Feeling Poor For No Good Reason

I've been feeling really poor. I know I'm not poor. I know I'm well off, but I've had to cut back since I've started paying for school and i was really looking forward to getting a raise once i passed the exam. but i flunked the exam, so no raise. Now I'm beginning to wish that I'd stayed at the stressful consulting job where my raises were not contingent on the test. Sigh. I work for the government and we did have a small market adjustment raise a few months ago, but I put the entire raise in my retirement fund ($120/month). I could stop the retirement withdrawals until I'm finished paying for school, but I'm only missing out on eating out and buying more clothes and eating out. So I'll hold out for a few more months. I'll pass the test next time. The third time is the charm, right? In the mean time, I'll work on making multiple income streams. ::rolls eyes::

Results

I found out I didn’t pass my PE exam yesterday.  I got the same score as last time.  Go figure.  I worked so hard for this test.  I don’t understand how I couldn’t have passed.  Talk about a blow to the ego.   I just went home yesterday and moped instead of cleaning.  What a great way to start Christmas

Clean Desk!

Plans for the rest of the day.  Pick up the Ant, feed the kids cereal, and  clean desk!

Christmas Redux

I am finished Christmas shopping.  I have everything except a laptop per Maya’s request.  I’ll probably get the laptop in March around her birthday.   After cashing in $195 worth of rewards, I only spent $85.99 on presents.  How awesome is that!  Save up those rewards it’s worth it.

 

	Price	rewards	Total
MP3 player	15	0	15
Amazon: Sims games	20	20	0
Amazon: mini pot with spatula	20	20	0
Am Ex: Mari Kart	48	30	18
Amazon: Wii Wheel	18	0	18
Anthony-Nightmare Before Christmas	20	20	0
Am Ex: Cars	15	15	0
Various Toys	75	80	-5
Books	10	10	0
Mom: digital photograph	39.99	0	39.99
	280.99	195	85.99

 

So I I stick iwht my plan I’ll be spening almost no money on Christmas presents this year. 

Do Something!

I am slack, slack, slacking.  I’m doing everything but what I’m supposed to do, which is nothing.  In ten seconds I will start doing something!  1, 2, 3….

Sunday Wrap Up_2008_12_07

It wasn't a bad weekend. I slept a lot to make up for the lack of it during the week. No regrets.

Home: I changed the air filters! And my house is still pretty clean. Nice.
Editing: Good. I'm on page 55, on schedule.
Writing: I am about 750 words behind my word count. tsk, tsk. i don't think i'll be able to make it up tonight. but tomorrow looks good.
Spirituality: I didn't go to church today. I haven't been in a while. Tsk, tsk.
Finances: I spent way too much money. $20 at Pizza hut on Friday, $30 at the movies, $23 at a new fancy Chinese restaurant. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Family: Good time with the fam this weekend, i.e. all of the money we spent.

Nightly Update: 2008_12_05

It's 4 in the morning and i've been up since 2. I've been doing this for the past three nights. My sleep pattern is off and that is a very bad thing. I tend to get weepy during the day if I don't get enough sleep.

Home: I was supposed to change the air filters today, but instead I took the kids to pizza hut and come home and went to sleep. I'll do it tomorrow.

Writing: I didn't do any writing yesterday, so I've spent the last two restless hours writing and making up for it. So I'm caught up.

Editing: After I post this, I'll start working on that. I'm slightly behind.

Nightly Update: 2008_12_03

Summary:

Today was a fun and productive day. Tomorrow is going to be a bit of a bitch because i have a forty edited pages due, but I'm up for it. I haven't done anything all semester. So now i gotta make up for it.

Home- Replace air filters in Home and rental home due Friday

Home (Clean)- Good… I need to work on my room this weekend.

Writing- 50 words/day, 250 wds/week, 1000 wds/month-- I have finished the first draft of Coal. I need to set up an editing plan. Done!

Editing-10 pages per day-- Done!

Spiritual- 1) Pray at night with the kids, 2) Read one Christian Themed book per month, 3) volunteer at church twice a month. I still need to down load a book.

Health- Exercise 4 days per week (Monday, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Sunday). 2) One Salad night per week. Exercise has gone out the window, i have a paper due tomorrow. so i've been working on that.

Family- Do 2 planned activities per month with my kids

-shop for Christmas stockings (Saturday).

Work-720 pts/year, 60 pts/month, or 5 or 6 permits per month

I'm at 385 RDI for the year. I am ahead of schedule.

Social- Talk to Two strangers per week

Nightly Update: 2008_12_02

Pretty good night. The house is clean, I've edited about seven pages and wrote about hundred words. Cooked dinner, made Ant do some HW, and made dauther wash dishes.

December 2008 Net Worth

Credit Score	673	655
Assets	November	December	Difference
Cash Accts.	$6,530.00	$6,665.00	$135.00
Home	$133,000.00	$132,500.00	-$500.00
Rental	$72,348.00	$72,348.00	$0.00
401k	$3,170.00	$3,098.61	-$71.39
529	$262.00	$303.00	$41.00
Roth	$1,056.00	$1,058.00	$2.00
Misc (Car, etc)	$7,000.00	$7,000.00	$0.00
Total Assets	$223,366.00	$222,972.61	-$393.39
Liabilities	November	December	Difference
CC	$1,202.00	$500.00	-$702.00
Home	$97,400.00	$97,200.00	-$200.00
Rental	$66,434.00	$66,379.00	-$55.00
HELOC	$9,024.00	$8,978.00	-$46.00
Student Loans	$53,984.81	$53,875.54	-$109.27
Total Liabilities	$228,044.81	$226,932.54	-$1,112.27
Net Worth	-$4,678.81	-$3,959.93	$718.88

 

My net worth increased by $718 dollars, putting my total net worth to -$3,959.  So I’ll probably still be in the negative by the end of the year.  But I think a $22,000 increase is pretty impressive. 

Cash Accounts:  No big change from the previous month.

Credit Cards: I paid them before the end of the month, but I did some serious shopping last weekend. 

Home: the value dropped by $500.  

Roth:  I’ve cut back on my Roth to focus on the more liquid part of my Emergency Fund.

Efund: Is at $3,000. I’m awaiting a $460 automatic savings deposit and I have to come up with another $140 to meet my savings goal for the year.

401k: I only lost $71 for the month.  Not as bad as the previous months, but not as good as I would like it.

Summary:  not a terribly great month, but not too bad either.

 

 

Productivity Report_2008_12_2

Summary:

I’m Switching things up.  I’m tired of not living up to my potential.  Sometimes I just forget what I plan to do until the next day, but if I remind myself on a daily basis then maybe it’ll be easier to do it.

Home- Replace air filters in Home and rental home due Friday

Home (Clean)- Good… still making the kids clean up after themselves.  It sucks to constantly be telling someone what to do, but I’m getting used to it.  I threaten Anthony with throwing away his toys if I found them on the floor and I threaten Maya (my ten year old) with taking money away from her allowance.

Writing- 50 words/day, 250 wds/week, 1000 wds/month-- I have finished the first draft of Coal.  I need to set up an editing plan. Due Tomorrow

Editing-?

Spiritual- 1) Pray at night with the kids, 2) Read one Christian Themed book per month, 3) volunteer at church twice a month.  

Health- Exercise 4 days per week (Monday, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Sunday).  2) One Salad night per week

Family- Do 2 planned activities per month with my kids

 -shop for stockings (Saturday).

 Work-720 pts/year, 60 pts/month, or 5 or 6 permits per month

I'm at 385 RDI for the year.  I am ahead of schedule.

Social- Talk to Two strangers per week

---------------------------------

“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.”  --Oprah Winfrey

Should I Move: Pros and Cons

Cons

Downtown has a high crime rate

Apartment complex is completely enclosed http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/OK-Oklahoma-City-Legacy-At-Arts-Quarter-758511.html#userresponses

Making it hard to receive visitors.  I hardly get visitors.  Hardly. Ever.  Almost never!

Longer commute to family.

Monthly expenses will increase due to increased rent/mortgage

Kids couldn’t really go outside by themselves??

 

Pros:

Much shorter commute

Apartment complex is completely enclosed

Close to parks, work, school, LIBRARY, restaurants!!!

Living a dream!

Fitness room

Great for biking

I don’t have to mow the yard

I don’t have to deal with those kids playing in the creek

I don’t have to clean up after family get togethers, because an apartment is too small for get togethers!

 

In addition to monthly obligations there are the upfront costs

Deposit: 350

Application fee: $30

Electricity deposit or maybe just a transfer fee

 

After much thought and consideration, I think I’m gonna stay where I am.  The economy is shaky and I really need to build my efund before I start  living the downtown chic life.   

What I should do in the meantime is forget about renting the house below market level.  If my sister wants to rent then it’ll have to be at market level, unless I’ve built my efund.  But until then I’m gonna work on keeping everything up to date so that if I decided to rent to strangers, everything will already look nice.

Four Year Old and Money

I’m really bad at leaving money lying around.  I’ve been meaning to deposit $100 (five $20 bills) for a while.  I had it on my kitchen cabinet one morning and the  next morning it was gone.  I asked my kids if they’d seen it, and they both said no.  I asked them repeatedly over the next few days and I still got the same answer.   So I was getting my son dressed this morning (I put him on the same jeans he wore Monday), and I searched his pockets because there was a toy sticking out-he’s not supposed to take toys to school- I searched his other pocket to make sure there weren’t any more toys in there and ka-ching this boy had $100 in his pocket (and two more toys).  Lesson learned.  My daughter has never touched my money, so I’ve always felt safe laying money around.  Not any more.  Anthony is a pack rat and if something will fit in his pocket it will go in his pocket.  Now I’m gonna have to give him the “don’t take things that don’t belong to you speech” every day for the next two weeks. 

 

It was really cute when he smiled and said “I was keeping it safe for you.”  I couldn’t even get mad because he was sooo cute when he said it.

Should I move: The Financial Side

I am desperately wanting to rent out my home and move to a certain luxury downtown apartment complex.  Sigh… but we need to crunch the numbers.

1.       Rent $1,300 max.  The actual rent ranges from $1,248-$1,299

2.       My mortgage payment is ~$860/month.  That would be approximately $440 increase.  (I am going to rent it out to my sister and I probably wouldn’t charge more than the mortgage payment)

3.       I currently budget $200/month for gas.  I would save atleast $100/month from shortening my commute. 440-100=$340

4.       My heating bill which averages at $90/month would be gone.  340-90=$250 increase over mortgage payment

5.       but my electricity bill ($80) would increase probably by $50. $250 + 50=$300 increase over mortgage payment

6.       My home insurance should decrease from $1,200 to at least 1,000 year.    $16/month.  300-16= $284 (I have to get a quote)

7.       Water bill would be the same.

So If I get the apartment I’m taking away $284 that could go towards my efund or retirement.  Tsk, tsk.  But we’ll come back to that later.  If I do decide to move

I’m gonna have to cut my discretionary spending:

1.       Cut efund contributions from $500/month to 400/month.   I set my goal at giving $300/month ($3,600/yr).   I over estimate because life happens and  I want to stay on my five year 6 month of expenses efund goal no matter what.   $284-100=$184

2.       Cut fast food from 130 to 100.  $184-$30=$154

3.       Home maintenance fund from $250-$200. $154-$50=$100

4.       Cut car fund from $75-$50. $100-$25=$75 increase over mortgage payment

 

Man, that’s a long list just get an apartment.  I’ll be setting myself back in terms of money.  That is a big no-no in the world of personal finance.  But It’s a dream of mine to live downtown. I was gonna wait until my kids were grown and out of the house.  But with them both going to school downtown I can live that dream much sooner than I thought.  And with a lot of discipline I can use the amount of time that I save on the commute to work on earning money from blogging and writing.  Of course this is all dependent on me passing my PE exam and getting a raise.  I took the test in October and I won’t know until the middle of December if I passed it.  If I passed the test, I’m still not sure if it would be worth it.  ------ Needs more thought and research before I make a decision.  Right now I’m feeling too lazy to move anyway.

Here We Go Again

I’m doing it again.  I’m thinking about all the crap that I have to do and it’s causing me to do nothing at all.  Usually, after I blog about my paralysis, I immediately start working away on what I’m supposed to do.  So here goes. 

In A Lifetime

In Our LifeTime!  In my Lifetime!  In my daughter’s Lifetime! in my mom’s lifetime! In my son’s lifetime!  In MY LIFETIME. 

 

GOD Bless America! 

November 2008 Net Worth

Credit Score	683	673
Assets	October	November	Difference
Cash Accts.	$7,300.00	$6,530.00	-$770.00
Home	$124,500.00	$133,000.00	$8,500.00
Rental	$72,348.00	$72,348.00	$0.00
401k	$3,560.07	$3,170.00	-$390.07
529	$299.00	$262.00	-$37.00
Roth	$1,025.00	$1,056.00	$31.00
Misc (Car, etc)	$7,000.00	$7,000.00	$0.00
Total Assets	$216,032.07	$223,366.00	$7,333.93
Liabilities	October	November	Difference
CC	$824.00	$1,202.00	$378.00
Home	$97,432.36	$97,400.00	-$32.36
Rental	$66,500.00	$66,434.00	-$66.00
HELOC	$9,076.00	$9,024.00	-$52.00
Student Loans	$54,181.02	$53,984.81	-$196.21
Total Liabilities	$228,013.38	$228,044.81	$31.43
Net Worth	-$11,981.31	-$4,678.81	$7,302.50

My net worth increased by $7,302 dollars, putting my total net worth to -$4,678.  I know it’s too early to get excited about since the increase is due to the value of my home, but I’m going to forget that for a moment and be happy.  I was sad whenever my home worth dropped but I still stuck with the numbers Zillow dished out, so I’m going to be happy now that my home value is increasing using Zillow.  Too continue… I started out this year with a -$29,000 net worth.   -$29,000!  And now I’m at -$4,000.  Man, God is good.  And a special shout out to Clever Dude, Single Ma, Dough Roller and Get Rich Slowly for the ed-u-ma-cation.  Thanks for the knowledge… Kinda sappy.  Sorry.  

Cash Accounts:  I’m missing a couple of key deposits, which would account for the price difference from last month to this month.

Credit Cards: I haven’t paid my cc bills yet.  Usually by the time I post my net worth they are already paid. 

Home:  Home value increased by $8,500. Weird, since the US is supposedly in a recession, right?  Well, Oklahoma I guess is still booming.  Plus our home values didn’t sky rocket like California or Las Vegas. 

Roth:  I’ve cut back on my Roth to focus on the more liquid part of my Emergency Fund.

Efund: Is at $2,500. $1,100 left to reach my efund goal.  It’s gonna be close.

Investments: I’m still resisting the urge to buy some bonds and take the Roth out of a money market account.   

401k: my 401K took another big hit as well as the 529 account.  No surprises there.  I’m still investing regularly.  In fact, I got a 5% raise this month and bumped up my contributions from $50 to $170.  I know it’s still pitiful, but something is better than nothing.  I’ll do better once my efund is up and running.

Summary: Last month I was hoping to reach -$9,000 by the end of the year, but now it’s looking like I may actually be able to start 2009, with a flimsy but positive net worth.  GOSH…. That would be cool.

 

Family

My mom is staying with me, as well as my little sis plus her two kids, and my little bros baby moma plus her three kids. Why you ask? because my mom's sorry boyfriend said he was paying the electricity bill and he had not. thus, the bill is $700. Sigh. The old me would have paid the bill in a second just to have my house to my self, but I ain't touching my efund. Hell Na. And I gotta come up with her boyfriend's mortgage payment, but that is only $250. I should be tripping because my stupid ass is already paying $220 of the mortgage since the roommate moved out, but what can I do except grin and bear it. I can foot the extra $250 without touching the efund, so I'll count my blessings, it'll just have to come from my home maintenance fund.

I Got It!!!

Ladies and Gents, I am posting from my new ultralight, laptop with sound. With sound. I went to utube and got to hear some music. GASP! I can sit it on my lap and it doesn't burn. I can carry it in my bag and act like it's a book. It's doesn't make lots of noise like my dell. I could go on and on and on and on. Sigh. I'm out $300 but you will hear no complaining from me.

BTW, it's an Everex. I had never heard of it before, but i googled it to find mixed reviews. It's less than a year old with Windows Vista. It didn't come with a lot of software but I just needed for writing and blogging and so far it's working out nicely.

New Old Laptop???

Well I told you I’ve been looking for a laptop, right?  Well a guy is selling one at work.  For $300 and it’s ultra portable.  It’s less than a year old but it’s a generic brand.  However, I hope to buy a Mac in a year (or whenever this one bites the dust, per PF rules!  LOL).  This works out because my sis owes me some money and she’s giving it to me today.  So assuming I like it, I’ll have a new, lightweight laptop, with sound and a dvd writer and technically, I didn’t have to touch my efund to get it.   YEAH!!!!!!!    

Facing Fear

I am the book fair chair person for my son’s school.  I’m scared.  What am  I scared of?  failure and being judged and being unprepared.  Fear can immobilize, so by doing nothing I am ensuring that I will be underprepared.  So I’m going to face this fear with my arms wide open and get started.

No Mac for Me

Friday I took my PE test for the second time. It was just as hard as the first time, except I knew a lot more. Did I know enough to pass? I have no idea, but i do know I studied my ass off. As a treat, i was thinking of buying a new laptop. I wanted to try out the MacBook, but that sucker is $1,299. and that's without a warranty or anything extra. I was so tempted to buy it on the spot, but I walked away. I still have to pay for school and I ain't about to touch my efund. Maybe if Istart making money blogging, like I'm supposed to do, I'll finally have enough money to buy one. Until then I'm stuck with my four year old, clunkly, dell that has no sound. But I've been working on it all day with no problems, so I can't complain.

Represent

I am being challenged this week.  God is calling me out to be a leader.  Atleast that is what it feels like. 

I completed a survey from Ant’s school and somehow I’m the chair of his book fair. I could do the minimum, or I could put myself out there, risk failure, and try to do more than the minimum.  Hmm…. The fear of failure is a bitch.  But I’m gonna risk it. 

Setting up for the book fair is going to be a precursor to the life groups I plan to host, once I take and pass my exam.

I received a letter to attend a career day at a school.  I don’t want to go.  Last year I was hella nervous and it was not fun.  But once again, I gotta represent.  I gotta be seen.  I gotta stand out from the crowd.

Maya also has Saturday school once a month where parents are allowed to attend.  I don’t want to go.  I want to recede in my shell and act like I don’t exist.  I just want to drop her off and pick her like a regular parent. But once again, I gotta be seen.  The teacher’s at that school need to know I’m there for my child.  I gotta represent, I gotta be seen.  I have to show my child how to represent.

I gotta get out there and show the world Black, educated children of welfare do exist.  

I’m going to expect great things.

“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.”  --Oprah Winfrey

 

 

Net Worth Statement: October 2008

 

Credit Score	681	683
Assets	September	October	Difference	% change
Cash Accts.	$4,600.00	$7,300.00	$2,700.00	58.70%
Home	$124,500.00	$124,500.00	$0.00	0.00%
Rental	$72,348.00	$72,348.00	$0.00	0.00%
401k	$4,038.45	$3,560.07	-$478.38	-11.85%
529	$250.00	$299.00	$49.00	19.60%
Roth	$1,000.00	$1,025.00	$25.00	2.50%
Misc (Car, etc)	$7,000.00	$7,000.00	$0.00	0.00%
Total Assets	$213,736.45	$216,032.07	$2,295.62	1.07%
Liabilities	September	October	Difference	% change
CC	$0.00	$824.00	$824.00	#DIV/0!
Home	$97,770.00	$97,432.36	-$337.64	-0.35%
Rental	$66,540.00	$66,500.00	-$40.00	-0.06%
HELOC	$9,050.00	$9,076.00	$26.00	0.29%
Student Loans	$54,249.04	$54,181.02	-$68.02	-0.13%
Total Liabilities	$227,609.04	$228,013.38	$404.34	0.18%
Net Worth	-$13,872.59	-$11,981.31	$1,891.28	13.63%

 

My networth increased by $1,800 dollars HA!  But that’s because this is the first of the month as opposed to the middle of the month when I usually calculate my net worth.  Now I have a reason to do this early in the month!

Cash Accounts:  There is a big increase because I haven’t paid my bills yet.

Credit Cards: I haven’t paid my cc bills yet.  Usually by the time I post my net worth they are already paid. 

Home:  Nothing new.

Roth:  I’ve cut back on my Roth to focus on my Emergency Fund. 

Efund: Is at $2,100. $1,500 to reach my efund goal.  It’s gonna be close.

Investments: My Roth Account remains steady because it is in a money market account.  Thank God!  I wanted to keep it fixed with no risk since it is part of my efund.  I am so happy I did that.  But now everything is so low and I’m thinking about buying some low risk CHEAP bonds, but a sister shouldn’t play with her efund.  So I’m gonna try to resist the urge. 

401k: my 401K took a big hit, but my 529 has increased.  I wonder what’s up with that.  When the market was stable the value was going down.  The market is horrible and it’s going up.  I need to look at the holdings.  I didn’t do much research on the fund.  I just picked one according to my daughter’s age.

Summary: the summer is over and I’m back in the game.  I wonder if I can get over -$9,000 before the year is up.