Nasty Numbers

I have mentioned before that we are required to do a financial disclosure for G-man's job once a year.  (One of these days I will do it as we go instead of having to go back and look at stuff....wait....I am doing that for this year!  Yea me!).

This packet is a PITA.  The basics of it are starting and ending balances of ALL accounts (CC, mortgage, car, investments, banking); how much we paid over the year, large purchases (like the car).  This year is particularly a PITA because we have the refinance of the house, paying off G-man's car, purchasing my car.  All of this has to be documented.

I started working on it last night (it is due in mid-May), and it wasn't pretty.  I knew it wouldn't be....but it REALLY wasn't pretty.  By going through 12 months of statements I discovered 

• We paid $13,814.84 on our credit cards combined.
• We paid $5,105.16 towards Lending Club.

This is a total of $18,920.  This number includes interest we occurred, payment towards purchases (including car repairs, PTA stuff I fronted and was reimbursed for, and any other purchases).  This does NOT include the balance transfer we made, which just rearranged the money.

But the truly sick part....

• Overall starting balance for those 5 accounts - $34,634.94
• Overall ending balance for those 5 accounts - $36,408.94

That is an increase of $1,774.  We paid almost 19 THOUSAND dollars, and increased the debt load.  What this means is that we paid off everything we used the cards for, minus the $1,774.


To those who want to be a hater and tell me how little progress we made...go right ahead.  This is not an open invitation to bash me....just that I am not in the mood to fight today, so say what you will.  I am not going to argue with you about it.  I will agree that the numbers will support your argument, but the numbers don't tell the whole story, and you know it.

I am so looking forward to hitting the reset button soon.  I need to put 2011 behind me for good. 

Move it to the left....move it to the right....

Once again, in an attempt to pay as little interest as possible, we are moving things around.  I really wish we could just come up with ONE plan, and stick to it.  But that just doesn't seem to be in the cards for us.  Whatever.

CC3 had a 1.99% balance transfer through January 2013, with 1% fee.  Per their policy, we couldn't go over 80% of the limit in a 90 day period, so with the fees and all....we transferred 79%.  :)  It was the majority of CC1 and part of CC2.  I am watching CC4 to see if they offer a balance transfer.  I am doubtful on this one.  But I am watching.

We are also planning on trying another Lending Club loan.  We did this almost exactly one year ago, and it worked beautifully for us.  We have paid WAY less interest, and have paid off 1/3 of the loan at this point.   This would replace CC2. 

I realize that the fees eat into some of the benefits.  But the minimum payments collectively are almost the same, just more going to principle.  This will at least buy us a little time to figure things out further.

If I am able to get this job (please!!!!), it will drastically change the numbers.  I am estimating that we have the potential to be debt free (minus the house), in about 2 years.  I would LOVE to be debt free by 38.....two years before my goal.  But one thing at a time.

G-man has some overtime this month....about 14 hrs so far.  There is the potential for more in the next 4 weeks.  I am thinking of holding on to the money for the mean time and top off a few accounts, like the EF.  I need to see how the numbers play out.

I will update all the numbers soon.  Just waiting for them all to settle a bit.

Where do we go from here???

Excellent question, bloggy friends. I have some lofty goals....not sure if it will all work out, but I am gonna try!!!!

Debt Snowball.  The next victim on our list is G-man's car.  Actually, the end is near on that one.  Taking $2,000 from our refi money plus the regular payment for May only leaves a few hundred left on the loan.  With three paychecks in May, this is a no-brainer.  I am tenatively setting May 16 as the pay off, but depending on how things go, we might wait until the end of the May to make the official payoff. 

After the car....CC1.  That stupid card was paid off for a blink of an eye, and it needs to go back to that.  With the money freed up from paying off the car, we should be able to work through this one fairly quickly.  The catch to this....we only really have this money freed up for 4-5 months.

As of Sept 25, Student Loan #1's monthly payment will increase from $82 to $229.  We had always planned for the car to be paid off before that happened so the "car" money will become "student loan" money.  It will still leave $200 in play to snowball, so we have to take advantage of the full amount while we can.

Once we get to the fall, we will have to reexamine everything.  I am not sure where all the numbers will be by then.  As a general idea the snowball will go:  Car, CC1, CC2, CC4, Student Loan.

Notice I didn't put Lending Club in there.  That is because I "think" that will be paid off around the same time CC4 will be, so it really isn't getting any extra action.  But we will see.

My Car.  Alas....my car turned 150,000 miles this morning.  And while it is still chugging along, it won't last forever.  I would like to start saving for a new car, but haven't quite figured out how to pull that one off yet.

Insurance Stuff.  One of our goals for the year was to get more life insurance.  Since I will be 36 next week, and G-man will be 40 this fall....I would like to figure this out this summer.  I know we can't afford as much as I think we will really need, but I would like to at least get the ball rolling on this one.

So now...for the goal of the moment....

I would like to be under $60k in debt by my blog anniversary in August.  That is a little under $8,000 to pay off in 4 months.  The car will be about a third of it, so I think it possible.  We are sure gonna try!  G-man has been putting in for overtime, so as long as we stick to the plan, I think we should be ok!!!

Thoughts?  Would you do it differently?

A few updates....

We always have so much going on....


The washing machine - G-man took things apart, cleaned it....for the moment it seems to be better.  We also found out that the part that seems to be going is only $72 (vs. $125).  Let's hope that it doesn't come to that!  Luckily, we have a laundrymat around the corner, so if the washer does go out...we can at least get the clothes washed (and brought home to dry).

Camp - as of today....Camp for the kids is fully funded!!!!  Since it in an ING acct, we can't withdraw the money for a week....but it is so nice knowing that we saved up for a planned expense, and we can now enroll them both for 7 weeks of fun.  I am glad that I changed my savings strategy and put all my efforts into this one goal.  Moving on to saving for the kids' birthday parties, then finishing our Christmas fund.....then back to Camp again!  The cycle of the year....

Vacation - In an attempt at reclaiming some "family" time....we are taking a mini vacation this weekend.  The kids are off for Good Friday, but we are taking them out of school a few hours early on Thursday.  We will be going to Sesame Place!!!  This Friday is "Autism Day" and admission to the park is FREE, with a $25 parking fee.  But c'mon....$25 is nothing for a family of 4 to get into a theme park.  We found a hotel for less than $100 a night (with breakfast included and an indoor pool!!).  The kids are super excited!!!  And we need a few days to just focus on our family.  G-man had overtime in this week's paycheck, which will cover the cost of our weekend.

Refi Money - We are just about at the point where we are ready to pull the trigger and actually USE the money for debt now.  I am a little torn....of the $2,000 we will use for debt (the remainder is replenishing our emergency fund), the original plan was $1,000 to CC1, and $1,000 to the car.  BUT....G-man gets paid 3 times in May....if we take half of his extra check, and the full $2,000....the car is paid off!!!!!  That will free up $350 a month to apply to other debt (CC1 has the highest interest rate). 

If we stick to the original plan, the car will be paid off  in July.  (This is using half of his 3rd paycheck, plus $1000, plus regular payments....MAYBE we can swing a June payoff if we can throw a few snowflakes that way).

and last but not least....

Mysti/G-man - We are trying to work things out.  It is slow going.  Trust is a hard thing to earn back.  But he has been much more engaged with me and the kids.  He is back living at home, and we are both in individual counseling, as well as couples counseling.  It has now been just over 2 months since this disaster started, and we are no where close to being "over it."  But we are hopeful that learning to communicate with each other, learning to work through resentments and anger from our marriage, and rediscovering why we got married in the first place will all lead to a stronger marriage.  Wish us luck!!!

Sometimes The Obvious Answer is well....OBVIOUS

I consider myself an intelligent woman.  Granted, I have made stupid choices....but as a whole, at least 22 of the 24 crayons in the box are sharp.

When I have worked out my budgets, it is based on the typical month pay (give or take).  For example, if they cut hours at G-man's part time job, his weekly paycheck will be a little lower.  But it usually balances out in the end.  His main job paycheck is fairly static (I am curious to see what that number will be with tax differences, medical insurance, and FSA differences).  The biggest wild card in all of this is OVERTIME.

(NOTE:  We agreed that OT is NOT a side hustle)

In the past, overtime pretty much got sucked up into life.  Mostly, when we went over in a budget category.....food being the number one culprit.  How stupid we are.....

Now, as soon as there is overtime on a paycheck, it gets moved out of the main account immediately.  It isn't budgeted money.  No more getting sucked into the darkness of the great abyss.  It will get held until all of the budgeted expenses are paid, and then that EXTRA money will go where it belongs....as an EXTRA payment to something.

G-man had to get up at 2:30am.....yes, you read that right, 2:30am....to be at work for 4:00am this morning.  He will be earning OT all day (and without going into detail about his job, this is the stuff he LOVES to do), and he will work his regular shift tonight.  Today will be about 10-11 hrs of OT (unless they are able to finish early).  At time and a half, that is about 15-16 hrs of regular time......2 days worth......or about 20% extra.

That EXTRA money....because that is what it is.....will make an EXTRA payment somewhere.

(I am being vague about the somewhere because of the new mortgage refi.  Depending on when it closes, and we get the escrow money back from the current loan, we will have to see where we are at on the snowball.  The current plan is that the month off from our mortgage and the escrow will pay off CC1 and Student Loan 2, and part of Christmas nonsense.  If OT hits before the mortgage closes, then OT will be used for the above stuff, and the mortgage stuff finishes off the above, and the remainder goes to the next debt victim).

I probably make things harder with all my little piles.  But it works for me.  I need to visually see it all broken out.  So for now....the piles stay.  His OT today will probably be in his paycheck on Jan 24, so we have a few weeks before we will see it.  But I am looking forward to it!!!

Nothing Like Going Out With A Bang!

Nothing like waiting until the last day of the year to do something BIG.

We are doing a refi on our mortgage!  After paying 7.5% interest for the past 4 years, being underwater for awhile, and dealing with all the rest of the garbage....we are ready, willing, and able.

The short version....it is a 30 year fixed, at 4.75%, via an FHA loan.  We purchased 1.685% in points, which is was a little over $3000 upfront, but we can write off on taxes later. We have decided to just bite the bullet and do a bi-weekly mortgage, which automatically will shave 7 years off the life of the loan.  Additionally, FHA loans have "MPI", which is the FHA version of mortgage insurance, that will drop in 5 years.  Continuing with the bi-weekly payment, and continuing to pay the monthly rate ($1510), even after the MPI drops, will shave another 3 years off the term.  Add in any extra we will throw at it once the rest of the baby steps are done, and we will be in good shape.

The net difference on a monthly basis is $200 back in our pocket, which will be great for the ole snowball.  The month off of paying the mortgage and the escrow amount we will get will pay off CC1 (which is not $490 higher due to the appraisal cost), and my student loan snowball .  The left over will go towards the car, which is our next victim in the debt snowball.

We have been working with an incredible guy, who has not only been informative and helpful, but SUPER nice.  He really knows his stuff.  He has laid it all on the table, walked us through everything, and really has been professional.  We were pre-approved on the front end, so we have already gone through underwriting.  As of right now, we will close about January 15.

We are feeling very good about this.  We weighed it all out, and I think this kick will really help us in 2011.  Student Loan #2 and the car will be paid off.  The extra $200 (well...we look at it as $150 once the life insurance piece is worked in) will all go to debt.  My other student loan payment will increase later this year, but we are prepared. 

January will be our 13th wedding anniversary.  Lucky 13!!  This year will be huge for us in resolving some of this mess.  Our little tiny snowball is starting to take shape.

I will be back tomorrow in 2011, with my new goals to share.  For tonight, G-man are ordering dinner in (our last for awhile...we are doing a No Eating Out challenge in January) and watching movies. 

From our house to yours.....be safe, be well, and have a wonderful New Year's Eve!!!  See ya next year.

Well darn....my math skills were off

We are so close to getting a $50 gift card for a home improvement store.  Remember, I started using my rewards card just to get this and then I am done.  I started the process, and I want to finish.


The points are awarded at the end of the billing cycle, which was yesterday.  I checked my points, and I am 46 points short.  So now I have to wait until the end of the next billing cycle (Mid November) before I can redeem the points.  I basically need one more purchase to get there.

Frustrating.  We were hoping to use the gift card as part of our hallway project (which I want done before Thanksgiving because my parents are coming to visit).  No such luck. 

The card won't go to waste.  We have plenty to do.  I was just trying to stretch the budget enough to paint and get new lights.

Bummer.

Bad customer service on a bad idea

CC1 is a rewards card.  More or less, you get a point for every dollar you spend.  Sometimes it is 1.5, but I haven't really paid that close attention to it.  Honestly, I never redeemed points until recently (I don't even want to think about all the points that expired.)

I am less than 400 points away from earning a $50 Lowe's Home Improvement Gift Card.  While I opened the Pandora's Box on this in August, I am anxious to close the box.  But being so close, I just want to do it and be done.  I was going to pay a few utility bills using this card (I have the cash...so it would purely be for points), get my gift card, and call it a day.  Until I realized that my card expired 9/10.  I never got a new card.

So I called customer service, who informed me that they sent me a new card, and did I throw it away???  No, I didn't throw it away.  I never got it.  I asked them when it was sent.....and apparently it was sent in April 2009....aka 18 months ago.  They said when they changed names they sent new cards, and "I" must have thrown it out.   No....I never got a new card.

The guy is sending me a new one.  Then....he noticed that the card has a very low balance (which is now zero thanks to my payment).  I said yes, it is about $300.....he countered with "actually, it is $303.17."  *sigh*  Fine, I was off by $3.  Dude, you aren't winning any points with me.

He asked why I stopped using the card.  Now, I should have just said nothing, but I got baited.

Told him that the interest rate is too high, and when I called last year, no one would help me, and they slashed my credit line.  He puts me on hold....and after forever and a day, lowers it from 19.24 to 15.99.  And then proceeds to offer me a balance transfer of 0% until next July.

I said no, that isn't even a year, and I have better offers, which include 0% for 12 months, and the rate on that card is 9.24% there after (vs the 15.99 on CC1).

He and I haggled and argued.  He claimed he could save me sooooo much money.  That my balance transfer fee would be $35 less than with the other card (I countered with "that isn't even a tank of gas.").  And that they have a lower minimum payment (which I said, will just keep me in debt longer).

Why would I transfer a balance that I know I can't pay off in less than a year, to a card that has a HIGHER rate there after?   He was getting snotty, and wasn't used to someone saying NO to him.  I said, "can you offer me 0% for the life of the transfer?"  He laughed at me.  I said, well, that is the only way you are going to get me to do it.

I got this card in 1996, and back then, they had great service.  Over the years, my card has been bought out multiple times, and the customer service just gets worse and worse.  The ONLY reason I keep this card is because I am afraid of some catastrophe where I need a HUGE amount of money right away.  And because it is my oldest history, I keep it around.

Yeah, yeah....I know DR could care less.....but I do care about my credit score.

As I was arguing with the guy, G-man was in the kitchen listening to me.  He thought "dude, you aren't going to win this one with her."  Hee hee.

Anyway, I got off the phone....my new card is on its way.....I didn't do the transfer.  And this guy can kiss my lily white a$$.

I thought it was Two hard months followed by two eas(ier) months

We get paid on a bi-weekly basis.  As it turns out, we get paid on the same week.  Anyone who gets paid bi-weekly knows that this means that 2 months of the year are 3-paycheck months.

(Do a little dance.....make a little love.....get down tonight! Click here to hear the whole totally awesome song.)

Due to the day of the week we each get paid, G-man will have 3 beautiful paychecks in November, and I will have 3 beautiful paychecks in December. This is very handy for many reasons: 1)  Our water bill is due in November (and we aren't quite at a point of saving for this beforehand), 2)  Our personal property taxes on the cars are due in January (and yes, we are saving for "CAR" stuff, but not enough yet), 3)  The holidays are there (in the past 2 years it hasn't been too much of an issue because we used money from selling stuff to pay for the holidays), and lastly 4)  It allows a little breathing room.

In the past, the two months beforehand were tough.  Not because of the expenses per se, but because of the dates they were due in comparison to the dates we got paid.  Stuff that typically got paid from the second paycheck had to be paid from the first paycheck because it was due on the 14th, and we didn't get paid until the 16th....that kind of thing.  It would snowball and by the time we hit the month with 3 paychecks, things were mucked up.

But a strange thing is happening.....so far, we have EXTRA money.  I am a little confused.  And excited.  And worried. 

I balanced the checkbook....good to the penny.  Checked all the bills.....one bill to pay, but everything else is paid.  Checked the due dates....the next "set" of bills are due to come from paycheck one of the month, and we get paid on the 4th....so no problem with the dates.  Mortgage....got that cash waiting to be paid.  Reasonable amount of food in the house.  Gas in the cars.

So why do I have over $700 in my checking account!???

I am concerned I am forgetting something.  I am excited that I may have some extra cash to throw at debt.  I am some what proud that after our rotten month last month that we seem to be back on track with an attitude!

I transferred $300 into our savings account for safe keeping.  The remainder will be our grocery, gas, etc money until the next payday (which for us is Wednesday, when G-man gets paid from his part time job).  If we are still okey dokey, I will use that $300 to pay off the remainder of CC1, which is the left over mess from August.

Maybe we are getting the hang of this!!!!

How quickly it spirals out of control

August has been a great big fat failure.  I haven't even looked at all the numbers, and I don't want to. 

Things are running amuck, amuck, amuck!  (Quick, name that movie!!!)


Credit Cards - you give an inch, they take a mile.  And this is what happened.  A few small purchases lead to a few larger purchases.  Old habits die hard.  $350 was spent on school supplies and clothes and shoes.  ($150 of it will be paid off at the end of the week).  G-man got some gas.  And then there were my beautiful boxes.....which somehow the cash I had saved for this got gobbled up in the great abyss of my checkbook.  A little here, a little there....and now the damage is done.

The lessons here....

1)  We aren't ready to be responsible.
2)  We didn't plan appropriately for expenses.

The "excuses" aren't great....but some of them are real.  Between July and August, we had several gifts to buy (2 baby showers, kids' birthdays), personal property taxes, and a few other smaller bills.  The cats went in for check ups to the tune of $246. All of these are expenses that cut into the bottom line and we are still learning to plan for.  Plus, the interest....oh, the interest....hate it.  Our party in late July....that was all us.  No justification there.

Student Loans - I have somewhat stuck my head in the sand on that one.  We are snowballing Loan 2 right now, but Loan 1....I have been "ignoring" the accruing interest on the loan while we have been on a lower payment.  It is up by $111.  So the actual balance has now been reflected to show this. 

Floating Money - My parents are lazy.  They tend to let us figure out birthday presents, Christmas presents, etc.  And then they LET us buy it all, and wrap it, and all of that jazz.  Eventually they pay us back, but we have to figure out how to pay for it to start with.  So, add in another $100 for what we paid for as a loan to my parents.   I hear from my mom....I will send a check....and then I have to ask for it.  C'mon...they don't have 90 seconds to send me a check???  It isn't about the money....they just don't care that their actions impact others.

So, bottom line....in the past month, we managed to undo 25% of our efforts.  I am embarrassed and ashamed of us.  I am angry with myself. 

And why do I share all of this......because someone has to be the blog that doesn't have it all together!  No offense to those that have wonderful stories to share that they got on board with debt repayment and did fabulous.  That ain't us.  We are really struggling to make this work....and I hope that this shows others that not everyone has it all together.

So, this is totally not working for me

Using my CC for purchases I have the money for.

1)  I just didn't like the feeling of using it at all. 

2)  I can see where it can get out of control.  No damage done yet, but decided that the risk is too great.

3)  I will lose track of purchases....I did yesterday.  Again, no damage done....but I am not going to let it.

Additionally note about all of this .....

I checked the statement, and even though I paid the 10k balance, I was still left with $73 in interest!!  I didn't account for this at all.  So with my yesterday purchases (again....I have the cash for all of them) and the interest, I am up to almost $200 on this card.  NO!!!!!

So I will pay the charges, and before the next billing cycle ends (sept 13), I will pay off the interest.  But this interest just gets me....I don't understand how people don't pay interest when they pay off their bill.  I still got charged interest.  Unless this is just for new purchases, and I am still paying the penalty for previous indiscretions.

I am still going to use the card for specific LARGE purchases....like one I am making on Wednesday.  But that is it.  No day to day purchases, even if I have the cash.  One day doing this has taught me that I am not responsible enough yet. 

I promised you I would be honest with you.  And this one gets a C+/D- in the implementation category. 

A bit of danger....but I think we can handle it

Last week I accidentally used my credit card.  I pulled the wrong blue card out of my wallet.  PURELY an accident.  As soon as I realized I did it, I paid the balance (since I had planned on using my debit card, I knew I had the cash).

The thing I didn't think about until later was the points that got credited to the rewards program.  As I stated yesterday, we are getting the kids a Wii for Christmas with points.

After getting the Wii, I have about 4100 points left.  At 6000 (or 6500, I have to look again), we can get a $50 GC to Lowe's, which will help pay for paint for the hallway, and allow us to get the 2 lights we didn't have enough cash to get.

So, we need about 2000 more points.  Then I read this post about paying for your mortgage with a credit card (ok, I have searched high and low and can't find it again....so sorry dude, no link love for ya!!).  One month, plus one other purchase we have planned (and have the money for) and I would be there!  Then I would get my gift card, cancel the reward program and hop on down the bunny trail.

Except our mortgage company won't accept a credit card payment.  Bummer.  But I am not letting it get the best of me.  I am planning on using my credit card in HIGHLY CALCULATED situations to get the points, and it will take me a little longer, but I will still get there.

I know what you are thinking.....Tsk, tsk, Mysti.  This is a gateway to problems.  What are you thinking, girl????

I am thinking that I know that I have a $600 purchase next week, and that will be 1/4 of the points I need.  I am only going to use the card for purchases that I have the cash in hand to do.  Not, I will have the cash next week.  If I have the money that I could take to the store and hand them in cash, then I will use the card to get the points....go home, and pay the bill.  There won't be a balance.

I just think we are close enough to get the gift card that it would be a waste to not use all the points.  I could get a gift card to a restaurant.....but it wouldn't even be enough for all of us.  So it really isn't an incentive.  Now, getting the lights for my hallway.....THAT is an incentive!

Thoughts???

I had to giggle at this one

There was a message on the home phone answering machine from my credit union, wanting to talk to me about doing an e-loan.

Why is this funny?  Because last year I blogged here and here and here about them turning us down for a loan!!

Not all that much has changed.  We are at the same jobs, making the same money.  We have paid off about 5k in debt, but that is about it.  So now they want to talk......hee hee.

Where were you a year ago when we were desperately trying to make some changes for the better.  When we really could have used the money, and have paid WAY less interest on things in the past year? 

We are still pending on the peer to peer lending.  I am getting antsy that it is the right decision.  It would pay off CC1 and part of CC3.  *sigh* I wish I were more decisive on these things.  G-man has bowed out of this one....he said the final decision is mine.  Thanks, hon.

Should I try again?

As I have mentioned many times, our interest rates (19.24, 14.24, 11.99, 9.74) on our CCs are part of the problem with our snowballing.  We pay soooo much in interest, it is hard to have extra to pay on the principal.

Last year, I tried to get the 19.24 reduced.  End result....not only did they not lower the rate, they cut my credit line by about 6,000 (at that point, my card was $189 from the limit).  I was told this was for my own good.

Fast forward to today.  Our CC4 has a balance transfer offer of 2.99% for 6 months (of course, it also has a 5% fee!!).  But even after the transfer rate expires, it would revert to 9.74, which is WAY lower than 19.24!!  We are leaning toward transferring about $6800 (which would bring us to $7140 with the fee....the limit is $7300).

This would leave CC1 with a balance about $9000.  Should I call them again and try and get the rate reduced??  The debockle was last July.  No late payments, and most months I paid over the minimum (which isn't easy when the minimum was at almost $500!!!).  Even if they lower it to 17.99...that is something.  I would love to see it in the 15.99 range, and then maybe try again in 6 months.

I am just afraid that they will screw me again.  Since July, I have paid about $2600 to this card in principal, which again, isn't easy when you get slapped with $300 in interest every month.  So I would hope that they would see I have been really trying.

Additionally...I also had the thought to transfer that $9000 to CC2, which will put it at about 85% capacity.  But the interest rate on that card is 11.99, so I am still saving some (minus the fee).  My concern there...this is G-man's card (from pre-marriage) and as the primary income provider, will "maxxing" out his card be bad?

Another thought...call CC4 and see if they are willing to increase the limit so I can transfer more to them.

OK bloggy friends.....thoughts????

OK, let me have it.....

I am cleaning up the desk area and found a credit card offer that G-man saved in his "need to talk to Mysti" pile. 
It is for a Visa card with a 0% interest for 12 billing cycles and 3% transfer fee.  It is 12.99% interest after one year.

I have been looking for a way to pay less interest, and this certainly would be a way.  If we took the same amount that I have been paying on CC1 that has the ridiculous 19.24% interest ($400 a month) and transferred that to this card, that would be $5000 plus the fee of $150, for a total of $5150.  Paying the same exact amount of money we have been.....in one year we would have that card paid off, and it would all be principal.  That would lower CC1 balance to about $11,000, with a minimal payment of $285, which would continue to go down over time.

Alternatively, we could transfer the money, and make minimal payments on it, and hit the other higher interest cards heavy.

Between the cards, the minimal payments would be:

CC1 - $285
CC2 - $200
CC3 - $140
New card - $400

Which is $1025 total.  That is about $150 more than we are doing now, but in 1 year, we would have $5000 paid off, plus whatever else went toward the other cards.

Thoughts????

I thought I was snowballing.  I discovered.....I am not.  I looked at just my credit card bills.  Looked at the minimum payment, and then what I am paying.  Turns out, that while "most" of my available snowball money is going toward one bill, I am paying extra on all of them!

Here's the breakdown of extra money paid, on just the credit cards:

CC1 - $52
CC2 - $25
CC3 - $8
CC4 - $0 (although I have paid $260 over the minimum this billing cycle)
Store card - $118

OK, so my goal was to pay off the store credit card, and at this point....done!  If I had taken the $85 extra that  I paid on the other CCs, I would have had that paid off 2.5 weeks earlier.

Next am trying to pay off CC4 (because I was mad at myself for even using that card again).  So if I take the $133 I spent paying off the store card and put it toward CC4, it will be paid off in about a month (since $133 plus the minimal $40 due will just about pay off the balance of $181).

I get the snowball concept, but the idea of just paying the minimum scares me!  I feel like I HAVE to pay a little something extra.  But I really can see the power of a true snowball.  The unfortunate thing is that the interest rates coupled with the balances on the remaining CCs will not give me the faster gratification that I sort of want.

I am such a geek....I find this facinating.  I guess taking the time to discover these things really will open my eyes to the possible.  That stuff really can get paid off.  Slow and steady wins the race.

I am hoping that some recent changes (took the landline phone down to basic service, lower electric bill, higher cell phone bill), which will free up about $60 more a month will really help.  Now the question is....do I really give it gazelle intensity and do the snowball in debt order, or do I tackle the CCs???

A short lived celebration

So, I started this post a few days ago, and while writing it, a few things came to light and I decided to delve deeper.

As of right now, we have paid off $1,004.95 of our debt! This number is going to probably change once some finance charge hit, dragging it closer to $900. My first reaction was WOOO HOOO! PROGRESS!!

Then it hit me....how much did we spend to get to this point? This is our total debt....I know we have paid more than $1000....why did it take almost 6 months to pay off a grand. Enter my goal to track better. So being the geek that I am, I did a spending analysis.

In this exercise, I focused on just the credit cards. For my purposes, I took CC statements Aug 2009-January 2010 for this exercise (the only exception is that I don't have the January statement for one bill, so I just took the purchases and payments...not the finance charges). They each have slightly different closing dates, so these aren't "exact" by month...just by statement.

Here's what I learned....

Total Paid: $5,945.55 (I thought it was closer to $4,000)
Total Purchases: $3,183.72
Total Finance Charges: $2,726.85

I thought we really had stopped using our credit cards. I know I dipped into one card a bit at the holidays. My bad. But seriously....how did charge $3,100?(wait...I will tell you!) Of the amount purchased...G-man was responsible for 68.6%, and I did the remaining 31.4%. I didn't think I had charged that much. Really didn't realize he did either.

I looked at the spending and made this little chart:

Turns out that 21% of the purchases were gifts (which includes a wedding, kids' birthday, G-man's birthday, and Christmas).  Just over 1/3 was gas and groceries.

This leaves just under half left...which was miscellaneous stuff, most of which probably could have been avoided.  In particular, the fees.  Two were late fees, and one was reward card fee for having the reward card. Discount stores....I am sad to report that I have no idea what those purchases were.  Could have been stuff....could have been food....could have been anything.  No idea.

Finance charges....WOWZA!  We paid just under half of the total amount paid, just in finance charges.

And the scariest number of all....$34.98.  Wanna know what that is????  That is the actual amount we paid toward CREDIT CARD DEBT.  Yes....if you add up our purchases and finance charges.....and subtract them from the total paid....you get this sad little number.  In 6 months, we managed to pay $35.

I am more than disgusted with us.  This exercise has been a HUGE jolt.  G-man and I have another talk coming up, and this is going to be at the center of it.  Gifts....we both blew it.  Groceries and Gas....that was mostly him not using our checking account.  Stuff I can't account for....that is bad.

So my celebration of repayment was very short lived.  This is not good.  But at least I know now and can move forward.

This is frustrating!

Wouldn't you think if you aren't using a credit card, and are making more than the minimum payment per month, that the actual minimum payment would go DOWN?

Apparently not.

CC1....last month the minimum payment was $429....of that, $262 was finance charges...I paid $500....didn't add anything to the card.

This month...I incurred a $39 late fee (GRRR...In my spread sheet where I keep track of due dates...I put "10" instead of "7"....so when my payment was made, it was late.) Other than that....no charges. How did my finance charges go up to $295 (plus the $39) and my minimum payment go up to $498????

The interest rate stayed the same. I am "guessing" that they increased the percentage of the minimum payment. So now my budgeted $500 per month is only paying the minimum again!!

Man, we really need this retirement loan paid off so I can pay this CC off!! This is killing us.

$866

That would be EIGHT HUNDRED SIXTY SIX dollars. Would you like to know what that is? I bet you do!

That is the minimum credit card payments that are due between now and January 20. That is just the minimum...no snowball...no extra....just the minimum. This number is roughly my entire January pay.

I am ever so disgusted by this. My fantasy plan is to figure out how to pay all the bills off of G-man's salary, so my salary can be the extra payments. With minimum payments for just the CC at this point, I am not seeing how this is going to be possible. But I am gonna try!

Another small victory

In early July, I called to try and get my 19.24% interest rate on CC1 lowered. Didn't work, and to add insult to injury....they slashed my credit limit to $189 above the balance at the time.

I am mildly proud to say 4 months later....I have a little over $1100 in credit available. I have paid almost $1000 in principal on that card. (never mind that I have spent almost twice that in payments just to keep up with the interest.)

It is frustrating though that we aren't making headway. Granted, we just bought new blinds for a few windows (inexpensive, but not the cheap-cheap ones we have that keep breaking). And have we gone out to eat a few times...yeah. I just wish we would find the right formula to really start to make progress.

Add in the stupid medical bills......GRRR.