MIA ... and, lotsa spending

Since getting engaged, spending has gone up up up.. so I haven’t made any progress.. just piled on more debt : x .. pretty much the opposite of what I wanted to do, and I was so close to paying everything off completely!  Here’s what has been happening that’s causing extra $$$ to be spent:

1 – Roommate’s moving out in about a week.  This means, roommate’s room and bathroom are going to be redone (paint/linens/towels/decorations, possibly remove linoleum and lay tiles down in the bathroom).  I’m very excited about home décor projects, but they can be pricey.  So far, I have bought bed linens(there is a bed in that room that we let him use), and a lamp for that room.  I am hoping we can have recessed lights installed.  I just need to buy paint for now, and then we’ll be doing some rearranging of furniture.  The main problem is we’re on a time crunch to get this done—have to start working on this 5/19 once the roommate’s gone, and it has to be completed before 6/4 when my parents get into town.  Because…

2 – On 6/5 we’re getting married in our house with our parents and some of Chris’s relatives.  I’m paying for wedding-related expenses since Bf (fiancé actually) paid for my awesome engagement ring.  This includes: buying a nice dress (non-traditional), getting the marriage license, paying the the officiant, covering dinner, and getting photos taken (ahead of time) at a studio.  This will all be fairly inexpensive.  The main expenses are going to come from the reception I’ll be paying for in fiance’s hometown in August.  My parents are throwing us  big to-do in Texas, but not until December.  Since they are doing that, they have declined to put any funds towards the shindig here, and fiancé’s parents are strapped for $ and will not be contributing financially either.  So, basically, that reception will be an informal gig, financed by myself.. more as a present to fiancé than anything else, so his friends can come by and celebrate with him.  The majority of my friends are in Texas.  The ones close by will be attending our informal party. 

3 – Dental work.  That dreaded expense I’ve been talking about for awhile is almost done.  2 crowns and 2 cavities taken care of (but not paid off) and 3 fillings left to go.  Insurance is maxed out, but with the next appointment, I hope to be rid of them for  a long time (with the exception of cleanings).

4 – Bridesmaid junk.  I think this whole bridesmaid thing is ridiculous.  I still have about $800 to spend on this.  That includes ~$150 for a dress, $165 for a hotel room, and about $500 to fly fiancé and myself down. 

5 – More weddings!! Since my last entry, fiancé and I have gotten invited to 3 more weddings (2 of which I will go to).  One of these invites annoys me, because I know I’m a last minute invite(my friends got their cards awhile ago), I’m not that close to him (though he is the best friend of a best friend of mine, we are not in the same circles) and the person inviting me knows I won’t be able to attend.  Does this mean I have to send a gift?  I’m feeling tapped out, and getting a gift for someone who I am not close to, who is already having about 600 attendees to his wedding, is the last thing I want to do.  What is the etiquette on this?  Can I just send a congratulatory card?  He is an engineer and his bride-to-be is a doctor, so a chintzy gift probably would be thrown out.

So, instead of paying off my credit cards as anticipated… I now owe a combined total of.. $3993.  And I still have stuff to buy/pay for!   

 

Engaged!!

Last week, two things happened that may affect my financial situation.  First, I ended up getting engaged!  I wasn’t expecting the proposal so soon (I fig’d he’d wait until summer), but I’m glad he did!  First, this will mean I have to be diligent about paying off my credit cards so I can have that out of the way.  Also, think it would be nice to start off with 0 debt.  Also, we will have to discuss combining healthcare and car insurance.  The other thing I did this past week was go to the first of my dental appointments.  I ended up spending $661.  This includes a professional whitening that cost $250. I would like to have waited on that, but if I did, my crown would be much darker.  More news to come!

 

April Goals/Expenses

Finally!  Two more days until I get paid.  This is a 3 paycheck month, and due to the stimulus, each check has increased to $966.  If all goes according to plan, this nets me $2898 in April.  I currently have $1900 total (on both cards), and an anticipated $1k of spending at the dentist for April.  My plan: 

1^st Check- Pay $100 towards card 1, and $500 towards card 2.  Charge $420 (expected dental bill) on card 2.  Pretty much a wash, but allows me to not add anymore to my ccard bill, though not reducing it much.  That will leave me with $366.  I may decide to put an additional $100 toward card 1. 

2^nd Check-Pay $600 towards card 1, leaving $366 cash for spending.

3^rd Check-Put $200 in bf’s rent fund(I created for his travel savings in lieu of paying rent).  Put $450 towards ccard 2, and use ccard 2 to pay for 2^nd dental bill (estimated: $420).  This leaves $316 in discretionary cash until May 14^th. 

 

I have purposely left large amounts of discretionary cash in case my dental work ends up costing more than expected.  I am going off the estimate provided by my dentist.  Any extra money will go to the ccards.  Wish me luck!     

Old Habits Die Hard

So, it looks like I have sort of tapered off on the debt reduction, and somehow even managed to add to it.  Ccard one is at $983, and ccard two is at 917!  I know ccard one has nothing on it but interest (about 29 bucks), but ccard two has had many large-ish purchases on it lately:  ~ $100 on party food, another $100 on a jewelry armoire(part of my remodeling I’m doing once the roommate moves), ~$160 on my sister’s 21^st birthday gift (Tiffany initial necklace), and another $120 to cover part of a dinner at Fogo de Chao when me and the bf were on vacation.  All of this was unnecessary spending, I kNOW!! Almost $500 worth!  Now I must work my way down from almost $2k again.  Dammit!  The good thing though is that my gifts for April are almost taken care of.  I gave my bf $175 cash to pay for the seat covers he wanted for his birthday.  It is good in a way, because I would have been tempted to charge it.  The only person I have left to buy for is his sister, and I think I will be getting her some pink converse (~45 bucks).  Normally, I would not be buying expensive gifts for anyone other than the bf, but since both his and my sister are turning 21, I figured I would get them some nicer stuff.  My regular price for my sister would be about $50, and for his sister  it would be about $25 for birthday(if I’m planning on seeing her), and something nicer for Christmas.  My family doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but his does, and it ends up being quite an (expensive) affair.  This past year I bought a lot of nice presents, but did start planning for it well ahead of time.  After my dental work next month, I will be at a $3k debt balance : ( Eee.  Not good.  I will need to be more proactive about getting this stuff taken care of.  The other new thing I’ve done is set aside the rent money I would be paying him in a special account for vacation.  I keep the account, and when it comes time to book the trip, I will take his expenses out of that fund and refund him the rest of the money.  Since I pay $200/month, the goal is $1800 for Apr-Dec rent.  I already put in the $200 for April.  Also, bf has agreed to go splitsies with me on a small dining room table and chairs for our anniversary (in June).  Last year we went on an all day shopping spree and spent a couple hundred bucks on each other, so this is pretty much the same idea.  The set I have in mind costs $375, so this is a great deal since it is something I was going to buy anyways.  I think I need a side job or business.

      

More Progress

I finally have Ccard 1 at under $1k!! The balance is down to $955.  Unfortunately, Ccard 2 has a balance now of $600.  That is my own fault, because I have been charging on it unnecessarily(including all groceries for my dinner party tonight) and putting most of my cash toward paying back Ccard 1.  Hopefully, this will change soon.  Next week, I will be taking the bf and going down to TX to visit my family and hang out.  I already know of two big dinners that will be covered while I’m down there—one where the bf is taking my parents and I out, and one where my mom is sending us to Fogo de Chao (my fave!) with a  gift card.  Also, next week I get paid, and I have $100 from ING that I am going to use towards paying down the cards, but not sure which I will apply it to.  I know some sort of stimulus is supposed to kick in this upcoming pay, but I have no clue how much it is.  My reg. amount is $950, so I will put $550 + $100 from ING towards both cards, and live off the remainder.  Also, the present that I was going to get for the bf (which I was going to charge!) he bought for himself and said I can just give him the cash for that.. oh well.    

The Plan is Coming Together... Sort Of

As of today, totals for Ccard 1 & 2 are : $1836 (1255+581).  I guess my plan is not completely accurate, since I didn’t take into account the finance charges I will get, but hopefully they will be negligible amounts.  I am clearing out some of my ING Funds (~$300 first, and another ~$100 later in the week) to further pay this down.  I know almost every article on personal finance stresses the importance of an emergency fund, but I would rather lose the debt that carries a ~24% apr on it (Ccard 1) before seriously contributing to an EF(or any of the other sub accounts I have at ING).  Plus, I am hoping to have my funds completely ‘free’ (i.e. : not going towards credit card repayment) by the end of April.  Some expenses (in addition to dental work) I will  be coming across soon are a dinner party this Friday, and 3 birthday presents in April (bf, sister, bf’s sister… both of our sisters are turning 21 next month!).  Even though bf has yet to get my bday present (from Feb.. which I don’t care if he gets me or not, and I don’t know what he has in mind either), he does do a lot for me, and I like to get him something nice for his birthday.  Last year I went all out for him—clothes from Banana Republic, an ice cream cake, an expensive dinner, a party at a bar/club with some friends, and a hotel room (linked to the bar/club, so we didn’t have to drive back).  Altogether, I probably spent upwards of $350.  This year, we will be heading back to his hometown and going out with some of his friends from high school.  Although I am still paying down debt, I will still be getting him a present of his choice: either fog lights or seat covers for his new truck.  Each of these cost between $150 and $200, but since he is particular, I will have him pick which one he wants online, and I will pay for it.  It is the least I can do for my awesome bf, who only charges me $200 bucks in rent and often has dinner waiting for me after a long day of work and school.  He is the best!  If not for him, all this paying down would take infinitely longer.  Also, now he has told me that I should hold all future rent I owe him in a separate account (prolly ING) and put it towards our vacation (we haven’t planned it yet, but we want to get away in the fall!).  Lastly, I must make sure my car passes inspection.  I just got a new windshield and I’m hoping the only other thing I need is new wiper blades.  Hopefully, everything will go according to plan and I won’t have to worry about anymore car maintenance!

Paying down the CC!

Since starting this little blog, I’ve made some good progress (in my opinion).  Last month, I paid off my mom (YAY!).  She even said she didn’t think I would pay her off, so that felt especially good to be done with that.  Also, I just got back my tax refund and put the entire amount toward my old ccard, which will bring the balance down to $1255!  I decided I’m going to take the money I have in savings (at ING.. ~$390 + about 65 bucks from checking and bring that down to the nice low sum of $800!).  Sadly, my new card I got (for the flight miles) already has a balance of $581  (and a yearly charge of $85!  I should have read the fine print more carefully).  I will make sure this does not get out of hand.  I know I will be putting almost $1k of dental bills on it at the end of March and the beginning of April (2 crowns and maybe some fillings..eee) and my dental insurance will be maxxed out too.  Sucks!  I guess this is my fault for drinking soda and not flossing.  Hopefully I can get the dental stuff knocked out now and not have to worry about it once it’s all taken care of.  I’d rather have teeth than not have teeth when I’m old, so I want to make sure I don’t let them get too bad.  I have decided that once my debt is taken care of, for the remaining 8 months I want to save more than HALF of my take home income.  The magic number I’ve decided on is $1k per month.  I wonder if I can do this.. if so, it would be a nice 8k lump sum I’d have at the end of the year… oooh.. and I think I would still have a decent amount of spending money left.  So, here is the paydown plan for Ccard 1(amazon.com card – HIGH interest rate):

Balance on 3/9/09: $1255

On 3/13  Pay 455 – bring it to $800

On 3/19 Payday, pay $500- Bringing it down to $300

On 4/2 Payday, pay last $300 and be done with it!

 

Ccard 2 (Continental Miles card – low interest rate): Current balance $581

On 3/19 payday: Pay $100 – bringing balance to $481

3/25 & 4/8 – Dental Charges : ( -- Add another $1k to balance : $1481

4/16 Payday- Pay $600 towards Ccard 2—bring it down to $881

4/30 Payday- Pay $500 toards Ccard 2- bringing it to  ~$381

5/14 Payday- Pay off entire Ccard 2 balance!

 

Then starting 5/28, I will start saving half my paycheck!! It sounds like a good plan, so I hope I don’t get off track!