get out of debt

This week I am going to finish paying the bondsman. My friend traded me his car for his freedom, but I didn’t have all the money, so I need to bring the rest to the bail bonds place Thursday or Friday so my friend doesn’t get repo’d. I also owe the neighbor $5, and he’s just as poor as I am, so I’m gonna pay him, too.

Next week, I HAVE to pay my phone bill or it will get cut off. Again. Can’t have that, can we? I owe my ex’s ex for paying the bill last month, but she said it best. “I stole your man; I have to repay you somehow.” I will get to her eventually, but not any time soon. I owe her $80 when I do get to her, though.

The week after that, I plan to pay on the power bill at least $40 (seems to be the minimum for them to quit threatening you with disconnecting it), and I MAY have enough money to start working on the credit card debt/bad check debt.

I would feel kind of bad for this new hole I have just dug, except that I have paid $200 towards a credit card I had with about a $350 balance in the past month and a half. Since that card will be done with probably in a couple more months and I’m looking for a better job, I’m not feeling too bad…just want to get all this stuff paid so I can start paying off credit cards!

Oh, and I owe Movie Gallery (again) $35 now because my ex never returned the movies we rented last time…damn him!

My student loans would cover ALL this, so I need to go get one, like, tomorrow!

I NEED to (or else I will have no power), so I am making a substantial chunk in my debt to Alabama Power on Thursday when I get paid.

Ugh…the power is already out! This is going to be expensive (or illegal if I just hook it up illegally until I can pay the bill), meaning I can’t make any payments on my bad checks, credit card debt, medical bills, late phone bill, etc.

WELL…it turns out that was just a power outage, but it scared the crap out of me…I was almost sure it was out for good because the meterbox looked funny, but that could be the reason why the people in the other half of my duplex never have any lights on (I just thought they were weird…wait, I STILL think they’re weird…but the girl that was over there last night knocks just like my man (he has a VERY unique knock), and I thought it was at my door…that was just freaky).

I gave the power company $40 today. I also borrowed money from a friend to pay my phone bill, but I’ll pay her in the next couple weeks. I never leave a friend hanging.

Once the balance on the power bill is less than $100 and I’ve paid my friend back and started to catch up on the phone bill, I’ll worry about the checks, since apparently they’re in no hurry to put out a warrant. I HAVE to pay $25 on my one credit card every week to be able to use that bank account (will soon switch my direct deposit for work over to the new account I started at a better bank, but I’m in no hurry…being forced to pay on that card is good because it’ll be one less thing to worry about), and I’ll probably make a pretty big payment on the ones I am using a credit counseling agency to pay next month. I’m also (hopefully…I have some friends in high places) about to get a better job making more money, so that will be good, too…it will be nice to be able to start getting OUT of debt instead of getting in deeper (the things I do want to do are rent-to-own a bedroom suite (because I can’t afford to just BUY one, and sleeping on the floor and having all my stuff in Rubbermaid tubs, boxes, or piles on the floor is getting old) and take out a student loan…the rent-to-own to boost my credit after I get all this shit paid off, and the student loan because that’s one of the best debts you can have if you have to be in debt, and I’d like to finish college) and have a better standard of living (food in the fridge? A vehicle? Clothes I haven’t been wearing since high school? A home computer? Cable? You mean other people have stuff like that?).

Because the bank took two whole paychecks from me (they were direct-deposit) to cover NSF fees (typical) and my credit card through their bank (really pissed me off because they didn’t tell me they were doing it and caused me to write a bunch of checks I didn’t know were bad), I actually HAVE paid approximately $80 on one of my credit cards this month, and now I have a set agreement with the bank where they will take $25 out of each paycheck for this card, which is acceptable.

The NSF fees are caught up. Or they were. The bank told me yesterday they would not release the money in my checking account until I paid on the credit card I have at that bank. Well, I only had $25 left out of my direct deposit because of the previous NSFs. I needed money, since I’d been broke for a week and a half. So…I told the bank to screw themselves (not really, but I made it clear I was not satisfied with them), and I walked half a mile to the nearest grocery store, bought a pack of cigarettes, and wrote the check out for $20 so I’d have change back.

And NOW I have a bad check that has gone to collections…it was a $12 check to Bruno’s that is now going to cost me about $50. I wrote it a month ago and thought because of the ridiculous fees my bank was charging me for it that they had covered it. Better than the check going to the Worthless Check Unit and my ass going to jail.

Not to mention I’m still behind on the power bill.

And despite having JUST caught up my phone bill three weeks ago, Verizon is already calling demanding more money. I hate them right now. Them and my bank that won’t release my money. I am switching banks as soon as I can come up with $25 to start a new account and get my direct deposit paperwork for work to come through. I may even switch cell phone providers and go to a prepaid plan, since I KNOW my credit is no longer good enough for contract…I just hope paying out the contract is not too expensive…

I won’t be paying on the credit cards until next month…I can already tell that.

I’m fairly sure that my direct deposit form for work has not taken effect yet because the funds are not yet in my bank account (they’re supposed to be there Thursday morning, and it’s just after 1 a.m.), which is awesome because my account is so far in the hole I won’t see a paycheck for about three weeks. Unless the funds go through around 8 when the banks open up…then I’m sunk and will be living off plasma center money for a few weeks, which will suck. It’d be SO nice to be able to pay on my power bill next week and put some money in the bank to start covering the overdrafts. Why they can charge you NSF fees on the same check multiple times is beyond me, but it seems like yet another way the system screws poor people.

This setback means I more than likely will not be able to pay on my credit cards until the end of the month, so I need to call the credit counseling people and let them know I can’t pay it on time so that I won’t wind up with MORE NSF fees. If their damn website would just let me change the payment date online, I wouldn’t have to call them, and I HATE calling people.

Perhaps I can make enough money selling a lot of clothes I can’t wear at the consignment store that I will be able to pay my bills this month until I get a second job. God, I hope so…it’s not like I’m living rich or anything.

Part of why I’m SO FAR in the hole is that I’ve been charged an NSF charge THREE TIMES for the same two checks! I don’t understand this at all…is it a bank error? God, I hope so, since after next week I will not see a paycheck for quite awhile. This shit is pissing me off…approximately $150 in the hole that I should NOT be in the hole for…the other hundred dollars I was in the hole was manageable…these repeat NSF fees are NOT.

Bank: $160 (overdraft)
Alabama Power: $113

I’m going to let the power bill go for a week or so since it’s JUST overdue (by a few days) and try to take care of this overdraft this week and next (split it up like so). It’s going to be a plasma center/ramen noodles kind of couple of weeks for sure.

And then I have to make my credit card payment on the 12th of August…yep, I’m going to be dirt poor for a little while.

I just applied for their debt management plan…only $122 a month! I really, really hope this works, because that’s actually do-able for me!

The checks are post-dated for tomorrow…eighty dollars out of my paycheck-which is more than I can spare, really, but I will learn to live on what is left over, I guess-will go towards the bookies. I will try to spare $80-$100 a week, and thus should be out of debt by the end of the year, just about. And then next week $100 will go towards another credit card, and another the following week, and this will continue until I am debt-free. I am finally moving towards this, and that is a VERY good thing.

My mom gave me $700 to establish minimum payments, and she is going to pay the AmEx card, so soon the only person I will owe is my momma, and she doesn’t charge interest.

I pay my ex what I can, and I’m not even worried about that debt anymore, since in all reality he probably owes ME for borrowing $1465 to get his ass out of jail, even if I spent SMALL amounts of his money while he was in there. Only reason I give him any money at all is that I feel bad for him, and that I still love him and worry about him having enough to eat, enough to keep the power on, etc. So that to me is no longer a debt but a charitable contribution.

This is actually starting to come along.