Dear Bills

Dear Bills,

Christmas will be here in two short months. I need some money to buy gifts for the following people: Mom, Dad, Erin, Tom, Grandparents A. and Grandparents S. My family draws names each Christmas (because of my money problems) and I picked my dad and my sister. We set a limit of about $40.00. Which is helpful, but I still need to buy for everyone.

This is where you come in. I can't afford to buy gifts for all these people. You see, I have a lot of bills. I don't have the extra $250.00 (estimate on gifts only) to spend this Christmas. I'm not even sure I have the money to buy a real Christmas Tree (Tom and I make sure we get a good live tree) or the awesome picture cards I want to order. Can you please help me out? Lower my interest rates, give me a month off, send me some money as a thank you for never being late. Anything at all would be appreciated.

Thanks,

A hopeful bill payer

conundrum

so with only a week left before my next monthly payday, i have a smidge more money in my account than anticipated. i am torn; should i pay off one or two of my pending bills (gap, billmelater for my shoes) or should i buy the christmas presents that i'll need to bring/send home so as not to put them on a card at a later date?
there's also the problem that a medical bill may arrive in the next month that would need to be paid immediately.
oh, what to do?

utilities on cards

well, i just had s pay his outstanding electric bill on credit card. a terrible thing, i know. but he has the bill for the house in his name now & he had a transferred balance that he hadn't paid from his old apartment left over. i was worried they'd turn off the electricity if he didn't pay it soon. and his roommates had already given him last month's share.
i'd like for him to be able to learn from my mistakes, but unfortunately that's not how life usually works.
plus he got laid off on saturday. his boss only had 89 hours per week she could fill (including her necessary 40hour/week) for 4 people. not really reasonable & as he'd only been there for 2 months (she gave him his 60 day review, then told him she had to let him go), he was low-man. aiy-yi-yi!

October Blues

It's been financially difficult for me since the last post. Apparently, since I have my debt on one credit card my options for help are limited. If I had debt on various cards, roll out the red carpet, help is on it's way. So, I've been struggling to find someone/somewhere to give me the help, the advice, or the direction I need. I've finally moved past my ashamed phase and now I can't get the help I really need.

On another front, my husband has had $200.00 in overdraft fees since August. We've had major discussions about his inability to keep track of his purchases. If he were keeping the receipts, at the very least, I wouldn't be upset. Instead, he uses his debit card like a credit card and it is creating major trouble. He has promised to keep better record, but only time will tell. Money we have saved from our wedding has been used to pay off these fees.

In addition to all these money problems, I just turn blue around this time. My birthday starts a series of events and holidays that I don't get to spend with my family.

frugality

because of the recent overdraft (yippee! another one in the mail today when i got home), i will be washing my clothes by hand for the rest of the month.
ugh!

bye-bye puppy

at the end of the month i will be depleting my puppy fund, along with some meager savings accounts & a cd that matures on 9/27 (woo $53!), in order to pay my car insurance. even then, it won't quite cut it, but if i mail the check due on 10/3 so that it arrives after the first and my once a month paycheck has been deposited, i think i may be okay.
it would be much more detrimental to put it on my credit cards, which i have been working so hard to finally pay them all off.
*sigh* bye-bye puppy fund.

New Month

Well, it's September and yet again, my goal is to try and save some money. The only successful goal on my August list was to talk with my husband about the huge stress our bills are creating. We talked, yelled, and talked some more. He understands a little better, but I don't think he really gets what I'm talking about---he still thinks I blame him. At least we talked and the communication line is now open.

I'm thinking about going to one of those debt companies you hear advertised on TV or the radio. I'm hoping when they advertise free help it really is free help. I've read articles, books, etc. and I can't cut anymore out of my life as they all suggest. I don't deserve to be stressed out about buying a pair of shoes or seeing a movie in the theater. So, I'm going to, at the very least, research a few of these places. I'm also going to ask my parents for some advice. Up until now, I've avoided talking to them because I feel like a failure and I don't want them to see me that way.

check-up

well, i'd say i'm at about 90% accuracy for balancing my checkbook. that's quite a feat in my world. i'm really terrible about keeping it up through the whole month. we're now at 2/3 of the way through & i'll be doing a more thorough check this weekend (if i don't procrastinate) to get it up to date.
go me!

credit card fiasco

here’s a listing of my delightful cards with & without balances

hills visa debit-this is the debit card for my checking account. obviously a positive balance on that one.
orange mastercard debit-this has an available $165 overdraft, but this is also a debit card linked to ‘savings’ with ingdirect & earns interest (savings=about $15 in there)

wamu/providian-this one changed names while i had it, but zero balance finally! it also gives me a free monthly update of my fico score (765 through transunion!)
gap-my weakness, but i haven’t shopped there too much recently, besides using it to pay for jeans that s needed. he's slowly paying me back. (interest, i know!)
ucbnd visa-couple hundred balance because i'm stupid & had to take out a cash withdrawal because I had to pay my chiropractor for out-of-network services nearly $400. dumb, dumb, dumb! paying back & hope to have down to zero again by christmas. this is also linked to the bank where my mom works. even stupidererer.
capitalone visa-paying down the balance from a balance transfer. approx. $1000. eep!

bank of america cubs mastercard-card in my name & s has a balance that he's paying on it, so as to get a credit history.

and thus is my current shameful credit card debacle.

August Goals

1. Do not use credit card.
**I have one major credit card, a debit card, Macy's card and a Sear's card. My major credit card has major debit. I owe Citi Cards a 1/3 of one of my checks every month and it scares me.

2. Find a way to actually save money.
**I live paycheck to paycheck. I need to find a way to cut expenses and create some sort of savings or just be able to deal with emergencies.

3. Sit down with husband and try to make him understand the cold sweats I get every time I pay the bills.
**I pay all the bills every month. I tell him what his half is and he pays me back. Unfortunately, it takes him a month and a half to get me my money and I need it for next month's bills.

Those were my goals this month. I've already failed at number one. It seems that my break lines on my front wheels were at 3%. According to Dave (the wonderful mechanic) I was risking my life every time I got on the road. I have a Mazda 6 and I love my car. Dave informed me that Mazdas are one of the most expensive cars to repair and I'd have to agree. I didn't have the $200.00 I needed to fix the car, they don't have payment plans, I used my credit card.

Failure so early sucks.

bill pay

reminder to myself to make payments & jot them down on my much-neglected checking register.
rent
electric
cell phone
car/toyota
bank loan
cable
visa

day 1

i have 7 open major credit cards (visa and mastercard only, but this counts 2 debit cards, one of each). that is a lot. this does not include any store cards i have, but never use (ie kohls, gap, victoria's secret). i do not currently plan to close the cards i do have, but just pay down the balance. i’m taking the ‘smallest first’ approach, rather than pay off the highest interest rate method because it is simply more encouraging to me to get one or two out of the way and then work on the bigger ones.

what are your interest rates on your card?

here is an article with suggestions on grocery shopping:

eating on $100/week

i also plan to pre-publish my monthly/daily plans to make sure that i pay my bills on time. getting a paycheck once a month, on the first, makes it difficult in many ways to budget, but it can also be a good thing because you know at the beginning of the month just how much money you will have to make it through those 30-31 days.

budget blog

this will be an experiment to help with budgeting. i'm starting this blog on the first of the month just to make a clean sweep.
any advice, suggestions or hints are greatly appreciated. you can post as little detail or as much as you'd like about your own budgeting woes or successes. if you'd like to join as a poster, please message me & i'll see what we can do. we're starting out with two, but the more the merrier.
so, as of august 1st i personally will be trying to keep up with balancing my checking account & tracking my spending along with the drudgery that is bill paying. join in, if you will.