April 2017

Not 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 final price (or so I'm telling myself).

The savings picture is also looking good. I had originally planned ("hoped for" is more like it) to have  at least $20,000 in savings by May 1. Given that May 1 is in, like, four days, let me just say this: That ain't happening. I'm mildly disappointed, but given where I was back when I returned to this blog, I'm absolutely not complaining. I'm grateful. After all, I have $16,000 and zero debt. That's an accomplishment, and I don't take it lightly. I mean, take last May as an example. I had $14,765 in savings, but $10,711.50 in debt. So while my savings balance isn't that much higher since then, I'm still $10,000 better off.

In other news, my tenants are continuing their lease. I gave them the option of two years, but I haven't heard back from the property management company whether that's the case. The new lease doesn't start till July 1, and there's a modest increase on the rent. I'm not really making any money off this, but until it's at a value where I feel like it's worth it to sell, I'll hold on to it. At least it's property somewhere, and that's not a bad thing to have even if I'm barely breaking even on it.

Well that about wraps things up for April. Not sure how much longer I'll be updating things, or how frequent, now that I'm debt-free, but we'll see. Until next time ... save early and often!

March 2017

It'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 for reasons I can't share quite yet, but I'm in a good place, and that's a tremendous relief. It'll be much easier not worrying about credit card debt as the year progresses.

In other news, the condo is still rented with tenants who seem happy to be there. I'm not making money off this, but since I'm not ready to sell and my tenants are taking good care of the place, I'm OK with them continuing to live there. I don't want the stress of trying to find someone else and then worrying whether they're destroying my place.

Anyway, that catches us up for March 2017. Yippee! I'll check back in to let you know how the savings is coming along. See you next month!

Happy 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 paperwork processing expense that has to be done in the next couple of months. And then there's our vacation to the U.S. Virgin Islands next month ... My hubs took care of the airfare, so the accommodations are on me. (The cost is already in the debt balance.) Thankfully I had a free night on Hotels.com, which saved me about $180 on our $220-per-night room. A very welcome discount! But there will be some expenses related to our eating and entertainment. I'm going to urge living on the cheap side while there. Let's see how that goes.

Otherwise, all is well. I'm still disgusted about the election, but that's a topic for a different blog. I'll try to get back to updating every month. December kind of got a way from me, what with finishing my assignment for my last class toward my graduate certificate and the holidays. For what it's worth, my diligence paid off. I finished the graduate certificate program with a solid 4.0. Gotta say I'm pretty proud of myself.

See you next month! I think ...

November 2016

This 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 accommodations. Granted, this isn't till February, but still. It'll require an outlay. Otherwise, things are OK. Not great but OK.

Balances are over on the right.

September 2016

Well. 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 most of the reservation stuff -- airfare, hotel, rental car -- as he did with our recent getaway to Iceland, I pick up the tab for most of the other stuff. (By the way, Iceland ain't cheap. They're really trying to make up for the banking clusterfuck they had a few years ago.)

Anyway, the vacations have definitely put a crimp in my progress. And there's another trip coming in October. At least the tickets for that have already been bought, so there won't be any new charges for that. We're also staying with a friend and she's letting us use her car, so it'll just be food and any shopping we do.

The figures are over there in the margin. Eeesh.

July 2016 Update

Greetings!

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 really like a place, we can stay a day or two longer. Sure, the risk is that we won't find accommodations, but so far that hasn't happened.

We've done several trips this way, the first one by accident. We'd booked seven days in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, only to discover that it wasn't worth being there for even three days, much less seven. Unfortunately, our hotel had been prepaid, so we basically paid twice for the same week, as we got the hell out of SD and headed to a few resorts. Building on that knowledge, when we decided to do a road trip through California for our honeymoon, we booked only three hotels in advance -- the one for our arrival stay in San Diego, the one for our side trip to Vegas (baby!), and the one for our final city, San Francisco. We did the same thing when we went to Costa Rica earlier this year. You can talk to locals to find out what the good places are and plan accordingly. We've discovered some gems doing it like this.

Anyway, back to the money part of all this: There will be vacation spending. Granted, it will be mostly for my share of our accommodations and gas, as I tend not to shop much on vacation. I usually try to find something that will remind me of our trip, but it has to really speak to me, otherwise I pass.

Also coming up is my last class in GMU's professional writing graduate certificate program, so I have tuition coming up for that. I've been taking advantage of employer assistance, since the program qualifies, but I still have to pay it before I can get reimbursed. Grrr.

The updated figures are over there on the right. I'm especially pleased with the savings amount. Woot woot!

June 2016 Update

If 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 me to just use my debit card and stay on track but struggle to maintain balance when I'm using a credit card and paying off the balance? Weird. Maybe it's just not for me. Maybe I should be strictly cash-and-carry.

Anyway, the updated balances are off to the right. I'm doing pretty well with the saving, I think. The more I save, the more I want to save. It's always been that way with me. As for the debt, I'm finally below a five-digit balance, and it feels pretty dang awesome. Don't get me wrong: There's still quite a way to go before I'm back at a zero balance. I know this. But it's still good to see a milestone.

In other news, thieves got a hold of my credit card number and went on a bit of a spending spree. Fortunately, Chase recognized the fraudulent behavior and sent me an alert. While I didn't get the email alert till the next morning, they had at least flagged the purchases and in one instance, declined the purchase. So yay for Chase!

OK, that's it till next time. Save early and often!

It'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 bedrooms. I then saw that many of the water lines needed to have some repair work. As they were, in an emergency I wouldn't be able to turn the water off. So I replaced all the valves in each bathroom and under the kitchen sink. And then I had to replace the vanities in the bathroom since some moron had installed some that ran the length of the wall over the bathroom toilet. Basically, if there was a toilet emergency, you wouldn't have been able to get into the tank. And then there were the new toilets.

To fix all these things? Credit cards. Sigh. At the height, I owed almost $17,000. I am still in awe that I got back to that point after all my hard work at getting to zero. Oh well. No use in crying over it.

Now for the good: I have almost $15,000 saved, with the goal of $20,000 by year-end. I could pay off the debt, sure, but I need the cushion. I hate having that debt over my head, but it's reassuring to know that I can pay it off.

Weirdly enough, I seemed to get into more debt after I hired that financial planner. His high fees did not help, either. There was really no reason for me to have continued using him after that initial visit. I don't have the kind of complicated financial picture that warranted his services, and I'm still more than a little annoyed that (1) I wasn't firmer during my initial reluctance to renew, and (2) that he was so aggressive in getting me to renew. I fee like if I had told him about some other financial planner charging me what he himself was charging, he would have advised that I run for the hills. (Complicating things is that he's a friend, and also very good friends with some other friends.)

Anyway, I'm back on track and it feels good. Adding to all the good feelings is the state of my personal life: I got married last year! He is beyond wonderful -- beyond anything I could've dreamed up for myself. I'm renting out my condo and living with him (duh) in a lovely town house in a neighborhood that I feel like an impostor in. How I have received such good fortune is beyond me, and I'm so thankful and happy that my cheeks hurt from smiling all the time.

It feels weird to be back here confessing my financial sins, but also liberating too. That is, I've been here before and I know what it takes to get it done.

See you next month!

The Closer

For 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 to inch up a bit. I now have a 3.75 percent rate, down from 5.25, which, let's be honest, was still pretty darn low. And everything went so smoothly.

The closing costs were about $3,900. But I get to skip the June mortgage and I'll get back what was in my old escrow account. Factoring in those two things, it cost me $1,800 to refinance. I'll be saving $92 a month on my actual payment, so the closing will pay for itself in less than two years. And of course I'll be saving a decent chunk of change over the life of the loan.

Mom Week 2012 is coming up in June. I'm trying something a little different this year: a day trip. We're going to the Brandywine Creek Valley. My mother loves flowers and there are a couple of major gardens there. So that's an expense, what with the hotel and the tickets to the gardens. But all in all, it's not bad, and it'll be a nice change of pace from the usual assortment of activities. There will also be a few meals out. And she likes to shop, so there will be that too. But I'll keep my spending to a minimum.

My savings has taken a few hits lately. I'll get it together, though. I have to.

(Re)Fined

Somehow 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, mostly because I thought it would be more complicated, and I really didn't want to go through that stress. But I figured, "What the hell?" So I e-mailed my previous mortgage handler. She had me complete the application, and voilá! I'm refinancing.

The interest rate is more than a point lower now than it was when I bought a couple of years ago. To avoid any potential problems with an appraisal -- my mortgage person worried that my place might not appraise for the amount we need, what with the still-unstable market -- I will pay my closing costs. But it's worth it to me to pay a couple thousand now to save several thousand down the road. And lucky for me, I have the savings to cover the closing costs.

I close next month. Oh! And in doing all this, I found out my credit score. It's over 800 -- higher now than it was when I bought my place. This is excellent news.

In other news, I met with a new financial planner today. Our 401(k)s at work are done through Principal. Our employer arranged for a couple of their financial planners to come in and meet one on one with any employee who was interested. For free. They did this last year, but I had already dropped coin on my other financial planner, and it seemed pointless to meet with yet another planner. This year, however, I figured I'd give it a go. It went well. Free Financial Planner (FFP) didn't see any need to make any changes to the allocations Paid Financial Planner (PFP) set up. FFP did recommend that I take advantage of the automatic 1 percent increase in contributions every year, so I signed up for that. Otherwise, things are in good shape.

Which brings me to this: My financial needs are straightforward, so I've been thinking that maybe it's time I stop paying $$$ for financial advice now that my Roth is all set up and my 401(k) is properly allocated. I mean, if my employer is gonna send out planners for free every year, wouldn't the wise financial advice be to cut PFP? I mean, PFP is a nice guy, and I like him personally. But he isn't cheap. In fact, he's not cheap. Right now I'm doing his cheapest plan -- basically one or two visits in one year at half his regular rate -- and even that is expensive.

As hard as it's going to be (I hate hurting people's feelings), I'm gonna have to stop seeing PFP. That money would be better served in a savings account.

I've made a few expensive purchases this month, mostly for clothing items but also for some things around the house -- a rug for the balcony, some plants, etc. I've got to simmer down, though, and start focusing again on saving. My savings cushion should be loftier than it is, considering. I know I've bought things for the house, and for myself, but still. Considering I got the home buyer credit and given my tax refund, my savings should be in double digits. It is not.

I know I can do better: I paid off $20K in debt in three years. And not only did I do that, but I also saved a chunk of change. If I can do that, I can get my savings back in double digits. And that's what I aim to do. Back then, I kept a graph in a notebook. Having that visual was helpful. Time to get more graph paper, I think.

All in all, though, things are going well.

April 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 hotel in the heart of that arrondissement. It's not far from the Seine, so I'll be able to walk to Notre Dame and to the Louvre. I go in September.

In other news, I've upgraded my cellphone ... finally. I went with a smartphone (no surprise there), and I haven't looked back. I love it.

I've bought clothes and knickknacks. I've eaten out more than usual. I've spent on random things, big and small. There was the deductible for my accident back in February, as well as the cost of the rental car. There was my trip to Richmond for an art workshop, and then down to Virginia Beach to visit my parents, where I also spent on random things.

All that to say this: I've been spendy. I don't like it when I'm spendy. I have to do better.

I'm still saving the same amount. However, because I've been spendy, I've been taking savings out to cover it. Sigh.

Old habits die hard.

There is another possible financial thing, but it's too early to mention right now. It can be a good thing. Stay tuned.

Twitchy

I 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 remarkable is that I'm back to being debt free. I just scheduled the payment for my new computer and the awesome, gorgeous new rug I bought for my living room (on sale for $179 from nearly $800), both of which I put on AmEx. I wasn't thrilled about taking that chunk out of savings, but it was either that or incur interest. Since my savings earn less interest than what is charged for credit, it made more sense to pay it off.

But ... wow, do I ever hate seeing my savings balance go down. Hate it. Just wait till it's time for me to plan (and pay for!) my vacation. By then I will have saved more money, and there's an "extra" paycheck coming in May. I will be able to afford for it, but I will hate spending the money. At some point I've got to stop getting twitchy when it comes time to pay for things.

Monthly Update: February 2012

I 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, and I'm very happy with it. I purchased it with my AmEx because of the cash rewards and for the warranty protection, but I have more than enough in savings to pay off the balance. I will be meeting with my financial advisor sometime this month and will ask what he suggests -- whether I should pay it all off in one fell swoop, or whether it would make more sense to pay it off in installments. I'm leaning toward to the former.

Second, for the first time ever, I filed my tax returns electronically. Yeah, yeah ... what took me so long. Well, cheapness is one reason. TurboTax ain't free. And the one year that I tried to use the FreeFile thing, there was a technical glitch and I couldn't access the forms necessary for my freelance income. And last year, I had to file on paper because of the home buyer credit. Anyway, back to my point: I filed electronically and it was a breeze. Like ... I'm embarrassed for having avoided it for so long and laboring over my returns.

I'm getting back a decent refund, one that's slightly more than I expected. And the refund for my state taxes is much more than I expected. I do love itemized deductions. I'll be using some of it to help pay for my Paris trip, which I am still planning. The rest will camp out in savings, which brings me to this ...

Third, The savings are slowly getting back on track. Mind you, I'm about to eat into it to pay off The Precious, but I still feel encouraged.

Other developments include the purchase of an area rug for the living room. I ordered through Gilt Group. It was deeply discounted (regularly $795; paid $193, which included shipping). It's pretty darn perfect. Today I finally came up with some ideas for the odd space in my living room, but I want things to settle down before I start buying things to bring my idea to life. That's the good thing about owning, I've discovered. I can take my time.

OK. I think that's it for me. Peace.

And Then There Were 2

When 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 shortly thereafter and changed the policy, it was too little too late for me.) I opted to close my ING account with Capital One bought them. In the end, I figured I'd keep HSBC as my "cookie jar" account for emergencies -- the account that's to remain just out of touch -- but when their website glitch the other day locked me out of my own account, resulting in my spending an hour on the phone -- most of which was spent on hold -- I reconsidered. Rather than have them reset my password, I had 'em close the account and send me my money.

As of today, I'm officially down to two banks. One is my "regular" bank. It's where my paycheck goes. It's where my main savings account is. The other is the credit union from my old hometown. I've had it since I was in college, but never really used it beyond getting my guaranteed student loan and keeping a token amount in the savings account. I have at various times forgotten that savings account even exists. That account will now serve as my cookie jar. I have set up a small but reasonable amount from each paycheck to be deposited directly in it. There is no online bank-to-bank transfer option -- an "inconvenience" that will keep me from tapping into it. But it's not so inconvenient that I can't get my butt to a local credit union service center to access the account.

I'm officially out of the big banks. Yay!

In other news, I've had to help a relative with a financial emergency. As annoyed as the situation has made me (he should be more responsible than this), I'm also grateful to be in the position to help.

Lastly, I've done a rough calculation of my tax return and it looks like I may get back more than I thought. While my refund will help fund Paris later this year, it will also help me get my savings back on track to where I want things to be.

I feel like I'm finally regaining some control following my spending spree in 2011.

Happy 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 expected, or would like, but the simple fact that I have savings is a good thing.

2011 could be described as the year of "Woohoo! I'm debt free!" It was like a small party. When I saw something I liked, I bought it. I didn't think about it; I just got it. Sure, there were some things that were in the plan -- the mattresses, a new couch -- and some things that weren't in the plan but were needed, like when my TV died and I got a new one. And then there were the many other items that were neither planned nor, really, needed. (Though I suppose one would argue that the only things needed are food, clothing, and shelter. But you know what I mean.) There were things like the blender, some pricier-than-usual clothes, and my recently acquired 1950s-era end tables. There was more, but those are some highlights.

2012, however, will be the year I seek equilibrium. I still plan to hit Paris sometime this year, but that's the only luxury I will allow. I will be paying for that with my IRS refund. Another major purchase is a new computer. I don't consider that a luxury given that this computer is so old that I can no longer run updates on it. It's gotten exceedingly slow, the battery doesn't stay charged, and the P key works pretty much when it feels like it. My fantasy is the 15" Powerbook, but it's way too expensive. So I'll get the small one. I will get a wireless router too at some point, but that's not a priority.

So that's it in a nutshell. I'll try to be better about checking in. Happy new year!

A Word About the Financial Planner Dude

I 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, that's part of it, but it's only a small part. He's helping me consider my psychological and emotional relationship with money. Why I panic when it comes time to spend money. The other thing is accountability. Much like this blog was when I was $20K+ in debt, having him gives me someone to answer to.

Mind you, he's also been helpful. He helped me redistribute my retirement fund through work, which has saved me a fair amount of money given the swings in the market. I've now also got a Roth IRA. And he's helping me see the bigger picture (and relax about it) instead of obsessing about the short term.

Despite all that, though, I debated about paying for another year. Now that I've got things in place, I wondered if I needed it. But since I have literally no one else in my life who knows a thing about money, I figured I'd at least do his minimum service -- basically I pay half his full rate and have fewer visits during the year. But given the low complexity of my financial situation, that shouldn't be a problem.

So when I went in yesterday, I had prepared myself for him to persuade me to do at least another year at the full rate. But no. In fact, he didn't even discuss that issue until the very end, and when it did come up, he reminded me that I was absolutely under no obligation. I told him that I understood that. And then I told him that given how simple my situation is, and considering the amount of money I'm dealing with (very little, I'm sure, compared with what he's used to working with), that maybe the minimum service would be better.

Which, he said, was exactly what he was going to recommend, and for those same reasons. It made me feel good knowing that he wasn't trying to take advantage of me and it just confirmed that he has my best financial interests in mind. And it feels good having someone with his knowledge on my side, especially as I get older and my needs change.

Be the Turtle

I 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 the unexpected car repairs, from both the accident and the battery problem (which was confused for a starter problem, causing me to spend $$ for two repairs). And I've bought a little of this, a little of that for the condo: good-quality covers for the balcony furniture, a trunk to hold my gardening stuff (and the materials to help weatherproof it), funded my HSA to pay my copays, and so on and so on.

So. Yeah. Not $10,000. $5,500.

But I'm still debt free. And that's a big thing. Mind you, I have used my credit cards, but I pay them off every month.

My planner, Ted, is awesome, though. He didn't balk at the amount or reprimand me for not having what I had thought I'd have. Rather, he reminded me of my accomplishments: I've remained debt free, I opened a Roth IRA and started funding it this year,  and I've maintained my savings. He thinks I'm in good shape.

In fact, he said, he wants me to loosen up and stop freaking out every time I have to spend a significant amount. He's concerned about my psychological and emotional relationship with money, the anxiety I feel when it comes to letting the money go. For example, my computer is old and needs to be replaced: the disk drive doesn't work, I can't use it without the power cord because the battery is so old, and it picks and chooses when I can use the "P" key. Likewise, my cellphone is about 8 years old. Parts are actually starting to fall off of it, and it no longer allows me to make calls when I go visit my parents. But I keep delaying these purchases.

We talked about that at some length, and he was very patient. His worry is that by my putting off a few occasional purchases out of fear of spending the money, I will be hit down the road with having to spend a much greater amount of money when I have to replace a lot of things. Go ahead and take care of these things incrementally, when I can and not when I have to. Take care of the computer and cellphone now, he said, and next fall I can focus on getting more furniture for my place. When I grimaced at his advice to get the computer now, he laughed. "Most people would be thrilled for their financial adviser to tell them to go buy a new computer." He told me I can afford it, and it's also about my quality of life.

"You're in a good position to do it," he said. I told him that I didn't feel like I was, that the market was doing crazy things and that it didn't seem like anything was changing, no matter what I did or how much I saved. He basically told me to chill. The way we've structured my investments benefits from volatility, so when things start to level off -- be it 18 months from now or three years from now -- the balances are going to take off. "You'll be amazed. We're going to look back and you're going to say, 'Remember when I was complaining about my balances!'"

In the end, he said, I'm in good shape. I need to relax. I need to stop rushing things. "It's like the story of the tortoise and the hare. Slow and steady wins the race."

Funk.

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 dreaded clicking sound that indicates a bad battery. I called my father just to get his input (he knows car stuff), and he agreed.

Because my Triple A battery was still under warranty, I called 'em and told them the deal. In their defense, they sent someone very quickly. He checked my battery and pronounced it A-OK. What it probably was, he said, was my starter. So off I went to an auto repair shop down the street. I explained the situation to them, including about the battery. $285 later, I had a new starter.

Come Thursday, I headed out for the gym only to discover that my car had the same problem. I went on to the gym, but after about 10 minutes on the elliptical, I thought better of it and left. I showered, dressed, and dropped my car off at the dealership. Turns out it was the battery.

Yeah.

So ... another $160 later, I had a new battery. And bitterness.

Friday I went to my chiro's and on my way back to the car ...

Wait. What's that? No ... what is that? Awww, man! You have got to be kidding me! Yep. There's a dent. And paint scrapes. All along the driver's side rear door.

When I first arrived at the chiro's, I parked in the middle space of three empty spots. When I left, the spot on the driver's side was still empty. I'm guessing someone pulled in, hit the [compound expletive] outta my car, panicked, and moved to another spot.

I called my insurance company (yay for insurance!) and they started processing my claim immediately. I dropped off my car on Tuesday and picked up my rental.

I had some scratches on the front fender (courtesy another bad parker), and wanted to get those taken care of, so I'm paying to have those done in addition to getting the accident damage fixed. It is a greatly unexpected expense -- much like last week's auto repair -- but ... what am I gonna do? I did debate getting the scratches done, but I figured it like this: If I had waited, I would be paying for the scratches and the cost of a rental car, when I could take care of it now while the rental is being paid by insurance. And I won't get twitchy every time I see them. Win-win.

Except the whole unexpected expense part. Between last week's auto repairs and the costs related to the accident and scratches, I'm looking at $1,000, plus or minus a few bucks. Yeah. [Supercompound expletive.]

In other news, I've finally ordered my couch. I've paid for half and will pay the other half when it's delivered. I'll also pay to have hauled away this old piece of crap I'm sitting on while I type this. I will also buy paint and finally get this living room into some kind of shape. Right now it's a hodgepodge of crap. It's not a style one aspires to have.

Added to all this, my dear friend's wedding is this weekend, and I couldn't go because I couldn't afford it. I feel very small. I know it was the financially responsible thing, but that doesn't make me feel better. Rather, it makes me feel worse. 44 years old and I can't go to my best friend's wedding. I'm like a fucking child.

So. Yeah. I'm in a funk.

Back to Square One

Guess 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 splurged on a dress -- a hot dress -- from Anthro. If you saw this dress, you'd understand why it had to be purchased.

I'm still paying for health stuff. I owed a pretty penny on my epidural injections to cover what remained on my insurance deductible. There wasn't enough in the HSA to cover it, so it had to come out of pocket last week. And then there are the copayments for my chiropractic visits. Again, I know I'll get reimbursed for the health expenses at the end of the year, but right now it's frustrating.

And I had to write a check for something else -- something I'm not ready to mention here. It's a good thing, if anxiety producing, but it cost $200 that I hadn't planned on spending.

So why the title "Back to Square One"? Because I'm back to being debt free, baby! How phenomenal is this? Here's some perspective for you:

On August 1, 2009, I owed $9,659.49. I had savings (about $5,100), but I owed $9,600. And now? About 50 bucks. And about $9,800 in savings. What a difference two years make.

I do still have to buy a couch, so that savings balance won't stay that high. Otherwise, I'm going to work to keep my spending to a minimum. I'm in good shape and it feels good.

July 2011 Update

Hello 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 actually OK. Not great, but certainly not bad. Still, I have to scale back my spending a bit.

One major expense has been health care. I switched to a high-deductible plan with a health savings account this year. There were a couple of reasons for doing so, including its lower cost and the employer contribution to the HSA. There are also tax benefits. However, one problem with the HSA is that unlike a flexible spending account, you can't use your HSA until the account is funded with enough money to cover reimbursement. While I was able to use the HSA for some minor expenses, things like injections and the MRI required some considerable outlays from me in order to meet my deductible. (Thankfully, my deductible was recently met. My copay for the rest of the year will be significantly more bearable. This is welcome news, as I need another epidural for my back pain.) The good thing is that I will be reimbursed at the end of the year for the larger expenses; by then there will be enough funds in the HSA.

I've also had to make two grown-up decisions. The first was that I do not need a smartphone. I've been rockin' the same flip phone (yeah, that's right -- a flip phone). I had finally decided on upgrading to an iPhone when I realized that my iTunes version is too old. And then I realized that my Mac OS is too old to update my iTunes. And then I realized that before I get a smartphone -- iPhone or otherwise -- I have to take care of other priorities first. Not getting a smartphone was a minor decision; prioritizing future purchases, however, required being an adult.

The second was the painful decision not to attend yet another friend's wedding. It's just like the last time: I would've had to pay for airfare and accommodations. Oh -- and this time a ferry.

After doing the math, I realized that it just didn't make sense financially. Though it would've been great to be there, I have other things that require attention. I'd warned my friend that I might not be able to go, and he seemed to understand, but returning that RSVP still sucked.

I still have a credit card balance for the mattresses. I'm paying well above the minimum every month, and more importantly, I'm not incurring any additional debt. And I'm maintaining my regular savings as well as my retirement savings.

Overall, things are pretty good. It ain't always easy, though. It requires diligence and sometimes some tough decisions.