North Georgia Gal's Financial Awakening

So...the title loan place called me today to let me know that I could borrow an addition $1900 if I needed it. I politely declined while thinking to myself "you will be paid off soon...why would I add to it?"

Sent email to EX-H about child support. He wants me to drop the case with the state and just let him send me the check each week...apparently it will save him some money from the payroll company. I told him I didn't feel comfortable doing that. That I couldn't trust that he would put the child support above his other debts. I haven't heard from him yet but I imagine I will get a pretty hateful email or phone call. I am standing up for myself instead of letting him walk all over me. He can't bully me into doing anything anymore. I am afraid that he will threaten to drop the kids off his insurance if I don't do it. That would be cutting off his nose to spite his face. Since any plan I could get would be more expensive and he has to pay half of it, he would end up spending more money that he does right now. Hope it doesn't go that far though. Enough rambling...sorry.

Still haven't received all of my tax documents yet. This is the latest I have ever received them. Really can't wait to file and get some of these debts paid off!

So Payday is tomorrow. I already have everything set up in my bill pay. So it is kind of a let down. But I can't wait to see the lower balances in my Quicken sidebar. The anticipation is awful! I am paying $300 in medical bills this payday. Just think when I get all of that paid off...it will be a glorious day! It will be like getting a raise!

To give you an idea of how far I have to go...I have $2823 in medical expenses to pay off. After this week it will be $2573($50 of the $300 is for current bills that I didn't bother to enter into Quicken as an account since I paid them in full). I hope to pay as much as possible per month to get this debt taken care of.

DS got paid today so he gave me his portion of the car payment and insurance so I went ahead and paid the credit card for the amount I had to charge this week to make it to today. At least I am able to pay it back right away and not carry a balance...anymore than what was already there anyway.

Today was a NSD. It helps when you don't leave the house. DD and I had gotten on a kick of getting BK for breakfast on the weekends. But lately we haven't been doing that. Go Us!

Ordered some make up tonight from Mary Kay. They have the only foundation I like. Going to start with just a little foundation to cover the brown aging spots, some mascara and some lipstick. Then I might add in some eye shadow eventually. I will get the mascara from CVS where it is cheaper. Probably should have waited but once I get an idea in my head I go with it. There was enough left over in my checking account to pay for it.

Dish network came out today to investigate why my local channels keep going out. He found a loose wire on the outside of my house. Visit cost me the $7 maintanance plan and a $15 visit fee. I signed up for the plan for 4 months because without it the visit was $95. Even after paying for the plan I still come out ahead.

Other than that it has been a quite Saturday. What have you been up to?

It has become a thing in the office for the 4 of us to go out to lunch on Friday. I went last Friday. But today I said no. When this one particular person asked me why, I told her that I only had $18 in my fast food budget until next Friday. Deer in headlights. You would have thought I had two heads. I had to explain that I had money for groceries and gas but that I was trying real hard to stay within my budget. She is lucky that her budget is never really reached. She can pretty much spend what she wants, she just never really spends that much by nature. And yet she still complains about having to go to the ER(and paying that bill) when she was having chest pains! I just don't understand her.

Anyway, I was proud of myself for resisting and eating the lunch I brought.

I went to credit karma last night to get my credit score. Last time I checked it was in the 450 range. But last night it was up to 619. The only thing I can figure is that the debt to income ratio is back in line again since I don't have the loan for the house anymore. I have paid my bills on time for the last few years and was wondering why my score wasn't getting any better. Now I think I have figured it out.

At least one good thing came from the foreclosure!

I went to the tax site Looking Forward recommended and put all my information in. Somewhere along the way I entered something wrong and it showed a refund of $3700. Now I know this isn't right, but it sure is fun to think about what I would do with that much money!

I have to look at this site closer because they have me getting $500 less back than turbotax does. Not sure why, but I will figure it out! LOL.

It hit me as I was entering everything into TurboTax that I won't get the $1000 child tax credit next year since DD will be 17 and I won't have any rental income/expenses to write off. So I went in and changed my deductions from 5 to 3. Plus I have an extra $10 withheld out of each check. I also changed the state to 3 dependents with an additional $10 withheld out of each check. My state tax refund seems to get smaller and smaller each year so I am constantly afraid that I am going to owe something. We will see what it does to my check.

Our outside temperature last night got down to -1. It is the coldest I ever remember it being in Georgia and I have lived here my whole life. BRRRRRR!!! But when I got up this morning, I went to turn the thermostat up to take the chill off a little more and it was 59 degrees in the house! And the heat was running. So after a phone call to my mom, I turned on the emergency heat. It didn't help any. I left to get my license renewed and it went down 2 degrees. I called my mom again and she thought that maybe the heat just couldn't keep up with how cold it was. So I turned the heat back to normal and waited. About 5:00 it finally got back up to 68 in the house! I am so glad I called my mom and didn't immediately overreact and call the HVAC company! Now I know what to expect if it gets this cold here again. I will know that I need to buy a space heater before the next cold snap!

The expenses have been submitted to the insurance and I have a pretty good idea of what I will owe. Including the co-pays for visits before the surgery, my total oop is 1543.08. Not too bad for a full hysterectomy and repair of several small hernias.

I have a credit at one doctor that is sending me a check. When I receive that I will send it to the other doctor. Then when I receive the bill from the hospital I will set them up on payments. They are about $1000 of the total oop.

I joined a gym about a year ago. I used it pretty regularly until the pain from the endometriosis got too bad. I thought we were coming up to the end of the term and I was going to cancel. I pulled the contract out and looked at it and I signed a 24 month agreement. What the hell was I thinking?

I am going to see if my doctor will write me a letter stating that I can't work out anymore due to the hernia that has popped back out. I surely don't want to go through another surgery. Wish me luck.

I am looking pretty good through the month of February right now. Of course things might change. But I can handle it.

I went into TurboTax and entered all my tax information. It says I am getting $1555 back federal and $103 back state. Of course these numbers might change once I actually get the documents to file. But whatever I get I am going to put toward the title loan. I should have it paid off by July. I can't wait! And I will have the hospital bill paid off by May. That is an extra $563 a month! I can't wait to see how much smoother my life goes once I pay off some of this debt.

I called the hospital today to see if they would make a settlement agreement for the balance that is owed. I figured that I have paid $3000 and only have another $800 to go so they should work with me. I was told that since the insurance made an adjustment that the amount wasn't eligible for a discount. That doesn't make any sense. If I didn't pay it and it went to a collection agency, they would make a settlement. UGGHHHH!! The troubles of trying to do the right thing!

My mom recently came into a large sum of money. She is giving each of the kids in the family a lump sum of that money. For me that means she is buying me new tires! She is also buying DS new tires. He is in desperate need. Last time I saw them, they looked smoother than a nascar tire!

EX DH has been saying for months that he would buy DS new tires, but it never happened. Now that Grandma has stepped up,he is suddenly willing to buy tires...with a catch. He is going to pay her back for 1/2 of the tires and wants me to pay the other 1/2. He didn't discuss this with me just assumed that is the way it would be. UGGHHHH!!! I hate it when other people try to tell me how to spend my money! I will probably pay my mom back just because it is the right thing to do and then DS can use his money for something else. It just irks me that Ex DH thinks I have all this money sitting around because he pays child support. (DS is almost 21 and I don't receive support for him anymore).

Okay...enough of a rant. Thanks for reading.

I got a call last week from a collection agency about a bill for DD. After some investigation, I figured out that it is for her physical therapy. Even though I paid a copay while there, the insurance still put some of it toward the deductible. I called today to pay the bill and asked them for discount in order to get this taken care of by the end of the year. She said they could do the 20% discount. I asked if that was the best they could do. She went and asked her supervisor and I was given an additional 10%. So a $445 bill became $311. I was going to try to get them to $300 so I am happy with that number. And the bill is paid.

I read an article in Readers Digest about dealing with debt collectors and asking for discounts. Sure glad I saw that!

Well...we got our bonuses. Well sort of. They will be direct deposited on Monday. But I have access to see how much they will be after taxes.. I knew bonuses were taxed at a higher rate but this is ridiculous! After taxes I will get $1200. $800 in taxes! Are you kidding me? So much for my plans.

So this is my new plan...

New Tires
Brakes for DD
Rest going to title loan paydown

Today is my first day back at work since the surgery. I am having some issues though and the surgeon is out of the office until next week! I guess I will muddle through it. Hopefully it doesn't mean another surgery.

My boss told me today that he is going to give everyone a bonus this year. Mine will be 2K. I have had fun all morning figuring out what to do with mine. I think I have a plan...pay off DD hospital bill I pay $200/month on, $812.16. Pay off DD bill for MRI that I pay $50/month for, $356.23, and Pay off my credit card that I pay $50/month on, $636.74. This should leave me about $200 left over for the medical bills for my surgery that will start rolling in. It should leave me in pretty good shape. DARN...just remembered that I need new tires as well! Will have to play with the numbers a bit more!

And I am recooperating well. My mom has been coming over during the day to take care of me so that I don't have to get up to do stuff. I am getting up and walking more and more. The only time I get tired is when I am getting out of the shower. I don't know if I get too hot or too tired. Either way, it doesn't last long. I go back to the doctor on Monday. I started out sleeping on the chair because I could get myself up easier. But the last couple of nights I have actually slept in my bed. It was great! I am weaning myself off of the pain pills and trying to survive during the day on only ibuprofen.

Finances are still on autopilot. Everything is already set up for this Friday, with the exception of my car tags and car payment. Will have DD drop them off after school on Friday. DD has been taking care of me in the evenings and has been doing all of the housework. She has really been doing well. But I am excited that she can start looking for a job now that I am healing.

I have been super busy getting ready for my surgery on Monday so I haven't had much time for anything! We got paid today and everything is already been paid so I don't have to do anything. I like it like that!

Had my preop appt yesterday. I had to my the doctor $342. That takes me to the deductible of $300. Then all I will be responsible for is 10% of the hospital bill, up to $1700, which is my max out of pocket.

I thought I had so much to do at work that I might have to come in on Friday, which is a holiday for us. But I have really buckled down and got it all done. Just a couple more things to get ready and I will be able to leave early today! What a relief!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I won't post for a while due to the surgery but I will be back as soon as I can!

I have used the tax calculator at IRS.gov and the one at turbo tax. The irs shows an estimated refund of $1200. Turbo Tax shows an estimated refund of $800. So I figure somewhere in between. I no longer qualify for the EIC since I only have one child...well I just might squeeze in under the limit for a credit of $7.

My surgery is a little over a week away and I am starting to get nervous. Still have plenty to do around the house and at work to prepare.

I am feeling pretty sorry for myself today. I took a look at my sidebar and realized that out of the 5 goals I had for 2013, only one of them happened. And that involved spending money, not saving it. I just don't feel like I am in a good place financially. My car is a 2002 model with over 200k miles on it. It probably won't last another 2 years and I don't know how I will replace it.

I made a very stupid financial decision about 2 years ago and took out a loan against the title of said car. Well, over the last two years I have taken out more money and well...that loan is up to about 4k. At the time I didn't feel there was any other option. But if that option wasn't there I would have found another way I am sure. So know I am paying the price. I have vowed to not take any more out of it until it is paid off, about 18 more months. And if I get a tax return I am going to put that toward it. This is part of the reason I can't afford another car...can't do another payment.

My child support ends in two years and I don't know how I will survive without it. I know expenses are supposed to go down with the end of child support, but I don't see that happening. I just can't cut my kids off totally. It took DS until he now(age 20) to become self sufficient.

Sorry for the pity party. Just not feeling good about the decisions I have made and the choices that have gotten me where I am. I feel like I am making smart financial choices now but it is too little too late.

On Monday I send Ex-DH an email letting him know about DD's MRI today. I told him the cost and how much needed to be paid upfront. I asked him how he wanted to handle his half since we now are to split all unreimbursed medical expenses for DD. I didn't hear from him all week. Then late last night I got an email from him.(A little background...he pays for the health insurance through his work and I reimburse him for half of it each month.) So anyway...he told me to keep the money that I would have sent him to put toward the upfront amount. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. I was expecting some long drawn out email saying that he is already paying too much and that he didn't feel that he should have to pay that. It almost knocked me out of my chair.

On the financial front...today was payday and everything was already set up. Nothing to actually do. I like that everything is on auto pilot. It makes my life simpler.

So I went online this weekend to try to renew my license. I followed all the steps and was charged $14.99 for what I thought was the renewal. As I went through the steps I found out that I am not eligible for online renewal and the charge hadn't shown up on my credit card. Well it showed up today. Turns out what I purchased was a drivers license guide. This is a rip off! It doesn't tell you any information that you can't find on the DDS website! I can't believe people actually pay for this! So I promptly called and cancelled and they are refunding the money to my debit card. I just can't believe there are people out there dumb enough to fall for this but I guess there are since this company stays in business!

So we went down to Canton today(the closest shopping area, which is about 50 miles away) to do some shopping. We always eat lunch at Olive Garden when we head down that way...it never disappoints!

Anyway...We went to Rue 21 and I got DD 4 shirts and 2 pair of pants and DS 4 long sleeve plaid shirts. Then I used a coupon on my phone for $10 off for every thirty we spent. SWEET!!

Then we went to rackroom shoes. I am in desperate need of shoes. All I had was sandals and it is getting kind of cold for those here. So DD got a pair of boots and a pair of loafers. I got two pair of clogs. And the salesperson gave us a $10 off coupon. SCORE!!

Next we ventured to Kohls. I had several shirts to return that didn't fit. I exchanged them for 3 shirts and purse. I didn't have a good winter purse. I then used a 15% off coupon on my phone. Plus I got $2o in Kohl's cash that I will use on clearance items. LOVE IT!!

So without printing a single coupon today I managed to save quite a bit of money. Do you ever check online coupons before you head to a store? Now days you can just pull the coupon up on your phone and they can scan it in. Super Convenient.

I ended up spending more money than I planned but I think we got alot for the money we spent.

OH and if you are looking for a new laptop...Best Buy has a basic laptop available for $229 with free shipping. I asked my IT guy and he said this is a great deal. I bought one for each of the kids for Christmas and now I am done. That is all they are getting, besides maybe a few stocking stuffers, which are usually things like toothpaste, brushes, and other personal care items.

I have updates my sidebar with the total income from survey money last month. $169.08. Not too bad for a little bit of my time. I have already earned $70 this month. I also have earned $22 from ebates that was credited to my account last week.

I guess that is it. Sorry for the wordiness. I guess I should probably post more often then it wouldn't be so long.

I have a debit card with paypal that offers 1% cash back whenever you use it as a credit transaction. Since it is linked to my main checking account, I have started using it for alot of things. We(DD has an additional card on the account) spent $620 in eligible purchases last month so we earned $6.20 back. It is being deposited into my account tomorrow.

I have really slacked on the surveys here lately. Just can't find the time to do them and when I do find the time, I don't qualify for any of the surveys available. I really need to get back in the groove with them.

I had an eye exam yesterday morning and bought new glasses. I thought that insurance would cover them but apparently I didn't make it clear that I wanted a glasses exam not a contact exam. So now the insurance will pay up to $200 toward my contacts and I got a 20% discount on the glasses. But I had to scramble to come up with $263. It is amazing to me how when I need the money I can always shuffle something around to make it happen. My mom calls it robbing peter to pay paul. The upside is that my contact prescription in my left eye was not very good since I have astigmatisim. So I got a different kind of contact with a different prescription and I am seeing a whole lot better out of that eye. It is a huge difference!!

I have my budget planned through December. Things should be on auto pilot through my surgery.

I was pleasantly surprised my car tags this year. I have to renew them next month. I was expecting them to be around $500. But my car is $68, DS is $88(which he will pay for) and DD is $20. Apparently when we bought DD's car, we paid a higher ad volerum tax and we only have to pay $20 per year for as long as we own the car. But all told, the tags are $177. Alot better than $500!

The Dr called me this morning to let me know that there was a scheduling error with the operating room and it wasn't available for November 11. I could either go this coming Monday or December 2. I chose December 2 because there is no way I could prepare my work for me to be gone for 3 weeks in 2 days! Not happening! So now I will be in pain a little longer.

Went to the eye doctor this morning to get a prescriptions for new glasses. While I was taking my contact out I scratched my left eye. I have never done that before. It really hurts. And I couldn't do the exam! So I had to reschedule. Plus I can't put my contact back in so I am walking around half blind! HOpefully it will feel better by the time I head home so I can put my contact back in. My back up glasses are at home. In the meantime my eye is all red and puffy.

Happy Halloween to all of you!

Well today I worked on my budget through December. I wanted to have this done because I didn't know how groggy I will be through November after the surgery. I have set up all the payments to be made automatically on November 15th and 29th. And I have direct deposit. I will just need to log on to do a transfer each payday. I think even groggy I can handle that much without screwing it up.

Dr called yesterday about the pre-op appointment. It is scheduled for November 7...and by the way bring a payment of $342. I was able to come up with about half of it and asked my mom for the other half. I knew I was going to owe either the hospital or the dr but figured they would bill me after the surgery. Oh well...at least the dr is paid and I won't get a bill from him afterward.

Took DD to the ortho yesterday for her ankle. She hurt it again Sunday night. They took xrays and there is something that the dr didn't like. That and the fact that she keeps reinjuring it and it never really heals led the doctor to order an MRI. Great. They are calling to precert the test with the insurance and then will set up the appointment. She said they are usually around $600. But we have a $3k deductible so it could be any amount up to that I assume. Hopefully they will accept payments.

DS has started making payments on his car again since he is working good again. That is really a load off of my mind and really helps me out financially.

I dropped them off at the vet this morning to be spayed and nuetured and someone from the rescue group is going to pick them up. I never thought this day would come. I am going to miss them but I am relieved that they will be going to good homes. The organization is a 100% no kill group so I don't have to worry about that. Of course they had to be there at 7:30 this morning so I got to work at 7:45.(the vet is in the same town as where I work).

My weekend was a No Spend Weekend. Didn't even leave the house. I had had a headache since Thursday. I turned the heat off in the house and the headache went away. Probably not a good sign. We are going to change the filter and see if that helps. If not we will have to get the AC repair company out to inspect the furnace.

I am thinking of putting the trampoline on craigs list. My daughter has never really used it like I thought she would. Do you think $75 with them disassembling is reasonable?

DD sprained her ankle again last night. It instantly bruised up and became swollen. She had an appointment tomorrow with the ortho but I am going to try to get her in today. She is back on her crutches.

That is about all that is going on in my life today. Sorry for the wordiness!

So Petunia got me thinking about getting my prescriptions through our mail order program. I have never checked into it before. But I found that I can save $122 over 3 months. That is over $40 a month! The problem is coming up with the money for a 3 month supply of all my meds at once, about $330. So I paid an extra $100 to the credit card and put the expense on there. Then when I would normally pay for the prescriptions I will pay the credit card instead. The prescriptions portion of the charge card should be paid off within a couple of months and I will continue to pay the normal payments to the card plus any extra I can come up with.

I got an email this morning that I had a direct deposit into my PNC checking account today. When I looked it is the $200 rewards for opening an account. That was quick! I was told it could be up to December before I got it! Now if this one survey company would hurry up and credit me the .30 to make $50 so I can cash it out I would be one happy camper!

I get to work from home tomorrow and Friday morning! There is not going to be anyone in the office and my boss just told me that I could work from home. That is awesome!

Financially...things are looking good until the end of November. I haven't done my budget past then. I will be able to cut some things out of my budget while I am recovering from surgery, like gas and lunch money.

I got all of my hair cut off last night. It is now shoulder length, about 6 inches shorter. I also colored it. I think I may have left the color on too long but hopefully it will fade quickly.

It has been one month since I joined the two survey sites that I do.(well three but haven't received payment from one of them yet). I have made a total of $139.48. Plus I am on the verge of making another $50 as soon as the remaining 2.50 is verified, which should be any day. Not too bad for a little time spent while watching tv. $93.45 of that went straight to the credit card. Hopefully will be able to start putting the extra to the credit card again soon.

My surgery is scheduled for November 11. Now I just need to work out the logistics. I called the insurance and my out of pocket estimate is around $1500. The out of pocket maximum for my insurance is $1700. Yep I have pretty good insurance apparently. I am sure that whoever I owe the money too will work with me. Just another monthly payment.

Finances are on auto pilot. I am cutting it very close this week. Payday is Friday and I will be coasting in with about $4 left in my checking account. At least I am in the positive.

Funny start to my day(funny now, not at the time!) I drove the thirty minutes to work this morning and realized that I left my computer at home. So without even getting out of the car I started back home to get my computer. When I got home, the computer was not where I left it. I went and looked in the car and it was there! It was in my car the whole time!! I was so mad at myself. My gas is running short this week and now I may not make it until Friday!