Spring Break Damage

April 23, 2014

So, I budgeted for the spring break trip, and now I have to do a review of my spring break expenses.

I didn’t have a realistic goal of how much a rental car would cost. I aimed for $20 a day, and got the car for that amount, but that doesn’t account for taxes and fees so it looked like I went over when actually I got a really good deal.

While I budgeted well for getting nieces and nephews college gear, I didn’t plan (in writing) for getting parents or my sister – although that was always in the back of my mind somewhere. When we went into the store I gave everyone a $25 limit and everyone stuck within the limit. So, the overall expense seemed to be twice what I planned for even though everyone stayed within limits.

I was under the amount I budgeted for gas and the hotel. I went over the food budget. I chose to cook while I visited – which was a smart move. However, we should’ve eaten before going to that baseball game and packed snacks before going to College Day at my alma mater. That could’ve saved me $30 at least.

Overall I was happy with my money management. I’m especially proud that I even kept tabs of spending at all. I don’t recall ever doing that for a trip before.

Prepared for Car Repairs

April 23, 2014

I got the car brakes repaired. It felt good to know that I saved for that back in December (remember when I added an extra $1000 to the EF because I needed to take extra measures to protect my car-home).  

Because of the EF, I can afford to fix the car and still have $1000 in the EF for other emergencies. That' good, too, because another emergency popped up. 

Every year I get a tax refund and I pay the tax preparer out of the refund. Today, I sat down with the tax man for 2.5 hours (the last meeting out of several this past 12 months). When we were done revising or completing taxes for the past 3 years, I owed taxes for last year. Then I had to pay tax prep fees out of pocket because I wasn't eligible for automatic deposit on the previous years' refunds. 

That means I get no refund money right away, but the tax man and the IRS have to be paid TODAY. 

That was my emergency, and I was prepared. 

Before getting the brakes repaired, I rolled around the idea of getting a used car and getting rid of the Honda, but now I think I’ll keep the Honda another year. I’ll add my tax refund to the sinking fund so I can pay cash for this next car. I really do not want more debt. 

Here is my "car philosophy": Buy a car (new or used) and keep it for 10 years.  Keep making car payments all my life and only pay cash for cars. $300/mo for 5 years = $18,000 before interest and trade-in.  $400/mo for 5 years = $24,000

Michelle Singletary suggests fixing up your old car, making it safe and decent, then giving it to family members who need a car. I would give mine to Aunt and Uncle Theo. While I was on spring break, he patched up the dent in my car and sealed it with gray duct tape (matching the gray paint on my Honda). I didn’t ask him to. He did it while I was gone on spring break. It’s not a bad job, and now the items in my trunk won't get wet when it rains. He has put a lot into helping me keep that car running, so I would definitely give it to him. The only question is, Would he appreciate it or be turned off that I'm giving him a car that's close to rundown.

Credit Card Debt Is Gone!

I just paid off the last credit card today!
$6500 in credit card debt paid off in 8 months.

I also started a sinking fund for a new car. I will make car payments into a savings fund until I have enough to pay cash for a decent pre-owned vehicle (plan B: make a sizable down payment on a car and pay it off as quickly as possible).

I did a review of how much I changed financially in the past 6 months:

Before:
1. no savings
2. was trying to pay debts first, even at the expense of eating
3. seldom paid cash
4. was not able to give to help others
5. made minimum payments (and sometimes I couldn't even do that)
6. was not walking in Financial Peace

Now:
1. Have a little more than one month emergency savings
2. I eat before paying debts (Dave Ramseys' Four Walls)
3. I use cash for most purchases
4. I have given 4 times in the past month to help others (broken car, homeless person, child with cancer, friend developed a gospel album and needed help promoting it)
5. I make above the minimum payments
6. I'm not walking in peace yet, but I am out of the hole (big time!) and crawling.

March Celebration

March celebrations:

1. Paid $1200 towards debt.

2. started keeping an everything journal (daily journal with notes, reminders, to-do lists, budget, etc.)

3. half of my adult students that I teach in the evenings scored 12-17 points higher on the posttest this week, and I successfully ended another semester of teaching.

4. started cooking at home (tonight's meal was vegetarian Cornflake Loaf, Grandma's greens (I made them with Grandma's recipe), homemade cornbread, and cranberry sauce)



April goals:
1. create educational items to sell online

now paying rent

When I went to live with Aunt and Uncle Theo, I prayed that I would be a blessing while I was there. I hoped that my rent would help them out financially and that I would be a pleasant person to live with.

Now that I’m with Jasmine and Mr. Jasmine, I hope for the same. I’m learning that Mr. Jasmine has some financial difficulties. Jasmine is so caring; she is willing to help him if he will let him in, but men (more than women) can be so closed (or stubborn) sometimes. 

I’m all too familiar with the stresses that he is having according to what Jasmine has described – the bills, phone calls, avoidance, tough decisions, having to cut loose projects and possessions that we love. However, having a multitude of counselors has made it easier and less lonely. I pray that he goes to the Michelle Singletary classes I invited him to (which I now attend each month when possible).

Jasmine asked if I could contribute a small amount to the household because her husband is under so much financial weight and it must be hard to have several working adults in the house and he's paying almost all the bills alone. I gladly agreed to pay more than she asked. 

Even though I'm renting, I'm still making sacrifices for a better life. I'm working at a job that has long hours, working a part time job, renting a room, living without my Jefferson, and using cash stuffed in envelopes for everyday purchases. 

I know (and she has mentioned) that they will need this room I'm renting back in the summer because her mother-in-law visits almost every summer. That's fine. I'm prepared to move out at any time, but I can't stay in my car during the summer. It will be too hot. I have 3 options: 

1. rent an apartment (I think I could stay in an apartment in a less desirable part of town for just the summer). 

2. rent a room

3. go down South and stay with relatives for the summer (especially if I don't plan to teach summer school up here). 

This situation is also why I still keep up this blog called the Homeless Teacher. Although I've been in this room for 3 months, I knew it probably wasn't long term. 

Revamping the envelopes

I'm still learning to use the envelope system. I had 6 envelopes, but now I have 8. I had to add more categories. So right now they are:

1. food
2. gas
3. hair
4. toiletries
5. car maintenance
6. household supplies
7. work supplies
8. fun

I didn't list any amounts because many of them change monthly as I adjust and tweak this system.

However, I've found when you commit to paying off debt and being a better steward of money, it doesn't matter so much that you stick with hard and fast rules and systems as much as it matters that you keep moving toward the goal.

For instance, I haven't stuck hard and fast to the envelope system like it SHOULD be done. Most of the time if I run out of food money or realize I needed something that I didn't have an envelope for, I would just borrow from some other envelope. Not the way financial experts recommend you do it, but it did accomplish one big thing - I still refrained from using my debit card and was forced to survive only on the money that was in the envelopes. I thought twice before making purchases.

I keep reading comments from people who insist that you must pay off the higher interest rate loans first - any other way is just dumb. Actually, if you pay off your debts PERIOD, regardless of the order, you have accomplished what you came here to do. It's actually hard to miss the mark if you simply keep moving towards the goal, even if your moving includes missteps.

Snow Days

I wish I could see into the future. School is closed tomorrow due to snow and may be closed on Tuesday. If I had known, I would have travelled down South to be with Daddy and not taken any time off work. Well, since I’m here, I’ll use the time wisely. I prepared for upcoming lessons while treating myself to Ledo’s – my reward for paying off TWO credit cards this month. Yay, God!

1 Samuel 15:22.

Do you think all God wants are sacrifices— empty rituals just for show?
He wants you to listen to him!
Plain listening is the thing, not staging a lavish religious production.
Not doing what God tells you is far worse than fooling around in the occult.
Getting self-important around God is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.
Because you said No to God’s command, he says No to your kingship.

I believe that God is blessing me financially since I’ve started wisely managing all of his money and not just thinking that giving tithes and offerings was honoring Him.






"God will allow us, if we insist, to live in a prison of our own making."


http://www.gbcdecatur.org/sermons/WhereAreTheNinety.html