Gasping for Breath

BT payment

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:10:23 PST

I made my payment today from my paycheck towards my balance transfer. The balance is down to $2153 and needs to be paid off by 9/1. That means I need to pay off on average, $307/month. Which is down a little bit from last month's average of $321/month.

I have mostly done my...

Belt getting a little tighter?

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:53:13 PST

My work has been systematically cutting back on perks because they are doing what they can in light of poor sales to keep everyone employed. The majority of the cuts have been met with little grumbling, as they were perks and definitely not something the average office has. They...

0% BT

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:35:58 PST

I got a new credit card. Probably not the wisest thing I could have done but I think this past month has been eye opening in the 'wow I still can't handle having a credit card' way. Case in point, last month I racked up $1300 and I can only justify maybe $700 of it (plane tickets)....

Gas money...

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:46:43 PST

Ok so here's my tiny dilemma...

My current amount of gas money in my wallet is $35.

I'm not quite ready to fill again but might before the weekend is out. I always fill it at around half which is at most 10 gallons but usually more like 8.

Monday is when I pull the next $40...

How a pack of gum saved me $10

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:51:18 PST

I stopped by Fred Meyer's tonight as I wasn't going to have any other time this weekend to do some clothes shopping. I needed to get a couple pairs of workout pants as the ones I currently am using are pretty worn out and really shouldn't be worn outside the home. I have decided...

October's electric bill.

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:21:32 PST

I think we'll make it through November with a credit balance before I even pay the bill. Here's how we're looking for October:

Previous Balance: -132.55
Current Charges: 33.94
New Account Balance: -98.61

And the comparison between last year this month and the current...

The heater

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:28:26 PST

It's been a while since I've blogged here. Not really too much to write about really.

Our electric equal pay rate changed in August. It went down about $12/mo. Pretty excited about that since it means a year of living with a different roommate made a difference.

In June...

Offer Letter Recieved

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:41:26 PST

Tomorrow I start my first day in my new position. Today I finally got my offer letter. It's been a yo-yo thing. First my former boss asked if I had received the letter last week, I hadn't, so she emailed the head of the dept I'll be working for asking him to get it for me.

Then...

This is why I have a 100 cushion

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:50:37 PST

I am just off this month. I marked two bills as paid, one for $81.97 and another for $58.47 but I neglected to actually mark them in Quicken. I caught the first one before my CC payment actually went through so I was able to cancel and resend minus the $81.97 but I didn't catch the...

Spending Spree.

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:16:01 PST

This is why I can't have a credit card. I do great with having an empty one for emergencies if need be but then once that emergency comes up it is easy to spend more.

I got the work done on my car, paid off about half of it with what was in my savings and had every intention of...

6 months.

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:41:26 PST

I am planning on everything being 'back to normal' in 6 months. By back to normal I mean, CC paid off again AND EF back to $1500. Not bad really all around but still longer than I'd like to take off of my regular debt reduction.

What to do...

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:00:07 PST

I did think long and hard before I made the decision to authorize roughly $2k worth of work to be done on my car. I waited to take it into the shop, knowing some of the work needed to be done, until my one credit card was paid off. Since my money is scattered in different banks I...

Car repairs and taking the bus

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Fri, 30 May 2008 22:22:18 PST

I have an apt to take my car into the shop on Monday. The clutch is randomly slipping and I would hate for it to cause serious problems while I'm driving it and since I've made some headway on paying off my should be empty CC I am going to bite the bullet and see what the damage will...

It's actually cheaper to drive...

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:58:55 PST

On days when I have appointments I have been driving to work. It just makes things easier and I have a place I can park for free on the east side of the river. The downside of course is that it takes me 15 minutes to still walk to work but the plus side is I'm at my car earlier after...

Didn't buy the Tshirt, did buy the gloves

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:58:51 PST

I went to a concert last night and debated about buying a band tshirt. In the end, decided it wasn't necessary and $25 stayed in my pocket.

This morning at Curves I noticed that I was building up callouses again. Last time it had to do with my work environment (freight dock)...

CC, Car repair, Cell Phone, and Bus Tickets

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:04:51 PST

I have $837 left on my CC that is supposed to be empty. I have been able to drop it hugely these past couple of months but that is going to be slowing down here soon. Still though, with the money I know I have coming in it will be paid off by the end of May.

Once it's paid off...

Bus Pass vs Bus Tickets.

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 06:49:21 PST

For the month of April I am experimenting. My friend opted to not continue in her work's bus pass program (they renew for free every year if they want to) so while that was the cheapest option it is no longer available.

A monthly pass for 2 zones costs $65. A bus ride one way...

Still here but barely.

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:25:24 PST

I don't have time for much by way of 'that internet stuff' I used to do when I had lots of free time at my old job. So posting here has mostly slacked by the wayside. I do keep up my sidebar, even if I don't post my full networthiq results every month. It's tough to balance it all...

It's official!

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:48:11 PST

My small student loan through Sallie Mae is paid off!! I mean, I sent them the final payment ages ago (it seems). I made it online after first looking to see what the 10 day payoff amount would be, but when I entered that amount it told me I couldn't enter more than the 5 day payoff...

Benefits Committee

gaspingforbreathe@gmail.com (LdyFaile) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 09:15:53 PST

Have I mentioned, I love the place I work for? They have decided to take a look at what the employees actually want/need as far as benefits go, for health insurance and other potential perks, and look into ways to changing things.

As a result they have formed a Benefits Committee...