before saving for your own retirement. She says the kids can always get student loans but you can't get retirement loans.

5. Prepay your mortgage. This should come last on your priority list.

She says that you should count any contribution that your employer makes toward your retirement fund in the 10-15% that you should be saving off the top.

I guess we're doing well with that because both of us have 5% withheld from our paychecks and both of our employers match that.

We're working on #2, but at the same time that we're also working on #3. I'll be happy just to get to $1,000 let alone one month's worth of expenses.

My blog is no longer listed under "New Blogs" on the main page. Does that make me an old-timer now?

The balance in the change box is decreasing rapidly. DD#2 was asked to go to the last home volleyball game with a friend and needed money to get in. Then DS#2 needed an extra quarter so he could get in. So just when I was close to breaking $5, I'm at just above half of that now.

Came home from work early today to get a dessert made for DH for his men's meeting tonight. He had also come home early to work on the kitchen addition since it was one of the few days this week with no rain or snow. Got his paycheck ready to deposit tomorrow morning and have a transfer set up for tomorrow into the Amboy account. That will bring us to $255 for the EF.

Ordered DS#2's Christmas presents today so that's one more down. I've got a bid in on an Ipod on Ebay for DS#3. I'll bid up to the amount we spend and if it goes above, I'll look at other options for him.

Yesterday was grocery shopping day. DH and I went to Save-a-Lot this week. He had never been there before. We ended up spending $90.64. So with the $43 I sent to Angel Food Ministries for November (got an extra meat package that sounded good) we went over budget this week, but hopefully will be seeing our freezer a bit fuller than normal.

Also had to take DS#2 to the doctor yesterday for his ears. They are still plugged, but the doctor said the infection is gone. So hopefully they'll clear up soon on their own. Paid them $30, $15 for DS#2 and $15 for DD#2's visit a few weeks ago. Figured I'd save the stamp for her bill as long as I was going.

After the doctor's visit we stopped by McDonald's so I could get a drink and I bought DS#2 dinner to eat on the way home. So I spent some of my $50 for the month. Now the trick will be to hang on to what's left for as long as possible.

Medical bills this year have been taking their toll. DS#2 has had several visits with specialists, but no ER visits so far. In August of 2005 he had 2 hemiplegic migraines within 6 days and ended up at the ER both times because we had no idea what was going on. When a 15 year old has symptoms of a stroke it's pretty scary! He was finally diagnosed with the migraines but I'm not totally convinced that that is what is going on, so he has an appointment with another neurologist the end of November. We have good insurance but those copays sure add up quickly. I want him checked again for Chiari's Malformation, a condition where part of your brain extends down into your spinal column. They found on one of his 6 MRIs in the past year that his brain is not all contained in his skull and does extend down into the spinal column, but they say it's not far enough to qualify as Chiari's. He had an episode in the shower one day though that he moved his neck a certain way to stretch it and he totally lost his hearing for a couple of minutes!!! Also, the 2nd migraine we know for sure came on suddenly after he circled his neck around while stretching. So I'd like a 2nd opinion on that.