paycheck breakdown

I finally went to our online pay system and arranged to have my paycheck reports automatically emailed to me at work. Our system is all electronic, so we don't get anything on paper and I'm often too lazy to navigate the unix system we have (it takes almost 5 minutes to punch in all the commands to get to the timekeeping portion of the system, no joke).

Anyway. Here's my most recent paycheck (every other week pay schedule):

Gross salary: 1884.60

Pretax health deductions (health and dental insurance, FSA deduction): 79.60

Pretax retirement deduction: 75.38

Taxable earnings: 1729.62

Taxes: 492.78*

Net Pay: 1236.84

I claim no deductions in order to get a refund. I KNOW I AM LENDING THE GOVERNMENT MONEY INTEREST FREE, so anyone reading this and riled up at the idea, settle down. I've been doing this because I was unable to truly save, and this was a better option since it was basically a savings account. I will probably change it for 2009, since I will be debt free and on solid ground financially. I almost changed it for 2008 but things are still a little shaky despite the debt payoff going well and savings happening, so I put it off another year.

Speaking of savings, bummer that the rate cut means my ING rates are going down. My memory of undergrad economics is pretty fuzzy but the fed continuing to slash already low rates can't really be that good. Oh well. I'm going to just keep doing what I'm doing and hope they do back up soon and things stay stable.

My tires came in, total cost unknown, I missed the call and now they're closed. I'll find out how much tomorrow.

So worth it, even though they were technically good enough for inspection they were getting pretty bald. Safety is worth replacing them earlier than the law requires IMO.

car in good shape, hurray

Car was inspected yesterday, no work needed. My mechanic says it doesn't need a servicing yet, or new tires to pass the inspection. I asked him how long the tires would be good and mentioned that they looked awfully questionable to me, so he's ordering me a couple that should be here sometime this week.

Have not finished the paperwork organization. The shame! I need to get one of those plastic file totes I think, hopefully when I pick one up it will provide the motivation to finish getting stuff in order.

I was planning to double check some numbers and finalize my budget tonite, but I got into a car accident on the way home, and even though it isn't my fault I technically hit the other person (who almost hit the person in front of them who slammed on their brakes during rush hour and nearly caused a pileup) that had stopped VERY suddenly during a busy route at rush hour, and know my insurance will go up as a result. There is no damage, and the police officer documented it as non-reportable after speaking to me and the other driver about what happened (the person who started this took off immediately, no we didn't get the plate info). And while I'm really grateful no one was hurt at all and there's no damage aside from some paint transfer on the bumper I can't help feeling deflated about my finances somehow. I guess because I know this will end up costing me money in some way, or ways. Blah.

So the dreamhost thing wasn't limited to me, and everything should be finalized in another day or so.

I've been using my CC for some stuff lately due to being short cash, which is due a couple of things, one of which is a bunch of medical expenses. I was waiting till January and my new FSA kicked in. I'm going to file for reimbursement at the end of the month, then again at the end of Feb for the dentist appointments in there and chiro copays.

I just transferred some $$$ into my checking from the hooked savings (ie emergency fund) for my visit today and am not liking that either. I get paid Friday and I would like to:
1) throw $200 at the CC instead of the $100 per paycheck I usually do
2) put that money back into the EF
3) when I get the FSA reimbursement put it straight into the EF

If I do this I will actually come out a little ahead, savings wise. Although I also need to get my car inspected and serviced, if there are unexpected repairs that may screw this up.

dreamhost wants me to pay twice

This morning dreamhost (where I host my photography website) put the yearly charge on the card I had on file. Twice. When it isn't due until mid-May. Thankfully I had a credit card on file and not my debit card. When I was looking at the email and wondering if it was just an email mistake or they actually billed me for this, my CC co. called me asking if it was a legit charge. I was in the process of writing to their billing department, the CC folks say call them back Friday if I haven't heard back, and they'll do a chargeback. I'm worried about that though because if their system still thinks I owe this money I don't want to have my account turned off because they think this money was genuinely owed to them. Hopefully they will resolve it from their end in a day or two.

I spoke to my licensure supervisor yesterday and she has agreed to do supervision just once a month for the next several months. She's raising her rates, and while it's still a very good price the money is just not in my budget if I'm going to have an EF more than a few hundred bucks and keep knocking down debt. So I'm going to stay connected to the process and still get some hours, and hopefully by mid-year I'll be in a position to increase the hours.

car inspection time, hot diggety

I'm still tweaking my budget. I want to make sure I have realistic amounts budgeted for household and auto expenses. I underbudgeted last year and when I'm over I unfortunately tend to have a "shit, well I might as well go ahead and do/buy XXX since I'm already in the red" mentality. But in addition to morale, it's just good common sense to realistically plan.

My car needs to be inspected this month, I am hoping nothing needs to be fixed. It's a 2000 and has never needed brake work, I know it is imminent so I'm keeping that in mind. I replaced the tires about 2 years ago, so those should be fine. I am planning to have a full servicing done as well at my friendly neighborhood mechanic, all fluids, filters changed and whatever else that entails.

I have to organize my financial paperwork. My desk is a mess, the filing system I have is a mess, and there's a ton of stuff unsorted and unfiled. Ugh. This is a project I meant to do weeks ago and have been avoiding. But I really need to find my original student loan consolidation info, I got a notice that Chase is now the administrator and I need to make sure that they will be honoring the additional interest rate discount I should be getting very soon for so many months of paying on time. I need to have the paperwork in front of me in case Chase claims ignorance.

current balances

BoA visa: $679.37
B&N mastercard: $1539.64
Credit Union visa: $314.20
Credit Union debt consolidation loan: $2112.44 (with the payment I just mailed factored in)

Also don't have exact numbers but I didn't want to put off posting until I had this months' bills.
Victoria's Secret charge: about 300
Express charge: about 150



I had to order stuff from CVS online because I can't find Nailtiques formula 2+ anywhere. Bastards. It is the ONLY thing I have ever used that keeps my nails from shredding, splitting and breaking. Unless I want to get manicures 2-3x month this is what keeps my nails from looking like those of a homeless person. In order to hit $30 and get free shipping I also ordered shampoo, conditioner, and more tinted moisturizer. And these are actually things I'm running low on, and all were on sale, so huzzah. But part of me feels very lazy ordering that stuff online. Though not as lazy as the time I bought dish soap and trash bags at drugstore.com to get free shipping.

TEN THOUSAND!

Dollars that is. That is how much I am aiming to save in 2008. Since I have debt I'm going to count debt reduction towards the 10k as well. 10k is roughly 24% of my salary. It's kind of daunting, but I think I can do it. I really wanted 2007 to be the year I got rid of consumer debt, but I did make some great progress and should be finished in 2008.

In order for this to have any chance of working, I need to figure out what I need to save and what I need to pay to The Man each month. Numbers forthcoming.

10k means that $833 each months needs to make it's way to lowering my debt* or my savings accounts.

I have roughly 5k in debt remaining, so my goal will be to eliminate that and gain another 5k in savings.

*I'm not counting student loan debt towards this at all. Because it's too big, and also because it's the cheapest money I will probably ever see. I don't want to pay it off in 30 years as I'm scheduled to do, but I'm not worrying about it right now since I consolidated with a killer interest rate (less than 4%) and saving money in a decent yield will actually be more profitable. I would like to be rid of it in 15-20 years, but again, saving and purchasing a home are more important to me right now.

let's talk savings

I finally set up something I've been meaning to do for a year or so, and that's having 3 savings accounts with automatic transfers set up. I have:

- standard savings hooked to my checking account, this is short term and emergency type account

- slightly better rate credit union savings account, this is for short term non-monthly expenses (ie, xmas gifts, vacations, car insurance renewal, etc)

- high interest ING savings account, this is long term and downpayment savings. The idea is that money goes in and does NOT come out unless I'm buying something big (car or condo). I may end up splitting the account up but for now it's kind of pitiful so I think the mental boost of having more money in just one will help me save.

goals that I accomplished in 2007

Progress report on the financial goals I set for myself in 2007. This includes things that impact my finances somehow, like being more careful about clothing purchases and investing in supervision or good health. I can get a few more things done before 2007 comes to a close. If it's red that means there was some progress but not enough to declare victory.

• Get a new job
  
• Begin individual supervision for licensure
  
• Throw out crap I don't use
  
• Cook at least 3 times a week and make use of leftovers
  
• Try acupuncture (health investment, I was thinking that it might help my neck not knot up like crazy, thus cutting down on headaches and cutting down on other health costs eventually)
  
• Get haircut quarterly (I'm surprisingly cheap about haircuts, I think I only had 2 this year)
  
• Wax instead of shaving (lasts longer, and buying wax is about the same price as going thru razors all the time)
  
• Start laser hair removal (investment I consider well worth the money. I hope to start in 2008 once rest of consumer debt is paid off)
  
• Get teeth cleaned 2x year (investment in getting less work done. My second cleaning is scheduled for next week.)
  
• Get filling and any other necessary dental work (okay, this I haven't done. I'll probably get worked on in early 2008 when the flexible spending account restards)
  
• Take vitamins every day (health investment, and no I didn't manage every day)
  
• Go to gym 4 days per week at least (I did this, but not consistently enough)
  
• Stop paying for work parking pass
  
• Increase monthly payment and pay off eeeevil bank of america visa, thus removing the shackles of APR oppression - almost there!
  
• Get a new (good) credit card to replace aforementioned evil one, transfer remaining balance to save some finance charge monies
  
• Pay off credit union loan early
  
• Put money in savings 1 every month
  
• Use savings 2 to save longterm
  
• Get free credit reports (1 each quarter), try to fix any mistakes (did this once only)
  
• Open Roth IRA (I will do this next year, I swear. I do have a retirement account going, with matching so it isn't like I'm not saving at all. But I know I need to open a Roth, I'm planning to do it in the first half of the year)
  
• Set up pre-tax medical spending account
  
• Spend less on eating out
  
• Set up renters insurance (so embarrassing and stupid that I haven't gotten around to this)
  
• Stick to budget, actually pay attention to tracking and reports in quicken every month Mostly this happened. Time to take it to the next level!
  
• Set quarterly financial goals and stick to them - I did this half the year and totally slacked the second half. But still, progress. Next year maybe it will happen for all 4 quarters.
  
• Put at least half of tax return in savings account and LEAVE IT THERE - I did this, but funny thing, it started to disappear....
  
• Keep using netflix instead of buying DVDs
  
• Be more selective about clothing purchases
  
• Always try on clothes before buying them
  
• Closet overhaul at least twice a year (pulling everything out, trying on, getting rid of stuff I no longer want/need, or is raggedy)
  
• Replace laptop
  
• Get car serviced/tuned up
  
• Pay off car (scheduled for October... yay!!!!)
  
• When insurance renewal times comes around shop around and lower coverage to appropriate level
  
• Continue working at B&N - Left in June for some downtime, went back in late October
  
• Borrow books from B&N whenever possible instead of buying
  

how it began

Back in high school I was a pretty decent saver. Every paycheck I got from my cashier jobs I deposited $50 into my savings and kept the rest for spending money. But then I went to college and got caught in a financial rut that was seemingly endless.

Undergrad was one thing, but when I graduated and started grad school things got worse. The last year I worked about 30 hours a week, was at my internship another 20 (and often more), in class 9 or so, had plenty of homework and studying to do. And I was broke, despite getting excess student loan money refunded every semester. It sucked. I was a big ball of stress. A big destitute ball of stress. My credit was pretty good up until 2004-2005, but after that point it tanked. I made do the best I could and planned to fix it later. I knew it would take years to get on solid ground again but knew I could do it. I don’t regret the decision to work part-time and finish grad school full-time, but I did make a lot of mistakes.

I realized I was going to have to really cut down on expenses. I tried, it wasn’t enough, I started scraping by paycheck to paycheck. I’d already gotten rid of my landline. I cancelled my cable account, so I had no TV (there’s no reception at all in my apartment building) and no internet access at home. That wasn’t bad because I had no time for it anyway. I had some random school and professional expenses that added up, but my mom helped with some of those.

In December 2005 I finally finished grad school. My credit was terrible, I knew, but I also knew it could be repaired if I got myself together. I’d been paying down my car and credit union loan, I still had my apartment, I still had my car, I had a full-time job already, I’d finally have financial security, I’d be able to move to an apartment that actually had a bedroom and get a new car. Hell, someday I’d be comfortable, someday I’d be able to buy a home. Yay! Except, it wasn’t quite that simple. I found myself still practically living paycheck to paycheck, and still in debt. Then I consolidated my student loans, something I figured I’d need to be medicated for, but it wasn’t that bad. I consolidated and began paying early before the rates reset, and I got a killer interest rate as a result. I didn’t truly require tranquilizers until April 2006 when I began creating a budget and an unpleasant fact hit me. I was totally broke. I was twenty-six years old, making about forty-six thousand dollars a year, had pared down expenses a lot, and yet I was still broke. It was bullshit, but it was also my fault.

Hello there. I'm in the process of rebuilding my finances after a wonderful but financially disastrous grad school experience. I finished, am working in my field, working on licensure and all that good stuff, but the money stuff has been tough. I've made progress but still have debt and haven't really been able to save. I really want to buy a condo and be able to live comfortably and save, so I'm putting it all out there in the hopes that it will help me stay on track.

There will be lists, budget breakdowns, and the real numbers. Which I'm kind of uncomfortable with (shame!), which is why I think I should include them.