Saturday, November 29, 2014

Week 26 : Happy Thanksgiving

It's a bad week spending wise. I also have spent a couple of things on the credit card about $130-ish. I will write about that later! However, I was able to start stashing away a couple of bucks into the e-fund - we total $350 as of today!


Current Debts:
Its payday and it actually came in early this week - my employer usually does that around this time of the year!

Slowly but surely, we are paying off that surgery now!

Current
 Current
 Paid
 Ending 
Personal Loan
    5,488.00
       396.00
    5,092.00
Student Loan
    6,227.00
         60.00
    6,167.00
Credit Cards
    9,376.00
         65.00
    9,311.00
Car Misc
       135.00
       135.00
              -  
TOTAL
  21,226.00
       656.00
  20,570.00

Starting Debt: $ 21,226|| Paid/Interest: $656  || Ending Debt: *$20,570

Weekly Spending: 
My dog got an infection and needed to get new prescription $130 total which was added into the CC and some Christmas Shopping was done this week - however, most were spent with cash (Debit Card), so that's why I didn't pay as much on the CC this past week.
Sat - $12 Parking
Sun - $31 Gifts | $28 Drinks
Mon - $6 Breakfast | $8 Lunch | $130 Dog
Tue - $50 Dinner
Wed - No Spend Day!
Thu - $79 Groceries
Fri - $246 Shopping | $32 Drinks 
Weekly Spending : Start $200 || End $622



How was your thanksgiving? Did you shop on Black Friday?

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving

I am drinking my hot cocoa this morning to start setting up for the Family lunch this Thanksgiving!


... I am THANKFUL for...  

My Family, Jay, Friends, Immediate & Extended Family and my Dog for just making my every day's as happy that it could be

... and I am also thankful for you - whoever is reading this blog right now...

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving with your family and friends! 

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

To save or not to save....

I am torn. Do I start saving now while I am paying off my debt? or hold off on this until I have paid off everything?

My current savings is pretty much what I have been contributing to my current 401k and what it is gaining right now. I used to have a Roth IRA but its currently down to $500. A savings account under $500 and an emergency fund hovering around $100. I know its kind of sad. This is why I have been thinking of what I should do by the start of next year.

Take note that I probably will not start this until the new year starts, but below are the 'tentative' goals I have for the upcoming year.


  • Start an Emergency fund Goal $1000
  • Increase 401k contribution. Currently at 5% and bump up to 6%
  • Restart contribution to IRA @ $50/per paycheck



Should I even start paying myself now or should I just focus put it all to my debt repayment? 





Saturday, November 22, 2014

Week 25 : We are down to THREE

Finally - I can organize everything!

I am finally down to 3 companies I need to pay off debt. I am hoping I can pay off the Personal Loan ASAP - that will be a huge burden off my back because then I can control the payments that are going out for the other accounts and not have an automatic withdrawal per month. Plus, the payments that I make manually doesn't get posted until a week after and sometimes that can get frustrating to me.

I have made the balance transfer - which probably will not post until the next week or so (since its a holiday the whole week). It cost me about $130 for the fees but this will be at a 0% until Dec 2015.

I am now down to 3 creditors to pay. I have paid off the car insurance for the year, although, I have a payment that I need to make for my car registration $135 which is budgeted below.


Anyways, Thanksgiving is almost here and I think I will be contributing to thanksgiving dinner. No, I am not cooking lol but probably will be buying a holiday ham for the family =) That will need to get budgeted in - they are expensive!

Current Debts:
Its not a payday this week, but below are the current total debts.


Current
 Previous
 Current
 Difference
Personal Loan
    5,488.00
    5,488.00
              -  
Student Loan
    6,217.00
    6,200.00
         17.00
Credit Card
    8,924.00
    8,960.00
       (36.00)
Car Misc
       135.00
       135.00
              -  
TOTAL
  20,764.00
  20,783.00
       (19.00)

Starting Debt: $20,764  || Paid/Interest: $19 || Ending Debt: *$20,783

Weekly Spending: 
Looks like I spent too much this week, but I actually took out $200 for the payment I had for my Personal Loan to fund this trip
Sat - $66 Groceries | $6 Breakfast | $13 Dinner | $35 Drinks | $65 Hotel & Gas (my share)
Sun - $55 Lunch
Mon - No Spend Day!
Tue - $45 Target
Wed - No Spend Day!
Thu - $20 Lunch
Fri - $20 Dinner
Weekly Spending Start $200 + $200 Travel Budget = $400 || End $325






Have a good weekend xo!


Thursday, November 20, 2014

Target End Date - Revised

This week I am starting think of financial goals that I would like to accomplish in 2015. The main goal is paying down the big three debts that I have and in this order
  1. Pay off the Personal Loan $5,788 as of today
  2. Pay off/down Credit Card @ $9,000 as of today
  3. Pay down Student Loans @ 6,220 as of today
There are also 3 options that have been circling my head on how to get these bad boys paid off.
Keep in mind that I get paid bi-weekly so most of these are broken down by the pay period instead of per month.

  • Debt Snowball 
    • Paying the minimum on the last two debts and the max I can pay on the first debt.
    • My debt budget will be hovering around $700 
      • Personal Loan Payment $540 - paid off by April 2015
      • Credit Card Payment $100 - paid off by Oct 2015
      • Student Loan Payment $60 - paid off by Jan 2016
  • Pay off within the year - 26 payments
    • Debt budget approx $850
      • Personal Loan Payment $250 - paid off by Nov 2015
      • Credit Card Payment $350 - paid off by Nov 2015
      • Student Loan Payment $250 - paid off by Nov 2015
  • Pay off within 1.5 years - 39 payments
    • Debt Budget approx $600
      • Personal Loan Payment $150 - paid off by May 2016
      • Credit Card Payment $250 - paid off by May 2016
      • Student Loan Payment $200 - paid off by May 2016
This doesn't include any extra payments that I might be able to pay out next year. Either way - this will be sooner than the Target Date I have set for myself which was July 2016.



Which one do you think is the best option? 



Saturday, November 15, 2014

Week 24 : Roadtrip

My girlfriend and I are heading to Vegas/Arizona this weekend for a quick trip. We bought the Skywalk Grand Canyon reservations last year and was not able to use it at all - our schedules did not match up. But this will be a great time to catch up with her since I did not see her the whole year. Horrible!


Current Debts:
Its payday week and the debt increased. Its actually because of my puppys surgery

Also, I wont be paying anything for now on my Credit Cards to let everything settle and so I can transfer the balance from one to the other and get the 0% APR until Dec 2015. And.... * I am actually going to be taking and extra $200 from the budget into this mini-road trip. This is why I am only paying $300 for the Personal Loan which was originally budgeted as $500

I suck this week! =/

Current
 Current
 Paid
 Ending 
Personal Loan
    5,788.00
       300.00
    5,488.00
Student Loan
    6,237.00
         20.00
    6,217.00
Credit Cards
    8,924.00
              -  
    8,924.00
Car Insurance
       300.00
       300.00
              -  
TOTAL
  21,249.00
       620.00
  20,629.00



Starting Debt: $21,249 || Paid/Interest: $620 || Ending Debt: *$20,629


Weekly Spending: 
Omg we are on a roll - do you see that the whole weekend was a No Spend! Whoooo.... it went down like this. Saturday and Sunday were spent with family functions and since we were super tired we just had a lazy night and watched movies : Captain America and X-men.

I actually resisted buying shoes the past weekend also, but we ended up at the mall again last Tuesday (That Wednesday definitely felt like a Monday!) and I bought the shoes with a 20% off!

Aaaand the big portion of this was my dogs surgery ***
Sat - No Spend Day
Sun - No Spend Day
Mon - $45 Dinner
Tue - $60 Shopping
Wed -$7 Lunch | $2,551 Surgery | $68 Pet Misc
Thu - $38 Pet Misc
Fri - $50 Gas
Weekly Spending Start $200 || End $2,819












Have a safe fun weekend!







Saturday, November 8, 2014

Week 23 : Come back cold weather

So much for bringing out the boots and coats last week - our weather today will be hitting back to the 90's again. That was a short lived lovely-rainy-cold-almost-winter-feeling


Current Debts:
No payday this week. Here are the +/- on my debt.

Current
 Previous
 Current
 Difference
Personal Loan
   5,788.00
   5,788.00
              -  
Student Loan
   6,230.00
   6,231.00
         (1.00)
Credit Card
   6,130.00
   6,105.00
        25.00
Car Insurance
      298.00
      298.00
              -  
TOTAL
 18,446.00
 18,422.00
        24.00


Starting Debt: $18,446  || Paid/Interest: $24 || Ending Debt: *$18,422

Weekly Spending: 
I am always surprised at myself when I have a "No Spend Day" on a weekend - but after Halloween we were just spent and lounged around and took quick naps during the day. BUMS! It is actually nice to keep up with the no spend days -  it makes me more conscious when I should be and should not be spending money even though I feel like I spent so much on eating out this week
Sat - No Spend Day
Sun - Drinks $10 | Groceries $13
Mon - Commute $24
Tue - Lunch $13
Wed - Gas $45 | Dinner $20
Thu - No Spend Day
Fri - Dinner $30
Weekly Spending Start $200 || End $155










What are you up to this weekend? Did you start Christmas Shopping yet?








Wednesday, November 5, 2014

My short lived positive net worth

I just got excited you guys! After doing the month end tally - I am actually showing a positive net worth for dun! dun! dun!
$619

http://www.peanuts.com/
*snoopy dance*


Here's how its broken down to...

Current Debt
Name
 Amount
Personal Loan
   5,788.00
Student Loan
   6,230.00
Credit Cards
   6,130.00
Car Insurance
      298.00
TOTAL
 18,446.00


Current Assets
Name
Amount
 401K
 18,230.00
 Roth IRA
      597.00
 E.Fund
      169.00
 Misc
        69.00
 TOTAL
 19,065.00

I am hoping to pay off the Car Insurance by the end of this month, but an approx. $3000 +/- will be added into the credit card category since I have a pending expense coming out this month.... woomp womp!

It's short lived - but now I know at least that this whole debt repayment is actually making a dent

...... and that I have to start an emergency fund soon!!!!!


Tuesday, November 4, 2014

November 2014 Goals

I think I am going to take a break from aggressively paying towards debt this month. My dog will be having his surgery and I am not quite sure how much I will be spending on that - which, like I said, will be going towards a credit card. This month I am to just pay the minimum towards the credit cards and student loans. My personal loan will still be getting a 'max'-ish since I want to get rid of that ASAP.

Financial Goals

  • Budget $200 per week
  • Pay $1200 towards debt 
  • Pay off Car Insurance
  • Pay car registration fees
  • Get a 0% balance transfer for veterinarian fees

Personal Goals

  • Run 5k on Thanksgiving
  • Finish a book
  • Bake/Cook something new

October 2014 Month-End Recap

It was a hard month to accomplish my goals. Maybe because I became more laxer (am I using this word right?). Anyways, I feel like I am burnt out from this debt payment - or maybe because I had an 'unexpected' emergency this month that I feel like I am not going anywhere with this debt payment. It seems like this month is already shot - so on to the next!


Financial
Track daily spending PASS
  •  I have been tracking my daily spending using an excel sheet which I think I might need to update. Just looking at different options online. Do you guys have any suggestions?
Do not use credit cards Fail
  • I used my credit card to go on a little emotional shopping spree and some expenses at the vet - this brings the CC total to $220
TWO no spend days per week Fail
  • There were a couple of weeks that I failed the two no spend days, but I was under the $200 budget. At the same time, I had a couple of weeks where I spent more than $200 and had two no spend days. I need to have a medium
Keep the weekly spending around $200/week Fail
  • See above ^
Use cash for ONE week - budgeted $200 PASS
  • I did not use 'cash' per se, but only used a pre-paid card
Pay $1200 to debt for the month of October PASS
  • I was able to pay $2,809 because of the 3 pay period for the month of October. Below is how it was broken down to.

3-Oct
17-Oct
31-Oct
Extra
 TOTAL
 Personal Loan
      500.00
      500.00

      396.00
   1,396.00
 Student Loan
      100.00
      100.00
      100.00

      300.00
 CC#1
      100.00
      100.00
      100.00

      300.00
 CC#2
      100.00
      100.00
      100.00
        25.00
      325.00
 CC#3
      100.00
      100.00
      188.00

      388.00
 Car Insurance

        50.00
        50.00

      100.00
 TOTAL
      900.00
      950.00
      538.00
      421.00
   2,809.00
Put in $100 to the Christmas fund this month Fail
  •  Its coming up and I know I have been thinking about putting something in here - but I still haven't done anything with budgeting for the holidays

Personal

  • Work out at least 3 days every week  Fail
    • I pretty much barely worked out this month. sigh!
  • Read / Listen to a new book Pass
  • Learn to cook something new this month Pass







How did your October goals go? Were you able to PASS all of them?