North Georgia Gal's Financial Awakening

Right now Regions Bank and PNC bank are both offering bonuses for opening up checking accounts with direct deposit. This is doable for me and I have figured out how I could do both. My question is does this affect anything? Not that my credit is great, but does it affect my ability to open checking accounts if I open multiple ones at a time? Or will it put my name on some sort of a watch list?

Those interested...PNC is $200 and Regions is $125.

I spent the afternoon on the phone with Dish Network and my telephone provider, tds. My phone, internet and dish network is all billed through tds. So I told them I was thinking of switching to direct tv because they have a better rate. TDS offered me $20 a month off my bill! Then they called Dish Network on my behalf and got me an additional $10 off of my bill. So each month I will be saving $30. All because I asked for it!

Still no word on the job yet. Just holding my breath waiting to hear something.

When I went to the Gas Station just a few minutes ago they had a sign up that they were hiring. I promptly came back and applied online. I called to let them know that I had applied and the manager was out. But I am hoping to hear from them.

Hi Friends! Sorry I haven't been around lately. I have been sliding down hill depression wise and just barely to keep my head above water going to work each day.

Today I wrote out an entire month's worth of expenses and compared it to what I bring in. Turns out I am about $500 short each month. That explains alot. I spent the afternoon filling out applications for CVS, Walmart, and Food Lion. Hopefully one of them will call me back. I applied at two different Walmarts and 2 different CVS's.

When I was telling me mom about filling out the applications she said that she doesn't want me to get a second job. And to stop paying her the power bill...she can cover it for a while. This made me feel like crap. Hello depression.

I still am going to take a job if anyone calls me. Because not paying the power bill still makes me $300 short each month. And I would like to get a little ahead. Plus with DD working and DS moved to Kennesaw(about an hour away), I am just sitting here doing nothing in the evenings and weekends.

DD turned 16 and got her drivers license. She had some money that my mom had been saving for her for a car. We found one and were going to finance the difference, about $3000. My mom wasn't happy with DD having a car payment so she paid off her car. The only thing she has to pay each month is her gas and her insurance. Car insurance is ridiculous. It went up $200 when I added her and the car. DD pays a portion of that.

I got a raise at work recently. I went from $16/hour to $36000/ year. It worked out to about a $2/hour raise. But I lost all of my OT. So really it is about $1000 more per year than I was making. I also got a bonus of $1700. It went toward DD's car since I had borrowed some of what my mom had saved. My boss is awesome!

As I mentioned...DS moved to Kennesaw. He is renting an apartment with a friend. Everything they put in the apartment fit in the back of a pick up truck. I had to laugh. I remember my first apartment. There was no furniture other than a bed. I sent him a care package of toilet paper, soap, and shampoo. All of the things he wouldn't think to buy for himself. I am having a real hard time though with his moving out. I have had to increase my visits to the therapist to help me deal with it. I don't think I will survive when DD decides to move out.

Well...that about sums it up for a while. I will try to post more often. I have missed you guys and your support.

Please no negative comments...I can't deal with them right now.

I have heard from several of you lately making sure I am okay. Thanks for caring! I am doing fine. I have missed you all.

My finances are on autopilot with little wiggle room but I make it work. My son has moved back home until August. Hoping he decides to go to school where he is moving to.

DD is officially a junior now. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She really wants to do competition cheer again but we can't find a place that isn't insanely expensive. I just don't have that kind of money.

I will try to stay in touch more often.

My son did the grocery shopping this week and he did pretty good. He spent $180. My budget was $125 but I don't think that is realistic anymore to feed a family of 3 for two weeks. He didn't do any of the impulse buying that I usually do and stuck to the list. So I need to up my budgeted amount to $175.

I am coming out of my depression and it feels pretty good. I am making dinner at night and cleaning the kitchen. These are things that weren't happening for a while. Went to the dr yesterday and they are going to change some of my meds. That should help even more. I don't know if I mentioned it but my boss called me on the carpet about things not getting done. It was basically "things need to change or your job is on the line". So things have changed.

Financially I am looking pretty good for the rest of the month. Everything is just on auto pilot. Got a nice surprise today. DD had a follow up appointment at the foot doctor to look at her toe. I was expecting to pay the $90 office visit. But turns out it is included in the original bill as a post op visit. SWEET!

That is about all for now. Have to run to UPS.

I applied for an income based repayment plan and was approved. My payment for the next year is 0! That really helps. I didn't know where I was going to come up with the payment. I will have to renew it next year.

DS quit his job this week. I don't know how I raised someone who would quit a job without having another one to go to. He is working part time as a waiter but will not make near the money he was making. So the money he was giving me will likely be cut. It really put a crimp in my budget. He said that he just got fed up that someone that started after him was making more money than he was. In my opinion he should have gotten over it or found another job before quitting. I am very disappointed in him right now.

I had to take DD to the podiatrist yesterday to have an ingrown toenail dug out. It was $315 since she doesn't have insurance. It is still cheaper than the $535 the insurance was going up to. And I set aside $300 a month for her medical expenses. So I am good.

My mom accidentally opened a piece of my mail that comes to her house. It looked like junk mail and we think that we have just been throwing it away up until she opened it a couple of weeks ago. Turns out that my parents(who don't remember) purchased a $1000 life insurance policy for me right after I was born from National Society of Catholic Foresters. They were big in the catholic church when I was born. But the policy has a cash value of $433. I submitted all the paperwork and the check arrived this week. Good thing since I had to have work done on my car that I hadn't planned on. It puts me in a pretty good position financially.

Since I handle the payroll at my company I am able to see my check stub before Friday. When I looked this week there was a small surprise. Apparently it is the third pay cycle for the month(they do it based on when the hours are worked, not paid) so the insurance payments weren't taken out. It is about $100 extra in my paycheck. YEA! I have had several small expenses come up lately so this is perfect timing.

I have to start going back to my therapist tomorrow. That is $40 a pop. I had stopped going thinking that I didn't need to but last week my boss called me aside and said that I just wasn't acting like myself. Things have been slipping at work and I just am not on top of them. I know that I have been in a depressed cycle of my bi-polar so I knew I needed to take action. My job is on the line. It was made very clear that if I didn't straighten up my job would be in jeopardy. Hoping that they can adjust my meds to help me get out of this cycle.

When I was born, my parents were Catholic. They left the Catholic church when I was about 6. Fast Forward to last week. I have been getting mail from the National Catholic Society of Foresters. Thinking it was junk mail I guess I or my mom have been throwing it away(it comes to her house). Well last week she accidentally opened it up. Glad she did. Apparently one of my parents bought a $1000 life insurance policy for me shortly after I was born. It has a cash value of $433. So I have sent in the papers to cash it out and close it. My mom doesn't remember purchasing it and I can't ask my dad if he did it.

It just goes to show that when you make a budget and stick to it, money just shows up when you need it. At least that is my experience. The money will go toward the car repair I had to pay last week.

Well today has been a really expensive day. I filled up my gas tank for $46. And I got three prescriptions filled for $72. And I still have 4 more prescriptions to get for the month. They had to order them. I am just glad that I have the money to pay for these expenses when then come up.

I went about $50 over budget at the grocery store. Most of it was cat food/dog food/cat litter. I shouldn't have to purchase that stuff for a while. I always buy big bags of it so I don't have to purchase them often. I also bought a lot of frozen food. I feel good that we will have numerous choices to eat for the next two weeks.

I finally took my car in today. It was making a rubbing type sound. I was a afraid that it was the tires. But fortunately it is just the bearing. Should be about $150. I have an appointment for Thursday.

Finances are on autopilot as I have already set up everything to be paid on Friday's payday.

Well, BCBS is still dragging their feet on DD's application. I had applied to Aetna but apparently there was an open enrollment period and now she doesn't qualify for a life changing event. I just hope that BCBS gets it act together.

DD had to go to the doctor today. This is the third dr visit for the same thing, but the first with her regular dr. We couldn't get in to see her the first two times. But DD was finally given some antibiotics and some serious cough syrup. She was also given an inhaler for when she is having coughing fits. All in all I spent $165 for the dr visit and the insurance. And $65 for one of the other dr visits. Still less than the $535 the insurance company wanted to continue her coverage. I had $300 set aside for a premium and since that wasn't charged this month it went toward these expenses.

I gave her the debit card to run into Payless Shoe Store to see if they had any of the athletic flip flops. They didn't. I forgot to get it back from her and now it is lost. I already called the bank and put a stop on it. I have transferred money into her checking account for her to withdraw so that I have some cash for gas and other expenses. I hate not having my debit card. It is just so convenient.

Been doing a lot of driving the last couple of days. DD had soccer games in Gainesville...one on Friday night and one on Saturday. Fortunately it wasn't too cold on either of these days. But it is about 75 miles to Gainesville. I filled up last night and am already down to 1/4 of a tank. Will be glad when all the away games are taken care of. The first half of the schedule is all away and then she is home the second half of the season. Then I can breathe a sigh of relief!

I was looking at my budget today and realized that I need to up my gas allowance until the soccer games are over. It took $63 to fill up today and I have to drive to a game on Tuesday. There are a bunch of away games and then the second half of the schedule is home games. I travel to her games because I fear that she will get hurt. The only game I ever missed of DS he broke his ankle.

I took DD's computer to the repair shop yesterday because it wouldn't charge. When they plugged in the cord to test it it started smoking! Apparently the dog had gotten ahold of the cord...imagine that. We are vey lucky that it didn't catch fire while it has been sitting on the table plugged in for the last two weeks. They charged $30 for a new cord and the computer now charges.

I still have my cough that I got from DD. I have been running the vaporizer like crazy and it seems to be helping some. Just wish it would go away!

We did something a little different today. We went to Dollar General first and got as much as we could there. We got a huge bottle of DD's shampoo and conditioner for way less than a small bottle at the grocery store. All said and done we spent $61 at Dollar General. We then went to Food Lion and bought the filler items. We spent another $46. So we spent a total of $107. I had budgeted $150 so I think that was a super win. Will do that more often.

We went to pizza hut for dinner. It really upset my stomach. That will teach me! But it tastes so good!

First...I saw the girl scouts selling cookies yesterday. I had already purchased one box of my favorite cookie, the Samoa and it was gone. I thought about stopping and getting another box but I didn't!

Second...I thought about ordering pizza tonight. But I didn't feel like going to pick it up and since I have been doing that I can't see myself paying for delivery again. So I didn't do it.

When I was going over my budget for the rest of the month I found out that I had entered my prescription allowance twice. That was a nice surprise. Then I had to take DD to the doctor today so that plus the prescription she was given ate up the extra I found. Bummer.

The state refund showed up in my account this morning. I set up some payments to come out of it.

EX Dh found out that his insurance is $75 a week for both kids. This is alot cheaper than anything I have found. If he leaves the child support as is, I will send him a check for $300 a month to cover the insurance. I think some of you may have misuderstood the child support situation. Yes Ex dh hasn't had the amount reduced reflecting that DS turned 18. But I also haven't charged him for half of the unreimbursed medical expenses, which pretty much makes it a wash.

I have kind of been taking a break from posting but I have kept up with reading the posts. I have just had my feelings hurt too many times recently to continue to put myself out there. Maybe that will ease over time.

I sent Ex DH an email today asking for him to help with insurance situation. I bet he comes back and says that he didn't have the child support reduced when DS turned 18 and that he pays enough. We'll see what happens. I laid it all out for him telling exactly how much is spent on each kid each month.

I got an email the DS was denied coverage because he smokes and has asthma. I know it isn't smart but he is over 18 and I can't control what he does anymore. I am not as concerned about his insurance since he is over 18. I am more concerned with getting DD covered because I would be responsible for any of her expenses.

DS is planning on moving back in in March. I have mixed emotions. He will help with the groceries when he moves in. But he is such a neat freak and I am kind of a slob. It has caused us to butt heads in the past. Hopefully it will all work out.

I haven't heard back from the bank. I will probably call him tomorrow when I am back at work. I have been working from home this week because everyone is gone. Been very peaceful.

I applied for a child only policy for DD. I got a letter today telling me that she has been denied because she has credible coverage. Problem is that I can't afford the credible coverage any longer. I called them to talk about this and get further information and they can't find her in their system. The guy searched by many different factors. The letter has no identification number on it. I don't think the guy believed me cause he wants me to fax him the letter tomorrow.

We went to the courthouse today and took my name off of my house. If I do go into foreclosure I don't want to have any assets they can come after. It is now in my just in my mom's name. We also had my fathers name taken off of it.

I talked to the bank yesterday and I haven't heard back yet. He is supposed to be looking into how they can help me. I will probably put a for sale by owner in the yard. Bob b...I have lived in the house 2 of the last 5 years so I don't think that would be a problem. Everything is just kind of up in the air right now. It is the not knowing that drives me crazy.

Another one of the kids moved out of my rental property. That only leaves 2 and they can't afford to pay the whole amount. They don't know anyone else that could move in there.

I can't afford to make the payment without having the rent covered...I can't even afford one month without renters. I think I need to get out of the rental business. I would put the house on the market but I can't afford to pay the mortgage until it sells.

I am thinking of going to the bank and doing a voluntary foreclosure. My credit is already bad so it wouldn't really affect that...might even improve the debt to income ratio. I think there might be some tax implications by doing this but I don't know.

I am just at a loss. I don't know what else to do.

** Forgot to mention that I wouldn't make any money on a sale...I would actually be lucky to get what is owed on the property.

We hardly ever get snow here. The news said we would get a dusting. But we have about an inch of snow and it is still snowing. Here are some pictures from my porch. I hope you can see them. I can't view pictures for some reason. All I get is a small box.

Here are my totals for January. I managed to come in $544 under budget. The shortfall for the actual came from the left over amount from last month.





The health Insurance Premium is high because I paid for the old insurance and the new insurance this month. This will balance out the first month of the new policy.

I did good on the dining out and Amy category. I was over on the groceries by $40. This was fill in items between big shopping trips.

I filled up my car yesterday and it took $44. It usually only takes between $28 and $30. I did make an extra trip to Ellijay(about 30 miles) and we are driving to the rec center several times a week to go walking. I just didn't think that driving the 6 or 7 miles to the rec center would make that big of a difference. I will have to see how this week holds out.

We had bad storms come through this morning and afternoon. DD is at home sick and she decided to sit in the bathtub for an hour until the tornado warning was cancelled. She kept me on the phone the whole time. I guess she does still need her mom.

I transferred all $300 out of my savings account into my checking account today. I did this so I could go ahead and apply for the new health insurance. I don't know when they will debit the checking account but I want the money to be there. I should be able to replace it when I don't have to pay for the first month's premium. I just hope that the quoted rates don't go up too much. I submitted both applications today.

I called BCBS again to day to get the specifics of the policy offered to DD. It is not as bad as I remember. There is a $2500 Deductible and out of pocket max of $3000. So worse case scenario it is $6500. It covers preventative care 100%. There are no sick visits until the deductible is met. I have to submit prescriptions for reimbursement instead of the pharmacy doing it. And there is no maximum amount spent like the policy she has now, no coverage once $20000 is reached. This policy is $216 a month.

I also found a policy for DS. $3500 deductible but preventive care covered 100% and has 3 sick visits with a $30 copay. DD never goes to the doctor so this is fine. ER coverage is $500 our responsibility and the rest is covered 100%. It also has prescription coverage. This policy is $57 a month.

Both policies combined come to $273. Still $200 less than I am paying now. I am nervous about high deductibles but hospitals always accept payments.

I have sent my rep an email asking what we need to do to be covered March 1.

We went to the grocery store yesterday and managed to stay under our $125 budget. $123.22. Just by the skin of my nose. But we did it!

We rented a rug doctor yesterday to clean DD's carpet. After potty training the puppy, her carpet was in desperate need. So far the smell is gone and it smells nice and fresh.

While we were at Dollar General I saw that they had Dr pepper on sale. I tried to send DD in to buy three twelve packs. She refused. I had told her earlier that I have $24 to last til next Friday(not including money already alloted to other items.) She made me think about a purchase before I just went in and did it. Good for her!

I just typed this post and lost it before I could post it.

I just got notice in the mail that the kids health insurance is going up by $60 a month. I am thrilled. I would love to figure out how to decrease this. I have tried to get a different policy but because she is under 18 there is only one policy and it doesn't offer any benefits until the high premium is reached, no office visits or prescriptions. I looked at getting a policy with me and her and I was denied due to all the medication I take. I just don't know how I can reduce this. If I add her to my policy at work it is about $800 per month. It is great insurance but it is real pricey. Any suggestions would be great.