Et Tu, Lucchese?

After dreaming of them for over two years, I finally splurged on those cowboy boots. They came and yes, they were gorgeous. Still, I felt a bit guilty.

And then I noticed the flaws. Yes, the handmade Lucchese boots that I blew my budget for had flaws. Can you believe that? I was so annoyed. But it seems like whenever I order something I (probably) shouldn't have ordered, something goes wrong. Either the item is screwed up (remember the armoire?) or the return process turns out to be a real pain in the ass.

I had to e-mail the company to get a return authorization number. Of course, because it's holiday season, it took almost a week before I got a reply. But I finally received the authorization number, and I packed them up last night -- complete with a rather lengthy explanation about the problem -- and FedExed them this morning.

The company I ordered from supposedly has free shipping for exchanges, but apparently that only means the shipping of the new pair will be free. I still have to pay to return them. Great.

It's like this: I'd love for them to be exchanged for boots without flaws. But if they're out? Well, that's OK too. I'll have almost $300 credited back to my credit card, and that's not a terrible thing. Nope, not at all.

I chose FedEx's Express Saver option so that it wouldn't cost an arm and a leg to ship them back, but it's going to take longer than FedEx usually takes. And then only God knows how long it'll take for the return/exchange to be processed. If it happens by the end of January I'll be surprised. Care to place a wager, anyone?

If this isn't a lesson for me to stop ordering stuff, I don't know what is.

Happy New Year!

Well, it's 2008, the official start of the great debt payoff. Everything before now has been practice and prologue. Now the real work begins.

I've updated the balances for the Bad and Good and plan to update them on the first of every month. Of course, they're never going to be entirely accurate: The first of the month comes in the middle of the credit card billing cycles, so interest hasn't been added yet, and in some cases, payments haven't been credited. But I figure that after a few months, progress will become evident by the changes in the balances.

I have to say, though, that I'm not impressed with my progress over the last couple months. I'm trying to remind myself that the unimpressive savings balance is the result of responsible financial behavior. That is, some of the things I've paid for with the credit card -- namely, the class and the car maintenance -- I've repaid out of savings so that the debt balances don't increase. Frankly, if I were being really responsible, the savings balance would be even lower, since I charged the cowboy boots and should repay that amount with my savings.

And of course, there was Christmas. Since I had to buy gifts, I couldn't pay down the debt or increase the savings.

But now it's January, and so far, it looks like things will start off right. I'm encouraged. The credit card payments are planned for and there's still a reasonable cushion, thanks to the overtime a few weeks ago. The way the payday schedule falls, we get three checks instead of two this month (that always helps, though it usually takes a few months to show). I've got freelance work coming and invoices to mail, so that's money that'll come in. And it's tax season. Yes, yes, I know it's supposed to be better to structure exemptions so that you don't owe or get a big refund, but I really like getting that refund.

So, January is starting on a good financial foot. I'm trusting that this a sign of things to come this year.

Here's to a happy and prosperous 2008.

Airing of Grievances and Feats of Strength

Confession time. I've wanted a specific pair of black cowboy boots for a long time now. Why cowboy boots, you ask? Because I bought a red pair when I visited a friend in Fort Worth several years ago and I L-O-V-E those boots. They're comfortable and fabulous looking. I wanted a pair of black ones to give the red ones a break. But I wanted certain things. For example, I wanted the stitching to be classic. I wanted the shaft to be a certain height.

I finally found The Boot at Garnet Hill. Lucchese. Yes, Lucchese. The not-inexpensive brand. But boy oh boy are they beautiful. For two and a half years I've stalked them, always successfully talking myself out of them. I mean, $300 for cowboy boots? I'm not a cowgirl. So I said no. No boots for you.

And then something happened. Garnet Hill ran out of them. It only made me want them more.

So I hunted them down from a different source and yes, I ordered them. And yes, I charged them.

No, I'm not proud. But I've wanted them for so long and I've been so good lately. And I've not been doing well this holiday season and knowing I have a beautiful pair of Luccheses on their way to me made me happy, happy, happy!

But not all is lost: I've been good (that is, responsible) too. I repaid the amount charged in November with money from my savings. And I still plan to start my debt payment plan come January 1, 2008. That absolutely has not changed. Thankfully, I've amassed quite a bit of overtime the last couple weeks. It'll make for a nice cushion as I embark on the plan.

Happy Festivus.

In Praise of Dry Beans

I've gotten pretty good this year about preparing lunch to take to work, especially during the colder months. I love soups, even bean soups. And they're cheap, cheap, cheap! You can get a bag of great northern beans or brown lentils for less than a buck and they last for a while. I keep chunks of country ham in a Ziploc in the freezer so that they're ready to go when I'm ready to cook. The chunks add some flavor and make the soup a bit more filling.

Lunch is simple, delicious, and, again, CHEAP!

Double Huh?!

I just checked my balances for December and I'm not happy. I thought I was doing so well, but apparently I'm not. There's hardly any difference in the debt balance -- this, despite all the extra I thought I'd paid -- and I have less in savings than I did in October.

I'm still waiting for the credit for the boot return. And then there's the charge I made for my car inspection and engine flush. And then I took some money out of savings to cover the charge for the quilting class, and I took out about $80 to cover the Richmond trip.

Still ... this is not good. Not good at all.

I hope I have better news when I return here next. See you in January.

Ho Ho Huh?!

So there I was, sitting on my bed this morning feeling pretty darn good about having just completed almost all of my Christmas shopping. In less than 20 minutes, I'd taken care of a gift for my dad and bought a gift card for him and my mom. The only thing remaining was a gift for my mom -- a prepaid credit card from HSBC. But because I needed to get in the shower, I let that wait.

Once I got to work, I pulled up HSBC's site to quickly take care of that last little thing. Filled out all the blanks, clicked "submit order." But instead of a page coming up thanking me for my order, I got a page telling me that I was an invalid user and that I needed to recheck my order form. I rechecked the form -- no errors -- and clicked again. Voila! Order completed. And with that, I was done done done with my Christmas shopping. Time for the happy dance!

But when I checked my checking account balance, there were two charges for the gift card. Huh? Two charges? For one gift card? No more happy dance.

So I called HSBC's customer service department. Of course, that was an adventure in and of itself. For one, when you call, you get two options: press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish. The first time you make the mistake of pressing one of these, you get a recorded prompt requesting your 16-number account number. But if you don't have a credit card with them -- which I don't -- and therefore have nothing to enter -- which I didn't -- the phone disconnects.

The second time I called, I didn't press 1 or 2 or anything else. Finally the recording came up and announced I'd be transferred to the customer service department. Unfortunately, talking to a human did about as much as pressing random numbers. She said that it was likely that though the first form didn't go through, the hold for the amount was put on my check card, resulting in two charges after I the correct form went through.

Perfect. Yeah. That's what I want. Two charges. Unbelievable.

She assured me (as much as she could) that only one gift card purchase was made; therefore, only one charge should make it through. I just have to wait until everything gets cleared.

Kinda like that nightmare with the jeans from Urban Outfitters. I will be anxious until this is settled.

Fuck.

Can't anything ever be easy?

Anyway, my Christmas shopping is essentially done. I've a couple minor packaging items to get, and I need some picture frames, but I'm done.

And I didn't charge a thing.