North Georgia Gal's Financial Awakening

I really wanted to stop for Cini Minis this morning. I had to keep asking myself why I am choosing to stay overweight. That did it. I was able to beat the craving and come straight to work. I am eating my bagel w/ cream cheese now. Today is day 3 of my new diet and all goes well so far.

Yesterday was kind of a spendy day. I went to ingles in the morning to get items for work. They have their bottled water on sale so I got to cases of it. I ended up spending about $20 there. When I went to make lunch I realised I didn't have any grape jelly so I had to go back to the grocery store. Went ahead and got more cream cheese since it is running low.

School started today for my kids. I had to get school supplies last night. Spent about $8 but that isn't finished yet. They will come home tonight to tell me what other things they need. Joy.

To not be fat anymore. I had a very powerful session with my therapist and discovered that every time I binge eat I am making a choice to continue to be overweight. I came out of the meeting with a new found resolve to lose weight. I started drinking water like I should yesterday. I went to the store last night and stocked up on healthy foods. I walked on the treadmill last night for 10 minutes. Hope to build that up. I joined a site called SparkPeople. I have used it before and it is a great weight loss tool. Best of all it is free!

I had $100 to spend at the grocery store and came in just under that at $98.60. However, I had to go to the store this morning to get things to keep at work for breakfast and lunch. Spent $28 this morning. Will have to rework the budget...again.

Forgot to post my positive for the day:

I am strong enough to stick to this diet and lose the weight I need to lose.

I have already spent $41.07 and it is only noon! I had a dr appointment and the copay was $40. Then I stopped at McDonalds and got a large drink for $1.07. I plan to go to the grocery store tonight so my spending for the day isn't done.

Positive Thought for the Day:

I consistently go out of my way to help my friends whenever they need help.

I just reworked my budget for the next few weeks. I gave myself more money each week for necessities and spending money. I hope it all works out like it is planned...

Taking a tip from Tar Walker and posting something positive about myself or my situation each day. Today's positive:

I am able to create and live within a budget for the benefit of myself and my family.

I leant my car to my son and his friends to go to a concert in Atlanta yesterday. It has a full tank of gas when they left. When I got in the car this morning it was sitting in empty! So I had to get gas on the way to work this morning. $51. This kind of depleted my gas allowance, so DS is going to have to give me some money toward the gas they used.

Even without a car yesterday, I managed to find a way to spend money. We ordered a pizza for dinner. DD had one of her friends over and there really wasn't much to cook in the house. Mother Hubbards Cabinets are bare!!

I budgeted $50 this week for spending money. It turns out that that is not enough for a week...heck, even for the weekend. By the time I purchased cat food, dog food, milk and other necessities(I got a receipt for each purchase but still can't believe how it all added up so quickly) the money is gone! I guess that $50 is not a realistic number. Perhaps I need to budget for household expenses and spending money seperately. Not sure how to do that since I am so strapped anyway. I did submit the advanced earned income credit form to the payroll department so hopefully that should add some money to my check. How much remains to be seen.

I faxed in the automatic debit form to Sallie Mae yesterday. Hopefully they will process it shortly. It will bring my account current and stop all collection activities. As long as I make a couple of payments than I can cancel it. I will hopefully be back in school by then and the loans will go into forebearance. Since I don't know when the first payment will be deducted, I asked my mom for the $240 to cover it. She said that was fine.

We did a fundraiser this morning for cheerleading. We "stood on the corner and begged for money". Were were there about 3 hours and made $262 or $52 per cheerleader. Not bad. Could have stayed longer but it was so dang hot! Next time we will plan it for the fall when we can stay longer. With this money though and the money from my sisters, the amount due on August 15 is covered.

Today is payday! I barely made it! I already have the checks to my parents made out and have already transferred the money back to my son. The property tax payment is set up for Tuesday, when I receive my child support payment. My budget is looking pretty good for the next few weeks. Of course nothing is set in stone. The only shortages I have is the Sallie Mae payments. I have to find a way to work that into my budget. I might have to hold off on the property tax payments for a month or so.

We are doing a collection drive fundraiser tomorrow for cheer. It is going to be HOT! I get ill when I get hot so the other parents should be nice to me! LOL!!

A long time ago, in far far away...oh wait, that is a different story that involves an orge and ends with happily ever after.

My story is quite different. When I became pregnant with my son many years ago, I needed to be enrolled in school to still be covered on my parents insurance. I went to a school that preys on the financially uneducated, as I was. They not only charged a HUGE amount of money to come out with a certificate, not even a degree, but they also talked me into taking out plus loans. So I owe over $30k in student loans.

Fast forward to today...Although I have been living in a budget and getting stuff paid on time, I have not been able to work my student loans into my payment plan. I received a call yesterday that they could go into default anyday. This is bad. Real Bad. That means that they will keep any tax refund that I get for many years to come. I had sent in a form for income based repayment, but I was told last night that I am too far behind for that to be processed. I plan on going back to school, hopefully in August(which is another long story!) so the loans will be brought current and go into forebearance. But this might not be soon enough. I called today to request an auto debit enrollment form. This will bring the account current. I just have to figure out how to work it into my shoestring budget for the next couple of months.

I just couldn't take Ginger to be put to sleep. I kept looking at her last night and thinking how sad it would be. I just couldn't do it. XH is now trying to see if he can come up with the money to take her to vet and then he will take her. She did much better at that house...I think she might be allergic to the type of grass as well as fleas. I am concerned because I know he doesn't have any more money than I do(probably less actually). He is renting my old house from me so I am concerned it will affect the rent payment, which I can't afford.

I have a question about having a rental home though...those of you with rentals, can you help me out? Do I need a seperate checking account for the rental properties? I am not making any income on it over the mortgage and homeowners insurance. What kind of records do I need to be keeping? I have never had a rental so I am not sure. It seems to me that my parents had a seperate checking account for their rentals. Also, how is this going to affect my taxes. Will I have to show the rent as income? What about the expenses? Will I be able to deduct them?

I have made a decision. I am going to have our small dog put to sleep. This has not been an easy decision. She is miserable though. She can't stop itching. She has rubbed the hair competely off her tail and rear end. I don't have the money to take her to the vet once a month for the shot that clears it up. I will probably be very emotional tomorrow, when I take her. She is 11 years old and all of it has been with us. I don't know if what I am doing is the right thing, but it is the right thing for us financially. I can't continue to let her suffer and I can't afford to get her what she needs. We don't have any no kill shelters around here. It'll cost me $25 to have her put down.

Please no negative posts...I already feel like a completely irresponsible pet owner.

I have had a very quiet day today. Went and visited my parents for a while. Actually cooked dinner. Spaghetti and garlic bread. Nothing fancy. Had to buy catfood and dr pepper this evening. Didn't get anything done in my room. Really need to get motivated to do some work in there. Still have boxes in there that I haven't unpacked. I have $38 dollars left for gas this week. I think I may barely squeak by.

When I went to Calhoun to get my daughter, I went in Goody's to kill some time. I found two shirts on clearance for 9.99 each. I didn't need to spend the money, but I really need new shirts for work. Since I have gained so much weight, hardly any of my shirts fit anymore. I am surprised they haven't said something at work about the shirts I have been wearing. I also found some earrings on clearance for $3 each. I got two pair. I took some money from my savings account to pay for them. I have already arranged a transfer for Friday to pay myself back. Just one more reason why I need to lose some weight. Okay alot of weight.

I am so glad! Don't think I could come in here another day this week!

I stopped at the bank this morning to get my cash for the next week. I don't think I am going to have enough gas money, with the extra driving I am going to have to do. I will fill up in Calhoun again tonight, since the gas there is 15 cents cheaper per gallon. I had $27 extra last week, but I didn't do as much driving and I started with more in the gas fund. HOpefully there will be enough to get me through until next Friday.

I also am not sure about the spending money. I only $25 to get me through until friday. I know we need milk, but I don't know of anything else we will need. But things always pop up. So wish me luck.

I think that I may have broken the addiction because it hasn't even been hard the last two days to not stop to get cini-mini's.

I filled up the gas tank yesterday for $35. I still have $27 left in my gas allowance for the week. This will go toward spending money for next week, as I am short. Ideally, I would put the money into savings but I am not to that point yet. I need every penny to make my budget work.

Question: Once I pay off the property taxes, do I continue to pay off credit cards or should I build my emergency fund instead? I have been thinking about this alot lately. Not sure what the smartest thing to do is. What do you think?

I just figured up for the month of July how much I am putting toward debt repayment. $451.49!! That is amazing! I knew I was making $100 extra from each paycheck but I had no idea the total would be so high!No wonder I am broke!!!

I am feeling somewhat better about myself today. I didn't stop for breakfast and it really wasn't even a battle not to. It is like I was on autopilot to the office. I did stop and get a drink though.

I think I have lost some weight. I have this one pair of jeans that when I wash them I have to lay down on the bed to get them fastened, but then they fit okay(not tight because of the stretchy waist band). But this morning, I pulled them out of the clean clothes basket and put them on and I didn't have to lay down! They fastened right up. I am hoping that means I have lost some weight. I will weight myself tonight to see.

I had to borrow money from my gas money to get cat food and litter last night. But my XH gave me the remaining $50 toward his rent so I was able to deposit $30 and put the $20 back into the gas envelope. It is Wednesday and I have 1/2 tank and $62 left in my gas fund. I will probably have some left over. I don't get any more spending money until Friday though. That will be rough.

My son said he would go see dispicable me with me. So we will go see that one night this weekend. My son is almost 18 and never does anything with me! So I am excited about going to the movies with him.

I am in a delf hating mood today. I stopped and got breakfast, even though I have bagels and cream cheese here. How sad is it that the lady at Burger King noticed that I had my hair cut?? That should be a clue that I go there too often!! I don't get to transfer any money since I stopped for breakfast. *sigh* Now I am felling sick.

Today is my "late day" at work. I come in later and work later. Good thing. The kids had eye appointments this morning. I had to stop to get my hair fixed(was uneven) and I had to pick up DS computer from the repair shop. I forgot to go to the bank to close the joint checking account.Will have to do that on my lunch sometime. Might have to take my lunch time today and go pick up DS and DD and bring them to Ellijay, DS for school and DD for cheer. It depends on whether my parents get back from Atlanta in time to bring them or not. I won't know until later.

I managed to use all of my spending money last night. I scoured the Kroger in Calhoun for Krispy Kreme donuts and then bought a dozen. Ate a few and then felt guily for eating them and gave them away. Really wish I could get this eating under control. I used to be very critical of people who said they couldn't control something they did...you are supposed to just suck it up and do it/change it...know I seem to understand them a whole lot better.

I filled up my gas tank in Calhoun...gas there is 15 cents cheaper than here. So I should be set on that for a couple of days. I still have $87 in my gas budget for the week. Doubt I will use that much before Friday. Might have to fill up one more time.

Oh yeah...I almost forgot. I made the final payment on the chadwicks card today. It is now paid in full!! At least there is something good today.

Can't believe it is Monday already. The weekend always goes so fast! I was lazy most of the weekend. Didn't get much done at all. But that is okay. I did make dinner last night, so at least something was accomplished.

I came into work this morning, bright and early and realized that I forgot to prepare a folder for my boss's meeting today. He was already here gathering things to take with him. It sucks because my job already is kind of on the borderline. I have been making too many mistakes lately. I really need to get my head back into the game! I am allowing my personal finances to consume me and it is affecting my work output.

I only smoked one cigarette over the weekend. I am trying to only smoke while I am at work. Should be a fairly simple task for me. Then I hope to quit altogether.

Financially, nothing really new to report. I stopped and got my soda this morning. I also broke down and got one order of Cini-mini's. That is better than the two I usually get. But tomorrow I will be back on the bagel with cream cheese.

The weekend has been really quite. Not much going on. I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up a few things. Only spent $30. That is good for me. And it was all stuff that we needed.

Today is a NSD. My daughter tried to get me to buy her some ice cream, but I refused. I have already overspent for the week and don't want to spend anymore.

I actually cooked dinner tonight. I don't get to do that many nights. And I did my laundry today. Ready to start the week.

Okay, so I budget $75 per week for spending money. This week I have gone over already. My best friend asked us to go see Twilight with her, her treat. But unfortunately, we got there too late for the 7 movie and had to wait until the 9:45 movie. Since there is an adult version of Chuckie Cheese attached to the mvoice theater, we killed two hours there. My friend paid for the time spent there. The only expenses I had was for dinner and one movie ticket(for my daughters friend). I had $$65 when I started and now I have $25. I am not sure where it all went. I don't know about this cash thing. Seems I spend money even faster.

I got a haircut today and DD and I had our lips waxed. Total Spent $50. Seems like alot, but considering I only get a haircut like every 3-4 months, it isn't that bad. Just seems to come at the wrong time! So right not I am $30 over on my spending money. I haven't touched the spending money for next week yet. Since I get paid every other Friday, I have broken the spending money and gas money down to how much per week. Hopefully XH will have the remaining $50 he owes me soon. That would sure come in handy right now! We were going to see Dispciable Me today, but since I spent so much last night, I don't have the money to do it. I am still in shock about how much I spent when I didn't have to pay for anything but one ticket. I must learn to do better.

Today is the second day that I didn't stop for breakfast. I stopped and got a dr pepper, but no food. Will go fix my bagel shortly. I transferred $5.24 into my savings account for yesterday and today. That is how much I would have spent. I also am out of cigarettes. Let's just say I am flipping out.

Today is payday. I already have everything set up through bill pay or transfers. Kind of a let down to not have to do anything. I started out with $1100 in my account this morning. After everything is said and done, I have about $100 in the account. Kind of depressing!

Guess I will go make my bagel, that I don't really want!

We were out of milk and since I have frozen my debit card, I had to go to the grocery store where I can write a check. There were several temptations that I resisted while there. First temptation...I was tempted by the krispy kreme donuts. I stood there pondering for a few minutes but in the end walked away. Second temptation...I got to the checkout counter with the four items I had come for(shredded cheese, milk, grape jelly and cookie dough). Okay I didn't need the cookie dough, but considereing I was starving and that was all I purchased, I think I did pretty well. Third temptation...Food Lion processes checks now electronically. I wrote out my check and then you have to puch buttons as if it were a debit card purchase. One of the options was cash back. I paused for a couple of seconds but in the end, I selected none. So I am very proud of myself!

My plan worked! I didn't stop this morning for my usual cini-mini's because I didn't have enough cash. I did stop and get a drink, but I had just enough cash to pay for it! I am glad that I froze the card though, because I would have grabbed it on my way out the door to "buy cigarettes". I put that in quotations because if I had taken the card for the excuse of buying cigarettes, I probably would have gone to BK too. Added bonus to freezing the card is that I only have 2 cigarettes to last me until Friday. Shouldn't be a problem, since I only smoke at work. I'm off to make my bagel and cream cheese!

Okay. Since I can't keep myself from going to BK for my Cini-mini fix, I have come up with an idea. I took both of my debit cards, filled up a ziploc bag with water, put the cards in and put it in the freezer. I have about $3 to last until Friday. I filled up my gas tank. Stopped and got cat food and dog food. I should be good until Friday. Then I am going to a cash basis. Complete with envelopes. I am going to beat this thing.

Not too long ago when I was afraid to answer the phone. I remember being in tears asking my parents for my mortgage payment because they were going to foreclose if I didn't get them some money. I remember spending money with no regard to what needed to be paid. I remember keeping my power on by the seat of my pants. I remember making so little money that I used credit cards to maintain my lifestyle.

I remember all of these things because they are in the past. My life is totally different now. I still make financial mistakes, but they are few and far between. I consciencly make decisions that affect my finances. I am so glad that I can answer the phone now without fear that it is a debt collector. We still go and have fun, but in a more responsible way. I have a plan for paying off my debt, instead of just making the minimum payments on each card. I can't wait to get my debt paid off! I will have so much more money to start building my EF, which right now is non-existent.

Big Sister #1 is sending me $200 to go toward cheer. Instaed of putting it in my account yesterday, she set it up through her bill pay, which means I will get an actual check toward the end of the week. This caused me to have a negative amount in my checking account. Big Sister #2 put $100 into our joint checking account yesterday to go toward cheer. This cured my negative and gave me enough for gas for the week. I am very fortunate that my sisters help with my children's activities. I don't think, no I know, I couldn't do it without their help!

I was able to get gas for $2.46/gallon in Calhoun. That is .15 cheaper than it is here in Blue Ridge. I saved $2 on gas!!

I am not doing so well on my eating. I just am not strong enough. I decided today that I would just get a soda to drink while I ate my bagel. That didn't go over so well. When I got there, I of course asked if they had any cini-minis left since it was after breakfast time. Of Course they did! Lesson learned: Can not even just plan to get a soda. Need to bring a 12 pack to keep at work or go to McDonalds, where any size drink is $1.00. I have to avoid Burger King at all costs.

The follow up flea treatment is being done today. There has been a great improvement in the fleas. My littlest dog has a skin condition though. I can't afford to take care of her like she should be taken care of, like going to the vet on a regular basis. She has scratched all the hair off her back and tail. My son says that we should give her up because we can't take care of her and that she is miserable. I agree, if we could find a home for her, but right now giving her up means that she will probably be put to sleep. I am torn and not sure what to do. What would you do? I really need some advice here. We have had her for almost 11 years. My emotions tell me that it would be cruel to seperate her from all she has ever known. But I do believe that she is probably miserable. She looks horrible. I just don't know what to do.

To Chadwicks! I will be paying $126.41 on the 20th of June and that card will be paid off! I am so excited! My goal is to pay $100 per paycheck toward my debt...but I am paying more than that. I have all the regular payments that I wasn't including in my debt payoff, but probably should. I am making minimum payments on credit cards and I have one medical bill that I am making monthly payments on. So this week(Friday) I will be paying a total of $206.41 toward my debt(not including what I will be paying back to my son). No wonder I am broke! Can't wait to get rid of all these payments! $200 a paycheck would make a huge difference in my life right now!

I have learned that as long as I am sticking to my budget, things always work out somehow. I was low on funds, as most of you know, and had to borrow money from my son. WELLLLL...my sister called me last night and told me that she is going to put $200 into my account today to help with DD cheerleading costs. I already have those costs worked into my budget for Friday so I can use that money now to pay my son back and for gas for the week! It is pretty amazing to me how things seem to fall into place since I have been sticking to a real budget.

I am going to go with the envelope method on Friday when I get paid. Although I am nervous about carrying that much cash around, I am going to see how it works for me. I am going to put $75 into my Spending envelope(for one week) and $250 into my gas envelope(for two weeks). I will let you know how well it works.

I stopped on the way to work this morning and got bagels and cream cheese. I am going to start eating that for breakfast. Unfortunately, the BK is in the parking lot of the ingles and I gave in this morning. Hopefully I won't cave the rest of the week since I don't have to go by there anymore. I am going to try to put $5.24 into my savings account each day, which is the amount I spend on Cini-mins. That way I can really see the amount of money I am spending! Wish me luck!

I took my daughter and her 2 friends out to Mexican last night. I knew that the money in my account was allotted to other things, but I did it anyway. Now I am going to have to borrow money from my son. Why do I do that? I tell myself that it is an important day(birthday). I usually hate myself for doing it, but I am helpless to stop myself from doing it. What is wrong with me? I throw my whole budget out of whack by doing stupid things like that. I figured up my cini-mini addiction. I spend $100 per month on these things. That is outrageous! That is my cable bill. I really need to break that addiction. My therapist and I are working on that. But that doesn't help me feel any better right now.

Yesterday I spent $5.24 for breakfast and $43 to fill up my gas tank. I have already allotted for the gas so it didn't change my budget much. I also spent $36 at Walmart for shorts for DS and socks for me and DD. I need to find an alternative to getting breakfast. It is like I am addicted to Cini-mini's from Burger King. I have had them every work morning for over two months. I truly think it is an addiction. I can't break it. I know I shouldn't be eating them, financially and health wise. But I can't help myself. I have never found myself so addicted to something. Even Cigarettes...I can take or leave them. I don't smoke at home only at work.But I can't break this hold over me. Send strength my way...

I am thinking about joining netflix. I tried the blockbuster version several years ago and I didn't find it appealing. I wouldn't watch the movies(not a big movie watcher) and would end up keeping them forever. It definately wasn't a good thing for us. But Netflix now has where you can stream movies and tv shows through the Wii. I think we might use this more. It is onlu $9 per month for unlimited streaming. I think it is worth a shot. The first month is free and we can always cancel if we don't use it.

Finally got the invoice prepared that my boss wanted to go out last week. I have sent it to him for approval. Hopefully he will approve today and I can get it mailed out. I also need to mail statements today. They usually go out on the first, but I haven't had a chance to get to them yet this month.