You are viewing archived entries from Financial Fitness
Saw it here first
April 26, 2006 by Renee @ 01:30 PMSpeaking of dunzo, the fine folks over @ mastercard have decided to run a contest for a spot on those sometimes funny/mostly corny priceless ads.
Your resident smart ass has decided to enter the contest for a chance to win one of those prizes. She hopes she doesn't get arrested for her antics.
I'm just sayin...
Dunzo
by Renee @ 10:53 AMFor years on end I've been paying down on this card. I never thought this day would come.
It didn't feel like my puny payments, even the times I started going above minimum due was making a dent. But slowly, steadily consistently, they did. Month after month, I did my small part, sent in the minimum + 10 bucks. I didn't stress the interest I was racking up. I didn't fret on sending more money nor did I pay down every two weeks as some financial whizzes suggest. All I tried to do was keep the habit going till I was @ the point that I could do more.
[Side note: The -$15 meant I overpayed a wee bit. What can I say? I was overeager to be done w/it. I had them transfer that $ over to the next card I have w/them. As of now the balance on this card is ZIP!]
I can't help but to see the similarities to my weight.
Continue reading DunzoThis is the end
August 16, 2005 by Renee @ 08:38 AMSo where have my weight loss updates been as the 70+ (70?!?) Beaker Babes have checking in, pluckily losing pound after pound the last four weeks? In addition to downloading hellacious files on my dialup, I've been working on a few other web projects. Back in the spring, I started tracking my financial woes here, but never felt completely comfortable mixing the two situations. That discomfort has led me to setting up on another site.
For the past few weeks I've been procrastinating completing it. Why? Fear. I didn't really want to know. I mean the semi vague goal on this site was to pay off my credit cards, but the reality is I'm in a much deeper hole. For me to do this right, I needed to take a look at the entire picture, not just 3 bills. I found myself giving myself all sorts of starting dates, "I'll start the first of the month", for obvious reasons, "I'll start this weekend", even more obvious and usually became next weekend and finally "I'll start on the 15th". That was yesterday. I don't think the knot in my stomach could get any bigger. But I just swallowed hard and attempted to do just a few things from my to do list.
Continue reading This is the endMonth 1
March 15, 2005 by Renee @ 10:47 AMWhat? It's the 15th already? GAK!
BRB...
...
...
...BACK! You gotta love online bill pay.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Man that was painful. Paying just the minimum balance that is. Know how you have sayings drilled into your head that becomes a way of life...Step on a crack...No swimming after you eat...No eating 3 hours before bed...well add Don't pay the minimum balance to the list of my do's and don'ts.
I just can't shake the picture that the cc people, upon seeing my paltry payment for this month, are cackling w/glee and rolling around naked on a pile of money b/c they think I'll be further indebted for the 3-5 years it'll take to pay them off w/the minimum payment. That thought alone makes my throat constrict.
1) If you have several cards, your first goal is to pay off the card with the highest interest rate. This process is called laddering.Well Clark calls it laddering but I prefer the snowball analogy. I can be cheesy and say my debt has melted away. Hmm...I can also say I'm climbing my way outta debt. Decisions decisions. Argh. Well I already started w/the whole snowball theme and am not going back to edit old entries. Snowball it is.
2) Pay more money toward that credit card and slightly less toward the other cards, and eventually you can rip it up. Then you move onto the next card, and so on, and so on...
3) One proven way to pay more toward the most expensive card - and to get rid of it faster - is to make a separate payment every 14 days to the credit card company. Mark your calendar every 14 days and write that check or send your online payment that day. Making a payment every 14 days equals one extra month's payment you've made at the end of the year. Work these payments around your statement cycle to avoid paying lates fees.I first heard tip 3 a few years ago, now that I've reread it, I'll put it into motion.
Power Moves:
1) I cancelled the last recurring credit charge. I'll use my debit card instead. As of this month w/the exception of finance charges, there will be no add?l charges on any account.
2) I have reduced my Netflix plan to 2 out, down from 3. I'll save about 6 bucks. Not much, but since I'm also going to cut back my movie going to every other week vs. every week, that's another 12 bucks. Factor in the gas money I'll save and the loss of the free meal we can round that puppy up to $20. If this pans out into a real savings, meaning it doesn't get absorbed by another bill, then next month I may bump up the snowball pot to $93.
Final Thoughts:
I can't help but feel I didn't even make a drop in the bucket. A very similar feeling when losing 1lb while 50lbs is the goal. I'm left w/a ?is that all? taste in my mouth. It?ll prolly hit me around month 6 I s?pose.
Till then my debt...till then.
Current Stats & Game Plan
March 10, 2005 by Renee @ 11:53 AMOk this is how the Snowball plan will work:
Each month I pay over the minimum balance for all cards bringing my total payment to $154.
The extra payments are: Visa-$29, Mastercard-$10 & Visa Gold-$34. Added up it gives me $73 for the Snowball pot.
Here's the stats & payoff plan for each card:
| Card #1 - Capital One Visa | |
| Total owed: | $719.75 |
| Minimum Payment: | $21 |
| Min Payment Payoff Date: | 2 years 10 months / January 2008 |
| Extra Payment: | $50 |
| My Extra Payment Payoff Date: | 1 year 2 months / May 2007 |
| Snowball Starts: | March 2005 |
| Snowball Payment: | $94 ($21 minimum + $73 Snowball pot) |
| Snowball Payoff Date: | October 2005: 7.6 months from March 2005 |
| Card #2 - Orchard Bank MasterCard | |
| Total owed: | $933.67 |
| Minimum Payment: | $29 |
| Min Payment Payoff Date: | 2 years 8 months / November 2007 |
| Extra Payment: | $39 |
| My Extra Payment Payoff Date: | 2 years / March 2007 |
| Snowball Starts: | November 2005 |
| Estimated Balance by November: | $701.67 (Current owed - $29 minimum x 8 months = $232) |
| Snowball Payment: | $123 ($29 minimum + $94 Visa rollover) |
| Snowball Payoff Date: | April 2006 : 5.7 months from November 2005 |
| Card #3 - Capital One Visa Gold | |
| Total owed: | $1061.37 |
| Minimum Payment: | $31 |
| Min Payment Payoff Date: | 2 years 10 months / January 2008 |
| Extra Payment: | $65 |
| My Extra Payment Payoff Date: | 1 year 4 months / July 2007 |
| Snowball Starts: | May 2006 |
| Estimated Balance by May: | 627.37 (Current owed - $31 minimum x 14 months = $434) |
| Snowball Payment: | $154 ($31 minimum + $123 Visa & MC rollover) |
| Snowball Payoff Date: | August 2006: 4.07 months from April 2006 |
Though it looks like I'll be done by next August, I'm keeping the target payoff date 12/31/2006 for 3 reasons. 1) A lot can happen between now and then 2) even though I don't plan to charge anymore, 2 cards have a yearly fee & 3) to keep the numbers simple I didn't factor in the finance charges.
Yet despite those caveats, I feel good.
As long as I stay aggressive, I can bask in knowing I'll have a slightly brighter light on things by the end of next summer. Right now my heart can't bear to count how much I've already spent or would spend on finance charges. Instead it's skipping a beat from seeing that the Snowball plan will, @ the very least, have me credit card debt free an entire year earlier compared to making extra payments and waaaaay earlier than if I only made minimum payments.
So that's where things stand and where I'm planning to go. I'm declaring the 15th of each month to be my Financial Fitness Day. Just like how Friday's are Featured Food Day around these parts (On hiatus last week only b/c I was sick and had no time to research. It will return this week).
On Financial Fitness Day, in addition to my monthly progress update, I'll devote a few entries to posting any good advice or tips I've come across in the prior month.
Oh & this plan won't conflict w/the pudge free clothing fund. Actually they both complement each other. I see the 5 bucks I put aside each week as a very tiny portion of the money I used to spend on eating out each day. Sure I can put that towards paying off the credit cards even faster but I also know myself very well. Come the end of the year I'll start feeling frumpy and want to charge myself a new wardrobe. So when I came up w/the idea last month, I was already thinking about not wanting to incur any more debt this year.
Debt loss
by Renee @ 09:40 AMStarting this month I'm going to use my site for what initially appears to be unrelated topic: Debt. When I looked into it further I realized it is related. Not only is it related, I want to see if the concepts I've been using to tackle weight will also work in tackling my debt.
Specifically credit card debt.
Continue reading Debt loss
