Gasping for Breath

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20.57 left in account as cushion.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After a little bit of confusion (and entering Septembers data into August, temporarily overwriting it) I now have my Net Worth IQ statement for September. I'm looking forward to October, and even more to November, when I actually start paying more than just interest on my high student loan.

At least the dreaded timeshare is gone, that helps!

Assets $ Diff % Diff
Cash $512 $194 61.01 %
Retirement $23,339 $528 2.31 %
Cars $2,355 ($25) -1.05 %
Total Assets $26,206 $697 2.73 %

Debts $ Diff % Diff
Student Loans $36,428 ($34) -0.09 %
Credit Card $17,910 ($130) -0.72 %
Other $9,178 ($7,792) -45.92 %
Total Debts $63,516 ($7,956) -11.13 %

Net Worth ($37,310) $8,653 18.83 %

I was going to strive really hard to not have to put any more gas in my car until payday. Then today I got asked to go do some customer training at a local site that's about 70 miles away. I am seriously on E, was going to put my last $6 in tonight and avoid driving as much as possible until payday (Thursday) but I'll be going up to do the training on Tuesday or Wednesday...

So what I think I'm going to do is put the $6 in tonight like planned and take $25 from one of my childcare gigs on Sunday or Monday nights and put that in my car for gas. When I get back I'll submit an expense report and get reimbursed for like $0.40 per mile. When I get the check for mileage, I'll put the $25 into wherever it was going to originally go and do something else with the rest. That should work. And I won't have to pull from other monies to make it happen.

Man I spent so much in gas already. But I sort of knew that would happen. I have $6 left in my gas budget to last another week. I walked to the gym and to work today. I have no plans after work so I won't be driving anywhere today.

Of the days until payday (8) I only need to drive 3 of them. A total of about 50 miles. With the gas prices these days, I think my $6 worth will just barely squeak by.

I am bound and determined to not spend more than my budget amount for gas. Even with going to the coast and driving out to the other side of town a couple of times(not normal occurances). I was tempted to pull the $3 I have in my dollar jar and I might if something comes up and I have to drive more than I'm anticipating.

But for now, I'm enjoying the no drive day.

The excuses were plentiful. Ranging from 'it's too confusing to figure out a goal time frame with people paying me back for stuff' to 'I don't really know what I want to do with this extra money so why bother'.

But I did it. I sat down and worked out exactly how I wanted things to get paid off. I figured out roughly how long it would take to do it, at least for the first phase. And it actually looks do-able. Nothing like a plan of attack that might actually work. I'm basically trying to get as much taken care of before I make the last payment on my consolidation loan.

My ideas and plans keep shifting but once I put them on 'paper' they seem to solidify a little more.

I put my Three Phase Plan on a Google Spreadsheet, a link can be found under Sites I Frequent. I plan on updating it whenever any of the three phases changes. The hope is that any dates or figures listed are worst case senarios. I know I will have Phase One completed before the end of February but going by what I know I can count on, that's the date that presents itself.

As for the things I know I need, well I will put off getting two new tires until November. I have enough in savings now to pay for them but I want to wait until the last possible moment to pull that money back out. And the Bed. Well, we'll just see where my Emergency Fund is at when September '07 rolls around.

I'm waiting for my Emigrant Direct account to be set up. In the meantime, I'm wondering if this sort of saving for a large ticket item is prudent at this juncture. It was one thing when potential childcare opportunities were sporatic but now I've got one set in stone and some of the sporatic are potentially more regular.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't either make it part of my Emergency Fund, the money I'm setting aside in Emigrant. Or if I should just use it to pay off debt. Basically, I'm looking at a guarenteed $100/mo (although don't know about the tax ramifications yet) plus potential for extra. Since it's guarenteed, I have a hard time saying I'm using it for something frivolous, like a bed.

Or perhaps...I should change it from Bed Fund to Necessity Fund. A good bed is a necessity but so are tires. I can stash the excess money away and just use it for whatever Necessity comes up. Like for example, I need two new tires. I was going to pull the money out of my Emergency Fund, but it's not really an Emergency more of a Necessity. At some point too, I imagine my car will give up the ghost. Once it does, I will only have my Emergency Fund to use for a downpayment. But if I have money in a Necessity fund, that could make things a little brighter.

For some reason I just feel with the sudden influx of extra money, that I'm being irresponsible to save for a Bed. But just for a general, all purpose 'larger items that are bound to come up' it seems to make more sense in my HeadSpace.

I think I need to think more on this.

I suppose the stupid mantra that's behind this all is a signature line I saw on the creditboards a while ago that states 'a penny saved is a penny not going towards paying off debt'. I realize the importance of some savings, which is why I'm working on building my EF, but in my head, anything more than that is frivilous.

But on the other hand, I like to have backups for my backups. For example, I know that I spend a little bit of money so I created a 'Personal' category in my budget and if I don't spend it all it goes into my savings when the next check arrives. But on top of that, I also try to give myself a cushion in my checking account of another $20. No reason, just mainly so it doesn't turn out that I get down to a whole $0.10 in my bank before the next check arrives.

I like the idea of an EF but I'm worried about potentially spending it for non-emergencies that seem like emergencies at the time.

Anyway.

The weekend was absolutely fantastic. I felt like I should help out a little more (do dishes, alternate holding kids during meal prep so the moms could actually cook, keep an eye on some while the others were being tended to, there were 4 kids total the oldest is 3) so I did and then got gently scolded for doing so because apparently I was on vacation too.

They went crabbing on Saturday and I went off for a hike nearby. It was more difficult than I expected, not bad, but I was lazy and didn't change my shoes but I probably should have. It was nice though to hike down to a secluded beach and just watch the waves and walk along it for a bit.

All the kids wound up going down before the parents left for dinner. That wasn't the original plan but they were so wiped out that it just happened that way. So I watched a movie and knitted for a while.

Spent a little on breakfast and lunch on Sunday, we all went out together for breakfast and then I got lunch on the way home. I had to leave earlier than I'd originally planned because my part time job started that afternoon.

The job itself, went great. I wound up being with the toddlers because there weren't any infants. It's apparently pretty hit and miss sometimes. But the kids I did get to work with were great. And a couple of the moms were really happy as it appeared some of them really took to me. Score! They're going to pay me weekly but don't know yet if I'm going to be cash (ie no taxes involved), Independant Contractor (I take care of all the taxes involved), or a regular W2 type paid employee. It's so little money, I'm good with whatever. Obviously, I'd prefer cash but whatever works for them. Shoot at this rate even as an Independant Contractor I wouldn't have to file as it won't be $600 this year.

My brother also paid me $60 towards his debt, so that means $143 has been sent off to CC2 this morning via their website. He's planning on another $60 at least next paycheck.

I was going to make a deposit today but then realized I really should wait until tomorrow. I'm working tonight as well, childcare for some night classes, and will just have to go to the bank again tomorrow. Might as well just make it one trip.

Just got off the phone with the gal I interviewed for about a week and a half ago. It's a pretty simple job, infant childcare for a church, two hours on a Sunday afternoon. Pays $100/mo. I don't even have to change diapers, just make sure everything's bleached before the kids get there, keep the kids occupied during the service, and make sure the right kid goes home with the right parent. I think I can handle that.

The only question I have is where to put that money. I'd said any extra babysitting money would go to the bed fund, but this is regular work even though it's extra work. I think what I'm going to do is this... put all extra income money into my Bed Fund account up to $100/mo. Once I've deposited $100 whatever else comes in will go to emergency fund savings. After all, if I start saving now, and put in $100/mo, I'll have $1100 just in deposits by the time Sept '07 rolls around. And I'd decided I only was going to save $1000 max for my new bed related purchases.

I don't know how they are going to pay me, if it'll be once a week or once a month. I'm also starting an 8 week, $20/night, 1 night a week child care job on Monday. That one I know is paid weekly, and I might not be needed all 8 weeks.

It's kinda nice trying to figure out what to do with the extra money. I know if I don't plan specifically what to do with it, it'll just get spent and I need to avoid that.

Once EF and Bed Fund are at their goal levels, any and all extra will go towards debt.

I have done only one project so far and I wanted to do another. With my trip to the coast this weekend (I'm actually leaving tonight after work since book club is next weekend instead) I thought it'd be nice to have a knitting project to work on.

I made my first ever anything on my trip to Croatia. You can see me here starting it (well you can't really see but this is a picture from the night we stayed in the lobby of SeaTac and that's when I started it)

http://www.goingthere.net/gallery/Travel/P5270019

There are other knitters on the trip, I'm the one on the far right.

And then here I am at one of the airports on the way back almost done:

http://www.goingthere.net/gallery/Travel/IMG_4338

I wanted something to go with it. Everyone knits scarves. I don't want another scarf. I have a beautiful one that my aunt knitted for me. So I'm making wristwarmers instead. You can see the ones I'm going to make here:

http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTfetching.html

The trip to the yarn store cost me a pretty penny, only because I dont' have the right needles yet. So I know if I continue it won't be so costly. It was $19.95 (out of my $30 set aside for 'personal') for double pointed needles, tapestry needle, cable needle, and yarn. We'll see how it turns out! I know I'll have trouble when it comes to the thumbs but that's ok. I have two great friends who knit beautifully that can help me out once I get there.

Of course, I realized last night that I'd messed up somewhere. I was using the tail from the start as a guide for counting rounds. Since I'm using four needles instead of three it actually works out ok because the last needle is the only one that I complete a set of stiches on. But, I got halfway through my third round and there was the little tail. Umm. So I think I'm going to take it out an redo it.

Ok so I just got the email stating that the transfer had been completed! Seriously, I got out of the shower, had been contemplating the Citi portion of this entry, so sat down at the computer, had no new email, clicked New Entry and an email came through. Sweet!!! Now it says that there is a 48 to 72 hour delay in updating their database with the information. But that still gets me out of there before October 1!! Yipee! I'm going to wait til next week though before spending the money. Just to make sure everything clears. Oh man what a load off.

Ok onto Citi. I was looking at the new statement I got today and trying to figure out why the daily average balance for the balance transfer didn't get affected that much. And I think I figured it out. For some reason, I was under the impression that the interest you acrue on the higher balance would just get added back into the higher balance and keep acruing until you paid the balance transfer off. I really wish I knew where I come up with this stuff. Anyway, I think it's more along the lines of, they take out all interest payments, they apply it to purchases that are in grace period, and then whatever is left goes to principle of the balance transfer. Since this is the first statement with the balance transfer it looks sorta odd. But I also forgot to add in the fee associated with the balance transfer so it makes sense now. Plus it doesn't help that I'm still paying bills with that card. I figure it'll be November's statement before I can get a real idea of how this will work without me incurring more debt.

Until then, I'm keeping track of when my stepbrother pays me back. I am using my own figures to calculate interest since my regular payment is also being used to pay off his balance until the balance transfer is paid off. My goal is to have the bt paid off before my stepbrother is done paying me back, that way whatever he is still paying me I'll just use as extra payment to make up for the months when I wasn't making a dent in my own balance.

I'm going to use their Balance Subject to Finance Charge as a comparison for how much is left to pay on the balance transfer. According to the statement, the balance subject to finance charge is: 1,901.67. The amount my spreadsheet says my stepbrother currently owes me is: 1,970.60. So I'm definately on track.

Incoming:
1204.69 Salary
-6.55 left over from last check *
-------
1198.14

Outgoing:
100.00 Rent (save for October)
93.17 Insurance
250.00 CC1**
60.00 Student Loan
35.00 Savings
121.00 Personal Loan (save for October)
100.00 Food
60.00 Storage
170.47 Timeshare (hopefully not)
65.01 Electric (equal pay plan)
40.00 Gas (car)
30.00 Personal play money
50.00 Croatia Trip***
-------
1174.65

Leaves: 23.49 when all is said and done

* I sent in a check for $20 for an application fee in March. Turns out I didn't need to pay it, but they've not returned my check nor cashed it. So I pretend it's still there but allow myself a $20 cushion before pulling extra cash from savings. I was not overdrawn.

** Part of that payment is made up of my Cell bill and Cable bill money. If the timeshare does go away I will pay cash for my cable bill this time around (not due til Oct 9 so it can wait) and next month pay cash for both. The goal is in October to still be able to pay $250 towards CC1 while paying cash for the other two bills.

*** Went to Croatia in June for a mission trip. The plane tickets were more than anticipated so teammember wound up charging the difference. We are trying to figure out ways to raise the last of the money due ($5500) but until then we each pitch in monthly towards the minimum payment. Teammember says I don't need to contribute for a couple months because I keep giving her double what she asked for initially from each of us. I tell her to take all she can get to throw at it. I'm working on her though, she did call and get the interest rate lowered by 3% and as soon as the new house she bought craziness settles down we're going to start looking at other options to perhaps transfer the balance to a lower interest rate card.

Soon as I hear that the transfer has processed for my timeshare I plan on taking that $170, putting $61 towards the cable bill, $30 to pay back a friend for ticket she bought me, and $80 towards CC2. Plus my brother gets paid tomorrow so any money he starts paying me back will also go towards CC2.

I need one new tire. Which really translates into two new tires. I know I really should replace all four but I just can't do that. Two will just about break the bank. The rims that my car came with are specialty. Which means the tire is not standard and costs a little bit more. Considering that I've had the car for three years and haven't had any tire trouble that couldn't be easily fixed, I consider myself lucky.

When I got a flat fixed at Les Schwab they showed me how one of the tires really needed to be replaced. I had him look it up to see how much it would cost. For two tires it'll be $140. I checked around and it seems to be an average price.

I really should get the new tires before the rainy season hits full on. It's been raining the past couple of days but then it'll be nice for another week (if the forecast is anything to be believed). So it's not a necessity yet. But by the end of October I definately need to get them.

I have $162 in my local savings account (the rest is in ING). So I have enough to cover the cost of the tires, but it will definately drain my local savings. Something I really would prefer to avoid. If I wait til end of October, I should have $222 in my local savings which would mean pulling money out for the tires wouldn't totally spend every dime I have.

I wish I got the paper so I could see if/when my size goes on sale. But for now, I think I'm going to wait.

Today is payday. I expected that my timeshare transfer would have processed by now. I called and spoke with Owner Services and they said they had the paperwork, it was being processed, and they verified that I had submitted my email address to be notified as soon as the transfer was official. The problem I have is, the money I set aside to pay for the timeshare is out of this check that I received today. I don't want to spend the money in case it doesn't process and I get charged. But since it's in the works, I should be safe right? At any rate, I am just going to hold off spending it right now just in case. Until things are final at any rate. The person I spoke with said I'd be notified within 72 hours of it going through.

But that sucks for me because I was hoping to use that money for other things, like actually pay my cable bill instead of charging it. [side note: I pay a couple of bills with my credit card, take the cash I would have used to pay those bills to help make up the minimum payment on my credit card. Not pretty, but it works. However once the transfer goes through I shouldn't need to do that anymore.]

So I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point. I guess just stick with the plan of pretending I have to pay it like normal until I hear otherwise.

In other 'news', I pulled cash out for my grocery and gas budget instead of using CC2 like I had been. Since they're changing the cashback bonus to not be as favorable for grocery/gas purchases, I really don't need to have that temptation in my wallet. Now to just work on getting it paid off like it's supposed to be.

I had $3 left over in my wallet from last pay period. I put it in my dollar jar for use later in case I need extra cash for something imediate.

The Carnival of Personal Finance is up over here: http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2006/09/carnival_of_per.html

I scanned through the posts and picked out just a couple that I thought might be interesting to read. I did note that there were a couple on teaching kids to save, so there might be something of interest to those of you with kids as well as just regular saving tips. Anyway.

Enjoy!

I hung out with a friend that I babysit for sometimes last night, haven't done that in too long. She asked what I was doing this weekend. Her family and another family that I sit occasionally for are going to the coast and staying at her husband's partner's newly acquired beach house that's going to be turned into a B&B.

She wanted to know if I could come out and watch the kids one night. In exchange, I don't have to pay for lodging or food. Now, I have a book club meeting Saturday morning so I'd be going up after that and coming back sometime on Sunday so it's really only a short trip. And it's about 100 miles away so there'd be a large gas expenditure. But she also said I could possibly bring a friend along, which would help with the gas. And prices are going down, which is nice.

I told her I'd do it. I love the city they're going to be in. I love their kids. I love hanging out with the parents. It really is a win win situation. Except for the gas. But really, free lodging and food. And they aren't really planning on going out until the kids are in bed so it's not like they're asking a lot of me.

I'm waiting to hear back about the room situation to see if it would be feasible for me to bring a friend. If nothing else, it'd be a nice weekend away.

My youngest brother has been avoiding credit card, or really any debt, for a while. He realizes the traps they can lay when you get in bad positions, etc. Or so I thought.

He had to walk home in the rain, he was unprepared for it, and his iPod got damaged. Just the screen. It's not covered under warrenty. It still plays, he just has no idea what's playing. He was thinking about applying for a credit card so he could get a new one.

Alarm bells went off for me considering he hasn't even gotten his first paycheck yet from his job and his job is temporary just until December assuming he lasts that long. Not to mention the fact he owes me close to $600 for picking up his rent for a couple of months, among other things.

I think I talked him out of it. I've become quite skilled in the art of negotiation. Instead of telling him what he should or shouldn't do, explain to him the risks and benefits of what he's trying to decide on. Once he knows all the facts, if he still chooses to do it fine.

For now, he's waiting til Friday when he gets paid so he'll have an idea of how much money he has coming in. The other red flag that went off was his comment that he was hoping if he got approved soon that he would be able to buy food with it now. I would much rather he owe me money for food than a credit card company. I stocked him for about a week, he's got some left over but not much. I haven't been able to make it back to his part of town so I haven't helped him restock any.

I guess we'll just see what happens.

A few weeks back I was at dinner with a friend who started going through her wallet. She pulled out three gift cards for movie rentals (two for blockbuster, one for hollywood) and handed them to me saying she'll never use them.

One of the blockbuster ones had definately expired, it was just for a one free rental. The other blockbuster one says I have to go into a store to check the balance. How annoying. So I don't know if that one has anything on it. The hollywood one had $5.06

This past weekend a friend of mine and I decided to veg and watch a movie so I pulled out the hollywood gift card and said I had that bit covered. The movie we rented was a new release ($3.79) but was also on the return early get a dollar credit deal. I dropped it back off that night after we watched it.

So...my gift card now has a balance of $1.27, plus I should have a $1 credit at the store. Doesn't quite make a second free rental but it gets it pretty darn close. So long as I use it in the next 24 months that is.

Now I just have to happen to be by a Blockbuster when they aren't busy to check the balance on the other card. If there's nothing on it, I want to chuck it.

Some days I feel really spoiled by having a salary position. I have a budget that is based on the same amount of money every paycheck and I don't have to worry about getting enough hours to cover all of my bills. Talking with friends and reading stuff online about people getting hours cut really makes me wish they find some way to make it up without too much trouble.

But then, I hear about all the overtime some people get and it makes me jealous. I have no option for overtime on salary. I do get extra money for being 'on call' certain nights the month before but it's not much ($35/night) and I usually only get about half of it after taxes are factored in so I never really budget for it. And something usually comes up to suck that money away.

I used to work for a place that had Hourly Salary positions. Which meant that you got paid twice a month the same amount, like a regular salaried position, but if you worked any overtime you actually got paid for it. I like the idea but don't know if anyone actually implements it.