Questions for you 9/30

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-22-1999
Questions for you 9/30
8
Wed, 09-30-2009 - 1:29am

1.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-24-2007
Wed, 09-30-2009 - 7:29am

Wow, lots of questions!


1.

Kate


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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2008
Wed, 09-30-2009 - 8:53am

Here we go:

Norma


"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2005
Wed, 09-30-2009 - 9:29am

I've done a lot of different volunteering jobs over the years. Right now my focus is on a English for speakers of other languages program. I got started with it because I really care about this program and wanted to help out. I get an understanding of other cultures, friendships and the satisfaction of knowing that I've done something that helps make someone else's life a little better. I am not building job skills with my volunteering.

My favorite book in high school was To Kill a Mockingbird. It was an assigned reading but I didn't have to do a book report on it. It was a discussion book.

I have reached one of my two goals so far this year. That was to get the funds for my bills and living expenses together one month in advance. So that the last friday of the month, I have all the money needed to pay the bills for the following month as well as the grocery money for the month and the gas money for the month. This way I always have my bills paid on time and my efforts are to get the next month's funding saved up rather than scrambling to get enough for a major bill before it comes due. It took me almost five months to get to that point where everything was set aside in advance. It felt really good to reach that point.

My next goal is to get my sinking funds account in place for 2010 prior to December of 2009. This will put my larger bills like estimated taxes, tax preparation, car insurance, vet bills, car registrations and inspections etc.. one year in advance. My goal is to have this in place so that come December (when I save for January) I just have to put aside money for these things on a monthly basis for the following year. I've actually added a line item for taxes, one for insurance and one for sinking funds into the budget for January. I'm hoping that this will keep my sinking funds a year in advance and my regular bill paying one month in advance. If I'm extremely careful I think I can pull it off before December, thanks to Oct being a five pay period month.

stacy

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
Wed, 09-30-2009 - 10:03am

1. I sit on the board of one organization that focuses on improving nutrition in lower-income communities, and on a committee of another that pairs up students and other non-profit organizations and build infrastructure (water well, foot bridges, etc.) in developing areas all over the world and in the US (such as Indian Reservations). It is a good net-working place, but more so it gives me the satisfaction of accomplishing something.

2. Anna Karenina. Not on the "prescribed" reading list from school, but I loved the book and read it twice on my own. Yes, we had to write book reports.

3. There are several goals; some are reached, some got done ahead of time, and some are pushed back. The way I looks at it is you et a budget, but life happens, and you tweak it. I was supposed to pay off the car this year, but managed to do it last year. I bought it new (I know, many people said it is not a wise thing to do) and it had only some 25,000 miles when I paid it off. It should last me a long time.

Student loan repayment is right on track; will have the one with the highest interest rate (7.5%) paid off by December, and will move on to tackle the ones at 6.5% next year. Basically I pay the minimum to all, and throw an extra $1,000 a month at the one with the highest interest rate.

On the other hand, I was aiming for a efund of $10,000 by the end of this year, but looking at it right now, it will be closer to $8,000. I am doing very well on retirement savings, though. Have been putting away just under 20% of my before-tax income for a few years now. Even before, I always managed to save something, doesn't matter if it is as little as 5%.

Since the debt I have left are mortgage and student loan, I am going to tackle the later first and my goal is to pay that off in 50 months. Will also up my retirement savings just a little bit starting next year. After the student loan, save for the next car and start attacking the mortgage like crazy. Currently I am only paying anywhere from $50 to $200 extra a month.

The biggest thing that helps me reach my goals is: pay myself first (savings taken out before I even have my pay deposited in the bank), pay bills next, and whatever left is what I have to spend. Also, I LOVE getting paid once a month. Regardless of the closing date, all the bills are paid in the beginning of the month which streamlines my planning.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-04-2008
Wed, 09-30-2009 - 11:17am



iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-1999
Wed, 09-30-2009 - 11:27am

1.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-14-2008
Wed, 09-30-2009 - 3:51pm

1. What kind of volunteering activities do you do? How did you get started with them? What kinds of benefits do you get from the volunteering? Are your volunteering efforts helping you build job skills?

***I don't have a lot of time to volunteer right now but I will be helping with my son's activities this year very soon. Is it going to help me with my job--ummm no, probably not, but that isn't why I am doing it. I am doing it to help my community and my son will love it.

2. What was your favorite book when you were in high school? Was it read for a class or on your own? Did you have to write book reports when you were in school?

***I have always been a reader. I remember catcher in the rye and a book about a native girl and some wolves I really liked. I know I did book reports but I don't really remember them. I usually did pretty good in English.

3. Have you reached any financial goals related to your debt journey this year so far? How did you feel as you arrived at your goal? How long did it take you to reach that goal ? What was one of the things you had to do or not do to reach this goal? Was this a big goal or a small goal? What is the next goal, and how long do you think it will take to get there?

***My personal credit line is gone. It was 30,000. It took a year and a half. I threw everything at it I had and some was from my bf too. We probably have a bigger car payment because of it but there is no interest on the car loan, there was on the credit line. I feel relief. My next goal is to get through the winter and not go over on my business credit line even though I have some pretty big expenses coming up. I have put paying extra on my land and building loan on hold until then. It will still go down and be gone in a year or sooner if I can start paying extra on it in the spring? This is really important to have this loan gone so my business credit line can recover and not have this big expense drawing on it every month. I might actually get ahead! We will see what happens this year.

Read more: http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/compose.asp?webtag=iv-mlsupport&rptid=22194&rptsn=1&foldername=Debt%20Discussions#ixzz0ScXa3RMG


iVillage Member
Registered: 08-24-2007
Wed, 09-30-2009 - 5:39pm

OMG, cindylee, I've been trying to forget Tale of Two Cities for

Kate


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