Sian's Money Matters

I like to do something that physically challenges me. I did 3 half-marathons in 2011 in 6 weeks. I've also done a sprint triathlon and a few other smaller races.

What I want to do is a 70.3 IronMan this year (http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/ironman-70.3/augusta/course.aspx#axzz2HRhDOfQB) but I just realized that I no longer have a bike. UGH!! (I gave my bike away a while back before I joined the military) So now I have to purchase a bike. I was trying to figure out if I should get a triathlon bike, a road bike, or a cyclocross.

For a quality bike (meaning I will only purchase one of these kinds for a LONG time) it's still expensive. Respectively the cheapest prices are $2,730, $2039, and $809.

Now albeit the cyclocross bike is the cheapest but unless I am actually doing a cyclocross race then there is really no point in getting it. The setup on that particular bike is a lot different even if it does have some of the things I would look for it also has elements that I DON'T need as well. It would be a waste of money to purchase a bike that only has half of what I need.

So that leaves two options: triathlon or road bike. Which of course I realize that they are the most expensive of the two... I've compared them both and I am trying to find a cheaper retailer to purchase them from. I also need to keep in mind that when I purchase this bike, that I'll be keeping this for a VERY long time.

I've even considered riding this bike to work (it's about 9 miles one way). This way I can really get my monies worth out of it. My ultimate plan is to do a full IronMan.

I also realize that I will be participating in these races for a long time because I want to go to the Kona IronMan.

I did look up the bikes on other sites so that I can find the lowest costing bike. I've found them as low as $2,000 and $900. I'm glad that I was able to find them for a lot less than the original price.

I won't be able to do the IronMan triathlon this year as planned but I'm looking to do it in 2014. I need to save up for this bike. If only I had a coupon!! ARGH!!!

So the race is going to cost $300 and the bike about $900 - 2,000. Hopefully I can save quickly and I want to continue my racing.

I've been looking for some money challenges to do for this year. Something in order to help me save.

I happened to see Wealthy Warrior's challenge and have decided to participate. You can look at their challenge yourself if you'd like at http://beawealthywarrior.savingadvice.com/2013/01/02/52-week-money-challenge_99973/

Basically for the 52 week challenge, every week you put that amount of money in the bank. week 1 is $1, week 2 is $2, etc. I'll either do 52 weeks or break it up into two 26 week challenges.

Also I will do a money jar challenge. Whatever change that I have will go into the money jar to be tallied monthly. At the end of either the year or quarter, this money will be added to my savings account (I haven't decided yet).

I'm also going to do an Ebay challenge which would be to sell $500 by the end of the year.

I've heard about snowflakes. I think that is basically extra money that comes your way of doing extra things (not neccessarily a job but extra monies that are earned). So I will do a $250 Snowflake Challenge.

If any of you can think of any other suggestions for money saving challenges, just drop a line.

So far for 2013 my saving money challenges are:

52 (or 26) Week Challenge
Money Jar Challenge
$500 Ebay Challenge
$250 Snowflake Challenge

Well another day another dollar. But in my case it's an extra $175.03 per month gross.

I've been looking at the military pay raise charts. I knew about the 1.7% pay raise to the basic pay but found out less than a week ago about the raises that would affect Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) and Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH).

This is great! This means that I can possibly either put more towards debt, savings or whatnot! I'm not sure how much this equals to after taxes but this is way better than any employer that I've worked for.

I have received two raises in the past year and I haven't even been promoted yet! (currently an E-3). Now I have to really look at things and figure out how to work it into my budget.

In the past my very small raises went into my pocket and seemed to have never existed. Now I want to respond appropriately. This will take some time for me to decide. What I really want to do is start contributing to my retirement. I already know that I want to put it in a Roth IRA although I'm not sure if I want it to be a TSP Roth IRA or one held with a bank.

There are also other things that I want to do such as participate in the 70.3 Half IronMan in 2014 (I need to purchase a bicycle for this because I no longer have one), go to the 2016 Olympics, do the Kona IronMan in 2015 or 2016 and purchase or build a home.

I could start my savings plans now for all of that as well as the things that are on my 2013 goals list (I'm thinking of adding these to my 2013 lists so that they can start getting funded). Or start contributing to my retirement earlier instead of waiting til I get home or both...

I will more than likely wait til I get back home to actually contribute to my IRA.

I've been thinking lately about credit cards. Not in the "why" of having them but in HOW MANY should a person have?

I currently have two cards. I will be cancelling one (it has an annual fee) and opening a new one (a cashback card with my credit union). So I will have two cards.

One main card (rewards card) and the other card which will hopefully have a 6% APR by the time I get back to the states. It currently has a $2k credit limit on it. I'm keeping this one because I feel safer having it if I need to in case of emergency even though I have an emergency fund. That's just how I am. It's basically my "stays at home" card.

The cashback card I will use daily but pay off the balances as well (it also doesn't have an annual fee and also has low APR).

But really, how many cards should a person have? I think two should be the limit. Now have much should the limit be on the cards? That's up to the individuals ability to handle. If you can only handle $500 limit then only get that. If you can handle more then get that instead. I've actually figured out that I can handle more so I may get a higher limit just to help out my credit score.

But again, how many credit cards do YOU think a person should have?

I'M SO EXCITED!!!

I have found a coupon insert deliver service. What's so special about this service? It's actually a subscription service. So instead of getting one or two delivered I can actually set up to receive a certain amount of inserts weekly until I cancel it.

I've been looking for this type of service for a few weeks now. I'm so glad I've found it. It just means that I will be able to really be ready to go when I get back stateside. WHOOHOO!!!

If you're trying to find one here's the link:

http://neclippers.com/

So my goals for the new year are:

*Pay off last credit card
*Close Capital One card (this is not my oldest account)
*Open new credit card (cashback card) (yes I will pay off balances when I use it)
*Refinance car loan
*Go over budget with parents
*Come up with do-able 5 year debt free plan
*Emergency fund amount to $6,000
*Saving fund to $2,000
*Start putting money in Roth IRA again
*Pay SUV down an extra $1,000 before refinancing
*Start Christmas fund ($350)
*Clean/Organize items for Ebay/yard sale
*Donate items not for sale
*Lose 46.7lbs and lose 12.6% bodyfat
*Get store coupon cards for all the stores in my area
*Sign up for newspaper and coupon insert delivery
*Donate to humane society
*Donate to retirement home/shelter
*Help kids out with their needs

That's all I can think of for now...

(26 dec updated weight loss goal after finding out that i'm at 24.6% bodyfat. if i lose 62lbs i'd have to lose 30lbs of lean muscle mass...)

Well I know they aren't kids anymore but they're still MY kids.

But I've been in their current shoes. One has just moved to a new place with my granddaughter and her new husband. The other has moved into her first apartment with her boyfriend and are expecting my other grandbaby.

Well I've decided to help out my kids. I'm not giving them money. I'm actually giving them things that they need instead.

I know for my youngest, I'll be getting her diapers, baby food and whatnot for the new baby as well as laundry detergent, paper towels, cleaning supplies and toilet paper.

As for the oldest one I'm not sure what I can give her yet besides the same as above except for the baby stuff. (unless she's expecting and hasn't told us yet). The older one knows how to coupon but she who would say no to extra help. I'm not sure if the younger one knows how to coupon (if not she needs to learn).

I'm not actually spending extra money to get these items. I know how to get the majority of these items for free (such as diapers and laundry detergent).

Since this doesn't actually affect my budget I'm not worried about cost.

I've also will donate to at least two other types of organizaitons. A humane society, retirement home and possibly a women's shelter.

I actually know what the humane society in my area want/need. But more than likely I'll need to visit the shelter and retirement home to get an actual list of things they also want/need.

I have the ability to get certain items for free or near free and not a lot of money. I figure that since the actual item is more valuable, I'd donate that instead. In other words, since I can't afford to give them $20 but I can buy a few items for less than $5 but it actually would have cost $20-40 without coupons, I'd rather give them the product.

I don't know if that seems selfish or anything. I'm not sure if anyone will think that I'm not "donating correctly". I really don't care what they think. This is within my capabilities to donate the way I've described.

I've already decided to have several boxes for this. I figured that if I do this every few months then I'd have a good supply to give. (I plan on visiting my children so I'll just take them with me instead of mailing them).

By the way, I also donate my coupons (the ones I don't use). You can donate your coupons to the military overseas (they can use expired coupons up to six months after the expiration date).

Go to this link for more information about it: http://www.ocpnet.org/

I have made a tentative budget of $200/mo for groceries. This not only includes food but also hygiene products, cleaning supplies and whatnot. I didn't think that I would be able to do this but I've reminded myself that I've done this before on less with coupons.

I've been thinking about something though. What if at the end of the month that I've spent less than $200 for all my groceries. Should I:

1. Roll over the difference for the next month
2. Use the difference to pay towards debt
3. One month rollover, then the next month put towards debt.
4. After 3 months rollover to savings.

I'm leaning towards number "3".

What do you suggest?

I have made a tentative budget of $200/mo for groceries. This not only includes food but also hygiene products, cleaning supplies and whatnot. I didn't think that I would be able to do this but I've reminded myself that I've done this before on less with coupons.

I've been thinking about something though. What if at the end of the month that I've spent less than $200 for all my groceries. Should I:

1. Roll over the difference for the next month
2. Use the difference to pay towards debt
3. One month rollover, then the next month put towards debt.
4. After 3 months rollover to savings.

I'm leaning towards number "3".

Normally when you go to the grocery store you try to use coupons and buy things that are only on sale. Well I know that a lot of people get tired of doing that. I found a way to help solve the issue.

I need to give you a little history...

Back in 2000/2001 my ex-husband (i call him ex even though we're only legally separated) he took out two loans in order to get microsoft certified or something like that. It was one of those ITT schools. I credit was NOT good but mine was the better of the two. In order for him to attend he needed to take out two loans. I think they both totalled $25,000.

Well I took one out for him with Sallie Mae for $15,950. This means that the loan was in my name but he is listed as the student because the loan is for him but I'M the one responsible for it. The other loan HE took out but my parents co-signed on it (which I didn't know about til 3 years ago).

We made payments to the Sallie Mae loan but if you're familiar with private loans you know how this goes. We made payments but didn't know they only went to interest although now it goes towards principal. So after 11 years I still have about $10,000 left to pay. The Sallie Mae loan is what I've been paying ever since we've been separated. I knew about that so I pay it diligently. It will be one of the first things I pay off in the next few years because I don't want to be responsible for loans that weren't for me anymore.

Now the other loan... I didn't realize that he had stopped paying on it when we separated. So of course they went after my parents. They've been paying it ever since. Fortunately it's only $110/mo and currently there is about $6,500 left to pay on it at 6%.

I wanted to take up the payments then but I simply couldn't afford it but my parents could. I had alimony, rent, utilities, car repair (95 altima), gas and bills. I pretty much had about $50/mo extra at first. I would do side jobs but it wasn't guaranteed monies so I wouldn't count that into my monthly income.

When I joined the military after the first two months in I realized that I could handle those payments especially with my parents handling my bills (they're like debt payor gurus or something. plus since they have learned from past mistakes they apply their knowledge to my finances so i don't suffer as they once did).

After talking to them when I was in AIT (job training school) I told him to add the other loan to my finances. I didn't want them to pay for my past. Plus both of my parents are retired so this frees up more of their finances which is what I really want also.

So I spoke with them the other day (i love skype) and we spoke about my finances. I told them that I wanted to pay extra towards my car loan because when I refi, it'll be for a lower debt and the payments will be lower. They told me that if I do that then it'll only save me about $11/mo in payments. It would be better to save. So I said that I would think about it.

But then I mentioned paying Sallie Mae with it because it'll get paid off sooner. And they mentioned the other loan which was $110/mo that my ex has that THEY ARE STILL PAYING. I was shocked!! I told them that I thought that they had added that to my bills but they told me I didn't. UGH!! So I told my dad to add it to my bills please so that they aren't paying for it.

So as of this month I will be paying another debt because of my ex. But it was a debt I was already expecting but unexpected because I thought I was already paying it.

So I had worked out an extra $275/mo when I got back home. Now that has dwindled to an extra $165/mo when I get back home...

$110/mo less makes a big difference. Not sure how to handle it at this moment in time but I'll figure it out. I'm a bit OCD-ish so I know that it'll get figured out.

Here's a little bit of information about me that will probably put things in perspective.

I'm 36 years old and currently legally separated from my spouse for the last 2.5 years. I have two beautiful adult daughters (one just got married) and one beautifully rambunctious granddaughter (and another grandchild on the way).

I use to work in a call center for an insurance company (was an agent in 21 different states for auto/home insurance) and later for a bank. After 7 years of working at the bank and 3 years in the same position I received a raise of .98% (it literally only added $600 to my pay at the end of the year).

After taking a look at my life and realizing more things needed to change (by this time I was already separated) I re-started working towards a goal that I had started almost 10 years ago. To join the military.

The reason I did so was because I wanted to have a career and not just a job. I wanted something that I chose and I wanted to be able to retire when I reached retirement age. I no longer wanted to "survive" and I wanted to start living my life. I knew that this was a way for me to move forward despite a certain disadvantage (I currently PAY alimony but that will end in 2016).

I lost a lot of weight (about 60lbs) and joined the U.S. Army Nov 2012. I actually turned 35 years old in basic training (and no I wasn't the oldest person their. i'll leave that to my good friend

I had decided to look at all the stuff that I have and see what my net worth is currently.

-$30,000 approximately

Pretty sad I'd say...

My current debts equal $50,000 and my assets equal $18,000 approximately.

What I want is to be debt free by May 2018. It seems impossible right now, but I know that I'll at least be able to pay approximately $30,000 towards debt by then. That means that there is a difference of about $20,000. I'd have to make up about $4,000/yr to be able to payoff everything by that timeline. So hopefully I'll get promoted in a timely manner, or get a really good bonus when i re-enlist.

But that is my projected goal of debt free.

May 2018 here I come!

So I have a timeshare that I don't want. I have approximately $7,000 left to pay on it and I would love to sell it.

It is a 1 bdrm/ 1 bthrm Woodstone at Casa de Campo at Massanutten Resort that's for week 40-something (sometime in October) and I believe that I have a floating week with it also. Here's the link:

http://www.massresort.com/v.php?pg=128

It's a mountain resort in and of itself that can be used year 'round. From horseback riding to skiing (even has a ski school). (I'm a gold card member also)

I believe that I can pay it off in a little over a year if I truly needed to. I can't remember a lot of stuff about it since for the pass year I haven't even been home except for about a total of a month.

If I sell it I gather that I have several choices. I could sell it through a real estate agent, ebay, craigslist or word of mouth when I get back. I'm not looking to make a profit, but paying for the amount I have left on the loan would be great. But if I had to go a little lower than the lown that would be fine since I have the money for it.

I would really like to sell it so that I don't have to pay for the rest of it.

Does anyone have any other ideas for getting rid of a timeshare?

If I don't get rid of it then I'll end up keeping it.. oh well...

I've been trying to decided what my next move should be and I had posted my position in the forum and received some suggestions already.

These are my current bills:

auto insurance: 129.92
netflix: 7.99
credit card: 36.24
sallie mae: 0 (deferred until Nov 2013 then will probably be at 190.01)
timeshare: 132.80
student loans: 0 (deferred til July 2013 & Sept 2013) (although they'll be deferred til i finish school)
car loan: 213.55 (i actually pay this every two weeks (113.55 & 100)
miscellaneous charges: $13.96 (trying to get these cancelled)
alimony: 600
dental: 11
life insurance: 27
AFRH: 0.50
spouse life insurance: 13

Totalling: $1,185.96

That's until I get back from deployment. Once i'm back home these bills will be added:

rent: 600
water: 10
renters insurance: 15
cell: 75
fuel: 200 (guesstimate)
food: 200 (guesstimate)

Totalling: $1,185.96 + 1,100 = $2,285.96

When i get back my paycheck should be $2,564/mo

Which leaves $275 to play with.

My debt is:

credit card: $1,681.60 @ 19.99%
car Loan: $9357.19 @ 11.5%
timeshare: $7,503 @ 12.087%
sallie mae: $9,543.16 @ 6%
student loans: $37,164.06

My emergency fund amount is already at $9,500 approximately. It'll go down to about $5,500 because I'm going to use some of it to pay off my medical collections.

I'm going to use my tax refund to pay off the credit card so I'm ok with paying just the minimums until I get my refund. I'm also going to get my car loan re-financed for a lower interest rate but I'm using it to help re-build my credit so my plans are to just pay it monthly but to keep the loan equal to if not below the value.

If I could get rid of the timeshare I would. I don't want it and I didn't take it to get anything money-wise out of it. If someone would buy it off me for the amount of my loan, I would sell it to them right now but at this time no one will purchase it.

I don't use my credit cards (haven't for a year now) so there won't be any new charges on them. I'm going to get a credit card with my credit union and have them set a low credit limit (500 - 1000) which is only to be used in emergencies and close the other accounts.

I don't qualify for the college loan repayment program because I have the MGIB and you can only have one or the other.

In 3.5 years I will no longer be paying alimony and will be able to pay off/save money quicker.

The 6% interest rate is only available for certain things for deployed service members.

So these were the suggestions that I had received:

I'd say to dump the timeshare. You will never get your money out of it. If you can find someone to take it off your hands at any price, even $1, do it and get it off your balance sheet.

*i'm not going to sell the timeshare for $1 but i'll sell for what is left on the timeshare loan. i'm not looking to recoup any money from it.

Start applying that toward your highest interest debt - either the timeshare until you are able to sell it or the car loan until you refi.

*working out the math

I would suggest the bulk to be put towards debt. You should start making a habit of saving. Save a portion in the TSP or in a Roth IRA.

*i haven't decided WHEN i'll contribute towards the TSP, Roth TSP or Roth IRA yet. although i will because i would like to have money when retire even if i am going into real estate when i do.

All good suggestions that I've taken into consideration.

Basically my two options were to put it towards the timeshare or the car loan. Since I'm unable to get in touch with the timeshare people and I can actually make an extra payment to the car loan with a click of the button (since it IS with my credit union) it came down to convenience.

Car loan it is!!

So I'll make an extra payment of $275/mo maximum on the car loan. I'll still pay off the credit card when I get my tax refund.

Now there where two things that I hadn't mentioned:

1. $275/mo is only for eight (8) months. Because after that I will be putting it towards the Sallie Mae loan (making a total payment of $200 - $500/mo)

2. For the next several months I will be able to make an extra payment of $385/mo towards anything. Again, this is only for several months.

What I've decided to do was to put this towards whatever I will be making extra payments towards when I get back home. Basically I'm adding $385/mo for several months to the car loan then $275/mo for eight months. I'm hoping this will allow for me to refinance for a lower interest rate for less. Allowing me to make more of a payment towards the principal.

Thank goodness I don't plan on getting a car loan again for a LONG time. I'm thinking the SUV will last me another ten years if I take really good car of it. I truly like my car and it fits me (SUV) and it's a color I like!

Being in the military we can earn extra income but we have to fill out a form for permission so to speak.

What I like to do is earn income with jobs that don't have set hours but may have set deadlines for them to be completed.

I used to work for Market Force. I would go to the movie theatre and either set up displays or monitor trailers. I sometimes would be able to watch a movie and critique it according to peoples reactions (this was overt work so the theatre knew about me). I liked them because they would send you a direct deposit as soon as the money was available (2-4 weeks depending on the job). I had actually made more than $1,000 one year. But I've also made less than $600 another year. It all came down to jobs that I chose or didn't choose.

I'll go back to them but I've also been looking at other ways to earn money without leaving the house. I've only so far heard of SwagBucks, ChaCha and mTurk which I'm currently looking into.

Are there any others that are known that are pretty good with their payouts?

When I get back home, there are a number of things that I'll have to do.

*go over my finances with my parents

*make a snowball schedule for all my finances

*make a five year financial plan (which i'll probably start now)

*make a five year career/personal plan (i'll probably start this now as well)

*gather all my possessions (at both my parents' and brothers' house)

*get storage for my items (i plan on having storage for 3 months max)

*spend several hours daily organizing my things as I unpack all my boxes

*purchase two closet organizers

*purchase other items for organization

It's a short list but it'll do for now.

For the last few years I've been keeping up with my credit score.

Normally I use www.creditkarma.com because it's free and it doesn't impact my credit report. It uses Transunion to give you a score. I also use Experian every now-and-again because I've noticed that it will give you the lowest score out of the three major companies.

The lowest score that I've had (due to financial issues to which I'm no longer married to) was a Transunion score of 517 on March 2009.

Currently my scores are:

Experian: 617 - 1 Dec 2012
CreditKarma: 655 - 1 Dec 2012

*i've paid off a credit card since i received my experian score so it could actually be higher

This just verifies for me that I'm doing the right thing. Not only is my family noticing the stress that I no longer have about finances but through my efforts of paying off bills, companies have noticed as well.

I've had an overall increase of 138!

------------------POSTSCRIPT------------------

I signed up for www.creditsesame.com which I got from creditcardfree (THANKS BY THE WAY!!) and it's free. It uses Experian as the reporting agency. So I've updated the score from Experian above from 567 that was reported on 14 Nov 2012.

I normally get my credit score from www.Creditkarma.com because it's free and doesn't do anything to your score. I've used it for a few years and there hasn't been any negative impact. If it even shows up, it'll be under requests by you. So it's never as a request by a creditor.

I also occasionally get my credit score from Experian. Not because they're the most reliable, but because most of the companies out there use Experian. I've actually found that sometimes they'll give out the lowest score of all three major companies.

Because of financial issues in the past my score had gone down drastically and now it's slowly but surely creeping it's way back up.

The lowest my score has ever been was with Transunion on 17 Mar 2009 at 517.

Now my scores are:

CreditKarma: 655 (1 Dec 2012)
Experian: 567 (14 Nov 2012)

*since 14 Nov I've paid off a credit card so Experian might actually be higher now

I've been diligent about building up my credit. It will take a while. My goal short-term goal is to have a 650 all across the board so that I may purchase a house in the next five years or so.

At least with Transunion I may have succeeded, but I want the same for all three.

This is just one more way for me to have verified that I'm doing the right thing when it comes to my credit.

I have only 1 credit card left to pay off which I had believed was at 18.99% APR. I made a payment of $36.46, which I thought would get me from $1,698.82 to $1,689.24. Well I signed onto my account, and low and behold the balance was $1,662.36! This was WAY below what I thought it would be.

So I did some math (using the tools here on savingadvice.com) and I discovered that my current APR for this credit is 0%!! OMG! I had NO idea that I had a 0% APR! The last time I checked it was over a year ago (basic training and now deployed). I have no access to the statements (they don't put them online) and it doesn't tell you what the APR is on the website, only the current amount due, past due, minimum payment and the ability to make a payment. It's a very basic site.

My plan will still have me paying off the card by March 2013 but that was with an 18.99% APR projection. Now that I know it is a 0% APR I'll won't have to pay any interest fees! YAY ME!!

Are you getting ready to file your taxes? I am, in fact I've already filled out almost everything for filing my federal taxes. That state taxes will have to wait since the information for that isn't out yet. I don't know how single people without dependents are able to get $2,000 - $3,000 back every year. I can barely do $1,500!

I'm not filing taxes til about March/April 2013. Since by then I should have all my financial info so that I can file them correctly.

Yes I like to work my paycheck so that I get a refund every year. To me, it comes in handy when I want to pay something off or put it in savings. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. I may put it in my savings account until I'm ready to pay something off.

What's really got me is that when the military is deployed, then our income isn't taxable. So it's a bit weird about filing taxes... The government actually lets the IRS know that we're deployed but it's still an unusual way to file taxes...

Currently, since my parents are taking care of my debt, the only thing that comes to mind are student loans ($25k), 1 credit card ($1,700 @ 18.99%), medical collections ($8,300), car loan ($9,500 @ 11.5%), timeshare loan ($7k @ 17.5) and sallie mae loan ($9,900 @ 6%).

*medical collections will be paid off by the end of this year with the money i have in savings.

Staring in Dec I'll get $2,231 net. Then it'll increase another $31 in Jan (military pay raise has been approved).

Currently my debt costs me $850/mo (this amount includes monthly bills such as insurance as well) and that's with me paying the minimums. But I'm going to add $100/mo to that making it $950/mo.

*i'm not paying for rent or anything else right now because i'm deployed

This is what is in effect for Dec 2012 til abt July 2013:

Sallie Mae deferred but earning interest. ($76)
Student loans deferred but NOT earning interest. ($190)
Capital One is paid off. ($20)
Adding an extra $100/mo to debt payments.

That is equal to $386/mo.

Emblem $1,700 @ 18.99% minimum is $38 (goes down monthly in correlation to amount owed)

So that should total $424/mo then in Jan that will increase to $455. This should take a total of 5 months to pay off.

When I get back home, I want to re-finance my auto loan (for 48 months) and my mortgage loan (for 7-10 years).

The mortgage loan I want to pay off by April of 2014 no matter if I get that re-fi on it or not. But come Nov 2013 I'll only be able to put $397/mo towards it because I'll be paying Sallie Mae again at $190/mo.

Once the mortgage loan is paid off then I'll pay off Sallie Mae loan at $587/mo but I'll also pay about half of it off in one large chunk.

So therefore my plan is basically this:

Emblem - pay $455/mo - pay off by April 2013
Mortgage - pay $397/mo - pay off by April 2014
Sallie Mae - pay $587/mo - pay off by Nov 2014

After that I'm not sure which step to take next. Either pay off student loans, build up my emergency fund (i already have $5k), start contributing to my retirement again, or a combination of the three.

*I will not be paying off the auto loan because I need the credit, but it WILL get re-financed.

*I need to take into account that I will be receiving at least two pay raises between Jan 2013 through Dec 2014. And whether to put that amount solely for student loans and/or retirement until I pay off all my debt.

*Also in April I'll have my tax refund by then. It should be in the range of $1,500 at least. I'm not sure where to apply that though. Pay down debt? Add to savings? Add to retirement?

I can't wait til I have the majority of my debt paid off and I can add my tax refund to my savings/retirement EVERY time! =P

Ok, so today's valuable lesson in paying off a credit card is pay BEFORE the due date!!

My card had a $653.30 @ 17.99% which was due on the 22 Nov 2012. What I did was just tell the automatic payment to pay in full instead of the minimum which it did do.

The only thing is that I got charged interest fees because of the interest accrued on that amount. It was only $8.72 but still, if I had known that I would be charged interest when they gave me a balance of $653.30 then I would have accounted for that when I paid the bill!

So yeah, I just went on ahead and paid it. It only takes one time for me to learn a mistake like that.

So this means that when I pay off the next credit card that it'll be well BEFORE the due date! That will save me another $10 for sure!! AGH!

Well just to let you know, I'm a couponer. I'm not an extreme couponer. I can't go to a store, get $100 worth of stuff and only pay $1. Not yet at least! What I have done is pay $71 for $147 worth of groceries and I've paid $53 for $109 worth of groceries. Couponing isn't easy!! But I do believe that it's worth it!

You have to organize your coupons so that they work for you. But before I left for Afghanistan I donated all my coupons to the military.

Did you know that military personnel can use coupons up to six months AFTER they've expired!!

I sent them to a woman who then gathered up all the coupons sent to her and mailed them to a representative. There is one in each area/region.

But right now I don't have any coupons. So I need to restock but I don't want to start from scratch. So I've been thinking of having Sunday newspapers sent to my brother's house (he has my stuff anyways). But only for the three month subscription, that way I can stock up a bit and be able to shop for groceries right when I get home!

It only costs about $37 for the (13 week) subscription which is saving money from actually buying it every Sunday.

This is what really helps me budget for groceries every month. Don't get me wrong, not everything needs a coupon for me to buy. But I will try to wait for a sale if I can, but since I literally have to restock my kitchen I'll need to purchase almost everything!! UGH!!!

Funny thing is that when I get home, the newspaper in my area costs substantially less than the one in my brothers' area. But he gets more coupons. Oh well...

If you are lucky enough not to have a private student loan with Sallie Mae then cunt yourself amongst the lucky ones! I have a student loan that I took out with my ex as the student. We've had this loan since 2001 and have been making payments.

Unfortunately when you begin making payments, which occurs as soon as you receive the monies, it's NOT applied to the principal. We were not aware of this and so have been making payments for a total of eleven years. The payments are being applied to the principal at this point but there is only $9,530 left to pay from the original $15,950.

Private student loans are extremely difficult to attain a forebearance or deferment if it is even offered for it.

I was fortunate to actually attain a small deferrment for a short time. But I still have almost $10,000 worth of debt for this loan alone.

At this point I will not deplete my savings just to be debt free, meaning that I will not payoff the loan with all my savings. I don't believe that would be a smart move because then I wouldn't have anything in my emergency fund and if there isn't any then I wouldn't have a buffer in case something happens.

So I'm going to pay half of it off when I get back to the states but I'll still make the same payments which means that I should pay it off in a little over two years.

This is actually one of the largest monthly payments that I make, approximately $200/mo. Once I get rid of this payment for good then I can actually breath even better.

So my plan is to actually be rid of this debt in less then three years after I get back home next year.

I really am excited to get back home, because I can then I can really get my debt free plan really going!

I just realized that I actually will not buy a tv until I get back into the states and into my apartment. You see I live in an apartment that comes with a roommate (student living).

The great thing is that if I already have a roommate then more than likely that person will have a tv already. If that's the case then I certainly will not be purchasing a tv, but I won't be able to know for sure until I get into my apartment.

So I can possibly really save up for a nicer tv but wait longer for the one that I really want as well as for a little bit better technology.

So basically that's been put on the back burner as a maybe or maybe not. But I'll still save up for it so that when the time comes I'll have the money for it.

If you aren't familiary with Sallie Mae count yourself lucky.

Sallie Mae provided my ex with a private student loan for approximately $16,000. I signed for this loan so it means that it's in my name but HE is listed as the student.

The crux of the issue is this.

original date: Sept 2001 (yes eleven years!!)
$15,950 @ a variable rate

current rate is 6% but will go back to 8.75% when I get back (or at least close to that)

Current amount owed is about $9,500. This loan normally costs me $190/mo but it's deferred because the company is working with me while I'm deployed.

I've been paying on this loan since the day it's been taken out (privates loans have NO grace periods).

We didn't know that the payments were only being applied to the interest and not the principal when we were making those payments. Now when I make payments they are towards the principal as well.

I'm not sure what to do about the loan:

Continue to pay $190 when the deferment is over until it's paid off (of course I would make more than the minimum eventually)

or

Pay $190 until I can make a lump sum payment which will completely deplete my savings (again paying more than the minimum)

or

pay a large amount on it and keep paying the $190 until it's paid off

There are certain things that I want to purchase when I get back home.

As far as I can think of they are:

piercings
tv
wireless router
ps3 + accessories
tattoo

The tv and wireless router I will purchase before I get home and the rest I can save towards little by little.

The tv will cost me about $700-$1000 and the wireless router can cost me up to $100. (I don't plan on upgrading for 4 - 6 years)

The ps3 is about $300 and the piercings and tattoo will run me about $3000 altogether (although it should actually be a lot less than that).

The television and router will more than likely be bought by January.

I know what I want and I know I need to save for the rest. I've waited this long I can wait longer.

As of 22 Nov I have another credit card completely paid off!!

$653.30 @ 17.99% with an annual fee of $39.00 (currently the annual fee is deferred because I'm deployed)

I've paid it off and now have only one more credit card to pay off.

$1698.82 @18.99

I will pay $400/mo towards this card starting in December. Although I am considering paying off this card outright as well. It depends on what my parents say because they are actually taking care of most of my finances.

Right now I currently pay $850/mo for my debt. After the credit card payoff and counting the deferment on my student loans, the amount that I pay for monthly debt is $566/mo. A $284 difference!!!

This will be going towards the interest rate debt that I have which is the other credit card. ($400)

That's four cards down and one more to go! WHOOHOO!!!

Also I will cancel my credit card (the one with the fees) and when I get a new rewards card with NO annual fee (hopefully through my credit union) I will then cancel the last credit card leaving me with only one card. The maximum limit I want is $1000. If they try to raise it more than that I already know that I can request them to lower it. That is my threshold for credit card limits.

My becoming debt free has me looking at a couple of things that I didn't consider in the past.

Money and relationships.

I come from being a spender and married to a spender and living paycheck to paycheck. It's not a way of life that I am going to continue in my future. If I could CHOOSE the person that I would have a relationship with, it would be a saver. That way I know that we'll have money in the bank.

I know I'm a spender but I believe that I have frugal tendencies. What I mean is this for example:

I want a TV. A NICE TV. I want it to be flatscreen Sony HDTV Plasma WIFI Smart 3D (without the glasses) and at least 65" if not more. This is what I want. That is the spender in me.

The frugal in me says this:

Yes for flatscreen because it saves space. No for size, you get a 50" or more. No for Sony because you're paying mainly for the name. No for plasma, get LED because moving companies will not insure that and the quality isn't that much from plasma as long as it's 120hz. Yes, to WIFI because you use Netflix and that can be hooked up to the tv directly. Yes to HD because that's pretty much what is sold now-a-days. Yes to smart tv because that's wifi enable, you can use the netflix with it. Maybe to 3D and if you can't find one without glasses then either settle for one with glasses or don't get 3D at all.

So pretty much the frugal in me says:

flatscreen HDTV LED WIFI Smart 50" tv with or without 3D. that's what you get.

Also the frugal in me says the best time to purchase a tv will be in January just before the SuperBowl. (this means I will shop online and have it sent to family in the states since i'm deployed).

I want a saver because the saver will make sure that we save for it instead of just buying it the same day we decide to get one. This will also allow me time to make sure what are the best options for us based on needs/wants.

I also don't want a person that is in debt and NOT trying to get out of it. I want someone who is either debt free or on their way to being debt free. I don't want anymore financial stress in my life or relationships.

Finances can break a relationship and I prefer my relationships to be broken on something other than finances, although I'd prefer them not to be broken at all.

My ex is still financially crippled. It has been 2 1/2 years and it looks as if I'm the only one that has learned from there past mistakes. But he's older than me significantly and should have already learned these lessons a long time ago. Maybe one day he will and will be at peace financially. I wish him much luck and happiness.

My future is brighter after it being so dark because I can see the light at the opening of the cave. The walls are no longer closed in on me. I am no longer dragging myself on the rocks and dirt of the cave floor. I am now walking crouched over, making small steps towards the opening that I can tell is not that far ahead of me. I can't wait to get there because I know it'll be such a beautiful place to be in. And waiting there is someone that I want to spend the rest of my life with that has the same goals.