Where's the June Spending Report?

Sorry everyone, I am a bit of perfectionist when it comes to reports and I can't find a single receipt for $22.02! It's from a department store, so I can't just guess what we bought. I am still searching for that receipt and once I find it - the June reports are ready to go.

I have a feeling I know where it is, and I just have to remember to ask if he has it when he gets home :)

I Wish Those LCD HDTVs Would Quit Calling My Name

I briefly mentioned how HDTVs are tempting in my Keeping Motivated to Become Debt Free post. I mentioned that back in April and here it is July. They are still so tempting.

It doesn't help that we didn't have a very nice time at the movie theater yesterday. Our current TV is a 27" and it's about 8 years old. It still works, but the picture quality isn't the best.

We did take a look at them at Walmart, and there was a 26" that I practically fell in love with. The picture was so crisp and clear and with the wide screen, it looked beautiful. I hate to admit, I went as far as asking if there were any in stock. It turns out that the display is all they have of that model and they would not be getting any more. All of the other LCDs didn't have that beautiful picuture. There were a few flat screen TVs that looked nice, but there is no way to fit one of those in our car.

I think for now, I will continue to argue in my mind for and against the purchase. Of course, the biggest "against" is the fact that the money used to pay for the TV would be extra money that was going to go towards debt (I have a big amount slated for this month ~ shooting to get the credit card debt under $30,000). Do I really want to fall behind a month with trying to reach the goal date?

The worst thing is...I don't understand why I am being lured to them. I am not normally a electronic wow-able person. That's usually my husband. But why me and why now? One thing I've learned is that sometimes when you want something, you could actually be wanting something else. Ahh...the psychology of spending. Hopefully soon I will figure it out.

Movie Theaters - A Waste of Money

My husband and I haven't been to a movie theater in over 5 years. My son, being 4, has never been to one. That is...until today.

We decided to take our son to the "big screen" to see the Pixar movie, Cars. Since we haven't been to one in a while, we were unsure what to expect with prices. For the three of us, the matinee tickets cost $14.50. Wow. Then, a large Coke and a medium popcorn was $7.50. Double wow. Total cost of outing, $22.00.

Our particular theater was a disappointment as well. The picture was projected slightly crooked and the sound quality was horrible. I couldn't believe that with the roar of race cars I couldn't feel it. I guess for the amount that I paid I was expecting to feel the hairs on my arm rise with the roar of a race car's engine. I'm sure that's what Pixar had in mind with the movie, but our movie theater didn't deliver that experience.

We will happily be renting movies and watching them at home from now on. They sound better and we can be more comforatble. And to think...I know going to the movies costs more in bigger cities. Triple wow.

Chipmunks are Frugal!!

I know, I know...it's a Friday night and I must be drinking or something to write a post title like that. But I am as sober as sober can be. And I am pretty serious about my title because I saw something today that amazed me.

I was outside and I heard a rustle from the neighbor's yard. I looked, and I saw a grocery store plastic bag moving around. At first I thought it was the wind, but it was moving around too much. Then it hit me - the chipmunk that hangs around there probably trapped himself in it. I was just about to get my shoes on to give the little fellow a hand when I saw him outside of the bag. He wasn't in it...he was dragging it around!

Then, the funniest thing happened. He went into a hole into the ground and drug that bag right in there with him. It took him a while to get the whole thing in the hole, but he did. I watched in amazement the entire time. When the bag disappeared, I couldn't help but wonder what value that little guy saw in a plastic bag. Oh how I wish I had a way to see into the ground to take a peek at his home.

Then, I realized something - he/she is being frugal. Not frugal in the sense of spending less than you make but in the sense of utilizing old things for new uses. Thinking about it more, birds do this a lot with using "human" things they find to help build their nests.

Maybe I'm stretching the meaning of frugal a little bit, but that plastic bag sure seemed like an inexpensive treasure to that little guy. I'm thinking that he/she ended up making a nice lounge chair with that plastic bag. Admit it - you are envisioning it now :)

A Quick Post - I Got My Raise :)

I knew I had a raise coming from work, but I tend to not count my chickens before they hatch. I have received official word that I will be receiving a 7% increase in pay starting this month, so I'm excited.

The best part of my current job is that I'm pretty sure they like me and I enjoy working for them. I can see myself working my way up in the company, expecially if I increase my education (which I have been doing). It has taken a while to get here in regards to my career, with some really odd jobs, but I think it has been worth it.

June Credit Card Debt and Finance Charges

Whew...it took me a while to get this ready, but I finished running the numbers in Quicken and formatting the charts in Excel. I only ended up reducing my debt by $409 and of course I would have hoped for more progress there. I still had quite a hit with the finance charges of $330.53, but next month should be a very pretty picture in terms of finance charges. It's funny how my attitude has changed - now I want to hurry up and see my credit card statements :)

I mentioned earlier today, well yesterday now, that I am feeling quite uneasy about how my debt is spread out with balance transfers. It's late and I should get some sleep so I will elaborate more this weekend.



NOTE: This blog focuses on my credit card debt, but because my Prosper loan transferred some of that debt away, it will now be included in future reports.

I Made My First Prosper Loan Payment Today

I've been feeling a little apprehensive lately about the ability to have a trouble-free first payment with Prosper. In fact, there is even one borrower who had Prosper take out her funds twice! For anyone looking to Prosper for a loan, a double-dip like that could wreck havoc on their bank balance. For me, I better keep a buffer in place because normally I run my checking account VERY low. We're talking $40 in it sometimes, and that's for a few reasons: you can't spend it if you don't have I am just throwing as much as I can towards debt.

The process of making a payment is really easy. After logging into my account, I clicked the "Make a payment now" link. I was taken to another screen where I have the following choices:

1.) "Make next monthly payment of $112.77 now - Your next payment is due on Jul-20-2006"

2.) "Make an additional payment of $ (fill in amount here) - Your next monthly payment will proceed as scheduled for Jul-20-2006"

3.) "Pay off entire loan balance now"

Of course, being able to do #3 would be awesome but I'm not there yet ;) So, I went with #1 and I am just paying my first payment a little early. After I indicate that I would like to do #1, I am taken to a page where I confirm the information and click submit. After that, the next screen states the payment was successful and I was given a transaction number. I'd highly recommend that every borrower keep track of the transaction number for each payment. I just include it in my memo line in Quicken.

Next, I head on over to my account overview and I see that I now have $0.00 due July 20, 2006. So far, so good.

Now, where's the interest info? If you click on the "View loan details" link, you will be taken to a page that shows the status of your payments and it also breaks down how much of your payment went towards interest and how much went towards the principal. My payment split ended up being $18.99 interest and $93.78 principal.

I sure hope my loan payment goes off without a hitch and my payment is made early and no duplicate payment occurs. If not, I have a buffer in place and if the payment doesn't go through I will have a few days to try to work it out before lenders start worrying about a late borrower. Luckily, I have the ability to contact most of my lenders to let them know if there is a problem - and for those who check in on me here, you'll find out here as well :)

Index of My Borrowing Experience with Prosper

The Balance Transfer Blues

Ever have that feeling in your stomache that tells you that maybe something bad is going to happen? I have that feeling, and I can pinpoint it to the shifting of funds I have done lately. I'm working right now on getting my new debt picture posted for June and I do not like what I see (sorry - still working on it, but I had to get this out).

I like the fact that the interest rates are lowered now. But I do not like the fact that there are many more payments to make and more accounts to watch. Maybe because I was comfortable with the payment schedule I have had for so long. Gosh, I hope that's it and I'm not having a psychic vision of financial headaches to come.

I tend to rely VERY heavily on my gut and my gut is saying that it doesn't like my debt spread out like it is. I'm not sure what to do about it, though. In hindsight, perhaps I should have asked for a larger loan with Prosper. Then again, I might not have received the 9.9% interest rate.

When I post the picture (later tonight), you'll see what I mean. As always, any comments are appreciated.

UPDATE: June credit card debt and finance charges are posted here.

When You Hear the Music, the Kids (and Adults) Come Running

I was sitting on the couch the other day when I heard kid songs playing and I could hear them coming closer. I ran to the window to look and low and behold, it was an ice cream truck!

I've only heard about ice cream trucks and never saw one actually cruising the streets waiting for kids (except in the movies). Being a new experience for me and also my son, we ran across the street to grab a treat. Along the way, we were stopped by a little boy with ice cream in his hand and in a very hurried sentence told me that he heard the music and hopped on his bike and rode all the way over here see what it was making the music. The wide eyes and the ear to ear smile on his face was one that I will not soon forget.

The ice cream was pretty expensive ($1.00 for a push-up pop) and I ended up spending over $2.00 for our treat when we could have bought a quart of ice cream from the grocery store. But sometimes just the experience makes up for spending an extra dollar.

The Carnival of Personal Finance #55 is Up!

The Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Raising4boys. Make sure you take a few minutes and check out the submissions. I thought it took a bit of time to host the Carnival of Debt Reduction this week and I only had 10 entries. I really appreciate all of the work the hosts do after hosting myself so a big thank you to Raising4boys for hosting this week :)

My contributions were Hospitals - Gotta Watch them Like a Hawk and Using Classes in Quicken to Further Breakdown Expenses from my other blog, Quicken Tips.