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.