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)

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

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.

Private Student Loans

I've had terrible luck with Wells Fargo (they are the worst, the absolute worst) but I'm in the middle of an application process that could potentially lower my rates. Of course, the entire time Wells Fargo has dragged their heels and are trying to use my current debt (i.e. the student loan they have) against me so I can't get a better interest ray (fuckin' cunts).

BUT I'm sending out energy and prayers that maybe, just maybe the universe and God will smile down upon me and help me get something amazing like a 7% (or lower!) fixed interest rate. If you're in any way spiritual or religious send a prayer out for me?

6 Month of Loan Payments

I have put off the entry forever. Which is strange because I'm very proud of what I have accomplished. I think I'm just being utterly lazy.

Let's review! I had originally wanted to save 1k a month until I could make a chunk $10,000 payment. However after some research I realized I would get slightly better results by making two monthly payments. So it began, I have lived off of only a few hundred (if not less each month). I pay rent, student loans, bills, gas and grocery and whatever left is mine for either saving or fun. Most months I end up with around $20 bucks in my account before payday.

What I Paid in 2012

                      Amt Toward            Amt Towards
                          Principle                   Interest
January                $6.54                     $739.06
February             $116.89                  $628.71
March                 $96.05                    $649.55
April                   $75.11                    $670.49
May                    $118.89                  $626.71
June                    $95.05                    $650.55
July                    $117.29                   $628.31
August               $97.19                     $648.41
September         $97.89                      $647.71
October             $119.47                    $626.13
November         $99.46                      $646.14
December         $120.99                     $624.61
TOTAL           $1,160.82                  $7,786.38

Seriously, look at January, only $6 bucks towards principle!!?!?!? Fuck you Wells Fargo. I didn't really keep track of my payments during the first year, I set up automatic payments and just didn't deal with it. I didn't want to think of what was going to principle or how much I was paying in interest or even how long it was going to take. I didn't feel like I had the power to, even if I knew what kind of financial trouble I was in there was nothing I could do about it. Once I got a new (and much, much, much better) job I was able to have the extra cash to take care of business.

What I Paid in 2013 (so far!!)


                      Amt Toward            Amt Toward
                          Principle                   Interest
January               $101.04                   $644.56
January pt2         $708.44                   $291.56
February             $394.37                   $351.23
February pt2       $712.04                   $287.96
March                 $459.96                   $285.64
March pt2           $715.86                   $284.14
April                   $403.41                   $342.19
April pt2             $719.51                   $280.49
May                    $427.72                   $626.71
May pt2              $723.25                   $276.75
June                    $412.41                   $333.19
June pt2              $446.45                   $253.55
TOTAL             $6,224.46                $3,949.14



                         Payment    Amt Toward            Amt Toward            
                               MAde                     Principle                   Interest
July                        $745.60                   $415.81                  $329.79
July pt2                  $600.00                   $                             $
August                   $                              $                             $
August pt2             $                              $                             $
September              $                              $                             $
September pt2        $                              $                             $
October                  $                              $                             $
October pt2            $                              $                             $
November              $                              $                             $
November pt2        $                              $                             $
December              $                              $                             $
December pt2        $                              $                             $
TOTAL                $1345.60                 $414.81                  $329.79


I am so proud of what I've been able to do with this loan. I've paid close to 600% more in just 6 months than what I paid in my first year. I will end up paying close to the same amount of interest (if not slightly lower) this year even though I'm paying so much more. I sometime's get so discouraged because I have so far to go but I just have to remind myself that I'm only 27 years old and I've only been at this for 6 months.

Some much needed motivation....

19 Successful People Who Had a Rough Time in Their Twenties

It's not easy being 27 (fast approaching 28) living in a rented house with a boyfriend. Even the most empowered feminist can feel down when you don't get to experience the big "life things" that most people do. Articles like this make me realize that the people that I admire the most definitely had a delayed life start because they worked for years on their dreams. Such positive motivation to keep my chin up :)

After Bill Pay

Found this while online, isn't it terrifying? This is why I'm so aggressive when it comes to wiping out my debt.

What I have:
Checking: $225.05
Savings: $1800.64

What I owe:
Credit Card: $17.31**
Student Loan: 83,303.86

Like I said in a previous post instead of my usual $1000 chunk payment I went a little soft this time so I could catch up on bills. I'm still really excited because my next payment should knock me down to 82k which is so freaking exciting. I can't believe how much that I have paid off in just 6 months. I still get a little bummed when I think about how far I have to go and how many roadblocks that I might face but I just have to keep staying positive. The one thing that I do know is that I have more student debt than most people and that with all my hard work I will pay off my debt faster than most people even dream about <3

**I seriously paid off my entire credit card and then the auto payment went through for my gym membership.