I'm slowing down my debt payments

I feel like I write a variation of this post every couple of months. The truth is, I really struggle between saving and paying down debt. In the beginning, I was very gung-ho about reducing my debt. My outstanding debt was a big prickly thorn in my flesh.
Nowadays, I feel like it's more like joint pain that comes and goes. In plain english, I'm tired of focusing on my debt. I feel like I'm in my twenties, and there are a lot of things I am sacrificing in order to be debt free as soon as possible and I don't have to be that frugal. On top of that, the fact that I have very little savings is becoming the new thorn in my flesh.

I thought everyone that wanted to get rid of debt did it the way I had been. Pay down as much as you can, as quickly as I can. An article over on debtkids site made me rethink that. He has a lot of debt, and he is paying it down, but he also has close to (or over, I don't remember) 10k in savings. I started thinking about it, and I think that is smarter.

Hypothetically, if he were to lose his job, he could pay his personal expenses AND continue making payments on his debt for say, 3-4 months. In this time, I'm sure he could find another source of income. Now if you look at me, I'm paying a high percentage of my income towards my debt, but if I were to lose my job - I wouldn't be able to pay next months rent AND I would miss my next credit card payment b/c I wouldn't have any extra money. See?

Additionally, I want to be able to do fun stuff. I want to travel and take dance and writing classes. I'm tired of feeling like a college student when I make 62k a year.

All this rambling is just a way to say that I am reducing my payments to my credit card by $200 a month. That money will go towards my various savings accounts (I have like 10 accounts at ING hehe). I'm still going to throw any extra money I get towards my debt, but $1100 a month towards my debt is a bit high and I'm ready to change.

I think I'm going to look at the extra interest I pay due to my decision as the cost of enjoying my life. I'm okay with that.

Thoughts?

Good News for Bank of America Customers

I read this on boston.com and thought I would share it with you guys. As they say on headline news, we could all use some good news in a bad economy. Basically, bank of america will no longer charge an overdraft fee if you go over your account by under $10 (as long as you correct it withing 5 days). You can read the full story here.

That's right folks, no more $35 for withdrawing a penny more than you had in your account. Additionally, they are limiting the number of times they will charge for overdraft in one day to four (currently it's 10, bloody thieves).

While I'm clearly not advising anyone to spend money they don't have in their account, I'm sure some of you have experienced those darn fees that can occur when a charge you were not expecting came through and took you over.

Something to smile about I guess.

Third Quater Check in

9/15 finally came and passed and I am back to being a human being again (I'm sure some of you can guess what I do by now). In the interim, there's been a couple of changes to my debt bars.

I got some more money from the parents to pay off what they think is the last of my loans and I applied that to my credit cards. It feels good to have only 2 cards with balances even if said balances are high. My usbank card is almost back to zero paid off (lol).

I haven't done much online writing so side income hasn't been pouring in. I have made some money of my ehow articles and surveys but nothing major.

Right now, my focus is finding a new job and working on my side business. I'm creating a writing a photography business but I need to get my photography skills at a competitive level. I'll let you know how that goes.

Definitely expect more regular posts from me.

What I did with the 10k

It's been pretty crazy at work. I am definitely looking into other options - working 7 days a week till midnight at this pay is not for me. Anyway, this has obviously impacted how often I can post as when i do get some free time, all I want to do is sleep.

I realized on my train ride back that I never told you all what I did with the money my parents offered. At first, I had told them I was not going to take it because they kept adding all these caveats (which made sense but made me feel like I was 12) and I thought there were too many strings attached for something that would not really ease my cash flow.

After thinking and thinking (and thanks to a comment by a reader) I decided to take it. However, I would use 5k to pay off a card (you can see my ML now says paid in full in the sidebars) and I would keep the other 5k in savings. I realized that it was best to think like i received a 5k gift instead of 10k because I would still have to pay 5k back albeit interest free. 

So now I am going to pay them back from the money sitting in my savings (and have it earn a little interest) and it gives me some extra money to play with each month. I put some of that extra to m groceries because $40 a month is not really allowing me to eat as healthy as I want.

I think I am going to try to write a couple of posts at a time an schedule them so that you have regular content. 

Oh, one more thing, my ebay stuff did not sell and I relisted them. Here they are again. Calvin Klein leather bag and Purple Prada bag. If any of you are frequent ebayers, fell free to give me tips on things I should modify or add to my listing.

Thanks

Cheap Prada & CK bags

I can't post much b/c my job is holding me hostage again.... but I figured some of you might be interested in these bags I'm selling.

The first is a purple prada satchel. It's brand new and I've never used it. I just feel now is not the time for me to own such expensive items.

The second is a White leather Calvin Klein Collection bag. It's also brand new and in fact the tag is still attached. I've never used this either and I figure someone else might want it.

They are both on ebay - so if any of you use it, you should check it out. There's about 1 day left to bid.