Breaking Personal Finance News.....

I am less that $500 away from paying off my private student loan from Sallie Mae.

Whoop! whoop!

Once I pay off the balance I'll write a post on lessons learned, and how to pay off your Sallie Mae loan faster.

Updates....I'm back

My goal is to blog at least two days per week......let the games begin.

There are a few blog posts coming up this week.

I've consistently maintained a workout schedule for the past four weeks. This isn't a long time, but it's the longest I've maintained a consistent schedule of 4 days per week.

Now that my workout schedule is more natural, my next non financial goal is go blog more.

More posts coming.

My dream job has....

Tuition reimbursement.

Flexible scheduling.....including the opportunity to work from home.

Great pay.

Matching 401K

Benefits (health, employee assistance program, tax free transportation dollars etc)

Room for opportunity and growth.

Challenging environment.

This list will continue to grow.

Money well spent

The money I'm spending on the trainer is sooooooo worth it.

Money and Fitness

I've signed up to work with my trainer again. The package last for 6 months. The money for the trainer needs to come from another area of my cash flow, without messing with my Sallie Mae pay off flow.

Recently made a phonecall to Sallie Mae just to make sure she's doing right with my money.

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by BK over at The Fit Family Lounge and Debt Hater

7 Random things about me:

1. I have a fear of being trapped in an elevator.

2. Mango is my favorite fruit.

3. I've never worn a bikini. My goal is to wear one soon.

4. Exercise is easy. Changing my eating is hard. I love, love, love to eat.

5. Recently went to D.C for the first time.

6. I'm a makeup free girl. Truth is I have no clue what to do with it.

7. My fitness goal is to run a 5K.

Q & A


Favorite Color: Baby blue or grey. It depends on my mood.

Favorite Song: Don't have one.

Favorite Dessert: Red velvet cupcakes, Tres Leche cake.

Biggest Pet Peeve: liars and lazy people.

When you are upset: shut down and cry. This prevents me from punching someone or something.

Favorite Pet: not a pet person

Black or white: what???

Biggest Fear: Being mangled in a car accident

Best Feature: My chocolatey smooth skin

Everyday attitude: Am a moody gemini, so it varies

What is perfection: Me + the homie + the couch and a movie (quality time)

Guilty pleasure: food or otherwise??? That's an entire blogpost by itself.

No Thank You Chase

I bought my apt in 2009. The mortgage is a 30 year fixed at 5.00% APR. Today I received a call from Chase Bank asking me to come in to talk about my options. What options???? huh??? Bye?? Not interested. Refinancing isn't something I'm looking to do right now. My financial focus is Sallie Mae and my cc. More so, Sallie Mae. After that my focus will be maxing out my IRA and putting more into my pension.

Updates

Operation pay off Sallie Mae is still on target. The checks are going out on a weekly basis. I keep following up to make sure the payments are posted properly.

I've been exercising. Zumba, Jazzercise and West African dance. The great thing is these classes are not costing me too much out of pocket. Jazzercise was courtesy of BK over at The Fit Family Lounge.

My electric and gas bill is down by over 60%. Why the drastic drop you ask? Winter is over, my nieces are in Florida and the AC hasn't been on too often. Energy and dollars saving all around.

There are still a few projects to do around my apt: paint, buy more furniture, plants, flowers etc. These will be done in stages.

Updates

Operation pay off Sallie Mae is still going strong. I'm still sending money orders and double checking to make sure payments are posted properly.

I'm exercising more. This means taking more classes at different locations, and more $$. My new focus on my health has me feeling better.

It's a possibility that I may be unemployed soon. Praying this is not the case, in the mean time I'm job searching like crazy.

More Financial Updates

Sallie Mae is doing right with my payments. I have been sending my payments in via money order with 'apply to principal only' or 'principal payment' written on the money order and payment coupon. As of today, there's one more payment waiting to be applied. I'm keeping my eyes on Sallie Mae.

There's personal finance challenge on twitter. The challenge is to save at least 20% of your income for May. The hashtag is #pfchallenge. Singlema is in charge of the challenge. Yesterday I transferred my required 20% to savings. Feels real good.

My mortgage has been on auto pay since November. Smooth sailing so far.

My new cable bill is more in line with what I would like to pay. The gas and electric bill has also come down since Winter is gone. Keeping my variable expenses down during the warmer months will be critical to me paying off Sallie Mae by years end.

Getting Ready For Summer..........

means boot camp classes 3 days per week for the next 6 weeks.

Woooohooooo!!!!!!!

Financial Updates

Means eating healthier.....more fresh fruits and vegetables......this means more money.

I recently called Dish Network to downgrade my package. This means extra money in my pocket, which means extra money for Sallie Mae.

The price of gas in my area (NYC) is over $4 per gallon.

My office moved to a new location recently. This change in my schedule didn't fare well for my wallet. Starting next week I will do better. Less eating out at work and more brown bagging. Or in my case a cute little blue bagging in it. This is better for my waist line and my wallet.

Sallie Mae

My pimp, aka Sallie Mae has been applying my extra payments to principal. I don't trust her so I'll keep my eye on her until the balance is 0. That will be a day to celebrate.

Goal Change

I've decided that $6,000 emergency fund is enough. I will not add any more cash to my savings account for the rest of 2011. Why???? I am sick and tired of Sallie Mae. She has been on my back since sophomore year of college. That was quite a few years back. The monthly statement emails are annoying as heck. I don't like being annoyed.

My new focus will be to pay off Sallie Mae before the end of the year. This will require a payment of approximately $650 per month. Everyone else will be getting the minimum until I get rid of her. Sallie Mae is not my highest debt, it's not even the debt with the highest interest rate. However, it is the debt that bothers me the most. This decision is purely a psychological one. Financially it would make more sense to pay off one of the cc. Personal finance is just that 'personal'.

Behavior Changes

My emergency fund is currently at $6,000. The next goal will be $10,000.

Financial behavior:

Present: I am paying myself first.
Past: I paid bills first.

Present: I am paying down credit card bills without incurring new debt.
Past: Racked up credit card bills with no concrete plan to pay them off.

Present: I am no longer Bank of Family Incorporated.
Past: Always lent money, or helped family pay bills.

Present: Increase IRA contributions with each raise.
Past: Didn't have a proper retirment plan.

It's almost time to write up my 2nd quarter goals. My 1st quarter are halfway done.
I completed taxes, refund is on the way and I'll be able to open my CD.


2nd Quarter Goals (Subject to change)

1. Add $2,000 to my savings account

2. Pay off my Sallie Mae student loan (current balance $5,300)

3. Find a regular volunteer opportunity for me and the kids.

Random convo

Found out by random conversation that my homie has no credit card debt. Needless to say I won't be having the 'how much cc debt do you have' conversation with him anytime soon. My goal is to slowly bring my cc debt down to zero since that conversation is inevitable a few years from now.

Taxes

Last week I filed my taxes using Turbo Tax. The process wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. For the first time I was able to file head of household with two dependents. Yeahhh!!! for head of household status. I will be getting a pretty decent refund. My federal refund is slated to be deposited into my savings account in about a week. I look forward to just staring at it.

My plan is to buy a treadmill for me, and something for the girls off their wish list.

2011.........

is the year I get rid of my consumer debt. By the end of 2011 student loans and my mortgage will be the only debt I have.


Here's to being consumer debt free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!