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Saturday, March 31, 2007

Garage Sale tips?

I have usually fared well at sales, but the one I want to have next Saturday I want to really make some cash on. I have found a few sites offering garage sale tips. There is even a book you can download for nine bucks.... not worth it as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, I thought it would be neat to get a list of tips going. Got any?
Posted by Jen at 4:10 PM 0 comments

Some things I did today to lower my monthly bills...

I called our home phone service and had several services we weren't using taken off that will save $10 a month. I also switched from unlimited long distance to a plan that will allow us to use it in a pinch but will not cost so much. We can just use our cell phones for long distance calls. That will save us $25 a month. Then I called my cell company and got my bill down by $10 a month. I am going to stop paying $100 into my deferred comp each month and the $50 that goes into the girls' college fund. I know that sounds horrible but if I don't do something we will just keep racking up debt. My husband has agreed to let me try to sell his motorcycle at my garage sale this weekend. If we can get rid of it that will free up $300 a month.
Posted by Jen at 3:58 PM 0 comments
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Where did the money go?

Well, I got paid yesterday. I paid bills today. With my budgeting for gas, child care, and lunch I now have $0 left. I can't believe it. My paycheck JUST covered my bills. I still need groceries, to get my oil changed, and my daughter needs new shoes. I have decided to do a few things to make it a little easier. I am going to have one deduction stop coming out of my check. Then I am going to call my cell company and my regular phone and see what can be changed to lower the bills. My husband does not want to get rid of our regular phone even though we both have cell phones. It really aggrivates me. I don't see why we need to have both. I think if nothing else we will get rid of long distance since we already have it free on our phones.
Posted by Jen at 7:44 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Frustrated

I think I have spent too much time thinking about money lately. Also, I thought I had things timed out right for a deposit and withdrawl but I didn't and BAM $40 in ATM fees. I am really down about all of that right now. I was thinking about planning things out before I got paid but now I don't think I am going to. I think I will wait until this weekend. What do you do when your finances are frustrating you? I usually buy something, lol. But, I'm not this time!
Posted by Jen at 4:11 PM 0 comments

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Whatever!!!!

Wow, I have spent way to much time on this today. I am trying to get some answers as to what the best way to go in dealing with my money is. I guess the answer is, there is no easy answer. I could stop paying into retirement and use that cash to pay off debt, but what if I screwed up agan and that money ended up paying for something else and I wasn't able to put it back into retirement.... UGH or I can start on the debt but it will be YEARS before that is gone. I am so "right now". But, I know I can't be like that.
Posted by Jen at 6:53 PM 0 comments

Great Info

http://www.foldedspace.org/weblog/2005/04/get_rich_slowly.html

Get Rich Slowly is a blog, but this is the post that started it. I am really just putting it here for myself, but if you have time check it out.
Posted by Jen at 2:10 PM 0 comments

Cool Article on Spending

I use Microsoft Money to balance things and while putting in some expenses today I came across this article about neat ways to trick yourself into saving money.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/10easyWaysToStashAwayThousands.aspx

I think I have decided on my saving/debt reduction/ etc etc problem. I am going to open up an account at HSBC and start with just $25 a month. I will never miss that. I opened the Save Yourself account at TD Ameritrade. If you haven't done so go to Suze Orman.com follow the links for the Save Yourself plan. If you save $50 a month for 12 consecutive months they will give you $100! Code is 701 and to get your own action plan on her site under women and money the code is eieio. If anyone has the code for Young Fabulous and Broke I would greatly appreciate it. I will probably buy it, but not while I am still working on the W&M plan. So anywho, the $50 is going into that account just so I can get the free cash. I guess that will be my independent savings. The account at HSBC will be for the general family emer fund. I had been keeping my savings in PayPal because their interest rates absolutely blow everyone else out of the water, but they don't offer automatic deposits. I will not save my cash if I can't have auto payments. Oh, one thing that sucks about TD Ameritrade- you cannot put money in except from like the 25th to the 28th of the month. I am going to have to be really careful about making sure I have the funds in my account. Oh, I am also going to try putting away certain amounts of cash in envelopes. I will do one for lunch, one for dining out $40 only, and maybe my gas? That way if I have any left over I can put it towards my debt!! We'll see!
Posted by Jen at 1:00 PM 0 comments

Road Blocks

So my husband comes home yesterday and informs me that we can now buy a flat panel tv to go with the $10,000 worth of furniture I put on a credit card which in turn inspired this blog. How might you ask? Did he cash in his mutual fund which earns only 3% interest? No. Was he saving up to surprise me? NO! He extended a loan that would have been paid off in THREE months for another two years at 8% interest!!! And what's more? He expected me to be really happy about it!!! He did not even hint that he was thinking about it. I asked him if he understood that when your savings is earning 3% and you take out a loan earning 8% you are LOSING money. He told me that he had done a lot of "research" before he did this. I guess that means getting the green light from his buddies. Of course this resulted in a fight and him wanting me to apologize for not being happy with him. I told him he could get his tv but he had to read Suze Orman's book. He agreed. I just recently paid $500 out of my saving on his high interest credit card 28.99% if you must know (that is what he bought my christmas present with). That will never happen again. I am just going to be focusing on my stuff from here on out. I hope the book helps him. I take care of all of our bills and he has no responsibility for it at all. He simply adds to the problem. Not sure what I can or should really do here.
Posted by Jen at 9:11 AM 0 comments

So here begins my road to wealth

I used to think blogging was really stupid. But, I have found it to be great stress management. I am starting this blog to detail my journey out of debt and into wealth. Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it! I have just started reading Women and Money by Suze Orman. I have completed a lot of the steps. Some things I was already doing right, saving for retirement and for my kids' college funds. However, the book let me know I wasn't doing it 100% correctly. I am looking for some kind of forum where I can talk to other people that have read this book and are following the plan. I have a lot of questions that were not completely answered. Like, it said don't save for children's education until your IRA is fully funded, but I have already started so do I just stop? Also, it says to have an emergency savings account, but do I wait until I completely pay off my debt, because if I have an emergency I will have to add to my debt making it that much longer until I have savings and subsequently at greater risk for needing more emergency money again. UGGGHHHH why does this have to be so hard?
Posted by Jen at 9:05 AM 0 comments
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