The under 30 honor roll is growing

The under 30 honor roll is 50 strong. Great community am proud to be apart of. Let's show them that young people are concerned about there finances and are doing something about it.

Education is key. Knowledge is power.

Cleaning House

I have decided to close the checking and savings account at the credit union.
There are a few reasons for this:
I no longer deposit money there, so both accounts are empty.

There are no branches in NYC where I am located. The one branch is in Pleasantville, NY.

I am getting my financial house in order and simplifying things. This is the first step.

A few financial things that are happening:

I sent sallie mae $25 online from my bank. Then I sent her a money order for $50 'apply to principal only'. It is still left to be seen if she will listen. The $25 did satisfy the interest and $9 went to principal. Wooptieee dooooo.

The check from the part-time gig is now direct deposit starting yesterday. So, am getting paid every week, one week Wednesday and one week Thursday.

The emergency fund at ING was depleted recently. However, I restarted with the same $100. What am happy to say is my HSBC account will be funded every two weeks with $40 from the part-time gig. I will be funding two emergency fund at once. The HSBC fund will be to pay towards a debt at the end of the year.

Since am getting two paychecks I should be saving something from both. Pay yourself first it is.

Tidbits here and there

All the bills for this month are paid, and I have 60 bucks in the checking account, yippeeee weekly paycheck.

I got more hours at the part-time gig....am loving the money.

I am going through my financial files so I can simplify things. I may close my checking and savings account at the credit union since they are not being used. I will have to think about it some more.

This is how Sallie Mae keeps students in debt

Am no mathematician but damnit the math here does not make any sense.

Next payment due: 12.67 Payment due date: 10/06/06

Outstanding Principal balance: 7,987.76

Accrued interest: 75.90

Total Amount Outstanding: 8,063.66

HUH!!!

Current interest rate is 10+ percent. That translates into almost 3 dollars per day in interest. WTF, that is more than the damn interest on my loan. No wonder the freakin principal balance seems to go up all the damn time.

Mind you this is with a very aggressive repayment strategy I just set up.

Last three payments:
8/28/06 $75
07/14/06 $100
07/10/06 $200

The next payment is set to go out on 09/22/06 in the amount of $100.

Arghhhhhh!!!!!

According to the guy in India or Pakistan where ever the hell he is, the monthly interest is $65.69. Yet still they are telling me I should pay $87.74. WTF I am never going finish this then. That means at 26 I will be 40odd years and still paying this.

Sallie Mae you can kiss my a.s.s.

I will continue paying twice per month and see where that leads me. (August was the only month where I slacked off).

What I need is a magic number that will actually bring down the ‘Outstanding Principal Balance’.

p.s if this post makes absolutely no sense to you, welcome to the club. I am just as clueless.

Update

My car is at the repair shop being fixed. I should have it back by next week. It is critical that I get my car back soon, because I have two jobs to get to.
I got a rental the morning after the accident, so I was able to go to work last Saturday and Sunday.

The mini emergency fund is going to come in handy. I am starting over the efund from scratch. Tomorrow is pay day, so my e-fund starts over with $100.

What I learnt from this accident is:
Money is just that, money. It does not buy happiness, or health. Thank goodness I have my health. I will no longer stress where money is concerned.

When it rains it pours

So it is raining here in the tri-state area this morning and what happens? I get into a freakin car accident!
Am ok physically, mentally am gonna loose my marbles. I freakin hate women drivers (disclaimer I am a woman). Look where the hell you are going you idiot.

The car needs work ($$), my deductible is 1,000 ($$), I need a rental to get to work ($$), my insurance premiums might go up ($$), I cannot get to my second job tonight, so there goes my shift ($$) am leaving work early so I can bum a ride back to NY ($$).

Since my direct deposit has not come through yet I need to pick up my pay check ($$), without a ride I cannot do that ($$). Arghhhhhhhh!!

See the pattern here, am gonna be bleeding money for the next few weeks.

Am revamping my resume

I just received an MPA degree in February 2006. Therefore, I have decided to redo my resume since I've had the same formal since sophomore year. It looks a bit juvenile to me.

Does anyone know of a free resume writing service?
I have read all the articles and tried doing it myself but it does not seem to be working.

One of my new goals is to increase my income by at least 10,000 by the end of 2007.

Ask and you shall receive

August was a chaotic month with lots of friends and family visiting. Things got out of hand financially with me not opening bills on time. My September statement came with a whopping $29 late fee attached. I called up the company and nicely asked them to waive the late fee since the payment was only a few days late, and I've been a loyal customer.

'Ok ma'am I am happy to do that for you. Check your next billing statement or check online within 48 hours'.

'Thank you for being calling. '

$29 dollars saved, great. The next payment is set up to go out two weeks before the due date.

I love me some Tarjay

I went to Tarjay today and spent $77. I love going there. It felt good today to spend a little bit of cash and not stress over it.
Bought some very much needed items:
a floor mat
2 storage bins
a bag for work
2 pairs of shoes for the kids (nieces)
2 blouses for the kids (nieces)

Money Habits

The Oxford Dictionary defines habit as:
1. a settled or regular tendency or practice.

2. a practice that is hard to give up.

My money habits are regular negative tendencies that are hard to give up.

Hi...My name is tiredofbeingbroke and I have bad money habits.

I am working diligently on changing those habits.

Bad habits:

Spending more than I earn.

Allowing family to use my 'good credit' (this is a whole nother post, don't get me started).

Not educating myself enough on investing and wealth creation.

Well all these things are about to change.

My emergency fund is half-way there. I am soo happy. $500 in the bank.
* Doing the happy dance, doing the happy dance.*

I got my first paycheck from the part-time gig. The payroll schedule falls opposite of my regular job's payroll. This mean I will have income each week for as long as I can continue both jobs. This is going great. Surprisingly, my social life has not suffered much.
Bye bye bills. Debt free here I come.