I'm still feeling less than gazelle intense with regard to debt payoff. Here are the numbers as of today:
$1,028 credit card- this represents the leftover balance from some dental work I had done this year. I'm waiting to pay off the remainder once my firm reimburses my outstanding travel expenses. I have been assured that I have a check coming next week for around $1,500. Only time will tell. I have expended $1,400 in travel expenses since February and haven't gotten one dime back. I feel terrible having to continually ask for my vouchers to be reimbursed. It kind of feels like I am begging for my own money.
$19,283 student loan- I am waiting to make a big payment on this loan once my firm reimburses my travel expenses. I have budgeted a $367 payment for this loan for when I get paid on Monday. I'm hoping to put over $1000 on this loan in mid- June from my June 15 paycheck. I need to see the numbers start falling!!
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Thursday, May 21, 2015
May 16-31 Budget
$190 utilities
$100 groceries
$159 Mother's day Gifts
$41 saving account
$150 student loan
$650 car maintenance
$450 dental fund
$200 emergency fund
$140 travel fund
$33 alarm monitoring
$201 spending
$100 gas
Sigh, I was hoping to put about $1000 on my student loans for May. That of course did not happen. It would have happened had the firm paid any of my travel vouchers submitted in the last 3 months, but beyond that I won't complain anymore about that issue.
With the transfer of $41 to my online savings account that officially brings the balance up to $3000!! I am on track to earn $1.86 in interest on that account this month! I am working my way toward $2/month in interest.
Things at work have been crazy. I will try to do post on that later. My job search efforts have not been going well, but I will forge ahead.
$100 groceries
$159 Mother's day Gifts
$41 saving account
$150 student loan
$650 car maintenance
$450 dental fund
$200 emergency fund
$140 travel fund
$33 alarm monitoring
$201 spending
$100 gas
Sigh, I was hoping to put about $1000 on my student loans for May. That of course did not happen. It would have happened had the firm paid any of my travel vouchers submitted in the last 3 months, but beyond that I won't complain anymore about that issue.
With the transfer of $41 to my online savings account that officially brings the balance up to $3000!! I am on track to earn $1.86 in interest on that account this month! I am working my way toward $2/month in interest.
Things at work have been crazy. I will try to do post on that later. My job search efforts have not been going well, but I will forge ahead.
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Emergency Fund To the Rescue!!
Thursday, I came home from work and noticed the house was kind of warm. I turned the thermostat down to see if the house would cool down. It didn't. I was distraught. I cleaned the filter and turned the unit on and off. Nothing worked. I went outside and checked the outside unit and noticed that the fan wasn't turning. I spent a very warm, humid night tossing and turning stressing about the cost to repair the a/c.
The next morning I called a local a/c repair shop to have a technician come out and take a look. After anxiously waiting all day, a guy came out and repaired the unit within an hour. The capacitor on the outside unit had gone bad. It was fixed for a total of $200. I had spent 24 hours terrified that I would have to pay for a whole new unit and use my entire emergency fund to do so. I was so happy that the cost was only $200 and that I had the money in my emergency fund to handle it.
On Saturday morning I took my car in for a 90,000 miles service. I knew it was going to be expensive so I set aside $650 out of my budget to cover the expense (I take my car to the dealer, it is a SUV and every 30,000 miles there is a huge service expense). Anyways, I checked my car in and I had to have: (1)oil change,(2) tire rotation, (3) timing belt replacement and (4) water pump replacement.
Ultimately, the total cost of the service was $750. I was close to that amount with my estimate. Again, I was happy that I had the money available to cover the expense. I hate paying that kind of money into my almost 9 year old car, however, it beats a car payment. Also, I know taking my car to the dealer costs so much more than taking it to a regular mechanic shop, but there is a a very good mechanic at this particular dealership who has done very good work on my car in the past. I hope to keep this car for 3 to 5 more years so I hope it keeps chugging along for a while more. I just need to pull $100 from somewhere to pay off the balance of the car repair. Budgeting and spending money is so stressful!!
The next morning I called a local a/c repair shop to have a technician come out and take a look. After anxiously waiting all day, a guy came out and repaired the unit within an hour. The capacitor on the outside unit had gone bad. It was fixed for a total of $200. I had spent 24 hours terrified that I would have to pay for a whole new unit and use my entire emergency fund to do so. I was so happy that the cost was only $200 and that I had the money in my emergency fund to handle it.
On Saturday morning I took my car in for a 90,000 miles service. I knew it was going to be expensive so I set aside $650 out of my budget to cover the expense (I take my car to the dealer, it is a SUV and every 30,000 miles there is a huge service expense). Anyways, I checked my car in and I had to have: (1)oil change,(2) tire rotation, (3) timing belt replacement and (4) water pump replacement.
Ultimately, the total cost of the service was $750. I was close to that amount with my estimate. Again, I was happy that I had the money available to cover the expense. I hate paying that kind of money into my almost 9 year old car, however, it beats a car payment. Also, I know taking my car to the dealer costs so much more than taking it to a regular mechanic shop, but there is a a very good mechanic at this particular dealership who has done very good work on my car in the past. I hope to keep this car for 3 to 5 more years so I hope it keeps chugging along for a while more. I just need to pull $100 from somewhere to pay off the balance of the car repair. Budgeting and spending money is so stressful!!
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Career Change
My crazy boss has me so stressed that I am actually entertaining the thought of changing careers. He has officially ruined my chance of getting a job offer from the company I interviewed with and he continues to behave in a counterproductive manner. Sigh. I am VERY frustrated.
I still have student loan debt- so I'd like to pay that off and save up some money before heading back to school to seek a career change. I have always liked math and science. I don't know what else I can do that will produce a comfortable living- so I am thinking a new career. Any ideas? What's a good career other than being a lawyer?
I need a plan because every Sunday night I feel like stepping out into the middle of traffic. I need something that I can take classes for online, at night. I was talking with a friend on Friday night (also a lawyer) and she told me that she would also like to change careers due to the deep dissatisfaction that she feels with her career as well.
Does anyone else feel this way? Do you feel like you are working hard and not getting anywhere?
I still have student loan debt- so I'd like to pay that off and save up some money before heading back to school to seek a career change. I have always liked math and science. I don't know what else I can do that will produce a comfortable living- so I am thinking a new career. Any ideas? What's a good career other than being a lawyer?
I need a plan because every Sunday night I feel like stepping out into the middle of traffic. I need something that I can take classes for online, at night. I was talking with a friend on Friday night (also a lawyer) and she told me that she would also like to change careers due to the deep dissatisfaction that she feels with her career as well.
Does anyone else feel this way? Do you feel like you are working hard and not getting anywhere?
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Debt Updates
At the end of December of 2014, I owed $23,703 on my student loans. I currently owe approximately $19,407.72, So, I have paid off approximately $4,295.28 in the last four months. This, of course, averages a little over $1,000 a month (plus interest) that I have paid down on my student loans. Grr...I'm still not getting things paid down as quickly as I would like. However, big picture-wise I need to realize that I would still be paying down $12,000 in student loan debt this year which would be awesome.
I owe about $1,921 in credit card debt, leftover from recent dental work. I have the money saved, but I don't want to let go of too much cash at one time. I'm hoping to get my travel vouchers reimbursed soon to replenish the cash that is going out of the door.
I wish that I could get rid of all of this debt because it is so stressful to think about being in debt for years and years. I know that I have said this before, but want to move towards using my money for better things, savings, investing, building up retirement and paying off my house. For some reason, I just feel all of the pressure right now. I have to keep reminding myself that I borrowed against my future 10 + years ago and I am now required to pay that all back. It's all gonna work out and be okay, right?
I owe about $1,921 in credit card debt, leftover from recent dental work. I have the money saved, but I don't want to let go of too much cash at one time. I'm hoping to get my travel vouchers reimbursed soon to replenish the cash that is going out of the door.
I wish that I could get rid of all of this debt because it is so stressful to think about being in debt for years and years. I know that I have said this before, but want to move towards using my money for better things, savings, investing, building up retirement and paying off my house. For some reason, I just feel all of the pressure right now. I have to keep reminding myself that I borrowed against my future 10 + years ago and I am now required to pay that all back. It's all gonna work out and be okay, right?
Friday, May 1, 2015
Interview #2 Updates and May 1-15 Budget Updates
Yesterday I mailed off a shiny brand new resume for yet another local law firm. Whew, the stress of preparing cover letters, selecting writing samples, etc is crazy.
Also, I heard from one of my references and the company that I interviewed with Monday (or whatever day it was--this week has been a blur) is conducting reference checks. Hopefully, I will be offered a second interview and then finally the position!
Okay, I've already changed to my May 1-15 budget to the following
$1,480 mortgage
$200 student loan
$167 garden stuff
$60 pet plan
$90 groceries
$217 spending
$100 gas
$100 savings
I really want to get some yard work done so I decided to include a line item in my budget for it. I hate not paying as much as I wanted to on my student loans, but I need a project to work on to keep me going.
Also, I heard from one of my references and the company that I interviewed with Monday (or whatever day it was--this week has been a blur) is conducting reference checks. Hopefully, I will be offered a second interview and then finally the position!
Okay, I've already changed to my May 1-15 budget to the following
$1,480 mortgage
$200 student loan
$167 garden stuff
$60 pet plan
$90 groceries
$217 spending
$100 gas
$100 savings
I really want to get some yard work done so I decided to include a line item in my budget for it. I hate not paying as much as I wanted to on my student loans, but I need a project to work on to keep me going.
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