In the works of my budget, my would-be disposable income is made of $60 food budget every two weeks, $40 misc, and $50 gas for my car, for a grand total of $150. That's it. The rest is already planned to go somewhere else. Including debt/savings/snowballs. At least, that was my intention. Which sort of makes you wonder... I haven't seen the $40 misc in months, as it gets used in gas (thanks, $3.50/gal gas!), and the fact that when I go home, they use my car and they never fill it back up. So what the heck? How come I'm not able to pay down debt super fast?
Easy. Family. I'm paying for the car I don't use that isn't mine. Before that, I was paying for the full car insurance policy for 5 people, me included. And not a cheap insurance either... but besides that, every time I go home, I end up buying food for that household on top of mine. That's a very strong leak, but I can't seem to plug it. Instead, it will end being a permanent part of my budget. But. One month, that little extra to the household became $600. Another month, it was only $100 (keep in mind I am already contributing an extra $100...). Then it would become $300. Right now, it's looking like $400. Oh yes, it is quite out of control. I guess it's easier for people that don't have to support two households... though most people would say I don't have to support that household because I am no longer in it. If I am, it's just on the weekends. It's my parent's house, that I am talking about, by the way.
For August, I bought $80 EXTRA in gas. Add that to $150 buying tires for another car because they needed them and I offered, and about $50 worth in food. That's close to $300 and we're not even done yet...
Anyway. Yeah. I'm gonna grind my teeth and just work on snowflakes.
As it stands right this second...
I have:
-$5828 in consumer debt ($3,828 CC1/$2,000 CC2).
-$7112 left to be paid on the car.
-$11,889 in student loans ($9,816 L1/$2,073 L2)
Total: $24,829 (or only $17,717 for my portion not counting the car).
Payments on all things come to a combined total of $732 a month. It looks that at this rate, if I can start snowballs, I should be done with the car in 17 months, and done with my CC1 by 19 months. The big loan is what's going to take the longest, at 40-some months last I checked. But for a while there, that's the only debt I will be paying.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Putting cards on the table
A few things I need to be upright about my different types of debt:
- Student Loans: I borrowed more than I should have by no choice of my own. I didn’t have a choice when obtaining financial aid for college and my mother made us to get the max amount in loans to use the extra money as some sort of tax refund for the house. No, not even for savings. Just use and gone in a few months.
- Credit Cards: Not mine... they were opened under my name by my mother and maxed by her. One of them, CC2, I didn't even know it existed (or that it was closed!) until much after the fact. So I have that debt in my name and am determined to pay for it. No, I'm not suing my mother or trying to get remuneration from here, because she couldn't pay me even if I forced her. I am taking full responsibility, even if it isn't quite mine.
- Car payment: I have used that car maybe twice by myself. Mostly my dad uses it now. I still have to pay for it because they can't afford the payments, and non-payments affect my older brother's credit, since he co-signed the loan. And they’re trying to save for a nicer, better home for their newly started family.
Some of my future plans and what I need for them:
- New car: Well, new to me. Currently, I drive a 98 Chevy with 120k miles that I need to keep fixing up. More info on that as it develops. I want (want to be able to afford) a new/new-to-me car by late Spring ’14.
- (Not so much a financial goal, but…) $500 + study time for job-related certification Winter ‘14
- 6 months of living costs: Planning on moving Spring ‘15
Small simple goals, nothing awfully ambitious… (yeah, right, especially not since we’re talking of over $12,000 for the whole moving, and at least $3,000 down on the car). But yeah. Those are our starting points. Then, we will have monthly goals, because my weekly variance is pretty unnoticed.
But yeah. I want to do small snowflakes. Not quite the snowballs, since I wont be able to start those until after I manage to rebuild my EF (Oct ’10). I am really out of ideas as to how to track this, especially since I keep getting surprised with charges I shouldn't have.
- Student Loans: I borrowed more than I should have by no choice of my own. I didn’t have a choice when obtaining financial aid for college and my mother made us to get the max amount in loans to use the extra money as some sort of tax refund for the house. No, not even for savings. Just use and gone in a few months.
- Credit Cards: Not mine... they were opened under my name by my mother and maxed by her. One of them, CC2, I didn't even know it existed (or that it was closed!) until much after the fact. So I have that debt in my name and am determined to pay for it. No, I'm not suing my mother or trying to get remuneration from here, because she couldn't pay me even if I forced her. I am taking full responsibility, even if it isn't quite mine.
- Car payment: I have used that car maybe twice by myself. Mostly my dad uses it now. I still have to pay for it because they can't afford the payments, and non-payments affect my older brother's credit, since he co-signed the loan. And they’re trying to save for a nicer, better home for their newly started family.
Some of my future plans and what I need for them:
- New car: Well, new to me. Currently, I drive a 98 Chevy with 120k miles that I need to keep fixing up. More info on that as it develops. I want (want to be able to afford) a new/new-to-me car by late Spring ’14.
- (Not so much a financial goal, but…) $500 + study time for job-related certification Winter ‘14
- 6 months of living costs: Planning on moving Spring ‘15
Small simple goals, nothing awfully ambitious… (yeah, right, especially not since we’re talking of over $12,000 for the whole moving, and at least $3,000 down on the car). But yeah. Those are our starting points. Then, we will have monthly goals, because my weekly variance is pretty unnoticed.
But yeah. I want to do small snowflakes. Not quite the snowballs, since I wont be able to start those until after I manage to rebuild my EF (Oct ’10). I am really out of ideas as to how to track this, especially since I keep getting surprised with charges I shouldn't have.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Hello Blogosphere!
After much deliberation, I've decided to go ahead with a blog recording my financial journey, since it will be a long way all the way. I’m keeping this one separate from my other personal one because, well, I want the liberty of disagreeing (severely at times) of my family. No, I don’t want to bash them and hide behind anonymity. We’re family by no choice, and although I get along with some of them, I disapprove of some of the things they do. Simple as that. At this point in time, the last thing I need is more friction.
For starters, my name is Tanner, and I’m a chocoholic. Ok, that’s a confession for a different time and a different place (and probably a different audience), but my name is about right. I’m just breaking a quarter of a century of age. I have a college degree and I promise I have all my shots. Or at least enough of them. I work full time on yours truly, 8-5 work schedule, with occasional weekends at another job. My family is... well, let's just say they're the kind of gift you wish you had the receipt for. And even if you didn’t have the receipt, that you'd bite the expenses and just go and return them if you could. I have an older married brother, enjoying the whole diaper-change routine. Then me, three younger brats.
Maybe this is TMI, but I don't get along with my mother. I have not spoken to her in... well, a few years. Which makes it all the more awkward when I do have to head home. I hate her. But hate is such a strong word, so feel free to substitute it with something... nicer. I have to go home most weekends because I work during the weekend, and that job is shy of 3 miles from my parent's house (which is an hour from my current house and full time job). Also, I work until the VERY late hours of the night (usually I get out no earlier than midnight), and by that time, I don’t feel like driving an hour to my current house, so I stay at my parent's. I am very close with my dad, decently close to my older brother, and dislike/don't care for/don't want to know about the younger three. You'll get to know them soon enough...
I wont clog the posts, so let me get my finances straight and I’ll get into them in a post tomorrow.
For starters, my name is Tanner, and I’m a chocoholic. Ok, that’s a confession for a different time and a different place (and probably a different audience), but my name is about right. I’m just breaking a quarter of a century of age. I have a college degree and I promise I have all my shots. Or at least enough of them. I work full time on yours truly, 8-5 work schedule, with occasional weekends at another job. My family is... well, let's just say they're the kind of gift you wish you had the receipt for. And even if you didn’t have the receipt, that you'd bite the expenses and just go and return them if you could. I have an older married brother, enjoying the whole diaper-change routine. Then me, three younger brats.
Maybe this is TMI, but I don't get along with my mother. I have not spoken to her in... well, a few years. Which makes it all the more awkward when I do have to head home. I hate her. But hate is such a strong word, so feel free to substitute it with something... nicer. I have to go home most weekends because I work during the weekend, and that job is shy of 3 miles from my parent's house (which is an hour from my current house and full time job). Also, I work until the VERY late hours of the night (usually I get out no earlier than midnight), and by that time, I don’t feel like driving an hour to my current house, so I stay at my parent's. I am very close with my dad, decently close to my older brother, and dislike/don't care for/don't want to know about the younger three. You'll get to know them soon enough...
I wont clog the posts, so let me get my finances straight and I’ll get into them in a post tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)