My Debt Blog

I guess my wife feels that our bathroom was holding us back from actually listing our house in this lousy housing market. Lucky for me I had some help to get the bathroom painted. The paint is a blue color to go with our bedspread since the bedroom was already painted back in May. Granted I think the room probably could use some paint because the old stuff was cracking and faded in places.

We went through our closets and storage areas and found a lot of stuff we’re going to get rid of come trash pickup day. I just hope the garbage people will take it all away for us though so I don’t have to locate a dumpster. We need to find a second hand store to try to sell off the stuff we don’t want but don’t want to throw out. It would be nice to get some money for some of this stuff though.

I’m almost at the end of the month of July and there’s still money in the checking account! This has not happened in the past 3-4 months because of things carrying over funny or using money in there for checks making them hot. I hate writing hot checks too because you just never know how quickly that money may try to escape you.

My wife has a limited amount of time to work full time because school will start soon. She is concerned we’re not going to have enough money to make it without her working. After suggesting I get a second job, I suggested to her we should probably be adjusting our lifestyle to fit my income first? Could I get a second job if necessary? I’ve done many jobs prior to my career that may not pay very well but would bring some extra cash in. I’m not at all lazy but at the same time working 70 hours a week to keep things the same as they always are isn’t a solution.

I’m still mulling over things regarding selling this house. The costs of doing this are even more stressful and I don’t know if my wife is concerned about that. She continues to spend time checking out apartments online and pictures make things look so much better than how it is right now. Are stainless steel appliances and granite countertops with porcelain sinks neat? Sure it is but it also increases the monthly rent and delays our ability to get out of debt. I guess it boils down to a balance between money and lifestyle. More money does not mean better lifestyle and our lifestyle should not require more money.

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I can’t put it simple than that. The realtor sent me a PDF with a projected sales price and a breakdown of all the fees, which there are over 10k in fees alone, of what it will cost me. One thing I forgot to consider was the property taxes in the state of Illinois are paid in the rear. So this year I am paying 2006 taxes and my escrow is building up for 2007 taxes. That part hit me off guard a little bit.

Even if the house were to sell for more than what the realtor suggested, it still doesn’t reduce it a whole lot. Either way I have to come up with some money to get rid of the house, or just hold out on it until things change. There’s a reason for why the area I am in is losing value: renters. Every other house in my neighborhood is rented! Having so many in this area lowers the value of the units that are lived in by the owners. The renters have really made themselves known over the past few months. Lots of noise, increased parking on the streets, dogs (and what they do), and worst of all is spray paint on the sidewalks. It is beyond me how so much can change in an area within a year. At the same time I am concerned it may cost me more if I were to sell next year. There have also been two foreclosures in the neighborhood that push things way under market value.

So why would it cost me 8k to sell the house? The equity in the house isn’t very high because I had very little down payment and have an 80/20 mortgage setup to avoid PMI. After everything is settled with the first mortgage, the difference between the balance on my HELOC and what is left is 8k. If I don’t use a realtor I could save half of the 5% commission and do for sale by owner. That would probably reduce the amount I would need to come up with at close.

Just so everyone knows, I can afford my house. I am not in any way in the position of facing foreclosure if it were not to sell. Everything is current and I can hang onto the house just fine. The area has just changed to something my wife and I are not happy with and moving closer to the city is more appealing. We’re going to improve some areas the realtor pointed out to us and do a real extensive cleaning this weekend.

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I am getting sick of watching commercials for these credit card companies. For those of you who don’t have a TV, be glad you’re not being subject to this nonsense. The latest string of with for Visa is things going along real smooth in color because everyone is using their Visa card to pay. Then the lady who writes a check or the guy who throws cash down, the screen goes black and white as though it’s old fashioned. MasterCard will never run out of priceless ideas. AmEx wants you to fill in the blanks. Chase lets you jump between airline miles and cash back as a reward incentive.

Last time I checked it takes longer to pay using a plastic card, even debit. When you swipe that card it takes a little bit to validate the account to authorize the transaction. If you’re using cash and the idiot at the register can count, the latter should take less time. Checks are still a completely valid way to pay for things and it is sad how many places no longer accept checks. Most of the time you can just sign them and let the printer fill it out for you and you’re done. Why are using cash or checks such an old fashioned thing?

What would be interesting is to see some federal commercials encouraging people to use cash. I’m not sure if a cash commercial would be taken well since so many people adapted to plastic. With credit cards it doesn’t matter how much money you have or make, you can always get what you want whenever you want, as long as the monthly payment can be managed. Car dealer ads waving credit checks and no money down offers get people into vehicles they probably can’t afford. I can afford my vehicle because I own it.

I’m doing my best to avoid falling into this trap that using these things will make my life better. They can buy fun but they cannot buy happiness. Trying to free myself from credit card debt is the first step I am taking on my journey to become debt free.

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I know it’s almost the end of July and I have put this off long enough because I was scared of it. It is time for me to suck it up and deal with it though. I feel like I got kicked in the financial gut last month. This is a blog about paying off debt and then I went and spent money I didn’t have and that set me back. Part of the issue was I didn’t properly budget in advance to handle the car insurance bill, which was paid in full, but everything got tight. Unforeseen expenses early in June drove me to the point of using the EF to hold us over until I got paid and then correct it. At any rate, here’s the ugly truth on the credit cards:

My Citi Dividend card is going to get even uglier because I used it to replace my wife’s stolen sunglasses. There are also some auto charge things that end up on that card, so I’ll beef up the payment to that account since those charges should be paid instead of charged. On a positive note all the other balances on the plastic are lowering and my payment on Bank of America has rapidly dropped by about $30 that can be refocused to other debt. I think for a short term goal, I would like to pay off the Zales account. Currently I pay an inflated payment anyways but if I were to double or triple that amount, it could be easily knocked out by the end of the year. In an attempt to reduce some of the comments, I have already taken the credit cards out of my wallet and now the only plastic I have is my debit card.

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I don’t have much of an update on my financial situation. In light of just wanting to post something, check out this video of a guy using a Judge Judy voice soundboard on a collector. Her voice is very known I am surprised this idiot was not able to pick up on what was going on.

When these people call to try and get you to pay your debt, having fun with them may be tempting. The best thing to do is to let them know any further contact should be in writing. There is no reason to let them call you 20 times a day trying to get money out of you. Annoy them first and often until they stop calling and contact you in writing. Even better, just pay bills accordingly and not deal with collections. Best of all is to never borrow money and you’ll never have a problem.

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I was channel surfing last night and came across a show called the Secret Lives of Women. Why in the world would I be watching a show on the Women’s Entertainment (WE) network? This particular episode caught me because it featured women who ran up massive amounts of debt due to shopping. Here’s the short on this:

“Secret Lives of Women: Shopaholic” (WE)
For Lisa Thompson (a personal concierge and mother of two), Sari Kaplin (a marketing executive), and Mandy Rabelais (a wife and mother), shopping isn’t just a day at the mall; it’s an addiction. Can these ladies come to terms with their dependencies, or will the mall get the best of them?

I am amazed at the amounts of stuff these people buy day to day and know they should not be doing it. The massive amount of credit cards and opening new ones just to spend more is beyond me. A stay at home mom frequently buying bed sets on her husband’s teaching salary and they’re paying on her Lexus, does she realize that is excessive? My wife loves to shop and get ideas for what she would like to do to the house, but they’re just ideas. I ask that she makes sure that when we buy something for a room it is necessary and needed. Our down filled comforter went flat and became completely useless. After about three months of watching the stores, looking around, waiting for sales, we got a great deal on a new bed set with about 60% markdown and paid for it. I think two years ago it would be a need to have it now must have and put it on a credit card.

I don’t consider my wife a shopaholic because she is able to go into stores, look around, and not buy anything. There is a big difference in shopping and spending. Every now and then she will get something at a store, but typically there is a purpose or reason she needs it. I have the hardest time buying clothes for myself and wear the same things over and over, which drives her nuts. Sometimes she will pick me up a new polo at Old Navy if they’re on sale, which I don’t mind. What drives me crazy is when she picks out a bunch of stuff to try on and only keeps one thing to buy. The other is buying two things with the intention of returning one of them later. Seems like a big waste of time that other things could be done.

At any rate, if any of my readers even have cable and I’m not sure when this particular episode will air again. I checked out the future dates for the show and did not see it in the next two weeks. The network website did not have much regarding this particular episode so I think it is probably an old one from a previous season. Shopping as an addiction though? I think not. When it comes down to it, spending money you don’t have on things you don’t need is debt, the true addiction.

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First I apologize to the frequent visitors of my blog for my lack of posts this past week. After putting up some posts about my wife’s car being broken into and her purse stolen, most comments were supportive but some were rude. Yes my wife has some expensive tastes and likes some particular brands that are not exactly cheap. Maybe you would not buy these things, because you are convinced you’ll find something just as good at the dollar store or Wal-Mart, leave it alone.

I took a week off of work, the blog, and let everything settle. Where did I go? My sister-in-law got married this past Saturday, and the 4th of July was last week, my wife and I stayed at her parents for the week. Our only real costs was the extra gas to travel and the gift, but for the most part it was nice to block out the finances for a week and take care of things when I got back.

I’m well aware that if I just lived under a rock for a few months, came out to stock up on the necessities to survive, my debt would be gone in no time. I’ve been at this debt reduction thing for awhile, my focus wavers all over the place. It will take quite a few years of working on paying off these debts to be completely debt free. I didn’t get into debt overnight and I can’t expect it to be gone tomorrow. Sure I could cut my lifestyle down to nearly nothing, but lifestyle has that life part in there for a reason.

My wife and I talked about selling our house. It probably isn’t the best thing in the financial aspects to be selling the house at this time, so why should we do it? Some people work a job they absolutely hate for years just because they cannot live without the income. That is living to work, not working to live. We live in an area that currently isn’t doing anything for us because we’re much younger than our neighbors and don’t have a family. The draw and excitement to enjoy our 20s right now is in the city. When we bought the house last year it was to move away from a very lacking area we settled after college. Instead of feeling like we were wasting money on rent, it would make more sense to own something. Having this house a year, owning is much more difficult than renting. If we can sell this house and go back to renting, it is part bittersweet because it’s our first house, yet a big relief in terms of cost savings in the long run, even though the tax deduction and ownership of something is gone.

Right now I don’t have much of a long term plan or any goals. I’m kind of just letting things go the direction they are since everything has detoured anyway. There will be an update soon regarding my debt reduction, or increase, whatever the case may be soon. At any rate, I’m still here.

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