Owner: Me vs Debt URL:http://mevsdebt.blogspot.com Join Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:02:15 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Join me in debt reduction and wealth building. Lets use money to make interest, not pay it! Site statistics:Click here
4 Payment Maximum with Citibank 2008-04-08 06:50:01 The maximum number of payments (4) have already posted or been scheduled for this billing period.Maximum
number of payments? Are you kidding? If you like to send in multiple payments per month, beware of Citibank
online bill pay. Its just another subtle way to keep you from paying down those balances to quickly. Grrr.I've gotten into the habit of sending in payments right as funds become available. Snowflaking. It makes sense for two reasons: 1) minimize the average daily balances and thus the finance charge and 2) psychological boost of seeing multiple payments in any given statement. Going to have to re-evaluate that strategy for the next billing period. Save up the small payments to make a few big ones. Just thought I'd give you a little heads up if you have a CitiBank card some Read more:Payment
Wanted: A New Bike 2008-04-15 10:35:23 I want a new bike. I've been struggling with this for the last week or two. I'd like a nice light bike that I could ride to work everyday. My current bike is a 'comfort hybrid' which means its somewhere in between mountain bike and road bike with a big seat :) Honestly, its not really all that comfortable for long distances and it sure doesn't take hills very well. Now that spring has given us a preview of the warm months to come, I'm excited to start riding to work instead of driving. My commute is about 11 hilly miles each way. Given that May-September will be bike friendly weather, its a great chance to save money on gas, get some exercise, and reduce my carbon footprint. That economic stimulus check could buy me a new bike to make it more enjoyable...Buy wait! I've been looking
50 Minutes of Online Tutoring For Free 2008-04-20 14:20:54 I want to extend a friends and family discount.Just in time for finals, here are 50 free minutes of online tutoring.To redeem, log on to tutor.com and use the promo code AISR50F.
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, Online Tutoring
50% Party + Bike Update 2008-04-20 12:53:19 Ok, its not a party, but it is a fact. Remember last year's credit card debt? I've officially paid more than I owe! Even though I've still got over $9000 to go, it seems like nothing compared to where I started. I'm on track to meet my end-of-year pay off goal. Woo!Although I don't think I'll be buying a new bike, I am going to put some cash into my old bike. As gift to me, I 'm dropping some money on bike repairs. I got myself a book, a multi-tool, a new chain, and I'm in the market for a new saddle all for under $100 . I spent some time this weekend cleaning the cassette and sprockets and replacing the chain. Although its a relatively heavy bike, its riding just fine. I may not be riding to work every day, but I'll go a couple times a week for sure. I consider these purchases t Read more:Party
, Update
Tagged Me for a Meme 2008-04-20 12:15:09 Mike @ From Mike tagged me for a meme.What is a meme? I'm new at this. Well this one is a six word memoir. Here's mine:Mistakes have made me smarter, stronger.Mistakes? Oh yes, I've made them. Now I can see them coming from miles away. When it comes to money I know what questions to ask, what pitfalls to avoid, and how to get the most out of every dollar I spend. I know exactly how little I can live on without sacrificing quality of life. I've always got my eyes open for new ways to make extra cash with minimal effort. I look forward to investing and saving once my debt is paid off. Honestly, I doubt I would have this wisdom, persistence, and self control if I hadn't hit rock bottom. My financial wounds will take years to heal, but I'll always be better for fixing them myself.The Read more:Tagged
Bad Kitty! Don't Put Off Backing Up Your Data 2008-04-22 06:20:10 Yesterday morning the thought of backing up my wonderful spreadsheet collection crossed my mind. I was working on a report for work and I had my flash drive in, ready to go. Nah, this computer is in great shape. I'll do it later.Famous last words.When I got home from my bike ride last night I poured myself a big glass of water. I set it down while I booted up the computer, then I went to grab some food. By the time I got back the glass of water was keeled over on the keyboard and the screen was dark. Bad kitty! I yelled as I threw my cat out the door.Its not her fault. She can't resist a tall cool glass of water any more than I can. This one was my fault all the way. First of all, I know better than to leave water anywhere within her reach - especially not by my computer. Second Read more:Kitty
, Backing
Giving Myself a Raise 2008-04-24 10:07:05 I've been trying to listen to the Richest Man in Babylon during my commute. I've heard its a great book, but to be honest it's difficult to listen to. The one thing that should ring loud and clear from this book is this:Thou shalt payest thyself first!Please excuse my poor Babylonian grammar. The whole book is full of it - which makes it really hard to take seriously - for me anyways. But that's not my point. This book shed some new light on an old familiar saying. The first section of the book really brought a whole new meaning to 'pay yourself first'.It seems so obvious when you think about it. Find a way to live on only 90% of your earnings. With a little bit of discipline, its a simple habit to form. Just like you make due on your salary minus taxes. Its just something you ha Read more:Giving
Extended Warranty Saves the Day! 2008-04-24 04:54:51 That extended warranty paid for it self a couple times over. Dell had a technician out here to replace parts within 24 hours of the phone call. I never mentioned the water and they never asked. My computer is good to go and best of all ... my spreadsheets are right where I left them :)
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, Warranty
, Saves
Joined Paperback Swap 2008-04-25 05:27:18 The concept of Paperback
Swap is just as simple as it sounds. You list books you're ready to part with, then you make a wish list of your own. You automatically get 2 credits after listing your first 10 books, than an additional credit every time you mail one out. I think the concept is great. Six books that I listed were requested right away. You can print a mailing label and postage right from your computer. These are all books I tried to sell online with no luck. This is a great way to connect these books to people. The only cost is postage on books sold. Assuming I'll get a few back, it works out to be a good deal. Please join and list some good PF books! Thank you :)
Life After Debt: Emergency Fund 2008-04-26 12:25:58 As a follow up to last month's post Life After Debt: Roth IRA, I've decided to discuss my next major goal. My goal will be to build a $13,000 emergency fund in 2009.Minimum Monthly ExpensesHow do you determine monthly expenses? I decided to look at the bare minimums living expenses in my budget: rent, utilities, phone, minimal gas and food, minimum payments on student loans.Assuming that I have paid off credit card debt by the end of the year, my monthly living expenses could be reduced to less than $1400/month in an emergency ($1200 once I've paid off my hospital bills). That $13,000 should be enough to allow me to live comfortably off of my second job for more than a year if an emergency situation arises such as job loss, grad school, career change, or I decide to travel around with m Read more:Emergency
Quick Poll: Will Early Rebates Stimulate the Economy? 2008-04-26 11:19:17 Friday Bush announced that the rebate checks will be going out four days early in an effort to stimulate the economy. What do you think?I'm guessing it won't make a bit of difference in anything except for possibly sentiment. There are really only two options - spend or save - with save also implying debt repayment. I'm guessing that anyone that would spend has already spent some to all of what they are expecting. Then there are the savers and debt re-payers. That may have an effect on future economies, but we won't see any results from them now.I'm in between the two types - I'll use most of the return for debt reduction. But I decided to go ahead and spend on bike repair and guitar stuff that I've been wanting for a long time. I don't know if that counts because I probably would Read more:Quick
, Early
, Rebates
April 2008 - Income, Networth, Cashback Review 2008-04-29 10:15:28 This was a great month for me. I had some very positive reviews at work and I was offered a raise. Even though it won't be listed in the April
Challenge, I'll be making more money each month which always helps. Unfortunately, my expenses seem to be going up at the same time. I splurged on dinner with my boyfriend this month and drinks with a friend. I also spent more at the grocery store and the gas pump. Watch for some budget updates in May. Its time to take lifestyle inflation countermeasures. As for now, check out the numbers for April...April ChallengeGoal: $400 Additional Income
Actual: $398.35So close! Technically there are still a couple days left for me to log on and take an additional tutoring session, but I may be busy between work and friends. Still came pretty close to Read more:Cashback
Balance Transfer to National City 2008-05-05 06:38:44 I'm always looking for a good balance transfer deal - even now that all of my rates are fairly low. I called up National
City to see if they had any deals going on. They offered my 3.99% APR for six months with no fee. I'm taking $3500 from Citi Card over to National City. Here's why:Citi CardBalance
: $3500Credit Limit: $4400APR for 6 months: 6.99%Estimated interest for 6 months: $112Initial Credit Utilization: 80%National CityBalance: $3500Credit Limit: $8250APR for 6 months: 3.99%Estimated interest for 6 months: $63Initial Credit Utilization: 42% As you can see, both my finance charge and credit utilization are almost cut in half with this transfer. I'd love to see some improvement in my credit score, reducing the individual card utilization should help. Plus, that will be a little Read more:Balance Transfer
CVS Freebies and Deals 2008-05-07 09:04:15 No way! Some of the free stuff was actually in stock at my local CVS :)I took a stroll through the toothpaste isle after picking up an Rx yesterday. Imagine my surprise to see the Aquafresh toothpaste AND the Colgate toothbrushes in stock. Pumped about my free items and armed with a $5 off of $25 coupon from the Pharmacy I started browsing for more deals. Here's what I came out with:3 Aquafresh Toothpaste @ 2.992 Colgate Toothbrushes @ 3.991 Tums @ 4.691 Nivea Body Lotion @ 5.99I ended up spending $23.99 and I got back $21.64 in extra care bucks. So its kind of like I got all of that stuff for $2.35. Plus I got another $5 off of $25 coupon so I can basically go back and get about $26 worth of stuff for free because of the $24 I spent last night. If I continue to find deals like this Read more:Freebies
My Stimulus Check is Enroute 2008-05-07 06:37:37 The IRS Stimulus Payment Status website finally gave me an ETA for my stimulus check. It should be in my account by Friday morning. Where's your stimulus check?
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, Enroute
PF Blogger Map! 2008-05-09 16:13:26 PT Money posted a pretty sweet map of the world of personal finance. Here is what PT suggests we do with the map: Satisfy your curiosity. See who blogs from your City, State, Country Connect with pf bloggers who live in your area. Plan a blogger meet-up. Develop group writing projects based on geographical region (North vs. South, Canadian perspective, etc.) Use the map on your pf blog or network site (get the code on the map page) Whatever else you can dream up. Get creative.The actual graphic doesn't fit my page but here is the link:Check it out :)
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Score Watch Alert (Welcome to the 700s!) 2008-05-09 12:02:29 Its about time that I give you an update on my FICO score. In my first Score
Watch post, I annotated some ups and downs that come with the initial stages of debt reduction.It starts off really slow. When you're far in debt, the best financial decisions are not always the best credit score decisions. Sometimes its in your best interest to find a good balance transfer offer to help lighten the load of finance charges. That is rough on the FICO score. Make that two or three balance transfers and you can expect some turbulence. Don't be discouraged! Use that money you save to pay down the balances and things start to accelerate.At the beginning of this graph I had over $19,000 in revolving debt, almost 90% credit utilization. Now I have less than $5,000 revolving on my credit cards (and Read more:Alert
, Welcome
Return to the Carnivals 2008-05-09 07:10:04 I've finally starting to return to the carnivals. I'll be spending a little time this morning at the following blog festivities:Antishay presents The Carnival of SnowflakingThe Festival of Frugality @ Frugal for LifeCarnival of Family Life hosted by Riley at All Rileyed Up! Lazy Man hosts The Carnival of Personal Finance
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, Carnivals
Some Random Freebies 2008-05-11 06:38:49 Random freebies I found useful:Free CFL lightbulb from Accent Energy. To redeem, fill in information and enter promo code: EARNRWG.Free sample of Playtex Gentle GlideFree Purina Cat or Dog foodA penny saved is like two pennies earned! I won't sign up for things I don't need, but I'll never pass up a free or heavily discounted product that I'll have to buy anyways.My boyfriend gave me a hard time about taking a couple minutes to print out some coupons before we went up to CVS. Then he saw me save more than 60% at the cash register. He gets it now :)
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, Freebies
Debt Repayment Update - How Shoud I Proceed? 2008-05-10 15:09:08 The arrival of my economic stimulus check has me looking ahead at this month's progress. I use a set of spreadsheets to document my cash flow and repayment status each month.Based on these estimates, my debts as of the end of May 2008 will be as follows:Chase CardBalance: $1240APR: Fixed 5.99%Utilization: 65%National City CardBalance: $3396APR: 3.99% until November 2008Utilization: 41%Lending ClubBalance: $2532APR: Fixed 11.66%Utilization: N/A (Total Debts Outstanding: $7168. Only 38% of what I started with!)So I'm right on track - if not ahead of schedule - to meet my December 2008 payoff goal. That rocks! Here's the problem, I'm not sure as to the best way to proceed.There is a major downside to Lending Club loans from a borrowers perspective. They don't have an online payment system Read more:Update
First Step in Debt Reduction: Admit the Problem 2008-05-12 13:27:43 The first step in debt reduction is really the hardest: admit the problem. Maybe you think this sounds trivial, but I swear it was a turning point for me. I spent years trying to hide stress from family and friends. I wanted them to think I was doing ok. Most of all I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't even want to admit it to myself. I refused to add up the grand total because I knew I Read more:First
, Problem
About the Debt Repayment Plan 2008-05-14 06:51:10 In my post Debt Repayment Update - How Should I Proceed?, I felt a little uncertain as to how I should direct my snowflake payments. I was mistaken about Lending Clubs repayment options. I can save up for the following month's pay date and shoot them an email to let them know what to take out. I think thats the plan.My credit score shouldn't be affected if the other CC balances aren't going up
Carnival Love 2008-05-14 06:30:09 No, not carnie love... carnival love!Stop by and check out:Debtor's Prison at the Carnival
of Debt Reduction courtesy of Debt Free RevolutionThe Carnival of Personal Finance @ Money Under Thirty
Making the Switch Back to Discover More 2008-05-17 09:58:25 A couple months ago I switched my Discover
More card to a Discover Open Road card. The Open Road Card offers 5% cash back on up to $100 of gas per month. That's just not cutting it for most people these days. When I talked to the customer service rep she told me that many, many people have called in requesting an increase in the eligible cash back amount. If they've already been calling for a
Her Love Affair with Industrial Shelving 2008-05-17 09:21:26 Myscha from Wisebread sold me on her love affair with industrial shelving. I've been thinking about getting a table or stand for my plants and herbs. Right now they are lined up along the edge of the door wall on the floor. I had this image of exactly what I wanted - the shelves would be open on both sides so that I could water and maintain from inside and they could get plenty of sun from the Read more:Affair
, Industrial
No Spending Week 2008-05-20 07:01:22 Back in November I set up a budget as a guideline for how much I could spend each month and still meet my goals. At first I tracked every penny and stuck to it as closely as possible. I said no to more than one lunch out per week. I just didn't shop. I bought only absolute necessities at the grocery store. Once I got into the habit of responsible spending, I let myself stop tracking.The situa Read more:Spending
Its Official... 2008-05-22 06:31:17 Its official, my Prosper Loan has been paid in full! The payment cleared today and my balance is now zero. Hey, I'm all "interest order", but I see where Dave Ramsey is coming from. It feels awesome to knock out a balance. Totally empowering!I'll be proceeding as planned to eliminate the Lending Club balance. That means I'll be saving up to make a large payment on the next due date. I took m Read more:Official
So Far, So Good 2008-05-21 06:33:19 Day one of not spending went well. At the last second I remembered that I wasn't spending and said no to a malt at lunch. Things got a little bit more difficult after pulling an extra long day at work. I didn't really feel like going home and cooking so the thought of stopping somewhere to get food crossed my mind. I restrained and went home to a tuna fish sandwich. Easy enough.As for this we
No Spending + Money Making = Major Debt Reduction 2008-05-23 08:58:08 I'm still on track with my No Spending
Week. On Wednesday night my boyfriend and I ate at his restaurant. That gets comped so we both ate for free. That still counts right? I didn't say I wouldn't consume, just that I wouldn't spend : )It just so happens that when I started to slack, the bf started to slack too. He was making strong progress on his own debt reduction up until recently. Part Read more:Money
, Major
Time to Fess Up 2008-05-29 07:10:19 My simple formula has gone terribly wrong:(Still Spending) + (Not Making Money) - (Time I Could Have Spent Doing Something Useful)^2 = ?I couldn't even make it a whole week with out spending. Grrr. I gave in and went to the grocery store on Saturday. Then, since I already broke my no-spending streak, I ended up going for ice cream on Sunday and drinks on Monday. Hey, its not the end of the wo
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