Pennies on the Sidewalk

My BIG student loans are on deferrment right now, thank Goddess. However, I do still pay the small one. It is $120 every 3 months, so it's not a problem to handle. Made the last payment for 2007 today. Only 4.5 years left paying on it! HA! Eventaully, I want to send them some extra each month, but the way they do it, is they don't take that off the principle, they "apply" any extra you send them towards the next payment due. Boogers.


Old UMD 2 Balance: $2,315.76
Decemebr 2007 Payment: $120
------------------------------
New UMD 2 Balance: $2,195.76

STUDENT LOANS:
RWU: $26,475.41
UMD 1: $38,044.87
UMD 2: $2,195.76
-----------------
$66,716.04

Just got a payment of $32 from half.com Adding this to the $20/UF account. I now have over $100 in there, so I am taking $100 out of it to make a payment on the CC. When it clears, I'll update the CC balance. For now, here is the new $20/UF balance.

$20/UF Old Balance: $78.22
Half.com: $32.00
----------------------------
$20/UF Balance: $110.22
MINUS CC payment: -$100
----------------------------
$20/UF New Balance: $10.22

So yesterdays meds at CVS ended up being more than I thought. Turns out the copay on the 3 generic were $10 each and the non-generic one as $40! Eeek! I've tried the generic version of that one med, but I can't take it. It doesn't work for me. But at least $70 for meds is better than the almost $300 I'd be paying without health insurance.

On a side note, I just renewed my car insurance for another year. Last year was my first year with Liberty Mutual, and I was pretty happy with them. I'd love to find a cheaper insurance, but none of the other ones (Geico, AllState, State Farm, etc) cover Mass. At any rate, last year I paid $1,024.44 for insurance ($85.37 a month). Since I am now a repeat customer, I got a small discount and my yearly rate for 2008 is now $984.96 ($82.08 a month). A savings of $3.29 a month or $39.48 a year. Yay! It's not a HUGE discount, but every bit counts and I'm happy with it. I'm especially happy I now pay under $1,000 a year for car insurance. And another bonus? When it is time to renew for 2009, my driving record will be completely clean (as long as I don't get a ticket or mess up between now and then) and my discount will be even bigger. Yay for repeat customer discounts!

Not much going on money-wise today. At Mom and Dads, watching football, wrapping holiday gifts, and waiting for dinner. On the way home tonight I need to pick up my meds at CVS. This will be the first time I get them with my new insurance, so I'm not sure how much they will be. 3 of the 4 are generic, so they should be about $10 each. I think the non-generic one is around $25. I'm thinking should be about $60 for all of them. Let's hope it's not more than that!

Other than my meds (a very big necessity) today has been a No Spender. Now, just to get ONLY the meds and not the Twinkies I am craving at the store tonight...

When I was calculating my current balance for my ATTCC, I totally forgot that my monthly membership to WW gets charged on there. Grrrr... So, my balance is actually $39.95 higher than I thought.

Old ATTCC Balance: $3,320.17
Monthly WW Fee: $39.95
-----------------------------------
New ATTCC Balance: $3,360.12
PAID OFF: $139.88

Yesterday was my first day of being at III Suns as their tarot reader. It was great. I only got one reading, but I had a lot of fun there talking with the woman who was working and the customers who came in. I got to meet some great new people. Hopefully there will be more readings next time, but I'm psyched I even had one. Sooner or later, my business cards will be picked up, people will get to know me, and I'll have booking for readings. For now, that $10 I made yesterday is going to the $20/UF.

$20/UF Old Balance: $68.22
Tarot Earnings: $10.00
----------------------------
$20/UF New Balance: $78.22

I think for now, with nothing big ahead of us to save for at the moment, our $20/UF will be a kind of holding place for CC payments. I can only make an online payment to the CC a certain number of times per month, so instead of worrying about it being in the checking and us spending it (cuz if it is there, I so will spend it), I will keep it in the separate account. This way, all the small little amounts I get here and there can build up to make one large payment. Every time I hit over $100 in the account, I will transfer that $100 to the CC as an additional payment.

I really want this ATTCC debt gone by Jan 1st, 2009. According to my calculations, at the interest rate I am paying, I will need to pay $300 a month! Yikes! I'm not sure I can manage it, but gods dammnit, I will try! If I can swing at least $200 a month, it will be paid off in 1.5 years, and I can live with that if I don't get it all gone in 1 year.

Thursday and Today (Saturday) were No Spenders for us. Thursday I had to get some tests done, but there was no medical co-pay. Afterwards Mums and I went out to lunch (her treat...awwwww, she's so cool) then it was back here and a lazy night. Today I spent the WHOLE day on the couch in my PJs. There was an Americas Next Top Model marathon on, so I chilled out and watched it. A lazy day, but hey, at least I didn't spend any money!

I would love to hit 10 No Spenders this month.

December No Spenders: 3

I'm a little confused right now, as we have about $125 MORE in the checking account than I thought. I beleve all the bills have cleared. I have no idea where the extra money came from. Mind you, I'm not complaining; an extra $125 is awesome. Only I'm worried about why we have it.

I don't keep track of our balance really, just kinda of a runningn total in my head. I know I should keep a written log, but I always forget to write things down, and then I get lazy with it.

Anyways, so tonight I checked the balance to make sure I was in the right area (what a horrible way to manage our money, huh???) and found more than I thought in there. We're going to wait a few more days, just to make sure it's not already earmarked for something, then if it is still available, we can use it for some bills or something.

I guess I really should start writing it all down, huh? I will really try harder. This is a good slip up; I hate to think of how icky a bad slip up could be! We got lucky this time, and I'd rather not test that luck again.

I'm very excited! A friend of mine reccommended me as a tarot reader at a local new age store. I went down and talked to the woman today, and she hired me! Yay!

I will be at the store on Thurs from 2-7:30pm and Fri from 2-5pm. About 8.5 hrs a week. I don't get paid for the time I am there, rather, I am there in case someone wants a tarot reading. I get paid for the readings I do. Well, me and the store owener. We are doing a 50/50 split for now, which is FAB with me. The owner says if it picks up, then she will hopefully be able to do a different split with us readers getting more of the money.

At any rate, I am really happy about this. It will give me something to do until I find full time work, plus it will get me some regular clients and some extra cash. Yay me.

Hmmm, now if only I could find a bunch of part time freelance jobs, I wouldn't have to go back to work full time...

A post from ThreeBean asked this, so here is my long answer.

I don't use an exact price limit for each person, but I try to stay around a certain amount. My "control" comes with how I like to get 3 gifts for each member of my family. I'm not sure where this came from, but for some reason, 3 gifts has become the family tradition. We always get my mom, dad, sis and BIL 3 gifts each. My sis and BIL do the same for all of us. Mom and Dad always spoil the 4 of us (2 kids and our SO's).

That being said, sometimes is it 1 big gift and 2 small ones, or 3 small ones, or whatever. Sometimes it is even like this year: My sis technically has 5 gifts from me, but 3 are small and will be wrapped in one box under the tree. So, I guess it's not 3 gifts really, so much as it is 3 packages under the tree. Did I mentioned my whole family has OCD? LOL

All of a sudden, I am almost panicky about carrying CC balances. I don't know why. I mean, yes, I've wanted to get rid of this debt for a while, but all of a sudden, it's like an urgent need to get rid of it. I guess that is good, right?

So, I made some small payments today. Well, one small one to the major CC and then the regular payment for December to the other CC.

This is a good thing, this is a good thing, this is a good thing...

Old ATTCC Balance: $3,345.17
Payment 12/4/07: $25
-----------------------------------
New ATTCC Balance: $3,320.17
TOTAL PAID OFF: $179.83


Old LBCC Total: $1,218.45
PLUS Finance Charges: $23.62
------------------------------
LBCC Total: $1,242.07.45
December 4th payment: $65.00
------------------------------
New LBCC Total: $1,177.07
TOTAL PAID OFF: $322.93

Yay! Just realized yesterday was a No Spender! Hopefully I can wrap up a few of these this month. I already know today will be a BIG spend day. I have so much to do:

*pick up meds
*pick up night/Day Quill for BF (he's so sick right now)
*mail a book I sold on half.com
*pick up the last x-mas gift for my BIL
*get a new battery for our cordless phone (right now the battery lasts approx. 3 minutes. Ick. But it should be cheaper than a new phone. Hopefully. If not, then I'm getting us a new phone.)
*pick up a gift for BF that Mums wants to give him (luckily she'll pay me back for that!)
*pick up gift for friend A
*gas in the car so I can do all these errands since I am riding on fumes at this point

and then a whole bunch of other non-financial errands. Gonna be a busy day today. Which is kinda sad as I am in the middle of a awesome book and it is about 20 degrees (F) outside and I just want to curl up with my fave blanket and a cat and read all day. Actually, that's what I did yesterday.

Anyways, I'm a little afraid to see how much the spending total will be today. But things have to get done. I'm sure you're all just dying in suspense to see how much I spend today, so I'll post my totals when I get home. Til then my financial buddies...

With losing my job, my medical got all messed up. Not only did I have to wait for my COBRA to kick in, but while I was waiting, the company I worked for switched insurance companies. As a result, my new insurance coverage began on November 1st, but I didn't get the card or policy number until the 25th. So, I have some things I am claiming for reimbursement from the insurance company.

There is no reason these should not go through, but I have learned not to trust insurance companies too much. As long as they go through in a reasonable time, I'll be happy.

I'll be getting $79 back from a Dr visit I made, and $214.19 for some prescriptions I had to pick up. A toal of $293.19. As much as I would love to throw that at the debt, if I am not working when it comes in, I will use it for regular expenses. But if I get lucky and am working before then, it will so be going on the CC!

Finished up a bunch of things yesterday. Finished for Dad, and also got all the stocking stuff done for the BF. Today I am hitting the bookstore with a 25% off coupon to pick up a grilling cookbook for my BIL. The just one more stop for my friend A. Of course, that would be the odd one. She wants a...ummmm...well, honestly, a toy resembling male genetalia. Ha! So, I get to go to the sex shop tongiht! Always a good time. LOL

But then I am done. Yay! Now if I go to the stores I can relax and not worry about finding the right things for people. Plus the un starts now: wrapping gifts! I love doing that. Put on a good holiday movie, have some hot chocolate, and wrap gifts (even better if it is snowing outside!).

Now's the time I start to enjoy the holidays.

Interest for November and $5 to get it going

Old EF Total: $85.00
Interest added: $.29
Just because: $5.00
-----------------------------------------
New EF Total: $90.29

Interest from November, plus $5 to help it along.

$20/UF Old Balance: $61.93
Just becasue: $5.00
November interest: $1.20
----------------------------
$20/UF New Balance: $68.22

Had a brief moment of panic today when I realized that

1. I still owed like $25 on the CC for the minimum payment this month
2. If I didn't pay more than the minimum, the finance charges would bump me over the limit and then I would have another $40 Over the Limit Fee, too.

Crap.

So, sucked it up, realized there will be NO fun for the next month, and added another whopping $60 onto it. Let's just hope our groceries last us a bit and I get working SOON!!

Old ATTCC Balance: $3,405.17
Payment 11/29/07: $60
-----------------------------------
New ATTCC Balance: $3,345.17

TOTAL PAID OFF: $154.83

Lost another 1.4 lbs this week on WW! Now at a total of 13 lbs lost!

Deposited some rolled change I had. Adding it to the $20 Challenge/UF account.

I have to say,it was great having the cash for Vegas, and I'm actually excited about seeing my balance in the savings grow again! What a great influence all of you have been on me!!

$20/UF Old Balance: $52.43
CITB deposit: $9.50
----------------------------
$20/UF New Balance: $61.93

BF had a jar of change he brought home with him from Vegas last week. Whoo-hoo!

Quarters $8.50
Dimes $.60
Nickels $1.00
Pennies $.26

and I already rolled $9.50 which I am taking to the bank today.

I tend to do more in donations for the community around the holidays. I know the community needs help all year, but for some reason, I, like a lot of people, tend to do a lot of it now.

Went grocery shopping yesterday and while I was there I picked up a food package. These things are great. They are prebagged packages of nonperishable food that you pick up and buy, and then the grocery store delivers them to families in the community for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinner. You can get $15, $10 or even $5 packages, so you can help out even if you don't have a lot of extra money. I grabbed a $5 one yesterday, and will grab another one next time I am at the store.

Also, today, while out holiday shopping, I was in the bookstore. Literacy is abig issue for me since I love books and words so much, and it breaks my heart that I live in a city where I am an exception because I have a college degree. Over half the population of this city cannot read or write above a 6th grade level. So, when something comes up for literacy, I always donate.

Anyways, at the bookstore they have this program where you pick up a tag, and it has girl or boy, and the age range of the child on it. Then you pick out a book for that child, buy it, and the bookstore delivers them to children from child and family services. My kinda program. So, I grabbed 3 tags, and picked up 3 books to donate. Total: a nice low $17.97 and I get to help give 3 kids some awesome books for the holidays.

Total 2007 Donations: $107.97

PS It has come to my attention that these Donation posts could be seen as me bragging, saying "Look how much I donate, nah nah nah..." It's anything but that. I see these posts as ones where someone can read them and get ideas on how to help those in need for a small amount, even if they don't have a lot of extra money. No matter how bad off I am financially, I try to remember that at least I still have food, clothes, and a home. Not everyone is so lucky. I just want to pass these ideas on to others who may want to help, but feel that they don't have a lot of money to do so. *hugs*

Finished up some more shopping today. Mums is now done, and so is my friend L. I really would like to find one more small thing for Dads; maybe some Lindt candy; he loves that stuff. Then something small for my friend A (she is moving into her 1st house one Jan 1st so I want to get her something for the house) and I am done. I think me and the BF are going to skip presents for each other this year. We had a great vacation together and splurged a little there, so we are happy. Besides, all that matters is that we are together.

Old Total Holiday Gifts: $56.49
Spent this week: $64.99
---------------------------------
New Total Holiday Gifts: $121.48

Well, Vegas was FAB! Now that I am back, however, I am unsure of what my "Vegas Savings Account" should become. Maybe now it should be holiday gifts.

There is a huge issue with my unemployment bennies (will post more on that later) so all the money from the freelance jobs I thought I could put towards holiday shopping now has gone to everyday expenses and bills. Not happy about this. But at this rate I am almost done holiday shopping. The Boy and I have been talking and with the way finances are right now, we might not do gifts for each other this year. Maybe something small, but nothing like normal. Other than that I am about done. Sis is done, BIL is done, one more small thing for Dad(some candy he loves). Still need to do my 2 friends L and A, and Mums. L and A will be small gifts, as they understand I am poor and not working, and so will Mums.

Hmmm, I do really want to get my CC debt gone asap. Maybe what was before Vegas can now be a holding place until it comes time to pay my bills each month.

And then there is the most likely moving fees we will be having in the next 6 months or so. Ugh. I have a headache.

For now we'll call it the Undetermined Fund.

Undetermined Fund Old Balance: $47.00
Half.com DD: $5.43
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Undetermined Fund New Balance: $52.43

Payment on the ATT CC today. *sigh* I wish I was still on vacation!

Old ATTCC Balance: $3,480.17
Payment 11/27/07: $75.00
-----------------------------------
New ATTCC Balance: $3,405.17

I know the whole point of saving up for something special is so that when you have enough, you can get that something special. But, I gotta say, it is faily depressing seeing my Vegas savings account go from a little over $1,000 to $47.00 I can't wait for Vegas, but *sigh* that account looks empty!

While I was waitin to meet up with one of my friends last night, I was poking around in the bookstore. I found a book I think my sis will love. And it was on major sale! Originaly $14.99, marked down to $3.99, then an additional 50% off! After tax it came to $2.09 Yay.

Old Holiday Shopping Left: $359.20
Sis book: $2.09
-------------------------------------
Holiday Shopping Left: $357.11

Very similar to the Mass Police Association I contribte to is the Mass Volunteer Firefighters Association. With being out of work, I couldn't make a big donation, but I did do a small one. I feel bad it is not more, but I figure I can do a bigger one when I get working again.

Nov. 13th Donation: $11 to MA Volunteer Firefighters Association

Total 2007 Donations: $85

I wish this number here was bigger, as well. I haven't done a lot this year. I will do Toys for Tots for the holidays, as well as buying meals for underprivledged families for the holidays. I am also going to do a holiday gift package to some of the military people still overseas.

Old LBCC Total: $1,317.74
Last months payment: $65.00
Finance Charges: $25.71
------------------------------
New LBCC Total: $1,278.45
This months payment: $60.00
------------------------------
New LBCC Total: $1,218.45


Can't wait til I hit under $1,000 on this baby!

It's official! I hit $1,000 for my Vegas Goal!!!

Right now I have $$680.62 in my checking account, and $319.38 I am waiting to clear in my checking account. As soon as it does, I am withdrawing that $1,000 and we're off to Vegas! I can't believe we leave in less than a week!!! I'm so excited!

And I can't believe I manages to save $1,000 so quickly! Thanks to all of you or your fantastic advice and encouragement! You all rock!!!