Well I hardly write as much as I want. I try to write and then I get stuck or something can't come out right...etc. Actually I've been working on a political thread for about 5 days now on Firefox...I just hope my computer doesnt do one of its "hey...its 3am and I just uploaded and installed new updates, time to restart....now" frenzies. I can't copy and pase from firefox so the window just stays open, lol.
Anywho...I figured I should maybe update every now and then with our ongoing fight against our debts. We are up to our eyeballs in debt right now and the trailer isn't helping much. The market tanked big time and Im thinking about doing a short sale on the thing. Not the best option, but better than foreclosure I figure.
Marcie worked this summer in summer school, and that has helped us out in a few areas. We paid for the plumber...at least paid him off completely until the next round of work is finished which shouldnt be as bad.
This last paycheck she got today allowed us to take care of some other stuff.
*My bike has been down for a couple of weeks with a flat tire...100 bucks to fix. Plus I need to tow it to the shop so Im trying to arrange for that.
*Marcie took care of an issue with a credit card with Wells Fargo. We have been struggling with that for a while and just didn't have the money that they wanted to get caught up. So we arranged to pay x amount every month for the next year or so...I think at zero percent interest or something. After our furniture and a medical bill, thats the next bill to pay off
*We bought a new bed when we moved to WY. Of course, we put it on a new credit card via Furniture Row. Thankfully, we didn't spend any more money on that and only owe what is left from the bed. I was able to take a chunk out of that this week. Its a furniture thing so its zero interest from when we bought it until the end of the year. Either way, I want it paid off and closed asap.
*I found statements from Home Depot and Bank of America this week in my room that confirmed we closed accounts. This is one thing Im pushing for as we continue on...to confirm via letter that the accounts were closed. Last month I got a letter from GE Money Bank telling me they closed my account because of issues with my credit and such...all the while I thought I had actually closed it myself! So yeah, that doesnt help much
*I am concerned about a check we wrote a couple of weeks ago. We had to buy some stuff for our trailer and it hasnt been cashed yet...and I didn't figure that into the budget numbers for this week...oopies.
*Another issue is that we write checks out for our trailers rent. Apparently they have a policy where they don't take post dated checks which is interesting because we give them 3 checks at a time. This has never been a problem until they decided to cash ALL THREE of them this week. Two of them have cleared...not sure about the third. I tried to put a stop payment on a check, but we couldnt find the checkbook so we didn't have the exact check number...and another check slipped through and overdrew us.
*I bought a membership for GWRRA. Actually just renewed it. Its 80 bucks and I get membership in the org as well as some pretty good towing coverage for almost anything. Actually I need that coverage to tow the bike to the shop, lol. Sure, I could just pay the 80 or whatever to tow it out right...but with this...I get coverage for the next year and I average one tow a year or so.
*Marcie and I really don't do anything together and I had an idea of setting aside some money each week if possible for a dinner and movie date night on Sundays. Go to a matinee and then dinner afterwards. Im not a fan of eating out...well I am...but the cost right now is an issue money wise...but I think we also need to make some priorities as well. Going out to eat once a week shouldnt be bad...and if we don't have the money, we won't go.
*as I entered some bills for a week from now, I realized we will be short...so over this next week, we will have to be tight on money so we have some left over to pay what we need to pay. Actually, technically, we won't have anything left over, but maybe somethings won't go through that fast.
One thing I like about what Im doing now with my debts is that I can see the dent we are making. The way we are doing it is paying the smallest amounts first. Over the past few months, we have paid off 7 debts. And as we pay them off, we have some extra money to use as a weapon (Ill call it that, lol) to attack other debts.
For example, we were really behind on a natural gas bill so we paid 100 a week extra to pay it off. As soon as that was paid off, we had another 100 to use each week. I've been behind on my bike payment for a while and while I've been trying to catch up, its not as fast as they want...so Im spending another 100 a week on that for a a couple of weeks to get caught up. Then we will use that to pay off the furniture bill...etc.
The only problem...well problem as I see it is that...some of these bills when we get them paid off, we won't have any extra spending money to spend. Normally youd pay something off and hence youd have more money because you were paying the minimums and such. However with some of our bills, we simply werent paying anything on them at all. The furniture is at zero interest so we havent been paying it until recently; when that gets paid off, we wont have any extra money. However, when we pay off a medical bill in a couple of months, we will have another 250 a month to use on another debt.
Oh well, slowly but surely.