Decided to work with a financial counselor. Need to make sure I'm not making any major mistakes and work on a real budget. Also looking into alot of the short sale/deficiency judgment issues. Getting Dave Ramsey's book soon. . .hopefully today. I'm checking out a big used book store that may have it.
New short term goal:
eliminate ~1300 of credit card debt.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Updates
Not too much to update. Short sale process drags on endlessly. No updates there.
Bills:
$100 for two months of Internet access. I don't have cable and rely on Netflix alot so this seemed like a reasonable expense.
Paid up on bills from the last paycheck now.
Expenses:
$3.00 yesterday (coffee + muffin in the morning)
Income:
$10 gift card to Dunkin Donuts! Woo-hoo! Used 4 dollars this afternoon for lunch.
Finances stable for the moment. I think I may start taking a screen shot of the amounts spent from my checking (with merchant and identifying info removed). Maybe once a week?
Also need some way to start figuring my debt consistently. Student debt just isn't going anywhere, all going to interest at this point. However cars are starting to finally turn the corner and get closer to paid off.
Possibility of a raise in July. . .but budgets are awfully tight around here so not sure on that one. How nice that performance doesn't factor into raises. Alas. Hmm that copy/paste seemed to work okay I guess.
Bills:
$100 for two months of Internet access. I don't have cable and rely on Netflix alot so this seemed like a reasonable expense.
Paid up on bills from the last paycheck now.
Expenses:
$3.00 yesterday (coffee + muffin in the morning)
Income:
$10 gift card to Dunkin Donuts! Woo-hoo! Used 4 dollars this afternoon for lunch.
Finances stable for the moment. I think I may start taking a screen shot of the amounts spent from my checking (with merchant and identifying info removed). Maybe once a week?
Also need some way to start figuring my debt consistently. Student debt just isn't going anywhere, all going to interest at this point. However cars are starting to finally turn the corner and get closer to paid off.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
New Plan
No exceptional expenses (muffins, coffee, gas, a few used DVDs, etc).
Latest short sale offer fell through but I have until August to finalize another. Not much can be done about this, just taking it one step at a time.
No ebay purchases or new DVDs or anything extravagant.
Bills:
$750 rent (paid early)
$250 to my mother. (No debt, just helping her retirement)
$200 HOA. . .at the least this will disappear in August with foreclosure. Or before that ideally.
That's about it.
A few things about these bills.
Rent (in a Boston suburb. . .not saying which one, but certainly not the nicest though no gunshots . . yet). One bedroom apartment. Nothing luxurious but could be worse I suppose.
Latest short sale offer fell through but I have until August to finalize another. Not much can be done about this, just taking it one step at a time.
No ebay purchases or new DVDs or anything extravagant.
Bills:
$750 rent (paid early)
$250 to my mother. (No debt, just helping her retirement)
$200 HOA. . .at the least this will disappear in August with foreclosure. Or before that ideally.
That's about it.
A few things about these bills.
Rent (in a Boston suburb. . .not saying which one, but certainly not the nicest though no gunshots . . yet). One bedroom apartment. Nothing luxurious but could be worse I suppose.
Friday, April 15, 2011
IRS Update
Filed 2010 taxes yesterday. $900 refund. Going to IRS for 2009 taxes but still nice to lower the tax bill. I'm not including it until I see it officially applied to my debt. Probably next month.
Short sale continues to drag on.
Me: "Hi, how are you?"
Bank" . . ."
Me: "okay. . .well anyhow. . .*asks questions"
Bank: *inarticulate response
Rudeness and confusion. So nice to deal with.
Short sale continues to drag on.
Me: "Hi, how are you?"
Bank" . . ."
Me: "okay. . .well anyhow. . .*asks questions"
Bank: *inarticulate response
Rudeness and confusion. So nice to deal with.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Weekend Update
Number of expenses in the past week:
$50 - eating out
$25 - movies (Tron and 7 movies from a going out of biz Blockbuster store)
$15 - muffins and coffee
$60 - curtains for apt.
$25 - groceries
Yea much money has been wasted. Though some was essential.
Some more information about myself -
30something working at the financial aid office of a US law school. North of Virginia. I don't want to say too much. Joe from Debtor in Paradise gave out far too much information and it was pretty easy to figure out his real name. So I won't be making that mistake.
Some debts:
9k 2007 Toyota Corolla. 74k miles. Nothing fancy. Green. Pretty utilitarian. Haven't had any problems with it so far and just have spent on normal maintenance. (60k check, tires, painting some scrapes)
75k student loans. undergrad plus law school. Not cheap. Entering into IBR this month and as I work in a law school I should have debt forgiven in 10 years.
1200. Credit card (Visa). Limit is 1600. Not using the card and slowly paying it down.
80,000. Mortgage for a condo I don't live in and can't afford. This is the biggest problem. Short sale underway but moving oh so slowly. Foreclosure coming soon.
4000. IRS. 2009 taxes. Agreement with IRS made and paying down rapidly (400 a month). A problem but going away.
~7000. 270 a month. Mother's car payment. Retired and I am paying for it. Under 2 years left. Will try to focus this down when there is only one year left. Perhaps can combine money with my mother to focus it down.
Those are the big expenses. Several other little ones are bouncing around. Comcast, Verizon, HOA on said condo, and probably something I am leaving out. Added it all up. About 185k total. Wow. Although if I remove the mortgage not so bad. Within the next year taxes, Visa and maybe mother's car should be paid off. Trainwreck? Anyone?
$50 - eating out
$25 - movies (Tron and 7 movies from a going out of biz Blockbuster store)
$15 - muffins and coffee
$60 - curtains for apt.
$25 - groceries
Yea much money has been wasted. Though some was essential.
Some more information about myself -
30something working at the financial aid office of a US law school. North of Virginia. I don't want to say too much. Joe from Debtor in Paradise gave out far too much information and it was pretty easy to figure out his real name. So I won't be making that mistake.
Some debts:
9k 2007 Toyota Corolla. 74k miles. Nothing fancy. Green. Pretty utilitarian. Haven't had any problems with it so far and just have spent on normal maintenance. (60k check, tires, painting some scrapes)
75k student loans. undergrad plus law school. Not cheap. Entering into IBR this month and as I work in a law school I should have debt forgiven in 10 years.
1200. Credit card (Visa). Limit is 1600. Not using the card and slowly paying it down.
80,000. Mortgage for a condo I don't live in and can't afford. This is the biggest problem. Short sale underway but moving oh so slowly. Foreclosure coming soon.
4000. IRS. 2009 taxes. Agreement with IRS made and paying down rapidly (400 a month). A problem but going away.
~7000. 270 a month. Mother's car payment. Retired and I am paying for it. Under 2 years left. Will try to focus this down when there is only one year left. Perhaps can combine money with my mother to focus it down.
Those are the big expenses. Several other little ones are bouncing around. Comcast, Verizon, HOA on said condo, and probably something I am leaving out. Added it all up. About 185k total. Wow. Although if I remove the mortgage not so bad. Within the next year taxes, Visa and maybe mother's car should be paid off. Trainwreck? Anyone?
Friday, April 8, 2011
Friday Fun
49.00 for a shirt on ebay. oops
42.00 gas
The shirt was stupid. But I really thought I'd be outbid because I similar one went for 60 last month and "buy it now" is set at 125 and 150 for others. Gas was 3.55 a gallon and I had been on empty for most of the week. No choice there.
Did offset the cost of the shirt slightly - no coffee, no muffin and no eating out. Groceries are holding out for a little longer I think.
42.00 gas
The shirt was stupid. But I really thought I'd be outbid because I similar one went for 60 last month and "buy it now" is set at 125 and 150 for others. Gas was 3.55 a gallon and I had been on empty for most of the week. No choice there.
Did offset the cost of the shirt slightly - no coffee, no muffin and no eating out. Groceries are holding out for a little longer I think.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Money
2.00 = muffin and coffee
Found some free coffee at work in then caved in and bought some more in the afternoon anyhow. Kept spending low, didn't eat out for lunch or dinner. Didn't buy anything stupid. . and held off buying gas for another day.
Still have a Comcast bill to pay when I can find it. No disasters so far. Doing taxes this weekend. Think I owe around $200 but unavoidable.
Found some free coffee at work in then caved in and bought some more in the afternoon anyhow. Kept spending low, didn't eat out for lunch or dinner. Didn't buy anything stupid. . and held off buying gas for another day.
Still have a Comcast bill to pay when I can find it. No disasters so far. Doing taxes this weekend. Think I owe around $200 but unavoidable.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Bad Spending =(
2.00 coffee and muffin (cheap muffin discount cause it was small!)
12.00 Incense
23.00 Groceries
Yea, I spent 12 on incense. Probably not the best purchase of my life. But somewhat necessary. . .apt is gettin kinda stale since I had the windows closed during the winter. Kinda justified. . .better than frebreeze (sp?) or other stuff. Might be relaxing.
Groceries was a necessity since I was out of food. Still managed to avoid gas but now I've driven 12 miles since the gas light came on. My record is around 25 so I'm not worried, but will probably have to fill up soon.
12.00 Incense
23.00 Groceries
Yea, I spent 12 on incense. Probably not the best purchase of my life. But somewhat necessary. . .apt is gettin kinda stale since I had the windows closed during the winter. Kinda justified. . .better than frebreeze (sp?) or other stuff. Might be relaxing.
Groceries was a necessity since I was out of food. Still managed to avoid gas but now I've driven 12 miles since the gas light came on. My record is around 25 so I'm not worried, but will probably have to fill up soon.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tuesday
.75 Coffee
7.80 Subway for Lunch/Dinner
Coffee was necessary. Didn't buy a muffin like I had been for awhile there. Subway was kinda a luxury, but I was able to get two meals out of it so that was a plus.
Checking account is running a little low right now. Have to be pretty careful. Gas still on empty but I've been walking into work. Expect I"ll have to buy gas and groceries tomorrow. Resisted the urge to buy Tangled or Tron on DVD. No ebay purchases either.
7.80 Subway for Lunch/Dinner
Coffee was necessary. Didn't buy a muffin like I had been for awhile there. Subway was kinda a luxury, but I was able to get two meals out of it so that was a plus.
Checking account is running a little low right now. Have to be pretty careful. Gas still on empty but I've been walking into work. Expect I"ll have to buy gas and groceries tomorrow. Resisted the urge to buy Tangled or Tron on DVD. No ebay purchases either.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Monday Expenses
.75 - coffee. Cheap coffee, no Dunkin Donuts!
Bills paid:
$400 taxes to IRS (2009)
$100 two months of phone to Verizon
Both bills essential. About 60% paid to IRS. 2010 taxes look fine. Verizon was fine - I don't have a landline so cell is only expense for phone. $50 a month seems reasonable.
Bills paid:
$400 taxes to IRS (2009)
$100 two months of phone to Verizon
Both bills essential. About 60% paid to IRS. 2010 taxes look fine. Verizon was fine - I don't have a landline so cell is only expense for phone. $50 a month seems reasonable.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Weekend Expenses
2.25 - Laundry.
9.00 - Groceries
6.00 - Dunkin Donuts
3.00 - Coffee at Borders
5.00 -Burger King
25 total.
Laundry and groceries were both essential. Coffee less so. It has been over one month since I had any $$ coffee like at Borders. Also resisted the urge to buy any books at Borders. Rare. Burger King was stupid but at least relatively cheap for fast food. Starting to realize just how much I spend at Dunkin Donuts. Might buy some tea/coffee for home to try to cut down on this.
9.00 - Groceries
6.00 - Dunkin Donuts
3.00 - Coffee at Borders
5.00 -Burger King
25 total.
Laundry and groceries were both essential. Coffee less so. It has been over one month since I had any $$ coffee like at Borders. Also resisted the urge to buy any books at Borders. Rare. Burger King was stupid but at least relatively cheap for fast food. Starting to realize just how much I spend at Dunkin Donuts. Might buy some tea/coffee for home to try to cut down on this.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Thursday and Friday Expenses
Expenses
Papa Gino's: 12.00
Dunkin Donuts: 3.00
FedEx: 30.00
Slight improvement. First time I ate out for dinner in awhile. Only spent 3 on Friday for coffee. FedEx was an unfortunate expense - faxing/copying/printing. No choice since work was closed (snow) and had to get docs in.
Bills Paid:
750.00 car
311 car payment
430 student loan.
Car was for getting rear bumper painted, getting a few scrapes/dents taken care of. Not sure if this was a luxury or not. Keeps car value up (good), keeps me attached to the car so I don't want a newer one (good) vs not mechanically necessary (bad) and expensive. (bad).
The loan and car payment were both necessary.
Papa Gino's: 12.00
Dunkin Donuts: 3.00
FedEx: 30.00
Slight improvement. First time I ate out for dinner in awhile. Only spent 3 on Friday for coffee. FedEx was an unfortunate expense - faxing/copying/printing. No choice since work was closed (snow) and had to get docs in.
Bills Paid:
750.00 car
311 car payment
430 student loan.
Car was for getting rear bumper painted, getting a few scrapes/dents taken care of. Not sure if this was a luxury or not. Keeps car value up (good), keeps me attached to the car so I don't want a newer one (good) vs not mechanically necessary (bad) and expensive. (bad).
The loan and car payment were both necessary.
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