Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Everything Will Be Fine in 09

Everything will be fine in 09. I just a adopted that motto. I will keep it with me the entire year. I had to retrain my mind set. It is awful, but my maturity level has grown dramatically over the last few months. I am so proud of myself and my growth. I want big things and in order to achieve them I have to show and prove that I am worthy.

I have found many personal finance blogs and these people are and have done what I want: Achieved financial freedom. Many have paid off thousands of dollars of debt over a short period of time. I think that is wondeful. I will continue to read and learn from others.

Currently, I had a computer that was old, I sold it for $50.00. I put that money in my gas tank and used the rest for food for the month. I also have a brand new turkey fryer that has never been used. I need to sell that too.

Today, I will call my debtors and find out how much money I owe on some bills. I will pay these things off too. I co-signed on a loan, that will be paid off by April. Clearing out debt is the name of the game.

Things that are about to occur:
Re-entry in Phd program: $4280
Real Estate Class: $225
Books for Phd courses: $300

I am so Excited
Life is what you make it and I am going to make the best out of what I have been given. I think about the mistakes I've made and the money that I have wasted. I no longer can live my life like that. There is enough happiness, contentment, and money for everyone to have we just have to realize our life is given to us to make the most of it. We can't wallow in sorrow and despair. I admit that I have made mistakes, but the time is now for me to make a difference in my life.

Tax Return
I get my w-2 today. Monday, I will sort out my taxes. The money that I get in tax returns will be used for school. I thought about taking out another loan, but I don't know if I can do that or if I should. My mind has been clouded lately. I may just put about $2,000 toward school and pay $1,000 monthly to cover the rest of the cost. School starts March 2 and goes through the end of May. I really need to think this thing through. I must have school paid off by the time the term ends and the next one begins.

My Bills
T-Mobile: $93.16
ING:
Liam: $311.23 ($1,994.74)
Water: $50.00
Knology: $100.00
Mediacom: $117.00
Craft Store: $180.00

I need to rething some of these bills. For instance, ING will be paid off soon. That should be taken care of by April. My actual T-Mobile is $73.00, but why it costs $93.16 is a good question. I will call and find out what is going on. I know I don't use all of my minutes so I may need to drop my minutes and keep the texting. I'll have to see.

Like I said earlier, I am proud of myself and the things I accomplished. Financial freedom is mine and all I have to do is make the changes, continue to be positive and keep looking toward the future. Good things come to those who wait.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Top 5 Financial Secrets You Must Use

These steps started my debt relief. I am not saying these will work for you, but they have made dramatic changes in my finances.

1. I Cut up My Debit Card: Cutting up my debit card allowed me to stop overdrawing in my checking account. I would use my debit card to purchase things I wanted, needed, and sometimes things just to soothe that spending urge. I would sometimes owe over $200.00 in overdrawn fees. That's ridiculous, once I cut it up I started to get money out of my account for two weeks at a time. Once that money was gone, I don't get anymore out. This has also stopped impulsive spending and wasting money on useless items.

2. Fill Up on Gas at Half a Tank:
I usually have to fill up on gas once every week and a half. When I fill up I spend $65. Filling up at half a tank, I spend $20 every week. Even though I am filling up more, I am still saving cash. For instance, filling up I would spend $195 for the month. Filling up on half a tank for 4 weeks would cost $80. For the month it is a total of $115 a month and $1380 for the year.

3. Anytime I Withdraw Money from my Checking Account I put Equal Amounts Towards a Debt:
I try not to take out large amounts of money whenever I withdraw from my account, but when I do I put equal amounts toward Liam (99 Land Rover). This insures that I put money to good use and it will help eliminate debt faster. If I just withdrew money and let the other money stay, I would withdraw it and use it toward something useless. Putting money toward Liam will cut interest and cut the length of time I will be paying on him.

4. Eating all the Food I Cook: Have you ever thought about the food that you waste daily? I know, I cook and yes, I do eat left overs, but sometimes I just don't want that anymore. I have started taking my lunch to work daily and making my lunch for a few days. This saves time and energy. I also cook 2 or 3 meals at a time to give variety.

For example: For Christmas we had a fried turkey, we ate on that for a few days, but it got boring. I made turkey a la king. That was something different and I reinvented the turkey. Instead of throwing away the remaining turkey I created a totally new meal.

Now, that I have been stretching meals, I am not spending money on eating out and not wasting food (that is throwing away money that could be put toward debt).

5. Turn Cooper into Silver: Whenever I go to the grocery store, drive through, or spend cash period, I give them the dollar amount plus pennies too. Example: My food cost $4.27. I give $5.02 and get $.75 in return. I turned cooper into silver. Sometimes they look at me like I am crazy, but it makes sense. I may only have had $.02 in my wallet, now I have $.75. I thought that was neat. The extra change that I make I put it in my Tootsie Roll bank. When the bank fills, I take it to my bank and cash it in. That money is used on a debt.

I don't claim to be a financial advisor, but these are steps that I have taken to help me in my financial journey. I have a plan and I know it will work with determination, support, reading, and interacting with others that are doing what I set out to do. I know I will make mistakes, but I will achieve financial success.


Friday, January 16, 2009

More Money Less Debt

Good Morning All,

I am so excited, I don't know what to do. Well, actually, I do know what to do bask in the moment and enjoy it. I have been receiving Jim Donovan's inspirational emails for some years now and they talk about reading motivational books, audio books, and living to your full potential. Just recently, I have decided to live a positive and stress free life. I have been using his practices and I honestly see a difference in my life. I just try to do the right thing, not just for myself, but toward others.

Something Positive
I enrolled in a online moving program. You are an independent mover for a big company. You have your own site and people can get you to move their stuff. The people pay the company of course they take a percentage, but you set up your own fees. Tomorrow, I will have my first moving job. I do believe that I undercut myself by charging only $40.00 per hour to move them per person. I felt that since this would be my first job I should have decent prices so that I could get a job. It actually took about 2 weeks to have one booked through my company. What I may do is keep my cost at $40.00 until I get 3 to 5 clients. I need to be competitive in this market. Another way to make some extra money. Another thing, I get $25.00 for gas. The money will be deposited in my checking account within 1-3 days of completing the job. Thank you Johnathan for letting me know about this great endeavor. I will go and do the move. Once I get more jobs maybe I won't do the move, but until then I will get out there and work. I can also set the price for the people that help me move.

With the extra money I make I will put that toward my car. Liam is almost paid off. Good job.

Overall
I am proud of the accomplishments I have made and I look forward to the future and what it brings. I have been blogging for a while and I don't know how to be social, not even online.

I will work toward building relationships online and using the relationships to learn and build the knowledge that I already have.


Blu-ray Price- Drops! Top Movies for Less! Get the Aviator, 300, Pan's Labyrinth and many more to choose from. exp 1/24/09

Thursday, January 8, 2009

I have been Doing Much Reading






I have been reading different money management and financial planning blogs. They offer great advice on how to handle your finances. One in particular is Retire at 40. I love his methods and his plan to retire by the time he is 40 years of age. That is a great plan.

Cutting Back
One of the things that I have learned from Andy is don't waste money on paper napkins. You know that is something that I truly knew, but haven't put it into practice. I am not going to break down the amount of money you will save if you stop purchasing paper napkins, but it will come in handy over a years time. He suggested to purchase towels for the kitchen and the bathroom. This will save you money and you will not have to waste that paper anymore. Also, instead of spending money on Kleenex get you a handkerchief. You will wash it and not keep spending money over and over again.

Another thing that he discussed is cutting back on your waste. If you don't not recycle, you should start. Many of the things that we use daily end up in the trash can. Recycling can help the enivironment and cut back on your footprint on this Earth.

My Credit Score
I checked my credit score today and the student loan has been updated, it is no longer negative on my account. Equifax: 598, Experian: 604, and Transunion: 641 are my scores. Life happens and it is what you make it. I will continue to do what is best. I am no longer overdrawing in my checking account. This is the first time I have not been struggling for the month of January.

Organizing Life
I am going to take my time and organize my life. I admire Andy and his growth and determination. I will be there within a few months. I will come up with a plan to cut back on the things that are not neccessary in my life. It will be hard, but it is worth it. Today while at work I will make a mental note of the things that I can sell to make extra cash. Just thinking, I have a turkey fryer, never been used and also an old computer that is wasting space.

I am looking forward to building and growing. Growth takes time and effort. I see some growth, but the growth must continue.
One more thing. Wasting food, how many of us do that? I have been reinventing meals. For instance, the turkey, I made turkey a la king. I also made a beef and been burrito. To go along the the meat I made mashed potates and another day I made brocolli. Recreate is always good.

Take some time to think about how you waste and what can be recycled, or given away or even sold for some extra cash. I have been working for almost 10 years and I want to live my life to the fullest. Making the right decisions, be creative, earning extra cash and putting that money to good use will come in handy.

Think about your life and what changes you can make. All will work out if you believe.

References

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Happy New Year


Happy New Year to you all,

I haven't been posting in a while and I know that is not a good thing. Overall, the holidays where pleasant for me. I did do some spending, but not too excessively. That I am proud of.

Liam (99 Land Rover) was supposed to be paid off by December 08, did it work? No, it didn't. I owe $2,000 on Liam. I am proud of that.

As for overdrawing I did twice, but it was due to fault of my own. I paid something off and instead of putting the money in the account, I sent the money first. That isn't bad at least it wasn't hundreds of dollars in overdrawn fees.

Something new:

I got several pairs of shoes for Christmas. What I have decided to do with the shoe boxes are use them to put $1, $5, $10, and $20 in them daily. Regardless of what I will put cash in the boxes daily. I will not touch this money until the summer. The money I will have accumulated will be used for emergency, vacation, or put toward debt. I will be put it to good use.

The end of the year brought about much contemplation and want to do better in my overall life. I see where I am slacking and will do better.

One more thing, my credit scores didn't go up, why? My student loans came out of deferment and hit hard. 2 went below 600 and one stayed at 641. Right now, I am unable to do anything positive pertaining to getting some type of credit.

So, if you have student loans make sure they are deferred or are in forebearance. This will keep them in good standing and will not affect your credit score. Go to your student loan website or call them and ask do you qualify for deferment or forebearance.

The house that I was previously looking at has dropped to $144,900. Can't do anything due to credit scores. The late payment on one of the houses will drop off at the end of the month. Staying current with my mortgage payments is a must. We will move by the summer time, so looking forward to getting off this busy street and into a true neighborhood. House with a two car garage and a pool, that would be cool.

2009 will be a great year for me. My goals are to stay focused on important things. BS is not an option. Focus on building multiple streams of income. Learn more about the real estate market and do right by myself and what I have. Financial freedom will be mine. Learn as I go and never look back. This year will not be another waste.

I wish you all a great year. What will you do to get your finances in order? Let me know the wonderful ideas you may have.

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