MariRDH's Personal Finance Blog

The ones place and change from my paycheck today is $8.14, so this will be sent to the 0% CC.

New Balance: $7,480.70

In other good news, I worked some extra hours the last few weeks so I will be able to put an additional $125 toward this CC this month. My payment of $175 is automatically send from my checking account on the first of the month, so on July 1st it will be $300 instead of $175. I will update the balance from that transaction after it is officially made on July 1st. Don't want to count my chickens before they're hatched and all...but I am excited that I am making headway.

I made my second trip with my brand-spankin' new CVS card today.

I spent $18.43 and received $19.97 back in CVS Extra Care Bucks (ECB)! WooHoo!

Needless to say I am a little bit excited about having come out ahead on this trip. It's not too often you go into a store and come out with merchandise and more "credit" than you went in with...well, legally anyway!!! *LOL*

Here is what I got today:
(2) Listerine Smart Rinse
(1) 2-pk Oral-B Cross Action toothbrushes
(2) Oral-B Power toothbrushes
(2) bottles of Coke
and I made a $1 donation to ALS Therapy Alliance.

I had (2) coupons for $1 off the Smart Rinse, the Coke was on sale BOGOF, I had a coupon for BOGOF on the power toothbrushes, and I used $3.98 in ECB I earned last week. Hip-Hip-Hooray!!!

I received my Fall check from the decoy mail* place yesterday for $71.50 and I also received a refund from overpayment to my Capital One card for $0.06 (yes, it cost way more to print and mail the check than the actual check is worth...another reason credit card companies are renowned for their idiocy).

New Balance on 0% CC: $7,488.84

*A mail decoy is someone who gets mail delivered to them under "strange" names and records when it was delivered and in what condition. I am paid a small fee for each piece I enter.

Boy, where does the time go?! It is already more than a week into the month and I have not reconciled my ING interest yet. I am usually right on top of that because I put that earned interest toward the Goal CC and that makes me happy.

I earned $16.12 in interest for the month of May which will be going to pay down that evil CC you see to the left. WooHoo!

New Balance on Goal CC: $7,560.40

I received a paycheck this week and the dollars place plus change will continue to go to the 0% Goal CC, $9.65 this week.

I also forgot to post that I put $4.56 from my paycheck 2 weeks ago toward the Goal CC.

My automatic monthly payment of $175 also went through this week.

Total new balance on the 0% CC: $7,576.52

I worked alot this past week, so I have been neglecting my poor blog. I have been trying to keep up with reading all of your wonderful blogs though.

Someone on DebtProofLiving.com mentioned a blog called "Money Saving Mom" which I started reading last night and could not get enough of. I have been curious about all of the different people who have mentioned saving TONS of money at CVS. We have 2 in our town and 1 in the next town over but I do not usually shop there since they are not on my regular route to/from work.

Anyway, MSM's blog got me all excited and I just had to go to CVS today and see what deals I could start off with. I stopped by a store in my town first and picked up:

(2) Kotex pads - on sale 2/$5 plus I had a manuf coupon $2/1 - making them $1.50/each (AWESOME!)

(2) Sea Breeze astringent - $5 BOGO Free plus I had a manuf coupon for $0.55/1 - making them approximately $2.23/each (A STEAL!)

Total Spent: $7.44 out of pocket (oop)

The very first thing I made a bee-line for as soon as I walked in the store was the 2pk of OralB CrossAction toothbrushes that were advertised for $6.99 plus get $6.99 back in Extra Care Bucks (making them FREE after the ECB). My husband loves these and they are super expensive. The first store had none in stock, so I headed over the store in the next town over. They did not have them either. I asked the cashier and he gave me a Rain Check, however, I asked if I would be able to get the ECB's and he said "Yes"...but I really doubt that unless I can pick them up before the deal ends at the end of this month. We shall see about that. While I was there I picked up another "Free-bate" type deal:

(2) 40ct bandages - $1.99 x 2 + $3.98 plus tax so $4.12 oop and my ECB for $3.98 printed right there on the end of my receipt.

If I had known I was going to get the bandages, I could have purchased those at the first store and then used the $3.98 toward my $7.44 purchase to save myself the money today. Like I said, this is my very first attempt at shopping at CVS with their rewards program so I'm not gonna beat myself up about it.

As it is I spent $11.56 out of pocket and earned back $3.98, so a net out put of $7.58 for 6 products. I really think that is pretty good considering I had no ECB's to start with. I can't wait to find some really great deals on shampoo & conditioner. My daughter goes through gallons of conditioner each month with her super curly hair!

Today I filled up at BJ's for $3.76/gallon. It's been 9 days and 280.5 miles since the last time I filled my tank. I have been very conscientious of my driving habits and it has been paying off. I hit a new record for fuel economy with today's fill-up...*drum roll please*...

36.5 miles per gallon !!!

This is driving in mostly rural/suburban areas with a car whose EPA estimates are 27 city, 33 highway and 29 combined (08 Honda Fit Sport Automatic). I am very happy with these numbers and will, of course, strive to improve.

I love being picked to try out new products, and while I can't give away any specifics since I crossed my heart and promised Pinecone I would never divulge the information, I can say that I really enjoyed this product and hope to see it in stores soon...with a few of my recommended tweaks of course!

$5 Pinecone check to the Goal CC -
New Balance: $7,765.73

http://www.projecthavehope.org

Please check out this website. It is a non-profit started by a woman from my hometown and it is simply awe inspiring.

She is helping women in Uganda to sell their handmade jewelry with the profits going to
- send their children to school
- send themselves to vocational training
- start new businesses to sustain themselves

Wow. Many of us have great intentions and good thoughts but never actually DO something to help. I am one of these people, and I am truly inspired by this project.

The beaded necklaces & bracelets are beautiful and will make wonderful gifts. We have a Bat Mitzvah to attend in a few weeks and I think this would make a great gift. I think I will buy a few and attach a notecard explaining where they came from.

I just had to post this picture of our new 14 foot canoe on top of my little tiny Honda Fit!

We received $900 just as expected. We've decided to use ours to actually stimulate the economy in our own little way.

We are using about half to buy a canoe so that we can go fishing and camping this summer as a family. The other half will be used to purchase clothing for myself and my husband as neither of us have bought any new clothing in at least 3 years, and unfortunately we have both "expanded" in that time. I am hoping to have $50-$100 left over, but anything left over will go toward the goal CC.

I got paid today, so $2.93 goes to the 0% CC.

New Balance on Goal CC: $7,767.79

Received $20 from MySurvey and $5 from Pinecone Research this week so I am putting an extra $25 toward the 0% CC.

New Balance on Goal CC: $7,770.72

Also, bad news: I paid $3.39/gal for gasoline at BJ's (cheapest place around)- up from $2.99 a month ago!

Good news: I got 36.1 miles to the gallon on my last tank of gas.

I have totally been avoiding my blog. I have not had anything big to post, and I know I should be posting the little things because that is what keeps me moving in the right direction but...inertia.

I have also been slacking on putting my purchases into YNAB. It is okay because I buy nearly everything with my debit card or check so I can always go back and compare my bank accounts to the YNAB and catch up. Still I should try harder to make sure I am current on how much I have available in each category so that when I am out shopping I know when I need to stop. It has not been an issue so far because I am not a shopper, but I need to keep up with it so that it does not become a problem in the future.

Anyway, not much to post but I am trying. So, toward the goal credit card:

Last paycheck dollars & cents- $8.56
ING interest earned in April- $15.12
Not sure where it came from but it is showing up in my YNAB software toward the goal- $4.96
Total extra toward goal CC: $28.64
plus regular monthly payment of $175=>
$203.64

New Goal CC Balance: $7,795.72

As a matter of fact I am hoping to pick up another day of work soon. This office is super busy lately and the patients do not like to be told that we are booking hygiene visits 3-4 months in advance. I am going to be asking the dentist soon if I can possibly work one more day at the office. That would cover most of the very expensive health insurance premiums that come out of my paycheck, and allow me to put more toward paying off the credit card.

Wish me luck!

The bad news: Gasoline is up to $3.06 in my little NJ town.

The good news: I am consistantly getting 35 miles per gallon in my FIT.

I still have not inflated the tires past the original psi. I do need to check them. I went for my first oil change (free at the dealer where I bought the car), and noticed after I got home that their "checklist" says the tires are at 30psi. I find this strange since the door jamb lists 32psi as the recommended pressure for my vehicle, so wouldn't their mechanics know to inflate them to 32 when I was in for the oil change?

Anyway, I really need to keep improving the fuel economy because my funds are really tight with paying so much for the health insurance now. *sigh*

http://www.njcfe.org/Resources/youth_tab.pdf

It is a 15 page PDF with lots of very basic info geared toward young adults - how to figure interest, things to think about before buying or leasing a car, how the rule of 72 works, and lots more including short quizzes and extra learning experiences. I would think it would make a great starting point for young people in high school or homeschoolers - especially after discussing the scariness of "Maxed Out"!

I found this site from a link in an AOL story about high school seniors and the little they actually know about personal finance. The articles says, "High school seniors, on average, answered correctly only 48.3 percent of questions about personal finance and economics, according to a nationwide survey released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve." Yuck.

Just watch the documentary "Maxed Out"!

It is available for free online, and that is where I just finished watching it:

http://bestdocumentaries.blogspot.com/2007/10/maxed-out-full...

I had read the book last year, but the film was even more potent. If I had any doubts whatsoever that getting out of debt was the right thing to do (especially credit cards), then this definitely pulled me back to reality.

I twas a little heavy on the anti-republican, pro-democrat agenda there toward the end, but not so much to make me stop watching or doubt the underlying truths the film is exposing. It is a crying shame that people/corporations can not treat each other better as one human being to another.

I have several sub-accounts over at ING that earn interest, but I only allow the EF to accrue it's own interest. The other accounts I transfer the interest every month over to the current goal so, $13.02 in interest going to the 0% credit card this month.

The regular monthly payment of $175 went through the other day and I had $5 leftover in the YNAB budget last month to add, so I owe under $8k on this debt now! Hooray!!!

New Balance on 0%CC: $7,999.36

I got paid on Thursday, and continue to take the ones place and change and put it toward the goal. This check was funny because there was no change. It was an even dollar amount which is really unusual. Anyway, $3.00 toward the evil CC debt.

I just noticed that I see a google ad under each post I click on specifically (not if I am looking at the whole blog, but if I click a specific post), and another ad at the top of this page where I am adding a new blog post.

They do not bother me. I am just wondering - Did these just start or have I not been paying attention? *blush*

I found $172.80 in the budget for the 0% CC. I have been skimming money from some of my other categories that I feel are okay with a little less. I hope I'm right. I'm also looking forward to my next paycheck this week and putting even more toward this goal. I really want this debt GONE! I need to move on and be able to buy a house, and that can't happen until this is paid off.

We actually have more debt after this is paid, but it will be a really good chunk gone. I'm not sure what the next goal will be (paying off more debt or saving for a down payment), but nothing can happen until this goal is met so I am trying to get there as fast as humanly possible.

New CC Balance: $8,195.38

Happy day here - a new record for fuel economy in my 2008 Honda Fit automatic.

I have not increased the air pressure in my tires yet, so they are still at the manufacturer's spec (should be 32psi, but I have not checked). There was no highway driving involved, but I do drive rurally on my commute so I can go 5-10 miles without stopping in one section which helps my fuel consumption. Again, I have really taken my slower driving seriously on this tank of gas, so I would say 90% was me driving 5-10mph under the posted speed limit trying to keep my RPMs as close to 1500 as possible, but allowing up to 2k RPM. My husband did drive a few short trips on this tank that were anything but hypermiling (says it drives him crazy to go even 5mph under the limit) so I may be able to do even better in the future which is extremely exciting.

If I can keep this up and gasoline prices do not continue to rise so fast, I am hoping to be able to sweep about $10 from my gas category to the 0% CC at the end of the month.

In other news, I tried to pre-pay my one CC, and they ended up sending me a check for the credit amount. I wish my CCs would send me money every month instead of the other way around! *LOL* I've got a grace period so I guess I'll let it sit and earn interest until the end of the month and then send it back to them.

I am feeling a little bit better since my last post. Thank you again to all who posted support and encouragement for me! I truly appreciate it.

I received a check in the mail yesterday for some side work I do as a mail decoy - $58.50 for 3 months of work so not a lot but a nice little "extra". I took that money along with $40 I had leftover from my "allowance" last paycheck, $54 I cut from our budget this month and the interest earned on my ING checking account last month and made a payment to the 0% CC - a total extra payment of $153.82 that will go through tomorrow.

Updated 0% Credit Card Total = $8,368.18

Now that my EF is at my initial goal of $5,000 I am starting to feel lethargic with my plans. I know that the next step is to pay off debt but it is looking so bleak at the moment.

My boss took me aside this week and explained that the health insurance premiums are more than she originally thought, so they are going to be basically 25% of my pay. Basically it is going to take up all the "extra" that I was going to put toward the CC you see on the left. I feel as though we will never get anywhere. Every time I feel like we are *finally* getting up some momentum stuff like this slams into us.

I have $1,200 set aside from the tax refunds that were over and above the $5k EF. It is sitting in an ING account until I can decide what to do with it. I just don't know.

Gasoline prices just keep going up and up! I know NJ has some of the lowest prices in the nation and that is why it is so scary to me that I just paid $2.89/gallon...what must some of you be paying?! The future is not too bright as far as crude oil price futures go, so I have been trying to find ways to get better MPG with my car.

I found this website -

http://www.cleanmpg.com a few weeks ago and it has truly inspired me. I have a 2008 Honda Fit with automatic transmission so some of the tips they suggest do not pertain (a lot of the advice is for manual transmission vehicles), but I have been driving much more slowly - 5 to 10mph under the limit depending on if there are other drivers behind me instead of my usual 5-10mph over the limit. It has only added 5-10 minutes to my usual drive to and from work so no problem there as I still get there 15-20 minutes before the start of the day. I have also been coasting to stops (something I have always done but now I am coasting for longer distances), and putting my car in neutral at long red lights. I am not even sure putting the car in neutral helps my MPG that much but it is something I saw mentioned that is doable with my auto tranny so I am trying that for now.

I plan on increasing my tire pressure this week. Honda recommends 32psi, and the maximum sidewall on my tires says 51psi, so I plan on going up to 40psi. I have been keeping track of my fuel economy through www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do which allows you to track all your fuel purchases and calculates your MPG for each tank of gas. With just the few alterations I have made in my driving in the last 3 weeks I have increased my mileage from 30mpg to 32mpg and even got 35mpg on the highway last week. I am hoping to get 34-35mpg on a regular basis once I increase the tire pressure.

I have taken this on almost as a new hobby and try to challenge myself to do better each day. I am actually enjoying driving slower and paying close attention to the RPM gauge which is surprising since I tend to have a real lead foot!

WooHoo! I checked my ING checking and the IRS deposited our federal refund yesterday as promised.

I now have $5,000 in our EF!!!!!!

There is some leftover from the refund which I have put aside in a separate ING savings. I'll wait until we get our state refund and then decide where to allocate the rest of the money. I am just thrilled to have a fully funded EF for right now.

I talked directly to the insurance company today, and they explained that they do not allow monthly payments without auto debit because it is too easy for the coverage to lapse. I do understand that logic, but still think it would have been fine for me personally. I decided to pay quarterly so that I will not have to sign the auto-withdrawal form. It is more than I had budgeted this month, but I should be able to make it up in March's budget. Thanks to YNAB I know where all my money is all of the time.

I am very annoyed right now. I applied for Disability Insurance with 2 companies through an online servie called "Quote Retriever". I have not been impressed with the service at all, but have muddled through in the hopes that once a policy is in force I will be able to deal directly with the company I choose instead of them.

So, I chose the policy I wanted of the two I applied to, and they requested 2 additional documents and a check for the first month's premium. No problem. I signed and faxed the forms right away (practically had to sign over my first born, but whatever), and the lady at Quote Retriever wanted me to fill out and fax her an "Automatic Bank Withdrawal Form" with my bank account and routing number that gives the insurance company permission to auto debit my checking account each month. Well, I have worked in banking and I know that once you sign one of these forms you might as well forget having any control whatsoever over your money because the company can take as much as they want whenever they want...cause you signed that it was okay. I explained that I did not allow this and that I would set up an auto payment through my online bank myself. I did just that through my ING Electric Orange account. The check was mailed last week and received yesterday.

Today I get an email from the QR lady again telling me that the company will not put my policy in force unless I either sign the Auto Withdrawal form and allow them to take money from my account each month or pay them in full for the year. Does anyone know if this is legal? I mean, if I skip out on a payment they can just drop my coverage like any other insurance. I don't get this at all...and I am fightin' mad!

I lost my patience waiting for the college to send me the amount I paid in tuition/fees in 2007 - Actually they sent it and it was BLANK! I called and they said they can send me something else showing the amounts, but I just can't wait another day. I went online and multiplied the number of credits I took by the amount they charge per credit and used that for the taxes. It ended up having absolutely no effect on the taxes since even without it we were getting everything back plus the EIC since we were so "poor" this year. I should be posting a full EF in just a few weeks!!!

I still have not made a decision about the rest of the refund money. We shall see.

I am adding $7.99 to the EF today for the last Free-bate from my contact lens solution which I received yesterday. I am over 1/3 of the way to my $5,000 goal now.

New EF Balance: $1,701.67