Debt Updates

I've updated my debt totals for the month.  Technically, the total amount is up but it will be down next month when I post numbers.  I had to pay my son's outstanding school bill and also pay for summer camp (which was put on one credit card).  A large payment has already been paid to that card but hadn't been posted on the credit card's website yet so the total numbers are a little misleading.  But, that's what the online statement said, so that's what I'm going with.  I did pay off my Gap card though, so the remaining balance is my husband's card.  This will hopefully be taken care of with my next paycheck.  Until then...

Future Plans...

Me In Millions commented on my last post the following "Congrats on getting the EF over $1000! Now that it's there are you focusing on getting rid of your debts?" and I'd finally like to comment.  I'd also like to apologize for not responding to the comment earlier but the last week or so has been all over the place.  If you're expecting a reader's digest version, you should probably stop reading because this is probably going to be lengthy.  Initially, because I have two jobs, I was going to focus on paying down my very large amount of debt.  But as I progressed in my new job, I discovered some things out about my boss (the owner) that made me uncomfortable.  I work for an insurance broker, and in my opinion, he is not a good person.  I discovered through conversations with a co-worker that he has a shady past.  She didn't know any of the details and didn't know exactly what he had done but she knew that a previous executive assistant had been fired because she found something out about our boss.  So what did I do? I googled him.  What did I find?  That he used to be the president of one of the largest property management firms in California.  What did he do that was so bad?  Co-mingling of funds, fraud, embezzlement, use of company funds for personal gain and a whole slew of things that aren't good.  Now, I shouldn't be all moral and preachy, but that in and of itself is bad enough. Does it get worse?  I'm glad you asked, because yes it does.  How?  He lies on his insurance appointment contracts.  About 50% of the questions, he lies on the applications, which I'm pretty sure if fraud.  There are also some rumblings from the agents that work for him that he and his wife (who handles all the financials) have been stealing their commissions.  I made the decision (after discussing it with my husband) that I would quit the day job and just rely on the side job's income.  My last day is going to be Friday and the only reason that I haven't quit yet is because I feel like they might do something shady like withhold my paycheck.  Since they hand out hard checks (yeah, no they don't do direct deposit).  So at point, we were going to be on a bare bones budget with not a lot extra for anything, let alone debt.  But, alas, that is no longer the case.  I had a job interview last Wednesday, which I didn't want to write about and jinx myself, because I really, really, really wanted the job.  I found out today that I got the job.  It's a little less money than the shady day job but it's still enough to pay some extra on the old bucket load of debt.  On top of that, it is at my son's pre-school.  This is my absolute dream job.  I can see myself in this position for a very long time.  I'm incredibly happy and incredibly excited.  So, to answer Me in Millions.  Yes, I do plan to focus on my debts now.  I finally feel secure in my job and think that I can shift my focus from stockpiling cash to paying down debt.  Stay tuned for progress reports.

Whoo Hoo Unexpected Money!

Over the holiday season, I had a temp job.  I've done that every year but this year I received an unexpected surprise.  I guess the job that I worked let part-time employees accrue personal time and mine was direct deposited into my account overnight.  Imagine my surprise when I logged into my account and saw the deposit.  Before I let my mind wander into thoughts of what I could do with it, I immediately set up a transfer so it would go to the EF.  It's not a lot (only $45.15) but I'm happy to transfer it to my account anyways.  One of my favorite bloggers, Jolie @ Shaking the Money Tree commented on a previous post about what my next goal will be.  I think that until the end of the summer, I'm going to focus on hoarding cold, hard cash.  I'd like to have a small emergency fund in place because one of the jobs that I have isn't necessarily permanent.  The owner of the business could change his mind very quickly about the arrangement we have in place.  With just my day job, it would be cutting it close as far as expenses go, which is why I'd like to have a little bit of money set aside for emergencies.

Green Life

I've been going back and forth with myself since the inception of this blog.  Should it be personal finance? Should it be personal lifestyle?  Since a lot of my personal choice impact my financial life, I've decided to write about both.  I'd like to get a handle on "greening up" my finances but I want that "greening up" to touch the non-financial part of my life too.  Therefore, I have changed the name of my blog to reflect my true goal, which is to be a more green person overall.

Payday

Friday was my payday for both jobs.  I was happy with the amount for my second job because the more I can make at that job, the closer I am to my savings goal.  My check at the second job was $541.  I conservatively estimate that the amount will be about $375 per pay check, so the fact that it was so much more makes me very happy.  The breakdown of that check is $25 to tax savings, $25 misc savings and the remaining $491 goes to the emergency fund.  I'm not sure what the totals are for the tax savings account or the annual fund account but my emergency fund is sitting nicely at around $700, which coincidentally is $100 more than my goal for the month.  I hope that I can keep this kind of progress up and keep the money flowing.

Financial ADD

I think I may have Financial ADD.  I can never isolate our top priority and thus I have changed focus again for our extra money.  I was intially gonna go all gung ho trying to pay off debt but stopped almost as soon as I began.  I now plan to funnel all our extra bucks to an Emergency Fund account.  The reasoning behind this is simple.  I don't know how long I'll have two jobs to help pay down the debt.  I anticipate that it will be long term but would like some $$$ cushioning before we go at it with "gazelle-like intensity" (not that we are subscribing to the Dave Ramsey school of thought).  So as for now, our new goal is to bank $4000-$5000.  I might try to tinker around with my settings and put up a few savings progress bars.  We have a three savings accounts right now.  A tax savings (because I'm making more than I was last year I'm withholding on my own), an annual fund (for things like HOA, car registration, etc...) and now an EF.  Let's see how it goes.

Tentative Progress

So far I have about 14 hours posted at Job #2 for the current pay period.  I intend to go in tomorrow morning for a couple of hours so it will be around 16 which will get me half way to my goal of $600 extra per month.  That means I should be able to pay off part of the medical bill this month.  I know that it’s not the #1 debt but it’s been around for a couple of months and needs to get paid.  It also says $800 for an estimate on what’s owed and that because I know there will be another amount added to it for my son’s physical therapy expenses.  Right now, $460 is due.  I estimated $800 because each therapy appointment is about $200 out of pocket for us.  We’ve been to one that hasn’t been billed and we have another scheduled for later this month.  I think he’ll only be going to a couple more appointments this year, so this debt will move around on the priority list as my son incurs more therapy costs.

Tentative Budget

Goals for the next year:   1.)    Pay down as much debt as I possibly can!!! 2.)    No unnecessary new clothing/misc purchases (i.e. my husband can wait on the new carpet shampooer) 3.)    Stay organized (this is key to accomplishing my goals) 4.)    Take this challenge one day at a time 5.)    Keep and stick to a budget!!! 6.)    Make at least $600 from second job each month to put towards debt 7.)    Do NOT incur any additional debt     Tentative Budget   First job - $675 bi-weekly   Car Payment - $280 Gasoline - $90 Lunches - $50 Groceries - $205 Tax Savings - $25 Misc Savings - $25   Anything over $675 will be put towards misc savings.  Misc savings is a temporary savings account or a “holding place” for things we’ll need eventually.  Tax savings is just what I want to hold out for the next year’s taxes.  Since I have two jobs now, I know our taxes will go.  I could adjust my holdings but I’d rather put the money in a savings account and earn whatever interest I can.   Second job - $375 bi-weekly (this will probably be more but I want to be conservative)   Tax Savings - $25 Misc Savings - $25 Debt Repayment – Any remaining $$, hopefully at least $300   Like I said, this is a tentative budget.  It might change based on what I find out about our family’s spending habits.