Londynsmom's Personal Finance Blog

Hello guys its been six months since i've blogged on this site WOW time flies. I'm very happy to report that I have paid off ALL of my credit card and outstanding debts listed on my side ticker. The only debts I am paying off now are my vehicles,personal expense loan and student loan debt. My journey isn't over yet but I feel like the hardest part is over. I haven't closed my credit accounts and do charge and pay them in full every month now. I'm doing this in preparation of buying my first home once my personal and auto loans are paid in full. Thanks guys for all your advice and i am looking forward to blogging my way through the rest of my journey.

Just submitted the full balance of my Orchard Bank card to them this morning. Woooo hooooooooooo!!!!! I'm feeling so relieved I picked up a part time at Target seasonal and boy does the extra money help. I've been dancing around the house all morning. One less bill (credit card at that) to pay now three more to go and my credit card debt will be a thing of the past.

This month my DF and I used a cash only budget with the exception of our automatic bills and paying a few bills with the debit card. All other spending was done in cash we put all the change into the cookie jar I cashed the change in yesterday and it was $12.87 I gave this amount to Orchard Bank which makes a total monthly payment of $50. It didn't look like very much change but it sure adds up.

It wasn't much of a balance left $46.00 but I paid it off. I'm so excited!!!!

So i've been sitting at my desk pondering this question. I am currently a college student and of course get financial aid but fall short each semester needing to take out a loan. I need to know your thoughts on borrowing enough loan money to cover most of my debts. If I do this I will need to still use $1,000 of my cash flow from work to pay every one in full. On one end i'm thinking wooohoo i'll be able to satisfy my obligations to every one now. But on the other end i'm thinking this is creating a new debt so to speak. I've only giving it a second thought because i'm figuring with all the interest I am paying between the various credit cards etc.. My student loan money carries an interest rate of 6.9%. Please share your thoughts you guys are the best when it comes to advice!!!!

I hit a dead deer in the road on my way home last night it was no way to avoid hitting it. My car from the looks of it according to the repair shop its totaled. I'm completely at loss as I don't have another vehicle to drive after my 30 day rental is up. However, the car is only worth about $5,000 and as you can see on my side bar I owe $12k. I'm very glad that I selected the gap option when I purchased the car. Now I have no money to buy a new car and now don't want to finance a vehicle at all. What do you do taking public transportation isn't an option as I have to drive on the beltway every morning. My job isn't in the city so its not on the bus line.

My usual Saturday would include an automatic $50 spent by noon at the hair salon maybe another thirty to forty at a restuarant for lunch. Than no telling what other household products/groceries I'd need to pick up. I am very happy that I wrote my budget out on paper and kept cash in my pocket. I find it too easy to overspend money when i'm swiping my debit card. I'm more prone to think twice when I have to give up the cash out of my purse. I ended up spending $1 on chicken nuggets for my little one on our ride to the store. I had to purchase juice which cost me just a little over four dollars. However, $5 is a great number for me as I am determined to get out of debt.

Therefore I actually have money left over in my account. My inital thought was to "treat" myself to the nail salon. Than I thought twice and realized what too many "treats" have caused me. (Debt) My plan is to transfer my weekly set amount towards Orchard Bank which is $10 and allow the remainding $70 sit in savings.(just in case) I have money set aside for gas but it seems the moment I utilize all funds left in my account the unexpected happens some how.

I'm happy about that now I have to wait until this Friday to pay off the remainding two. I didn't want to take a chance on mailing the last two because its going local. They usually process the checks electronically so they'll try to debit my account before my paycheck hits friday. I am quite happy that have gotten over this hurdle. Thanks guys for your great advice!!!

The check is for $106 I was planning to add $56 to the total and pay off all four tickets on my side bar. I've been stewing if I want to make a $40 payment towards my Orchard Bank card before the cycle closes friday. This will bring my balance just under $200. But than i'll be stuck paying off the very last $40 tickets in two weeks in my next pay period. What do you guys think? What would you do? The ticket is already overdue but no late fees or penalties will be assesed.

I am happy to report that once again this month I was able to double the min payment. My original plan was to pay at least half of the $270 balance however, that changed. Of course "something came up" and well that went out the window for now. My other half owes me $100 until his payday next week. So i'm really pondering if I want to just send that $100 onto my credit card which will technically cut the balance in half. I'm not sure next week is payday and i am due my tire refund sometime next week also. I'm very eager to receive that check as I have allocated those funds towards the remainding $40 tickets you see on my side bar. I will have all of them paid off so I'm looking forward to that indeed.

Of course the unexpected came up today i blew a tire this morning it had a nail in it. Luckily I am a member of the Allstate Motorclub under the best plan they have to offer. The plan covers tire reimbursement up to $250 twice per year. They only cover the cost of the tire not the mounting and balancing. (i'm happy they cover anything lol) But any how I submitted my invoice and was informed they will cover $107 of the $114 I paid out of pocket. I am very happy as I can defenitely use that money towards a debt. Really looking forward to paying off two of the $40 tickets I have. The check takes 7-10 business days and by than it will be my next payday. Thefore I only have to budget $53 to cover all of my outstanding tickets. I'm very happy as I feel this is a wiser choice rather than paying off my orchard bank card. As eager as I am I also need to cover these tickets before they are sent to collections.

I made chicken fajitas two nights ago and I still have steamed veggies lefft over. Therefore this morning I went to the local grocery store and bought ground chicken, pasta noodles and sauce to make a big pot of beef and mac. (chicken is a healthier choice for me) My neighbor calls it lazy that i'm making a big pot to last more than one night. In my opinion I am doing what I have to do to cut out the urge of eating out. While I trim my debt I plan to trim at least 40lbs right along with it. Last night I also wrote out my budget for the month of August and if all goes well no mishaps i'll be able to pay down my orchard bank card. I'm so excited and actually looking forward to paying the bill now. Whereas in the past i'd pay the min and than get depressed when the new statement issued and the balanced didn't move.

So I haven't blogged in what looks like almost two months I am still here and still making progress. I am very proud of myself as I have adapted the many great suggestions I've learned here. I'm happy to report that in the month of July ALL of my bills were paid on time. Which for me of course meant no late fees. Wooohoooo I was also able to get my orchard card down to $272.oo due to a $55 payment I easily "found" in my budget. Although it isn't much it is a huge accomplishment for me as I have only paid $15 which was the minimum in the past.I'm going to keep on trucking away at this card and am hopefully I can "find" at least $135.00 this month in my budget towards this card. I'm so anxious to hopefully type 30 days from now that I have Officially kicked ORCHARD BANK out of the house for good!!!!!

I switched from Cricket Wireless to Verizon wireless who offers unlimited talk,text and web for $50 a month. My previous bill with cricket was $65 a month and the service wasn't that great the internet was very slow and I dropped call alot. I got so frustrated that I went through three phones within a five month period not because I did anything the phones would just go out. I figured they are just of poor quality the manufacture doesn't honor there one year guarantee they don't consider the screen going black a manufacture problem??? So while my annual savings is only $180 bucks it eats up some of my upcoming rent increase. My rent is going to increase starting august by $32 a month so i'm tweaking in my budget to see what other costs I can cut.

My df wanted the last season of True blood on dvd. A friend of his paid him back $80 he had borrowed a little while ago. My df decided to split the $80 with me so I used my portion to purchase the dvd which was on sale for $39 at best buy. I spent $5 out of pocket for a couple ballons,gift bag and tissue at the dollar store. I'm so happy that I spent the money "wisely" as it would have been easy to hit the nail shop with it and spend another $40 out of my pocket for the dvd.

I'm very happy to report that I have stuck to my plan of saving 10% of what I earn each paycheck to day I transfered $141.80 to my savings account. This month has three pay days so I should have $425.40 saved on June 30th. My goal is to get at least $1,000 into an emergency fund so I can stay focused on my debt pay off. I'm learning from my mistakes as it seems that in the past the moment my car needed a repair I'd spend my bill money and fall behind. I'm so positive about this change and I feel like i'm headed in the right direction. I'm so glad that I stumbled upon this site you guys are such an inspiration.

So I'm very excited that today is payday but what exacts me most about it is that I have a plan. I sat down the last two nights facing the reality of my past actions. My credit cards all at its capacity the number of parking tickets I have are outrageous but no need in dwelling on the fact. Its time to sacrifice my normal $50 payday walmart adventure was cut down to $17 on bare necessities toothpaste,papertowels etc..... Really happy with myself that I didn't go throwing things in the cart as previously before I made a list and stuck to it. My only wrong doing I believe was going to walmart prior to making my planned billed payments. I have it all written down just need to hand the money over.lol

So this Friday will be the first payday since I decided to clean up my financial act. I need help guys do you all put your budget for each paycheck down on paper. Is it better to use a monthly calendar? Also how do you determine which debts to attack first?? and or how much to put towards them. I don't mean to sound clueless but as my profile will show I haven't been the best at money management in the past so i'm willing to learn.

This past weekend I shopped around on prepaid cell phone plans. I was able to find the exact same plan that I am on now with a different carrier for $20 cheaper a month. I did some research online found surprisingly that it wasn't too good to be true. I would have been paying my current carrier's payment this week. Since I saved $20 I added to my capital one bill's minimum payment that was due yesterday.I'm very proud of myself because in the past I would have easily blew that $20 on something else. My previous balance was $573 which was $73 over the limit now i am just two dollars under but i'm happy i'll avoid the fee next month.

I've decided that I should take my lunch to work at least four out of five days. By doing this I should be able to pay minimum payments towards my credit cards all but one. The one card that I am focusing on first is my orchard bank card. I plan to send $20 a week to this card along with as much of a monthly payment I can to get it paid off sooner. Has anyone else tried this? If so how did it go?

I've took the first step in making a change in my bad financial habits. I've admitted that I have a problem lol not managing my money properly the obvious right?? Now I need help with creating a budget what are your best tips/advice? I want to get this together this month so I can get started with my debt repayment plan. What are averages that should be spent in each category? Anything thing you can help with helps a great deal.

Thanks in advance!!!

I've been reading your blogs for a couple of weeks now and i've finally decided to start one of my own. I must say that I have in such a very short time learned a lot from reading your blogs. I'm 26 years old and between car loans, credit cards, and student loans have about $50,000 worth of debt. I'm very much excited about starting this journey to becoming debt free. I'm determined to teach my daughter about good saving habits and how important it is to have a healthy financial life. I'm looking forward to reading more blogs and learning more from you all.