So, I should be in bed now, but here I am. To sum up the last few weeks. I took 2 weeks off from Job #2 (now #3) to get away, I was burning out and I had planned to use that time to find another more stable gig, which I did.

I ended up starting that gig one week in, so I never had much of a vacay and then when I knew for sure I was hired, I changed my schedule w/job #3 except they didn't and I ended up having to take off last week from the new job and actually started there this week.

Now, if that is as clear as mud, let's proceed ;)

This is the first full week @ the new job. So far, so hard. Not impossible, just different. One more day then I'm off till Sat, but then I go into job #3 fri and sat nite. The upside of it all, I'm 100% off on Sunday! I opened up another checking acct for that paycheck to go to and got a savings acct thrown in for good measure. I'm shy to say how many checking accts I have, it's really ridiculous, but it works for me.

This week I reprinted my budget, I need to revise it and I need to sort out what bills come from which checking acct. Right now the hours @ job #3, in my best guess, will be about 8-10 hours a week. I kept that job b/c it's on my way home both fri and sat, no extra driving, so it'll either pay for gas and it'll pay for clothes I already get @ a discount and I'll continue to sock away 10%. Anything extra will go for food and then bills.

Main job pays main bills, rent, utilites, food, car, student loans etc. Job #3 goes to pay off credit cards till they are paid in full, then it goes toward student loans and such.

So that's my not so brief update. I really suck @ promising to updated in xx days then vanishing for xx weeks, so I'll post when I post...how 'bout that :)

Back in May I said there were a few topics I was going to tackle in coming weeks:

- Compound Interest is kicking my ass - Numbers don't lie, finally did a budget and um, yikes! - Lean months are coming - Going back to school?? - Taking a step back to see what I have accomplished so far

Naturally, I have forgotten the major points of said teasers, so this'll be easier than I thought. I'll be able to wrap this all up in one post.

*****

1. Compound Interest is kicking my ass

I didn't full grasp the evils of compound interest till I mused my Target bill and it's ever so slow downward creep. It seemed like I was paying interest on interest. Feeling frustrated and like I busted a credit card doing something sue-worthy, I opened up calculator and tried to crunch the numbers I never touch. The ones behind the scene. What I found out, floored me.

Looking @ my 3/5/08 statement, my previous balance was $9,323.79, w/a minimum due of $262.83. I paid 262.93 and made a mental note my next bill would be around $9,060.86.

It was actually $9,205.81.

Curious as to why I was so off base, I looked @ the bottom of the statement. In the purchases box (mind you I don't use the card) I saw a "purchase" charge for $145.00. It was labeled finance charges. I felt sick. For that amount of loot, I could've walked into Target and gotten myself $145 worth of stuff.

Taking a deep breath, I did some googling. That was the day I learned about compound interest.

I opened up my 4/5/08 statement. Previous Balance, $9205.81. Paid $265. Finance Charges $153.03.

It felt like for every two steps forward ($265 payment) , I was talking a step back ($265 -$153 finance = $112 actually paid).

Now I can't get too upset w/myself. The way I structured my debt pay off, to go from smallest to largest was for a valid reason. I need the mental hooray that comes w/each debt I knock out.

I know myself, had I attempted to pay this card off first, I'd still be paying it down, granted there'd be a considerably smaller balance maybe in the 3k range, but I'd also have 8 other mini debts nipping @ my heels. Visually, I like focusing on 4 debts, so while I an gripe, I am realistic and used my energy to figure out this money maker worked for Target and it goes a little something like this:

Average daily balance x daily interest = monthly finance charge

Got it?

How do they figure daily interest you say? Easy. see that annual % rate, mine is a tasty 19.99%, you take that and divide the # of days in the year, this case 365.

That gives me 0.054767123287671232876712328767123%, let's say 0.05476% for short, as my daily interest.

Now take the average daily balance, in my case $9,014.65 and multiply it by 0.05476% (be sure to hit the % key) it'll give ya 4.93642234, lets just say 4.94. Which really means $4.94 in daily interest. Finally, we multiply that by the days in the billing cycle, 31 and voila, $153.14 in interest. Just wow.

Learning that tidbit, has made me extra focused on paying off this debt and made me check out the interest on what I have left. Granted my student loan debt is simple interest and it makes more sense to pay the least amount of money possible, I am just @ the point where I'll just consider it a lesson learned and continue paying my debt smallest to largest.

It irks me that in a years time I'll have forked over $1800+ in just finance charges, but @ this point, it's a silly debate to have w/myself.

This was much longer than I intended, so here's another promise ;), I'll pick up the other 4 topics in a few days.

Suprisingly ontime this month, considering the fact that every fiber of my being hurts, but I'm off tomorrow so it's all good right?

Here is where I was 4/8/08:

Here is where I am as of today:

1. William & Fudge. Last month $2,726.81. Now I owe $2,576.81.

2. Direct Student Loan. Last month $7,513.69. Now I owe $7,425.99.

3. Target Visa (+ Federal Taxes). Last month I owed $9,093.84. Now I owe $8,710.19.

4. Sallie Mae. Last month $23,542.20. Now I owe $23,381.49.

Grand totals: Last month I was $42,876.54 in debt. Now I am $42,094.48 in debt.

In the last 30 days I have paid down $782.06, resulting in not much progress. Or so it seems. Let me just say, compound interest is a bitch, more on that later.

In my defense, I can't always have stellar months where I pay off cards in full, it was exentuating circumstances the first few months of the year that helped me pay off the smaller debts, plus I had more motivation. Now I'm tackling the multi thousand dollar debts and compound interest is totally working against me. I also gave up on the third job last month, I had a HUGEEEEE tax bill to pay, I have car tags and insurance due, it was my mom's bday and mothers day, so the extra hundred of dollars that could've went to my debt had more pressing matters to attend to.

So it goes.

A few things I need to do and while I am HORRIBLE @ following up on my blog cilffhangers, I promise to try better.

- Compound Interest is kicking my ass
- Numbers don't lie, finally did a budget and um, yikes!
- Lean months are coming
- Going back to school??
- Taking a step back to see what I have accomplished so far

Re: my cat, the grief is still there, but I'm feeling bette. We are looking into becoming a foster home for cats/kittens that need nurturing. Doing that in a way to guard my heart from what happened, not ready for the permanent replacement just yet. Also, I do have an idea of the cat I want next and until it shows up, this is a way to fill the hole in my heart and bring some kitten antics back into the house.

********

Now onto my debt.

What I am going to do, from now till the final pay off date is, track my progress monthly. The graph on the right side of the site will change each month (hopefully downward motions only...lol). In the blog part, I'll break down where I was and where I am. Also in the far right column, I have a quick and dirty cheat sheet of debt. Ok, here is where I was 1/8/08:

Here is where I am as of today:

1. PayPal Buyers Credit. Last month $112.50. Today it is Paid in FULL!

2. Capital 1 Visa. Last month $468.92. Today it is Paid in FULL!

3. Orchard Bank MC. Last month $1,027.70. Today it is Paid in FULL!

4. Old Navy Card. Last month I owed $683.44. Now I owe $432.86.

5. Toyota Car Loan. Last month I owed $2,057.68. Now I owe $1805.40.

6. Target Visa. Last month I owed $2,470.1. Now I owe $2,126.78.

7. GA Taxes. Last month I owed $2,183.74. Now I owe $2,183.74.

8. Capital 1 Gold. Last month $2,910.32. Now I owe $2,625.43.

9. William & Fudge. Lasst month $3176.81. Now I owe $3,026.81.

10. Federal Taxes. Last month $6,934.03. Now I owe $6,934.03.

11. Direct Student Loan. Last month $7,776.56. Nw I owe $7,690.45.

12. Sallie Mae. Last month $24,050.68. Now I owe $23,897.83.

Grand totals: Last month I was $53,121.83 in debt. Now I am $50,723.33 in debt.

In the last 30 days I have paid down $2,398.50, resulting in me paying off 3 credit cards. Now for some fuzzy math, bear w/me, this is a convoluted story, try to stay awake ;)

Back in January, I got "pre approved" for up to 10k @ 8.99% w/free balance transfer. Let me back up a bit more. When I first added up my GA Taxes, I must have missed a year, b/c I was off a few hundred bucks, actually owing bit over 2k and not the $1500 or so I thought.

Ok, so I'm getting these offers and then I get the tax bill and then I get a "convenience check" from Capital 1 Gold.

(There is much more going on behind the scenes, including 3 phone calls to the GA IRS, finding out one of the years went into collection, DESPITE the freaking fact that I already paid it and now I have to call them tomorrow and figure out why this all happened.)

Anyway, anyway my thinking was this: use the CC check to pay the tax bill then do a Balance Transfer to the new card.

Well, I ended up getting approved for $600 bucks. Yup. Before I knew it, $500 went to Cap 1 Gold. @ first I was pissed, but believe it or not, this all worked out for the greater good.

Remember the miscalculation on my part? (2k not $1500?)

Well I wrote out the CC check for the $1500 and mailed it on the 14th, bill was due on the 15th. After my 2nd call to the GA IRS, realizing it was over a week and no check posting, I went online and paid each year w/the cc.

By doing a balance transfer of $500, I was able to free up much needed space and the next day I went ahead and paid it off (that Juniper card will ONLY be used for car related purchases such as gas and oil changes, minor things I can pay in full each month).

*Whew*

Long story short, my cap 1 gold now has my GA Tax bill on it.

Now the next part of the story is, I felt my "true" debt didn't reflect the actual picture so I made a minor change to the chart and how I'll log things.

Target Visa card is the card w/the Federal taxes on it. I went ahead and removed the taxes from both credit cards. Each month I will report the pay down amounts separately. It won't be an exact science. Until the credit card part of the debt is paid off, I'll just leave the tax debt as is. All payments will simply count towards the older debt. Of course I'm not factoring in interest. When the cc part of the debt is paid off, I'll count the final payments on the same card, as tax debt. If that makes any sense @ all.

So now what? According to my overall breakdown for this year, updates in bold.

With that amount, @ the very least I'll pay off all the smaller credit cards:

PayPal Buyers Credit - (Paid in Full!)
Capital 1 Visa - (Paid in Full!)
Orchard Bank Card - (Paid in Full!)
Old Navy Card
Ga Taxes
Toyota Car Loan
Capital 1 Gold
and $1900.72 toward Williams and Fudge.

In the short term, that means over the for the next 10.5 months I need to pay off the Old Navy Card, Capital 1 Gold Target Visa*, Toyota Car Loan, GA Taxes and $1900 towards Williams and Fudge for a grand total of $8,448.78.

*since breaking out the tax debt from the cc's, the target visa balance was smaller than the cap 1 gold card.

********

Last thing, as this is my first full week w/o job #3 and I'm almost caught up on missing sleep. I started to reread a few entries and realize I left a few things hanging. I PROMISE. Tomorrow I am going thru all entries since the year started and conclude the cliffhangers.

In an effort to be 100% transparent and honest to myself, for the rest of this week I'm going to spell out exactly how much I owe, it burns me up I don't know my state taxes yet, where applicable, give a brief background on how the debt spiraled back out of control (specifficaly the credit cards)

As of today, I owe the following:

1. PayPal Buyers Credit (PBC) $112.50 out of $900.00
2. Capital One Visa (C1V) $468.92 out of $950.00
3. Old Navy Card (ONC) $683.44 out of $750.00
4. Orchard Bank (OB) $1,027.70 out of $1,1100
5. Capital One Gold (C1G) $2,910.32 out of $5000.00
6. Target RedCard Visa (TRV) $9,404.13 out of $9500.00

Card #1 - PBC $112.50

Logged into PayPal to make a purchase, took a chance in opening another line of credit, instead of getting the actual card, I got a line of online purchasing credit.

Card #2 - C1V $468.92

The majority of purchases on this card was made before I moved and a few household items.

Card #3 - ONC $683.44

Plain and simple, a lack of self control and thinking after all my "hard work", I "deserved" nice clothes. This after me spending the weekend of Black Friday returning almost $1k worth of clothes and goods. I vowed to myself, I have enough clothes and shoes to last me for a long while. Nothing, no matter how cheap it is is worth the hours I put in w/the part time jobs and when I really look @ how many hours, how much my feet aches to get a bi weekly check of about $250 if I'm lucky, and I can just charge up $150+ w/in 10 minutes, it makes me queasy.

Card #4 - OB $1,027.70

I thought I was doing the right thing by putting my food shopping on this card and paying it off in full each month by making $75/week payments. I had everything scheduled w/my online banking and must have missed the dates b/c the weekly payment stopped and next thing I know, the card is just about maxed out.

Add to it, a spontaneous order of a product I saw on TV, buying it for the house, back in Sept/Oct I was buying up a storm on household improvement items as you'll learn in later purchases, this is where I stand.

Card #5 - C1G $2,910.32

This card financed me moving, from renting the truck, to buying furniture for my room. It also fed me, despite buying food on the OBC, I started eating out more and more and more.

Card #6 - TRV $9,404.13

The bulk of the damage on this card came from buying a whole lotta clothes and household furnishings, then returning almost $800 worth to free up room to pay my federal taxes.

Ugly ugly ugly.

My plan of attack, is to go back to a tried and true method that worked for me in the past, the debt snowball. Working 2 part time jobs, I was able to put away a chunk of money to tide me over in the coming lean months as hours dry up and I may take a leap of faith and leave one job to find another that pays more. My modest goal is to continue to pay the minimum on all cards, while I throw @ least $500 to the smallest debt, then roll that over + the old minimum payment to the next highest.

Using that method alone, I shold have the C1V and the ONC card paid off in 2 months, and will then have $500 + $12 + $40 to add to the OBC and so on and so on.

********

On a positive note, I finished my first personal finance book of the New Year, truth be told, it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but it is a good reference and gave me some background insight on specific debt issues I had, like the federal taxes. Let's just say I'm glad I nipped it in the bud when I did, like I actually had a choice.

Next up, I'm going to give Suze Orman's new book a read. That book I got mainly to get the free $100 from Ameritrade. Even though it's an investment account and my funds are tight, I can put aside $50 a month. After 12 months, she gives you $100 reward, which is way more than I'd earn having $600 sit in a traditional savings account.

I originally stated

Going forward, I'll update my monthly progress after the 15th. All my statements end the end of the month and the two capital one cards ends around the 7th.

Being that my credit cards are now paid in full (bwah!) this is my final update!! (booyah) In it's place, and the new category I alluded to, will be the Loan Repayment Progress Chart (boooo!)

Here's the credit card progress chart from December 06:

Here's my January progress:

Thanks for the memories...NOT!

I update my credit card progress on or around the 15th.
Here's the debt chart from November 06:

Here's the credit card progress chart from November 06:

Here's my December progress:

The minimums are as follows:

Rollover minimums from 3 paid off cards: $96
Capital Gold: $89
Total Minimum: $185

My 10% snowball is $236.84.

Towards the end of the month, I'll update the debt chart to the right and post the numbers for the other 4 debts: Williams & Fudge, Toyota, Sallie Mae and Direct Loans. The last day in each month I'll post my revised Net Worth.

Going forward, I'll update my monthly credit card payoff progress after the 15th. Two statements come in @ the end of the month and the two capital one cards comes in around the 7th.

Here's the credit card progress chart from October 06:

Here's my November progress:

The minimums are as follows:

Target: $48
Orchard: $27
Capital Visa:$21
Capital Gold: $89

My 10% snowball is $236.84. That + $48 will go to Target, the rest will get the minimum.

Towards the end of the month, I'll update the debt chart to the right and post the numbers for the other 4 debts: Williams & Fudge, Toyota, Sallie Mae and Direct Loans. The last day in each month I'll post my revised Net Worth. Or in this case, shall I say Net Lack...heh

Are we havin' fun yet? *groan*

No time like the present to dust off an old category. Let's all hope this go round, I make it longer month 8 eh? AND I don't relapse...*snort* Bringing this monthly feature back, I've also revamped the chart. Included on it is ALL my debt car loan and 3 student loan payments. I feel more honest doing it this way...patting myself on the back for nearing paying off my credit cards was 1/2 hearted as I always knew in the back of my mind there was more. Way more.

As I'm restarting, this month'll be just where I'm at. Next month the compare & contrast fun begins!

Here's the debt chart from October 06:

The green arrow is the debt I'm paying off first.

Here's my standing in spreadsheet format:

The minimums are as follows:

Target: $20
Orchard: $28
Capital Visa:$25
Capital Gold: $97

My 10% snowball is $236.84. Seeing that it is more than I owe on Target, the extra will roll over to my Orchard card...and so on and so on...