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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Just Commenting

I've been looking over a lot of people's financial blogs today, and I have to say, in comparison to many, I'm not that bad off. I have a well-paying job. I have a retirement account. I have all my payments set up with Wells Fargo's Bill Pay (if you don't have automatic payments, you need to get them!). My credit debt is bad, but I can get a handle on it. Most of my debt is school debt. which could be worse.
I still need to get ahead, however. I don't have any savings, and I live month-to-month. I often overdraw my account on the last day, forcing it to draw from my credit card. I want to be able to go on trips and enjoy my life. This is so important to me. I'm only getting one go around this life, and I want to enjoy and appreciate what I can in this world.

Not to be gross, but paying off all debt feels like vomiting. Not very pleasant during the process, but I feel better afterwards.

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Retirement and Blog Details

For starters, I'm working on making my blog easier to read. I added a "Starting Debt" and "Current Debt" sidebar, and I consolidated some of my post "labels." I'm getting there!

Also, I should note that I actually have around $20,000 in my 401K. Well, it took a significant hit, recently, so it's down somewhere around $19K, but I'm just leaving it and letting it ride out the stock market burp. I've got plenty of time. I'm investing rather aggresively in real estate, which is supposed to take a hit, but I figure it's going to be worth a lot in a few years (also, it's still out-performing all the other options).

I realize, with this 401K, I'm damn close to actually having a net worth. My car is probably worth about 1K more than I owe, so my assets are about $25K and my debt is $29K. Is it sad that I'm so pleased with this?

My new goal is to achieve net worth. I'm only $4K away!

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And, plans or thoughts on plans

A light at the end of the tunnel for the credit card debt:

$1200 is school loans that my company will pay back, and I'm getting a $2200 bonus in a few days, which I'm going to apply to my cards. That brings credit cards down to around:

$5002.

Still a big number, but not AS bad. I have to laugh, of course, at how I've come to think of things as not THAT bad, when they're still pretty bad.

That will also, minor victory, duck my debt to under the $30K level!

My worst debt will soon become my car, which is worth about as much as I owe. I'm paying a high interest on this. I'm honestly thinking of putting this on low-interst credit card. I know, I have to think of more creative solutions than that. Other thoughts:

1.) Sell it.
2.) Look into better loans.
3.) Consider putting it on a school loan when I get their.

If I go to school out of state, I need to figure out a few things:

1.) How much will moving costs/first few months of living come to?
2.) What will be my source of income?
3.) How much should I have saved?
4.) What do I want my debt structure to look like when I get to school? How much do I want saved? How much do I want paid off?

Point 4 is honestly the most realistic thing I've EVER said about my finances. I've never actually thought of a mature debt structure.

It's way past my bedtime, but this is some progress, which is so much better than my past.

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