Hello!

Avatar for zaboz
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Hello!
14
Mon, 08-16-2004 - 5:12pm
I just wanted to pop in and say 'hi'!

I used to post on this board quite a bit

but have gotten off track lately. We still

owe on a small student loan (about $4,000),

but are doing ok overall with our finances.

We still have a decent emergency fund that we had to

rebuild after our dog had a cancer scare (turned

out to be a spider bite!).

But lately I'm finding that I'm shopping for our

house too much. I've gotten in a bad habit of

charging up our Discover card and then

paying it off. Luckily, we haven't carried a balance

more than a month but it's been getting close to $1000 at times!

If I don't knock it off it won't be long before it's

too much to handle. I paid it off today and am vowing

that I'm DONE with it!

I really need to start concentrating on that student loan

again. It just won't die! Grrrr.

I started up again with Quicken this month. So far our

account is balanced, which never lasts very long. But it

feels good to be back in the swing of budgeting again.

We recently took out a home equity line of credit to get new

windows, but we haven't touched it yet. I think when

they called it a "second mortgage" we both gulped

and decided to wait a while for our windows. Maybe we

can work out a savings plan to pay cash instead!

It WILL be good for energy savings, but there must

be a way to do it without racking up debt.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. I'm sure I'll be lurking

around to try to get some ideas to get back on track.

I hope everyone's doing well!

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2003
In reply to: zaboz
Mon, 08-16-2004 - 5:21pm
Hey, there!

I was hoping that the reason you hadn't been posting is that you had made it to 'the other side' (got debtfree), LOL!

Glad your dog is OK. That must have been quite scary.

Yeah, that "Oh, it's a second Mortgage" thing scared me too-that's one of the first ones that I made sure we paid off. If you can get the windows with cash, I'd say do it!

Good to see you again, well, as far as that ever goes around here, lol...

~Lisa :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-06-2003
In reply to: zaboz
Mon, 08-16-2004 - 5:56pm
Hi Zaboz,

Good to see your post!

I'm also glad that your dog doesn't have serious health problems.

It's so easy to get off track especially when things seem to be rolling along :)

Hope to see more of you!

Kassandra

Kassandra

"It is said that life has its peaks and valleys.  The challenge is to accept them equally and experience them

Avatar for cl_beckymk
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: zaboz
Mon, 08-16-2004 - 6:05pm

Glad to hear you are doing well and YIKES...it is so easy to get back into the trap of the credit cards, glad you caught yourself and yes that 2nd mortgage concept is scary isn't it!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
In reply to: zaboz
Mon, 08-16-2004 - 9:54pm
Hi Zaboz,

I remember you! Just wanted to say hi. I understand the temptation to spend on the house. We just got moved in in May and it's SO tempting to charge up things, especially when we can justify it that it will "save us money in the long run."

The mantra to repeat is that it only saves you money if you're saving more than you're paying in interest on the loan. Windows take a while to return on the investment anyway, and if in the meantime you're paying interest as well as principal, well, you're not really saving much. :)

Anyway, good for you on waiting. Post your student loan balance on the refrigerator, and write below it each payment you make, so you can watch that balance decrease. You'll have it knocked out before you know it. Then focus on watching your savings grow for retirement (or whatever) with the money you used to send to debts.

Congratulations on having come so far. Keep checking in and let us know how you're doing.

Blessings,

Heather

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-06-2004
In reply to: zaboz
Mon, 08-16-2004 - 9:59pm
Sounds like things are "up" for you. Maybe you can try and do one/two windows at a time. I did that myself. donna
Avatar for zaboz
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: zaboz
Tue, 08-17-2004 - 7:46am
Really? Did you install them yourself or have someone

come out each time? It's so tempting just to "have them

done" and then "promise" to pay it off. But what a great

feeling to pay for them as you go and not tap into

your house's equity.
Avatar for zaboz
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: zaboz
Tue, 08-17-2004 - 8:37am
"I was hoping that the reason you

hadn't been posting is that you

had made it to 'the other side'

(got debtfree), LOL! "

I wish! You can be sure I would have

let you all know with a big

"I'M DEBTFREE" post! LOL

I should be. There's no reason in the world I shouldn't

be. But I'm not! That last student loan is a real

thorn in my side. I think my motto used to be "Debt-free

by 2003". Can you believe that? We plowed through $12,000

or something like that but now we've been hung up on the

last $4,000 for a year and a half.

Have you ever heard the theory that some people can't lose

weight because they're afraid to? That deep down being

overweight is comfortable? Maybe that's my problem. I'm

"afraid" to be debt-free because of the responsibility and

the fear that I won't be able to stay that way. :)

It's either that or the fact that I WANT too many things and

have lost a lot of willpower! I felt deprived for so long!

So I got in the nasty habit of "putting it on the card"

promising myself I would pay it off. And I have so far,

but barely, and it's taking a lot of money that

could have gone toward that student loan or savings.

But I feel like things are turning around. I REALLY want

that student loan gone by the end of the year! It won't be

easy, but I think there's an extra paycheck or two in there

and I can sell some things. So that's my new goal. $4,232.04 to go.

Debt-free by 2005!




Edited 8/17/2004 8:39 am ET ET by zaboz

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
In reply to: zaboz
Tue, 08-17-2004 - 9:35am

Hi Zaboz!


It must be 'old home week'.

Lee Ann

www.werenotafraid.com

Avatar for zaboz
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: zaboz
Tue, 08-17-2004 - 12:16pm
NNOOOOO, not my Discover card!!!

Just kidding. Sort of.

Gulp.

Ok, I'm going to get slammed for this but I really

feel better having a card available. Sometimes

we order things online and I feel better using

a credit card instead of a debit card that's

linked directly to our bank account. And sometimes

we rent a car or reserve a hotel room

and some places won't take debit cards.

I'm so pathetic. Getting rid of my last card is a huge

step that I've never been comfortable with. My head is full

of "What ifs?"

For example, I posted that my dog just had

some problems. We put it on Discover, then

paid it off with our emergency fund (because our savings

is in ING which is not instantly accessible).

The other option would have been high interest rate

in-house financing, which we would have had to apply

for. We've never paid a dime of interest

on our Discover, in fact we've gotten over $40 back (because

of all the spending we've done, LOL).

I think I will be ok with it once we have a bit of padding

in our checking account (aside from our somewhat hard-to-get

to savings). But I have financial insecurity issues and I'm

not sure I can be completely card-free!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
In reply to: zaboz
Tue, 08-17-2004 - 2:03pm

There there, I hear you.

Lee Ann

www.werenotafraid.com

Pages