For those who are unaware, I am 25 years old and currently have ~$14k in credit card debt. Can you believe it? Neither can I. Never in my life have I been this deep into debt. Combine this with ~$25k in student loans (and mayhaps even more once I get into graduate school) and it's easy to see why I have a - net worth.
The silver lining of all this is that I have ~$9k in my Efund. Clearly I have spent more time saving money than paying off debt, and that's not alway a decision I am proud of.
Sooo. Should I take money out of Efund and use it towards paying down debt? Should I just stop putting money into the Efund and aggressively tackle the debt? Should I try to find a balance between both?
Showing posts with label debt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label debt. Show all posts
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
not living within my means
a year ago, i was very serious about getting myself of debt (not that I'm fooling around NOW but I had a better sense of what I could and could not afford). I budgeted every last cent for up to nearly a year ahead of time1 I was two years out of college, at my first serious job (note I don't refer to my place of employment as a career, b/c I now know that I can no longer consider staying in this field for many years to come), and set to clear out my last $4k of (consumer) debt by April 2008.
It is now August 2008, and I've moved so far in the opposite direction, I want to pull my hair out and scream. I am now ~$14k in consumer debt, and what do I have to show for it? Clothes? Shoes? a laptop (which isn't even charged on my own CC, so that's another $2k in debt to my mother!)? I make approximately $10k more than I did last year, and this is what I have to show for it? Although, to be fair, I was laid off for awhile earlier this year, and was given a severance package that was pretty much equivalent to 1.5 weeks pay. Can you believe that? And unemployment benefits took so long to kick in, I was already employed again (by the same employer...long story)! So, that does account for a lot. Plus the rising costs of gas and food surely has an effect, right?
Hardcore budgeting begins right now! It may take me a few days to figure out what I'm going to do, but my budget will be up ASAP. I'm going over my 2007 budget and attempting to figure out what changed.
One of my roomies moved out but that only accounts for an additional $30 in rent (I live in So Cal and pay ridiculously cheap rent to my "landlord" aka the BF's father).
Utility costs are roughly the same. The cell phone bill is slightly higher, due to the fact that I added my mother to my family plan.
The cost of food has definitely gone up, even without the fact that I know live with a BF and dog, and haven't really taken the time to figure out how much I exactly need to budget for food.
Ah...the BF. he was not around last year, so obviously $ goes towards gifts, going out, etc.
Shopping...i avoided it for so long, and now it's my kryptonite!
Time to work on the budget. eesh.
It is now August 2008, and I've moved so far in the opposite direction, I want to pull my hair out and scream. I am now ~$14k in consumer debt, and what do I have to show for it? Clothes? Shoes? a laptop (which isn't even charged on my own CC, so that's another $2k in debt to my mother!)? I make approximately $10k more than I did last year, and this is what I have to show for it? Although, to be fair, I was laid off for awhile earlier this year, and was given a severance package that was pretty much equivalent to 1.5 weeks pay. Can you believe that? And unemployment benefits took so long to kick in, I was already employed again (by the same employer...long story)! So, that does account for a lot. Plus the rising costs of gas and food surely has an effect, right?
Hardcore budgeting begins right now! It may take me a few days to figure out what I'm going to do, but my budget will be up ASAP. I'm going over my 2007 budget and attempting to figure out what changed.
One of my roomies moved out but that only accounts for an additional $30 in rent (I live in So Cal and pay ridiculously cheap rent to my "landlord" aka the BF's father).
Utility costs are roughly the same. The cell phone bill is slightly higher, due to the fact that I added my mother to my family plan.
The cost of food has definitely gone up, even without the fact that I know live with a BF and dog, and haven't really taken the time to figure out how much I exactly need to budget for food.
Ah...the BF. he was not around last year, so obviously $ goes towards gifts, going out, etc.
Shopping...i avoided it for so long, and now it's my kryptonite!
Time to work on the budget. eesh.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
didja feel that?
I couldn't believe that I felt the quake more than 100 miles away! I was somewhat worried about my family back home, since the quake was centered about 5 miles away from them, and the phone lines were all clogged up. But all is well, and my Dad even thought to ask me whether or not I paid the Chevron bill for the month....which of course leads me to my NEXT topic.
I may have a tendency to rack up debt, but I am extremely diligent with making payments on time. At times, I may be swimming in debt, but I always make efforts to pay off the most I can for each biling cycle. My father is the complete opposite. He is notorious for making the mere minimum payments, usually right before the statement is due (sometimes even on the day it's due).
Long story short, my father has added me as an authorized user on his Chevron account. We stopped using the card months ago, but with minimum payments on a card that accrues 22 % interest, it's difficult to get yourself out of the hole. Turns out that we are over our limit by $40! I don't take care of payments on this card, as I haven't used the gas card in over a year, but I found this information out when I was calling around to get my APRs lowered. Apparently it's been over limit for at least two months, but thankfully they have not reported it to the credit agencies. Of course, this freaked me out, b/c I don't want this affecting MY credit history. So I made a withdrawal from my EFund to cover a large chunk of the balance.
Should I take myself off as an authorized user? Would it matter whether or not the balance was paid off in full when I do so?
I may have a tendency to rack up debt, but I am extremely diligent with making payments on time. At times, I may be swimming in debt, but I always make efforts to pay off the most I can for each biling cycle. My father is the complete opposite. He is notorious for making the mere minimum payments, usually right before the statement is due (sometimes even on the day it's due).
Long story short, my father has added me as an authorized user on his Chevron account. We stopped using the card months ago, but with minimum payments on a card that accrues 22 % interest, it's difficult to get yourself out of the hole. Turns out that we are over our limit by $40! I don't take care of payments on this card, as I haven't used the gas card in over a year, but I found this information out when I was calling around to get my APRs lowered. Apparently it's been over limit for at least two months, but thankfully they have not reported it to the credit agencies. Of course, this freaked me out, b/c I don't want this affecting MY credit history. So I made a withdrawal from my EFund to cover a large chunk of the balance.
Should I take myself off as an authorized user? Would it matter whether or not the balance was paid off in full when I do so?
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The madness must stop
As you may have guessed by the previous post, I was a slave to fashion this weekend. Way too much money was spent towards clothing, shoes and other various accessories, all in the name of Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale.
And for what? All in the name of getting Nordstrom Rewards certificates. Stupid double rewards points weekend! I'm such a sucker. I totally fell into the trap of NEEDING to charge items, simply to qualify for my measly $20 worth of certificates. Nearly $1000 spent, for $20 back? I am clearly out of my mind, and will need to get off my personal finance soap box.
I spend countless hours every week, balancing out my budget, and just trying to make the money stretch between paychecks.
A lot of time will have to be spent evaluating my spending habits. I can't do anything about this weekend (well realistically, I could return stuff...but we all know that my love for quality items + my recent 30 pound weight loss will prevent me from doing so), so change is going to happen from this point forward!
First things first...give the BF my credit cards to hide...and stick to it! I did this a few months ago, and managed to get quite a bit of my debt down. Obviously I somehow managed to convince him to give them back...hmm. OK scratch that. First things first, give the BF my credit cards and make him promise not to be such a pushover about it!
Financial To Do List for this week :
And for what? All in the name of getting Nordstrom Rewards certificates. Stupid double rewards points weekend! I'm such a sucker. I totally fell into the trap of NEEDING to charge items, simply to qualify for my measly $20 worth of certificates. Nearly $1000 spent, for $20 back? I am clearly out of my mind, and will need to get off my personal finance soap box.
I spend countless hours every week, balancing out my budget, and just trying to make the money stretch between paychecks.
A lot of time will have to be spent evaluating my spending habits. I can't do anything about this weekend (well realistically, I could return stuff...but we all know that my love for quality items + my recent 30 pound weight loss will prevent me from doing so), so change is going to happen from this point forward!
First things first...give the BF my credit cards to hide...and stick to it! I did this a few months ago, and managed to get quite a bit of my debt down. Obviously I somehow managed to convince him to give them back...hmm. OK scratch that. First things first, give the BF my credit cards and make him promise not to be such a pushover about it!
Financial To Do List for this week :
- Hide CC
- Calculate amount of CC Debt =(
- Contact at least 2 CC companies and try to get APR lowered!
- Set monthly debt reduction goals
Saturday, July 19, 2008
in desperate need of an intervention...
Nordstrom is having their Anniversary Sale. Oh dear God. Someone help me. Someone please take away my credit cards...and make sure that all Nordies staff get the memo that I am NOT allowed to look up my account information!
I've been reading PF blogs for quite some time now, and even started this blog awhile ago...but I never posted b/c I never felt like I NEEDED to. I'm been really strict with myself....there's been no shopping or extravagant spending. Why reach out for help when I was perfectly fine?
Then friends started linking me to items on sales at Nordies...they started inviting me to go shop with them. Hello?!?! Linking me to items on sale, items that I've been obsessing over for MONTHS...that's just CRUEL! It's like waving a plateful of FRESH BAKED chocolate cookies in front of someone on a diet....imagining what would my feet would look like in those AMAZING black patent flats with the silver buckle...i could practically smell the chocolate.
I caved. 6 pairs of shoes, five shirts, 4 coats/sweaters, 1 pair of shorts and a Marc Jacobs tote later, and now my shopping hiatus has turned into a fullout shopping binge..And the weekend (not to mention the sales) is far from over. One pair of Gucci sunglasses and a Marc Jacobs wallet are still calling out to me!
/sigh
I'm in desperate need of shopping REHAB.
I've been reading PF blogs for quite some time now, and even started this blog awhile ago...but I never posted b/c I never felt like I NEEDED to. I'm been really strict with myself....there's been no shopping or extravagant spending. Why reach out for help when I was perfectly fine?
Then friends started linking me to items on sales at Nordies...they started inviting me to go shop with them. Hello?!?! Linking me to items on sale, items that I've been obsessing over for MONTHS...that's just CRUEL! It's like waving a plateful of FRESH BAKED chocolate cookies in front of someone on a diet....imagining what would my feet would look like in those AMAZING black patent flats with the silver buckle...i could practically smell the chocolate.
I caved. 6 pairs of shoes, five shirts, 4 coats/sweaters, 1 pair of shorts and a Marc Jacobs tote later, and now my shopping hiatus has turned into a fullout shopping binge..And the weekend (not to mention the sales) is far from over. One pair of Gucci sunglasses and a Marc Jacobs wallet are still calling out to me!
/sigh
I'm in desperate need of shopping REHAB.
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