Okay, so I know you've all been waiting breathlessly (well, I have!), and it's finally time for the big update I've been going on and on about. I took nearly all of my savings[1], dumped it into my checking account and paid off my 0% interest card (two weeks before the interest rate would have kicked in, in May). Because I knew I was going to p0ast an update and I wanted the update figure to be even bigger, I even paid an extra $300 (what was left of the saving surplus after the 0% card) onto the next card in line[2]. So you see, the very fact that you are reading this blog motivates me to chip away at my debt when I could be holding onto those "little cushions" and frittering them away on bullshit! Don't you feel helpful now? :) You should!
So anyway, I am down to only two credit cards left to pay off now, and a pretty hefty-size chunk I owe my mom. But there's progress, and do you want to see it? In all it's numerical-form glory?!?!!?!?
Total Debt Paid Off Since November, 2007: $10,337.99
In FIVE MONTHS, BABY YEAH!
[1] Aside from $900, because you get a special higher interest rate on everything up to $800 in both savings and checking, and I've made it a point to be above that in both accounts for some time now, in order to milk as much interest as possible out of the system. I like the interest, oh yes I do.
[2] ..which is now my highest interest rate card, at a whopping 4.99% locked for life. Whoo!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
In the meantime..
...sorry, no big financial update here :) Still waiting for payday and just trying to curb spending in the meantime. Airbear's been recovering from dental surgery the last few days so I bought a bunch of soft/liquid food but otherwise it's been pretty quiet around here. A little boring, but boring is cheap, so there's that :) He's being a trooper, too. Just eating his pudding and soup without complaint. He also thanked me for taking care of him, and said, "I'm glad I have a partner... someone I can rely on. I don't know what I would have done back in (the place he used to live before he met me)."
Awww. He's a good one.
Sticking around the house to keep an eye on him while he's doped up has also had the positive side effect of some forced work time, and guess what - I finished the portfolio!! Everything is submitted to my teacher for approval, and as soon as she okay's it (which I think she will, without changes, if the past is any indication) I will get to print out the remaining five entries, stick them in the binder, and call it done. I don't think I've really realized that it's finished yet, because I keep thinking "Oh, I should work on ...." ha! I don't have to anymore, take that! I'm always confused for awhile when a big project ends and I don't have something to stress out over ;)
Anyway, that's the news from here. Will post later this week when I pay off the 0% card and have a big exciting update figure!
Awww. He's a good one.
Sticking around the house to keep an eye on him while he's doped up has also had the positive side effect of some forced work time, and guess what - I finished the portfolio!! Everything is submitted to my teacher for approval, and as soon as she okay's it (which I think she will, without changes, if the past is any indication) I will get to print out the remaining five entries, stick them in the binder, and call it done. I don't think I've really realized that it's finished yet, because I keep thinking "Oh, I should work on ...." ha! I don't have to anymore, take that! I'm always confused for awhile when a big project ends and I don't have something to stress out over ;)
Anyway, that's the news from here. Will post later this week when I pay off the 0% card and have a big exciting update figure!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Hey, check it out!
Morningstar offers free online classes about investing, apparently. They cover the basics and get into the "nitty gritty" according to some financial blog I was reading. And no, I don't think it's the morningstar that makes the fake meat. I think it's some big investing company or mutual index or some f'ing thing[1]. I'm just too lazy to look it up right now, but I know I've read the name several times in my financial blog-trolling. Anyway, I'm going to look into it! Right now I've got an investment broker (!canyoubelieveit!) who also happens to be the investment broker for my disgustingly rich employer, so I figure he's doing pretty well and the fees are low. But I want to understand this whole thing much better than I do (which is, currently, not at all).
I am going to be a financial genius.
[1] I think it's a pine tree in China. Actually.[2]
[2] My mom will get that joke.
I am going to be a financial genius.
[1] I think it's a pine tree in China. Actually.[2]
[2] My mom will get that joke.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Did I already post this?
This is a big long list full of inspirational money blog stories. I particularly like the "getting rid of debt" section, obviously. I like reading this stuff. It's motivating.
I'm trying to use it to motivate me into not spending a bo-jillion dollars on Airbear's birthday. Don't tell him ;)
I'm trying to use it to motivate me into not spending a bo-jillion dollars on Airbear's birthday. Don't tell him ;)
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Closer (not that kind)
Well I'm not sure if anyone will be reading it, since the two people that I think read my blog with any regularity are both on spring break right now, but I'm up and it's sunny in the living room and I've got a few peaceful moments to p0ast an update.
For one thing, I'm getting closer and closer to finally being done with This Stupid Portfolio. I've got exactly 6 little evidence pieces to finalize (3 of which I can easily finish tomorrow but have to be at work to do it, 1 LaRue is going to help me with when she gets back, and 2 will take a little work - but not too much). I've also got a "summary reflection" paper to write - absolute BS, but it can say whatever I want it to say and really only has to be like a page long. And then all that's left is getting everything in order, printed, and in the binder! I think I will probably be able to finish it all by the next mandatory class, which is May 1. I wonder if I'll have to go to the June class, then :) Man I'm such an overachiever. Well, actually, in this case I just want to stop the pain sooner.
In Resolution news, we are almost to the end of March. If you remember way back to my saving vs. debt payoff conundrum, I had to choose between paying off a chunk of debt on a 0% card immediately or keeping that money in savings until the end of April to get interest and paying the card off before its interest restarted in May. Well, I chose the latter, and so the money's been sitting around in my savings account and the end of March represents the 1st quarter .... thingie where they give you your interest. This is the first time I've ever had a substantial amount of money in a savings account before (where "substantial" is greater than $50), and I am excited to see my interest reward. After I get it, I'm going to splurge a little bit next week and get my hurrr did, as Missy Elliot would say. For those of you who are not "hood," that means to get my hair done. With a cut and some color it's a pretty expensive proposition, but I could really use a cuteness treatment and I haven't done it since October. Ha ha. Oops. Anyway I get paid next week and will be getting several bonus checks for doing awesome at work this month, so it'll all be taken care of without representing a setback to my goals.
Now just two more paychecks left to stockpile before the big payoff day! Between the pr0tfolio, the resolution goals, and Airbear's birthday, April should be an exciting month. Oh, yeah, Airbear's birthday. If anyone has any stellar gift ideas, pass them along!
For one thing, I'm getting closer and closer to finally being done with This Stupid Portfolio. I've got exactly 6 little evidence pieces to finalize (3 of which I can easily finish tomorrow but have to be at work to do it, 1 LaRue is going to help me with when she gets back, and 2 will take a little work - but not too much). I've also got a "summary reflection" paper to write - absolute BS, but it can say whatever I want it to say and really only has to be like a page long. And then all that's left is getting everything in order, printed, and in the binder! I think I will probably be able to finish it all by the next mandatory class, which is May 1. I wonder if I'll have to go to the June class, then :) Man I'm such an overachiever. Well, actually, in this case I just want to stop the pain sooner.
In Resolution news, we are almost to the end of March. If you remember way back to my saving vs. debt payoff conundrum, I had to choose between paying off a chunk of debt on a 0% card immediately or keeping that money in savings until the end of April to get interest and paying the card off before its interest restarted in May. Well, I chose the latter, and so the money's been sitting around in my savings account and the end of March represents the 1st quarter .... thingie where they give you your interest. This is the first time I've ever had a substantial amount of money in a savings account before (where "substantial" is greater than $50), and I am excited to see my interest reward. After I get it, I'm going to splurge a little bit next week and get my hurrr did, as Missy Elliot would say. For those of you who are not "hood," that means to get my hair done. With a cut and some color it's a pretty expensive proposition, but I could really use a cuteness treatment and I haven't done it since October. Ha ha. Oops. Anyway I get paid next week and will be getting several bonus checks for doing awesome at work this month, so it'll all be taken care of without representing a setback to my goals.
Now just two more paychecks left to stockpile before the big payoff day! Between the pr0tfolio, the resolution goals, and Airbear's birthday, April should be an exciting month. Oh, yeah, Airbear's birthday. If anyone has any stellar gift ideas, pass them along!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Second-most important blog p0ast of the year!!!11!
Ok, so this is not going to be as exciting as the Big May 1 Update (TM) - you know the one where I am going to take all the money in my savings account and pay off that 0% card before the interest rate starts on it - but it is almost as big. Ready, sports fans? Here come the highlights:
1) Because I have enough in my savings account already to pay off the 0% card, I've been able to pay down some on the remaining cards. Remember, at this point the only cards I have left were locked at 5.99%, 3.99%, and 2.99% respectively. So I focused on the highest of those, because its rate is higher than my savings account interest rate and so it's still better to pay it off fast.
2) I just paid that card off today :)
3) That card was held with a card-provider that I hate and the only reason I had opened it or kept it was the fixed-rate-for-life balance transfer offer. Everyone I've ever talked to at that company has been a giant a-hole, including transgressions like repeatedly spamming my email account with offers to "go paperless" but then not letting me sign up for it because "my particular account was not eligible," insisting upon sending me those blank balance transfer checks in the mail even though I requested on like four occasions that they not do that (I hate having that kind of shit floating around in the mail), and not lowering my rate or increasing my limit when I asked them to. The only time they've ever tried to be even slightly accommodating was when I was closing the card (I had a different card with them a long time ago and they did the same thing). They tried that again today, and I told them to eat me. Just kidding. I was actually very nice to the lady on the phone, but it did feel GREAT to enumerate the problems I had had with the card/company and close the card. The lady even congratulated me on paying off one of my credit cards, and said she was working on doing the same thing herself. It was really nice. :)
3) Speaking of paying things off, it's been awhile since I p0asted a total update figure, since I have been mostly saving and not making huge payments and the update figure hasn't seemed to grow very much. I was going to wait til May and just p0ast one huge update figure, but then I calculated what it actually was at this point and it looked so awesome I wanted to share it. Are you ready? *drumroll*
.... total debt paid since November 16, 2007: $7418.21
:D
Plus there's still the big chunk left in the savings to pay off that %0 card by May, so look for another huge update in April! I'm feeling pretty proud of myself at the moment, and I'm going to go eat a celebratory quesadilla. Thanks for all the encouragement so far, and keep it up! There's still a ways to go :)
1) Because I have enough in my savings account already to pay off the 0% card, I've been able to pay down some on the remaining cards. Remember, at this point the only cards I have left were locked at 5.99%, 3.99%, and 2.99% respectively. So I focused on the highest of those, because its rate is higher than my savings account interest rate and so it's still better to pay it off fast.
2) I just paid that card off today :)
3) That card was held with a card-provider that I hate and the only reason I had opened it or kept it was the fixed-rate-for-life balance transfer offer. Everyone I've ever talked to at that company has been a giant a-hole, including transgressions like repeatedly spamming my email account with offers to "go paperless" but then not letting me sign up for it because "my particular account was not eligible," insisting upon sending me those blank balance transfer checks in the mail even though I requested on like four occasions that they not do that (I hate having that kind of shit floating around in the mail), and not lowering my rate or increasing my limit when I asked them to. The only time they've ever tried to be even slightly accommodating was when I was closing the card (I had a different card with them a long time ago and they did the same thing). They tried that again today, and I told them to eat me. Just kidding. I was actually very nice to the lady on the phone, but it did feel GREAT to enumerate the problems I had had with the card/company and close the card. The lady even congratulated me on paying off one of my credit cards, and said she was working on doing the same thing herself. It was really nice. :)
3) Speaking of paying things off, it's been awhile since I p0asted a total update figure, since I have been mostly saving and not making huge payments and the update figure hasn't seemed to grow very much. I was going to wait til May and just p0ast one huge update figure, but then I calculated what it actually was at this point and it looked so awesome I wanted to share it. Are you ready? *drumroll*
.... total debt paid since November 16, 2007: $7418.21
:D
Plus there's still the big chunk left in the savings to pay off that %0 card by May, so look for another huge update in April! I'm feeling pretty proud of myself at the moment, and I'm going to go eat a celebratory quesadilla. Thanks for all the encouragement so far, and keep it up! There's still a ways to go :)
Friday, March 7, 2008
Mid-update
The exciting updates of course occur after the mid-month paycheck, so there's not really much to report yet. But since I don't have to pay any giant bills this month, I am excited that my mid-month paycheck will actually get to go toward my debt and not toward dumb stuff I don't want to pay for.
One nice thing I noticed is that when I was jotting down my totals after paying bills at the beginning of the month I accidentally subtracted something wrong and I just discovered that my credit card balance is actually $100 less than I thought. Yay :)
Keep your fingers crossed for a big mid-month bonus check so that I can make huge leaps of progress on my resolution!! Just imagine, after I get this crap paid off, you will finally get to read about something else on my blog :)
One nice thing I noticed is that when I was jotting down my totals after paying bills at the beginning of the month I accidentally subtracted something wrong and I just discovered that my credit card balance is actually $100 less than I thought. Yay :)
Keep your fingers crossed for a big mid-month bonus check so that I can make huge leaps of progress on my resolution!! Just imagine, after I get this crap paid off, you will finally get to read about something else on my blog :)
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