Sunday, July 14, 2013

Pay Day Check In

What I Have:
Checking: $1,265.92
Savings: $1,804.19

What I Owe:
Wells Fargo: $82,888.05
Credit Card: $66.69
Target Card: $48.19
Utility: $169.07 (fucking Texas heat)
Med Bill: $22.07

My Plan:
-Pay off Target Card Balance
-Pay of Credit Card (however, I believe my renter's insurance bill goes through tomorrow so the balance will just be upped to $125 again but at least I'll be making a nice chunk payment.
-Pay of Med Bill
-Pay $600 on my student loan
-Save $100-$200 dollars for my fall trip (my goal is to save about $1000)



Sunday, July 7, 2013

Things I am Willing to Spend Money On // Bucket List

Saving money/getting out of debt isn't solely about being frugal and never having fun (although it can feel that way....a lot). For me, saving money is about eliminating unnecessary spending so I can save towards doing something I really, really, REALLY want to do. I want to make a list where I can keep track of things I want to motivate myself. Skipping a fancy $5 coffee is easy when you think of all the fun stuff that 5 bucks can go towards.

Things I am Willing to Spend Money On
1. Laser hair removal for my lower legs: I found a deal for $500!!
2. New iPhone: around $300
3. Fix my computer: DC jack repair is usually $100
4. Getting my passport: Total cost for fees and paperwork about $165
5. Laser eye surgery: my insurance should pay for some of it and I've seen deals for as cheap as $600 per eye


Bucket List
1. Travel to Canada: Boyfriend has found flights for as cheap as $350. First I have to get my passport (see #4 above)
2. Travel to Europe
3. Travel to East Coast w/ my boyfriend: we're in the middle of planning this trip, I want to save around $1000 to cover all the museums and restaurants I want to  visit.
4. Pay off my college debt
5. Own a home
6. Have/adopt/foster a couple of kids





Tuesday, July 2, 2013

After Pay Day



Things have been so hectic. I'm still in the middle of trying to refinance my student loan and it's extremely frustrating. Wells Fargo keeps saying the my Mom doesn't qualify for a cosigner (even though she's my current cosigner). At first we thought that Wells Fargo looking at her debt to income ratio and not considering that most of her debt comes from this particular student loan. Then, in one of my many, many delightful chats with a rep they said that Wells Fargo makes sure not to consider the loan they are currently holding against someone if all they are trying to do is refinance. My mom had already faxed in a few credit reports showing that the only outstanding debt she has is this loan. Of course I tried to explain that to them and they did their usual, "well I can't discuss this with you because you're not the cosigner" bullshit so I had to get off the phone, ring up my mom, and have her call back.

So, she calls back and gets another rep who tries to tell her all sorts of nonsense but luckily I told me mom to request a supervisory review because they were clearly being misleading. We should know if the next few days what they decide. The thing that's REALLY frustrating about all of this??? It's probably all worth nothing. All I want is a low, fixed rate. When I first started paying back this piece of shit loan I wanted a fixed rate because over the long run it's the smarter choice (and Lord knows I'm a stickler for consistency) but all they could offer me at the type was a variable rate of 8.5% versus a fixed rate of 13%. That's so freakin' ridiculous. That's credit card rate ridiculous. This time around I do qualify for a fixed rate as low as 7.49% and I would love that! All I want is to be able to plan down to the penny where my money is going, to not live in fear of this slimy, fat cat banking hiking up my rates on whatever whim they like.


What I have:
Checking: $51.12 (after rent + student loan + lots of ice cream this weekend)
Savings: $1800.41

What I Owe:
Wells Fargo Student Loan: $82,888.05
Credit Card: $58.76

During my lovely chat with Wells Fargo I also decide to cancel my auto withdraw. I'm so sick of being broke every first of the month. I end up with like 20 bucks left over so I have to rely on my credit card or dip into my savings and I hate doing that. Since I'm so ahead in payments I have some wiggle room to figure out a way to pay back a lot but not in such a way that leaves me scrambling.