Struggling to be debt free

I just wanted to say thank you to all of my readers out there.  I know there aren't many of you, but I appreciate every single one of you.  I'm happy to have someone along for the ride for the struggle to debt freedom.  Well, and my whines about work and life in general. Please feel free to post comments and interact with me through this blog.  I am more than happy to answer questions and explain my mindset to anyone who cares to ask.  I hope to get into a routine where I post more regularly.  One of my major pet peeves is enjoying a blog and then suddenly the blogger stops writing or takes frequent long breaks away from the blog. So interact with me and encourage me to look forward to blogging here and staying on track on my journey to freedom!

I have been spending quite a bit of money on gardening lately.  Pretty much the majority of my budgeted spending money and part of my slush fund.  While I "need" new furniture and tons of other material things I feel like spending money is the yard is the best bet for my money.  $100 in the yard goes a lot further than $100 in the house. I have purchased some beautiful flowers and hanging baskets.  I hope nothing dies, it appears we will have at least one more cold snap. Friday is payday so I will post an update in the near future on the breakdown of the paycheck.  This will be the first time that I pay extra on my large student loan, the only one left at this point.  That makes me happy to know that I will finally be making a little progress on it, even if it's not as much as I'd like.  Typically only about $1,600 goes to principal on the loan for the entire year.  The interest rate is 2.88%.  I hope to get close to $4,000 in principal pai...

Everything is status quo at work. My boss's assistant has been coming into work a bit more. (Quite a bit comparatively.) I have been keeping an eye on the job market and looking for a good paying job. So far I haven't seen anything interesting. Sigh. I'm sure when the time is right I will find a new job. God works in mysterious ways, right? Maybe this is a sign that I'm not supposed to leave. The problem is right now, I really feel like I want to leave. I hate the feeling that I am being taken advantage of. I hate feeling like there is someone manipulating things. My boss's assistant continually talks about needing a raise and states that our boss is "working on it". If she gets another raise, I will be leaving. If he doesn't realize that he's being manipulated by now. I don't know what to tell him. NO offense to anyone, but she is an assistant and an office manager, that does not qualify for a $100,000 income in north Florida. She has to be ma...

So I've continued to obsess about my upcoming dental work.  I have researched dental implants a bit more and it seems that implants cost about $2,000 a tooth.  It's approximately an additional $1,500 per tooth to have the crown fitted. The price can go up or down depending on whether bone graphs are needed or gum contouring is necessary. I have also found that where a bone graph is needed sometimes you will have to wait 4 to 6 months before the implant can be placed. Additionally, in some situations you will have to wait 4 to 6 months after the placement of the implant to get fitted for the crown in order to let the implant accept and merge with the existing bone in your jaw. So it seems this will be a very long process which will be a good thing because it gives me more time to save up for the procedures. Additionally, once I know the time frame and exact cost I can save up enough to pay for everything that can be done for the year, then I can direct the rest of my savings to...

I am so stressed about paying off my outstanding debt.  This dental work is driving me crazy. I hate not knowing exactly how much it will cost.  I want to know now, so I can plan and obsess! I'm a total mess, I know.  I hope to cash flow all of the dental work. However, I would much rather use that cash to pay down my student loans (or save it).  It's so frustrating.  I am very motivated by seeing progress.  Having to pay for all of this dental work will pretty much stop all of my progress for the year. Sigh.  I know that of course I don't know what the future holds for me. I could lose my job tomorrow and then I wouldn't be able to pay for the dental or my loans, but for now I have goals and plans and I want those to come true.  I want to be wealthy and prepared for just about anything.  I think it is downright shameful when someone makes good money, but has nothing to show for it when that income stream is cutoff.  I really don't want ...

Today was payday so once again it's time to pay bills. Here's the breakdown: $1,025 to the chase credit card to pay off my sister's credit card debt. This will bring the balance down to $0. Yay! $554 to my capital one card which represents mostly dental expenses, etc. This plus the $100 budgeted for gas will bring the balance down to $205. $100 to savings This will bring the balance up to approximately $10,100. $295 utilities $240 spending $100 groceries $100 gas By paying off that chase credit card I will now be able to direct all of my extra debt payments to the upcoming dental work.  I have an appointment for the end of February to begin the root canal work.  That portion should cost around $1,000.  Sigh.

I went to the dentist earlier this week and the results were not pretty, but it was totally expected. Okay here's the low down on my dental expenses.              1 Root canal and crown $2,000              4 wisdom teeth pulled $2,000              2 other teeth pulled (crown will no longer suffice) $1,000              Consultation for dental implants $200              Possibly gum contouring ?????              2 dental implants $8,000-$10,000              2 crown for the dental implants $2,000-$5,000 I'm seriously hoping that I am not a candidate for dental impla...

Okay, okay so I have been a lazy bum and I have not applied for any new jobs.  I think today, I will work on updating my resume. I'm so unhappy at work sometimes I really cannot stand it.  My boss never comes into the office, but constantly calls (at 5:15p.m.) with last minutes projects (that he has known about for weeks) that must be completed that moment.  So much time is spent preparing him for events and he never reviews any of the voluminous documents that are culled together for him.  Then he complains that something that was prepared for him, was not prepared for him, so you end up doing something for him that someone else has already done.  He is subject to emotional tantrums (he is in his mid 60s) he had a major one last week.  He was so angry he couldn't come into the office for 3 days.  This was all over the way that the document was transmitted to a client.  Believe me, that's not unusual for him, he was so pissy to ME once because his...

I filed my taxes and I will receive a $565 refund.  This only because of the mortgage interest deduction, etc., that I was entitled to take due to the purchase of my home last year.  The extra $565 will be helpful as I will have some expensive dental work to pay for shortly.  (I will blog about that dental work in a separate post.)  However, now that I think about it I will probably just add the tax refund into my emergency/savings fund. I really want to get that up to $15,000 by the end of the year.  I just feel much more comfortable with that number.  It should get me through 6 months of hard times pretty easily.  Once, I payoff my last student loan (if that ever happens) I will probably try to get that account up to $25,000 to $30,000, which would cover me for about a year (with no frills of course).  Geez, why is money so hard to come by!

I got paid on Friday, January 31, 2014.  I paid $96 to my chase credit card which contains the remainder of the debt that I agreed to pay off for my sister (the minimum payment is $25.00).  The total left on that credit card is $1025.  I should be able to payoff that $1025 from my paycheck from February 14, 2014.  I paid $405 to my capital one card, which I used for my contacts, eye appointment, car registration, gas, dental work, etc.  The remaining balance is $490.  I had $205 left in my house fund ( I set aside approximately $300 a month to use towards the house-often it goes towards debt repayment.) which I put on the card.  I also budget $100 every 2 weeks for gas.  I use this card mainly for gas to get cash back, the card awards 1.5%  on any and all purchases. I used the $100 amount budgeted for gas this pay period and last pay period to bring the total payment up to $405.  On Monday I will renew my home warranty at a cost of $...