Lo and behold I realized I had made a fatal flaw in my initial calculations!!!! Excel works great to extend a series of numbers and formulas. What is NOT very good at is extending dates. I had extended my months from Jan ’12 to Feb ’12 down through the years, but somehow, it messed up and I “misplaced” an entire year! I realized that because I F’d up the date column, when I thought i’d be ok to pay off all debt by end of 2013, it was more like end of 2013/early 2014!!!!!!!! Crap!

so basically, unless I make an extra $300/month, or pay less rent/utilities by $300/month, I’m looking at 3 years to pay off debt. If I get a cheaper place, then I can shave a year off and make it back to my original, end of 2013 projected date payout.

I’m such a dork. Oh well, good to know these things now!

So yesterday my girlfriend, S, and i went to look at a few places together. It’s a bit of a rude awakening. We are both in our 40s, both working adult professionals (she works in a scientific field, so makes more than me!), and both single. We’re both also done with cheap/sub-par places (no more dingy mother in law basement apartents). It’s amazing how poor the choices are for places in my price range. I am ok up to splitting a $1350/month house. Any more and it’s almost not worth it.  That means that either the house will be a dump in the best/most central areas of Seattle, or be on the fringes, or in a bad neighborhood. Basically, it’s a radical shift in amenities and neighborhood quality of life. She wants a place she can walk around in the evening (ie, it needs sidewalks and should be a lower-crime area). We both want to be close to a good/inexpensive gym. I don’t want a hideous commute. She’s considering leaving Seattle in a year, so it has to be a place I can find a replacement roommate to live in if she moves out later on. It needs to be 2 bedrooms with copious extra storage (ie garage, extra bedroom, etc). We both have a household of stuff in furniture, and we both like room for projects (and I have a ton of art in storage from having done art shows). In a way it’s fun, but in a bigger way, it’s depressing. Plus there’s that really fine line of finding a place that you want, with enough time to give notice to both our existing landlords, when the landlord we would be applying with wants a renter sooner than we would be available to move in (like in a week, or Feb. 1 for example). It will be really hard a good place, with the pressure of beating another person to the punch, while having enough time to give 1 month’s notice. Ugh.

I’ve never lived in an apartment – maybe i should just find a cheap place and do that. Ugh, but I want a yard. Anyway, the house hunt is on. And remember…double check your math, people!

Overview:
Paychecks: 2 per month, paid on the 5th & 20th, average of $1600/check, or $3200/month
Total pay can range between $3100-$3400/month based on overtime and actual hours worked.
My budget cycle starts on the 5th of every month (with my first paycheck).

Paycheck 1:
Rent: $895
Gym: $38
Mini-funds: car-$200, vacation-$100, xmas-$33, clothes-$70

* My timing belt needs to be changed in about 8k-20k miles, so I’m increasing my car fund from the previous $125-$150 I used to save, especially as it’s virtually empty right now. Cost will be about $850-$900.

Paycheck 2:
SBA autopay: $100
Car payment: $253
Internet: $65
Car insurance: $63
Gas (house): $75 (average)
Utilities (water or electric): $125 (average)
Netflix/Hulu: $18
Any additional payments to SBA/debt: $300 (hopefully)
Emergency fund: $100 (it’s currently at zero, will take all year to build up)

Spread evenly throughout the month:
Food/restaurants: $450 (pre mr. maven totals) – will need to reevaluate after February
Gas (car): $150
Coffee: $25
Liquor: $50
Stuff: $200 (this includes home purchases, health costs, entertainment, or photography/art expenses, art purchases, and misc. spending).

Notes:
Any additional income I receive (gifts/tax refunds/etc) always get put towards debt.

It’s always difficult to wait weeks to pay debt, but since the majority of my first paycheck goes towards rent, I’ve had to shift the majority of my bill and debt payments to the second half of the month. Patience is a virtue, I just wish I had more of it!

I’m not too worried about having a fully depleted EF right now. My excellent bank (BECU) has a no-fee use of a personal loan if my checking account is overdrawn (if my EF is empty, which is my first-tier backup for overdraft protection). If used, I always make sure to fully pay it off the next paycheck (which is very rare). Again, at no cost other than interest.

In March, once I reevaluate this budget, I will post any final tweakings. Of course, if I end up moving, this will also change (for the better, since I’d be paying less in rent and utilities with my future roommate), but there will be additional deposits and moving expenses (local truck rental, dinner/beer for anyone helping) incurred.

Ok, that process took a solid 2 weeks. Then since the furniture was out, we used the opportunity to repaint the dingy yellowy-white walls with bad hole repairs done without touchups, and the one dark, wood panelling a bright, fresh white. Trimming, and marking off what not to paint. Multiple coats of primer, then paint, then drying, all with kitties running underfoot. It took a week. I felt like I lived in a hoarder house for 3 weeks. All that climbing over furniture every time I wanted to move around!

Ok, then we moved back INTO the refurbished room. No rug. no place soft to sit on or lie on. All of a sudden, the makeshift furniture I had didn’t quite do the room justice. I ended up buying 2 pieces of furniture. One a really really super awesome 1940s sideboard with mirror. It is soooo pretty. $800. Yikes. Then I replaced a makeshift curio/bookshelf cabinet thing with a better version – it had wide storage underneath to hide some larger art books and music CDs,  and an upper half that was shelved and had doors with decorative glass that kept my prized collection of art ceramics free from dangerous kittens knocking them over. Small antique glass-fronted cabinet? $400.

Oh, and about this time, my computer totally crashed. 3 year old HP laptop, kaput. I had to buy a new laptop, with, ahem, a friendly ex-Microsoft employee helping out with a cheap Microsoft Office (shhh, don’t tell) at seriously reduced costs, for about $750 total.

Add in the absolute craziness of living like a hoarder and the inability to stick to mundane tasks like regularly cooking meals at home because there was NO FRIGGIN’ ROOM to move in the kitchen, and there were some overzealous spending in the grocery/restaurant/pizza front. A few hundred here, surely.

Then finally, oh yes, was a relatively unhappy trip I allowed myself to be talked into going, against my better judgement, and with, unfortunately, a lot of resentment – going with mr. maven to visit his family for thanksgiving. In North Dakota. With our cats, which meant driving, not taking a train. Mr. maven refuses to fly, and no cats on the train, so driving it was. I used 3 days of vacation. I paid for 50% of the gas and motels. I used my car and had to spent a ton of money on maintenance in advance. I had to get an extra oil change, since the whole trip was like 2300 miles (and do you think mr. maven paid for any of the car maintence or chipped in towards wear and tear? I’ll let you deduce that yourselves). Anyway. The whole reason I said I would go, was so that I could meet his mom. His mom lives in Texas but was going to come up to visit the rest of the family at that time. 2 days before we were to leave, we got word she wasn’t going to go. GRRRRR. But at that point, unfortunately, I was committed. And even more unfortunately, I didn’t want to go, didn’t relish the trip, and felt really resentful about spending the money and using my hard-earned vacation time for someone else’s family. Sorry for the big hateful venting here, but I couldn’t say any of this to mr. maven. I can’t say I was a thrill to be around, and you now know how this ends (mr. maven has just moved to ND and I’m now single, which was not because of the trip, but happened chronologically soon after). The cost of this whole trip was about $550.

Anyway, tally up all this spending, and you’ll notice a lot of discretionary spending. This went onto my BECU credit card. I HATED it there. So I paid a ton towards it. I used up my vacation savings. I stripped my EF to pay for it. I used the remaining xmas spending to pay for it (I had a little left over). I also fully raided my kitten fund (at $930) to pay it. I got it down to zero. I was expecting to start refunding the kitten fund, when I he told me he was moving to ND to find work. And taking the kittens with him.

…

Well, I guess I don’t need to fund for the kittens any longer *sniff*, but you’ll notice, all my mini-funds are fully wiped out. I am starting 2012 from a very low place. Emotionally raw (I’ll get over it), financially drained (at least no credit card debt!), and with a renewed vigor to tackle my remaining debt ( hopefully an average $300 extra per month).

It’s odd to start this year off, when normally you hear people taking stock of their lives, and reflecting. Instead, I’m responding and digging out. I’m gearing up, and figuring out. I have a lot of changes ahead, but I’ll at least be more focused on what’s good for me…and my finances. Maybe that should be my them for the year…CHANGE.

Mr. maven has been unemployed since March 2010. He has never fully paid his full share of bills or rent (sometimes rent, but never on bills). Last few months he stopped even paying rent. Immediately after christmas, he told me he was moving to North Dakota to pursue work (and stay with his family). So the maven household is now a single Ms. Maven. There’s a lot of emotional upset of course. He took my kittens with him, which leave me totally devestated. We are still friends, just no longer cohabitating or sharing our lives so intimately.

What this means financially is that I am now the one and only breadwinner, ie, rent payer. I have no backup to rely on helping out with bills, but it also means that any expense are mine and mine alone. I don’t have to worry about buying alcohol and having it drunk before I have a chance to have any of it. I don’t have to worry if there is inequity when buying groceries or eating out. But it means no sharing, either.

I’ve been single one week and 2 days so far. I’ve been discussing with my BFF/girlfriend getting a house together in a few months and splitting rent/expenses. She’s a professional working woman so she is fianacially stable, and we have been roommates before (it’s how we met after all!), so I know we will be compatible. The problem is now finding a place she will live that we can move into together (the market for 2 bedroom places in the $1200-$1300 range in a nice neighborhood in Seattle is very slim!). So That may change. Until then, I’m solo and living in  my house all by my lonesome (there is both good and bad in that!).

I’ve been updating my debt totals periodically, even without posting. Currently, I have 2 debts:
SBA loan – $16073
BECU Car loan – $8447

At the minimum, I am paying $253/month on the car loan, but nothing extra. For the SBA, which is at a higher rate of 5%, I have an automated $100 every second paycheck. I put a debt payment calculation together for myself, and if I can pay an extra $300/month towards the SBA, I will be debt free by December, 2013. That is if I remain frugal, have no major expenses, don’t travel, don’t move to a cheaper place/get a roommate, and don’t get a part-time job. I think it’s doable, but it will take vigilence and dedication. This also assumes that my full tax refunds for the next 2 years (about $700 or so) are fully paid towards debt, which again, shouldn’t be a problem – it’s what I’ve done the past 2 years.

So. Here I am. Still focused, chugging along, head down. There have been ups and downs, mostly downs, in the last year, and even more recently, but no actual derailments. I’m going at it slower than I wanted to 6 months ago, but that’s my new reality. Until I move/get a roommate, this is the pace I can maintain.

I’m glad I got my used car in April 2011 – it added an extra $10K of debt to my total, but it’s a much better and more reliable car than the truck I had before (and with 100K less miles on it!!!). I recently purchased a few pieces of furniture, which I may not have done if I knew I was about to be single, but they are nice pieces and work better in my house. That temporarily stopped debt payments for 2 months. I had to buy some additional items when mr. maven left – a new rug, lamp, and kitchen gear, to the tune of $500, but that is ok, I needed them, and having a gorgeous 8×10′ rug for $200 is pretty awesome. I’m also in the process of downsizing some of my stuff, and selling it on craigslist. That should give me some extra snowball payments, which are fully going towards debt. I’m also pursuing personal friendships more than I have before. Being single/alone makes it really obvious that you have to work at extablishing and nurturing external relationships, when you don’t have a default one to fall back on at home. So, again, lots changing, but actually, it’s kinda the same as always.

Here’s to 2012 – it’s all uphill for me from here!

Best wishes,
debtmaven

What else has me fully paying for rent done? Well, I have become much more stringent about buying less. I pull out the “I can’t afford x until I get paid next week” card all the time. We eat out even less than before. I think my eat out budget is less than $100/month now. Also, any extraneous expenses fall on him and I no longer offer to pay half after the fact (when he brings it up to gripe at the expense). If we are out of something, he has often been going to the store and buying the $20 of groceries, which I consider budget busters to the nth degree! Also, we recently had a big vet scare with one of our kittens. He got a case of struvite crystals in his urine (making it hard to urinate, possibly life threatening), requiring 2 vet visits, IV, brand new food (and a total diet change for the rest of his life). Plus both cats were due for 2 vaccines – mr. maven ended up picking up the tab, to the tune of $400+. I didn’t pay any of that. I think that’s far, as he owes me a lot more for utilities/bills that he pays no share of, and the lack of rent. I have become much more resistant to picking up any groceries on my own, as I never get reimbursed afterwards. If I want it for me, I get it (often if it’s for lunch at work only though). If I want to buy groceries, he has to come with me. I refuse to go on my own. Lesson learned from the last 2 years of his unemployment. I’ve gotten over having my heart set on a certain food item for dinner; now I put up with whatever is at home. I just do without or scrounge out of the fridge. It’s odd, but I feel like I’m really being more careful with my food purchases now, because of that, almost as if I’m living hand to mouth, while I get paid $53K a year!

Money is still a big issue in our household. I basically gave up discussing it and trying to be fair and equitable (with my large paycheck with which I am trying to pay off debt, and his lack of funds and his refusal to pay anything beyond half of the big food groceries). It causes stress, and while I’m in my relationship with him, that’s how it’s turned out to be. Some days it’s intensely more frustrating than others, but I”m dealing with it. I try to keep front and center what it means to him to support him, but other days it’s a lot more of a challenge for me to keep a good attitude about it. Am I bitter? Yes. Is it going to change? Probably not. At least not until he gets a job, and that is becoming more of an issue as time goes on – as he approaches the 2nd anniversary of his unemployment, he is going to have to get some kindo f employment, even if it’s only $12/hr!! I can either be frustrated and fight, or accept that this is the status quo and move beyond it to appreciate the other reasons I enjoy being in a relationship with him.

I’ve been having some issues with going to the gym and soreness in abused muscles, and have been seeing a physical therapist. That’s a whole bunch of $20/visit copays. So far I’ve done 4, and am trying to minimize the expense. This shouldn’t last for more than 2-3 months, I hope. I haven’t done any trips anywhere, and have no plans except for a drive out to North Dakota during thanksgiving, to visit his family (and he really wants me to go). He’ll need to pay at least 50% if not more of the expense.  Other than that, I’ve been in high frugal mode. No new clothes, only steeply discounted clothes from the department store, or all from the thrift store. I’ve been trying to drive less, and consume less gas. I question every purchase, making sure I want it for several days before I give in (and that has saved me from several purchases!).

So I’m putting up with my situation, even while I’m not totally happy with it. I’m paying a little less towards debt than I otherwise would, but I’m trying to buy less, be more careful with my spending, and just be consistent and plan, plan, plan. It will get better. It has to. If it doesn’t? Well, I have a good job, it pays well, and I will just pay off my debts as much as I can. It might take a little longer, but I’m making good headway – see my stats on the right. I’m now up to 49% paid off, almost on the other side!

Take care all…debtmaven out.

So my goal is to pay an average of $760/month.

Tax Return – $880
January – $1004
February – $850 paid
March – $900
April – $750
May – $700
———————
2011 total to date: $5084
Compare Goal-to-date (amount needed to pay to stay on track): $4680
Above goal by: $404!!!

This doesn’t include any snowball payments (my recent windfall or a cash-out on a recent claim from a rear-end accident on my old vehicle that I never had repaired before I sold it) or even my new debt, the auto loan payment. While it’s hard to separate out that extra activity, I’m purely interested in seeing if I’m able to pay $10K towards debt this year. I don’t count that activity because it’s like cheating – it has nothing to do with income, or budgetting, it’s like free, unexpected money. My previous yearly payments had been woefully below $10K, and I thought I should ramp up my expectations this year. I’m glad to say that not only am I on track, but I’m proving to myself that I can pay more than I had realized I could.

The moral of this story? Paying debt isn’t hard if you make it a priority, focus on it, and enjoy the little thrill of hitting transfer when logged into online banking. I’m also hopefull that even WITH a car payment due every month, I’ll be able to meet this goal. I have to remember that with the savings from improved gas mileage, it’s only an extra $200 monthly payment, which isn’t that much!

Every red flag I possess is going off.  The New York native in me is having knots in my stomach, which means I don’t think this is on the up and up. Does anyone have any experience with this program or website? I’m not a business major, and not really sure I understand it all. What do they sell, or are they just asking to loop you in so they can get joining fees and force me to get more people to join? I have to say I don’t really get the whole MLM thing. I remember hearing about AMWAY way back when, but never really understood that either. Is there an actual product to sell, or is it all ideas and you bring your own “product” with you (ie, be an entrepreneur already, THEN join the MLM to market it?). Any explanation that will make me understand better are appreciated.

So any ideas? I feel like this “entrepreneur” is taking advantage of my unemployed, depressed, PTSD stepfather, and this is now impacting my mom, sister and brother. My family is going through some really difficult family issues right now (drug dependence/probation, retirement, foreclosure, depression to name a few), and I’m 3000 miles away.

Any ideas/suggestions/assistance from the blog community? Am I rightly worried? If you’re not comfortable in commenting on this post, please please feel free to email me directly at my email: debtmaven @ live.com. This curveball was thrown at me today, with a phone call while I was at work and I’m totally at a loss. I was expecting the guy to have something to do with an intervention with a family member. A get-rich-quick scheme is not what I had in mind. What they hey!

Here’s a simple chart, with a description to follow afterwards. WordPress blogs won’t allow javascripting to be displayed, so I can’t show you a pretty graph. Instead, you can view it here.

Cash will continue to fluctuate. It is my reserve savings for things that will eventually be spent (vehicle fund, christmas spending, clothes fund, and whatever is in my checking account at the time of posting).

With a recent windfall due to a settlement, I fully funded my $1,000 emergency fund. Nothing further will be put into this fund until I am fully out of debt. Then I’ll build up a 3+ month fund, but not before.

the 401K funds continue to grow. I increased my pre-tax contribution for my current job from 4% up to 6% this year. I previously decided to increase my contributions by a percentage point a year, but due to the social security payroll deduction of 2%, I split the difference, 1 for me, 1 for 401k, bringing the total increase to 2% for the year. Next year? I’ll probably keep it at 6% if that deduction goes away in 2012.

As for debts – I paid off my BECU Visa, have kept all other cards at $0, and continue to pay down the SBA loan. I’ve decided to put all my energey in the larger SBA loan – it has a slightly her rate (5% instead of the auto loan’s 3.99%), and they charge an annual fee, which the auto loan does not. Plus, I hear having different types of loans is good for the credit score. I haven’t ever had an auto loan, so maybe this will help get me into the 800s finally? Who knows. Not planning on paying off the auto loan beyond the minimum. It’s a 45-month loan.

We drove 750 miles. I had to buy 4 tanks of gas. $215 for a weekend to Oregon. Yikes! It stuck in my craw somethin’ fierce, lemme tell you! I decided on that long drive back, in which I had 6 hours to think about it, how I really really needed a vehicle that had better gas mileage. I didn’t get any dissenting comments from mr. maven, either!

As soon as I got back I started researching. I should also admit that I really truly miss my old subaru, which got totalled in an accident in 2007 (not my fault!!!). So of course, with my requirements: good mileage, rugged, able to go in the mountains, good in snow, and something that I could haul lots of crap and potentially sleep in, well, it should come as no surprise that I ended up with a 2005 Subaru Outback! It’s the prettiest green color “willow green”, has cloth seats, no sun roof, and has just been fully serviced. I ended up buying from a dealer. It cost me more, but they fully detailed it, made sure the mechanics were up to spec (after my inspection at a mechanic, they updated the brakes and did something to the transmission flush fluid or something or other). I did put a little extra, to the tune of $220, in it at the dealer’s mechanic so that it has everything clean and ready and no further maintenance will be needed for 30,000 miles (spark plugs, some other fluid changes, etch). It’s clean, scrubbed, mine, and ready for some serious backcountry trips!

Instead of my current 15/19 mileage (based on what i actually put in the tank), my new vehicle is amazing! I get 21 minimum in the neighborhood, and have gotten 29 on the highway. It’s awesome! I estimated that even if I do nothing but commute to work and do normal driving during a month, I will save $50 (about 1 full tank of gas) per month. If I do any trips, then I should save about $100/month or more. Can’t beat that!

It took me a week of research, and a week of hard looking, but I bought one for $14,800. My main requirements were that it be under 75K miles, NOT turbo (I didn’t want the maintenance, or the reduced MPG), and have heated seats. I was approved for a $40K car loan from my bank, BECU at 3.99% (not that I’d ever spend that much on a vehicle, EVER), but only had to use a portion of that. I ended up using my recent settlement money to pay $6,000 towards it (after fully funding my emergency fund back to $1000 and keeping a few hundred for something fun, yet to be determined). 

I then sold my truck to mr. maven (for him to go hunting and sleeping in - as he told me, it would be a shame to sell it when I just dumped a whole crapload of money on it recently and it has a new clutch. Mechanically it’s been very well taken care of, so it’s in great shape. I decided that any more income I get will go towards my SBA loan, instead of my car loan – which is at a slightly higher rate of 5% (plus an annual fee) – whatever I can do to pay it off quickly, the better.

So don’t be hatin’ - I got a vehicle with 100,000 fewer miles, and significantly better gas mileage (100+ additional miles per tank), and heated seats! I put myself into debt for an extra period of time, but it will be less than a year. I am pleased with my decision and have zero regrets.

That’s all from debtmaven central! Here’s to the growing garden, getting over this nasty cold keeping me home this week, and getting out hiking and the start of biking again this year. Keep healthy and get outside everyone!

Well, in short: I rocked it! I immediately paid $600 once I deposited my second paycheck. Then, at the end of the month, I realized I had enough extra to put in another $250, bringing my monthly total to $850!!!

My initial goal was to pay $750 per month. Now that I’ve gotten my tax return, let’s see if that was realistic:

$10,000 for 2011, minus my $880 tax return = $9120. Divide that by 12 months = $760/month needed to reach my goal!

So my goal is to pay an average of $760/month.

Tax Return – $880
January – $1004
February – $850 paid
———————
2011 total – $2734
Compare Goal-to-date: $2400
Above goal by $334!!!

Wow. I’m awesome. Cue the teacher bestowing a gold star upon me.

Despite my goal-meeting awesomeness, I do have to aknowledge that it may be a little challenging in March. February was a SHORT, tiny-paycheck month. The paycheck that I’m about to get at the beginning of March will subsequently be smaller than usual. So I think March will be a tough month. I’m also looking towards some upcoming expenses that I recently referenced (in my windfall post). I really really need to get my passport renewed, since it takes so long to get it back! I need to get my bicycle ready to roll (ha ha ha, sorry) with some tlc and new parts, PLUS get a new pair of sneakers. All this in March? That may be a little expensive all at once.

As long as I stick to my not eating out much, going to the gym 5+ days a week (which doesn’t allow for time to do anything else, go anywhere else, or spend anywhere else!!!), prepare all my lunches, then I should be relatively ok. I just went thriftstore shopping last weekend and I got a new pair of jeans ($10!!!). I still need 1 more, but other than that, I’m relatively good. Maybe it won’t be so bad!