Road Trip

I wouldn't call it a setback but I'm not leaping forward either:

I will be charging soon.

Not a lot, not really. But I'm joining a friend on a road trip in a couple weeks and I had to put our room on my card. Likewise in October, when I go out of town for a wedding. Granted, the road trip's expenses -- gas, hotel, and such -- will be split in half, and the hotel accommodations for the wedding will be discounted, the fact of the matter is that I will be charging, no matter how much or how little.

The good thing is that the Big Beast is now officially below $17,000. Not by a lot, but it's still a good thing and worthy of mention.

I'm going to do my best not to charge anything on the road trip. I've already made plans to transfer a little money from savings into my checking account so that I'll have money for gas and any shopping that I do (though I'm hoping not to shop, not a lot) so that I won't feel like I have to use my credit card. And to make sure I don't spend the money from savings beforehand, I've delayed the transfer until just before the trip.

I plan to follow the same process for the wedding weekend trip come October. (Though that weekend may be harder. My problem is retail therapy, and a wedding may drive me to a few sessions on the couch, if you know what I mean.) The good thing about the weekend in October, though, is that I'll have more time to save extra spending money.

Anyway, despite these minor setbacks, things are still coming along. I'm encouraged.

And So It Begins

I haven't posted in a while, I know. There are a couple reasons for that. Mostly, not much has happened, but the other reason is denial. Since I slipped and bought those jeans, I felt like a failure.

And then I was recently given a PC from my employer so that I can handle any emergency corrections that pop up. It's a desktop. I hate desktops. I'm someone who bought a Mac Powerbook because it was so tiny. It didn't matter that the desktop came with a very modern flat-screen monitor. It all ruined the look of my office. It's so nice and girly in there ... soothing. That big, dark grey CPU and the monitor were eyesores.

So I ordered a computer armoire. Charged it, too.

But as so often happens when I buy something that I shouldn't, it didn't work out. When it finally arrived last Friday, I noticed that the box was ripped in a couple places but most notably near the part of the armoire that would be the bottom. A cursory glance indicated that it wasn't too bad, but then when we finally got it up to my apartment and got it open, the delivery guy noticed that there was a crack right in the center of the front of the base. And one of the points of one of the little scrolls had broken off. I took lots of pictures of the box and the cracks, so I'm covered.

I refused the delivery. And at first I was disappointed. But then you know what? I was relieved. I didn't need to spend that money in the first place.

I called the company and told them what happened, so now I'm getting a refund. (Of course, now I just have to wait for however long until that processes, but at least it'll happen.)

In better news, I finally paid off the car. Yep, that's right. No more bank note. The last payment wasn't due until December, but I knocked that sucker out early. And it feels fabulous. I know that it would seem that I would immediately begin chipping away at the credit cards, but you know what? I've decided to give myself a break. I'm taking this month and August off -- no "extra" payments on credit cards until September. Instead, the goal for now through August 31 is to save the extra money. Try to hold onto it without spending it.

But in September, it begins.

So, to check in, these are the balances:

The Little Beast: $2,728.45
The Big Beast: $17,446.56
The Grand Total: $20,175.01

The goal is to knock out the Little Beast by August 2008. I was torn about which one to focus on first. I was thinking about knocking out the Little Beast first; it has a slightly higher interest rate and I figured that it would be more gratifying to see that one go down to zero faster. So that's the plan.

In other good news, I increased the amount of my automatic payment to one of my savings accounts. And I'm still contributing to my 401(k), so that's good.

It's still not an ideal situation -- that would be if I had no debt -- but things are coming together. And I'll try to do better about checking in with my progress. Stay tuned.

Down the Slippery Slope

I bought another pair of jeans today. Yes, they fit, but still. The fact of the matter is that I bought another pair of jeans. With money I don't technically have. Not good. Sh*t.

But They Fit

Yesterday I went on a quest for jeans. I'm a hard fit when it comes to pants, much less jeans, so shopping for jeans is especially stressful. There appears to be some conspiracy among jeans designers to make jeans only for women who are built like adolescent boys.

But off I went on my quest, and I found a pair. For $100. One hundred bucks for jeans ... and that was at a discount! What the hell?! But they fit, and, equally important, they make my butt look good, so I bought them. Actually, I charged them.

Yeah, yeah, I know. This goes against paying down my debt, but I've been so good lately that I felt I was due a reward. I'll try to do better next month.

The $1.77 Weekend

I went home this weekend to visit my parents. One of the few activities my mother and I enjoy together is shopping. But I'm in the midst of a shopping challenge -- my friend and I agreed we'd make only one purchase this month, and I didn't want to pick my one thing while I was visiting the 'rents. So no shopping for me. It never even came up, thankfully. Anyway, the one and only purchase was the box of tissues I bought to rescue me from my allergies. With tax, it came to $1.77.

Not bad for four days. Woohoo!

But It's Not All Doom and Gloom

I was so busy giving the monster a face that I neglected to share the good stuff. For one, I have savings. I have five savings accounts -- and that isn't counting my 401(k). I could consolidate them into one account, I suppose, but I have each one for a reason, and I don't really trust myself to have them all in one easily accessible place. And no, in case you're wondering, the amount of my savings does not cover my debt. I don't plan to decrease my savings deposits. Yes, I have debt, but it's important to me that I create a cushion so that if I do need money for something, I won't resort to using a credit card.

The other good thing is that I have a freelance gig. I'm not going to be able to buy a penthouse in NYC from the earnings, but it's a decent amount of extra income and it'll help me in my goal to pay off the car early and to build that cushion.

So, it's not all doom and gloom.