A few months ago I realized that I was NOT going to have any extra money to pay on my credit cards. This would mean that I would have to pay only the minimum balance which would mean I'd probably be out of debt about 5 years after I died.
So, I had to think drastically! I had to get myself really motivated to get the debt paid off. I am going to share some of the things I did to get it rolling again, along with some other ideas.
1. I stopped paying into retirement. NO I AM NOT CRAZY! I already have some money going in that is mandatory since I work for the state, so the rest was on my own. I was not getting a match for it. For me this is a huge motivator because I want that money IMMEDIATELY returned to retirement. So you better believe I will be doing all I can to get my debt paid off sooner than later. Also, I want to open a Roth IRA and I need a certain amount to open that, so once my debt is paid I will be putting the money toward that.
2. I changed my W4. That is the thing they give you when you first begin a new job. On it you select the number of exemptions you wish to claim. We get back an insane amount of tax money back, and I don't just mean a couple thousand... so we are withholding WAY too much. Now, I am not, and that money will go toward my debt. I followed the IRS worksheet but still claimed a bit less that I was eligible for. So I should be fine at tax time.
3. I took a summer job. I hated to do it. I hated it more than anything. But, I took on a summer job to go strictly toward my debt. I will get that money in two weeks and I am really excited about that. You could take on a part time job to help fund your debt snowball if you are really serious about it.
4. Sell things!! I am hoping to have a yard sale soon. I will be selling anything I can to help pay off my debt. I even have an original Nintendo WITH the box. I LOVE that thing, but I am not using it and I can now buy my favorite games on the Wii, so it has to go. I guess my SNES will have to go too. (Hey, if you are interested drop me a line!! Of course if you are reading this you probably need to lay off buying stuff, lol)
My husband sold his motorcycle which took care of that monthly payment and also reduced our insurance and taxes. That was a big help!!
5. Downgrade. This can be anything. Your cell phone, cable, satellite radio, or any unnecessary expense. I recently took Internet, text messaging, and navigation off my cell phone to save $30 a month. Actually, I only had it there for a month just to try it. We both recently downgraded our phones from Blackberries and are saving $100 a month now that I took off those extras.
6. Bundle services. Last year I bundled our cable, Internet and home phone. We ended up saving almost $85 a month. Not too bad!!
So, if you are serious, there are many ways to get the snowball rolling again. Try a few, you might be surprised!!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Can I Just Say....
Do you ever hear a piece of advice that makes no sense to you? Do you ever hear it so often it begins to get on your nerves?
Can I just say... If I froze my credit cards in a block of ice, there would be nothing but lack of a little hot water that could keep me from using it?
This really is a mindset and if you are not ready to stop using them, none of these little tricks will really work, but I especially hate the ice one!!
Can I just say... If I froze my credit cards in a block of ice, there would be nothing but lack of a little hot water that could keep me from using it?
This really is a mindset and if you are not ready to stop using them, none of these little tricks will really work, but I especially hate the ice one!!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
We Only Do It Once a Month... Revisited.
Last year, I wrote about the fact that I hate how I only have the money to work towards paying my debt off once a month. Well, in a moment I will talk more about how that is not necessarily true even if you are only paid once a month like me. However, I am getting really frustrated right now because I can't even do this!!
I am still waiting on final bills from our hospital, anesthesiologist, and one doctor. I want to pay them all off, but I haven't gotten the bills yet. Well, we have gotten bills but they had errors and one has had to be sent back to the insurance company THREE times!!
So, what can you do when you truly CAN NOT pay your creditors? (I mean because the bill has not come not because you have no money :) I like to plan. In fact, I have changed my plan a few times since starting it. I simply opened up a word file and started typing about what I WOULD do once the bills came in. It help get it off my mind. As long as I owe money I feel very anxious that I might forget exactly what it was I wanted to do. I keep my "plans" saved in a specific folder and any time it starts bothering me I open up the file and read it.
Now, back to what I was saying about it not being true that "we only do it once a month". If you feel like I used to, snowflaking is the answer for you. Right now I am waiting on a $4 single check rebate from Rite Aid, a $10 check from CashCrate, a $4xx MIR, and a $100 MIR from my cell phone. Some people won't try things like CashCrate, or they won't mail in rebates because they think it isn't worth their time for the money they get back. Well, I am going to get $118 for my troubles!! All of that, since it is unexpected money, goes to debt. If I get the check on the 15th, I will pay the bill on the 16th. I don't allow the money to "sit" in my account. If I do that it gets used for something else.
I am also about to head over to Cash4Books and sell more books to them. Get this.... the titles I am selling were rejected last time, but now they are buying them. So, if at first they say no to a book, try it again later!!
The point is, anytime you get extra money that you are not expecting, OR that if from something like a rebate, put it toward your debt. I recently got a check back from one of the doctors because after insurance we had overpaid. I used that check to pay TWO months worth of my regular payment toward my credit card. That also helped me reach a milestone with that card of getting it under $3000! So, while some holdups are frustrating, you CAN do it more than once a month!!
Please share your ideas for adding to your debt repayment efforts!!
I am still waiting on final bills from our hospital, anesthesiologist, and one doctor. I want to pay them all off, but I haven't gotten the bills yet. Well, we have gotten bills but they had errors and one has had to be sent back to the insurance company THREE times!!
So, what can you do when you truly CAN NOT pay your creditors? (I mean because the bill has not come not because you have no money :) I like to plan. In fact, I have changed my plan a few times since starting it. I simply opened up a word file and started typing about what I WOULD do once the bills came in. It help get it off my mind. As long as I owe money I feel very anxious that I might forget exactly what it was I wanted to do. I keep my "plans" saved in a specific folder and any time it starts bothering me I open up the file and read it.
Now, back to what I was saying about it not being true that "we only do it once a month". If you feel like I used to, snowflaking is the answer for you. Right now I am waiting on a $4 single check rebate from Rite Aid, a $10 check from CashCrate, a $4xx MIR, and a $100 MIR from my cell phone. Some people won't try things like CashCrate, or they won't mail in rebates because they think it isn't worth their time for the money they get back. Well, I am going to get $118 for my troubles!! All of that, since it is unexpected money, goes to debt. If I get the check on the 15th, I will pay the bill on the 16th. I don't allow the money to "sit" in my account. If I do that it gets used for something else.
I am also about to head over to Cash4Books and sell more books to them. Get this.... the titles I am selling were rejected last time, but now they are buying them. So, if at first they say no to a book, try it again later!!
The point is, anytime you get extra money that you are not expecting, OR that if from something like a rebate, put it toward your debt. I recently got a check back from one of the doctors because after insurance we had overpaid. I used that check to pay TWO months worth of my regular payment toward my credit card. That also helped me reach a milestone with that card of getting it under $3000! So, while some holdups are frustrating, you CAN do it more than once a month!!
Please share your ideas for adding to your debt repayment efforts!!
Friday, June 13, 2008
More About a Monthly Emergency Fund
My monthly emergency fund is something I have done for quite a while but I just realized yesterday that I had never mentioned it. It really is a misnomer, but let me elaborate.
I take a certain amount of my paycheck each month that is not allocated to any other purpose and save it. It goes into savings with any other overage, but it can be taken out for miscellaneous expenses. This helps me because I don't make it a regular part of the budget. I feel that if I did, this money would get spent EVERY month. So, it goes into savings ,but portions of it can come out if needed. If they are not needed they stay put in savings and become part of it. NO ROLLOVER. Once the month is over that money is property of savings. (Or when I get our hospital bills in and paid for, it will start going toward debt.)
Budgets have always scared me because there is always seems to be something that pops up out of the blue. This is my way of making sure my savings is safe, AND I will be okay if I go a little over budget for one reason or another.
This month the money is really going to help with the way gas prices have been rising. If I didn't have this small stash I would run the risk of having to dip into savings this month.
So, this is just an idea you might want to try out. The amount I have on hand varies from month to month. Sometimes I have none left to put in the monthly emergency fund, some months I have close to $300 for it. It depends on a lot of things, but I try to have some to have a cushion.
I take a certain amount of my paycheck each month that is not allocated to any other purpose and save it. It goes into savings with any other overage, but it can be taken out for miscellaneous expenses. This helps me because I don't make it a regular part of the budget. I feel that if I did, this money would get spent EVERY month. So, it goes into savings ,but portions of it can come out if needed. If they are not needed they stay put in savings and become part of it. NO ROLLOVER. Once the month is over that money is property of savings. (Or when I get our hospital bills in and paid for, it will start going toward debt.)
Budgets have always scared me because there is always seems to be something that pops up out of the blue. This is my way of making sure my savings is safe, AND I will be okay if I go a little over budget for one reason or another.
This month the money is really going to help with the way gas prices have been rising. If I didn't have this small stash I would run the risk of having to dip into savings this month.
So, this is just an idea you might want to try out. The amount I have on hand varies from month to month. Sometimes I have none left to put in the monthly emergency fund, some months I have close to $300 for it. It depends on a lot of things, but I try to have some to have a cushion.
Shift Your Thinking to Beat Debt
At work the other day, I was finishing my morning snack. I had a peanut butter sandwich, no jelly, in a Zip-lock bag. I folded the bag and put it into my take-home bag, so I could bring it home, rinse it out, and reuse it.
Have I lost my mind? This is something I used to think was SO stupid. I never understood people who bought disposable products and reused them. Now, I am one of those “stupid” people. The truth is, Zip-lock bags are not cheap!! They are not too eco-friendly either. I know I am not going to get rich saving these bags, but say I used them five days a week, and reused each bag twice. A box of 100 bags would have lasted me 20 weeks, but now it will last me 40. Use each one three times, and the box will last me more than a year! However, I am not really trying to stretch the lives of my baggies here. My main concern is avoiding extra costs in my grocery budget as often as I can. This is one way to do that. The thing that I noticed most was what was going on in my head!
I guess this just highlights a major shift in my thinking. I can clearly remember being at my neighbor’s house and seeing her washing disposable plates and flatware. (I still have a little problem with this one because if you have glass dishes, why not save on buying disposable stuff and just use what you have?) When I was younger, we just threw that stuff away. And, at one point, distressed by the state of my kitchen, I must admit, I thought about buying the stuff to avoid washing dishes. I guess frugality is one of those “to each his own” type things. And, I have become much more frugal since vowing to pay off all of my debt. I have paid off all of my debt many times in the past. The diffence now is the way I think about it.
Last night I had another remind of how far I have come. My laptop, my beloved laptop :), died. I had no idea what happened. I had been using it, stopped for an hour to exercise and when I came back, the power would not come on. And the battery icon, which stays lit, was extinguished. I was so upset. I have just enough money to pay our hospital bills and one of my credit cards off. Now this was happening. But, my first thought was not, “I must find a way to buy a new one.” It was, “Well, how can I get by without.” Of course that was mixed with sheer terror at all the files I had lost, and then I started thinking of solutions. I finally found one, and to make a long story short, the computer was saved.
The main shift here for me is that I want to have and not owe. I want financial security and independence more than I want “stuff”. This is slowly becoming a reality for me now, and it is funny how many old ideas get thrown out as I develop new truths about the life I am working toward having.
Do you have any ideas you have thrown out recently? What are they?
Have I lost my mind? This is something I used to think was SO stupid. I never understood people who bought disposable products and reused them. Now, I am one of those “stupid” people. The truth is, Zip-lock bags are not cheap!! They are not too eco-friendly either. I know I am not going to get rich saving these bags, but say I used them five days a week, and reused each bag twice. A box of 100 bags would have lasted me 20 weeks, but now it will last me 40. Use each one three times, and the box will last me more than a year! However, I am not really trying to stretch the lives of my baggies here. My main concern is avoiding extra costs in my grocery budget as often as I can. This is one way to do that. The thing that I noticed most was what was going on in my head!
I guess this just highlights a major shift in my thinking. I can clearly remember being at my neighbor’s house and seeing her washing disposable plates and flatware. (I still have a little problem with this one because if you have glass dishes, why not save on buying disposable stuff and just use what you have?) When I was younger, we just threw that stuff away. And, at one point, distressed by the state of my kitchen, I must admit, I thought about buying the stuff to avoid washing dishes. I guess frugality is one of those “to each his own” type things. And, I have become much more frugal since vowing to pay off all of my debt. I have paid off all of my debt many times in the past. The diffence now is the way I think about it.
Last night I had another remind of how far I have come. My laptop, my beloved laptop :), died. I had no idea what happened. I had been using it, stopped for an hour to exercise and when I came back, the power would not come on. And the battery icon, which stays lit, was extinguished. I was so upset. I have just enough money to pay our hospital bills and one of my credit cards off. Now this was happening. But, my first thought was not, “I must find a way to buy a new one.” It was, “Well, how can I get by without.” Of course that was mixed with sheer terror at all the files I had lost, and then I started thinking of solutions. I finally found one, and to make a long story short, the computer was saved.
The main shift here for me is that I want to have and not owe. I want financial security and independence more than I want “stuff”. This is slowly becoming a reality for me now, and it is funny how many old ideas get thrown out as I develop new truths about the life I am working toward having.
Do you have any ideas you have thrown out recently? What are they?
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