I'm always kind of giddy when I get money that I didn't expect regardless of the amount. The last week has brought several "SURPRISE!" money moments:
First, Roomie's mail came and he had a points summary from a hotel chain. See, he and his ex used to do this long distance relationship thing where they would meet at a hotel halfway between them pretty much every weekend. Somehow he ended up with a points program and got a whole bunch of them. He pretty much didn't want to do anything with these points since they were associated with her and passed them onto US! Yay! I debated back and forth about what to do with the points. I was down to either $25 at Safeway for groceries or a $25 gas card to help with Hubby's new commute. After reading Shtinkykat's post about gas prices going up I decided on the gas card. I also used the leftover points after that for a pair of movie tickets so we can actually go see either Transformers or Harry Potter in a theater this summer instead of waiting to rent. Free date night - WOOT! That's a $19 value so... $44 total gained from Roomie's failed relationship. Horrible, yes. But at least somebody benefited from their trysts. >_<
The other windfall was in survey form. I must admit I am a survey FREAK. I will diligently give the survey sites my time for little pay... I think over the 5 years I've been doing surveys I've probably earned about $600 in cash, gift cards and product. Maybe more but definitely no less. This year so far I've made $98 to go to snowflakes. Anyway, I got picked for a survey that will net me $60 total! WAH! They sent $10 up front and I'll get the rest when I'm done doing my thing. I've found that now that I'm a SAHM I have more time to do the really nifty product tests and whatnot. Surveys rock my world. But since this payment is coming in Visa gift card form I'm debating about how to spend it. I've narrowed it down to a) gas, b) attempting to put it to medical bills or c) buying the supplies to make a birthday tee for the Bee. Not sure yet...
104 unexpected dollars... So happy!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
State of the Union
OK, here's where we are at the end of May goalwise:
Get the SUV In Tip-Top Shape in Case We Need to Sell it ~ May 16
Well, we did get it to the shop. It's now fixed but another $107 was plopped onto a credit card. ;_; The clothes still sit in the back but I'm hoping to drop them off soon. Now all we have to do is replace the fabric on the console and it's mission accomplished albeit a little late.
Dig Out of the Clutter and Hold a Garage Sale ~ June 13
Ugh. We got a great start on this one and then... well May was pretty nuts. Billy started a new job and went on a business trip for a week... Also, I completely forgot my parents are going to Europe near the end of June and I doubt they'll have time to help me out. Hubby works Saturdays now and I'm so not running a garage sale by myself. So it's still a goal but I don't see it happening by the 13th.
Get Under $20,000 in Debt by 25 ~ July 27
Another Ugh. I'm still holding out that I can pull this off... Our "snowflake" situation is still grim. I have $28 in survey snowflakes coming my way but that will have to go to all the bills we're about to be behind on. A few unforeseen expenses along with a complete inundation of medical bills is really taking its toll. And I should specify that I mean under $20000 in credit card debt not debt overall. Still, I'm crossing my fingers. Unfortunately, the neccessary expenses I saw coming did indeed have to be put on a credit card - the SUV repair and the baby gates. That put us $248 behind. Yuck!!
Lose the Baby Weight aka Lose 12 Pounds ~ August 18
I actually just started working on my eating habits this week. The scale hasn't gone anywhere but I haven't put THAT much effort in yet. We'll see.
Pay Off the American Express Card Before They Shut it Off ~ September 30
Steadily dropping but the lack of snowflaking to this cause is taking a toll. *sigh* Once paydays are regular again hopefully we won't be scraping by as badly. Here's hoping.
Pay Off the Current Medical Debt ~ December 4
This category is NOT steadily dropping but steadily increasing... The bills just keep rolling in! At this point, we're really trapped in a corner when it comes to payment plans. The hospital billing department isn't exactly easy to work with... They'll only divide certain amounts over a certain number of months and don't take into account anything else. I told one of the people that I just couldn't swing the $123 they wanted me to pay and she actually gave me the "advice" to "just pay what I could until they turned me over to collections" then the collection agency would give me longer to pay back. Seriously??? This is just so ugly.
Get $500 in an Emergency Account ~ December 31
I did set up an automatic transfer for a "dental" fund which in essence will also be an EF as well since I won't be making any plans for us to go to the dentist until all debts are paid off. At that rate including the $25 I've already saved we'll be at $165. Yeah, this needs some work...
Get Credit Score up to the Median ~ ???
Every bit I pay back helps!!! After the AmEx is paid off, my next goal will be to pay off the water filtration system we bought last year. We opened a credit card account through the filtration company and lo' and behold that credit card doesn't exist now!! So we have a glaring $3600 outstanding on a closed account. I figure once that's paid off, our credit scores will definitely benefit.
Get the SUV In Tip-Top Shape in Case We Need to Sell it ~ May 16
Well, we did get it to the shop. It's now fixed but another $107 was plopped onto a credit card. ;_; The clothes still sit in the back but I'm hoping to drop them off soon. Now all we have to do is replace the fabric on the console and it's mission accomplished albeit a little late.
Dig Out of the Clutter and Hold a Garage Sale ~ June 13
Ugh. We got a great start on this one and then... well May was pretty nuts. Billy started a new job and went on a business trip for a week... Also, I completely forgot my parents are going to Europe near the end of June and I doubt they'll have time to help me out. Hubby works Saturdays now and I'm so not running a garage sale by myself. So it's still a goal but I don't see it happening by the 13th.
Get Under $20,000 in Debt by 25 ~ July 27
Another Ugh. I'm still holding out that I can pull this off... Our "snowflake" situation is still grim. I have $28 in survey snowflakes coming my way but that will have to go to all the bills we're about to be behind on. A few unforeseen expenses along with a complete inundation of medical bills is really taking its toll. And I should specify that I mean under $20000 in credit card debt not debt overall. Still, I'm crossing my fingers. Unfortunately, the neccessary expenses I saw coming did indeed have to be put on a credit card - the SUV repair and the baby gates. That put us $248 behind. Yuck!!
Lose the Baby Weight aka Lose 12 Pounds ~ August 18
I actually just started working on my eating habits this week. The scale hasn't gone anywhere but I haven't put THAT much effort in yet. We'll see.
Pay Off the American Express Card Before They Shut it Off ~ September 30
Steadily dropping but the lack of snowflaking to this cause is taking a toll. *sigh* Once paydays are regular again hopefully we won't be scraping by as badly. Here's hoping.
Pay Off the Current Medical Debt ~ December 4
This category is NOT steadily dropping but steadily increasing... The bills just keep rolling in! At this point, we're really trapped in a corner when it comes to payment plans. The hospital billing department isn't exactly easy to work with... They'll only divide certain amounts over a certain number of months and don't take into account anything else. I told one of the people that I just couldn't swing the $123 they wanted me to pay and she actually gave me the "advice" to "just pay what I could until they turned me over to collections" then the collection agency would give me longer to pay back. Seriously??? This is just so ugly.
Get $500 in an Emergency Account ~ December 31
I did set up an automatic transfer for a "dental" fund which in essence will also be an EF as well since I won't be making any plans for us to go to the dentist until all debts are paid off. At that rate including the $25 I've already saved we'll be at $165. Yeah, this needs some work...
Get Credit Score up to the Median ~ ???
Every bit I pay back helps!!! After the AmEx is paid off, my next goal will be to pay off the water filtration system we bought last year. We opened a credit card account through the filtration company and lo' and behold that credit card doesn't exist now!! So we have a glaring $3600 outstanding on a closed account. I figure once that's paid off, our credit scores will definitely benefit.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I Kinda Feel Like I'm Going to Yak
I'm one of those people that worries/gets nervous with my stomach. I hurled stomach acid pretty much every morning from junior high to graduation just cuz I would get so worked up about going to school. Even as an adult in the working world, if I knew I had a lot coming up that day... puke. When I get really worked up about where my life is going and how I'm just going to get through the day... yak. Yeah, you get the picture. So needless to say, my belly is pretty much churning everyday as I try to figure out where in the world the money is going to come from... *sigh*
Right now I'm seriously pacing the floor almost literally waiting for Billy's first paycheck to show up. He now gets paid on the 7th and 21st of every month which will be a whole new adventure considering our budget was based on every other Friday paychecks. Oh how I hate bimonthly paychecks!!! And I hate first paychecks at a new job. Either they're itty bitty or they're horribly delayed. So since we don't have direct deposit set up yet they mail a check to our HOUSE. ARGH! I'm freaking out. The 21st was Thursday and the check wasn't there Thursday or Friday or today and Monday is a holiday... Grrr. So what I'm really wondering is if it'll get pushed out to the 7th... Oh please dear God no. Freaking out. And because of this whole paycheck debacle, I totally spaced paying our car insurance and didn't realize it until I got a nasty "Letter of Cancellation" from the insurance company. So right then and there I had to pay May and June's insurance neither of which we had the money for. So I had to dip into mortgage money which is painful. ARRRRGH!
Also this month... I paid the Target credit card on the day it was due... but payments had already processed that day and I had to select the next day as the payment date. Thus, a late fee which gets lumped into the minimum payment. On top of that, the 0% balance transfer promo rate we had through both Bank of America cards is over... ;_; so the interest accurued shot through the roof and severely raised the minimum payments. I really really really really don't know what we're going to do.
Another thing I've been dwelling on lately (and I probably shouldn't be since there's nothing I can do about it now...) is that once all of this is paid off, we're just going to have to start all over again with Billy's student loans. He's in school right now and once he graduates, there's even more debt on our already overflowing plates. One of my biggest fears is that the credit card and medical debt will at one point overlap having to repay the student loans. He keeps talking about how he can accelerate his classes and graduate sooner and I'm like NOOOOOOO! OK, so ultimately it will save us money... Unless they end up deferred forever collecting interest.
Just since so much is going on and life is crazy nuts more so than ever, I don't think we're going to make the garage sale goal. BUT it's still high on my to do list. On my next "day off" I'm going to seriously get hardcore about craigslisting and eBaying just to hopefully get up to date on all the bills that are coming up. We're so far behind.
Right now I'm seriously pacing the floor almost literally waiting for Billy's first paycheck to show up. He now gets paid on the 7th and 21st of every month which will be a whole new adventure considering our budget was based on every other Friday paychecks. Oh how I hate bimonthly paychecks!!! And I hate first paychecks at a new job. Either they're itty bitty or they're horribly delayed. So since we don't have direct deposit set up yet they mail a check to our HOUSE. ARGH! I'm freaking out. The 21st was Thursday and the check wasn't there Thursday or Friday or today and Monday is a holiday... Grrr. So what I'm really wondering is if it'll get pushed out to the 7th... Oh please dear God no. Freaking out. And because of this whole paycheck debacle, I totally spaced paying our car insurance and didn't realize it until I got a nasty "Letter of Cancellation" from the insurance company. So right then and there I had to pay May and June's insurance neither of which we had the money for. So I had to dip into mortgage money which is painful. ARRRRGH!
Also this month... I paid the Target credit card on the day it was due... but payments had already processed that day and I had to select the next day as the payment date. Thus, a late fee which gets lumped into the minimum payment. On top of that, the 0% balance transfer promo rate we had through both Bank of America cards is over... ;_; so the interest accurued shot through the roof and severely raised the minimum payments. I really really really really don't know what we're going to do.
Another thing I've been dwelling on lately (and I probably shouldn't be since there's nothing I can do about it now...) is that once all of this is paid off, we're just going to have to start all over again with Billy's student loans. He's in school right now and once he graduates, there's even more debt on our already overflowing plates. One of my biggest fears is that the credit card and medical debt will at one point overlap having to repay the student loans. He keeps talking about how he can accelerate his classes and graduate sooner and I'm like NOOOOOOO! OK, so ultimately it will save us money... Unless they end up deferred forever collecting interest.
Just since so much is going on and life is crazy nuts more so than ever, I don't think we're going to make the garage sale goal. BUT it's still high on my to do list. On my next "day off" I'm going to seriously get hardcore about craigslisting and eBaying just to hopefully get up to date on all the bills that are coming up. We're so far behind.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Reality Check
I think I've been fooling myself into thinking that we're going to be OK. I just got a big reality check when I finally looked at the big picture of our monthly expenses. I keep saying, "Oh... we'll back track and make sure this will get paid or that will get paid..." but it's not happening. We're nearly two months behind on putting aside money for health insurance. That's $520. Where the hell is that money going to come from? We're not behind... yet. But I just don't see us magically coming up with that money. We're coming up short across the board. And the real irony is that it's all because of medical bills. When we frickin' had insurance all that time and paid through the eyeballs for it. And for what? Nothing. At least when we didn't have insurance there was only one giant medical emergency... >_< And most of it got written off by the hospital. Of course, not all of it and those bills are sitting on a credit card. Why oh why didn't we set it up on payment plans? Why??? If Billy's new job doesn't rock paycheck wise, we're up the creek without a paddle. Hell, I don't think we even have a boat. We convinced ourselves that we had a boat but it was just paper. And now it's gone. I am seriously freaking out. I honestly don't feel like any of our goals are attainable in the slightest. I'm looking around our living room and there's all this STUFF. Stuff we couldn't afford and bought anyway. And now we're paying for it tenfold. Financially and psychologically. What a waste. I can't even be happy with what we have because we shouldn't have it!!! We have dug a hole so deep I can't see the light at the top. I don't know what to do. I haven't been honest with myself at all.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Steps in the Right Direction... Sort of
Well, today was my day to clean our room once and for all... unfortunately, I used it frivolously for the most part. I did sort a bunch of laundry and get a few loads started but then I goofed off for a good part of the day. I get one day off a week, generally Wednesday, from being a SAHM and my mom takes the Bee. Because I'm so drained, I usually tend to screw around most of the day online or something equally nonsensical. Thus the piles of clutter we're living in... *sigh*
But not all was lost today. I did put together a couple of bags for the USPS food drive to hang on my mailbox Saturday. I also set up and automatic transfer of $10 to our ING account. In our current situation I suppose I will call it the beginning trickle of an emergency fund and a step toward one of my goals. Really tho', we desperately need to go to the dentist. We seriously haven't been to the dentist in oh... five years. That is so bad it is not even funny. Anyway, any dental insurance we get will require 6 months to a year after the initial dental visit to be able to do any major dental work. And we're going to need major dental work. I'm sure our dentist's grandchildren will go to college on the problems in our mouths. Life has been nuts and we just haven't gone. Now it's going to cost us a bundle when preventative care would've nipped most problems in the bud. Curse you health care in America!!! Needless to say, we can't afford to plop these expenses on a credit card and we sure can't pay it outright and we can't deal with another payment plan. So, I'm earmarking this as... the DENTAL FUND. It's not much but it's a start. I think Hubby's new job might have a HSA. If so, we're hopping on that so fast your head'll spin.
Also, today I FINALLY learned Excel. I know I know I'm a total loser for going this long. My computer class in high school vaguely went over it but I let it go over my head and haven't really tried to learn it since. But today I decided it had been long enough to be ridiculous so I found a free tutorial that didn't suck. Lo and behold not but halfway through the second lesson, I was able to put together a rockin' spreadsheet for our debt repayment. SQUEE!!! It really wasn't so hard ultimately... hee.
So that's it. Two steps the right way financially and a big fat stall organizationally. Not too bad.
But not all was lost today. I did put together a couple of bags for the USPS food drive to hang on my mailbox Saturday. I also set up and automatic transfer of $10 to our ING account. In our current situation I suppose I will call it the beginning trickle of an emergency fund and a step toward one of my goals. Really tho', we desperately need to go to the dentist. We seriously haven't been to the dentist in oh... five years. That is so bad it is not even funny. Anyway, any dental insurance we get will require 6 months to a year after the initial dental visit to be able to do any major dental work. And we're going to need major dental work. I'm sure our dentist's grandchildren will go to college on the problems in our mouths. Life has been nuts and we just haven't gone. Now it's going to cost us a bundle when preventative care would've nipped most problems in the bud. Curse you health care in America!!! Needless to say, we can't afford to plop these expenses on a credit card and we sure can't pay it outright and we can't deal with another payment plan. So, I'm earmarking this as... the DENTAL FUND. It's not much but it's a start. I think Hubby's new job might have a HSA. If so, we're hopping on that so fast your head'll spin.
Also, today I FINALLY learned Excel. I know I know I'm a total loser for going this long. My computer class in high school vaguely went over it but I let it go over my head and haven't really tried to learn it since. But today I decided it had been long enough to be ridiculous so I found a free tutorial that didn't suck. Lo and behold not but halfway through the second lesson, I was able to put together a rockin' spreadsheet for our debt repayment. SQUEE!!! It really wasn't so hard ultimately... hee.
So that's it. Two steps the right way financially and a big fat stall organizationally. Not too bad.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
The Knot Tightens
The knot in the pit of my stomach is tightening...
Billy got paid yesterday and now we have... $20 (!) left to get us through the next two weeks. That is so terrible I can't begin to describe how I feel. Our bills are paid at least but it still remains that: both vehicles need gas, Billy is going on a business trip starting tomorrow and any expenses incurred will have to go on a credit card until they get comped, Bee needs more food, we had to put the SUV repair on a credit card which kills me, we're going to need cat AND dog food before the two weeks are up... $20 is not going to cut it. I really need to breathe... *hyperventilating*
OK, deep breath, for real. We have enough to get gas in the car to get us to the airport. The SUV won't really be driven until Billy officially starts commuting so it can live without a fillup. The expenses WILL get comped eventually and won't just sit on the card (hate hate hate hate hate doing that!!!). Baby food and pet food... I'm not sure.
*crossing fingers that the swing on Craigslist actually sells tomorrow*
OK. I can probably scrape up another $3.50 Purina coupon and pay the difference with Register Rewards at Walgreens. That'll take care of cat food. I can also probably scrape up another $3 Gerber coupon and get some free puffs for Bee. Otherwise, we'll pretend the Parent's Choice puffs are comparable and buy those on the cheap. In the mean time, she'll just have to eat applesauce and sweet potatoes - no variety but at least they're two of her faves.
So... now we're down to the repair bill and the dog food.
I have no idea.
Hmmm.
Well, anyway, just to add to more fabulous news, I finally got all of our medical bills in a nice and organized binder. It looks very pretty! ^_^ But that's where the happiness ends. ;_; Putting it all together like that and adding on the new bills du jour, we have a grand total of $3311.24 in medical bills! And I just got another one today for $160. Soooo we're looking at $3471.24 with more coming everyday! Ugh.
Billy got paid yesterday and now we have... $20 (!) left to get us through the next two weeks. That is so terrible I can't begin to describe how I feel. Our bills are paid at least but it still remains that: both vehicles need gas, Billy is going on a business trip starting tomorrow and any expenses incurred will have to go on a credit card until they get comped, Bee needs more food, we had to put the SUV repair on a credit card which kills me, we're going to need cat AND dog food before the two weeks are up... $20 is not going to cut it. I really need to breathe... *hyperventilating*
OK, deep breath, for real. We have enough to get gas in the car to get us to the airport. The SUV won't really be driven until Billy officially starts commuting so it can live without a fillup. The expenses WILL get comped eventually and won't just sit on the card (hate hate hate hate hate doing that!!!). Baby food and pet food... I'm not sure.
*crossing fingers that the swing on Craigslist actually sells tomorrow*
OK. I can probably scrape up another $3.50 Purina coupon and pay the difference with Register Rewards at Walgreens. That'll take care of cat food. I can also probably scrape up another $3 Gerber coupon and get some free puffs for Bee. Otherwise, we'll pretend the Parent's Choice puffs are comparable and buy those on the cheap. In the mean time, she'll just have to eat applesauce and sweet potatoes - no variety but at least they're two of her faves.
So... now we're down to the repair bill and the dog food.
I have no idea.
Hmmm.
Well, anyway, just to add to more fabulous news, I finally got all of our medical bills in a nice and organized binder. It looks very pretty! ^_^ But that's where the happiness ends. ;_; Putting it all together like that and adding on the new bills du jour, we have a grand total of $3311.24 in medical bills! And I just got another one today for $160. Soooo we're looking at $3471.24 with more coming everyday! Ugh.
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