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Archive for October, 2006

Tuesday's deposit and spending.

October 31st, 2006 at 07:31 pm

I deposited $128.38 into my bank account today. $30 was my friend's portion of the beach house we're renting, I'm mailing off the check tomorrow as I technically have enough in my account for it to clear but am hoping that I'll have everyone else's portion before it clears. Total cost for the rental is $185 to be split between 6 people. The $98 has been applied to CC2 and the $0.38 will stay in the bank just because.

Now, my deposit for CC2 was short by $25. I got cash last night for my childcare work (that's normal) but I decided to give it to my brother. He gets paid on Friday, which is good, but I'm not certain he has enough in his bank account to last him til then. He got hit with three overdrafts last pay period and that really cut into him. I'd hate to see it happen again. He didn't ask for the money and I'm trying to avoid him having to ask for rent by pre-empting the possible overdrafts. He's also expecting a check from our other brother for $100 (payback from a loan) it just hasn't arrived yet.

But the way I look at it, I still had $98 to throw at CC2. Since I was only really expecting $50 from my usual childcare gigs I felt that was still a good chunk.

I picked up my brother so we could say 'until we meet again' to our great aunt this morning (she hates saying goodbye but she's moving to southern california today) and my car started acting up. That does not make me happy. We were at an onramp to the freeway that had an up incline. Every time the car ahead of me would move forward one car length I would follow. But since we weren't moving that fast I wouldn't let off the clutch completely. Not every time, but some of the time it would sound/feel like metal scraping metal and nothing would happen right away. I liken it to when your brakes get bad, like really bad, and you can feel it engage and try to stop but it doesn't right away. Except this was with the clutch not the brake. *sigh* I'm debating about calling my shop to see if they have any ideas but I hate not having enough information. And I really can't handle any work to be done on my car right now. I can barely handle the tires I'm putting on this week.

Yay mail and the store

October 27th, 2006 at 04:14 pm

I finally got a payout from one of the PTR sites. I don't think I'll be doing that one anymore. Took me almost a year to get enough for a payout because I didn't really try to refer people. And once they changed their website format I started getting less offers to click on. Plus that payout included the $10 they give you to start. Not worth it for me. I was waiting til I got my check, I got it, now I'm going to delete my account. They also take out a 'processing fee' so instead of getting the $25ish I earned I got $23.35 or something. Feh. But it's money I wasn't planning on so it'll go in with this weeks deposit/payment on CC2.

I went to the store today on my walk home from the gym. Picked up the things on my list to restock plus found some thin cut pork chops with a 75 cent off sticker on it making it under $2 for the package. They went straight into the freezer since I have more than enough food already waiting to be eaten for dinner.

I found I was incorrect in my grocery figure. I actually had $23 in my wallet. Sweet! My grocery money all goes in the same place so I know exactly where it is but I hadn't actually pulled it all out to count it. My total came to $11.01 after they took off the 'club card' savings. Saved a total of $6.69. I'll take it. I was going to have to wrestle with $0.99 but there was a penny on the counter so I still have $12 left. Next week all I'm planning on needing to buy are bananas. I buy them in small bunches, 4 or 5 at a time. I only eat one a day and if I buy any more then they go bad too fast. I don't really care about freezing them to make banana bread or banana milk shakes.

I don't know if I'll go out to eat on Sunday or not. If I do I'll limit myself to spending $5.

I am stoked for the boost in my CC2 payment next week. My childcare job on Mondays will be ending Nov 13th so I won't have that coming in anymore. Not that something else won't potentially replace it but for now it's going away. So I want to pump as much onto paying off the card as possible. My potential payment right now is looking like $113. I have two babysitting jobs this weekend plus the two childcare jobs plus the check I got yesterday. Awesome. And then I get paid in a week and it's my check with extra money on it.

A little confusing but I made it work!

October 26th, 2006 at 06:29 pm

Post #2 today.

Dropped off prescription they said it'd be 20 - 25 minutes. Glanced at my cell phone to see what time that would be. Picked up a hand basket and wandered over to the wine aisles.

Found the exact brand/type that my friend said was her husband's favorite. I know absolutely nothing about alcohol, I don't drink it often, and I know even less about wine. So I'm very nervous about buying it. Which is why I asked specifics. Best part? It was on sale, regularly $12.19 on sale for $7.99. I glanced at the gift bags they have hanging in that area, didn't see any I liked, looked at the price and decided he could live without the excess wrapping.

Walked through the store and found the cleaning supplies. In the past I've used Tilex brand mold/mildew but it was almost $5 and the Lysol brand was on sale for $2.99.

Found my way to the cold remedies aisle and Zicam was on sale for $8.49.

Did quick math in my head. I have $9.45 left in personal fund (in the bank) and had planned $10 (in the bank) for prescription. The total in my basket comes to nearly $20 so I could pay with debit card and pull $10 out of my grocery cash to pay for the prescription. So that's what I did.

The actual total that I put on debit was $19.47 so I did dip into the cushion by $0.02. When I get home and record it I'll just mark the personal fund as empty.

Picked up the prescription and got a little tap on the wrist from insurance because I was getting more of the same before my 30 day supply was up but the pharmacy noticed the change in dosage so pushed it through anyway. The best part is, the prescription I filled was enough for 1 pill twice daily but for another two weeks I'll still be on half a pill in the morning one full pill at night. So that'll make it stretch more than 30 days.

I'm fairly certain I can make it the rest of the week with just $21. Providing I don't go out to eat on Sunday, which does happen usually. But...I have a coupon for a free burger at Red Robin so if I can convince people to eat there instead....

Eyeballing my rapidly emptying wallet.

October 26th, 2006 at 03:50 pm

I have $31 left for groceries and $21 left for gas. The tank will not need any more before the 3rd (my next payday since the 5th is a Sunday). But I'm trying to pretend it's not there.

I'm taking in a Rx to get filled today (they up'd one of my meds so I need to get it filled early). Hopefully they'll do it without saying that it's too soon to get it. Although it is a new dosage so it'll probably be ok. But that's why I'm taking it in today. I don't need it til early next week but if there's any complications then I have two days to have my dr work it out. I already counted it as paid in my budget so the money's in the bank waiting to be actually applied.

While I'm at Fred Meyer's I'm going to pick up a bottle of wine for my friend's birthday. I have $9.45 left in my personal money fund and I think I can get away with spending a little over that on the gift. I also am going to get some more Zicam and some mold/mildew cleaner since bleach isn't doing the trick. Frown Depending on how much it all costs, I may just put it all on the debit card and dip into the $20 cushion.

The $31 has to last me through restocking fruit, picking up ingredients for potluck dish, restocking staples for lunch, and going out for coffee once next week. I was going to say going out to lunch as well but I forgot that day got switched to Friday which is payday. I'm sure it's enough money but I always worry about it. I am totally set though on breakfast and dinner for a while so that's nice.

I was more concerned about the $31 when I was going to buy Zicam ($8-9) and vitamins ($12) out of it as well. But I can't find the vitamins in stock so I'm just going to wait til next payday. And I'll use money in the bank for the Zicam.

Gas.

October 25th, 2006 at 04:09 pm

I was going to wait til Thursday to get gas. But I was in the neighborhood of the cheap gas station I usually fill at unexpectedly yesterday so I just filled then. [Shell station at $2.359 for regular] I don't like seeing my tank get below half but sometimes it has to be done. However, this time isn't one of them! So only spent $19.57 to fill the tank that should get me through til next week payday (Friday). I had the exact change so stopped her from topping it off. I haven't decided if I'm walking to work today or not. I have plans afterwards that make it a little silly to walk to work, walk home, then turn around and drive. But on the other hand, I have plenty of time to do just that and otherwise I'd probably just come home anyway before leaving again. Hmm. We'll see.

I was running errands to kill time yesterday and stopped by Trader Joe's to pick up things I forgot on Satuday. It was on my way so it wasn't that big of a deal to stop. Chicken Burritos? Out. Vitamins? Out. Lemon Sorbet? Out. Ok so the last was just a semi impulse thing so that's ok that they were out. I have enough Vitamins to last til next week but I'd rather pick them up before I run out. And the Chicken Burritos are nice to have on hand for that quick dinner. Fortunately I still have some roast/potatoes/carrots left over (4 servings) and I think some Chili in the fridge so it's not a necessity just one of my staples. Sorta seemed like a waste of gas. Oh well. If I do drive into work today I might travel to one of the other bigger stores in the area in hopes of finding what I'm looking for.

I have $41 or so left over for food stuffs. Vitamins is part of my food budget and that's $12 for 2 months supply. I also need more Zicam. I really do think that's the only thing keeping me from getting a cold when I feel like one's coming on. I have one more tablet left after today. Frown That's another $9 but it's for 25 doses and usually I only have one per day that I'm feeling crappy when I wake up. Or one before I go do childcare at church just in case. I can't take anything else for colds with my heart condition so I'd rather fight if off before it starts.

Todays CC2 payment.

October 24th, 2006 at 03:26 pm

I got all the money I was expecting ($140) but my payment today will only be $120. I got a call from one of the gals I've been babysitting semi-regularly for yesterday. She asked me to babysit on Sunday, no problem although there was a party I was going to go to but I'd rather make a couple extra bucks. Then she asked if I wanted to buy a Chinook Book. Her daughter's preschool is selling them as a fundraiser. It's $20 and is sort of like the Entertainment Book except it's only for this area and has mostly local businesses in it. Well, ok I think they've got one for Eugene as well but still it's way more local than the Entertainment Book.

Anyway, I told her I'd buy one. She's been supporting me by calling me to babysit, so I can support her daughter's school. Plus it's a great way to try new places that I don't even know exist. Smile She'll be stopping by this morning to pick up the money since she needs to turn it in by the 26th. I am hoping I can get the book itself before the 1st but I think that's pushing it. Ah well that's ok.

So, today I'm still making a hefty non-paycheck payment on CC2. Smile

I'm going to be a regular W2 employee

October 23rd, 2006 at 05:33 am

The church that I do childcare for has decided to make me a regular W2 employee. I only make $25/week and they're going to work out the taxes so I get $25/week. I have a W4 to take into them next week along with my passport.

I'm wondering if I should change my regular job W4 from 2 back to 1. I don't know what effect this little bit of extra will have on my taxes.

Now I'm only going to make about $400 this year from them. It's not enough to push me into another tax bracket. And I still have student loan interest that will help balance things out. I just wish I knew for sure. I'm fairly certain I won't have to owe anything still though.

My Tuesday deposit right now looks like:
5.00 Pinecone
30.00 Paycheck
25.00 Babysitting
50.00 Childcare on Sunday
------
110.00 Confirmed

Potential:
30.00 Childcare on Monday

I'm ready for it to be Tuesday so I can make a payment on CC2 already!

Another movie check.

October 22nd, 2006 at 08:55 pm

I got a call on Friday to do a blind check (head count) at the same theater I went to last week for Saturday. I called back, left a message, and they never called me back nor assigned the paperwork to me so I figured they found someone to do it. Apparently that person didn't work out as they called me today again about doing it for today's show. Because it's last minute, they're making it $15 instead of the regular $10. And I only have to stick around for the first 20 minutes or so to do the count. And I get reimbursed my admission fee. This one's going to be tougher because it's a matinee show which means kids are allowed at the theater. Kids are harder to see so the count will be...interesting. But I'm confident I can pull it off. We'll see. I know I'll appreciate the $18 check when it comes in 6 weeks.

Three Phase Plan update.

October 21st, 2006 at 05:22 pm

Phase One (pay off CC2)

Statement balance difference: -$292.93
Total Payments: $488
Total charges and fees: $195.77

Most of those charges were from before I decided to stop using the card all together. The next statement should look better.

Previous potential payoff date: 4/20/2007
New potential payoff date: 3/20/2007

Phase two (build up EF to $1,000)

Between the three accounts my savings has grown by $130.01 since the end of September.

Phase three (pay as much off CC1 as possible by 4/15/2010)

Statement balance difference: -$90.70
Total payments: $473
Total charges and fees: $382.30

That was the last month that I'll have charges on this card. It used to be used to pay bills. It no longer serves that function.

Previous potential balance by 4/15/2010: $6,739.99
New potential balance by 4/15/2010: $6,665.47

Only $1,582.95 to go before things get back to normal on this card.

---

Back to CC2 news. I got $25 last night for babysitting instead of the expected $20. So now my Tuesday payment looks like this:

5.00 Pinecone check
30.00 Paycheck
25.00 Babysitting
-----
60.00 Confirmed payment

50.00 Childcare on Sunday
30.00 Childcare on Monday
-----
80.00 Potential

140.00 Possible payment. That makes me Very happy.

Because CC2 is a cashback card and you can only make withdrawls when it's at or past $50 I'm going to wait until after the November statement to request a cashback check. The reason for that is I'm planning on putting my tire purchase and my birthday hair cut/color on the card to get a little more cashback. After I make the charges I'll pull the money out of my savings to cover it and make that much extra of a payment the following Tuesday. That's the last charge I intend to make. Then when I get the cashback check, I'll just incorporate it with a payment on CC2. My current cashback amount is about $55.

Made the appointment

October 21st, 2006 at 01:51 am

Post #2 today.

I called the place that my friends recommended to get my hair cut and just asked their prices. I figured it'd be out of my range and from what I remember from last year, I spent about $140 and I didn't want to do that again.

The gal on the phone said it would be $55-60 depending on the stylist. I thought that was just the highlights. Nope, that included the cut. Shoot, I can do that. It's a little more than I'd pay elsewhere but I only do it once a year. And it's less than if I went back to the other place I went to last year.

Now I just need to touch base with my friends that live out that way to see if they can get together afterwards so I make more of my trip out there.

Pay day!

October 20th, 2006 at 04:21 pm

It's payday today. It actually went surprisingly well. This is the first paycheck where I'm actually paying two of my bills instead of using them as part of the payment of my CC1. I had earmarked more money than necessary for some of them. Others had credits I wasn't expecting. So it all rounded out to not bad.

All bills got paid and leaves 20.03 cushion

I'm anticipating a nice deposit for Tuesday to pay towards CC2. I have the following in hand to pay:
30.00 From paycheck
5.00 Pinecone check

And the following potential:
20.00 Babysitting Friday night (guess)
50.00 Childcare on Sunday (they didn't pay me last week so I'll get double this week)
30.00 Childcare on Monday (extra $5 for what I gave a parent for change last week)

Grand total of $135 potentially to pay on CC2. I checked the calendar and there are exactly 4 Tuesdays between now and 11/20 so I'm ok to make a payment every week. That's exciting too. I can only make 4 online payments per statement period.

Once my statements are available online I'll be updating my Three Phase Plan.

Tomorrow is payday, but I'm getting gas today.

October 19th, 2006 at 10:12 pm

My tank is at about 1/2. Probably a little under since it actually shows it at half but when you fill it it goes way up past full. I get paid tomorrow but I have a $10 gas card from Shell and the cheap Shell station is on my way to my meeting tonight. So I'm going to see if I can put in that $10 and make it plus what's left in the tank last the whole next pay period. If it does, I'll save $40.

My brother is once again learning the hard way about the way banks work. He's up to a -$127 in his account because he doesn't keep track of his spending. Fortunately he gets paid tomorrow. He's going to start using cash instead, we'll see how that goes. Though I don't think I'm going to push for him to make a payment on what he owes me this month unless it looks like he'll have enough to cover everything.

My step brother is looking into why the allotment hasn't deposited yet into my account. It's really annoying to be honest. Fortunately, I already had enough in my regularly budgeted amount to cover more than the minimum required payment so it's not that big of a deal but it does need to be taken care of.

The day is only half over. I need to find some project to work on to keep me busy.

Cutting it close.

October 18th, 2006 at 04:28 pm

I just spent $3.15 at the store. I bought bananas and milk. I like to have a banana when I first wake up because I'm usually So Hungry and it helps take the edge off. Then I can wait to have breakfast for a little while. But they go bad so fast that I only buy 4 or 5 at a time and today I ate my last one. The milk we have in the fridge is almost bad, trying to use it all up before it goes bad but in the mean time (since I haven't checked it this morning) I picked up a half gallon to make sure we have some that's good in the fridge. Between my roomate and I we don't really drink a lot of milk and we alternate buying it.

That leaves me with $9.72 and I still need to buy oil for my car. It won't cost that much, I plan on buying 3 quarts which at most should be $6. But this is my cushion money, I'm really dissapointed that I had to break into it. However the bright side is, I'm not pulling from Savings and I'm not charging.

Speaking of pulling from savings, my savings accounts are going to take a hit next month. For my birthday I am going to get my annual hair cut and perhaps some highlights. I only do it once a year so I don't mind getting it done at the salon. If it was an all over color I'd do it at home. I don't know how much it will cost, I have the number to a recomended 'hair god' so I'll check his prices. I know I can go to Master Cuts and get it for reasonable but it's my birthday so I want to splurge a little. Last year though, I spent $140. I can't really justify that this year. I know the guy charges $25 for a cut, which is annoying since it's really just a trim because I'm growing out my hair. So if the highhlights are more than $50 I may just bag it all together, go to the beauty school and get a cut for $3 (with coupon) and go to Master Cuts for the color ($25). Even with tip it shouldn't come to $50.

Then of course there's the tires. I can only put that off for so long and I decided that I would just get them in November because that's generally when the rainy season starts here. That's going to be at least $140 for two and I have looked around to get the best price but I have specialty rims which require specialty tires. *sigh* This is the first time I've had to replace them since I bought the car a little over three years ago.

I think I can handle the hit to savings though, it's grown since last month so it should be able to cover everything without draining it completely. Since I have three savings accounts and I'm a silly math person, I think I'm going to withdraw from each account using a weighted average so in a sense, each account will be withdrawn from evenly.

It just looks better.

October 17th, 2006 at 03:59 pm

I have a couple of loans through my bank (Wells Fargo) and when I log in I see the grand total of those loans on the main page. It's a rather discouraging amount, $43k. But today, after one of my loan payments got applied, it's down to $42k. That seems like a really big deal to me. I can't wait for next month when I actually start making a dent in the student loan.

I only got $20 last night. Well, I got $25 but one of the parents needed change and so I gave him my $5 and I'll get it back next week. I was debating about whether I should even bother making a trip to the bank to deposit just $20 but then I realized, it's cash. If I have it, I'll spend it. So I went ahead and made a payment on my CC2 for $20 which means that I HAVE to go to the bank to deposit it before work.

Still no sign of the allotment. I'll contact step bro later in the morning if it's still not there. I can never figure banks out. How they process things I mean. Sometimes they show the pending deposit/withdrawl, sometimes they don't but when it does show up it shows that it was credited the day before. I don't get it. Ah well, so long as I know it's coming out it's all good.

Selling advice.

October 16th, 2006 at 08:08 pm

I have a couple things I'd like to sell. Well I don't really want to sell them but I have no use for them and they're just taking up space in the garage so I'm going to sell them. From what I can tell, eBay doesn't have local listings anymore. I don't want to deal with shipping so I'm not going to eBay the items. Which leaves Craigslist. However I have no idea what to price them (which is why eBay is appealing).

If y'all wouldn't mind taking a look at the items and telling me what you think I might be able to get for them that'd be awesome. I did do some checking around, eBay and craigslist, for pricing ideas.

Christmas Dishes:
Mostly service for 8 includes 8 dinner plates, 7 smaller plates, 8 saucers, 8 mugs. 6 serving dishes, 3 of which are oven/microwave proof. One tea pot. One cake plate with serving utensil. And finally one extra serving platter that doesn't match exactly but it's always been used along with everything else. I actually know I have more pieces somewhere, just don't know where to start looking for them. Original price paid, unknown. They were bought at least 15 years ago and have been used a few times. One of the boxes has a price tag of $39.99 on it. Pictures are available here: http://www.goingthere.net/gallery/Dishes

Singer Featherweight:
This one was either my mom's first sewing machine, or it was my grandmother's. We had two at one point, but I only have a vauge recolection of the other one. It's the machine I learned to sew on. I have another sewing machine that someone gave me a few years ago. I know quilters are fond of the Featherweights. It could probably use a tune-up. I checked eBay and some good condition ones were going for about $170. Pictures are available here: http://www.goingthere.net/gallery/Singer

I have an idea of what I could probably get for them but I don't want to price it too low or too high.

Random ways to earn extra cash

October 16th, 2006 at 05:42 pm

So the company that I do mystery shops and theater checks for has revamped their website and there's a registration button once again available. If anyone's interested, more information can be found here: http://www.certifiedfieldassociate.com/fieldworkeroverview.asp

I don't get any credit for referrals, just wanted to pass it along since I know people have asked me they can sign up too for their area. It doesn't cost anything to sign up except postage to mail in your application. I've never earned enough to have to claim it ($600/year) but I've also been pretty busy and just plain unable to complete a lot of the tasks when they're available.

Weekend is over, 5 days til payday

October 16th, 2006 at 04:03 pm

Or maybe it's 4 days. I get paid on Friday so however that works out.

Gas. No worries there. I do have a dr's apt today to drive to and a couple other meetings during the week but not so much that it'll use up what's left of the tank. I have a $10 Shell card in my wallet which is good since I used my $10 cash last night that was left over from my gas budget this month to pay for my roomate and I to go to the movies. So I still have $4 in my wallet for gas at least.

Food. I used the last of my food budget, just barely squeaking by. I had $25 in my wallet and my total came to $24.22. Unfortunately, I left the sour cream out (I pulled all the to be refridgerated stuff out of the bag, set it on the counter, but then when I actually went to put it away somehow I didn't notice it and it stayed out all night) and I need some for a recipe. So I'll need to dig into the last $12 in my bank account to get a tiny bit of sour cream and probably some oil for my car too.

Extra money earned last week. I didn't get paid last night because the pastor forgot to bring a check with him so I'll get paid double next week. No big deal, just means that the $25 won't get applied to the credit card before the next statement. As far as I know, I'm doing child care tonight which should be at least $25 possibly $30. I'm expecting a PTR check for $25 and a Pinecone survey check for $5 at some point, however if it doesn't show in the mail today it won't get applied til next week as I've decided to only visit the bank once a week on Tuesdays before work. I need to put my paperwork together and mailed off today for the theater check I did so I can get paid for that.

Money from step brother. Still hasn't shown up in my account yet. But I don't know if that's because the wrong information got submitted or because I'm impatient. Smile He says the money has been taken out of his paychecks already so that part is working. I'm going to wait til tomorrow after I get to work, if it's still not deposited I'll give him a call and see what's up.

Dollar jar. I borrowed from that this weekend because I knew I was going out to eat with some friends and to the movies with my roomate. I had $8 in there. I spent $5 on breakfast after church and $3 at the movies for pizza. Perhaps not the wisest expenditure of money but I didn't charge it.

In the mail...

October 14th, 2006 at 02:28 am

I got my $10 shell gas card from MyPoints! Yipee! I was debating about checking to see if I could add more to the card, like perhaps I could put my gas budget on there instead of carrying cash. But I don't always go to Shell, it just happens that I have a lot more recently. So it's going into my wallet and I'll use it the next time I get gas. Which will hopefully be after I get paid next week. Should be, I've only used about a quarter of a tank. Mostly because I walked 3 days to work. I've got some driving to do this weekend but I don't think my tank will be on empty and if I play my cards right, I won't have to put in the last $10 left over from my gas budget for the pay period either.

My insurance agent called back today and the new quote including the ticket wasn't worth switching. So I'm staying where I am until the ticket officially catches up with me. Two more years, and it'll be gone.

The good and the wierd.

October 13th, 2006 at 01:46 am

I called my auto ins agent today. Told her I wanted to accept a quote from the new company but that I also had a speeding ticket. She looked up my ?clue? file and did Not find the speeding ticket (it was almost a year ago so it should be there) but instead found a small accident in September and a tow in December. Uhhh. Wow. Apparently because I was on the same policy as my brother when he rear-ended someone, it shows up on my file because we were on the same policy at the time. However, I was back with the agent that's working with me now when the tow happened (brother's wife's car). Feh. She was hoping to call me back by 5 to let me know the status. But since it's almost 6 I'm guessing she won't be able to call me back til tomorrow. Since the ticket's not showing up that means (I think) that I get the originally quoted rate which would only be $88.60/mo for 10 months. I can so handle that. *cross fingers*

Have to decide by tomorrow...

October 12th, 2006 at 05:20 pm

I got a letter from my insurance agent. I love my auto insurance agent because she's an independant agent which means she represents multiple companies. When my insurance comes up for renewal she checks all the companies she does business with and if she finds a better deal she lets me know. Right now my policy is $1066 for a year. She represents more insurance companies now and one of the new ones she was able to quote me at $866 for the year.

My problem is..I got a speeding ticket about a year ago and I never told her about it. If I have her lock in the quote, I have to tell her about it because it'll be found out when the insurance company pulls my record and if they find it when I've told them there wasn't anything it'll be even more. The last time she sent me a letter, the difference wasn't really that much. But now... I just don't know how much a speeding ticket will affect my rates. Argh! It definately would be cheaper to go this other route, and perhaps even with the speeding ticket it would be the same as I'm paying right now. Problem is, I won't know til I tell her and once I tell her, it'll have to be applied to my current policy as well.

I hate lying. And lying by omission is still lying. But I was really hoping I could skate by three years without having to tell her. Although, I know one time I told her I had a ticket and she looked it up and it wasn't on my record. Odd that.

I don't know what to do. My gut says to call her up and tell her to go ahead and lock in the quote. Even if it means telling her about my speeding ticket.

Spent a little bit last night.

October 12th, 2006 at 04:19 pm

I had $11.10 in my Personal Fund yesterday. Today, it's all gone. I went out last night and bought a housewarming gift for a friend of mine, cost $7.80. But then went out to dinner and that cost $11 including tip. I went ahead and used my debit card since I only have $40 for the rest of the payperiod for food and I'm going to borrow $6 from that to go to the movies tomorrow night (I'll get reimbursed but not til later). So instead of having my $20 cushion in my bank account, I'm down to $12. That's ok though. I think.

My gas tank is still relatively full. I haven't heard yet about when I might be doing the customer training but it's definately not this week. I'm pretty excited about having $10 left over from my gas budget and not having the tank be almost completely empty when I get paid. I'm actually going to walk to work today even though I have something to drive to after work. I think I have enough time to walk home, eat a quick bite, and get to my friend's house all in an hour. Totally do-able. And even if it's not, chances are someone will be later than I am. Smile

For good or bad ...

October 12th, 2006 at 01:39 am

I applied for a job today. There's a local company that some friends of mine work for that's hiring for an accounting related position. It's actually doing some other admin stuff too but I think that'd be a good starting point really. The only catch is, I have no clue what the pay is. I don't know what my friends make, I never thought it appropriate to ask. The gal who sent me the job description said she didn't know what the pay range was either. So that's a potential downer. I cannot take less than $18/hr. They are only requiring a HS diploma. The jobs I've seen that only require that don't usually go above $13/hr around here. Especially with the added commute, it would definately stretch my budget even at my lowest required pay.

So I guess we'll just wait and see. I know I can do the things the job requires. However my resume doesn't exactly show that. I probably should have written a cover letter but it's already been submitted with a personal recomendation from my friend that works there so perhaps that will balance out. They really do prefer to hire from withing their own circle (ie people who know people who work there) it would seem. So I guess we'll just wait and see.

Though every time I see I have a new email I pause and wonder if I really want to check it.

Switch...

October 11th, 2006 at 07:49 pm

I'd gotten an email yesterday from the gal I was going to sit for stating that they had something come up and didn't need me on Friday. No worries, it just meant I had another night free. Today I got a call about doing a blind theater check on Friday. There's two show times they need me to check, fortunately I can leave the second one after I finish counting patrons else it would make for a really late night. I get $10 per showing plus reimbursed for ticket price up to two tickets. It's one of the cheaper theaters in town so it's only $3 to get in. Too bad it's not for a movie I really wanted to see. Ah well.

Still I'll make $20 all in all. I might see if anyone wants to go with me to the first showing although it's going to be tricky getting out and then back in for the second one. Not that I wouldn't pay again but just hoping that they wouldn't notice that I'd just left the theater and was paying again to watch the same movie. The last time I did it for a cheap theater, they had a seperate exit so walking back in to pay wasn't that big of a deal plus there was quite a bit of time in between showings and a change of cashiers. Ah well, I'll make it work.

It also means I don't get paid right away, after I send in my paperwork it's at least another 6 weeks before I get the check. But it's still extra money, no matter when it comes in.

Learn something new every day

October 10th, 2006 at 05:07 pm

I just talked to my step brother about this month's payment since I didn't know when his allotment thing would kick in. Apparently how it works is he tells them the full amount of the allotment ($100) and how much to take out of each check (in this case half from each so $50) and then when the amount they've taken out of his pay matches the full amount of the allotment, then they transfer it. He and his wife noticed that $50 was taken out of his check on the 1st which means I should get the allotment transfer around the 15th. I've already paid more than the minimum required on that CC so as long as I have the money to pay on the card by the 20th (ie before the next statement rolls) then I'm good.

Getting deposit ready for payment.

October 10th, 2006 at 05:41 am

I decided to use my childcare money earned on Friday towards my camping trip so that's not going towards CC2. My brother did get paid on Friday, however he used most of his cash to catch up on bills, buy a bus pass, and what's left over is just enough to last him for food til next payday. So I won't bug him about a payment to me until next time.

I got an extra $5 tonight because parents have been picking their kids up late and pushing our time til almost 3 hours. So $30 from child care on Monday, $25 from child care on Sunday, and $216 from my paycheck. That's a payment of $271 to be applied tomorrow! Very happy about that.

Friday I'm babysitting for the other family I sit for, then there's Sunday and Monday nights again. So I have at least one more payment before the statement rolls. I'm trying to not count on everything before it happens, ie Friday could get cancelled, Sunday and/or Monday they might not need me. So until Monday night, I don't know what my extra payment will be. But I'm ok with that since I'm putting down a nice chunk tomorrow.

How long can I keep this up? We'll see...

Finally!

October 6th, 2006 at 09:04 pm

I'm no longer just paying interest in my high student loan!! That'll teach me to skip a payment just cuz they tell me I can. Tsk tsk.

I expect next month to be more on par with what it will actually be. Out of a payment of $259 only $50 went to principle this month. But at least my numbers will start looking better NetWorth wise next month.

I'm going camping this weekend. Really looking forward to it. I think I'm going to take my babysitting money from tonight and use that to pay for the campsite (there's a bunch of people splitting the cost so I don't know how much it will be but not more than $13, plus I'm getting a ride out with friends and we're sharing food) and breakfast on Sunday.

I'm so tired right now. Coffee sounds really good. Even though I should avoid caffiene.

Pay day, better than anticipated!

October 5th, 2006 at 03:28 pm

I was totally lowballing my guess of what my paycheck would be. I actually like it when I do that. Anyway, here's the breakdown this paycheck:

Income:
1347.06 Paycheck
221.00 Saved from last check
20.41 Left over in account
350.00 Roomate's portion of bills
-------
1938.47 Total in

Outgoing:
45.00 Charity
575.00 Rent
275.52 Consolidation Loan
173.00 CC1 payment *
100.00 Food
10.00 Wells Fargo Savings
10.00 ING Direct Savings **
259.38 Student Loan
29.00 Curves
155.00 Medical
40.00 Gas
30.00 Personal
216.00 CC2 ***
-------
1917.90 Total outgoing

20.57 left in account as cushion.

* They say only 57.62 left for minimum, but I'm still paying the amount in my budget. Plus my step brother hasn't given me $100 yet towards this statement's payment.

** I actually had $4.48 left over from my 'personal' allotment last paycheck that I also transferred to ING

*** I'm waiting til Tuesday to pay this because I can only make 2 more payments this statement period (statement runs on the 20th) and I have two more weekends of childcare still to add into the mix. Plus I think my brother gets paid tomorrow so that'll also increase my payment.

I had $5 left over in my wallet, so that goes to the Dollar Jar. A friend of mine just moved up to Seattle. When I have $70 in my Dollar Jar I'm going to go up and visit her. That'll allow me $40 for gas and $30 for whatever we do while I'm there. Fortunately I don't have to wait that long to see her since she's coming down at the end of the month and will be sleeping on my couch.

Boggles the mind...

October 4th, 2006 at 03:58 pm

ING interest does that. I got an email today saying that someone had used a referral (Thanks Jeffery!). I opened an Emigrant Direct account via the Saving Advice link and sent in two referrals, figuring it'd be a while before I saw anything happen there. Imagine my surprise when I checked my email this morning and there was a referral bonus posted.

I checked on the balance of the account because I was curious to see if it had actually posted yet (as opposed to just a notice that I would be getting a bonus) and not only had it posted but I earned $0.50 in interest last month! On just $150! Now I remember why I wait until the first of the next month to do my NetWorthIQ, so I can include the interest earned in my totals.

My Wells Fargo savings account finally went up to $0.02 a month now that I have $160 in there. I can't wait to see the returns on Emigrant.

It's probably silly to some to have three savings accounts but here's how I break it down.

Wells Fargo - Tied directly to my checking, my overdraft protection (they charge less to pull from savings than to cover it themselves), and my immediate OMG I Need Money For This Emergency Now (auto breaks down, etc) needs.

ING - Opened a while ago and have just set up an auto transfer of $10/check that way it's a set it and forget it type thing. I also have a scheduled transaction in Quicken so I don't have to enter it every month. Sometimes there's money left over from my Personal fund from the check before, like right now there's $4.48, if I don't wind up spending it tonight it will get transferred to ING.

Emigrant - Recently opened with the original thought of just putting all my extra child care earnings in there and watching it grow. That idea's been re-assessed but it still is only funded by extra earnings just not by all of the extra earnings that comes in. I know it has a higher interest rate than ING but I just don't feel like changing what I've already got set up.

Those three make up my Emergency Fund. ING and Emigrant are the main interest earners but I feel safer having some of it in WF and available for immediate withdrawl should the situation warrent it.

Is it Thursday yet?

October 3rd, 2006 at 04:24 pm

I'm really anxious for payday. Not in the 'I'm broke I need more money' way but rather in the 'I can't wait to see how much I can throw at a credit card' kind of way.

I get extra money every check on the 5th for being 'on call'. It's not much, just $35/night to answer a cell phone between the hours of 6 pm and 5 am. After taxes it's closer to $17.50/night. So I never budget for it. It just goes towards whatever it needs to.

I guessed, based on last month's total. But I don't know if I had more nights or less. Normally I just have one night a week which means 4 or 5 nights a paycheck but now and again I cover for vacation or whatever so sometimes it's as many as 8.

If I did the numbers correctly, I'll have an extra $160 to throw at CC2. That really excites me since my Three Phase Plan is banking on $160/month and this is only the first paycheck of the month. I cannot wait to get out from under this! So, time fly to Thursday so I can make some headway.

Oh and that customer training gig has been postponed til next week I think. The gal that I'll be training is their main cashier, and she needs to train a newly hired cashier before she can devote time to training for inventory and the like. So they want me up there as soon as possible yet have to wait for the other training to finish. Which means, I can include my trip to the customer under my regular fuel budget and take the reimbursement and throw it at CC2. Sweet!