Getting out debt in JANUARY, 2012!! - Page 3

[liberal_chick]

Originally Posted by lilacvioletiris 

I am totally in!  DH and I are starting the Financial Peace University on Monday night 1/9.  I got the package early and read it over my Christmas vacation.  I set up an allocated spending plan that has already helped us not to overdraft the bank account, again.  DH is a free spirit when it come to money.  We married July 2010.  Before I was married I used an allocated spending plan and was totally on my way to getting rid of debt although not using the debt snowball that DR recommends.  I have taken my credit cards out of my wallet and frozen them in a block of ice.  Yep, took an old tylenol box, put the credit cards in cross wise, filled a plastic container with water, and froze them.  Not quite ready to do "plastic surgery" but the time is coming, at least for me.  DH isn't quite on board with the plastic surgery plan.  We started using cash only for food, clothes, misc on 12/20 (after I had read through the book and saw how handing over cash could help me save on groceries, etc). So far so good on using cash.  DH and I want to have $2000 ( to cover mortgage and utilities for a month) in our emergency fund.  We are at $1463.87/$2000 right now.  I love esg plan of craigslisting items and finding loose change around the house to get the EF.  Need to get on the ebay wagon myself and sell some clothes I will never wear again.  Ironing goes a long way to upping the price of an item!

The poster who commented about reimbursement from company expenses, could you create a "company expense" budget item that comes from your money, but gets replenished from the reimbursement?  That way you are spending cash to pay for items, not the credit card (even if you may use the credit card to make reservations, etc).  Just an idea.

This thread is just what I need!  I need people with "a heart of a teacher" to keep going on this plan.  Can't wait to debt snowball once the EF is funded to $2000.

It is a great idea, but we'd have to have up to $2,000 sitting in our checking account at any given time to cover his expenses.  We just don't have that kind of money, and when we do, we need it!  The thought of having MY money tied up in company expenses (especially when it isn't OUR company, owned by us) makes me want to get stabby.  LOL

[liberal_chick]

I just got out of a staff meeting in which my boss told us that our first pay check for the year won't come until next week and will continue in our typical every other week fashion from there on out.  We were supposed to get paid tomorrow, so I have a bunch of checks that my online banking has already sent out.  And we won't be able to pay for any of that stuff or daycare for the week without dipping into our EF by $410.  And no grocery money.  THIS SUCKS!!

[AnkaJones]

What a**holes!
 

Originally Posted by liberal_chick 

I just got out of a staff meeting in which my boss told us that our first pay check for the year won't come until next week and will continue in our typical every other week fashion from there on out.  We were supposed to get paid tomorrow, so I have a bunch of checks that my online banking has already sent out.  And we won't be able to pay for any of that stuff or daycare for the week without dipping into our EF by $410.  And no grocery money.  THIS SUCKS!!

[esg]

Wow. That sucks. He could have planned for that better. You don't let people know that kind of thing on such short notice. Sorry.

Originally Posted by liberal_chick 

I just got out of a staff meeting in which my boss told us that our first pay check for the year won't come until next week and will continue in our typical every other week fashion from there on out.  We were supposed to get paid tomorrow, so I have a bunch of checks that my online banking has already sent out.  And we won't be able to pay for any of that stuff or daycare for the week without dipping into our EF by $410.  And no grocery money.  THIS SUCKS!!

[esg]

I'm slowly going. I wish I could keep up with the $15 a day thing but for the most part I'm finding change here and there while cleaning and decluttering. I'm up to $17.07 so I'm definitely not complaining. Starting on Thursday, for 6 days I'm picking up extra work. I'm hoping that will be at least $100 and that at least half can go to my fund. The bike has been posted, the stroller needs to be cleaned and I'm going to clean out the couch cause it needs it and I'm sure there's change in there.

[mylilmonkeys]

I just realized that we're coming up on an extra pay day, and I've sold $100 in books on half.com this period.  Yay!  More money for my replacement van fund.  

liberal-chick - I'm sorry for the bind your employer is putting you in.  That just is not right!  

[lilacvioletiris]

Yikes, liberal_chick, $2000 a month on company expenses.  I wouldn't want to carry that much debt for anyone either!  What your boss is doing with your paycheck is scandalous but think about it like this - this is an emergency- it is exactly why you have an emergency fund.  You have money to cover expenses (and if you need to buy food and still have emergency funds to cover it, do it in moderation, because the emergency fund is there to cover something like this).  When you do finally get paid, replenish the emergency fund with the cash that would have been used to cover the expenses.

Anka and others that may not be able to get to an in person class or have the money for such a thing, how about a skype "support group" to discuss DR book or goals or something like that?  Get together online once a week for 30 minutes or an hour and just chat goals?  The questions at the end of the videos my DH and I are watching are really good things to think about to help keep us motivated.  Get momentum going and push through baby steps!

AFM, DH and I opened a ingdirect.com savings account to put our $1000 savings in so it is further removed from our checking account but still liquid if we have an emergency.  Plus it has 0.8% apy instead of the 0.25% I was getting at my credit union.  We can have more than one savings account with ingdirect.com and name them things like "Emergency Fund", "new car fund", "immigration fund", "midwife fund", etc to help us name our savings and give more meaning to why we are saving for it.  We also committed to $50 a month off the top savings through a direct withdrawal to the ingdirect.com savings account.  If DH gets overtime, then we can push even more to the savings until we have our $2000 saved.  I am very excited!

[lavatea]

Originally Posted by lilacvioletiris 

AFM, DH and I opened a ingdirect.com savings account to put our $1000 savings in so it is further removed from our checking account but still liquid if we have an emergency.  Plus it has 0.8% apy instead of the 0.25% I was getting at my credit union.  We can have more than one savings account with ingdirect.com and name them things like "Emergency Fund", "new car fund", "immigration fund", "midwife fund", etc to help us name our savings and give more meaning to why we are saving for it.

That's exactly what I do with our savings/sinking funds. It's very helpful.

[lavatea]

I feel like crying. DD's dance just auto-debited out of our account. I called them yesterday to let them know DD wasn't coming back. When I saw the debit just now I called, and they're claiming there is a 30 day notice that is required b/c they have to pull each child out of the system and it's some long process (I don't buy it). I don't have $45 to just throw away. That money was supposed to pay the electric bill on Thursday. So I guess I'll have to pull it out of the emergency fund. Along with the $100 we had to shell out for some conference DH's work sent him to this week (for dress shirts and food). If I was working it wouldn't be a big deal to pull this money out of the e-fund. But it's a very big deal to lose $150 out of the $1000 you have saved when there's no money to replace it until the end of Feb.

[esg]

Originally Posted by lilacvioletiris

AFM, DH and I opened a ingdirect.com savings account to put our $1000 savings in so it is further removed from our checking account but still liquid if we have an emergency.  Plus it has 0.8% apy instead of the 0.25% I was getting at my credit union.  We can have more than one savings account with ingdirect.com and name them things like "Emergency Fund", "new car fund", "immigration fund", "midwife fund", etc to help us name our savings and give more meaning to why we are saving for it.  We also committed to $50 a month off the top savings through a direct withdrawal to the ingdirect.com savings account.  If DH gets overtime, then we can push even more to the savings until we have our $2000 saved.  I am very excited!

I love ING. That's where I keep my savings. It's great. You've got a great plan going too.

AFM,

 Added $15.00 to the fund today. I ended not being able to get something due to their stock that I ordered online a few days before starting so I added it to the fund. I'm up to $32.07/$1400.

[lilacvioletiris]

ING savings is set up and first withdrawal from my bank account will post today!  Yes!

Did a debt snowball spreadsheet for myself.  January 2017 is where all our debt, except the house, will be paid off!  I know how DR says you have to "get mad" to make a change in behavior.  Well this is one area where I am MAD!  Mad at myself for using credit cards to buy stuff.  I want to have a baby and stay home with the babies when they are small.  Right now I need to work to pay off my bills.  If I wait until January 2017 to have a baby, I will be 40.5 years old.  I am not waiting that long.  Not pregnant yet so I need to push something extra into savings to get the first baby step DONE and then push the debt snowball as fast as I can to get it GONE!  Babies deserve the best!

[mylilmonkeys]

Originally Posted by lavatea 

I feel like crying. DD's dance just auto-debited out of our account. I called them yesterday to let them know DD wasn't coming back. When I saw the debit just now I called, and they're claiming there is a 30 day notice that is required b/c they have to pull each child out of the system and it's some long process (I don't buy it). I don't have $45 to just throw away. That money was supposed to pay the electric bill on Thursday. So I guess I'll have to pull it out of the emergency fund. Along with the $100 we had to shell out for some conference DH's work sent him to this week (for dress shirts and food). If I was working it wouldn't be a big deal to pull this money out of the e-fund. But it's a very big deal to lose $150 out of the $1000 you have saved when there's no money to replace it until the end of Feb.

Are they going to refund you?  I can imagine that it may have been beyond their control to stop the auto-debit on such short notice, but they should refund.  If they are not, have you spoken to the person in the highest position?  If these avenues fail, I'd file a BBB report and see if they'll respond to that.  Sorry this has happened.  That's really rough!

[lavatea]

Originally Posted by mylilmonkeys 



Are they going to refund you?  I can imagine that it may have been beyond their control to stop the auto-debit on such short notice, but they should refund.  If they are not, have you spoken to the person in the highest position?  If these avenues fail, I'd file a BBB report and see if they'll respond to that.  Sorry this has happened.  That's really rough!

They won't refund it. She did offer to let my DD drop in on 4 classes (the amount the monthly tuition covers) if DD ever wants to. Or if DD decides to go back we won't have to pay a registration fee. All of that is nice and all, but we need that $45 now. DD dropping the class is a separate issue (she didn't want to dance anymore), but it was good timing as far as our finances were concerned. But then this happened. At least it shouldn't happen again next month. And maybe we'll be OK even with this. Well, I'm sure we will be OK. I was just hoping for better than that.

[lilacvioletiris]

That is a serious bummer about them not refunding!  Your DD isn't using their services anymore.

What have any of you done to help get your emergency fund, funded?  I joined the decluttering thread because I want to sell some things to make money back from them that I wasted when I thought I "needed" something.

[lavatea]

Originally Posted by lilacvioletiris 

That is a serious bummer about them not refunding!  Your DD isn't using their services anymore.

What have any of you done to help get your emergency fund, funded?  I joined the decluttering thread because I want to sell some things to make money back from them that I wasted when I thought I "needed" something.

I didn't do anything special. I just set up a sinking fund last year and added to the e-fund monthly like a bill. The way I did it last year was to skim 20% of our earnings into a generic "savings", then I split that up into the sinking funds. If we ever had unexpected expenses and couldn't contribute the full 20% then I would just rank the sinking funds on importance. Then I'd fund the ones at the bottom of the list at a later date if extra ever came available (this required me to add a column to my spreadsheet to keep track of the latest funding date for each fund, but I love my spreadsheet so adding to it and playing with it is fun for me).

Because we're currently blowing through our e-fund, when I go back to work I may re-fund it in a different way. I may fund it separate from my 20% savings category just to get it funded more quickly.

Have you looked into mystery shopping and survey companies? Face to face market research pays the best, IMO. If you do a google search of market research companies you can usually go straight to their websites and sign yourself up. I get e-mails and/or calls weekly. I almost qualified for a well-paying study just last week, but then I got declined right at the end b/c I'm breastfeeding.

[lilacvioletiris]

I have done survey companies, years ago, but never got paid that much for them, a couple dollars here or there.  I did one that was $10 to try a new shampoo.  I loved it!  I wish I knew if it actually went to market.  About 3 years ago, I had won a set of 3 Gladiator garage storage containers from scanning my groceries and purchases every week.  My DH loves them for sorting tools - they have ball bearing rolling drawers.  Very nice.

The sinking fund has been what I am thinking about.  Have to talk with DH and figure out what direction we need to be saving for, especially for expected expenses that come irregularly.

[esg]

Originally Posted by lavatea 

Have you looked into mystery shopping and survey companies? Face to face market research pays the best, IMO. If you do a google search of market research companies you can usually go straight to their websites and sign yourself up. I get e-mails and/or calls weekly. I almost qualified for a well-paying study just last week, but then I got declined right at the end b/c I'm breastfeeding.

I do the market research and the surveys too. I tested toothpaste on my last one. I couldn't make the larger amount though cause I was pregnant at the time. I wonder which ones I could barred from doing now that I'm breastfeeding too. I hadn't thought about that.

AFM, I have a job interview for Monday. I'm hoping that job will bring in a good enough amount of income so that I can split it between getting current with everything and putting money towards my emergency fund. I found it and a few others on Craigslist today.

I just got word that I'm in for thredups concierge program so I can start selling off some baby clothes!

My sister said she'd give me $2 to run to the store for her and wouldn't you know, I'm considering it in this cold weather. I haven't added to my fund today and that would bring me to over $70. Funny how my brain starts to work lately! This getting out of debt stuff has me motivated!

[lilacvioletiris]

ThredUps sounds like a cool idea.  I have been thinking about getting some maternity clothes from there when the time comes.

DH paycheck is larger than expected!  Yeah!  It doesn't post to the checking account until Tuesday, but it is listed in the pending transactions so I can do some temporary allocations. 

Immigration is our next big expenditure that we need to sink fund.  In July 2012, we will need to fork over $590 to US Customs and Immigration Service.  $10 is funded toward it right now.  Thank the Lord it will be another 10 years before we HAVE to pay for another green card, unless we decide to have DH take the jump to become a U.S. resident.  He loves being Canadian so much!  He can get dual citizenship, no problem, once we have been married 3 years.  We will have to wait and see what happens over the next year.

[eirual]

I can hardly keep up with you ladies, it's good to have so many people contributing to the thread this month and it sounds like a lot of great things are happening.

I'm counting the days to payday this month....it's been tight.

We've been "paying ourselves first" which doesn't leave much wiggle room once we've met our savings goal, but we really need to squirrel away as much as we can before this baby comes and we find ourselves living off %55 of our ONE income. I think it will work out though, we haven't taken into consideration that DH can work over the summer between semesters and that willl be a big help- he always manages to find work, so I don't forsee that being an issue....I just want to be prepared to manage without and anything he make over summer be a little wiggle-room/bonus.

[lilacvioletiris]

I know I need encouragement often to keep at the baby steps.  Cleaned the house and prepared some things that I want to sell.  Hope to get 5 things listed on ebay tomorrow night.  Dresses I bought but haven't ever worn.  Time for them to go!

Having wiggle room is key.  I was talking to another friend who is starting DR's FPU.  She too said how counterintuitive it is to have $1000 first before paying off debt but how much sense it makes so we don't have "emergencies" that put us back in debt.