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Archive for March, 2019

I’m Over CC9

March 25th, 2019 at 12:49 am

Credit card 9 💳 is really getting on my nerves. I want this sucker paid off. I’m contemplating taking the money saved for any home repairs and adding it to it. I have an EF so if anything happens I can use that. One minute I’m stoked about doing it, the next I’m nervous as hell. 😬

I finally completed my taxes, and hit the submit button. I’m looking at about $633 return. This will be adding to the CC.

The budget meeting with the SO didn’t happen, I was a little disappointed but hey that’s on him. I’m still trucking along on my financial peace journey without him. Something drastic has to happen for him to change. I told him we will continue to live as roommates, splitting everything.

After reviewing and crunching numbers, it looks like I should have both CCs paid off by early September (CC9 should be gone by end of April early May) and from that point on it’s the infamous student loans 👩🏾‍🎓. I’m really hoping to pick up a second job by then.

Lastly, though I follow Dave Ramsey, I never read his book, “The Total Money Makeover.” 📖. I have listened via audio 🔊, but you know how that goes, your cleaning 🧹, doing other things so you’re more likely to miss something. I’m excited to dive in. Last month I finished, Rachel Cruze’s, “Love Your Life, Not Theirs.”
I’m also read a book by Zig Ziegler, that I checked out online at my local library. What’s great about this is, in the middle of the night 🌙 when I can’t sleep 💤, I can read.

March Budget

March 23rd, 2019 at 10:43 pm

Took a look at my budget and so far I am pretty much on the verge of breaking even for the month of March. I have a new line item to add, hurricane season🌪. Hurricane season is approaching and I want to be ready, it’s always a nightmare in the stores if a storm is named and heading our way.

The SO and I will be sitting down tonight to create his budget. Yes, he’s decided to work on one. He wants this relationship to work and he knows that finances are a huge issue for me. I’ve shared, don’t do it for me but because you want to.

Apparently his mother called yesterday and told him she’s short $600 for payroll. Smh, she is unbelievable. For reason he still hasn’t gotten to the point where he will take the business over fully. I guess the same reason why I haven’t thrown him out. I simply mind my own business and continue to live like roommates splitting the cost of everything. Basically when he pays me, I use that money to knock down CC9. I tend to pay my bills as if he’s not paying anything. This year so far, he hasn’t been late 🤞🏾.

Next week we have a wedding to attend, I would love to buy an outfit but I’m scrounging around in my closet to see what I have. I think the money I have in my fun/splurge account I’m going to throw it at the CC.

Another one of my items sold on Poshmark, that’s $10 this week, you know where that’s going, CC9 💳

Anyone use Acorn?

March 22nd, 2019 at 09:58 pm

I’m considering signing up for Acorn, any one use it?

Pay day

March 22nd, 2019 at 12:19 pm

Yay it’s pay day. Today bright and early I was crunching numbers.

For the first time I decided not to pay extra on the mortgage and throw it at the credit card 💳. It was tough because I don’t want to lose the habit of paying the extra on the house but I want the CC gone. Extra payment on CC9 is $181, down to $3,495.18.

I socked cash away to all the sinking funds. I looked at my home repair fund and smiled. It’s $667, for some of you that may seem small but it’s huge for me. I know home ownership can be daunting for some, my sister is a great example. She bought a home last year July, too much home. Her mortgage is $1400, yikes! Her roof started leaking, she got a quote to repair and it was $300, small leak at the time. She didn’t have the $300. Now the leak is getting worst. I don’t want that to happen to me. When I knew I would be closing, I immediately set up a sinking fund and started budgeting for it. I’ve been in my home renting for 8 years prior to purchasing, no major repairs but I know Murphy could decide to visit. I’m praying that I get two years in without any major repairs.

I’m also proud of my Christmas and birthday sinking funds. It feels so good to know that this will be my second year that I can pay cash for Christmas and when birthdays, showers etc pop up I can pay cash.

Today’s spending
$185 HOA
$965.10 Mortgage
$181 CC 9
$65.13 Electric
$187

Savings
$25 EF
$25 Car maintenance
$25 Christmas
$11 Birthdays
$50 Home repairs
$20 vacation/fun
$88.80 HOA
$20 Sorority
————————-
$264.80 total

Poshmark Sales

March 21st, 2019 at 01:02 pm

Sold an item on Poshmark and made $5.05, I’ll be adding this to CC9 💳.
I wish I could sell items like others, I have a bag full of clothes I can’t get rid of.

I broke down and had pizza and a salad for lunch yesterday, $8.50. Today my boss and I are going out and tomorrow it’s an old colleague.

Tomorrow is pay day, I can’t wait to knock these bills out, especially paying on the CCs 💳, who would have thought that paying down debt would be so exciting 🤦🏽‍♀️.

Heartbroken

March 20th, 2019 at 01:32 am

So my fiancé has a friend who recently had surgery. The friend has been out of work for a little bit. He decided, the friend, to sell prepared food meals. My fiancé ordered two meals from him for dinner tomorrow. I said to him, this is why it’s so important us to save. You never know what might happen.

I have a family friend in his 70s who is going to be evicted, he has diabetes and goes to dialysis twice a week. He never paid into SS, always worked under the table. Again, a prime example as to why I want to get my finances in order, you just never know. Plus if I had it together I could help both of these individuals.

Both of these situations breaks my heart.

Updates

March 19th, 2019 at 07:56 am

Checked out my habit tracker and I have 12 days so far of no spending. The cool thing is I should meet and surpass my goal of 15 days.

This week is pay day, I should be sending off the April mortgage, and May HOA. We got the new electric bill and it went up. Not sure how or why but I need to figure out how to decrease this baby. I signed up for auto pay for the water, this drives me nuts because I never get the bill until after the fact. I’ll be canceling this.

If things keep trucking the way they should/are, I would have broke even with the grocery budget, I’m so excited to meet this goal. I’m usually over.

Other than these few miscellaneous items, I’m doing okay. Spending is down as well as debts this month and my net worth is doing a very slow, and I do my very slow shift from negative to positive. Slow and steady wins the race 🐢

I do have one more thing to report. I have a friend who just can’t seem to keep a job. She’s very outspoken and is one of the most helpful people I know. I’ve shared with her my journey paying off my debt, she listens but is not interested, I wish she would join me. Please keep her in prayer, she’s in need of a job desperately.

Podcast

March 18th, 2019 at 01:35 am

Found a great podcast, NPR LIFE Kits. Here the host talks about getting out of debt, goals and life. I absolutely love it, the only problem is, there’s four episodes.

One thing that was mentioned, is to celebrate when you achieve little goals to reward your self. I thought yay! Once I pay off CC9 💳 I’m going to do something, I don’t know what but something. I’ve been saving for this day, because I know CC10 💳 won’t be paid off until the end of of year.

I’m so stressed about these CCs 💳 and limiting my spending but what’s strange is I also love it, go figure. Just think, January 2020 I’ll only have these stupid student 👩🏾‍🎓 loans and the house 🏡 . I originally set the goal of five years debt free but looks more like 10. I’m okay with that, I’ll be in my mid 50s.

I’ve decided that if I don’t get a raise at my year anniversary, I’ll just look for another job in December. That will give me close to two years in management and I can really bump my salary. I love my job and my boss but the salary is extremely low. I won’t rush though, the goal is to be in the 90s close to home, with little travel.

SO news, I almost fell out of my chair this evening when he came home with actual groceries. Usually he buys junk. He had a pack of pork chops, chicken 🍗 , bread 🍞 , cereal 🥣, drinks 🥤, fruit 🍉 and snacks 🍪. I’m usually the one buying the groceries and I told him last week Thursday or Friday he needed to chip in. My grocery fund was out and I wasn’t buying anything else. As far as the bills, he’s stayed in track with paying, so far so good. 🤞🏾

My Mother

March 17th, 2019 at 01:05 am

My mother drives me absolutely nuts. This woman will make a great day go far left in two seconds.

She calls, doesn’t say hello, how are you, zilch. She just starts yelling in the phone. I have a headache 🤕, today we buried my dad’s girlfriend, I took a nap 💤 and I’ve been dreaming about her all day, my head is pounding. To answer the phone to screams is enough to make me want to just hang up on her. She had a document that needed to be signed, she ask me to sign, there’s two signature lines and I signed only one, you would have thought I yanked her teeth out 🙄🤦🏽‍♀️. The woman is miserable. I’d love to have a relationship with her but she makes it extremely difficult. I pray that I’m not like this when I get older.

All I can do is pray for her.

Different note, we got the house rented, I can’t wait to collect the $150, my portion, every month so that I can throw it at the credit card 💳 debt.

Tomorrow I’ll finalize my taxes and just rest.

Is there an issue with this site?

March 16th, 2019 at 10:52 am

There seems to be a problem with this site. I can’t view my previous posts or its comments. When trying to visit the site I’m constantly getting an error.

I posted yesterday and it’s gone

Scared

March 12th, 2019 at 08:17 pm

I’m so scared now. The Trump administration has proposed cuts that will impact student loans. There’s a possibility that the income driven payment program will be no longer for some, I’m included.

Right now my salary is $58k and based on that my payments are $172. I can’t imagine paying more until I get these credit cards paid off, and even then it will be tough.

I’ve been looking for a part time job so I can start tackling this thing but nothing.

Saturday Catch Up

March 9th, 2019 at 05:01 pm

Yesterday was pay day, I’ve managed to save and add to my CC 😀. I’ll update the totals later.

I got the refund check from my insurance company, I switched to Geico, saving me, $60 bucks a month. My mom wanted me to give her the check. I’m not going into details but I’ll say this, any time you get any one money from anything she expects a portion. Nope I’m adding the $101 to my CC once the check clears.

In different news I did not track my expenses all of last year, so my MSMoney software was all over the place. I just started a new one, I hope I keep up with it.

I also created a new habit tracker using, Google. I love filling in these little boxes, I find that it keeps me motivated. I added updating MSMoney to the list.

There was a time if I forgot to use a coupon I would say never mind, but I went back into Walmart for my $1 on Act. Lol

The Struggle

March 4th, 2019 at 02:18 am

No spend day today, I’m excited and yet anxious. I want to take what I’ve saved in the sinking fund for vacation/fun and throw at my CC.

I’ve been saving to celebrate a small win, it’s been almost two years and I haven’t done anything fun per se. A part of me says CC debt, while another says, hold off until June and do something fun. I really want this debt gone.

Other news, when you’re on a budget you try new things. Today was the first day I made beef 🥩 stew. It was absolutely delicious. I bought the McCormick crockpot package, added onions, carrots 🥕, celery and potatoes 🥔.

This weekend I’m going to tackle the washing machine, I’ll keep you all posted.

Murphy Is Coming for a Visit 🙄

March 2nd, 2019 at 09:12 pm

Murphy is knocking at my door, I know he’ll be entering soon. The washing machine is on its way out. Thank goodness I started the house fund but I hate to see money spent on a washing machine.

I know of a scratch n dent place my dad use to go to, so Monday I’ll check them out. If it’s more than a $100, I’ll simply buy a new one. I’m annoyed but not upset.

Thankful

March 2nd, 2019 at 11:59 am

Last night I was unable to update my planner but plan on doing so today. March goal is to get CC9 down to $3,000. I really wanted this sucker payed off by April but with the reduction in taxes (refund) that I didn’t not anticipate nor am I complaining, it pushes the pay off to late May/June. I’m okay with that because, I have pretty much averaged about a grand a month (pay down) on this card 💳 . At the rate I’m going I should have both credit cards 💳 paid off by October, and then I can finally tackle my student loans.

On my way home yesterday, I realized that God has been faithful to me, and I’m so thankful. Since I started this journey, I’ve been tithing. I’ve never did this before and since I have, I haven’t freaked out about expenses. Things pop up and boom 💥 I can pay it. No sweat off my back. We finally got the rental property rented, that’s an extra $150 my way, and I can throw it at my CC debt. I think Hod finally blessed us with a tenant since I’m managing His money properly. It just feels great

Life

March 1st, 2019 at 11:01 am

Yesterday my dad’s long time girlfriend passed away. She was such an amazing woman, I always wished he had married her. I’m just glad she’s not suffering, she doesn’t deserve that.

Financial news
I cashed out $5 on Receipt Hog 🐷, and I added to my CC debt, every little bit helps.

Yesterday I went to the dentist for a filling 🦷, $200. I was so ticked off you have no idea. One, because I had to spend $200 and secondly my funds from my HSA through my employer has not been deposited. The payroll coordinator is a nitwit, I’ll have to get with her today. I did pay cash, and know that I can get the money back but it’s just the principle.

Lastly, we got the rental house rented, I’ll get an extra $150 a month that I can add to my snowball. It’s not my property I just manage it.