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.

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.

Just got an email from the gal I'm transfering my timeshare ownership to. She mailed the paperwork today! It'll still be mid-September before I expect to hear from the company verifying that the transfer took place, but it makes me feel a little better that it's officially underway! Yipee!

I realize that it'll take a couple weeks to process the paperwork. I told them I'd take care of September's payment for the timeshare. But they're waiting to send in the paperwork until the end of the month so they are certain they won't have to pay til October. She says they have the paperwork all notarized and ready to go. All I can do now is wait a week and hope she emails me when she mails it in like I asked her. It just makes me nervous that 'something' could happen in the interim and they decide not to go through with it.

Not much I can do about it between now and then though, except cross my fingers.

Edit: Ok so I've been emailing with the gal I'm going to transfer with all day. She's going to mail the paperwork in early next week since it'll take so long to process and by the time it does my payment will already have been made. We had an interesting exchange where she stated that she was really overly cautious about the process because doing things via mail is sort of scary. I replied that I understood what she meant since I've already paid for the transfer to take place. I think that little exchange helped both of us calm a little. She assured me that they aren't going to back out of it. That actually does make me feel better.

Ok now this is sort of bugging me. The gal who wanted to buy my timeshare was all over emailing me every couple of hours (it seemed like) asking questions, verifying things, etc last weekend. I got the paperwork yesterday, emailed her that I'd received it and asked for her mailing address so I could send her what she needed to fill out. And I've heard nothing back. I know I keep telling people that sometimes people go out of town, etc, and can't check their email so to be patient. But it just seems odd. So I'm waiting til Monday, since that's when I can mail it out anyway (I have to have something signed and notarized first) and worst case I have her phone number to call her. *crosses fingers* I'm really hoping she's not backing out of this.

Since I don't know if people go back and read comments I'll address the question that was asked there. The reason I would consider a less paying job (esp when I'm trying to get out of debt) is that I got a second degree a couple of years ago but I have no practical experience in it. I really want to get that experience but I know starting out with no experience I have to take a pay cut. However, if the right job comes along, that still pays all my bills, but that has more room for advancement, I would take it. Where I'm at right now, there's no room for advancement and the company's been struggling off and on so I get a cost of living raise (3%) if anything annually. But where I'm at pays my bills.

I'd love to find a part time job where I could just get experience, and I look for those too. Something where the money doesn't matter because I've got my bases already covered, that works around my current work schedule. I still haven't found it yet.

Oh my second degree is in Accounting. I am just looking for general bookkeeping, ar, ap, staff accountant type of work.

And I'm not actually actively looking for another job. Just now and again I check craiglist to see if anything catches my eye.

I've been emailing a gal all weekend about her taking over my timeshare. I finally spoke with her today after verifying a couple of things she'd asked questions about but I didn't have an answer for. After explaining that I had to request the transfer paperwork from the company, she said to go ahead and do that. So I called the company and found their rules have changed slightly. Instead of them just sending out the paperwork and us returning it with a check for the transfer fees, I have to pay the transfer fees up front and then they'll send the paperwork. I went ahead and did so, charging it because when this goes through I can pay it off right quick. I figure the sooner I can get the paperwork and complete the transaction, the less of a chance she'll have of changing her mind. So...fingers crossed.

So I called about my timeshare, ie what are my options and found out that originally I had 5 days to back out of the deal but since that's past all I can do is try to sell it. The day after I signed the paperwork I realized I'd made a mistake and I poured over all the paperwork they gave me. Even the fine print. I found Nothing that said I could do that. I should have called anyway but I didn't. Now it's been two years and I'm well out of that period. I should have verified my loan balance while I was on the phone with them but I didn't. She's sending me a reseller package but it's pointless really since no one will buy it for the price that's left on the loan.