Good news and bad news

It has now been three months since I sold my old car and I've been driving my new car. You can't even imagine how excited I was when I received a phone call two hours after I listed my old car that somebody was interested in it and I sold it to that person within one week!

Now I'm in the process of selling another car that I've had for a very long time that is nothing but clutter in the driveway! There has been a lot of interest in it but nobody has shown me the money. I really can't wait until it sells.

My new car is doing great, I love it, but it sure is an expensive upkeep! For instance, I just had an oil change done and it and it cost me $125! The good thing about that is it only needs to have an oil change every 17,000 miles. You can be sure I'll be saving my pennies for that one, as well as other maintenance that will be required.

Now I have to be honest. I haven't been doing too well on my money management which is really upsetting to me. I really need to get myself back in gear and pay American Express down :(

I have kept the card around because I use it for work, but unfortunately I also have the card number memorized and use it whenever I shop online forgetting to pay it back.

I've done it before, and I can do it again. It's just going to take me a little bit of time, that's all.

Hope you're all having a great holiday and a very happy and safe New Year!

NEW CAR!

I just did a search on my site and realize the last time I posted the word "car" was in January of 2011!

This is the post:

Car upgrade?

I've sort of been thinking about my car situation. Either I keep the car I have, which is a 2001 Japanese made with 141,000 miles -OR- get a newer 2006-2007 Japanese made car with around 40k - 50k miles on it and pay the difference of about $5,000. My car is 10 years old this year, and I know I can drive it at least another 3-4 years with basic repairs. This car will keep going to at least 200k miles!

I've never loved the car I'm in, and would really LOVE to have heated leather seats because I get cold so easily, but should I? Never going in debt to buy another car would be key, and I have the money now, but do Iwant to do this?

It's something to think about.

This car is now 11 years old and has just over 175,000 miles.  It still runs, but I took it to the shop yesterday to find out all the little things it needs.  They sure gave me a long list, but the reason I wanted to find out is because I am going to sell it.  Reason being...I BOUGHT A CAR!  

Last month I bought a 4 year old car with incredibly low mileage.  Let's just say it was/is practically a brand new car.  It wasn't cheap, but I PAID CASH!!!  It's a MINI Cooper S with leather seats, sport package, cold weather package and custom wheels.  This car is a ton of fun to drive, it's like a go kart!

If I hadn't got myself out of debt and started saving money, I couldn't have done this!  

I feel so blessed and am thankful to God for the dedication and desire I've had to work on my financial situation as well as the ability to make it happen.  I'm not saying this only because I got a new car, I feel better and less stressed about money as I did in the past.  However, the feeling to know you don't have a car payment is great!

I'll work on selling the old car soon because the insurance on both cars is double :(  My payments used to be $66 for the last one, and next month the bill is $125.  

Now it's time to start saving money for the next car :)  I'm stashing a small amount here and there in my "Car Fund" account.  

Cheers!

Payday

Yesterday was payday, which is always fun because I get to go down my list and cross things off that I've paid.  Not that I'm excited about paying $100 for my cell phone every month, but it's nice to get those things out of the way.

I've already taken some cash out for spending and putting in envelopes, this way I won't be tempted to use  plastic which is more difficult to keep track of.  On Sunday my BF and I are going to Home Depot or Lowes to purchase vegetable and herb plants!  I'm really excited about this, and am sure he'll be footing half the bill.  I'll make sure to use cash for this.

Ramblings

It sure has been a loooong time since I posted!  Actually, I tried posting from my phone some time ago, but it didn't go through...and now I don't remember what I said in that post :/

I'm still sort of on track, I haven't racked up debt like before.  There is some mindless accumulation of debt built back up on my AMEX card which I chose to keep open for work expenses.  It's really a bad situation because I know that card number by memory so when I shop online, guess which card gets used!?

Overall, I'm happy with how far I've come.  I'm in the process of looking for a replacement car and if all goes well, I will pay cash for it.  If I can't find what I want, I'll have to finance less than $5k.  I could pay for it, but would rather not.  Stupid, I know.

Anyhow, life has been good, I received a (long awaited) raise at my job and need to kick myself in the butt and get back on track with money.  However, I still budget and pay all the bills and myself first.

I've also put myself back in school so I can have a well paying career.  It will probably take a long time, but if I'm alive, I'll either be alive with a degree, or none.  My choice.  When I look at the people around me getting their PhD's, Masters, and Bachelors degrees, it makes me sad to know that I SHOULD be there too!  What's wrong with me?!  Just slow I guess.  Summer classes start in two weeks, I'm enrolled for one class at the community college.


Something I've learned...it's much easier to lose track of your spending if you use plastic.  Cash is the best way to go.  Sometimes I don't get cash from the bank when I get paid, and end up using my debit card for everything and lose track of what's left.  Not good.

The good thing is, I do pay myself first.  This is a must if you want to save any amount of money.  Out of sight, out of mind.

There you have it, some rambling.