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Home > Archive: July, 2013

Archive for July, 2013

WOW! Internet/Cable Service

July 28th, 2013 at 04:45 am

Does anyone use WOW! internet/cable service? If you do can I use you as a referral?

I believe that it may be up to a $100 referral bonus!

Just leave a comment in my comment section, I check on it constantly.

Thanks!

Apartment Issues...

July 27th, 2013 at 06:35 pm


Long story: New Apartment and breaking the lease...

The apartment people finally informed me of the new apartment that I'd be getting. They told me it'd be on the first or second floor if I remain in the same building, but if I want a floor on the second floor then I'd have to move to a different building. They also stated that they didn't have any 2-bedrooms on my current floor because they signed them out to others a "long, long time ago".

So what that means is that I signed that contract in good faith that they'd give me what I promised. A 2-bedroom apartment on my current floor so that when I moved it wouldn't aggravate my knee (ACL surgery) going up and down stairs.

It also means that they lied purposefully as well. They told me that I could move earlier in July if I wanted to be on a different floor, but if I want the same floor then I'd have to wait 'til August. It was a no brainer. Wait 'til August...

If I'm going to move on a different floor/building I may as well move to another apartment complex and a better one at that!

My roommate and I have looked and will look again today. There are only two that are in the running but I believe that we've already made a decision based on the floor plans. One has storage closet on the patio while the other one does not. Storage is pretty big to us because we're both military and we need a place to put our gear.

The new apartment (the one we REALLY like) is a lot bigger than what we currently have and we still have or own rooms/bathrooms. Stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, screen enclosed patio, two linen closets, laundry room, pantry, coat closet, walk-in closets, dining room and a computer desk niche. only responsible for trash but we asked and the tenants normally pay about $100 for water/electricity. I've already done checks for internet and it'd only cost $40/mo for the first year and $60/mo thereafter.

So after doing the math the new complex will cost $1,065 so I'll just say $1,100 but split between two people it'll only cost us $532.50 (current place was $547.50)!

New complex apartment will cost us LESS.

BUT...

Now we need to get furniture. I'll be going to estate sales and craigslist as well as looking at stores.

I almost considered going to a payment place like Aaron's Rent-to-own but after looking at the interest (40%!) it'd actually be cheaper to put it on my credit card LOL. But that'd be a last option.

The only things I'm looking for are bed, sofa, entertainment center and dresser. We found a tall-ish nightstand that's a bit on the wide side for about $40. I'll be purchasing the sofa myself and my own bed.

We've already decided on just getting bar stools and not a dining room set so that the dining room area will be our home-gym area.

The only downsides is that the washer/dryer is an extra $35/mo BUT there is a laundry facility within the complex. Also coming out of the complex is rather difficult depending on the time of day. But that should only be an issue for us during the afternoon rush hour.

It is convenient to the shopping centers and entertainment areas.

There is also one other LARGE issue of breaking the current lease.

I talked to the new apartment people and they stated that if we move by the 31st we'll get $1,000. So what I'll do is go to the current people, and state that I want to go on a month-to-month lease.

This is why:
breaking a lease will require a 60-day notice while a month-to-month lease will only require a 30-day notice.

The plan is to go to month-to-month and put in a 30-day notice. Use the $1,000 to pay rent for one month. Therefore it's not a lot of money out of my pocket on that issue.

I will have to come up with funds for furniture but that's not biggie. I'm more than willing to do that. I won't have to buy ceiling fans but we still want to paint the apartment (just one wall in each room). So that fund is less than it originally was ($110 to $30) but I found my 10% off Lowes coupon! Which ironically is literally down the street from the new apartments!

Moving to a New Apartment

July 18th, 2013 at 07:08 pm

Last month I made plans to move into a new apartment next month. I'm going from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom.

(I'm literally moving across the walkway at my apartments... LOL)

This will mean less rent but more towards debt freedom!

We're very excited! Today we looked at paint colors because we've decided to paint the walls. Only one wall in each room though (living room, and both bedrooms). This way they is some color without being overwhelmed with trying to paint the whole apartment...

We'll also be putting in ceiling fans which we'll take with us because we won't be compensated if we leave them when we leave the apartment... Go figure...

The fans will cost us $80 each and the paint and supplies will cost $60 all together. Also I have a 10% off coupon at Lowe's which I need to find... UGH!

But at least we've decided on our paint colors today which actually helps a lot. Less pressure to do now instead of days before the move.

I'm hoping that I can gather how much money I'd need to pay if all my student loans were due right now (monthly) and apply it to the debt. (paying the current due minimums and putting the "left over" towards the chosen snowball debt)

I'm looking forward to this and so is my roomie. WHOOHOO!!

New Way of Paying Bills LOL

July 16th, 2013 at 06:20 pm

So I'm sure that plenty of you have already figured this out. But I've now become part of a new credit union that I'm enjoying, but I've never participated in automatic bill paying.

Here's the setup...

I have a car loan in which I've been able to now pay off two months earlier because I refinanced at 50 months for a 48 month loan.

But I used to pay bi-weekly on the loan which meant that I'd be paying less interest and more principal.

So this is what I'm doing now:

I've currently setup my automatic bill paying for weekly payment. This should pay more towards principal in the long run but I'm not sure if it'll pay it off sooner.

But paying this off now isn't my main objective because this loan has the lowest interest rate. My main objective (the account I want to payoff first) will also be on weekly payments but at the last day of the month (28th), I will make a larger payment to it at that time. (I want to be sure that I have the extra funds needed for that month).

I'm definitely going to start doing this with as many of them as I can (which I've already input into the system).

So here's to paying off my debt with less interest as well as sooner. YAY ME!

"New" Clothes!

July 15th, 2013 at 03:01 am

A while back one of the LTs let me have their children's old clothes that they were going to give to Goodwill. All the clothes were girl clothes.

I went through them and my mother and I sorted them out. There were a LOT of clothes.

My eldest granddaughter is turning five this week and will be starting kindergarten soon! So my mother was kind enough to send her the clothes for me (I had taken them to my parents when I was on convalescent leave from surgery).

My eldest daughter has thanked me for sending them the clothes because a lot has happened over the past month and they didn't have enough time to get everything they needed for her.

I'm so glad that I was able to help them out. There were clothes for both of the girls (one month and five years old).

This made me feel really good, and I still have some clothes left that I'll send them soon hopefully!

It's about the little things! =D

PCSing

July 9th, 2013 at 03:05 am

While I stayed with my parents I have made a major decision.

I had already made the decision to change my MOS (job). Not only due to the injury that I sustained downrange but also to the fact that I'd prefer an MOS that had more mental challenge to it. The field I'm currently in is great if you want to be in construction. And although I actually like construction I'd prefer being a carpenter more than anything else.

I'm listening to my big brother while I make the decision as to what I want to change it to although he thinks I'm not listening (haha).

But my big decision is where to PCS (permanent change of station) to. Meaning where I want to try to change my duty station. This affects me a lot more than usual since they are changing the PCS rules. Before I joined it was two years that you'd stay at your duty station. Then when I joined it changed to three years. Now, it's going to change to FOUR years.

That's a lot of time a one place if you're single and one of the reasons that you joined was the ability to be at different duty stations.

So the big decision is for me to go back home. Meaning going to the post that my parents live at so that I would be staying with them for four years. In doing so, I would not only live with them during that time but pay them rent which would be $300/month.

My rent is currently $779/month (which it'll go down to $550/mo next month) which includes water, electricity, internet and cable. I'd save almost $500/month doing this. Which in turn means that I have an extra $500/month to put towards debt reduction.

What would actually be a bonus is if I was not only able to do that but also go into an MOS that had a bonus. Yes, I realized that it would be taxed but it's better than NOT getting a bonus at all.

Hopefully I can find out more in the next few months. There are a couple of programs that I can inquire about to change my MOS before my re-enlistment comes up or I can just wait until then...

But either way, it'll mean living back at home with my parents.

Maybe I can give them enough money in rent so that they can take a trip to Paris!

Motorcycle Update

July 8th, 2013 at 04:04 am

My FREE motorcycle class starts tomorrow! I'm excited! I filled up the tank earlier today and it only cost me $10! My current budget is approximately $25/month. I'll have to see if that increases later on.

Unfortunately I've been having an issue of a drained battery but I believe I know what the issue is. One of my neighbors use to have a bike shop so I'm hoping that I can use her assistance. I'm not buying a battery until I figure out the issue. No point in buying a new battery if that get's drained as well. It costs $115 but I can afford it. I have a jump starter that I can use to charge it in the meantime. After it's warmed up it'll start on it's on.

I did have to buy a new helmet. I found out that my helmet should only be a maximum of four years old and it was eight. So I bought one in which I could put a Chatterbox on it later on (Bluetooth) which costs $250. It's not a priority right now so I'm putting that on the back burner.

I did put the tires on my bike and was able to reuse the tubes so no extra costs there.

I did have a good budget for this so I'm not worried about the monies. But I'm glad it's working right now. I'm excited about my class tomorrow. YAY ME!

Income Properties

July 6th, 2013 at 05:22 pm

I think that every small child dreams of one day having their own home. No matter what it is i.e mobile home, apartment etc.

But for me, as a small child I remember dreaming about my dream home. It was a gorgeous two-story stand-alone home with lots of bedrooms and bathrooms. As I got older I realized what my dream home actually was and I still hold that dream to that day.

Folks, my dream home is a duplex!

(I think this comes from the fact that even as a small child I knew you had to pay for a house and I didn't want to pay for it if someone else could. I don't know HOW I made the connection, I just knew I wanted to live there for free!)

But I want my home to look like a single family home from the front. (through research I've actually found the plans for it online).

But I've actually expanded on it as I've gotten older. As a child my dream job was real estate (yes I know that this means I was undoubtedly a weird child in some respects...)

But it wasn't the owning of homes that I really wanted. What I really wanted to do as a child was buy a house and make it "pretty" again. And have the opportunity to let someone live in it (interpret this to keeping it and renting it)

In other words -- RENOVATION!

Again, as I have gotten older this hasn't changed.

But I've also looked at it at different points of views:

Should I buy a house/condo an renovate it and rent it out
Should I buy a move-in ready house/condo and rent it out
Should I buy several houses/condos and rent it out
Should I buy a duplex/multi-plex and rent it out
Should build a duplex/multi-plex and rent it out


These questions are so hard for me to answer over time.

I've already decided that I would either:

purchase several move-in ready condos/a duplex/a multi-plex and rent all out (if I'm still living with my parents)

or

build a duplex/multi-plex and rent it out.


I've found plans for the duplex and multiplex that I'd want to build. I'd just need to see what the cost of construction is and the best area to build it in.

I already know that if I built the multi-plex then I'd hire a property manager to take care of it and probably the same if I go for the duplex depending on the amount of rent I'd get. A property manager instantly eats into your profits but I believe it's worth it if you have multiple properties in the same area.

So this is a goal for myself. A home that pays for itself. Even with the headaches that it can come with, I still believe that the pros outweigh the cons.

I'm not looking for a quick turn-around on these properties. I want to keep them for at least 10 years if not more. This is also part of my retirement plan because after the military I want to keep working. And real estate is a job that is ageless. Someone is always buying, selling or building. And since I've always loved construction and like building I figure it's definitely a good fit for me.

My Student Loans

July 3rd, 2013 at 08:12 pm

Student loans are loathed and not just by me. I have a lot of student loan debt but I am also using the tuition assistance as well in order to offset the usage of more student loans.

But the past damage is done. So I have to pay it off. I won't start paying it off until I pay off my other debt first.

But after looking at the debt and the fact that the other debt will be paid off, I'm looking at about three years of being able to pay it off!

A total of 7 years until I am completely debt free! And that's the MAXIMUM amount of time it would take.

I'm so excited!

That's How We Roll

July 2nd, 2013 at 08:57 pm

My parents just called me and they informed me that they visited my credit union and refinanced their car with them. Navy Federal still has the special of refinance and get $250. Plus my parents used me as a referral and both of us get $25 each.

Yep, that's how we roll!