Our Love & Hate Relationship with Interest

Interest is constantly on my mind, like a lover I can't forget, or a drug I can't shake. Right now, I feel such passionate hate towards interest. I hate seeing it on my statement each month. I dread looking at the amount that's there. Each time I hope it's smaller and smaller, until finally one day I will be done with it. I detest knowing that each month I send HUNDREDS of extra dollars in to the creditors and for what? Stupid interest, that's what!



Right now, interest is the penalty I have to pay for the silly things I borrowed money for.



But I know down the road, once I've gotten the debt paid off, I'm going to feel such passionate love for interest. It's going to be the exact opposite of what it is right now. I'm going to welcome it and crave seeing it. I'm going to long for it and hope the amount is higher. It will become my lifeline, my addiction, my hope. One day interest may enable me to live the life I want to.



Interest will become the reward I'll receive for saving my money.



It's rare in life that we have such a love/hate relationship with anything and this is one that can help set us free or lock us under it's spell for life. Interest is powerful. I'm looking forward to the day when I recognize it's power as good instead of evil.

Free Credit Report Time!

It's that time of year again! Time to get your free credit report online. If you recall, I started doing this back in April and I planned to check it every 4 months at the free website:



https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp



Last time I checked our reports with Experian and this time I plan to go with Equifax. You could also use TransUnion. Here's hoping all looks good! I'll keep you posted if I discover anything out of the ordinary.

Balance Transfer

I'm happy to share that our new credit card arrived last night and I called right away to activate it and initiate a balance transfer. The credit limit is $3K and the transaction fee is 3% so I was able to transfer $2,910 to the new card. I'm so excited! They said it will take a few days to go through. As long as the transfer hits CC #2 before the due date on the 24th, I'll be one happy lady!

Hope you all have a good weekend :) Take a moment to stop and smell the roses.

Another offer from Discover!

So, last week I received the offer from Discover to take out a personal loan. After applying and getting approved, I decided the high interest rate wasn't worth it. Well, now they've followed up with a new offer...

If I charge only $3K per month for August through December, they'll give me a $500 cash back bonus!

Oh boy. NO THANKS! Seriously? Put $15K on my card so I can get $500? That's almost equal to 2 months of what you've been charging me in interest. How about you look back over my statements and see that I've already put $15K on your damn card and give me the "bonus" anyway?

I'm taking a little bit of pride in thinking they are starting to see me paying down my balance so they're trying to do anything they can to get me to charge stuff so they can earn more interest. Well, it ain't gonna happen. So take that Discover!

Our Vacation Decision!

October will mark our one year wedding anniversary for the hubby and I. We have been on the fence for several months as to whether or not we should take a vacation when we are in debt. We posed the question to the readers previously and got mixed reviews. After a long walk on the beach on Sunday, we made our decision.

We will not be going on vacation this year.

We jointly agreed that being out of debt as fast as we can is more important to us, than taking an anniversary trip this year. So, the $2K we planned on putting towards our vacation will now be going right towards our debt! This should allow us to have our CC#1 paid off at the beginning of December, instead of the end. Then we can start throwing every last penny at CC#2.

As much as I'd absolutely love a week away at an all-inclusive resort on the beach, it's just not the right time for it. We'll be able to celebrate our anniversary and being out of debt, next year!

There's a saying when you are trying to lose weight...

"Thin feels better than that tastes"

Well, I think we should have one for people trying to get out of debt...

"Debt free feels better than having or doing that feels"

I'm brainstorming here, I'm open to suggestions :)

So, instead, we'll plan a special day close to home for the two of us and look at some of our honeymoon photos (that's one above), recalling how much fun we had and daydream some more until we can actually plan another trip in the future. It won't be that long!

The numbers are in...

Today I decided it was time to do a status update, since it's been a while. We finally received our statement from CC #2, so I had all the numbers I needed.

Well, ta-daaaa! We have paid off $10K of our debt since we started this journey! Actually, most of it probably happened in the last 2-3 months. Before then we were focused on our wedding/ honeymoon/ paying the IRS, etc.

Now that we have all that behind us and we've made a pretty big dent, it's full steam ahead!

Also, thanks to the suggestion from Erika at Newlyweds on a Budget, I applied for a Citicard to see if I could somehow get a zero interest balance transfer for part of our debt. (I had already called my cards but they refused to lower their rates.) I found out today that we were approved! It's only for a small portion, but it will save us almost $400 in interest over the next year or so. That's not bad! Not bad at all.

What if I was unemployed?

As we all know, the economy is in tough shape. People are losing their jobs left and right. Sharon, over at Musings from a Midlife Mom, was talking about putting her emergency fund into overdrive. I get it. It's a scary time right now and I want to be prepared. I sat down this week and figured out how our budget would work if I lost my job. Since I'm the breadwinner I wanted to know what it would look like if we had to live off of the hubby's salary and my unemployment.

It was a bit eye-opening to see how little we'd actually need to get by. Which tells me we've been over spending for wayyyyyyy too long! It's good that we are on track now. Anyway, here is the breakdown:

Together we'd take home $3000/Month (based on 4 pay periods)

-$795 Rent
-$35 Electricity
-$125 Cell Phones
-$365 Car Payment
-$83 Car Insurance
-$200 Food ($50/week)
-$240 Gas ($60/week)
-$400 CC #1
-$400 CC #2

For a remaining balance of $357 per month. That would have to be for savings and misc. items that we haven't really accounted for, such as our annual car registration, oil changes, etc. Unfortunately I don't have health insurance figured in here. I believe Cobra would cost about $1K per month for both medical ($890) and dental ($100). Ouch! Luckily we are both in good health for the most part, so we could take a chance for a little while until I found a new job with benefits.

Hopefully this won't happen, but I can breathe a little sigh of relief knowing that in the worst case scenario, we'd be okay to get by for a little bit. Not to mention any income that I'd be able to generate from being at home working on crafts or something. In addition, with each pay period that goes by where we are both still employed, we're able to send hefty sized payments in to the credit cards. This is helping to lower the minimum payments due, so we may even have a little more extra wiggle room if/when that time comes.

Question: Have you taken a hard look at your bills and what your backup plan will be if the unfortunate happens and you or your partner are laid off?

School's Out!

Today on my walk into work, I noticed the usually busy elementary school was oddly quiet. As I got closer, I saw the sign that said school was closed for summer break. It will reopen on September 6th. This made me smile.

I thought about how I would receive 4 paychecks between now and September 6th. I calculated this to be about $6K more that we would pay towards our debt before I see those little munchkins again. Wow, by then our debt will be a good amount lower! I can't wait!

This was a happy thought to start my Friday off. I hope you all have a good weekend!

Dear Bank of America...

Dear Bank of America,

Thanks for not taking my money! Literally. I tried to deposit a hundred dollar bill in your new fancy ATM's where although it's convenient that you don't have to use an envelope (great idea!), you tend to spit cash deposits back out to people. Of course your lobby was already closed and unfortunately I work during your "normal banking hours" so I'm stuck using your ATM after hours.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but you offer no alternative way to deposit the cash (which having worked at a bank for several years, I'm quite certain is a valid, non-counterfeit bill). I'm left having to go to a store to exchange the bill into something that is considered more ATM friendly. That's assuming the store will just exchange the cash for me and not make me buy something that I don't need first.

I was trying to make this deposit on Tuesday. It's now Thursday and I won't likely get to a store to exchange the bill and make it back to the fancy ATM until Friday. I've now gained three more days of interest on the credit card that I wanted to apply the $100 payment to. You've also lost 3 days of interest that you could have gained by accepting my money.

In conclusion, while I appreciate the advances in technology and how we can now just put our bills directly into the ATM, I think it's also beneficial to offer the envelopes to customers who have their money spit back out to them, so they are not inconvenienced to have to exchange the bill elsewhere and return back to the ATM.

Sincerely,
Babybluewater

Another Payment Lowered!

Not sure if you recently heard about how NetFlix is raising their prices. I was paying $14.99 per month for unlimited streaming and 2 DVD's at a time. This came to $16.30 with tax each month. I was recently notified that they are separating their plans and the prices are going up. My new plan would be $19.98 before taxes.

I decided that I didn't want to pay that much. I considered downgrading to the streaming with 1 DVD, but then figured it's just as easy to stop at RedBox on the way home and get a movie for $1. The streaming alone through Netflix is just $7.99. Although there is not a ton of options on there yet, there's usually something I can find to watch.

I know it's not a big savings each month, but that's about $8 more I can put towards our credit card payment! Every snowflake helps :)

Question: Do you use NetFlix? Did you change your plan or are you going to just accept the increase and maintain your current plan?

One day closer to being debt free!

TGIF :)

There's not a lot going on in my world today but I'm happy to be alive and I'm thinking positive about the future.

Today was another day of me walking to work instead of getting another car.

Today was another day of me making breakfast, lunch and dinner instead of going out.

Today will be another night of watching a movie on Netflix instead of catching the latest release in the theater.

Today will be another night of having a glass of chardonnay from that bottle I bought at Fresh & Easy for $1.99, instead of going to a bar and paying 3 or 4 times as much!

Today I'm one day closer to being debt free!

Stay positive friends and have a wonderful weekend. The weather in San Diego should be great.

My Walk to Work

I walk 3.8 miles to work each morning. I was riding my bike for a while, but this month I decided to change it up. I'm really enjoying the walk. I've actually dropped 11 pounds since I've started being more active.

Today on my walk in to work this morning, my legs were a little tired. As I passed two other apartment complexes we looked into previously, I longingly thought how much closer they are to my work and what a short walk I'd have. It takes me about 50 minutes now. One complex would take about 25 minutes and one would take 10.

Then I recalled how much more the rent was at these places. One was $400 more per month and the other was almost $700 more! Although these places are nice and my walk would be shorter (read: I could sleep in at least 30 minutes longer!), the extra price isn't worth it to me.

I've chosen to put that extra money towards debt each month, instead of making my life a little easier. That's another reason we don't have a second vehicle. That would be extra money each month on a car payment and insurance. It's not worth it to me. Later down the road, it may be, but right now it's not.

Question : What have you given up that could make your life much easier, in your quest to be debt free?

How to turn $58 into $1,000!

Previously I wrote about what we'd do one weekend if we had extra money. It was a fun little fantasy that I enjoyed daydreaming about.

I'm finding myself in the same boat again! I purchased vouchers from Travelzoo (a great website by the way!) a few months back for whale watching. My hubby has never been and I thought it would be a fun activity for us. The trip I booked is a day long event that also brings you over to Catalina Island for lunch and strolling around. The trip usually goes for $69 per person and I got a deal at $29 each! That's only $58 total.

We've also never been to Catalina and I figured this would be an inexpensive way for us to check it out and maybe plan a longer trip there in the future when we are out of debt. Old habits die hard though. As I finished booking the whale watching trip for this weekend, in honor of our 5 years of being together, I started thinking about how nice it would be to make a weekend away of the trip. That's where the fantasy started...

First off, we'd head up to Disneyland right after work on Friday. They are having a special on 3 day tickets for a discounted price, so I'd be sure to get those! We'd check into one of our favorite hotels, within walking distance of the park. We'd quickly head over to the park so we can have a bite to eat for dinner before hitting some rides. Historically this has been the best time for us to be at the park. All the little ones are tuckered out and the lines for the rides are short!

We'd spend the next few hours riding until our hearts content. At the end of the night, we'd watch the fireworks show and head back to the hotel. Saturday would be a leisurely day at the hotel pool with some more fun at Disney mixed in.

Sunday morning we'd wake up, enjoy the continental breakfast then head over to the coast for our whale watching departure. We'd have a delicious lunch on the water and shop til we had to get back on the boat. We'd head back to our hotel and enjoy a few more hours at Disney before having to drive home. All in all, this dream weekend would run us about $1,000!

Instead, reality hits and we won't be going to Disney or staying at the hotel we love. Nope, we'll be waking up at the crack of dawn, to make the almost 2 hour drive North so we can be on the boat by 7:30. We'll be lucky if we get a bite in before we hit the road since there will be no time to stop on the way!

Old habits die hard, but they do die. I didn't book all the things above, as I once would have. Instead, I've been online researching inexpensive restaurants on Catalina, so we can grab lunch but still stay within our $40 date budget. This little fantasy will go on my list of fun things we may do later down the road when we are debt free!

Rituals, Weakness & Strength

So, my co-worker who is going through some major issues at home has asked me to go out with her for a drink tonight. She also mentioned that she'd like to start making this a "ritual". Ugh, it's stressing me out.

I know she doesn't have anyone else in her life besides me, her husband and her therapist. Because of this, I feel kinda obligated to say "yes." However, there are a handful of reasons why I want to say "no."

-I only get a certain amount each week for my "Mad Money" and I don't necessarily want to spend it going out with her.

-I am trying really hard to not drink/eat the wrong things. I'm on Atkins and extra carbs don't really fit the lifestyle.

-I have gotten too close to her for my own good, mainly because I felt bad for the situation she's in. My position at work doesn't really allow me to be close friends with employees. It's expected that I'll keep that them at a distance.

-Last, but not least, I don't like to be locked into frequent events. In my previous life (when I was married before and lived on the East Coast), I found that I over-committed myself and was stressed with promising so much to so many people. Since moving to CA, it's just been my hubby and I. We both really like it that way. We just kinda keep to ourselves and do our own thing. The idea of having a weekly commitment is stressing me out.

As I re-read this, I know I should just tell her "no" but I just told her "yes." This is one area I need to grow in. However, it's so hard for me because I know she doesn't have anyone else to turn to. I just can't be "her person." Do you know what I mean? I have a person. I can't commit myself to making her happy.

I'll go tonight because I said I would, but somehow I need to get the point across that I'm up for an occasional night out but it can't be a planned weekly event. Any advice is welcomed :)

I. AM. MURPHY.

Some days I think I'm Murphy. I'm actually doing well and staying on course, then I am the one who goes and fucks things up. I don't even have to wait for something bad to happen, I just do it myself. I may have extra money burning a hole in my pocket or something and before I know it, I made a bad choice and blew more money than I should.

Gosh, I've been working at this for so many months now, you'd think I'd be smarter and make the best decisions for our current situation, but for whatever stupid reason I don't. It really gets me down.

I don't have any real excuses and I know I'm smarter than my behavior would let on. I guess it's a journey and it's just going to take time.

When I take a moment to step back and think of the big picture, I know that I am improving. It's just not as fast as I'd hope it would be. Who knew that the road would be so bumpy and it would be so hard to hang on to the damn wagon? Oh well.

Have a great weekend all and Happy 4th of July!

PS - As an update, the hubby didn't get that job from last week. We'll keep searching though! Thanks for all the well wishes.

New Job Possibility...

My husband started a new job earlier this year. It was full time hours, close to our house and it seemed like an ideal situation. Unfortunately, it wasn't. The owner is very dishonest about the company. In addition, there are no benefits, no paid vacation time and no paid sick time. Since then we've downsized and moved about 30 miles away so the commute hasn't been great on the new car or our wallets.

So, now we're on the job hunt again. We found one last week and applied for it. He got a call back within minutes of applying from the agency that is handling the position.

I did a little more research and this job seems great. It's for a much larger company so there could be growth opportunities and the benefits are AMAZING! The best part is that it's just over 4 miles from our house! He won't even have to get on the highway (or "freeway" as they call it out here). I know it may sound crazy but I'm convinced that this "freeway" could be the death of us, so I try to limit the occasions we have to go on it. (People who know the San Diego highways that go as wide as 8 car widths at some points, know what I'm talking about!)

Anyway, the hubby went in for an interview yesterday! He thinks it went great. My fingers are crossed. We'll see what happens! I'm a big believer that it will work out the way that it's meant to. That still isn't gonna stop me from wishing real hard that it works out in our favor though :)

Today is a good day!

Earlier this week I was mentioning to a co-worker that I need to get my hair trimmed. She knows I'm on a budget and understands that I've been holding off on spending any extra money. It's been over 8 months since I last went to the hairdresser!

My co-worker then shared with me that she used to be a... wait for it - hairdresser! She offered to bring her scissors in to give me a "quick dry trim" - since that's all I was really looking for. As you'd imagine, the ends were getting a little frizzy after eight plus month with no trims.

She brought her scissors in today and during lunch she trimmed my hair. It was just what I needed! My hair looks way better now and the best part is that it didn't cost me anything! (In truth, I'll probably give her a little something on payday since I know money is tight for her too but it's definitely less than I would have spent at even Supercuts! Not to mention, I didn't even have to drive anywhere to get it done.) Today is a good day :)

Someday I'll get used to it...

I logged into our bank account today to check in on things. I do this regularly so that I can catch any issues before they become costly problems. I'm not one to offer much advice, but I recommend doing this, if you don't already. Here's what I saw:

CHECKING
Account Name: Checking
Account Number: xxxxxx4502

Available Balance: $0.16
Current Balance: $0.16

I shouldn't have been too surprised since that's what I have written in my checkbook. But for some reason, my stomach dropped when I saw it and I got nervous! All of our bills are paid, we have plenty of food and my hubby gets paid in 2 days. Thankfully, we have our emergency fund if something major were to happen. I had to take a moment to tell myself "You're doing it right. This is what it SHOULD look like when you are doing zero-based budgeting." Someday I'll get used to it!

Making Memories

I was over at Blogging Away Debt reading Bek's post today called "Scars." I have a soft spot for Bek's debt challenge as she is one of the very first blogs I started reading when I got serious about getting out of debt. Today's post was great! She mentions how she likes the scars on her body in a way, because they have taught her lessons in life. I totally get that. I feel the same way. Sometimes I don't mind when things get dinged or stained because it makes a memory.

All too often we go through life on auto-pilot without many events along the way to help us remember things. They could be scars are on your body, like with Beks. Or a material item that got "christened" along the way. Like a stained comforter that reminds you of the time the kids made you breakfast in bed and the maple syrup ran off the pancakes onto the bed. You may have been disappointed at first by the stain but the memory of how you all jumped in bed together and watched the Saturday morning cartoons will stick with you for a lifetime. These are the things that life is made of.

Beks made a connection from the scars on her body to her financial scars and I think it's great to share:

"It had me thinking about my financial scars. You know the ones. They sit on your credit report and remind you of what an idiot you were. Every time I run my credit report, I see old car loans, old credit card high balances, student loans, and other financial mistakes I’ve made. Even though the financial wound has healed and the balances have been paid, they still sit as big, fat scars on my report. I’ve still got a few years before most of them drop off but I kinda wish they never would. Just like the ones on my face, those scars serve to remind me of my bad decisions and I’d prefer NOT to forget them.

Next time you look at your credit report and it’s not what you’d wish it would be, you can be a little grateful for the scar. It’s a good reminder of what an idiot you were and how far you’ve come."

Friday Funday!

TGIF fellow bloggers! I hope that you all had a good week and are ready for the weekend. It's a cool, cloudy Friday here in San Diego. It's part of the "May Gray and June Gloom" that we experience. I actually have my warm winter sweater on today! It's so strange. Having previously lived in a part of the country where May - September were the best weather months, it is a mental adjustment to live somewhere where the "summer" months are our worst. Oh well, I'm not complaining. Believe me, it's worth it once the cold winter rolls around for the rest of the country, I'm happy with my 60 degree days!

Anyway, I got paid today and as planned, I made another payment to our credit cards! Yippee :) We're down to 16 cents in our checking account for the next week but that's fine. All of our bills are paid, we've got our cash envelopes for the week and life is good!

So, I didn't mention it before but I won tickets a few weeks ago to see A Chorus Line play this weekend. I tried and tried, but my hubby is adamant that he will not go with me. A musical is just not his thing. I get that. I tried to sell them online, so I could put some extra money towards my challenge, but no one bought them. The tickets go for $40 each. I would hate to see them go to waste, so I asked a friend to go with me. She mentioned food and drinks before the show. I'm a little nervous because I only get $30 for my "mad money" and I'm not sure how much food and drinks will be. The show is in an expensive part of town. I'm also on Atkins, so I really need to watch what I'm eating and drinking.

I guess the smart thing to do would be to spend some time beforehand researching where we could go that is both affordable and works with my dietary restrictions. Ahhhh, no longer living spontaneously is an adjustment, but I can do it!

I hope you all have a nice weekend :)