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Archive for April, 2008

I just don't get it.

April 23rd, 2008 at 03:16 pm

I acquired my debt for one item at a time. I always knew the full amount I was paying for that item and made the choice that it was worth it.

What I don't understand even 6 months later was how my friend who bought a car justified to herself accumulating a 10k (actually 14k once interest is added in) car loan when 3 months earlier she made that kind of money in a year...

Yes she had a new job at that time that paid better and was up to 30k per year (she lost the job within 3 months) but she had just moved cross country, no ef but she was comfortable buying this car.

Do people really only see the monthly payments? She told herself she could afford $200 per month without calculating the cost of gas and insurance. She realizes she went overboard now but I still don't see how you could just go and buy a car (she only spent a few hours shopping before she closed on it)without thinking about the fact that she could have bought one for 1/3 of the price.

Maybe I don't get it because I don't feel the need to own a car? I mean this loan has a strong chance of outliving her car.

I just don't get it.

By and by, so far she has managed to make ends meet doing temp work so she is doing okay. I need to help build a new budget and actually figure how much she needs to save for her goals which I will probably help her with this weekend. (Hence the reason I was thinking about it.)

Say hello to Cylenchar

April 18th, 2008 at 11:03 pm

My dear husband has joined the forum instead of just lurking and is going by the name of Cylenchar now.

I have to laugh because one of the things we have in common is dragging the same user name around to various forums.

So don't be surprised if our stories sound remarkably similar, we have been together for 7 years now, lol.

Well that might make a difference...

April 16th, 2008 at 09:01 pm

Hmmm..no wonder we have been able to be over budget without needing extra money. A quick glance at my dh's salary resulted in my realizing I had his salary too low. We went from being in the red theoretically to being in the black by $400 per month. Minor detail...



Going to be overbudget this month...

April 15th, 2008 at 07:47 pm

No this won't require me to take on more debt or slow down payment. It just means that next month I need to be on the skimpy side with the budget.

So the rest of this month and next month we will eat out of our pantry (we need to do this anyway).

No more toys in May (given what we have gotten, that shouldn't be a problem, lol).

Reduce the amount of eating out over the next two and a half weeks.

No more bad luck (losing bus pass, forgetting lunch at home on the counter, etc). Yeah I know, I can't completely control this one but I will do a lot better if I don't have anything else go wrong this month.

Frankly, I am not in a bad place, I just spent a little more than I should have (husband is not guilty, he only spent his allowance). Given my past splurges, this one was relatively teeny so I am headed in the right direction.

What's with the blogs linking to finance blogs?

April 9th, 2008 at 08:28 pm

I have to admit, I think its a little weird seeing financial blogs on Saving Advice. I understand that a lot of people come here seeking advice but the majority of people want to learn how to fix things themselves, aka they are DIYers. They don't want to read a blog that sounds like a sales pitch.

As to linking to other sites, why? Why not just maintain that other site? I guess the saturation must be bringing in more business but the natural skeptic in me harummphs every time I see a new one pop up.

I visit plenty of personal finance blogs outside of saving advice but they are the ones just like the ones here, personal attempts to take control of one's own finances.

I am not suggesting they need to be banned or anything, I just don't see the point. Aren't they sort of preaching to the choir here?

Same ol' same ol'

April 9th, 2008 at 05:42 pm

Nothing too much happening so far this month. I did get a Nintendo DS to occupy me on my bus rides home from work so my allowance for the month has been spent but I am happy with the purchase.

I had been debating one for about 4 months but I kept remembering my old fashioned green screen gameboy from way back when and how I couldn't stand that bad of a screen anymore with my eyesight. Walmart of course had one demonstrating and I realized that handhelds have come a very long way since my gameboy. My husband is so impressed with it that he is considering getting one of his own. Big Grin

Our anniversay is coming up at the end of this month/beginning of next month and I got my husband a kumquat tree and lemon tree. He is excited and this weekend we should go get large pots to stick them in when they arrive. He hasn't told me my gift yet because he likes to surprise (and I suspect he doesn't yet know himself).

Normally we aren't big special occasion celebraters but this will be the first time we could take time off for it so we are excited about a 4 day weekend.

We even have money set aside for the weekend since our savings is currently used for vacations, clothing and house downpayment. So no budget blowing.

Woohoo, like that bill

April 1st, 2008 at 08:14 pm

So we have saltwater tanks which runs the electricity up. We got fed up with our 125 gallon tank having sump issues and set up only our 55 gallon in its stead (no sump, so no more frustration for the moment).

My electricity bill is down to $70 and some change! Very happy, especially since gas doubled in price (literally) so both utility bills had added about $50 above normal in a very short time. My DH has been turning off phantom charge items too so he will be pleased when I tell him how far the bill has dropped.

On Track Update

April 1st, 2008 at 04:18 pm

Another $1000 payment has been made and I have a $1700 one scheduled two weeks from now. This will leave only $500 on this particular card so it will be paid off in the beginning of May.

We have decided to up our out to eat budget to $200 from $100. While the $100 let us get caught up last year, its no longer necessary and we really enjoy eating a variety of food (we tend to do vietnamese cuisine at the moment, something I definitely do not know how to cook at home). We also have room in our budget to do it without reducing anything else thanks to bonuses.

Oh and the highlight of this month is I will cross the 10k threshold.

Once I am finished with the debt, I think I will switch to doing the net worth thing. I will be in the negative for a little bit but as of this February it will be positive (and then it will go negative again because we will have bought a house, lol). It should be an interesting year with househunting and so on.