Gasping for Breath

Phase One. Eliminate CC2.

Statement balance difference: -$398.71
Total Payments: $650.00
Total charges and fees: $251.22

The charges were expected and extra was paid from EF to cover them. I expect that the New estimated payoff date will actually be correct. I am hoping to pay the entire balance off before the next statement, but there'll still be a little interest that had acrued so it will be January before I see a $0 balance.

Prior estimated payoff date: 3/20/2006
New estimated payoff date: 1/20/2006

Phase Two. Build up EF to $1,000

Between the three accounts, taking out the expected expenses and adding in regular budget amounts my savings has decreased by $177.96. However I'm not that dissapointed in that number considering I spent $273 so it's bouncing back nicely.

Phase Three. Pay off as much of CC1 as possible by 4/15/2010.

Statement balance difference: -$317.08
Total payments: $523
Total charges and fees: $205.92

I am no longer using CC1 to pay bills.

Previous potential balance by 4/15/2010: $6,665.47
New potential balance by 4/15/2010: $6,096.99

Only $1,309.74 to go before things get back to normal on this card.

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CC2 update.

This week so far I have the following in hand:

30.00 friend paying me back for something
26.00 Certified check
30.00 babysitting
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86.00 Confirmed payment

25.00 Childcare on Sunday
60.00 Brother making a payment
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85.00 Potential

171.00 Possible payment. This makes me Very Happy since the balance is about $258.

I will be requesting a dividend check for $58.39 on Monday. But I don't kow how long that will take to get here.

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Old habits die hard. Today we're supposed to all get together to celebrate our birthdays. All four of us were born in November. Plus one of my SIL's has an October birthday that I missed. Well, SIL's debit card number got stolen and $500 was charged to it before it was caught. Then Brother P's check was $300 less than they were expecting. They get paid weekly. They bought a house this past year that's about 50 miles one way into town. So it's quite a hike for them to come. So they won't be joining us. Then I talked to Step Bro and they're not doing so hot either, but they're still coming. Other Brother is the one I've been bailing out recently so I know he's not doing the best, but he did just get paid so he's ok right now. All told, I'm the most financially stable of the four of us. So this morning the thought entered my head, I'll just pick up lunch for everyone. Which of course, means charging it. Then I stopped, stepped back and realized, that's part of the reason I'm in debt to begin with. Not the entire reason, but definately a good chunk. I will Not be doing that after all. I have $12 in my wallet for lunch (I pulled the $7 out of the dollar jar to make it be $12), shouldn't be a problem since I always drink water and I know I can find something on Red Robins menu that after tip won't be more than $12. I will probably be going out to lunch tomorrow after church. I have $7 in my bank account that should do nicely if the occasion arises. If it doesn't, I'll go home and eat. I'm meeting someone for coffee today and I'm going to suggest Starbucks because I have a $5 gc for there. I get paid on Monday, the pending deposit already shows up in my bank account today so I know how much it's going to be. Looks like just enough to cover everything. Unfortunately, nothing really extra to throw at CC2 but I can live with that.

I almost had to resort to that today. There isn't a Costco close enough for me to justify having a membership so I don't. But when I went to pick up a refill today they initially wanted $136 for my Rx. Umm. They said it had been denied as my insurance card had expired in 6/06. That's news to me since I've been using it for over a year and this is the first time I've had problems with it. They took my card, and called again. Got everything straightened out fortunately. Not before a slight bit of panic set in though. I would have had to charge it in order to get it imediately and then pull all the money out of my medical savings to cover the charge. Ugh.

I looked up Costco's prices a while back though just to have an idea. And for this particular drug, with no insurance, it was only $57. Definately would have been worth the drive over there to pick it up had they insisted on me paying that. Providing of course that I could have either gotten a new Rx from the Dr or at least some samples to tide me over. I hate scares like that.

I am seriously almost giddy with anticipation that I'll have CC2 paid off before the December statement comes out. Of course, it will have a small amount on it from the interest that acrues until I pay it off but it won't be much.

Yesterday I came home to find a check from Certified for $26. Sweet! I knew it was coming just didn't know exactly when. So that means I should be expecting the next one next week, since the first two of the three jobs I'm expecting pay from them for happened a week apart. That makes my anticipated payment on CC2 on Tuesday to be $101.

Then this morning I got a call from the gal I'm babysitting for tomorrow, asking if I can house/dog sit this weekend. I've never done this for them before, so I honestly don't know if I'll be paid for it or if it'll just be a 'eat whatever you want while you're here' type deal. I don't mind not getting paid but I'm curious too. Though they may not need me, their regular dog sitters haven't gotten back to them yet so I'm a backup plan. I'm ok with that.

Tomorrow is Brother's payday, I'm hoping to get a few bucks from him as well but I'm not counting it til I talk to him about it. Monday is my payday, I don't know yet how much I can expect to pull out of it to pay towards CC2. Last time it was just $30 but I think it'll be less this time.

And now for just a few of the 'facts you probably don't know about me' Nothing too personal really.

* We moved every summer when I was a kid because of my dad's job. Because of this I was very shy as a child, what was the point of making friends if I was going to be leaving them.

* I have technically five blogs that I keep up. This one for finances, one that I've had since 2001 for 'everything', one at myspace for randomness, one that no one knows about so I can talk about things that I don't want people reading my 'everything' blog to read about, and a new one for knitting.

* I have an overactive imagination. This is a bad thing when it comes to my heart condition. Especially when I insist on watching shows like Grey's Anatomy that seems to have more than it's fair share of heart-paitents-that-have-things-go-terribly-wrong.
But it's a good thing when it comes to my heart condition when the dr tells me I need to exercise more to help ensure that I don't need a transplant in 20 years. I am now up to exercising intentionally 6 days a week, 3 days at the gym, 3 days with videos at home.

* The internet and chatting online has made me a better/bolder person offline. Not completely but definately an improvement.

* I love to read, but never have the time.

* I am addicted to TV. I realize this so I solve it by not turning it on. Once it's on it's hard to turn off. Even at midnight when there's nothing on but infomercials.

* I love to learn. I have two BS degrees. I'm only using one of them and as of late have decided perhaps it's not that big of a deal if I don't use the second one. (Computer Science with Business Emphasis is the degree I'm technically using right now, Accounting is lying dormant except within the sphere of personal finance)

* I have worked at my job for 9.5 years. I drag my feet finding another because either the pay won't support my debt, or I've been too long in one place and I'm not as knowledgeable as I should be in the tech industry.

* Our family's first computer was a TI keyboard that you connected to the TV. It had BASIC on it and I copied/tweaked a program from the manual when I was 9. Even though I studied Computer Science and was good in it, I didn't have a real computer until my Jr year of College.

And that's enough of that. I'd say if you want to know more you could check out my 'everything' blog but that's not going to happen because I don't want the two worlds to collide.

Post #2 today.

I am salary. There isn't much change in my pay month to month...except my on call nights. During 'normal' business function, I have the same number of nights each month. However, business rarely is normal. It always seems like someone's on vacation or there's a holiday or whatever and that makes it so I have more than the usual number of on call nights. Today, one of my co-workers wasn't feeling well and went to the ER. He was scheduled for cell phone tonight. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have plans tonight to go to dinner and a movie with a friend. That's not something I do when I'm on call. But the plans were already made and by the time it was realized that the guy in the ER was on for tonight, there was no one else but me left to pick up the slack.

I told one of the owners about my plans and he gave me permission to 'ignore' the phone during the movie since these are special circumstances. I try very hard to not plan anything like that when I'm on call and will not take this as a sign that it's ok. This is a special circumstance.

All that to say, wheee! I get a little more in my December 5th check because I'm on call tonight! Not too much more, we get $35/night flat rate and it seems to work out to be about $17.50/night after taxes and 401k are accounted for. But I'm not complaining. And it sounds like that customer training thing I was supposed to do ages ago might actually be happening. Providing that the customer still needs training. It's been so long and she's been calling in when she needs help that it's possible she's good to go. It'd be interesting to get out of the office for a day, and make a few extra bucks on mileage. But if it doesn't happen, I'm not totally bummed about it.

Stopped by the store today to pick up salad mix (bogo) and bananas. That's the last of the needed grocery shopping until Monday (payday). I have $15 in my wallet from leftover grocery and $7 in my wallet from leftover gas. My gas gage is at about a quarter so tomorrow when I pass by one of the cheaper gas stations I'll put the last $7 in. I don't want to pull what I did last time, filled up with 13.17 gallons and I have a 13 gallon tank. Plus I have a little bit of extra driving to do this weekend so better safe than sorry in my book.

Tonight I'm going out, dinner and a movie. The movie is $3 to get in, the slice of pizza at the movie will be $3 and change. That'll leave me with $8. Saturday is our 'celebrate all birthdays at once' lunch at this amazing and cheap italian place. $8 should cover mine. If it doesn't, I'll have also along with me the $7 I have stashed in my dollar jar.

I'm fairly certain I'm ok as far as everything else is concerned. I got a clinic bill for $12, I'm going to send in $20 because I'm still waiting for my Echo to get settled and I know I'll owe a good chunk for that. But I'll mail the payment on Saturday, it will get to the clinic before it's due but it won't get processed before Monday when I get paid and will come out of my Medical portion of the budget for that paycheck. That way I don't touch the Medical savings account I just set up.

I'm still feeling a little anxious. Like I'm forgetting something. Like I should have kept out the $25 cash I got for babysitting, instead of depositing it and applying it to my CC2, just to have as a cushion. But I know if I had done that it would just have been spent so I know I did the right thing.

I have $7 in my checking account and there's always the EF if absolutely necessary. But I don't think it'll come to that. I was sort of hoping some of my extended family would be coming to the birthday thing, they have a tendancy to pick up the tab for everyone. Is it bad to wish they were there partially because they pay for things? I really do want to see them too, that's not the only reason I'm dissapointed.

I am so stoked! I have an $85 deposit waiting by the door because I'm going to the bank today. Tuesday is bank day. And I just went to the CC2 website and posted it. It was payment #4 out of 4 payments allowed online in a billing cycle. And...it brings my current balance to well under $300! Last month the interest was almost $10, even if interest is the same this month (which it won't be) it won't go over $300.

Depending on how this next month goes it's concievable that I could have it paid off by the end of the year. I am stoked about this! I have $75 potential to pay next week ($30 in hand, check from a friend that was post dated, and $25 from my regular childcare, and $20 from babysitting this weekend) and I'm hoping for more because my brother did a side job this past weekend that gave him enough money that when he gets paid on Friday there's no reason why he can't make a payment to me as well. Not to mention that I get paid on Monday too, though the checks on the 20th usually aren't as much of a boost to the payoff. Plus I'm going to request a dividend payout from the card that'll be at least $55. Just don't know when I'll get that check.

Of course I won't consider it officially paid off until I get a statement with a $0 balance. But as soon as the balance online says $0 I can start unofficially moving on to Phase 2.

First the eh news. I realized that I missed my SIL's birthday back in October. On the one hand I could argue that they could have invited me out to do something (if they did celebrate it) and since they didn't, I wasn't obligated to buy her anything. On the other hand, I'm a nice person and the past two birthdays I've gotten her something so there's no real reason why I shouldn't this year. All of the siblings are getting together next weekend for a 'celebrate all November birthdays in one shot' meal. I have gifts for my two brothers and one step brother and now my SIL as well.

I bought her a cd ($13.99) plus two envelopes that serve as cd gift wrap ($3). I already had bought one of my brothers a cd a while ago for his birthday. Total spent at cd store: $16.99 (we don't have sales tax in OR)

Then a friend of mine came by who's been sort of housebound. Partially by her own choice. She doesn't work and since I had a rare weekday off I called her so we could hang out. We went for a walk and decided to go get dinner. Originally I'd suggested Coldstone, because I have a coupon for a free dish of ice cream. But she needed real food so we went to cheap mexican instead. I ate too much, but the food was cheap. Total spent at restaurant: $3.95 for a chicken quesadilla paid for by grocery money.

Since we'd eaten more than our fair share we took a longer route home, and stopped by Fred Meyer's because I wanted to see if this bag I'd noticed there was any cheaper than the last time I'd stopped by. Granted I now have no money for it but was in the area. I found the bag, now 30% off instead of 25% off but still more than I cared to spend. My friend said it didn't look like me and was too small for what I wanted anyway. I actually agreed with her for the most part, glad that I now didn't have the temptation of buying the bag. Only before we left we wandered over to the hats and I started trying on funny ones. I am a hat person. Hats look good on me. Even the crazy ones that I would never wear. We found a simple one that actually looked really really good. I thought it was 25% off which would make it $9 and in a moment of weakness I bought it. Total spent at Fred Meyer's: $8.40.

The cd store total was already more than what I had left of my play money for the payperiod. Which means the rest of it and the FM purchase came out of my cushion. *sigh* I now have $7.76 in my account instead of $20. Or will once everything that's supposed to clears.

The only good news in all of this was...when I went to pull money out of my grocery funds for dinner, I noted with delight that instead of the 1 $20 bill I thought was left, there were actually 2! So I'm definately good for food for the rest of the pay period. The stuff on my list right now is just restock and the list is short.

I just opened a second ING account for medical savings. I have lots of things coming up to pay for, new eyeglasses in January, eye exam, sometime next year I need a crown, not to mention whatever tests need to be run for my heart. This month was the first that I didn't have to use the money allocated in my budget for 'medical'. Ok, let me rephrase that, this was the first month I didn't have to use any money aside from my regular medications.

So it occured to me that instead of leaving it in my checking account where I can 'borrow' from it, I should move it to a savings account. But not my emergency fund because I want to keep it seperate.

The plan as it stands right now is if I have a dr apt that month, I'll keep the budgeted money in my checking account until after the apt. Spend whatever I need to up to the budgeted amount and whatever is left over, if anything, gets transferred to the medical savings account. If I don't have a dr apt that month, anything not going to medications gets transferred to the account. That way when I finally get a bill for tests and the like, I have some place to draw from.

I waited til after my dentist apt today to actually open the account. My cleaning was covered 100% but I didn't know if I was due for XRays or not. I wasn't. So the account has been initially funded with $100. Since I haven't seen anything from my ins yet about the Echo I got in July, I doubt I'll get a bill from the clinic this month.

Post #2 of the day.

I miss having a laptop. When mine died it was a very sad day. I had decided that when the time came to replace it I would get a Mac. I do need a computer for work, and work has kindly lent me (possibly given but I'm treating it as lent) a desktop to use. It's older, clunky, takes forever to do things, is noisy so I hibernate it when I'm not using it, has only one working USB port out of four, etc. Not to mention the fact that if I ever do get another job, they'll probably want their computer back. Or not.

Anyway...

I got to thinking about it, especially since I'm really close to closing out Phase One of my Three Phase Plan (you can't tell cuz I won't be updating it til the next statement comes out but I'm very excited about the potential). What I'm thinking is, after I finish Phase Two (savings accounts totalling $1k), perhaps I could buy a laptop.

The small MacBooks run just $1099. It's not razzle dazzle but it's functional. Of course the one I really want is the black one but only one of the higher end ones comes in black.

I wouldn't touch my savings but rather could do a balance transfer on CC2 (that'll be empty) and have six months to pay it off at 6.99%, vs applying for Apple Credit and hoping for 13.74%. Whatever isn't paid off in 6 months of me putting every extra dime onto the credit card will be paid for out of savings. Total would actually be more like $1348 because I'd want the extended warrenty. Knowing my luck with computers, and how long my last one lasted, this is a necessity for me.

But it really is a want more than a need. I'm trying so hard to pay things off and changing habits (ie I rarely by books or dvds anymore) but having a functioning computer that is Mine really is an important thing to me. It's something to think about at least.

I signed up a while ago (saw the link on another pfblog) for this mail survey thing where they send you international mail and you enter in the date you received it so they can track transit time. The first month I got an email saying to look for an email with payout info but I never saw it. I also thought that since it was my first month, perhaps I didn't do enough to qualify for payout.

Fast forward to this month when I got another email stating to watch for a payout email and I still didn't see it. I gave it about 5 days then I emailed them and inquired about it.

Today I got my payout from both months, so $40 total. Only instead of paypal like I was hoping for, they use 800giftcertificate.com I debated about getting dining certificates, then realized that a] I'm trying to eat healthy and that's hard to do eating out and b] I don't eat out that often at least not at the restaurants available to me.

I had decided to just go with Macy's because I could use some new clothes and figured $40 would at least get me something there but I checked the list of places one more time in case I missed something.

And there it was...Amazon.com The clouds opened, the sun was shining, and I now have $40 to spend at Amazon. The reason I'm so happy about that is there's a couple things I've really wanted to get, specifically dvds of the workout I currently do at home to replace the video tapes that I'm sure aren't going to last much longer. However, from the cover it looks a little different than the workout I have and I didn't want to spend the money and find out it's the wrong one. I've tried some of her newer workouts and I don't like them as much. (Walk Away the Pounds by Leslie Sansone).

If they're not the ones I wanted, and not ones that I like, then it's not as much of a big deal if it wasn't really my own money that I spent it on. I'm waiting til Friday to actually buy anything since I'm curious to check out their Friday Sale. I never check it out because I rarely have money to spend. But now I do!

Perhaps in the future I'll still get the Amazon.com gc's but spend it on food instead. Hmmm.

I got an email today about the next book club meeting. We'll be reading Life After God. It sounded really interesting but then I noted the date of the bookclub meeting. It's when I'll be at the beachhouse. I still tried to get it from the library because I like reading but they didn't have it. So I thought, why not just buy it anyway? I found it on Amazon, used for under $2. But then add in shipping and it's closer to $6. Eh. I decided against it. It'd be different if I was actually going to make it to the meeting...but I'm not.

Made a nice hefty payment on CC2 yesterday, $347. Of that $218 was new charges that I'd added recently. No more of that though. Soon as the next statement comes out I'll be having them send me the cash back check and will apply it to the balance once I get it. If I play my cards right, I'll have the balance under $300 before the statement runs. That is exciting to me.

I only have one more week of my temporary childcare gig. I don't know if they'll need sitters again for the next run of classes but I imagine with the holidays those won't even start til beginning of the year. I still have my every Sunday gig and potential extra from Pinecone, babysitting for friends, and Certified Reports. But that's more sporatic. Ah well it was helpful while it lasted.

I really like the way I've been handling all this extra money. It comes in and goes right back out without me actually planning on having it. That way my savings account goes up and my credit cards go down without really any effort (except to do the deposits and transfers).

I'm now expecting one Pinecone check and three Certified Reports checks in the future. Just don't know when exactly to expect them. Plus $60 still from friends who haven't paid their portion of the beach house yet (will get $30 tonight). Plus $520 that my brother owes me but he's been seriously strapped for cash so I haven't bothered him about it. I figure it's better for him to not pay me back and make ends meet than to pay me back and have to borrow it again.

I am anxious to move onto Phase Two of my plan. We'll see how fast I can get there.

Because some friends and I are going to a beachhouse, and I sent in a check for the whole thing while they are slowly paying me back, my paycheck today is very confusing. Even for me. So here's a rough summary.

All bills have been paid.
$100 is being held out for 'Medical' because I'm anticipating a bill from the clinic and it hasn't arrived yet. Plus I have a dentist apt next week and I don't know if I'll have to pay anything.
$134 was left over to pay on CC2 but that payment is on hold pending transfers from online savings accounts.
My step brothers allotment has finally showed up so was able to pay an extra $100 on CC1.
$20.24 has been left in the bank account as a cushion.

My tires cost more than anticipated, $197 instead of $140. I did put them on my card and pulled the money out of all three savings accounts to cover it. I think I pulled evenly so as to not completely drain any one account. It'll be interesting to see how much I can build back up by the end of the month. I paid this with CC2 and will make the combined payment of $344 (paycheck extra, tires and Target) as soon as the money transfers from my savings accounts.

My hair cut and color ran $55 and I left him a $20 tip. I am so in love with the color. It looks awesome. And it should blend well so that I can wait another year to get it done again. But I had to pay with a check (fortunately a friend mentioned she'd written a check when she went to see him but couldn't remember why) because he's had trouble with the credit card machine so he doesn't use it.

I also spent another $12 at Target and silly me grabbed CC2 instead of my debit card. I needed more shampoo/conditioner since I was completely out of conditioner for color treated hair, and my shampoo for color treated hair was almost gone. Plus I got some other product that hopefully will tame the flyaway always sticking up hair. And...and...I splurged a little because their dollar spot had some of their asian line on clearance for 75% off. So I got a sake set (little container and cups), two sets of two tea cups, and a vase for $0.62 each. I rarely spend like that but thought perhaps I can keep them to give as gifts when the occasion arises.

Since today is payday I'm going grocery shopping. I have a growing list that I've been building all week in anticipation of needing it by the time payday rolled around. We don't get the paper but we do get the food day which has the ads. I was thumbing through Safeway since I shop there and Trader Joes most often, and found their 'buy 10 items mix/match and get $10 off instantly'. Now if their placement of that announcement and the items below it are correct (ie that the items below are the qualifying items) then I think I'm going to make out like a bandit. They have cake mixes, $1.98 each, buy one get one free. And cookie mixes 2 for $3. I could get 6 cake mixes and 4 cookie mixes for under $2. But I'm going to verify when I got to the store what items fall under that category. Since it isn't something I normally buy I don't want to stock up on a 'good deal' and not have cash at the end of the payperiod for things I really need.

I'd already updated my sidebar totals this morning but here's my Net Worth report for October:

Net Worth Report for October 2006
Assets $ Diff % Diff
Cash $641 $129 25.20 %
Retirement $24,176 $837 3.59 %
Cars $2,305 ($50) -2.12 %
Total Assets $27,122 $916 3.50 %

Debts $ Diff % Diff
Student Loans $36,312 ($116) -0.32 %
Credit Card $17,330 ($580) -3.24 %
Other $9,013 ($165) -1.80 %
Total Debts $62,655 ($861) -1.36 %

Net Worth ($35,533) $1,777 4.76 %

I'm pretty pleased with the result. Now if I can just keep at it. Though I am anticipating a bite to savings this next month I also know some of my debt will be reduced faster because of other factors. So it should balance out.

I'm trying to figure out if I can transfer my 401k to an IRA or a Roth IRA. Because I'm still working for this employer, I'm not sure I can. And I'm worried about the tax consequences. So we'll see.

I've also decided that every payday I'm going to pull out from my change jars 3 quarters, 2 dimes, 1 nickel, and 4 pennies to put in my car's ashtray. Because I pay cash for gas I like to have exact change. In Oregon you can't pump you're own gas and many of the stations I frequent the attendant is also the cashier (ie they wander around with wads of cash). Since I don't want them to top off, I want to make sure I can give them exact change. Once my ashtray fills completely then I'll stop doing that but until then I would rather be safe than sorry.

I was looking at my 401k quarterly statement and wondering if I needed to rebalance it. I basically just set everything when I opened it 8 years ago and haven't looked bad. I've had my good quarters and bad quarters. But overall I'm still quite pleased that even though I lowered my percentage of contribution (work doesn't match anything), I still had an investment gain of 3 times what my contribution was for the last quarter.

So here's where I stand right now:
Balanced fund. Originally set at 50% currently at 49.73%
Cash Reserves. Originally set at 5% currently at 4.41%
Common Stock Fund Z. Originally set at 20% currently at 20.49%
Large Cap Growth. Originally set at 20% currently at 18.64%
Technology. Originally set at 5% currently at 6.65%

When I make my contributions, the original percentage is how it gets applied to the various funds. But when you look at the grand totaly, the actual percentage each fund contributes to the total is the current percentage.

The categories break down as follows:
Cash Reserves Fund is a Money Market
Balanced Fund is Moderate Allocation
Common Stock Fund Z is Large Blend
Large Cap Growth Fund is Large Growth
Technology Fund is Specialty-Technology

I have no real idea what any of that means. It sounds like it's mostly stocks with perhaps a few bonds. I'm honestly not sure. We changed companies in the mix, they just transfered our stuff over to their comperable funds. Then that company changed hands and merged with someone else. It's really confusing. Half the time I don't know that it's my quarterly statement in the mail til I open it. Though the size of the envelope usually gives it away.

I have a list of all the possible funds, their current quarter returns, and their predicted, or maybe past, returns. I just wish I knew more about this stuff to figure out if I should change things up or not. It seems to be doing ok on it's own...

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.

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.

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....

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. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.