Gasping for Breath

My new roommate and I are going shopping for the few things we actually will need when my current roommate moves out. Dishes for one, Target has a set on sale it's a white service for four for $10, and a big skillet for another. There's a couple other odds and ends but considering how much we don't have to buy it's not really that bad.

I don't really have money to go shopping right now. I get paid Sunday/Monday for child care that will be about $70 total. In my dollar jar where I've been saving what's left over in cash from my grocery and gas at the end of the pay period I have $68. So I'm taking that with me to spend and I will pay it back from my childcare money. I don't plan on spending a lot, hopefully no more than $40.

I am excited though to spend time with the new roommate too.

So the gal that came over last night, seems like it's a really good possibility. I love the fact that neither of us really had to work very hard to find each other. She doesn't have much by way of furniture and is looking for her own space (currently she shares a room). I live in the part of town she really likes and it's a straight shot to work. We seemed to get along pretty well too and have some likes in common.

Then I talked to my current roommate and since the new gal doesn't have much by way of stuff, and she doesn't want to move too much anyway, she's going to leave me with the table, chairs, couch, tv, vcr, a couple of bookcases, silverware and possibly some kitchen appliances that she rarely uses.

The best part about all of this is, I closed out my storage unit (well I made the last payment end of June, I have til end of July to clear it out completely) and I've found places for everything so far that I've pulled out. Which means that I now have $60 more available each month for whatever I'm currently paying off!

I told potential new roommate that she wouldn't have to pay rent til August, that way she can start moving in early but not have to pay rent both places. My current roommate is moving the 21st/22nd and basically the rent's already taken care of til the end of the month.

I need to make up some sort of rental agreement, any of you landlord types have a template that you use and like? She doesn't have to fill out anything for the management the apartment will just be under my name so I want something just to cover myself just in case.

Took me a little longer to post this. I did fill in the info at NetWorthIQ just didn't actually create a post here.

Assets $ Diff % Diff
Cash $1,153 ($257) -18.23 %
Retirement $27,357 ($600) -2.15 %
Cars $2,095 ($30) -1.41 %
Total Assets $30,605 ($887) -2.82 %

Debts $ Diff % Diff
Student Loans $35,444 ($114) -0.32 %
Credit Card $10,426 ($147) -1.39 %
Other $15,761 ($465) -2.87 %
Total Debts $61,631 ($726) -1.16 %

Net Worth ($31,026) ($161) -0.52 %

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2007 Goals Update:

1] Consumer debt down to $14,000. Currently at $26,187. Monthly amount of decrease needs to be $2,031 in order to meet this. Not happening this year but I can keep trying.

2] EF holding steady at $1,000. Currently at $763.29. Need to increase it by $40 each month to meet this.

3] Medical savings at least $500. Currently at $58.04. I pulled a good chunk of it out last month for dental and I have another bill to take care of next month so it's going to stay pretty steady at $0 essentially til perhaps September.

4] (Non monetary goal) Holding steady at my current goal weight. Still have 21 lbs to go. Need to loose 4 lbs a month to meet this.

In other news, I have a potential roommate coming by tonight. My first to actually respond. We'll see how that goes.

Ok so I made a mental note of someone's post talking about cold brewing coffee and making iced coffee and....and....I have no idea who it was or where to find it. But I figured I remembered enough of it to try my hand at it last night.

So the story is I shouldn't have caffeine but lately I've been craving coffee which is weird because I really don't like coffee all that much to begin with. With the warmer weather and everything the post about cold brewing and making iced coffee sounded appealing. My roommate actually has a coffee pot but I've never used it and she has her own methods for it so brewing coffee then freezing some of it into ice cubes seemed not as easy. Besides, roommate is out of town so I can't ask her about the coffee pot.

I do have a french press so I picked up a little bit of bulk grounds from the store and used their machine to course grind it (cleaning it off as much as possible to hopefully not get too many caffeinated beans in the mix). Now I don't normally make coffee. I do at work because I'm nice, when I leave the office I set up the coffee pot to time brew about 4:50 am since the first person in the office comes in at 5 am. At work we do 3 1/8th cup scoops for 12 cups. But I couldn't remember what I used to do for my press. So I sorta guessed. I looked on the side of the package I'd purchased and it said 1 tablespoon per 6 oz of water. 5 tablespoons for 30 oz of regular so I did 10 tablespoons (well actually 2/3rds of a cup since that converts to a little over 10 tablespoons) to 30 oz of water.

This morning I woke up and pressed the coffee. It looked really weak and I'm not sure if I should have done something different with the grounds though I'm not sure what. I pressed the mixture and poured it into an empty water bottle to store in the fridge for later.

Last night I also made a simple syrup so I added it to the container when I was assembling it this morning. It doesn't taste bad, I mean it tastes like coffee. But it didn't taste especially strong either.

So any suggestions? Did I do anything right/wrong? I've been drinking it slowly (that's a tough one for me, if a drink is there I tend to down it unless it's water) and trying to see if it's actually tasting watered down or just right.

Granted for me it would be an additional expense since I normally only drink water but it's something that I could splurge on once in a while.

The past two days I've gone into Wells Fargo to deposit things (well ok the past two business days) and both times the teller has suggested I talk to a personal banker about changing my checking account to a different package. Right now I've got Custom Management but they want me to switch to Custom Advantage. The only 'advantage' I see is free checks and money orders. Except I hardly write checks, maybe three a month, and I rarely need money orders. It is an interest earning checking account but only when the balance is over $500. I don't know if that's an average daily balance or what.

I would also need to initiate a new auto transfer of $75 from checking to savings. However, that doesn't mean I can't transfer the money back after it processes it.

I think it'd be worth looking into I just don't know when I'm going to have time to do that. Possibly on Saturday but doubtful. Maybe next week when I take my weekly deposit in I can try going early enough to talk to a personal banker. If they can show me that based on my current usage of my account, it would actually earn interest then I might consider switching. If I needed to change how I do things, I'm not so sure it'd be worth it. Right now I pay what needs to be paid as soon as I get paid as opposed to when it's due. So a lot of things get paid early. I'm not sure I'm up for the 'challenge' of paying things almost exactly when they are due just to maintain the $500 balance. Not that I can't do it just I like paying bills only twice a month and forgetting about it the rest of the time y'know?

I'm pretty excited right now because I think everything will balance out alright now. I have decided to stay in my apartment so the hunt for a new roommate starting in August has begun.

I have been holding onto every extra bit of money that's come in so I can cover the deposit that my roommate paid when we moved in. Since I get paid tomorrow the amount shows up in my account today as a pending payment. So I was able to sort out the damage. When all is said and done I'll have $200 left over to pay on my credit card! Since it's not accruing interest just yet that makes me really happy. Of course it only cuts it down by half but still.

So until I know for certain that I'll have a roommate August 1 here is what I plan on doing. Every extra bit of cash, from my Tuesday Deposits and extra in my check, will get posted in Quicken as a future payment called 'Roommate'. When the 5th rolls around again, 'Roommate' will go away and I'll see where I stand with paying everything. I figured my budget with no roommate before (not factoring in extra money from childcare or from changing my withholdings or from any after hours support I may do) and found that if I paid the absolute minimum on everything then I should be good to go to pay full rent. I think with the extra that I will have come in, I'll still be able to pay extra on something come the 5th.

I do want to have a roommate because I want that extra $350 to go to debt reduction. But if I don't have it just yet I'm covered. That is a huge relief.

The money that I'll need for the relay in August will hopefully come from the money my brother pays me back. If not from there then from savings which will get replenished when my brother pays me back.

Happy 4th! Have a wonderful day!

This weekend was not a good one for me spending wise. I pulled $100 cash out of my checking account and have pretty much spent it all. I have $10 left. What did I spend it on you ask?

I went to get a massage from my friend. She informed me that we were trading services. I help her out with computer/financial stuff so the massage on Saturday was free as will be the one I get this coming Saturday. I was anticipating it costing $60. We went out to lunch and I treated her, that came to $14. She paid the tip.

$100 - 14 = $86

I went to Costco to restock a few items that I had run out of. I don't have a Costco card so I only go when my friend goes and I only restock things I actually need/use. Otherwise I stick with using smaller quantities even though it generally costs me more in the long run. Case in point, I eat feta on my daily work lunch salads. I can buy a large container at Costco that will last me a little over 2 months for $4.99. A much smaller container that maybe lasts me two weeks can be found for $2.50 at the grocery store. I spent $27 and I will take it out of my grocery budget from my paycheck on the 5th.

$86 - 27 = $59

I went to the movies and got coffee before hand. Friend had a buy one get one free coupon for coffee drinks so we used that. I spent $2 on coffee, $1 on the movie (movie actually cost $3 but I had $2 in my 'movie money' section of my wallet), $2 on pizza.

$59 - 5 = $54

Sunday I took my brother out to lunch. Spent $11 for the both of us.

$54 - 11 = $43

I had planned on purchasing a shirt for $25 on Sunday as well. Friend of a friend that I had met once before had his leg amputated. His insurance will only cover $5k towards a prosthetic limb but they cost $30-40k so he's selling tshirts (that say This Shirt Bought Tarver a Leg) for $25 each to try and make up the difference. He hasn't posted new totals yet but when I stopped by to get one last night he'd been set up for an hour and already sold 40. Hopefully he'll reach his goal of 50% by July 16th so they can start getting him fitted. The longer they wait after the surgery the harder it is to get it to fit just right. http://www.shirtsforlimbs.com has more information on his journey.

$43 - 25 = $18

I also bought a burger at the pub Tarver was selling his shirts at. $8

$18 - 8 = $10

So...that's how I spent my money this weekend. I don't regret any of it. I still have the money I'll need to make up the difference in rent this month. With my roommate moving out, I need to pay her back for the deposit since she payed all of it. My landlord said that whoever I have move in doesn't need to fill out any paperwork since I have been the primary responsible party all along, she just needs the person's name for security purposes. I think I'll see about getting a rental agreement drafted to have the new roommate sign (and maybe get notarized?) so my butt's covered.

And my massage friend also offered to come pick me up after the relay in August so I don't have to pay for the motel room. Let's see, $196 now for two nights in a motel that I'll only spend one night in or $50 in gas for someone to come and pick me up. I think I'll go with the gas option. I just need to let the guy who is holding the reservations know that I won't be needing it.

I did up my net worth this morning but probably won't post it til tomorrow. I was disappointed in that while I did make a small dent in my debt, my retirement account took a hit which made my net worth go down.

I'm a little annoyed with myself. But before I get to that, I've decided to not do the 0% BT. It's not worth it right now as it's too short of time for something to go wrong.

~ The $400 that I had planned on paying off of CC2 before interest started accruing, may not be going anywhere right away and that makes me sad.

~ If I choose to stay in my apartment I will owe my roommate $200-$300 since she paid the deposit but is leaving. I think it was $200 but since I didn't pay it I don't remember exactly. I told her to take it off of July's rent so thats part of why I can't pay off CC2 right away.

~ If I choose to move (I finally heard back from a house I had inquired after beginning of the month) my housing costs will go up slightly. Rent and utilities combined are only $12 more per month and if the house is where I think it is gas usage won't go up that much but I may not be able to walk to work/gym as often. Depending on the new living situation I may still have to have a storage unit but I've spoken with another friend about 'renting' space in her garage for the same price I was paying before.

~ I have to pay $196 for two nights at a motel after the walking relay I'm doing. It's annoying because all hotel/motels in the area require a 2 night stay for that particular weekend and that is literally the cheapest out there. The next cheapest is three times the rate. The money is due before August 1st and is the second reason I won't be paying off the CC before interest accrues. Though I could take money out of savings but I'm trying to not do that I want to build savings not take away from it.

~ If I don't move and I can de-clutter enough to store it all at the apt I currently live in that will save me $60/month.

~ I'm slightly splurging and getting a massage this weekend but it's for medical reasons so I'll take the money out of my medical funds. I think I have/had a pinched nerve. I had tingling sensations in my legs but when I'd shift how I was sitting it would go away. After the first visit to the chiro it went from both legs to just my left leg. After the second visit to the chiro it's lessened even more but now the muscle that feels like it goes from about mid butt to past the knee is irritated by about mid-day which makes sitting in any position un-bearable. My friend is a massage therapist and sometimes gives me discounts because I do computer work for her. I'm planning on paying full price though until she tells me otherwise.

~ I got the explanation of benefits from my last Echo, they remembered to bill my insurance this time. It's $159 that I'll owe and I'm hoping that it'll be on the next billing cycle. If it is, then there's a good chance I can pay it all when I get it. My medical savings is currently at $57.

~ My brother is getting a signing bonus, I just don't know when yet. When he does he'll be paying off the money he owes me (I'm assuming based on how much money he'll be getting). Right now his outstanding balance with me is at about $3,600. But it'll be 10 - 30 days before he gets his bonus and he says knowing his luck it'll be 30 days.

~ I had three no drive days but was hoping for five. Today the weather wasn't right to walk to work though I did get in a 5.8 mile walk before work. But I did drive into work and I now have plans for after that may entail driving straight from work (ie no time to walk home and get the car). But I did bring lunch and dinner to work with me so I won't be tempted to go out for either.

I keep thinking about this balance transfer offer and I think I might actually take it. My Sallie Mae loan (non-federal loan so it doesn't matter for taxes) is my highest interest rate right now at 13.25%. The balance is a little under $2,200. Right now I pay $60/mo on it.

Extra money I could put towards paying it off by Jan 1, 2008:

$118 extra in budget to be used for whatever I'm focusing on paying off.
$100 from step brother, it's an allotment so it's auto deposited every month.
$180 from childcare I provide.
$60 from the payment I was making before.

Over the course of 6 months, all of that equals more than I would be borrowing so I could potentially pay it off on time. My variable rate on the credit card is 14.24% right now so if there was any leftover that's the rate it would be charged at.

Not to mention any extra on call money I might get plus the change in my withholdings will make a difference I just don't know by how much yet. Plus when it gets down to the end, I could probably just pull from savings what needed to be paid off before interest accrued.

I'm seriously thinking about this. I think I might sleep on it first. I have until July 28th to accept the offer.

The catch though is that it must be paid off by January 1st 2008. Not even six months away. I am tempted to take the offer but I don't know how much I can pay back off in such a short amount of time. If it was January 2009 I would do it in a heart beat.

I know that the official 'tax freedom day' was in April (http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday/) but because of my extra job that doesn't pay much I decided to postpone changing my withholdings by a couple of months hoping it will still balance out. I know it will with student loan interest but still better to get $100 back than to pay $100 right?

Even if I quit this job now I'd still get a W2 as I've officially made over $600. I'm excited to see what the difference is in my check come July 20th (my check on July 5th will have other extras in it so it won't be a good gage).

Ran across this article today http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=5964

What's your take on it? On the money or just nonsense?

In my head it made perfect sense. I was paying more than the minimum on my 10.9% loan because that was the amount already in the budget from when it was a credit card with a higher minimum. Recent changes in required minimums have forced me to rethink things. And considering I'm training for a walking relay, and walking about 6 miles three times a week, I have LOTS of time to rethink things.

This is what I have come up with:
Priority 1: Pay off CC2
Priority 2: EF up to goal
Priority 3: 13.25% personal (not federal) student loan
Priority 4: 10.9% loan and back on track with my Three Phase plan

Priority 1... well you see it went something like this. I had CC2 all paid off. A couple months ago I remembered that CC1 was still the billing card for my website (annual automatic charge) so I changed it to be CC2 since CC2 was paid off and it would be more motivation to pay it off before interest accrued. Only I thought the website renewal was in July and it's really in June so it's been charged already and I have yet to pay it off.

Then as I was looking at something at Ticketmaster I saw that Stomp was coming to town. I have this friend, we've known each other a long time (since '94). Her birthday is coming up end of June and I haven't really ever gotten her something that's really special, something that she'd really appreciate. Usually it's just the token 'oh crap her birthday's coming up I need to do something' type gift. Granted, she doesn't expect anything from me and has told me that on numerous occasions. But, she also has come up with some pretty amazingly thoughtful wonderful gifts for me over the years. (like my justification bit here?) She also happens to Really like Stomp. So I decided to see what tickets were available and found some pretty decent seats. I went ahead and bought two tickets, thinking it was in July and she could just take whoever she wanted to. But after I bought them I realized the show is in June, just before her birthday. So I'm going to surprise her and take her to the show. She knows we're getting together that night for her birthday just the two of us but that's all she knows. I'm really excited about surprising her on the one hand and mildly kicking myself for charging it before knowing that I'll have the funds to pay it off before interest is charged.

And of course then there was my dentist visit on Wednesday. It wound up costing $448, a little more than expected but they did two fillings rather than just one so I knew it would be more. I have transferred money out of my Medical Savings to pay that part off.

Priority two... I just recently realized that I'm never going to get my EF to where it needs to be at the rate I'm going. Which right now is I have a small amount in the budget that goes to Savings but then I take all of the extra money and throw it at my 10.9% loan. It wouldn't take me all that long to make my goal if I'd just put the extra into Savings instead.

Priority three... This loan is the bane of my existence. The interest rate increased after I actually started paying on it and instead of being the $50/mo it claimed it would be, it actually wound up being more. I got sick of the fluctuations in how much to pay every month so I just started paying $60/mo. That at least made my budget simple and meant that I was paying a little extra on it. But I just want it to go away! So I've decided to focus on that soon.

Priority four... I really still want to have all of my consumer debt paid off by April 2010. I feel like I'm going to be behind in my goal if I put other things in front of it but my gut feeling is that this is the way it needs to happen. Besides, then I'll have an extra $60/mo to pay on things once I pay off the 13.25% loan.

Writing this all down is more for me than anything else. I seem to think of all this great stuff but never follow through. Perhaps with it written down perhaps I can actually stick to it.

As I've been trying to decide where I'm moving to (I have decided to move at the end of July) I've also been thinking about my payoff strategy. Right now I'm focused on my 'consumer debt' which is all things credit card related. I've got about $15,900 at 10.9% and $10,500 at 3.99%. However, I have a small student loan that's actually a higher interest rate. It's got a balance of $2,200 at 13.25%. The reason the interest is so high is it's actually a personal loan not a federal one so I couldn't consolidate it when I did my others.

Not now, but once I get moved/settled and get my EF up to $1k, I want to start throwing all extra money at something. In my efforts to pay off all my 'consumer' debt by April 2010 I've been concentrating on the balance of the 10.9% loan.

What do you guys think? Should I keep whittling away at the 10.9% balance or shift focus to the 13.25% balance?

Here we go again. I think it was about six months ago when I was talking about how much I wanted a laptop and was considering buying a Mac. A co-worker brought his laptop in today and was playing with Ubuntu. He has almost everything set up on it for it to be functional for work. That was part of what gave me pause with getting a Mac, getting everything I needed for work.

I scoped out Dell's site, since they sell computers with Ubuntu installed instead of Windows. The only laptop they offer, after customizing it like I want to, would run about $917. Granted, I could probably get a cheaper laptop with Windows installed and just create a partition but I just don't want to have to mess with any Windows stuff.

I am not actually going to buy it but I do have a longing to replace my laptop. I don't want to buy used either. I am going to wait until the end of the summer, by then I'll hopefully be settled into whatever new place I'll be living in. Then I'm going to revisit the whole laptop thing. I do wish to get away from Windows and with the little I do just on my own, there's really no need for it.

Assets $ Diff % Diff
Cash $1,410 ($59) -4.02 %
Retirement $27,957 $519 1.89 %
Cars $2,125 $0 0.00 %
Total Assets $31,492 $460 1.48 %

Debts $ Diff % Diff
Student Loans $35,558 ($113) -0.32 %
Credit Card $10,573 ($335) -3.07 %
Other $16,226 ($266) -1.61 %
Total Debts $62,357 ($714) -1.13 %

Net Worth ($30,865) $1,174 3.66 %

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2007 Goals Update:

1] Consumer debt down to $14,000. Currently at $29,799. Monthly amount of decrease needs to be $1,829 in order to meet this. Not happening this year but I can keep trying.

2] EF holding steady at $1,000. Currently at $746.10. Need to increase it by $37 each month to meet this.

3] Medical savings at least $500. Currently at $355.05 but I'll be pulling a good chunk out this month for Dental work so I'll be back to square one next month.

4] (Non monetary goal) Holding steady at my current goal weight. Still have 23 lbs to go. Need to loose 4 lbs a month to meet this.

I was going to pull money out of my medical savings account today but decided against it. I really want it to be earning interest as long as possible so I think I'm just going to pay for my two dentist visits with my empty credit card and then pay it off after my second visit. Then I'll know exactly how much I'll really need instead of me guessing how much it'll be. I have the money to pay it off before interest is an issue so I'm not worried about that. I am being careful to not get in the habit of using it regularly though.

Well there is good news, my roommate is engaged. They set the date for September and she hasn't decided yet when she's going to quit her job and move out there (they'll be living where he is already about 4 hours away). I am really excited and happy for her and just knew it was going to happen.

However for me that poses a slight problem. I'll either need to get another roommate, or move. If necessary I can trim down a few payments and actually be able to keep living there by myself but I don't know that I really want to do that. However, I have an awesomely cheap apartment (rent and utilities split is only $350 each) in a perfect part of town (1.1 miles from the gym, 1.3 miles from work not to mention close to grocery and bank and other friends).

Part of me wants to see if perhaps I could get one of those free apartments in exchange for light on site management duties. But I hate moving.

I don't know what all she'll be taking with her when she leaves. She owns most of the main area furniture, most of the dishes, and most of the cookware. So the possibility of moving into a room in someone's house is actually appealing after a fashion. But moving any further away means that my gas budget will have to increase...lots to factor in.

Ages ago (it seems) I did have an offer from some friends to move in with them. However since then, the gal who owns the condo has gotten pretty serious with her bf and is practically engaged so I'm not sure I want to move somewhere and then move again. Besides, that place is way further away than my current place.

Nothing really to be done about it til I know her future plans. So I'm just waiting and pondering my options so I'm ready when the official word comes in.

Had a dr visit today. The most awesomest news I could ever hear, the meds are working and my heart is getting stronger! Strong enough to shift me out of the 'need to get an implantable defibrillator' category. That excites me to no end!

We discussed my meds and the controlled release I'm taking now she prefers me to take because it is a more even flow of medication than if I take it twice a day. It's $15 more per month but I think it's worth it. They are working on a generic for that same med (not the controlled release but the twice a day) and when it comes out I may switch back to that because it'd only be $10/mo vs $50/mo. My next appointment is in three months, or it will be when I make it. They generally don't have the schedule set up that far out so I'll call in two months. We'll discuss the medications then.

I'm also excited because the weather is going to be NICE this weekend and I'm going to the zoo TWICE. Getting use out of that zoo pass!

I'm annoyed because for the first time in a really really really REALLY long time I had an overdraft. I have a checking account that I don't use for much of anything linked to PayPal. When I buy something via PayPal I change the funding source to something else to pay with (unless I'm sending money to someone in general then I deposit it into the account and do a bank transfer). Apparently I forgot to change the funding source, either that or I answered No when they asked 'are you sure you want to pay with a credit card?'. So it tried to pull $7.80 from an account that had under $5. But it's all taken care of now so that's good. Thank God for my EF.

After all that fun with the bank yesterday my brother wasn't able to make it in before they closed. He was 5 minutes late. He was going to deposit money in via atm to see if he could skate by on that so I suggested he put in $25 since he was short by about $24. (There was some money in the account just the bank when it auto transferred transferred way more than he needed so I had told him to ignore the extra since they would probably take the overdraft fee out of it).

This morning I checked his accounts....his checking is positive and his savings has no extra charges!! He just barely skated by. I will be talking with him this weekend about where we go from here. He was considering taking the summer off of school and working, right now that's a fine idea since I don't know how he's going to pay for it if he doesn't.

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I gave my friend a check like I do every month to pay on the croatia trip we took last year. She asked 'Why are you still giving me money?' A valid question considering I gave her $1k a couple months ago just so what we make with our monthly payments as a group will actually make a difference. I don't feel right leaving her holding the bag, even though she choose it. She only choose it because she thought it would be temporary, not drag on for over a year. Unless everyone else can pick off their portion like I did, I don't feel right stepping back. Although on the flip side, that $50/mo I give her could be used elsewhere in my debt reduction plan. It boils down to, I feel I have a moral obligation to give her money every month until the card balance is $0 or until the others in the group take on their own portion of the debt.

My youngest brother, the one that I've been supporting off and on since he started school, is really really leaving me frazzled!

I forgot about the 6 transfer limit on savings accounts and with the way things have been going we went over that. I'm only on his savings but not on his checking so I can only deposit to savings. He transfers to checking and goes on his merry way.

So for starters, he got a $10 charge because we did a 7th transfer. Then it all went downhill. I put some money in his savings, just so he'd have money in there, and he overspent and got overdrawn. Well, his overdraft protection kicked in and...transferred from his savings incurring ANOTHER $10 charge and transfer #8 this month.

I dropped in another $20 so his savings account wasn't at -$10 and sent him a text reminding him that he has NO money and to not use his card for Anything.

Today we were talking and he desperately needed some cash for food. So I went and dropped another $40 in his savings account and I called and told him he had $40 in his SAVINGS that he could pull out and that I couldn't transfer it without incurring another $10 fee and possibly incur the wrath of the bank (they mentioned something about his account might get closed if he has too many transfers). I also informed him that that was it for this month so he'd better spend it wisely.

That was a little over an hour ago. I log onto his bank account just now and guess what I found? No just guess. Yup, he pulled the $40 out of CHECKING where there is....NO MONEY. So he's overdrawn AGAIN.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I sent him a text even though I knew he was in class and he's going to high tail it to the bank soon as he's out of class and try to straighten it out. Sometimes if you catch it same day they are lenient but I dunno at this point...

I'm trying to convince him to go to a cash system. Perhaps he'll actually listen to me this time.

No deposit today. The guy who pays me on Sundays was home sick so I'll just get paid double on this Sunday. I did get $20 cash for last night but I'm going to a surprise party on Saturday which includes going to the zoo (yay for zoo pass! saves me $9.75) and they've asked everyone to bring $20 if possible so they can hopefully combine resources and buy the new couple a BBQ and patio set. Makes me wonder exactly how many people are invited. I won't be able to make it to the wedding so I'll just do this bit of celebrating with them and consider that my gift. There's still talk of going out after the zoo so I might be in a position to spend a little more but we'll see. I'm going to avoid it at all costs.

I got my supposed to be empty CC paid off before interest accrued. The coast rental guy sent me back my money in the form of a check instead of as a credit to my card so I just turned around and paid it. Plus my childcare earnings from last week went to what was left over from the extra concert tickets. I'll be waiting til at least a month before the concert (mid-July) before trying to sell them. I might have friends who want them but no one is willing to commit to something so early. Lots of waiting. That's ok, I know they'll get used one way or another.

I went on a retreat this past weekend and I'm pleased to say that even though I drove, I had three passengers who all chipped in for gas. That makes me happy, even though it probably would have been ok even if they hadn't.

My friend is no longer in need of extra support so I'm back to using my extra cash for savings, well at least that's the intent. Next week that's the plan. I might be babysitting on Friday. I'm pretty excited about that.

I got my first real statement with my Balance Transfer. I took the amount I did because I didn't want to have too much of a monthly required payment. I was expecting it to be $275 and it is $160.

Balance Transfer balance: $10,573.30 at 3.99% min $160 budget $275
Loan balance: $16,432.10 at 10.9% min $391 budget $523

Should I shift $115 from the balance transfer payment to the Loan? I know it makes mathematical sense to do it..but I really want to have the BT paid off by April 2010. Actually I want it all paid off by then but at the least the BT.

..even though I'm bummed I'll be practically draining it next month. I had a teeth cleaning appointment today and was gently reminded that I do need to get a crown for the root canal I had done last year. I also have a small cavity that needs to be filled. They didn't charge me for today's appointment, which is odd because usually I have to pay the $50 deductible for my x-rays. But I'm not complaining too much, they'll bill me later if necessary.

I got the numbers for the work to be done. $690 for the crown, ins will pay 50% after the $50 deductible has been satisfied so that's $370. $170 (a little less but I rounded up because I couldn't remember) for the filling, ins will pay 80% so that's $34. Total out of pocket $404. Total in my Medical Savings account $353.

I was anticipating paying the $50 deductible for today's visit plus my regular payments for prescriptions (but I got my most expensive for free this month that was unexpected). So I didn't deposit any into my Medical Savings figuring I'd just have to pull it back out anyway. I have $134 in my bank account earmarked for Medical.

I do plan on going to the chiropractor soon which will be $20 plus I'll be paying for my brother to go as well and I think they're regular visits without insurance are $45 so that's $65 I'll need. I will probably refill two other prescriptions this month, that'll be $15. Plus I have a doctor appointment in a week which is another $20 co-pay. I get paid tomorrow which adds $35 to my Medical amount available. So that leaves $69 for Medical in the bank at the end of the month when all is said and done. Plus $353 in savings that's $422 or just barely enough to cover my dental visits in June. I also intentionally set the appointments for after my first June Pay Day which introduces more money from my budget to put towards it.

All in all I won't be completely draining the account but I'm really glad it's there. However, it does cause a little bit of panic since I have some tests coming up that I know I'll need to pay for at some point. Perhaps it'll be built back up again by then.

I will pull whatever I'm anticipating needing out of the account when necessary. I will not be charging anything. That is the goal. Although if I estimated incorrectly I may need to temporarily charge something just long enough for money to transfer out of ING.

Has anyone actually done any at home product testing for them? I just completed a product test and was very disappointed in the amount of points I received for doing the survey. I have no problem with doing 10 point surveys for them to find out if I qualify to continue to a higher point survey. But when I take 4 weeks and test out a couple versions of a product for them, I expect to get more than just 10 points for each product (20 points total). Does that seem unreasonable to anyone else? I've emailed them already about it. I let the first one slide because I thought that perhaps more points would be awarded after the completion of the task. I'm sorry, but my time is worth more than that.

While waiting for a prescription to be filled (which was free thanks to a coupon from the manufacturer) I browsed the electronics section. I found a digital camera case on sale 50% off which made it $3.50! I carry my digital with me everywhere and especially since I spent so much to get it fixed I really wanted to get a case to keep it safe. It fits perfectly in the case, there's room for spare batteries and memory sticks in another pocket, it has a belt loop that velcros on and a shoulder strap. Quite the bargain I thought.

I also looked at their cassette adapters since I'm going on a trip and might need to buy one since my friend's iTrip is broken. (The iTrip makes it so iPods can play through the radio) In the mp3 section they were $20, in the audio section they were $10. For the same thing. I could understand the difference if the $20 one had a special iPod connector but both just plug in through the headphone jack. My roommate probably has one so I'm holding off til I find out if she can lay hands on it or not.

I also bought replacement rechargable batteries since I can't find the ones I have (but I know where the charger is) since I blow through regular batteries in my camera pretty fast and some rubber cement so I can make a personalized birthday card. Plus I got a digital picture printed out (again to make said birthday card). Spent about $13 something on all that.

I have about $22 sitting in my Paypal account right now. It's accumulated from various Pinecone surveys and/or getting paid for writing blogs on my myspace account. Since I started giving Kiva gift certificates as gifts and buying things now and again from places that accept Paypal I have found it useful to just leave the money there and be 'surprised' because what I wind up spending is less than I thought because I usually forget the money is there until I get a notice from Paypal stating that another deposit has been made.

In the past it hasn't really been more than maybe $10 before I bought something. Now that it's over $20 I'm wondering if I shouldn't transfer that much out and put it to better use (savings, etc). Or just leave it because birthdays are inevitable and having money there would be useful.

Any thoughts?

I am still working hard at whittling away my debt and increasing my EF. However, life is just not on the same page right now. I made a couple of small withdrawals recently from my savings account, a donation to a breast cancer walk my friend is doing and a donation to my brother's bank account so he doesn't get overdrawn. Granted the second is borderline enabling however if he gets overdrawn I'll be the one to bail him out so an ounce of prevention is totally worth a pound of cure in this case. Fortunately his roommate finally came through with his portion of the rent that my brother covered this month so he should be able to make it the rest of the month no problem.

The other reason though isn't that I'll be taking out money but rather I won't be putting in my extra cash from my Tuesday Deposits for a while. A friend of mine got scammed pretty bad on craigslist. I've decided to help her out as much as I can which isn't going to be much but the way I see it is it's extra money anyway. So instead of making my Tuesday Deposits I'll just cash the checks and once a week pass it off to her. It'll be between $25 and $70 a week depending on what nights I actually end up working and if I get paid that night or not.

Once she gets back on her feet then I'll start re-directing the funds where they should be going. Hopefully she'll get a roommate soon and get caught up from all the potential overdrafts the scam will cost her.

I've always wanted to do tax preparation as a side thing. I just got a flier in the mail from H & R Block about their classes that start soon. Like end of this month soon. There's two phases and it looks like they cost $249 each. Ouch, I could have sworn last time I looked into it it was only $150 but that may have been through someone else. Anyway...

None of the times work for me really. 9-12 cuts into work and 6-9 I get off work at 6 plus the nights it's offered I usually babysit. Now, I might be able to make arrangements with work for the 9-12 one where I come in after class two days a week and then start 1.5 hrs earlier the other three days to make up the time. I don't know if I can do that but it's a possibility. I'd rather do that then just use vacation time.

But if I take the first section then I need to be able to take the second and I don't know yet when that will be offered. I wouldn't mind cutting off the babysitting if it were further out that it was starting. I can change that schedule but I prefer to give them a little more warning especially since I just started.

And it'd be almost $500 total. Is it worth it? I mean, working part time assuming I got a job doing tax prep, am I going to get enough hours in the amount of time I need it? Last I heard you were supposed to do like 750 hours in 2 years for something or other. But things may have changed since then. Ugh. Decisions decisions.

I think I'll wait and see what other places offer. It's not that it's too early to start thinking about it just I have too much going on and I know Jackson Hewitt offers courses in the Fall.

So the weekend away with the girls, the one I've been planning for a while and put on my credit card so it could be covered...has officially been canceled. For one reason or another people suddenly couldn't make it and we were down to only 4 people. Now I love the girls that are still able to go but it's just not worth it to drive all the way out there. Especially since one of them just went through some financial hardship and we told her not to not come just cuz of money and we'd take care of her.

The downside is we loose the deposit but losing $25/each vs spending $73/each (plus food plus gas) really is the better end of the deal. We'll still hang out on Saturday but it means we have more time to ourselves during the weekend which is actually better for me too.

But it's very disappointing. I mean, we bandied around dates for a while and only settled on this one because all but one of the group said they could make it. And the one that couldn't make it is about 2 weeks from giving birth so she had a good reason for not coming. Now in the 11th hour...anyway.

It could have been worse, I could have had to just plain foot the bill which I was tempted to do because that's what I do and that's what gets me into trouble. Fortunately I have some friends who aren't the type to take advantage of the situation and immediately stepped up to shoulder the burden equally if need be.

We will still have fun. We've got a project to complete for the one who's pregnant so we'll still spend the day together on Saturday working on that and perhaps we'll have a little fondue party like we were planning to have this weekend. And it means I'll definitely be home in time to take my sister in law out for lunch/brunch.

I got a letter in the mail that I forgot I was expecting. Since it's been however long since I started paying on my student loan by letting them auto transfer from my account (both operated by the same bank) they reduced my interest rate by 0.25% Which may not sound like a lot..but according to Quicken it reduced the number of payments left from 227 to 216. I am so not complaining.

I got the rejection email yesterday, didn't get the job. Oh well another will come along.

I'm going away for the weekend but I don't think my spending will be too out of control. I'm driving my best friend from Portland to Medford for her sister's wedding. Her mom asked if I would pay for the gas and in exchange she would cover my hotel room. Fair enough. I have $20 left over from last month's gas budget and a $25 gift card for shell plus I just got paid so have my regular gas budget for the next two weeks. I think I'll be ok. I started thinking about money I'd need for like food and realized, it's not going to be that bad. I'm packing us both a lunch for today (I pick her up at 12:30), we'll be down in time for the rehearsal dinner, I think the place we are staying at has a free breakfast. That just leaves lunch and dinner on Saturday and lunch on the drive back on Sunday. The wedding is at 2 and they're going ultra low budget so I expect there'll just be cake.