Paid in Full

Its official. I'm 90% debt free. 
If that sentence seemed anti-climatic, its because that's exactly how it felt upon hitting the "submit" button. My dad had been at my house that evening, getting my washing machine up in running (for the first time in almost two years!)

I was sharing with him, how close I was to finish paying of my tuition, and how I was just waiting for the "right" moment to pay it. (aka making sure all my bills for that month were taken care of)
Within moments the expected fussing began.

"Erin I know its seems like a good thing to do, but you really just need to go ahead and pay if off, I've been where you .... "

I'll admit there are times when I feel like a kid again, wanting to roll my eyes, and feel as if I know best. But this time I knew he was right. I had the money. If I didn't go ahead and use it for its dedicated purpose, I would find myself spending it on more scarves.

So as he talked on, I sucked it up, navigated to the appropriate site and made my final payment.
There was no applause, no "Hallelujah chorus", no confetti falling from the ceiling.
In fact my dad was still lecturing me on the merits of just going ahead and doing "the right thing."

"Its done"

"... were, but have learned the best thing is just ... what?"

"I paid it off. Its all done."

Aw Honey! Here let me give you a sympathy hug.

That's the moment I realized that yes my dad DID really feel my pain.

So now I've been debt free for almost two weeks. (Debts not including my car)
Though anti-climatic, the good news is I finally got to see my grades from almost a year and a half ago. I pretty much knew what I'd received, but seeing it in black and white makes it more "official."

No F's this semester!

*phew*

Two B's and a A.

So... what does this mean for the future you ask? Don't worry, I'm asking the same question. And to be honest ... I don't know. There are a lot of variables in this situation, and its far to early to be able to say without a doubt that Yes school is in my foreseeable future.

I hope and pray it is.

I miss it. As odd as that sounds, I do.

Budgeting Woes 1.13

It is indeed time for us to once again tackle the topic of budgets. Here's the thing with starting a new job while working at your old one. It lends a false sense of security.

Money is coming in hand over fist, you're hating life due to the crazy amount of hours you are working, but still you have money to purchase a laptop, you can go on this trip, you can do this thing... and then.... reality hits home; and you're stuck with the sad realization that working full-time was not the answer to your  money woes. 

Especially when that new job included new bills. Or perhaps better worded: New bills get added because people assumed a new job = more money. 

So now were stuck in a finical hole. No savings to speak of, and lots of bills. 

(This is one of those ranty posts I was talking about earlier this month) 

As of now, the amount I owe is about $40 short of the amount I'm getting paid. Hopefully. With my luck this will be the cheque that calculates all the time off I had over the New Year holiday. 

This month I got not one but TWO cell phone bills. One from last month, and one because I switched to a new plan with my family. Ultimately it will save me some money, but not for a while.  Kaching! $125 

The last two months my utilities were up from $70 a month to over $200. Not chump change in my book. 

Not to mention all the normal expenses living on your own brings. 

So instead of running around thrift store hopping, or paying off my debt to the Library looks like I'll be spending my Saturday at home. 

Planning ways I can survive the next two weeks on beans and rice. Or oatmeal and rice. I also have a frozen pizza, and some eggs. 

*sigh* 

My biggest frustration is due to the fact that I want to save, but can't. Its either save everything, and spend nothing but on the absolutely necessary; or not worry about anything and spend and spend. 

There's got to be a happy medium. 

Does this mean I have to get yet another job? Work two jobs? Where does that leave school? Not to mention time to live life? 

When did I become and adult and how can I leave? 

<end rant>

Written: 1.11.13 

March Goals

Spring is almost around the corner! I cannot wait! While it hasn't been all that cold lately, I sure am tired of wearing my boots, and resisted the urge to purchase some more sandals yesterday.

This month I'm printing my goals out and posting them "all" over my house. The biggest problem I have with setting goals, is forgetting about them, so we'll try this again. This may be one of those  that's more for me than it is for "you" so yeah. Do with it what you will.
:-)
Goals for 3/2011

1. Purchase a Car. Yeah yeah. 
2. Put down my cell phone while driving. I've seen the last story I want to see about a teen/person dying because they were texting and driving.  I know I've had some close calls, which has caused me to put my phone down more often, but not often enough. I don't text and drive, but I do read texts, and emails, and surf the net while I'm driving, which isn't better i know,
   
3. Stay within Budgeted Means. 
• Gas -my gas budget exceeded its amount by $40 this month! I knew it was a lot but that's kind of scary! Hopefully the purchase of a new vehicle will help this stay down...granted the extreme hike in gas prices over the last WEEK will have something to say about that I'm sure.  ($2.99 last Monday $3.28 today) 
• Buy Online - As in impulse shopper, buy online not only makes me stop and think about why/what I'm purchasing (as I'm watching the price get higher the more stuff I "add to shopping cart") but it also saves gas and time! {Alice.com, stockngo.com,samsclub.com}
• Eat out ONCE a week - Started taking my lunches/snacks to work last month, which did help, I still went over my "fast food" budget by $6. 
4. Be more prepared. Procrastination yada yada. 
5. Review my 101 N 1001. Wait What? I know I forgot about it too. 

Short list..I've learned the hard way its easier to start small and get bigger.  

In the words of Bob the Builder: "Can we do it? YES WE CAN!?  

Or was that Obama? I forget. 

:) 

Until I blog again,

November 29: Budgets.

I've failed. 


If I could remember what I thought when I checked my bank account Friday morning, I'm sure those two words, would have been the first thing that ave come to my mind. 
With only $0.33 left in my checking, I knew I'd finally achieved my goal of being a broke college student. A goal I haven't been striving for. 


However, failure was not on my mind, as I promptly blame my insuffient fund account on the fact that this month has been very heavy in the way of bills. Between my two charges of $96.50 in court fees, and purchasing a brand new camera flash...on top of my regular spenditure, I was pretty sure that was the blame. 


Over this year, I've made a big effort to cut back on my impulse shopping, purchasing food once a month, paying all my bills on one check... everything else on the other, insuring that there is money for my bills.. 


I really thought I was making great strides, but just wasn't bringing in enough money. 
Just to be sure, I sat down with my bank account and crunched some numbers this morning. 

I was very dis-hearted with what I saw. 

Though I'm not spending much on "fun stuff"... um.. I made at LEAST 3 trips to Wal-Mart walking, spending no less than $30 each trip. And then one $50 trip to Target .... which tallied up to $322+. 


Could someone PLEASE tell me why in the world I was going to Wally-World that often this month?? I hate that place! 
Oops. 
I'll admit I'm an impulse shopper, which means I have very little regrets about the purchases made without prior thought..until I'm broke that is..That being said, this month I did have a lot more of legitimate "need" purchases than normal, due to..um..circumstances. 
But um...perhaps I could have thought this through a little more. 


I had set amounts for: Food, Gas, Bills and General Purchases, and I truthfully thought the amounts were reasonable. Compared to what I'm actually spending.. like not.at.all so much. 
So I bought a separate visa card, to put my "expenditures"  like, food, gas and house supplies on that. that way when the money is gone its gone. In turn, causing me to be more vigilant about watching where my money's going. I'm also going to start purchasing staple products from a site called Alice.com, which will keep impulse buying down. 


Not only do they have most of the items I would get in a place like Wal.Mart they also have FREE SHIPPING ON EVERYTHING. Can't beat that people. 


If only stores would have little carts to calculate your totals, as you shopped...watching that balance increase as you add things, goes a long way to making me think about what I'm buying! 
I'm not much better when impulsively buying food...I mean, you can never have enough food right? 


Am I Right?


Especially if has the letters : I C E  C R E A M on it. 


Its an addiction.


But back to the point, I've written down "menus" for the next four weeks, and try to buy only the things needed to make those items, and maybe a few snacky items. I also make sure I've eaten before I grocery shop, as the will negatively effect my budget. 


I've got to get a handle on my monies now or I'll NEVER get a car, or be able to set foot in other clothing store for a long.long.time.


And that, my friends, will be a very.sad. day indeed. I've bought maybe 5 new pieces of clothing this entire year. I've avoided them like a plague, because my impulse disease is very.hard. to control in those places.


Anyway. The brain is wandering from the subject at hand. 


So in conclusion, there really isn't a real good reason I should be completely broke at this point, starting from the ground up every.single. month. I mean there are reasons, but I think i could have managed my money I LOT better than I have to date. Thankfully we make mistakes to learn from them. 


And that's what I plan on doing. 


Dear Self,
You want this right? Its time to buckle down and get a move on! 
















 Sincerly,
Tired of Being Broke.

This Week

This week has the potential to be a very. very. stressful week. But only if I let it. So I'm determined to live in the MOMENT and not 24 hours ahead, as I'm apt to do; and take things as they come. If I can knock things out of the way "sooner" then I'm can, but I'm sick of worrying about things I have no control over.

Just a little history:

You remember how I thought my troubles with the Finacial Aid department were over with!? Well they aren't! I just checked my FA Status and found out that I only got $700 for Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 semesters.

This means that I only get $350 for this semester.
This also means I still have $1,200 to pay out of pocket.
This also means that I'm not the happiest person ever.

Apparently since I'm still "technically" under my parents household (due to living in a home provided by them rent free) my income + their income = I should be able to contribute greatly to my school.

Guess what!? I already have! *sticks out toungue*

Anywho you all know I quit my second job in January drastically reducing my income, however FA goes off your Tax Return from LAST year, and so there wasn't any real way of noting how much I actually make. NOW.

There is one thing I can do, and so I'm going to try and do that this week, and see if that makes a difference.

If not...........

You know what? I'm not going to think about that right now.

Part of my "Worry Free" diet for this week.

Happy Thoughts: ..............................................I'll come up with something......................

   

{Guess What?}

I'M GOING TO SCHOOL THIS FALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HEY! Stop rolling your eyes.

Why am I so excited to get back into the grind of school work? 

Because for a while there I wasn't sure I'd be able too. With Financial Aid not coming through, and their office giving less than satisfactory information whenever I took the time to bug them, I was really starting to give up on being able to pay for my LAST semester, much less a new one. But after some intense  prodding from mother dear, I sucked it up, loaded Pompei in the car and drove the 35 minutes out to the main campus, to talk to them in person. An hour later I was on my way home, my debts paid and some extra money headed towards my mailbox! This is a HUGE relief off of my shoulders, I can breathe again! THANK YOU GOD!!! WOOO!!! *happy dance*
Now all I want to know is, why in the world did I not do this earlier?!?!?!? 
A Very Happy,
e.r.i.n.