Happy Monday!
Today, I paid off my discover card! Yippee! 1 less debt to worry about. I now only have my citibank card at $12,840.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Debt - February 16
Hi there,
It's sunday night, and I'm so glad I have the day off tomorrow! I think I'll just sleep in a bit and run some errands. Hope the rest of you have a day off!
So this week, I paid off a bit more off my discover card and citibank card. I now owe the following:
Discover - $200
Citibank - $12,850
Slowly but surely, it's being killed off!
Currently, I'm trying to find other ways to make money. So far, the only thing I could come up with is doing surveys online. Not sure if that will help much, but it's a shot. I'd like to get a small business going on the side, but have no idea what to do. I guess it's time for a brainstorm session. Something that doesn't require too much capital and not too much inventory. Man..this is gonna be a tough one!
It's sunday night, and I'm so glad I have the day off tomorrow! I think I'll just sleep in a bit and run some errands. Hope the rest of you have a day off!
So this week, I paid off a bit more off my discover card and citibank card. I now owe the following:
Discover - $200
Citibank - $12,850
Slowly but surely, it's being killed off!
Currently, I'm trying to find other ways to make money. So far, the only thing I could come up with is doing surveys online. Not sure if that will help much, but it's a shot. I'd like to get a small business going on the side, but have no idea what to do. I guess it's time for a brainstorm session. Something that doesn't require too much capital and not too much inventory. Man..this is gonna be a tough one!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Bailout????
Alright, so apparently, the stock market dropped 4% on news of the bailout. Why? Well, the bailout was not explained very well. To put it in perspective, there was lot left to be desired. I'm sorry, but have they not been working on this for awhile now? Why can't they make it clear? Everything seemed to be so disorganized! Man...I hope this clears up soon. I'd like to start putting my 401k money back into funds, and not just sitting in some money market fund that earns like 1 percent...grrr..
Monday, February 9, 2009
Debt - February 9th
I think I have a case of the Mundays!
New Debt:
Chase - $0!!! DONE! Only had to pay a 4.97 finance charge, but I paid it off this weekend.
Citibank - $12,875. No payment made. I've decided that since this is at 0%, for now, I'll make minimum payments, and make bulk payments from my savings. I might as well earn some interest while I'm doing this, right?
Discover Card - $400. I'm still looking to pay off this card by the end of the month. However, I have a feeling it will be done sometime in mid-March
Student Loan - $6,761.87 Starting next week, I'll be taking this out and reporting it every quarter since this is an amortized loan. It's a monthly payment of $97.62
Total Credit Card debt: $13,275.
New Debt:
Chase - $0!!! DONE! Only had to pay a 4.97 finance charge, but I paid it off this weekend.
Citibank - $12,875. No payment made. I've decided that since this is at 0%, for now, I'll make minimum payments, and make bulk payments from my savings. I might as well earn some interest while I'm doing this, right?
Discover Card - $400. I'm still looking to pay off this card by the end of the month. However, I have a feeling it will be done sometime in mid-March
Student Loan - $6,761.87 Starting next week, I'll be taking this out and reporting it every quarter since this is an amortized loan. It's a monthly payment of $97.62
Total Credit Card debt: $13,275.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Suleman Octuplets
14 total children, single, and 33 years old. Whuh???? In this day and age, I can't even imagine taking care of more than just myself! I'm wondering how much debt this girl can occur? Better yet, how much welfare is she going to get???!
I just saw her interview on Dateline, and you know what? I don't how she got the idea that she'll be able to support 14 kids on her own. HOW???! That's what I think America wants to know. All I know is, the economy is bad enough, giving these big corporations a bailout. Are we going to bail her out too?! A child nowadays costs well over a million dollars over 18 years to support. Umm..yea, I don't think so.
Yes, it's a human life. I can understand that. But if you can't financially afford it, DON'T do it!
I just saw her interview on Dateline, and you know what? I don't how she got the idea that she'll be able to support 14 kids on her own. HOW???! That's what I think America wants to know. All I know is, the economy is bad enough, giving these big corporations a bailout. Are we going to bail her out too?! A child nowadays costs well over a million dollars over 18 years to support. Umm..yea, I don't think so.
Yes, it's a human life. I can understand that. But if you can't financially afford it, DON'T do it!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Wells Fargo, are you kidding me?!
Let's face it. Right now, we would all love for the economy to get back to normal. JUST normal. People are losing their jobs left and right. Businesses are going under. And yet, Wells Fargo decides it's ok to use taxpayer funds to take 1000 of their top employees (Read: Those who make millions of dollars a year) to a 12 day trip to Las Vegas. What is going on here! Are you kidding me??? How can any company justify this? We're talking a top hotel, money to gamble, to have fun when the masses are just trying to get by during this tough time. I cannot believe how bad these companies are getting. Why are we giving billions of dollars to these big corporations while we let little mom and pop shops go under? I hate this. I really do.
That being said, although I am against a socialist society, I believe that we should be able to dictate how they give out compensation. This is ridiculous. Now, had this been just limited to just Wells Fargo, I might not be so upset. But Citibank tried ordering corporate jets as well. When are we going to learn that we can't let these big corporations do as they please? They have an obligation to do the right thing, and we should have a say.
I think everyone should consider closing all ties with Wells Fargo. Let's hit them hard in the stomach. Show them that without us, they are NOTHING! Although we'll have to put our money elsewhere, it's a start until they realize they can't bully us around.
SCREW YOU WELLS FARGO! I sincerely hope that if you didn't learn your lesson from this, that you go out of business!
That being said, although I am against a socialist society, I believe that we should be able to dictate how they give out compensation. This is ridiculous. Now, had this been just limited to just Wells Fargo, I might not be so upset. But Citibank tried ordering corporate jets as well. When are we going to learn that we can't let these big corporations do as they please? They have an obligation to do the right thing, and we should have a say.
I think everyone should consider closing all ties with Wells Fargo. Let's hit them hard in the stomach. Show them that without us, they are NOTHING! Although we'll have to put our money elsewhere, it's a start until they realize they can't bully us around.
SCREW YOU WELLS FARGO! I sincerely hope that if you didn't learn your lesson from this, that you go out of business!
Monday, February 2, 2009
February Debt
Happy Valentines Month for all you romantics at heart! The only relationship I hate is the one I have with my credit cards! Alright, so the new update. Instead of transferring balances to my Chase card as I previously mentioned, I decided to go with the Citicard 0% APR until 11/09. Overall, this should save me some money. Here are the current balances:
Chase : $100 (0% until 3/09. Will be done this month)
Discover Card: $400 (0% until 3/09. Will pay off in march)
Citicard: $12,875 (0% until 11/09)
Stafford: $6,761.87
Total debt: $ 20,136.87
My goal for the Citicard is to have the balance down to $6,000 by 11/09. This will take a lot of discipline, but I think I can do it! My debt went up a bit, but that's because of the balance transfer fee. I'll bring it back down quickly!
I did a mock 2008 tax filing, and found out that I no longer am able to deduct student loan interest. This, in my opinion, is a double edged sword. It's great that I'm making more money now, but at the same time, that's 1 less deduction. Because of this, I now consider this just like my credit cards. But since I have a set payment of $97.62 a month, and a principle balance of 6,761.87. This will be my last priority since the interest rate is really low.
So far so good this year. I have not used my credit cards at all, but rather my debit card. Nice! I know I can do it. I now have all my bills paid directly from my checking account. I know I'm on my way!
For now, I'll just pay down the Chase card and Discover card. Little by little. I still need to eat!
Update to come after 2/15/09. Feel free to comment, and I'll post more if you want.
Chase : $100 (0% until 3/09. Will be done this month)
Discover Card: $400 (0% until 3/09. Will pay off in march)
Citicard: $12,875 (0% until 11/09)
Stafford: $6,761.87
Total debt: $ 20,136.87
My goal for the Citicard is to have the balance down to $6,000 by 11/09. This will take a lot of discipline, but I think I can do it! My debt went up a bit, but that's because of the balance transfer fee. I'll bring it back down quickly!
I did a mock 2008 tax filing, and found out that I no longer am able to deduct student loan interest. This, in my opinion, is a double edged sword. It's great that I'm making more money now, but at the same time, that's 1 less deduction. Because of this, I now consider this just like my credit cards. But since I have a set payment of $97.62 a month, and a principle balance of 6,761.87. This will be my last priority since the interest rate is really low.
So far so good this year. I have not used my credit cards at all, but rather my debit card. Nice! I know I can do it. I now have all my bills paid directly from my checking account. I know I'm on my way!
For now, I'll just pay down the Chase card and Discover card. Little by little. I still need to eat!
Update to come after 2/15/09. Feel free to comment, and I'll post more if you want.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
January Debt
Happy New Year! I wish for everyone a debt free 2009! I was just paid my bonus of 10k. Although it was reduced because of a horrible economy, I'm just happy I got something! Maybe if things get better this year, it'll increase dramatically next year! After paying down some debt and putting the rest in savings, here is my new debt total:
Citibank 1- $0 (Paid off!)
Chase - $5,000
Citibank 2 - $4,500
Discover - $3,500
Stafford - $6,761.87
Total debt: $19,761.87
Not too shabby! Last month I was at a little over 21k! It's dropping slowly, but surely! I'm thrilled to have paid off the Citibank card.
I have decided to close the Citibank card. The @%%@@%^@!! decided it was time to raise my rate to about %21.99!!!! Can you believe it? I've owned this card since 1994, always made my payments on time, charged at least $1,000 a month, and this is how they thank me?! The part that really kills me is that I have another Citibank card, in which they did not touch! I was fuming! I called them and told them I am opting out. This basically means that I do not accept the new rate, and that once the card expires, it will be closed for good. I'm not giving them any more money! And when I paydown or transfer the other Citibank card balance, I'm cancelling that as well. I decided they do not need my business any longer and thus, I will be flipping them the bird. Good bye you jerks! So much for a bailout, huh?
Because my balance transfer rates are going to expire in march, I'm moving some money around. First, I will transfer out the Chase balance to the Citibank card. The transfer fee is 3% of the balance, at 0% until the end of the year. But wait! We're not finished. Since the Citibank transfer rate is also expiring, I will be moving all that money back into the Chase card at .99% apr until around march 2010. There's a 3% fee as well, but capped at $199. Then, I will move the discover card balance to the Chase card. That way, I have it all on the Chase card. I will paydown the balances a bit more, and pay off the balance transfer fees next.
Since i'm closing my other Citibank card, I will no longer have the balance transfer option, except to the discover card and my amex card. I'm hoping this will motivate me to aggressively pay it down. It's a bit of a risk, but it'll give me that sense of urgency, correct? Besides, I think having 3 credit cards is more than sufficient.
On to Goal #2 :Pay off charges from the month of April 2008. These are the charges I have from April:
4/8/08 - $600 Expenses from Amsterdam
4/9/08 - $700 Expenses from London
4/22/08 - $700 Clutch replacement on my Honda (gotta love these cars!)
Total: $2,000
I will pay these off with money left over on my paychecks. In addition to doing this every paycheck, I will also make weekly payments to charges made under $100. I have about 15 of these, in all, these should be completed by end of April. That's my goal. I also will pay all new finance charges to make the numbers round.
Wish me luck!
Citibank 1- $0 (Paid off!)
Chase - $5,000
Citibank 2 - $4,500
Discover - $3,500
Stafford - $6,761.87
Total debt: $19,761.87
Not too shabby! Last month I was at a little over 21k! It's dropping slowly, but surely! I'm thrilled to have paid off the Citibank card.
I have decided to close the Citibank card. The @%%@@%^@!! decided it was time to raise my rate to about %21.99!!!! Can you believe it? I've owned this card since 1994, always made my payments on time, charged at least $1,000 a month, and this is how they thank me?! The part that really kills me is that I have another Citibank card, in which they did not touch! I was fuming! I called them and told them I am opting out. This basically means that I do not accept the new rate, and that once the card expires, it will be closed for good. I'm not giving them any more money! And when I paydown or transfer the other Citibank card balance, I'm cancelling that as well. I decided they do not need my business any longer and thus, I will be flipping them the bird. Good bye you jerks! So much for a bailout, huh?
Because my balance transfer rates are going to expire in march, I'm moving some money around. First, I will transfer out the Chase balance to the Citibank card. The transfer fee is 3% of the balance, at 0% until the end of the year. But wait! We're not finished. Since the Citibank transfer rate is also expiring, I will be moving all that money back into the Chase card at .99% apr until around march 2010. There's a 3% fee as well, but capped at $199. Then, I will move the discover card balance to the Chase card. That way, I have it all on the Chase card. I will paydown the balances a bit more, and pay off the balance transfer fees next.
Since i'm closing my other Citibank card, I will no longer have the balance transfer option, except to the discover card and my amex card. I'm hoping this will motivate me to aggressively pay it down. It's a bit of a risk, but it'll give me that sense of urgency, correct? Besides, I think having 3 credit cards is more than sufficient.
On to Goal #2 :Pay off charges from the month of April 2008. These are the charges I have from April:
4/8/08 - $600 Expenses from Amsterdam
4/9/08 - $700 Expenses from London
4/22/08 - $700 Clutch replacement on my Honda (gotta love these cars!)
Total: $2,000
I will pay these off with money left over on my paychecks. In addition to doing this every paycheck, I will also make weekly payments to charges made under $100. I have about 15 of these, in all, these should be completed by end of April. That's my goal. I also will pay all new finance charges to make the numbers round.
Wish me luck!
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