I'm Not Dead Yet!

Holy three months of non-blogging and bad finances!

Hey boys and girls. It's three days to the new year and guess what I'm trying to do? That's right! New Year's resolutions, which includes (drum roll please...)getting my finances back in shape!

So what damage have I done since I've been away? Hmmm...

I bought a ticket to Singapore for about $1,300 a few months ago. I put this on a Discover credit card that I got for this specific purpose. It's a Get More card--the purchase is at a 0% APR for one year, and I set up my account to automatically deposit $50 every two weeks (when I get paid). So, I'm going to Singapore! Eh. I know. But, I'll be staying with family, and word on the street is a lot of my nightly entertainment will be taken care of. My sister (read: travelling companion) and I are making plans, and I'm being explicit about our need to keep things in financial check.

However. Christmas kind of whooped my ass. I was expecting a small bonus for a job completion--I received a bonus for an identical set of documentation I wrote about seven months ago, and I hoped I would get $500 like the last time. No can do, says boss man. I got half of that...$250. And I (unwisely) planned that $500 for Christmas presents/travel, and have been scrambling ever since.

I haven't been all shiny about paying off debt.

- I got my car down to about $300, at which point my efforts stalled out. I need to get back in gear with that--no pun intended.
- My BIG debt, the massive cash-hole currently on my BOA card, has seen little (read: no) progress. Ah, I love the winter.

Does anyone else get S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder)? I'm horrible. At the start of the sunless days, I have trouble getting our of bed, and feel like I have an anchor around my neck. In actuality, I have an anchor around my belly. I gained a few pounds since we've talked. :) Krimeny.

Do I have any good news?

Well the relationship is going well--my girlfriend and I are still annoyingly happy. I got an 'A' in my first official grad school class. I'm going to Singapore, which I'm genuinely stoked about, despite the money issues around it. I realized I may be able to shift all my remaining credit card debt to school loans, as I qualify as a full-time student, and therefore can get subsidized loans. That will wrap up the last debts into one handy carrying case, which will give me a rock star credit rating. Oh, my credit rating is currently around 750, which is pretty good.

So I'm going to give you the what's what with the credit situation. It's pretty ugly-ish.

BOA Credit Card: $5,315
- 0% APR, ending in two weeks, will transfer to a school loan, or a loan with another 0%, as long as I can get another 0% balance transfer, which I think I can
- about $2,000 of this is in school loans that will be reimbursed. I haven't been counting it before, but I've decided to now.

American Express Credit Card: $1,304
- 3% for life
- my favorite loan--it's stable, and doesn't intimidate me.

Discover Card: $1,200
- 0% APR for 1 year
- this is my trip to Singapore, paying at ~$100/month

Car: ~$300
- 9%
- I can't find a bill to look up the amount I actually owe, but it's about $300

Wells Fargo School Loan (Me): $12,179
- currently in non-interest accruing deferment

Wells Fargo School Loan (Dad): $3,235
- currently in interest-accruing deferment at about 5%

Mac School Loan: $1,850
- currently in interest-accruing deferment at about 9%

THE GIST:


So what does this mean? Well, I'll be paying around $2,500 of the credit card back in a few months--I have a small year-end bonus, and money reimbursed for school. That will put be back to where I was... three months ago. Damn.

Lots of other things to talk about, but I'm off.

Oh, for Christmas, I bought my girlfriend season tickets to the Guthrie Theatre. It cost about $110 (x2=$220), but I'm happy with this investment--she excited, and I've paid for a bunch of entertainment down the road (four shows)--I think this is a great gift and a great investment.

Okay, done. For now.

Season greetings, etc.

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Raise and Promotion!

My supervisor just jumped me with some good news--I got an 8% raise and a promotion! This is especially impressive since we didn't have any money in our coffers for promotions this quarter--my supervisor doesn't know where they got the cash, but I found out the engineers I support were doing some covert lobbying for my raise, so apparently that helped.

What does this mean? Money-wise, this means I have about $220 more to work with a month. A year ago, this wouldn't have excited me, because I spent money so flagrantly I wouldn't have noticed the extra $220. Sad but true. These days, it means I'll pay down $2,500 more debt next year. This really balances out last month--I feel great. Coincidentally, I'm throwing a small party at my place tonight (a conglomeration of friends' birthdays) so I'll use this as an excuse to relax.

And some more good news? My supervisor told me that they've sorted through the legal matters, and if I get caught in the headcount reduction, I get 8 months of pay! Okay, I'm probably not getting laid off, especially with the recent promotion, but I wouldn't argue the severance package.

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September Financial Roundup

My hiatus from blogging stressed me out. I tried to pretend that I was enjoying myself, but it was less like a vacation, and more like I stopped brushing my teeth for two weeks.

Here's to good financial hygiene!

Nobody at work is talking about the upcoming headcount reduction. The details are slowly eeking out, but it's pretty quiet. We have a month to mull things over. If I get canned, right now it looks like I will get two months of regular pay, and then another two-weeks of compensation, plus my year-end bonus, and I don't know what that's gauged at. My group recently had an analyst move out who hasn't been back filled, and that will count towards the general bloodletting. It will likely mean they won't take anyone else from our group, but nothing is certain.

I normally get my monthly finance update out on the 15th, and I know this is a couple of weeks late. I was depressed that I slipped this month, however, and I didn't want to talk about my money issues. Before I get to the bad, here's some good news:

I am officially done with my old landlord!

He gave me my entire deposit back! Well, he didn't give me the required interest, but that was only $5. He sent me a letter detailing everything that he intended to take off my deposit (as I expected, it was the entire amount, plus a bill for other "damages"), but he decided not to, out of "the goodness of his heart." I would show you the actual letter, but I gave in to a childish impulse and burned it after I cashed the check. However, his return of my deposit had nothing to do with the "goodness of his heart," it was because I went on the offensive before I moved out. He had an agent (a friend) come and review the house upon move-out, and I made the agent sign off on the below document (click to expand):

With this letter, my landlord received a copy of Minnesota's rent laws, an explanation of the applicable portions of the law concerning what a landlord can deduct from a deposit (from FindLaw.com), and an email from an attorney from Home Line, which (from their site), "provides free legal... services so that tenants throughout Minnesota can solve their own rental housing problems."

I knew that my landlord would try to keep the deposit, so by having his agent sign this, I tied his hands as best I could. I'm surprised it worked, however. I felt like a complete jerk going to this extreme, but now, with everything in the past, I feel really good. My biggest lesson was to avoid situations of this nature, but because my hand was forced, in retrospect I'm glad that I was firm. It went against all my instincts, but it was a great life lesson.

That said...

September Financial Roundup!

Ug. I put a lot of money on the old credit cards. I paid much of it off this week (with my paycheck and returned deposit), but I didn't have the money to cover the $200 car repair. I'll finish paying that next month, and also continue to advance on my debt. It was a disappointment, but last month was crazy. I had to buy a lot to get the apartment up and running, I had a friend's wedding and mandatory bachelor/bachelorette party (we all went out together), and the car repair.

I was able to defer paying my school loans (interest free) because I started school, which helped. In the below snapshot of my finances, you'll see a new row called "BOA TUITION FLOAT." This is tuition that's on my BOA card at 0%, that my company will cover, if I still have a job in a few months. If not, I don't know. I'll start to think of that in a few weeks.

My company won't cover the "fees" that school charges, so I I need to add an additional $115 to the mix. That means my BOA card, which has a 0% APR, is now at $3750. Arg.

Here's the damage:



Oh well. Lifes not all roses. I'll talk about my next financial steps in the days to come.

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I've Paid 26% Off In 7 Months!

Here we are again. Monthly roundup time!

I really like the Excel spreadsheet I've devised: it makes doing the bills easier, and projecting simpler.

I've included a screenshot of my spreadsheet instead of typing it all out. It's at the end of the page.

I transfered my Discover balance to a new American Bank card. The balance is at 0% APR, and I got a 0% transfer rate. It lasts until January, then goes to 10%. In February, I hope to pay off the bill with my bonus. As I've mentioned, I am expecting around 12%, hoping for around 15%, willing to live with 10%. We have 5% locked in right now (we lock in by the quarter, and we have an averaged "5th quarter", which is literally an average of the other 4).

My food and gas for both this and last month were on the Discover, as well as some miscellaneous meals, and $100 that I didn't transfer to the American Bank card. I came up with the Target Card/Super America Gift Card scheme earlier this month, so this is the first "full" implementation of it. The SA card is in my back pocket, and the Target Card is on it's way.


Highlights and explanations?

I usually pay off about $1,000 month in debt, but I just got a new, more expensive apartment ($250/month more!) and I had to pay the deposit. I should be getting my $500 deposit back from my old place, but that's iffy, because I have a jackass for a landlord. If and when I get that deposit, I'll put it towards my loans immediately.

I have $200 in "MISC EXPENSES" for moving. I have to get a truck, and buy beer and pizza, as is required.

The "MISC FUNDS" is just $50 that somebody owes me, that I expect to get back in a day or so.

FOOD and GAS are $200 and $100, respectively, and I moved those to the "balance" on the Discover Card, so as not to confuse myself when paying that bill. I paid the car insurance before the pay period, so that's not added on.

I DIDN'T pay on my car (I'm far enough ahead so I can skip a payment), but I have enough coming next month to pay off the remainder of the loan (and a little extra, to start on the American Bank card!)

That's the boring details!

THE WRAP UP?

Check out the status bar on the upper right! Nothing fantastic, this month. I stay pretty even, but I didn't slip, and despite some swapping around of when-I'll-pay-what, I'm still on track!

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18 Months To Debt Free Living!

I did some conjecturing and forecasting, and I made a tentative plan to have ALL MY DEBT paid off in a year and a half, by February of 2009. This takes into account a 5% raise every year, and a bonus of about 12%. I’m actually due for a promotion, which usually carries a 10% raise, and my bonus this year is tracking at 15%. This is obviously a thumbnail sketch of my finances, and doesn’t take a whole lot into account, but it’s a nice goal to shoot for. A lot of my budget is glossed over in “entertainment.” I may have too much in here, and I still don’t have a savings plan outside my 401k. It’s a start, though. I can tinker with it as I go.

Below is a snapshot of the 18 months it will take to get debt free, taken from the spreadsheet that I built and use to make my budget (this doesn’t take into account interest, which is a glaring hole, I know, but it also simplifies things immensely. I’ll make some adjustments later.) Again, if you want a copy of the spreadsheet for your own finances, you can download it here.



And just because I was looking for something like this, for my own reference, here’s a list of the percentages a typical household pays towards items such as shelter, various forms of entertainments, etc. I got this from this article at a site called eioba. Make of it what you will!

Typical Household Budget Percentages
33-38% Housing (59%-66% of this is on shelter - mortgage interest, property taxes, repairs, and rent, and other items)
15-19% Transportation (38-48 of this is vehicle purchase - 2 cars per household average)
13-14% Food Budget (55% at home, 45% away)
0-2% Alcohol
0-3% Tobacco and related products
0-2% Caffeine related products
4-5% On clothing and related services (drycleaning)
4.5 - 6% on out of pocket Health Care
9% Personal Insurance and Pensions (breakdown: 1% life and other personal insurance, 7.5% SS, .5% investment
5% Entertainment
2.5% Charitable Contributions
2% Reading and Education
1% Personal Care products and services
2% Miscellaneous
4% Credit Card, Consumer Loan Interest

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Mondays.

I wish I was more productive yesterday. I had a nice start: I made breakfast for GF and then posted a whole bunch of items on Craigslist to sell (nothing sold, so I just reduced the prices on everything). Then I went to my writing group at 12:30 and worked with them on a few chapters of my book. That lasted until 3. Then J (editor friend) and I thought it would be a good idea to have a beer, and then we thought it would be a good idea to drink Absinthe and watch 80's vampire flicks for the rest of the afternoon. And I'm not saying that WASN'T a good idea, it just wasn't in the plans.

I now have $100 to last me until Friday the 13th. As I obviously burn through more than that, usually, I should ration the last dollars I own. I'll need about $30 for gas. I have some frozen chicken in the fridge, enough to last for a few weeks. Tonight I need to buy some vegatables and a few basics. I'll make a schedule for my food. I'll have to make a really nice dinner for GF, as I can't take her out. I think I can get to the movies (maybe the $2 cinema?).

I can do this w/o having to tap a CC.

I paid the $50 I owed the court for some long-ago parking ticket (well, $55, I guess). I need to contact them concerning my license.

I'm going to the gym tonight.

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iSleep

Ohhhhhh...I slept 12 hours last night. So much better than sex. I've been in a really bad caffeine=sleeplessness=no excercise=sleeplessness=bad food=.... cycle the last couple of weeks, and I had to break out of it. I spent too much eating out this month, but because I kind-of thought I might do that, I actually budgeted for it. I have $250 to see me through to April 15th. It's not much, but I know I can do that. I know, I know, that leaves me with $0 in my accounts, BUT I've paid off a decent amount of debt, AND I normally add to my credit cards by the end of a month, so this is actually pretty good.

I had an argument with Discover this morning. They said my interest was going up to 10% and I said "Not by the terms of our contract," and it turns out they had the wrong contract on file, but I had called them enough that they were able to piece things back together. But that was only after going through several 'front lines' of defense, the stonewall customer service reps who are only there to tell you to go away. It's pretty maddening. I was so confused I actually called up this blog during the conversation, and I was like: "Look, I'm looking at my financial blog right now, and I KNOW I had this conversation before, because I spent several days getting an iTune and Wallmart account set up so that I could make small purchases every month to keep my APR. It says so right here!"

It's good to have records, even as informal as this.

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Weekend - final numbers

Okay, so I spent $187.21 this weekend, total. Better than I thought I would do. I spent less on the gifts that I normally would, and I think they were well-recieved anyway. AND (I just realized) I bought an extra gift for my niece that I decided not to give her (it was a book that was too advanced for her age), so I can get $15 reimbursed by returning that over lunch!
SO!
I spent TOO much on my car by $140, but I saved $28 this weekend ($58 if I get $30 from H :), so I'm only behind $112! And given that I based my budget this month on past spending with no cuts made to that spending, I think I can manage...

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The Weekend Report

I spent $290 on my car this weekend. Mostly getting fluids swapped out at Valvoline (I saved about $20 with coupons I got off their site): oil, radiator, etc. While I did need all this done, I probably should have split this over 2 months. I spent $140 more than I planned. I spent just about $200 this weekend getting in and out of Milwaukee with presents and all, as I scheduled. It was a nice trip. Sister H owes me $30 because I bought my nieces gift for both of us, but I'm not counting that until I get it.

Because the car was only budgeted to $150, I have to make up the remaining $140. IF I get money from H, then I only need $110. I won't plan on that. It'll have to come out of the "eating out" account. I can manage that, though.

I got into HAMLINE!!! Wohooo! Have I mentioned this? If not, this is a GOOD situation for me, because my work will pay for my schooling. Still waiting to hear from NYU, Brown, and Arizona.

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