In Debt Dee

Big bunnies!!

2010-04-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

My daughters were given two of those big ginormous Easter bunnies last Sunday. Being 18 and 16, and girls, they both watch their figure pretty closely and are, sadly, never going to eat these chocolate bunnies.

Today, I ran across a great post for Creative Uses for Leftover Easter Candy over at Money Saving Mom - what a great idea!! I am so going to do that this week!

I am so proud of us!!!

2010-04-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

Even though I haven't had a steady paycheck since last May (10 months ago!!), we've managed to still decrease our debt and not incur any additional debt!! I have to say though, people, things are getting tough. I have been actively looking for a new job for about 4 months now, and still cannot find anything that pays decent. Seriously people, a 40K/year paycut? I suppose it is better than nothing, but there must be more out there, dontcha think?!

It's a New Year!!

2010-01-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

A new year and what better time to re-evaluate where we our in our journey out of debt. Let's just say it's not looking good people. Although I have worked for the last six months from home and did some contract work, we are still going backwards every month and our savings is getting smaller and smaller. I've been actively searching for a job for the last 10 day or so, and so far nothing. Cross your fingers that I find something soon....

Oh my gosh!!

2009-07-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time flies and how easy it is to quickly forget about posting anything!!! Luckily, I didn't forget to pay any bills!

Since June, all the kids are home from school and I got laid off from work. Bummer about not having a job, but nice to be home with the kids. Unemployment isn't anywhere close to my salary, but at least it's a little bit of $$ coming in.

Two weeks ago, I got a short contract to write some technical SOPs for my husand's company. I am so happy to have decent income again, but let me tell you, it is BORING! By the end of the day, I'm so brain fried, all I want to do is lay on the couch and take a nap. Luckily, I've been able to work from home and only go into the office a couple times a week, so nice! We actually were able to make ends meet last month without dipping into our emergency fund. I'm not sure how we're going to do in August, but hopefully, I can stretch out my contract a little longer. Cross your fingers for me!

Week of 05/31/09

2009-06-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

The good, the bad, and the budget, week in review.

Good

Free Nivia sample
Made hot dogs in a blanket and put a bunch in the freezer for kids snacks/lunches this week (cost = $0.285 each)
Entered the Pace Hand-Pick & Win contest - Didn't win anything
Took 5 Surveyhead surveys, didn't qualify for any!
Completed 2 Suvyehead profiles, earned $0.40
Entered Kiwi Magazine Sample Pack contest
Played the Honeynut Cheerios giveaway - Didn't win anything
Qualified for a free subscription of Shape magazine

Bad

Lost my job & filed for unemployment

Budget - Under

Under budget in all categories - It's early in the month still!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-06-01T14:29:00.001-07:00

I finally got a Menu Plan together for the week! And I even did my shopping today! I'm feeling on the ball - at least I got one thing accomplished for the day!!

Monday - Fettuccine with Creamy Tomato Italian Sausage Sauce, garlic bread, green salad
Tuesday - Maple Honey Mustard Pork Chops, green beans, rice
Wednesday - Chicken Taco Wraps, guacamole, salsa, green salad
Thursday - Leftovers!
Friday - Hamburgers, corn on the cob, potato salad

Saturday and Sunday our youngest daughter has volleyball tournaments all day. Not sure what the plan will be for dinner, may be left overs, hotdogs, top ramen, pizza, etc. Definitely something quick and easy!

Week of 05/17

2009-05-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

A quick review of my week, the good, the bad, and the budget

Good

Signed up for an Electric Orange Savings account with ING Direct. After 3 debit card transactions, I'll get a bonus of $25 in my account. Enter Reference Code EM257 to get the bonus.
Sold 1 movie on half.com
Listed the Lexus for sale on Craigslist (twice)
Sent in for a free sample of L'Oreal Revitalift and EverPure
Earned $.60 on Surveyhead - Total earned = $5.80
Requested my free sample of Garnier Nutritioniste Ultra-Lift Pro Deep Wrinkle Cream
Finally(!) got an entry for free Mars Chocolate

Bad

Set up payment plan for State Taxes

Budget - Under

$125 Debt Snowball
$131 Education / Other, although I have no idea what I budgeted this for
$58 Groceries
$100 Pet Care - Need to schedule the dog for his shots
$15 Miscellaneous
$20 Entertainment

Budget - Over

$146 Household
$60 Healthcare
$31 Mortgages
$126 Cash
$200 Gas (Yikes!)
$17 Phone / Internet
$7 Gifts

Dang Taxes!!

2009-05-22T18:46:00.001-07:00

Just when I thought I had them all paid off!! Now we received a notice for another tax assessment, this time from the State. I didn't realize that when we amended our Federal Income Taxes, that we needed to amend our State Income Taxes as well. I suppose it makes sense. Now we are set up with another monthly payment plan, this time to the State. Just when I think we're starting to get ahead a little bit, add another $374 to our debt.

Updates

2009-05-19T22:20:00.000-07:00

I seriously need to post more often. I forget what I've got going on for the week and our ups and downs. I need to come up with a better system. Anywho, until then, my hours at work have been cut back to 3 days this week and I don't know if I'm even going in next week. Guess I will file for unemployment and start looking for another job.

We started the refinance of our house last week and the appraiser is coming out on Friday. Hopefully we can get this done before they find out I no longer have a full-time job. My fingers are crossed....

Starz & Free $$

2009-05-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

Carrie over at Money Saving Methods posted a great money maker when you sign up for Starz. So I logged on to DirecTV this morning and signed us up! No only do we get 14 new channels, but at the end of three months, I can mail in a rebate for $50! Yay, more movie channels!!!

Another Giveaway!!

2009-05-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

I must be feeling lucky today, or maybe just hopeful that I'll win a new swimsuit. The gals over at Chic Critique are giving away a Lands End swimsuit!! Comment by 5/16 to win!

Laptop Sleeve Giveaway!!

2009-05-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

Ellen at Thrifty and Chic Mom is giving away a cute laptop sleeve from CoverBee. Stop by and comment to win!

Bye Bye American Express

2009-05-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

Got you paid off this month finally!! So far we've got an additional $225 to put towards our debt snowball this month!! We're going to get the new carpet paid off hopefully next month!! That would be 2 months ahead of schedule!! I'm so excited!

Now I need to stay on budget this month. NO MORE EATING OUT!

Debt Snowball

2009-04-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the IRS applying our 2008 refund to our back taxes, we were able to make a $240 snowball payment to our American Express card and put an additional $26.00 in our Emergency Fund. It really does not seem like much, but every little bit is adding up.

We also went a little crazy this month and installed new carpet in our living room. Our thought is that we are going to be refinancing our home and need to get as high an appraisal as we possibly can and our old carpet (I mean 30 year old carpet) was litteraly worn and threadbare. Hopefully the new carpet will add value and bring the appraisal in higher. The bad part is that we financed the carpet through Home Depot on a 6 month, interest free rate. Which means that we had to add an additional $170 a month to our credit card payments to get it paid or else pay the accrued interest charges. The carpet does look really nice though!

Bye Bye IRS

2009-04-13T17:49:00.001-07:00

Yay!! One more payment we don't have to make!! The IRS applied part of our 2008 refund to the 2006 back taxes we owed. And here I was being so good in setting up our payment plan and paying on-time every month. It's nice to know that we will have an extra $100 to apply towards our debt snowball every month!!

Emergency Fund

2009-04-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

We just received our tax return and I've applied $800 of it towards our emergency fund. That brings our total to $1,047.59! Yay!!! It feels good to have it fully funded so now we can concentrate on paying down our debt instead of building up the fund. I'd be a little more comfortable if it were closer to $2,000, so I'm thinking that I'm going to apply 10% of our debt snowball to the EF every month to keep building it little by little.

My new favorite website

2009-03-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, I just spent the last hour exploring this site - Polyvore. I have no $$ to shop with (not to mention I have no fashion sense) but it was so much fun seeing what people had created! Oh, if I only had some $$. As soon as I can, I'm going to start budgeting a clothing allowance for myself!!

03/23/09 - Week in Review

2009-03-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

We did pretty good last week and should do even better this week! We're trying really hard to eat out of the freezer this week so as not to go over our grocery budget. I also earned a little extra money that is going straight into our Emergency Fund.

Started IDeals Online Offers

Reduced DirecTV bill $20.00 / month for 12 months

Listed 1 item on eBay

Signed up for YouData & made $4.06 this week. Not bad for just reading a few ads. Not a huge money maker, but every little bit helps!

Transferred $95.46 to Emergency Fund!

Made $2.81 on Half.com sales (net)

Bought 2 boxes of Easter Egg Decorations from Walgreens. 1 was on sale for $2.50 and the other was $.99. Used a $3 RR, and paid the remaining $.78 using a Walgreens GC. OOP = $0!

Menu Plan Monday - March 16th

2009-03-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

I've been menu planning off and on for a couple of years now. My weeks go so much easier when I have a menu plan than when I don't. I stress so much over what we are going to eat for dinner! Menu planning certainly helps my organization and my stress level! Here's our menu for this week, it is a relatively easy week for me for a change!

Sunday - Roasted Chicken, baked potatoes, frozen corn
Monday - YOYO - Kids have volleyball
Tuesday - Nani is cooking for St. Patrick's Day
Wednesday - YOYO - Kids have volleyball
Thursday - Fettuccine with Turkey Bolognese Sauce, garlic bread, green salad
Friday - Hot dogs, homemade fries, green beans
Saturday - Pork ribs, potato salad, frozen veggie of some kind

Thank You DirecTV

2009-03-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

So I finally bit the bullet and called DirecTV to ask about lowering our monthly rates. I hear about people doing this all the time and finally got up the nerve to do the same. I started off by asking for the Cancellation Department. I told the guy I talked to that I didn't want to cancel, but wanted to find out if there would be a "cancellation fee" or anything. Which it turns out there is, a $220 cancellation fee. Apparently our current contract does not end until February 2010. But the nice man on the phone was able to give me a $20 / month (for one year) break on their fees, as well as remove the $5 protection plan. So we end up saving $300 this year on our DirecTV bills!! Yay! Thank you DirecTV!!

Week In Review

2009-03-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

I've decided that I need to post a weekly recap of what went on financially for the week prior. This way I'll keep reminding myself how close we are to our budget, if we're over, etc. Anywho, on with the show!

I think overall, we are doing pretty good. Considering this is the second month I have ever actually "budgeted", we are not doing too bad sticking to it. We're a little over in a couple categories for the month:

Education / Other = <-$122.50>
Food / Restaurants = <-$13.52>
Medical / Doctor = <-$90.00>
Gifts <-$6.00>
Car Repairs =<-$488.70>
Phone / Internet = <$-2.68>

Not a whole lot I can do about any of these excess charges. I guess I should just be glad that we were able to pay for them in cash and not have to use credit for any of them. Unfortunately, I feel like we're never going to get our $1,000 emergency fund in place. I've only been able to send $79.00 this month towards it. I guess it is better than nothing, but not as much as I would have liked.

Walgreens Deals!!

2009-03-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

I totally love Walgreens and have been coupon shopping there for about a year or so. I always say I'm going to post my savings but never do. Since I'm trying really hard to stick to my grocery budget of $100/week, getting good deals at WAGS certainly helps out!

Here's what I got this week:

(3) Diet Pepsi 8-packs - $8.00
Received $3.00 RR

Fiber One Cereal Bars - $1.99
Used $0.60 coupon
= $1.39 ($0.28 each bar) - Great for lunch snacks!

Colgate Toothpaste - $3.29
Used $0.75 Coupon
Received $3.50 RR
= $0.96 Overage

Hot & Cold Pack - $2.19
I would have sworn this was marked as $10.00 something. On the WAGS website, it shows it for $7.99. Not complaining at all about this one!!

Axe Pomeade - $5.99
- $5.99 ES Rebate
= Free

(2) Revlon Eyeliners - $7.79 / B1G1
Used (2) $1.00 coupons
= $5.79 ($2.90 each)

Total = $24.45
Used $5.00 RR
Used $21.99 on giftcard
Total = $2.46 OOP

Received $6.50 on RR to use next time
Will get $5.99 on ESR
Yay me!

Every little bit counts

2009-03-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

I know it's not much, but I just deposited $28.00 to our Emergency Fund. That brings the grand total to $73.01. Yeah, I know, whoopee....

Somehow though, that $28.00 makes me feel just a little better.

Envelope System

2009-03-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try the "envelope" system this month for budgeting. That means paying "cash" for everything, instead of using my debit card. Which also means having to go to the bank and take out cash every week to replenish the envelopes since we don't have enough money in savings to cover the envelopes for the entire month. I'm going to do this with our oldest daughter too and put all her gas money for the month into one envelope. If she runs out half-way through the month, guess she'll need to dip into her savings.

February Month End

2009-02-25T20:35:00.000-08:00

What a crazy month it has been!!! And oh my goodness, have we gone over budget!! I can't believe how much we've spent on food this month. Almost $1000! We are definitely eating more frugal in March, and no eating out!!

1 down....

2009-02-09T19:35:00.001-08:00

....and I can't even count how many more to go, but I just paid off our Circuit City card! Yay!!! Happy dance!!!

Go Baby Go!

2009-02-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

Hubby just called to tell me he got a promotion at work today!! Yay!! Hopefully it also comes with a big fat raise, but I am not counting my chickens (yet)!

Yikes!

2009-02-06T08:40:00.000-08:00

So I just updated the sidebar with our total debt we owe. Wow, when you add it all up, it looks huge! I guess that's because it is huge! Thankfully we both have good paying jobs at the moment and we have a plan. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I'm just hoping that it's not a train.

January Update

2009-02-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

Trying to get into budgeting this month was super difficult. I spent literally hours trying to figure it all out. I ended up downloading YNAB and am giving every dollar a job (even the ones we don't have)! I had to cash out some stock last month to make our house payment and unfortunately, it didn't transfer as soon as I thought it would and we ended up with $228 in bank and late payment charges. Thankfully, we are totally on track this month (February) and hopefully we'll never see another late fee again!

Here's how we did:
Credit Card Debt = $114,728.69 (down $288.66) - Hubby traveled a lot in January and didn't get reimbursed until recently. Hopefully this will drop in February.
Groceries = Budgeted $500, spent $646
Gas = Budgeted $400, spent $438

The areas above are the expenses I'm really trying to control, especially the credit card debt. Wish me luck in bringing this number down soon.

2009 Goals

2009-02-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

Just a simple list of things I'd like to get accomplished this year...

Reduce our debt by $10,000 or more.
Begin funding our Emergency Fund and contribute at least $1,000.
Make lunches for everyone at least 3 times per week.
Meal plan! Need I say more?!
Pay off IRS.
List at least one item per week on eBay - clear out the clutter!
Stay under $400 per month on groceries & household items.

That's it for the moment. I'm sure I'll add more as I go along.

Welcome to 2009!

2009-01-13T18:51:00.000-08:00

Well, we're still in debt but at least hubby has a job now so the bleeding can can at least be patched a bit. Our current debt is over $115K, not including our mortgages and cars.

So much for a found $125

2008-11-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

I should have went to the bank or at least made an extra payment on something and then that would have forced me to deposit the money. Instead, I kept it in my wallet and have 20 bucks left. DOH! But, in my defense, it did go to good use. Most of it went to buying pumpkins at Usuegi Farms, then out to dinner at Super Taqueria. Another $20 went to the oldest for the movies and dinner (a little surprize!), which I don't usually do. Ok, I never do. So it was nice splurging for a change. And in return? We won the football pool again on Monday night. Not just one quarter this time, but two. Hello $250 smackers! Yay me!

Damn Football!!

2008-10-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, so yeah, we're trying to get out of debt. So what am I doing spending an extra $10 a week playing in a football pool? WINNING! That's what I'm doing. My mom just dropped off $125.00 in cash from the pool we won 2 weeks ago. $125 just sitting in my wallet. I know I should go to the bank and deposit it and pay bills with it. Grrrrrr.

Accountability

2008-10-28T18:32:00.000-07:00

Just how did we manage to get ourselves into over $115,000 in debt? It seems difficult doesn't it. And that doesn't even count our mortgages (yes, plural) or our car payments (again plural). I'm hoping to intend to use this blog to document our journey in getting out of debt and getting two kids in college and a substantial college fund for the third.