get out of debt

I paid back my overdraft line on my alternate checking account today with money I made from selling my old computer desk to my sister and selling a figurine on Etsy.

I’ve been applying for jobs, and I’ve been listing stuff in the shop but I am still freaking out about money. I don’t know if we’re going to have enough to pay the bills this month. At least 3 bills went up this past month so it’s harder to make the payments and I don’t know what the heck I’m supposed to do about it since I can’t make someone give me a job. I’m applying for everything from McDonald’s to sales jobs.

Ok. Worrying about it will not solve anything. I need a plan of action.

So far using the money I have left from my accident settlement, I paid $200 extra to one card and $100 extra to another card. the first is technically less interest by a small percentage but it’s got 6 times as much on it.

I just got a check from ebates (I buy my phone minutes through them for the cash back) for $13.90 and immediately applied it to my high interest credit card. Every little bit…

In February I paid the minimum on my main card, plus anything I charged to the card, plus $200 extra.

During my March statement, which began 3/7/07, I had a $3.99 charge (because I had no debit card at the time) which was promptly paid back. I had two automatic bills go through which I immediately paid back to the card. Other than that I have not put anything on my card at all, plus I paid over $200 extra above the minimum again.

My second main card has had a $4.91 charge to it but that was technically paid because I had paid about 5 dollars above the minimum because I had overestimated what the minimum would be. (Wow, what a convoluted sentence.) I have used it to pay my auto insurance as well but that’s for the rewards that the card gives – I put the money on the card before I paid the bill so no extra interest was charged. Thanks to those rewards I should soon be able to get a Walgreens gift card which I can use to pay towards my prescription which will be about $25 less out of pocket expense.

Now, I just have to find another job to keep the income incoming. (My temp position ended so I’m back on the job hunt.)

And, according to the free credit profile one of my credit cards provides, my FICO score went up by 7 points in January, (after dropping by 9 in December) stayed the same in February, then went up another 2 points in March. So as far as my FICO is concerned, I’ve fixed the problems that arose in November/December. (Mostly thanks to overspending for Christmas, as I recall.)

Tonight I put together an Excel spreadsheet with all of my debts except for medical bills. So it’s credit cards and people. At the top I have the card limits, then how much of a balance I have on each. Below that is where I’ll put in payments and at the bottom are the totals after payments. Then it has the big total of them all added together over to the side in bold red letters.

I’ve been taking my lunch to work using tasty food I got on sale. (Improving my chances at succeeding with my weight loss goals as well!) Mostly I’ve been drinking water or taking advantage of free coffee/tea at work which makes my food budget even less.

I’ve been conservative when figuring how much money I’ll bring home each week and I’ve made sure all major bills are in the budget before I even think about “goofing around” money. Most anything extra will either go to savings, debt, or unforseen stuff.

I’ve taken care with the budget to make sure I can complete my goal of paying $200 extra on my credit card this month. I’ve made sure that anything I buy that goes on my credit card (I have no debit card at the moment nor checks) is immediately added to my budget so it’s paid back before the end of the billing cycle.

I’ve brought my netflix down to the lowest it can be (can’t cancel right now cause I have to find a dvd or pay for it) which is less than $6 a month and it’s budgeted as well so it’s not just being put on credit.

We’ve gotten rid of the main landline in exchange for a cable phone which will save us quite a bit of money each month because we got in on a special deal. It’s essentially like getting the phone for $15 a month instead of closer to $90.

My current networth is roughly -$9,392. Isn’t that lovely? That’s not including what I owe to my mom in back rent from being unemployed.

I’ve listed some more stuff on ebay with plans to list a few more things tonight so hopefully that will help to put a dent into this debt. I have got to find a job.

In extremely good news, we were able to pay for the radiator using cash and the only thing that had to be put on the card was the car rental. In bad news, I had to file a complaint with the FTC on a collection agency today. I wrote about that here, if you want to know more. I’ll be looking into a lot of the laws over the weekend I guess.
All of this is really making me continue to consider becoming a financial planner. I want to be able to help people out of situations like this.

The radiator has got to be replaced and it’s going to be almost $400 dollars. That’s not including the car rental rate if they can’t fix it in time for my boyfriend to leave for work tomorrow. The only car rental place in town has jacked up their rates for Memorial Day so that will be another $70 or so dollars. Even if we don’t get a rental at least $200 to $250 of that will need to be put on the only card I have that much on, which is my highest interest rate card that I’ve been paying off slowly but surely.

So to anyone who says you shouldn’t use your credit cards as an emergency backup while you’re paying off your debt, please don’t voice your opinion to me ever again.
Which is better in the long run – the interest on $200 to $250 over what should be the short term… or …losing your job and having no car and no money to get you a new car and therefore a new job AND no money to pay even the minimum on your credit cards and therefore ruining your credit and getting even deeper into debt? Hmm, let me think. Choice A perhaps?

So that would be why I just stopped using my card rather than cutting it up or cancelling it. If it was a matter of spending money we should be saving for emergencies that would be one thing but right now we basically have no spending money thanks to bills that have cropped up over the last few months.