The Raging Tech

Light at the End of the Tunnel

The financial crisis in the economy has some light at the end of the tunnel, at least for me. I realized today as I started to get a knot in my stomach about how tight things had become in my budget, that there’s plenty of hope and I’m not at all in a bad situation. First of all, I work for the state, in an IT position. My job is probably a lot more secure than a lot of people. I’m glad I didn’t try to go freelance or go start my own business just yet, because a lot of people will be tightening their belts and not hiring freelance writers or computer repair guys. 

Secondly, I bank at a credit union, not one of those giant corporation banks that has investments on Wall Street that could make or break them. My mortgage was not a sub-prime mortgage and while things are tight now (because of my house payment, not because of the economy), they’ll be better for me soon. 

Good news that affects me: the new home owner’s tax credit is still on for this tax season. It’s basically a $7500 zero-interest loan from the government that gets paid back over 15 years. I’ve been trying like crazy to refinance my credit card debt to all lower interest rates, and I’m pretty sure $7500 will cover my debts (including what I owe Mom) and you just can’t beat zero percent interest. That’ll leave me with just my car, student loan, and house payment and regular utilities, groceries, and gas. I recently deferred my student loans until 2014, because I’m back in grad school, paying for it out of my pocket. 

So basically, I just have to be poor until after taxes are processed, and then when the tax credit comes in I have to solemnly swear to spend it all on knocking out debt, and not crazy stuff I don’t need. Knocking out debt feels great. When I got my inheritance money I paid off my Bank of America card entirely and closed the account. It felt SOO good, and now I don’t have that monthly payment anymore. If I can eliminate all of that, I’ll be a good ways on my way to being debt-free.

My house will probably be the last thing I pay off, and I hope I can do it in less time than the 30 years my mortgage is supposed to last. I’ll figure that out later, though. Maybe eventually when I’m out of all other debt I can put that same amount towards the principal on my house that I was paying every month, and get it paid off sooner. 

I hope for all of you that if things get bad, you’ll look for hope, and if you aren’t sure where to find hope, look to Jesus. He’s our provider and He always takes care of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (That’s in the Bible, kids).

Paying off The Man for FREEDOM

My inheritance funds finally cleared, and my final decision was to pay off debt instead of getting fancy new tech gadgets. It seemed like the smarter thing to do. I dumped a load of money into my Money Market account because it has a 3.20% interest rate, and I paid off Bank of America FOREVER. It feels SO good to be out of their clutches finally. I closed the account today and as soon as my bill pay arrives in their hands they said they should be sending me a check (I over-payed a little just to be sure).

I went to Wal-mart last night and bought some things for the kitchen, the rest of the house, and for the cat. I think this weekend I’m going to buy a propane grill (a modest one, not a huge hulking expensive one) and a self-propelled lawn-mower, maybe a weed-whacker. My lawn looks kinda shaggy right now, and my black push mower I brought from home is missing a part to the handle (it pulled a Houdini, I have no idea where it went) that makes it really difficult to push.

The last things to buy will be my new living room furniture over Labor Day weekend. I’m thinking about just going to the Big Lots in the next town and getting a reclining sectional and a coffee table, and maybe a twin bed frame for the guest room. The other thing will be paint, so I can paint my living room. I’m re-thinking the dark navy blue color, and thinking more of a light brown or a khaki color with a dark brown trim.

Speaking of the cat, I got her a lot of neat stuff. I got a “pet taxi” cat carrier, so I can take her to the vet for shots and getting spayed. I got her a new litter box with a cover and a little cat door in it, that has a built-in air filter and the floor doubles as a sifter, with a pan below and another pan below that for switching out as you empty it. I got her a little “Cat Mat” floor mat that goes right outside the litter box, so that she has something to wipe her paws on as she gets out of the litter box. She actually uses it, it’s so cute.

I upgraded her to some larger food and water bowls since she’s getting bigger. I got her a little white stuffed bear that is barely smaller than she is, and she loves it. She spent most of last night wrestling it and gnawing on it. I got her a little plush cat bed that she slept in some yesterday. I also got her some of those little balls that have tiny bells inside them and she played with those for a while.

I’m not exactly financially free now, but paying off some bills and getting some things I need means not spending my paycheck on those things, and that means more money in my pocket each month with no new debt acquired since the house.

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.

Money Money Money Money… MON-AY

Pay day is both happy and sad for me. I got paid on Wednesday this week. Since my paydays only come once a month, you can imagine how anxious it can make me to wait on it when I’m broke. The reason it’s sad is because that’s also the day I usually pay all my bills. Since I pay all my bills for the month at one time, that’s a huge chunk of my money that gets gone right away.

It’s better than not having the peace of mind that comes from trying to figure out how to make a bill on time to avoid late payments later on in the month. I’m also getting better at not buying too much that I don’t need. I said better, not that I’m good at it yet.

Also, I have a good amount of money pending from sponsored posts and advertisement here on this blog, and that’s helping tremendously. Another thing that’s going to help this month: Economic Stimulus Payment. Woot! That’s an extra 600 bucks that is going to pay for my GMAT and help me if I indeed move in with some friends out of town later in the summer.

I’m hoping to get some debt paid down over the next few months, to free up more of my income for savings and investment. That book I’m still trying to read, Rules for Renegades, is good at encouraging people to set goals and “Get Stuff Done” (your GSD degree instead of your MD or your doctorate). Crazy motivational books, always inspiring me to do stuff.

Insurance Checks at Grocery Stores

This Friday, I received a check in the mail from my insurance company that I had been expecting. This weekend, that money would have been particularly useful. But you see, I get my mail after 5pm nearly every day. All the banks around here either close at 4:30pm, 5:00pm, or 5:30pm, so I had no time to get to a bank by the time I got my mail.

I started to call around and I learned something interesting: most grocery stores will cash payroll checks from anywhere, even if you don’t shop with them. What they won’t do is cash a hand-written check, or a non-payroll computer-generated check. Specifically though, they would say things like “Sorry, we don’t do insurance checks.”

Are insurance companies going around and dropping bad checks? Or more likely, are people going around ripping off stores with fake checks from insurance companies?

I’d like to give special mention to GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411), because I didn’t have to get out of bed to call the stores to see if they would cash the check. I just called, said my city and state, and then the name of the business I wanted, and asked to be connected. Plus, it didn’t cost a dime. Put that number in your cell phone, it’s powered by Google and is pretty useful. So far, they only have business names and not personal addresses.

It’s not a big deal, tomorrow (Monday) I’ll just go to my bank and cash the check. Pay day is Wednesday, and that will be a nice day. I’ve got a date planned for me and Kylara to go out of town and eat at the Olive Garden, maybe go to a movie or something.