Debt Free Suzy

Cutting Costs--Web Hosting

2009-01-18T16:42:00.003-06:00

I found a way to cut some costs. It will save me a little over a $100/year. Which is good, since I complete forgot about this expense until they e-mailed me an invoice.

Basically, I decided to just do the website as a blog, using bloggers interface. I can have the same domain name point to the blogger site. Easy as pie, right?

Been working on budgets for February and March. I have fun making the budget and playing with the numbers. I need to work on STICKING to that same budget.

Sigh.

Face It to Erase It

2009-01-04T05:17:00.003-06:00

Just finished watching Suze Orman where the theme was "Face It to Erase It."

She had a lot of folks on who were much more in debt than I ever could think to be (or any bank in their right mind would allow me to be). But, her theme was to get people to face their debts so that they can begin to eliminate them.

If you don't know what you owe, how can you ever repay it.
One needs to face the behavior patterns that have caused the debt.
One needs to face their situation, both income side and the outgo side.
One needs to face the changes they need to make and the actions they need to take.

Basically, Suze was saying we need a reality check! (That's right girlfriend)

Her theme/message so hit home and applies to me. I am still gathering my list of debts so that I know what I owe. Psychologically, I don't want to know--which is kind of why I am procrastinating with the list. But, reality is now making me open my eyes. For example, when I went to figure out how much I had in Student Loan debt I would have guessed about $6,000. In actuality it is between 8 and 9 thousand! Yikes.

Wags FTW

2008-12-28T04:57:00.004-06:00

I decided to list my books for sale on Amazon as well as Half.com. I like that Amazon gives you 100% of the shipping fees that they charge the customer. With double listings, I need to stay more on top of that to make sure I delete from one site what I sell on the other.

I sell usually one book a day and it seems like I am always at the post office. But, I have run out of bubble mailers to re-use. I debated buying in bulk and found some that would be about 35 cents each with shipping (for a case of 100). But, I didn't want to go out and buy these until I started to make SOME money from half.com or Amazon.

Well, in my effort to save money, I peruse the ads online. Something in my head said to check the Walgreen's site to see if they had a new ad and/or Easy Saver catalog. Well, the Easy Saver was a no go but the ad was there. And, they had the Bubble Mailers on sale for 50 cents each. I know most Wags only keep about 2-3 on the shelf. This means I will try to stop by each one I pass to pick up a few. (And with a WAGS on virtually every corner I should be able to stock up.)

Yeah. What luck for me to even check their site.

Envelope System

2008-12-28T00:27:00.002-06:00

I bought Dave Ramsey's envelope system to help with making sure I only spend what is budgetted. I haven't read or gone through Financial Peace University that explains fully how this is supposed to work. It seems pretty self-explanatory, except for a plastic pouch that is in the middle of the system.

I am not sure how this plastic pouch is to be used. My choice is to use that for the coins I get back with the bills I spend in each envelope. This way I can save my coins to be used to fund my Baby EF (or debt snowball, depending on which step)--an idea that Suze Orman suggested decades ago. Then each night I can empty this into my "tub o'change".

Budget Finalized

2008-12-28T00:10:00.002-06:00

Yes, it has been a week since I last posted. It's been super busy with the holidays and all. And I've been picking up extra hours at Job#3 (which helps make up for Job#2 being on hiatus until late January).

I've also been selling tons of books. So, I've been very busy running to the post office. Almost every day. This is very good news for the Baby EF.

I have also been spending a lot of time finalizing my January budget. With the extra hours at Job#3, I've been able to actually balance it (where previously I had a $100 shortfall). I am not sure how realistic is this budget. I have very little money allocated for eating out. However, my busy schedule often finds me in the drive-thru lane. In addition, I only allocated $45 for groceries. However, I have almost $50 in grocery gift cards already in my envelope system. Thus, I don't really see this as worrisome (as much as I see me falling off the wagon regarding dining out).

Half.Com inventory is growing like a weed!

2008-12-21T14:57:00.002-06:00

I now have 135 books listed on Half.Com. That doesn't include the ones I have already sold.

Again, I am really making good on two goals with this: less clutter in the house and more money for the Emergency Fund.

I am also learning some lessons. Half.com charges more for shipping to the customer than it passes along to the seller. I really don't understand that reasoning. However, I have figured out what they will pay and have adjusted my prices according on thick and/or heavy books. Otherwise, I would be funding the Baby EF 33 cents at a time.

Budget Shortfalls

2008-12-21T14:49:00.004-06:00

I am still working on my January budget. When I use my spreadsheet I come out okay. When I use Dave Ramsey's Cash Flow forms I was short approximately $100.

On my Excel spreadsheet, I have an entry for every paycheck. I then have what bills or expenses should be paid with that paycheck. For example, my "end of month" paycheck at job#1 is almost 100% to the mortgage. My methodology (by paycheck instead of by month), is actually more accurate than what I am doing with Dave's forms. Then again, instead of just saying XXX dollars per month, I could figure out what that pay is per month.

One thing I didn't consider on Dave Ramsey's form was that Job#3 actually pays "every other week" rather than twice a month. Also, I was under-estimating my pay (rounding down) so that made up for the $100 shortfall.

Another thing I did to save money was set up my car insurance to be an auto-draft from my checking account. That saved me over $20 in January.

Combining these things, I should have more money to put in the Baby Emergency Fund to get me to that $1000 (currently at $500).

My goal for the next 48 hours is to print off a copy of the Excel spreadsheet and compare item-for-item with Dave Ramsey's forms. I might be missing something somewhere--on one or both sheets.

Update on Baby EF

2008-12-19T08:15:00.004-06:00

Update on my baby Emergency Fund (step #1 on the Total Money Makover).

This week I received my check for being a pollworker during the November election. With cell phone and mileage reimbursement, it was $249.67. Thus, I put the $200 in baby EF and the remainder in the Christmas Club account.

Updated balances

Baby EF $500.00 (50% toward the goal)
Christms Club $124.67

I also sold two more books on half.com. Progress, progress, progress.

More Half.com Postings and Unexpected Expenses

2008-12-17T10:23:00.002-06:00

I posted some more books to half.com. I admit, I am going a bit crazy, pulling books from shelves at home and work. This can end up serving two purposes--decluttering my house and office as well as raising money for the Baby Emergency Fund (EF).

So, now I have 93 books listed at half. com. Went to put together the stuff to ship the book I sold and realized the padded envelopes I had were too small for this book (and it was relatively small). Luckily, my mother has one to give me to use for this time.

I mention this to mention the unexpected expenses. I already have a problem with impusle shopping. I am working on this by only shopping with a list and sticking to what's on the list. But, if I want to sell these books it means I will ship these books. I did find a deal on padded envelopes for 50 cents each, but I had to buy the whole case (just under $50 with shipping). The office supply stores are at least $1 an envelope. Before I indulge in the whole case, I am going to continue to look around. Any advise (I know re-use, but I can't seem to find any of my old padded envelopes--that clutter thing.) on sources of inexpensive ways to ship would be much appreciated.

Half.com Sale!

2008-12-16T15:52:00.002-06:00

Cha-ching (though a very tiny cha-ching).

I sold an item on Half.com. I didn't think I would sell anything, but in less than 24 hours I have sold an item.

Now, I'm even more fired up. I listed 66 items yesterday and probably have just as much to list this week.

Watch out Baby EF, you will be funded in no time!

Baby Emergency Fund Update 12/16/08

2008-12-16T10:39:00.002-06:00

A bit of an update on the Emergency Fund.

1. I did get the two boxes of books posted to Half.com. I also found some more books and will post them when I get a chance. Definitely by Sunday.

2. Found money! I received a check for some freelance work this week. I completely forgot about this job. It was $375.00. I put $300 toward Emergency Fund and $75 toward Christmas Club. I know the latter seems silly, but it might be a while before my new Direct Deposit kicks in and starts funding that baby.

3. Speaking of Direct Deposit. I did submit my form today to payroll for job#2 to have the entire check go to the credit union. My plan is to use this money for Emergency Fund funding. However, I will be off job#2 for about a month so, as I said, it might be a while before that kicks in and that fund grows.

Baby Emergency Fund 30% to goal!

Going to try the Half.com thing

2008-12-15T12:38:00.003-06:00

I've been thinking about ways to fund my baby emergency fund except job#2 paycheck. I went through some books this weekend and pulled some that I am going to try to sell. I have about 2 boxes full.

Wish me luck, I figure the only thing I have to lose is the time it take to input them into half.com.

Funding the Emergency Fund

2008-12-14T04:34:00.003-06:00

Wow! Coming up with $1000 might take some creativity.

My plan is for my pay from job#2 to fund this and the Christmas Club account I established at the credit union. This job's money is irregular, so I hate to depend on it for regular expenses, but can easily get me to my baby EF within a few months.

I might also try to sell some stuff. The only big thing of value I have is Rams tickets, and those don't really sell unless the team we are playing is popular or close by (e.g. Chicago Bears or Dallas Cowboys). Plus, the season is almost over.

One thing Suze Orman suggested a few years back was to fund your savings through "change". No, not by supporting Obama (not that kind of change), but coins. She suggested paying cash for everything with bills and saving your coins. Then take your coins to the bank or credit union and deposit into savings. When I've done this in the past I have had not problem getting $70 a pop.

Maybe with job#2 on hiatus, I'll take that time to do a scavenger hunt through the house looking for items to sell on e-bay or craigslist. (It's much too cold for a yard sale.)

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Where I Stand, Financially, at Day One

2008-12-13T00:54:00.004-06:00

I guess part of this journey is figuring out where I start.

Let's see---savings. Virtually non-existent.

I have probably $100 in a college savings account.

I have nothing saved for retirement, which at age 42 is pretty sad. Luckily, I have one of those jobs that still has a pension plan (for now--both job wise and pension plan wise).

To start saving, I did open an account at a local credit union. I opened a "special savings" that will be my Emergency Fund and a Christmas Club account.

As far as debt goes---that's a harder story. I am in such denial that I tend to ignore the past due notices, etc. (I know, I might as well be shooting myself in the foot!). My plan is to get this list together while I work on funding my baby Emergency Fund ($1000).

At the same time, I am working on a budget and cash-flow system. This is somewhat depressing. I am rounding down on income and rounding up on outgoing items, but I am still about $100 short for January. I also didn't include income from Job#2, since we are off for over a month and thus will not have any pay to speak of from there in January. In addition, I included $150 books. However, I did get gift certs from a regular book store, so maybe my texts will be available that method. If so, I am square.

Welcome to my Debt Free Journey

2008-12-13T00:46:00.000-06:00

The purpose of this blog is to journal my journey to becoming debt free. I am using a modified version of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makover. I like the steps that he has, but I incorporate a lot that I learn from other Personal Finance gurus--especially Suze Orman (who I think rocks!).

For those of you not familiar, the steps of the Total Money Makeover are:

Step 0 Swear off debt and credit card use.
Step 1 Create a baby Emergency Fund of $1000
Step 2 Pay of debt via Debt Snowball, snowflaking method
Step 3 Three to six months of expenses in true Emergency Fund
Step 4 Invest 15% of income in retirement accounts
Step 5 College funding
Step 6 Pay off home
Step 7 Build wealth and give

Now, when I first saw this I thought "15% of income to retirement"?!! But, if you have become debt free this isn't really that hard. These are truly steps. You don't start step 5 until you have completed 1 through 4.