Where Am I Now? – Part I: Increasing My Income

Now that I’d decreased my outflow, I’ve started looking at ways to increase my income.

When I moved from WA to CA in July, I took only what fit in my car, so there was a lot of stuff left at my parents’ place. They’d been planning to have a garage sale anyway, and my part of the proceeds was about $500.

I also found a few things I’d brought with me that I didn’t really need or want, so I listed that stuff on eBay, Amazon, and Half. I sold a few DVDs, the seventh Harry Potter, my old camera, and a few other odds and ends, all of which has net me about $200 so far.

I’ve also got a bunch of books and CDs still at my parents’ place, which I plan on bringing back in my checked luggage at Thanksgiving so that I can sell them.

My next objective was to find a second job. I needed something where the hours wouldn’t affect my current 8-5 job, and since I’m not desperate, I also needed something that I wouldn’t completely hate, which ruled out many high turnover positions like fast food.

What I came up with was newspaper delivery. The hours are about 3-6 am, six days a week, which would give me plenty of time to get home and get ready before I had to be at my regular job at 8. It’s also done mostly alone, which is a big plus for an introvert like me, especially at the crack of dawn. I’d have to adjust my sleeping schedule to do it, as well as give up watching as much TV (or at least save it for the weekend - although with the writer's strike, there may not be much to watch anyway), but it pays $16-18 an hour so I’m sure I could do it temporarily to get a good chunk of my debt eliminated.

I’ve done some research and found a couple companies that handle delivery in my area, but since I’ll be flying home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I don’t want to deal with finding someone to take my route on those days, I’ll apply for a route when I get back after Christmas. I plan on sticking it out for at least six months (more if I like it and I’m not too tired), which will net me around $7000 dollars.

Total increased income so far: $700

Increased income goal for the next year: $8000

I’ll be sure to keep you updated as I work toward that goal.

This post is part of my Financial Revolution Series, which is my personal financial story. Each post gives a piece of the story, detailing how I got into debt and how I turned things around.

Next Time on TVG&M: Nuts and Bolts

How Did I Get Here? – Part VI: The Pruning Gets Easier

While working on conquering the student loan beast, I took a look at a few other things I could do to pare down my monthly payments and make my snowball bigger.

The first thing I looked at was my credit cards. I did a balance transfer to a 0% card a couple of years ago, and although I mostly paid it down during that year, I wasn’t on a plan like I am now, so I ran up my other cards in the mean time. Needless to say, this wasn’t helpful. Still, I knew I could do that again and use my newfound financial ambition to get rid of the debt before the 0% went away.

All of that was floating around in my head when I was at the bank one day shortly after my initial financial revolution. The guy behind the counter was looking at my account and said I was pre-approved for a 0% card. I was VERY hesitant to sign up because I didn’t want to act on impulse, but I figured that 0% was 0% and it would be nice to have the card at my current bank because making payments through their online funds transfer would be really easy.

It turned out that I wasn’t really pre-approved (why the guy said that, I have no idea), and after they signed me up for the card my rate turned out to be 1.9%. With a 3% balance transfer, this wasn’t as good of a deal as I’d hoped, and I wish I had done some more research before acting, but overall it’s still a much better situation than I was in with balances on four different cards at upwards of 20% on most of them. Over the period of time before I pay these off, this saved me about an average of $13 a month.

The next thing I looked at were some of my smaller monthly bills. I took Netflix down from three-at-a-time unlimited to one-at-a-time unlimited, which saved me $8 a month. I took texting off my cell phone and removed the insurance, saving me $5 a month. I lowered my grocery allotment from $240 to $200, and have since gotten it all the way down to $140, saving me $100 a month.

One last thing I did was to shop around for car insurance. Since I’d recently moved and my current policy would be expiring soon, I needed to update my insurance anyway. I got quotes from a few different companies, but my current company was still the lowest, and because an accident I got into a few years ago was no longer on my record, my payments went from $160 to $100 a month.

Total Savings: $186 a month, and it wasn’t even that painful.

This post is part of my Financial Revolution Series, which is my personal financial story. Each post gives a piece of the story, detailing how I got into debt and how I turned things around.

Next Time on TVG&M: Increasing My Income

Weekly Wrap-up - Week 2

Another week, another Weekly Wrap-up. This week was HUGE for me, as my student loan consolidation became final and I found $2200 in a forgotten retirement account.

In semi-related news, my office had a chili cook-off for Halloween, and I won! My prize was a free pizza from a local pizzeria, so I'm forgoing the diet tonight in favor of a free meal, a tasty treat, and a sense of accomplishment.

Before the rest of the linkage ensues, I'd like to say a huge thanks to Paid Twice for hosting the Carnival of Debt Reduction, which featured my Financial Revolution as an editor's choice. Thank you!

I'd also like to say welcome to all the new readers who have come over in the past week. It's good to have you here! Feel free to comment on any entry or email me with questions.

And now, my favorite posts from around the blogosphere:

• The Baby Steps @ Debt Free in the Ozarks - This is an excellent summary of Dave Ramsey's baby steps from someone who organizes his Financial Peace University at her church.
• Should Parents Try to Influence Their Children's College Applications? @ Grad Money Matters - This is an interesting discussion, but I disagree with many of the points made. Yes, parents are there to guide their children and should point out if they think the kid is making a huge mistake, but in the end it's the kid's life, and they have to do what they feel is right for them. As long as the kid is approaching the decision maturely and has the information they need, they should be able to make the decision themselves.
• Why Are Some People So Ignorant About Money? @ Money Smart Life - Another interesting discussion. For me it was mostly denial and intimidation.
  
• The Eternal Question: Am I Doing the Right Thing? @ The Simple Dollar - Ah, the eternal question. I've been listening to Dave Ramsey's show a lot lately, and it's really helped me confirm that I'm doing the right things. I think it's important to surround yourself with influences that will help you answer this question.
• Old Habits Sure Do Die Hard @ Gather Little By Little - Yes they do. Lately for me it's been hitting the snooze on my alarm clock and skipping my morning walk. I really need to get back into the habit of going every morning.
• You Will Not Believe This - Prisoners Found My Wallet by the Side of the Road - And All Is Well @ No Credit Needed - Wow! Nice to know that there are still lots of decent people in this world.
• Seven Wonders of the Personal Finance World @ Blueprint for Financial Prosperity - My favorites were the 401(k) Employer Match (because I only recently learned what these are and how they work) and Personal Finance Blogs (because they're a huge reason how and why I turned my financial life around).
  

How Did I Get Here? – Part V: Student Loan Consolidation Is a Pain in the—yeah, that

After creating a budget and eliminating a few things from it, I ended up with a small debt snowball. Obviously the bigger I could make the snowball, the faster I could get out of debt, so I went through each item on my budget to see if I could save any more money.

The biggest monster was my student loans – the bane of my existence for the past couple of years. I had had about twelve different loans from five different companies, and it was almost impossible to keep track of them all. Some of them had nearly identical minimum payments, some of the companies had almost identical names (ACS and AES), and some of the loans would come from the same company, but at different times of the month, on separate bills, and with varying account numbers.

Before my financial revolution, the student loans were my worst nightmare. My mom and I spent hours trying to sort everything out, and I cried over the stacks and stacks of paperwork on her kitchen table more than once. We consolidated a couple years ago, but not everything got included, and I accrued more loans later, so things were still a mess.

After my financial revolution, I felt more of an attack mentality, and I was determined to not only save money, but to understand my loans and simplify things once and for all.

The combined total of the minimum payments was roughly $950 – almost twice my rent—and the amount was going to go up as more grace periods ended in the near future. Although I wanted to save money in the short term by lowering my monthly payment, the last thing I wanted to do was pay more money in the long run, so forbearance and deferment weren’t options. Instead, I looked into consolidation.

The federal loans were fairly easy. Everything was done over the computer, and I ended up with a 5.65% interest rate on a 25 year loan. The interest rate was about the same as the averages of the rates on my previously unconsolidated loans, but the longer term made the monthly payment lower. If I make only the minimum payments, I’ll pay more interest in the long run, but I’ll most likely make extra payments in the future to lessen the effects.

The private loans were more of a challenge. I researched rate quotes from a couple companies, and armed with that information, I called Sallie Mae.

I got a bit of a run around from the first person I talked to. He wouldn’t give me an interest rate quote and said that I’d have to go through the entire application process to find out what my rate would be.

I asked for a supervisor, who gave me the same story until I mentioned the quote I’d gotten from another company. Suddenly, she was all about the numbers. She gave me the exact rates for each credit level of the borrower and co-borrower, the best of which was 8.75%. I knew my parents’ (the co-signers) credit was good, and I figured we would qualify for that lowest rate.

When the paperwork was all said and done, the rate was 8.25% – half a percent lower than what she’d quoted. Fabulous!

The rate on the private loans is variable, but only based on the index – Sallie Mae’s margin is fixed. Also, if the rate adjusts, they prorate the amount so your payment only adjusts once a year, which makes it a lot easier to budget. It’s not ideal, but it’s light years better than before, and I plan to be rid of it in six years or less.

The whole process is slower than a ten year itch, so dispersal seemed to take forever, but the last piece of the puzzle fell into place on Wednesday when ACS received and processed Sallie Mae’s payment.

Both ACS and AES had accrued interest during the application process and dispersal period, so there was still a bit left on each loan. ACS had about $16 left so I sent the payment on Wednesday and I’m DONE with that one. AES was $1,008.80, so that’s at the top of the debt snowball now and should be done by January – I’ve already paid it down to $817.89.

The whole thing was a HUGE headache, but lowering my monthly payment by almost $300 and reducing my budget by ten lines was definitely worth it.

This post is part of my Financial Revolution Series, which is my personal financial story. Each post gives a piece of the story, detailing how I got into debt and how I turned things around.

Next time on TVG&M: The Pruning Gets Easier

My Net Worth – October 2007 – ($105,058.04) – 0.55%

Since it’s the beginning of a new month, I want to pause the current series to take a look at my net worth. I’ll post an analysis entry like this one at the beginning of every month to measure my progress.

Assets:
Cash $1.50
US Bank Checking: $1,363.59
ING Savings: $893.43
PERS Retirement: $2,249.08
Car: $7,000
Personal Property: $1,000
Total: $12,507.60

Liabilities:
US Bank Credit Card: $3,409.41
Chase Credit Card: $484.73
The Bank of Mom and Dad: $7,610.24
The Bank of Friends: $526.27
Car Loan: $5,921.33
AES Student Loan: $817.89
Sallie Mae Private Student Loan: $58,746.01
Sallie Mae Federal Student Loan: $40,058.68
Total: $117,574.56

Net Worth: -$105,066.96
Change from Previous Month: 0.55%

My student loan consolidation became final as of yesterday, which made me very very happy for two reasons. 1) It’s finally behind me and I can get on with the business of paying down debt at nice(ish) interest rates. 2) I didn’t want my net worth to be screwy this month because the new loan showed money paid out, but one of the old loans didn’t show the credit yet.

My growth this month was fairly small, mostly because the consolidation brought a couple loans out of the grace period, so the accrued interest capitalized and the total principle went up. I’ve adjusted the progress bars in the sidebar to reflect this. Also note, the student loans are listed individually now, instead of all lumped together.

A big positive this month: found money. A couple days ago, I remembered that I’d been putting money into a retirement account at my last job. A web search and a phone call later, and I discovered I had over $2,000 in there. Awesome!

Overall this wasn’t a great growth month, but I’m very proud of myself for finally making it over the consolidation hurdle. In fact, tomorrow’s financial revolution post will detail that beast.

Next Time on TVG&M: Student Loan Consolidation Is a Pain in the—yeah, that