Sometimes I just get into a debt paying mood. You see, I've had this cable bill that has been lingering around since Christmas of 2008. Yes, you have read that correctly. I guess because I don't get cable bills in the mail, they don't tell me when I've missed a payment. Apparently that Christmas I did. So the past couple of years, I never paid the double bill, only the month that had just passed. I know, I've been a bad Natalie. Tonight, just so that I'm not dragging it around in the new year, I paid it. All 189.45 of it (that's for 2 months). I'm still thinking about reducing the cable. It's already pretty bare bones, no cable box, no tevo, nothing. But if we aren't watching it, and we mostly watch movies anyway, we might as well. I'm jealous of people with cable boxes that tell them what they're watching. We just have to guess. Half the reason I don't watch the cool tv shows is that I don't know when they're on or what channel.

Another debt I'm paying tonight is a medical bill from February. I had thought my insurance took care of it when instead they sent me a check which I had no idea what it was for. I didn't get this bill until july or august. I'm just getting around to paying it; it's $124. It will get sent off tonight.

And since I'm giving all my money away, why not send some to the student loans? After I write this blog I'll send $20 to the biggest one and $10 to the smaller one.

I'm a little scared about being so generous though; my hours at work have been cut from 40 to 30, just the bare minimum to keep insurance.

I don't know if this was a dumb move or not, but I am stopping my fsa contributions. I didn't like it from the start, and now I feel forced to send in forms just to get my own money back. I know it's pretaxed and saves me money and all that, but the hassle it causes me just isn't worth it. Not to mention OTC meds won't be covered w/out an rx. I know that's a government thing but that's just stupid. On top of that, I tried to print the forms at work and they wouldn't print. Good riddance to that mess.

Hope everyone has a great new year! Maybe I'll post some goals on the side. Everyone needs a few goals in life.

Since I got such a wonderful dog from an animal shelter, this Christmas I decided that it would be my special charity. Of course the animals don't know that it's Christmas, but they do feel cold and loneliness.

Instead of giving the shelter some cash (which of course they could use for whatever they wanted), I thought that my money could go further by shopping around. I had a $5 off coupon at Walgreens and with my employee discount, a $10 dog bed became less than $4. I bought 3 blankets and 3 towels at Goodwill, which came up for less than $10. I also had 2 old blankets with a few holes in them laying around the house. I had a brand new collar that I didn't end up using a while back (I could have returned it I guess, but really not worth the energy) and a toy that Jackie couldn't play with because it's too big. So for 5 blankets, 3 towels, a brand new dog bed, a new collar, and a tennis ball: total was approx $13 to $14 dollars.

So the next time ya'll have old blankets, towels, pet related things, or just a great deal on something that a dog or cat would like, I hope you will consider donating it to your local animal shelter. The websites for shelters will usually have a list. Oh, and one more thing: Adopt, don't shop!

Hi everyone, today is a sick day for me. I tried to go in but I was very nauseous, etc. I won't go into details. Louisiana weather can be sudden and whenever it gets cold I catch a cold. Yesterday people were wearing short sleeves. Tonight it may go into freezing temps!

Anyway this month has been a lot of fun in some ways. I have gotten to catch up with a ton of friends. Also I got to go to the Renaissance Festival and rode an elephant there! It was so much fun even though I was exhausted from the one day trip.

Financially, the month has been a bust. $100 here, $100 there. But when I say bust, I just mean that I haven't been able to save much. On my last check I saved $200, but I don't think I saved any on the last 2 checks before that! I am kind of disappointed in myself because I can afford to save $300 on every paycheck. But that doesn't mean that it happens! Also I make 1400 every month. My major bills equal a little over $400. With about $100 for food and approx $50 for gas I don't know where the rest is going. However I did loan a family member $100 this month and getting it back would be like having saved it. Unfortunately this family member hasn't said anything about it.

I'm not looking forward to Christmas really. I would rather save all that money. If that sounds selfish, I'm sorry. I know everyone appreciates a gift on Christmas, but after that day, nobody cares! What's the point? The religious aspect means nothing to me as well. Maybe if I had my own family with kids or something but nowadays, it's not so exciting.

Been seeing a new guy for the last month and a half, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I like spending time with him and all, but he is broke from his low-paying job so we don't do too much but watch dvd's. And then he says stuff like when he gets a better paying job he won't have time for anything else. If that's not writing on the wall, I don't know what is! So I don't really know what to do with that.

But anyway, sorry this is such a negative sounding post. Being sick doesn't put you in the best of moods I guess. And if I don't get paid for a sick day today, my paycheck will be really bad.

Hope everyone is doing better than I am, haha!

PS: To cheer everyone back up I'm including a Thanksgiving pic of me and the dog I got in July. I loved it so much I made a poster out of it, lol!

Hey everybody, first blog of the month (finally).

This past week my boss asked me to write a formal complaint letter to a jewelry store for her. I spent a few hours on it and emailed it to her. When she read it she was pretty pleased. Then she paid me $15 bucks for it! I wasn't even expecting any money for it, I thought she was joking at first even. The reason she wanted me to do it was because if companies piss me off, I write a complaint letter (I will also write a letter if I received good service). So whenever I do write one I usually tell my fellow employees about it usually just because it's something to talk about. I've become known laughingly for writing them and my boss genuinely did want me to write one for her. Today when she got to work she put $15 bucks in my pocket! I thanked her and told her I really wasn't expecting anything. Pretty cool overall. I tried to get really angry for her while writing it, lol!

In other news, I paid $130 for the Praxis test, which is the test for teacher certification. I'm trying to find a school that will certify me at the moment as well. Problem is that the directions for doing so is not real clear. I just know that I'm taking the first step. Second step? No idea. The official Teach Louisiana page is confusing and just tells you a list of schools that will certify you. I wish I had someone's help. Hopefully I'll figure it out though.

In savings news I'm trying to put away at least $600 a month in hopes of going to grad school (for education). If I go to the University of New Orleans my uncle has offered to put me up for free, but we'll see how things go with getting into a school and all.

Anyway just wanting to put out a blog. Hope everyone is well, and I do read everyone else's blogs just about every day, I just get lazy myself and there's not much going on lately. I'll blog again at the end of the month.

And why am I so excited about money? Because not only is my car paid off, but this month is one of those awesome 3 paycheck months. I figured this out just a couple days ago by the way. How did I miss stuff like this before? I've been paid the same way for YEARS! I'm really trying to figure out what I should do with the funds. I got one paycheck on the 1st, then I will get one on the 15th, then again on the 29th.

So I'm trying to figure out where the money should be allotted to. Apparently this is also a conundrum to others on the internet as well when I googled it (Yes, I AM a giant nerd girl). I would LOVE to save about $1000 (each paycheck is around 600 to 650). Not to mention I will get holiday pay for tomorrow!! Also I asked my boss if insurance deductions will come out of that third paycheck and she said "No, that would be illegal," lol. So that's an extra $50 maybe a little more.

It just feels so good to save so much more money now that a huge debt is gone. And I get that much closer to moving out as well, once I find the right apartment and the right roommate(s). I think that I will try to especially allot the next paycheck towards paying off a couple of smalls debts (dentist, medical) plus the student loan bills. After that I should be able to allocate the rest towards saving. The last paycheck will go towards a couple of bills early in the next month, and the rest shall be mine to save!

However, I have to say sometimes when I blog about extra money, I feel as if I'm bragging about it. I would like to say that I'm not trying to if it seems like it! I just feel the need to write everything out for myself more or less, and why not on my financial blog?

One more thing: I may have to take my cat to the vet soon. Ever since we got a dog, he's been super nervous. He's always been on hyper alert all his life, but I think the new dog is making him lose weight. I easily feel his spine sticking out and you can tell by looking at him that he's thin. He still eats and drinks though. He also had an accident on the rug which is very unusual for him. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, thanks to those who read my ramblings. I'll most likely check in soon.

What? I know, I can hardly believe it either. I went inside the bank today (with my check, some cash, and some change) and expected to sign a bunch of papers or something, something meaningful (balloons falling from the ceiling?) Nope, just a "Your title will come in 7 to 10 days." Well at least it's over with. Now, just some student loans to work on and unfortunately some charged off medical debt. So now I have a paid off car!

So I had a bunch of blood tests done that I didn't even really need in March. I wasn't even aware of what they were testing for. I just knew that I was being tested for problems with my liver (I am an epileptic and am on a medication that can affect the liver, so no I'm not an alcoholic, lol!) The tests range from 29.75 to 90.50 and there were 6 of them done which caused the bill to be 365.35. I think that is ridiculous. Five months later I finally get the bill for 124.00. The insurance picked up the rest. Actually my insurance sent ME a check for this amount way back in April but I didn't know who the money was for since I hadn't received a bill from anybody. Maybe I shouldn't be complaining since technically insurance paid the whole thing (the 124 is actually from my health savings account). But it just sucks that I'm getting the bill now. I don't know if I should pay it from my checking account or pull it from my savings where I originally put the money.

In other news, in a few days from now I will be paying the very last payment on my car. It will feel so good. It's a large payment though (550) so my checking account won't be feeling so good.

I put a dress up on Craigslist that I had never worn and it didn't sell. I'm going to try and sell it through ebay I guess since I would like to make money off it before donating it. It was once an expensive dress.

Bye everyone, and hope everyone is having better weather than I am here. It has been raining consistently all day due to some storm that's hit the gulf.

Well the last time I wrote, it got deleted so I'll try again.

The main thing I wanted to write about was my car loan. It will be paid off next month!! I decided instead of dragging it out with 3 smaller payments to just do 2 large ones since I feel I can afford it. It's depressing to spend most of your paycheck on a car loan but it will feel sooo good not to have it on my back anymore. So I will pay 553 dollars next month and it will be done. Title please! I've been saving change and picking up whatever change I see on the ground and putting all of that towards it too. I gave the bank $25 in change which I had saved for several months.

RANT ALERT!
In other money news I am owed $50 from my work for a work expense. I just haven't gotten around to claiming it. Also my fsa account is giving me back at least $60. Do any of you that have an fsa account have to save receipts so you can send it in with forms to reclaim your money? Probably not. It's the stupidest thing ever. I wish I hadn't done it looking back but now I know. So now that the papers are mailed in I have to wait until the money is deposited in my bank account. Also only until recently did they deposit the money direct deposit. They were sending checks out. That would have been fine I guess but it just would have taken longer. They won't switch to debit fsa's because "not enough employees enroll in fsa". This is Walgreens, not Mom and Pop's Pharmacy and Convenience store. I hope they see this post btw. Thanks for letting me rant!

So for less money news, I went to auto zone recently to pick up some auto coolant. I decided to get some for my sister as well. I found some buy one get one with a rebate. So I filled out the rebate then got it in the mail. As a side note, I received from them what I thought was a post card. Nope, it was THE rebate check. In postcard form. WTF?? It just seemed wrong to me. So anyway I was happy about that and put the check away in my room. It then disappeared when things were moved around (not by me.) I believe it had an expiration date on it to cash it by and I cannot find it anywhere! I'm really mad at myself for this but I swear to god this house eats things, anyone in my family will tell you the same thing. $13.99 vanished.

I got a dog recently as well. He is a Pekingese mix (Pekingese face, Papillion-like body, so I don't have to deal with all the hair). I did get him from a shelter, a kill-shelter at that, though I don't think they would have euthanized him since he was very adoptable. The lab techs even kept him with them while they worked since he was so quite and nice. He is 2 to 3 years old and only has one eye. He was given up by the owner because of the cost of his surgery. I don't know exactly what happened, just some sort of accident. He's a wonderful little dog though we are still working on potty training. He picked up a "potty wherever I want to" habit in the shelter but he's doing very well. I will add pictures so you can see Jackie.

It costs so much to have a dog! Especially getting started! Heartworm/flea meds were over $60, plus a followup vet visit. And I got so mad because I spent a lot of money at Petco for supplies. The shelter had given me coupons for rescue dogs. I thought they were for Petsmart so I left them at home. Of course when I looked at them again they were for Petco. I really need to pay attention to detail if I am to become a smart money person.

Anyway even with the money spent I'm so glad I have him. I had a dog briefly over 15 years ago but because of issues that were not the dog's fault we had to give her up. I missed her very much and I grew up with dogs so it always feels like something is missing. They are a lot of work but it is rewarding and I wish I could do more for the shelter dogs (and cats). It sounds corny but we are very lucky to have each other!

Well, sorry for the unexpectedly long post, I envy you guys who can post more frequently, because I can't seem to keep up with anything.

Ok, maybe not a "super skilled master" but I am kind of proud of myself. My sister has been looking for cars for about 6 months now trying to build up as much money as she could after her last car broke down. I LOVE looking at cars and talking to dealers and all that unlike some people who don't like the hassle.
She missed out on a decently priced car for about $1600 that was pretty nice plus it had a/c. People brought money like, 20 minutes before she did.

I found the listing on Craigslist (she bought her last one through it and the guy selling it was creepy btw, whole different story) for a Ford Escort '99. But not just a regular boring Escort. It's a Ford Escort Zx2 Sport and is super cute. It has power everything and a sunroof. It's a black coupe. Paint still looks good and it has a few scuffs but overall looks great.

Here is what really gets on my nerves: when car dealers or personal owners do not even bother to clean out the insides of their vehicles. I mean, if you want to sell it you would at least want to have it detailed, or cleaned yourself right? I have seen this too many times with used cars and it just really aggravates me. This car was actually clean on this inside with little to no staining. I understand it's the inside that counts but it makes me think that it wasn't maintained well overall.

Back to the story: We looked it over and test drove it, and I knew the approximate dealer price for it. Sis really loved it and I liked it too. So I then told her to possibly ask for a lower price. She then said, "But I don't know how to do that!" So I had to ask myself if I would want to try for a lower price, even though it seemed that the price was about right for the vehicle. We went inside the office and I said, "Well, she does like it, but we were wondering if there was any room in that price?" All smooth like. I expected the lady to go down 1 or 2 hundred. She automatically went from 2300 to 2000 all because I asked nicely. I thought that was a VERY reasonable price plus that left my sister with extra money for insurance. Yay!

Maybe I should start a car negotiator service kind of like William Shatner in the Priceline commercials. CAR PRICE NEGOTIATOR!!! That would be fun.

As far as my own car goes, once I get a chance to get to the credit union I will then owe approx. 1300. I forgot how to update the side of the blog though. Also this week I have picked up 62 cents off the ground, mostly coming from a car wash that had change laying all over the parking lot. It was very exciting!!

Hope everyone on SA has a great weekend!

Hi all it's been approx. a month since I've blogged because I've been dealing with a lot of crap recently. The boyfriend and I have broken up sadly but I won't go into it here, it's just the regular old feelings of sadness and all of the stuff that goes into breaking up with your best friend. Sucks but life is going to go on. Also I had to have a back tooth pulled which is still sore and I wish I had known how bad it would hurt so I could've taken some days off. I know from now on but I just wish the dentist would have told me this might would happen.

Anyway onto better things, my sister moved back into my parents house and things are a little cramped. But I think I may be in a much better place to move out later this year so that's a major goal for me. I also mentioned in one of my past blogs that I was going to try and make an extra thousand dollars of money to save. I've been working really hard on that and decided to post my results finally.

Tally on extra thousand:
1. Sold an old working laptop that I wasn't using anymore. I now use an Acer laptop that my dad got me and I love it. I loved the old laptop too and I genuinely hated getting rid of it since I had it for so long but I'm trying to look at things from the point of view that if I'm not using it at all and haven't been for a long time I might as well get rid of it by selling or giving it away. I had asked my now ex-boyfriend how much it might be worth and he said he didn't think I could get anything for it because of it being old (him and his negativity) but I could try for $100. I put it on Craigslist and ended up with $75. Looks like someone did think it was valuable enough to pay for it!

2. Received an unexpected check from my health insurance company because my doctor was overcharging me or something. Check was $125.00.

3. Overtime at my job. I received about $12.

So the total so far is $212! That's on top of my emergency fund too, so I'm excited to keep building upon this. I will also count up my change and extra dollars as well and possibly add that in later.

Tomorrow I have a TON of things I need to get done including pay more on my car. Last time they didn't take any interest out, maybe because I've paid so much in advance? I was kind of confused on that since they were taking out interest before and I was paid ahead then too. Whatever if it all is going to principle then that's awesome. Total on that after tomorrow is going to be $1650. Getting so close! Also I'm going to a consignment store and attempting to sell some clothes, if they take even one thing then that's a plus and more money for my personal challenge. I'm also going to try and get money back from my technician certification (that might be a story in itself) and send off the forms to reclaim some FSA money. Then I'm going to dump a ton of stuff off at the Goodwill. It will hopefully be a very productive day and a great long weekend for me!

Couldn't think of a better title to this post but the one that's there about sums it up.

First things first, I have an old Dell laptop that has been sitting around forever collecting dust. It definitely works and is functional but it is large and clunky and heavy. I still like it though and think it's a good computer, but I have a netbook now that I absolutely love. So I thought maybe I should just sell the old one because I never use it. I was kind of keeping it around for the cd drive but I now have access to a separate cd drive if I need to use one so what's the point? You know what the stupid thing is? I'm saying all of this because I'm sad I'm selling it and I feel like writing this will explain myself (possibly to the computer? lol). So the other day I put it up on Craigslist and it got a few offers which were all the same amount: $75. Since that seemed the most anyone would give up I went with the first email and it seems he wants it for his kids. At least it might be going to a good home. I am meeting him somewhere outside my home Sunday. I feel like I'm giving up a pet!!

Secondly my mom and dad's dryer went out the other day. They were looking at used dryers for sale until they told me and I was like "Wait, [insert boyfriend's name here] has an extra washer and dryer just sitting at his house and the dryer works! And bf has a truck to get it here with! Perfect!" So that was pretty lucky. My dad even offered gas money but bf wouldn't take it. Dad thought it would be nice to offer anyway. That saved a bunch of the parent's money. It's an older dryer but it works so no one's complaining here!

Third, my company owes me $100 from when I had to file paperwork for pharmacy technician certification. I was told it would get put into my bank account through direct deposit "quickly" but that was two months ago. I am not in dire need of this money as I might have mentioned in a past entry but you all can probably understand that I would like my money back if it was promised to be reimbursed.

Fourth, car debt is down to $2001. Weird thing is that when I paid it this last time they didn't take any interest out of it. It might be because I've paid so much on the car that my next actual payment date is posted for June. However if this is true than I wonder why I've been paying interest for quite a few months now when the posted payment date was 2 or 3 months later. This is totally confusing me. I'm not complaining about the not paying interest part, but I just don't understand why they didn't charge me any at all. I should ask next time and hope I don't mess up a good thing, lol! Anyone have any insight?

Thanks as always for reading, hope I didn't bore anyone too badly this time!!

Well I'm kind of nervously writing this because later I'm getting dental work done, but I've forgotten what I'm getting done and how much it will cost. I guess I'll find out in less than an hour. I know I'll have the money to pay but I just hate paying out that much at one time.

I did my taxes last night. It took a long time to get my stuff together so I finished at about 11pm. Took about an hour overall. I'm really excited because I was praying I wouldn't have to pay anything but as it turns out I'm getting a little less than $500 back. I don't know what to do with the money though! Pay towards debt or save it to help me move out later this year. Before I move out I want the car note completely gone, so maybe car debt?

Speaking of car debt there is 2300 on it. I still have to pay March's note so that will bring it to around 2000, maybe a little less! I just remember thinking how long it would take to bring that sucker down and now it's almost here!

Student loans are there too. They are about at a little under 13,000.

I called a company that I sent my resume to today, and left a message on HR's voicemail. They haven't gotten back to me yet if they ever do. I so wish my school had a better system of finding graduates jobs. I know it's not their problem but it would have been nice.

Anyway, birthday weekend is coming up. I have decided that I would like to go to the zoo with my family and a few friends. After that I'll probably go out to some bars and hang out with friends. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Ok so a couple of projects I've learned about on Savings Advice. I'll tell you about the worst one first because I would like to warn people about it.

The first is the infamous Nielson Shopping Scanner (or whatever you call it.) AVOID it like plague. It's not that it doesn't work well. Oh, it works alright. So you take EVERY SINGLE THING YOU BUY and scan it. Well, actually first you have to select the person in the house who bought it. Then you scan the item. Then you tell it if there was a deal involved. Then you tell it if you used a coupon. Then you tell it how much it was. Repeat ad nauseum per item until you get to the end and put in how much the total was. I know what you're thinking: "Well, if it were me I would just lie." Actually I do lie. A lot. I lie so hard to that thing.

You might be wondering why I would ever order such a thing, not to mention wait months to be accepted into the program. Well, I'm a huge sucker for free things. Supposedly you get rewards for transmitting the results every week, then you get bonuses for surveys and for being a good shopper and transmitting on time. At least the transmitting part is not a problem. It sits in it's charger and self transmits. If you have enough points you can actually get some decent stuff like ipods and electronics. But believe me you'll be scanning things for about a decade before you'll get something decent. Also supposedly you can win some weekly and monthly prizes. But I don't care. I'll be sending it back in a week or so. I guess I'm just lazy but why do all this for so long to maybe get 1 or 2 semi-nice things?

On to thing #2. It is called Amazon Mechanical Turk and it is run by Amazon.com. I learned about it from Ceejay a while back. You basically do really tiny tasks for a very small amount of money, and I do mean small. I try to do the ones from .20 to 2.00. Now a lot of people don't like it because of the small amounts of money that you get from doing work, but sometimes the work is ridiculously easy and can be done quickly.

Some of the "hits" as they are called range from writing stories about your vacation (I received a dollar recently for doing this), reviewing a recent movie, doing surveys about your opinions, as well as occasional games that you play. The amount that you get varies. Also since I've been doing this I've gotten emails from some of the employers asking me to do other similar hits to the ones I've already done for them and gotten bonus money. Critics have complained about the low amount that one receives from mturk. But I don't do it as a job. If I didn't have a full time job I would be better off taking a part time job than doing mturk all the time. However, I enjoy the tasks, as well as doing it whenever I want. When I get bored and have a free minute or while watching tv, whatever. Then when I get some money built up (Amazon has no minimum in order to transfer btw) I can either convert the money into an Amazon gift card or transfer it into my bank account. It's super easy.

Anyway I've spent way to long on this post. I'll give everyone a more personal update soon especially on debt levels.

Hey everybody, been wanting to write for a while but haven't come up with much. Well today I'm having a sick day. I feel very bad for calling in (today would have been a very very bad day to call in) but I am legitimately sick, and am going to the doctor later, so I'll have an excuse. Sure I'll be out of some money maybe, but I'm thinking I'll ask for today to be a vacation day so I'll get paid for it. Btw, I have 23 vacation days! I'll never use all of them but I'll see!

I found out today that I'm getting a refund of $57. This is what I paid at the doctor at the beginning of February though I had insurance. The nurse who billed me simply said that I have a $1000 deductable, however I also have a HRA with several hundred in it that should have been billed. So I called my insurance and they said that I need the doctor to refund my money! I'm so glad I called. The whole time I was thinking that maybe the doctor was out of network or something. Later today I will ask them about that and make sure they don't charge another $57!

Another refund I hope to be getting is one for $135 for work expenses, and I should definetely get $100 of it. The other 35 is for the notary that kind of screwed me over.

I was also thinking about a bunch of ya'll's money challenges. I never really understood the $20 challenge or anything, but I think what I will do is challenge myself to earning an extra $1000 this year. No time limit or anything. It should be interesting.

Today, since I can stay home, I'll pay the car note. That will bring down the debt to around the 2300 mark.

Love the change blogging from everyone. I love finding change and look for it often (I'm encouraged by everyone here) but I won't bore you with the details. Hope everyone has a great March! My birthday is coming up on the 27th so I love March myself!

I was kind of excited about my first Mardi Gras parade of the season today. I brought along my mom and younger brother, but we left pretty early. It was just so darn cold!!! My legs were numb as were my feet and I forgot my gloves which would have been very helpful. We got a few large beads and some candy but we just couldn't take it. It's been pretty warm this week but of course on my weekend off it has to turn freezing!! Stupid Louisiana weather can never make up it's mind in the winter time.

Speaking of weekend off I am actually working tomorrow morning 8-3. I hate getting up so early on a Sunday but it's in photo, which is easier than being in the pharmacy. Only thing is that I haven't worked photo in a while and I don't know if I'll remember how to do everything! The manager says I'll do fine, but I don't know. I'll make it the best way I know how I guess. I took it because there's a chance of overtime with it, and if there isn't it's about $70 extra. I will hopefully be able to apply it to my car loan debt. There's really no other way to make any extra money right now so I figured it would help.

The car loan debt is at 2,667! It feels so close. I'm paying minimum on my student loans right now so it's a little over $13k. On the new job front it's still not looking very good. A couple of the places I've applied have sent me emails that I need to reapply because they have a new human resources website or something. It is so hard to write a resume for each job, not to mention cover letters!

I hope everyone out there is making their savings and getting out of debt goals!

Not mine really but everyone in my family is having huge care issues.

Well actually I did have a small problem yesterday. I have a Honda Civic that I've lost the remote keys to a few days ago. So I've been using the valet key. Well I was trying to help my dad jump his car off the other day. Afterwards, I purposefully left the key on the front seat, I guess because it was cold and I didn't feel like getting it or whatever. I normally wouldn't do that. Well, I never locked either door that night since it's impossible to lock the door without a key or when the door is open. I've considered it foolproof ever since I've had the car.

Well, when me and mom went out to run errands yesterday, both doors were LOCKED! With the key inside! So therefore there is no explanation except that the car simply locked itself. I know it does this while using the remote but I didn't know it did that using just the key. Crazy, huh?? I've never known it to do that! Anyway, Pop a Lock had to come which cost $55. I was soooo pissed at myself and my car.

Like I mentioned my dad's car will not start even after replacing the starter. A guy that came out to install the starter basically told him that he probably needs a new car anyway. It has a ton of stuff wrong with it (it's 19 years old.)He definitely does not have the money for one.

On top of that my younger sister's car is completely broke down. No clue what's wrong with that one either. She wants to sell it off for a few hundred if possible. BTW her car is 19 years old too! Anyone noticing a pattern? I've never been more happy about owning a 7 year old car!

On the job front no one's called, no interviews (though I did find out that I would never want to work for Metlife!)

My car loan is down to 3,033. I'm hoping to pay it off in 6 to 8 months. I'm also starting payments on student loans this month! Oh boy!

Hope everyone on here is keeping warm and not regretting holidays too much!

And I'm really upset about it!! I know it could be worse, but come on, it's not even been an entire month! I spent approximately $36 to upgrade and buy the phone and this happens. I thought that my old replacement Nokia was a bit simple and I really do like this phone (btw it's a Motorola Karma QA1 for anyone interested) but what a piece of crap!

The sad thing is that it wasn't even dropped or anything when the screen went out today. I literally turned the alarm off and the screen never came back on. Really puzzling.

The main thing I'm upset about though is the money that was spent. What if Wal-mart doesn't take it back for some reason or exchange it? I guess I could try to get Motorola themselves to fix it. But that would cost in shipping. The phone has a small dent on one side and a scuff mark on the glass so that's why I'm afraid they won't take it back. If they do, should I even get another one? Grrr...

As for a debt update, car loan is now at 3,360. It's taking forever! Student loan hits for the 1st time next month. Super excited about that as you might understand. Also Christmas presents have yet to be bought!

Haven't made a post in a while, but been kind of busy. First things first, tomorrow I pay $350 more dollars on the car loan, which brings me down to approx. $3340. I also REALLY need an oil change. So on my day off tomorrow, I hope to get that done. Maybe I can find a coupon somewhere? Just bought a new phone for $20, because my old one was real crappy. Got a new contract which I'll have to pay $18 more dollars on this bill which brings it to almost $40, but I love my new phone (Motorola Karma). Not really frugal mind you, but ya'll have no idea how much I hated that old phone and I liked the way this one looked. The last one I liked was stolen in the break room at work! I gave the old one to my sister.

So anyway I thought I'd write a blog about a book that I just recently finished called Shattered Dreams: My life as a Polygamist's Wife. This book is quite thick, but was never slow or boring. It is basically a memoir of as you might guess a polygamist's wife.

Although the author had a chance to marry a man who loved her and her alone, she chose to marry a man who already had one wife. So she became the second and there were many others! Some of the wives, especially the first and the author became jealous of the others even though they thought they knew what they were getting into by marrying him. He told them from the first that he planned on marrying at least 7 seven wives in order to make a quorum of wives. And he definitely completed his life's work! The man had to make a lot of sacrifices to do this including splitting up his time with each wife, and sometimes not even seeing them for months at a time. And it seemed that everytime he did spend time with a wife, she ended up pregnant. After he married the author, the family of four (Him, his first wife, their child, and the author) moved to Mexico because they would have more freedom to practice their beliefs.

The family was always dirt poor, especially as the husband kept adding more and more wives to the family, and therefore more children. The wives had to make their own sanitary napkins, and rarely had toilet paper. The author sometimes had to wear her husband's pants because she had no maternity wear. They often made clothes made out of flour sacks. Toys for the children were very rare and were often simply party favor toys (like whistles) or second-hand.

What's more is that birth control was a terrible sin. After the author had something like 11 or 12 kids, a doctor recommended she have no more kids because of health issues. The husband's response to this was that they couldn't have sex anymore. The author desperately wanted to get her tubes tied, and eventually got her wish after one more child, but not after much condemning from her neighbors and the church. The family was always trying to help each other with farming and things and trying to bring in money, but the husband apparently lived in a fantasy world where he assumed God would provide for all of his children even when he wasn't bringing in much money or simply not enough. The author was raised in a polygamist family in which her dad had the same problem as her husband in which he just couldn't bring in enough money for all the children. His wives eventually left him.

The book was also very frustrating because the author wants to leave her husband several times but is afraid she'll never see her children again. Although she tries to remain a good wife to her husband, she is always emotionally frustrated with never being able to be with her husband, as well as financially frustrated because there is rarely enough basic needs to go around. Her husband ended up with 10 wives, and 58(!) children. Can you imagine trying to help provide for all these children??

I enjoy reading memoirs such as this because it really puts one' s own life into perspective and makes one think (depending on the life), "At least I'm not in that situation!" I also would like to recommend it to any bookworms on the SA blogs because I know there's a few out there.

I was a little late paying my car payment because I just couldn't get to the bank on time! It was due on the 25th and I finally paid it today. There are fees involved if I pay 10 days late, so I wasn't worried. What I don't like is that interest goes up by a few dollars depending on how late I pay! And although I can get into the Credit Union online system, I haven't figured out how to pay it online. This CU is two towns away (on campus at LSU) so it's a pain in the butt. I may start mailing it if I can't figure it out online. But anyway that aside, I paid $361 dollars toward the car loan which is $100 more than I have to pay. I used a check, extra paper dollars and some change as well. It is now down to $3,993!!

Also a little while ago I signed up for Mint.com and I absolutely love it. It's what I really need to keep me in check! A friend downloaded quicken into my netbook, and it never could upload my stuff. If any of you need help budgeting I highly recommend it if you don't already do something like it or have an account. I think it's fun to look at the pie graphs and such. Obviously I've never done this before, lol!

Well, back to Venture Brothers!

So right now I'm taking a break from rolling up change to blog. The reason I'm rolling them all up is to exchange them for less car loan debt. Lately I'm been really checking the ground and parking lots to find extra change. I keep it all in a piggy bank. I'm hoping it all adds up to about $15. Plus I have a paper dollar in there

So my car loan debt right now is approx. $4300. My note is $261 but I do my darndest every month to pay $350 for as long as I can afford it. This change will be extra on top of that!

I've also been working all the extra hours I can in order to pay it off. And with any luck I hope to pay it off in under a year! The more I pay on it, the earlier I'll be able to start paying extra on my student loan.

Hey ya'll, I've updated my blog a bit to reflect my new graduation status. I'm still figuring out what I want on it so bear with me.

Anyway today I received a letter from HR of the city of baton rouge. It was the score I made on the test they made me take for a Library Technician job at the Baton Rouge libraries. I got a 74.36. The problem is that I have no idea what that means. The letter says nothing about being placed on a list for job candidacy or anything. It's a lot that's up in the air. Really, do you need to be some kind of rocket scientist to work at a library? My job that I have now has to be 100 times more complicated and with a lot more pressure than a library(ever tried to figure out someone's insurance card you've never seen before while they're sitting in a drive-thru and there's a line behind them three cars long with a line just as long in lane 2? Yeah, it's hard.) I need to send out more resume's.

I researched the scores a bit but I can't find anything that says one thing or another. So I'll just have to wait and see. I've been having a few really bad days at work lately so I would really like to find something very soon.

Well I've managed to get my car loan debt down to about 4900, and I'm about to make another payment of 300 so I'm getting that down, I'm hoping to get it down to $0 by May of next year, though I have two more years to pay it off. I just hate having it on my back you know? At least I don't have cc debt, that would be even worse!

But of course I am not doing it. I know better. But I still feel bad because I know that if she asked me that her family must be doing pretty badly. She is married with three children. She told me last week about some debts that she had and she said she owes a deposit of $2000 to pay tuition for her oldest child. My friend feels that the private school is worth it since her child has special learning needs. But $10000 a year seems a bit much for a one income earning family (husband is a firefighter). I don't have kids so maybe I just can't say much on this issue.

So she texts me and asks me how my credit is and that she needs a favor. The favor was cosigning for a 90 day loan. She needs it because they have too many bills at one time right now but they "can definitely repay the loan." My worry is that once the bills are paid, things will get tight again and the loan won't be able to get paid. And then a bank will come looking for me. I am not exactly a high income earner. I told her that I didn't want to cosign anything and that if she needed to borrow a small amount personally, I could do that. That wasn't good enough though. I just can't bring myself to do it. But why do I feel guilty then?

I also feel as if serious mistakes were made financially in their past. They recently got Iphones. I have a $15 dollar phone from walmart. Also they moved in with two roommates originally, one being my friend's aunt. The aunt moved out and now the other guy is there. He is unemployed and does not pay any bills or rent (except for occasionally when he gets the money from his mother.) They should have moved a long time ago and left this guy behind. It's not like he's family or anything. I know I shouldn't feel bad. But when your best friend's family is struggling... I still offered to let them borrow a small amount but my guess is that they need to borrow a few grand. And if that came back on me, I don't know what I would do!

I took a test today to be a library technician. Most of it wasn't too hard but some questions made my brain explode! I want this job soooo bad! It would be just the hugest upgrade from the job I have now.
Anyway this blog is basically what I've been thinking about my car notes lately. When I bought the car two years ago it was used certified for 13,400. With ttl it went up approx. a thousand I believe. I did the smart thing (for once) and financed it through a credit union who amazingly financed that large of a loan to a student with a low income. I got a great percentage for a four year loan for 6%. However, I also did something somewhat dumb IMO. After reading all this stuff about not buying extended warranties and reading Suze Orman's books which specifically said to NOT BUY AN EXTENDED WARRANTY, when the Credit Union asked if I would like to add it on I said "Sure!" Why? At first I was like, no way, I know how those work. But the loan officer just happened to be a customer who came into my work very frequently for photos (when I worked in the photo lab.) So I guess I trusted her a little more and she's very nice. She took out a graph and showed me how much it cost to maintain the car and how much it would cost if the car broke down, etc., etc. And I broke down. Also I had a choice of an 80,000 mile warranty or a 100,000 mile warranty and I took the former which cost around $950. The other cost 1100 or 1200 (I don't exactly remember.) And guess what? The warranty has just expired a few weeks ago. How many times did I use it? 0. Awesome. I feel pretty stupid for it. But I've learned a very valuable lesson, and at least I have that. But I keep thinking of how much closer I would be to paying it off it I had stuck to my gut and not bought that warranty! Not to mention it is a Honda Civic and yeah they do break down eventually, but with good maintenance it isn't usually something serious. The only thing that's happened is that the battery wore out, and that wasn't even covered by the warranty. So I know many of you already know better, but do not get tricked by the banks selling products or the dealer for that matter! Be strong, and never buy the extended warranty!!!

I've been meaning to write a blog recently and since I don't want to go to sleep, here it is!! Ok so I graduated with a BA in Anthropology from Louisiana State University on May 15th. It was a very exciting day btw! But I've disappointed myself kind of because I had expected to have a new better paying job by now. At the moment I work as a pharmacy technician at Walgreens. It can be an extremely exhausting job and there is always a lot of pressure. Our store is one of the busiest in the district and due to manager changeovers has had numerous issues (mainly people quitting in droves). So basically my job sucks a lot. I'm tired of dealing with all these people that are batsh*t crazy and/or straight up drug addicts. Some of them are just plain sad. But I got the job for the money (better than most flexible hourly jobs) while in college, and some people can't even find any jobs right now, so I guess I should feel lucky??

Anyway, I feel as if things may be looking up soon, as a friend has let me know of a job at a library. I never thought of myself as a librarian type person but I'll try anything at this point. *And* it pays like $5 more than I'm making at the moment. Only thing is is that there's a test involved. I'm gonna try and take it Thursday. I love love love reading and it would be so much less stress. Maybe a little more boring but right now it sounds like a freakin' dream. Also my current job wants me to become certified, and that involves going to classes and taking this big test. I don't want to do it but if I don't and I don't get another job, I'll lose my permit status in January and won't be able to fill scripts. So everyone help me hope for the best (finding a job)!

Lastly, I reeeally want to pay off my car. I think it's kinda ridiculous that I owe 5200 on a 6 and a half year old car (03 Honda Civic.) I've always paid extra on it but I've decided to accelerate the payments and attempt to pay around $400 each time instead of the $261 that I actually owe. I hope I can keep it up. I will also be owing student loans in Jan. but that will be my only debt besides the car. I need to move out as well so that will be another expense. Does anyone else feel that they're just treading water and never moving forward? And then there's the love life right now= that's just another sad story. So that's about it for now. I've enjoyed everyone's updates and stories so much that I got excited about writing my own! Oh and one more thing! I've really wanted to see what it's like to be an extra in a movie/tv show lately, and True Blood, an HBO show about vampires, is filming here in Baton Rouge. I'm gonna send them my application to be an extra since they have an ad out. It's paid. Wish me luck on that one too! Thanks for reading!

To tell you the story, I have to provide a bit of a back story. I started learning about money about 2 years ago due to Suze Orman mostly, and trying to pass my knowledge along to others (sort of like a religion, lol). I've learned a ton from watching financial shows, reading books, and forums of course. Well, I guess some of this has gotten to my parent's heads because my dad found an ING brochure with a free $25 offer for starting a new account. He asked me if it was a good company and I told him all about ING.
As for my parents' background they are 57 and 48 and have no money saved. No savings account, 401k, nothin'. The 401k my dad had once was cashed out due to there not being a lot in it (?). So the reason I'm so happy is that it really was bothering me that they had nothing at all saved. If I said something, my dad would only get frustrated and say he didn't have a lot of money to save. It's true they don't have a lot of money, but even 25-50 a month would be a start! I just hope he keeps his word that he will continue to save money for them (my mom hasn't worked at an employed job for over 20 years.) Yay!