Gain Control of my finances

I’ve been looking at ways of how I can cut costs on my monthly bills (especially since I’m out of a job and highly doubt I’ll find one that pays as much in this poor economy) and so I’ve made some changes towards using some of the more progressive companies that utilize internet and paperless billing to cut costs for customers.

I was paying almost $220 a month for my car insurance BY MYSELF for ONE old ass 2000 Honda Accord. That was at AAA and I called and asked and asked if there was any way to lower my rate, but they just couldn’t do it. So I shopped around and finally ended up with Esurance and I’m only paying $160 a month now (it will go down to $120 in Sept. when an accident I had falls off my record). So there – bam. I’m saving $60 bucks a month.

So the next thing on the chopping block was home phone. I mean I wouldn’t even want one since I have a cell phone, but there are just some people I don’t want having my cell phone (aka Creditors!). And when I found out it was “long distance” to call a number just 20 miles from my house and I was hit with a 60 dollar landline bill, I decided it was time to explore new options. I’ve decided to go with an internet-based phone service – Vonage! My monthly bills will only be $18.16 every month and I have all the calling features I want under the sun. I’m pretty stoked. So that’s another $40 saved!

So all in all I am saving $100 between getting new car insurance and phone service. I think that’s a pretty good start to finding ways to cut my costs!

My finances have been getting the best of me lately and so I am going to be discussing how to establish my money, my boyfriend’s money, and “our” money accounts. We’ve actually talked about doing this in the past, but never implemented it. I just feel like it’s a good way for both of us to keep our autonomy when it comes to spending money but also have a central account so that we can take care of the joint bills for running the household.

I am finally current on all my regular bills! No more calls from anyone asking when they’ll get their money and no risk of getting my phone or internet or cable shut off! Also paid a big chunk off of my credit card.

The next step I may take is to call around and see if someone will be willing to refinance my car – a $50 or $100 savings per month would be great!

I’ve decided to commit to balancing my checkbook once a week. Every Sunday to be exact. I’ve been going negative way too often on my accounts and not even realizing it (even though I try to be diligent) and so the only way to fix this is to trust my check register and not what it says on the online banking page (since some things take DAYS to post).

Just another pain in my side as far as finances go. I haven’t lived in the house I own for nearly 10 months now. My ex-husband lives there and ever since I moved out of there I’ve been unable to pay rent on my own living expenses AND the mortgage on the house. Had he let me stay there, I would have filled the place up with roommates and made it work, but he insisted on staying and becoming unemployed for a long period of time and so there’s only about a month or 2 left until it is foreclosed.

So anyway, we had an offer on the house 2 or 3 months ago…it was about 50 grand less that what we owed on it, but since we were doing a short sale, I was hopeful that the bank would at least forgive some of that debt (plus it would have turned to unsecured debt that could have been filed under Chapter 7 bankruptcy…I think?) But my stupid, stubborn ex did not want to sign the contract for the sale and now it’s all about to be taken away anyway!

My Realtor called me today and said she showed the place to someone the other day and that the feedback was that the place was filthy and not move-in ready. So apparently he doesn’t keep the place clean and it’s only driving the very few buyers in the area away. So…anyway, I need to get in there and claim my washer and dryer, my new range (yeah I’m hella taking it out of the house), my dining room table, and an extra twin size bed that are there in the house before the bank takes control of the house. Oh and I need to call a lawyer probably. :-/

I just love how much my divorce has royally fucked with my finances! :P Thanks a lot!

I pulled out $120 from the ATM last week and I have no recollection of doing it, nor do I know what I spent the money on!

How do I keep myself from doing this? Do I have to go back to the old fashion way of actually BALANCING my checkbook? I haven’t done that since I was a teenager…

I guess sometimes I feel like I can ignore the enormous amount of debt I’ve accumulated over the years because I have the excuse of saying, “Oh but I make good money, I’ll be fine.” or “Oh, I’m getting a divorce so everyone getting a divorce has bad credit.” But making excuses for myself is not going to resolve the problem. My house is about to be foreclosed on in just a couple months (good thing I don’t live there), my ex-husband’s car is still under my name (with a $450 payment to boot) and I worry that if he can’t pay for it, it will reflect poorly on me, I am 2 months behind on my student loan payments (hopefully they approve my hardship request), and I’ve got a handful of other payments and debts that I know are going to sneak up on me and only drag me deeper.

So I need to find a serious plan of action. I think I am probably beyond helping myself with this situation and so I’ve been gathering account documents so that I can make an appointment to see a credit counselor and talk about the possibility that I may need to file bankruptcy to pull myself out of this mess. I see it as a big failure on my end, especially since I saw my parents go through bankruptcy as a teenager and so I thought I would know better to not get myself in this situation.

So my short-term plan is in place:
1. Continue to pay what I am able to on accounts still in good standing.
2. Make an appointment to visit a credit counseling center to discuss how I can fix my finance problems and talk about the potential for bankruptcy (I think it will be the property taxes and income taxes that may push it over the edge for me).
3. Don’t lend out any money to anyone and don’t borrow money for anyone either…I have a problem with being too generous at times (and in turn then needing to borrow money elsewhere) and it has only caused me to get further behind on my obligations.

I think once I can take control and accomplish these short-term goals, I can start planning some long-term action items to help me along with this goal.

Where do I even begin? I can hardly save 300 dollars. This is really something I would like to do though because I hate knowing that I am living paycheck to paycheck.