Little by little

It was a small transfer, but I just paid Amex $38.xx with money transferred from Amex.  The credit from Zappos also came through in the amount of $109.xx.  My balance shows $7,2xx which is good.  Soon I'll be down in the $6k mark!  Ooooh, can't wait!

Also, I received the sandals purchased on eBay and they're beautiful!!  Great deal considering they are approximately $150 brand new.  I'm a happy customer.

Dentist

Ok, the other $100 transfer made it to my bank account so I just paid Amex which said my balance was $7,4xx.  I'll admit that I just charged $55 to my card for Carfax since I'm selling my car and car shopping.  Why did I use the Amex?  As mentioned before, I have the number memorized and it's easy.

Also, with the money I had coming in from eBay, I purchased the cute pair of sandals on eBay mentioned in my last post.  This left me with only about $10 in the account so I am waiting to get a little more before I make a transfer.  I should have about $30-40 in the account at this point.

What I am writing about now is sort of off topic.  I went to the dentist today to have a filling done and was given the option to have a shot to numb me for 30 minutes or the usual 3 hours.  I chose the 30 minutes...big mistake!  I left the dentist's office at around 2:50 pm.  From there I went to the office supply store to buy labels and printer ink.  On my way there which was only about a 10-15 minute drive I had a lot of pain in my jaw.  The numbing shot had worn off and I hadn't taken any ibuprofen.  That's where the big mistake was.  When I finished at the store and got in my car, I took 800mg of ibuprofen but it didn't kick in until approximately 4:30 pm!  Pain!  I suppose I would do the 30 minute shot again, but take ibuprofen immediately after leaving the office.

The reason I said that was "sort of off topic" is because I had to pay $85 for the copay.  This didn't get charged on any of my cards because I actually had the cash!  Each month I put away just a small amount of money towards things such as eyes, teeth, purse, perfume, car, tires, and Christmas (just started this one).  I had about $110 in the envelope so it was no big deal to pull some money for this visit.  I highly recommend anyone do this if you know something is coming up and you don't like it to hit your pocketbook suddenly.

Here's to saving!

Returned sandals

The credit I have been expecting from my Nordstrom return came through this morning in the amount of $274.  I thought about what to do for a few seconds and decided to pay Amex.  My new balance is $7,362 when I subtract the payment from the shown balance. 

I also had a couple more items sell on eBay so once I ship them I will transfer the funds to my bank and make another payment. Oh, did I mention I purchased a $150 pair of sandals on eBay for $60?  Yes, I need to pay for those.  I've been looking for a brow pair as I don't own one. -  Maybe there won't be much left to transfer after this.

eBaying

I had a couple of eBay auctions close yesterday which I was happy about.  One was for an old t-shirt that brought in $15, the other was for a pair of high end jeans which went for $20.  Sure, this isn't much, and the amount received for the jeans is nowhere near what I paid, but the good news is that I made some money and the jeans are out of my house - well almost.  :)  I'll relist the items that didn't sell and hope they sell this time around.

I've been pleased with some of the auctions I've held lately for items that have been sitting around for the day I have time.  That never happens, so I've been listing things sporadically.  The payoff has been good.  Just today the $100 PayPal transfer made last Friday reached my bank and I paid Amex without hesitation.  I also made another $100 transfer from PayPal and it will also go to Amex.

My last post mentioned the balance on my Amex, and I can't seem to remember what it was, but today it said $7,7xx.  If this is higher that before, it could be purchases I made for my employer.

Oh...I want to be debt free again!

Summer is temporary

It's almost like I think summer is going to be around forever, and I need to have all the super cute clothes. Unfortunately I live in a place where we do have fall and winter and it gets really cold! My tastes are expensive, and I don't make millions of dollars, so how in the world am I supposed to satisfy my urges and stay within budget? I guess eBay is one way to go and Poshmark is another, which I've been doing. 

Recently I purchased a pair of really cute summer heels off of Zappos.com, and two pairs of sandals from Nordstrom. I've had the heels for a couple of months at least, and decided after not wearing them I really don't need them, and I'm sending those back. This will give me $100! I also decided to return the two pairs of sandals to Nordstrom, this will give me $275 back! Yes, I do spend a lot on good shoes...my feet are worth it!

Today I made a payment to Amex of $235. Normally I would put this in savings, but...I must pay Amex. I owe them approximately $7,500 now. 

Sheesh! How did I let this happen?!

Getting back up

I've been living in denial, I've racked up debt on my American Express card, and I'm not happy about it. I worked so hard and did so well to pay it all off, but I continued to use it. For a while, I was doing really well that when I would buy something I would pay it right off. Things got a bit out of hand. 

The reason I even kept this card is because I use it for work, and then I'm reimbursed. Unfortunately, I have this credit card number memorized and have for many years. I've become more fashion conscious, and look at websites such as Pinterest, Poshmark, Zappos, Nordstrom, and anything of the like. Those are dangerous!!  It has been really bad on me financially, but I look damn cute!  

I have decided that I'm going to get myself out of this hole again.  Yes, I do have money saved and could pay the debt off, but honestly I don't want to. I feel like I need to punish myself, and pay for it slowly out of every single paycheck, as a reminder of how much less money I have on a regular basis because I didn't control myself. It might feel like someone paid off my debt if I take the money out of my savings, and there would be no lesson learned; my brain needs to be retrained. 

So, here we go again!