tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62304304040637130822024-03-05T19:28:23.956-05:00Saving Veronicaa debt blogveronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.comBlogger227125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-3199499367738410212017-04-28T17:00:00.000-04:002017-04-28T17:00:30.177-04:00April 2017Not much new to report. Still debt-free, which feels awesome. In fact, not only am I debt-free, but I actually have a negative balance on my credit card, thanks to a recent refund for a train ticket. Yes, I could ask them to send me a check, but next month I have to upgrade my laptop, so I'll use that credit as well as some gift cards I've been holding onto. It'll keep me from gasping at the veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-9298050857164288952017-03-22T16:29:00.000-04:002017-03-22T16:29:01.835-04:00March 2017It's done. I officially have zero credit card debt ... again. Yeah, it hurt to transfer that money from my savings account, but you know what? The feeling of being debt free outweighs any bad feeling related to that. I'm still quite a ways away from my $20,000 savings goal, but I've made my peace with that. I'm still working toward it — just not obsessing over it. It's going to be a busy year forveronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-74276352256077055832017-01-18T11:58:00.001-05:002017-01-18T11:58:20.918-05:00Happy 2017!Hi! I hope everyone has had a happy and healthy start to 2017. Things here are fine and I'm back on track to kick the debt by summer. Whether I have $20,000 in savings, though, remains a question. Don't get me wrong: I'm doing well with saving, as you can see on the balances over there. But there will be some pretty big expenses this year, including a new laptop and a large administrative veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-44052921315492479622016-11-15T13:38:00.001-05:002016-11-15T13:38:29.057-05:00November 2016This will be brief because, well, I'm so sickened by the election that I can hardly think straight.
I decided to take some savings out to pay off the card with the lowest balance and highest interest rate. My savings balance took a hit, but it's best in the long run.
Coming up? Christmas and a trip to the Caribbean with my husband. He's taken care of our airfare, but I'll be taking care of veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-77903962566614138652016-09-16T10:35:00.001-04:002016-09-16T10:35:17.861-04:00September 2016Well. This isn't pretty.
As I mentioned during the last update, there would be some vacation spending. Boy howdy, was there ever. First up was our two-week road trip. That's about 14 days of hotels and meals. And then gas, too. My husband and I pretty fair about things when it comes to the road trips. We tend to alternate the hotel reservations. And we both cover meals and gas. If he's paid for veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-75088714664999867232016-07-19T10:48:00.001-04:002016-07-19T10:48:06.043-04:00July 2016 UpdateGreetings!
Things are coming along fine, though August will be a ... well, let's call it a spendy month. The hubs and I are going on our second annual vacation road trip next month, taking in lots of New England with (hopefully) a dash of Canada. We discovered during our honeymoon last year that we prefer to wander from place to place than book lots of stuff in advance. This way, if we veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-38095618626383631602016-06-22T13:53:00.002-04:002016-06-22T13:53:25.191-04:00June 2016 UpdateIf I'm back to conquering my debt, I suppose I should get back in the habit of updating every month.
Things are going OK, actually. There was a moment when things felt unsettled, but I think I'm back on track. My plan had been to use one particular credit card for everyday purchases so that I could get the points, but it never seems to work out like I'd planned. Like ... why is it so easy for meveronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-54880551723735413012016-05-17T14:02:00.001-04:002016-05-17T14:02:32.762-04:00It's Been a While.As they say, the more things change ...
First the awful truth: I currently owe $10,711 in credit card debt. How could this be? What happened? Well, for one thing, I refinanced my condo a few months back. You remember that. (And if not, just scroll down ...) Doing so wiped out a lot of my savings, since I had to pay closing costs. Then came some repairs, including a new A/C unit for one of the veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-22160919172021743432012-05-19T01:17:00.002-04:002012-05-19T01:17:32.992-04:00The CloserFor the second time in less than two years, I've closed on my property. That's right: I finalized my refinance today. Woohoo!
I have to say that as with my original purchase, things for the refinance aligned as though it was all meant to be. My timing couldn't have been better -- right after I decided to refinance and completed my new loan application, which locked in my rate, the rates started veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-12660120019855400432012-04-24T23:26:00.000-04:002012-04-24T23:44:37.126-04:00(Re)FinedSomehow it seems longer since I've written. I don't know why.
Life is fine. Actually, life is pretty good. I can finally report on something I put into the works last month: I'm refinancing the condo. I started investigating it last month on a whim. OK, so it wasn't quite a whim -- I kept getting little messages here and there, including some "junk" mail. I didn't think it would be for me, veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-7818689469918088092012-04-01T18:49:00.002-04:002012-04-01T18:49:29.654-04:00April Fool's Day?Holy crap, it's already April! Where did the time go?
I've made my travel arrangements for Paris to the tune of $2,000. I'd originally hoped to stay between $1,500 and $1,800, but when I started pricing the trip and deciding where I wanted to stay, I figured it was worth the extra money to be where I wanted to be. I wanted to be in St. Germain, and as luck would have it, I found a charming hotelveronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-62817969097608936942012-02-15T23:05:00.001-05:002012-02-15T23:05:12.997-05:00TwitchyI was in a fender bender this past weekend. It sucks, but there you have it. No one was hurt, but I have expenses now that I hadn't planned on. Rental car ... deductible ... mental and emotional health (believe me, those last two items are big expenses).
The good thing is that at least I have the money to cover the financial part of it. Four or five years ago it would've really hurt.
Also veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-177439919725618682012-02-07T23:13:00.002-05:002012-02-07T23:13:38.646-05:00Monthly Update: February 2012I can't remember the last time I did a monthly update, and to tell you the truth, I don't feel like looking it up. (I know, I know. I'm lazy.) And this isn't going to be a huge post. But I did realize I hadn't checked in in a while and thought enough had happened that warranted an update.
First, I finally bought a new laptop. I'm typing on The Precious now, actually. I decided on another Mac, veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-74639255253980195672012-01-11T22:16:00.002-05:002012-01-11T22:16:20.161-05:00And Then There Were 2When I first started this debt blog, I had eight accounts spread among six financial institutions. And then I added a small local bank to the mix. As of today, I'm down to two banks.
I started consolidating a while ago, first cutting one of the two credit unions, and later cutting SunTrust when they decided to charge a monthly fee for using debit cards. (While they gave in to customer pressure veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-75954458953478271842012-01-01T20:59:00.004-05:002012-01-02T10:13:07.184-05:00Happy 2012!I know, I know. It's been a while. My apologies. I've been fairly busy, and to be honest, there hasn't been that much to report. But there are two noteworthy things:
First, I entered 2012 free of credit card debt. This is my second year in a row of being able to say that, and you know what? It feels as good as it did last year.
Second, I still have savings. Mind you, I don't have as much as I veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-51351465264726133732011-10-21T21:29:00.000-04:002011-10-21T21:30:04.725-04:00A Word About the Financial Planner DudeI know I've mentioned him here before and how I've known him for a long time though I only recently started using him professionally. You might be asking, "What are you doing spending what little money you have on this dude?" Well, I questioned that myself a time or two. That is, until I actually started meeting with him.
It goes beyond him giving me such "advice" as "Don't spend. Save." Sure, veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-26381836460798728612011-10-21T09:43:00.001-04:002011-10-21T09:43:37.721-04:00Be the TurtleI met with my financial adviser yesterday. I hadn't talked to him since summer, before I received my home buyer credit. Back then I had this notion that by October, I'd have a good $10,000 in the bank -- after buying my couch. So it was humbling when I went in yesterday with my paltry $5,500.
I'm still not sure what happened. Sure, there was the couch. And I paid off the mattresses. There were veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-71673919479062271262011-09-08T23:15:00.000-04:002011-09-08T23:15:29.140-04:00Funk.This is me attempting to pound out an update through my funk. Let's get through this, shall we?
Last week sucked. There's really no other way to say it. It started last Monday when my car was slow to start. It finally cooperated and I made it to my chiropractor. And then it started fine after my appointment. I stopped home before heading to work and when I got back in the car, I got that dreadedveronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-57096818879378018552011-07-29T22:19:00.003-04:002011-07-29T22:56:45.099-04:00Back to Square OneGuess who finally received her home buyer credit? Yep, this lady right here! I checked my bank balance this morning and there it was in my account. With interest. I literally jumped for joy.The buzz didn't last long, however. Before I did anything else, I paid off what was due on my mattresses. And then I paid off my AmEx, which was creeping up, thanks to the fine offerings by G*lt Group. And I veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-3378178089236070392011-07-01T19:49:00.004-04:002011-07-01T23:21:11.689-04:00July 2011 UpdateHello there!I just realized that I hadn't written since May. Whoa -- sorry about that. June was a pretty busy month. I'll try to get back on schedule here.So ... the update. I've been kind of "spendy" lately, but I think I'm finally finding some kind of balance. I recently went over the numbers in preparation for a meeting with the financial planner. After adding things up, I realized things are veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-38299808338091009382011-05-23T21:10:00.007-04:002011-05-24T07:06:52.915-04:00DirtyWow. It's been a while, hasn't it?Before I get caught up, though, I want to thank Monia at Losing It All for her sweet e-mail asking if I was OK. That gesture meant a lot.So, where was I? Right ... catching up on what I've been doing the last month and a half. The short answer is that I haven't been writing, not the blogs and not even my journal. I'm not sure why. Sometimes, I guess, I just can'tveronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-29912095329243338232011-04-01T22:05:00.002-04:002011-04-02T00:02:26.827-04:00April 2011 UpdateHas it been a month already?I don't have much to report, but I'll give it a go just the same. I had the timing belt replaced on my car finally. It had been plaguing me, so I'm relieved to have had it done.I'm still debt free. Mostly. No, no, it's not like that. I'm not back-sliding, as they say. I've been very careful about paying off any debt every month. The savings picture is OK. Not great, veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-60092548342094506122011-03-11T23:37:00.002-05:002011-03-12T00:30:25.148-05:00March 2011 UpdateThings are going pretty well. I believe when I left off I'd just splurged on a VitaMix blender. One would think there would be some buyer's remorse, but nope. I love it! I've used it practically every day.In other financial news, I filed my tax return. I've received the regular portion of my refund, but not the home buyer credit, which apparently takes longer to process. Granted, I'm glad to haveveronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-59356642482359231102011-02-05T17:44:00.003-05:002011-02-05T18:53:37.886-05:00Bring on the Greens!I had to go to Costco today to get a new membership card. It's a bit of a pain to find parking at the shopping center where my Costco is located, so I figured I'd browse for a bit before heading out. And I'm glad I did. There was a deal on VitaMix blenders this weekend. I've wanted one for a long, long time. I've stalked them online for years. A year ago, I would've been forced to forgo the veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6230430404063713082.post-73046547324558322712011-02-04T23:04:00.002-05:002011-02-05T00:38:40.027-05:00February 2011 UpdateHappy February! I hope everyone is having a wonderful 2011 so far and making progress on paying off debt. And if not? Well ... there's always tomorrow to get back on track.Things with me are going fairly well. I met with my financial planner a few weeks ago and opened a Roth IRA to supplement my 401(k). I had to make a deposit to open the account (of course), and will start the monthly veronicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805747891631221848noreply@blogger.com0