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Archive for March, 2016

So far shredding the card has worked.

March 29th, 2016 at 10:22 pm

I took out some cash and I still have a little bit left. I get paid on Friday.

My balance hit a pretty high ceiling for that credit card I shredded. I'm trying to figure out the best way to make sure the bills are paid and wipe out the balance so I can get hit with no interest or as little interest if possible.

It looks like I may be playing catch-up for a bit but that's okay. I'm going to re-work the budget and try to save up an emergency fund again. That's really the only way I see this getting better.

My part-time job is ending again and really good riddance. It used to help but now that I am in the office again it just racks up my out-to-eat bills because I'm too tired to cook or do any house chores. Quality of living at this point for me is more important than an extra few hundred bucks a month since for the past few months I've been unable to hold on to any of the cash lately because I started overspending.

My second lowest student loan is getting closer to $1000 every day. While it bums me out I can't wipe it out right now I am going to see if I can do it by the end of the year but really not a priority right now.

My credit score dropped a lot with the addition of the card for the home improvements because it really upped my utilization and it looks like it is maxed out. For some reason I did not think of that ahead of time but the good news is that it is a 0% interest rate so after a while the balance will just naturally go down. Also I did not activate the card because if you use it for regular purchases the rate is much higher.

In about 6 months that utilization will go down enough that my score will go to where it was and luckily I don't have to buy anything major that requires pulling my credit score until sometime next year.

All in all things are looking up. Smile

I put my credit card in the shredder

March 18th, 2016 at 06:48 pm

The house needed some new improvements. Some I was able to get on a new card that they gave me with 0% interest for the life of the loan (5 years.)

Others I had to put on my own credit card because they couldn't offer me such a good deal.

I know myself. Once I have a large amount of money on a card I spend on it recklessly because my old defeatist "I'm never going to pay it off anyway" attitude kicks in.

I was setting up my home office the other day and noticed my credit card in a pile of things I was shredding. I decided to put it in the shredder. I knew I was over spending and I divert bills to this card every month for the points. I knew if I kept it in my wallet I'd keep spending on it.

I lost my debit card a while ago and I never replaced the card so I kept using me credit card for normal things too.

I decided that I'm going to go to the bank to pull out the cash I need when I need it and live like that until the large balance is paid off on my card. Since the card has gotten me into trouble lately I think I won't even request a new one after the balance is paid off. I think I will live on cash for a while until things settle down a bit more and I know I can handle it. Or if I have to make another large purchase and want the cash back.

I need to focus on savings now for the house and to get a new car. I need to focus on making retirement contributions and the possibility of expanding our family maybe. It's time to just smarten up and get some savings going now that I have a mortgage I don't have as much room for error. I really really need a cushion and I know that if I kept that credit card around I would have probably never bothered to build one.

I have other credit cards that don't have a dime on them. This is the only one that seemed to give me issues.

Have any of you had to take drastic measures like this before?

I now live in a house...

March 8th, 2016 at 11:28 pm

And I'm going to be broke for a while. However it is nice to essentially lock in my bills.

I know what it is going to cost me each month for the mortgage no more rent increases and that is major.

However things like car insurance, electricity, and what on earth I'm going to do a about a car when the lease runs out is variable.

I can handle variable as long as some things are locked in and I couldn't be happier. We got a great deal for the area and even though some upfront costs were involved I'm grateful those things were not "rolled in" to a mortgage I can pay those improvements off as I go and at a zero percent interest rate to boot!

I need to try to find a way though to increase my income so I can lessen my monthly responsibilities so sadly it looks like for the time being I will be locked in to my part time job since it looks like our salaries will not be going up at my main gig anytime soon.

A lot of excitement though that is for sure.