The Raging Tech

Back to the (Financial) Future

With a new house adding to my total assets and net worth, I’ve been looking at my finances rather closely lately. I’ve decided the smart thing to do with my inheritance check (rather than all those things I’d like to have) is to pay off a couple of credit card debts and my closing cost loan from the sellers of my house. That’s a good amount of Debt help that’ll leave me feeling better about my budget.

I’m still going to get my furniture and paint, and a few small things that shouldn’t add up to very much, and the rest is going to giving me a little less headache every month when I pay bills. I think having that breathing room is a gift that is going to keep on giving!

If you’re financially retarded, you may want to take a trip over to Bills.com and take their Bills IQ test. I scored a B, because I’m financially ditzy but at least I know where my problems lie. You may find that Debt consolidation is a route you may need to look into. If you’re struggling to make the bills each month, Bills.com can hook you up with some good Debt relief resources, before you need to file for Bankruptcy, which could really hurt your credit.

Two Days to Pay Day

Man, this month stung pretty hard financially speaking. I had to pay for a $300 appraisal on this house I’m living in. I had to pay rent weekly to Marq & Melissa while waiting to close on the house. I had to pay for a U-Haul and supplies for cleaning / moving out of the old house (including buying food to feed my friends that came to help). I bought gas for many trips back and forth between the old house and new.

I know I was eating out more times than I care to think about (foolish thing to correct this coming month). One of the people I lived with in Virginia wanted me to pay off an old debt I’d forgotten about before he would sign one of the papers saying I lived with him, which I needed to get the house. Regular bills, and random items for the new house that I needed like a cheap set of pots and pans and paper products also ate into my paycheck.

There’s probably more stuff I paid for, I just know my bank account is sitting at literal pennies right now.

God is so good though, because I got money from working on computers on the side, and the last of my PayPal money from blog sponsors kept me in the black. I even got some work from my realtor (Thanks Mona & Leslie!)

Thursday is pay day; I only wish it were sooner! Kylara’s birthday is around the corner, and I need to decide what she’s getting for her birthday present. I also want to get the kittens some cat toys, and buy the book I need for class, and pay for the class. I also could use some groceries, the cupboard is kinda bare right now. I’m not starving, don’t worry (Mom). August is going to be easier, because no rent or mortgage to pay, but that just means I need to adjust to being more frugal and try to leave some extra for next month. Plus, an inheritance check is coming my way, and that should mean new Apple stuff and some debt paid off completely!

How Do You Put Away Savings?

In this era, you just can’t rely on social security for retirement. Also, when you’re my age, you might be thinking about the future: marriage, a house, kids, kids’ college funds, vacation money, hire a hitman for the in-laws money, etc. Or maybe you’re just thinking about how to get out of debt.

Recently, I received my Economic Stimulus payment from the U.S. government. And as a single person, I qualified for the full $600. I thought “whoopee! 600 bucks to blow!” and then immediately went - “No, I’m broke nearly 1/3 of every month. I need to buckle down, form a budget, and open a money market account,” which I did. I opened a money market account at the credit union and deposited almost half my payment. I hope to try and match that each month and once my car is paid off (27 months from now) I’ll try to put my car payment into that account as well, since I won’t miss it.

I did some basic math, and not including what I’ll earn from dividends, in five years I’ll have saved up about $24k - not too bad if I can stick to it and not spend it all.

What I can’t decide is - instead of putting so much into savings, should I instead pay off my higher-interest debt and then as those are paid off start saving the money I was paying in my Money Market account?

Know some better ways to put away for another day? Leave me a comment below on how you do it.