my car is paid off! (and a budget update)

as of today, my car is fully paid off! i am so excited. it is only $200 a month but i am really excited to have that extra money. i have already planned future months' budgets to allocate that money to debt so it's not like i'll see anything extra, but it is nice to know that one more debt is paid off.

speaking of the budget, it's in the toilet this month. i don't know what happened (well yeah i do) but i totally overspent. i am over on like everything. it sucks.

i think part of my problem is that my budget was just a guess and now i am finding that it is not accurate in terms of what i spent. for example, today i got my hair cut. there goes $50 right there. and of course haircuts are not in the budget. i do have $50/month allocated to clothes and shoes. however, this month i already had to buy two pairs of shoes, one for work and one for christine's wedding.

i also had to buy a bag. the only large bags i owned were like these cloth bags from guatemala or else tote bags and it was ridiculous that i would drag those around to nice restaurants, court, etc. between the bag, the shoes, and the haircut alone, i have spent $235.

household items were also a big expense this month. i ran out of citronella candles which are a summer necessity for me in order to enjoy my backyard. i probably spent about $40 on that. then i decided i wanted to plant some herbs. there goes another $20 for plants and dirt.

my sister came to visit me at the beginning of the month. note to self: no more visitors at the beginning of the month. dinner out was $47. a trip to the aquarium was $18. beer and wine for her visit was probably another $25. i either need to stop having visitors or make them buy me things. or else we sit home and watch cable.

don't even get me started on entertainment costs. first there was all the money i spent during my sister's visit. then there was the cincinnati imports westside bar crawl (i spent $53 that night alone). i am taking a golf class and, while my aunt very awesomely gave me her old set of golf clubs, i needed a putter and a glove... that was $40. i was over my entertainment budget on like may 20. how could i get through over a third of a month, including a holiday weekend, and not spend anything on fun? i couldn't. (i didn't go to chicago by the way for anyone who was wondering.)

i am depressed over my spending this month, but the thought of having paid off my car is nice. i just need to do better next month. i really feel like some of my spending is related to the weather. it's nice out so i want to go out and do things and spend money rather than sit at home and be a hermit. the weather is only going to get nicer so i am going to have to figure out some way to deal with this.

budget woes

so for the first few months sticking to the budget was easy because it was winter and there wasn't a whole lot going on. now it is warm out and almost every day it seems like is an invitation to dinner out or a happy hour or a party or something. i try to keep costs down by ordering cheap beer and eating at home as much as possible but my budget is hurting.

it's only may 18 and i am already slightly over my entertainment budget. the good thing is that i am way under my grocery budget so i have some flexibility. i figure with entertainment + groceries + eating out, as long as it all comes out under then i am ok even if i overspend in one of the areas.

another problem i have been having is things breaking or needing new things. like for example my car repairs last month. but also stuff like this month my belt broke so i need a new belt. i also had two pairs of pajama bottoms fall apart and had to get new ones. i needed new black shoes for work and i used up all my citronella candles so i had to restock. my budgets for these types of things (clothes, household items, etc.) are pretty low so i am constantly going over. it's ok so far because i really did not spend on any of these things in the first couple months of the year, but it's annoying. there's no way i can get through two more years like this so i'm probably going to have to adjust my budget... which means paying off my credit cards will take longer. blah.

i really really want to go to chicago this weekend for memorial day, but according to my budget i totally shouldn't. i have no entertainment money left and only a little eating out money. i did just get a $120 check for transportation reimbursement from work, so that is available, but what i should do is put it in the bank for my friends' wedding that i am saving for at the end of june. and anyway i know there is no way i am going to go to chicago for 4 days and only spend $120.

on the other hand, i am damn sick of being stuck in cincinnati. the only time i have gotten out of here recently was for the final four in detroit, and it's not like that was much of a vacation because while it was fun, i'm from detroit so it wasn't that exciting to hang out there. however i am going to chicago at the end of june anyway for the wedding, and i have no money, and the final four was amazing and i did just go to new york for new year's.

ok, i think i have maybe talked myself out of it. i guess maybe i really do not need to go out of town right now. dammit. saving money is so boring.

update on the emergency fund

ok so dave ramsey is psychic. just one week ago i got my $1000 emergency fund all saved up. well today my check engine light went on in my car. i was way overdue for an oil change anyway so i just took it in right then. well the mechanic called and told me that my car had all this shit wrong with it. broken oxygen sensor, all the tires were practically worn through, the alignment was fucked up, a bunch of fluids needed to be replaced, etc.

this was not really surprising to me since i have had the car for 3 years and never done anything other than oil changes and once i had to replace the brake pads when they completely wore out. the woman i bought the car from never did shit to it either. so basically this car (a 2003 hyundai accent) has been driving around with no maintenance done to it at all for 6 years other than oil changes. the mechanic has been harassing me about the fluids and the tires for months and i was just ignoring it because i couldn't afford anything other than oil changes.

total cost for all this work? $971. can you believe it? and of course, i did not even break a sweat since i knew i had my emergency fund. plus i have $50/month allocated in my budget for car repairs. so i did not even worry.

i put all this into my budget spreadsheet just now and it is not even going to set me back that much. i will only need 2 months, may and june, to build my emergency fund back up, and then i will be back on track to have all my credit card debt paid off in march 2011. yay!

i was having the day from hell at work. normally, even on a good day, a $1000 car repair estimate would have sent me straight into a state of panic. but this did not even phase me. in fact, i was actually excited that i was going to get to put my emergency fund to use!

let me say this again since i am really in total shock over this. just four months ago, if an unexpected and required $1000 expense had arrived in my life, it literally would have been impossible for me to handle. i had no savings and my credit cards were maxed out. i literally have no idea what i would have done. probably open another credit card, or put it on one that was already at or over the limit. this would have cost me so much money over time. but here i am today just taking this in stride and moving on with my life. it literally was the least stressful thing that happened to me today. i cannot get over this.

what the hell has happened to me? i have no idea but i love dave ramsey. i may change the name of this blog to "i need dave ramsey."

$1000 emergency fund... check!

"wait a minute," you say. "how the hell did that happen? didn't you just decide to save up that $1000 like 2 days ago???" yes, it is true. i have somehow ALREADY saved up my $1000! how? i will explain.

first, starting on january 1, i was putting $50/month towards my emergency fund (with $25 already put in at the end of december when i opened the account). that got me to $200 on april 15. last month, i paid off a credit card. so i put all the money for april that would have gone to credit cards (above minimum balances) to the emergency fund. that was $163 which gets me to $363. then about a week ago, i got a $178 travel reimbursement check which got me up to $541. and then just today, i got both my medical flex spending money ($300) and my tax return ($164). put that in the emergency fund and my ass is at $1000. it is a miracle!

i still do not understand how this could happen so fast. dave ramsey says, "twist and wring out the budget, work extra hours... quickly get your $1000. most of you should hit this step in less than a month." (total money makeover p. 105). i hit this step in TWO DAYS!!! what the fuck! i have no idea, but i will take it.

now that i have my $1000 emergency fund, the $50/month i was putting towards it has been freed up and can go towards my debt. additionally, as of next month my car will be paid off and that gets me another $200/month to pay off my debt.

i just put my credit card debt into this debt calculator at payments of $800/month. it tells me that i will have all my debt paid off in one year and 8 months! that is right, if i continue to stick to my budget i will be done paying it off in january 2011. that is SEVENTEEN MONTHS ahead of schedule!!! oh my god. i don't even know what to do with myself. i am so excited i am seriously about to freak out!

how is this possible, you ask? don't ask me, i am terrible at math and have no fucking clue. i am just happy! someone tell me if i am messing this up somehow. i am going to go run around the block screaming or something.

want to view your credit report for free?

don't believe the commercials... freecreditreport.com will NOT get you a free copy of your credit report. they will eventually charge you in the end in order to see the full report. in fact, i am not even giving you guys a link so that you don't accidentally click on it. do not use freecreditreport.com, they will ride you like a pony.

the only website out there where you can get a real, honest, actual free copy of your credit report from all three reporting agencies is annualcreditreport.com. this website is run by the government and allows you one free copy of all three reports every year.

my budget is still on target. i have decided to take my readers' advice and am building up my $1000 baby emergency fund before getting back to paying off my credit cards. i have nothing else to report. sorry this blog is so boring.

i paid off a credit card today!

i am so excited! i paid off one of my chase cards today! in january, when i started my budget, i owed $643.91 on that card. as of today, it is fully paid off! i am so happy!

the current status of my other debts:

• other chase card: $9774.43
• bank of america card: $5043.41
• car loan: $386.59 (this one is so close too, i am so excited)
• student loans: $173,464.66 (these are paid by loan repayment money, not my own money, but i still think it counts)
  

my total current debt: $188,669.09

when i started in january, my total debt was $194,644.97. that means that in only 3 months, i have paid off $5975.88. this is amazing!

on top of that, i am saving money too. i currently have the following saved:

• emergency fund: $175.30
  
• trip to new orleans with give back cincinnati: $200.00 (plus i already paid $150.00 for this trip)
  
• christine and nate's wedding: $260.00

total savings: $635.30

now i need some advice. according to dave ramsey, i should be putting all extra money on top of minimum payments towards an emergency fund until i reach $1000. right now i am only putting $50/month towards my EF. the point of the EF is that if i have a financial emergency, then i have some money saved to deal with it rather than putting it on my credit cards and therefore setting myself back financially.

i guess one way of thinking about it is that i really do have a total of $635.30 in savings and if i had an emergency, i would skip the trip and the wedding. so maybe i really only need a little bit more savings to reach $1000 if i count that money.

so what do you guys think, should i keep paying off my credit cards the way i am, or should i put paying anything above the minimum payments on hold until i get more into my EF? and how much do i really need right now in there?

get cash for bitching

anyone who knows me knows that i love to bitch. i am simply not happy unless i have something to complain about. once that problem gets resolved, i find something else to bitch about.

while this may not be the greatest personality trait in some respects, in terms of getting cash money it really works out well for me. when i lived in new york, i was having a series of problems with a grocery delivery company. they would bring me broken eggs and brown lettuce and then refused to give me my money back. as a law student, of course i had many people around me to advise me on my rights. thus i learned about the better business bureau.

i complained about this particular company to the bbb several times and each time was given a $50 voucher for free future groceries. a couple smashed bananas led to $50 worth of free groceries! i was amazed. how could this wondrous organization get me such great compensation? i had spent hours on the phone bitching to unresponsive customer service reps. but fill out one online complaint form and i got the sun, moon, and stars?

of course i then became obsessed with the better business bureau. i told all my friends about it, and they were skeptical. but to this day, the bbb has never done anything but work miracles for me.

if something goes wrong in your transactional life, all you have to do is go online to the bbb website, file a complaint, and wait for the cash to come rolling in. you do not have to spend hours on the phone. you don't even have to spend one minute on the phone. and you do not have to even try to work it out with the company first! read the bbb policy: "BBB strongly encourages consumers to first attempt to resolve complaints directly with the company, however BBB will not reject a complaint if a consumer has not taken this step."

strongly encourages, but does not require. that means you can just skip all the annoying waiting on hold, talking to people who don't care about you, apologies, refusals to help, eating up your cell phone minutes bullshit that you would normally have to deal with. just click the link above, spend about 5 minutes typing, hit send, and you are well on your way to happy money land.

don't believe me? here is a bbb testimonial from my friend chad: "I once bitched about a terrible meal that we tried to enjoy with [friends] after boozing it up at a wine festival. I was refunded EVERYONE's money ($130+). JACKPOT."

i want to make it clear that i am an ethical bbb complainer. i do not file complaints unless i truly have a complaint. and i do not make up complaints just to get cash over little things. i wait for instances where i feel i have been truly wronged as a consumer. i value the bbb so much that i am not going to make them spend their time and energy on situations that do not require their intervention. i also do not want to dilute the amazing magical power they have by overloading them with bullshit.

however, if you have had a truly awful meal, or received poor service, or got screwed over, or been charged for things you did not agree to, or any other situation where you just feel like you were not treated fairly by a business, i strongly encourage you to use the bbb. they are your friend. they love you. they have your back. and they will get you some much needed cash in your pocket.