North Georgia Gal's Financial Awakening

I had a great Mother's Day Weekend. I got so much done around the house! Even had some valuable alone time. Did some grocery shopping on Saturday. Yesterday was a NSD. I didn't even leave the house. We put together my closet organizer so I was finally able to get all of my clothes put up. My room looks so much better now. But I still have the treadmill area to clean up. I found that if I break things down into smaller tasks, and do a little at a time, I get more done. I will do a little then watch a little tv. It works for me.

Got the money my ex DH sent over the weekend for DD's rent. (he pays 1/3 and sister pays 2/3). I am looking good through the month of May. Then I have my surgery. It will all work out. I have faith.

I set up to contribute 35% to my 401k at my second job. My first check since doing so hit yesterday. The company is supposed to match my contribution up to 6% of my yearly salary. But they matched my contribution 100%. Do they contribute 100% until they reach 6% of my yearly salary? I have never worked for a company that matches contributions.

Had a lovely day off work. Did nothing but the dishes. Still have a couple of things on my list to do tonight, but it is 9:30 so I don't know that they will get done. Oh well.

My sister seems to know when to call me to ask me to go to the store or something for her. I purposely didn't tell her I had the day off because she takes that as her opportunity to fill my day with her errands. But she still called me today to pick up a prescription for her that she "urgently" needed. She knows that Thur and Fri nights are not good for me(she didn't know I was off). But she doesn't seem to care about anyone else when it comes to doing things for her. Everytime DD comes to town, she thinks DD is there to do her grocery shopping. It is getting old, but I don't know how to stop it. She is so generous paying toward DD's rent that I feel like we owe her. But when is that debt paid? It feels like we are constantly doing her errands. She hasn't been out of the house in weeks. She doesn't drive so she relies on me, but thinks nothing of asking me to stop by Walmart on my way home and get her a sandwich or something. She lives 7-8 miles past my house. So it isn't on the way home.

Sorry to vent. I am just completely frustrated.

I found out today that I have to have surgery on June 1 to repair a Hernia. It will outpatient but I will miss about 2 weeks at my second job. Just when things were going good. I will have to redo my budget for June and probably July won't look too pretty either. I won't be able to lift anything above 5 pounds for 6 weeks. The bag I put my laptop in weighs more than that when the laptop is in it! Will have to figure something out about that.

I had to turn the heat back on today. It was 63 degrees in the house! I don't know what is going on. I saw pictures online of snow (SNOW!) at the Tenn/NC border near the smokey mountains! What is happening????

All of the payments have hit my checking account so everything is officially paid off now. Just waiting on the titles to my car and my son's car so he can get his out of my name.

I talked to my banker about the credit card thing because we are planning to refinance the LOC in 3-6 months in only my name, so my credit score is important. He suggested that I wait and see what happens with just paying everything off. Then when we apply for the refinance, we will see what happens.

My first check with the deduction for the 401k is tomorrow. I started with 35% and will build up to 50%. It is still a good chunk. Feels good.

One more morning and then I am off work(at my second job) for 9 days! I haven't had more than 2 days off in a row since I started a year and a half ago. I need a break. I sprinkled in some time off at my other job too so I have a few days of nothing to do! I hope to get things done around the house that I have been putting off since my mom got hurt. My paycheck will suck but I need this time off for my sanity.

We were able to disburse the loan on Friday...so all of my credit cards and loans are paid off. It is such a relief. My son's car is included in what was paid off so he can get it in his name and get his own insurance now.(It would have been paid off in June anyway). My car is paid off but I am going to keep full coverage since it is a newer car.

I need some advice though from those of you familiar with how credit works. I would like to close all but a couple of my credit cards but I have heard that could negatively impact my credit. Is that true? I would like to close them so that I am not tempted to use them.

I have a paypal debit card linked to my checking account. I get an email every time that debit card is used. I got two emails today that it was used at TJ Maxx and Marshalls. A total of $270. We don't even have those stores around here. So I instantly canceled the card and called them to dispute the charges. As soon as the charges actually post(they are pending right now) they will credit my account for that amount. I am glad I get that email and was able to catch it early. Funny thing is that I have the debit card...someone stole the number apparently.

My mom helped me get this loan to pay off my debt. Part of the deal is that I don't get to quit my second job. I have to put 50% of my income from my second job in my 401k. I know it is a good thing but I don't know how much longer I continue to get up at 4 in the morning and work until 4 in the evening(with both jobs).

Today is work from home day...I don't have to leave the house all day! I have become such an introvert that that is the perfect day for me!

Hi everyone! I know it has been FOREVER since I posted. I will try to catch you up on the doings of my life.

I am still working 2 jobs, but silly me thought it would also be smart to take 3 college courses. I was handling it ok until my mom hurt her back. Then I became her and my sister's gopher. I ended up having to drop all of my classes.

Back to my mom...she had an injection of "concrete" in her back and the back pain is gone. She has residual pain down her leg and is having a steroid shot next week to help with that. In the meantime, she still can't drive and I am having to run all of her and my sister's errands(my sister moved in with my mom to be a companion/caretaker and that is not going so well).

As for finances...I made a huge mistake when I signed the kids up for my insurance. When I looked at the prices I thought is was per month, not per pay period. So I am paying $900 a month for health insurance! It is killing me. But this is the last month as my ex now is able to get insurance for the kids.

I am still drowning in credit card debt. But we are in the process of getting a home equity loan on my house(which is paid for) to pay off everything on my credit report. My debt will be virtually 0! We closed on the loan yesterday and have 3 days before we can disburse. All I will have is a couple medical bills and my regular monthly bills. I am so excited!

Oh and did I mention that I am now an empty nester...DD left for college in the fall. She is only an hour away and I see her most weekends but it is an adjustment.

So that is what has been going on in my world. Lots of stress. Lots of fun(not!)

I hope everyone is doing well...I have thought about you guys often.

It isn't as low as I had hoped, but it went from $110 to $45. I am very pleased! I used 8800 gallons the previous month and 1536 gallons this month. What a huge difference!

I am still rather unhappy at work. I am trying my best to just do what they ask me to do. I keep looking on indeed.com for job openings that would work for me but haven't found anything yet. Very frustrating when you realize that no one really cares if work here or not.

It has worked out for me to be able to pay DD's rent. My mom and other sister are helping some. I am good until the 16th of Oct. Then I am not sure what I will do. It always manages to work out though.

I am really unhappy at my job. I don't trust the people I work with. And was told there is no money coming my way for a while. Unfortunately, I don't think I can go anywhere. I don't think another place will let me come in at 9:00 so I can continue to work at my second job. And I need both incomes. Plus I don't think that I will find someplace paying me what I make now. I have my feelers out but hope is dim.

And in other news...my EXDH lost his job this week. I am no longer dependent on him for child support, but he is supposed to pay 1/3 of DD's rent at college and the kids health insurance was through his work. So I have until the 15th to come up with $220 to get the kids covered on an Obamacare plan...not a great plan but at least it is insurance. And I have to come up with 2/3 of the rent for DD on Oct 1.

AND...my sister who was paying the other 1/3 of DD's rent isn't going to be able to pay anything on Oct 1 either. She was finally approved for her disability and her insurance stopped her payments that she had been getting. Problem is that she won't get her first disability payment for 45-60 days. So her rent this month needs to be covered and I don't know how she will come up with rent on Oct 1.

So when it rains it pours. I don't know how I am going to come up with DD's rent. I know some of you will say she should help...she has a job but they have severely cut her hours. She is looking for something else right now but hasn't found anything yet.

I am sure everything will work out. I just wish I knew how.

We had the new water line put in last week. I am excited to see how much my bill is going to be. I will be very disappointed if it doesn't go down much.

I am looking good financially until the end of August. DD had enough financial ad to cover her first 3 months of rent in the dorm. That is being split three ways. So it saved me about $600 total.

As to why i am feeling under appreciated...I was in a meeting with my boss, and the other leadership team members...a total of 4 other people. I am not on the leadership team, I am what they are calling "support Staff". Well, they had lunch called in for them while they were in the meeting and my big boss, said lets buy everyone lunch. Then my direct boss said "because we are rolling in so much money" and laughed. It just is insulting to me. Money is tight right now, but if you are going to buy for one, you should buy for all. I mean an additional 30 is not going to bankrupt us. It just really rubbed me the wrong way. IMO, we shouldn't be buying lunch for anyone right now. We used to be a team and it felt like a team. But lately it is feeling more like us and them, which I know is not what my big boss intended. I am the employee that had been here the longest and seen the most change so I know that is not what he wants. But I don't know how to bring it up to him without it getting back to my boss and having repercussions about it. I will probably just keep my mouth shut and do my work. But it is really bothering me. If I could find another job making the money I make, I would definately consider it right now.

Anyway, that is my rant for the day.

Well, I was coasting along, looking decent for the next couple of months. Then I get my water bill. $130. WOW. It has always been above $70 but that is crazy. So I called a plumber to come see where the obvious leak is. $235 later it is not good news. There is an addition on this house. And apparently when they put the slab down for the addition, they put it over the water line. And there was no cut off switch at the house. So the plumber was able to locate where the water comes into the house and install a cut off valve. He was then able to cut water off at the house and determine that the water leak is between the house and the meter. That was the easy part. Since the line is under the slab, it would involve digging up the concrete(It is an unfinished room) and then finding the line. The plumber suggested that instead of going through all that to just bypass the current line and put in a new one. He will still have to drill a hole in the concrete, but it won't have to be pulled up. But we are looking at 2k to have the work done. He said it could come in less but he wanted to give me worse case scenario. The only way I can pay for this to take out a loan. I hate to take out another loan especially as strapped as I am but I really have no other choice. But apparently my water bill should go down to around $30 a month. So I can take what I was paying in water and put it toward the loan.

I know it has been a while. I am sorry. I have been so busy with life lately that I have rarely had time to even breathe.

I finally hit rock bottom financially. I went through a very serious shopping phase. Bought new chairs and a tv for the living room. The week after I bought them I found out that the child support would be ending in July. I thought it was supposed to go through college but it wasn't worded right in the divorce papers so it ended when she turned 18, which is today. But it actually ended before that because the state said he was ahead on his payments. So the last $600 I was expecting isn't coming.

So I had a real hard look at where I am spending my money. It is very upsetting. In the month of May, I spent over $500 eating out. Add the $300 that was spent at the grocery store and I spent over $800 on food! That is more than I make at my second job! I was horrified. Needless to say, that has ended.

I also have over 4k in medical expenses for DD. She was in severe pain in her abdomen. They thought it was appendicitis, but that didn't pan out. Then they tested for all kinds of things, including a colonoscopy. Nothing ever came from all the tests. She still has the pain every now and then. Ex DH is paying half of that monthly payment.

DD is also starting college in the fall. She is living on campus. And we are splitting her rent 3 ways. My portion is $200. Not sure where I am going to come up with it, I already work a second job and I don't think selling my blood would net that much. LOL.

But I think I am handling the stress well and I think I am actually happy. Ask me again in August after DD leaves and it might be a different story!

This is what I planned to do with my tax return:

Having the duct work cleaned in the house
Replacing the vanity in the downstairs bathroom(it is all warped and mold infested)
**Catching up car payment(not even a month behind, but past due date)
Pay Additional amount to Best Buy card(over half of the balance)
**Pay for DD Senior Pictures
**Give MOM $200

I have done the ones with the asterik. And I did pay extra to the Best Buy, just not as much as I wanted. I was set to do the vanity this week. Until I found out that we needed to pay for DD's dorm room registration fee. So there goes the vanity for now. I will get it done sometime in the future.

DD was accepted into KSU(Kennesaw State University) and has to live on campus for the first year. That is the reason for the dorm. But I don't know who is more excited, me or her! I will miss her terribly but am so proud of her for doing this.

Financially I am doing okay. We have had terrible weather here for the last week and a half. I missed a Saturday at my second job, which is the day I get the most hours) and will likely miss tomorrow morning as well due to snow and ice. Then I took this coming Saturday off for my niece's baby shower. So that check is going to quite slim. But that's okay. It isn't worth risking damage to myself or my car for that extra $$.

We are also in the middle of prom season. We have purchased the dress and had the first fitting last night. But thank goodness my sisters are covering those expenses!

Credit Card, that is. I paid of the Kohl's card today. I also got my tax refund today. I had already planned on paying the credit card off so that doesn't come out of the refund.

The refund is going to pay for:

Having the duct work cleaned in the house
Replacing the vanity in the downstairs bathroom(it is all warped and mold infested)
Catching up car payment(not even a month behind, but past due date)
Pay Additional amount to Best Buy card(over half of the balance)
Pay for DD Senior Pictures
Give MOM $200

That is about all of it. I didn't get near as much as I am used to getting back, but I will take it.

Has anyone ordered prescription eye glasses online? What site did you use? Were you happy with them? Any feedback would be great. DD needs new glasses.

I will have another credit card paid off tomorrow. That will make 3 since I started the second job around November 1. And I paid off the charges I made for Christmas so basically I paid cash for Christmas. Another will be paid off at the end of this month. I am proud of the progress I have made so far and intend on keeping it up. I just hope I can keep this second job long enough before my body revolts.

Child support hasn't shown up yet. He was paid on the 28th and I figure with the holiday it will be slow. But I just had to pay the deposit to the college my DD has chosen and paid her car insurance so I really need that support payment. (she pays a certain amount toward her insurance and car payment).

We ordered DD's senior pictures today. We finally got an email for 40% off. And her dad is paying $75 toward them.

I guess that is about all for now. I hope everyone had a Happy New Year!

I put all my information from my last paystubs into FreeTaxUSA to get an idea of my tax situation since I really didn't know what to expect this year. DD turned 17 so I lost the child tax credit. I started the second job. And I didn't have any rental property. But according to what I entered I will get about $900 back from federal and about $50 back from state. I will take it. Once I find out for sure what I am getting back I will post my plan for it. One thing for sure is DD's senior pictures. They keep upping the discount amount so I will wait a while until the discount is close to 40%. Then the rest will be applied to credit card payments.

I guess I need to go in and adjust the amount of withholding for this year. The second job is withholding hardly anything even though I am claiming single 2. I think I will have them withhold an additional $15 per check. That should cover it I think. I have an additional $10 withheld from my first job. I just don't want any surprises next year.

Yep...one of the other employees got a pretty substantial bonus. The only reason I know is as the accounting manager I cut the check. But no one else got a bonus. It really angered me yesterday to the point of tears. This particular employee has only been there since May, is late every day, leaves for 1 1/2 hour every day in addition to lunch to pick up dd at school and used all her sick days in the first 5 months she was there. I just don't understand it. We all worked hard to make the year a success and to single out one person seems so unfair. It would have been nice, but I will survive without it. The only thing I can't figure out is how to get DD's senior pictures. But I will figure it out.

Still waiting to see if we will get a bonus this year. At this point it wouldn't be a Christmas bonus but an end of the year bonus.

We had the office Christmas party last Friday. We all got Ipad Mini's. He left the receipt on them so that we can exchange it if we want. I am giving mine to my son for Christmas.

I hope that isn't all we are getting. We had the best year we have had since I have been here (7 years). I know I am probably sounding greedy or ungrateful but I am just hoping for more. I can live without it, I have my budget done for the next couple of months but it would be nice to pay off a credit card or two early.

I thought I was done with Christmas shopping but then I remembered my great-nephew. So I ordered something today to be shipped to him and now I am really done.

I am really hoping to get a bonus at work this year. I know my boss has been looking at things and I am just waiting to hear from him. Keep your fingers crossed.

I couldn't believe it when I drove by the gas station this morning. I hope it stays that low since I don't get paid until Thursday.

The paycheck stub from my second job posted yesterday(although we don't get paid until Thursday). It is for $50 more than I estimated. That is good because I went to the store and spent $30 yesterday. Was only going in for one thing! But I needed the rest of it for my breakfast/lunches at work. So I don't feel bad about spending it.

Other than Satellite internet, there are only 2 providers in the small town I live in. I have been with one for 5 years. I tried to get them to reduce their rates. I tried to cancel my landline phone but would end up paying just as much because the internet price went up. So I switched to the other company. They came on Wednesday and hooked it up. It is only $19.99 per month. I am saving $60 per month. I am super excited.

Today is pay day and as usual, everything is already set up and allocated to where it needs to go. Unless the girl I work with pays me the $25 she owes me, I have $15 to get me through to Wednesday. I have a full tank of gas and just bought milk last night. So I should be good. I know I will need to buy more OJ for work since I am eating breakfast here instead of eating out. I can't tell you the last time I ate out for breakfast, or lunch for that matter(that I paid for). My boss has taken us out a couple of times but I didn't pay for that. I feel like I am saving a ton of money.

With the income from my second job I have been able to pay off 2 credit cards this month! And pay cash for most of Christmas(I had to charge DD present but have already worked it into the budget to have it paid by the end of December).

I am just about done with Christmas shopping...only have one more person to buy for and the white elephant gift for our family Christmas. It has been a long time since I have had Christmas done so early. It feels really good.

Tomorrow I get paid from my second job. Of course I already have it figured out where every dollar is going. I have $50 of going to emergency fund. I am excited to see this account growing. Then I am making a a few credit card payments(minimums on these as I pay additional on one until it is paid) and a car payment.Plus we are going to the grocery store. Sounds like alot but I also got a child support payment today.

I have my budget set through January and I will have 4 credit cards paid off by the end of January. I am excited and can't wait but I also don't want time to go too fast as this is my daughters senior year and she will probably be moving out at the end of the school year.

I decided to give Mint.com a try to work up a budget, since I am not really able to come up with the reports I want in Quicken. I have to say I was mildly disappointed. You can only enter credit cards that they have available. There is no option to manually enter them. So using this would not give me the big picture budget that I am looking for. Dave Ramsey's sight has one, but it is 9.99 a month. I just can't see paying that. Any one have any other sites they use?

I get my first paycheck from my second job tomorrow. They have it set up so I can go in the Sunday before and see how much the check is going to be for. This check is $140 more than I thought it was going to be for. I over-estimated the taxes to be with held. So I am transferring $50 to my savings account that has only $4 in it and starting my emergency fund. I also set it up to have $50 deposited each week in that savings account. I am excited about this. I will finally have enough money each month to start this fund and still be able to function.

I am alive and well. I have recently started a second job so I don't have much free time to be on the computer and I have been swamped at my day job. I am working 5AM to 9AM at a local retail store and 9AM to 5PM at my day job. I am exhausted by the time I get home!! But I made some financial mistakes that make this necessary right now. Then if I can continue I will get some more debt paid off.

I have decided to do the Dave Ramsey method and am excited to get started. I will try to keep you updated as to how it goes.

DS has decided to move in with his father, who is a functioning alcholic. I am concerned that my son will start to drink too much. But financially he is very responsible.

DD is working and making a car payment to her grandma. We pass in the night most of the time since I am usually in bed when she gets home. She is senior this year and the expenses are killing me.

That is about all going on in my life. I will try to be better about updating.

Hi everyone! I am sorry I haven't posted in a while. I made some really bad financial choices and have been embarrassed to admit them. But I am digging myself out one month at a time and if I can just hold on until October I think I will be back to where I was.

I was recently diagnosed as diabetic. It is in my family and since I am overweight it is not really a shock. I am trying to manage it through diet and exercise right now. I go to the doctor on Thursday and will probably have to go on a prescription. The diagnosis has increased my grocery budget. Eating right is not cheap. DD has really stepped up to help motivate me to get it under control.

Well...that is about all going on with me. I hope you have been well. I have missed you all.

I haven't posted in a while but wanted to let you know that I am alive and well. My car broke down the beginning of February and I chose to replace it instead of putting more money into it. So now I have a car payment. YUCK! But since then I have been making very poor financial decisions. I am trying to correct the stupid mistakes but it will take some time. I still managed to get the title loan and most of the medical bills paid off with my tax return.

My DD finally found a job so that means that not only do I not have to give her money each week but she will be giving me money each week for her car insurance! That works out great! DS has started paying more toward his car insurance so that is a plus as well. I applied for a job at the Walmart that will be opening in my town. I sure hope they call me. I could use the extra money and since DD started working I am doing nothing in the evenings anyway. Keep your fingers crossed.

That is about it for now. Will try to post more often...just gotta get out of this funk I am in.

Well...I did my taxes last night and efiled them. The state and the federal have both been accepted. Now it is just a matter of waiting for the direct deposit.

I am getting enough back to pay off the title loan and most of the medical bills I have. There will still be one medical bill open but I haven't even received a bill for it from the doctor yet. I am going to try to get the hospital to give me a discount for paying in full and bring that down so that I can get it paid off. I just can't wait to get this stuff paid off!

There was one lab work bill that was not a preferred provider for my insurance and they rejected what the insurance said was a fair amount, leaving me to pay $294. So I called the insurance company and they sent me a check for $259, the rest being my copay. Then I called the lab office and asked for a discount and they gave me a 20% discount. So the total I have to pay is $234. I ended up making money on this deal! Always ask for a discount. All they can do is say no.