Friday, April 3, 2009

Updates

Hi all.
I'm very upset I haven't blogged for a while (a whole month!). It wasn't due to lack of trying believe me. When I moved to NY, I was under the impression that I had accepted an offer to work for a great firm. I was wrong. I apparently signed up for one of the last legal forms of indentured servitude. I have worked 80 hrs a wk for the last 4.5 wks for absolutely no extra pay. No, I don't earn 6 figures. Anyway, all that is going to be saved for my next post.

What's happened in the interim finance wise? There's great news and some bad news. Good news first. My mom came to visit from out of the country (couldn't see her btw since I was at work the whole time) and she came bearing gifts. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but my parents took on to pay my student loans. My dad gave her a check for 10k to wipe down most of the student loans. I used that to pay off my BOA credit card and used the balance to pay a combinations of loans and other cards. I updated the meters a while back so that should be reflected. This means I don't owe Bank of America any money!!! Yay.

Bad news. It's pretty bad folks.
I regressed in my not spending money I didn't have. This month made it clear to me that blogging had a direct inverse correlation with how much money I spend. The more I blog, the less I spend. It's that simple. I think it's because when I blog, I am more focused about debt reduction and it's easier to talk myself out of dumb purchases.
What did I do? I spent about $200 on a juicer and lots of fruits. I read a book "slim for life" by Jason Vale and it inspired me to overhaul my diet. I have gotten so unhealthy but that's also a topic for another day. I do think my health is important but I could have carved out a portion of money I pay each month on my credit card to save up for this. I shouldn't have put it all on my card. Buying that triggered some of my old habits. Buying things without any concern for cost and acting as though swiping a credit card is not really taking money from me (trust, i think a LOT before spending lots with my debit card.).

My friend was coming from out of the country to celebrate her birthday in NY. With all the weight i've gained, none of my clothes fit so of course I had to go shopping. While I was at it, I needed new work pants and oh, I went to a wedding and HAD to buy a gift for the bride. I'm being sarcastic for those who are wondering. All this led to me charging $166 on my macys card (to take advantage of the discount) and leave with a couple of bags from H&m and NY& CO. Phew, crazy huh?

That's not all.

I also bought a dress on ruelala from Nicole Miller. It was such a Great Deal, I had to have it even though it won't fit (i'm gonna lose the weight duh!). Yea silly. The only positive in all this, is that at some point I felt guilty and I ended up using my savings account to pay for some of this. The damage isn't horrible. Probably set me back a month. I am definitely going to try not to go this long without blogging.

I need a new job. Depression and debt should not be friends. I was excited about tackling my debt before. A job that depresses me makes me look for ways to feel better and since everyone is asleep by the time I get out of work and since they have taken away my saturday and Sundays, ruelala.com and zappos.com become my friend. Not a good look.

Numbers wise, this is what my finance charges look like for the month of February
Total $295.63. Great drop from back when it was $443.63. March looks like it's going to be under $200. Waiting on my capital one statement to generate then I can post that info too. I am so glad to be done with Bank of America and their 24% interest rate. The highest interest I pay now is 9.99%.

That's it for now. I should be more regular from now on. Expect the debt bars to change in the next couple of days. I just got paid and made some payments I want to go through before I make updates.

2 comments:

  1. I have been there too.. one swip can throw off all of the month's payment goals.. and you feel awful- BUT.. there is always next month to be better :) Hang in there sister!

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  2. Good to see you're back. I thought you fell off the face of PF Blogging World.

    WOw the good news is really good, but the bad news is bad. :( I also check out all those new "sample sale" type of stores (gilt, hautelook, ruella, and ideeeeli). I am always SO tempted to buy something, but oh god when the idea just crosses, I immediately close the browser.

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Hit me with some tough love