Is this blog relevant?

Does anyone still reads this blog, which I've sort of neglected? It seems to me that these days, people are turning to videos or using some form of social media sites to get their message out, or to learn from. Is this true? Maybe I'm just speaking for myself.

I enjoy watching other people's stories of how they are getting out of debt, but I don't read about them. When I started this blog, I was reading about other people's journeys and learning about that they were doing, this was a big help in staying motivated. Regardless of what you are working on, surrounding yourself with like minded people is so beneficial. Just knowing that there are others going through the same struggles as you, and watching their success really gives you that extra push. You can do it too!

I hope that if you came to this blog, whether you followed me when I was getting out of debt and went through the journey with me, or found me afterwards, that it helped you in some way. I love to share if it will help even just one person.

I still do a budget, in fact, yesterday I completed my budget for the next four months. It's really the best thing to help keep me in line. There may or may not be some sort of correlation, but I feel so scattered when my finances are not being managed.

As mentioned, I hope you have found some value in my blog and would love to know your thoughts on reading blogs, or watching videos. Which would you rather do?

Until next time,
A Girl in Debt

Thinking about Delta Skymiles

Have you ever ever wondered how much money it takes to earn one Skymile on Delta?  If so, have you taken it so far to do the math?  I'm sure this information could be found online somewhere, but I didn't look for it.

The reason I was curious to know is because I have approximately 150,000 Skymiles with Delta.  It would take 70,000 (plus approx. $95) to purchase one round trip ticket to Tokyo, Japan.  To visit Mexico city, it would take approximately 55,000 plus under $100 cash.  My boyfriend and I have been playing with the idea of visiting Japan, but I want to go to Mexico.  I can't do both, and use Skymiles for both trips; he wouldn't be going to Mexico with me.

I know $1 spent equals 1 Skymile unless the dollar is spent in a grocery store, gas station, or Post Office, then it equals 2 Skymiles per dollar.  Sometimes there are promotions to earn more miles, but I have not seen any in a while.  Having said that, it would take spending over $45,000 to earn enough Skymiles to get a trip to Mexico and even more for Japan!  This takes into account that if you spend over $25,000 in one calendar year with AMEX, you get a 10,000 mile bonus.

When booking a ticket on Delta, you are given the option to pay a portion of your trip with Skymiles at the rate of 10,000 miles (in 10k increments) deducting $100 from the cost of your fare.  This means:

10,000 Skymiles gives $100 credit

1,000 Skymiles would be equivalent to $10 credit

100 Skymiles would be equivalent to $1 credit

10 Skymiles would be equivalent to 10 cent credit

1 Skymile would be equivalent to 1 cent credit

Therefore, if you spend $1 on AMEX, you would earn 1 cent off a future ticket, or 2 cents off if the purchase was made at a gas station, grocery store or Post Office.

Of course, none of this matters if you don't have an American Express card!  I still use mine, but don't carry a balance so don't accumulate or pay interest...just the yearly fee.  I don't like the fee, but do receive one "free" companion ticket to be used for US travel which expires yearly.  If my boyfriend and I didn't like to travel, it wouldn't be worth it.  The fee is just under $200, and the amount we typically spend on one round trip ticket would be between $400-500.

By the way, Delta is changing the rules to their Skymiles program in 2015.  You will not earn 1 Skymiles per mile flown, but 1 Skymile per dollar spent on your fare.  This means if you fly 4,000 miles round trip, but only paid $500 for your ticket, you'll only earn 500 Skymiles instead of the 4,000 you would have with the current program.

Yup, I'm kind of a nerd and love it!

Writing a report on debt for class

I've been thinking a lot about debt lately due to a speech I'm writing for a public speaking class assignment.  We are to write a 4-6 minute informative speech on any topic we choose.  Since I'm so passionate about personal finance, this is the topic I've chosen; to be quite honest, although speaking in front of a class isn't my cup of tea, I'm really looking forward to it for the teaching aspect!

I feel my speech could go on forever with what I've learned and gone through, but will need to narrow it down to a few points.  My hope is that it will help at least one person in the class realize that life can be lived without debt!

Debt seems to be a way of life these days and it hasn't been that long since credit cards have been around.  Since I'm in my 30s and credit cards were introduced when I was approximately 10 years old, and most of my classmates are in their 20s, they were born when credit cards were already a household staple and probably don't know any different.

Now I must get my report written and organized so I can stay on track and not have points docked for talking too long!

On another note, I've wondered many times if anyone has been helped by my blog.

Amex cleared, and new car!

I decided to do what I didn't want to do to pay off Amex, which was to take money out of my savings account.  I got it down to where I just had to pay off less than $1,000.00 and paid it off.  I'm back down to zero on Amex!

As I mentioned in my August 21st post, I purchased a Carfax because I was car shopping and wanted to know a car's history before buying and the option I chose was for unlimited use.  I used it 2-3 times but didn't find the car I wanted.  Not to mention, I wasn't sure how I was going to go about selling my car, and buying a new (to me) car at the same time.  What are the chances a person can find a 4 year old car with the options they want at the same time they sell their car so they aren't car-less?  Slim.

My car had been for sale online for about five weeks and I had FOR SALE signs in the windows for about a 1-2 weeks when I got a text from someone saying they wanted to see my car in a couple of days if it was still available.  Of course it was!  This person was the first to contact me in the entire five weeks!  I started thinking I was asking too much for my car and was going to lower the price.

I agreed to meet with this person in two days at 9:30 am at a nearby parking lot.  I pulled up and met the couple - I had no idea who I would be meeting which made me just a little nervous.  You never know these days!  They were very nice, and reminded me a bit of my boyfriend and me.  They were car shopping for him, she had a cute little sporty new car.

He took it for a quick test drive, less than five minutes, and upon return he started in on the questions.  Was curious to know why I was the 3rd owner and the car had such low mileage.  The car was great, but not what I really wanted when I purchased it in July 2012.

He loved the car and made me an offer which was a good one, considering I did need to get new brakes, oil change, windshield, and 30k service.  It was a Saturday and as we both bank with credit unions agreed to make the transaction that day.  That beautiful Saturday was the first time in almost 20 years that I officially didn't own a car.  The feeling was not good.  It was great that I sold the car, and I was so happy for that, but that meant I had to rely on someone else to give me transportation...until I could rent a car.  My lovely boyfriend was more than willing to help me out.

I was amazed that the first and only person to inquire about my car loved it and bought it!  He had a list of others they were going to see that day, but after seeing mine, knew it was just what he wanted.  We were both so happy!

My boyfriend was online looking for the car I wanted all over the U.S.  I told him if he could find me a good enough deal, we could fly out and buy it.  He's done this before for himself and found a great truck that now has 250k miles and is still running strong.  It was Sunday night and he found a car that was what I wanted at a dealership, but there was no picture, just a description.  He called them the next morning and asked to be sent pictures, which they did, he also spoke to a sales associate who, as my boyfriend put it, "knew his stuff."  As it turns out, the reason there were no pictures online is because the car had been taken in as a trade and wasn't up for sale yet at the dealership.  Apparently sites such as cars.com and autotrader.com post inventory from dealerships even if the car never makes it on the sales floor.

I rented a car Sunday night for a couple days and was thinking this could get really expensive if I didn't find the car I wanted soon, but the one found online seemed promising!  I believe I spoke with the sales associate on Monday afternoon and he told me all about the car.  I was skeptical, but tried to hard to trust.  He told me that if I decided I wanted the car, he could hold it for me with a $1,500 credit card down payment, until I was able to either fly out to pick it up, or have it shipped.  Tuesday morning I agreed to do this!  I was so nervous!

It was now time to get time off work, book flights, hotels, and plan a route back home.  The flights were easy, I used Skymiles for one of them, and the other was only about $300 for a one-way redeye (don't ever want to do this again!).  To pay for gas I used American Express award cards I requested from my card a while back and was holding on to.  The hotels were booked through Hotwire so only cost about $65 each - we needed two nights.

Wednesday I got insurance on the car taken care of, Thursday I went to my credit union and got a Cashier's Check for the balance owed (the $1,500 to hold the car was applied to the amount due).  Friday night my boyfriend and I drove my rental back to the airport to take our redeye flight which arrived at 6:00 am.  We didn't sleep much on the plane, or at the arriving airport which was a bad combination.  We were both exhausted and had to drive 800 miles that day to reach our first hotel!

The dealership opened at 9:30 am so we took at taxi (which they so kindly covered the $100 bill) and arrived around 9:45 am.  It was so funny to arrive at a fancy car dealership in a big yellow taxi with luggage after a redeye flight!  Everyone was so kind and all my worries disappeared.

We went out to look at the car which they had pulled up under the large, I want to say awning, but it was a solid structure outside the entrance.  It was beautiful!!!  I couldn't believe that was the car I was buying!  I didn't expect such a beauty because the pictures I received of the car were taken from the sales associate's phone camera in a parking lot before the car was detailed and ready for sale.  He made sure to get pictures of the rough spots the car had...which were all gone just like he told me they would be.

I probably looked like a silly fool as I walked around it in amazement!  My boyfriend and I were in awe.  The three of us got in the car and I took it for a test drive.  It drove as nice as it looked, plus it's an '09 and Certified for another 75k miles!  Ha ha, agreeing to buy a car 2,500 miles away from home based on a sales associate's comments, web reviews of the dealership, and some not so clear pictures from a smartphone!

We finished up and were out of there by about 11:00 am ready to head home.  We drove about 800 miles day one, 1100 day two, and about 550 day three.  The weather cooperated all but one night when I had to drive in the pouring rain for about two hours at midnight.  The car handled it very well.

What a drive, what an experience!  I loved every minute of it; the car was worth it!  Even after paying for flights, hotel, food and gas, I still saved money because the car's selling price where I live would have cost me around $6,000 +/- than what I paid!  I love it :)

My boyfriend was wonderful from the beginning, being my short term taxi, searching online for a car many times, calling on cars he found, taking time off work (he was scheduled to work that weekend), flying out with me and driving back.  He put a lot of effort into making sure I got the car I wanted.  What a sweetheart!

God was good!  I sold the car to the only person who showed interest in it, found the car I wanted the next night, made the deal, flew out, paid cash, and drove back safely.

:)

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!

New budget

In the process of creating a budget for the next six months. I doubt I will use all the lines, but this is what it looks like so far...

Saved myself

I was mindful and resisted the AMEX!  Yes, I just bought this travel jewelry case and instead of using the card saved in my profile (my AMEX), I pulled out my debit card from my wallet and entered the numbers.  It's a little step, but $15.13 won't be added to my debt!

The reason for this purchase is because I housesit so much, and also stay at my boyfriend's house a bit, and organizing my jewelry is always a pain.  In fact, if this one works, I may order another one and use one for silver and one for gold.

Sometimes I wrap my jewelry in a scarf, bandana, or let it roll around in my purse or bag.  Not a good way to treat jewelry, or be able to find it when you want it!  Just two days ago I thought I had lost a beautiful silver ring; found it later in the bottom of my bag.  What a relief!

Slow and steady

Here I am sitting in Starbucks enjoying a lovely Americano in my stainless mug.  Starbucks isn't my favorite place to have coffee for a few reasons, but for Christmas I received a $30.00 gift card which I was very thankful for.  They have this really neat app for iPhone where you can pay by scanning your phone instead of carrying your gift card!  That and the Cinnamon Dolce are the two coolest things at Starbucks, in my opinion.  Oh, wait, the velvet chairs that some locations have are awesome too!  BUT...the coffee.  It's. Just. Not. That. Good.

My online sales have been on the upswing which I'm happy to see, because, this means more money that can go to my overspending that has been weighing on me.  Who knew a small piece of plastic could weigh so much!  I've been working on my inventory room so I can see what I have.  Now that I see it, and have created a bit more working space, I'll be able to get it sold!  --  Can't wait to finish my inventory so I can get to selling and making money!!

Honestly, I'm not going to go gung-ho on my paydown, but I will definitely work on it - at least that's how I feel right now.

Hope all your debt repayments are going well.

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.

State Taxes

I'm a procrastinator (working on this) and a couple of years ago I filed my 2006 taxes late...very late. I received a notice that I owed close to $1,000! Of course I was confused because on my paperwork I showed that I was due something around $20 and I have NEVER "owed" on taxes.

Hesitantly and upset, I started making payments towards this and kept thinking, "I don't owe this, must call them to look at it!" Or take it somewhere for them to run the numbers.

Anyhow, time went by and I stopped making payments because I was going to do something about this, and $100+ was taken from my 2010 return to put towards the amount still "owing."

Yesterday I called the state tax commission and talked to a very nice lady. I explained to her that I have never owed and there must be a mistake. She transferred me to another very nice lady who looked at my records. What do you know, she said, "I see the problem! Looks like an amount of $800+ was entered on the wrong line and the computer didn't know."

So, I am due a REFUND!!! My money is coming back to me!! :) Yes, I'm VERY happy about this. The money they took from my 2010 return, payments I made plus what I was originally due is all coming back :)

YES!!!

The Millionaire Next Door

Finally, my local public library had the book "The Millionaire Next Door" so I checked it out. I've had it for a bit, and am almost done reading it.

One thing, and the reason I am blogging, is regarding the part where it states most millionaires prefer suit jackets/sport coats from JC Penney and don't spend much money on them. It's typically the people who want to appear wealthy who spend much more money on jackets. Personally, I like nice things and if I had the big bucks to spend on them, I might just do that on occasion. However, if I like something practical from a "cheaper" store, I'll take that too.

Today, at work, one of the heads of the organization I work for was talking about a birthday gift for her husband, throwing out ideas, and then mentioned he needs new sports jackets, and he knows it. The husband makes lots-o-money, and I thought of the book when she said, "...but he really likes the ones from Penney's, and they're only $99," implying that they wouldn't be a good gift. She continued to say that he may like the newer updated iPad, or a newer and smaller camera, but she still has time to decide.

Funny that the timing of my reading the book, and her comment were so close, and so true.

Oh, and I'm enjoying the book. :)

Two Year Anniversary

Wow! I just noticed that today is my two year anniversary for the first post on this blog! That's pretty exciting. That means that two years ago, today, I had the heavy debt of $24,187 and I was feeling pretty miserable about it all.

My life is better now, in the sense that I don't worry about who I'm going to pay, if I can make a payment on time, or the, "What if my car breaks down and I can't afford to get it fixed?" scenarios.

Being debt free has really made a difference in my happiness. Just recently I bought a plane ticket, concert ticket and hotel stay for NYC. This is going to be a pricey trip...it already is and I haven't even gone! NEVER would I have been able to do this if I was still in debt!

One friend who I am meeting in NYC asked another friend who is also going, "Is she (me) really going? I thought she couldn't afford these trips!?" Well the friend being asked was able to tell her that I paid off all my debts :) That felt good.

NOBODY I know, knows that I keep this blog. I guess it's a way of me talking to myself? Hmmm... I get to tell the screen everything that other people would just get sick of hearing. Well, I can be happy and tell myself, "Happy Anniversary." Cheers!